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So, you want to drive Internet
traffic to your web site... The first thing you need to ask yourself before you
explore optimizing your web site's placement on top search engines is
"what is the purpose of my site?" If it is essentially to act
as an online brochure, and if you generate new business mainly through personal
contact, then you may not require site optimization - just make sure your web
address is on all of your materials so that potential clients can get to your
site to learn more about you. If, however, you see your web site as a
marketing tool on its own, then you should seek out some help to optimize
your site. In response to our many clients who have asked us
for more information on this topic, we asked Karine Kugler,
a partner with The Three Marketers, to give us some insight
on how web site optimization takes place and how a professional can help you
to maximize the potential of your site... Having your web site found through the search
engines may be a bigger challenge than you imagine. A few years ago, search
engines were looking for web sites to fill their content and sites were
automatically indexed and easy to find. With the proliferation of
web sites on the Internet, it is increasingly difficult to find and to be
found. Knowing that 80 per cent of Internet users reach sites through search engines,
it is essential for web site owners to consider hiring a search engine
marketing firm (SEM) to set up an online marketing strategy. Here are some of the things that an Internet marketer would do to position a site: Analyse
your web site Your web site will be examined from a search
engine perspective (structure, navigation, links, page weight) to make sure
there are no html errors or technical elements that prevent search engines
from visiting and indexing your web site.
Target
keywords Choosing the right keywords
is the most critical element of any internet marketing strategy. The keywords
you use will either cause your site to attract high volumes of targetted
visitors or break your listings in the search engines. Internet marketers use
keyword softwares to find the most effective keywords for your web site based
on popularity (how often people search for a determined keyword) and
competition (how many competing sites use a particular keyword). Optimise
your web site Search
engine optimization consists of adding to your web site elements that will
enable search engines to identify, understand and rank your web site. Each
page of your site will be considered independently because that's what search
engines do. For each page, an Internet marketer will write meta tags
(codes that describe the contents of a web page), add Alt Tags (Alternative
Text for images), calculate keyword frequency, check the length of your
body text and make suggestions to give your site the best chances of achieving
high rankings. Submit
your web site Submitting your site to the search engines and
directories is complex and time consuming. Search engines and directories
have different policies - some provide results to others, some charge fees to
review web sites - and submission rules constantly change. A professional
will submit your site manually (automatic submission softwares
are no longer tolerated by most search engines) and suggest any pay programs
that would be beneficial to your web site. Build links The number of links that point to a web site is an
important ranking criteria called "link
popularity". The more you have other web sites linking to your site, the
more search engines consider your web site as important. A lack of inbound
links may result in search engines dropping
your site. Link building is usually done through submissions to top
industry web sites and directories, as well as regional or local
directories. Monitor
your ranking Ranking monitoring should be done at least once a month. Your position on the search engines can change dramatically and unpredictably as new competitors go online or when search engines change their ranking criteria. An Internet marketer will keep a close eye on your positions, analyse the search results and make changes to your web site accordingly. Analyse traffic Traffic analysis should be done on a regular
basis to check if your online marketing strategy meets your objectives and if
your visitors are converted into sales. Is your web site all
that it can be? inlsight can help you to create a new web
site or revamp an old one to ensure you make the most of your Internet
presence! And...to learn more about search engine
optimization, click here to visit The Three Marketers
online. inlsight can help you with your internal or external business communications. Contact us To subscribe to this newsletter, click here. Comments? Questions? Click here. For more information on in.sight, phone us at (403) 238-1397 or visit us online at http://www.insightcomm.ca.
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