- A potential customer can locate a website entering such a large variety of keywords, phrases, synonyms, misspelled words, expressions, etc. that limiting positioning of a website to utilization of five, ten, fifteen, or even twenty keywords would not begin to cover spectrum of possibilities available to any Internet user. - The origins of prospective clients are typically so diverse that adopting an online marketing strategy that simply positions a website for a limited number of search engines would greatly reduce chances of capturing additional audiences frequenting areas such as forums, user groups, e-mails, newsletters, referrals, chat rooms, blogs, online articles, etc. Even though, in most cases, Google, for example, generates over 75% of traffic referrals for a website, it is important to note that external referrals to a website from areas such as forums or newsletters are also taken into consideration by Google and other search engines while positioning a website. A complete web positioning strategy should therefore take into consideration external website referrals due to effect that they have on overall positioning and also because these referrals are excellent sources for directing more qualified traffic to a website. - A web positioning report illustrates ranking that a website would obtain if keywords chosen by us were submitted to list of search engines also selected by us. A web traffic report, on other hand, shows exactly how a prospective customer found our website (i.e. shows both keywords typed in by customer and search engine used by customer.) - A web positioning report shows spot that could be achieved, but provides little insight on how to improve results obtained. One of many features of a web traffic report is ability to capture what specific keywords and corresponding search engines generated majority of visits to a website, or those that actually converted visits into real customers. This continuous feedback provided by web traffic reports is an excellent mechanism to fine-tune search concepts and improve their effectiveness. - Web traffic reports can also be utilized to analyze how popularity of a particular search concept evolves over time and how new trends or concepts are born. This information enables incorporation of new niche keywords that will improve positioning of a website not only by reducing scope of a search, but also by increasing chances that a potential customer will select those keywords. - Finally, a web traffic report also lists all external referring entities (e.g., forums, chat rooms, blogs, etc.); information that will prove invaluable for expanding a web positioning strategy and enhancing its vision for a more global reach.

Attracting qualified Internet traffic to a website (i.e. customers that are interested in products or services being offered) ought to be ultimate goal of any online marketing strategy. This effort cannot be simply limited to selection of a series of search keywords and engines, all chosen beforehand. Instead, a more global approach must be adopted that encompasses web optimization, search engine submissions, inclusion of references in external areas such as forums, user groups or value-added portals, publication of articles, and contribution of content to other websites. This expanded strategy will enhance our overall Internet presence and will enable most popular search engines to locate a website applying a greater variety of search concepts. Lastly, by applying feedback obtained from web traffic reports, our global Internet presence can be continually improved and sustained to ensure consistent and effective results.

Once you have created site structure and inserted all of your content you will then begin basic optimization of your site. In your code you will want to create Meta tags that fit your keyword choice. The two most important Meta tags are Description tag and Keyword tag. Your description should highlight your keyword phrase, keeping it focused, to point and readable. Your keyword tags should also be focused using each keyword a maximum of 3 times in any set. These tags should be customized on each page to fit specific phrase targeted.

After Meta tags have been inserted appropriately to fit each page it is important to title each page appropriately. The main targeted phrase should be focus of title, keep it simple, focused, to point, do not bog it down with extra descriptive text, this is not your description, it is your title.

Next move onto Alt tags. Though it is good practice to add Alt tags to all your images spiders only put weight on those that are contained within links. An example of this: <a href="http://www.beanstalk-inc.com"><img src="Images/webhead.jpg" alt="Beanstalk Search Engine Positioning" width="461" height="145" border="0"></a> These Alt tags allow you to make your images matter. Most main navigation is image based so be sure to add appropriate Alt tags targeting your keywords to this very prominent area of your site. Another great place to add a link along with its Alt tag is in your header image. Linking this image to your URL adds ability to make first thing spiders hit within your tables to at least hold some content that "matters" rather than simply a static image.

H1 tags are also great way to add weight to your content however, use them wisely. You can use any of H1,2,3,4 tags, idea being H1 has most weight, H2 a little less and so on. Do not over use these tags or they will lose their value all together. The correct way to use these is to use them where they actually belong, for example first line of text on a page, title. Also, if you are defining your fonts in a style sheet, which you should be, be sure not to abuse these tags. An H1 tag should be defined bigger than an H2, etc.

Utilizing above tips will create a site structure that is perfect environment for spiders, it is clean, focused and easily read. Your site structure is now optimized and ready for more advanced content optimization elements to come.

Next Week

Next week in part four we will be covering content optimization. This will cover everything from meta tag optimization to use of heading tags.