| LED Digest 2437: Sites for Users vs Search Engines |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom www.GetWebContent.com/LED : the LED's Key Sponsor The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== Guest Moderator: Published by: John Audette LED Digest john, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. June 25, 2007 Issue no. 2437 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ===== NEW ====================== --== Keywords in the Domain ==-- ~ Terry Smith "...is a hyphen prefered to separate words making up a domain name..?" ====== FEATURED POST =========== --== Sites for Users or Search Engines? ==-- ~ Thomas M. Schmitz "...human oriented design cannot inform many essential SEO tactics and techniques..." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Hammers & Nails ==-- ~ Ralph Hudson "...we have really never spent a lot of time 'optimizing' for anyone but our visitors..." ~ Al Toman "Referring directories/sites seem to be the way to go for my business..." --== Lost Rankings ==-- ~ D. Perry "Google has made a few algo 'tweaks' of late..." ~ Bruce A. Flinn "...you are using images for your major headings on the pages..." --== Live Chat Software ==-- ~ Jon Langley "The cheapest live chat software I have seen is Crafty Syntax." ~ Kathy Wilson "In lieu of live chat, here are a couple of low cost, simple alternatives..." ======== NEW ====================================== From: Terry Smith Subject: Domain Name Naming I am thinking about adding a domain name or two to feed into our main site. Question: as an underscore isn't allowed in a domain name, is a hyphen prefered to separate words making up a domain name or just run them together (and hope the search engine will figure it out? I realize the title and correct meta tags will assist the search engines) Any experience on this? Terry Smith Comment? ========== FEATURED POST ========================= From: Thomas M. Schmitz Subject: The SEO Marketing Approach > If you build your site for humans and do it in the best > way for them to understand what your site is about and > what they should be doing there, then the search engines > will understand and reward you. > If you build the site for the engines, then they will figure this > out (they are smarter than you) and penalize you for this. - Brad Waller, LED Digest 2346 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1841/190/ I heartedly laud the intent of this statement, though I feel compelled to split a few hairs. Search Engine Optimization is not an either-or proposition. One does not choose between people and search engines. The best practice is to design your website, to write content, and to network with other website operators in ways that appeal to BOTH humans and search engines. For myself it takes four times as long to write great copy that is optimized for both marketing and organic rankings than it takes me to write a piece purely for marketing to people (or strictly to compete for rankings were I so foolish). The difficult part is to combine the two disciplines and still stick the landing; in this case to write copy that will achieve both goals. Fortunately there is plenty of overlap in human marketing and marketing to search engines. For example, I suggest to people that they layout their code and attribute their copy with the same organization and clarity that they would want if they were using a text browser or a web reader for the visually impaired. This forces designers to make smart use of HTML element attributes like ALT for images and TITLE for links. It forces you to use CSS for layouts so that your copy follows a logical progression within your code. By designing with integrity for humans you can definitely meet many SEO goals. However, human oriented design cannot inform (or replace) many essential SEO tactics and techniques, for example, controlling the flow of link equity. In fact, it is possible that blind devotion to people skills may actually interfere with rankings success. To succeed with search optimization in competitive markets one must study, understand and implement specific SEO knowledge. This is no different than knowing how to place words such as "you" or "free" in your copy to maximize conversions. It is no different than including the shipping fee on a product page to minimize shopping cart abandonment. Just as these marketing tools have nothing to do with organic search optimization there are SEO methods that have nothing to do with marketing, to humans. And that is the point. No one would tell you to start a business without a marketing plan. Why would you create a website presence without an SEO plan? In fact, your SEO plan is a marketing plan; it is a marketing plan designed for and aimed at the search engines. By treating people and search engines as two distinct and vital audiences and by marketing effectively to both you will maximize the only number that truly matters, sales or conversions. Thomas M. Schmitz SEO Analyst & Social Media Marketing Consultant Portent Interactive An Internet Marketing Agency http://www.portentinteractive.com Comment? ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Ralph Hudson Subject: Hammers and nails > Has Internet marketing been reduced to optimizing > for Google searches? I realize that SEO is a powerful > hammer -- but is everything a nail? If it is, it is. Let's > talk about it. - John Audette, LED Digest 2436 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1841/190/ Good to have you back on the scene John. On occasions I've wondered what you're up to but didn't realize how much I'd missed you. You hit the nail on the head with that question. With 38% of our traffic coming from search engines and 65% of that being Google's, were I spending a lot of time 'optimizing', it would be for Google. However, we have really never spent a lot of time 'optimizing' for anyone other that our visitors experience, but fortunately that apparently has coincided with Google's relevancy criteria and consequently they account 25% of our total traffic. I'm studying the Web 2.0 stuff and hope to implement some of its applications soon, but again, for our visitors experience, not just for search engines... although it's perfectly logical that search engines would find relevancy of those applications. Ralph Hudson American Builders Network www.AmericanBuilders.com Comment? -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Al Toman Subject: reduced to Google ... NOT! > Has Internet marketing been reduced to > optimizing for Google searches? - John Audette John, My neglected web design web site stats show that viewers are coming from: Referring site ... 39% Direct traffic ... 39% Search engines ... 22% The prominent referring search engine is Yahoo organic (at the moment). The referring sites are 4 directories with which I am listed. When I get back onto my feet, my campaign will not exclude the search engines, however, they will not be the primary focus. Since I live in the middle of the wood, door to door cold calls are sort of few and far between, as well. I expect to do a direct mailing (post card) aimed at new small business startups within the State I operate, to begin, then expand the can-pain. I also want to contact appropriate small business web sites and directories catering to small businesses to either get a text link or some other kind of advertising. For example, if you operate a tax service web site catering to small businesses, I'd like to place a link or ad on your web site pointing to mine ... and reciprocate if appropriate. SEO do not have control of the search engines. Therefore, I find their services a bit precarious. I do know that web pages can be optimized for search engines, but cost efficiency is quite questionable via my experience. Referring directories / web sites seem to be the way to go for my business at least at the moment. Al Toman studio9 web design Comment? ============ Sponsor Message =========== We say this: We're the best bloody web copywriters on the planet. You respond thus: Prove it. We say: OK. Read these http://getwebcontent.com/copywriting-samples.php and see if you don't agree with us. You say: Where do I sign up? We say: Visit http://GetWebContent.com/LED today. ============ Sponsor Message =========== -------- new post - new topic --------- From: D. Perry Subject: Rankings drop > It's June 13th and I have just noticed a radical drop > in some of my Google rankings. I think I checked > them like a week ago and everything was OK. - Scotty West, LED Digest 2431 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1836/190/ Google has made a few algo 'tweaks' of late that do appear to have been detrimental to some websites. However - The first thing I noticed that may be upsetting Google is some comment text in your source code: <!--guitar lessons, guitar instruction, how to play guitar, learn to play the guitar, guitar instructional videos, guitar instruction videos, guitar lessons dvd, guitar lessons on dvd, guitar instruction dvd, electric guitar lessons, learn guitar--> Google may see this string as both 'hidden text' and 'keyword stuffing' violations. hth Regards, --dlp DLPerry.com Professional Website Design, Development, Management, SEO, Software Comment? -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Bruce A. Flinn Subject: Rankings drop > On the primary search term, "mosaics", my site > (mosaicworks.com) is now at number 113. > (insert panic here) - Sonia King, LED Digest 2433 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1838/190/ Sonia, two quick suggestions on helping your rankings: 1) Your TITLE TAGs all start with *Sonia King - Mosaic Artist - (then page subject)* which is why these words give you a good ranking when searching *mosaic artist* - flip the TITLE content to put the pages subject first then add your name and title at the end - example: *Gallery of Art Mosaics - Sonia King - Moasic Artist* - this will add importance to the words you use to describe the pages subject - think of your site as a book where each page is a chapter - the main / home page is the books title *Sonia King - Mosaic Artist* and contains the table of contents where each page is a chapter: chapter 1 = *Gallery of Art Mosaics* chapter 2 = *Custom Mosaics* and so on... 2) I noticed you are using images for your major headings on the pages, try changing these to a larger FONT text heading as the text will be better indexed and again the importance of the heading will be weighed in your favor. Hope this helps and good luck. Bruce A. Flinn Comment? -------- new post - new topic --------- From: Jon Langley Subject: Live chat > ... I have suggested adding a "live chat" feature > to her site. So, can anyone suggest a competent, > low-cost solution? - Rod Aries, LED Digest 2431 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1836/190/ The cheapest Live Chat Software I have seen is Crafty Syntax. http://www.craftysyntax.com/ It is free and customizable. Can run with a Database or Text system. Although DB is faster. The only thing they want is a contribution. Every time you try to log in, it takes you to a contribution page, but you can skip that during testing and customizing. When you have it installed, and working and doing what you want, send a contribution and your away. (You don't HAVE to contribute, but it helps developers). I did have it for a while on my site, but when I revamped it recently, I removed it and haven't gotten around to putting it back. Oh and the stats you get with it are good as well. Jon Langley Jons All Sorts Comment? -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Kathy Wilson Subject: Live chat In lieu of live chat, here are a couple of low cost, simple alternatives: One of my website clients added a service to her website that allows visitors to input their name and phone number so she can call them back instantly. She's in real estate and this feature has resulted in several sales already. Although I'm sure there are other providers of this service, here is the one she uses: http://www.click121.com/ Another alternative is an on-site search feature that would allow the visitor to easily locate all the herbs for any particular health issue. Here is one I've used on several of my client's websites: http://www.atomz.com/scs/site-search.html. I'm sure there are many others that the LEDers can recommend. Love, Kathy Wilson, CPC Life Purpose Coach ~ Spiritual Teacher ~ Reiki-Seichim Master Author of An Inner Journey: Living Your Life Purpose www.AnInnerJourney.com Comment? ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by: GetWebContent.com The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. Free no-obligation proposal: http://GetWebContent.com/LED SEOToolSet.com Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification Join the certified SEO directory: www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ The Archives: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/126/189/ Subscribe: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/52/187/ Unsubscribe, Change Email, or Hold / Resume Delivery: http://www.led-digest.com/content/category/4/17/201/ (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. 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