July ABCs of Web Design Newsletter (Issue 002)

Your Moderator Theresa Wilkinson

(theresaw@columbus.rr.com)

In this month’s newsletter –

*Introductory comments

*Question of the month

*Wrap up

Introductory comments

At the June DigitalEve Columbus meeting entitled, "Rights Protection on the Web," I ran into an attorney I worked with at CompuServe, Mark Pomeroy. While giving his presentation, Mark commented on some court cases that were fought over keywords. I was intrigued. In the old days of the Internet, no one cared much for keywords or search engines. I know I was the first one at CompuServe to add them to our corporate web site. I had to run them all by Mark first. After his presentation, he remarked that he and I were one of the pioneers doing Internet Law and we did not realize it at the time. And as promised, he emailed me the court cases he mentioned and I wrote a sidebar to my next SEO article. It amazes me that in the beginning of the Internet, no one much cared about keywords or SEO and now they are filing lawsuits and suing over trademarked keywords. I guess we have come a long way.

Question of the month

Question: After the first SEO article came out, called "Search Engine Optimization: Keywords that Work" I received an email from Ceil Hall asking advice for doing some SEO work on her site that promotes some books she has written. She asked, "besides keywords and META tag info, is there any thing else that I can do to help boost my rankings?

Answer: Great question and yes this is more you can do! The Title tag is the most important place for spiders to find your keywords (refer to my first SEO article for more on this). But don't forget about home page text - it is the second most important place that a search engine spider looks at in determining your site's rankings is the home page text. So if you don't have any text there, get some on their quick. Here are some ideas for writing your home page text:

When you're writing your home page, focus on two to four of your most important keywords/phrases. For instance, if your client wants to rank high for the phrases "automatic knives" and " police equipment," include these phrases as much as possible.
Emphasize your main keywords in the first paragraph and in your main and sub headlines. This is the first thing the search engines "see," so keyword-dense text helps influence the rankings.
If you're afraid that your text will sound stilted with all those keywords and phrases, read it out loud. Strong search engine optimization copywriting keeps a persuasive marketing flow - even
with all those keywords and phrases! Also, beware of the urge to put all your keywords and phrases in a big text block separated by commas. The search engines will read this as spam - and your prospects will be utterly unimpressed by your nonsensical text.
Remember that longer copy is better. This is one time where it pays to wax poetic - just make sure your text is still tight and laser-focused. Not only is it easier to write keyword-dense text when you keep your page length to at least 250 words, search engines tend to adore copy with some "meat." If you are afraid that your 250+ word copy will look like an endless scrolling text block? Tricks like
writing short paragraphs [this works great for 2-column layouts], including subheadlines and integrating keyword-rich bullet points, will help enhance usability while satisfying the search engines.
If you can't determine where to put all those keywords, make it easy on yourself. Try writing "normal" (non-optimized) copy first and add keywords and phrases where you can. Also, you can search your text for words and phrases like "our product" and "it," and transform them into keyword-filled phrases. This way, you know your text and marketing flow are covered - and adding keywords is as simple as "filling in the blanks."

Wrap up

I have yet another SEO article that I am wrapping up and starting a small SEO project for a client (the next article be published in December 2002 and you can see it shortly there after on my site). So back to the grindstone so I can get this article out the door.

Please send all questions to theresaw@columbus.rr.com.

To see the articles from my print web column, go to http://www.w-edge.com/articles.htm

Feel free to forward this email in its entirety to anyone you feel might be interested in it.

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References

Lloyd-Martin, Heather, "How to Write a Keyword-Rich Home Page the Search Engines Will Love!", Rank Write Roundtable, (http://www.rankwrite.com).

Lloyd-Martin, Heather, "Six Secrets to Search Engine Writing Success", Rank Write Roundtable, (http://www.rankwrite.com).