Welcome to the very first issue of "THE SEARCH
LIGHT".
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would like to improve their ranking in the search engines.
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IN THIS ISSUE
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=> Sponsorship Notice
=> Feature Article - What Your Web Designer Isn't
Telling You
=> Industry News - AltaVista Introduces Paid Inclusion
Service
Ever wondered how compatible your site
is with search engines? Want to optimize
your own site but not sure where to start?
Are you restricted by a small budget?
Web Rank has SEO packages ranging from
Self Help to Advanced, starting at USD $250.
What Your Web Designer Isn't Telling You
by Kalena Jordan
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If I was to ask you right now "Is your web site is
optimized for high
search engine rankings?", what would you say?
What if I was to ask "How many search engines has
your site been
registered with?" Or how about "Does your site
have tailored title and
META Tags?"
If you would answer "no" or "I don't
know" to any of these questions,
you would be amongst the 70% of web site owners whose web
sites
are missing out on search engine traffic because they are
not designed
for high rankings.
Has your web designer optimized YOUR site? Have they
submitted it
to the top ten search engines and directories? More than
likely, you
don't know because they haven't told you. Ask them TODAY!
But what exactly is search engine optimization?
Simply explained, it is the technique of attaining a high
ranking in
search engines and directories via changes to your site
code to make
it more search engine compatible.
Did you know that key search words and phrases in your
"title tag" and
"META tags" (in the HTML script of your site)
and body text are often
very important references that search engines use when
ranking web
sites for search relevancy? Optimizing your site meta tags (your site's
invisible content) and your body text (the visible content) for search engines
ensures that it ranks highly
for particular words or phrases that you would
expect potential visitors
to type in to search engines to find your site.
For example, if you are a Miami florist, you should have
logical search
phrases such as "send flowers", "Miami
florists", "bouquets Miami" and
even target search terms such as "Miami
weddings", "Valentine’s Day gifts"
etc integrated in your title and meta tags, as well as in
the visible text
of your site. That way, if anyone types in those phrases
in a search
engine, your site is more likely to appear higher in the
search results.
So why wasn't your site optimized for search engines when
it was built?
Depending on who developed your site and how it was built,
you’ll find a
million different reasons for this. Many web developers
believe it is the site
marketer’s job to ensure the site is found in search
engines and vice versa.
Most don’t bother submitting your site to the important
search engines,
assuming you or your marketing department will do it. Or
perhaps it
wasn’t in your original development budget.
Not many web design firms have the time or know how to
optimize a site
successfully, no matter what they tell you. They might
feel it is outside
their core business, or they might believe it is not part
of the "design
process". Consequently, your site can be launched for
many months
without the search engines having any idea it exists. Some
web
development firms don’t include even the most basic META
tags in
your site code when building it. Or those that do include
META tags
without close consultation with you, resulting in the
wrong search terms
used and poor performance. This is quite typical! Remember
that
search engine optimization is a relatively new science and
requires
both client interaction and constant monitoring to be
successful.
The bottom line? If your designer can’t show you the
high rankings
they’ve achieved for other clients, they won’t be able
to optimize your
site properly. Luckily, search engine optimization (SEO)
specialists
have sprung up to fill the need for these services. Many
SEO's will
work either directly with you or with your web site
designer to ensure
your site gets the exposure it deserves in the most
popular search
engines and directories. Find a specialist with a good
track record
and you'll reap the results of their knowledge.
Remember, search engine users generally only explore the
first 10 or
20 sites in the search results. If you site isn't in the
top 20, you won't be
found, it's as simple as that. Always include search
engine optimization
into your marketing budget or your site could be as
effective as a billboard
at the end of a dead end street.
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The above article may be re-published as long as the
following paragraph
and URL link are included at the end of the article :
[Kalena Jordan, CEO of Web Rank Ltd, was among the first
search engine optimization experts in Australasia and is
well known and respected in her field. For more of her
tips
on search engine ranking and online marketing, please
visit:
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SEARCH ENGINE INDUSTRY NEWS
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AltaVista Introduces "Paid Inclusion" Service
Search engine AltaVista has started an "Express
Inclusion" service
that allows users to submit between 1 to 500 URLs at a
time. Once
indexed, the URL's will be refreshed weekly and maintained
for a
period of 6 months. The system is likened to that of
Inktomi's "paid
spidering" service. Costs are :
Price for 6 months (USD)
1st URL $39.00
URLs #2-10 $24.00 each
URLs #11-100 $19.00 each
URLs #101-500 $12.00 each
Probably the most beneficial aspect of the new service is
the rapid
entry into AltaVista's global database, providing your URL
conforms
to AltaVista's submission policy. Whether you need to pay
again at
the end of 6 months (in order to keep your URL in their
database)
remains to be seen. More : http://www.altavista.com/sites/search/express_incl
LookSmart Adds "Cost Per Click" Listings
In a move sure to raise eyebrows, search engine LookSmart
has
added a "GoTo" type paid prominence model to
their listings range.
Called "LookListings", the service is designed
to work in conjunction
with LookSmart's existing paid inclusion program. It
builds on a for-fee
service LookSmart launched earlier this year called
Subsite Listings,
through which companies could pay for links to specific
pages on their
sites, rather than be limited by the maximum of five
directory entries
available via the $199 paid inclusion program.
LookSmart's existing Subsite Listings will be folded into
LookListings
and include a "paid prominence" facet that
guarantees the appearance
of listings in the top three positions on search-results
pages. The "paid
prominence" offering - called "Featured
Listings" - will be based on the
purchase of keywords. Confused? So are we!
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SEARCH ENGINE FAQ'S : Title Tag Content
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Web Rank answers your search engine questions.
Please submit your FAQ's
From: Sophie Jenkins
I am in charge of my employer's web site design
and I have been careful to ensure it is search engine
friendly. I recently heard that it was better to use
keywords or phrases in the title tag than to use the
company name, so I did this and removed our
name in the process.
The problem is that now I am getting criticism from
our Marketing Manager because she says site visitors
can't see our company name across the top of their
browser and it is ruining the "brand experience"
for
the viewer, as well as the bookmark text. What
should I do?
Thanks
Sophie
~~~~~~~~~~ Kalena's Response ~~~~~~~~~~
Hi Sophie - I was in your situation with a client a while
back
and it was very frustrating! I could understand my
client's
concern that his company name didn't appear in the browser
bar or Favourite's list (when the site was bookmarked),
but
I had carefully constructed his title tag so that it
contained
all his important search phrases and didn't waste any
space.
[For our readers who aren't familiar with a title tag, it
is essentially
a piece of HTML code that creates the words that appear
across
the top of your Web browser when looking at a site. For
example,
it might read "My Home Page" or "Welcome to
Widgets Inc"]
When I showed my client just how important the title tag
is to
search engine ranking relevancy, he soon realised where I
was
coming from. You see, when a search engine robot comes to
index your site, it will usually give more
"weight" to the content
of your body text and title tag than it will to any other
elements,
even your META tags. If the search terms in your title tag
and
body text match the terms entered by a search engine user,
your site is more likely to appear at the top of the
results. I'm
sure you'll agree that this is worth sacrificing aesthetic
principles!
You should save your most important search phrases for
your
title tag. Unless your company name is one of your
targeted
search phrases, I recommend leaving it out. If you can't
avoid
including it, put it at the end, because the words towards
the
start of your tag are given more ranking relevancy
"weight" than
those at the end. Explain this to your Manager and
hopefully
she'll understand that sacrificing a little could benefit
a lot.
Kalena
Please submit your FAQ. We can't
give a
personal reply, but we will do our best to answer as many
questions as possible via our newsletter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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SITE SPOTLIGHT: Free Ranking Report
------------------------------------------------------------
Would you like to know how well your site
ranks in the search engines? Web Rank
offers a FREE report to show you how your
site ranks on 10 major search engines for
search terms of your choice. No catch!
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CUSTOMER FEEDBACK OF THE MONTH:
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"At all times Web Rank staff have been extremely
professional and
helpful. Always on the 'look out' for research related to
my industry
and forwarding this on simply for my own information /
advice, or
alternatively only too happy to offer advice / answers on
questions
my colleagues or I have had from time to time".
Heather Grenville
Manager Dot Com
L.J. Hooker Real Estate (www.ljhooker.com.au)
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COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
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The information presented in The Search Light has been
compiled from
various sources for the benefit of our clients. You should
not rely on
the information contained within this newsletter as
detailed advice.
No part of this newsletter may be copied without
permission from
Web Rank Ltd, the copyright owners 2001. You may forward
this
newsletter, as long as it's kept in its entirety.
