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Blitz Ezine # 224 September 2, 2003
Advanced SEO - Five Key Elements

Note: This is an archived issue. Some links and/or content may be outdated

The Blitz-Promotions News Letter
Issue no. 224, September 2, 2003

************ In This Issue **************
Comments
Food for thought
Articles
The Classifieds
Next Issues
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Blitz Comments
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We hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. Yesterday I worked but it was outside... so quite a change. We did have a chance to watch some football with friends and family and even though our team lost, we had a wonderful time.

This issue starts a six part (could be more) series of on advanced search engine optimization techniques. Here is the outline for the issues.

1. Five things to make sure you have on your site.
2. Advanced keywords - part 1.
3. Advanced keywords - part 1.
4.Finding your competition.
5. Dissecting the competition.
6. Density.

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Food for thought
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When people are more important than profits, everyone profits.

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Advanced SEO Techniques.
Five things you need to make sure you have.
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If you haven't taken our free courses on link building and search engine optimization, make sure that you do. You can find more information by clicking on the links below.

http://www.blitzpromotions.com/ses.htm
http://www.ineedlinks.com/freelinks.htm

1. Site Map

Create a sitemap with all the links of your site. Make these links as descriptive as possible, please see below for more information on doing that. Add your site map link to every page on your site.

2. Focus of the main page.

Optimize your main page of your site for your three toughest keywords. Your index page will most likely have the highest page rank (pr) on your site so we want to take advantage of that.

3. Links to your main page.

Make sure every page of your site links back to the home or index page. It is much better to use a descriptive link than to use just a home link. Text links are also best. So for example if your toughests keyword is widgets - you could use a link like - Widgets Home - or something similar.

4. Focus words.

Each page of your site should be built around only 2 or 3 focus words. If you use more than that you will dilute things.

5. Checklist for each page.
a) Make sure the focus words are listed in your meta tag title.
b) Make sure that you have this words prominently (using an H1 tag) near the top of the page.
c) We'll be talking about density later, but for now make sure to include the keywords several times in the text - if you're working on keyword combinations (ie widget gifts) make sure to keep those together as much as possible - a few times on the page bold those keywords - make sure the focus words are at least once in the first paragraph (preferably the first sentence) - once in the last paragraph of the page - preferabbly the last paragraph.
d) Your navigation links should include at least one of the keywords in them.

You have a page dedicated to blue widget gifts / blue personalized widget gifts. Your link page in your navigation bar should be at the least blue widget gifts, but preferabbly blue personalized widget gifts.

Bonus - Add a page a week to your site. This can be articles about your products, new products, how to guides for using your products etc. Optimize the page for the main keywords on that page. Add a link to your pages and don't forget to add it to your site map. By the end of the year you'll have 52 more pages - if you just get a hit a day for each thats more than 360 hits a week, 1500 a month, 18000 a year. If your conversion rate for those page is just 0.5% you've just made 90 more sales.

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Links you can use -
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College football scores without a million ads.
http://www.sportingnews.com/cfootball/scoreboard/

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Copy Fixes--8 Quick Changes that Improve the Way Your Web Copy Sells
By Kevin Nunley
http://www.drnunley.com
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When something isn't selling online, people automatically start assuming things like, "Internet businesses never make any money," or, "My product/service just isn't in-demand." What I tell people when they come to me with these statements is that there are numerous reasons why their product/service might not be selling, and that they should explore other options. For instance, have they taken a good look at their web copy lately?

Most of the time, the people I talk to about their web businesses are selling a good product or service that people would want to buy. What stands in their way is often their web copy, or lack thereof.

I often hear people say, "Nobody reads on the Internet, so my copy just isn't that important." I want to amend that claim to this: Many people don't read on the Internet, but those who are looking to purchase a product or service always do.

In today's rocky economy, people aren't willing to throw money at a product/service they know nothing about. Many online shoppers spend hours looking for the item that is exactly what they want. Your product/service could be exactly what they're looking for, but with scant, uninformative copy, how are they going to know?

So it's time to make a few changes, nothing too painful. You don't have to throw out your old copy and start from scratch. With some minor alterations, your copy can inform, motivate and charge prospects to take action and buy.

Here are a few changes you can make to change the way your copy sells:

Give the Most Important Info First -- Don't force people to wade through two pages of copy before they can discover what you're all about. Get to the point right up front, in the headline, subheading, and first few paragraphs. If you have too much filler copy in the beginning and don't start getting to the point until later, all that copy your visitors read will be lost on them. It will have been out of context because you didn't provide them with a context.

First Things First -- Ever heard of "Inverted Pyramid Style" writing? It means starting with the most important sentence and following with lesser sentences. But not too many. Keep your paragraphs short so they don't overwhelm the reader.

Cut Words -- Web copy should use about half the word count or less than conventional writing, so keep it short and too the point. This isn't the great American novel. Your goal is to make sure your audience can understand every word you say while reading quickly. If they have to stop to get a dictionary because you used too many cryptic words or jargon, you'll lose their interest.

No Sub Par Subheadings -- Use only meaningful subheadings. Your subheadings should serve as an outline for your copy, making it easier for the reader to remember important points and gain and accurate overview of the products or services. If your subheadings are well-placed and meaningful, no one should have to read your copy twice.

One Idea Per Paragraph -- Don't load your paragraphs with ideas. Avoid confusing the reader by separating each idea into its own paragraph. This will also help you keep paragraphs shorter. Limiting paragraphs to one idea helps readers digest information a little at a time, promoting comprehension and recall.

Use Bullets -- When presenting information, it is helpful to separate the text with bullet points. Bulleted lists are easier to read than entire paragraphs, and the differentiation shows readers that they should pay special attention to bulleted points. In fact, readers are known for skipping over paragraphs and going straight for the bulleted text, so make whatever information is in bullets essential to motivating the sale.

Highlight Keywords -- You're going to get a lot of "scanners" visiting your site. These are people who don't read word for word, but glance over text looking or important information. Highlight keywords so they will know where to find this information.

Use Hype Where Hype is Needed -- Hype is like opera. People either love it or loathe it. So be careful where you use it. With certain products, hype has been known to reduce credibility, but with others, it increases excitement and motivates purchases. But if you want to add that punch here and there in your copy, use hype like paprika; just a pinch to tweak the flavor. An exclamation point here, a phrase in caps there, and you've got just enough to satisfy any palate.

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Kevin Nunley provides marketing advice and professional copywriting. See his affordable deals on web site copy, sales letters, and autoresponder messages at
http://DrNunley.com/copywriting.htm
Reach him at
mailto:kevin@drnunley.com or 603-249-9519.