Freshh Media

A website is more than just a home page. In fact, it is useful to think of a website as a cluster of mini websites, with each of the inner pages being a full-fledged website. Depending on the content of these inner pages, visitors will enter your site through these “side doors” on the strength of search engine queries that match the content of these interior pages.

This is great news for you, especially if you have a lot of pages with interesting content. However, if these inner pages are not indexed in the search engines, then you will not gain the advantages of all this “extra” traffic. Here are some steps to take to make sure that all of your pages are “spidered” and included in the major search engines.

1. First, make a check to determine your present indexing position

Normally when a search engine robot finds your main page, it will then follow links to your inner pages, and continue following links until all of your pages have been indexed. If your site is well constructed, and search-engine friendly then all of your pages may already be indexed. You can find out how you are doing by going to Google, Yahoo or MSN and making the following search query: site:www.yoursite.com . The results of this query will show you how many of your pages are already included and which pages they are.

2. Improve the navigation system of your site to make your links search engine friendly

If you do a check and find that only your main page or only a few of your pages are indexed and the rest are not, then it is important to look at your link and navigation structure and to make changes that will enable search engine robots to find and follow all of your links.

Links to inner pages that are contained in the java script of drop-down menus or as “hot spots” on graphics are more difficult for spiders to recognize and follow. If your site uses this kind of navigation structure, then it may be helpful to add an additional text link navigation system at the bottom of the pages. This will not only help the search engine robots, but will also give your visitors another handy way to go on to the other pages of your website.

3. Build an html site map with text links to all of your pages

A site map is something like a table of contents. Construct a web page using your usual graphical and navigation, so that it matches the rest of your website. In the main content section of that page, make a text link to each of your pages, using the title tag of those pages as the clickable link text, and putting the description tag of the page as text below the link. Putting the descriptive text under the link does not affect the work of the search engine robots but it will help your visitors to choose which page to click on.

Some online website builder and website construction software (such as Xsitepro) contain built in site-map generators. If you have a very large site with many pages then you can find free online site-map generators or download software for this purpose.

4. Participate in the Google Sitemaps Program

Last year Google set up the sitemaps program to help webmasters make it easier for their site’s pages to be found by the Google spider. To participate, you have to construct an XML file with information about each of your site’s pages and upload this to the main directory of your website. XML files are the same kinds of files used in RSS syndication, but in this case the XML file is meant only to provide information for the Google robot.

If you don’t know how to make an XML file or you have a very large website with hundreds of pages it is best to use an XML sitemap generator. A free, online Google Sitemaps generator can be found at http://www.auditmypc.com/free-sitemap-generator.asp

Once you have made your XML sitemap and have uploaded it to your server, go to www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps and set up a sitemaps account with Google. When you log into your account you will see a tab at the top of the page that says Add. Click it and then check the box, add “General Web Sitemap”. You will be asked to put the url of your sitemap. Normally the url of your sitemap will be http://www.yoursite.com/sitemap.xml

The Google sitemaps program is particularly important if you have a large, data base driven site or ecommerce website with many pages that you want to be available in Google searches.

If you want to increase traffic to your site, check and see how many of your pages have actually been included in the various search engines, and then take steps to make sure that all of them are included in future search engine updates. Your efforts to improve the search engine friendliness of your site will be well rewarded.

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The ever-increasing level of competition in the Web these days is like a mad scramble for most businesses, with thousands of sites and affiliates boxing-out each other for niche markets, increased traffic, and higher sales.

Website and business owners who spend money on optimizing their websites in the search engines want to know they are getting a good return on their investments. SEO firms and experts need concrete numbers to show that the campaign is working, and that they should continue to invest in optimization.

According to the experts, there are several good reasons why you should measure your SEO efforts, so that you wouldn’t get astray in terms of direction or investment. First, you need to justify how much you’re spending to management, your client, or whoever holds you responsible for getting traffic to your website. Second, is to make sure that all the time and funds you’re spending on SEO is actually working. Third, to enable you to secure more money for next year’s SEO budget. And lastly, to enable you to stay competitive always.

It is also notable to take note that you should understand industry averages, such as how much the average website owner spends on outsourcing SEO, and this could range from $100 to $500 per web page for example, and what sort of return you can expect to receive for paying premium cash. In finding out these spending averages, you are fully equipped with the knowledge when formulating a plan that will convince yourself, or the higher-ups, to spend the money on SEO.

Tips On How Not To Get Lost In The SEO World

It is far better to get started on your SEO journey of learning and make a couple mistakes, than to let months go by, never make a mistake and never get started. Here are a few tips on succeeding, and in preventing yourself from getting lost in the wide, and sometimes tricky world of SEO.

* Make a firm decision to get started. There are a lot of people who will buy a program or purchase a product, but for some reason have difficulty in getting to know how to use it: as a result, they never do.

* Gain self-confidence through experience and constant practice. Far too many people hesitate to try out their ideas. The sooner you strengthen your confidence, the sooner you will realize the potential for what you can achieve and do. In the beginning, start with a few of your own sites where you have full creative liberty without encountering the demands or pressures that come from a client.

* Gather advice from the SEO community by visiting respected forums and discussion groups. Although at times you may not get leading edge stuff, since most of that costs a lot of money, however you will get an awesome amount of pertinent information. Plus, you’ll also hear both sides of a story, both the pros and cons, from the debates that seethe within the community.

* Subscribe to reputable newsletters and learn from what the experts say. Many of them are free to sign up to and they can be a wonderful venue to start learning.

The importance of choosing the right SEO is greater than many of us can imagine. Search engine optimizing is what keeps your site indexed and ranked by search engines and ensures you a good amount of traffic. Without it, your website is either dead, or struggling for survival, hoping to be noticed.

The area of SEO is very complex and it’s permanently extending. New companies and consultants seem to appear out of the blue. SEOs use a wide variety of search engine optimizing tactics, with different efficiency levels. Consequently, before hiring an SEO consultant, it is very important to make sure you’ll be getting what you need. Apart from what you’ll be able to find out from the SEO itself, you can also perform a previous research on your own.

Things to find out on your own

• Find out for how long has the company been in business. This should be listed on their website.
• Search their website for previous projects to find out whether they have a marketing related experience.
• A reliable company also has client testimonials and case studies to prove they are able to keep their customers satisfied.
• Be skeptical with companies that email you out of the blue to advertise their SEO services.
• Beware of SEO companies that claim they can provide a #1 ranking guarantee. Ranking is determined by many factors that are beyond the SEO’s control.
• Beware of SEOs that claim they have a priority submit or special relationships with Google or other search engines. There’s no such thing.

Things to ask the SEO consultant

Do they include link building in their SEO services?

A professional SEO consultant doesn’t limit to building keyword rich content, but also incoming links from relevant website to increase your PageRank.

What are they doing for website conversion enhancement?

A high traffic is meaningless unless your website provides what the users are looking for. A good SEO consultant uses several conversion enhancement techniques, such as copywriting strategies, site usability, call to action tactics and advanced conversion reporting.

Do they help you with calculating your ROI (Return of Investment)?

SEO services can be quite expensive and you need to calculate your potential returns. ROI depends on various factors, such as target population, size of your market place, the sales value of your services and the number of people searching for them on the Internet etc. An experienced SEO should be able to help you predict your ROI.

Do they use SEO best practice and anti-spam methods?

There are many SEOs that use various strategies to trick search engines in thinking your page is more relevant than it actually is. No SEO consultant will admit to using spamming and other unethical strategies, so you can’t ask him the question directly. However, ask as many questions as possible about the methods they will be using and make sure you receive straight answers.

Do they put a limit on the number of search phrases?

Many SEOs have a limited number of phrases they will optimize for. However, if you’re paying a monthly retainer to the SEO Company, they shouldn’t do this. Even though there are a few phrases more important than others, the rest shouldn’t be neglected either.

The first thing a good SEO consultant will do is perform an analysis on the current state of your website and provide a Website Analyzing report. Further analysis should be performed on a regular basis and your website traffic should be permanently monitored. A professional consultant understands the difference between bulk traffic, getting to your website for irrelevant keywords, and qualified traffic. Making the right choice will provide you with qualified traffic, as well as well-structured pages and a high usability level.

Copyright © 2006 Andreas Obermueller