by Mark Aaron Murnahan
Although there is no "sure-fire" way to get to the top of search engine results, this is an important way to improve your chances.
This will not guarantee you top placement, but in combination with many other search engine optimization factors, it will be very helpful. There is no substitute for
professional search engine optimization from people whom have dedicated their career to this field.
If you are not sure about the implementation or what to include in your H1 tags, contact
a professional.
In this article, we will address an old school technique that has always been important, but yet, one that many
Web developers overlook as they compromise Website content for appearance. To emphasize, I would like to explain that a Website without viewers is like a billboard in your basement. Regardless how interactive, fun, or visually captivating your site is, if it is not seen, it will not benefit you.
Using heading tags, I will show you a way to keep the appearance of your site
pleasing, while better defining your Website content for visitors, including
search engines.
Allow me to note that most of what is included in search engines is put there by a computer, known as a "robot", "spider", or "crawler". These are computers that use what you tell them to build a database of relevant information to serve out to the people requesting it. If you tell them the wrong things, or don't tell them the right things, they will not give you the results you are looking for.
Looking back into a somewhat forgotten HTML tag, I would like to explain that the heading tag "h1" still holds a very important place in search engine technology. This is because it tells the top level heading of your page. Let's think of it like any article we read. Just look at the front page of your newspaper, or a job resume to see what I mean. If an article does not tell what it is about within the first few words, you will either move on a few more lines to see if it is worth reading, or turn the page. This is no different with Web traffic, or a search engine spider. If the site content is not compelling, and does not tell exactly why it is there, it is of no benefit to a search engine to include it in their database.
As a reminder:Yahoo™, Google™, DMOZ™, MSN™, and every other search engine or directory in business today fulfills their objectives by providing informative and relevant results for requested search results.
Here is a very important step to telling search engines and Web surfers why they are there, and what to expect.
Many search engines and Web indexes will allow terms found in the H1 tag a huge boost in keyword relevance. The H1 tag is designed to tell the page topic. One problem some developers have with the H1 tag is that it's often too big and unappealing to use very often. In most browsers H1 is a huge font that can look out of place on a page, unless it is properly formatted.
Fortunately, you can get the best of both worlds by using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Using CSS, you are able to tell the browser to display the H1 tag and other tags on your page in any way you like. This is very helpful because you can get both the boost in keyword relevance, as well as better control of your site's look, all in one simple step.
To do this, you have a choice of using either "local" style sheets, which are located in the same page, or a "remote" style sheet, which is a separate .css file on your Web site that is referenced on the page where you want to use it. To use a local style sheet, you simply use the following HTML tag in the <HEAD> area of the page. It should look something like the following:
This will make the H1 tags on the page use a 12pt Verdana, Arial, or Times New Roman font in black text. The reason for multiple fonts is that in order to display a font, the computer accessing the page must have the specified font installed. If the computer does not have the first specified font, it will move to the next specified font, until it finds one that is available. In order to use this example, simply change the font size or font appearance to whatever you want to use on the page.
By using this CSS tag, you may use the H1 tag to improve page relevance, while avoiding the ugly appearance associated with the unformatted default H1 used by most Web browsers. In order to illustrate the use of the stylesheet and h1 tag together, simply copy the code in the box below and paste it into a Web page.
Because many search engines will use the information from H1 tags, and give it more weight over normal page text, it is a valuable tool for improving search engine placement.
If you need more help with cascading style sheets, please feel free to contact us.
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by Mark Aaron Murnahan
If you have tried hard to learn all that there is to know about Internet marketing, and implemented all that you have learned, yet still have not seen the results you expected, it is time to get qualified advice from a professional Internet search engine marketing consultant.
Perhaps you have already hired consultants to fix your search engine deficiencies. If you have, and you still do not see the results you expected, do not give up. The fact that you have landed on this page is not a mystery. You are here because I used what I know to bring you here.
Search engine placement is not simple, nor always intuitive, even for the professionals. It used to be simple to target an online audience. It is easy to remember the blue sky vision left behind by the many Lamborghini-driving Internet executives produced in the 90's. The Internet is a larger and more competitive place today. If Internet marketing and search engine placement was easy, you would not be here seeking improvement.
Everybody else saw the same dream you did, and now the market is more competitive. The challenge will only become greater in the future, and in order to compete tomorrow, you must be proactive. Many studies show that the growth of the Internet to this point is just the tip of the iceberg. Without professional guidance, you may find yourself lost in the competition.
You cannot count on a good Website, alone, to do the work for you. That would be like assuming you can be successful just by having a good product. If that product is never released to the world, it will fair worse than bad ... it will break you. Your competitors put countless millions into their marketing campaigns and still struggle daily for market share. In order to succeed, you must build a better marketing plan. The best tool you will ever find to build with is knowledge, and we have much knowledge to share.
"If you think it is expensive to market your business, just consider how expensive it is to run your company if you do not."
Allow me to share the most valuable tip that you may ever receive about marketing to the Internet public ... if you want to succeed, you must budget for success! This means you will need to be willing and ready to hand over some responsibility and money to get the job done right by people who do this every day. If you think it is expensive to market your business, just consider how expensive it is to operate your company if you do not.
As long time professionals of the Internet, YourNew.com executives constantly examine the belief that one can expect top-notch results without top-notch training and experience. This belief has caused countless thousands of dot coms to fail, and disappointed many people. The Internet marketplace is like any brick and mortar business in one sense ... it takes money to make money. If you plan to substitute money with anything else, it had better be either gold, precious jewels, or many years of long hours studying what the professionals already learned over the past decade.
Market Your Website Offline
Do not forget to market your Website offline, too. Aside from search engine marketing, what are you doing to promote your Website? If you do not have your Website advertised in print, on your cars, on hats, t-shirts, and at least on your business cards and forms, you are missing customers.
The methods available to market your Website are as countless as failed dot coms. If you are not using them, you should reconsider. If you have a storefront, you probably understand the importance of various advertising media. Why would you neglect it in the cyber world? A business card is so inexpensive that you can probably burn them to heat your home, and still be ahead. Just think of how hard it is to put your card on a bulletin board when you go to buy groceries, or leave one on the table when you leave the
restaurant. These are simple tasks, but also simple to forget. A marketing consultant from YourNew.com will help you to define goals, and reach them. Contact us today!
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