Website Content Tips & TricksOptimizing the text and meta-tags that will go on the various pages of your website is a critical step for creating a website that will Get Searched and help your business to Grow Fast. The search engine optimization process needs to be started PRIOR to writing the text for your web pages. Preparing fully optimized content involves:

Understanding how search engines work Selecting keywords (and keyword phrases) to target in search engines Creating meta-tags using your targeted keywords Writing text for each web page that properly uses your targeted keywords

Content Formatting RequirementsProperly formatting the text, meta-tags, and images for your website is essential to ensure that it will look good online and that your programming team will know where to place it.

Text: The text for your website can be sent to us as a Microsoft Word document (.doc) or as a rich text (.rtf) file. Please send all of your content as a single document, with clear headings indicating which content should be placed on which web page.

Images: Images are an important part of your website, and we can place them on any of your web pages. Please title the image with the page and location that it should have on your website. Also, be sure to send your images as JPEG (.jpg) or PNG (.png) files with the dimensions that you would like them to have on your website. Dimensions are measured in pixels and no image should be larger than 1000pixels by 1000pixels. Most photo editing software allows you to resize your images. You can also use PixResizer, a simple resizing software that can be downloaded for free from http://pixresizer.en.softonic.com/ Please note that we CAN NOT use images that are saved as a Microsoft Word document or as a PDF.

Meta-tags: The meta-tags for your website can be sent to us as a Microsoft Word document (.doc) or as a rich text (.rtf) file. Please send your meta-tags for all web pages as part of your single document with clear headings indicating which meta-tags should be placed on which pages. .

The checklist below will help you to make sure that all of your website content has been properly prepared. But first, carefully read through the section on search engine optimization. These next few pages are crucial to ensure that your website will GET SEARCHED.

Copyright: It is important not to infringe upon anyone else’s copyrights. Doing so can result in very unpleasant lawsuits. So before submitting content, ensure you have obtained the right to use all text and images that will be placed on your website. You can find free stock photos at www.sxc.hu or low cost stock photos at www.istock.com and www.stockexpert.com

Content Done For YouAfter watching hundreds of website development projects, we get it.

We know that developing your content is the hardest part of launching your new website. Coming up with the text for each page (plus all of the photos for the entire website) is a time consuming process. And if you want to do it right with all of the keyword research and meta-tags, it takes even longer.

So to help you save time and headaches, our team can handle this entire process for you. We start with a short phone interview where our staff quickly gathers the needed information about your company, your products and services, and your team.

We then write compelling copy designed to capture your visitors’ attention, hook their emotions, and prompt them to take action. The focus of your content will be first shining a spotlight on your company’s unique competitive advantage and then turning that unique offer into concrete actions from your visitors.

Once we have completed the text, we provide it (along with the proposed stock photos for each page of your website) to you for review. Based on your feedback we then edit the copy and revise the photos to make sure that that they both reflect the exact picture that you want to portray for your company.

If you’re interested in more information on having the content done for you, just ask your project manager.

Search Engine Optimization OverviewSEO is the process of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic that your site receives from organic (i.e. non-paid) search results. In lay terms, SEO is most often described as “getting more visitors from Google without having to pay for them.”

Before we jump into how to do that, it is important to understand how search engines work. Search engines have automated programs (often referred to as “spiders” or “bots”) that read through the information on a web page (referred to as “crawling” that page). The spiders then store that information in a huge database. When someone runs a search, the search engine then sorts through this database of web pages, ranks all the pages in order of their relevance, and then displays an ordered list starting with the most relevant pages.

So the first crucial consideration is to make sure that your site will be found by search engines so that they can send a spider to come and crawl through your content.

Once your site is found, you then need to convince the search engines that your site is HIGHLY relevant for the correct search terms.

Note that we said the CORRECT search terms. This means that the next step is to identify which search terms or keywords you want to target. You want to cast your net wide enough to catch the majority of people who are searching for you, but not so wide that (a) you catch people who aren’t looking for you, or (b) you are competing with large websites that you can’t beat (yet!)

After you select the correct keywords to target, you can then write good meta-tags and website content (or web copy).

We will now explore each of these steps in more detail in the next three sections:

1. Keyword Selection

2. Writing Good Meta-tags

3. Writing Good Web Copy

To ensure search engines index your new website, we will submit your site for FREE to 20+ search engines. (Yes, including Google.)

Keyword Selection Tips So how do you select the right keywords and keyword phrases to target? Here are the basic steps:

1. Brainstorm – Come up with a long list of the keywords and keyword phrases that your potential visitors would search to find the information, services, or products that your site offers. This will help you to fill out the first column in your Keyword Selection Worksheet on page 13.

2. Survey Customers – Talk to potential customers to expand your list of potential keywords. More importantly, this can tell you what the most popular keywords will be for your target market. This will help you to revise the entries in the first column of your worksheet.

3. Keyword Research – Several online tools will give you concrete data about the number of times users perform specific searches. The leading tools are WordTracker (WordTracker.com) and Overture (searchmarketing.yahoo.com/overture.php). You also should measure the difficulty (or level of competition) for your potential keywords. Some feeling for this can be gotten from WordTracker and Overture. A full analysis tool can be found at SEOMoz (http://www.seomoz.org/keyword-difficulty). These tools will help you to fill out the second and third columns of your Keyword Selection Worksheet.

4. Determine Relevance – Some search terms are more relevant, meaning that someone who arrives at your website by searching those terms is more likely to take your targeted action. For example, suppose you had a website selling wheels for lawn mowers. Someone who came to your site through searching “buy replacement wheel riding mower” is much more likely to make a purchase from you than someone who arrived by searching “compare riding mowers”. Use the fourth column of your Keyword Selection Worksheet to evaluate your keywords’ relevance.

5. Select Your Terms – Now you need to select which terms you are actually going to target. Compare all of the information you have gathered and make an informed decision as to which keywords and keyword phrases have the best combination, balancing high popularity and high relevancy with low difficulty. Then choose which page you will optimize for that keyword. Targeting two to four keywords per page is a good starting place.

6. Testing and Analytics – SEO is an ongoing process. Once you have optimized for specific keywords, you then need to track which keyword searches are bringing traffic to your site. This will give you invaluable information about potential keywords that you may have overlooked. Keep your Keyword Selection Worksheet to help you with this process on down the road.

Keyword Selection Worksheet

Finding the best keywords to target for each of your web pages can be a daunting task. If you need some help, we are here for you! We offer a complete Keyword Research Package, including a full analysis of potential keywords, their popularity, and their competition. To learn more about the package, just ask your project manager.

Now that you understand how keywords relate to SEO, use this worksheet to help select the right ones.

Potential Keywords & Phrases(Your ideas & customers’ suggestions on good keywords)

Popularity (# Searches / Month)

Difficulty(Competition for Keyword)

Relevance(% chance keyword leads to conversions)

KeywordSelected(yes / no)

Page to Target (Ideally 2 – 4 keywords / page)

Writing Good Meta-tags

Now that you have selected your keywords we can create the proper meta-tags for each page. Meta-tags are code that your site visitors do NOT see that defines your title, description, and keywords for each page.

The first meta-tag is your page title. The title plays a very important role in determining your search engine ranking. So create a title for each page that uses your targeted keywords and is 66 characters or less in length (including spaces). Additional characters will be truncated by Google.

Your description meta-tag is most important for prompting humans to click on your listing in the search results. If your description (defined by your description meta-tag) includes the term that the user searched for, then many search engines will display your description. Otherwise, the search engine may create its own description, which is often nonsensical.

Properly written titles and descriptions provide a much clearer understanding of what your site is all about, making it MUCH more likely that someone will click on your site’s listing in the search results. So create a description meta-tag for each page that uses your targeted keywords and is 155 characters or less in length (including spaces). Additional characters will be truncated by Google.

Finally, we’ll turn to your keywords meta-tag. Search engines are placing less and less of an emphasis on this tag. But it will still help your ranking in some search engines (even if it is a minimal impact) and so we recommend using it. This means that your final step for meta-tags is to create a keyword tag for each page that uses thirty or less of your targeted keywords, separated by commas.

To help improve your search rank, we will code your meta-tags for FREE! And to help you out even more, we will write your home page meta-tags for you, too!

Meta-Tag WorksheetYou can use this worksheet to help write good meta-tags for each page of your site. The starting place for good meta-tags is selecting the right keywords to target, so be sure that you have already completed Keyword Selection Worksheet above.

Page Name: _________________________________________

Targeted Keywords (2 – 4): ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Title Tag (By far the most important tag for your search ranking. Maximum of 66 characters in length.)

Description Tag (Important tag for influencing click-throughs. Maximum of 155 characters in length.)

Keyword Tag (Thirty or less of your targeted keywords and phrases, each separated by a comma)

Page Name: _________________________________________

Targeted Keywords (2 – 4): ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Title Tag (By far the most important tag for your search ranking. Maximum of 66 characters in length.)

Description Tag (Important tag for influencing click-throughs. Maximum of 155 characters in length.)

Keyword Tag (Thirty or less of your targeted keywords and phrases, each separated by a comma)

Writing Good Web CopySearch engines heavily weight the text content on your web pages. This means that when writing the content – or web copy – for each page, you need to use your targeted keywords properly.

Keyword density is a percentage representing the number of times that a specific keyword (or keyword phrase) appears on a page compared to the number of other words on the page. For example, if you use the word “coffee” three times in a one hundred word paragraph, you would have a density of 3%.

As search engines become more refined, keyword density has become much less important. That said, it is still essential to use your targeted keywords when writing the content for each page. Aim for a keyword density of 2% - 7%.

But most importantly, make sure that your content reads naturally and is enjoyable for the visitor. Artificially using your keywords too many times on a page can get your site penalized for “keyword stuffing,” so write naturally while using your keywords. When you are done, check the density and – if needed – tweak it slightly to ensure that it is between 2% - 7%.

Also be sure to use your keywords early in the page text. In the first paragraph provide an overview of what this page is all about and use your targeted keywords. This is good writing style AND good SEO.

Finally, it is essential to use keywords in your headings. Search engines assume that your section headings are an accurate description of the content to come, so they weight the words in headings more heavily than the other words on the page. So when you are writing your content, be sure to use your keywords in your page titles and section headings!

MASTER CONTENT DOCUMENTNow you are ready to write your content for your website!

Your Master Content Document starts on the next page.

Use everything that you have learned above and all of the worksheets that you have already completed to guide you content writing. Focus on what makes your company unique and allow your personality to shine through. Make sure that you also sounds professional and earn the visitors’ trust.

Fill out the Master Content Document by placing the correct content on each page.

Once you have completed that, use the checklist on the last page of this document to make sure nothing has been forgotten.

When you are sure that everything is ready for publication on your website, save it as a single Microsoft Word (.doc) or rich text (.rtf) file and send it over to your project manager.

Home PageA slideshow, followed by sections on What We Do, Who We Work With, Meet Jay, and a recent article. Each section will have a link to “Learn More” directing to the appropriate page of the site.

Our ProgramsOverview of the variety of services offered, including training & speaking services.

Title Meta-Tag:

Description Meta-Tag:

Keyword Meta-Tag:

ProductsFor each product this page will display the title, price, description, and a thumbnail image of the product. Clicking on the “Read More” link will take the visitor to a page with the full the details on that individual product plus a “Buy Now” button to purchase the product.

Title Meta-Tag:

Description Meta-Tag:

Keyword Meta-Tag:

Bumper StickersPage with the full the details on individual product plus a “Buy Now” button to purchase the product.

Change BoxPage with the full the details on individual product plus a “Buy Now” button to purchase the product.

Our ClientsThis section will showcase testimonials organized according to industry. The page will display a heading for each industry, followed by a photo gallery that displays relevant recommendation letters from that industry.

PLEASE LIST THE TITLE OF EACH INDUSTRY AND THE FILE NAMES THAT YOU WOULD LIKE PLACED IN THAT INDUSTRY’S GALLERY.

Title Meta-Tag:

Description Meta-Tag:

Keyword Meta-Tag:

Training ResourcesThis will be a full featured blog. Please provide the content for the first two articles to be published in this section.

Article Title:

Title Meta-Tag:

Description Meta-Tag:

Keyword Meta-Tag:

Article Summary:

File Name for Featured Image:

Article Content:

Article Title:

Title Meta-Tag:

Description Meta-Tag:

Keyword Meta-Tag:

Article Summary:

File Name for Featured Image:

Article Content:

About JayThis page will tell Jay’s story, including key successes.

Title Meta-Tag:

Description Meta-Tag:

Keyword Meta-Tag:

ContactContact information plus a contact form that visitors can use to submit a message.

Speaker ResourcesThis page will display information for upcoming events, including program descriptions, a speaker bio, and photographs. This will be a Protected Page.

Website Content ChecklistOnce you completed all of the background work for search engine optimization and have prepared all of your content, it is time for this worksheet. The check list below will help you to double check and make sure that all of your website content has been properly prepared. (If you would like to review it again, the full explanation of how to format content is found on page 1 above.)

Meta-tags

Fully researched key words (see above for more information)

Made sure all meta-tags have correct length (see above for more information)

Entered all meta-tags into Master Content Document.

Text

Entered all website copy into Master Content Document.

Properly used targeted keywords in text (see page “Writing Good Web Copy” above)

Saved Master Content Document as a single MS Word (.doc) or rich text (.rtf) file

Images

Resized all images to the dimension you would like them to have on your website

Saved all images as jpegs (.jpg) (If an image needs to have a transparent background, save it as a .png file.)

Titled each image with the page and location where it should be displayed

Don’t forget, we are here to help you! If you have any questions on how to prepare your site content, your project manager will be happy to answer them!

And if you would like us to handle writing all of the text and licensing all of the photos for you, our Content Done For You package is always available.