Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

It is so confusing and conflicting… I read. I listen. I rewrite. I repost (to my website). Nothing changes except the advice given on the next article I read. Can someone help me settle this frustration?!!???

I am talking about the writing style, of copy, on a website. I understand it is best to write copy that is descriptive, and involves the use of many descriptive words, so long as the description stays on point. This writing style is to provide multiple key words, and possibly links, for higher positions in search engine rank. At the same time, people searching might use a different word than just “car,” in order to search for an “automobile” on the internet. Therefore, the more your copy provides many descriptive terms and stays on point, the better the search engine rank.

CookieMonster has provided some great advice recently about this very subject. Not only to me, about my site, but to others here at SuN. CraigL has also provided valuable viewpoints about the subject. A few professionals have weighed in as well. But I am still unclear.

Is it best to get right to the point?
Is it best to create longer expressions of thought to involve more search terms?


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Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

iouone2,

Before I decided to start my own business, I worked in the SEO field at one of the leading firms in the country for over a year and a half, so I have a very good inderstanding of your issues.  And no, I`m not running an SEO business, rather a retail buisiness, but that`s beside the point.  SEO is a funny arena.  People want to make it out as so secretive and dark, but it is actually very (at least good SEO shoule be), transparent.

My first question to you is what type of, if any, keyword research have you conducted?  That is the first step to a carefully thought SEO strategy.  Once you have determined the keywords you wish to target, then you begin optimizing your site.

It`s apparent that you have already had much input on this topic, so I don`t want to confuse the issue any more, but I`d be happy to answer any questions I can.


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Rod Call
Snoloha
www.snoloha.com
rod@snoloha.com

I`m all ears too.  I`ve read through the SEO posts here and lots of articles.  I`m getting that it is an art and not something that is transparent.  If it`s something that is not a science then why is it seemingly so hard to do? 

I`m working on optimizing my site with key words that I researched through Yahoo and Google and doing my own searches.

I don`t even know the right questions to ask.  Is there a tool on how to ask the right questions?  Here are some of mine.

* What should I put on my home page as far as descriptors?  My mission, what type of products we carry, etc?

* How should I describe my products?

* If I have the same key words on every page does this hurt me or help me?

* I don`t know other questions to ask...

Here is the URL to my web site:  www.mytruegenius.com.  I`ve not begun work on optimizing it yet.  I`m still researching how to best do this, but would like to get it tight before the holiday rush. 

Also, I have someone working on redoing my main products page and shopping cart.  Not happy with how the first web developer designed these.

I would appreciate any comments, suggestions that not only help me, but would be helpful to others on the forum.

Thanks!

Tammy

 

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Tammy Graham, Founder & CEO, True Genius Apparel Company: fitting your personality; www.mytruegenius.com. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Tammy-

First, how long has your site been online?
Second, what type of keyword research did you conduct on Google and Yahoo!?

Your challenge, as is mine on my own site, is the sheer number of competing sites already in your space.  Your name alone "True Genius" is a competitive term.  This is why it`s so hard to do!  We`re trying to prove our relevancy and uniqueness among thousands and thousands of other sites that the search engines are already familiar with.  And to add to that frustration, natural SEO takes time and it takes management.

Sites that are already established and have positions in the SERPs (search engine results pages), are very difficult to knock out of the way.  It takes a very formidable opponent to climb to the top of the SERPs.

Another obstacle is the size of your site.  Though it`s a great looking site and very targeted, there are so many sites online that are very large with a substantial amount of pages, content, and product.

Where you should be able to establish a presence is through identifying any niche phrases and longer keyword "phrases", (think keywords that are made of 2- 4 words, or more.).  Though these terms may not get the traffic of more general terms, they are more qualified shoppers so you should see better conversions.

As for the holiday rush, unfortunately it is much too late for any Natural Optimization efforts to make a difference (though you should still optimize of course). 

Before I get too in-depth, I should back up for a second...do you have any analytics installed on the site?  This will help you in more ways than you can imagine.   From keywords people are currently using to find you, to exit pages, bounce rates, new vs. returning users,  geo-tracking, and a ton more!

I`ll stop for now, I need to take a closer look at the site...




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Rod Call
Snoloha
www.snoloha.com
rod@snoloha.com

Hi SnoMan

 

Thank you for your reply.  We’ve only been live for a couple of weeks.  I’ve been researching key phrases through Yahoo and Google for: kids t-shirts, kids trendy t-shirts, kids urban t-shirts, unique kids t-shirts, made in USA, organic kids t-shirts, etc.  I’m put together quite the list.

 

When I type in “True Genius Apparel Company” or “True Genius Apparel Company website” my posts from SuN show up at the top of the list (I guess that is a plus – at least my name is showing up at the top with my website!) , but not my own link to my web site.  I went 30 deep and still could not find the link. This is why I need to optimize.  I don’t necessarily want my potential customers to read about the strategies I have to attract them J through my SuN posts J.

 

We are doing a ton of PR in order to drive people to the site for the holidays because I know that we will not get them there by happenstance per my experience from above.

 

What do I need to do to install analytics to the site?  Is there software that I need to install to do this?

 

Thanks so much for your feedback/suggestions.  I so appreciate it.

 

Cheers,

 

Tammy

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Tammy Graham, Founder & CEO, True Genius Apparel Company: fitting your personality; www.mytruegenius.com. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Use Google analytics, it`s free, super easy to install, and it is very powerful!  You`ll love it.  It almost becomes addicting looking at all the graphs and data

http://www.google.com/analytics/

Let me know what other questions you have.  I`m happy to help.





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Rod Call
Snoloha
www.snoloha.com
rod@snoloha.com

Awesome, Thanks so much SnoMon.  You`re fabulous!

Tammy

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Tammy Graham, Founder & CEO, True Genius Apparel Company: fitting your personality; www.mytruegenius.com. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

SnoMon... Great information. I would love to know more with specific examples. You can use my site or truegenius site if Tammy doesn`t mind.

I am all ears and searching for the true path. Maybe the path is paying a professional to help. What`s it cost for this type of assistance?


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Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

How long has your site been online?


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Rod Call
Snoloha
www.snoloha.com
rod@snoloha.com

SnoMon,

I noticed twice in this thread that you asked "How long has your site been online?"  I assume that you have some insight into the number of visitors vs. how long a site has been online.  My site, shown in my signature, has been up for about two weeks.  I have split my time between adding content and trying to do the usual SEO things that I can do for free (link bait, add url to search engines, crafting content, etc...).  I would also be interested in any information you have about the "general" growth vs. time online for web sites.


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