Get Your Web Site Noticed PDF Print E-mail

A few free and easy ways to make sure your website is found.

Article by David Sawyer McFarland, Macworld Magazine, March, 2007

Read the full article

Article Summary

Search Engines
Here are a few tips to raise your search engine position:

  1. Use text
    Your content must be in standard HTML text of the search engine spiders won't be able to read it when they index your site. That doesn't mean your website can't contain pictures, movies, podcasts or PDF. Just make sure the main information is presented in plain text.
  2. Use keywords
    Think about what phrases potential visitors might enter in a search engine to find you. Use the DigitalPoint Keyword Selection Tool for a list of related search terms and their popularity. Narrow your list to the keyword phrases that are searched most frequently.
    Once you've identified your top keyword phrases, make sure they are actually used in the text of your website. Put the keywords in the page's URL, title, heading tags, and in the first few paragraphs of text. Search engines give more weight to words that appear near the top of the page. Use different keyword phrases for each page on your site to target the content of that page.
  3. Put keywords in headers and titles
    Search engines give greater value to phrases located in titles and headlines than to body text. Put your most relevant keyword phrase there. Avoid using your website or company name for each page.
  4. Get links from other websites
    Your website will rank higher in the search engines if other websites are linking to yours. But not all links are created equal. Select quality sites with related topics, ideally “authority sites” and “hub sites”, to request links from.
  5. Avoid scams
    Be very skeptical of services that guarantee top placement with search engines.
  6. Content is King
    This is the MOST IMPORTANT point. Nowdays there's no substitute for quality, unique content and lots of it.

Draw an Audience

  1. Stick to what you know
    Make sure you know your topic and be passionate about it.
  2. Go deeper
    Look for new and interesting ways to present content.
  3. Update frequently
    Keep your content fresh and up-to-date to keep visitors coming back.

Beyond search engines - Opportunities to create links from other websites

  1. Tap into Social Sites such as Digg and del.icio.us
  2. Create and Popularize your Podcast
  3. Write a blog
 
[ Back ]