Tools to monitor your website
You
can’t just put your website on the net with right keywords and all the right
touches and expect your traffic and ranking will remain constant. As the web is
an ever changing landscape, you have to keep track of your own web results like
what is happening with the competition and also the best and highest ranked
sites. There are many useful tools to help you find out what exactly is
happening.
1. A tool which you can use to test your own website links or
other websites for broken links:
http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html
2. With this tool you can check search engines for the number of
back links to your URL i.e. other web pages linking to your site:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/backlinks/
3. It sometimes becomes important to know where the
servers of your hosting company are physically located. Because, some search
engines like Google have the ability to filter search results based on their
physical location called geotargeting. This could be used to determine why your
site is showing in only a certain country. This link can also be used to
research the country location of a particular competitor’s website:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/website-country/
4. In order to track the location of the visitor or a customer to
your website:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/geovisitors/
5. In order to check the Yahoo! web ranking of your’s or your
competitor’s website use :
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/webrank/
6. Here is a link to check the web ranking of a website using a
Mac or Apple computer:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/pagerank-mac/
7. You need a Google AdSense account for using this.
This link provides you with charts and reports which will help you analyze
traffic, clicks, and results from your AdSense advertising
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/adsense-charts/
8. If you have an AdSense account, you can analyze your website
address or another website address to see what Google ads will be displayed
when the customer selects certain website names or keywords:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/adsense-sandbox/
9. This link will take you to a cooperative advertising network
where you can join to display and
share your ads with other website owners:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/ad-network/
10. You can add the Search Functionality on your website which
uses Google. This works only if your site is listed in the Google Index.
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/search/
11. Here are some links to free website counters which you can use
on your website to track your traffic and hits:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/counter/
http://www.amazingcounters.com/?ref=gad033
http://www.cyber-counter.com/signup.php
http://www.statcounter.com/free_hit_counter.html
http://www.free-counters.net/
Use
Keywords In Page Titles
It
is recommended to use keywords in page titles itself. This title tag is
different from a Meta tag, but it's worth
considering it in relation to them. Whatever text one places in the title tag
(between the <title> and </title> portions) will appear in the title
bar of browsers when they view the web page. Some browsers also append whatever
you put in the title tag by adding their own name, as for example Microsoft's
Internet Explorer or OPERA.
The
actual text you use in the title tag is one of the most important factors in
how a search engine may decide to rank your web page. In addition, all major
web crawlers will use the text of your title tag as the text they use for the
title of your page in your listings.
If
you have designed your website as a series of websites or linked pages and not
just a single Home Page, you must bear in mind that each page of your
website must be search engine optimized. The title of each page i.e. the
keywords you use on that page and the phrases you use in the content will draw
traffic to your site.
The
unique combination of these words and phrases and content will draw customers
using different search engine terms and techniques, so be sure you capture all
the keywords and phrases you need for each product, service or information
page.
The
most common mistake made by small business owners when they first design their
website is to place their business name or firm name in every title of every
page. Actually most of your prospective customers do not bother to know the
name of your firm until after they have looked at your site and decided it is
worth book marking.
So,
while you want your business name in the title of the home page, it is probably
a waste of valuable keywords and space to put it in the title line of every
page on your site. Why not consider putting keywords in the title so that your
page will display closer to the top of the search engine listing.
Dedicating first
three positions for keywords in title avoiding the stop words like ‘and’, ‘at’ and
the like is crucial in search engine optimization.
Web Hosting Companies
With thousands of web hosting companies in the market it can be difficult if not impossible to know which web site hosting companies truly provide an excellent hosting solution at an excellent price. When you have an established domain name with a good web hosting company, you can get reports on your traffic and which of your pages your customers are visiting most often, as well as many other statistics.
Your web host will charge you a fee for monthly service that ranges from $10 or $20 to the more expensive $50.00 per month. Plan to pay between $300 and $500 per year to your web host.
Always avoid free or very inexpensive web hosting services, because you may experience bouts of server downtimes and you are likely to have significant limitations in storage, number of email addresses, FTP upload etc.
Be sure your web host can accommodate e-commerce and storefronts, wireless capability, bogs, forums, chats, online interactive helps and anything else you want to add onto your site.
Estimate what your growth needs are and ensure that this web host can serve you as you grow. The last thing you want to do is change host mid way unless you absolutely have to do so.
Check your bandwidth capability to be sure that, if your website traffic grows rapidly, your customers will not have to wait to download or view information. Three things to look for in a web hosting company are:
1. Excellent Customer Support: Your hosting provider should be there for you 24/7 and give you instant access to the technicians you need to solve your problem. Ask them how long it takes for them to typically respond to your problem. A good test is to call them in the mid night to check if you get to a live, level 3 support.
2. A Sound Infrastructure: Check whether they offer a multi-homed network powered by multiple bandwidth providers to ensure redundancy. Some offer a 100% guarantee on its network availability or network uptime.
3. Financial Stability: If you're running very critical operations, you can't afford to be with a hosting company that may not be in business in a few months.
Web hosting Services and Domain
names
Choosing
an appropriate domain name is very important. First and foremost, when it comes
to domain names, try to stay away from the silly, stupid, ridiculous or clever.
Keep your domain name simple and make it something your customers can remember
if they lose the link to your business website.
Take
note that, while your domain name on Geocities or AOL may seem like the least
expensive way to go, it may also get you dropped from certain search engines.
Some search engines ignore domain addresses that reside on these ‘free servers’
or on the ‘cheap’ servers.
Even
if your site is recognized and considered by search engines, a professional
domain name that uses your primary company name or associated words is likely
to get more attention and be considered as a stable business by your
prospective customers.
Purchasing
domain names are not that expensive which cost about $100 and there are many companies
that can register the name for you, provided it is available and has not
already been used by another company.
Using
one of your keywords in your domain name can increase your score on some search
engines. For example, solderingirons.com could be more effective as Electric-soldering-irons.com,
if that domain name was available.
You
might also choose to establish more than one domain name using keywords and
then link your ‘doorway’ domain sites to your primary site. But you will have
to pay for each of the domain name and also the monthly hosting fees. It all
depends on the type and size of your business and your competition.
Keep in mind that some search engines disregard ‘doorway’ sites.
So put at least a page of content on the doorway site with some useful
information and then link it to your primary site. But don’t design it as an
empty page. The other reason being, you can have one, three, five, or even more
email addresses that all contain your business name, and give your business a
professional feel. When customers get emails from dominicstone@solderingirons.com they feel as if they are
dealing with a stable, professional business operation.
No need for customers to understand how you manage all your email
boxes on your domain. They just need to feel your business is dependable and
reputable.
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