Building a Web site is not enough. How do you get it found?  You cannot simply build a Web site and wait for visitors to come. You need to market your site online - meaning you need to take action to make your site highly visible to search engines so it gets found by potential customers.

That is where you need Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  SEO is the process of making changes to your Web site to improve its chances of ranking well on search engines. There are a few concepts to understand when learning about SEO - keywords, links and search engine submission.  

Keyword selection is an important part of improving your site's ability to be found. A keyword is a word or a phrase entered by users into a search box when they want to find information, or products and services online. Search engines are designed to look for keywords or phrases in specific areas of your Web site. To rank higher in search results for your target audience, you must identify the most effective keywords and then place them in the right areas of your site's content and HTML code. Quality keywords describe what your business offers and should include both general and specific terms. For example, if your company sells flavored coffee, good possibilities might include "flavored coffee", "flavored coffee beans", "Colombian coffee", and "coffee variety packs", rather than simply "coffee."

The best way to be sure that the search engines can find your site - and that they come back to index your site frequently - is to have other Web sites link to your site. If you have a lot of other Web sites linking to your site, the search engine spiders will visit your site more frequently and find new content quickly.  In fact, one of the most significant factors determining your site's search ranking is the presence of links from other sites to yours. Every site that links to yours is like a vote for your site. The more high-quality, related sites you have linking to you, the more votes you have, potentially increasing your ranking.

The last concept to understand about SEO is site submission. Once your site is ready, you want to submit your Web site address to national and local search engines and directories including Google®, Yahoo!®, and MSN®. This will let the search engines know you are there and the spiders will begin to look at your site.

Search Engine Optimization is a gradual process and something that is constantly ongoing. To maintain good search engine optimization you must  continue to tweak and update your site. A Web site should be kept fresh and up-to-date by adding new content or updating the content that exists.