Sandy Cwach, Designer SMCI Design, LLC (System Management Consultants Internet Design)

What is SEO? Making web pages easy to find, easy to crawl and easy to categorize. Making web pages rank high for certain keywords or search terms. Keeping up to date with search engine changes.

Inbound Marketing is Essential Outbound Marketing Inside Sales Telemarketing Tradeshows Seminars Print Advertising Direct mail/ Inbound Marketing SEO Pay per click Blogging / Blogosphere Social Media / Buzz Targeted Landing Pages Marketing Analytics

B2B Buyers Start in Google 98% Search in Google Try a search for: “City” “Your Industry” “Your Industry” in “City” “Your Industry” in “City, State” What shows up?

Organic Search is Best Free More Traffic Smarter people Longer lasting

PPC Clicks by Position #1: 7% of clicks #2: 4% of clicks #3-4: 2% of clicks #5 to 10: 0.5% of clicks each

PPC Clicks by Position #1: 25% of clicks #2: 12% of clicks #3: 8% of clicks #4 to 10: 3-5% of clicks each

How does Google Decide? On Page Factors ~ 25% - Content Off Page Factors ~ 75% - Links

How to Optimize for Search Engines. Domain Selection Keyword Selection Web Page Optimization Link Building

Domain Selection Company Name Domain Customers already know your domain name. Company name looks professional when printed in collateral material. May not help very much with the search engines if it doesn’t include your chosen keywords. Keyword Domain If keywords are part of your domain name, the search engines will tend to give your keywords better rankings. Disadvantages – are the good ones are taken or they tend to be long and look awkward when printed. Good compromise – add 1 or 2 keywords to company name provided it is not too long.

Domain Selection Domain Name Extensions The letter combination to the right of the domain name after the dot. Originally,.com for commercial,.net for ISP’s,.org for non- profit or groups. Now.biz,.name,.tv,.info, ect. Try to register at least the three most common -.com,.org, and.net to protect your domain name. Find and Register your domain name. Search any accredited domain registrar, for example or If.com is not available you can search for other extensions or variations of the name. Once you have an available domain name, you can register it by following the instructions on the screen.

Keyword Selection Select the Right Keywords Keywords, or search terms, are what you expect search engine users will type in the search box to find your site. The best keywords are those that are popular search terms. Use keywords or key-phrases that have relatively low competition. (Three or more words.) Analyze the demand and supply. (High demand / low supply) Checking Keyword Demand Take your chosen phrases and find their popularity at: Google’s search term tool will show you other key-phrases that you may not have thought about. You have validated and enlarged your pool of popular, in- demand, potential key-phrases for your web page.

Keyword Selection Checking Keyword Supply Go to Google ( and type-in each of your “key-phrases” and see how many results it produces. Find the one with a relatively small number of results (less competition). You will stick with the key-phrase that: 1.Best describes the topic and content of your page. 2.Is a popular search term according to Google’s Search Term Suggestion Tool. 3.Generates a relatively small number of results after performing the Google search.

Web Page Optimization Key-phrases in the web page title: Create a descriptive title for your page: displayed as link text in search results. Title must include main key-phrases. Start with your key-phrases. Keep your key-phrase together. Don’t split the words. Make the title short (8 words or less). Key-phrases in your Keyword Meta Tag: Google Ignores Keyword Meta Tags. Place list of main and secondary keywords in the Keyword Meta tag of your pages, just in case search engines decide to use them again.

Web Page Optimization Key-phrases in the Description Meta Tag: The Description Meta Tag is still important, since some search engines use them to go with the results link. Remember to: Use your key-phrases (main and secondary). Make your description concise and professional. Avoid using hype. Make it short (25 words or less). Keep your key-phrases together. Key-phrases in body of your page: Use key-phrases several times, placed close to top. Place key-phrases between Header Tags and/or in bold. Repeat key-phrases often to increase density. (5 to 10 times for every 100 words) Visitors should be able to read your page fluently and effortlessly. Left navigation bars will be read first by the search engines so be sure to include your keywords there, to.

Web Page Optimization Other Web Page Design Considerations: Make your page easy to navigate by the search engines. Search engines heavily favor text over graphics, and HTML over other editing formats. Use text heavily. Avoid placing text in graphic format. Avoid frames. Search engines have trouble following them. Avoid Flash and JavaScript: search engines don’t follow well. Create a Site Map: that includes all the pages in your site, and place a link to it from your homepage. Make sure that all your internal pages link to your homepage. Don’t try to describe all your products or services in one page. Instead create different very focused pages, each with its own content and key-phrases, and optimize them too.

Link Building Google’s Pagerank System Heavily favors inbound links. Takes into account the number and quality of inbound links. Google’s explanation of Pagerank: Google toolbar shows Pagerank. Download it at: The Importance of On-Topic Links Link Anchor Text and Search Engine Behavior 1.Use a search term, not “click here” for Link Anchor Text 2.When a search term is used for the company name the site will rank high.

Link Building Good Ways to Build Links: Getting listed in quality directories Yahoo: DMOZ: Zeal: GoGuides: Wow Directory: Joe Ant: BlueFind: About.com: Exchanging Links Submitting Articles Posting in Forums and Weblogs Getting Unsolicited Links Making Inbound Links Look Natural