Webable Marketing's Blog

The following links will direct you to important resources that explain what can improve your search engine rankings. The information contained in these guides changes frequently so it is a good idea to check them regularly.

I have extracted some of the key points from these guides and displayed them below.

Google's Webmaster Guidelines (full guide)

Do's

• Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content.
• Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site includes those words in it (without stuffing).
• Make a site that allows users to easily find information. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.
• Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number.

Dont's

• Don't create multiple pages, sub-domains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.
• Don't load pages with irrelevant keywords.
• Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.
• Don't use cloaking or sneaky redirects.
• Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines, or other "cookie cutter" approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content.

Google Search Engine Optimization Guide (full guide)

Do's

• Use unique page titles and Meta Descriptions that effectively communicates the topic of the page's content.
• Write content that is easy to read, organized, fresh, and unique.
• Use H1 Heading Tags and Bold to highlight important titles.

Dont's

• Don't use extremely lengthy titles and Meta Descriptions that are unhelpful to users and stuffed with unneeded keywords.
• Avoid having content that is copied from other sites, has fragmented topics, and stuffs keywords.
• Avoid excessive use of heading tags and bold throughout the page

Promotion Tips

Does

• Make regular announcements via your blog, social media, and email newsletters.
• Add your information to business listing directories and recommendation sites such as Google Places, Facebook Places, Yellow Pages, Yelp.

Dont's

• Don't send bulk emails where the user doesn't have an option to unsubscribe as you may be flagged as spam.
• Don't send social media followers misleading information on products, services, and events.
• Don't register your business as a Facebook profile or group. Use Facebook Business Pages.

In the recent article "The growing productivity divide" , author/blogger Seth Godin points out a number of simple tasks that can significantly increase the productivity of individuals who spend a large part of their day interacting with computers and the web.

Here is the list of tasks:

• Can you capture something you see on your screen and paste it into Word or PowerPoint?
• Do you have a blog?
• Can you open a link you get in an email message?
• Do you read more than five blogs a day?
• Do you have a signature in your outbound email?
• Do you have an RSS reader?
• Can you generate a PDF document from a Word file you're working on?
• Do you know how to build and share a simple spreadsheet using Google Docs?
• Do have a shortcut for sending mail to the six co-workers you usually write to?
• Are you able to find what you're looking for on Google most of the time?
• Do you know how to download a file from the internet?
• Do you back up your work?
• Do you keep track of contacts using a digital tool?
• Do you use anti-virus software?
• Do you fall for internet hoaxes and forward stuff to friends and then regret it?
• Have you ever bought something from a piece of spam?

Now don't be worried if you were only able to check one or two of these tasks off this list because as Seth points out "it is not hard to find someone who will teach you". In my next few blog posts I will help you learn a number of these tasks.

Many of you may have heard of the term Web 2.0 and might even be regular users of Web 2.0 and Social Networking sites like Facebook, Linkedin, or Digg. If you do not understand any of the first sentence than you should do a little research and read what Wikipedia has to say about (Web 2.O , Social Networking, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Digg).

One of the main problems with the new web is that most users are under the impression that it is only geared to solve minute problems in your personal life. This is due in large part to the high profile sites like Facebook that in most cases are time-killer sites that offer very few real productivity benefits (besides making spying on friends a lot easier). The reality is that the new web can in fact solve almost any problem you can think of and the quicker you learn to use its tools the more productive you will become in both your personal and business lives.

In the following blogs posts under the "Learning The New Web" category I will be discussing how to leverage the new web and its many tools to increase your productivity and become a more efficient web user.