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Search Engine Optimization (SEO): How to get cash from your website! Learn how to attract traffic to your website ethically, responsibly and profitably.

The story of...

Bot and the Shopper

Once upon a time in a land called ConTent there lived a shopper who couldn’t find anything he needed without the help of his pet spider, Bot (His real name is Surfbot but I like to call him Bot for short; it stands for robot, searchbot, or search engine spider). Bot is a hard-working spider. He crawls around webs all day and all night searching endlessly for the perfect match — not for himself. He's looking for the perfect match for his shoppers. He carefully crawls through World Wide Webs, inspecting every detail about them so he can match them with just the right shoppers.

Bot has a high work ethic and he takes his job very seriously. His survival depends on accuracy. If he makes a mistake and brings a shopper to the wrong website—the fickle shopper will find a different spider to hang out with. If that happens Bot’s search engine can be crushed like a bug by a competitor’s search engine. To prevent this from happening Bot is very selective about the websites he brings his shoppers to.

In the "perfect match" picture above we see Bot overseeing a successful website transaction. The question I will answer is: What made Bot bring this particular shopper to this particular website?

Imagine your little company standing before the Great and Powerful Google.

You quiver as you respectfully approach seeking Google's approval for your web domain. The great search engine booms, "WHO ARE YOU THAT I SHOULD RANK YOU ON PAGE ONE OF MY SEARCH ENGINE?" You meekly reply, "I'm just a local website owner trying to make a decent wage. I thought maybe you'd have mercy..."

"SILENCE! I HAVE MERCY ON NO ONE! BRING ME WRITTEN CONTENT THAT IS BETTER THAN ALL THE REST."

I can help you convince the Great and Powerful Google searchbot that your website is worthy of his attention.

What Bot Wants to Read on Your Website

1). Content is extremely important. It should be relevant to what your business is truly all about. The clearer you are about what you’re selling—the easier it is for search engines to categorize your site and bring you some serious shoppers.

Bot pays careful attention to the words you write and how those words are incorporated into titles and headings. Bold font and italics are duly noted by search engines. Bot loves Links and prefers when links are integrated into the text rather than just sitting there alone saying, "click here."

Search terms are specific words and phrases people use when searching for your type of product. One of the more difficult aspects of SEO is performing the keyword research—finding out what words and phrases to use that will attract traffic. Once you know the keywords and phrases you want to use, it’s extremely important that they be properly incorporated into the written content of your website. What you do with those keywords and phrases is vital to a successful website.

To choose the keywords, there are computer analytic tools that will help you decide the best words to use. But you’ve got to start somewhere to figure out what terms to try. Ask everyone you know what phrases come to mind when they’re trying to find a product such as yours. Get as much human input as you can because the best way to find out how humans think is to ask other humans. Then do some competitive research. Check out your competition’s websites. You can be sure I’ll be checking out your competition before I write your website.

Once you’ve determined what words and phrases you want to optimize for it’s up to the writer to carefully weave these terms throughout the text in a way that is pleasing to both Bot and the shopper.

Content is extremely important!

But Two different disciplines must come together to get recognized by Bot.

2) Computer coding is also extremely important.

Great Content will be Hard to Find if Computer Files are Named Incorrectly.

Your web developer should know how to properly title your pages and understand things like title tags, meta tags, alt tags and the architectural features that make your website easy for Bot to read.

Web developers don’t need to be expensive, high-powered SEO experts. But they do need to be mindful of basic search structures.

That said, your webmaster can be a genius but you will not have an optimized site unless you provide him or her with good written content.

What you want is consistency between the web coding and written content. When the scale is balanced properly Bot gets so excited he shouts to the whole World Wide Web about Your Web Site and your business!!!

 

 

Your website is like a book that is written for two very different types of readers. The picture below shows how differently Bot and the shopper each see pages out of the same book. You want to help both the spider and the human crawl or scan through your website in a logical order.

Organize your site by content—like chapters in a book. Use written content to establish expertise in each separate area (Bot likes that). Avoid mixing different categories of information on the same page. Only optimize for a few search words per page. And don’t overdo the number of search terms on the page; jamming in too many SEO words is considered spamming and will get you snubbed forever by Bot. Keep the number of search terms proportionate to what flows nicely for readers. Clear, organized written content will satisfy both the shopper and the spider.

Bot is reading codes and algorithms while the shopper reads logical and trustworthy information. But even though they see words differently, they both are getting the same trustworthy message—Joanne’s the best. Hire deScribe It!

Getting traffic to your website is the most important thing on everyone’s mind. But your job is not over just because you ranked high on Google or another search engine.

Once a human has entered your web you literally have only a few seconds to keep him there. You still have to weave a tight web around him so he doesn’t escape. This is a delicate moment where two conflicting things are going on. Bot wants words — lots of quality written content. The human also wants words but wants to get to know you first.

Appropriate Introductions

Have you ever met someone who introduced him or herself and proceeded to dive directly into a gory, detailed description about their gallbladder surgery? Our normal reaction is to back away thinking, “That’s too much information.” We want to know someone (really well) before we care about their gallbladder.

Websites work the same way. Tell visitors, at the 1st glance, who you are, what you do, and why they should care before you launch into your full sales pitch.

You Can't Catch Fish Without a Lure

Give visitors something to lure them deeper into your website or they’ll immediately escape your web.

How do you do that? How do you grab the attention of visitors to your site?

You need enough words to satisfy Bot, but not so many that you overwhelm the human. Pictures send powerful messages and can direct humans toward desired goals.

Watch this nice, informative website transform into great by adding graphics..

Suddenly, the term "restoration" pops out as the picture instantaneously tells you what services are provided by this company. No effort is required for you to know if you are at the right website for your needs. Does the photo help keywords, such as "restoration" and "water-fire-wind" damage stand out in your mind?

The writing is clear and concise on the above website. However, the cooperative effort of the the writer and the graphic artist packs a powerful punch. Pictures combined with clear, concise, and descriptive writing form effective website lures.

I write content for websites under any circumstances, but I write most effectively when I am able to confer with your graphic artist. Cooperation between the writer and the graphic artist creates miracles for business success through web media.

 

Good graphics are important. But there are a couple of things you should know about graphics.

1). First, Bot doesn’t like them—in fact, he can’t see pictures at all. A good webmaster can optimize graphics for you by adding a certain type of tag (called an “alt tag”) that adds descriptions to the pictures without interfering with the look of your website.

Alt tags also make the graphics on your site accessible to blind people who are dependent on screen reader programs.

2). The other thing about pictures is size. The size of pictures for the web is different from what you’d need for a print poster. Large picture files take too long to load. Your visitor is likely to become impatient waiting and escape before the picture has appeared. Make sure your graphic artist understands the difference between print and web media.

OKAY

1. We convinced Bot to bring traffic to our site.

2. We got the attention of visitors and lured them to come deeper into our web.

NOW WHAT? HOW DO WE GENERATE CASH?

3. We have to keep them on our site long enough to influence them.

We do that through the interaction of graphics and useful content.

4. We have to get them to do something. Every page should have a call to action.

Your site is complete and it looks great! You can sit back and relax, right?

WRONG!

Serious SEO requires yet another element—Analysis. Tools are available that will tell you which pages are working well and which are not. There are no guarantees with SEO so be prepared to make changes. You may need to modify some pages or throw them out all together. Find out what pages visitors are staying on the longest or leading them all the way through to the desired goal. Find out what pages are causing visitors to exit your site and fix them.

Good SEO requires an ongoing maintenance process.

Continue doing competitive research. Keep tweaking your content. Be aware that keywords and phrases that ranked well last month may not be as effective today. Check your outgoing links frequently to make sure they are working properly. Broken links are annoying to Bot.

Each individual must decide how far they want (or need) to take SEO. You can spend anywhere from the one-time cost of building a quality website (and learning a few do-it-yourself maintenance tips), to one or two hundred dollars a month for maintenance analysis, all the way up to several thousand dollars per month. Even the several thousand dollar per month option does not guarantee optimal rankings.

Consider your business goals before choosing an SEO package. Small business owners don’t have budgets to get big-time SEO. A local window washer only needs to be found within the geographical area he serves. Furthermore, a large percentage of local business owners would probably rather not be taking phone calls and answering emails from around the globe. If you do want to reach out far across the land, make sure you are prepared to handle the business that comes your way. There’s nothing worse than ruining your good reputation because your business grew faster than you were able to deliver on your promises.

I gave you a lot of information. If you only remember a couple of things I hope they will be:

CONTENT RULES! You must have it and it must be good.

And Joanne is the queen of content!

With the help of the queen, Bot and all the shoppers lived happily ever after.

I can help you achieve your marketing goals and your search engine optimization goals. Click on my logo below to email me, or give me a call.

deScribe It! Research and Copywriting Service          Turning Words Into Cash

Copyright 2009 Joanne Laurent

All rights reserved. No part of this document or the related files may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.

 

 

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