Make your Site Sell - a day by day diary - Day 6
Getting Your Web Pages Ready for the Search Engines
In Day 6 we were going to look at the benefits that MYSS can deliver and how we
can reach our targeted customers. Unfortunately I have fallen in the the trap of getting side tracked again - so
Targeting Customers will now be postponed till later (unless I get overwhelmed with feedback to the contrary).
Instead for Day 6 we will be a going back to basics about getting your web page ready for the search engines. I
will try to explain in simple terms what META tags are and how to use them. For those who know it back to front
I will unveil a handy little tool for checking your web page statistics.
One of the main sources of traffic to your web site will be from the search engines.
You have crafted your page, avoiding all the pitfalls that will cause your visitor to go away before reading your
sales message or words of wisdom. You now need to submit your pages to the search engines. But first are your pages
ready? You need to create some META TAGS in your page to tell the search engines what your page is about.
Below is a very simplified web page - you could copy it into your notepad and save
it as a file named hello.htm and view it in your browser - try it.
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>HTML META tags.</TITLE>
<META NAME="DESCRIPTION" CONTENT="Make your Site Sell, Diary Day 6, META Tags.">
<META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="html,meta tags,webmaster,search engines">
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<P>Hello World</P>
</BODY>
</HTML>
The TITLE tag should describe the page - not your website but the individual page.
Keep it at less than 60 characters and include your main keyword(s).
The DESCRIPTION tag allows you to expand on the TITLE - try to get all your keywords
in but make it a reasonable sentence - Max 200 characters.
The TITLE and DESCRIPTION are usually displayed by the search engines if your page
matches the search criteria. Use the Title and Description tags to entice a visitor to your site.
The KEYWORDS is a comma separated list of the keywords and phrases that best describe
the page. Max 1000 characters.
That's all there is to it. You can spend weeks trying to fiddle the META tags to get a top position on the search
engines and then try to stay there. Personally I think the time is better spent on developing good content that
your visitors will want to read. There is more detail on creating and promoting web sites on my page at www.amcho.com/websetup.htm
also worth a visit are www.virtualpromote.com and searchenginewatch.com.
I have recently developed a tool for my own use that analyses a web page and
returns a set of word count statistics, I use it to check that I have not left any important keywords out of my
meta tags. Put your page URL in the box below and hit the view button then let me know what you think:
For more help on creating meta tags try www.websitegarage.com
When you are ready to submit your pages to the search engines there are a number
of links to various submission services from my Internet Tools page at www.amcho.com/tools.htm.
Other Pages that may be worth looking at for more info on META tags:
infoseek.go.com/AddUrl?pg=SubmitTips.html#METATAG
searchenginewatch.internet.com/webmasters/meta.html
vancouver-webpages.com/META/
http://wdvl.com/Authoring/HTML/Head/Meta/
www.webdeveloper.com/categories/html/html_metatags.html
Website Promote Meta
Tag Generator
Day by Day Diary index:
Day 1 - initial
impressions, goal definition.
Day 2 -
how the goal will be achieved
Day 3 -
5 pillars affiliate program documentation review.
Day 4 -
MYSS Book extract - Submit to Yahoo.
Day 5 -
Target your Customers
Day 6 - HTML and META tags and Search Engines.
Day 7 - Affiliate Programme Agreements
Day 8 - Swap - a - Link.
Join up as an affiliate for the 5 Pillar Make Your Site Sell Program
Purchase the Make Your Site Sell Book
Mike Choroszewski
Mike@amcho.com
www.amcho.com