Drubby World Wide Web Search

Do Not Drop Your Web Site Off the Search Engine Cliff

If you've been feeling like Tom Cruise climbing up the side of some remote jagged mountain in the blazing hot sun and concerned you're facing "mission impossible", chances are you own a web site.

Adding to the intense thrill of web site ownership are keyword comparisons and bidding for good keyword positions in search engines. You might hire a search engine optimization specialist who can track elusive algorithm clues and is unfazed by page rank drama. Your programmers and designers insist they get along. The marketing department actually believes deadlines are met. The new bank account is waiting for fresh revenue. And oh yes, it's assumed someone will come looking for your web site and wants to use it.

You did build it for them, right?

For every search result, there is the possibility that:

a. The engine will display a description that makes sense. Or not.

b. The page the search engine refers to does what the description said it would do and is about what the search engine said it would cover. Or not.

Your SEO/SEM, if you hired a good one, helped you write your title tag statement and Meta page description and structured it so it makes sense in SERPs (search engine results pages).

Your Usability professional, if you hired one, evaluated the page to make sure it would meet customer expectations and convince visitors there are other hot pages inside the web site to look at too. Without call to action prompts, well displayed, logically labeled navigation links and credible content, the chance of someone remaining on that page is pretty slim.

Says Gordon Hotchkiss, President and CEO of Enquiro Search Solutions, Inc., in a recent Search Day article written by Shari Thurow, called Creating Compelling Search Engine Ads and Landing Pages, "Once searchers arrive on your landing pages, you have 13.2 seconds to convince visitors that they are on the right site."

Impossible Mission?

Had enough of web page abandonment? Are those cost per click fees putting you further in credit card debt and not producing any bang for your buck? Which part of "understand your web site visitor" didn't make it to the drawing board?

I know this is hard. You're not a mind reader. Unless you have access to costly studies and data about who to build your web site for and their computer usage habits, chances are you simply wanted a web site and hoped people would find it and use it. By incorporating the skills and expertise of an SEO/SEM along with a user centered design specialist, you will not be wastefully tossing your web site off the search engine cliff. Rather, your adoring fans will clamor up the cliff to get to it.

Sometimes a web designer is also trained in these fields or is partnered with people who are. This is something to consider when shopping around for web site assistance.

Here are some things to keep in mind when studying your web site. You can also ask your team to consider these points.

1. What happens after your site reaches top rank? It's lonely up there, if nobody notices your page or understands the page description. How effective is high rank? Do people really click on "sponsored" pages vs. natural results?

2. Pay attention to inside "landing" pages. Optimize them for easy indexing and point visitors to your homepage, sale products or free stuff.

3. Be wise about what you invest. Every cost per click must be productive. If not, a usability web site review can locate roadblocks.

4. It's about the user experience. Really. It's a common habit for web site owners to create the site for themselves based on what they like and want. When you receive a complaint, consider it a favor. Yes, some people are mean and critical. But, enhancements are improvements that sometimes benefit a lot of people, and you too, in the long run.

5. Don't settle for minimum effort. One of your goals is to reach potential customers and readers. Your optimized pages reach people looking for them. Your user centered pages reach people wanting to use them and will refer them to friends.

6. Your competition does it better. Not by packing hidden keywords and buying links, but by carefully targeting keywords, providing cleverly written content and delivering user centered design.

7. Think sustainability. If you plan on your web site being around for a while, make this a checkpoint for every future decision related to your site. If someone has an idea that won't impact the long-term sustainability of the site, the site may disappear out of sheer user boredom. And search do engines notice.

8. Understanding your visitors and customers allows for more creative keyword combinations. Put a feedback form on your web site. Ask them how they found your web site. Ask them what keywords they used. Ask them why they came or what they wanted to find. Ask them if they found what they were looking for and if not, provide room for comments so they can explain what happened. This information is a gold mine for you.

9. Never mislead your visitors. Be accurate with what you say a site or page is about. Search results relevancy establishes trust from the start.

10. The elegance of action. The act of landing on a relevant, accurate, persuasive, interesting page leads to the fluid, unencumbered desire to know more and click deeper. Aim for this.

Do not drop your web site over the search engine cliff without considering the usability effect. Design it to be productive and user centered. This will pay off in many ways. Remember your original requirements and goals and trace back every dollar you spend to meeting them. Marketing efforts are strengthened when you make your visitors feel welcome, informed and productive once they arrive at your web site.

Usability Consultant, Kimberly Krause Berg, is the owner of http://www.UsabilityEffect.com, http://www.Cre8pc.com & http://www.Cre8asiteForums.com Her background in organic search engine optimization, combined with web site usability consulting, offers unique insight into web site development.

Copyright 2004 Cre8pc.com

MORE ARTICLES:

Affordable Search Engine Optimization Is The Key To Online Marketing
In this day and age, the Internet has quickly become the best and most efficient way to advertise your business's particular services. Affordable search engine optimization has quickly replaced standard advertising and is becoming more and more popular each and every day. The premise is actually quite simple. Almost everyone who uses search engines will automatically choose from the first few matches that they receive. Therefore, affordable search engine optimization is the perfect answer to increasing your online potential.

Mastering Search Engine Marketing & Online Brand Protection: A Must-Read White Paper For Regional, National, And Global Brands
The evolution of interactive marketing is unfolding at a blistering pace. Brand marketing leadership, as well as leading interactive marketing consultants and gurus, are being inundated with data surrounding new media marketing opportunities in Web 2.0, virtual worlds, consumer generated media (CGM), mobile ad nets, iTV, video game placement, and a slew of other propositions.

Seo Elite - A Review To Search Engine Optimization
A search engine optimization review using SEO Elite Software:

Search Engine Optimization - SEO Webpage Basics
Once people have a website, they start to realize the importance of search engine optimization. Why? Because without it, you just have a website, and what good is a website if you don't get lots of targeted traffic looking for products and services which you provide.

Meta Tags Are Again Import With Search Engines
Why are Meta tags important, one reason, search engines still use them, especially Google. Meta tags are useful in getting better listings in the search engines. All of the tags, title, description and keywords are just standard HTML code which you will need to place on the top of each page below the HEAD section. META tags are not necessarily recognized by search engines as vehicles for ranking, although some still do read them and use them. Meta tags are not a mystery, they are simple and powerful, make sure you use them on your site. The reason you place the keyword tags on your page is to let the search engines know that these keywords are relevant to your page.

Protecting Your Search Engine Rankings
Your website's ranking on search engines is a vital element of your overall marketing campaign, and there are ways to improve your link popularity through legitimate methods. Unfortunately, the Internet is populated by bands of dishonest webmasters seeking to improve their link popularity by faking out search engines.

Search Engines: Bring Readers To Your Page
The World Wide Web or the Internet has spread to unimaginable magnitude and people depend on this for getting varied information. The heart of the Internet is the search engine and all online users are aware that only a dependable search utility can help them zeroing in on the websites they require. Here search engines (http://www.ladezign.com/) come into play.

PRWeb is the Star of the Party as Vocus Sponsors SearchBash at Search Engine Strategies in San Jose
For the first time, Vocus, Inc. will sponsor Webmaster Radio's SearchBash Party at one of the largest gatherings for webmasters, digital agencies and online marketers. This year's SES San Jose SearchBash Party offers entertainment and networking at the Vivid Night Club.

Infuse Creative & Gregory Markel Speak Video Search Engine Optimization at Search Engine Strategies Conference
Gregory Markel, Founder/President of Infuse Creative, LLC, a full service search engine marketing company, advises Search Engine Strategies Conference attendees on how to optimize video for video search engines.

ArteWorks SEO Offers Free Search Engine Optimization Tools
ArteWorks SEO announces the addition of search engine optimization tools available for free at www.arteworks.biz/tools.

The Hidden Rewards To Search Engine Optimization
One of the best ways to make money is through the use of the internet. It is not as easy as it sounds but it can be if you know what you are doing. The internet has grown so much in the past couple of years that it has become such a huge information source that very rarely will you not find what you are looking for. The internet also makes it easier for people to do their shopping for the holidays. And it also can help us find things we need to know in everyday life. The internet is also a great place to start a business and become very wealthy. You just have to hit the right markets and know how to run a business online using Google as a search engine.

Online Marketing- Know Various Aspects of Search Engine Optimization
SEO stands for search engine optimization. Lately the E-Commerce and E-Business sites are soaring and so also the internet market. It offers the online business owners equal opportunity to sell their products or services or ideas .More or less it is seen that most online sites target to achieve high search engine rankings. Buy specifically the key to such position is a good SEO plan that looks into different aspects of site, search engine dynamics and contemporary suggestions.

DOI, a Proven Marketing Tool for Driving Traffic and Increasing Search Engine Rankings
The Digital Object Identifier otherwise known as the DOI is not new. The history of the DOI started when a group of major book publishers realized that the digital age was imminent.

Network Solutions Launches Improvements to Online Business Directory ThinkLocal?
Network Solutions® announces improvements to their online business directory at ThinkLocal.com. Like an online yellowpages, businesses can be searched and found and now, with improvements including driving directions and an easier to navigate layout, information about local businesses is even easier to obtain.