By Malcolm Fraser

Do you want to get your Web site listed on the first page of Google’s search results?

Well, you’re not alone. And there are numerous Search Engine Optimization (SEO) companies who will charge you a hefty fee to help you do it. The problem is that many of them are, to put it politely, not worth the money.

So how do you find a good SEO service, save some money, and fine-tune your Web site to get real results?

1.  Do some research.

Over the past few years, “SEO” has become a new buzzword for anyone trying to market themselves or their products on the Internet. Pages of blog articles and millions of ads have been published on the subject. The problem is separating the facts from the advertising hype.

Most of the basic SEO techniques can be found free-of-charge on the Internet, and applied at a relatively low cost. For example, simply reading this page – Google Webmaster Central - could save you a lot of money.

2.  Start at the beginning.

The best time to optimize your Web site for search engines is when it is first being created. If you are designing your own Web site, be sure to follow the guidelines published by Google in the link above. If you’re hiring a professional web designer, make sure that they follow the basic optimization techniques right from the start.

3.  A keyword is worth a thousand pictures.

Photographs and images make your Web site look nice, but search engines completely ignore them. When people search for something online, they’ll be typing in keywords —so it’s important that those keywords are somewhere on your site. Don’t make the mistake of overloading your content with keywords, though, or your visitors may be put off by the obvious marketing gimmicks.

4.  Get other Web sites to link to your Web site.

This is one of the most important factors that search engines look for. If a trustworthy, high quality Web site thinks your content is relevant enough to link to your site, then Google will too. Watch out for “quick and dirty” link exchange schemes with big promises and no results. Instead, work on making solid connections and let your content speak for itself.

5.  Get a referral from a person or company you already trust.

Professional SEO services do provide more detailed guidelines, and they usually know some extra tricks to really streamline the search indexing of your site. They can also save you a great deal of time by doing the tedious work for you. The best way to find a good SEO expert is to obtain a referral from someone who has already worked with them.

Of course, WinePress Group offers Web site design, hosting, and SEO services through our Notation Printing and Marketing division. Hundreds of authors trust us with their books, and so now they can trust us with their Web sites, too.

Malcolm Fraser is the Executive Officer at WinePress Group, and serves as the assistant to the Executive Publisher. He helps to oversee and coordinate all of WinePress’ different departments, handles customer service issues, contract development, and also contributes to programming and designing our Web sites and author blogs.