Learn
Internet Marketing > Weekly
Tips > SSWT 4/27/05
Optimizing for Search Engines
... AND Visitors
See
our last issue: "Understanding
Keywords"
We
walked through the process of choosing and using Keywords for
the purpose of optimizing web pages to rank well on the major
search engines. "SEO" or Search Engine Optimization
is currently the best (and also the easiest AND least expensive)
way to get free (highly targeted) traffic to your web site.
Getting
traffic to your website is one of the most important aspects to
a successful web business. But what you do with that traffic is
equally important, and should be given just as much consideration
as your traffic generation techniques...
When you are optimizing your web pages to rank well in the major
search engines, you should also be sure that you are optimizing
for the human eye. The Title of your web page, for example, should
be compelling and specifically interesting to your target market
- as well as the description of your page that is listed in the
search engine results.
For
example, the main page of my site is ranked in the top 10 on Google
for "Learn Internet Marketing" and displays as follows:
Learn
Internet Marketing
Strategies Free at Self-Starters Weekly Tips!
Join one of the fastest growing online communities to learn
internet marketing strategies, grow your business, network
with seasoned marketers and peers in ...
Another listing on that same page of results reads:
Marketing
- Marketing Strategy - Marketing
Plan - Marketing ...
Learn about marketing careers,
the stages of developing a marketing plan, how
to begin marketing research, create a marketing
strategy, and how to market ...
I'm not claiming my listing to be perfect, but you can definitely
see the difference between these two examples. Stuffing your Title
(or any of your ad or page copy for that matter) with keywords
does not read well, and won't capture the searchers attention.
Instead
of "keyword stuffing", you want to mix a bit of Copywriting
in with your SEO and come up with titles, headers and content
that makes sense to your visitors - and that will encourage them
to continue reading at your site.
I'm of the opinion that ALL of your words are
just as important as your chosen KEYwords.
Aaron Wall, author of the SEO
Ebook, says:
"The key focus of any web page should be on readability".
More
snippets from this section of his book:
"Use the keywords in headings and subheadings
throughout the page - this heading should capture the person's
attention and tell them they are in the right place."
"Think of these headings like you would
a heading in a newspaper."
"In addition [to the seo benefits] descriptive
sub-headings improve the scanability and usability of your website."
*source: http://www.webservicenetwork.com/seo-book.htm
Once
you get visitors into your web site, you want to let them know
right off the bat that they are in the right place - and even
a quick scan of your page will assure them that you have what
they are looking for. This is done through the use of well-written
headings and sub-headings on your pages.
You
should also include a strong call-to-action at the end of your
content pages. Once your visitor reads your content... what do
you want them to do next? Whatever it is, make it obvious (!!)
and link to it with compelling text that will encourage them to
go to the next page (on your site, or off).
A good rule of thumb is to perform a search using your Primary
Keyword Phrase (the main phrase you are optimizing any given page
for) and then take a good look at the competing results. Is their
information better than yours? More in-depth, or presented in
a better format?
Look
and learn - if you can spot how their page is better than yours,
you know where to begin on improvements to your own page ;)
Here
are 7 Tips to help you improve your web pages:
1) Walk
in the path of your visitor: Find your web page in the search
results and compare your listing to the others. Would YOU click
on yours over the other 9 choices?
2)
Consider
the keyword choice for your page. If YOU typed those words into
a search engine, would your web page be exactly what you were
looking for? Make sure it's a good match for your content!
3)
Use your content to "speak" to your visitors - not to
tell them all about yourself, your product or your company. Instead
focus on information, benefits & solutions.
4)
Step back and read through your page copy like a 'stranger'. Does
it make sense? Does it leave you hanging... or does it follow
through and lead you to a next step? Does it feel "stiff"
and "salesy" or does it flow smoothly?
5)
Formatting - Make your words easy to read by using dark text on
a light background, by using spacing and bulleted lists to break
up your copy, and by using headlines and sub-headlines to make
your page easy to scan [like a newspaper or magazine]. Make them
compelling so your visitors want to stop and read!
6)
Look at your Navigation. It should tell your visitor where they
are, where they have been, and where to go next.
7)
Do you have a strong Call-to-Action on your page? You lured this
visitor into your site, you interested them in your content, and
they finish reading the page... Now what do you want them to do?
Make it obvious!!
The best resource that I know of for SEO Copywriting is Karon
Thackston's
Step-by-Step Copywriting Course. You'll also want to pick
up a copy of her report titled How
to Increase Keyword Saturation Without Destroying the Flow of
Your Copy (you can get them both at a better price if you
order them together). If you dont feel like you need both, I would
recommend getting the second one (focusing on keyword density)
as it teaches some very creative ways to include your keyword
phrases within your copy without sounding odd or "keyword
stuffed" (aka spammy):
Karon
Thackston's Step-by-Step SEO Copywriting Course
Special
Report: How to Increase Keyword Saturation Without Destroying
the Flow of Your Copy: www.selfstartersweeklytips.com/keyword-density.htm
One of the things that I learned when I read Karon's Course last
year, and admittedly didnt know, was that the search engines dont
read punctuation within your copy. This means that you can separate
your keyword phrases with periods, bullet lists, even new paragraphs.
Here's an example, using the keyword phrase "search engine
optimization":
"Your goal is to rank well in Google's
search engine. Optimization
consists of..."
- Learn the techniques to rank well in every major search
engine
- Optimization Tip Sheet included for easy reference
In both instances, or even if you start a new paragraph altogether,
the search engines still read the three words together as a complete
phrase. This may seem obvious, but it's not something most of
us automatically think of when writing our copy and trying to
fit the same phrase in several different times.
That's
just one of the great tips that Karon shares. In addition to her
guides & reports, she also offers a free ezine titled Business
Essentials that I highly recommend. She has a terrific writing
style which makes it very easy to read & understand... and
can turn any site owner into an SEO Copywriter ;)
Sign
up for Karon's free Business Essentials Ezine
The goal is to rank well... but also to make sales. Of course
you can use these same techniques to encourage visitors to click
on your affiliate links or subscribe to your mailing list. Traffic
is absolutely useless without good copy and the other elements
that it takes to convert visitors into buyers.
If you are new to SEO, or unsure about doing it manually across
all of your pages & sites, this would be a perfect match for
you. It also takes all of the headaches out of site design - no
HTML knowledge or SEO skills are needed to use this program for
creating websites:
The Easy Way to Create an Endless Stream of
Income-Generating Niche Websites in MINUTES
-- not days or weeks... Check
it Out!