| By: Master Web Creations
February 19, 2006
Now that your site is filled with relevant content, heirarchies of titles and subtitles,
has text to describe links and images and is altogether designed for the user
you can begin measuring your site's effectiveness.
You can submit your site to MSN and Google for free.
You can submit your site to Yahoo! with a user ID. Check their
local listings to see if your business is listed. If it isn't
some of them will add it for free.
Then, check any other directories that you'd like to be added to,
making sure that your categories are the best descritpion of your services
and that they are correctly spelled. Some are free, some have a small monthly fee
for a basic listing.
Now you can reserch your competition, get some useful feedback,
build your link popularity and hurry up and wait for the search engines
to index your site. Wait at least 2 months before reviewing your site ranking
and modifying your keyword phrases.
Quite often, you'll find that you have too much competition in your field and it
will seem hopeless. You can then either make your best attempt at stomping out the competition
or modify your goal. Either way it will be more hurry up and wait.
To modify your site for trying to beat the competition, you can
analyze your competitors site for keyword density and make yours better.
Then, you can check their link popularity by typing link:www.cometitorssite.com/page.html
or links:www.competitorssite.com/page.html into the search field at the search engine you
are optimizing your site for. Make sure you're specific about which page you're analyzing.
When trying to improve your link popularity, be very selective about what sites you want
linking to you. They should be related and complementary. Avoid link farms, for they will
be extinct someday. You don't want to be listed amongst hundreds of your competitors. It is
more desireable to be highlighted and recognized for your specialty.
Some ideas for increasing your link popularity include
- community resource websites
- Your local chamber of commerce site
- exchange links with business associates
- i.e., your suppliers, manufacturers, the local printer
or office furniture store that you are a client of, the radio station
you advertise on, newspaper, etc.
- Yellow page directories
- Ad programs/PPC/Sponsored sites
You may decide that a small investment in an online ad campaign is necessary and worthwhile.
Don't forget about the rest of your marketing program - make sure your web address
is included in your business cards, letterhead, brochures, newspaper phone book and radio or magazine ads
and even on your envelopes or voicemail system.
Improving your search results is a time-consuming process, but
you will see better results in the end. If you are having a particularly difficult time,
you might consider hiring an SEO firm for consultation.
Some things your consultant might suggest include writing articles and publishing them online,
re-writing some of your content ot increast the prominence and frequency of your keyword phrases,
including more keyword research and doubling your link popularity.
See our article on Choosing an SEO Company for more or contact us for a quote.
~ a www.masterwebcreations.com article |
