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Geek Speaks Newsletter
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Welcome to
the April 2004 Issue of our newsletter for the technically
challenged and web site wannabe's. We feature articles to
help guide you through the process of designing, building,
and promoting your business or personal web site. If you
know someone who may like getting these newsletters, feel
free to forward it to them in its entirety, or have them
sign up for their own copy below.
In This
Issue:
Feature
Article: Top 12 Things You Must Have on Your Business
Website
Ask Girl
Geek: What Search Engines Should I Be Listed With?
Top 12 Things You
Must Have on Your Business Website
- Your business phone numbers “above
the fold” and on every page – you’d be surprised how many
websites either don’t have their phone numbers anywhere on
their site, or they make them hard to find by burying them
in interior pages
- A unique selling point – in other
words, why would the potential customer choose to do
business with you over your competition. Spell it out for
them.
- A call to action – tell the site
visitor what action you want them to take as a result of
viewing your site. For example, it could be “call for more
information,” “sign up for our email newsletter,” “buy my
e-book,” or “take our online assessment.”
- Your tagline in the upper left-hand
corner of the homepage – since search engines read your
site from top to bottom and left to right, the first text
they read will often become your meta-description = the
information printed below your site title in search engine
results. Therefore it needs to be compelling, so people
will open your site and look at it.
- An email link or address where
visitors can contact you – if you’re doing business on the
Internet, why not let potential clients contact you
immediately via email from your website?
- A reason to return to your site –
Two words: repeat business. People will return to a site
that continues to update its content and give them
something useful.
- Keywords in the title bar, page
content, alt-text, navigation – How many times have I seen
a title bar on a website that reads “Home Page”? Too
many. It tells me 2 things. First. it tells me nothing
about the content of the site. Second, it tells me that a
relative probably designed the site.
- Text navigation on all pages and to
all pages – people want to be able to easily navigate your
site, so put your navigation on every single page of your
site so they don’t have to use their browser’s back
button. Also, if you link to every page with TEXT
navigation, the search engine spiders will be able to
index every page of your site, not just your homepage.
- A site map – This is like a table of
contents. It is a page within your site whose sole purpose
it to index your entire site. It helps site visitors
quickly find the information they are looking for. It also
is yet another way to rank higher in the search engines.
- A consistent look on all pages –
This establishes that visitors are still on your site and
gives them a familiar reference so they don’t get “lost.”
Plus, if you have a link to a site outside of your
website, have it open in a separate browser window so your
site will always be there behind it.
- Text as text, not integrated into
image files – I have seen beautiful, expensive websites
that have all of their text contained within image files.
THESE FILES ARE INVISIBLE to search engines.
- A way to gather information about
your site visitors – either get a good statistics package
or put a contact form online
Ask Girl Geek
(Actual questions from people just like you.)
What Search Engines
Should I Be Listed With?
According to
searchenginewatch.com one of the well-respected websites for
search engine optimization and marketing the following are
the top choices for search engines to be listed in
1. Google
2. AlltheWeb
3. Yahoo
4. MSN search
Also to consider are
1. AOL search
2. Ask Jeeves
3. HotBot
4. Lycos
5. Teoma
Search providers
The companies
below are really in the business of providing search results
to other people, rather than hoping you'll visit their own
sites to search. They are listed here primarily to provide
further explanation of how they partner with some of the
search engines listed above.
1. Inktomi
2. LookSmart
3. Open Directory Project
4. Overture
Other choices
1. AltaVista
2. Netscape Search
3. WiseNut
to learn more about each go to
http://searchenginewatch.com/links/article.php/2156221
Some of these are free listings, some are paid inclusions.
If you need help submitting your site to
search engines or checking your ranking in search engines,
give Girl Geek a call at (618)
457-8103.
Shameless
Self Promotion:
Email or Call now (well, maybe wait until next week as I'm
kinda swamped)
for your
FREE initial web design consultation and NO OBLIGATION bid
for new websites or old website revamping.
Girl Geek Web Designs -ask for Annette
(618) 457-8103
1-877-225-9997 toll-free
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