3. The bigger website better.... It's simple, more pages your website has, more keywords and phrases you can use. The major search engines will index all of your pages (for most part).

4. What pages won't a search engine 'see'? It is best to build a website in a language search engines can understand. If you have a site that takes all its information from a database on your server, search engines likely will not index that information. Example: You have a website that sells tickets. Since tickets you sell are for shows and events that are constantly changing, your webmaster probably will build you a site that is dependent on pulling information from a database. Spiders generally have a harder time 'seeing' information from these types of websites. I recommend that for every 'dynamic' or database driven service on your site, you also create a basic HTML page, that search engines can follow. For instance, you may have a new comedy show coming to town that you want to sell tickets for. Just like above example on autographs, you should create different pages and sections on each individual type of show. Have a link for 'Music Tickets', then a link for each type of music and create a separate page for that......like 'Rock and Roll Tickets', 'Country Music Tickets' etc..... all with their own separate page. Now, you have created a way for search engines to 'see' that your website not only sells tickets, but also what types of tickets, down to last detail. You will now find yourself listed in search engines for a multitude of ticket related keywords. If your whole site is database driven, number of keywords you will be found under will be much less.

5. Other Tips: * Use keyword internal linking: Search engine spiders 'see' what each link to a page is being labeled. Example: if you have a page that is about 'Sports Autographs', then label all your internal links to that page as 'Sports Autographs', rather then something like 'click here for more autographs'..... in other words, use keywords to label your internal links. * Have at least your major links listed on main (index) page. Also, a sitemap is a great tool for search engines (and visitors) to use, to find all of your pages. Have a link to your sitemap from your index page. * Make sure you have location of your shop, office, store etc. on your main page (in HTML text), even if services you offer are geared to a national audience, it is smart to appeal to your local audience as well. A good way to do this is to have your company name, address, town and state at very bottom of your page, in an unobtrusive manner. Put it at bottom of every page on your site. * Its a good idea to make changes to your site at least occasionally. Since search engine spiders are constantly crawling web, they will visit your site regularly. Updating your text (even just a little) or creating new pages shows that your site is active. * Its ok to have external (outbound) links on your site. Again, it shows that your website is offering information. If your website is about 'Colorado Real Estate', then list some Colorado related sites such as: official Colorado state website, or maybe a site that talks about restaurants in Colorado etc. * Use 'Call to Action' language on your pages....i.e. 'click here to fill out our response form' or list your 800 number prominently on every page. * HTML Tips title= use this command for all your internal links (each link can have its own 'title') Example: a href="http://www.web-promotion-specialist.com/searchengineoptimization.htm" rel="nofollow" title="Search Engine Optimization" alt= use this command to describe what your images or photos are (search engines can't 'see' images, so you can tell search engines what each image or photo is about) Example: img src="images/logo.gif" width="131" height="80" alt= "Company Logo"

Another point made by interviewees was very interesting. For those who have employed SEO firms, some of them perceived that they were being kept in dark as they did not know what SEO firms were actually doing! When they scrutinized changes made by SEO firms, they found that SEO firms have just written some keyword phrases in Alt Tag, Title Tag and repeated them in Meta Tags. Then, SEO firms only ran reports for them in subsequent months and asked them to wait for results. Finally, they found that they had not got any extra traffic from keyword phrases suggested by SEO firms while SEO firms claimed that they had achieved more than what was written in guarantee clause (e.g. 20 Top 20 rankings in major search engines). Only 1 interviewee felt satisfied to chosen SEO firm. This was because they knew deliverable, got desirable number of top rankings, and a piece of link exchange software called Automate Link Exchange free and they could continuously manage link building themselves after project end. The SEO firm also provided suggestions for them to maintain ranking afterwards.

Also, participants voiced out that they also wanted to know their search engine rankings against their rival firms.

6. Implications to Business Firms

In general, it was a consensus that search engine marketing could help to generate new business leads. However, it was not a simple activity. Most business firms lacked knowledge and tempted to use an SEO firm. However, quality of SEO firms varied. In order to select a good SEO service, business firms should define clearly their objectives. E.g. some firms might simply define that they wanted a better ranking than their rivals or that they wanted a better conversion rate. Then, it was suggested that business firms talk with SEO candidates and try to differentiate which one was more knowledgeable. Moreover, business firms should discuss with selected SEO firm in order to get an agreement on number of deliverables and project schedule.

From research findings, many business firms were yet to optimize their websites. That means if you first optimize your website, you could have an advantage over your rivals in search engine exposure perspective.

7. Implications to SEO firms

SEO firms should spend time and clearly explain to clients SEO techniques and methodologies that they would use. Some SEO firms might fear that they would expose their “top secret” techniques. However, you could not get business if your clients could not understand SEO processes and failed to persuade their bosses. In addition, SEO firms should apply optimization techniques with a consideration of usability of websites. Do not make site look silly or unprofessional. Also, clients would not mind your using of optimization software such as