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Assignment: Get seen!
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How someone finds you in that ocean of competitors is part of what search engine (or Web site) optimization is all about. If you are already "into" it, check out our current guidelines to optimize your site for this year. Search engine optimization. It's the popular buzz word. You've already received dozens of spam emails from dozens of companies about your own Web site. You want to select your seo with care. Note that we include seo services in our sites for free! One day a client asked (email on file):
...Even phone calls. Wow, the pressure is on! What's especially funny was the part, "you are not listed in major search engines and directories." (They had to be listed, just to be found by the spammer in the first place!) Let's state that as a basic principle ... and a Baughan & Company slogan ... "In order to sell you must first get found!" TM Yet it remains a very valid question. What is optimization? In non-computer terms... Is your car optimized for local use, highway use, or race track use? Same machine, different purpose, different desires, different fuel, etc. Well, it's somewhat the same with the Web. Whatever you are doing, there is someone out there with a product to sell, who can easily point out where you are not optimized. For example, if you run a pizza shop, then someone could say that you are not "optimized" for a search under "flat bread." Even if it's in your keyword list, a search engine may discount it if the word does not appear in the body of the text ... it's up to the search engine. In short, then, "optimization" is, in part, the process of properly reflecting relevant keywords (within the limits set by search engines) to the content of various elements of a Web page -- title, description, body, <alt> tags and even link structure. Check our Meta Tag Optimization Report. At the same time, tread cautiously when someone makes an outrageous offer, such as guaranteeing your listing in 1,000 search engines. You actually start to optimize your site way back in the beginning, when you decide what it is you want to do. You register a domain name having something to do with your product. Let's say it's -- just for the sake of argument -- [myawfulpizza.com]. (At least on the day we created this page there was no such place; but the way this crazy world is running ... who knows?) You worked your main product line ... pizza ... into the name, and that's great. We follow this premise into directory, or folder, names. So, [myawfulpizza.com/recipes/], [myawfulpizza.com/ovens/], and [myawfulpizza.com/stores/] all indicate what those areas of the site contain. Maybe you'll also have some specials, such as [myawfulpizza.com/sausage/]. Will the search engine pick up on these names? It depends upon the algorithm which they employ. |
The point is that you have the best chance at Web optimization the earlier you get started with it. You didn't do that two years ago? All is not lost. After all, not all Colonial style homes come with a fancy Mansard roof, either! We start with what you have. The purpose of a Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) is to help you position your Web pages high in a search engine, so that you can be found easily. Some SEOs redesign your site according to a specific structure to accomplish only this task. However the best position in a search engine does not necessarily mean more sales for you. Once you get found, you must also sell. (Anybody hear an echo around here?) Therefore, our approach is to marry effective search engine optimizer techniques to basic proven salesmanship, so that you derive an effective blend to meet your needs. Keywords ... sales language ... but there is more to it, as well. A debate rages between Web developers -- and it gets heated at times. The question is precisely what gets you into a good position on search engines and what does not? It's a loud debate for two reasons ...
Consider something as simple as a black background. Young people often like it because it is "cool." To some Web builders, black against black means you can throw elements together without caring much how well they may interact. Translation -- pump out a page quickly. Others use it because it is easy to " cloak" text for search engines. Search engines key off of that, and may disqualify pages and even entire sites with cloaked text (it is a form of "spam"). Meanwhile, few seem to pay attention to the site's visitors ... people who use a black screen also often use small text -- it may look pretty, but no one with adult eyes can read it. Then there are the real idiots, who use red or dark blue text against a black background (now, what are they drinking?). An optimized Web page has header information which is definitive -- Meta tags. This includes a specific title, clear description, and carefully crafted key words. The body of the page contains useful information. All are tightly related. In addition, graphics are adjusted to help them download as rapidly as possible. Our goal, then, is to get it fast, to get it right, and to "put sell in your site." TM. Pay-per-click advertising in particular depends upon optimization techniques -- especially from the aspect of effective sales language. You have only a few words in which to make your site's promise. And, once someone arrives at your site, you have literally only seconds to satisfy that promise before they bail out to go back to the search engine. You pay for that visitor, whether he stays or not. A properly built page, optimized according to how people actually search for your product, and arranged around sales language to fulfill that search, goes a long way toward making that sale. It's like dominoes falling. Each moves the next one in line. We've boiled it down to: Just seven steps to your success. |
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