Web Development
  Home arrow Web Development arrow Designing Your Web Site to Maximize Traffic (...
Affiliate Promotion  
Blog Help  
Domain Name Tips  
How To  
Newsletter Marketing  
Online Business Help  
Search Engine Tricks  
Web Development  
Web Hosting  
Website Advertising  
Website Content  
Website Marketing  
 Webmaster Tools
 
Base64 Encoding 
Browser Settings 
CSS Coder 
CSS Navigation Menu 
Datetime Converter 
DHTML Tooltip 
Dig Utility 
DNS Utility 
Dropdown Menu 
Fetch Content 
Fetch Header 
Floating Layer 
htaccess Generator 
HTML to PHP 
HTML Encoder 
HTML Entities 
IP Convert 
Meta Tags 
Password Encryption
 
Password Strength
 
Pattern Extractor 
Ping Utility 
Pop-Up Window 
Regex Extractor 
Regex Match 
Scrollbar Color 
Source Viewer 
Syntax Highlighting 
URL Encoding 
Web Safe Colors 
Whois
 
Forums Sitemap 
Mobile Linux 
APP Generation ROI 
IBM® developerWorks 
Weekly Newsletter
 
Developer Updates  
Free Website Content 
 RSS  Articles
 RSS  Forums
 RSS  All Feeds
Write For Us Get Paid 
Request Media Kit
Contact Us 
Site Map 
Privacy Policy 
Support 
 USERNAME
 
 PASSWORD
 
 
  >>> SIGN UP!  
  Lost Password? 
WEB DEVELOPMENT

Designing Your Web Site to Maximize Traffic (Part 2)
By: Developer Shed
  • Search For More Articles!
  • Disclaimer
  • Author Terms
  • Rating:  stars stars stars stars stars / 0
    2004-07-01

    Table of Contents:

    Rate this Article: Poor Best 
      ADD THIS ARTICLE TO:
      Del.ici.ous Digg
      Blink Simpy
      Google Spurl
      Y! MyWeb Furl
    Email Me Similar Content When Posted
    Add Developer Shed Article Feed To Your Site
    Email Article To Friend
    Print Version Of Article
    PDF Version Of Article
     
     
    ADVERTISEMENT


    Designing Your Web Site to Maximize Traffic (Part 2)

    From: Metamorphozis.com
    By: Brendon Turner

    Designing your site to maximize traffic from the search engines is not a difficult task but it does require you to think ahead and plan your SEO strategy carefully. If you have not yet built your web site and are still in the initial planning stages then you may have an easier time of it. If you already have an existing web site, then you may need to take the time to read up on these SEO strategies and make some changes to incorporate them into your web site.

    I will discuss 13 ways in which you can improve on your existing web site or boost a brand new web site into the stratosphere of high rankings. These are not really SEO tricks but rather tried, tested and true methods that we know to work effectively. We all know that in reality there are no real SEO tricks. True success is achieved through hard work, research and implementation of a thorough and complete SEO strategy.

    Without further ado here is a checklist of important items to consider and implement into your SEO strategy.

    Using Javascript or Other Unspiderable Code

    If you intend to use Javascript on your web page it is best to use it sparingly or not at all. Search engine spiders cannot read Javascript and it is possible that along with ignoring it when they come across it on your page, they may also get hung up on it if you are using a lot of it. If you really need to use Javascript you can safely use it by putting the code into a separate JS file and calling it with a single line of code which you place between your <head> and </head> tags within your web page. The code used to include your JS file looks like this:

    <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"
    src="replace-with-JavaScript-file-name.js"></SCRIPT>

    Using Style Guidelines Effectively

    If you are using CSS style commands, do not include them within your actual web page source code. You don't want search engine spiders to have to wade through 100 lines of unreadable code before they reach your actual content. Instead, place your style guidelines into a separate CSS file and call them with a single line of code from within your <head> and </head> tags by using the following code:

    <link rel="stylesheet" href="replace-with-style-file-name.css">

    Primary Keyword Layout

    Examine your web site from a source code point of view and ensure that your primary keywords or phrases will be spidered first. When search engine spiders read your page they read the source code just like we would read a book from left to right - top to bottom. We know that search engines place higher relevancy on keywords and phrases which appear closer to the top of a page so it stands to reason that if you've got a large table full of graphics appearing at the top of your source code before your primary keywords, then you can achieve higher rankings by adjusting your layout and placing a well written search engine optimized paragraph above that table full of graphics.

    Spiderable Text Present on Each Page

    Many times I have seen some very pretty web sites, but their chances of ranking high for any relevant keywords have been dashed by the use of only graphics and very little or no text on the pages. It is very important to your SEO strategy that you make sure that you've taken the time to write some quality textual content for your pages. Don't write nonsensical text filled with blatant sp@m. Instead, take a few extra minutes and write 4-5 quality paragraphs which clearly explain the theme of your site and the particular page your writing for. If you feel you haven't got the time, ambition or skills to write your own content don't stress over it. There are other options. You could visit the SEO Copywriting forum at FreeSEOAdvice.com to ask for help and get some valuable tips. Or you could hire a professional team to handle the project for you. Check out eTrafficJams.com for help with your SEO strategy and copywriting needs.

    Proper Use of robots.txt File

    On several occasions I have performed an analysis of a client's web site only to discover that they had inadvertently blocked spider access to their web site by incorrectly formatting their robots.txt file. It is critical that you know what you're doing when you use a robots.txt file. If you are unsure of the correct syntax when modifying or creating a robots.txt file, I recommend you not use a robots.txt file at all. This may sound counterproductive, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Accidentally blocking the spiders can result in a loss of all your rankings. It would almost be like starting over again to repair the damage. For help on correctly formatting your robots.txt file, visit robotstxt.org.

    Dead Links and 404 Errors

    If you are not checking for broken links on your web site, then you should start immediately and make this a part of your SEO strategy. You can never be 100% sure of your link integrity, especially when your site has 100, or more, pages. Aside from losing potential customers into a vortex of 404 errors, you risk more than that from a search engine perspective. When a search engine spider visits your web site and finds broken links, the impression left is that your site is not regularly maintained and updated. Not much is known about how the engines view this, but your crawl status may be assigned a low priority by visiting search engine spiders. In other words, the spiders may not visit your site as frequently as they visit sites with 100% link integrity. So make sure you download some link checking software and begin a regular schedule of verifying your link structure.

    About The Author
    Brendon Turner is a certified search engine optimization specialist and Senior SEO Consultant with eTrafficJams.com, a professional search engine optimization company that specializes in getting targeted, eager-to-buy traffic to your site! Brendon also maintains FreeSEOAdvice.com, a progressive free SEO forum advocating access to accurate and timely information related to the industry. Want some tips on how to improve your web site's optimization? Call 877-785-9977 or click to request a free search engine optimization analysis.
    DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware.

    More Web Development Articles
    More By Developer Shed

     

    IBM® developerWorks developerWorks - FREE Tools!


    NEW! Addressing software-as-a-service challenges using Tivoli security and WebSphere solutions

    Building a software-as-a-service solution requires addressing a few key technical challenges. In this webcast, we'll focus on the role of IBM Tivoli Directory Server and WebSphere Portlet Factory in creating a Software as a Service solution. We will demonstrate how to use Tivoli Directory Server to prevent the user population of one tenant from accessing the virtual portal and portlet components of another tenant. We will also use the dynamic profile capability of WebSphere Portlet Factory to create multiple highly customized applications from one code base.
    FREE! Go There Now!


    NEW! Build Web services with transport-level security using Rational Application Developer V7, Part 1: Build Web services and Web services clients

    Build secure Web services with transport-level security using IBM Rational Application Developer V7 and IBM WebSphere Application Server V6.1. Follow this three-part series for step-by-step instructions about how to develop Web services and clients, configure HTTP basic authentication, and configure HTTP over SSL (HTTPS). This first part of the series walks you through building a Web service for a simple calculator application. You generate and test two different types of Web services clients: a Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) client and a stand-alone Java client. You also handle user-defined exceptions in Web services.
    FREE! Go There Now!


    NEW! Don't wait! Try the Rational Application Developer (RAD) v7.5 open beta code today

    Download the Rational Application Developer (RAD) v7.5 open beta code and start developing applications for the JEE5 standard which features EJB3.0, JPA, JSF 1.2, JSP 2.1 and Servlet 2.5 standards. When you use this beta you will see how you can increase developer productivity for already existing applications with improved support for refactoring, as well as adding new features to existing applications. In addition, the beta provides tooling for JD Edwards, Oracle, SAP, Siebel and PeopleSoft to improve the developer productivity with these enterprise systems.
    FREE! Go There Now!


    NEW! Download DB2 9.5 for Linux, Unix, and Windows

    Download a free trial version of IBM DB2 9.5 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows. DB2 9 is the result of a five-year development project that transformed traditional (static) database technology into an interactive data server that merges the high performance and ease of use of DB2 with the self-describing benefits of XML.
    FREE! Go There Now!


    NEW! Hello World: WebSphere Service Registry and Repository

    Manage, govern, and share services across your organization by using WebSphere Service Registry and Repository. Follow the hands-on exercises to learn how to navigate the Web interface to publish, find, reuse, and update services.
    FREE! Go There Now!


    NEW! Rational Talks to You: Grady Booch on Architecture

    Join this Rational Talks to You teleconference on November 29 at 1:00 pm ET to participate in an interactive discusssion with Grady Booch around architecture and reuse. Get your questions answered!
    FREE! Go There Now!


    NEW! Software Change and Configuration Management Solution Guidelines

    This whitepaper provides areas to consider when evaluating any software configuration management solution. It addresses how the IBM solutions (Rational ClearCase and Rational ClearQuest) meet the needs and requirements of both project leaders and developers to provide successful Software Change and Configuration Management.
    FREE! Go There Now!


    NEW! Successful Change and Release Management for .NET

    Join this webcast to discover the key requirements for successful change and release management. Learn how to extend your .NET environment to improve productivity and collaboration, and address core problems afflicting team development. In this webcast, we’ll review typical challenges faced by customers and how to resolve them with the IBM Rational Change and Release Management solution, including Rational ClearCase, Rational ClearQuest and Rational Build Forge. Replay is available for 9 months.
    FREE! Go There Now!


    NEW! Understanding Web application security challenges

    As businesses grow increasingly dependent upon Web applications, these complex entities grow more difficult to secure. Most companies equip their Web sites with firewalls, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), and network and host security, but the majority of attacks are on applications themselves – and these technologies cannot prevent them. This paper explains what you can do to help protect your organization, and it discusses an approach for improving your organization’s Web application security.
    FREE! Go There Now!


    NEW! Webcast: WebSphere Process Server

    WebSphere Process Server delivers a unique integration framework that simplifies existing IT resources. Often, as IT assets grow to support business demand, so too does their complexity and manageability. In this webcast, we’ll discuss how WebSphere Process Server helps deliver an SOA infrastructure that provides a common model to orchestrate, mediate, connect, map, and execute the underlying IT functions. Discover how WebSphere Process Server simplifies integration of business processes by leveraging existing IT assets as reusable services without the complexities of traditional integration methodologies.
    FREE! Go There Now!



    All FREE IBM® developerWorks Tools!

       

    WEB DEVELOPMENT ARTICLES

    - Make Your WordPress Website Look Professional
    - How to Create a Mobile Web Site
    - Meta Tags: Still Useful?
    - Build a Completely Free Site
    - Is Your Site Secure?
    - What`s So Special About Your Site?
    - Add Games to Your Site
    - Should You Offer E-mail?
    - The Trouble with CAPTCHA
    - Add Images Responsibly
    - Is There a Science to Site Design?
    - Shortcuts for Page Design
    - Rebranding a Community
    - Firebug Firefox Extension Review
    - Is a CMS or Custom Code Better for Your Web ...

     
    Create the Optimal Architecture for your Critical Applications
    Warburton's the largest independently owned bakery in the UK faced a number of d....

     
    Five Best Practices for Deploying a Successful Service-Oriented Architecture
    This white paper describes the benefits you can expect with SOA, and how IBM can....

     
    Gartner Magic Quadrant for Application Delivery Controllers
    Gartner summarizes its view on Application Delivery Controllers, evaluates stren....

     
    Knowledge is Power
    What you don't know can hurt you, and is likely costing you money and increasing....

     
    Rationalizing the Multi-Tool Environment
    The rationalized multi-tool approach is flexible, scalable and cost effective. I....

     




    © 2003-2009 by Developer Shed. All rights reserved. DS Cluster 3 Hosted by Hostway
    Stay green...Green IT