Friday, March 16, 2007

How to Make a Sitemap For Your Website In Five Steps.

A website's sitemap can be compared to the table of contents of a book. The sitemap is important because it guides visitors to the parts of the website in which they are interested. The sitemap allows surfers to reach their destination without wasting time.

Sitemaps are also important from the point of view of search engines. If the search engine finds a sitemap it is much more likely that your page will be fully visited (spidered) and indexed; allowing web surfers to find your pages in their searches.

Creating a sitemap is now easier than it used to be as software and online sitemap generation has become more common. It is worthwhile though to know how the process works and so this article will describe how to build your own sitemap using Notepad, a webpage creator and a little patience.

1) Create the site's listing on using Notepad.

It is not necesary to use Notepad, any wordprocessing software will work, but all Windows PCs have the program. Firstly, type in all pages and all links you have on the site. Create it as though you were listing the contents of a book. Make a draft version first and then go through the site again; in this way you are less likely to miss anything out.

2) Make a new web page for the sitemap.

You can insert the sitemap in your website on an existing page or create an entirely new page. Take the listing of pages and links that you made previously and copy/paste them into your website creator program and lay out the pages and links. If you made the site you are working on by yourself this part will be easy!

3) Insert a link to the sitemap.

You won’t be able to aee the sitemap if you don't have a link for it. Create a link on the front page of the site so that visitors can see it as soon as they land on your index/home page and be directed appropriately.

4) Check your the sitemap!

It is important to check that the map works. Test every link on the page, if you get any errors, fix it accurately (and immediately so you do not forget!). Run through every page to make sure that all are accounted for - no missing pages.

5) Upload the sitemap.

Place the sitemap and modified home/index page on your webhost and double check it. It should work as smoothly as it did the final dry run. Errors should be absent at this stage since you already checked it locally (but do check!).

The steps provided above are the manual way to create a sitemap. If you search on the web, you will find online programs that can do all this work for you. All you need do is type in the URL of your website and the sitemap will be created with the click of a button.

The problem with on-line sitemap makers is that the results are generic. All who create their sitemap that way will have a result that that is very similar, unless you customise the appearance yourself. Worse still is the possibility that something else will be inserted in there too; advertising, or links back to the software maker's site. Then again though, the process is less hard work and much simpler.

If you want a more personal result and appearance and you are OK with computers, better make one of your own. Since you made your own site anyway, creating a sitemap is just the same as creating any other page on your site. Other advantages are that you will know for sure that the links are accurate and you can organize the the layout of the links the way you prefer. You can emphasize major parts of the site compared to less significant parts, you have a hand in controlling how the user users your website. This element of control is paticularly important if you are selling products or services online.

A sitemap is a vital part of a website. People search the web looking for something. If your website has what the searcher is looking for, and your sitemap tells the searcher, then you may well have a new customer looking at your items. Not only that, they might just see some other items that they might be interested in as well.

A sitemap, whether it is generated by a program or made by yourself, has the same purpose - to lead your visitors to where they want to go, and for you to be seen on the internet through search engines. So make sure your website has a sitemap and be seen!

About the Author:
Michael Z. Johnson has been writing for quite some time. He now runs an article directory at knowhow-now.com that carries over 26,000 articles, reviews and how-to's for article marketers and content users and the list is growing every day. For more about marketing your internet business
visit knowhow-now.com
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Monday, March 12, 2007

Different kinds of Keywords

Keyword can be classified into three categories :

-Single word Keyword
-Multiple word Keyword
-Keywords based on Theme

Keyword(s) are basic raw material used in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Keyword selection or Keyword Research as it is called technically, where we use special tools to find out a list of Keywords (search terms) searched by targeted audience, recently. Keyword can be single word, two or three words, multiple words and theme based.

Lets detail each of these one by one . Understanding these categories of keywords would also help one to decide as to their targeting on specific pages.

#Keyword of Single word

Keyword of Single word is used to target a large traffic but leads to highly competition category of sites. Keyword of Single word are known as generic Keyword(s) where we target general audience. Keyword of Single word does not help to target a specific page for a specific audience.

Although, Keyword of Single word helps in bringing huge traffic but these terms are mostly not relevant these days, as, searchers mostly use two or three keyword to find out their required information.

Instead single word keywords are good theme keywords.

We can use these primary keyword 5 to 7 times in a web page for good theming according of a site. The inside pages of the site can qualify these themes into product or service categories by adding qualifiers to these theming keywords.

Example:

Keyword “Services” will produce result of all the web sites related to Services which can be United States Department of Health and Human Services, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, direct Services, online Services, offline Services, Indian Services, American Services, food Services, agricultural Services, business Services, free Services, paid Services, etc.

#Keyword of Multiple words

Keyword of Multiple words is used to target a specific traffic, which leads to high sale, top position in search result listing as well as improves page rank competition. Keyword of Multiple words are known as Specific Keyword(s) where we target a specific audience & not general searcher. Keyword of Multiple words helps to target a specific page for a specific audience.

Keyword of Multiple words, more often than not are location specific and related to geographic area of your intended services or products.

#Keywords based on Theme

Keyword based on Theme are used to target a highly targeted audience, which leads to quick high sale, top position in search result listing as well as boosts page rank. Keywords based on Theme are known as Conceptual Keyword(s).

Keywords based on Theme consists all possible primary Keywords related to the web site therefore attracts high traffic of targeted audience. Keywords based on Theme add quality by providing Keyword Rich Text to search engines, which improve results and provide targeted search result listings.

Keywords based on Theme are used in each page of web site to focus on a specific topic correlated to a targeted topic or idea (theme). Keywords based on Theme effectively contribute in growth of informative pages for its site focusing on different related topics.

About the author:
I'm Rakesh Ojha and I have been into SEO field for the last 4 years. I'll be submitting more articles on SEO topics in the future.
I work as Manager - Online Marketing in an indian Firm - Mosaic Services (http://www.mosaic-service.com).
Circulated by Article Emporium

Friday, March 09, 2007

Google Seo - What To And What Not To Do

In Google SEO (search engine optimization), you, the webmaster, wage war with Googlebot, Google's listing spider. Only this war has no weapons. Instead it is your content veruses the army of Googlebot's other sites to rank.

To win this war there are things the webmaster must do, and things the webmaster must not do, should he stand a chance in winning the war and claiming a position on the top 20 results of Google.

There are many things a webmaster must do to take the edge of Googlebot. First and foremost, create the website. Let it be something unique, or better than the rest. Add pages on top of pages of content. You could put articles, information, anything. With one exception. It MUST be relevant to your website. After you have about 10 pages worth of content, get some links to your site. Submit to directories, loads of them. Try to submit to directories without a reciporical link requirenment. Also use word-of-mouth advertising to get a view visitors. As soon as you have some links, some visitors, and loads of content, hit your view visitors with a boom. Offer rewards for who could refer the most members, or who could submit the most articles, or anything to promote your site. Also remember to squeese in possible keywords in your content, and DO NOT forget meta tags, they are the key to SEO.

You may have noticed, I never mentioned when to submit your site to Google, that's the thing, don't. If google picks up your site before you submit it, you get a way better rank.

Now you have come up with a very good SEO website. Now you need to make sure not to blow it. Whatever you do, DON'T:

1: Have link exchanges with non-relevant sites, this will hurt you.

2: Do not cheat. Cheating is placing "invisible" keywords on your site. (white text on white background) Googlebot picks it up, and boom, no more rank on Google.

3: If you find the need to submit your site, do it, ONCE. If you submit twice then, say goodbye to your rank.

That's all and good luck with the SEO. With this, good keywords, and minimal compition, you will get within the top 20 of Google.

About the Author:
Abe Smith owner of the Webmaster Forum (www.webmasterforum.buildtolearn.net/index/homepage.html) enjoys writing articles and tutorials about web programming, SEO, and computer security. I can be contacted at gametyrant2000@yahoo.com Please contact me if you would like to use this article on your website (for free).
Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Thursday, March 01, 2007

5 Incredible SEO Tips That Never Fails

The term SEO is very familiar to anyone who knows what online business is and what it is all about. There are many people and many institutions that have unbelievable achievements to their name. But all these achievements will come to a naught if there is no authority to officially recognize this amazing feat. So is the case in online business and marketing. Any feat achieved by an online site on the web must be recognized by search engines to be taken seriously in the internet. SEO tips are the sources through which you can make search engines sit up and take notice of your site.

SEO tips are the methods by implementing which you are sure to attract the attention of major search engines. Yes, you may have the best looking website with amazing text and content, but what is the use if no one has any knowledge about your site. If you have a site running on the web and major search engines do not have inkling about your site, then what is the use of having such a site? I have found out and compiled a list of 5 incredible SEO tips that are guaranteed to help you in making search engines notice your site on the web.

First and foremost you must make sure that you know what SEO also known as search engine optimization is all about. How can you ever go about doing something about which you have no knowledge? So first of all equip yourself with all things that you can about optimization on the web. There are different ways that you can use for making major search engines take notice of your online site.

Blog building is one method that has been very successful for optimizing a site on the web. For this first you will have to create a database of websites with which you can exchange links and build up a chain, so that your site is visible everywhere on the web. While building up the database make sure that you search and find out those sites that are relevant to your site and product which you are selling on the web.

Do proper keyword research. One good way of finding out proper keyword for a site is by thinking what words are most likely to be used by visitors for searching information about the product and service that you are offering to them for sale. There are also some keyword selection tools that you can use for finding out relevant keywords. Wordtracker, overture, digital point forum are some of the major keyword tracking tools.

Writing title for each page of you site is also a good way of going about attracting search engine bots. The title of a webpage contains the relevant keyword and keyword phrases. The title is also important from the visitor point of view. So if you visit a site and want to know what the site is all about and also its relevance by viewing the title of the page through the source code.

Writing articles using the keyword of your site is also a good way for optimizing your site on the web. You can write articles and publish these articles in different article sites. This is also a great source for you help in spreading the link of your site on the World Wide Web. Articles are also a great source of information to online visitors.

Read all the above mentioned SEO tips very carefully. Implement them in your site and I am sure you will very easily be able to optimize your site in major search engines on the web. And once you have optimized your site on the web, your business can grow by leaps and bounds.

About the Author:
Steve Waganer has specialization in Web Marketing. He is expert in Search engine optimization, Affiliated Marketing,search engine marketing and Website Marketing.To get his expert advice for your website to get high rank and top position in major search engines visit http://www.cometsearchenginemarketing.com
Added: 29 Sep 2006
Article Source: http://articles.simplysearch4it.com/article/38076.html