Optimizing Your Site For The Search Engines

Optimize Your Site For Search Engines,
by Margot B

So you've built your web site!
Don't submit it to the search
engines until you've given it a
tune-up to make it read for the
search engines.

With "Net Mechanic" at
http://www.netmechanic.com
you will find "HTML Toolbox" that
will scan your pages and let you
know about errors before your
customers find them. Learn which
meta and title tags are best for
your web site. They'll even insert
them into your Web page for you,
and check your spelling as well.

Net Mechanic has a search engine
starter that will submit your site
to 12 popular search engines. This
is their free sample.

To prepare your site for search
engine submission they offer a free
sample of their Keyword Popularity
Support. With this program, you'll
learn which keywords will get the
most traffic to your site.

To test up to five Web pages they
offer a free sample of "HTML Tool-
box". You can get a free tune-up.
With this you can repair common
HTML errors, find broken links, get
help with HTML tags. You can get a
free test [of up to five pages] of
the download time of your site.

They offer a free monthly tune up.
Then they will give you, as a free
sample, your search engine ranking in
six top search engines and they will
check your rank every week and send a
page rank report to you.

HTML Toolbox is safe to use. Their
tools won't automatically change any-
thing on your site. All their repairs
are on a copy of yur Web page so that
you can download and install when
you're ready.

Another item to check is the size of
your graphic images. Few visitors are
willing to stare at your blank screen
for 10-20 seconds while your graphic
images load. With Net Mechanic's free
"Gif Bot" you can reduce your image
file size, optimize images, re-use
images, pre-load images. If you re-use
the same image on your web site, such
as company logos and navigational menu
bars and icons, site visitors will only
have to wait for a single download; the
images are cached on your hard drive
and display immediately.

For more detailed information see
http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol3/
loadtime_no6.htm. You can get a free
evaluation of your site's graphic
image size at
http://www.cdmusicstore.com/gifwizard.htm
They find the bloated graphics on your
web site and tell you how much they need
to be reduced. They optimize the graphics
automatically.

Tips for reducing file size; save your
high resolution art at 72dpi. Crop or
shrink graphics. Use fewer than 256 colors
for GIFs where possible. Save JPEG files
in 'low' or 'medium' quality.

With
http://websitegarage.netscape.com/ in
their program "GIF Lube" you can type in
the URL of your site, or the image, and
their technology will immediately compress
the image and give you back the results.

If practical, test your site to see how it
will look in different browsers on
different machines. If may take time and
money, butit's the only way you can truly
see how your site appears on different
browsers. If you make a mistake in your
HTML code, Internet Explorer will presume
to know what you meant, and display it
correctly, while in Netscape it may not
show anything but a blank page.

Or you can go to Net Mechanic at
http://www.netmechanic.com
They'll let you view your site exactly as
it appears on 14 different platform and
browser combinations. This service is
reasonably priced.

Last, but not least, Net Mechanic has a
free newsletter giving you valuable Web
design and maintenance tips. They have a
strict privacy policy,they will not sell
or give away personal information.

About the Author:
Margot B
mailto:margotb@wonderport.com
Web: http://www.writers.Org-HQ.com
Margot B is a writer, editor, and web
site developer.
http://websitebuilder4free.Biz-page.com
http://margotsnewsmedia.News-HQ.com