As a small business owner, you do everything you can to bring your company more exposure, get it in front of more potential customers, and create a buzz around your brand. One important tool at your disposal is SEO or search engine optimization. While many entrepreneurs may not necessarily be versed in the latest SEO strategies themselves, they often hire this particular job out to someone, an IT person who understands the ins and outs when it comes to working those search engines.
What you should have, however, is at least a basic understanding of what is involved. Of course you want to be able to speak knowledgeably with whomever you hire, what's more, you certainly want to understand what they're saying to you. Below are a few key SEO related terms that every business owner should know.
WHITE HAT SEO
This is what you want; it's what you should expect when hiring a legitimate professional to perform SEO for your company. Essentially white hat SEO just means that they are abiding by the rules; they're not trying to trick the search engines into ranking you. And they are providing legitimate content that users and the search engine indexes will both see.
BLACK HAT SEO
On the flip side, black hat SEO relies largely upon tricking search engines. They will hide text and keywords so that search engines see it but otherwise it's not apparent on the site to users. Add in irrelevant links among a host of other frowned upon techniques, and this is one you want to stay away from.
Organic Search Results
Organic search results come up because of the work done by the SEO expert, not because of paid clicks or links or ads. Achieving a high organic ranking takes time, but it is the most legitimate (and rewarding/) ranking you can receive.
These are just the basics. There are a ton of ways that SEO professionals have to help better your ranking when it comes to online searches. This may be exactly what you need to give your business a boost. If you require money to hire an SEO expert, we can certainly help. First Union has a variety of loan programs designed for just this purpose. Contact us today and let's get started!