Sunday, August 22, 2010

Is Your Website Optimized?

Most of the websites online today are not designed to do well with the search engines. Many web designers know how to put all the flash, scrolling text and fluff in a site but don't know how to optimize a site for the benefit of the search engines. As we've discussed in some of our other writings the algorithms in each search engine is a bit difference and unless you know what a particular search engine is looking for, it's nearly impossible to be lucky enough to stumble on exactly what you need to do to make your site work effectively when the search engines sends their spiders to gather your information for indexing.

With the ever changing algorithms by the search engines, it's difficult to keep up with all the changes in their indexing strategies. This is where you need to seek the advice of a professional who keeps abreast of these changes and knows how to implement the new changes quickly. Just having a good looking website is not going to cut it with the search engines, so you must understand what to do, how to do it and then continue your process of learning and implementing your new found knowledge into making your site totally optimized for the search engines.

When you're designing a site and to begin to put your site together, it's important to follow the search engine guidelines of optimization in this process or you will never be seen by the users on line or the search engines. I talked to a gentleman yesterday who had a lot of scrolling banners on his site and couldn't understand why he wasn't being found online. The answer is simple; the search engines don't see pictures, scrolling text, banners and all the flash you put on your webpage. That is for the users eye appeal only, and may be necessary eye candy for users, however, not appealing to the search engines. Unless you optimize for both the user and the search engines your site will probably go nowhere fast.

Recently I read some information that I thought said it best. If users "can't find you via the search engines, you may simply have a great looking billboard in a cornfield." I wish I knew who wrote that quote so I could give them credit, because they hit the nail right on the head with that statement.

A well optimized website design is an open invitation for the search engines to visit your site often and follow your links from one page to another, check your source code for accuracy, they will verify your keywords listed and make sure they are relevant to your site and that your site has met all the rules and guidelines of their algorithms. If all these segments of your site are in order then the search engines will move your page rankings to higher positions. This is an ongoing process, so don't get discouraged if your page ranking makes some rather drastic moves every couple of days until the search engines figures out exactly where your site should be positioned in their indexing.

One suggestion that will help the search engines to crawl your site quickly and effectively is to include a site map. This will make it much easier for the engines to see that you have followed their rules and guidelines regarding the headers, titles, Meta description, linked correctly and used your keywords strategically throughout your content. With this sitemap the search engine spiders will follow your map and index your site accordingly. All of these functions are in the source code of your site and not readily recognized by the everyday users who visit your site.

Many of these elements of your site are not even considered by most website designers and developers or webmasters and as a result your website will soon wither and become stagnant. If you're currently at this point in your website experience, then you need to seek the services of a trained optimization specialist who may be able to make some quick recommendations that will help your site move in rankings with the search engines. The secret here is to build your site for the users eye appeal, but include all the search engines recommendations so you can attain better popularity with both of these entities.

Keep in mind when building or optimizing your site to use language that the general public can understand. A well rounded website should be easy to read, understandable without all the techie phrases and be simple to navigate for the general audiences. If there is some technical information that you need to include, you can do that by creating another page in your site dedicated to only techie information that the more technical user can refer to.

Once you've followed the plan of design, built your site and uploaded it to your server what do you do next? The old saying "if you build it, they will come" was obviously not made by someone who is an experienced website promoter.

At this point in this venture, your work has just begun. You must now work hard to get your site to appear online when a search query is made by a user for one of your keywords. You must build a list of potential clients that you can mail information to about your product or services. You must build links and back links to your business. These are functions that must become second nature to you in your everyday marketing activities.

This is a process that can be accomplished in two different ways. One is that you can learn the process and use your knowledge to promote any new opportunity you want for the rest of your life. The second options is to hire the services of someone who has already went through the process of studying, learning and consistently uses their knowledge to earn organic search engine rankings. You can follow either one of these paths, or you can do some combination of the two. This choice is totally up to each individual situation. If your time is valuable and you can afford to get the help you need, then start today on your new found information journey and enjoy the benefits of online success.

The eBiz Solutions Team is standing by to answer any questions regarding how this process works and whether it may work for you and your business. Call today for your free 30 minutes "no obligation" consultation. You'll be glad you did.

"Let's Build Your Business Together"

Larry L Miller SEM/SEO Consulting

Private Line: 321-594-4405
Skype: larrylmiller121

The Most Powerful Link on the Internet!

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