Very useful tips about websites, search engines and internet marketing

These tips may assist you in your web marketing. If you want a website to be effective, you have to get people to find it and read it. From that point of view, there are really only 2 kinds of websites.

• YOU SEND THEM - A "brochure" website where money/resources spent to drive people to the website: business card, TV radio, Newpaper, Blogs, links in trade journals, paper, TV, to get people to a website. You pay in some way to get people to your site.
• THEY FIND YOU - A SEO-Search Engine Optimized website that will get people to your website via search engines - when you appear to have knowledge of the "subject " (the subject is the search term used in Google, Yahoo, MSN etc). Google uses the term 'Authority". Incoming links are very important in your Google "authority" rating. You get "visits for free" because your website appears authoritative to search engines.

Of course most people know about Type 1, but Type 2 takes work experience, keyword tuning, Google analytics, etc. See my page What you need to know

A marketing website works best when:

• It appears authoritative, on your selected subject/search terms. To appear authoritative on a subject, you should have: lots of excellent copy, h1 header marked words for the search words you want to be found by, and ALT labeled images
• there are links from other websites that appear authoritative on your search subject, and not from "bad neighborhoods"
• it get visitors email address, then follows up with multiple emails
• is interactive in some manner ie: engage the user with blogs (protected or open), surveys, games, anything to get them involved and thinking

What you can start doing now to prepare for your website

• Start writing copy for your website
• Collect or purchase pictures and graphics that illustrate your points, messages - Here is one photo source.
• Browse the web for a template/website design that you feel helps convey your message/mood. To find, Google "website template"
• Select a Website name. Use your business name, the name of the service you provide, or a search term ? See what is available
• View these Youtube videos on website marketing:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8v3UnMDC5M
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq4rUcmALhY

These videos can give you an idea of the complexity of web marketing. Some of the points they make concern:
• Good Content - articles about your subject, pictures, graphics, blogs
• Get other people to link to your website (considered a "vote" for your website ) using your Search word
• Title and meta tags (hidden techie labels created by an html programmer, and used by the search engine

Please feel free to contact me at 504 486-9752 for further explanations and to find out your best options