SEO is like the game of jeopardy

I realized the other day that understanding how to optimize your Web site for search engines is just like playing "Jeopardy" -- you have to ask yourself what questions people will ask for which your company is the answer. Then, you have to create content answering each of those questions, and be sure to use the words embedded in those questions on your site itself.

I was recently asked to offer some Web advice for a relative who runs a company that makes the "trees of life" and other products that organizations use as fundraising recognition tools. He's about to embark on a redesign of his site, http://www.bddonorrec.com, and wanted to understand how to improve his conversions -- he has people trickling onto the site, but extremely low numbers who actually contact him.

I told him to keep three things in mind:

• You want to put yourself where your target audience is, online
• You want to describe your offerings in terms your audience uses
• You want to create words and images that will resonate with the people who arrive at your site.

He sounded a little puzzled until I compared this exercise to "jeopardy." We'll see what happens with the site in the future.....