Search engine optimisation, sometimes called web site optimisation, and promotion are vital for any business looking to capitalise on the volume of traffic that is generated every day from search engines both within the UK and globally.
Making a significant investment in establishing a web site is only one part of the equation. Search engine optimisation and promotion will help you to attract the right traffic, keep visitors on your site and hopefully generate enquiries and sales.
Lakeshost.com can help you to improve your Internet presence across all the major UK, international and regional search engines and directories through effective search engine optimisation.
Please browse through our site and read about the techniques that we employ to get you the relevant traffic you are searching for.
Whether you require search engine promotion and manual submission or a more advanced internet marketing consultancy, Lakeshost.com can provide the service that you are looking for. There are a number of packages offered on our site, alternatively please feel free to contact us to discuss your specific needs for your web site and marketplace. We will work closely with you to identify target audiences and the keyword phrases they use, then optimise your site for relevant keyword phrases for your products and services.
You may have a professional looking web site but it will not rank highly unless it is optimised properly. Every search engine and directory has a different way of ranking web pages. They may look in your meta tags, text content, title tag or analyse your link popularity, but unless all your important keyword phrases are in those areas of your site then you will not be found.
Optimisation is the key to obtaining high rankings for your chosen keyword phrases, which in turn will draw in customers to your site.
Lakeshost.com research keyword phrases relevant to your products and services, keyword phrases that your potential clients and customers are most likely to use. We do not utilise easy to rank phrases just so that we can get you a top position. It is in our interests to drive quality traffic to your site to make your business a success, top rankings for search terms that do not result in any traffic are worthless to everyone.
Search engines and directories regularly change the algorithms that they use to determine relevancy and rank sites in order, what works today might not work tomorrow. We work with you to help you make your content visible to search engines and therefore giving the search engine the content which they would be happy to refer your customers to.
Contact Lakeshost.com now to discover how your business can benefit from professional search engine optimisation and promotion.
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If you use the Internet to run or promote a business, nothing is more important to your success than being listed with the search engines. They are your customer's tools of choice for locating web sites - out-performing banner advertising and all other forms of media.
The search engine can also be an invaluable tool for reaching your target market. The people visiting your web site as a result of a search engine query are specifically interested in the product or service you provide.
Research has shown that consumers are 5 times more likely to purchase goods or services as a result of finding a site through a search engine listing rather than through a hyperlink or a banner advertisement.
Unfortunately, simply being listed with the search engines is not enough to guarantee success. If people have not found what they want on the first or, at best, the third page of a search result query, they will simply type in a new search phrase. Consequently, competition for position near the top of the search results is fierce.
With that in mind, helping you gain optimum ranking for your web site with the search engines is what we do. Despite some of the claims you may have heard, nobody can guarantee you top ranking with the engines all the time.
All of the search engines are different, and what may work well on one this week, might not work well the next. This can be related to any one of several reasons. New sites may have been added to the index. One of your competitors may have resubmitted their newly optimised web site. The search engine may have changed it's programming. Or perhaps your site came to the end of its cycle and was simply dropped.
Additionally, the people who run the search engines don't divulge their secrets. They will only give you a general idea of how they actually rank sites. As a result, the field of search engine optimisation is very fluid and dynamic. It is a constant process of testing, submitting, monitoring, and fine-tuning. There are very few absolutes.
The key to successful ranking is to use a specialist organisation that understands how the search engine spiders operate. Knowing what kind of things spiders like, and configuring your web pages to that standard, can dramatically improve your web site’s ranking.
Studies have consistently shown that search engines are the most frequently used method when looking for web sites. Therefore, it is critically important to build web sites that incorporate elements that achieve a high ranking in search engine listings. According to a recent survey the following are the most popular in order of preference:
- Search Engines 87%
- Links from other Sites 85%
- Printed Media 63%
- Word of Mouth 58%
- Newsgroups 32%
- E-mail 32%
- Television 32%
- Books 28%
So, how does one correctly optimize a web site in order to achieve a higher ranking? Understanding how search engines work is critical to understanding how to improve your web site's ranking.
Search Engine Submission Tips
The following search engine optimization tips are the most important ones to use for a long-term search engine strategy:
Unique titles
Place a unique title on every page of your web site using your top keywords. Keep it short and include those keywords that are most often used by your customers.
Meta-tags
Use the meta-tag description and meta-tag keywords attribute on every page of your site that you want the search engines to index. If you don't want a page indexed, then utilise the robots exclusion tag. The robots.txt exclusion protocol has more support with spiders.
Content
Write great content using your most important keywords prominently throughout your web site. Visitors who read great content will link to your web site and recommend it to others. Remember that once you have got a potential customer to visit your site, it is the content that must persuade them to buy.
Link development
Implement a solid link development strategy obtaining listings in the top directories and industry-related sites. Search engines measure both link popularity and click-through popularity as part of their search engine algorithms. Do ensure that the links both to and from your site are relevant. Ideally incoming links will bring you visitors who are interested in your products or services and outgoing links will earn you a referral commission.
Keyword research
Always do keyword research on both the search engines and directories to determine the best set of keywords and keyword phrases your target audience is using. Look for "related searches" in search results for ideas. This is probably one of the most important elements within your search engine optimisation strategy.
Site statistics software
Use site statistics software to measure your results. If your statistics show that your site's visitors are typing in keywords, or keyword phrases that are not included in your meta-tags, then adjust your site accordingly. It is well worth fine tuning your site on the basis of factual data rather than speculation.
Alternative text
Put alternative text in your graphic images that clearly describe the graphic image and using your keywords whenever possible. Do not put text in a graphic image that has nothing to do with your web page.
Spam
Do not spam the search engines because they can and will permanently delete your web pages from their indexes if you go too far. Examples of spam include keyword stacking and stuffing, refreshing your web pages too quickly, using invisible text or text that is too small.
For professional advice on getting the best from your web site e-mail us webopt@lakeshost.com now or telephone 016974 72043.
It is useful to compare the difference between search engines and directories.
A Search Engine - is a database that has been built by 'spiders' or 'robots.' These cyber spiders scour the Internet analysing web pages and logging information. They then return the information to a database where it is stored. Theoretically, the web site should show up in the search results the next time the engine updates. The delay can be from a few days to months.
Search engine spiders can scour hundreds of thousands of pages a day. Many of them will also follow the links on a page to find information independently. Thus, it is possible for your page to be indexed by a spider even if you have not submitted the page to the search engine.
A Directory - is also a database of web sites. However, directories (such as Yahoo) don't rely on spiders. Instead, human editors review and categorise the web sites that have been submitted for inclusion, and decide if the listing will be accepted. In contrast to search engines, which may list every page on a site, most frequently a directory will only list one page. Additionally, once a site is listed in a directory, getting a human editor to change your listing or move you to another category can be almost impossible.
We recommend two different approaches when submitting to Search Engines and Directories.
Because search engines send spiders to visit your entire web site, you must ensure that your web pages are "spider friendly" and optimised to provide the information that search engines use to establish your ranking. You must still submit your site AFTER it has been optimised.
Directories, on the other hand, do not use spiders therefore you need to submit the correct information to them. There are literally thousands of directories, and, as it is very difficult to make changes later, it is critical that you get it right first time.
Spiders determine a web site's relevancy based on the keywords and keyword phrases that appear throughout the site. Points are awarded based on such factors as how many times the keyword is repeated, where the keywords appear, how the keywords are used, and how the keywords are positioned in relation to one another.
Sites can also be penalised for improper use of keywords. For example, sites that repeat a keyword umpteen times in the hope of ranking higher, will inevitably find that they don't. So, obviously, your objective should be to optimise the use of keywords through a balanced approach.
In doing so, let's consider some places where keywords could possibly be placed.
- URL (address)
- Site Title
- Keywords
- Descriptions
- Other Meta tags
- Body Content
- Headers
- Text Links
- ALT tags
- Comments
- No Frames Tag
- Frame Names
- Graphic File Names
- Hidden Form Fields
- Bold Text, etc.
As you can see, we have a lot of places to put keywords. Do the spiders read a keyword every time you put one in one of the places above? Who really knows? The trick is in figuring out what keywords to use, were to use them, and in what proportion your primary keywords should relate to the rest of your site's content - without getting in trouble.
There are some words which should not be used at all.
Stop Words (often confused with Filter words) will stop a spider dead in it's tracks. As you might guess, Stop Words are generally of a pornographic nature. If a spider hits one of these words, he may delete your site from the index. So, just behave yourself and you should be fine.
Filter Words, on the other hand, are words which are so commonplace that they have little or no value. Examples include words like "a, the, and, or." These are ignored to save disc space on the search engine server. However, words that form phrases such as "home page" might also be considered filter words. When selecting keywords, keep this in mind.
The process of selecting keywords should begin with an open and honest evaluation of what your site is about. Remember, you want to define the site - not define your most hoped for audience. Also, defining your site in this manner can be especially helpful to you when submitting your site to directories like Yahoo. It forces you to define where you should be placed.
If you ask most people what their site is about, they'll probably give you a one or two word answer. Unfortunately, there are probably a million other web sites out there fighting for the same two words. Consequently, you have to go beyond that.
For many sites location the most important defining keyword, for example when someone is looking for a restaurant in Ambleside then its location will be an important consideration.
Don't forget misspellings! Many of you will have sites that contain keywords which are commonly misspelled. Include these misspellings in areas that are not visible to the viewer.
Use tense to your advantage. Many spiders can read the root of a word (i.e. some spiders will read "boat" from the words "boats" and "boating").
Don't forget that some things are known by more than one word or phrase. Look for areas where you can use use both. (i.e. DHTML and Dynamic HTML).
Ask your customers what words they would use when searching for your products or services and look at your competitors web sites for their key words!
The following web sites are ones, which we have found to be most useful in sourcing information.
www.beyond-seo.com
Lots of useful information on optimization and other techniques
LinkSurvey
LinkSurvey is the first software in the world which can check link popularity of multiple relative websites, make comprehensive analysis, and generate a detailed report.
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Every issue, Trafficology.com compiles the best traffic-generation ideas submitted by its readers. Then, they publish all this... FREE!
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EzineKing Put your message in front of over One Million subscribers through this excellent service
SideTracking.com
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Opt In Lightning
Webmasters: NEVER Lose Another Precious Email Lead!
Shop Announce If you have an online shop, then this service will submit your details to all the major online directories - saving you hours of time!
Niche Market Research NicheFinder is a marketing tool that speeds up your market research, makes your search engine optimization more effective with keywords research, and gives you good products or business ideas.
scamfreezone.com
A "must have" tool for evaluating the link popularity of web sites, helps you choose where to establish high traffic incoming links!
www.marketingtips.com
"Insider" Tips and Secrets for Promoting your Business Online
www.lakeshost.com
web site design, hosting, ecommerce and online marketing advice
www.myrasoft.com
The award winning Web Position Gold web site promotion software used by professionals
www.spider-food.net
Really good tutorial on how to undertake DIY optimisation
www.se-news.com
Source of one of the best e-books on Search Engine Optimisation and an excellent free newsletter to keep up you to date
www.GetResponse.com
For immediate responses to enquiries, newsletter submissions and online questions, this is an essential marketing tool
www.successwks.com
Useful information on copywriting to improve your site content
www.webmasterworld.com
News and discussion site for web development professionals
www.searchengineworld.com
Keep updated with the latest search engine news
fantomaster.com
Top notch search engine positioning + optimization, industrial-strength cloaking, stealth technology, code protection, anti-spam, admin tools, CGI + Perl scripts, freeware.
www.marketingtips.com/mailloop
Learn about the highly acclaimed Mailloop software that can help you automate your entire online marketing.
www.cyber-mark.com
The professional alternative to link farms
www.RankWrite.com
Information and discussion on optimization and search engine submission
www.academywebspecialists.com
Get Search Engine Optimizer and stop worrying about remembering what each engine likes, or having to keep up with the changes.
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