December 08 National Newsletter   Melbourne IT’s top tips to get more hits on your website! David Frost, Melbourne IT

 

 

Melbourne IT’s top tips to get more hits on your website!

Marketing your website through search engines is a combination of business savvy and IT expertise. While we recommend you leave all the messing about with website code to a search engine marketing professional like Melbourne IT, it helps to understand the general principles behind them. Remember these ten helpful tips and you will surprise a professional with how much you know.

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1. Be the King of your domain

Your domain name is your address on the Internet. But do you know that some domain names have more marketing value than others? A unique, topical name for a florist like melbourne-florists.com.au should rank higher in search engine results than myfloristshop.com.au if potential customers use the search term ‘florists in melbourne’ .

 

Similarly, if you are involved in the export business or have an international audience, securing the relevant international domain names in those regions as well as a .com domain name helps capture potential customers that are searching for sites globally as well as in your selected regions.

 

2. Get with the lingo

Know the search terms customers use to look for your product or service on the Internet. There is no point focusing on obscure search terms or made-up product names if your customers don't use them, or worse, have never heard of them. Relevance is the key!

 

 

3. List your terms

Once you have come up with a list of search terms, insert them into the programming of your web pages (also known as meta tags). These used to be one of the only ways for search engines to catalogue your site until recently. However, it 's a good place to start.

4. Set your principles

It helps to set some basic principles that will guide your web developer in building your site.

 

Whatever kind of interaction or specific formatting is used to build your site, it must not affect the ability for search engines to visit and read your website.

 

The site must be downloaded quickly and easily. It keeps your impatient site visitors and search engines happy.

You can add more pages or edit content without going through a long and complicated development schedule.

The site is generally more efficient and easy to maintain.

 

5. Titles matter

A page title is the text that appears at the very top of the browser window. Search engine optimisation experts will tell you that an ill-planned page title is the Achilles Heel of a web page. It is referenced by search engines and must be considered seriously.

 

6. Content is King

Good magazines survive primarily because they provide relevant and quality content to their readers, who keep coming back for more. It's no different with search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN.  They reward quality content with a high ranking in the search results.

 

For example, what you write on your homepage is what appears in the search results. If the text does not relate to what customers are searching, your site will most likely be ignored, thus, lowering your search engine ranking.

 

7. Spread the word

Apply the concept of word-of-mouth marketing to the Internet by implementing reciprocal links. Google, in particular, will rank your site based largely on how many other sites have had visitors click from their website to yours.

 

8. Frames are bad

When it comes to structuring web content on a page, tables are preferred over frames. What is the difference?

 

Frames refer to page containers, whereas tables are elements on a page.

 

Think of a framed picture - a framed web page will have the navigation menu, logo masthead and footer remain as "permanent" frames with the main content (ie the picture) residing within this "permanent" frame. Each time one clicks on the navigation menu, the "frame" remains rigid while the main content area changes to the relevant menu selected. Unless the framed site is coded to make it search-engine friendly, the preferred option is a table.

 

In contrast, navigation menus, logo mastheads and footers that usually remain rigid in a frame are repeated on a non-framed site (ie a table) on every discrete page. The benefit of this is that search engines are able to read and index each particular page on a site.  This can sound all too technical. The only thing you need to remember is to avoid using frames.

 

9. No need to look flash

Forget the bells and whistles. Flash sites are generally more expensive to build. Moreover, site visitors are usually annoyed by maddening motion and search engines like Google can't read them. However, if your product or service can be better demonstrated using Flash, Quick Time or other multimedia, offer your visitors the chance to click a link to view it. Don't force them.

 

10. Don’t forget to sell your wares

Once they're in, turn your site visitor into a paying customer or a hot lead at the very least. This will obviously depend on what your objectives were in the first place. Was it to sell your product (in the case of e-commerce), sign-up visitors to your newsletter, fill out your contact form or download your whitepapers?

 

Whatever it may be, make the most of their visit while you have their attention.

 

For more information and advice on how to develop a new web site, restructure an existing site or get listed in the search engines, contact our experienced Web Solutions Team.

Ph: 1300 132838

Email enquiries: david.frost@melbourneit.com.au

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