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When establishing secondary pages, use a keyword in the URL of the page. Don't use two word URLS when connected by an underscore,
such as /blue_products.html. Some search engines will read this as "blue_products.html", which is not a commonly searched
term. Instead, use /blue-products.htm. This will be read as "blue products",
a more likely search term.
Internal links should describe the content found on that page. A link to "blue products" is preferable to a link that says, "click
here". Embedding the link in text is better yet. For example, "Our quality blue products will fill
your every blue need. Visit our blue products page for more information".
Be sure to double check your links to make sure they are active
from time to time. Even internal links can mysteriously break. Be aware that some people may not even see your
links, thanks to Scumware. Read our article on protecting against visitor theft by ScumWare
for more information.
External links are important to your website. Spending your time to request quality reciprocal links is well spent. Contact
sites with content similar or complimentary to yours and ask them for a link to your site. Be sure to reciprocate, but don't worry
if you link to a site which doesn't reciprocate with you. As long as the link is valuable to your customer base, it is valuable to
your search engine ranking.
Links in text are better yet. Encourage other sites to include a link to your site in the text of their content. Send them a
sample of your product in exchange for an on-line review. Donate something to charity in exchange for a link credit. Offer to write
an article for their web page, which links back to your site. Contribute to an on-line Ezine, which archives its issues on line,
being sure to sign your contribution with your URL. Start your own E-zine, or establish a forum on your site. When commenting in
other forums, be sure to use your URL and tagline in your signature. Encourage your satisfied customers to post in forums,
on E-zines and in groups referring other potential customers to your website.
You DO have your website URL and tagline in the signature of all your E-mails, on your stationery letterhead, in the return
address of your envelopes, on your business cards and on your answering machine, don't you?
All the major search engines have methods that will help you determine who links to use (generally: link:http://www.yoursite.com)
as does Marketleap
which will show how you "rank" with other sites of like "popularity" as well as others at various other levels of popularity.
Take these with a grain of salt. Nothing is 100% accurate.
If you sell products, be sure to submit a feed to DealTime,
PriceGrabber,
Froogle, and Yahoo
Shopping. This feed should include product name, description
and price, availability, distribution
network, and shipping rates. Besides being a shopping engine, this creates links to your site.
The rule of Search Engine Optimization is "Content is King". The content of your web pages should have relevance to the user,
and should change fairly frequently. Keeping the content of your site fresh will encourage bookmarking and revisits by both your
customer and the search engine bots.
Keeping a web site up-to-date is vital. No one will visit a stale website more than once. The
best websites are the ones that are continually adding fresh material to draw back previous visitors and attract the attention
of new ones.
Homework:
read Do some websites look strange to you?
Click here to find out why!
Chapter Five:
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Linking for Success -