Consultant
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As far as an SEO standpoint, yes, your web site has many issues that is keeping it from gaining good rankings on the search engines organic side. Search engine optimization is making a site more relevent to the search engine spiders so that you out rank other web sites.
I suggest that if you are serious about your business, then you begin with a web site analysis that can tell all the factors that are limiting your web site. Some issues seen:
Content
* One of the biggest mistakes I've seen is Web site copy
that's written with *just* the search engines in mind
-and a strong marketing message is nowhere to be found.
Savvy search engine optimization writing satisfies two
very demanding masters - the search engines and your
prospects. If you write your copy *exclusively* for the
search engines, and your text reads like a laundry list of
keyphrases, you'll lose your customers the moment they hit
your site. Why spend thousands of dollars in money (or
time) for great rankings, when your site doesn't convert
buyers into sellers?
Yes, it's crucial to create keyphrase-rich copy for the
search engines. But, don't forget that your copy should
blast your benefits, build rapport, and immediately tell
your prospects, "what's in it for them." This winning
combination of spider-happy and prospect-friendly text
will help you get the high rankings you want - and convert
that targeted traffic into paying clients!
Heather Lloyd-Martin with The Rank Write Roundtable
* Creating Web pages that are void of artistic quality or
meaningful content is a mistake.
This is seen most frequently with machine-generated
doorway pages. The problem with these pages is that while
some of them may rank very well, they are often so
visually unappealing or so lacking in content that when a
surfer reaches one of these pages, they simply use the
back button on their browser to return to the search
engine results.
To be successful in search engine optimization, you must
not only be able to achieve high ranking for your clients,
but you must also be able to develop Web pages that will
retain a viewer's interest when they reach the site.
J.K. Bowman with Spider Food
* In all of our efforts to write well for the robots, we
must remember to also write well for the human brain.
Remember that the human brain likes the appropriate use of
colour. The human brain likes text broken down into
manageable chunks or clusters that are easy to read and
absorb. Write your copy using all of the important SEO
principles but be sure to strike a balance. With practice,
you can build pages that are content rich and compelling
to read. You can create projects that are pleasing to look
at and still score exceptionally well.
John Alexander with Beyond-SEO.com
Conversion to Sales
* Remember to try and look beyond SEO. I learned early that
it is not enough to simply have massive traffic coming to
your clients' pages. You must also deliver value to your
visitor and compel them to take action. Although this has
more to do with getting action from your visitors than
traffic-building itself, I think it is still an important
issue or error that is far too easily overlooked. My
client's business does not really begin online until a
visitor responds to their online experience. Building
traffic is wonderful, but don't forget to make the most of
the traffic you already have by giving visitors a
"non-threatening reason to act now."
Converting visitors to customers may not be on the agenda
as an SEO (we're always so busy thinking traffic), but
once you start examining methods to convert your client's
visitors to customers, you'll start to deliver additional
value to your clients and you'll find a full consultancy
approach does not go unrewarded.
John Alexander with Beyond-SEO.com
Doorway Pages
* Believing doorways don't work or will get you banned is
a mistake.
The fact is that every page on your Web site that ranks
well for any reason is acting as a "doorway" to your Web
site. Many people mistakenly believe that everyone will
arrive at their site through the home page. Do a focused
search on Google, AltaVista, or another major engine, and
you'll almost always find matches that are not home pages.
In addition, each search engine ranks pages differently.
Therefore, you may have a page about Product X with 400
words on it. That page may rank well for "search engine A"
that likes to see 400 words on a top ranking page, but it
isn't going to do well for "search engine B" that is
looking for 800 words on a top ranking page.
Lastly, some of the same search engines that condemn the
term doorway page include tutorials or FAQ's on how to
create a page to rank well in their index. True, these
tutorials are often too non-specific to be of great help.
However, it confirms that optimizing each of your pages
to rank better is not something the engines inherently
object to.
Brent Winters with FirstPlace Software
* Do not allow pages that you are in any way paying for to
be on anything other than your own URL. If you do not own
them then the traffic is only being rented and can be taken
away very quickly. Technology is not a valid reason to
have pages remotely hosted, the motivation is control.
Bruce Clay with BruceClay.com
Keywords
* Don't go after generic keywords. Generic words are not
how the average person really queries a search engine. I
have found a user will type in a generic or single word
like "animals," then realize what they asked for was too
broad in scope. They have to narrow it down, like "animal
pictures," "baby animal pictures," and the list goes on.
If you can just focus on very specific key phrases, you
will have more success in the long term, hold a position
longer, have less competition for focused phrases, and
find that users will stay on the site longer because your
site answered their questions.
Ginette Degner with ServiceBrokers.com
* Don't optimize for the wrong search phrases. At least
optimize for phrases that you know people are using to
find your site, even if they aren't the most popular ones.
Bill Gentry with The Selling Source
* Failing to "identify" and "theme-base" your most
promising keyword phrase(s) is a mistake.
All keyword phrases are not the same. Perhaps the best way
I can explain this is to use a hypothetical example. Let's
say that you are an attorney who practices only appellate
law. As you build your Web site and establish its "theme,"
how will you define the Web site's identity?
Here are just two keyword phrase possibilities that you
might consider for a lawyer who only handles appeals.
appeals lawyer
appellate attorney
Both of these phrases are right on target, and you would
naturally have pages optimized for both combinations. But
when deciding your Web site's theme, which one do you
focus in on?
The phrase "appeals lawyer" is about 7 times more popular
than "appellate attorney." But if you failed to do your
research in advance before building the site, you probably
would not know that.
Linking
* A common mistake is not using text links in addition to
graphic buttons, image maps and Flash menus, therefore
preventing spiders from crawling the site.
Bill Gentry with The Selling Source
* Don't submit before you establish some external links.
Some engines, such as HotBot, are known to drop pages
after a couple weeks if they find no other domains
linking to them. Google has also stated that it will not
index a site that does not have at least one external
link pointing to it.
Sometimes a link from a major directory such as Open
Directory, LookSmart, or Yahoo! will suffice. However, you
should also try to trade links with other Web sites that
are complimentary to yours, then submit the URLs of those
pages that are linking to you. If you can submit the page
of one of these external links and let the search engine
spider find your site on its own, you'll stand to rank
much higher than if you'd submitted your site directly.
The drawback is that it may take a bit longer for the
spider to get around to indexing you.
If you're in a big hurry, buy a second domain and put some
unique content on it and cross-link your two sites. To
give the impression of independence, it's best if you host
the two domains at separate hosting services. You might
also vary the spelling of the information you submit when
you purchase the domains or use a valid PO box on one and
your street address for the other. This can further the
illusion to an automated spider that the two sites have
different owners.
Brent Winters with FirstPlace Software
META and Other Tags
* Do not use the same tags and text on every page. Do not
use excessively long tags even if the limits "by the book"
say you can (i.e., do not stuff keywords into the ALT tags
of 1-by-1 pixel images and expect a robot to consider them.
Common sense should prevail.)
Bruce Clay with BruceClay.com
* Probably the biggest single error that people make when
they are first learning the fine art of SEO is the
emphasis they might place on the importance of the keyword
META tag. Just because there is room to put 150 or more
keywords into this META tag does not mean that it is
really the wisest thing to do. Of the three most popular
META tags, the keyword tag is probably the least
influential. I have created many top scoring pages with
very limited use of the keyword tag. It's best to think
in terms of themes when building keywords, and I would not
recommend repeating any word. Keep your most important
words up front, and some of the best results are achieved
with no punctuation or commas as opposed to the old
approach of separating every word with a comma.
John Alexander with Beyond-SEO.com
* META tags won't solve all your problems.
In the press, you've probably seen one of many tutorials
on how to create the perfect META tags so the search
engines can find you. What they don't tell you is that the
majority of the major search engines don't even read META
tags anymore. The ones that do read them tend to give them
little importance when deciding how your page will rank.
Some of the "experts" will tell you to simply include your
keywords in your title and META tags and to create a Web
site with quality content. The search engines will then
naturally flock to you and rank your site near the top.
Certainly title tags and content quality are important,
but don't make the mistake that this is all you need to do
to be found on the Web today.
Brent Winters with FirstPlace Software
* One of the biggest errors I ever made was thinking that
the title tag is just a place for putting keywords. I was
just a beginner, learning the craft back then, but even
today there are so many SEO's trying to get all the
mileage they can out of injecting the title tag with
keyword combinations. One day I discovered another
advantage of title tag development, which rendered
something much more powerful. Go ahead, optimize for a
search phrase right up front, but then use the remainder
of your title to deliver a message. Use your title to
mention your site benefits, make an attention grabbing
statement, offer a solution, ask a compelling question or
do anything to set yourself apart from those other pages.
Whatever you do, don't merely settle for a cluster of
keywords stuffed together. Use your title wisely to best
SEO advantage and begin to grab people's attention.
John Alexander with Beyond-SEO.com
Myths and Hype
* Don't allow yourself to be hypnotized by the search
engine optimization experts' (both real and self
proclaimed) knack of wagging their index finger and
threatening you with ranking penalizations or total index
bans if you don't adhere to their particular brand of
positioning techniques. Bear in mind that bans are pretty
rare and even if they do occur, more often than not, they
will relate to one search engine only -they will never
happen right across the board. Instead, chose a flexible
approach and be prepared to work not just a single domain
but preferably scores of them. This will spread the risk,
boost your coverage, allow for bolder experiments, and
will to some extent cover your back should something go
wrong.
Ralph Tegtmeier, a.k.a. Fantomaster
Online Marketing
* The biggest mistake I see people making is assuming that
the search engines will produce traffic if they hit all
the right buttons. I've known sites with 1500 pages of
quality content that only produce a few hundred referrals
a day from search engines. Search engine optimization is
only one aspect of a well-rounded promotion campaign. That
campaign should slowly broaden into more traditional
avenues. Search engines aren't the formula for long term
site success - it's up to your site to produce repeat
visitors.
Brett Tabke with Webmaster World
* Don't fail to develop an overall strategy of how to
market your site. Don't look at it engine by engine but as
a complete plan to make your site better known. Look
especially at the order in which you submit your site to
the engines.
Gary Woods with Santa Barbara Properties
Optimization
* Don't buy into the myth that SE optimization no longer
works.
There's no question search engine optimization has become
more challenging over the years. Many critics have taken
this and declared that search engine marketing is no
longer effective. However, research from third parties
like the recent NPD Group study refute this idea. The NPD
Group study demonstrated that search engine listings
result in six times more sales on average than an
equivalent number of visitors from banners ads
(http://www.overture.com/d/about/advertisers/slab.jhtml).
That means visitor to visitor, you'll make six times more
money on search engine listings than banners.
So don't fall victim to the biggest mistake: the
assumption that search engine marketing doesn't work
anymore or it's a battle you simply can't win. The key is
to arm yourself with the right knowledge combined with the
right tools so you will win.
Brent Winters with FirstPlace Software
* Don't try to make one page work for all search engines.
Engine specific pages are generally much more effective.
Rocky Rawstern
* Focusing on page optimization only is a big mistake.
Research shows that there is more to good ranking than an
optimized page there's quantity and quality of inbound
links, age and stability of the Web site, simplicity of
the code (HTML 2.0), and more.
David Johnson and Annam Manthiram with Position Research
* Do not get rankings and then "leave them alone."
Rankings erode if not maintained. Competition always wants
your spot, and they are ruthless. Search engines change
without notice. What is today yours is easily lost if you
are not paying attention.
Bruce Clay with BruceClay.com
* Don't be inhibited: search engine optimization is
possible and it's actually being done by thousands of
people every day. So there's really no reason why you
shouldn't be able to pull it off, too. However, don't be
surprised if you meet five search engine optimization
experts only to be confronted with six mutually exclusive
opinions! So, do your homework - there's no easy push
button way out, just like there's no free lunch anywhere.
Ralph Tegtmeier, a.k.a. Fantomaster
Outsourcing - On The Avenues is a great outsource :-)
* Don't wait until the end of the Web development process
to bring in an SEO consultant.
How many times have we seen this? A prospective client
calls you on the telephone. They've spent thousands of
dollars on their Web site and are ready to launch. And now
that everything is "finished," they want to make sure the
Web site ranks in the top ten.
Wups!! This is simply backward. The SEO consultant should
have been brought in at the beginning of the project. That
is not to say that the consultant can't still work "magic"
on the site. But backward engineering is never the most
best option, and it is usually more expensive.
J.K. Bowman with Spider Food
Patience
* A common mistake that I see in the SEO world is people
tweaking their optimized pages without really giving them
a chance to see what they can do. Along the same lines are
those that make changes to their optimization just because
rankings drop in any given month.
It sometimes take months for search engines to index newly
optimized pages. Furthermore, it can take a long time for
those pages to rank highly once they're in an engine's
database. If you've done what you're supposed to do, i.e.,
chose realistic relevant keyphrases and created great
keyword-rich content with the titles and tags to match,
then it's crucial to have faith in your work and let it
stand. It's easy to get scared and think that you somehow
messed up when you don't immediately see high rankings.
However, trying to keep up with algorithm changes and the
like will just end up driving you crazy.
It's normal for rankings to go up and down in any given
month. Don't worry about it! The search engines all want
to see the same thing: Web sites that deliver relevant
content to people's search queries. If you are confident
that your site does this, it WILL rank high, but you've
got to give it time. Time to get indexed, and then time to
"age" in the indices. Also time for other sites to find
yours and link to it, and time for the engines to determine
its click-through popularity. It's actually very rare that
a good SE optimizer will need to "tweak" their
optimization, in my opinion.
Jill Whalen
* Be patient. It's not 1996 anymore. Infoseek has shuffled
off into cyberspace. Changes you make to your site may not
be reflected in ratings for several months or more.
Gary Woods with Santa Barbara Properties
Research
* Don't be afraid to try new, intuitive ideas, excluding
spam, of course. You never know how effective something
will be until you try it.
Rocky Rawstern
* Don't make the mistake of not staying informed. I find
so much of the information about optimization on the Web
to be deprecated. Some articles were written 3-4 years ago
and sound like they should be applied today. Optimization
and techniques change some times from month to month. A
good newsletter subscription and forum reading can help
you stay informed of the latest developments. What worked
in 2000 isn't necessarily working in 2001.
Brett Tabke with Webmaster World
Spamming
* Don't participate in link farms. A massive accumulation
of links without accompanying explanatory body text and
effective link text is downgraded by many search engines.
More often that not, FFAs (Free For All links) are not
relevant, which can actually penalize a site's ranking.
David Johnson and Annam Manthiram with Position Research
* Spam: don't do it! While it may not bite you immediately,
it will eventually . . . Rocky Rawstern
* Don't use hidden text or stuff your META tags. Search
engines check for contrast between text and background as
well as repeated words and will penalize or exclude a site
from rankings if such techniques are detected.
David Johnson and Annam Manthiram with Position Research
* Do not spam. There are "tricks" that can be used to
insert keywords and they either will not work or they will
get you punished.
Bruce Clay with BruceClay.com
Submissions
* Don't forget to document everything. It is of the utmost
importance to document every submission, especially the
paid ones. Without that tracking number, you are stuck
resubmitting and paying all over again. Make a note of the
e-mail used and all other information given. Keep notes on
dates you made changes and submission times.
Ginette Degner with ServiceBrokers.com
* A top mistake is not following the recommended course of
action for the Yahoo! directory. Don't play games with
this directory. Follow the rules!
Rocky Rawstern
* Don't "assume" your site is ready. I've seen so many
sites that were put up in a couple of weeks where the
authors thought they should be freely added into
directories. It takes a long time to develop a
professional, successful site.
Brett Tabke with Webmaster World
* Don't believe that bulk submitting is the path to riches.
We all want to find that perfect product or service where
we enter our domain name and then press one button and the
traffic magically starts to flood into our Web site.
You've seen the advertisements, such as "Submit to 3500
Web sites for just $79." The reality is that the majority
of those sites you're submitting to are set up for the
sole purpose of collecting e-mail addresses from people
like you so they can send you junk mail.
Even if you do land your site in some of the real search
engines (there aren't that many), those bulk submission
services generally do little to nothing to optimize your
rankings. You'll simply be buried at the bottom of the
results with the millions of other Web sites.
Brent Winters with FirstPlace Software
Technology
* Don't use site technology that is not compatible with
search engines. Many sites are being built with no concept
of search engine spiders. I was just at a site yesterday
with a six-figure building budget. It was mostly built out
of dynamic content that can not be indexed by search
engines. You can't compete in the search engines until you
get your site listed.
Brett Tabke with Webmaster World
* Don't create sites with virtually no text content,
whether they are using mostly images, Flash or a
combination of both. A good search engine friendly Web
site can be created using text, images and various
multimedia extras, like Flash and streaming video, as long
as they are all carefully integrated.
Bill Gentry with The Selling Source
* Regarding frames, some engines say they will index
framed sites, others won't say, some do then decide they
don't (or can't). Save the pain and don't create a site
using a frame set. Dynamic URLs containing $,?.%, &, often
will not be indexed by the engines. Using too many
graphics weighs down load time and does nothing for the
engines as they can't crawl images yet. JavaScript
excessive code pushes content down.
Marshall Simmonds with About.com
* Don't fill your Web site with spider stumbling blocks.
Unfortunately, some of the Web's best technology can be a
spider nightmare. Complex JavaScript, drop down menus,
image maps, Flash, framesets, Java applets, plus
dynamically generated Web pages all present significant
problems to a search engine spider.
J.K. Bowman
* Do not use "bleeding-edge" technology that the search
engines do not understand. It often prevents pages from
being indexed at all, and certainly confuses the real
content. KISS is best when dealing with the search engines.
Bruce Clay with BruceClay.com
Traffic and Traffic Analysis
* Don't forget to analyze your log files. Examine your
logs to see where people are entering your site and make
those entry portals accessible to the rest of the site and
not a dead end.
Gary Woods with Santa Barbara Properties
* Myth about site analysis: Hits are irrelevant.
An error or myth today revolves around the usage of the
term "HITS." This term "HITS" is often used synonymously
with "VISITORS." It is extremely important to understand
that a hit is not a visitor. A hit is basically triggered
as any action from the server. In other words, it might be
1 hit for a page to load. Another hit for a logo to load.
Perhaps a menu cluster of 10 buttons (10 graphics) could
render 10 more hits. In short, just one visitor could
generate multiple hits for each page they view. When you
are examining traffic overall, your #1 concern should be
with your "visitor count," sometimes identified as "user
sessions." Focus should not be on the "hit count." Our
attention should always be on actual visitors (or shall
we say, potential shoppers).
John Alexander with Beyond-SEO.com
Web Design
* This is more of a pet peeve... bad coding. With the
availability of html validators (some are even built in
with editors), this is something that should never happen.
Bill Gentry with The Selling Source
* Don't forget about the importance of good, clean
navigation. Look over someone's shoulder when they
navigate your site and DON'T TELL THEM ANYTHING. You'll be
amazed at how incoherent those road maps you think are so
crystal clear to YOU are TOTALLY CONFUSING to somebody new
to the site.
Gary Woods with Santa Barbara Properties
* Don't forget to run a spell check on each of your Web
pages. Virtually all editors have a spell checker
integrated into the editor. You can also use
dictionary.com. Also, get someone to proofread, since you
can spell something wrong, but it can look like a real word
to a spell checker (e.g. leave off the "w" in now, and you
have no, which a spell checker will assume is correct even
though it is not). Bad spelling can not only cost you
rankings (if you spell your search phrase wrong), but it
also looks very unprofessional. Don't forget to proofread
text in your graphics and Flash animations too. That's
where they show up the worst. |
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