The first step towards a better position on the search engines is choosing the right keywords. A keyword is a short phrase a search engine uses to index your website while displaying the results to a user's query. Cutting down your website's offerings to just a few words can give you the basic keywords to use. You can do that by looking at your site's offerings from the user's perspective, and ask yourself:"What will a potential customer type in the search engine's search box when looking for something I have to offer?"
Once you have chosen a set of keywords that best describe your site, you should verify that you are able to compete with them. Ranking as #1 on keywords such as "Software", "Movies" or "Money" is not realistic, as they are too general. Furthermore, they are not targeted enough - your wish is to drive targeted traffic to your site. Converting one visitor that is really interested in your offerings to a customer is much easier then converting hundreds visitors that are not.
Most Internet users do not query search engines on general or single words such as "Software" or "Lawyers", as the results they will get are too general to benefit from. This fact works for you - the first rule in choosing keywords, is to make them specific, and best reflects what your site offers. Narrowing down by geographic location in another option to be more specific in your keywords. If you are interested in attracting visitors from Vancouver, choose, for example, "Limo service in Vancouver". The competition of these kinds of keywords is much less intense then general ones. The chances of getting excellent positioning are much higher when using focused and targeted keywords.
Keywords that are closely related to the main subject of your site can improve your ranking in the search engines also. For example, if your website subject is Limo services in Seattle, you might try targeting keywords like "Seattle Luxury Hotels". The point is that people looking for "Seattle Luxury Hotels" are probably interested in Limo services as well. Furthermore, the competition for that keyword is less intense then "Limo Services", and the chances to be better positioned is much higher.
To improve your position in the search engine, be sure not to repeat a keyword more then 3 times. Instead, use keyword derivatives. For example, if your website offers translation services, consider to use derivatives of "translation", such as translator or translating.
Finally, be sure to include your domain name, company name, and products name in the keywords. Always include at least 10 keywords or phrases that are most relevant to your site (starting from the most important ones,) but not more than 25.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Designing for Dollars
Why Bother with Design?
www.newmediapower.com
Recently, I attended a seminar by a prominent speaker turned internet marketing guru, who said, “You can have a pretty website, but if it does not bring returns then its a crappy website and all it has achieved is to earn an income for the web designer…”
Now I am a web designer too and I was really miffed – what in heck did this guy mean, running down my profession, my value and my business? But then I took a deep breath and realized that the reason why I was angry, was because this guy was right! A pretty website was useless to my clients if it did not achieve their business objectives – if it did not perform the way it was meant to.
Now having been in the web and multimedia development business for more years than I can remember, I recalled a lesson I had learned in one of my graphic design courses – there MUST be a reason (and a very good reason too) for creating a design in a particular way. A design is there to do a job – and if it looks pretty as well, hey, more power to you!
Surfing the internet can be a very painful experience for not just a designer, but for the millions who have to put up with eyeball-jarring visuals. The flashes, bumps and jolts, the crammed pages full of unreadable text and the use of every color in the world, all of which seem to cry out “Get away from here, NOW!!!” “Don’t read Meeee!!!”
The purpose of good design (whether pretty or not) is not just for creating attraction – its main strength is in making it easy for the viewer to gain and retain the information posted on your site. Information retained, is information acted upon – and action equals success.
Now I am a web designer too and I was really miffed – what in heck did this guy mean, running down my profession, my value and my business? But then I took a deep breath and realized that the reason why I was angry, was because this guy was right! A pretty website was useless to my clients if it did not achieve their business objectives – if it did not perform the way it was meant to.
Now having been in the web and multimedia development business for more years than I can remember, I recalled a lesson I had learned in one of my graphic design courses – there MUST be a reason (and a very good reason too) for creating a design in a particular way. A design is there to do a job – and if it looks pretty as well, hey, more power to you!
Surfing the internet can be a very painful experience for not just a designer, but for the millions who have to put up with eyeball-jarring visuals. The flashes, bumps and jolts, the crammed pages full of unreadable text and the use of every color in the world, all of which seem to cry out “Get away from here, NOW!!!” “Don’t read Meeee!!!”
The purpose of good design (whether pretty or not) is not just for creating attraction – its main strength is in making it easy for the viewer to gain and retain the information posted on your site. Information retained, is information acted upon – and action equals success.
to be continued...
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