Does your web host affect search engine optimization

Posted: Monday March 28th

Most people will lease hosting from a company, just because they find a great deal. They don’t even stop to think of the long term affects of the company’s policies. Believe it or not, your web host has a dramatic involvement in your search engine rank potential. Let’s say you have a website, and no matter what you do, you just cannot seem to get high search engine rankings. You have performed all of the proper SEO techniques, yet you hardly find your website in a search engine even just by typing in the URL, leave alone keywords. Have you ever stopped to think that your host may have some involvement in it? Well, it is quite possible that your host has you on a server that has had its IP address banned or Blacklisted.

When a hosting company is careless enough to allow its clients to use unethical tactics at search engine optimization, some search engines will ban, block, or blacklist that IP address. One of the most popular reasons that this may happen is the use of certain spam tactics. This may not always be clients fault. Some websites do get attacked by hackers that use that sites email forms for spam However, regardless of whether the hosting client was to blame, or an attacker, the IP is still banned and it may be rough road to recovery.

There are things that can be done to prevent such occurrences. Things like prohibiting some types of email forms, and setting limits on emails that are sent. Things like educating clients on proper techniques, or by providing education for them are good ways to help clients. A good hosting company can stay in touch with its clients through newsletters, and a good support system.

The responsibility lies on the hosting company, and the client. It is up to the hosting company to provide the means and standards, and it is up to the client to abide by them. Finding a good hosting company is a difficult task these days. There are many out there, but knowing which ones will serve you the best is the challenge. Before purchasing from a hosting company, try checking out their support forums. You can learn a lot from their client’s forum posts, as well as see how well the company responds to support requests. If the clients seem to be unhappy, or if there are many complaints, it might be an indication that you should look elsewhere.

Your website is probably intended to be a source of revenue, or just a place for fun and entertainment. In either case, wouldn’t it be nice if people could find it? Don’t hurt your chances of hitting it big in the search engines even before you start. Find a good hosting company, and you will at least have a fighting chance.

Meta Tags Help Your Web Site Rankings

Posted: Friday January 28th

When optimizing your web site and making sure it is ready for the search engines to crawl frequently, there are a few key areas that you need to pay attention to. The three main fundamentals for creating successful search engine optimization are Link popularity, Meta tag creation and optimizing your web site. We will specifically concentrate on creating meta tags to help optimize any web site.

What is a Meta Tag?

A meta tag can be found in the “html code” within a web page. Each meta tag is used by the search engines to determine what your web pages are about. The meta tag Information provides the “essential guts” of your website page. Your Web site “Title and Description” Tags are an essential part of this meta tag creation. The “Title, Description and Headline” Tags can be the first thing any web searcher will see when they do a search on the internet.

Since first impressions are everything, the importance on making “the Title, Description and Headline” meta tags readable, relevant, attractive and properly optimized are absolutely essential. The true key is not to over optimize because you are likely to be banned entirely from the search engines if you choose to do so.

What happens when the search engines crawl your web site?

Now that you have set up your meta information, the search engines will crawl your web site and use this essential information as the brochure to your web site. When a search engine crawls your site, it determines the relevance of this meta information compared to the content on your page. The keyword Frequency on your web site should appear as much as possible on a page without being considered as something that sticks out like a sore thumb. If this does occur, you may be penalized as spamming.

What is key word frequency?

Keyword Frequency describes how many times a keyword (or phrase) occurs on a page. The most simple example of keyword frequency is if your key word appeared on a web page 5 times in every 100 words viewed by an engine, then your keyword density would be 5/100 or 5%.

The real trick to ensure a good ranking on the search engines is to produce quality content-rich pages which make the keyword density climb higher. But repeating your main keyword phrases can be tricky because you must still ensure that any content on your site isn’t compromised by your search engine optimization effort, so as to not confuse your reader. If you can keep a reader coming back to visit your web site, you definitely know you have accomplished this task.

In conclusion, keyword frequency should match your meta information with the content on your pages. The search engines have changed dramatically so trying to trick them by spamming with only hurt or jeapardize your web site.

Don’t try to spam the engines by submitting content-low pages full of keywords. You want to attract visitors to your site because of the good content your are providing to your readers. Take the time to optimize your site correctly so that you can get the most out of your web site rankings. When you have good content on your site, you will find those search engine rankings climbing to the top.

Good luck optimizing those web pages, Jennifer Schilling Copyright © 2004 Jennifer Schilling

What’s Your “Talking Domain Name”

Posted: Wednesday July 28th

Many times when a business owner picks a domain for her website, the domain name that is chosen and used is the name of the business that’s already been established, or perhaps the owner’s name is used. However, a person’s name or the name of a business isn’t always memorable nor is it always easy to spell. That’s why I encourage my clients to get a “talking domain name” that they use in publicity efforts, like for radio, TV, or newspaper interviews. So, instead of using the URL of their primary business website, they would instead give a shorter, more easily-remembered domain instead that would point to the owner’s primary website.

How important is this “taking domain name”? I think it’s vital. Which is easier for you to remember, JonesChiropracticCenter.com, or PainBeGone.com? The latter is easier to remember, is easy to spell, and clearly outlines a result that many patients receive at Jones Chiropractic Center. And, now that you can pick up a domain name for as little as $2/year with some registrars, it’s a no-brainer to pick several domain names for your business that you choose to use in different situations for different purposes.

How do you pick a good “talking domain name’? Here are 5 strategies you can use to find the perfect “talking domain name” for your business: (note–the URLs used in the examples below are only examples — I haven’t checked on their availability nor determined if the domain is actually in use.)

1. Problem that your clients have. Do many of your clients share a common problem or difficulty? If you’re an auto body shop, your “talking domain name” might be DentMaster.com, for example. Make a list of problems with which clients commonly approach you and see if a great name emerges from that list.

2. Solution that you offer your clients. What problem or pain do you take away from your clients and help them solve? If you’re a web designer, EasyWebSite.com might work for you, or if you’re a personal chef, QuickMeals.com would do the trick. Start listing the types of solutions that you offer for your clients and see if something catches your imagination.

3, Benefit of working with you. How do clients benefit by working with you — do you help them get results, find more time, make more money? If you’re a Virtual Assistant, you might use FindMoreTime.com. If you install home alarms, SafeHome.com is a great benefit of working with you. Brainstorm your list of benefits that you offer clients and choose an especially compelling one for your “talking domain name”.

4. Description of what you do. If your business name or your primary website name isn’t clear about the service you provide, then use your “talking domain name” to do that for you. For example, I recently spoke with an author whose website reflected the long name of her book — a name that was almost impossible to remember. She was getting ready for some major publicity and I encouraged her to find a shorter, more unique domain name to use during that PR stint. I encouraged her to think about a shorter name that accurately described what she does, and we decided that a domain name that she had already purchased was absolutely perfect for her. So, a domain name like YourDogTrainer.com or AnimalDoctor.com or GraphicDesignExpert.com might do well as your “talking domain name” as well.

5. Outcome or result of working with you. What is the final result that you offer your clients? If you’re a dog trainer, a name like GoodDog.com would be appropriate. If you’re a real estate agent, you might use YourNewHome.com. A money coach might use MoreMoney.com. Write down 2-3 final outcomes that your clients gain by working with you and determine if any of them would make an appealing domain name.

Just because you might have a long business name or use your given name as your business name doesn’t mean that you have to use either of those names when you tell others what you do. Pick a domain name that is shorter yet memorable that you can use with great success in your publicity efforts.

Building Constant Unstoppable Traffic to Your Website

Posted: Wednesday July 28th

For some internet marketers, web directories is not something they would have preferred if only they are given a choice. But without a doubt, web directories are sure-fire ways of driving website traffic.

These directories are effective ways of building PR (page rank) that helps websites get good rankings in the Google search engine. Google uses page ranks to grade the results based from the searches that visitors are making. Having a higher PR is having a better listing compared with others.

PR are based on the backlinks that you have and its quality. So it follows that the more backlinks you have, the higher your PR will be. You will also get better rankings.

This is the essence behind using web directories and linking. Once these combination have worked successfully, you can expect an increase in your website traffic.

To get a list of web directories, all you have to do is type in the keyword in the search engine. Then, all you need to do is choose from among the number of lists given.

Linking like crazy to other websites.

Ok so maybe submitting links is not really an easy task. Since there are not many computer-generated linking technologies yet, you have to submit them manually. But if you think of the benefits you will be getting from these links, it will be worth all the trouble.

Having a good content is important in making genuine backlinks.

There are two effective ways of doing this:

First, is the use of media or downloads. It is a fact that majority of website visitors are very much inclined to downloading and media. In addition, many people welcome them as something different from the usual wordings they encounter most of the time.

You will notice that once you have created a number of these on your site, the number of websites traffic you are getting will double. People are likely to come back to check on if updates to the media that you have on your site.

The second one is article writing. The good thing about articles is that you can post them to as many sites as you can, as long as their theme is related to yours. This way, you can have your backlinks spread all over the Internet through the resource box placed at the end of each article. With your articles, you get to reach more consumers that you cannot normally do if your article is only posted on your site.

Besides, articles are well-loved by search engines. Provide them with quality contents and you are sure to be read by these engines.

Giving more of your attention to search engines.

Search engines plays an important part for all internet marketers. They are a great way of driving website traffic. Google rankings are depending heavily on the backlinks used and the page ranks of each sites.

Going to forums or discussion pages.

This is a way of getting your message out while generating website traffic in the process. Just like web directories, you can just type in the keywords on the search engines to get a list of forums you can join.

You may have noticed that some people posts questions on forums. If you find that they are somehow related to your topic, fell free to answer the query being asked.

To register in forums, put in your URL. On the signature part, put a short description about your website. If you are planning on posting regularly to these forums, you can also change signatures to display the development happening on your website.

If you maintain your posts on a regular basis, you can have a steady flow of website traffic.

These are just some of the many ways you can do to be able to drive traffic to your website. There will always be new and easier ways of doing this. But for now, these are the ones being widely used. They also have proven their usefulness in the online marketing world.

Keep on using these strategies in order to maintain your website traffic. You can always come up with your own also.