TosakP’s Weblog

Anyone who does business on the internet today has heard of SEO (search engine optimization), and many have tried their hand at it themselves. Most find, however, that they don’t get much response from their efforts. This leads to a dilemma for a start-up business: Is there any way to capitalize on internet traffic without paying big bucks for a professional SEO?

The answer is, yes and no. As with anything in business, you can’t get something for nothing, and most people who own top listings for competitive search engine keywords have paid dearly for that privilege. However, there are some simple things that can help make your new website more friendly not only to search engines, but also to your customers:

1. Remember that your customers always come first! Make your site easy to use and easy to buy from, and you will win a loyal following. Simple, straightforward sites perform best all around. Clearly labeled navigation, informative page content, secure online purchasing and ease of ordering are some key elements to a successful website.

2. The KISS rule: Keep It Simple, Silly. Remember that not every potential customer has broadband internet, many surf the web behind firewalls which will not allow downloads, many have vision problems, and many do not have sound cards. Your pages should load quickly and cleanly in any browser (the most commonly used resolution is 800 x 600), your content and navigation should be in a larger type (font size 2 or greater, 10px or greater), and don’t rely on Flash movies, sound, or downloads.

3. Your index page is hands-down your most important page, for search engines and visitors alike. You have 10 seconds or less to convince someone to stay on your website. Give them a brief text summary of your company, your website, and your products/services. Two or three paragraphs is plenty; save the detail for the inner pages.

4. Do use meta tags, but use them properly! Meta tags consist of the title, description, and keywords, although there are other tags possible. For SEO, the 3 listed are the most important. Keep them simple and brief. The search engines that still use them have character limits, and also have strict spam rules, so don’t use a keyword more than once. Be specific: “insurance” is unlikely to get you any rankings, but “California life insurance” might, as it is a less competitive term.

5. Don’t use frames. Frames are a convenience for designers, but most search engines hate them, and so do most site visitors.

6. Don’t use a form for your landing page. Forms have little or no useful text content, so they won’t help your rankings (unless you want to rank well for “name and address”!). In general, they do not convert well to sales either. If you want a form on the first page, make sure you still have a couple of paragraphs of informative text.

7. Make sure your site has at least 5 pages of content. Search engines reward you for “site depth”. Many internet consumers will look for certain pages such as the About Us page and Testimonials; these help lend credibility which helps convert to sales, while giving you solid site content. And don’t forget your site map!

8. Every page should, ideally, link to every other page. This makes the site very easy for your visitors to use, and gives the search engine spiders a road map. When possible, increase the value of your text links: Instead of “Contact Us”, use “Contact the Women’s Network”.

9. If your site is dynamic, make sure you still have a few static pages. Many search engines still can’t “crawl” dynamic pages, so they can’t give you ranking for them. Your index page and your basic informative pages should be in static text.

10. Avoid anything “tricky” like hidden text, pages of irrelevant links, or spamming your site in any way. These tricks are well known, and if you’re caught, you will be sentenced to search engine Siberia!

Following these simple rules won’t guarantee you top search engine rankings (in fact, very few things can do that!) but they will help you to create a website that is informative, easy for your customers to use, and contains the key elements that search engines require.

SEO offers some of the best ROI in advertising for many industries, when done properly. If the time comes when you are ready to go after internet market more aggressively, don’t be afraid to hire a professional to help you out. Search engines change the rules at a dizzying pace, and only a professional can really invest the time needed to keep up. Just do your homework first; as with many other industries, internet marketing has its share of companies that make unrealistic promises. A little research can save you from a bad experience, and make sure you get the most value for your money!

Find more articles at http://www.4cornersflorida.com

Tags: search engine optimization, search engine placement, SEO Consulting Services, website analysis reportsearch engine optimization, search engine placement, SEO Consulting Services, website analysis report

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Part 1. Wordtracker for keywords.

A problem for all new webmasters has always been SEO or search engine optimisation.

The problem starts with the age-old question of how do I design my website so people can find it?

Lets assume that you have an idea for a website that will enable you to make a bit of extra cash, you have a product of your own or you have an affiliation you believe in and you want to make sure that the people searching for your product will find your site over your competitors.
How do you start?

Step 1
KEYWORDS
Finding the right keywords for your product is vital, the right keywords on your site will mean the difference between being found and not being found. How do we find these keywords and how do we use them?

First stop is a visit to wordtracker.com
Using the trial version should be enough.

Let’s say that you sell widgets, type widget into the box and you will get this;
1. widget

2. apple

3. Apple

4. widgets

5. synastry

6. Macintosh

7. security

Clicking on the word widget on the top of this list will bring up another list that contains the word widget.

Lets take a look at the top 5 on that list.

Keyword Count Predict Dig

widget 154 132

widgets 120 103

widget the world watcher 26 22

desktop widgets 22 19

definition for a widget 19 16

The table contains the following information:

Count - This shows the number of times a particular keyword has appeared in our database. E.g. Our database currently holds 373 million words. A count of 147 tells us that this particular word has appeared 147 times out of 373 million (this is over a two-month period).

Predicted - This is the maximum total predicted traffic for all of the major search engines/pay per bids and directories. It is based on the current 24-hour period.

Dig - When you perform any kind of search in the keyword universe, you can now dig down to the next level. E.g. search for ‘gambling’. Then, when you click on ‘online gambling’, just the results for ‘online gambling’ come up, click on ‘online gambling in states’ and so on. Great for focusing on niches.

Clicking on each word again adds it to your basket.
The next step is to compare these keywords in order to find the best keyword for you,

You are looking for a keyword with a high KEI or Keyword Effectiveness Index, what’s this?

In a nutshell: Look for the keywords near the top. The higher the KEI, the more popular your keywords are, and the less competition they have. Which means you have a better chance of getting to the top.

Now you have found your high KEI ranking keywords you have to sprinkle them about your home page and insert them into you meta-tags. The next article in this series will discuss meta-tags, using the title tag, and basic page design that will give your visitors a pleasing site to look at.

Mark white has been involved in IT for 16 years. More information on website optimisation and for free advice visit small-website-advice.com

For affordable SEO services visit get-listed-quickly.com

Tags: keywords, seo services, small website advicekeywords, seo services, small website advice

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Coach Web Site SEO - Terrific Title Tags If you are new to search engine optimization and want to boost traffic to your web site, writing good Title Tags is a great place to start.

Many coaching web sites lack good page titles. They are often completely ignored during the design process or just poorly written.

This causes two main problems:

Firstly, a poorly written title won’t get many clicks.

Here’s what happens …

When someone performs a search, they are provided with a list of results to choose from. This list uses your page titles to display to the person doing the search. If your page title doesn’t grab attention, it won’t be clicked on.

It’s like writing a great book on how to catch fish, but giving it a crumby title of “A Fishing Book.” It will easily get passed up in favor of the book next to it titled, “How to Catching A Lot of Fish - Easily.”
The second problem is lower search engine rankings.

Generally speaking, if your page titles don’t contain keywords that people are searching for, then your pages will have a lower ranking than if your title did have those keywords.

So you will want to make sure you write good titles for your web site page to both increase your rankings and to attract people to click to your web site. So, where do I find the page title?

It can be found in the html source code, towards the top of the page (You’ll see the word title before and after the title text):

So, how do you write good title tags?

The two biggest things to keep in mind when writing your titles are:
1. Include your keywords in your title. Search engines use the words in the title tag to identify what your web page is about. Including your keywords in the title tag will improve its ranking in search engines.

2. Make your title attention-grabbing. As mentioned before, search engines use page titles when displaying results. If you make it attention-grabbing, it can win more clicks and bring more traffic to your web site.

Here’s more advice on writing attractive, keyword rich title tags:

* Include your keywords towards the beginning of the title. This gives those keywords more prominence.

* Avoid filler-words. Words like “the,” “a,” and “and” just take up space and don’t help your ranking.

* Use your name, your patented coaching process, book title or other well-known trademark in the title tags of the pages in which they are mentioned.

* Don’t put “John Smith - Business Coach.” This won’t grab attention as much as something like “Business Coach - Grow your business 200%.”

* Use about eight words. This is the amount that is visible in search engine result pages.

* Write titles that draw attention. Some techniques include: using keywords that people are searching on, using problem statements, benefit statements.

* Be sure your titles accurately reflect what is on the page. Misleading titles disappoint users and search engines may penalize your site.

* Don’t overstuff your page title with keywords. It makes for a bad looking title in search listings and puts your page at risk for search engine penalties.

* Don’t keep the same title tag across multiple pages. This implies the pages are of the same content and they really are not - a minus in the eyes of search engines.

Here’s an example of a title tag for the home page of a career coach web site:

“Career Coach for Accountants and Lawyers - Increase Your Earnings”

You can see that this title includes a benefit statement, relevant keywords, and the target audiences name - good for rankings and good for getting attention.

In conclusion, make your title keyword-rich for search engines and attention-grabbing for searchers. It’s an easy way to boost your search engine visibility and bring more visitors to your web site - more possible clients!

Kenn Schroder, helps you build a magnetic coaching web site to attract clients. Web site design, search engine optimization (SEO), FREE report and FREE newsletter to help you build a practice-growing coaching web site. http://www.CoachingSitesThatWork.com

Tags: coach, coaching, seo, title tags, web designer, web sitecoach, coaching, seo, title tags, web designer, web site

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