How do Search Engines view your site?

Although your web site may look great to the human visitor, it is crucial that the Search Engines view your site correctly.  But how do you know for sure what your site looks like to the typical Search Engine?

SEO-Browser.com is a very handy tool that answers this question.  And, although SEO-Browser has started to charge for this service, they do offer a free one-day pass. 

To use the free service, visit the site and sign up for the one-day pass.  Once in the site, enter your web address and click on the Advanced button (it's not that scary).  Some of the information returned back to you may include:

• The number of words, images and links on the page;
• Potential problems areas such as Flash, Javascript, imagemaps, and frames;
• The number of backlinks from Google, MSN, and Yahoo; and
• All the text, links, and images that can be indexed.

Use this tool to spotlight troublesome areas such as the use of Frames or a low number of external web sites linking to you (backlinks).  Once all the troublesome areas are identified, you can begin to draft a plan of action to make your site much more Search Engine friendly.

I recently had a prospect contact me worried that they could not be found in Google, even doing a simple search on their name.  One quick look at the home page through SEO-Browser showed them that the former web designer had just a single Flash animation with no other links to the interior pages.  When a search engine visited this page, there was nothing to index, no text or links!

I was subsequently hired by this client to rewrite their home page and several of their interior pages.  I removed all of the Flash and used good old-fashion text and images.  Within a few weeks, my client's web site was indexed and available to the searching public.

Internet Marketing Unleashed!

Welcome to all the readers of DuctTape Marketing to our new blog adventure.  I'm honored and excited to bring to you the best practices in attracting visitors to your web site and converting them into lifelong customers.

We'll be discussing topics such as search engines, pay-per-click advertising, linking strategies, monetizing your web site, and designing your web site for maximum performance.

We'll be launching on June 6th, so until then have a great Memorial Day weekend and talk to you soon.

Mark