Getting your Website on the radar screen.An estimated 85 percent of Web users use search engines, such as Yahoo, Google and Netscape, to find what they're looking for online. Registering your site with a search engine, however, is only part of the process--and it doesn't come with any ironclad guarantees. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The real trick is to direct a small percentage of these searches to your site--a process called "optimization." This simply means selecting the precise key words and phrases Words and Phrases® A multivolume set of law books published by West Group containing thousands of judicial definitions of words and phrases, arranged alphabetically, from 1658 to the present. that will draw your Website to the top of the list when potential customers are searching the Internet for products and services. The concept isn't new. Companies that choose names preceded by the initials AAA AAA: see American Automobile Association. (Triple A) A common single-cell battery used in a myriad of electronic devices of all variety. Like its double A (AA) cousin, it provides 1.5 volts of DC power. When used in series, the voltage is multiplied. , AAAA AAAA American Association of Advertising Agencies AAAA American Association for Affirmative Action AAAA Army Aviation Association of America AAAA Battery Size AAAA American Association of Amateur Astronomers or even AAAAA AAAAA American Association Against Acronym Abuse AAAAA Association Amicale des Amateurs d'Andouillettes Authentiques (used to qualify an andouillette, French cooked pork meat) AAAAA AHo's Amazing Atlas of Antibody Anatomy have been doing it for years to get themselves at the top of their categories in the Yellow Pages. Search engine optimization Designing a Web site so that search engines easily find the pages and index them. The goal is to have your page be in the top 10 results of a search. Optimization includes the choice of words used in the text paragraphs and the placement of those words on the page, both visible and hidden operates on a similar principle, but the process is far more sophisticated and the results potentially more rewarding. Research reveals that only the top 30 search results will ever generate any significant traffic or "click-throughs" to your site. In fact, if your site is not in the top 10 placements, you're missing 70 percent of potential customers who want to find your site. As a business owner, you pay only for results that actually produce the desired outcome: a "click-through," meaning someone visiting your site. Studies show that "optimization" costs less than direct mail, renting broadcast e-mail lists, banner ads, print ads, booths at trade shows, etc. Bottom line: Hiring a specialist to "optimize" your Website comes with a price tag, of course, but it may be worth the outlay. A few thousand dollars can cover the cost of an entire site getting optimized for and positioned in the top 10 search engines--Microsoft Network, Yahoo, Google, AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. , Lycos, Netscape, Excite, CNET (body) CNET - Centre national d'Etudes des Telecommunications. The French national telecommunications research centre at Lannion. , CNN and Alta Vista--which are responsible for more than 80 percent of today's Web traffic. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion