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Feature Article -
How To Create Effective Page Descriptions
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| The
actual words that make up your listing in
a particular search engine is an
advertisement for your business in and of
itself. This Web site description must be
effective and compelling, not just a
demonstration of strategic keyword
placement and frequency! |
| When
this particular copy is well written using
some specific techniques that we will
describe in a moment, it can be even more
effective in bringing targeted visitors to
your site. Common sense dictates that the
effectiveness of an advertisement is
contingent on both the ads placement AND
how compelling the copy is to the reader.
Right? |
| Most
search engines provide a two or three line
site description immediately after the
"title" of your site. Now
remember, some search engines allow you to
submit your site description to them and
others use a "software spider"
to visit your site to take title and site
description text right off of your page.
The worst mistake you can make is to allow
the search engine's spider to index text
from your site that is completely
irrelevant to your content such as: |
[Back
to Home Page] [Product Information]
[Newsletter] [Contact us]
Welcome to Zebra Enterprises, we hope
you'll find us a valuable source of [May
15 97]... |
| Think
about it - when presented with 50 matches
from a keyword search, how often would you
select that one? Even if a listing like
the one above appears in the number one
spot the reader will skip it and move down
the list. They inevitably choose the one
with the most compelling description,
regardless of its position. |
| I
rarely pick the first match. I'll at least
scan the first 10 entries and pick one
that looks the most appealing. Directory
services like Yahoo give you the option to
provide the site description. Make sure
you type & proof-read your description
in advance so you don't feel rushed to
fill in the field on the submit page. |
| For
most other search engines such as Iwon,
AltaVista, Fast/Alltheweb, Lycos etc.
which employ "Spiders" to index
the content of your page automatically,
two techniques are used: |
|
The engine
will "Spider" or scan your page
for a Description Meta Tag to use for
their "summary description."
Therefore, ALWAYS include a description
Meta Tag on **every** page of your site,
NOT just on the home page. If you have
different topics of content on different
pages within your site, you should create
a separate description Meta Tag tailored
for each of these pages. As always include keywords in this
description as you do the rest of the
page.
|
| Inserting
the description tag is easy. Just go to
the Site Properties dialog in WebStudio. Click
on the Web Search Information tab. Enter
the text of your description in the
Description field. And don't forget to
enter the author's name and your keywords. |
| Important
Note: You should not exceed 200
characters in the length of the
description Meta Tag. |
| Some
search engines will ignore the Description
Meta Tag and instead extract what it
determines is the most
"Relevant" content for the page.
Most will extract the first few sentences
from the top of a page. For this reason,
it becomes very important to make sure
your leading paragraph is filled with both
keywords and text that would be compelling
to the reader who is reading it on a
search engine as your site's description.
Avoid copy at the top of a page that is
uninviting when viewed as a search
engine's description of your site such as
"Welcome to our site" or
"The following content was created by
Bob Wastespace and Karen Fillerman." |
| To
avoid the problem of irrelevant text in
that summary paragraph such as items on
your main menu, create a simple
"optimized page" that includes a
link to your home page, but excludes extra
text like menu links. |
| Occasionally
search engine spiders will extract a chunk
of text in the middle of your page that
says nothing of interest to the reader and
may not even be an appropriate description
of your site! This can be maddening. The
solution is simple, though - conduct a
search for your site in each search engine
and check to be sure this description is
meaningful and consistent with the content
of your Web site. |
| You
could be surprised to find that even for
keywords that you rank well under, the
site description returned is hardly
compelling, and often cryptic. Once you
identify the problem, you can redesign the
page or create a new doorway page which
includes only text you want the engine to
display. Don't forget to have a link to
the rest of your site though. You wouldn't
be the first camper who built a terrific
doorway page to achieve a good listing and
forgot to have that page link to the rest
of your site! |
|
Reprinted with permission from FirstPlace
Software |
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Tips
and Techniques...
|
| How
To Write A Site Description That Reels In
Visitors |
| The
sample title and description below, may
get you a high ranking for a keyword
search on the word "mortgage": |
| !
AAA Mortgage banking, the Mortgage money
lenders
- Mortgage, lenders, money, mortgages,
mortgage money, mortgage loans, home
equity loans, mortgage money, |
| ...what
it says is entirely unappealing. Instead,
look at another site description, that
would also be ranked high, and see which
site you would be more likely to visit: |
| Mortgages
Approved Overnight!!
- Mortgages and mortgage financing secrets
that large banks don't want you to know.
Learn the 10 ways that we can approve your
mortgage in 24 hours, even if you have
poor credit! |
| The
listing above has the word
"mortgage" as the first word of
the title, the first word of the
description and repeats the word
"mortgage" 4 times. The
difference is that this description is
compelling, solves a problem and offers a
"secret" to the reader if they
visit the site. |
The
direct response business has studied and
mastered the art of writing headlines.
What they learned is that headlines are
most effective when they accomplish 3
things:
Solve a problem
Solve that problem quickly
Solve that problem for what appears to be
a small or reasonable amount of money. |
With that in
mind, the following headline is acceptable,
but not as effective as it could be:
"I can help you to get out of debt
and get a good credit rating - I've done it
for others I can do it for you!"
A better approach, and, a headline that
usually draws more inquiries reads:
"Fix your bad credit in 48 hours for
just $49!" |
|
It solves a
problem, does so quickly and shows how much
money is involved. People relate to this
appeal because it has a fundamental basis.
Remember the many adages about goal setting,
"A goal without a deadline is a
wish!" Or, how about what they teach
you in business school about proposal
writing, "Never offer a plan that does
not include both time and money." |
The direct
response model is effective because it
addresses these things, especially time and
money. Think about this when writing your
page's Description Meta tag, Title tag, and
first paragraph of the page before you
submit them to the search engines. Ask
yourself:
Is my headline or first paragraph
compelling?
Is it interesting?
Would I read it and want to visit the site?
Does it include time and money?
Does it solve a problem?
Does it suggest that it solves that problem
quickly?
Does it show an attractive price?
How does it compare to the descriptions
already listed in the top 10? |
|
This direct
response model does not apply universally in
its purist form. This is because many web
sites are not selling things directly or are
informational in nature or support what ad
execs would call image advertising. |
However, do not
overlook the fundamental truths:
Being first in the Search Engines is great.
Being first and compelling is better! |
|
Your listing in
the search engine should be compelling. If
the description of the site right below
yours is more compelling, you lose - that
prospect just passed over your site. |
|
Reprinted with permission from FirstPlace
Software |
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President's Corner
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| We
get tons of calls from people asking,
"Why isn't my website listed on
search engines". To the
uninitiated, it seems that once you create
you site and put it on the net, the search
engines should rush right in and list it.
Well, they don't. We've had a three
part series of articles in this
newsletter about how to get listed and
move up in the rankings. This month we've
dedicated the entire newsletter to help you
improve your net presence. |
| We
are featuring a number of articles
reprinted with permission from
the MarketPosition
newsletter. This is company that has
software that helps you get higher
rankings with search engines. We've had
many requests for tips on how to get a
site listed high in the rankings. Bottom
line is that is work! However, knowing
what work to do is the secret. Enjoy the
articles and then get to work! |
| Oh,
and one last thing. If you have any
subject you'd like us to cover in future
newsletters, please send us an email
describing the subject you'd like to see.
Send it to techsupport |
|
Steve Cochard
President
Back to the Beach Software, LLC |
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Site of
the Month Contest Winner
|
thedjmixman's Happy
Nation Records |
Congratulations
to thedjmixman,
our Site of the Month for August
 !
thedjmixman's
site
is the e-commerce site for Happy Nation
Records. Our judges said,
"a lot of work went into this site,
that's for sure...I found everything I was
looking for easily, and it is nice to have a
sample sound that downloaded quickly to get
a taste of the sound...and great menus!" |
|
Make sure you
check out thedjmixman's site
and remember you can ask him how
it was all done in the WebStudio
Forum! |
|
And for those of
you thinking of submitting a site, this is a
reminder that we're halfway through October -
so
click here to submit your site now! |
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Did You
Know
|
|
...that
you should include dashes in your domain name? |
| We
are frequently asked whether a domain,
which includes multiple keywords, should
be purchased with or without dashes
between words. Popular opinion is that,
for advertising purposes, most people like
to type shorter domains without the
dashes. |
| However,
most search engine marketers agree that
the search engines are more likely to rank
you higher if they can distinguish between
different words. Therefore, if your goal
is higher search engine rankings, include
the dashes. |
| If
your goal is to advertise the Web site URL
in the media, then consider a domain
without dashes. In this case, the shorter
the domain is, the better. To cover both
bases, you could purchase both domains and
point them to the same Web site. |
| Reprinted with permission from FirstPlace
Software |
| ...using
the Alternate Text Message in a graphic is
important? |
| Most
Web sites have graphics (i.e., images).
Search engines cannot read any keywords or
text that you may have embedded in your
graphical menu or other images. Therefore,
make sure you make use of ALT tags to
describe your files. |
| This
gives search engines more keywords to find
you with and gives Web surfers who turn
their graphics off something to read in
place of your image. Note: Not all search
engines will read the ALT tags, but for
those that do, it can help.
|
| You
can add Alternate Text Messages or ALT
tags by selecting your graphic in
WebStudio, go to the Object menu and
choose Properties, click the Graphic tab
of the Properties dialog. At the bottom is
the place to enter the Alternate
Text. |
| If
you have turned a text object into a
graphic so you can use a non-web-friendly
font, you should add the entire text of
the text object to the graphic's Alternate
Text Message. This way your visitors will
see the graphic, the search engines will
see the text. |
| On
the Webstudio.com home page we've added
Alternate Text Messages to all of the
graphics. For example, the Monitor graphic
has "Free Web Design Software
Download!" Since "Web Design
Software" is one of WebStudio's most
popular search terms, adding it to the
monitor's ALT tag adds one additional use
of those important keywords on our home
page. Check it out and check the other
graphics as well, "Web Design
Software" is everywhere. |
|
Reprinted with permission from FirstPlace
Software |
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|
repetition of keywords in page titles could
be bad... |
|
If you've read
our previous newsletters you've heard that
having your keywords in the title tag is
very important. So... that would mean that
repeating the keyword in the title twice,
must be twice as good, and three times is
three times as good? Right!? Well, not
always. |
|
Based on our
research, some engines will
"penalize" sites that repeat a
keyword in the page's title. Does this mean
that you'll be banned for putting "Come
here to buy Cars, Cars, and more Cars!"
in your title on those engines? You probably
won't be banned but you may lose a few
points toward a high ranking if you repeat
the word two or more times in the title --
at least if these words are repeated right
next to each other. |
|
If you've had
trouble getting good rankings and have
repeated a keyword in your page's title, try
deleting the repeated word so it only
appears once in the title. For some search
engines you may find that a title that
includes just one word will give a better
score. In any event, always keep your most
important keyword or phrase near the
beginning of the title. This is called
improving a keyword's
"prominence". For example if your
keyword is "flower delivery" then
"Call Tulips-N-More for your FREE
flower delivery" is a poor title
because the words "flower
delivery" are the last two words in the
sentence - not very prominent. A better one
for that phrase would be "Flower
delivery FREE from Tulips-N-More."
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|
Extra Tip:
When submitting your Web site to Yahoo,
prominence is of paramount importance in
deciding who gets placed first. Take extra
care when crafting the title and description
you submit to Yahoo. |
|
Credit for this month's articles goes to... |
| These
articles are copyrighted and have been
reprinted with permission from FirstPlace
Software, the makers of WebPosition
Gold. FirstPlace Software helped
define the SEO industry with the
introduction of the first product to track
your rankings on the major search engines
and to help you improve those rankings. A free
trial of WebPosition Gold is available
from their Web site |
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