What is a free way to get my business website ranked higher?
– Shane S. M / Tampa, FL

It’s always helpful to have more information about your domain and keywords but here are some general things you can do:

1) Make sure your home page title tag has your major keyword and regions of influence. So if you have a shoe store, you might have your title tag be:
Kids Shoes Tampa FL | Bridal shoe packages in Florida

Try and draw out a niche for yourself and try and get the best ranking you can for these more specific phrases. It’s far easier to gain a ranking for so called “long tail” search terms that specify your region.

2) Improve your link popularity, which means to get more links pointed to your homepage. Links are perhaps the most important measure of whether your website deserves a first page ranking in Google. Some methods to do this are:
a) Exchange links with other business websites in your area
b) Find stories on blogs related to your industry and comment on them, making sure you take advantage of the [Website] field when placing your comment.
c) Setup a twitter account and make posts/tweets about inner pages on your website with a link to the page.

If you spend 1-2 hours per day doing the above, you’ll see your rankings start to rise after 3 weeks and continue to as long as you remain diligent in your new, free SEO ranking improvement habits!