| LED Digest 1508: Site Search Tools |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest ................................................. January 31, 2003 Issue #1508 ................................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= -=File Names Affecting Rankings?=- ~ Joann Chokrach ~ Derek Andrews ~ John Smart -=Darwin and the World Wide Web=- ~ Eric Martin ~ Brian Douglas ~ Boris Poljuha -=Search Engine Optimization (SEO)=- ~ Shari Thurow ===== GEEK TIPS ================== -=Site Search=- ~ Niki Mcelroy ==== BILLBOARD =================== -=Internet Advertising Pricing=- ~ Ivan J. Jimenez ~ Peter Warnock ===== CONTINUING ================================= From: Joann Chokrach Subject: File names > The search word for all of these? "limewash". His ranking > in Google? 24 of about 2,550... I guess this proves that file > names and paths do affect rankings. - John Smart, LED 1506 John, The reason the pictures are picked up, is because the index page (with the thumbnails) is titled "limewash," linked from your homepage. Those of us who have been around for awhile, and do not make money selling "search engine optimization tips" know that the title is the most important part of the page for the search engines. Not all search engines use META tags, but they all use the title. Joann Chokrach ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Derek Andrews Subject: File names John Smart has missed something. His page http://www.fasulos.com/limewash/index.htm has a page title 'limewash'. It is almost certainly this which Google is indexing, and it highlights this in the search results. What I find odd is that the page has PR2 with no known pages pointing to it. I suspect that this is a transient effect though as this is a new site. Derek Andrews, woodturner http://www.sunrisewoodcrafts.ns.ca ------- new post - same topic ------- From: John Smart Subject: File names I appear to be guilty of seeing what I wanted to see! The bland page title does indeed say "Limewash" - that dilutes the observation somewhat (although it does show the importance of either folder names OR page titles!) As for pages linking to this one - until just a few days ago there were none. There is a page linking now, that has sent some visitors to the site, but the figures were compiled without including those late numbers. John Smart, Technical Director InternetDesign.com ------- new post - new topic ------- From: Eric Martin Subject: Darwin > ... though there are lots of people who claim > to have web building businesses, they just > don't seem to be interested in handling the > small business owner - Vicki Lambert, LED 1506 When you look for a web designer, look all over North America - or even the world. Bypass local designers if they are ignoring you. By the way, the CSS code in your pages is defeating the whole purpose of using it. Somehow it has ballooned into a mess. This would be simple to clean up and would help your load times and with spiders visiting your site. Eric Martin Futura Studios Digital Design Center http://www.futurastudios.com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Brian Douglas Subject: Darwin Hello Vicki: I just wanted to tell you that I know exactly what you are talking about. And, on the flipside, my companies were built specifically to help the small-to-mid-sized businesses of the world. I spent several years working for Fortune 500 companies and one day, decided to give it up and start my own business. After trying to find a company to build my web site for a reasonable price (with NO luck!), I too gave up and decided to build my own. I'm happy to say now, however, that I have three small businesses of my very own. One of which is in Marketing and Web Site Design - something I have truly come to enjoy -- no, make that LOVE!! At any rate, I just wanted to let you know that there are businesses out there that are willing and able to help the "smaller" organizations of the business community. And, even though there are organizations just like mine, sometimes it is still best to take matters into your own hands. Sincerely, Brian Douglas TradeShowJoe.com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Boris Poljuha Subject: Darwin In response to Vicki; Hmm, it seems to me that your example / experience is rather an exception... I'd agree with the estimate that "most business owners" are still looking at the web possibilities as at unfair competition in terms of running a small business. What I'd like to know in your case - first, did this happen before or after the "bubble burst"; second, was it possibly an issue how much you were willing to pay for this "such a small site", or if they wanted to charge more that your budget allowed? Boris Poljuha www.mmxdesign.com ------- new post - new topic ------- From: Shari Thurow Subject: SEO Hi all-- > What's left is Google, and what's on the page > isn't nearly as important as what points at the > page. So, in the end, pages that are "user-friendly" > and little else don't win in the engines. - Mike Jacobs, LED 1506 I have no idea where Mr. Jacobs gets his data, but all of the user-friendly I work on don't have a problem with search engine visibility. Plus, I've worked on many sites which were formatted for usability (Jared Spool, Jakob Nielsen, and others were the people who worked on the sites). And these sites don't have any problems with search engine visibility. Sure, I am presenting anecdotal evidence, but I honestly believe Mr. Jacobs is contradicting himself. Think about it. If you want other sites to link to yours, without cheating (i.e. link farms), your content should be outstanding and your site should be user friendly. Would you link to a site that you found difficult to use? I wouldn't. Also, the more difficult you make it for people to purchase from your site, the less likely you will make sales. I have found that hiring a usability expert is well worth the cost. Usability and search-engine friendliness complement each other, if done properly. The problem is that many so-called SEO experts only know the search engines and don't look at the big picture. Site design, usability, link development, sales conversions, online and offline advertising -- these are all related. A good firm knows how to integrate all of these components, and not do one at the expense of the other. Unfortunately, there are a lot of unethical SEOs out there. Just last week, we discovered a link farm of over 3 thousand domain names. This company purchased 3,000 domain names that had expired, and some of them had good link popularity from the previous owners. What this spam company did was put tons and tons of keywords in all 3 thousand of these domains to try and artificially boost the popularity component in Google and the other search engines. This company succeeded -- for a very short time. Want to take a guess at the number of domains that are now blacklisted? Be careful who you hire. Take care, Shari Thurow ~ Search Engine Visibility book now available http://www.searchenginesbook.com/ ===== GEEK TIPS =================================== From: Niki Mcelroy Subject: Site Search I have been trying to find a good site search engine for a large web site. I still have not found a suitable one no matter where I look or what I try. Does any one know of one or have any suggestions? Sincerly, Niki Mcelroy, Editor www.freeandfrugal.com ==== BILLBOARD ==================================== From: Ivan J. Jimenez Subject: CPM 101 > I can see that most (if not all) think that paying > for click throughs is the way to go, and pay-per-view > is of no value. I have been thinking about this, > and think it is wrong... - John Smart, LED 1507 John, It sounds like you'd enjoy reading the "advertising" column on the New York Times (I sure do!)... here's the link: http://nytimes.com/pages/business/media/index.html The Advertising newsletter is actually more interesting than the daily articles : ) All the best, ivan j. jimenez, business development cosmicbreath.com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Peter Warnock Subject: CPM 101 Pay-per-view was initiated by traditional marketers who had yet to harness the power of technology. The Internet facilitates accountability. Ten years from now, when every television is interactive, HSN, QVC, and every infomercial will have the same pay-for-performance requirements as the Web. Pay-per-view on the Web is only appropriate when the product doesn't have a direct e-commerce channel to which it can be purchased from. Peter Warnock webstruction.com ------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1995-2003 Adam Audette. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep." - Homer, The Odyssey |
