There are many things to consider when you are looking to start a website. First thing you need to figure out is what is the exact point of your site? Is it going to be purely informational or are you going to be selling something. These things are very important to the ground work of how to begin.

Building a Website is like building a house. The first thing you need to do is basically layout everything just like the makings of a blue print for a home. Next you need to take it to an expert to make sure your plans are correct and that nothing will collapse on you in mid stream.

The next thing you will need to do is keyword research. This really needs to be done even before you purchase a domain name for yourself. Keyword research is probably the most important thing when it comes to your website.

Once have done your research you need to then buy a domain name and hosting for your site. This is important almost like buy the property for your home. Once you own that domain or property no one else will be allowed to build on that domain or property with out consent from you.

These first few things are essential for starting a website. Stay posted as further steps will also be explained.

I used to think there were 2 kinds of Tags – One being those itchy things you find sewn inside your shirts, and the other being a game kids play in the playground during recess.

Then, I got into SEO and a whole new world of tags was opened to me – Meta, Title, H1, H2, H3, etc etc… So what are these “tags”, what do they do? And how important are they?

Title Tags:
Are, as you may have guessed the “title” of your site. When someone bookmarks your site, the title tag is what the site is saved as. The text you place in the title tag will appear in the reverse bar of someone”’’s browser when they view the web page. Look at the top of your screen. Whatever it says at the top of this page is whatever text is in the Title tag. Title tags should be short, sweet and to the point, containing no more than 65 characters – with the most important words first. Each individual web page should have it’s own unique title tag.

Heading Tags (H1, H2, H3 etc…)
Think of “H” tags as headings in a book or magazine. Heading tags are used to show the different important sections in your content. It helps the search engines differentiate the importance of the text.

H1 = Chapter Heading
H2= Section Heading
H3 = Paragraph Heading

Think of heading tags as a way to organize the text on your website in an outline fashion. For example, if I were to write a webpage about cars I might use the following heading tags:

<h1>Automotive News</h1>
<p>some important text here</p>

< h2>Manufacturers</h2>
<p>text about car manufacturers</p>

…<h3>Chrysler</h3>
…<p>text about Chrysler</p>

…<h3>Ford</h3>
…<p>text about Ford</p>

<h2 >Vehicle Styles</h2 >
<p>text about vehicle styles</p>

<h2 >Pick up Trucks</h2 >
<p>text about pick up trucks</p>

Meta Tags:
Meta Tags seem to be the most well known “tag” term. There are a few different types. Meta Tags are HTML codes that are inserted into the header on a web page. The meta tag lets you influence the description of your page in the Google search spider, which establishes what a website is about. They should ideally contain no more than 175 characters and explain accurately the webpage (specific) subject. The main purpose for having a meta description is not for the search engines themselves. They are for the end user to see a description of the page from the SERP’s (Search Engine Results Page).

So, in conclusion, the most important tags as far as the search engines are concerned, are the:

• Title
• then the h1
• followed by h2 and h3
• lastly the meta tags

In order for Google to index the site correctly, the description tags must be unique for each individual page.

While meta tags still have a relevance, their importance has been devalued greatly due to the methods that Google employ to search websites.

If you have any questions regarding tags, or any other aspect of SEO, please call us on 1-800-935-5133, and our highly qualified SEO Techs will be more than happy to discuss your inquiry with you.

More simple descriptions to come later – stay tuned…

Attention small and local business owners: I know that many of you have dabbled here and there with your own online marketing tactics. Many of you that I talk to on a daily basis report to me that you are spending anywhere from $100 to $500 a month (because it seems like a reasonable amount) on Google Adwords or some other form of Pay Per Click advertising.

It’s true, search engine optimization or any changes you make on your website for that matter, seem to take a while to see the results. In fact, it takes most of the search engines roughly four to six weeks to see the work you’ve completed on your website. What can you do to see some results now? Pay Per Click advertising. It’s actually not that difficult to get up and running yourself, believe it or not.
Think about it. If you have competition in your area that is “shellacking” (I got that from Dick Vitale) you online then PPC is a great vertical to fight back with.

Need some simple instruction? Try these simple steps on your own:

Try Googling your geographic area and a keyword associated with your service or product. For instance, if you are an outdoor landscaper in Idaho Falls, Idaho – then Google “Idaho falls landscaping”. See if you appear anywhere on the first page.

In addition, see who else is there. If you recognize the names of the businesses showing up on the list as your competition, and you aren’t there, then you should seriously consider setting aside some money to do pay per click search advertising to build new local business awareness.

When you start your pay per click campaign you need to make sure that your website is has keywords embedded with local geographic places plus your industry keywords.

Come up with a well written ad copy connected with your most important landing page on your website. It’s always a good choice to use pages that have great information and a good “call to action”. A call to action can be a button that says “Contact us now”, or “Free Quote” or “Sign up”, etc… Setting up a page with a good Call to Action can prove to help you get a good ROI.

If any of these tasks seem to be difficult, or you just don’t have time to complete them, it would be then that I would recommend you give us a call. Doing a simple local PPC campaign can be a fast easy way to get a neck up on the competition. If organized and executed properly, you can reap a great amount of business from it.

Next tip: Pick an aggressive starting budget and test it out!