MyWebGal's Blog: web development

As a web developer I talk to a lot of people about their websites. I'd say that the number one topic after their websites are built is...

"How do I get more traffic to my website?"

In this first blog entry, I thought I'd give you some tips on accomplishing that feat without having to spend a fortune.

The first strategy that I would suggest is to build Web 2.0 sites that link to your main site. There are a lot of places that you can build free "satellite" sites that are absolutely loved by the search engines. To name a few:

www.squidoo.com
HubPages.com
WetPaint.com

Also, creating videos and posting them to sites such as YouTube.com can help greatly. Your video doesn't have to be difficult either. You can go to Animoto.com and create a 30 second video using still photos, text and music all for free.

Bookmarking sites are another way to build links to your site, such a Delicious.com, digg.com and StumbleUpon.com.

I highly recommend blogging and commenting on blogs, as well.

My last tip for you today is to join twitter.com and www.facebook.com. These can heighten awareness of you and your site.

Bottom line, the more links you have pointing to your website, the more traffic you are bound to get!

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below or join my community, Web Design and Development.

Have a Creative Day!

Hello BraveHeart Women!

Well, I must say I am blessed by the welcomes to the community and new members to my Web Development Community already. I wasn't sure at first that my area of expertise fit with the wonderful spirit present here but it appears that it does! Yeah!

It seems that perhaps some "basic" web development information is desired, so today I thought I'd share beginning steps to creating your presence on the web, starting with "What's in a domain name" because it's the first step and an important one.

So, why is a domain name important?

First and foremost, you want a domain name that is as easy to remember as possible and lends itself to what your website will offer. This gets harder as time passes! It's difficult to find a domain name that isn't already taken but keep trying, there are still good ones no one has thought of yet.

Second, the domain name can help with search engine rankings. Your domain name, hopefully, will contain at least one of your primary keywords that you're targeting.

What is a keyword? When people go to a search engine to search for something, they enter "keywords" that fit what they are looking for.

The tighter fit you can come up with to what you have to offer, the easier time you will have showing up in the search results. But you'll want to "drill down" to find the best keywords and ones that have less competition.

For instance, I just finished an experiment about Mothers Day. I built a web 2.0 property as my test and studied the results. I went to Google and typed in the "broad match keyword" "Mothers Day" and found more than 92 million results. It wasn't likely that my web site would rank well with that much competition.

So, I looked at "Mothers Day Flowers". I got 23 million results. Still a highly competitive market. "Mothers Day Gift Baskets" returned 6 million results. Getting better, but still a lot of competition.

"Mothers Day Gift Baskets in Seattle" returned 80,000 results. Eureka! Anything less than 200K is much easier to rank for if you know what you're doing (and I'll help you know how to do this in future blog posts).

That's "drilling down" to find the best keywords and that's what you need to do.

Tip: When you "Google" your broad base keyword, scroll down the page and find the section that says "Searches Related To" for ideas on more targeted keywords. Then Google them.

Once you have your ideas for your domain name, go to a domain and hosting service to see what's available. When you find a domain name that's available, buy it!

Tip: I own 67 domain names and have 22 websites of my own. I get them all (and all hosting) at www.BetterWebBusiness.com. They are very affordable, offer terrific service, and have never let me down. I changed over to them nearly 3 years ago, and won't go anywhere else. I highly recommend them.

I hope that helps you discover the importance of "What's in a domain name"!

Until Next time!

To Your Online Success,

Deb

Hello Again BraveHeart Women! I hope you're making it a great day.

Today I thought I'd write about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) because it's another great way to get more traffic to your website.

You want your site to show up in the natural results on the first page of Google, Yahoo and MSN, which will result in bringing quality traffic to your site at no cost!

I say "natural" results because you can also get on the first page of the top search engines through Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC). With PPC you can get on the first page today, depending on the competition for the keywords. With SEO it takes some time, but it can happen fast if you work at it.

As mentioned in my previous post about getting more traffic to your website, building one way back links to your site from a variety of Web 2.0 methods will gain "attention and respect" from search engines.

Keywords play a big factor in this and I started talking about that in my last post about Domain Names. I talked about "drilling down" to find great "narrow" or "niche" keywords so you'd have a better chance to rank for them.

Competition for keywords is what you need to be aware of when choosing yours. Google even helps in this area by providing a keyword tool. It's extremely helpful and it's free. Try it out here >>

Type in a broad match keyword, type the letters in the "capcha" field and peruse the results that Google serves you.

There will be a list of suggested keywords, the competition for them, and the search volume. What you're looking for, obviously, are keywords with lower competition and a good amount of search volume (people using the keywords to search for something they want).

The keywords you decide to target then need to be used on your web pages in a number of ways.

1. The keywords and derivatives need to be in the copy on your page. Be sure to use them in the first paragraph and in the headlines and subheads. Use some in bullet points, some bolded, some underlined. These things add "weight" to the keyword.

2. Keywords should be used as anchor text, meaning they are hyperlinked to go to another page or site.

3. Meta tags: While major search engines don't pay attention to Meta Tag Keywords, smaller search engines still do in many cases. However, keywords in the title of your page and in the description is an excellent strategy. For instance Google uses your Meta tag title and description in the search results! Make it read like an ad because it is!

4. Alt tags: While you don't ever want to "stuff keywords" into your pages, when appropriate you can add a keyword or two in the image alt tags.

I'll talk more about meta tags in a later post but if you have any questions, leave a comment below and I'll address it then.

I hope this helps get you thinking about how to optimize your site for search engines, and increase your traffic to your site.

Until next time!

Deb