Website Marketing

Using search engine optimization (SEO) to build Web site traffic is one of the most hotly discussed, contested, and popular subjects in online advertising. There are many theories of how it works, why it works, and the best way to make it work.

Why is SEO so important? First, there are millions of Web sites. The odds of having a completely unique Web site are slim. If a site sells products and relies on search engines to deliver new customers, optimizing that site for search engine indexing can mean the difference between failure and success. If a site's results are buried under the competition's links, it won't be able to reach new customers. When consumers use search engines, they want results quickly. Many users will stop at the first page of results.

So, how does optimization work? Most search engines use a technique referred to as "spidering" to periodically browse through all of the Web sites on the Internet. Spidering collects the data for indexing. During indexing, the content of Web pages are analyzed and then inserted into the search engine's database. For example, if the term "landscape design" appears several times on a page of a site, that page would have a pretty good chance of appearing on a user's search for landscape design.

Next, the search engine ranks your site. This is done by a number of factors, including how many sites link to a site, how popular the linking sites are, keyword saturation, if keywords appear in your URL, and page titles. One of the easiest ways to get links to your website is to register with online directories, add links to blog entries, and to exchange links with other businesses.

Most major search engines carry paid placement listings, where advertisers are guaranteed a high ranking, usually in relation to desired words. These paid listings are usually segregated from editorial results and labeled to highlight that they are ads. The exact position of the paid placement listings can vary. Usually, they appear above the editorial links. They can also appear at the bottom or to the side of editorial content in "Sidebar" style (see Google).

LandscaperSEO.com generally uses the term "paid placement" to describe ads that guarantee placement, but others may refer to these ads in different terms, including "sponsored listings," "paid search ads," "pay for placement," "pay for performance," "CPC listings" (cost-per-click) and "PPC listings" (pay per click). The last two terms reflect the fact that paid listings are sold on a basis where advertisers only pay if someone clicks on their ads.

LandscaperSEO.com offers consulting services that consist of assisting in the generation of keyword list, ranking keywords by number of searches and competition (how many other sites are paying for the keyword), recommended cost per click rates, reports on your leading competitors, and inclusion of code for Google Analytics, Yahoo, and MSN for tracking the return on investment.

1. Keywords are the Key – Compiling a list of keywords is the most important part of a SEO campaign. The keywords that you choose will be the focus of your entire optimization process. Google, Yahoo, and MSN all provide tools designed to help you find the words and terms that are searched the most.
2. The Title Says it All – The most important of the visible text elements is your HTML page title. The page title is important because it gets maximum exposure in the search engine results page and should be written to encourage users to click on it. Each page title should be unique and contain the most searched keywords for that particular page. Exp.
3. Making it Right by Re-Writing – Once you have compiled a list of keywords, you should re-write your current content to include the most popular keywords. Most experts agree that you should not include keywords more than 3 times in a sentence.
4. Describe It – Take advantage of the fact that most search engines use the description meta tag in their search results by creating a compelling description of each unique page.
5. Head of the Class – Include header tags containing your keywords on each page. The header should be at or near the top of the page. <h1>Lawn Maintenance</h1>
6. A Picture Says a Thousand Word – Add alternate text to each picture on your website. Exp. alt="Landscape Design"
7. Avoid Bouncing – Once you have compiled your keywords, you need to rank them by number of searches and track the effectiveness of each keyword and its bounce rate. A bounce occurs when a website visitor leaves a page or a site without visiting any other pages. You will want to consider removing keywords with high bounce rates.