| Keywords or key phrases you choose will determine | | | | shoes" and see how many sites come up. They will |
| how your site is positioned in the search engines. It is | | | | list the number of sites with that keyword in it. |
| always better to have lots of pages each focusing | | | | Go through your list, and see how many have a large |
| on a small group of keywords. This will give them | | | | demand and lower supply. Of course the idea is to |
| more relevance to each individual page. | | | | have as many large demand and low supply |
| For example if your site is about shoes you may | | | | keywords as possible. |
| have lots of different types of shoes. | | | | Optimise your site by creating theme based,keyword |
| Your index page should have a menu leading into | | | | focused pages for each category of shoes or |
| each of the different categories of shoes. | | | | whatever it is that you are selling. |
| You might have a page for sandals, one for platform | | | | This will greatly increase your chances of getting a |
| shoes as well as stilettos, court shoes and flat heel | | | | higher ranking in the search engines. |
| shoes. | | | | Just concentrate on a couple of keywords in each |
| Choosing keywords First you have to think like your | | | | page. |
| customer. What would they type into a search | | | | The title meta tag The title tag is THE most |
| engine if they wanted to find the products you are | | | | important part of your webpage. It must appeal to |
| selling. | | | | the search engines and also the visitor to your site. |
| Use phrases as well as single words. | | | | The title of your page is used as the link to your site |
| Often someone looking for a product or service will | | | | by the search engines and is visible to the reader. |
| type in several words. For example a customer may | | | | Use your most important keywords in the title. Make |
| want to buy a shoe with stiletto heels. They may | | | | the title between 15-20 words in length. |
| type in "stiletto heel shoe", "black stiletto" "stiletto | | | | The title must be compelling for people to want to |
| heel","stiletto high heel" or "high heel shoe" | | | | click through to your site. |
| Brainstorming keywords. | | | | Don't ever make the mistake of leaving the title tag |
| Start by thinking of as many keywords associated | | | | blank. |
| with your site as you can. To make it easier there is | | | | Not a good idea if you want an edge over your |
| a free tool for this which can be found at http:// | | | | competition!! Every page on your site must have a |
| inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/ | | | | keyword focused title. |
| suggestion/ It will give you the number of times this | | | | The description meta tag The description tag is also |
| word has been searched for in the last month. This | | | | very important and some search engines display it as |
| will also give you a guide to the popularity of the | | | | a summary of your site. Use some important |
| keyword. | | | | keywords here but don't repeat them more than 3 |
| Try looking for similar sites to your own and viewing | | | | or 4 times as it could be seen as spamming. |
| the source code. This will give you ideas for | | | | Keyword tag. |
| keywords that your competitors are using. Viewing | | | | This tag is not as important to search engines as it |
| the source code is easy, just right click the mouse | | | | once was, but you should still use it to list your |
| somewhere on the page and click on view source. | | | | keywords. |
| A good idea is to open a file in wordpad or other | | | | The alt tag This tag is used to describe images and is |
| text editor and call it "keywords" then if you find | | | | useful to the visually impaired. |
| words or phrases relevant to your site copy and | | | | If an image takes a long time to load the alt tag will |
| paste them into your file. You can then view them | | | | appear first. |
| offline and even print the page out to study it. This | | | | Add keywords to this tag as part of the description. |
| can give you ideas for keywords you may not have | | | | The main body of text Place emphasis on your |
| thought of. | | | | keywords in the first paragraph of the main text, |
| When you have made a list of keywords relevant to | | | | and repeat them several times in the rest of the |
| each page you will then need to check the supply | | | | page. As each page is theme based the keywords |
| and demand if you want an edge over your | | | | will be relevant,and will appear naturally in the body of |
| competitor. | | | | the text. |
| You will already know the demand of each keyword | | | | You will greatly increase your chances of getting |
| the next thing you need to do is to take a sheet of | | | | your site in the top positions of search engines if you |
| paper or use a spreadsheet on the computer and | | | | follow these ideas. |
| make 3 columns naming them keyword, supply, and | | | | You must however regularly register all your pages |
| demand. | | | | with each of the main search engines to make sure |
| In the first column list the keywords that have the | | | | the pages are still there as they can suddenly |
| highest demand. Then in the supply column type how | | | | disappear, or drop down from a number 1 position to |
| many times it has been searched for. | | | | number 201!! Normally about once a month is enough. |
| Lastly in Altavista or Google type in your keyword | | | | You can use a site submitter to make this a lot |
| surrounded by quotation marks like this "stiletto | | | | easier. |