subject: Marcus Interactive's 10 Tips To Optimize Your Website [print this page] Optimizing your website is the single best way to improve your website traffic. Optimization is the process of going through the details of your website and making all the little things right for the search engines to find you. The goal is obviously to be found as close to page one as possible, but also not to be found for search terms or "keywords" that will make your visitor leave right away. I"ve put together 10 tips that you can use to improve your website immediately. Follow them all and see your traffic increase as well as your profits.
1.Be Clear and Targeted: Your website is the front door to your business, why would you not want a clear sign to let your visitor know what they are there for. Who, what and why are the key questions to be answered on each and every page.
2.Treat each page of your site as a separate entity: Google does, why shouldn"t you? Every page of your site has a unique opportunity to be the landing page for someone looking for something specific. As people become more adept at searching, they fine tune to exactly what they want, which brings us to".
3.Keywords are not just single words: No longer can you expect to be number one for a term like "gifts" and not have a huge bounce rate. People want something specific and that is more and more what is being searched for. So, make sure your keywords, both in your meta tags and in your AdWords campaign, are specific and multi-word.
4.Each page deserves a title: Your store has a name"your page has to have a title. You know that line up at the very top of the screen telling the world where they are. Each and every page needs one and make sure you fill it with keywords specific to that page..not HOME!
5.Every picture is another opportunity: Image searching is rapidly gaining on text search. Your images should be fully optimized to take advantage of this. Name your images properly and fill in all the behind the scenes tags. No one searches for "DSC0012344", but they do search for "Hawaiian Sunset over Mauna Kea".
6.Links coming to you are important, but be careful where they come from: In-bound links, links to your site from other sites are critical in getting a high page ranking from Google. But with the prevalence of reciprocal linking and link farms, where that link comes from is key. And if you have a page full of links to other sites, don"t name it LINKS, kind of a dead giveaway there.
7.People like simplicity: Keep your site navigation simple. Can your site be navigated by an 80 year old retiree who just got online? Are your pages named properly? Do you have a clear contact email address? Is your contact info on every page? Is the point of your site clear on how to get whatever you want your visitor to get?
8.Analytics and AdWords: Google gives us 2 amazing tools, for free. Analytics not only gives you the raw numbers of how many visitors your site is getting, but much more in-depth so you can truly see how you"re doing and where to make changes. AdWords is quite simply the best Pay-Per-Click program out there. It"s intuitive enough for a novice to begin, but complex enough to be able to customize down to specific demographics and ad times.
9.Blogs and forums: The best way to get your site out there is to be known as an expert in your area. Posting a blog and on forums is your way to tap an existing network and to show off your know-how. The keys to posting in these two places are professionalism and honesty. Don"t BS, people will know. And be professional. You only make a first impression once. If you choose to blog, be consistent. Whether it"s once a day, once a week or once a month, doing it with consistency and don"t "phone it in". And don"t be salesy, just present your ideas to help people.
10.Have a professional do the work: You can only do so much yourself. Like any major undertaking, do what you safely can and then get a pro in to look things over, give you ideas and then, go with what makes sense to you. SEO consultants come in all types. Some specialize in huge campaigns, some in smaller, some may use questionable tactics or make Page 1 promises (a note: NO ONE can FULFILL THE PROMISE of Page 1 of Google, if they do, move on.).
