|
The most effective form of web marketing is usually Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), which involves ensuring that websites are:
- well worded (keyword-rich);
- well coded;
- well linked to (inlink-rich);
- and well structured.
Keywords
Search engines provide the majority of traffic for most websites. Well worded websites rank higher in search engines because they match closer to people's search terms. If your pages don't match people's search terms, your pages won't be found easily.
Include good keywords everywhere, particularly in page titles and headings.
CAUTION: If your pages are abnormally saturated with keywords, search engines can notice this and penalise you for it. The more densely saturated, the more dangerous. Keep the non-keywords like "and" and "the", and try to write in normal paragraphs. The more content the better, the more keyword-rich the better, just don't over-do it.
TIP: Use a keyword suggestion tool to find the most relevant and popular keywords for your site.
Choose a keyword-rich domain name
When choosing a domain name for your website, consider which search term keywords you're primarily optimising for and choose a name that contains these keywords. This will ensure that a large proportion of the people who link to your site use the best keywords in their anchor text.
If you want a short and snappy domain name which would be easy to remember and easy to type, consider choosing an acronym standing for a larger name which contains your keywords when written in full.
Coding
Well coded websites rank higher in search engines bacause they are more likely to be compatible with various user agents, particularly rare browsers and accessibility devices. Well coded websites are generally more likely to satisfy the user.
Inlinks
Inlinks are links from other sites which point towards yours, and are essential for achieving high levels of traffic, both from search engines and from other sites.
Well linked to websites rank higher because they are considered to be generally more favoured by other webmasters. Each link usually counts as a vote of approval or endorsement.
The most important factors of inlinks are:
- quantity;
- relevance;
- coding;
- and keywords.
Quantity
Quantity of links to your site is crucial, as is the quantity of links to sites which link to your site and the quantity of links to sites which link to sites which link to your site...etc. Few factors, if any, are more important for search engine optimisation than the quantity of backlinks to your site.
Relevance
Links from sites of the same subject as yours ensure that visitors to these sites are more likely to be interested in your site. Search engines favour sites with relevant inbound and outbound links for the same reason.
Coding
Particularly for search engine optimisation, links from well-coded sites are more beneficial than links from poorly coded sites.
Keywords
Links to your site via anchor text which contains relevant and popular keywords are good for encouraging your target traffic to click these links, and ideal for attracting traffic from search engines via search terms of the same keywords.
CAUTION: If you interlink lots of sites, this is called a "web ring", which is monopolistic and risks being considered as anti-competitive. Search engines can penalise you for anti-competitive practices.
LINK BUILDING TIPS:
- Submit your site to relevant and popular web directories.
- Become a member of a relevant and popular forum, allowing you to link back to your site from your profile page and the members page, as well as from your signature in every post you write.
- Through web forums, get to know the webmasters of popular sites which are relevant to your own, then work with them, exchanging ideas and exchanging links.
Structure
Well structured websites rank higher in search engines because they are easier to navigate.
|
