We've been getting a lot of requests from franchisees asking, "How can I make my site pull up #1 in Google?" Well, that's a pretty loaded question, but we'll attempt to give you some pointers in our series of SEO Techniques.
The best and most proven way to succeed on the Web is to write content specific to your store/location and make sure your content is unique. For example, your homepage should include content that is very specific to your store and what you do for business. You'll want to be sure to include common search phrases in your unique content that may be used by prospective customers when searching for your site. In the paragraph below, please notice how we include phrases that may be used at sites like Google, Yahoo! or MSN:
Welcome to Sign*A*Rama Henderson, the premier source for signs and banners in Henderson and Las Vegas. We use the latest technology and quality products to develop the best signs on the market. You can be sure that our custom signs will help you put your best foot forward and give your brand the recognition it needs...
As you can see from the bolded text above, we included phrases that may be used at a search engines to find a sign franchise located in Henderson. This is a strong technique that most search engines, such as Google, find valuable and legitimate. Better yet, you can control what is said on your site and make sure that you're including the phrases that matter to your business.
So, how much content do I need to write?
Google values content that is at least 250 words and specific to certain topics, so be sure to write relevant content to the topic and page. As a CompanyWebsite subscriber, you can use the HTML Content control to include as much content on your Web pages as you deem necessary.
Change the Headers on each of your pages!
One of the great benefits of CompanyWebsite is that all headers residing on the site display as nice graphics, but also automatically include "ALT" Tags and are embedded as H1 header tags. This allows your page to be spidered by search engines with greater efficiency and higher relevancy.
A franchisee doing a wonderful job of customizing the content and headers on their site is http://www.signsgso.com/.
WARNING: DO NOT copy any content directly from another website. Search engines now use content tracking methods that allow them to give credit to the originator of the copied content and may blacklist your site if you plagiarize.