73% of Americans use the web regularly. 78% of them, a recent PEW Internet Life study suggests, have used it to research products and services prior to buying, and 19% do so regularly. 67% have purchased at least one product online, and 6% use the web for their day to day shopping. Whether or not you use the web in your business, you are affected by it: Customers that approach you may have researched the product online and demand a more competitive price. And those who never show up at your door have probably found one of your competitors online.

The pervasiveness of internet use is even higher when you take a look at the wealthier segments of the populations. Urban areas use the internet much more often that rural, and 91% of people with an annual household income of $75,000 are using it, as opposed to only 53% in household with an income of $30,000 or less. Many business owners recognize the importance of tapping into this growing segment of the population, but don't know how to do so. They become Invisi-Businesses, literally invisible to a large segment of the population.

Businesses might shell out a few thousands for web design, and end up with a nice-looking web site. Or they might find a low cost "out of the box" solution to get a web site up fast. But the fact is that they are still invisible: a quick search in Google will reveal that. The only way to find their web site is to be given the address, and that is certainly not the way to find new customers online.

What are they doing wrong, then? The most common answers are: the don't feature the right content, and don't invest enough in findability.

The Right Stuff

The content on most small businesses web sites is dreadfully static. It doesn't include updated elements such as news or press releases, and so ends up being boring to humans, and virtually irrelevant to search engines. Many business web sites do not include important keywords, and are rarely appealing enough for other web sites to voluntarily link to. (The number of links to your web site has an enormous effect on your ranking.)

To begin with, a business web site should always be useful and easy to navigate. Remember that you are not addressing clients or people who already know what you do. You're addressing people who are looking for something: a product, a service, or perhaps only information. Can you give it to them? If you don’t – why should they stay? You need to give them useful information fast: make it clear what you're selling, why it’s good for them, and why they should get it from you.

Useful, updated content such as news, a blog, or professional articles can keep surfers coming back. It also means that search engines have more to go on, more keywords, and more chances of featuring you in top spots. The keywords themselves are very important. You can't just have a list of words at the end of the page, as search engine will often ignore that. But if you mix in the right words in your marketing copy - the words potential customers are looking for - then you have a better chance of being found!



Findability

Findability means - how easily it is for someone who doesn't already know about your business, to find you when looking for the kind of solutions that you offer. For instance, if you're an accountant, your web site's findability is judged by how easy it is for someone looking for an accountant in your area to be aware of your web site.

The improve your findability, there are 3 broad activities that you can do:

• Simply Submit - If your web site is new, or has a new address, and nobody has linked to it, search engines don't know about it yet. That's why you should submit your web site address to as many search engines and indexes as possible. This can be done either manually on each search engine’s web site, or using automatic tools, usually costing a few dollars per submission.

• Advertise Online - which means spending a few dollars a month to feature as a sponsored link on top search engines. Usually that means paying to be featured in association with a specific search term or terms.

• Get Linked To - Many search engines, Google in particular, rank their search results according to the number of relevant links the web site gets from other web sites. If you can get important clients, vendors, partners, and industry web sites to link to your web site - you are practically guaranteed a better place. The best way to encourage people to link to you is to have unique, useful content!

Your Web Presence

Imagine what it would be like to have an effective web presence. 

It would mean that anyone looking for your kind of service will find your website among the top results. It could mean hundreds, maybe thousands of new visitors to your web site every month. And assuming your web site features attractive, actionable content - it could mean a flood of new leads. But investing in your web presence is more than investing in your web design. It means investing, monitoring, and promoting your visibility online.