Lets talked about next steps both for SEO and SEM

SEO: (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO is driven by very complex algorithms that are keep secret by the Google’s of the world. (They don’t tell us exactly what drives page ranking – but we know some things that do work through experience) As you’ve probably already recognized, having a top rank on a search page is a coveted spot to be in. For this reason, tweaking SEO is on-going and labour intensive process, but can also pay off in a big way for websites.

Here are some of the key drivers that we know about to improve SEO placement for your website:

• Meta tags words = not the only option that drives search ranking – in fact Google says they ignore them, but other search engine do use them. For this reason I do added meta tags to websites.
• Meta description tags are used by Google. For this reason, you should spend some time crafting your “description” tags to include as many key words for your site as possible.
• Cross Linking is critical – find similar sites as yours and ask them to post reciprocal links with you.
• Carrying links on the main page to other sites also improves site ranking – hence the reason I’ve added the “Other Great Links” list on the main page.
• Canonical URLs are important: – I’ve always implemented them on site I build.
• One of the MOST important ways of driving your page ranking is for people to search for your site and “CLICK” on the resulting link. The more people who click on a page link in Google, the higher Google ranks the page. This is CRITICAL to understand – it sets the strategy for how you drive people to find the site, through “Newsletters”, “New Articles” and “Free offerings”. In other words, I would give users a Key “search phrase” to find a website via Google rather than the actual URL address. Every time some one searches for a site on Google and clicks on the link, it’s like “voting” for the site. Google pushes the site up it’s search list based on the number of people who click on a site via the list.
• There are MANY others SEO tricks, but this gives you an idea of SEO administration

Let’s talk About SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

You can buy position on Google and other search engines. Each company (Google, Yahoo, Bing.com etc) has its own purchase plan. Much like buying an ad in the Victoria Colonist and another ad in the Province. They all pretty much work the same way.

In reality it’s like being at an auction. You put your bid in for the cost of each individual “click” to your site. If a competitor out bids you, their page ranks 1st. Thankfully you can also specify a top “limit” that you’ll pay …. so for example, you can bid 5 cents a click to a maximum of $500 in a month.

I recommend you try this. I suggest Google.

If this all seems to confusing, then you can certainly contact us and we’ll work your SEO placement for you. http://www.blazeonline.com/websites/

It could be as simple as wanting to “blog” about what happens day to day in your life and you want to share it with your friends. A good example of this is Julie’s Blog about 365 days Cooking Through Julia Child’s Cook Book. Bottom line is that you may have a hobby or some other personal project that you’re passionate about and you want a website to share it.

More commonly, people create websites because they have a business. If this is you, the sky is the limit. You could provide “Help” or trendy little newsletters  for your clients, a shopping cart or a whole host of other useful and money making ideas. If you have a business and you don’t have a website then you’re missing out on “presences”.

Your website can just have a few static pages with contact info and a bit about your product or service, or you can aggressively market your business. The reality is that “people – (your clients) expect to be able to find you on the web, so the very least you need is a simple, yet professional website. If you don’t have presences, then you’ll miss out on business pure and simple. When people go looking for you on the web, and you’re not there, they move on to your competitors. In today’s world, a business without a website isn’t seen as being legitimate or long lasting. Strange considering that content content on the Internet is measure in seconds. None the less, that’s the perspective many of your clients will have if you haven’t leveraged a website for your business.

You can have a professional website for as low as $100 dollars ongoing annual costs for your domain name and hosting account and a one time fee of $290 for set up and creation of 5 static pages. We include a 1 on 1 tutorial on using the (CMS) content management system so you’ll be able to update content and add pages to your site through your regular web browser (no coding required)

See our menu bar at the top of the site for more info.

Contact us for details

Well, you can call or contact us. we’ll help you through it all, from beginning to end. Although we certainly want to partner with you and make the whole experience  easy, you may also want to know about the process … so here’s how the professionals tackle building a site.

• Pick and register your domain name 1st. Obviously, you want a domain name that speaks to who your website is going to attract. Spend time choosing. It’s not so easy to change a domain name and site after it’s all up and running.
  • Keep the name short …The shorter the better!
  • Try and link the name to your website content. It’s no use calling your website walestowatch.com if you’re selling cars.
• A great company that I highly recommend for domain purchases is 123eHosts. You can find and register your domain name here.
• After registering your domain name, you’ll have to find a “Hosting” company. There are lots out there. Some way better than others both in service, price and quality. Your hosting company basically rents you space on their “Servers’. This is where your website files/site will be uploaded to. I’ve searched and check out every imaginable Hosting company out there. So far the one that I think offers the best all round price, quality and tech support is 123eHosts.com. Our site runs on their server. So ..if you need a Hosting Company, check them out. I recommend their yearly “Premium” package.

Most of us are on a tight budget, so when we go looking, we usually look for media that is free.

When we 1st start looking through search engines, what we run into immediately is that most images and media all have copyrights. It’s way not cool to use copyright media .. especially if your website takes off and starts getting thousands of “hits”. Some one WILL hunt you down and make life unbearable!

So… my very 1st tip is where to find Creative Commons free licenses for media files.

My good friend Rob Heppell of http://www.FuneralFuturist.com fame sent me this tip on Facebook. I think it’s a great, so I’m sharing it here.

Check out 26 Ways to find Media for Your Web Site here: Mashable.com

Ron