Publication: SoHo News and Tips
How to Get to the Top Of Search-Engine Results | |
Subscribe FREE to SoHo News and Tips by clicking here.
SoHo NEWS & TIPS
Helping You Make the Most of Your Small Office/Home Office
SoHoTIPS.com
------------------------------------------------------------
Greetings,
Did you know there are some simple steps to take that can
improve the relevance of your Web site for search engines?
In today's issue you will learn of some methods to get to
the top of search engine results.
Also, be sure to check out our new SoHo News Forum by click-
ing on the link below!
Best,
Mandi
P.S. You can discuss this issue or any other topic in the
new SoHo News & Tips forum. Check it out here...
SoHo News & Tips Forum
~~~~~~~~~~~
The Drain Buster... Unclogs Drains & Toilets BETTER & FASTER...
It's time to unleash the power... the power to blast away hair,
debris, grease, food and more from your sinks, toilets or bath-
tubs.
The powerful, pump-activated Drain Buster plunger blasts to
quickly unclog drains without using harmful chemicals. Comes
with 2 interchangeable heads that let you unclog any job.
Great for your home, office, RV or boat. And remember there's
no chemicals to damage your skin or clothing. Much more effective
than an old fashion plunger.
THE BEST PART IS THE SAVINGS... You can get The Drain Buster
for 1/2 of the TV price. But we won't stop there... need more
than one? Then your price goes down to $7.99 each. Check out
the revolutionary Drain Buster by visiting:
The Drain Buster Ends Clogs Fast
*
NEWS & TIDBITS
- Dell recalls 4M+ laptop batteries, due to a
potential fire hazard...
- Email marketing firm Lsoft ordered to pay $5.1M
to a former software engineer for copyright
infringement by continuing to illegally sell code
after the two sides had parted ways...
- The U.S.'s third largest outsourcer, Computer
Sciences Corp, is slashing 1,800 American jobs, but
adding more than 2,000 overseas...
- Rumor has it San Francisco-based Posit Science
laid off more then 60 employees, and have also
shutdown their biggest science study...
- CA Inc. posts a 64% drop in income, and announces
additional layoffs...
- AOL says a convicted spammer may have hidden
half a million dollars in gold and platinum on his
parents' property...
- AOL LLC announced it has acquired GameDaily
(gamedaily.com), one of the Internet's leading
independent video game publications, from Gigex,
Inc...
- Estee Lauder Cos. said profit fell for the fifth
straight quarter as the company spent money to
eliminate jobs...
GopherCentral's Question of the Week
Do you believe that embryonic stem cell research should be
legal?
Question of the Week
*
BRIEFCASE/LAPTOP BAG
Normal Price: $19.99
DEAL PRICE: $5.99
Plain and simple this is one heck of a deal. Discounted
below cost, you'll want to pick up a couple. Makes a
great gift. Check it out by visiting:
Briefcase/Laptop Bag
*
How to Get to the Top Of Search-Engine Results
By ALAN S. HOROWITZ
A television commercial was once the biggest
marketing coup for a small business. Today, getting
your company listed in the first page of a search
on Yahoo or Google can transform an also-ran into
a front-runner.
For Baldwin/Welsh & Parker Insurance Agency in
Wayland, Mass., the Web has become the firm's best
source of sales leads, outside of direct referrals,
because a high listing in search results attracts
quality prospects.
"There's not a big downside if we're not listed
high, but there's a big upside if we are," says
the firm's principal, Dave D'Orlando.
Businesses can take some simple steps to improve
the relevance of a Web site for search engines --
and traffic and hopefully business -- without
spending lots of money on search-engine optimiza-
tion.
Search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN send out
spiders (also called bots or crawlers) to scour
the Web and retrieve certain information from
sites that is then analyzed using complex
algorithms.
The spiders look for keywords that searchers tend
to use, as well as how often they appear on a Web
page. That is called word density, and generally
you want 3% to 5% of the words (or phrases) on a
page related to words people use for searching,
recommends Dave Knight, manager and co-owner of
dMedia LLC, a search-engine optimization and Web
development agency in Park City, Utah.
If a page has 300 words, the keywords or phrases
searchers would likely use should appear nine to
15 times on that page. For example, an auto-repair
shop in Phoenix would add the keywords "auto,"
"cheap repairs," "24/7" and "Phoenix" to its home
page to draw potential customers looking for low
prices or late-night service.
Mr. D'Orlando focuses on selling home insurance in
the town where his agency is located, so the phrase
"Wayland, Massachusetts" appears in the title bar
(the very top of Web browser), under the company's
logo, and in the text of the firm's home page. The
word "Wayland" also mentioned one more time.
"If you are looking for home insurance in Wayland,
Massachusetts we would rank pretty high," says Mr.
D'Orlando. The firm's site comes up second in
Google's results for that search. However, those
looking for home insurance who just type in
"Massachusetts," will not likely find Mr.
D'Orlando's site among the top results. That suits
Mr. D'Orlando's strategy of specifically looking
for home owners in the Wayland area.
The quantity of keywords counts as well.
"The most important thing is to make sure you have
plenty of relevant content on your site," says Lynn
Pilewski, owner of 1 Stop Sites, Taylors, S.C., a
Web site and graphic design agency which created
Mr. D'Orlando's Web site. "Be as in-depth in
content as you can."
It's best to place the text in HTML code, which
search-engine spiders can read, and not as Web
graphics, which spiders can't read and won't boost
the relevancy.
"The more pages the better, as long the content is
relevant. Search engines love content," says Eric
V. Melin, president of president of SpiderSplat
Consulting, a search-engine marketing firm in
Boston.
Continued below....
*
APPLE CIDER VINEGAR PILLS
Normal Price: $9.99
DEAL PRICE: $1.99 per bottle
The #1 ALL NATURAL Diet Product For The Last 50 Years
WILL Help YOU Lose Weight....
The best-selling and most proven All Natural diet aid
available. For the last 50 years hundreds of thousands
of people have successfully lost weight with Apple Cider
Vinegar....
Now you can get this Amazing supplement in an easy and
convenient tablet form. No more bad tasting liquids. And
its even more concentrated in the tablet form. Plus, it
is guaranteed to work for you. If you don't lose the weight
you want with Amazing Apple Cider Vinegar just return it
for a refund. It's JUST $1.99 for 60 Tablets. Visit:
Lose Weight Now
*
Get Results
Quick tips to improve your site's ranking in
search-engine results:
• Add keywords
• Use metatags
• Get other sites to link to your page
• Be an authority
• Be patient
Also use metatags, which are hidden data written
into a site's HTML that provide information about
a page, such as its title and description. Spiders
often rely on these metatags to index pages, notes
Russell Klein, director of emerging technology
research at Aberdeen Group, Boston.
A Web site's authority is determined by how many
other sites link to it.
"The number one factor in most algorithms is how
important or authoritative you appear to others,"
says Mr. Melin. "If you sell books online, you
want to get as many people as possible to link to
you."
The more prestigious the site linking to yours,
the better. "If Amazon is linking to Joe's book-
store, Joe becomes more prominent," notes Mr.
Melin. There is reflected glory when you are
linked to from a well known site, and your site's
importance to search engines goes up, he says.
How do you get other sites to link to yours?
Respond to postings on popular blogs so they
mention your Web page, recommends Aberdeen's Mr.
Klein. Google, in particular, searches blogs for
references to other sites, he says.
Contact Web masters of relevant sites and ask for
a link-up. SpiderSplat's Mr. Melin says you should
go to vendors, partners, clients, customers --
anyone you can think who has a site relevant to
yours -- and arrange reciprocal links.
IFREC Real Estate Schools, Orlando, Fla. has
reciprocal arrangements with about 50 real-estate
brokers. Robin Shumate, vice president of business
affairs, says the brokers' Web sites refer
potential students to IFREC and, in return, IFREC
refers students to the brokers so they know who is
hiring. The school's site also is linked to from
RealtyU, a national network of real-estate schools.
Ms. Shumate says these links help boost IFREC to
the top, or near the top, of search rankings.
She says hits on IFREC's Web site increased 37% in
2004, 39% in 2005 and are expected to increase 35%
to 39% this year. While she can't quantify exactly
how much of this is a result of search-engine
optimization, she believes much of it is.
Another way to increase your credibility to search
engines is to get mentioned in articles or have
press releases related to your business distributed
by news services.
"Any way that you can get as many possible Web
sites in the world pointing to yours increases your
chances of ranking highly," says Mr. Klein.
Higher rankings do not come immediately, no matter
what you do. There may be weeks between visits by
spiders to your Web site. Also, the algorithms
used by the search engines are constantly changing,
and that may call for some tweaking to a Web site.
Experts say it may take as long as six to nine
months to move near the top of a search.
Beware the search-engine consultant that promises
to boost search rankings quickly. "If a company
promises that you will be at a certain ranking
within a certain amount of time, run from them.
It's not possible," warns Ms. Pilewski. Of course,
if you have a bizarre search term -- Part Number
2438, for example -- you may quickly move to the
top. But, generally, it takes time and work to
get to the first page of rankings.
DID YOU KNOW?
The overhead associated with an internal sales force is
substantially higher than with distributors. Those overhead
costs eat into your profits every month, whether the sales
are there to support that overhead or not.
So what did you think about this issue? Drop me a line and let
me know at mailto:mandi@gophercentral.com
------------------------------------------------------------
Archive link:
SoHo News & Tips Archives
************************************************************
End of SoHo News & Tips http://www.SoHoTIPS.com
Copyright 2006 NextEra Media. All rights reserved.
 E-Mail this issue
Subscribe FREE to SoHo News and Tips by clicking here.
|