Re: An old can of worms...Search Engines

<apology>Please forgive me, as I tend to drone on and on about this
misunderstood subject.</apology>

This is our primary focus.  We are a Web site design firm that focuses on
the marketing aspect of a Web site, not so much the technical aspects.
While we are proficient in HTML, ASP, etc., you will find that most of the
sites that we design do not feature the "latest and greatest" technology
unless it is specifically needed for the site to function.

However, most of our sites do very well on search engines, usually within
the top 5 listings on carefully selected search terms.

Why is this?  The truth is that to effectively get good placement, the pages
being submitted must be designed with search engine placement in mind.  This
starts at the beginning of the design process... it is not an afterthought
of adding a bunch of META tags.  For example, Google looks at keyword
relevancy as one of the major factors in placement.  If your client is
selling "widgets" and you submit a page under the keyword "widgets", that
keyword needs to show up in the TEXT of that page a minimum of 7 to 10
percent of the total words in the text of that page.  The more times it
shows up in the text, the more relevant the page.

As far as the text referenced above, forget about Flash or graphics - the
search engines don't see them.  Take a look at your HTML code - that is what
the engine sees.

Also, make sure that your META title is very descriptive and to the point (8
words or less) and the META description includes your keyword, is
gramatically correct, and is very compelling (30 words or less).  The
description is, in effect, your "ad" in the search engine listing and is the
reason a visitor will follow the link to your site.

An example of a bad description would be "Custom Widget Company. widgets,
big widgets, custom widgets.  We make widgets.  This site sells widgets."

A better description would be "Custom Widget Company has the widget for you!
Large widgets or small widgets, Custom Widget Company is your one-stop
source for widgets for any application."

And FWIW, don't stress over the META keyword tag... only one or two of the
major search engines even look at it anymore.  The keywords need to be in
the visible text of your page.

Once the page has been optimized as shown above, think about what keywords
your visitors will be using to search for sites like yours.  The trick is to
use specific phrases, rather than single words.  As an example, we have a
client which builds custom curved stairways for luxury homes.  We could have
optimized his page and submitted it under the keyword "stairs", but that
would have placed him in direct competition with EVERYONE that sells and
manufactures stairs from cheap to expensive.  Instead, the site was
optimized for and submitted under search terms like "luxury stairs", "custom
curved stairs", "custom spiral stairs", "custom circular stairs", etc.  This
lowers the number of search terms that his site appears under, but it also
prequalifies the customer in the sense that a visitor to this site is not
going to find a $50.00 stair for his basement.  The overall traffic is
lower, but the percentage of visitors who are qualified to purchase his
product is much higher.

As far as submitting, do it manually.  Most of the major search engines have
safeguards in place to effectively ignore automated submissions.

If we can be of any further assistance in this matter, please feel free to
contact me offlist.

Thanks!

Michael Schultz
Vice President of Operations
Virtualtech Web Site Design and Promotion, Inc.
http://www.virtualtech.com
"We Put The Pieces Together"
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Schmitz" <tony(at)angelanthony.com>
To: <hwg-business(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2002 12:11 PM
Subject: An old can of worms...Search Engines


>
> Sorry gang -
>
> I'm sure this topic has been discussed at least a half billion times, but
> there are days I'm at a loss for words with our clients on the subject of
> search engines and "why aren't we number one?"
>
> My specific questions; are most of you handling search engine placement
and
> optimization within your company or do you outsource that service?
>
> If you out source may I ask which companies you've been most successful
> with, or a better question might be, which companies/services have your
> clients been most happy with.
>
> Though I've talked about this subject until I'm blue in the face to our
> clients their expectations are still unrealistic. I've come to the point
> that I believe SEs are a necessary evil and the amount of time spent
> researching and submitting meta tags far out paces the return. To add to
my
> concern we are located in a small market and the budget usually doesn't
come
> close to what's necessary to effectively submit to all search engines,
> especially now that most SEs require manually entry.
>
> Thanks,
>
> __Tony
> ->> TAAG
> ---
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>

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