122 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site

122 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
Custom Error Pages
A custom 404 error (page not found) page should be created for your
Web site. This page is displayed when a user attempts to access a page
that does not exist. The custom error page should contain your company’s
branding and contain links to all major pages of your Web site, similar
to the site map.
If you redesign or rework your Web site then odds are pages are
going to get moved or no longer exist. It is possible that people have
pages of the old Web site bookmarked and those pages may no longer
be a part of the new Web site. Also, search engines index select pages of
the current Web site, and those pages may also no longer exist under the
new design. The custom error page allows people and search engines to
easily make updates to their references.
Image Maps
Image maps are single graphics that are split into “hot spots” or sensitive
areas that when clicked lead you to different pages or resources
within the Web site. The problem with image maps is they basically
lock search engines out and prevent them from indexing your Web site
properly.
If you do decide to implement image maps always include text hyperlinks
so that the search engines trying to give you a more accurate
index can use them. Another option is to include a site map, which is
basically the entire layout of your Web site in the form of hypertext
links. Submitting your site map to the search engines is also a good idea
as it can assist the search engine in making sure it indexes all the pages
within your Web site.
Optimization for Search Localization
A recent study by comScore Networks (http://www.comscore.com/) discovered
that 60 percent of consumers search for local content. Much of
the local searches surround such topics as restaurants, travel, hotels,
and car rentals.
Search localization is simply when searchers add a geographic modifier
to their query in order to get more accurate results from a search
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Designing Your Site to Be Search Engine Friendly 123
engine. If you want to go out to dinner then odds are you’re going to
want to go to some place in your area. Common modifiers include:
• ZIP or postal code
• Street
• City or town, along with descriptive words “Northern,” “Central,”
“East,” “West,” and “Southern”
• State or Province, entirely spelled out as well as the abbreviation
• Country, entirely spelled out as well as the abbreviation
• Area code and phone number
• Recognizable landmarks and destinations (e.g., right next door to…).
Search localization presents a good opportunity for companies optimizing
their Web site. Naturally, any company looking to speak to a
local market should be considering search localization when optimizing
their Web site. You may not care where the book you ordered comes
from but when you are looking for a house you want a real estate agent
in the local area with knowledge of the area.
Optimizing your Web site to speak to the local market is no different
from regular search optimization, it just requires a bit of creativity.
The same optimization areas, such as page titles, page copy, and metatags
are relevant to search localization. Here are some examples to get
you started:
• Include geographic keywords in page headers and footers. For
example, you can insert a copyright notice at the bottom of each
page of your Web site that includes your location: “© 2004,
Prince George Hotel, a Centennial Hotels Property. 1725 Market
Street in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3R9. Hotel
Reservations 1-800-565-1567 • tel 902-425-1986 • fax 902-
429-6048.”
• Include geographic related keywords in your page titles. Instead
of a Fine Italian Dining—il Mercato Restaurant you could
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124 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
have Fine Italian Dining in Downtown Halifax—il Mercato
Restaurant.
• Include geographic-related keywords in your page copy. For
example, a paragraph can include a statement such as “Come
visit us on the Halifax waterfront, right next door to Historic
Properties” to capture high-profile local destinations. You could
also have “Just south of Halifax in Peggy’s Cove” or “Ten minutes
from Halifax.” In this case you are adding a modifier to
include a nearby city to capitalize on that market that might not
think to look for your exact location.
• Include comprehensive geographic-related information throughout
your Web site, on your contact page, a maps and directions
page, and in your Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
• Pay to play or PPC is covered in another chapter, but you can
use the same geographic modifiers in your paid search placement
campaigns to zero in on local markets and increase your
ROI. Yahoo!, Google, SuperPages.com, Findwhat.com,
AskJeeves, and Overture are all examples of search providers
that offer some means of search localization.
Monitoring Results
As with any business endeavor you want to know how successful you
are. There are a number of ways to measure your search engine placement
success.
Web site traffic analysis—You can check the effectiveness of your keyword
placement and utilization by using Web traffic analysis reports.
This is discussed fully in Chapter 27. You can use Web traffic analysis
reports to determine what sites are referring people to you and how
often the search engine spiders are visiting your Web site looking for
new content. You can strip down this information further to view only
search engine referrals. By looking at this information, you can also see
exactly what keywords people are using to find you and you can alter
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Designing Your Site to Be Search Engine Friendly 125
the keywords used based on this information. Refining your keywords
is one of the key elements to success—you’re letting the search engines
tell you what you’re doing right and what you could be doing better.
Early in the chapter we looked at how Web traffic analysis can contribute
to your master keywords list. Figure 6.6 illustrates how NetIQ’s
WebTrends package (http://www.netiq.com/webtrends/default.asp) can
show you the keyword phrases the target market is using to locate a
Web site.
The amount of targeted traffic and the return on investment (ROI)
achieved through your optimization efforts is the true measure of success.
How much business you generate on-line ultimately depends on
how well constructed your Web site is. Just because you perform well in
the search rankings does not mean the target market automatically does
business with you. Once the target market reaches your Web site it is up
to your Web site to sell your business. As with many popular Web traffic
analysis and metrics packages, WebTrends can show you sales data as it
relates to particular search engines and keywords, which can then be
used to calculate your ROI. Figure 6.7 again uses WebTrends to show the
number and value of sales that resulted in a referral from a search engine.
Figure 6.6. WebTrends reports the keywords used to locate a site.
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126 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
Also look at entry pages and paths through your Web site. Because
you optimized specific pages for specific keywords, people should be
entering your Web site on those pages. If the page is designed to the
needs of your target market it should push them deeper into the Web
site or to a point where a transaction takes place, which you can monitor
by looking at paths through your Web site and entry pages. For
example, say you created a Web page to address a particular special at a
hotel with a goal of having the target market fill out a reservation request
form. If the specials page is performing well in the engines, but
people are only staying on the page a few seconds then leaving the Web
site then you know it is the page itself that is not performing. Odds are
the copy and images do not have the right appeal to the target market,
so you can tweak it. The page may not require a complete redesign—it
could be that the call to action to fill out the reservation form is not
obvious, so make minor changes and monitor performance.
Search engine rankings—You can check the performance of your Web
site for a particular keyword phrase by hand or through the use of an
application such as WebPosition Gold 2 (http://www. webposition.com/).
If you are checking your results by hand then you simply need to go to the
search engine in which you’re interested, enter your keyword phrases,
Figure 6.7. WebTrends tracks sales from their point of origin.
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Designing Your Site to Be Search Engine Friendly 127
and observe where your Web site ranks. You can hire someone to do this
for you as well. Using an application to check your rankings allows you
to check more rankings, faster, by automating the process. Search engines
tend to frown on this because of the added stress it puts on their system
when you have many people using these automated packages to run many
searches. Figure 6.8 shows a sample report from the WebPosition Gold 2
software that summarizes search rankings for a series of keywords.
Checking your search rankings tells you how well your Web site is
ranking for particular keyword phrases. You can use this information
to keep your rankings current and target your optimization efforts toward
gaining increased ratings on any particular engines you wish.
Paid inclusion accounts—Many search engines that have paid inclusion
features, such as the Lycos InSite submission program, gives the customer
the means to track some search information. This includes basic
information such as the keywords searched for and the number of referrals
the search engine sent through to the destination Web site. See Figure
6.9 for an example report from the Lycos InSite program.
Pay-to-play (PPC) accounts—At the heart of all pay-to-play campaigns
is the tracking functionality. You are paying for each and every click so
it is important to know which search terms are working and which are
Figure 6.8. WebPosition Concise Report sample.
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128 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
not. One of the most well known pay-to-play providers is Overture.
When you sign up with Overture you can track all aspects of your campaign,
including conversion rates, click-throughs, and revenue generated.
Figure 6.10 illustrates Overture’s Marketing Console where you
can monitor and adjust your marketing campaigns.
Internet Resources for Chapter 6
I have included a number of resources for you to check out regarding
making your site search engine friendly. Descriptions of the sites are
from the Web sites themselves. For additional resources on a variety of
topics, visit the Resources section of my Web site at http://www.
Figure 6.9. The Lycos InSite program offers basic tracking information.
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Designing Your Site to Be Search Engine Friendly 129
susansweeney.com/resources.html. There you can find additional tips,
tools, techniques, and resources.
Search Engine Watch
http://www.searchenginewatch.com
A Web site devoted to how search engines work, search engine news, search
engine information, tips on using search engines, and more about search
engines. Be sure to sign up for the Search Engine Report mailing list.
Search Engine World
http://www.searchengineworld.com
A great resource for everything surrounding search engines. Plenty of
articles, tips, and information to help you achieve online success. This
site also has in-depth information on the various search engine spiders.
Traffick
http://www.traffick.com
Traffick covers Internet search engines such as Google; Web portals
such as Yahoo!, MSN, and AOL; search engine marketing and SEO;
Web browsers such as Internet Explorer; and e-mail programs such as
Figure 6.10. Overture’s Marketing Console helps you monitor your success.
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130 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
Outlook Express, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail. The site offers feature
articles, a directory of portal and search engine related sites, etc.
Search Engine Guide
http://www.searchengineguide.com
Search Engine Guide provides a directory of thousands of specialty search
engines, daily news about search engines and the search engine industry,
and information on using search engines to market your Web site.
SEO Today
http://www.seotoday.com
SEO Today was conceived and developed to create and collect timely
and informative content about search engine optimization.
Spider Food’s Search Engine Optimization and Positioning
http://spider-food.net
Over 200 pages of search engine optimization, search engine submission,
and Web site promotion tutorials—plus a discussion forum.
Pay-Per-Click Search Engines
http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com
A guide to 621 pay-per-click search engines.
Search Engine Statistics and Listings for Submission URLs
http://www.searchenginetrends.com
Search Engine Trends was started to help untangle the growing web of
confusion surrounding search engines. To help unravel the mess, Search
Engine Trends maintains an in-depth database of search engine data.
This database tracks a number of details about the world’s leading and
upcoming search engines.
Pandia Search Central
http://www.pandia.com/index.html
At Pandia you can learn how to search the Web more efficiently, read
about search engines and sites devoted to searching, and gain easy access
to all the best tools and SE resources on the Internet.
Li’l Engine
http://www.lilengine.com
Li’l Engine provides you with the information and resources you need
to get your organic search engine optimization, search engine place-
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Designing Your Site to Be Search Engine Friendly 131
ment and ranking project going right. Avoid many of the common pitfalls
by doing it the right way first.
Bruce Clay—Search Engine Optimization Tools
http://www.bruceclay.com
Free search engine optimization, ranking, Web site promotion, keywords
advice, and placement material for designers.
Search Engine Decoder—Search Engine Relationship Chart
http://www.search-this.com/search_engine_decoder.asp
A free chart that illustrates the relationships between the major search
providers.
JimTools.com Webmaster’s Toolkit Command Center
http://www.jimtools.com
A number of tools are available on this site that you can use for free.
There’s information on search engines and meta-tags, a link checker,
and a link popularity tool.
Make Your Web Site Search Engine Friendly
http://www.iboost.com/promote/search_engines/positioning/20034.htm
An article with some tips to make your site search engine friendly.
Search Engine Optimization
http://www.searchengineguide.com/optimization.html
A resource filled with links to articles by search engine columnists.
Search-Engine-Secrets.net
http://search-engine-secrets.net
An article detailing the ten steps to search engine placement.
Submit It! Search Engine Tips
http://www.submit-it.com/subopt.htm
The purpose of this document is to provide you with background information
on search engine technology and some tips on how to get your
Web site to appear on the results pages of search engines and directories.
Optimization Nation
http://www.optimization-nation.com
The Optimization Nation offers search engine placement tips and secrets
for the “do it yourself” Webmaster.