Search Engine Optimization Blog Search Circus

Page-jacking: Highway Robbery in Cyberspace!

2007-09-10T04:46:00.000-04:00

What is page-jacking and how does it affect the ethical web site owner trying to make an honest living on the Internet? Read on and learn about a modern day racket squad.

The word, page-jacking, comes from hijack and in more recent years, skyjack, and whoever Jack is, he is a very illegal soul and should hit the road like it says in the old Ray Charles song. This illegal activity involves the stealing of content from a web site (usually in the form of a source code) and the copying of it into another web site in order to siphon traffic meant for the former into the latter.

Those who page-jack are lazy individuals (not to mention dishonest), leaving the search engines to spider the contents and index the results so that the copied site will appear in the search result rankings along with the original site’s rankings. Once users realize they are not at the site they originally requested, they may be subjected to mouse-trapping, which involves the disabling of browsers so that back and forward buttons cannot be used. (No cheese involved here, but just as bad.)

Users can avoid this illegal practice by disabling the “Java script” function of the browser BEFORE surfing the Internet and by obtaining software, which would filter offensive material. You can also manually enter a new URL or web address, should you find yourself at the scammer site. Both page-jacking and mouse-trapping are prohibited under the Federal Trade Commission Act and should be reported to their complaint center if encountered.

These search engine practices, like crime, don’t pay in the long run. Stick with ethical strategies and you can never go wrong!

What Are Doorway Pages and Why Are They Unethical?

2007-08-27T05:49:00.000-04:00

What are doorway pages and why are they so named? Why are they unethical? Read on even if you don’t want to enter the room in question.

Doorway pages are web pages that have been created for the sole purpose of spamming the index of a search engine by inserting unwanted results (sending users to a different page than intended). They are also known by other names but as Shakespeare once said about roses, well, you know the rest. Stay away from bridge pages, portal pages, zebra pages, jump, gateway and entry pages.

Doorway pages are very easy to identify because they are designed not for human users but rather for search engines. Sometimes a doorway page may be copied from another high-ranking page, but if the search engines discover it, that page will be excluded from search engine listing as a duplicate. If you click through to a doorway page from a search engine results page, usually you will be redirected to another page via a META refresh command.

Due to the fact that search engines penalize the use of META refresh commands, some doorway pages use the ruse of having the user click on a link to get to the desired destination. More sophisticated doorway pages, known as “content rich doorways,” do not use the ploy of redirection to gain high placement in search engine results. Their appearance is more user friendly and natural and they call on visitors to click on standard links as “calls to action.” This accrues traffic, which is directed within the context of pay-per-click campaigns.

Get help with setting up an ethical SEO program. Understand the pitfalls. Avoid falling into an unethical trap either by inadvertently receiving or emitting doorway pages.

Unethical SEO Practices: Cloaking

2007-08-20T06:25:00.000-04:00

What is cloaking and why is it unethical? These and other questions will be addressed below.

Also known as “stealth” and “IP redirection”, cloaking is a technique that involves serving one set of information to known search engine spiders while displaying a different set of information on documents viewed by clients. While there may be unique situations in which the use of cloaking might be considered ethical, such as redirection from a site now obsolete, it is never required and should always be handled with extreme care. Before you take on any new strategy, you should always ask yourself, “Is this the right thing to do?” (Even when dollars coming in make you want to look the other way, you must always ask the question because the answer will never steer you wrong.)

Why is cloaking unethical? For one thing, it frustrates the web surfer in search of a particular service or product. As such, the pages that are indexed by the search engine are NOT the pages that the search engines return to the user. This practice also completely undermines the search engine’s attempt to do a legitimate search for the user. It is possible that the two pages may be very similar and that no great harm will be done, but this technique is still often abused. Another reason to avoid cloaking is that it can get you banned from the major search engines.

So think twice and better yet, thrice, the next time some new scheme about cloaking or any other unethical SEO practices is brought to your attention. Find a reputable web services provider and more important, DON”T DO IT!

SEO Consultants: Pick A Star That Shines Just For You

2007-08-13T11:04:00.000-04:00

How do you know the SEO consultant you have hired is the right one for you? What qualities should he or she possess that will make you know you have made the right choice? Check out some of the tips offered below, as they will help you determine how to get the most for your hard-earned money.

Effective search engine optimization (SEO) functions as a spotlight on a company website that is standing in the dark as far as its traffic is concerned. The first step in improving web site traffic is to target the keywords that are most appropriate for your service or product. In other words, what will the consumer type into the search engines in order to find within the vast Internet cosmos, your particular product or service? An effective SEO consultant will begin there and work to build your rankings.

The SEO consultant you choose should then make sure that your “landing pages”, that is, those that rank in the search engines, are actually funneling customers into your company’s sales pages. This is a major failing of many SEO consultants as they are more focused on the comings and goings of the major search engineshttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif than they are in your particular sales process.

The right SEO consultant for you may or may not be a professional from your area. You should not make that a prime consideration when hiring one, as that insures absolutely nothing in terms of results.

In short, shop around for an SEO consultant, just as you would for a car or any other major investment property.

Take your time and find the brightest star that will highlight you and your company!

What Are Meta Tags and What Do They Want?

2007-07-30T06:22:00.000-04:00

Meta tags are important to understand and use because they provide information about a given web page, which helps search engines to correctly categorize them. Meta tags are inserted into the head (top) part of an HTML document, but are usually not visible to any users visiting the site unless they select “view source.” Since the mid to late 1990s, search engines have relied heavily on meta data to classify web pages and webmasters were quick to realize their commercial contribution to achieving a high ranking in the search engines, thus resulting in a higher volume of traffic to their site.

Meta tags have seen a decline in their effectiveness since the 1990s. This is due partly to the fact that search engine robots have become more sophisticated and also because unscrupulous website placement consultants have manipulated search engine ranking systems with practices such as spam indexing and keyword stuffing of meta elements. While there is no question that search engine optimization can improve search engine ranking, website owners seeking such services should be careful to utilize only reputable providers.

Meta tags are not required when creating web pages and many pages do not have tags at all. If you simply produce your home page and register the URL with a search engine, or several search engines, spiders will eventually find your site and index it. Still, they do move things along among the search engine robots.

Consider using meta tags to increase traffic to your site today.

Keyword Density: An Important SEO Statistic

2007-07-23T07:30:00.000-04:00

What exactly is keyword density and why is it an important seo statistic? Keyword density refers to the percentage (or ratio) of keywords contained within the total number of words that form a web page. It is often used as a factor in determining whether or not a web page is relevant to a specific keyword or keyword phrase. The preferred keyword density ratio varies from search engine to search engine, but an effective range would fall between 2-8%.

For best results, keyword density needs to be balanced correctly. This means somewhere in between too low and too high, which could get your page flagged as “keyword spam.” The importance of keyword density lies in the fact that its information determines which terms are relevant specifically to the site. It also helps the search engines by providing the information they need to properly categorize a site’s theme.

One simple rule of thumb is to decide when planning a page, which search terms are most likely to be invoked if a user is seeking the information you provide. After you decide on this, do not simply dump the words into a list; use them in meaningful sentences.

So work on improving the keyword density of your web pages. It may take a little while, but the end results will be worth it.
http://www.searchcircus.com/seopackages.htm

Some SEO Statistics: What Do They Really Mean?

2007-07-16T05:21:00.000-04:00

How can website owners interpret their specific seo statistics and learn how to increase traffic from them? What is the most cost-efficient way to best utilize their website logs? Read on for some information as the traffic you increase may well be your own.

Paying closer attention to website logs is the easiest and least costly way to keep track of visitor traffic, entry and exit points, page views per visit and other helpful bits of information. The best indication of true traffic is the average number of unique visitors the site attracts per month. For best results, that number should show a visible increase. Processing these web logs is done with a special software provided by web hosting companies that displays the statistical information in a format that is easy to decipher.

The number of hits to a website do not reflect the number of visitors viewing that particular website. They merely are an indication of requests made for specific pages, images and other files that might be associated with viewing a single page. One page view, therefore, could actually result in dozens of hits and one user visiting many pages on a single site can generate thousands of hits.

Hits, therefore, are not a reliable indicator of how many people have actually visited the site. The best way to determine that is to focus on the amount of unique impressions that are generated. A unique impression will measure the actual number of visitors to the site based on their IP address, browser and operating system. What this means is that one visitor counts as one session no matter how many hits a visitor may register.

Learn to utilize your web logs today so that you can understand your seo statistics and increase the traffic to your website tomorrow.

Local Search Engine Marketing: A Custom Fit In More Ways Than One

2007-07-09T09:41:00.000-04:00

What is local search engine marketing and how does it affect the small business owner? What are its good points and what are some of the things to watch out for? Read on and learn.

Every business has its own unique structure and particular goals. More and more, companies are relying on localized search engines in order to attract more traffic to their sites. One of the major problems facing a locally based business is the sheer vastness of the Internet whose search engine phrases and terms tend to dominate larger sites and deeply bury the smaller ones. The success of this type of marketing is due at least in part to the use of geographically specific phrases and the fact that these search engines are easier to use (not to mention cheaper) than The Yellow Pages.

Many new local businesses do not realize that no matter how much money they have pumped into the creation of their snappy and clever website, no one knows that it is there! That is the problem. Nice colors and a snazzy look impress the owner of the website and not the visitors he or she wants to attract. Local firms call for a localized search optimization strategy that will generate traffic and increase business. This involves understanding the online behaviors of your customers and knowing the methods they utilize to search for the products or services you are offering.

Local web design companies are often solely focused on the design of the website and know little about incorporating search optimization. Most business owners are so taken up in the day to day activities of running a company, that there is little time left to learn about promoting a website.

Consider local search engine marketing as an important selling factor for your company…today!

Pixel Advertising: Forest Fire or Flash In The Pan?

2007-07-05T06:05:00.000-04:00

Popularized by a perspicacious and enterprising British student named Alex Tew in 2005, the phenomenon known as pixel advertising has been making quite a name for itself. In actuality, Tew’s “Million Dollar Homepage,” for which he charged 1 dollar per pixel and made within five months time, a million dollars, was not the very first time pixel advertising reared its most interesting head. Its debut was in 2004 when a “one pixel ad” campaign appeared on eBay. The winning bidder was offered a chance to bid on an ad on the front page of, believe it or not, a site named cockeyed.com for 21 days, using a pixel ad placed at the top of the home page. Pixels went undisturbed until August of 2005 when Tew appeared on the scene.

The term pixel advertising specifically refers to visual ads placed on the web, which have their cost calculated dependent on the number of pixels, which they occupy. Today more than 500 web sites sell pixel ads. Generally, they follow Tew’s million-dollar pattern, selling pixel ads in 100 pixel “blocks” as “cell ads” because this is the smallest size possible to display anything and at the same time remain clickable. Some web sites have opted for additional features, which permit a larger image to appear when visitors hover the cursor over the ad. Keyword advertising in which text links rather than graphic advertising space is sold is considered a variation of pixel advertising.

The question remains: Is pixel advertising here to stay? It may be too early to tell for sure, but some feel its uniqueness will soon wear off like a flash in the pixel pan, so to speak. Others state that these “micro ads” may have a future in terms of fund raising for charities or other good causes.

Time will tell and as usual, it waits for no man, woman or pixel.

http://searchcircus.com/pixeladvertising.htm

Website Copywriting: A Skill For All Seasons

2007-07-04T13:27:00.000-04:00

Skillful website copywriting is necessary to the success of any and all professional websites. Many webmasters not in the know foolishly go the route of a pure SEO copywriting campaign and a crisp elegant outer design that shoves content onto another very low shelf. Truth be told, it is not the beauty of the website’s outer surface that attracts visitors to read on for more information; it is the content. This is the key that converts the website visitor into the almighty…customer.

The website copywriter, in order to be effective, must develop a very elusive cyber-recipe that contains equal amounts of sales appeal, originality and character. A dollop of humor, sorrow and even heartless facts are effective tools that can powerfully render the necessary tone. Each website copywriting assignment should be addressed uniquely with it own measure of desirable emotions and effects.

Remember that website copywriting is like the door-to-door salesman of old. The website copywriter may not have to knock on doors with vacuum cleaners or encyclopedias in his or her hands, but he or she does need to get one foot inside in order to do the company spiel. The modern age has replaced this salesperson with the website copywriter who must somehow compensate for the lack of a direct human connection. Website copywriting must answer questions, provide information and guide the visitor to make a purchase.

Website copywriting comes in many forms and disguises. As the owner of a website employing a website copywriter, you can go several routes. These include: e-books, which are very versatile, newsletter writing, sales page writing, blogs, articles, which serve as effective vehicles for creating inbound links and SEO writing, which can effectively drive high quality targeted traffic to your site.

According to Karen Thackston of KTA marketing, there are some rules of thumb that always apply, no matter which type of website copywriting you prefer.

• Always use “you” or “your” instead of “we” and “us.” "
• Go for personal rather than general examples.
• Do your homework and get to know your target audience.
• Write using the language of your target audience by using industry jargon.

In summation, website copywriting can be a very effective and lucrative tool for promoting sales and increasing the traffic to your website. Like any recipe, the exact measures may be elusive at first, but trial and error and looking at how others have successfully done it can put you on the road to successful economic returns.

http://www.searchcircus.com/web-copywriting.htm

What is Viral Marketing And Do We Need Antibiotics?

2007-07-04T11:24:00.000-04:00

What exactly is viral marketing anyway? It is a term that is heard often and rarely defined. Actually, viral marketing describes any plan of action that involves passing an Internet marketing message onto others, spreading like wildfire from word of mouth (or in this case, computer to computer). Like any good virus worth its salt, this Internet viral marketing strategy depends heavily on rapid ramifications to thousands and even millions in order to produce results.

If we were not talking about a phenomenon limited to the Internet, words like “leveraging the media” or creating a buzz” might apply. But we are talking about the Internet, and as such, viral marketing is a term that has stuck and will probably remain so.

Hotmail.com, a company which boasts of being one of the first to offer free web-based e-mail services, is a perfect example of how a viral marketing campaign effectively works. While giving away free addresses and services, a tag at the bottom of every e-mail sent exemplifies the fact that nothing in this world is actually free. A message reads: “Get your private free email at…” As people write to friends relatives, etc, the message spreads and spreads, extending its reach much like a small pebble dropped in a pond causes ripples that spread quietly but surely until the original motion covers a much wider surface.

Truthfully, some viral marketing campaigns work and others do not. To insure that your strategy will, make sure that at least some of the following viral marketing elements are present:
• Free products or services
• Easy transfer of product or services to others
• Scales easily from small to very large
• Utilizes existing communication networks
• Takes advantage of all resources available, even those belonging to others
• Exploits common motivations and behaviors

Is internet viral marketing a tool that will aggrandize your company? Only your viral marketing advisor can say for sure. If that is you and you think it might, then go for it. You just might find yourself in the middle of a company’s finest dream; that is, having more customers than you can ever handle!

Article Marketing: Be An Expert And Let Other People Know That You Are

2007-07-04T09:46:00.000-04:00

There’s a lot to be said for the phenomenon known as article marketing. It has benefits that go beyond establishing yourself as an expert in the eyes of all who read your material. Some of these include: increased site traffic, lead generation and improved search engine rank. The major search engines are always on the prowl for articles that are focused, easy to understand and helpful. There’s a fine line to be drawn and not forgotten between too much self-promotion and too many links. These factors can and often do detract considerably from any article, no matter how well written it may be.

Article marketing is far from a new idea. Business owners have in fact, utilized it as a means of obtaining free press space for almost as long as mass print has been available. With newspapers, for example, a local business provides useful content free of charge, and in return the newspaper prints that company’s contact information with the article, and thus they reciprocally market each other. In the world of e-commerce, the principle remains the same. Article marketing is a cost-effective method of promoting your website and particular services and driving up your search engine ranking in the process. It is most effective because it does not require, as do other techniques, knowledge of HTML or the costly help of a Web developer.

Probably the most important factor connected with article marketing is search engine optimization (SEO). Put quite simply, the higher a page is ranked, the more likely it will attract a greater amount of traffic. One sure way to increase the amount of visitors to any given site is to obtain more links pointing back to it from other websites. This has evolved into a trend in online marketing towards writing articles solely for SEO purposes (reprint articles) and a wide selection of article marketing directory sites that in turn redistribute articles to online publishers.
Consider article marketing as one of the implements in your toolbox when thinking about ways to increase traffic to your web site.

Web Site Design: Some Dos and Don’ts

2007-07-04T08:02:00.000-04:00

Search engine optimization website design is one topic that resounds with contradictory advice by experts. Some say it’s best to be brief and to the point, while others swear that sales are clinched by detailed product descriptions. What is a new or unseasoned entrepreneur to do? One solution is to study other successful search engine friendly websites. Amazon.com, for example, offers both alternatives to the consumer; a brief description, a thumbnail picture and a link leading to more details about a specific book or product.

Effective search engine optimization web development and sales means a separate page for each product with a long description and picture of the product in question. This is particularly effective if your inventory is expensive or similar to many others of its kind. Remember though that a cluttered page with too much information tends to confuse visitors and make them think they cannot find what they need at your web site. The information you provide will or will not clinch a sale for you. You must mention all the salient points about your product or service on that particular page. If you are not sure how to do this, visualize the product page as a salesman promoting a product to a walk-in customer.

“Buy” or “order” buttons at both the top and the bottom of the product page are also extremely important to a successful website design. If this page is very long, additional buttons in the middle of the page might also be a good idea. Do not force customers to scroll to the bottom of the page before they can make a purchase, as it may distract them from the impulse to buy or irritate them. Make it easy for them to buy and to navigate within your site. You must always remember that your competitor is only a click away and that the search engines are always prepared to redirect your potential customers instantly to thousands of other sites selling the same type of goods and services as you.

Every customer must know the price of your product, no matter how much or how little it costs. Even the corporate customer buying for a company is saddled with a company budget. If your website design makes it too difficult to ascertain this information, your visitors will go elsewhere. You must also remember that while appearance is important, it is not the most important issue when dealing with a web design whose purpose is to sell. Links should be accessible from every page of the website and the easiest way to do this is via a navigation bar. Don’t forget an “About Us” page as well. Your customers will need to know about your company.

Follow these simple rules to successful website design. Don’t ever lose sight of your customers and your goal to always give them exactly what they want.

Web Site Hosting: Many Options Available (Much Wheat, Much Chaff)

2007-07-04T06:43:00.000-04:00

Web site hosting and a web presence means many things to many people. For some, it is personal and for others, business is the issue at hand. It is important to realize that when choosing a web site hosting service that the most expensive option is not necessarily the best choice. The primary decisions you must make concern the scope of your budget and the type of presence you want to convey on the World Wide Web.

Finding free website promotional services can be accomplished with a simple web search. Web site promotion services vary, and depending on which one you select, will provide you with anywhere from 50MB to 100MB of space for hosting your personal Web site. Look for additional services as well, such as: templates, tracking logs, virtual domain names, counters, guest-books and the like. These extra features offer ideal online marketing solutions for those who are unfamiliar with web site building.

No matter how good this free service might look, don’t ever lose sight of the fact that you must do research for the sake of the traffic your site will be generating. Many visitors are turned off by ubiquitous pop-up and banner ads and you may not have any control over them, which can really be a problem if you have for example, a site designed for younger readers and children. Many services are free (alas, my friends, for nothing really is) because the hosting company relies on advertising dollars brought in by you showing the ads that they want on YOUR web page! To avoid this, always be sure to read the user agreement before signing up for a free web hosting service.

If the idea of running advertisements on your web site completely turns you off, then perhaps it would be best to concentrate on services similar to free hosting for which you pay a small fee in order to have the web page run advertisement free. Many sites that offer free web hosting also offer upgraded accounts where you pay a flat fee to have ads stripped from your site. Upgrading may also give you access to additional Web sit building features and services that are not available with free accounts.

So shop around before you decide.

The web site that succeeds can well be your own.

Using Link Bait To Promote Your Site

2007-06-09T10:43:00.000-04:00

Link baiting is a way to entice others to link to your site based on its content. Sure, it is easy to I-mail many web masters and ask to be linked to their sites and to link them to yours, but doing so requires a good deal of time and research. This is not to discourage you from using this method to increase business, but there is a much easier way.

By placing content on your site that is designed to attract attention from your target market or audience, you will be able to see results quickly. By baiting others with articles and tidbits of interest, you will be able to acquire more hits and your site can become an important point of reference.

Reciprocal Links: Dead, Alive or Missing?

2007-05-07T12:46:00.000-04:00

While this blog title this may read more like a wanted poster or an expose on the whereabouts of the elusive Yeti/ Bigfoot, the fact remains that there are many schools of thought on the issue of reciprocal links and their effectiveness in building website popularity and traffic. According to an article written by Edwin Hayward, most experts agree that 97% of all websites need more links to increase their ratings on the major search engines. The major underlying issue, however, concerns SEO companies stressing reciprocal links as the main way to reach their goal.

The process of exchanging reciprocal links, (a text and/or banner link to a site that carries a similar text/banner to your own site) involves both trust and commitment. Links should be evaluated and accepted on the basis of their relevancy to the needs of the site’s visitors rather than those of the mother website to merely foster the popularity of the site by increasing the number of links it carries.
Indiscriminate linking is not a quick fix for a site that does not attract visitors. Bear in mind the word focus and relevancy when evaluating the reciprocal link requests that will come to you if your site is interesting and well done. The key to determining whether or not a reciprocal link is an asset or a defect is to consider how it might affect the interest level of the reader/visitor. Will it keep them with you or will it divert their attention so far away that they will never come back?

Remember that the “missing link” should be reserved for those cryptologists in search of the world’s unknown species, and while the mighty yeti might be lurking somewhere on a cold Tibetan mountaintop or in the vast forests of the American Northwest, missing reciprocal links lay in your own backyard, waiting to be discovered, properly evaluated and nurtured.

Cleveland SEO Consultant Discusses Pixel Advertising

2006-04-06T09:25:00.000-04:00

NOTE: Search Circus, a Cleveland search engine optimization company, would love to discuss your online marketing options today. We are an ethical and certified SEO company based in Ohio. We serve clients large and small across the United States and Canada. Search Circus - a Cleveland Website marketing firm. Read below on how to choose which pixel advertising sites are right for you.

Choose Pixel Advertising Sites Wisely, and Know Who All Profits
By Wendy Suto

A new form of Internet advertising has exploded and it is receiving a lot of response lately - pixel advertising. Essentially, it is where people purchase a set of pixels on the homepage of a Web site, inserting their company logo that links back to their own site. Potentially, the end result can be increased Web site traffic to both the pixel site and the advertisers placing their images there.

As a potential advertiser seeking unique online exposure and increased traffic for your Web site, use precautions before spending your money on just any pixel advertising Web site.

Don't be impulsive with your advertising dollars. Do some comparison shopping online first. Take a few moments to browse different pixel sites, read the content on their sites about their company and what makes them unique among other pixel ad sites. Compare their pricing, the sizes of pixel ads available, the placement of your ad on their homepage, and the length of time your ad will be placed on their Web site.

You may continue reading more about how to choose pixel advertising sites, written by Cleveland search engine optimization conultant Wendy Suto here.

Cleveland SEO Firm Talks About How to Increase Your Online Business

2006-03-14T15:18:00.000-05:00

By Wendy Suto

Summary:
Everyone wants to know the secret. People at industry convention, executives from Fortune 500 companies, work from home individuals and small business alike all want to know one business secret – how to successfully market themselves online on a global scale.

Success in a company is not about having the best technology or being the smartest or even about having the best customer service (although none of these could hurt). More than ever, success is now measured in speed. Today it is about thriving in an ever-evolving world where everything changes so rapidly – and that applies to any business. Today is a world surrounded by buyers who want it now, want perfection and impeccable service.

In order to succeed online, your business needs to be organized and able to handle the increased business your web site is going to generate. Here are some guidelines for running a business of speed and complete service.

Read more on how to increase your online business written by Cleveland SEO consultant Wendy Suto here today.

************************************************************
March 13, 2006
© Copyright 2006 Search Circus
Wendy Suto is president of Search Circus, a Cleveland SEO and Website marketing firm based in Ohio. She understands the latest optimization, link building and article submission tactics. Before becoming a Cleveland SEO consultant, Wendy was a computer instructor for a wide range of businesses, including Gateway Computers, Stautzenberger College and a Catholic school in Toledo, Ohio. As a certified Cleveland SEO specialist, she will be starting SEO training classes this spring at local facilities.
wendy@searchcircus.com

Ohio SEO Firm Discusses History of SEO

2006-03-01T22:13:00.000-05:00

By Wendy Suto

As long as the Internet has been around, it has remained a mystery to the mainstream public how Web sites are listed at the top of search engine results. There are many theories of how search engines and search engine optimization (SEO) initially began.

The 1990s
Alan Emtage, a student at the University of McGill, created the first true “search” program in 1990 called Archie (still in use today), to archive Web documents. The following year, Gopher started at the University of Minnesota, and this is when the concept of search engines began. In 1993, Matthew Gray created the World Wide Web Wanderer, the earliest known search engine robot that assists with ranking Web sites. But search engines as we use them today were born in 1994. In that same year, Galaxy, Lycos and Yahoo! were all started, two of which are still widely popular search engines today.

Read more on the history of search engine optimization written by Cleveland SEO specialist Wendy Suto here.

*****************************************
Feb. 20, 2006
© Copyright 2006 Search Circus
Wendy Suto is president of Search Circus, an Ohio SEO and Web site marketing firm based in Cleveland, Ohio. She specializes in the latest optimization, link building and article submission tactics. Before becoming an Ohio SEO consultant, Wendy was a computer instructor for a wide range of businesses, teaching software and security programs to children and adults alike. Businesses included Gateway Computers, Stautzenberger College and a Catholic school in Toledo, Ohio. As a certified Ohio SEO consultant, she will be starting SEO training classes this spring at local adult education facilities.
wendy@searchcircus.com

Searching for More Business? Look to Your Web Marketing

2006-02-24T07:31:00.000-05:00

NOTE: Our Ohio search engine optimization company specalizes in natural search engine optimization - ranking your Web site for numerous keywords across the major search engines. Our Ohio SEO specialists cater to businesses small and large, across the United States and Canada. Let our Ohio search engine optimization firm discuss how best we can serve you and create the right online marketing strategy for you. Read below to find out how search engine optimization can boost YOUR online Website traffic today. Search Circus - an Ohio SEO company.

ASK AN EXPERT
By Steve Strauss

Q: My company's website doesn't attract nearly as much traffic as I think it should. I have used services to submit it to a variety of search engines, but that hasn't helped. What do other businesses do to drive traffic to their sites?
Christina

A: What you are talking about, Christina, is something called search engine optimization (SEO). When you type keywords into Google and those fortunate few websites get listed first, that is search engine optimization. When a website is specifically designed so that it is friendly to the tools that search engines use to analyze websites (called spiders), that is also search engine optimization. And when you decide to re-design your site so that it gets higher rankings, that too is search engine optimization.

To better answer your question, I spoke last week with an SEO expert. Alyah Rafeh runs a top-notch Richmond, Va.-based company called ActiveNation. ActiveNation specializes in creative web design, using online marketing principles and the latest Web programming technologies. Alyah specifically brings years of international marketing expertise to the question of using your website to grow your business.

While there are several things you can do to your site to make it more attractive and thus to increase its search engine compatibility (see below), the main thing to understand is that SEO is "a popularity contest," says Rafeh. The important thing, she says, is that you have a site that is clean, visually pleasing, and easy to navigate, that way "people will like the site, have a good user experience, and want to come back." This translates into increased traffic, and the more popular your site is, the better insofar as SEO goes. So an easily navigated, well-designed site is the foundation upon which you must build.

After that, there are several other things you can do to increase your search engine rankings:

Consider carefully your site setup: Rafeh warns that traditionally, search engine spiders have had a hard time indexing sites which rely heavily on Flash programming and as such reducing the amount of Flash on your site may increase its SEO. That said, Google apparently has been beta-testing software that would allow its spiders to analyze Flash offerings, but that is still in its infancy, so don't overdo the Flash animation. The same is true for sites designed with frames.

Know what your customers are searching for: Whatever keywords your customers would (hopefully) use to find your site must be used throughout your site, but especially in your meta tags (the title and words describing the page). Choose and use these keywords carefully. Avoid using broad terms like "skis." Instead, you want to use more specific terms like "Solomon freestyle skis."

If you want to get really geeky about this, type in the keywords you want people to use to come to your site or page and see what competitive sites come up. Then surf on over to those pages and view the source HTML code and look at their keywords in their meta tags.

Link up: Because one thing search engine spiders look at is the quality of links in and out of your site, be sure to get some quality links. One way is to pay for a commercial listing at Yahoo! Having Yahoo link to your site helps, even if you have to pay for it.

It is similarly a good idea to engage in some quality link exchanges with other good sites.

Advertise your site: Alyah Rafeh stresses that SEO should be considered part of your overall marketing efforts, and as such, you should advertise your site, both online and off, so that your web traffic increases.

Finally, she notes that even if you are not selling online, one of the first things people do these days when looking to buy goods and services is to check out a company's website. So her first piece of advice — have a good, clean website — pertains to all of us, whether SEO is our goal or not.

**********************************************************
Feb. 20, 2006
© Copyright 2006 USA TODAY
Ask an Expert appears Mondays. You can e-mail Steve Strauss at: sstrauss@mrallbiz.com. Steven D. Strauss is a lawyer, author and speaker who specializes in small business and entrepreneurship. He is this year's SBA Small Business Journalist of the Year. His latest book is The Small Business Bible.