Dear [first_name], I hope you enjoy this month's topics. This is your newsletter, so if you like or don't like something about it, please email us at newsletter@bullmoosemarketing.com and we will adapt. Like everything on the Web, we too at Bull Moose Marketing need to be flexible... Thanks for reading, Nick Ellinger CEO, Bull Moose Marketing, LLC. In this issue... A Web Primer Best Practices: Basic Search Engine Optimization A Web Primer We have received several comments that it would be good to have an e-commerce dictionary to look up unfamiliar terms. We are happy to oblige: ADSL: Asymmetric digital subscriber line. A technology that allows normal phone lines to achieve high-speed Internet access. ASP: Application service provider. A company that manages Internet software. Active server pages. A Microsoft programming language that allows one to make dynamic pages. B2B: Business-to-business. Businesses relating to each other on the Internet. B2C: Business-to-consumer. Businesses selling products to end users on the Internet. Bandwidth: How fast information can travel through a communications channel. Broadband: Generic term for communication channels with enough bandwidth to handle high-quality video. Browser: Software for displaying Web pages. The two most common are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. Cookies: Bits of data stored on your computer that provide information back to a Web server. Cyberspace: A somewhat antiquated term for all of the information available on computer networks. Domain name: A unique name for a Web site (e.g., bullmoosemarketing.com) ISP: Internet service provider. A company that hooks you up to the Internet. Portal: A Web site where the main purpose is to list other Web sites (e.g., Yahoo!). Usually listed in a hierarchy, as opposed to a search engine, where you must search on a term. URL: Universal resource locator. The address of a Web page. Web server: A computer that hosts a Web site (so called because they serve the Web site to visitors) Do you have any hints for our readers? Any questions, comments, or death threats? Please send them to newsletter@bullmoosemarketing.com. Best Practices: Basic Search Engine Optimization Last month, we talked about how to create a basic Web site. However, as we are fond of saying at BMM, if you create a Web site and no one is there to see it, it doesn't make an impact. Search engines are the most effective way of getting your message out on the Web, as more than 40% of people find a site for the first time through search engines. First, select appropriate keywords. When you think of keywords, think specific words. For example, if you ran a copy shop, you would be less interested in "copying" or "business" than phrases like "FedEx drop site", "business card printing", or "four color banner processing". While the first two terms have more searches, usually only the first three pages of any search engine site are viewed by users. Getting on to these first few pages is the equivalent of hitting the lottery on searches like business that have tens of millions of pages. Also, think like your customers, not your internal audiences. For example, many equipment manufacturers separate into OEM (original equipment manufacturers) and AM (aftermarket). Because a customer would rarely search for AM (or if they did, it would get mixed in with radio site), you should focus on how your customer would search. To get additional ideas, look at the source code of your competitors' pages, particularly those who are listed well on the search engines where you want to be. Don't copy directly, but use these for jumping off points. Then, try to integrate those terms into important parts of your site. The most important part of your site to work in your keywords is the title. Use a slightly different title for each page of your site. Using the copy shop example, one page could be titled "Bob's Copies - Business Card Printing and More" and another could be "Bob's Copies - Copying for Business". Make sure that the title fits the page so that the searcher isn't disappointed. Titles should be a maximum of 50-70 characters long. Also, don't forgot plurals; some search engines are smart enough to search both and some aren't. The text is another important part of your site. Make sure your phrases appear early and often (five times or less). Also, put important phrases in header tags, as this increases their priority. Finally, there are two types of tags about which you need to be considered: meta tags and alt tags. Meta tags are tags in your header line that help describe your site. These are excellent places for keywords. For example (you would want to put these in brackets: META NAME="description" content="Our black and white and four color copies provide business solutions for copies, faxes, and documents. META NAME="keywords" content="FedEx drop site, business card, printing, four-color banner processing... The description should not exceed 250 characters and the keywords should not exceed 1023. Also, don't repeat the same word more than five times in the keywords. Alt tags are statements that show up if your pictures don't. Thus, they are good both for ease of navigation and for search engine listings. Try to accurately describe your picture using keywords from your list. This covers optimizing your site. Next month, we will discuss how to submit your site to search engines and pay for placement. If you need help with your site, request a free consulting report from Bull Moose Marketing. You're subscribed as [email] because you have opted in to receive this at www.bullmoosemarketing.com/business. If you would like to subscribe, click here If you would like to unsubscribe, email us at unsubscribe@bullmoosemarketing.com with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line. While Bull Moose Marketing and its agents used their best efforts in collecting and preparing the information published herein, Bull Moose Marketing does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions resulted from negligence, accident or other causes. © 2002 Bull Moose Marketing, LLC. All Rights Reserved. You may freely distribute Bull Moose Marketing material, as long as it bears the following attribution: Source: 2002 Bull Moose Marketing; www.bullmoosemarketing.com/business