Search Engine Marketing Thoughts

Is your site ready for the Web?

By Jason Cartwright - Search Engine Optimisation and Marketing Consultant

It doesn’t matter how elegant your web site is or what special offers you have for people, no one will visit unless they know your site exists. To make sure your web site is a hit rather than a miss, it is crucial that it can be seen in the public eye. Search engines are the best and most effective way to do this with 17.4% of all Internet traffic going to them (Hitwise - Jan 2004). They are a crucial resource for the majority of surfers, and good business sense should ensure your site features as high up in the rankings of all the major search engines as possible. In essence an effective search engine optimisation campaign will help you achieve high visibility but more importantly generate qualified leads. So how do you go about it? Here are 5 top tips to improve your site ranking.

Speak your customers' language
You already know how to describe the service and products your site is offering, but how would your customers describe it? Do a little research into which keywords and phrases your target audience is most likely to use when searching for your products or services and then make sure to include these in your site's copy.

Dress to impress
Check to see if your search engine listings look attractive. Title and description tags with an overly long list of keywords or which include the phrase 'no title’ do not inspire click-throughs. It is great to get a top position for a relevant search phrase, but this is a waste if the listing looks unprofessional. By smartening up your listing you’ll find potential customers are much more likely to go to your site as it will appear more professional even if it’s ranked third or fourth.

Loose the spam
Be careful that you are not inadvertently using spam techniques. Some design techniques can be considered spam by the engines, meaning the search engine may penalise your site. Tiny font sizes, similar text/background colours, redirecting pages and automated submissions can all cause the engines to penalise sites, regardless of whether or not the site owner / or designer included them specifically for search engine positioning.

Flash equals cash??
Even the major search engines cannot index every web site format. Sites with a high proportion of keyword rich html text on static html pages consistently maintain high search engine rankings. Conversely, if your site is written in Flash or java, loaded with graphics and dynamic formats, you could improve your search engine ranking by either designing a static html version of the site, or using acceptable 'workarounds' in order to ensure the engines can access and index the site. A standard flash site designed without search engines in mind will not rank highly and may cause problems for users on non-broadband connections.

Quality and Quantity
Although a strong way of driving targeted traffic to your web site; do not just rely on the search engines. Make sure your site is listed on the major international and regional directories. Listings on Yahoo!, Open Directory (aka Google's directory) are important but don’t forget that your web site can capture traffic from other sites if you set up relevant links. Make sure your web site is listed on relevant trade association sites and industry specific directories and portals. There are authoritative directories, information sites and portals for every industry niche and a listing on them will not only boost traffic, but also your site's 'importance' as far as the search engines are concerned.

According to Nielsen Net Ratings (Sept 2003) search engine’s, portals and communities reach over 90% of home users so this is not an area of digital marketing to be ignored. Web site optimisation is not a dark art, but it can be a time consuming process and is often better left to experts who’s job it is to keep up to date with the current trends. Not all web designers will know how to properly optimise a site for search engines, and are unlikely to have the time required to maintain a search engine optimisation campaign. Be sure to ask if your design firm has in-house dedicated expertise to help your site achieve high search engine rankings.

posted by Jason Cartwright @ 9:01 AM