One of the most interesting new businesses to spring up from the fertile soil of the internet is the SEO/SEM consultant. Search Engine Optimization and Marketing companies now make up a very significant new sector of internet business, all using their own unique means to boost your ratings on Google and Yahoo, the two most influential search engines, as well as hundreds of other, smaller searching sites. Working with an SEO/SEM consultant can cost you hundreds, or even thousands of dollars, but the money is often worth it if it creates sales. However, if you don't have the budget needed for consultants, here are a few free tips and tricks to help you get noticed.

Page Title
It sounds like a simple thing, and it is, but even well made and well-maintained websites often have default or generic page titles. It is very important that every page on your website have a title attribute that corresponds to the information on it. First, it helps with rankings on most engines. Secondly, the page title is what shows up as a result when a search is made.

Meta Tags
Though many sites claim that Meta Tags are no longer useful, there is one that you must use on every page of your site. Meta description tags are the most important of all, because they contain the description that will appear beneath your page title on the results page of a search. It has become common knowledge that the misuse of meta keyword tags has led to their near uselessness on the major search engines. But, smaller search engines still use them, so it's worth the hassle to add them.

Link Exchanges
Most of us have pages either on Facebook, Myspace, or LinkedIn which allow us to make connections with people in our industries. It's time to start putting those relationships to work. Contact those loose connections and offer to put links to their site on your site while asking them to do the same for you. No one is ever sure how Google and Yahoo algorithms work (it's a trade secret), but most SEO analysts agree that links from other sites are very heavily weighted.

Search Engine Submission
Of course, before you can get rated, you need to be listed. In order to get your search engine work moving, you'll need to go to the search sites themselves and submit your site to the directory. The best way to get submitted is to be linked to from a site that is already listed. But, if you lack that, there are still ways to enter the search engine databases.

To get listed on Yahoo, try their directory listings page here.
To get into Google's directory, submit your name to the Open Directory Project.
Both of these options can be slow and unpredictable, but they are free, and, in the long run, they really are a must.

Promotional Mailers
Printed materials are a very effective way of creating traffic at your website. Direct mail can be a good way to contact people in other states, and simple postcards can work well at trade shows or personal meetings.

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