There are two main sides to a web site the side we see which is the pretty design, the navigation, the content, and the pictures. Then there is the backside that we don’t see but the bots do and that is the code side. The code is the glue that pulls it all together. It places all the elements and controls how the website looks, navigates, plus how fast the site loads and performs its functions. Through the use and placement of certain tags within the code you can tell the bots where and how you want to be indexed.

The visible side is very important because elements like design, navigation, and content all contribute greatly to conversion rate. But, none of that can work its magic if the site is not found or seen by your audience and for that you need the on-page optimization. There is great debate, in our shop anyway, which is more important. I lean toward the code side of the battle because like I said it doesn’t do any good if your website is not being seen. I used the word battle because that is exactly what it is, there is only so much room on the front page and everybody wants it. There are only so many keywords and everybody is using them.

So what can you do to make your page more attractive to the search engines than your competition? Simple, by how easy you make if for them to list your site. What I am touching on today is call Strategic Code Placement. There are a several parts to this but one of the more important points is the order of the page elements.

When a web page opens the page elements appear in a certain order. First is the banner across the top, navigation links down the left side or across the top, copy and content in the center then the text links followed by the trailer. In the old days the code order on the page would equal the visible order. First the bots hit the banner then the navigation column followed by the content or body and finally the text links and the trailer.  What is wrong with that?

If you have looked at optimizing your website at all you have learned how important the content is. The search engines are content driven.  The problem is that many times the bots never reach the content. Why? Because the bots only read so many words or characters deep in to a page. This is done for speed. The search engines have literally thousands of pages a day to index. How many words varies between search engines but it is never more than a few 100.

New code standards have changed the way we can piece together these elements. You can still have the elements on the visible side appear in the same familiar order but the back side, the code side is totally different. The new code order is first the banner with relevant search engine information added to it followed by your important body copy then the navigation, the text links and the trailer.

Now you have your hard crafted content right on top for the search engines to find. Then, through the manipulation of copy and tags within this block we tell the search engines what we want them to do, but that is for another time.  Most code editors when used in WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) mode will not deliver this type of code or element placement. Generally the better code is hand written in text mode or with text editors. This is another good reason to seek out a professional web developer.

If your site is like mine, then you are trying to sell a product or service, then that is what you write about. If your site is about real estate, have content that teaches people how to shop for a house or what to look for when buying land. Include articles about neighborhoods and school zones in the area, recreation then point people to these articles. If your site is about, gardening then have information about planting seasons, soil conditioning etc. You get the idea, what ever your website is about, have related content.

Good content is also multipurpose. Not only is it good for your web pages it is also good for your blog and for article distribution. Send your content out as articles through distribution services, this working with your blog creates back links. The more back links from credible sites the better your ranking .The better your ranking the more you website can work for you.

What should you use for content? The most popular topics by far are ‘How To” articles. Articles that offer tips, tricks, and short cuts have a very high readership. The more you let your audience know, the more they think you know. Current events are good if there is a way to work them into what your website is about. It lets people know that you are staying up to date on your topic. Stay away from opinions, opinion related articles tend to polarize one site or another, so should be averted, because you want the most traffic your website can generate.

Writing dos and don’ts.

- Keep it relevant. If your site is about cars don’t write about fishing.
- Know your topics.
- Know your goals, are you writing to attract sales for example.
- Know your keywords and where to place them, there are formulas you can use.
- Keep your content positive.
- Keep your content as current as you possibly can. You don’t want to be caught with information that is not up to date.
- Distribute. Take all that good content you have created (or had created), and double the mileage by using it on your blog, and using it to create articles to distribute through article services.

So the reasons for good content are many. It helps page ranking, it engages your audience and it brings them back and you can use it for distribution. The more people are drawn to your site, the more effective your site will work for you. In this day and age you can’t afford not to have good solid content.

Yes, you read that correctly, websites can appreciate in value. Actually there is a whole market built around the buying and selling of websites and domains by domain brokers.

My point is this … your website is real estate. You buy it, build it, improve it and you can re-sell it. And once you adjust to this many other things fall into place like marketing. Understand that your website is the same as a brick and mortar store and all the same rules of driving traffic apply. With that comes an increase in value.

 What is your web site worth? There are sites you can Google that will tell you the estimated value of your domain.  Don’t get your hopes too high; many things affect the value including age, traffic, and popularity of the keywords to name a few. The client example above is bakerstreetmusic.com (http://www.bakerstreet.com). He invested in a one page landing site, followed our recommendations was diligent in his web site listing and doubled his money in a few months.

 Bakerstreet.com is one example of real value in a virtual world and it is one you can understand because in a way you get something, you get ownership of a domain or website. Now let’s talk about “real” virtual real estate. Have you ever heard of Anshe Chung? Anshe Chung was the world’s first virtual millionaire, meaning her holdings in a make-believe world are worth more than $1 million in US dollars. And she made this money in the virtual world of Second Life (http://secondlife.com/).

 Second life is an entire virtual world it has towns, bars, clubs, shopping centers and malls. All the big boys are there Best Buy, Sears etc. You can go to concerts and shows and see bands like Aerosmith. People and businesses in this virtual world buy and sell properties, virtual properties but still property. People create avatars and live in this world and Second Life is only one example.

 Money is being made and it has not gone un-noticed. Caldwell Banker has been there since 2006 (http://money.cnn.com/blogs/legalpad/2006/11/anshe-chung-first-virtual-millionaire.html). To quote the article:” In March, the company put up for sale more than 500 homes in Second Life. This isn’t a way for Coldwell Banker to cash in on virtual real estate, says Young, but to find new ways to reach some of the estimated 80 million echo boomers and make them familiar with the Coldwell Banker brand says Charlie Young, senior vice president for marketing.

 So, what is the difference between virtual and “real” real estate? Well first there will never be a land shortage. How can you run out of something that does not exist in the first place? According to what I read prices tend to remain pretty stable no bubbles like in the real world. One big difference is the way a mortgage works, there really isn’t one. It is usually a small monthly fee paid forever unless you quit or sell. We are not talking thousands of dollars like real mortgages but you get 500 people paying you $20 a month and that is $10,000 dollars. Or you generate a store with sales and you have a business with a location to sell. Taxes, you cannot escape. Real money made in a virtual world is taxable.

 So there you have it, like Dire Straits said “Money for nothing”. Who knew?

In reality it could be hand coded pages, a blog, a shopping cart, or any other number of database driven applications. But all most people see is a “website”.

 A website is anything with a URL (Universal Resource Locator) or as you and I know them, a web address. Used to be a website was hand coded pages written in HTML. Things have evolved way beyond that. Now a typical web site is a mix of technologies and languages. A simple site with one index / landing page can take several languages, CSS for what the browser presents (what you see), JavaScript for any forms and form verification and a server script to format the form and either send it to email or a database. And, if we are using databases, that is a whole other side to a project.

So you see, when a client comes to me and wants a web site it can mean many things.

 What is the difference? Let’s start with a hand coded site. This is exactly what it says, hand coded, written by a human and, to get the most out the search engines, this is the only way to go.

I say this because clean code is very important to search engine placement. This includes the placement of key worded content, images, and accessory scripts. And follows rules like content to code ratio and site load speed to name a couple. On the optimization side there are rules like the ratio of keywords in the content, page titles, and link text. This is the short list.

Next is application software as mentioned above. These are more akin to applications and are ‘installed’ rather than written. Artwork and content are added during the setup.

Blogs and content management systems (CMS) are both software designed to let an end user modify and change their site. The CMS software being much more powerful in scope and options than blog software. Blogs are popular because they are easy to setup and more important to the end user, easy to use and update. There are many options and plug-ins available. On the optimization side they are quite limited. To help with search optimization we often create an index / landing page that looks like the application but actually links to it.

  Shopping carts, reservation systems, point of sale systems (POS) called transaction software. Again these are database driven, artwork and content are added during the setup. The administration back side handles everything from credit card processing through inventory control. They also have many built in marketing and email tools. Again from the optimization side they are quite limited. As with blogs and CMS software we often create a search engine friendly landing page.

 For a website to work it has to be a blend of design, scripting, marketing and it all has to be balanced correctly. You do not get this kind of expertise, control and level of optimization with application software. These include content management systems (CMS), blogs, shopping carts etc.  What you get is less cost and minute control to do what you want when you want, but warning there is a steep learning curve especially with a CMS.

 True Story, but first let me say that my wife is a pro bracket shopper, she knows how to find a price and where to get it. About a month ago one of my monitors died. I went straight to Best Buy thinking they always have the lower price. You think electronics you think Best Buy, right.

In the store they had a 23 in. monitor for what I thought was a good price.  My wife takes out her phone, scans the bar code and a minute later it finds the same monitor for $50.00 less up the hill at Sears. She was able to do this standing right there in the store isle. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you the new consumer, armed with a hand held device.

 With this latest addition to the “I want it now” tool box a consumer has new power. They can comparison shop right on the spot or locate coupons, find discount codes or geo clues for example and present them right there. With this device a consumer can check movies, restaurant menus, get directions or watch your video while standing on line.

  As a retailer I will have to be more aware of my competitions pricing but also their stock levels.  It also tells me I can’t wait until my consumer finds my ad in the paper or hears it on the radio.  Repetitive advertising is great but consumers still have short memories and still need to be reminded WHEN they are looking for something.

 To deal with this your website will have to do double duty or you may need a separate site for mobile applications. Your search optimization will need to be more specialized, but the bottom line is your website, your web presence, has moved off the desktop and you need to keep up.

Optimize for link relevance, quality and popularity: Different factors that determine your rank on Google are the number of links that point to your site: the quality (popularity) of the sites that link to your site and the text in and around the links that link to your website.

Optimize with clean code structure and no cheating. Do not use WYSIWYG webpage building programs. Sure your website will be displayed properly by all the web browsers like Firefox, Netscape, and Internet Explorer but behind the scenes the code produced by these is a mess and you will be dinged for it.

Tips from Google: “Basically, Google’s position is that we prefer no hidden links, no hidden text, no automatic tools used for positioning, and no cloaking. We prefer that Googlebot get the exact same page that users see. In general, you can assume that we’re as conservative as possible. We don’t like hidden links/text in divs/layers/iframes/css, or links that are inconspicuous or punctuation, for example. Similarly, we don’t like cloaking or sneaky redirects in any form, whether it is user agent/ip-based, or redirects through javascript, meta refreshes, 301/302′s, or 100% frames.”  Google will blacklist websites who use underhanded techniques to get more traffic. “Black hat” SEO techniques are not a good idea!

Optimize with on-page techniques: Google looks for the keywords in the title, metatags, content, and the text links within your site.

Optimize the right type of website: There are some technical website design elements that make it hard for the search engines to index the content in the webpage, no matter how well you optimize and submit them, because they can’t follow the code. The most common coding that spider bots don’t see or spider are sites that use Frames, Dynamic URLs, Flash and sites that use Javascript for navigation.

Google Instant tries to speed searches by anticipating what you are going to type next based on what you have searched in the past. When you start typing Google offers you a selection of results and you can watch the results change with each letter typed. Google claims that it will save 3.5 Billion global seconds a day! I don’t know about you but I feel better knowing that I won’t be searching for the same thing fifteen years from now.

Putting aside the privacy issues and the file Google has on each and every one of us, let’s look at how this will affect your website and your search placement. In that same Google interview they stated they will pursue all options to shorten search times. At the top of the list was site load times and robot read times.

We already know there are rules to govern the code to content ratio, keyword density and placement, and content quality but this rule goes right to the foundation of every website. This rule speaks right to the background code, which by the way, has changed a lot over the years. Under this new rule the load and read speeds of your website will have a direct affect on your ranking.

How do you know if your website needs to be updated?

1- Web code standards and browser capabilities have advanced a lot in a short time. If your site is pushing five years since the last tune up, it is time to look.

2 – Was the original site written with outdated or obsolete WYSIWYG software? These are notorious for adding tons of erroneous code (Google already penalizes for this).

3- Copy placement. Search bots only read so many words in to a website. It is important that these be the important words. We call that “strategic copy placement”.

4- On-page optimization. Is your website easy for Google to find and more importantly, understand where you want to be listed? Older sites have little or no optimization at all. This is especially true with WYSIWYG and templates.

How do you fix this problem? Sorry, there is no short answer. The best thing to do is find an experienced website designer and get an evaluation. Not an artist turned developer but a good design / code / search optimization team.  I have argued this point many times in the past and won’t go into here. But, other than the graphic design there are two other components to a website. These two parts together are the most important components. First, the way the site is written and second is the search optimization, which includes current market research.

What the code should look like, again that is too deep to cover here. We coined a phrase a couple of years ago “search engine positive code”. This is how your website is presented to the search engines. You need to give it to them the way they want it. This is now critical to website placement and that is important in this competitive environment.

Once you have the evaluation tackle it one step at a time. You can re-do the code with minor changes to the design. Another option is to just re-do the index page. The occasional overhaul is part of the normal evolution of maintaining a website. Technology changes and you have to also, you can bet that your competition will.

GOLDEN RULE ONE. Just like a traditional store you have to market and bring in traffic. To put up a site and wait to be found is suicide. This is a solid truth whether the shop is along side a real highway or the Internet super highway. Know your market, know your competition. Seek out a web designer who has marketing experience and works closely with an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) specialist. Not one of these “organic” people but a true specialist. They will provide the info and experience you will need to develop a good web marketing plan. Do this first!

GOLDEN RULE TWO. Ok, this is the second big mistake. It is also the most costly to fix or, in the end, fatal. Choosing a web designer. This rule is so important to success that I’m going to cap it: CHOOSE A WEB DESIGN, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION TEAM! We are all tempted to save money but this is truly a “penny wise pound foolish” situation. If you go to anything less, if you go to ‘someone who does it on the side’ or a “graphic designer” who will do a site, or any number of “dream weaver developers “(as we call them) your idea failed the moment you handed over your deposit.

There is so much more to a professional and competitive site than a cute design and a few key words. So much has to be done both on and off page and during the launch that you want a company that has more than graphic design abilities. You need a company with combined marketing skills and proven e-commerce experience. Site development and SEO will probably be one of the largest upfront expenses in the project. But it will be money spent wisely and in the end, much less expensive then doing it over again. Your company image, web site, marketing all have to blend and work together, see rule one!

Leading SEO companies have realized that the search engine wars have moved back to the code. There are just so many ways to use a keyword and everyone is trying to use the same keywords. So now the search engines look at the page code and if it is done right it will help boost your rating more than Meta Tags but that is for another article.

For those who don’t know, the Meta keyword tag is a way to insert text into an HTML page that is not visible when the page is viewed through a browser. Some search engines read the content of the tag and associate the words in the tag with words within the page’s regular body copy. The first major crawler-based search engines to use the Meta keywords tag were Infoseek and AltaVista which began supporting tags in early 1996. By mid-1997, four out of the seven major crawlers at the time supported Meta Tags. Since, experience with the keyword tag has showed it to be a spam magnet. Some web site owners insert misleading words about their pages or use excessive repetition of words in hopes of tricking the crawlers about relevancy. For this reason, Lycos quietly dropped its support of the tag in 1998, and newer search engines such as Google and FAST never added full support at all. Pretty much by 2000, the Meta keywords tag was left with only two major supporters: AltaVista and Inktomi. Now Inktomi remains the only one, with AltaVista having dropped its support in July.

MSN and Yahoo place some importance (very little-but some) on Meta Tags. Google doesn’t use Meta Tags for anything besides your listing (if there is very little content on page). You won’t be penalized by Google for having a keyword tag providing you don’t include words or phrase that are not present within the visible on page text. Google will ding you for this.

Indeed, my advice about the Meta keywords tag is simple. For those running large web sites or short on time, don’t worry about it. The stress and time involved in trying to craft a tag is not worth it, in terms of the minor benefit it might bring. It is far more important for site owners to instead concentrate on creating good title tags for their pages, a key page element that has consistently shown it can help with ranking across all major search engines.

I’m not going to lose sleep over the decline of the Meta keywords tag. It has always been a point of confusion. How many times can I repeat a word on the page without getting banned? How many words are too many? If I don’t list a term in the tag, does that mean my page won’t show up? Those are common questions consistently raised over the years and represent time wasted worrying about a page element that a minority of search engines supported,  and for those that did support it, gave very little if any ranking boost.