An Introduction To Search Engine Promotion
Search engines can be a powerful way to market your site, but you need to get your focus and goals right.
There are usually several steps to search engine success (although we present them here sequentially, you should plan ahead, and hence some activities may be performed in a different order or in parallel in real-life):- - Research
You should try to identify a topic that people are searching for, and base your site around this theme. While you will not want to completely change direction (or base your site on a topic which is unrelated to your real subject matter), you may be able to:
- Try to select a domain name which describes your site, but is based on popular search terms. This may help later when trying to increase search engine traffic.
- Identify keywords (search terms) that describe your site. You could use WordTracker, or, some search engines have tools that allow you to spy on their searches.
- Add to, or adjust, your content. The idea is that, while sticking to subjects which relate to your main theme, you may also be able to include topics covering more popular search terms within your site's remit.
- Site Preparation
Create your site. You will want to put as much useful content on it as possible.
The design of your pages is important, and described in more detail in our section on search engine positioning.
Here are some general site design tips:-
- It is probably not a good idea to use frames (some search engines do not like this).
- It is probably not a good idea to use imagemaps as your sole method of navigation (some search engines do not like this either!)
- Text heavy sites (as opposed to sites contain very little text) will probably tend to do better in search engines.
- Make sure every page has a descriptive Title, and Meta Tags.
- Make sure that every page has links to it, using standard HTML text links: The easier it is for your site to navigate using text links, the easier it is for a crawler to crawl your entire site.
- Check for broken links, missing graphics, etc.
- Submission
The next step is to submit your site to search engines.
- Crawlers will follow the links around your site and gradually index the various pages.
- A person ("editor") will probably review your site for Directory submissions. As editors can be selective, it is more likely that they will list a site with quality information, easy navigation, and an attractive design, than a site which doesn't have these attributes.
- Pay Per Click search engines can also be a highly valuable source of traffic, especially for merchants. You will need to open an account with those Pay Per Click search engines that you select to promote in.
- Search Engine Optimization
Over time you will want to optimize your site to improve its ranking, using tools such as Web Position.
Link Popularity can also be an important factor in search engine ranking, so it is probably worth developing a strategy to increase the number of the links to your site over time.
- Tracking & Maintenance
You should monitor your search engine listings and track sources of traffic. This allows you to adjust your pages to improve ranking, target additional search terms, and also, in the event that a search engine drops your listing, to re-submit.
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