HillSiteDesigns.com Owners Corner

Tutorial Skill Level=intermediate

In order to get the most                      1.SEO     2.SERPs    3.keywords            4.meta tags
out of this article you                          5.inbound link       6.outbound link      7.reciprocal link
should be familiar with                         8.HillSiteDesigns
a few basic website design terms.

No matter what it is that people want to advertise, goods, services, business of all kinds, it seems these days, that websites are the preferred method of getting the message out to the public. The problem with that is getting people to see all these websites. In order to be successful a website must be seen. An internet user can’t see a website if they can’t find it. Being found plus being Seen equals Success!
The most common way a potential customer finds any one website is through search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and others. The user typically types in a search term or “keyword” and viola! up pops several websites dealing with goods or services related to that “keyword”. This listing is called the “search engine results pages, or SERPs results” and in order for your website to be seen by the searcher, it usually must appear on the first page of results. Because there are anywhere from 10 to 50 websites on the first page, users rarely search past the second page of results. Of course the goal for any website owner is to appear at the top of the results, like top 5 or better and with everyone trying to do so, it is very difficult to obtain a top 5 placement on any search engines’ results page but IN ORDER TO BE SUCCESSFUL, THAT’S WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN.
It takes hard work and great patience but it can be done. The methodology behind getting a website to place well in the SERPs is called, search engine optimization or SEO and there is a whole industry built around this art. Building a successful website is not possible without addressing SEO, or search engine optimization. The majority of website owners have heard of SEO, and many have tried it themselves but just as many have no idea what it is, or what is involved in the process. SEO is continuously changing partly do to the ever growing list of techniques that become available and partly because the search engines like to stir it up every now and then by changing the rules on us just as we learn the old ones.

In defense of the search engines,(not that they need defending) I must add that they are only trying to do their job, which is to give the user the best possible result every time a search query is typed in and although it is debatable, they do a pretty good job of it. Of course Google being the best at it. It is hard to empathize with the search engines unless you consider what they are up against. The “bad webmaster” who is constantly developing ways to circumvent the algorithms that sort through the garbage and, quite successfully deliver quality websites in the search engine results pages, or SERPs and the unskilled webmaster who has a quality website but has no idea how to optimize it for good placement.                          Google has been quite successful in it’s efforts to develop methods of “thinning the herd” of useless websites that offer no real value to the user. I may sound like a broken record but it is important that we always remember when we create a website for the internet is, that the web was not created to sell merchandise. It’s original purpose was, and still is, to allow the world to share information without geographical or temporal limits. The search engines take this very seriously, even if the average user does not. Don’t get me wrong, the search engines want to make a profit just as much as we do but like us, they want to do it by providing the best possible service and that means quality results.
The basics of SEO are composed of certain tasks that when performed correctly can greatly increase the chances of your website appearing at the top of those results the user sees. Each search engine uses a different but similar algorithm taking into consideration many factors including but not limited to, keyword usage, inbound and outbound links, amount and relevence of content and many others. Without going down the line and listing the many many aspects of the search engine algorithms that determine where a website appears in the search results, it is still possible to educate one concerning the most effective and “painless” SEO techniques that a webmaster can practice on a day to day basis in order to improve their websites placement in the SERPs. In the following segments we will attempt to outline the various points you should focus on to bring your website to the top. At first it may seem impossible with the amount of competition out there but in reality that serves in your favor. Typically, any SEO campaign takes weeks or even months before any measureable improvement takes place. This is where our patience will pay off big.
When your more impatient competition gives up, you will have begun to see positive results and if you will just keep plugging away, that top ten position will come. In the following segments of this article, We will take you through the process of web page optimization with the goal of obtaining a top ten search engine search result. The easiest is probably “keyword” research and placement in your pages meta tags. We start with this one because in the development stage of your websites construction is where keywords should be addressed. Look for the next segment of this series sometime after my birthday on the 18th of Sept.       Until next time, “Get to work”!