What is search engine optimisation?
Search engine optimisation is what you do to make your web pages appear as high as possible in the rankings of search engines.
Here's how it works. Search engines run pieces of software to collect information from all the websites they can access on the Internet. Sometimes called spiders, when they reach your website they want to visit all the pages you have and harvest meaningful information. So when, to use our company as an example, someone types "web design Yorkshire" into, say, Google, Sparkleweb appears as one of the links on (ideally) the first page of results.
Now for some businesses this is easy. If you are selling Mongolian doodles on silk, and you have optimised your website well, the phrase "Mongolian doodles silk" will probably bring up your website at the top.
However, if (like us) you are selling web design, there are hundreds of competitors all vying for the same position on that front page and it all becomes a bit more random.
The secret is to do the basics well. On a technical level, make sure your website is W3C compliant, and doesn't use excess Javascript, Flash or frames. On a content level, write relevant copy, and use the words you expect to be searched for near the top of your web pages. This is a skill, but isn't complicated once you get the knack.
The worst thing you can do is try and cheat the system. Google especially has become very good at spotting spam attempts and if you find your website on their black list, it is hard to get off - and your website hits might dry up.
Be honest, and write good content. Which is what you need to do to get business anyway!