You’ve probably heard all about SEO (search engine optimization) when it comes to establishing your Web site on the Internet. But if you’re not familiar with how search engines (such as Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft Bing),  it may sound like Greek to you. SEO is a complex, ever-changing and, most importantly, unpredictable thing. Implementing SEO on a Web site successfully should be done by an expert who can effortlessly keep apace with these developments. From your end as a business owner, understanding the benefits of SEO, and seeing why it is so important, is all that is required.

No one is expecting every single person who builds a website to understand SEO; it is a specialized area, and we cannot all be expert in everything. Yet by understanding the need for SEO and the benefits it can bring to your business, service or Web site, you have made an important step.

SEO is, quite simply, the most powerful online marketing tool you can use to promote your Web site. No matter what you’re doing on that website – offering a service, selling a product or even just writing for fun, without good SEO, it is unlikely the Web site will flourish like it deserves.

As anyone with a touch of common sense can understand, the only way to be successful in business – be it online or offline – is for people to know your service exists. That’s why advertising is such a huge market offline. Online, things work a little differently. Although advertising is still a useful was of promotion, by the far the most effective way of spending time and money in promoting your website is to engage a professional SEO expert. The reason? Search engines.

Search engines govern the World Wide Web. They are the directory inquiries, or Yellow Pages, of the Internet. Yet they have one unique aspect over these offline, established promotion methods; they’re free. While you can pay a search engine like Google to “feature” your link, effective SEO will remove the need for this almost entirely. And unlike the Yellow Pages, SEO is based in part on the effectiveness of the business owner – a skill in SEO, or the willingness to outsource, shows the business recognizes the vitality of search engines and the power they have over the Internet.

These are more latent benefits, however. The primary benefit of SEO is exposure. If done correctly, SEO can be the online equivalent of the first ad, full page, in the Yellow Pages – but without spending a fortune. It really is that powerful. If someone wants to search for a business or service, the chances are they will click on one of the first three links that they find on the results page of a search engine.

Get yourself within those first three links, and suddenly you’ve effectively become one of the most trustworthy and viable businesses one can find. Try using a search engine for a recognizable brand name; they will appear right at the top of the listings. Now image the difference in advertising budget you and that company have. If you use effective SEO, you can rank alongside that well known brand or service for a fraction of the cost. With that kind of result, no one can afford to neglect SEO.

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The concept of search engine optimization is widely known throughout China, but its implications are still relatively poorly understood. Many Chinese “SEO experts” have sufficient experience in building links and improving search rankings, but they often miss the most important point of SEO – helping companies sell products. Building a site’s popularity and improving search engine rankings may look good to an SEO consultant, but does it translate into increased sales?

To be successful in the SEO business, you need to let companies know that your technology can help them achieve their goals. And of course, as always, the number one goal of any enterprise is selling its products or services. SEO, and internet marketing in general, is merely a means to an end. In order to convince Chinese customers of the value of SEO, you have to focus on the advantages it will bring to the company in terms of sales opportunities.

This is where English SEO for Chinese websites comes into play. There is no point in optimizing your Chinese website for Chinese search engines if 100% of your customer base can not read Chinese. And any Chinese supplier looking to sell products outside of China needs an English website optimized for English search engines. An effective SEO campaign for a Chinese company must first look at the business goals of the company, identify its target markets and optimize search results for the proper keywords that will help the company improve its brand image and increase exposure to an English-speaking (that is, global) audience.

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