All businesses could learn something about search engine positioning, says event organiser

Search Marketing Expo, which starts in London next week, should appeal to more people than just e-marketers, according to its organizer, web expert Danny Sullivan, who said that any firm with a web site should attend.

Sullivan said, "Anyone that builds a web site needs to know how search engines work. You can spend millions of pounds on development, but it won't necessarily get you any traffic. Good search engine exposure can be had for free, and can be a no-brainer."

Sullivan said that often firms will spend a lot of money on sites without considering the more simple elements of their design, and in many cases miss out on employing some simple tricks that can radically increase their chances of exposure.

"IT people talk about designing for two browsers, Internet Explorer and Firefox, but you have to treat search engines as a third browser. If you don’t make sure that your site is visible to the search engines you are locking yourself out of a lot of business opportunities," he explained.

Choosing a suitable domain name should also be something that firms think long and hard about, according to Sullivan, who advised businesses to find a good domain name that includes key words relating to what they do.