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You can also purchase
the Webposition Gold software
 that we use to get top
positioning for our website pages -
To learn more about WebPosition and why it
won the 'Editor's Choice' award, Click
Here. This is simply the BEST SOFTWARE
IN ITS CLASS, and we have tried most of
them! The biggest advantage is that current
search engine rules are downloaded
automatically, every time you use
it.
If
you are just starting out on the 'net
and need to register a domain, check
out our easy domain name
registration
system.
You should choose your
hosting service carefully, looking
for high performance and server
stability (nobody will find your site
if your server is down).
DO NOT use a free 'tag-on'
(e.g.
http://someserver.com/users/yoursite)
website service. Get your own domain
name (e.g. http://yourname.com) right
from the start as it will be very
difficult to undo your tag-on
listings later and your exposure in
the search engines will be very
limited. It says a great deal about
your commitment to your products and
services and if you can't afford the
minimal cost of doing this, you
probably shouldn't be marketing
anything on the 'net in the first
place.
Once your site is up and
running and submitted to the search
engines, you'll need a statistics
system to monitor the performance of
such criteria as:
-Where your visitors are
from
-How they found your site
and what they typed into the search
engine
-How long they stayed and
what they looked at
-Where they exited the
site
For a live demonstration of
such a system, visit our site at
http://aero-host.net/
(use the 'BACK' button on your browser to
come back here)
Once you have your system up
and running, it is quite a chore to
check your positioning in the various
search engines, with each different
'targeted' search phrase you are
using. The folks at WebPosition have
created some affordable software that
automates this task.
To learn more about WebPosition, Click
Here.
Home Page Construction
Techniques
Effective site design for
achieving top ranking begins with
careful planning and strategy, long
before page construction begins. Here
are the 4 most important
components:
1. Keyword
List:
You need to sit down and
write out a long list of 'keywords'
that are relevant to your site
content (most important words first).
Utilizing a word processor that has a
'character count' (and spell
checking) feature will make your job
a lot easier. These keywords will be
in a 'META' tag embedded in the HTML
code of your home page. Not all
search engines use this tag, but it
should be there for those that
do.
The META tag is invisible to
the visitor, but very 'visible' to
the search engine robots that will
'spider' your site for indexing
information.
We'll use an imaginary
property and real estate company in
Montana as an example.
It is important to
understand that many search engines
will penalize your listing if you try
to 'rig' your submission with
repeated 'keyword stuffing'; some
important tips are:
-do not use too many
keywords, 20 to 50 should
suffice
-repeat primary keywords
sparingly, NO MORE THAN 3
TIMES
-separate repeated
words
-use two word phrases when
appropriate, but watch out for
repeats (note 'real estate' and 'for
sale' below)
Here's the sample list of
suitable keywords:
montana,land,real
estate,property,acreage,properties,
retirement,recreational,wyoming,for
sale,
realtors,brokers,realty,company,yellowstone,waterton,park,holiday,
vacation,log,homes,retire,western,rocky,mountain,rockies,
cross,country,downhill,ski,skiing,snowboarding,billings,bitterroot,
valley,whitefish,kalispell,missoula,idaho,
kootenai,sandpoint,post,great,falls,butte,helena,anaconda,
beaverhead,lodge,jefferson,roosevelt,madison,teton,pondera,glacier,
cascade,lewis,clark,county,landco.com
The strategy used here was
to list property related terms,
recreational terms, names of major
parks, cities, counties, etc. You can
devise your own strategy - the more
thought you put into it, the better
the result will be. Note the
inclusion of the domain name at the
end; this makes it easier to search
and verify site
registration.
2. Site
Description:
You should create a succinct
core description of your site. It
should contain most of your primary
keywords and will be the content of
another important "META' tag. Use as
close to 150 characters as you can,
but do not exceed.
Here's the example
description:
For sale: land, property
and acreage in Montana. Montana
Property Co. is the #1 real estate
broker for homestead, recreational
and retirement
properties
3. Site
Title:
Your site title META tag is
the text that appears in a list when
your site is 'bookmarked' by a
visitor. It is also what most search
engines display as summary text
during a search. Use about about 7
words.
Here's the example; note how
the primary keywords appear in the
text:
Homes, lots and Acreage
For Sale in Montana
4. Opening Text of
Page Content:
The very first visible
element in your page should be text
(contained in a header tag) that
relates to the first three items -
not large graphics, tables, or
anything else. Do not use frames on
your home page as some major search
engines will not index your page
properly.
Here's the
example:
The Montana Property Co.
- homes, lots and acreage for sale in
Montana - your #1 real estate
source for retirement and
recreational properties
...
Be sure to incorporate your
keywords in the remainder of the text
as well.
Finally, make sure your html
code structure is correct. Many
people get this wrong and the search
engines will not index your site
properly. The META tags MUST be
between the HEAD tags. Here is the
complete example (between the double
lines):
===========================================================
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Homes, lots and Acreage For
Sale in Montana
</TITLE>
<META NAME="description"
CONTENT="For
sale: land, property and acreage in
Montana. Montana Property Co. is the
#1 real estate broker for homestead,
recreational and retirement
properties">
<META NAME="keywords"
CONTENT="montana,land,real
estate,property,acreage,properties,
retirement,recreational,wyoming,for
sale,
realtors,brokers,realty,company,yellowstone,waterton,park,holiday,
vacation,log,homes,retire,western,rocky,mountain,rockies,
cross,country,downhill,ski,skiing,snowboarding,billings,bitterroot,
valley,whitefish,kalispell,missoula,idaho,
kootenai,sandpoint,post,great,falls,butte,helena,anaconda,
beaverhead,lodge,jefferson,roosevelt,madison,teton,pondera,glacier,
cascade,lewis,clark,county,landco.com">
</HEAD>
<BODY>
... start of visible page
content ...
<H3>
WELCOME! Looking for
land, property or acreage in Montana? The
Montana Property Co. is your #1 real estate
source for homestead, retirement and
recreational properties ...
</H3>
….
Rest of visible page content
….
</BODY>
</HTML>
===========================================================
Tips for search engine
submission:
-submit it only once at
first; keep a record of what you
did
-submit sub-pages as separate URL's with at
least a 24 hr. delay
-monitor your progress for a month and
re-submit if some engines missed your
site
-it takes up to eight months to be indexed,
depending on the engine
Don't forget to check out
WebPosition, software that
automatically checks your search
engine positioning.
To learn more about WebPosition, Click
Here. This is simply the BEST SOFTWARE
IN ITS CLASS, and we have tried most of
them!
Once your site is up and
running, take some time to look at
other sites on the Internet. Have a
look at what you find annoying, then
make sure you don't repeat the same
mistakes.
Bonne Chance!
Adrian Biffen
Systems Administrator
AeroHOST Web Systems
http://aerohost.biz/
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