Four Easy Steps to Position Your Website -by Patty Oates
Today's
consumer is suffering from advertising overload
and has become desensitized to traditional ads.
Click through rates on banner ads are ever declining,
and spy ware programs are stopping pop up ads.
The typical Internet user wants to find exactly
what they are looking for in as short a period
of time as possible. This makes search engine
positioning a very critical part in the success
of every web site. A web site can be a good
marketing tool to bring your company to the
next level. To ensure that your site gets to
your target market here are some key areas you
need to look at: Keywords, Title Tags, Metatags
and Search Engine Submissions.
When deciding on the perfect keywords that describe your site, research and careful thinking is the key. General words that describe your site are usually just that, general and will not provide the ranking in search engines due to the fact that you will be competing with numerous other sites in the same generalized category. For example, a Construction Management company would want to use words such as project management & design, home building, or building construction consultants as opposed to just construction for their keywords. Building construction consultants yields approximately 2,090,000 results on Google.ca where as construction yields approximately 54,400,000 results on Google.ca. There are free online tools that can assist you in determining the best keywords for your site. One of these can be found at www.submitcorner.com. Or you can always use a traditional thesaurus.
STEP # 2 - Title Tags
A Title Tag is an HTML tag that is displayed at the top of the browser window with text describing the content of the page. These are used by search engines to determine the content of websites and therefore, directly effect your positioning. Be sure to select very clear and accurate title tags to describe each of your pages. Using words such as Main Page or Contact Us will not yield accurate search results for your site. It is more effective to use descriptive words as to the content of the page. For example, a Vacation Planning company's title tag on their Main Home Page could be "Your Vacation Planning Specialists" or "Help Planning the Vacation You Have Always Wanted." The best way to determine what your title tags should be is to think of what people will type into their search engine to find your site.
STEP # 3 - Meta TagsMetatags are HTML code that is searchable by search engines and provides your site description and keywords. Not all search engines access metatags. But it is a good idea to have one prepared as some search engines do require a metatag at the time of submission. If you are not an HTML wiz there are free online tools, such as www.webtoolbench.com/metataggen, that can help you generate your metatag and often creators of these tools will only request that you post a link to their site.
STEP # 4 - Search Engine SubmissionThe most important part of search engine positioning is your submission to those search engines. There are free online tools that will submit your site to hundreds of search engines but it will be much more effective to go to each one separately and verify their submission guidelines. For example on Google it is a simple process of submitting your top level page at http://www.google.ca/addurl.html. Focusing on the top search engines will make better use of your time and effort. The following is a ranking of the top search engines in May 2004 according to OneStat.
|
Search
Engine Global Usage Share |
||||
| Property | May 2004 | Nov. 2003 | May 2003 | Jan. 2003 |
| 56.4% | 56.1% | 55.2% | 54.7% | |
| Yahoo! | 21.1% | 21.5% | 21.7% | 22.1% |
| MSN Search | 9.2% | 9.4% | 9.6% | 9.5% |
| AOL Search | 3.8% | 3.7% | 3.8% | 3.7% |
| Terra Lycos | 2.0% | 2.3% | 2.6% | 2.8% |
| Altavista | 1.7% | 1.9% | 2.2% | 2.5% |
| Ask Jeeves | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.5% | 1.5% |
| Source: OneStat | ||||
There are also many services that can provide small to extravagant packages to improve your positioning. Make sure to get a clearly defined outline and timeline of the results you are to receive for your investment. Often it is just as effective to submit your site without the help of a pricey Search Engine Optimization Service.
These
are only a few of the many aspects that go into
creating a great web site. Check back here regularly
for more articles, tips and secrets to successful
web sites. If you have any questions about this
article please feel free to contact the 3rd-I
Designs team for
a different perspective.
Keep watching for more articles. If you have any questions please feel free to email them to me at patty@3rd-idesigns.com .
Patty-Lynn Oates
the connector
