Ready to get found on Google? More site visitors means more opportunities to make sales and grow your community. There are good and bad ways to make this happen. “White Hat SEO” tries to get real people to visit a site, while “Black Hat SEO” finds loopholes to trick search engines into ranking the site higher. We’ll focus on White Hat SEO, since this gets you more long-term results. Before exploring specific SEO tips, ask yourself these questions: Who do you want to find your site? What are they looking for? How can you give them what they need?

Keywords are the phrases people type into search bars. Let’s say you need to buy a bookshelf. Your Google search may look something like these: Bookshelves Bookshelves for sale Bookshelves near me Buy bookshelves online Bookshelves with drawers Of course, what you search for depends on what you need. If a keyword is broad or simple (for example, “bookshelves”), it probably gets searched a lot. To start your research: Brainstorm both broad and specific keywords that could be relevant to your site. Find a keyword research tool, like Google Analytics, and see how many times each of your keywords was searched in the last year. Put the keywords into Google’s search bar and see which of your competitors rank high in the results. It can be hard to rank high on popular keywords, so use keywords that fit your website.

The URLs that you use for your site are just as important as the words everywhere else on the screen. Which URL looks better to you? www.website.com/filename7/iewjiqoq_infsjdfh www.website.com/productname/details The second one is clear about what that page will show. Think of URLs like a thread running through the site, showing people exactly where they are and where they came from. Go through your website and make your URLs as clear as possible. Use those keywords, too, to let Google know what it’s all about.

Words aren’t the only things that Google reads. Any images on your site are also analyzed by search engines. How fast your site loads has a big impact on SEO, and images are part of that. Compress and resize your photos so that they load quickly, and place images as close as possible to related content. Use keywords in the name and caption.

Tips to keep in mind moving forward

You can’t provide services or products without the right resources. This is the place to list out what you have: locations, workers, physical supplies, and previous investments. Prove that you’ve thought through every step of the process and know how to get the job done.

What about the things you need? New locations? Hiring new employees? Provide as many details as possible. After listing the expected expenses, focus on the exciting stuff: profits. How much do you expect your business to earn by the end of the year? And how can your investors benefit from your success?

Learn what a business plan is and why you need one.

A business plan explains what a business does, how it plans on making money, and why other people should care. Investors aren’t your only audience. Business plans can help you keep track of why you created your business in the first place. Having data, goals, and a clear vision all in one place can help you make important decisions later on.

The first section of a business plan explains what exactly the business does. Opening a restaurant? Creating a travel agency? Be clear about what you do. Now explain why! Why are you passionate about this business? How did you get started? A few sentences about your story can go a long way in convincing someone to invest. Passion goes a long way. Be sure to share it.

Think about how you’ll present your plan and what works best for you. Sometimes business plans are sent through email, and other times they’re shared in a meeting. Either way, get familiar with every part of it. Be prepared to answer questions and share your passion. And in the future, come back to your business plan to make more decisions and remember where you started.

Learn how to showcase your business.