sqwint

Hi This is a request to any web designers out there, as I am in the process of launching a website selling limited edition artwork. The artists site is currently ranked number one on google when his name is searched, and I am looking for hints how to increase the traffic or footfall into the site for people wanting to buy art in general.
I am a novice to that side of things, and again any help type forums to sign post me to so I can read up will be gratefully received. I understand the basics of meta tags and I do have a professional web designer employed building the site, but I don't want to have to totally rely on him for advice. Ideally when the site is built, I wish to be able to take over the day to day admin and promotion of it without too much extra support.

Many thanks
Sqwint

sqwint

Top

Another request for some help. Are there no forums that webdesigners use?

Any help very gratefully received
Cheers
Sqwint

Scooby Soon!

and me!

SJ_Skyline

Sites are indexed and ranked on the page content - sounds like stating the bloody obvious? Well, in reality, yes it is!

The URL of the web page is ranked.
The Title of the page is ranked.
The page header <h1> <h2> <h3>.... are all ranked.
Links within the page are ranked.
Text that is bold, emphasised, italicised is all ranked.
Links to the page from other sites are also ranked.

- So -

Lets say you want a page that ranks well on the word "nuts", www.nuts.com would rank well, www.nuts.com/nuts.htm would rank even better. Having the word nuts displayed in the title and the text of the pages will also help out. External links to the site need to be labeled as "nuts"

- Importantly -

Make sure you know what words and phrases you want emphasis placed on. It's all well and good saying I want a top spot on google - yeah what do you want the top spot search phrase to reflect?

- Finally -

Remember, not everybody can be top. Different search engine place different emphasis on the page components and they also change how they work on a fairly frequent basis to stop people playing the game!!


Hope that helps!

Rich

Dave_A

As Rich said!

There are a lot of factors involved in getting a page well ranked in the search engines, not least the actual content of the site. Make sure you use your keyterms in the first few paragraphs on each relevant page, don't go over the top, make all text natural sounding. Use page title, H1 to H6 tags, links and meta tags, although meta tags are becoming less of an issue these days.

inbound links are important, so try and get registered on any reputable directories that deal in your chosen venture, who will hopefully help increase your importance in the eyes of google. Consider investing in google adwords to increase traffic over the medium term.

Don't just try on google, MSN and yahoo are also fairly good at sending visitors your way.

Sites such as www.digitalpoint.com/tools/keywords will allow you to keep track of where you are ranked on google for various key phrases that you want to rank well for.

forums such as webmasterworld, digitalpoint, seoforum etc will all have relevant tips on optimisation. There is a lot of rubbish talked about website optimisation and search engine ranking, at the end of the day, content is king.

Dave
www.scoobyphotos.com

sqwint

Thank you so much. We have been liasing with other fine art sites and we do have a banner exchange program with an affiliate program in the background, which will help with in bound links. I also have some natural type web domains that will be signposting to it as well. I really appreciate the guidance, as we want to get this right ready for a launch early new year.
Sqwint

Ps Skyline, rember your scooby doo spotlight covers..that was me!

Mark

SJ_Skyline

Mark,

I do indeed remember those It's been a while mate, must be more than 3 years ago!! I'm now in a land of the responsible, driving a Pug


Rich