Etips is a publication of:
Your Guide to Professional Web
Site Design and Development
| Issue: |
#138
|
| Date: |
May 20, 2003 |
| Circulation: |
30,460 |
| Publisher: |
Shelley Lowery |
| Email: |
admin@web-source.net |
Hello,
Welcome to this week's edition of Etips!
For those who didn't receive their copy of Etips last week, the server was
having some major issues. You can find it
here.
Due to popular demand, Etips is now in HTML format! Not to worry, it's still
the same publication, just a new format. What's more, each issue will be
archived for future reference.
For those unable to view HTML formatted emails, the publication will also
be available online.
In today's edition of Etips, I will be featuring part six of our ten part
series, "The Birth of a Professional Web Site," and focus on preparing your
pages for the Search Engines.
If you missed any of the previous articles in this series, you can find them
at the following web addresses:
The Birth of a Professional Web Site Part One
The
Learning Process
The Birth of a Professional Web Site Part Two
Your
Strategic Plan
The Birth of a Professional Web Site Part Three
Basic
Guidelines
The Birth of a Professional Web Site Part Four
Essential
Components
The Birth of a Professional Web Site Part Five
Essential
Tools
I hope you'll enjoy this week's edition of Etips.
To Your Success!
The Birth of a Professional Web Site Part
Six Search Engine
Preparation
An important part of developing a
successful web site is attracting a steady stream of targeted traffic.
A significant amount of web site traffic originates from the major Search
Engines. A Search Engine is a web site that indexes web pages. These sites
run software programs called "Spiders" or "Robots" that continuously crawl
the Internet in search of new web pages to index.
When you visit a Search Engine and you're looking for something in particular,
you type in a few words that best describe what you're looking for. These
words are known as keywords. The Search Engine will return a list of web
sites that are most relevant to your keywords.
When a Search Engine indexes a web page, it scans the page in search of specific
keywords. The pages that rank high when a search is returned are the pages
that are most relevant to the search query.
If your page doesn't rank in the top 10 or 20 results when doing a keyword
search at the Search Engines, your target audience won't be able to find
you.
When designing your web pages, you must specifically optimize each page of
your web site. Each page should target one specific subject and be optimized
with keywords that best describe the subject.
When designing your web pages, you must specifically optimize each page of
your web site. Each page should target one specific subject and be optimized
with keywords that best describe the subject.
Optimizing your web pages will include
all of the following:
• Selecting the most relevant keywords for each page
• Placing the META keyword and description tags within the
head section of each page
• Using your primary keywords as your page title
• Placing keywords within your image ALT tags
• Placing your primary keywords within heading tags
• Using your primary keywords as image names
• Using your primary keywords as page names for hyperlinks
• Using keywords within your body text
Keywords/Keyword Phrases
A keyword is a word that best describes your web page. For example, if your
web page is focusing on dogs, your best keyword will be "dogs."
A keyword phrase is two or more words that best describe your web page. If
your web page is focusing on grooming a dog, your best keyword phrase will
be "dog grooming."
When optimizing your web pages, you should concentrate on just a few keyword
phrases for each page. These keyword phrases should directly relate to your
subject. Avoid using general one-word keywords, as you definitely won't rank
high in the Search Engines.
When you begin optimizing your web pages, each page should be optimized for
a different primary keyword phrase. For example, if you're selling dog grooming
products, your main page would of course be optimized for dog grooming products.
However, you might have another page that targets dog grooming tables. And,
another that targets dog grooming kit. And, another that targets dog grooming
scissors. See how that works? A highly targeted keyword phrase will attract
highly targeted traffic.
The key to ranking high in the Search
Engines and driving highly targeted traffic to your site is to select highly
targeted, product specific keyword phrases that are less competitive and
less generalized. You don't want to target every little possible keyword;
you want to focus on your primary keyword phrases for each page.
Your first step towards optimizing your web pages will be to download a great
little tool called Good
Keywords. This is a free software program that will enable you to type
in a specific keyword and it will return a list of keyword phrases.
As the competition for highly popular keywords is fierce, you will significantly
increase your chances of receiving a high ranking in the Search Engines by
targeting the less popular keyword phrases. And in turn, significantly increase
your traffic.
For example, if your web page focuses on grooming a dog, you would type the
general keywords "dog grooming" into the Good Keywords search box. The search
would return a variety of more targeted keyword phrases. The keyword phrases
that should be selected are those that are a little less popular, yet much
more targeted.
Selecting the right keyword phrases is the first step towards ranking high
in the Search Engines.
(Continued in part seven)
Copyright © Shelley Lowery 2003.
About the
Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the highly acclaimed ebook series,
Web Design Mastery -- An eight volume (500+
pages) in-depth guide to professional web design. Web Design Mastery is being
hailed as the "Bible" for professional web design.
http://www.webdesignmastery.com |
|
| Tip of
the Week |
 |
In order to create a steady
stream of traffic to your website, give your visitors a reason to visit and
continue to visit in the future. You must provide your visitors with fresh
content on a continual basis.
Today's tip is an excerpt from the highly acclaimed
Web Design Mastery series.
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