Sigma One Group
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Search Engine Optimization

Perhaps you have heard the terms "Search Engine Optimization" and "Search Engine Marketing" used interchangeably; however, they are not the same. Search Engine Optimization is the preparation of a website for presentation to search engine robots, and Search Engine Marketing is the presentation of a website to its intended audience.

Search Engine Optimization could be definied as "a process" - part science and part art - whereby a webpage is prepared for publication on the web and spidering by the search engines. Just as there are many varieties of art (the Vango style versus the Monet style) so there are different ways to optimize a website.

The Basics

Regardless of the overall methods used to optimize a website, the basic guidelines of the road are citical. Below are those basic guidelines. See also: Search Engine Rules & Duplicate Content

1. W3C Compliant

Your website design should be compliant with W3C guidelines. W3C is an acronym for World Wide Web Consortium - the folks who set the rules by which the game (the use of the Internet) should be played. They offer a free validator to check your website.
http://validator.w3.org/

2. Title Tag It!

Every page on your website should have a title tag. That title should precisely reflect the content on the page.

For example, the title tag of this page is, "Search Engine Optimization Marketing by Jodi L Golisek Sigma One Group Inc". A title tag is very important because it is how search engines will list your page.

3. Meta-Description. In the metadata, be sure to include a description of your webpage. A description allows you to provide the search engines with your version of your page's topic. In essense, it is a means by which you may - to some extent - control how search engines display your website listing.

4. Meta-Keywords. Most SEM's (Search Engine Marketing people) will tell you that keywords do not affect the website at all, but that is not true. They will not affect the site in the same manner that they did back in '94 when I began launching website, but that is not to say that they have no effect at all. If you study the base algorithmic behavior of the net, the keywords do have an impact. The manner in which they impact a website is through the leverage they cause.

Special Offer

Starbuck's on us!

Each week, a new question will appear on our site (linked from our homepage) and in our BLOG. Follow the link to our BLOG, post your answer. The first one to post a correct answer will win a cup of Starbuck's coffee on us! (See this week's Star question).

Search Engine Marketing

"Search Engine Marketing" includes and goes far beyond search engine optimization.

As a correllary, search engine optimization is the advertisement, and search engine marketing is THE WHOLE CAMPAIGN. An ad that is not communicated effectively to the right market at the right time for the right purpose provides very little benefit.

The same is true of a website. You can have a beautiful website, but if it is not marketed correctly, it might just as well be a billboard in a corn field on the back 40 of a 1,000,000 acre farm.

Many people have websites, but not as many have effective websites. As well, many people have websites that show up in the top of the results for the key words and search phrasess that those owners use to search for their site. And yet, they wonder why it is not as effective as they expect it to be - after all, they spend a fortune for the site, and yet it does not return any more than its cost.

At Sigma One, we don't have customers who spend a fortune, nor do we have customers that do not get results.

If your website is not performing up to your expectations, we invite you to contact Sigma One Group for an evaluation and consultation to determine how we can help you succeed online.

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