Saturday, March 01, 2008
Essentials for Search Engine Optimisation for Your Given Niche Market (Part 2)
In this post I continue with more of these essentials.
Remember that some of the tips I am about to show you by necessity can get a little technical at times. Don’t worry about this, as I will be taking things slowly by spreading the tips over several blog posts and support them with examples where possible. This way you can go at your own pace to understand and apply each tip.
Just a note of caution here – Where I provide examples incorporating html code (html is this is the predominant code used in building web pages) please substitute:-
· a “<” for a ‘#’; and · a “>” for a ‘$’.
I need to do the html code examples this way because of the way blogs react if I did not do this. Basically the blog would actually apply the html code if I didn’t and therefore mess up the whole format of the post and make it almost impossible to read.
Finally, if you are not sure about anything discussed then I suggest you discuss it with your webmaster.
So let’s get started with your next 6 SEO tips:-
Develop Several Pages Focused on Particular Keywords.
Develop specific pages on your site focused on a different keyword or key phrase. For example, if you were a physiotherapist then if you are going to include a range of conditions that you treat or manage, that each of these is on a separate webpage.
It is often a good idea to take five or so keywords that you want to make sure show up on every page. Then take another thirty or so keywords, and distribute them throughout the rest of the site in groups of three to five. That way, every page will contain your major keywords, and each individual page will specialize in a “subtopic.”
Submit Your Webpage URL to Search Engines.
Next, submit your homepage URL to the important Web search engines that robotically index the Web.
Look for a link on the search engine for "Add Your URL." In the US, the most used search engines are: Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask.com.
Below, you will find links to these four search engines which will allow you to submit your site:
Google: http://www.google.com/addurl/
Yahoo: http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html
MSN: http://search.msn.com.sg/docs/submit.aspx
Ask.com: http://about.ask.com/en/docs/about/webmasters.shtml#18
In order to actually submit a site to Google, you have to fill in the required areas, like so:
You are then taken directly to a thank you page. Couldn’t be much simpler than that, now could it?!
The nice things about submitting to some of these bigger search engines is that some of these feed the smaller engines and other portal sites. After all, who can index websites better than the Google’s and Yahoos of the world?
Also, just a warning: It's a waste of money to pay someone to submit your site to hundreds of search engines. Avoid registering with FFA (Free for All pages) and other link farms. They don't work well, bring you lots of spam e-mails, and could cause you to be penalized by the search engines. We'll talk about submitting to directories under "Linking Strategies" below. If your page is already indexed by a search engine, don't re-submit it unless you've made significant changes; the search engine spider will come back and revisit it soon anyway.
Promote Your Local Business on the Internet.
These days many people search for local businesses on the Internet.To make sure they find you, try to include key address details on as many pages as possible.
For example, you might include the street address, post/zip code, phone number and the names of 5-10 surrounding suburbs your business serves on pages such as Home, Location, About Us, products/services and your Contact Us page.
If you can, include place names in the title tag, too. When you seek links to your site, a local business should get links from local businesses with place names in the communities you serve and complementary businesses in your industry nationwide.
For example, take the keyword phrase you want to rank for the most, like XYZ Dog Training School, combine it with a bar ( ) and then put the location of my business. It will look like this in code:
#title$ Dog Training School – dog obedience training for your dog Is Our Specialty Melbourne#/title$
Then, when someone agrees to link to your site, always make sure they use the linking text, “Melbourne Dog Training School.” It might sound trivial, but if you want local traffic (and a full waiting list for your business) it is a must.
Linking Strategies
Links to your site from other sites bring additional traffic. But since Google and other major search engines consider the number of incoming links to your website ("link popularity") as an important factor in ranking, more links will help you rank higher in the search engines, too.Google has introduced a 10-point scale called Page Rank (10 is the highest rank) to indicate the quantity and quality of incoming links. All links, however, are not created equal. Links from popular information hubs will help your site rank higher than those from low traffic sites.
Basically, what you are looking for is a high Page Rank (PR) site that will give you a link. If a PR 5 site links to you, it almost guarantees a Google spider will show up at least once every other day. The more links you get, the more Google and Yahoo will come to visit!
One very useful tool when deciding which sites to ask or buy links off of, is the Google Toolbar located at toolbar.google.com. It has a Page Rank meter which will tell you what the page you're on ranks. That way, you can distinguish the site’s popularity at the drop of a hat!
Submit Your Site to Key Directories
Adding your website to a directory, and hence linking back to your website will help your ranking -- and get you traffic. Be sure to list your site in the free Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.com), overseen by volunteer human editors. This hierarchical directory provides content feeds to all the major search engines. Plus it provides a link to your site from an information hub that Google deems important. But don't be impatient and resubmit or you'll go to the end of the queue. It could take a while before you hear anything back from them.
Yahoo! Directory is another important directory to be listed in, though their search results recently haven't been featuring their own directory as prominently. Real humans will read (and too often, pare down) your 200-character sentence, so be very careful and follow their instructions (http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/).
Hint: Use somewhat less than the maximum number of characters allowable, so you don't have wordy text that will tempt the Yahoo! editor to begin chopping.
Business sites require a $299 annual recurring fee for Yahoo! Express to have your site considered for inclusion within seven business days (http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/busexpress.html). Other directories to consider might be About.com and Business.com.
They key is to find big directories that are well established with the search engines. Generally, a search engine spider will sit on these sites all day long, going from one link to another. The reason being a human editor has to approve each of the sites before they get in, meaning that there is less of a chance that there will be garbage on the sites! So, start out submitting to these, and move on to the more specialized directories.
Submit Your Site to Industry Sites and Specialized Directories.
You may find some directories focused on particular industries, such as education or finance. You probably belong to various trade associations that feature member sites. Ask for a link. Even if you have to pay something for a link, it may help boost your Page Rank. Beware of directories that solicit you for "upgraded listings." Unless a directory is widely used in your field, your premium ad won't help -- but the link itself will help boost your Page Rank and hence your search engine ranking. Marginal directories come and go very quickly, making it hard to keep up. Don't try to be exhaustive here.
The key is to have a good mix between bigger, well rounded directories such as Yahoo and About, as well as the smaller – more niche directories. Between the two types, you will get the best of the linking sites page rank, and good targeted traffic.
Until next time, as always I wish you every success with your business.
Kev
http://www.biztoolz.com.au/
info@biztoolz.com.au
Labels: marketing on internet
