Having developed Web pages since 1992, I’ve learned that the most important aspect of Web design is really the marketing of the Web site.
So to get you off on the right foot I recommend you start by researching your industry on the Web before you begin link building to your Web site. Find out what your customers are really looking for.
In other words let’s say you are selling an xyzx-Widget and this is a very clever name because the owner of the business thought it’s what people will remember or be impressed by. However, after careful research the xyzx-Widget is also know as simply a ballpoint pen. So really it comes down to thinking how would your customer find your product or service.
One of the cool FREE tools available is the reverse look-up tool provided by Overture to see what people are typing into Overture’s searches and seeing their keywords they used in their searches. Also you get to see what other results that are relevant to your target keyword phrase.
On the right side we’ve actually looked up Internet Marketing which shows you that 473,852 users in the month of November 2004 in Overture had been searching the Web for that exact keyword phrase and then the next 100 results are other Keyword phrases that match or are relevant to the original Internet Marketing phrase.
This research is vital to understanding your target market by viewing and reviewing this kind of data.
The next step is to save this data in an Excel spreadsheet and begin to delete any keyword phrases that are NOT relevant to your business or industry. Also remove any cities you are not physically located in. If you are in San Diego like we are then you would NOT want to market your business as if you are located in Tampa, Florida. Potential customers in Tampa that are looking for local services would be less likely to call you since you are not what they were looking for exactly and they may even be upset that you have listed yourself in the search engines as a local service in a city you don’t have an actual service.
This collection process can turn into 1,000 to 5,000 keyword phrases. That’s why you should really use a spreadsheet to sort them. I collect both the number value and the keyword phrase.
Be sure to also click on the top resulting keyword phrases in the Overture list as those links will generate another handful of keyword phrases to add to your data.
Once you’ve collected all your data be sure to remove duplicate keyword phrases and all the non relevant keywords. If you’ve collected 4,000 keyword phrases then after cleaning the list you should have a good 2,000 targeted keyword phrases for your business.
If you have a lot of products or services then this data collection is even more vital so you can really narrow down the best target marketing program for your business. Like I said research is the key before even starting your Web site or your marketing campaign.
Now sort your keyword phrases by the highest value which is the number of searches done during this time period. This data will change from month to month and can even be seasonal so if you are selling a summer item and you are starting your online business in the winter I recommend you research your data findings in the summer months again.
Now that you have all this data you need to use it somehow.
Take the top 50 keyword phrases and add up the potential traffic that can be derived from just those keyword phrases. If you could get one or more of these keyword phrases to be ranked number one in the search engines you can imagine the potential targeted traffic your business could get.
Now that you have this VERY VALUABLE research done take these keywords and start building your Web site and follow these basic instructions below.
TOP (6) SIX TIPS FOR GOOD OPTIMIZATION
1) Start with KEYWORD RESEARCH
2) Write copy using these great keyword phrases (use 200-300 words per page. Use a good copywriter) Search engines are feeding on the content
3) Create a great Title Tag to include these highly ranked (used) Keyword phrases
4) Get reciprocal links (Target high traffic Web sites for best results)
5) High Rankings takes time so keep getting more reciprocal links
6) Include complete Meta Tags for the Meta Search Engines using these top keyword phrases |
