Web Marketing

Last update: 22-aug-03

954-725-0490

WebDeb Productions

Debbie Berg

Web Designer

Web Instructor

Technical Writer

Consulting Services

Need help designing your Web site?
Is it time to redesign your Web site?
Is your Web site meeting your visitors' needs?
Want a site review to find out?
Need help marketing your Web site through the search engines?

Please contact me to discuss my fees

Flawebdeb Information

Check out Debbie's 2003 Training Schedule

Take a look at some
of Debbie's most recent clients

What are people saying about Debbie?

"Debbie is a very knowledgeable, engaging instructor!"

M. Pine; Kansas City, MO

"Ms. Berg knows her stuff! She takes the time to explain technical concepts in great detail, which is very helpful. I can't wait to apply what I've learned!"

J. Matheson, Miami, FL

"I attended your Dreamweaver and Flash seminar in Ft. Lauderdale.. Thank you for the help. I learned more in those hours with you than a semester at FAU where I'm a full time graphic design student."

Kaue Ribeiro
Ft. Lauderdale, FL

"Debbie Berg is the best professional instructor I have ever experienced. I have been involved in the Web field for over four years and have attended over 300 conferences and seminars, but Debbie's knowledge complimented by her expertise provided me with a new vision in Web development."

Lucie Rodgers
Baltimore, MD

"Debbie Berg is an excellent instructor. She is very knowledgeable and I will recommend any of her classes to those who are interested in Web design and development."

Michelle Kohl
Fredericksburg, VA

"Debbie did an excellent job of presenting complex Web technologies in simplistic language that was easy to understand. She also supplied several helpful "do's" and "dont's" that will be most helpful to our Web site."

Craig Hood
Jacksonville, FL

STC Meeting Notes: Search Engine Tips

Debbie offers hands-on, one-on-one Web design training
Contact Debbie for details

Search Engine Tips
2/12/03 STC Palm Beaches Chapter Meeting
Your Speaker: Debbie Berg

About Your Speaker
7 years of Web Design experience
6 years of Web-related training experience
B.A. Technical Writing
Macromedia Certified Flash MX Designer

Leading Search Engines (Global Usage)
Google (global usage: 55.1%)
Yahoo (global usage: 20.6%)
MSN Search (global usage: 9.4%)
AOL Search (global usage: 3.5%)
Lycos (global usage: 3%)
AltaVista (global usage: 2.4%)

Source: NUA Internet Surveys 11/15/02

Leading Search Engines (Leading search engine referrals to shopping sites)
Google (global usage: 27.16%)
Yahoo (global usage: 25.92%)
MSN Search (global usage: 24.11%)
AOL Search (global usage: 15.60%)

Source: WebSideStory

Search Engine Types (Search engines display results from different sources)
Crawler-based: listings are compiled by software robots that crawl the Web
Human-powered: listings are compiled by human editors
Paid listings: listings are compiled based on those who pay a certain price
Metacrawler: an engine that queries the main search engines simultaneously: Yahoo, AltaVista, Google, Dogpile, Search.com, etc.

Search Engine Types
Your goal: Achieve a top-30 listing with the major search engines
Use and position terms/keywords that will help you achieve this goal

Positioning Strategies
People search the Internet to solve a problem
What is the intent of the search?
Your Web site should satisfy the intent of that search
Are you targeting keywords that will attract someone interested in what you have to offer?
Visitors coming from search engines are qualified prospects
If some one is actively searching for what you have, they are more likely to be a serious buyer

Research keywords and competitors

WordTracker compiles a database of keywords that people search for
You enter desired keywords; WordTracker reports on keyword popularity and competitiveness

WordTracker
COUNT: how popular the keyword is (how many times it has appeared in WordTracker’s database in the last 60 days)
PREDICT: the predicted # of searches that will be performed on a daily basis among all the search engines—this is an approximation only—does not predict traffic to your site, just how often that keyword may be used in a search
DIG: lets you focus on keyword niches—the most popular keywords with the least number of competing web pages
KEI: compares the # of times a keyword has appeared in WordTracker’s database with the # of competing Web pages=determines which keywords are most effective
The higher the KEI, the more popular your keywords are, and the less competition they have=better chance of a top ranking
COUNT: how popular the keyword is (how many times it has appeared in WordTracker’s database)
24 HRS: how many times it’s expected that keyword will be searched for within 24 hours with that particular search engine
COMPETING: how many Web pages will appear in response to entering in that keyword
Subscribe to WordTracker on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly basis

Positioning Strategies (<META> Tag)
<META> tag: an HTML tag located in the <HEAD> section of a Web page
Use to control how Web pages are described by some search engines
Use to prevent pages from being indexed at all
<META> description: an HTML tag located in the <HEAD> section of a Web page that describes the current page content

<head>
<meta name=“description" content="Debbie Berg is a Web designer, a technical writer and a professional speaker who educates and inspires thousands of individuals nationwide. If you need a top designer, writer or educator, visit flawebdeb.com to see how Debbie can help you!">
</head>

Positioning Strategies (<META> Tag)
Most search engines now ignore <META> keywords
Inktomi supports <META> keywords (MSN Search & HotBot use Inktomi for searches)
Text in the <META> keywords tag works in conjunction with the text in your body copy
Use relevant keywords

<head>
<meta name="keywords" content="web designer, south florida web designers, technical writer, web design instructor, web instructor, deb tips, flawebdeb, search engine optimization, Dreamweaver, Flash, FrontPage, Photoshop, Web design seminar, Dreamweaver/Flash conference, debbie berg, certified Macromedia Flash MX Designer, Macromedia certified professional programs, wordtracker, Flash player stats, Flash white paper, Debbie Berg">
</head>

Positioning Strategies (<TITLE> Tag)
<TITLE> tag: an HTML tag located in the <HEAD> section of a Web page
The <TITLE> is displayed in the browser’s title bar
Most search engines will use the text of your title tag as the text they use for the title of your page in your listings

<head>
<title> Debbie Berg is a Web Designer, South Florida Web Designer, Web Design Instructor, Professional Speaker, and Technical Writer </title>
</head>

Positioning Strategies (<TITLE> Tag)
Build your titles around the top two or three phrases that you would like the page to be found for
Think: newspaper headlines
The <TITLE> is the most prominent position on the page

Positioning Strategies (<ALT> Tag)
Use <ALT> tags
AltaVista and Google support

Positioning Strategies (Links)
Build incoming links
Reciprocal linking

Google (Google displays results from different sources)
Crawler-based search engine
Paid listings
Has its own human-compiled directory

Google (Crawler-Based Results)
Submit your site to Google
Google’s crawler (Googlebot) might index your site without manual submission
Google revisits indexed sites within 4 weeks

Google
Place keywords at the TOP of the page
Use keywords in <ALT> tags
Build incoming links
Submit the top-level page (home page) only
Don’t use automatic submission software
Go directly to www.google.com/addurl.html to register

Google (Paid Listing Results)
Premium sponsorships appear at the top of the results page
Sold through Google’s ad reps
AdWords program displays listings in boxes on the right-hand side of the results page
Google distributes AdWords to AOL
Go to the “Advertise with Us” page

Google (Human Compiled Results)
Google Web Directory
Listings come from the OpenDirectory
Get listed with OpenDirectory in order to be part of Google’s Web Directory http:dmoz.org
Google updates its listings from OpenDirectory every 4 weeks; takes 2-8 weeks for inclusion in the directory

Overture (www.overture.com)
Paid placement search engine (sites that pay are guaranteed top placement for the terms they are interested in)
Paid listing distribution network (provides its listings to other search engines: AltaVista, Lycos, MSN & AOL Search)
Get listed at Overture as a primary way to improve your online visibility

How Overture Works
“Pay-per-click” search engine service
Advertisers bid for rankings with popular keywords
Advertisers pay for each click they receive
Example Keyword: travel
Advertiser A: bids 90 cents
Advertiser B: bids 86 cents
Advertiser C: bids 85 cents
Sites are listed in order of highest bid
You can change bids frequently
Each advertiser has an account budget
Maintain your listings with Overture frequently
AltaVista: displays 3-8 listings from Overture
AOL Search: displays titles of paid links, not descriptions from Overture
Yahoo: displays 2-4 listings from Overture (only displays partial descriptions from Overture)

Search Engine Strategies
Do your research
Use search engine optimization software

WebPosition Gold 2
Contains 7 modules:
Reporter: generates keyword positioning reports
Page Generator: creates optimized pages
Page Critic: analyzes pages and recommends changes to improve rankings
Upload Manager: use the FTP manager to upload optimized pages
Traffic Analyzer: keeps track of site traffic, keywords, etc.
Scheduler: can auto-run different modules
Submitter: submits pages to the Search Engines

Search Engine Strategies
Submit your URL manually
Submit your URL for paid placement
Maintain your listings

These STC meeting notes have been provided to you by Debbie Berg

D.E.B. Tips

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