| |
| |
|
SEO Information |
|
|
|
Search Engine Optimization for Everyone
There are many facets to SEO and the search engines continually change their methods of indexing sites to help prevent the same sites from staying up in the ranks all the time. Here are some strategies we have personally used with our web design firm: 1. Google AdWords. This is an excellent and cost effective method of getting good search results. You set the maximum daily amount you would like to spend on your key words and phrases. Within the first month we were getting more client contacts through using AdWords. 2. Overture Keywords. This is a lot like AdWords, but we found that their system did not really allow you to set a daily limit to how much you wanted to spend and it quickly got out of hand with some of the phrases we had chosen! Still, it was pretty cost effective in the grand scheme of things. 3. Yahoo Regional Directories. Once you are able to get your site indexed by the Yahoo Regional Directories, I think you stay in there for good! We've been in there for years now and continue to get clients who found us through this directory. (And it is free to submit your site.) 4. Keywords / Description / Alt Tags / Title Tags / Page Content. All the big SEO companies rely heavily on these 5 things - all of which are contained in the code of your web pages. However, with a little research, you could do these yourself (or have it done by your web designer). A few great tools to help you with this task are: Overture Keyword Selector Tool (http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/), Google Suggestion Tool (http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en), Meta Tag Analyzer (http://www.iboost.com/tools/meta_tag_analyzer.htm), and Keyword Density Analyzer (http://www.keyworddensity.com/). The main benefit to hiring a professional SEO company is that they work for you to constantly update your keywords, etc. and submit your URL to search engines. They know exactly how many of each keyword to use, etc. And this is often a service worth paying for if optimization is a real concern in your industry. A good SEO company will also stay up on what the search engines are doing and change their tactics accordingly. They will also never use an "illegal" tactics that could get you banned from the search engine. Be wary of companies that "guarantee top 10 placement". I recommend http://www.submitsolutions.com. 5. Online Directories. Submitting your website URL to free online directories is a great avenue of promotion. One way you can find directories is to use Google or another search engine and type in "(type of your business) online directories". Some that come up may ask for a small amount to list your site. If they do, you should always contact them and ask them for more information such as how many unique visits their directories get per month to see if the price is a good value. 6. Open Directory Project. http://www.dmoz.org The ODP is one of the main sources the the Googlebot uses to find new websites. This is a human-maintained directory - meaning that when you submit your URL, an actual person reviews your submission to decide if the site is appropriate, etc. It may take some time to get your site indexed by the ODP, but once it is, you should not have to keep sending your links. 7. Blog. Having a Blog on your website is a great way to attract visitors to your site with fresh content. And the search engines love content rich blog pages. There are free services out there such as http://www.blogger.com, http://www.blog-city.com, http://www.livejournal.com and many more that allow you to sign up for a free blog. Of course the best way to blog to have the blog "software" actually installed on your site. This is something your web designer/programmer could do for you. I highly recommend sBlog (http://servous.se/) as a free php based Blog script (you will need php and a MySQL database installed with your web hosting service to run this). 8. Submit to Google and Yahoo. These two are the top dogs in the search engine world and both still accept FREE submissions. For Yahoo, you must go through the categories until you find the most appropriate one for your website. For Google, you can go to the following URL to submit your site: http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl 9. Print advertising. Many companies forget that print advertising is still a very valid way to get visitors to your website. Although this can get costly, even having your URL printed on your business cards, letterheads and envelopes is considered print advertising. 10. Be the best you can be. It sounds simple, but a lot of people get so wrapped up in SEO that they neglect the quality of their website. Remember that your website reflects your business and should offer a professional, high quality appearance and useful content. No matter what your business is, your visitors will be more inclined to stick around or make a purchase if your site is easy to navigation, has useful information, and looks professional. I also highly recommend visiting Site Pro News (http://www.sitepronews.com) and signing up for their free newsletter. They have the most up to date info on SEO. Sherry Holub is the Lead Designer and Manager at Southern California design firm, JV Media Design. http://www.jvmediadesign.com
MORE RESOURCES:
SEO - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
LSI and Link Popularity When Paypal's official Web site no longer ranked #1 in Google on a search for "paypal," it was obvious that Google had become more aggressive in penalizing sites with "unnatural" backlink anchor text. Although the high-profile Paypal example has since been rectified, thousands of webmasters are suffering the consequences of not ranking for even their official company name, let alone their top keywords. How to REALLY Profit from SEO I want to give you a few more things to think about as you excel and grow in the craft of search engine marketing. If you are anything like me, you were hooked the first time you really made a difference to someone else's success. Learn about the Google Search Engine Tools Think you know everything about searching with Google? Think again. Believe it or not, there are many tools and features available on Google that can be useful for marketing research as well as wasting time. 7 Steps to Highly Relevant, Search Engine Friendly, and People Useful Web Site Content The task is to build a Content Rich Search Friendly and People Friendly Web Site Quickly. These 7 Steps will show you how with about 10 Hours work you can build over 50 pages of rich, Search Engine relevant content for your web SiteStep 1 - What is Your Web Site's Main ThemeThis is a Fairly easy step. The Write to Link Popularity Incorporating writing as a means of boosting your link popularity can be a turnoff for many webmasters, when in fact it can lead to a wealth of links.I first learnt about link popularity while researching about many different methods that I could use to market a Geocities site I had. What is Your Sales Message? So you built a website, you have a product, but it's not selling. What's your sales message? Does your site scream out to potential customers "BUY ME!!" or does it simply say "Hi, we're here, we have a product, if you want one. Reciprocal Linking Scams, What to Look for and How to Avoid Them Reciprocal linking scams have increased immensely during the past year. Initially we thought that this problem only related to gambling and casino related websites but an audit of our commercial link partners suggests that it is a serious problem within the broader online community. Get Listed in Google Without Submitting Your Site With Google delivering so much traffic, it is only normal to be eager to submit your page and have it indexed as soon as possible. However, submitting your page is not your only option, and it's not the best one. SEO - Are You Making The Search Engines Mad? If you've been involved in SEO (search engine optimization) for a while, you may remember the time when you could create a web page and get it ranked at the top of any search engine with little effort.All you had to do was load up the page with the keywords you wanted to rank high for, make sure your meta tags were stuffed with those same keywords, submit the page and within a few days or weeks you've captured a top 20 or even top 10 result. SEO = Search Engine Optimization, tips on successful page ranking One of the key things to remember when developing your web-site presence is to always evaluate your competition. See what's working for them; how they market their products and services, and even evaluate their KEYWORD and DISCRIPTION tags. Click Click Boom: a Linking Strategy that will Blow Away Your Competition Web marketers, do you hear what I hear?"Click-click BOOM"That's the sound of your new linking strategy that's going to positively blow your competition clear out of the water.Click-click BOOM. Submitting to the Search Engines and WebCrawlers When you want your brand new site to be indexed into major search engines, you usually go to their free submit page and submit your website, correct? Seems like the right thing to do, right?Well, many people fail to realize that not submitting your site is usually better than actually submitting it.Let, me explain. SEO 101 SEO (search engine optimization) is a booming businees these days. Everyone wants to obtain top rankings in google, yahoo, and msn. Google, Yahoo!, Pandoras Box And The Lottery In the fall of 1990, the musical group Snap had a monster number one hit record called, "I've Got The Power."Nowadays, a search engine and a directory (AKA) Google and Yahoo!--number one and number two respectively, have "the power," and we handed it to them on a silver platter. SEO Training - Avoid Making this Costly Mistake! SEO training can be overwhelming. There are literally hundreds of factors that go into search engine ranking on today's major search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. Every Search Engine Robot Needs Validation Your website is ready. Your content is in place, you have optimized your pages. Submit All Of Your Pages And Watch Your Traffic Grow Everyone is looking for "secrets" about how to get more qualified traffic to their web sites. What I'm going to share with you is no secret, however it is not practiced by very many companies or individuals. SEO Tips - Google Has Changed - Learn Why And What To Do Google now checks the year your domain name was first registered.This just makes sense. Blogging, Spamming, and Blog Spam Email marketing once proved to be immensely effective, but the greedy and idiotic polluted the well by spamming the planet with everything from weight-loss products to sexual enhancement drugs and beyond. Because of the stench, filters and laws have been created to attempt to fix the problem, but still the Internet is polluted with more and more junk each day. A Play In The Sandbox Is Necessary There has been a good deal written about the Google 'sandbox' effect, as it's known. It has been taking up a lot of forum and article space over the last few months.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
