It's all very well building a website, but if it isn't optimised, then Google will be very slow to start tracking it and it in some instances it will barely register on the search engines. Never assume that it will achieve good rankings without some work.
So where do I start?
You can start by registering your website with Google Analytics - create an account and follow the instructions to add your url and get your tracking code. Add this to the header of each page of your website. Google will start tracking your site and this will give you some vital statistics about how your website is performing.
What are my keywords?
Determine what your keywords are. In other words, try to stand in your potential customers' shoes and think about what words they would put into the search box to find yours business. Search for those terms in groups of 2 - 3 words and look at the results to see if your business belongs there.
Include your keywords
Ensure that these essential search terms are included in your meta tags and page titles. Remember to create unique title and description tags for each page for best results.
Create a sitemap
Use a sitemap generator to create an xml sitemap and upload this to your root folder. Now go to your Google account that you created earlier and locate the Webmaster tools. Follow the instructions to verify your website with Google and then add your sitemap to speed up the indexing process.