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Home
SEO
Search
Engine Optimization
1. Analyzing Web
Traffic
2. Evaluating Web Site Performance
3. Increasing Link Popularity
4. Increasing Search Engine Ranking
5. Monitoring Search Engine Positions
6. Paid URL Inclusion
7. Pay Per Click Advertising
8. Protecting Search Engine Rankings
9. Search Engine Keyword Selection
10. Selecting An SEO Company
Analyzing Web Traffic
Analyzing your web traffic statistics can be an
invaluable tool for a number of different reasons. But
before you can make full use of this tool, you need to
understand how to interpret the data.
Most web hosting companies will provide you with basic
web traffic information that you then have to interpret
and make pertinent use of. However, the data you receive
from your host company can be overwhelming if you don't
understand how to apply it to your particular business
and website. Let's start by examining the most basic
data - the average visitors to your site on a daily,
weekly, and monthly basis.
These figures are the most accurate measure of your
website's activity. It would appear on the surface that
the more traffic you see recorded, the better you can
assume your website is doing, but this is an inaccurate
perception. You must also look at the behavior of your
visitors once they come to your website to accurately
gauge the effectiveness of your site.
There is often a great misconception about what is
commonly known as "hits" and what is really effective,
quality traffic to your site. Hits simply means the
number of information requests received by the server.
If you think about the fact that a hit can simply equate
to the number of graphics per page, you will get an idea
of how overblown the concept of hits can be. For
example, if your homepage has 15 graphics on it, the
server records this as 15 hits, when in reality we are
talking about a single visitor checking out a single
page on your site. As you can see,
hits are not useful in analyzing your website traffic.
The more visitors that come to your website, the more
accurate your interpretation will become. The greater
the traffic is to your website, the more precise your
analysis will be of overall trends in visitor behavior.
The smaller the number of visitors, the more a few
anomalous visitors can distort the analysis.
The aim is to use the web traffic statistics to figure
out how well or how poorly your site is working for your
visitors. One way to determine this is to find out how
long on average your visitors spend on your site. If the
time spent is relatively brief, it usually indicates an
underlying problem. Then the challenge is to figure out
what that problem is.
It could be that your keywords are directing the wrong
type of visitors to your website, or that your graphics
are confusing or intimidating, causing the visitor to
exit rapidly. Use the knowledge of how much time
visitors are spending on your site to pinpoint specific
problems, and after you fix those problems, continue to
use time spent as a gauge of how effective your fix has
been.
Additionally, web traffic stats can help you determine
effective and ineffective areas of your website. If you
have a page that you believe is important, but visitors
are exiting it rapidly, that page needs attention. You
could, for example, consider improving the link to this
page by making the link more noticeable and enticing, or
you could improve the look of the page or the ease that
your visitors can access the necessary information on
that page.
If, on the other hand, you notice that visitors are
spending a lot of time on pages that you think are less
important, you might consider moving some of your sales
copy and marketing focus to that particular page.
As you can see, these statistics will reveal vital
information about the effectiveness of individual pages,
and visitor habits and motivation. This is essential
information to any successful Internet marketing
campaign.
Your website undoubtedly has exit pages, such as a final
order or contact form. This is a page you can expect
your visitor to exit rapidly. However, not every visitor
to your site is going to find exactly what he or she is
looking for, so statistics may show you a number of
different exit pages. This is normal unless you notice a
exit trend on a particular page that is not intended as
an exit page. In the case that a significant percentage
of visitors are exiting your website on a page not
designed for that purpose, you must closely examine that
particular page to discern what the problem is. Once you
pinpoint potential weaknesses on that page, minor
modifications in content or graphic may have a
significant impact on the keeping visitors moving
through your site instead of exiting at the wrong page.
After you have analyzed your visitor statistics, it's
time to turn to your keywords and phrases. Notice if
particular keywords are directing a specific type of
visitor to your site. The more targeted the visitor -
meaning that they find what they are looking for on your
site, and even better, fill out your contact form or
make a purchase - the more valuable that keyword is.
However, if you find a large number of visitors are
being directed - or should I say misdirected - to your
site by a particular keyword or phrase, that keyword
demands adjustment. Keywords are vital to bringing
quality visitors to your site who are ready to do
business with you. Close analysis of the keywords your
visitors are using to find your site will give you a
vital understanding of your visitor's needs and
motivations.
Finally, if you notice that users are finding your
website by typing in your company name, break open the
champagne! It means you have achieved a significant
level of brand recognition, and this is a sure sign of
burgeoning success.
Selecting A Search Engine Optimization Company
A Search Engine Optimization Company can be an
invaluable asset in your Internet marketing campaign.
They specialize in knowing how to raise your search
engine positions, monitoring those positions on the
regular basis, and adjusting their strategies to account
for undesirable results in any given month. Since this
takes a lot of time, effort, and specialized knowledge,
it can be in your best interest to go to an outside
source rather than try to maintain high search engine
positions on your own.
However, like every business, there are good companies
and there are lemons. Knowing the right questions to ask
and the criteria to look for will help you in choosing
an affordable, effective search engine optimization
company.
When looking at different companies, begin by
considering the approach they employ to raise your
search engine positions. Steer clear of companies that
use cloaked, doorway, or bridge pages to raise your
positions. These techniques violate most search engine
policy, and in the worst case scenario, will only get
your website severely penalized, if not removed entirely
from a search engine's index.
A cloaked page is a page that is created which is
invisible to the regular visitor to your website. The
cloaked page is coded to detect a search engine spider
and divert them to this special page, which is set-up to
artificially boost your search engine position. Doorway
or bridge pages utilize the same concept, but often
reside on an entirely different server. Google, one of
the largest and most important search engine on the
Internet, will remove your website from their index if
they detect you have cloaked pages. Never, never employ
any company that uses this technique!
Another important element is to get a guarantee that the
company you hire will not work with your competitors
while they are working for you. Obviously, this would
seriously compromise the effectiveness of the search
engine optimization campaign. Be aware that some
companies will use the success they achieve for your
website to sell their services to your competitors. So
get your guarantee in writing, and make sure it is
legally binding.
Of course, one of the most important factors you want to
check out is the company's track record of results.
However, don't take the company's word for it. They will
undoubtedly be slanting their results in order to sell
their services to you. To go beyond their simple
statement of success, ask them a few pertinent
questions, and verify their answers.
Ask them which engines they have achieved the best
results on. The ones that are important are the most
popular engines, and these are the ones you want to see
good results on. Since the popularity of search engines
can change with the landscape of the overall Internet,
check out the Nielsen Netratings page at Search Engine
Watch.
Below are the sites that deal specifically with the
issue of optimizing pages for search engines.
ODP powers core directory services for popular Internet
portals and search engines, such as AOL Search, Netscape
Search, Google, Lycos, and HotBot, and others. ODP
listings are free and can take a little time for
inclusion in the database.
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