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Five Ways To Win The Favor Of Search
Engines
You’ve got a cool new
website with all the works: cool Flash presentations, eye-catching colors,
informative text, easy-to-use layout, and an interesting topic. You think your
site is amazing, and you know that others will agree with you. If only they
know it exists. How do you make your website known?
How do you make
your web site stand out among millions of others? You can spend lots of money
on advertisement, but that will not work if you don’t have the money to
spare on advertising. So what do you do? Make search engines work for you,
that’s what!
Google, Yahoo, MSN, Lycos, Altavista - you want to be
at the top of their results list. The higher your site is in a search results
page, the better chances that it will be visited. The science behind making
your site a popular search result is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Don’t worry, though - even if SEO is referred to as a science, it is not
all that complicated. You just need to take note of a few things, and before
you know it, your site will have more visitors than you could ever dream of.
Here are five tips to ensure that your site would be a favorite of
search engines all around the cyber world.
1. Give importance to
substance over appearance of your web site.
Do you want to share
your knowledge on a subject that you have authority on? Do you want to sell
products? Do you want to build an online shrine for your favorite actress?
Whatever topic you have chosen for your website, make sure that you are able to
give useful information on it. Search engines work by scanning sites for
keywords. They search text and completely ignore everything else. So if you
have made your site rich in colors, don’t forget to make it rich in
content as well. After all, a beautiful layout can make people look, but
relevant content is what will make them stay. Remember, in this day and age:
content is king!
2. Know your topic well
If you know
much about your topic, you will know what people usually ask about it, and what
they ask about it is what they will type in the search bar. When writing the
content for your website, put yourself in your other people’s shoes,
people who will be your target audience or market. Know the possible questions
they might have about your topic, and give answers in your site.
3.
Learn from the best websites
Take time to browse and read sites
that get lots of visitors and have the same topic as yours. Take note of any
recurring phrases in these sites’ text. These phrases are most likely
keywords. Incorporate them in your own site’s content. Don’t saturate
your site with keywords, though. You don’t want to sound redundant to your
site visitor. A 3% density level would be enough. In searching for the right
keywords, use Overture’s services. It may take quite some time, as it is
more of a trial-and-error method, but the results are conclusive, and a pattern
can easily be observed.
4. Submit…and re-submit to search
engines
You will never get a certain job if you don’t send in
your application for it. The same thing applies to SEO. If you want your site
to be recognized by search engines, then go out of your way to register your
site with them. After a couple of weeks, search for your site by putting in the
keywords you used in your content. If your site is still not coming up in the
search results, do not give up, and just re-register and resubmit your site.
It’s possible that your initial registration was discarded without being
processed. This usually happens because a lot of submissions are being done
everyday.
5. Constantly update your web site
This
can’t be stressed enough: search engine spiders love sites which
constantly change their content. You can’t build your site and expect it
to last forever without any updates. There will come a time when those search
engine spiders would stop fetching your site for query requests. Here’s a
tip: integrate a blog program in your site. Blogs have a user-friendly
interface that allows easy updates.
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