Innovast Webworks :: What's new in Web design & development

It's tough for any website to make a blanket statement that it is #1 in search engines. What needs to be considered is which keywords are being submitted for the search?

For example, if we input your business name into Google and your Web site has been around for any length of time, you'll find that most likely, you are indeed coming up as number #1 on a consistent basis. Based on this result, I suppose you can justify making such a statement.

However, in order to have your Web site come up at the top of results in searches conducted by your potential customers, you need to determine which search terms (keyword phrases) they are most likely to use when conducting a search. This is one thing we work on when providing regular SEO services for our clients.

Search engines look at words and phrases used within the actual text used on a Web page, in the page titles, and words placed within META Tags (notes inserted into backside coding specifically for search engine use — these are not viewable to the public). Keyword density is a term that describes how often a word is repeated in these areas. This is one thing that search engines consider in order to determine which sites come up for particular search phrases.

What is important to understand with respect to the use of keywords is competition. For example, if we simply input "Connecticut" into Google, our results are likely to be too broad. Putting in your business name may be too specific. Of course, it's possible that someone may key in your business name if they already know of your existence.

The trick to determining which keywords to use is to a delicate balance. We wouldn't want to omit some obviously broad search terms (i.e. Connecticut) because these words are likely to be used in conjunction with other terms. We should determine a set of niche keywords that relate to multiple aspects of your business, and also focus on terms meaningful to consumers within each area. There are helpful tools available online that will reflect the popularity of specific search phrases.

Competitor Analysis. Once a Web site has been optimized for specific keyword phrases, we conduct test searches. If it appears that other sites are consistently displaying above yours in the results for your keyword phrases, Innovast Webworks will look at those sites to surmise what characteristics of those sites could be giving them an edge. If it appears that keywords come into play, we look into their source code, record their site description and keywords and build a list. After going through this process with several sites (not necessarily competitive in nature, but they may be serving the same market or geographic area), we will analyze the list for common words that may not exist within your coding. Going through this process on a regular basis can deliver significant results in improving overall site ranking.

Site popularity and link popularity. In very simplistic terms, this refers to how much traffic your site is getting overall, and the number and quality of the incoming links that are pointing to your site. If other sites consider your site important enough to link to, in the search engine's view, your site is considered important as well. If those links come from sites that have a high level of site popularity themselves, then your content is considered to be of greater value also -- thus your site is given a boost in ranking.

Fresh Content!! Most of all, the greatest advice key to improving search engine placement for your Web sites and to keep people coming back to your Web site is to have fresh content! There are huge rewards for updating your Web site consistently on a regular basis. Beyond just updates alone, also consider adding original content on a weekly (or even better, if you can manage it) on a daily basis. Sites that are updated regularly are cataloged more often by the search engines.

Not only is this what your visitors want, it's also the key to success for search engine acceptance. You will never encounter problems with search engines when you offer lots of original, quality content that is interesting, useful and of high value to your online readers.

Overall, key to success in attracting your target audience is doing research to identify what their needs are and determining their searching behavior. Find out what they are searching for, and then give them what it is that they want.

Are you wondering what kind of content you can place on your Web site that will give your site a boost among competitors in your business? Click here to request our List of 20 Ideas for High Performance Web Site Content.

• For certain informational sites, you can make it easy for others to add a link to your site from their Web site. You might add a page on your Web site with the code for a text link and/or a banner ad that others can simply cut and paste and pass on to their Webmaster for inclusion on their Web sites. These inbound links will improve your search engines rankings.

• Link Exchanges. Another way to gain high quality inbound links is to contact owners of other high profile (but non-competitive) sites serving your market areas. You can request a link as a community resource and in turn give them a link.

Press Releases. Whenever you can make an announcement that may be of interest to the business areas you serve, send out a press release and get your Web addresses published in print.

Visual Exposure. Be sure your Web site address is on business cards and any materials you might leave with a potential customer. You may want to get vinyl lettering for the back window of your vehicles. Any time you have an opportunity to get your Web site address seen by others, take advantage of it!

Avoid Duplicate Content. If you own multiple Web sites, be sure that text used does not appear elsewhere online. This will hurt your search rankings. If you own multiple domain names for a single business, use domain forwarding rather than duplicating content.

Create a sitemap. Having a sitemap ensures that the search engine spiders catalog all of the content within each Web site. Google now has a new service where sitemaps are specifically referenced.

E-Newsletter. Distributing an e-newsletter costs only your time in creating it. Regularly making contact with customers will keep your business in mind. You can highlight an aspect of current business, profile an employee, or advertise special offers. You may also want to include a teaser line for more content that will require a click (visit to your site) to be able to view articles in their entirety. By offering a sign-up questionnaire on your Web site, you'll be able to market to customers based upon their interests and buying habits.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising. Pay Per Click is "paid advertising" but it can compliment search engine optimization work nicely so long as you are measuring the results and you can determine your cost per click and cost per lead.

Google and Yahoo offer popular programs where you can bid on keywords and phrases. When those words are submitted to that search engine, your text ad will appear at the top of the page. The cost can vary, depending upon the popularity of the chosen term(s). The way it works is that you'll leave a set amount of funds in an account with them and as your clicks accrue, the amount of your bid(s) is deleted from the fund.

* You can also make money with Google Adsense. With this program, you blend Google text based ads with your content. Google looks at words used with the pages where you insert their coding in order to post related ad content. You do have the option to filter out competitive and other objectionable sites at your discretion.

February 2007

Valuable Advice on Improving Web Site Performance