Here are some points to consider when building a website:

1. Website Text Most recently Google is looking for exact keyword phrases in a websites text. In past it would look at text on index page and put keywords together, even if they were in different paragraphs. Google still does this, but now is putting more relevance on exact keyword phrases, rather than putting keywords together separately. Example: If a website is selling 'checks', it should have exact keyword phrases in text for all its related services: 'business checks' 'order business checks' 'deluxe checks' 'designer checks' etc.

* On your main (index) page, text should be informational and tell your visitors what your site is all about. * Make sure your text contains your keywords and phrases, but don't make it hard for your visitors to read.....stuffing keywords into text, just for sake of higher rankings, will not do you much good for your visitors, if text doesn't flow well. * Conventional wisdom calls for around 250 words of text on index (opening) page, in order to insert our needed keywords. Its not so important how much text. What is important is that you need enough text in order to insert all your important keyword phrases, without text sounding 'spammy'. * Search engines (Google especially) love information. This means that more info you offer your visitors, better you may rank. If Google sees that you are offering your visitors helpful information, they will reward you for it. If you have .pdf articles or files, create article in HTML (and .pdf if you like, its fine to use both methods together). This will allow search engines to read article and index information. Many .pdf files are images, which search engines won't index well. Convert it into HTML, and they will. * Not only does Google like information, but other websites will link to you, if your site offers information that their visitors would be interested in. More links means a higher rank in search engines. * Create separate pages with information. Example: If you have a hotel website, create a page about local attractions. If your service is real estate, then have articles on 'How to Obtain a Home Mortgage' or 'Home Inspection Tips'. Not only will Google love you, but so will visitors to your site. * Don't use promotional language in your text like 'we're best' or 'the number 1 real estate service in USA!'......just reading that last sentence makes me ill. Your visitors aren't stupid, don't treat them like they are. Not only will it displease your audience, but it won't help with search engines either. Do you think a search engine spider cares that you're service is 'absolute best service ever offered on planet'? Nope. * Be sure to use good text on your subpages as well.......the major search engines love text and will see ALL text on your site, not just index page. Google is trying to 'figure out' what your site is about. It will look at whole site to do this. So, if one of your main keyword phrases is 'laser printed business checks', you should have a page devoted just to that. * The key to good website rankings is to take advantage of many keywords that relate to services you offer, not just a few, and create pages for them.

The research collects findings from 121 Hong Kong trading firms involving in foreign trade through telephone interview. Also, a separate focus group was held with 8 marketing managers and 1 search engine optimization (SEO) specialist. We believe implications also apply to other geographical areas.

We have extracted part of results to present in this article.

1. Employed SEO service or Exercised SEO Before?

103 (85%) respondents reported that they have neither employed any search engine optimization service nor self-exercised any search engine optimization service. However, 18 (15%) respondents pursued some sort of search engine marketing including search engine submission to search engine optimization.

2. Importance and Concerns of Search Engine Marketing/Search Engine Optimization

A rating scale of 1 to 5 was employed, with 5 means Very important and 1 means very unimportant. Respondents reported that they perceived that search engine marketing could be a cost-effective method to help them get new overseas customers (rating 4.7).

Respondents also considered following factors whether they would use a search engine marketing firm: 1. Pricing (4.6), 2. Deliverables (4.8), 3. Guarantee Clause (4.0), 4. Ranking against rival firms (4.7), 5. Possibility to get to Top 10 ranking (4.1), 6. Chance to increase response rate (4.8)

3. Paid for Performance Search Engine Marketing

This question has an explanation about meaning of paid for performance search engine marketing. The question includes pay-per-click and paid-for-inclusion plan.

Again, a rating scale of 1-5 was employed, with 5 means Very important and 1 means very unimportant.

The respondents expressed that they concerned possible high cost (4.8), potential fraudulent clicks (4.9), delivery of message to right persons (4.7), and time required to manage campaign (4.2).

4. Understanding of Search Engine Optimization

This question asked about their knowledge of search engine optimization techniques. Respondents were given 3 choices: 1. Yes, 2. No, 3. Don't know.

31 respondents perceived that major task of search engine optimization was adding keywords in Title and Meta Tags while another 62 of them were not sure about answers. 108 respondents did not know link building was an important factor that could help them improve search engine ranking. Interestingly, 72 respondents believed that program “submit to 1000 search engines” could increase their website traffic. 101 respondents did not realize that content analysis and improvement measures such as keyword density ratio and keyword proximity ratio played a role in search engine optimization.

In general, most respondents believed that they did not possess sufficient knowledge on search engine optimization.

5. Focus Group

Another 8 marketing managers were invited to a focus group interview. 4 of them had experience in employing search engine optimization firms, and another 4 considered using search engine optimization services but finally had not taken action. An SEO specialist was acted as a moderator in interview.

In interview, they generally agreed that search engine marketing could help them to generate business leads. For those who did not use SEO service expressed that they abandoned to pursue as they could not make up a decision. First, they were not familiarize with how to achieve good search engine ranking. Second, pricing scheme offered by different SEO firms varied greatly from US$19.99 to US$5,000 up-front fee, and some also required US$500 to US$5,000 monthly service fee. However, SEO firms could not express clearly deliverables that clients could obtain and they also refused to clearly explain methodologies that they would use. These facts made interviewees very difficult to persuade their boss to use SEO service.