| I just spent a relaxing week in Curacao, an island off | | | | optimize their site for the search engines. They just |
| the coast of Venezuela. We stayed at some quaint | | | | built pages that focus on their rooms, their location, |
| apartments overlooking a bay called the Spanish | | | | scuba diving and local attractions. But important terms |
| Waters. This place is really off the beaten path. Our | | | | like Curacao, scuba diving, restaurant, etc. are |
| day started with Costa Rican coffee on the patio only | | | | peppered throughout the site. The same terms people |
| a few feet from the water. Big Sigh! | | | | would use if they were researching Curacao for a |
| The inn is owned by a charming couple, Raul and | | | | vacation. There was no conscious effort to |
| Sylvia. He gives scuba diving instructions and she | | | | strategically position the terms throughout the copy for |
| teaches Salsa dance lessons. The name of the place | | | | the sake of the search engines. In fact, they do not |
| is called the Limestone Holiday in case you're looking | | | | even know what search engine optimization means. |
| for an ideal location to rejuvenate. | | | | This is a perfect example how a local business can |
| I was talking to the owners and they asked what I did | | | | generate new customers with a minimal effort. I can |
| for a living. That is not always an easy answer, but to | | | | tell you that the owners of the inn were not working |
| simplify the response I said Internet marketing. That | | | | on their site on a daily basis. In fact, they may not have |
| answer always stimulates interest, especially from | | | | updated it in the last six month. And yet they are |
| local business owners. | | | | generating new business that would cost thousands on |
| Now I originally found this quaint inn through the Internet. | | | | a monthly basis if they were advertising offline. |
| In fact, it kept popping up on a number of different | | | | Depending on the competitiveness of your market, |
| keyword searches. They proceeded to tell me how | | | | with a just minor effort you could dominate the search |
| they use to spend considerable money advertising | | | | results for your local area. And those results can |
| offline, and the results were not all that impressive. | | | | generate targeted prospects who are actively looking |
| Several years ago they built a web site and now they | | | | for your products or services. By following the basics |
| get 90% of their business off the Internet. Except for a | | | | of search engine optimization, and by creating content |
| listing on the official Curacao site, most of their traffic is | | | | that is search engine friendly, you could significantly |
| free and generated through the search engines. | | | | increase your profits and have the time and money to |
| What is amazing is that they made little effort to | | | | visit the Limestone Holiday in Curacao. |
