Here is how I have recently solved this problem for Glass Block Outlet through using Google Mail.

1. First of all I created a new Google Mail account solely for this purpose (eg. glassblocks@gmail.com).
2. Then in ‘Settings -> Accounts and Import’ I added and verified the original username@glassblockoutlet.co.uk account and made this the default email account within Google Mail.
3. I then went to ‘Settings -> Forwarding and POP/IMAP’ and enabled IMAP.
4. This allowed me to use the smtp.gmail.com settings for all the email clients (and others which are not listed) as instructed on this Google help page.

So now when an email is sent through this SMTP it shows as being sent from username@glassblockoutlet.co.uk (rather than glassblocks@gmail.com) and allows people to directly reply to this address.

Another advantage is that the company can now log in to their Google Mail account and send and receive mail when other options are not available.

In the past, I have had no problems indexing a brand new domain in Google by simply adding it to Google Webmaster Tools, pointing a few links at the home page and adding the url to social bookmarking websites.

Usually the new domain would be listed within at most a couple of days, but currently Google seems to be taking a lot longer to index new domains in its listings even though googlebot has visited and spidered several pages.

I have found though that the exception to this is if you use a WordPress blog to create your website. The advantage to this seems to be that new posts and updates are automatically pinged through the Ping-o-Matic service which notifies popular blog search engines that are regularly indexed by Google.

This is a service that I will test and will look to include in a future version of AffiliStore to help new sites such as Heart Rate Monitor index as quickly as a WordPress blog.

Still, it doesn’t explain why Google has slowed down it’s indexing of new domains which has also been noticed in several large SEO related forums.

Domain Age and Expiration Date

Google and other search engines include many factors within their ranking system. One of these factors is trust rank. Owning a domain that has history improves the trust rank as does registering the domain for a long period of time.

Website History

Again trust rank comes into play here. If your website has been archived in the search engine results for a long period then it will help improve rankings and indexing of webpages created in comparison with a fairly new website with no history.

Structured Navigation

When creating a website, it is important to provide a well structured navigation, not just for users but also to allow search engine bots to follow links and index webpages within your website. Structuring your navigation correctly can help all you webpages be indexed and should help the flow of Google’s PageRank spread through out the website.

Valid HTML

As with structured navigation, the importance of valid HTML to search engine bots is to allow all webpages within your website to be indexed within the search engine listings. Validating your HTML will ensure that the bots do not hit any ‘brick walls’ within the code that prevent them from reading the rest of the webpage.

Contextual Linking

To further help the indexing of your webpages and to even out the flow of Google’s PageRank, it is useful to include links within the content text of your webpages. Wikipedia is a perfect example of how this should be done.

URL Structure

Including keywords in your website’s URLs will help you rank for those terms. If your website uses dynamic URLs created through variables then think about rewriting them. Separate keywords using a minus character (eg. search-phrase.html) and try and keep the important keywords as close to the beginning of the URL as possible.

Regional Targeting

If you wish to target a certain region then there are a few steps you can take to help this process. Firstly you can choose a relevant domain such as a .co.uk (UK) or .de (Germany) rather than a generic .com domain. Then look at your hosting IP location, search engines can access this information and will use it to decide your target audience. Finally, Google Webmaster Tools allows you to set a geographic target which is useful if you have a .com domain.

Site Maps

Search engine bots look for site maps when they visit your website. Providing a standard HTML site map will help improve the indexing of your webpages and allow bots to find webpages that they might otherwise have missed. You can now also provide and submit an XML site map which all the major search engine have took on as a standard. Use your robots.txt to tell bots where to find your XML site map and also submit it to Google Webmaster Tools and Yahoo Site Explorer.

Domain Name

If you are purchasing a domain name for a new website then think about including your main targeted keywords within that domain name. For example if you are building an online store that sells low price golf clubs in the UK and you buy the domain cheapgolfclubs.co.uk then you are definitely going to have a lot more of a chance for quickly ranking well for the search term ‘cheap gold clubs’ than you would with a more generic domain name. You would also do well for long tail search terms such as ‘cheap golf clubs in the UK’ and have more chance of ranking for ‘golf clubs’ in the long term.

Keyword Research Tools

Probably the most popular keyword research tool on the Internet is the SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool created by Aaron Wall. This tool currently exports data from Wordtracker which periodically compiles a database of over 330 million search terms collected from Dogpile and Metacrawler. From these Wordtracker results this tool then estimates the daily search volume levels from Google, Yahoo and MSN for each search term. Typing in a keyword or search phrase will also bring back a variety of related search terms that also generate volume. Previously this tool used results from Overture’s keyword suggestion tool which generated volume results from their paid search network. Now that it uses Wordtracker, the volume results for this tool seem a lot more accurate.

Another tool to use is the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. This again will bring back a variety of related search terms to the keywords you type in and will provide search volumes, this time though in the form of a bar rather than an actual number. Although this data is taken from Google’s paid search results, it is still valuable information as you are gaining knowledge of search volume actually from Google and not third party esitmates. Another useful result from this too is the search volume trends which shows monthly totals throughout the year and allows you to judge seasonality and possible search volume dips and peaks.

Google Trends can be useful if you have previous knowledge of search volumes for a particular search term as it will allow you to compare this term against other searches. Again, results are in the form of graphs rather than actual numbers, but knowing volumes for a particular search term will help you judge the volumes for others. Google Trends also breaks the traffic down into regions which is essential as it will show if a search term is popular within the location you are targeting.

Using PPC Results

If you run Pay Per Click campaign for your website the this can help quickly target useful search terms to target for SEO. If you do not run a PPC campaign the take a small budget, set one up and test a selection of relative search terms. Although it may not be possible to achieve a first page ad for competitive search terms without blowing your budget, it can allow you to almost instantly gain and idea of whether other long tail search terms will generate visitors.

Competitors

It is always worth looking at your competitor’s websites to see which search terms they are targeting. If your competitor’s website has been search engine optimised properly then you only have to look at their html title tags to see how they have gone about trying to target keywords.

Conclusion

Keyword research is an essential part of the SEO process. Get it wrong and you could end up putting a lot of effort into gaining results for search terms that will not generate visitors. Get it right and you may pick up a lot of traffic from uncompetitive search terms that go unnoticed by other competing websites. Using these tools and methods will help you make decisions on which search terms you choose to target and should help you on your way to creating a successful busy website.

Website and On-Page Optimisation

Firstly, focus on the structure of your website. Your website should allow search engine bots to easily read and index all your content. Offer sitemaps (both HTML and XML), create a structured navigation which provides a clear path from top level webpages through to lower level categories and product/service webpages. Use search terms in the anchor text that links to your pages and within the URL structure. Validate your HTML to be sure that there are no ‘brick walls’ for search engine bots. Highlight important webpages at higher levels so that they get more exposure and link juice. Interlink pages where possible within the content text, a perfect example of this is Wikipedia.

Now look at your individual webpage structure, use CSS to structure your webpage design so that you can order the HTML to focus on your page content, provide relevant title and heading tags for each individual page, separate chunks of code such as CSS or JavaScript into their own files so that they do not interfere with the code/content ratio and offer unique content within your webpages.

Target Long Tail Search Terms

Really competitive search terms such as ‘car insurance’ require deep pockets if you are to aim at achieving top 10 rankings in the search engines, so targeting less competitive long tail search terms can provide your website with excellent results without too much effort. Obviously the total volume of visitors may not be as high but by targeting several long tail search terms they can collectively help increase visitor volumes. Research your keywords to gain more knowledge of what people are typing within your website’s target audience then create webpages targeted towards these search terms. The more pages you create, the more visitors you are likely to gain.

Free Directories

There are thousands of free website directories out there that allow you to add a listing which links back to your website. Although they may not dramatically improve your website rankings, every link counts. What these link will definitely do is help improve the speed of which your website is indexed as you are providing more ways for the search engine bots to find your website. This will help keep your website content fresh in the search engine listings by allowing updates and additions to be quickly recognised.

Article Distribution

For search engine optimisation it is important to create a website that contains many pages of unique content. For this reason, there are a lot of website owners that are happy to allow you to add content to their own websites. This can be done through article writing either directly for these websites or by distributing your own website’s articles through other websites. The main point here is to require an acknowledgement link back to your own website. Just like the free directories, there are thousand of website that can quickly distribute your article and this will help your website gain incoming links.

Offer Something Unique

In the end, the easiest and most successful way to quickly attract visitors to your website through search engine optimisation is to offer something valuable and unique. Whether this is content, products, services, website tools, advertising etc., by offering your visitors and potential customers something else that no one else offers, you are instantly going to generate interest in your website. You will find that people will start naturally linking to your website through forums, blogs and other websites. Word of mouth will bring in more visitors and you could even find your website being mentioned within authoritative press websites such as the BBC.

Conclusion

Search Engine Optimisation is not just about reaching top 10 for expensive highly competitive search terms, it is about using the resources available within a budget to improve not just the volume of visitors, but the quality of visitors who are likely to help increase your website conversions. Through research, careful planning and a bit of effort you can give your website every chance of competing with the big boys.

Highlight Your Unique Selling Points

What makes your website stand out from the crowd? If you are creating a business website, do you offer very competitive rates or prices on services and products, do you provide items that no other website stocks, can you offer tools that will help potential customers make decisions? If your website is a forum or a blog, what is the unique information you are providing for visitors, why should they register and revisit your website rather than go elsewhere?

Once you have your USP, think about how you are going to display them on your website so that they are instantly available to encourage visitors to make the bite, for example if you are offering free delivery, don’t leave it until checkout for this to be displayed, add it to the product page or even the website header. Can you target certain USP towards the most relevant pages within your website? Can you highlight your USP off-site within search engine listings or other ads?

Clearly Display your Call-to-Action

Once you have done the hard work of attracting visitors to your website who are ready to sign up to a service, purchase a product, register for your forum etc., it is important that you clearly display your CTA and make it obvious to the visitor how they should proceed. Also, make it easy for them. If they have to complete a form, make it as short as possible, don’t include unnecessary fields in the initial sign up which could be requested at a later date. Offer the option for you to call them rather than just a phone number, people can sometimes be put off be having to make the first contact unannounced.

Again display a targeted CTA for relevant webpages and make them stand out from the rest of your website design by using bigger fonts, buttons or contrasting colours. Put your CTA in a prime location above the browser fold and make it constant throughout your website so that visitors become familiar with it.

Track your Conversions

Once you have set up your webpages with your USP and the CTA, it is then important to track how well each webpage converts. Using something like Google Analytics you can track the visitors journey through to conversion (a sale, completion of contact form, registration etc.) and over time discover which combinations have the highest conversion rate. Understanding these results will help you adjust webpages to maximise conversion throughout your website and help you gain knowledge for future projects.

Increases the Size of your Website

Adding new content to your website will increase the number of webpages you can use to target search terms. If your on-page SEO and website structure are sound then you can find yourself ranking very easily for a variety long tail search terms. A website with a vast amount of unique content will always be looked on more favourably by search engines than a website with few pages.

Content Generates Interest

When someone visits your website, it is encouraging for them to see that it is active and being kept up to date. Whether this is through news/blogging, new products/services, visitor comments, forums etc., it will not only promote return visits, it can also generate word of mouth referrals, maybe even links to your content which is vital for search engine optimisation.

Ranking Boosts

Search engines are indexing new content at incredible rates (Google is picking up these blog posts within 5 minutes) and some tend to give new content an initial boost in rankings for related search terms in order to help their search listings be as fresh as possible.

Providing content such as news headlines and summaries or latest products on other pages within your website will help prevent these pages looking stale when search engine bots revisit. This seems to help these pages improve and maintain rankings for competitive search phrases.

Target Individual Webpages Towards Search Terms

For search engine optimisation, it is vitally important that your website has individual webpages with content targeted towards keywords and search terms. Each of these webpages should have their own unique title tag that includes the search terms you are hoping to be found for within search engines.

How People Search

Think about how you would type in a search into a search engine. It is unlikely you would type in a phrase such as “How You Should Optimise Title Tags”. There is more of a chance that you may type “How Should I Optimise Title Tags”, but people tend to shorten the total words needed to type a phrase as much as possible and will be more likely to type “How to Optimise Title Tags”. Search engines would pick up the all above variations but by targeting the most popularly typed phrase you are increasing your chances of ranking better for that search term. There are many keyword tools on the Internet that allow you to research which keywords are popular and how searches are being typed.

Variations of Prime Keywords

If your website is targeted towards a certain group of keywords and search terms, then use the webpage title tags to target variations of your main keywords. For example, the main titles on our website are targeted towards “Search Engine Optimisation” and “SEO”. Notice how within our SEO blog articles we sometimes use variations such as “Search Engine Optimising for Long Tail Search Results” and the title of this post “How to Optimise Title Tags”. By doing this you can catch more visitors for a variety of possible related search terms.

Put Search Terms First

The closer the keywords are to the beginning of the title tag the more relevant and more weight that webpage will carry towards that keyword. So for example if your webpage had a title of “red widgets & blue widget” and another website’s webpage had a title of “blue widget & red widgets”, if you did a search for “blue widget” then the other website more likely to rank above your website (if all other factors are equal) simply because the search term is nearer the beginning of the title tag. A lot of companies put their brand terms first and then the page title, which is good if you are a recognised brand as it builds confidence and provides familiarity to potential visitors and may help encourage click from search listings, but it can be a slight disadvantage if you are looking to rank higher than a competitor who puts brand terms at the end of the title tag or left them out completely.

Another good reason to put the search term nearer to the beginning of your title tag is that search engines use the title to provide the link to your webpage in their listings. There is limited space (68 characters in Google) for your title within the search engine listing so it is important to make it obvious what the webpage is about.

The first step to generate links to your website is to create a useful resource that people trust and rely on. There is no easier way to do this than by providing up to date news and information targeted towards a particular industry. If people see your website as an authority within your industry (or at least a useful resource) because of the news and information you provide then you will begin to generate incoming links, not only from forums and blogs, but from other highly respected websites who wish to source information (such as the BBC).

Controversial News Articles

Controversy will always kick up a storm. By writing a news article that directly disagrees with someone or something or by publishing something no other website would dare to write, you can quickly attract attention to your own website and again have other websites linking into your own. It is a fine line when trying to get this right without over stepping the mark, you could easily end up with egg on your face if you get it wrong, potential customers may think you have gone crazy or, at worst, you could even end up with a court battle. But if you get it right it will quickly generate a lot more links that a regular news article ever would.

Website Tools

Can you as a company or individual provide something that no other else can? Develop something new and exciting, something that is unique to your market. Can you create some kind of calculator which generates positive results (example: www.oneaccount.com) that will not only attract visitors but will encourage other websites to link to you because it is a useful resource? Offer these tools for free on your website, encourage visitors to use them. The more unique these tools are the more links they will generate.

Usable Scripts or Design Templates

Similar to the above but this time allow other websites to freely use scripts and/or design templates created by you or your company. Again this could be a simple calculator which you could allow webmasters to add to their own websites by simply dropping in a line of code, or it could be template designs for popular content management systems such as WordPress or osCommerce. The trick is to offer these items for free but require that a simple text link be added from their website to your own website to acknowledge the original source.

Competitions & Games

Everyone likes the chance to win stuff so running competitions will always attract attention. By making the competitions regular and by offering interesting and industry relevant prizes, you can quickly build up interest in your website.

Really good games created in something like Flash can in some instances become bigger than the actual website itself (thinking back to the coptor game), add a scoreboard and make it competitive, allow the option to invite friends and create banner links for other webmasters to add to their own website. Again target the market that your website is aimed towards, for an IVA website could you create a IVA/Debt Management game that asks visitors to play out their own real life situation, ending in a positive solution?

Make it Easy

Offer text links, banners etc. on your website. Encourage visitors to link to your website by simply adding some text such as “if you like our website, link to us with the following code…”, provide the HTML code so that it is simply ready to copy and paste.

Search engines rank webpages due to a variety of calculations and having keywords within your URLs helps increase your rankings for those targeted search terms. This works especially well when many dynamic pages are created which can target a variety of less competitive long tail search terms.

Highlighted Search Terms in Search Engine Listings

When you type in a keyword search into search engines the results returned will include links to relevant webpages. What you will notice is that the keywords that you have typed in will be highlighted within the listings, this includes the display URL. So by having the keywords within your URL, you will help your webpage listing stand out and help encourage a click.

Easier to Read and Remember

Visitors to your webpage will find it a lot easier to read the URL which again is useful when your webpage is listed in search engine results. It will allow users to quickly realise that your webpage is relevant to their search results. Compared to dynamic URLs, rewrote URLs are often a lot easier to remember which will help when visitors wish to return to you webpage whether through search engines, re-typing the URL or browsing their history.

Better Indexing

Search engines can have problems indexing webpages created through a dynamic URL, especially if there are several parameters within the URL. Rewriting a URL gives you control over the structure and allows you to reduce the total parameters or structure the URL to look more like a static URL.