Helpful Tips on Optimizing a Web Site
by Mets Aquino
After spending so much time and/or money on designing and
building your site, now the real problem comes. It is not enough that you have
built a site and just let it hang there. In doing such, its like throwing away
the money and time spent on this project to trash. You are done with the easy
parts. Yes, you heard it right, those are easy compared to what you will do
next.
To be able to get higher traffic, continuous optimization of your
pages is necessary. It is done to have high search engine rankings and to have
high pr. Here are some suggestions on optimizing a website:
Keywords
It is beneficial to take all the time that it
takes to research for keywords and key phrases for your site. Never use
irrelevant keywords moreover do not “keyword stuff” your meta tags. It has been
abused frequently and as a consequence, most major search engine don't give much
weight on the meta tags. If found to be in such violation, search engine will
penalize your site.
Title Tag
Be short
and descriptive as possible when writing your title tag. Keep in mind that
search engines will compare it to the text on that page and rank it accordingly.
In addition, it will help your users know what the page is about. It is also
advisable that the same keywords contained in your title tag will be used in
writing the main text on your page.
Codes
Who would not like a “clean” code? Even people gets
dizzy in looking on a “messy” code and so as to crawlers. It is recommended to
use another file for formatting and just “call” your CSS file when needed. That
way, crawlers can scan your codes and find your keywords on the content faster.
Using Other Technologies
It has been
said that using Flash technologies and other similar techniques can “hurt” your
rankings because search engines cannot read such. It is true that it is better
to use standard technology such as HTML but still Flash animations is more
attractive to a visitor's eyes. Don't limit your design because of this. A good
optimization can still keep your site up on the running in the search
engine
rankings.
Content
Don't get too carried away on designing
your site. Make sure that you are creating a content-rich pages. It will not
only help you on search engine rankings but also it will be beneficial for your
visitors for they have come to look for information. They will likely come back
if your site is well fed with valuable informations.
Sitemap
Having a well-designed sitemap helps both the users
and the search engines. This will ensure that all the pages of your site gets
indexed by the search engines.
Links
There are many ways to increase your link popularity.
One way is to participate in link exchange programs by joining forums. This is
the fastest way to do link exchange as long as the members in the forum are
active. Just remember to be discrete so that they will not think that you joined
to spam. With regards to your link exchange partners, make sure that they are
related to your site to avoid being a link farm. If search engines find sites
that have nothing in common with the content of your site, they will lower your
overall ranking on their search results by lowering your relevancy
rate.
Another way is to submit your sites to web directories. Avoid using
software that automaticlly sends your site in a weekly or monthly basis. Bear in
mind that the sites are being checked by humans and sited that have been
submitted multiple times will automatically be disapproved. If still has no
reply after 6 weeks, you can send an email
to follow up.
The most important thing in link building is to focus on
the quality of the sites and not the quantity.
Promotion
Make advertisements for your sites and submit it
to as many ads sites as possible. You can also promote your site by making press
releases, articles and mentioning them in your blog.
Hidden Link or Text
The most common way on hiding a link or
a text is by using a font color
similar to the background color. If found to be doing this, search engines will
penalize your site and your rankings will drastically affected.
Cloaking Mechanisms
Never serve a unique,
optimized page for the search engines and serve a completely different page to
real users. This will risk your site on being penalized or worst being
banned.
Looks like a lot of work? Well, it really is and it is quite a
long process. But this will definitely pay off after a month or so. This way,
you will increase the number of your unique visitors daily and get the return of
investment and also the profit you are looking for. But if your focus is on the
core
business
objective, one option is to hire the services of an SEO expert. Ask for
referrals and do not hesitate to ask exactly would your SEO expert firm uses to
achieve a good positioning for your site.
About the Author:
Author Mets Aquino recommends ProAdultOutsourcing – a website design company that offers affordable eCommerce web site design and search engine optimization services