As everyone knows, people are not very likely to randomly enter your website address directly into their address bar, unless they've already heard of your business. So you need to get your website linked to. One of the biggest ways is to be listed in search engines.

So how do you do that?

Fortunately, not all of the methods for getting listed in search engines are overly complicated. Let's look at a few simple methods anyone can implement.

First and foremost, start a blog. Regular, relevant updates to your website will result in a higher search engine ranking. I have a missionary couple living on a coffee farm in Nicaragua that I do a website for. They keep an updated blog of their activities. Not surprisingly, they often rank very highly when you search for relevant words As I write this, they're number three for "Nicaragua coffee church" (typed in without the quotes) and number one for "Nicaragua baptism coffee" (also typed in without quotes).

Second, make sure key words you want people to search for are sprinkled throughout your site. Naturally, this should be combined with other methods, and is not enough in and of itself to ensure a high ranking.

Third, add a site map. This is a page with a listing of all the pages (or sections) on your site. And once you've done it, submit it to the big search engines. (As I'm writing this, Google is the big one that allows you to submit your site map.) Not only will the site map help your search engine ranking, but if your site is fairly large, it can help people to better get around on your site.

Fourth, include your physical address on each page. Obviously, for some businesses this would not be appropriate or necessary. For others, it can help greatly.

The big key if you are not paying a big company to optimize your website is to not stress too much about it. If your website is in a specific niche, such as the missionary couple, following some of these simple guidelines can get you a pretty high ranking. If your line of business has lots of competitors online and you don't have thousands to invest in search engine optimization, you should probably look into other methods of promoting your website.

Tim is the owner and senior web designer at T&S Web Design. His company has developed and maintained website for dozens of small businesses and organizations. Tim also maintains a blog with free website advice for small business owners,