In the pursuit of creating the world's leading business-oriented website, I realized we had made significant progress when our site ranked seventh out of 4,876,060 sites on the key phrase 'business start up' on NorthernLight. With a background in sales, marketing, and IT, but no prior knowledge of the internet, I had to start from scratch, keeping an open mind. This proved to be a significant advantage, as I was willing to listen to everyone, try anything, reject what didn't work, and improve on what did. We also appear on Lycos, Google, AltaVista, Excite, and numerous other search engines. With a year's worth of work ahead, we aim to be the top business site by 2002. Here are my top ten tips for successful web placement.
Many web designers mistakenly assume that the reader is the customer. This is akin to assuming that the customer for a nursing home is the resident, when in reality, it's the resident's 45-year-old daughter. The primary customer for a website is the search engine spider, such as 'gulliver' or 'arachnia'. Study it, understand its preferences and dislikes, and figure out how to grab its attention.
In my experience, only AltaVista takes keywords seriously. I discovered this when I used 'mingmong21' as a keyword and found that only AltaVista returned results for this term. Don't place too much importance on keywords.
The title of the page is crucial to search engines like Google, Excite, and many others. So, instead of naming your website 'XYZ inc.', name it after what you do. If people knew who you were before they got on the web, they would have called you on the phone.
Many search engines pick up the first paragraph of the content. Don't confuse it with 'last updated on ...' and counters, etc. Have a simple paragraph that describes what you do and use the same words as the title.
Each search engine spider has different preferences. Cater to these preferences by creating 'portal' pages dedicated to one keyword or phrase. For example, a page with the title 'business start up' and the keywords 'business start up' where the body says 'business start up' will rank high when someone searches for 'business start up'.
Ensure the title of the page aligns with the keywords and content. It may seem obvious, but it's easy to get carried away and lose consistency.
Tell the spider what to do: index, follow, and revisit every 10 days. This way, you get regular visits.
When the spider visits you, and you appear on the engines, if your content is negligible or static (never changes), don't expect anyone to come back. You can only sell rubbish once.
Subscribe to and read every newsletter on web marketing that you can. If you only pick up one tip per month, you can improve your web site placement.
Most search engine spiders cannot follow graphically embedded links. If you have a large website and have linked it through gifs or buttons, the spider will only see the first page. However, if you place text links or links that the viewer cannot see within those pages, you have multiple pages that can have a title, keywords, content, etc. to sell to the search engine spiders.
By 2002, I believe that fastlinksolutions will be the world's number one business-related website.
Big Site? Make the most of it on Google
For many people a five or six page web site is all they need or want, but for others, selling services and products on the ... a hundred page site is barely adequate – if you’re one of those com
The Power of Silence: A Key to Successful Sales
The art of selling is often misunderstood. Many believe that the most successful salespeople are those with the 'gift of the gab'. However, the reality is that the most effective salespeople are often those who listen more than they speak. This article explores the power of silence in sales and provides practical tips on how to harness it to increase your sales success.
The Importance of Understanding Search Engines for Website Optimization
The key to successful website optimization lies in understanding the intricacies of search engines. This article delves into the importance of studying search engines, the nuances of their algorithms, and how to leverage this knowledge to improve your website's visibility and ranking.
