Web Site Basics
How can I make my web site found easily?
This is probably one of the more frequently asked questions I get asked about web sites. This question is usually asked in the form of, "How do I get to be at the top of the search engines?" Well there are a variety of methods, but there are five primary methods:
1) Choose a good domain name and advertise it. The easier your address is to remember, the better. It often helps to choose a name that is the same or similar to your business name, but this is not always possible, since someone else may already own it. Try to avoid cryptic acronyms or really long names that are hard to remember or type. Don't forget to publish your web address through all your traditional print materials and advertising methods. Another common mistake people make is not setting up an e-mail account based on your domain name. For example, if I own www.mywebsite.com, my e-mail address should be something@mywebsite.com, not something@acsalaska.net or something@aol.com. Don't advertise for your ISP for free! Having your e-mails generated from your own domain generates a more professional and classy feel, as well as making your web site easier to find.
2) Optimize your web pages for search engine indexing. Search engines allow a user to type in a keyword or keyword phrase to search for relevant sites. By submitting your site to a search engine, it gets ranked along with all the other sites that the search engine sees as related to that keyword phrase. Your site gets ranked differently for each search engine based on an algorithmic formula. By creating appropriate meta tags, descriptions, titles, and text for each of your pages you can increase the ranking for your web site in any given search engine. This method has been the primary method of the past, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to get to the top in a world where there are more and more people competing for the same spot. There are companies that charge services to optimize your site, but because of the ever changing nature of web sites and search engines it is difficult to obtain and maintain a high ranking position.
3) Enter your site into a industry or region specific directory. There are many sites that serve as directories for particular industries or services. Some of these are free and some of these are pay services. They can range from travel associations, chambers of commerce, to regional directories. One example is www.girdwoodalaska.com.
4) Use one of a variety of paid placement systems. There are a variety of paid placement programs. It seems the shift these days is from search engine indexing to paid placement. The CPC (Cost Per Click) method has taken prominence over most other forms of Internet marketing because it guarantees high placement and visibility, while charges are only based on real traffic. Two of the main players in the CPC market are Overture and Google. There are a variety of other paid placement systems that I won't cover here since the CPC method has taken such prominence.
5) Create and maintain cross linking relationships and banner exchanges with other sites. A link is simply a piece of text or graphic that sends you to another web site. Cross linking is when I link to you and you link back to me. The more links you have pointing to your site, the more potential traffic you have because your site is now exposed to all of the available traffic of multiple sites. Having many links pointing to your site, especially from prominent, high traffic web sites also can increase your indexing with search engines. Banner exchanges are similar to links except that banners are made of graphics or pictures. Both cross linking and banner exchanges are win-win especially with businesses that compliment each others' services.
There actually are many other ways of ways to advertise your site, such as direct e-mail marketing, spamming, newsgroups advertising, and a variety of other more controversial and less mainstream methods. Often the best method is by combining all of the primary methods above. The key is knowing how much effort (and money) to invest in each to get the best results. Quite often it is a matter of trial and error. If you are interested in developing an Internet marketing strategy, click here.
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