How am I doing?

SEO wasn't even part of my vocabulary until a few weeks ago, but since then I've been trying to improve my website and I wonder how it is getting along.

My website is www.it-home.biz and I've been trying to optimize it for the phrases "e-learning" and "computer training". The latter one still needs some work.

I've been using a software called Web CEO to assist me in the process of optimizing. Any experience with programs like this?


Any feedback/hints/critisism will be appreciated.


Best regards,
Rayner Vestgard

hi Rayner,

A few things you could do that might help improve your visibility in the search engines:

1. do some keyword research using WordTracker (www.wordtracker.com). Find out what keywords people are using to find sites like yours and then work those keywords into your page copy.

2. get some links pointing to your site! Get listed in directories (like yahoo, dmoz, joeant, etc) and try to get as many other sites to link to yours as possible. this will dramatically improve your chances of getting good SE rankings and in turn getting more traffic.

hope this helps.

Lowell

Hi Lowell,

Thank you for your suggestions.

I checked WordTracker and found that my Web CEO program does the same thing for me.
One thing that comes to mind is that it's recommended to optimize for often used phrases. Wouldn't it be easier to get higher ranking with less competition. I would think that using phrases more rarely used will make it easier to get higher ranking, thus giving more quality hits. Am I wrong?

As for listings I've been submitting my site to all the free engines that I've come accross. Will paid listings give better ranking?

Links pointing to my site? Is this just any link from my friends websites or are there any particular considerations to be taken?


Again, thank you very much for taking the time to review my site.


Best regards,
Rayner Vestgard
www.it-home.biz

but how much traffic will you get.. aim low and you get low. aim high and you never know how high you can go!


Not really, it just gets you onto engines that use the services



Get links pointing back to you in related fields, and get links that have a high PR in google. More links to you, the more important you may be. But do not submit to link farms or FFAs. Get good quality links from good quality places. Look for places, like your industry directories that accept links. Quality links will help you. You have good content. Now go an put all your formatting in an external stylesheet and make sure you validate your code at W3C so that it is useable by all. The more content, the better useabilty, the better search engines like you.

zen

I was getting ahead of myself in my last post in regards to WordTracker. I've been reading more about it and I now see how the KEI results will benefit me.

I've tried to find the answer without posting, but I didn't get any smarter so here goes:
What do you mean by "put all your formatting in an external stylesheet" and "validate your code at W3C"?
I assume you are reffering to www.w3c.com, but I was unable to find the answer there.

Also, you write "the more content, the better useability". Should I have more text on my optimized page? I've been trying to keep it short and to the point, but maybe that wasn't such a good idea?

Thanks,
Rayner

Uss CSS for your text formatting... things like font.. use CSS.. font is a deprcated tag. If you use CSS, then the text becomes easier for the search engine to read. And make the stylesheet an external one.

On the text, you really need to give it some room to breathe.. Move it away from the change in color. It is hard for the eye to pck up each sentence when it is slamed up against the side of a box like that..

as far as amount of text, you have a good amount after a quick look. Don't trim it too much, you still need to feed the searcher what they need. The primary point is to get the searcher what they want, and to keep them on your page... good content does this. It brings them in and keeps them. If you can keep them, chances are they will either use your services or buy from you somehow.

About the W3C.. good validated code usually will look better to a SE, and to a viewer. It can point out some problems that both peole and SE can have with reading your page. No the answers are not there, just the html code standards for you to make a useable page.. run pages thru the validator.

I am sure you will do ok with this site.

zen