Owning Your Category Online - Is Our Website Broken?

"Owning your business category online is more than just a few keywords... Is your website broken?"

Let's face it, the Internet is a crowded place... and it's becoming even more crowded as you read this. Your business can't stand still online, and you can't afford to look backwards. Qualified, targeted traffic generation is what we all desire. Owning your category online goes a long way in providing just that.

It's not about just looking forward, but moving forward and taking some ownership. Every business online today is worried about being found in the Top 10 Search Engines and Directories for their products or services - and they should be! Statistics still make them (search engines) the number one stop for all surfers.

But, just for a moment let's imagine that these search engines and directories provide the most relevant results. That's right, let's just say for the sake of this article, that they all work extremely well. O.K?

Now, since we believe that our products or services are way more relevant than those companies listed above us in (today's) search engines results - we have to admit something is wrong... but remember, the search engines are perfect.

We all know you can buy your keywords in Google? and Overture? right? Does that make you the best? (not.) Do surfers know this? (Yes.) Does it make your business (your website) any more relevant? (No.) It does put businesses with a larger budget at the top of the pile again, that's all. Is this why many of us don't click on sponsored links? (Ahem...)

If the search engines were (are) perfect, then let's get back to something else being wrong. Hmmm, my website must be broken! Wow, somebody is actually staying with me here.. My website must be broken?

Why else would all those "other" websites be showing up ahead of my business when people search for my products/services/information? Don't these people know we are the experts? (nope.) Don't they know our products are superior? (nope.) Can't they see the skill we employ and our dedication to employee and customer service? (nope.) Haven't they read the reviews? (probably...)

So, in an effort to help you "own your category online", here's some suggestions to assist your business in getting ahead of those "other" websites and putting your business where it rightly belongs! If you already employ all these practices, we commend you. But if you find yourself behind, these tips can help your company without having to become a Webmaster or a Search Engine Marketing Professional. Pass these on to your Marketing Team and get better results and recognition starting today!

Do: Research the search terms (keywords) that people would use in seeking out your offerings. You can start with Wordtracker? and the search terms you first come up with.

Wordtracker? will help you locate terms that are similar to your terms in meaning and search. It is a tool that gives you an *idea of what the general terms people are using, and how many searches are taking place on these terms... * that's another book though. This is a great starting point and the trial really is free!

Tip: Do not just 'look-up' your company name, - prospective customers or vendors or partners are not looking you up by your 'company name' in Google? - they don't know it yet...? Surfer's have become quite good at 'searching'. Be specific and general. You can also learn who you have to beat online! - Who's kicking your butt when people search for your product or service online? That first page of results is your market share online!

Do: Make sure you have a *keyword specific "Title" for every webpage that's relevant to the content on that page (*keyword specific, not keyword stuffed).

Page Title; Top of the screen, blue 'title' bar (in explorer). I still see thousands of websites with "Homepage" in the title bar, or "MyOneHotBusiness.com" and just that phrase or 'Title' is repeated throughout every page on their website! Each page in your website is (content) unique - make it's 'Title' unique too! Or call your webmaster with new "titles" for each of your website pages. Different values are placed on this "page title" from the different search engines and directories.

Tip: Add "Chicago, Chicagoland, Illinois" to the end of your Title (your city, state). This helps in regional search queries.

Do: Have at least 200 words of (content specific) text on the pages of importance (homepage, category pages, etc.). This is what the engines and directories DO read, these words and links are how the engines interpret what's on this page. Images or pictures of words or "ads" are not "read" so-to-speak. Make this text content highly relevant to the topic (product or service) on this page.

Tip: Put your fancy Flash commercial on a link from your homepage and put up a content relevant page of your best text instead! Visitors will still look at your commercial if you tell us it's cool, but don't force us to watch it! - That's not what we came for. This Flash file does almost nothing for search engines and directories.

Do: Have yourself or your professional staff write articles on their specific area of expertise in product or service. Make these articles a webpage with relevant links to the product or service directly.

Short of hiring a Search Engine Marketing Consultant or a Professional Copywriter, these detailed articles if rich and full of relevant content, are the exact pages that will generate you the most qualified and targeted visitor to your business! Once these 'article pages' are crawled (indexed) by the search engines you will be pleasantly surprised to see that (now) you are a more relevant search result.

(Not to be confused with 'links' or 'reciprocal linking programs' - your (article) webpages are much more "read" and effective in sending the reader to your site, or keeping them there, not to mention the branding opportunities)

These articles not only show your business as an authority, they prove it in words and information for the reader, me, a human. These concise type articles are an excellent way to gain exposure, recognition (branding), traffic, and yes, even sales. You said you were an authority, now prove it.

Tip: Submit these articles to other online and offline publications and Ezine's. You make them available to other websites just for leaving your Author and link intact. There are businesses craving this type of content for their website's success! Your business website will begin receiving quality traffic from every website that posts your company's article(s)! Now there's a strong statement.

Do: Include your URL (www.) in every piece of material you print - every piece of traditional advertising you already pay for!

Every week I read through different newspapers and magazines - I can't believe how many businesses forget to put their web address in that Advertisement they paid for. You pay big bucks for a quarter page ad or whatever, and then never mention your website!?! Which is open 24/7/365 - and that Tribune is just around for two days! Start your marketing return on investment right there!

Tip: Offer a website only promotion or coupon in your Ads to generate further interest and traffic to your specific offer web pages!

Do: Ask visitors to "Bookmark your site" or "Tell a friend" or "Send this article to a friend"...

Your visitors don't always think of it, so just ask them? Bookmarks not only increase return visitors, but they also give you a vote of confidence in providing something worthwhile... even if that's a return trip! This does not have to be bold and obnoxious either, a simple button saying "Bookmark Us" will do on any business website.

Do: Be Patient. All search engines and directories have different timeframes for updates, changes and new submissions. After making changes or additions to your site, allow 90 days after initial submission for realistic results to begin showing in the major search engines and search directories. Owning your category online is more than just a few keywords. Don't just say you do all these things!

Do: Go and check!

Tip: Go and check again!

Because if you do your best with these few suggestions - your website will show up higher in the search results for those relevant terms you selected. You'll be hundreds of websites ahead, and getting more qualified visitors too. There's much more to owning your category online, but every business should be employing these "level one" marketing concepts.

There, now we can stop imagining that the search engines are perfect.

Good Luck.

About The Author

Scott is the Founder and Sr. Project Manager for Hyperformance Media, Inc. a website marketing company since 1996. His 24+ years experience in the computer industry can help your business succeed online!

RELATED ARTICLES

Free Search Engine Advertising: 10 Secret Ways To Indirectly Race To The Top Of Search Engines
Do you have a website that has little or no rankings in the major Search Engines: Yahoo. Msn, Aol, Netscape, Alltheweb and Google?

Keywords, Choose Them Wisely
By now you have likely heard that keywords and keyword phrases, are extremely important in having search engines display your website. So how do you choose them? Guess? Ask a friend? Check successful competitors sites? There is a better way!

A Play In The Sandbox Is Necessary
There has been a good deal written about the Google 'sandbox' effect, as it's known. It has been taking up a lot of forum and article space over the last few months. I can't help wonder why most of the comment I've been seeing is negative or at least ambivalent about the concept (if of course, it really exists, as is the case with much about SEs that we don't truly know).

The First Search Engine Marketing Method: Content That Meets Customers Needs
For your business web site, good search engine rankings and high user traffic depend on relevant content. More user traffic will mean more sales leads and then more sales. Beyond any technical tricks, content that meets the users' need for three types of information is the best guarantee that search engines and users will find your site. The Google and Yahoo page rankings favor sites that have articles of about 1000 words and that use keywords relevant to the user's search.

Which Search Engine Optimization Services to choose, Google OR Yahoo?
Search Engine Optimization is emerging as the most powerful form of Internet Marketing in the recent years, and is bound to increase in the coming few years. Many companies have now emerged from countries like UK,CANADA, and India providing cost effective Search Engine Optimization Services. Internet Marketing in the form of Search Engine Optimization has helped to build several successful business portals online. Many successful Software Firms,Travel agencies, Business services are becoming aware of the power of Search Engine Optimization. Studies have shown that you can generate 60% of your traffic alone from search engines like google, and rest 40% from yahoo, and other search engines.Search engine optimization is emerging as a new era of Online Business science, which helps to generate more traffic, and more revenues from your existing businesses. Search engine optimization is further categorized into two categories organic search, and PPC( Pay per Click). Organic Search engine optimization depends on the natural ranking of your web page, whereas PPC is a paid service offered for companies who want to kickstart their business from the day one without going through the labour of organic search engine optimization, which can be achieved over a period of time. In the broader perception it has been observed that Organic search engine optimization is far more reliable in long-term, whereas PPC is reliable for short term solutions. Many Internet marketing companies have emerged, helping business owners to achieve top rankings on major search engines either through Organic Search OR PPC.

Top 10 Little Used SEO Strategies
There are millions of web sites trying to get listed in the top 20 to 30 spots on the major search engines. That's a lot of competition! So if you're having a hard time getting those spots, maybe you should try some little used but effective seo strategies to get those prized listings.

Do You Submit Your Website To All The Search Engines?
There is really only one search engine to worry about submitting too and that is Google and you should only submit one page your main once and maybe a sitemap a week later but never more than once a week. If you have a link coming to your new site from a site that is currently listed in Google then Google will find you quicker.

Search Engine Success & The Google-Vision Secret
Want to know the secret to great search engine listings? Ignore Google.

Internet Marketing and SEO
Have you ever seen any email offers of getting you to the top of search engines guaranteeing top rankings. Like anything in life there is no quick result without hard work. When it comes to designing a website it is the proper foundation principle. Like any great structure you need the foundation built for search engines.

Use Search Engines For A Guaranteed Web Site Promotion
For your web site to succeed, you must use is search engines optimization. Web sites definitely need top rankings in major search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, AOL, and MSN. The higher the ranking, the more likely viewers will come and visit your web site. Your site should stay in one of the top positions in the search engines to draw the largest amount of customers.

Five Simple Steps to Getting Links to Your Site
Today if you want your site to survive in the search engines your going to need backlinks. Almost all the major search engines rank sites based on the number and the quality of backlinks. Besides getting a good search engine ranking with links, it also one of the most effective ways to increase a site's traffic. So, how do you build your link popularity? In this article I'll show you 5 simple steps that will help you build your site's link popularity.

Screwed: Is this an inevitability in the SEO World?
By about 2pm everyday, each of my team members has spoken to a good handful of clients and potential clients who have been speaking with other SEO firms. This an absolutely wonderful thing to see, as in the past in our industry, not enough of our consumers were questioning what they were purchasing. It is a sign that accountability will come and the bad guys will be weeded out.While this is a good sign, it's the cause of my having to answer the same questions over and over. The consumers in the SEO world are being fed out and out lies by some of the people who call themselves experts in the area of Search Engine Optimization. They hear these lies and while comparing prices, contact us at Abalone Designs. They then proceed to tell me everything that all of these other companies promised them and I am utterly astonished. Here some of the most asinine claims I hear through the grapevine."We can guarantee your rankings" Don't be fooled! Ask the company what you will be ranking for, immediately! 9 times out of 10, a company that guarantees you rankings, is guaranteeing that you will rank for your own company name, which means people on Google or MSN or Yahoo! would have to know your company name before searching. How does this produce new customers and visitors to your site? Chances are, as soon as these search engines index your site, you will rank within the top ten for your company name, if not first, because it is unique. Why bother paying someone for something that is already going to happen, anyway? Guaranteeing rankings is highly unethical. It is impossible to guarantee rankings unless you have access to Google's database itself, and even then I'm not sure it's possible. Keep in mind, we are working with a 3rd party, here. A highly guarded 3rd party that doesn't, under any circumstances, reveal it's secrets. No one outside of the companies that run these search engines knows what it is exactly that makes search engines rank sites high. Especially due to the fact that these search engines and the rigorous ranking filters they use to spit out search results change almost monthly. Even a former Google employee doesn't know how to guarantee rankings! If someone is telling you they'll guarantee top rankings, run fast! Those are some shady, shady claims. Google themselves have said:"No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google - Beware of SEO's that claim to guarantee rankings, or that claim a "special relationship" with Google, or that claim to have a "priority submit" to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is by using the page at http:// www.google.com/addurl.html. You can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever." - http:// www.google.com/intl/en/webmasters/seo.htmlAn ethical SEO company will not guarantee rankings. They will guarantee that their methods follow search engine guidelines, and they will guarantee customer satisfaction, but at no point in time will any SEO company with a conscience guarantee your rankings."Your site needs to be continually resubmitted to get on and stay on the search engines" When will I see the end of this one? How old is this method now? 5 years? 10 years? We're talking about the days when Webcrawler was the biggest search engine and all computers were beige! This claim is so fully untrue, had Pinocchio uttered it, his nose would have stretched from Rome to Poughkeepsie. And the good folks at Google will once again back me up on this one:"Submission is not necessary and does not guarantee inclusion in our index. Given the large number of sites submitting URLs, it's likely your pages will be found in an automatic crawl before they make it into our index through the URL submission form. We DO NOT add all submitted URLs to our index, and cannot predict when or if they will appear." - http:// www.google.com/intl/en/webmasters/1.html#A2"Meta tags are not important anymore"Sure they aren't. If you don't want a decent ranking on MSN. The new MSN search places a lot of value on the keywords and description meta tags. Without these tags in your site's code, your ranking on MSN will suffer. Just as importantly, if your keywords and description meta tags don't use proper language, your rankings will suffer. The description tag is also what MSN uses as the visible description for a site in the search results. And of course, to prove I'm not the one blowing hot air, here is what MSN themselves say about it:"Site descriptions are extracted from the content of your page each time MSNBot crawls your site and indexes its pages... ...the best way to affect your site description is to ensure that your web pages effectively deliver the information you want to see in search results." - Click here to see the page this is found on. "Your Web Site Has Been Sabotaged" This one is truly unreal. I can't believe it's even been used as an excuse for why an SEO company hasn't achieved decent rankings for you. But alas, more than one SEO company has told potential clients of ours that the reason they are not ranking well, or why their search engine optimization campaign is not effective, is because someone else has been sabotaging the site. Some of the clients who have been told this are small businesses, like bed and breakfasts or pet sitters. We always explain to these potential clients that the likelihood of someone even having the initial idea to sabotage a web site, the site in question would have to be a fairly large one, and the target of a lot of hatred. Why? Because sabotaging a web site's rankings takes a massive amount of time and energy. We're talking months, maybe even years of hard, hard work. Why would anyone devote months or years of their life to taking down a pet sitting site? Or a bed and breakfast?Once again, these are some hefty claims and it is a clear sign that the company who is running your SEO campaign is unwilling to be held accountable for their actions or lack thereof.Don't Put Up With It. The bottom line is, your search engine optimization company works for you. You are paying them. Hold them accountable as you would any other vendor. Keep reading these articles, read info at the search engines, educate yourself and if something your SEO says smells a little rotten, don't be afraid to call them on it.Is being screwed an inevitability in the SEO world? Damn near. But thanks to the increasing interest of our consumers in self-education and their increased questioning, our industry will slowly climb out of the gutter and someday down the line, send this article into antiquity. In spite of my pride, I'd be overjoyed to see that day come.

10 Things to Expect from Your SEO Copywriter
From the perspective of a business owner, webmaster, or marketing manager, the change exhibited by the Internet is profoundly exciting, yet profoundly disturbing. The information (and misinformation and disinformation) it offers, the business benefits it promises, and the rules it is governed by change at such a rapid rate that it's almost impossible to keep up.

Google, Adsense, SEO, and How It All Works
Google uses an algorithm to determine the search engine results (SERPS). The algorithm is based upon certain factors that include keyword density, Meta Tags, anchor tags, image tags, back links, etc etc etc.

Link Reputation - How to Improve Search Engine Rankings
One of the most overlooked strategies to improve search engine rankings is building your link reputation. This link popularity strategy is just as important or equal to creating keyword rich content pages.

Creating A Search Engine Copywriting Plan
Search engine copywriting has become an extremely important part of the overall search engine optimization process. However, in addition, search engine copywriting has developed into a misunderstood craft.

Seek Engines: What If Seek Had Bumped Out Search?
In the early days of the World Wide Web, when things were just getting started many geek speak terms were jockeying for position to be the standards for years to come. I used to drive by a California-based company every day that had named itself YKK and think, "What a pity."

What All Top Google Websites Have in Common
While it is okay to admire and envy all those sites enjoy top ranking with leading search engines like Google, it is much more important to study these sites closely. You will definitely end up learning a lot that will prove to be very useful in helping you take your own site to the top of Google rankings. Topping the search engines will mean huge volumes of traffic on a daily basis without you having to do anything. Healthy traffic, as you know almost automatically translates itself to healthy revenue for the site. And when you consider that over 75 per cent of the traffic that finds its' way to websites comes from search engines, you quickly realize how important and crucial top rankings in search engines are to any online business.

SEO Tips for Google
Getting a high ranking on Google is a big achievement. There are many factors that go into pulling a high page rank. I have put together a small list of things that should not be overlooked when optimizing your site. Let's start from the top:

Website Ranking With an Internet Marketing Specialist
On the internet, competition is stronger than ever. There was a time where paying a few bucks to get in Yahoo was enough to generate substantial traffic but marketing websites on the internet got much more complex since. Google is now a major player in the search engine industry and any serious internet marketing specialist and seo expert knows how important it is to get a good website ranking in that popular search engine. Understanding Google's algorythm along with having good html and writing skills can often make the difference between being an amateur or a good internet marketing specialist. Although, many other aspects that we will cover here should be taken into consideration when comes the time to find the right internet marketing specialist for your website.