Search Engine Optimization 101

Now that search engine optimization has been introduced, let’s take that a bit further and focus on a few key and important things on organic website optimization. These key factors are: keywords, meta tags, alt tags, content, geocentric targeting, and website architecture. For time and readability’s sake, I’ll focus on one factor per blog, so at least you guys can pay better attention. I don’t want to be sued because your keyboard stopped working from the drool as a result of reading my blogs J

So, first off, here’s what you need to do with KEYWORDS.

RESEARCH – With keywords, it pays to research your keywords and phrases that, in addition to being relevant to the website, are used by the lowest common denominator. It is imperative that your keywords match those that most people will use. Otherwise, your relevancy will be obsolete. If you need to find out more information on what the right keywords or phrases to use, try Microsoft adCenter, Google’s sandbox, or Yahoo’s Search Suggestion tool.

RICH – If you want your website to be relevant, try to write rich keyword articles and content as part of your website. Whitepapers and editorials are GREAT examples.

INCORPORATION - If your website is about, say, the Dallas Mavericks or Dog Training, use and incorporate your keywords onto your content. Include such words as Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, rebounds per game or training techniques, etc.

Now, here are some things you SHOULDN’T do…

HIDE – Don’t hide keywords by making the font color white on white background, and don’t hide them behind images or objects on the website. Most search engines will flag that and will ultimately lead your website to be taken off their databases.

SMALL TEXT – Don’t hide keywords with the smallest text.

APPROPRIATE USE – Don’t use keywords that are unrelated to your website. Again, most search engines will flag that and will ultimately lead your website to be taken off their databases. More importantly, it will devalue the relevancy of your website.

Next up to bat: META TAGS…

Web Marketing: Keywords are Key!

In my first blog, I talked about the importance and significance of blogging as a marketing value. Now we are going to look at some of the behind-the-scenes work on how online content can be an effective marketing tool for your business. We talked briefly about keywords and how that is a key component to really getting your content ranked in search engines. Ready to get your feet wet? Roll up your sleeves and let's get to work!

First off, keywords aren't just the kind of cheat sheet, Cliff Notes-type material that you used in high school to do well without really getting into the reading aspect of learning. Keywords serve a more important role in an online business, particularly in generating web traffic, ranking on search engine pages, getting conversions and ultimately lead to revenue growth. How you use these keywords are really important as well, and can either increase or decrease your page rankings in search engines.

So what is a keyword? A keyword is a word that is used as a reference point to direct to further information. Defined through a web perspective, it is a word that is used by search engines to find and locate relevant web pages (i.e., “iPod stores in Seattle,” “California subaru car dealers”). These keywords are, and should be, found in two places: the meta tag and the body of the page (in various forms). For example, on a California Subaru car dealership site, the keywords in the HTML meta tag would look something like this: “Meta name=”keyword” content=”California Subaru dealer, California car dealer, Los Angeles auto dealership, Legacy GT, Subaru WRX” and so forth. In your body, you should try to insert these words somewhere in your content that is easy to read and picked up by your user. More importantly, the word or phrase that you want to put an emphasis on, make sure that 1) the specific word or phrase is the first word (if not one of the first words) that they will see on your body, 2) the content itself is of great quality that encompasses the keywords you implemented in your meta tag. This will ensure relevancy and integrity of content, and can help achieve better page rankings on search engines. The search engines look at those keywords on your meta tag and makes sure that what’s in your meta tags are consistent with what you have in your body content. If your keywords on your meta tag don’t match with your body contents, search engine robots will flag that and, depending on the severity of the issue, can ultimately take your site off of their search engines.

So, to recap this short blog, keywords are a great way to rank your web site on a higher search engine page. It takes quality content and quality keywords for you to be able to take a big step in achieving the results that you want. And once you get used to adding keywords on both the meta tags and your content, it will produce better results for your business unlike any Cliff Notes can.

My first blog

It's funny, I never really was successful in writing journals of any kind when I was growing up. Now with a business in mind, and with the addition of online communities like myspace, it's hard NOT to! Which leads me to my first blog about, well, blogging! Being the owner/designer for Zion Eye Media and a web marketing specialist for an advertising firm in Nashville, I have been asked almost constantly about marketing methods and their effectiveness on the web. One of my answers was about blogging, and I can almost always get a weird look on their face when I mention it. I'd ask them why they had that look on their face, and almost always the answer is that they never expected blogging as a way to market themselves.

Blogging is a GREAT way to market yourself on the web. The reason is mostly due to search engine optimizations, or how search engines "market" in the web. These search engines take information from your websites based on frequency of updates, relevancy and integrity of content, and substance of keywords, among a few. Search engines love text-based websites, and the frequent that particular website is being updated, the more search engines feed off of it. When chosen carefully, the type of keywords in your contents can really boost up your page rankings on Google, Yahoo, or MSN, or any other search engines for that matter. Much more to know about keywords and search engine marketing, but we'll do that in a separate blog.

So once the search engines rank your blog site on a page in their results, a user such as yourself can search on any topic that is of relevancy to your specific blog. If your blog is on the first page of Google, then that is telling you overall that your blog is being read in a consistent basis spanning a distinguished demographic view. Conversely, the lower you are in page ranking in Google, there can be a consideration that your blog isn't being read and seen by the public in a wide demographic view. Note that you'll need to really understand web metric statistics such as click-throughs, conversion rates, and so forth to fully gain perspective on the performance of your site. More on that in a separate blog.

Outside of the roles that search engines and relevant content play are the design concepts of your blog. Color schemes, layout, navigation, and accessibility are just a handful to start on when you're creating a blog. The design concepts aren't just for creativity's sake. They are there to create a better user experience and atmosphere for your audience. So, if you're on your way to create a blog, let your audience know that you are there to make them feel comfortable and at home, like going to grandma's house for Thanksgiving.

With the exception of all the family drama.