Sunday, November 14, 2004

Networking with Quality Link Exchanges

Regional Connections

Quality link exchanges with compatible websites can be a productive source of leads. Unlike the free for all link exchanges and offers from online casinos, that usually hurt your site's credibility, carefuly chosen link exchanges enhance your visitor's experience. They can foster refferral business offline as well.

What is a quality link exchange? It is a legitimate site with which you have some synergy, some overlap in your target customers.
Say you are a retailer of high end furniture, you might find that linking with a custom home builder or condo association site may bring you targeted business leads.

A Links page can be added to most sites with minimal re-tooling. Editors can be installed to allow even the web newbie to add/edit their links page. Many website hosts, offer editing tools that enable clients to edit any of their regular web pages.

At Unlimited Media we encourage networking with other quality websites. Below is a sampling of quality websites in our region, spanning Columbus, Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and places in between. Most sites serve customers nationwide.

Consumer & Shopping:
hoopladesigns.net Custom bead, stone and wire jewelry
stainedglass-lighting.com Stained Glass Lamps and Accessories
glovon-clovon.com Home furnishings, Cincinnati, OH
fwfarms.com Smoked Trout & Gourmet food gifts
paolousa.com Modern furnishings, lighting, gifts
paolousa.com custom designed modern jewelry
wallingfordcoffee.com retail coffee, tea and gift packages
flybynightbookstore.com nature-based spiritual books, gifts
windrushsls.com personal security protection and safety products
babygreek.com baby and childrenswear with official sorority logos
columbusdeals.com Shoppers savings resource for metro Columbus
frenchrendezvous.com French gifts, fabrics, collectibles
irelandalacarte.com custom gourmet and pub tours of Ireland
busonus.com Charter Buses and Tours, Cincinnati, OH
mtlookoutchiropractic.com sports injury and chiropractic, Cincinnati

sannemanhomes.com Custom Home Builder, Cincinnati, OH
equisfinancial.com Mortgage Loans, Pittsburgh, PA

Business to Business:
wallingfordcoffee.com office coffee services, retail coffee and tea gift pkgs
azprt.com Printing, full service, Cincinnati, OH
gilliamselect.com service and parts for printing presses, OH
jmillerlimo.com Limosine services
gormansupply.com Promotional Specialties, Cincinnati, OH
classicimpressionsonline.com Promotional Items
displaycenterinc.com retail store displays and supplies, Miami, FL
heerenaviation.com aircraft marketing and consulting, Longbeach, CA
marilynhyland.com marketing, advertising, PR consulting, Cincinnati

Authors, Actors, Artists etc.:
bobelkinsactor.com actor
ivanrogers.com actor, filmmaker
sheilajwilliams.com novelist, fiction
rogerbrucker.com non-fiction
poeticserenities.com christian poetry
anchorworship.org christian music ministry
hotwaxmusic.net music for disc jockeys
chrisdunnett.com classical/fusion music artist
barklage.com videographer
gripmeister.com production equipment grip truck, Cincinnati
anamcaraband.com local band celtic music, Cincinnati





Saturday, November 13, 2004

Website Marketing - writing for search engines

Creating Content with Targeted Articles

One of the best ways to promote your listing on the search engines is to have plenty of related content on your site. The content that search engines like best is text, although depending on your type of site images may serve you well. For most sites from jewelry to web services a few basic articles on the subject will increase a sites rank.

The basics of writing for search engines:

  • Focus on one set of keyphrases per page. Do some research to determine the most commonly used search terms in your subject. WordTracker is one such online tool that gives you how frequently phrases were searched on. One keyphrase can have several variations of use, plurals, etc. Focus on this phrase and closely related keywords. Trying to get too many non related keyphrases into one page will dilute the effectiveness.
  • Keyphrase density should be about 3 or 4 times for every 250 words of copy. 250 words is minimum for most pages.
  • Use less-competitive keywords. Target your page to specific types of visitors, these may be narrower in focus than your overall site and therefore have less competition for top search engine ranking. For example if you sell custom jewelry, there is intense competition for that keyphrase on Google. However if you narrow it regionally "custom jewelry Cincinnati" you will note that the chance of getting a high ranking is much better. Write several short articles for each of these niche audiences.
  • Write smooth flowing copy. Just because you are optimizing your keyword content for search engines doesn't mean you forget about your readers. Avoid short blocky sentences, proof and edit your copy at least once. Longer articles allow you to express your ideas without bunching up your keyphrases. If your reader can tell that you are writing with keyphrases in mind, you might want to edit your text to lighten the density. It often helps to proof and edit the next day or a few hours, after writing it.
  • Guide the reader to the desired action. If the goal of your site is to have readers order an item online or contact you, then your copy should lead them to that towards the end.
  • Avoid too many links in the copy. A few links to specific store items or services can be useful as long as the readablility of the page is not compromised. Keep your links in context.
  • Title and Meta tags should be written for each specific page when possible. Title tags can contain up to 20 words. The Meta description tag will be used often by search engines and may determine whether a visitor clicks into your site.

Coming Soon: Submitting your Site's Pages

Assistance is available with copywriting, page design, site optimization or other web services at Unlimited Media. Contact me to get started or request a Quick Quote for your specific needs.

More Reading:
Copywriting: Key to Search Engine Visibility and Conversions
5 Reasons Why Blogging is Great for Your Jewelry Business