Webmasters don’t need to spend a long time on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to see some results, although long-term efforts will certainly produce a much greater effect. Here’s how to SEO your site in less than 2 hours:

1.) If any of your pages have the same title, change the titles to reflect the content of the pages. This is good for SEO because the search engines prefer pages with different names, and people are less likely to click on a search result if it has a generic title. Avoid using titles over 60 characters long.

2.) Add brief, descriptive “ALT text” tags to your site’s images. Internet users with text-only browsers will see this text in place of graphics. Its good for SEO because search engines can use this text to interpret the subject of an image, giving them a better concept of the page’s content.

3.) Test each of the links on your site to make sure they still work. If any produce errors, either replace, update, or remove them. This is good for SEO because some search engines will downgrade your site’s search ranking if it has too many outdated or incorrect links.

4.) If any of your pages contain information on more than one distinct subject, divide them into separate pages. For example, a page that lists every product a company offers should instead be split into multiple product categories (unless all of the items are very similar).

These SEO tasks can be accomplished in less than 2 hours for many web sites. However, they do not address other important SEO issues like keyword density, META tags, link building, and site maps. If in doubt consult i) an experienced search engine marketing agency, or ii) an internet marketing agency with experience in search engine marketing.

Indigoskydigital SEO page titles, SEO, website

When you’re planning a new website, getting to grips with the internet-specific issues such as domain names, hosting packages, email addresses, SEO and so on is quite a preoccupation. And that’s natural. For most clients, these represent a no-go area, best left to technical specialists.
However, if you’re serious about your web presence, one thing that really does deserve your attention is your web copy. After all, what can be more important than the words and messages your site portrays? And what does the way in which you say them say about you?
Copywriters grapple with this challenge every day, which is why many clients outsource the crafting of their message. Not only does this save them time and energy to deploy more profitably elsewhere, it assures them that their copy is optimised for both their target audience and, crucially, the search engines.
However, if you decide to create your copy yourself, here are the first five of ten tips to help you prepare your online marketing:

1 Research keywords

One of the ways in which search engines measure the relevance of your site to search queries is keyword density. This is the number of times that a keyword or phrase entered by a user into a search engine appears in your webcopy. So a good place to start – before you even start writing – is to find out what words and phrases people are using when searching for a business like yours. Enter ‘keyword tool’ into the search engine of your choice to begin your research.

2 Break your copy up

Unless they’re browsing for recreation, internet users are impatient. If your site doesn’t tell visitors what they want to know, they’ll very quickly find a site that does. Use headlines and sub-headers that sum up the text that follows so that people know what your page is all about. Ideally a reader should simply be able to skim the headline and sub-headers to get the gist of the page – with the paragraphs providing the essential detail. For even better results get those keywords into your headlines and sub-headers.

3 Keep it simple

Never overcomplicate a message. Short simple ones are not only easier to read – they are remembered for longer. Try to keep sentences short and prefer short words to long ones.

4 Be friendly

Write as you would speak – but without those filler words and phrases that we sometimes use to keep our conversation flowing or to buy thinking time. Use active sentences (we will provide you with everything you need) as opposed to passive sentences (everything needed will be provided). Imagine you are writing to an individual rather than a vague, unseen mass. This will help keep it personal.

5 Be consistent

Consistency of style is really important to your brand and overall image. If you adopt a formal communication style on your webpages then take a racy approach to your direct mail or sales letters, people will wonder which is the real you. Decide early on what sort of personality you want to project through your written communications and brief everyone involved in producing it. This applies to web pages, email campaigns, advertising – even blog entries.

In part 2 of this entry, to follow shortly, I’ll be looking at five mistakes to avoid when writing your webcopy.

nosloppycopy Copywriting Copywriting, web copy

Link building is an important part of creating traffic for new and old websites. It not only generates hits when people click on the links, but improves search rankings. Here are some link building tips for new websites:

1.) A common mistake is to try to acquire links on just any website. Link building is much more effective when linking occurs between two websites about the same (or similar) topics. For example: one of the best ways to increase Page Rank is by getting one-way links as opposed to reciprocal links. One of the best places to get these are through directories, but it is best to find relevant directories.
2.) Consider distributing a press release on the new site, especially if there is something newsworthy about it. Include a link at the end of the release and post it on press release distribution websites.
3.) Don’t submit new websites to directories until they are fully functional and ready to use.
4.) If you have the money, consider paying for inclusion in major directories like Yahoo! Directory. Gaining quality links of this type is especially valuable in boosting search engine rankings.
5.) The most valuable links are on pages with a high Google PageRank (PR) or a lot of traffic. Use CheckPR.org to determine a site’s PR, and Quantcast.com for an approximate indication of its popularity.
6.) While your site is new, concentrate on building links to the home page. Link the home page to other important pages and they will indirectly receive some of the benefits.
7.) Finally, such websites can also accomplish link building by looking for relevant sites that have lists of related links. If the site’s webmaster offers an e-mail address to send link suggestions to, give it a try.

We recommend engaging the services of an internet marketing agency that specialises in search engine optimization.

Indigoskydigital SEO link building, search engine optimization, SEO

Indigoskydigital SEO page titles, SEO

This weekend I’m reading ‘The Social Network Business Plan’ by David Silver. Do you have an idea for a social network website? It may be to do with your business, a hobby, your local community or is simply of general interest to you – If so, then let’s have a chat and see if we can make it happen, it may not cost you a penny

admin Social Networking

Remember, for every 10 people who join your network you’ll receive a
free one month *PowerNetworker subscription – invite here:

PowerNetworker will get you the following:

- Found on Google as your profile changes and content is submitted
- Unlimited advertising on the Marketplace
- Unlimited contacts and messaging

admin Social Networking

I finally managed to get my 10th contact on LinkedIn – not sure what the benefits of reaching the magic number ten are. Any ideas? I was answering a discussion/post on the site with a delightful lady from Washington DC who was asking for advice about buying multiple domains to help promote her company website. http://snurl.com/ffgkv

I suggested she spend her time and money on blogging to attract visitors to her site, instead of buying another domain and ultimately commissioning another website. spelling

What do you think? Have you have any experience of buying more than one domain to promote your website? Did it work….?

Come blog with me…

admin Social Networking

Tuning into Nigel Temple at 5pm discussing social networking sites – http://www.themarketingcompass.com
TELESEMINAR JOINING INSTRUCTIONS
Please dial:  0844 581 44 44
…and use this Pin code: 75 34 535

admin Social Networking

So I’ve added more pages to my WordPress Blog. I’m getting used to the interface and the idea that this is going to be a second website containing everything that’s presently of my main company wesbite.

I did have a small catastrophy this morning when I inadvertently changed the coding from UTF-8 to 16 and the entire blog came out in Chineese – twas a scary moment there until someone on the WP Forum explained I need to changed how my browser views content. So it was just a case of changing back to UTF-8 in WP Admin. Voila, its all working again.

So I added my testimonials (Javascript from FreeIndex.co.uk) and dropped in my ‘About’ page. Its getting there slowly. The great thing is how easy WP is! I can understand why developers use it for creating websites.

admin WordPress

I discovered a very interesting PDF document that I didn’t take too seriously in the beginning, however I am now starting to read my way through it’s 67 pages of useful tips and tricks of linking tactics and tools. One of which has allowed me to post a larger than normal Tweet (fingers crossed you’re reading it now) on Twitter.

So what is this factual document and how do I get a copy? Well the answer lies in my archived blogs on twitter, however you can easily access this information by viewing my earlier posts on my website page – http://capitalhosting.co.uk/contact-us/useful-resources/blog/

I know, I know – its a cheap trick to get you looking at my site but hay! its going to prove useful – trust me!

Or how about this useful tool called Funnela (http://funnela.com/). It aims to provide small businesses with CRM management, all online. I haven’t tried it myself although I am looking for a good FREE CRM tool to manage my business contacts. If you try it and like, then let me know. Alternatively, check my blog soon, I shall most likely review it this week.

On another note, I shall soon be starting up my own Business/Social Networking website and all are welcome! The name has yet to be decided upon, however it will provide a similar function as facebook but without the flying sheep and other crazy distractions. It will provide a web 2.0 interface with the ability to; blog, chat, post to multiple forums, set a profile, calendar events (personal and business), email, review and create an intricate profile and a whole lot more. If you’re interested in joining or have an idea for a social network, then please get in touch with me as I am always interested in new ideas (a non disclosure agreement can be made available for precious ideas….).

There’s a lot of useful tips here and I imagine not everyone has the time or inclination to try everything, just remember the words of Home Simpson – “All right, Brain, I don’t like you and you don’t like me – so let’s just do this and I’ll get back to killing you with beer.”

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