| Once you create a website for your business, | | | | is the content within the frame. However, spiders |
| you quickly figure out that people are not flocking | | | | cannot read what is inside a frame so you will not |
| to it. When you assess the different ways of | | | | get indexed and noticed by search engines. |
| driving traffic, your options include advertising | | | | No dynamic pages |
| your website address, promoting your website | | | | Some sites are developed with a database which |
| address through Public Relations and gaining media | | | | generates dynamic pages. You can tell if there are |
| coverage, encouraging other sites to link to you | | | | dynamic pages on your site if there is a ? within |
| and getting placed in online directories. | | | | the page URL. Again, most but not all of the |
| However, these marketing activities will deliver | | | | search engines can read dynamic pages. |
| small and sporadic volumes of traffic. The single | | | | Text within graphics |
| biggest thing you can do to drive traffic is search | | | | To ensure text is read uniformly by different |
| engine marketing. Here is why: it is estimated that | | | | browsers, design agencies often put text within a |
| 80% of traffic to most websites comes from | | | | graphic. It looks great, however, a spider cannot |
| search engines. There are roughly 500 million | | | | read what text is in a graphic and simply moves |
| searches performed everyday and 88% of that | | | | on. |
| traffic comes from the top 4-5 search engines, | | | | Keywords |
| Google, Yahoo, Ask and MSN. Of these, Google is | | | | At design stage, think about the keywords you |
| by far the largest. Approximately 90% of people | | | | want to be found by on search engines and |
| searching do not go past the third page of results | | | | incorporate that into your design. For example, if |
| and few go beyond the first page. | | | | you were to design your site so that a page was |
| Therefore, if you want to drive traffic to your | | | | allocated to the most popular keywords, it would |
| site it is imperative that you get onto the first | | | | be easier to include more keywords on the page |
| three pages of Google and the other top search | | | | which would be found by the spiders. |
| engines. Surprisingly, the majority of small | | | | 2. Content: What to do when developing your |
| businesses have not figured this out yet and for | | | | content |
| those who have, the majority are asking the | | | | Keywords |
| question, How can I get my site to appear on the | | | | Choosing the keywords that you want to appear |
| first page of Google search results? | | | | in search results for is one of the most important |
| Different Options | | | | things you can do. Think of it as planning the |
| There are two main methods of appearing on the | | | | location for a physical shop. Choosing keywords |
| first page of search results. | | | | that people search for a lot (i.e. generates a lot of |
| Paid for results or Pay Per click (PPC) | | | | potential traffic) and then ensuring that those |
| This is where you pay to appear in the sponsored | | | | keyword are peppered around your site (i.e. more |
| links section of the results page. In Google, this is | | | | chance that the spiders will index them giving you |
| at the top of the page and the right hand side. | | | | a good chance of appearing high in search results) |
| You decide which search keywords e.g. London | | | | could result in your being positioned on Oxford |
| restaurant, you would like to appear in. You | | | | street as opposed to a back alley. |
| appear in the search results and you pay for | | | | Invest time in choosing the keywords. Think |
| every user who clicks through to your site. The | | | | about how you would search for your product or |
| cost will vary by keyword and can range from | | | | service. If you are running a restaurant, you |
| 10p to several pounds or dollars per click, | | | | should immediately think beyond the generic |
| depending on how many other companies are | | | | search keyword of restaurant and consider |
| bidding for that keyword. | | | | descriptive keywords such as seafood restaurant |
| Natural results achieved through SEO | | | | or family restaurant. You also need to think of |
| Natural results are when you appear in the main | | | | target keywords, so consider London restaurant |
| list of results. You do not pay to appear or when | | | | or London seafood restaurant. |
| a user clicks on your link. However, to appear on | | | | Once you have decided on your keywords, you |
| the first three pages of results, you need to | | | | need to place them throughout your site. The |
| implement a number of design and content | | | | main areas are: |
| changes to your website, which are termed | | | | Web page title |
| Search Engine Optimisation or SEO. | | | | This is what you see written in the title bar of the |
| Which is best? | | | | browser. It is also what you see when you |
| Both have their merits, but natural results are by | | | | bookmark a page. This should explain what the |
| far the most preferable because once you have | | | | purpose of your site or your page is and include |
| invested in SEO, you do not have to pay for the | | | | keywords, but always in such a way that makes |
| traffic that is generated. | | | | sense to a user who reads it. |
| PPC is a great solution if you: | | | | Meta tags |
| Have just launched your website and you need | | | | The tags are not visible to users but they explain |
| immediate presence on the first page of result or | | | | what the content of the page is. Keywords should |
| if you have not yet successfully optimised your | | | | be placed in here as they are easily searchable by |
| site to appear on the first page. Remember, | | | | spiders. |
| there are thousands of websites all looking to | | | | Homepage content |
| appear on the first page of search results for | | | | Your homepage is searched by the spiders and |
| certain keywords. | | | | you should ensure that your keywords appear |
| Spiders and Links: The Basics of How Search | | | | near the top header. They should also be sprinkled |
| Engines Work | | | | throughout the homepage. See keyword density |
| Without getting bogged down in the technical | | | | for guidance on this. |
| details of how search engines work, here are a | | | | Keyword density |
| few basics that you should be aware of. | | | | A question often asked is how many times your |
| Search engines want to ensure that the most | | | | keywords should appear on a page. The guidance |
| relevant sites are displayed to customers who are | | | | for SEO is that each page should have a minimum |
| searching for keywords e.g. London restaurants. | | | | of 250 words; your keywords should account for |
| Each page is ranked by the search engine on | | | | 2 - 8% of the word on the page. That means |
| different criteria. | | | | they should appear between 4 and 16 times. |
| Each search engine uses different criteria when | | | | Two important points to bear in mind are: |
| calculating the ranking of the site, but there are | | | | 1. You need to balance the need to write your |
| some commonalities such as: | | | | copy for your users, in order to sell your product, |
| Automated Spiders are sent by the search engine | | | | and the need to write your copy for search |
| to index each page on your site. These spiders | | | | engines, in order to be found. |
| log the content of your site. This allows the | | | | 2. To help you achieve both objectives you should |
| search engine to know whether the key words | | | | focus on a couple of keywords for each page |
| that a user is searching for appear within your | | | | rather than a large number. |
| site and on specific web pages. However, in | | | | 3. Links |
| addition, the search engines have decided that it is | | | | Inbound links are key |
| not sufficient to simply have the keywords | | | | To combat a lot of sites achieving high page |
| appear in the site. They believe that the most | | | | ranking by simply stuffing their sites with |
| useful and relevant sites for the person who is | | | | keywords, the search engines have placed a |
| searching are those which have a lot of other | | | | higher weighting on the value of the number of |
| relevant sites linking to it. | | | | sites which link into a site. The rationale is that if a |
| The important points you should take out are: | | | | site is linked to by lots of other sites, then it must |
| You want to make it as easy as possible for the | | | | be offering popular and relevant content. |
| spiders to visit and index your site. | | | | Therefore, your site might be designed in a way |
| You need to have relevant keywords on your | | | | that is easily searchable by spiders and your |
| site that are easily found by the spiders. | | | | content might be sprinkled with keywords, but |
| You need to have many other sites linking to | | | | you need to have other sites linking to you in |
| your site. | | | | order to achieve success. |
| Four Components of SEO | | | | Audit your links |
| In order to optimise your website to appear in | | | | Ensure you know how many other websites are |
| natural search results, there are four components | | | | linking into your site and set a goal for increasing |
| that you will need to address. | | | | that figure. You should have at least 100 quality |
| 1. Design: What to do when designing your | | | | links. |
| website | | | | How to get links |
| Many small businesses make the mistake of | | | | There are many creative ways to generate links |
| designing their website and then start thinking | | | | to your site: |
| about driving traffic to it. The problem is that the | | | | Ask friends, customers or suppliers to link to your |
| way you design your site can result in your site | | | | site. |
| being ignored by the search engine spiders, which | | | | Post comments on forums or discussion groups |
| means you will receive very little traffic. When | | | | with a link back to our site. |
| designing your site, ensure you avoid the following | | | | Register your site with sites such as stumbleupon |
| pitfalls and ask your marketing agency to confirm | | | | and if users like your site, they will bookmark it, |
| that they have been avoided. | | | | creating a link to your site. |
| Avoid flash sites | | | | Issue an online press release which should result in |
| Sites are designed in HTML or flash codes. The | | | | online media coverage and links back to your site. |
| spiders that are sent to your site by the search | | | | Register your site with multiple directories. |
| engines cannot read flash. | | | | 4. Maintenance: |
| No frames | | | | Once you achieve a high ranking in the search |
| Some agencies design sites within frames. For | | | | engines, it is important to realise that you need to |
| example, the menu on the left might be within a | | | | maintain your ranking. The criteria the search |
| frame and the main body of the page within | | | | engines use in the algorithms constantly change |
| another frame. It makes designing the site easier | | | | and what works today may not work next week. |
| as the only thing that changes from page to page | | | | |