Vol. 2, No. 12
TODAY'S LESSON: Traffic Jam

So your very first website -- a Jelly Belly fan page called "Belly Up" -- just went live. Congratulations! But where's all the traffic?

The problem is, your potential visitors are going to search engines like HotBot or Google and looking for "Jelly Belly," but your site isn't coming up in the top ten listings. It doesn't even appear in the top hundred.

How can you optimize your site so it ranks high enough in search results for fellow Belly lovers to find their way to your site? And how to make sure those visitors keep clicking back for more?

>>> Search Me! <<<

A lot of people try to improve the ranking of their sites by filling their pages with irrelevant (but popular) terms like, say, "Russell Crowe." This might get your site percolating up toward number one, but what happens when users click on your site and find your poignant ode to your favorite Jelly Belly ("Watermelencholy without You") and your catalog of expired flavors ("Bean There, Done That"), but not even one sweaty gladiator pic? They'll click Back in disgust, that's what. And if you try to hold on to them with one of those trapdoors, where the Back key does nothing but reload your page, people will only hate your site all the more.

Another option is to pay for traffic. Look around and you'll find plenty of books and software that claim to hold the secret to drawing in users. You could even hire a consultant to do the job. But why fork over the frog skins when Webmonkey can show you how to improve your site ranking all by yourself?

Search Engine Optimization -- Free!

Learn how to optimize your site so it appears at the tippy top of result pages on sites such as Yahoo, Google, and HotBot.

>>> So Meta <<<

The most popular way to convert your site into a traffic magnet is with the META tag. If you're unfamiliar with this powerful tag, then let Webmonkey introduce you to the concept:

What Can META Do for You?

Learn the ins and outs of META refresh, META keywords, and more!

Once you're nice and METAbolized, you're ready to learn how to fine-tune the tag to get exactly the results you're looking for. For example, this META tag could do wonders for Belly Up:

<META NAME="keywords" content="Jelly Belly, Jelly, Belly, bean,
jellybean, gourmet, jellybean, flavor">

Note the repetition of "jellybean" -- repeating some key words can improve your chances of having your site come up when people search for those terms. But be careful! This is a popular technique of "keyword spammers," and a lot of search engineers have programmed their sites to ignore sites that abuse these tactics.

>>> You're Entitled <<<

Another easy, and often overlooked, way to optimize your site's search results, especially on Google, is by making sure the TITLE of your pages corresponds to your target users' typical search terms. It sounds so simple, but you'd be surprised by how many Web developers mess up this very basic task. The key is to be pithy and specific.

Something like this ...

<TITLE>Watermelon Jelly Belly</TITLE>

... will shoot that site to number one (with a bullet!), but this ....

<TITLE>Belly Up: Your Number One Online Resource for Cool Jelly Belly Stuff!!!</TITLE>

... will send your site to the bottom of the barrel.

But that tip really only applies to Google. To appeal to search services like Yahoo or Hotbot you need to employ a different set of tactics. To learn how it's done, read the fine print of the Optimization article:

"Get Ranked"
Learn the META description details, the top key words, and more.

"Get Crawled"
Pay to submit your site to search engines and directories? Get the pros and cons here.

1. Learning to Crawl

To make sure search engines can find all the pages on your site (or the pages you want to be found, at least), make a "crawler page" that contains nothing but links to the pages you'd like search engines to crawl. Don't include any text or tags, just the links. Then add a link to the crawler page from your site's home page and search engine spiders will find it as soon as they get to your site and suck down all the pages on it. For more details, and to see an example crawler page, check out: Get Crawled

2. Size Matters

TITLE tags seem to work best if they're under 40 characters in length, and META descriptions should be kept under 50 words. Keep your crawler pages small: Anything over 100 KB can choke spiders or cause them to pass on the pages altogether.

3. Chapstuck

Chapstick, while an excellent way to keep your lips moisturized and conditioned, can be less than beneficial for your favorite shirt, pants, duvet cover, and towels -- especially after your dryer melts the balm down to a hot, greasy wax.

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