12 Simple Steps to Effective Websites

Effective websites should include the following:

1. Your website needs to focus on a specific niche.

2. You need to do keyword research and although Google no longer gives weight to Meta keywords some of the other major search engines still do.

3. Your website should have the main keyword used throughout and each page should be written around 5-10 keywords that are tightly focused on that particular page's topic.

4. Content is still King. Well written, focused content is crucial.

5. Meta titles need to include your keywords.

6. Organization of content should include headings and subtitles to make it easy for readers to scan the pages. Be sure to include your keywords in these headings as well.

7. Most people on the web are looking for information. If you don't give them anything of value or entertain them, they will be gone, probably for good.

8. Use keywords in links whereever possible.

9. Include a call to action and, if possible, provide a Free trial. You have to build trust before you can make a sale.

10. Check your website in various browsers (FireFox, Internet Explorer, etc.) to make sure it displays equally well in all.

11. Your personality is what attracts people to you so why would you create a generic website with all of the excitement of a flat glass of pop. Keep the content fresh so it has Fizz!

12. Most importantly, have realistic expectations of what you want to achieve with your website. With all the hype about overnight successes on the internet it's difficult to put your results into perspective. If you expect instant success and it isn't happening, it's easy to become demoralized and quit before you reach your goal.

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Top five Mistakes in Web Site Optimization

Web site optimization is the practice of making your site search-friendly both to search engines and searchers. There are five common mistakes that people tend to make when beginning to optimize their sites for search engines.

1) Web Site Optimization Mistake #1: Lack of Targeted Keywords and Phrases

A lack of targeted keywords and phrases can make or break your site. When a searcher goes to a search engine or directory and types in a keyword or keyword phrase that you would like to be found for - but you don't have these particular keywords and phrases on your site - then that searcher will most likely not be able to find you.

2) Web Site Optimization Mistake #2: Poorly Written Content

Site content is the absolute number one draw for both search engine spiders and search engine/directory users. If your content is badly written, is never updated, or is not relevant to what you want to be found for, than your site is neither search engine friendly or user-friendly. In addition, your content absolutely must have targeted keywords and phrases (see mistake number 1). Well-written content is what search engine spiders feed on, and content is the key to high rankings.

3) Web Site Optimization Mistake #3: Black Hat SEO Techniques

Black Hat web site optimization includes techniques that are unethical and frowned upon by search engine spiders. These techniques include keyword stuffing, doorway pages, invisible text, and more. These practices actually do raise your site ranking. However, search engine spiders have become very aware of Black Hat seo techniques and can spot them pretty easily (and ban your site). Don't go for the quick fix; learn how to optimize your site for the long haul.

4) Web Site Optimization Mistake #4: Using Meta Tags Improperly or Not At All

Meta tags include title tags, keyword tags, and description tags. While not the absolute most important component in Web site optimization (that spot is reserved for keywords and content), they do have an important part to play. Make sure to include all these tags in every page of your site, and target them for each individual page.

5) Web Site Optimization Mistake #5: A Badly Designed Site

Ineffective site design includes lack of clear navigation, poorly designed frames, and large,load-intensive graphics. Search engine spiders can actually be blocked from crawling sites that are not well-designed, so it's a major part of Web site optimization; plus, if users can't find what they want on your site quickly, they'll find another site.

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Four things that you should know about Link Building

1. Inbound links are very important

The more websites link to your site, the easier it will be to get high rankings on Google. Google considers links to your site as votes for your site. The more votes your website has, the better your rankings will be. If more pages link to the website of your competitor, then it is likely that your competitor will get better rankings than you on Google.

2. It is important to get the right links

In addition to the number of links to your website, Google also considers the quality of the links. Links from unrelated websites won't help your search engine rankings as much as links from related websites that deal with a similar topic as your website. A link from a trusted website that itself has many links pointing to it will help your search engine rankings more than a link from a website with few inbound links.

3. It is important to keep on link building

Many of your competitors will continue to work on their links. If you don't keep on working on your links, your competitors will pass you in the search engine results sooner or later.

4. Google doesn't like paid links

Google considers links to your site as editorial votes for its quality. A paid link is not editorial. Google's anti-spam team has asked webmasters to report paid links. If your competitors report your paid links, Google might penalize your website.

Google Gets Generic on Local Web Search Queries

The Google blog announced that Google is now showing more local results in web search for more generic queries. This is something that was noticed before the announcement but now it is officially confirmed by Google.

This means that searches for local-like keywords no longer need to have a location in the query. For example, a search on web design automatically shows me a local box in the middle of the Google web search results, without me specifically specifying web design, suffern, ny, which then shows the local box at the top of the results. Here is a picture of Google detecting that I am near the city of Monsey, in New York and it even ranks my company in the number two spot.

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