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The Add Me! Newsletter ** FIRST EDITION ***
"Free Tips to promote your website"
Add Me, Inc http://www.addme.com
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October 17, 1998 Newsletter #1
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.....THIS WEEK'S ARTICLE.....
SEARCH ENGINE UPDATES
=====================
RECENT NEWS
===========
1. Excite and Web Crawler will now be using Meta Tags
in their relevancy ratings. That leaves Lycos as the
only major search engine not using Meta Tags.
2. In September, Microsoft launched its search engine
MSN Web Search. They are using the Inktomi service
(same as HotBot). It is currently in Beta and there
doesn't appear to be any way to submit your site at
the moment. We have 625 pages listed with MSN, so
they obviously got there through one of Inktomi's
other partners.
THE IMPACT
==========
This reinforces what we have mentioned before, and it's
worth repeating again: if you do NOT get into the major
search engines, in a reasonably good position, you are
dramatically limiting your visibility on the net. When
using one of these search engines, here is what you are
really using:
Search.com ............ you're using Infoseek
AOL NetFind ........... you're using Excite
GoTo.com .............. you're using Excite
LookSmart ............. you're using Alta Vista
Snap .................. you're using Inktomi (Hot Bot)
MSN Internet Search ... you're using Inktomi (Hot Bot)
So, if your site doesn't get well placed in the major
search engines, the effect is compounded throughout
the net. So what should you expect in trying to get
into the major search engines?
FIRST, BE REALISTIC
===================
There are thousands of people running in the Boston
Marathon. And you decide to enter. You're 40 pounds
overweight and you haven't run more than five steps
since you were 12. (Why is everyone looking at me?)
What do you think your chances of winning are?
But what if you were really serious? What would you
do? Loose some weight? Start exercising? Do some
running? You'd start to optimize your body in
preparation for the race.
Will you win? Not likely. Maybe you've got a dream
of winning the marathon, but a more realistic goal
would be to finish the race and to place well.
The same is true of search engines. Do nothing. Don't
optimize your site. Don't add great Meta Tags and your
placement chances depend on luck. But do something and
you will definitely improve your position and you will
even have a shot at the top.
THE SIZE OF THE MARKET
======================
The degree of success you will have, is affected by
a number of factors. Among them:
Your Site Design
Your Content
Your Title
Your Meta Tags, etc.
But, perhaps the greatest influence is the SIZE of the
market (i.e. search term) you are entering. If you are
trying to be in the top 10 when somebody does a search
on the word "computers" good luck! I did a search in
Alta Vista on "computers" and got 8,700,000 results.
Forget it.
So then I did a search on "PDQ123" and I got 3 results.
Really! (I have no idea what PDQ123 is, I thought I
just made it up).
Sell computers? Hard to get well placed. Sell PDQ123
computers? Wow! What an opportunity to get a great
placement in that category. So now what you do is make
sure that part of your site (i.e. one or more pages)
is optimized to emphasize the term PDQ123 so that if
and when anyone does a search on that term ... you're
there! You are not only there, you'll dominate the
category!
p.s. If you do sell PDQ123 computers, I'll even
guarantee you a TOP 10 placement. Maybe even a
TOP 5. How's that for confidence. Just send me the
bucks!
===================================================
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THE BOTTOM LINE
===============
If you optimize your site in an attempt to place well
in "computers" you will definitely improve your placement,
but you are going to have a real hard time getting into
the TOP 10 in all the search engines. Too big of a
market. Too many factors. Too many variables influencing
the listings. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try. It just
means it's hard to do. By the way, if you make it into
the TOP 200 of a large market, consider it good.
Where optimization works best, is if you can identify
smaller markets (i.e. search terms) and then aim for
a top ranked placement in those areas.
Here's another example: a search on "flowers" revealed
1,900,000 pages. A search on "magnolia blossoms" has
132,000 pages. A search on "rose petals" has 6,800.
Yes you say, but most people will enter the term
"flowers". Yes they will. But it's like the Boston
Marathon. In this market we're not likely to win.
We'll do the best we can, but in the race for
"magnolia blossoms" we've got a shot at winning!
And in the race for "rose petals", look out!
So try your best in the large, overcrowded markets,
but make absolutely sure that you pay particular
attention to the more specialized areas of your
business and you'll have a much better chance of
pulling in the traffic.
REAL LIFE EXAMPLE
=================
With the kind permission of Duane Shinn, here
are the results in Alta Vista of a recent
optimization that we did on his site. Duane
is a piano instructor and markets about 300
"teach-yourself" piano courses. So the site
was optimized to get the best possible placement
for the sale of his material.
http://www.playpiano.com - 17 pages were optimized
and submitted
SEARCH TERM POSITION # OF HIS PAGES
LISTED OUT OF
piano courses
7 17 our of 25
cassette piano lessons
4 17 our of 25
piano lessons cassette
4 17 our of 25
chord strategies
1 12 out of 12
keyboard lessons video
17 17 our of 35
learn the piano
18 17 out of 45
play the piano
72
keyboard lessons 75
video piano lessons
99
piano lessons video
102
piano
not in top 200
In a number of categories, we were able to dominate
the first 25 or 35 listings, meaning that anyone doing
a search on these terms would be inundated with Duane's
listings. But on the word "piano" we don't even show
up in the first 200 listings.
So we may not win any visitors when someone does a
search on "piano" but if they look for "piano courses"
we win, hands down.
THE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS
========================
There are a number of components that make up a Site
Optimization Program. But we have categorized the
process into 3 stages.
Navigation
Page Design
Meta Data
In future articles we'll take a look as some of these components.
Article by Len Canning (candocdx@lemaze.com), founder
of LeMaze Resource Center(http://www.lemaze.com). LeMaze
lists in excess of 14,000 marketing and web development
resources. And for those who don't have the time or
inclination to do it themselves, they provide an array
of marketing services. Like a Free Meta Tag Analysis for
your site, check out our Free Meta Tag Analysis
(http://www.lemaze.com/Features/Submit_Forms/tag_analysis.htm).
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