Search Engine Optimisation

Lately I’ve been delighted and also quite amused to discover just how quickly one of my new website articles is indexed by Google.  I’m delighted because pages are showing up in the search results within hours and I get traffic from the searches within hours as well. The amusement stems from me trying to further research a topic I’ve blogged about (for example Gen Y internet users) only to find that the next day my blog post ranks in the top 10 for the subject.  I get quite a chuckle out of it! It doesn’t help my research efforts, but I do start to get traffic from it. And traffic brings enquiries, and enquiries bring prospects and prospects bring work, and work allows me to pay my bills and go on holidays!

So, if you are looking to get into Google in a hurry start writing new content! And, the best way to deliver this content is via a blog – and the best blog system to use is WordPress (and WordPress 2.7 is simply fantastic and simple to use). Blog posts don’t have to be long – just a few quick paragraphs on a topic is all it takes, but I’ll guarantee you will get traffic to your site – and what’s best of all is that the traffic you get will be from Google and the visitor will be ‘pre-qualified’ as they are actively searching for a solution, and you have it, so you’re their perfect match.

Here’s an example from my personal photo blog – I took a photo of a cat napping amongst some pumpkins and Googled the phrase to find the page was in Google within hours.

So, it’s not that competive a phrase, but it’s still pretty cool that it’s in Google that fast. But wait, there’s more… if you think a few hours is great, Google can do even better and you could find your blog posts in Google within minutes of publishing them – for more on this, check out Matt Cutt’s blog post on Google’s ‘Minty Fresh Indexing‘ – where he reminds us of the time not so long ago that Google would only update its search index once a month with what search engine optimisers termed the ‘Google dance’. Oh how times have changed!

If you are looking for a way to get a jump on your competition then this is it, so what are you waiting for? Contact me and tell me you read this blog post and you will get 12 month’s free hosting with your new website / blog.  Now that’s a great way to start a new year!

What constitutes a good website design can be very subjective but there are some simple design rules that everyone instinctively recognises even if they are not conscious of them.

Follow these rules and your website will impress your visitors and most importantly your design won’t get in the way of your message.

• Utilisation of white space – white space is simply ‘space’ and is not always ‘white’ it could be a dark background as well. In web design it is very important to separate page elements with space and to avoid cramped layouts
• Always go with a white background colour for your main text area as black or dark grey text on a white background is the most professional and readable online
• Group page elements into threes, so use three columns, three text blocks or line up three graphics beside each other.  Content divided into thirds (and also odds in general) is more aesthetically pleasing
• Place important content at the top of the page before users need to scroll (this is called  ‘above the fold’ and originates from direct marketing)
• Use the accepted web fonts (Arial, Verdana, Georgia, Times New Roman, Trebuchet MS) and no more than two fonts per page, with one used for headings and sub headings and one for body text (a nice combination is Georgia for headings and Arial for main text)
• Use a decent font size (around 11 or 12 pixels)
• Navigation is intuitive with at least one text-only navigation option for non-graphical web browsers. Text navigation systems also help with your Google rankings as they add to the relevance of your website to your search phrases
• Each page has the same design theme – you never want your web users to think they have left your website
• Avoid splash pages or flash-splash pages.  These are graphics-only homepages with ‘enter here’. Generally it is hard to get these types of homepages to rank highly in the search engines, and most web users find them annoying

A primary goal of any business website is to be highly visible online for your target market.  To achieve this you need to rank within the top ten in Google for your industry keyword search phrases  and have links on relevant websites (such as web portals or website directories).

To increase your online visibility you can:

• Get listed in international and national website directories or websites
• Buy banner advertising on high profile sites – both nationally and internationally
• Buy pay per click advertising on Google or social networking sites like Facebook
• Join social networking sites as a member or advertiser
• Participate as a member in national and international website forums that relate to your industry
• Leave comments on blogs (you’ll be permitted to publish your web address as part of your comment)
• Write articles or blog posts for online newspapers or journals with your byline added and a link back to your website
• And finally, the one strategy that can have the highest return on investment is to have your site search engine optimised (SEO) so it is more relevant for your industry keyword phrases.