Newbie what is my next step???

[JGIRL]

Newbie here. Hello! I just started my E-Commerce Web Site. I am looking to learn alot and to get my site indexed and on the search engines. The Engines don't even know I exist haaaa. Anyway, Everything on my site I did myself and this is the last thing that I have to do is the search engines.

Now that I have my site live and up, what is the next step for the search engines. Thanks!!!

J

[qwerty]

I'd say your first step would be to get yourself indexed in a few directories. Getting into DMOZ, goguides, gimpsy, joeant, etc. will give the search engine spiders an easy way to find your site and get you indexed in their databases.

Be warned, DMOZ (aka the Open Directory) will likely take months to index you, but the smaller directories are pretty quick.

Good luck, and spend as much time as you can reading the posts here. It's a great place to learn.

[Advisor]

Welcome, JGIRL!

Well, it sounds like you may have done things a bit backwards, which is common. For best results in the search engines, you really need to think about them before you ever design, create and write your site.

Have you thought about what keyword phrases you would like your site to be found under? If so, have you researched these words to make sure people are actually searching for them?

Once you've figured out a decent list of keyword phrases that best describe your site, you'll want to pick a couple of different phrases to optimize each page of your site with. Then you'll need to work those couple of phrases in to the existing copy that people read on your site (or rewrite it from scratch if necessary).

Once you've got each page's copy all written based on a couple of keyword phrases, you'll want to create your Title tags and Meta tags to match and to use the same phrases you used in the copy.

Those are the very basics.

After your site is all squared away and optimized, you should submit to some of the major directories out there such as JoeAnt.com, DMOZ.org (if it's not down when you visit :rolleyes: ) Gimpsy.com, and GoGoides.org (if they're allowing free submissions still...or you can pay).

In a few months, once your site is listed in some directories, the search engine spiders will find those links and come crawling through your site. In another 4 - 6 weeks, hopefully your site will then be listed in their databases, and even more hopefully it will be showing up when people type in the keyword phrases you targeted in your optimization.

Simple, no?! :D

Jill

[JGIRL]

Thank you. I will check out the DM thing, these techy words are all so new to me. It looks like I will have to do some really good reading.


Is it worth paying for someone to do all of the indexing and optimizing web pages? I have found a few companies that will do this between 600 all the way up to 3k. What do they have that I don't? Did anyone pay for those services?

[JGIRL]

Jill,

Haaaa it always seems I do things backwards, Thats me alright.

My site doesn't seem to hard really, or I am making it that way.

I will include my web site for further investigation if anyone would like to check it out and give me ideas or hints. I started doing this as a hobby and fun thing, but it is turning out more serious business since I am getting other people involved.

I just found about the search engines after I had everything done. ugghhh. But thats ok Im ready to learn, sweat and work.


I just hope this wont lead me to

:cheers: haaaaa learning this is a honor.

J

[ihelpyou]

LOL. Spend about 2 straight months of reading up in here about the search engines. Then spend one more month or so of more reading, and then ask questions about what you don't understand, which will be a boatload of them. :)

[JGIRL]

Well I think my first overcomming things is learning the words and new technology of things. If you can see my brain now!!!! Its steaming full blast.

I had one question though. Underneath the search engines it sais add url? is that to where I add my web site to those search engines or to this site?

:D This is fun!!

[ihelpyou]

Please forget about the submitting for along time. That will not do you any good right now.

[qwerty]

Originally posted by JGIRL
Underneath the search engines it sais add url? is that to where I add my web site to those search engines or to this site?

That depends. A lot of the search engines will charge you to submit your site this way, and a few will take it for free. However, you're better off letting them find you by crawling on their own... especially if your site isn't optimized yet. Not much point in having them find your site if what they find isn't going to present what they and your users need to see.

I still think it's a good idea to submit to the directories now (they're different from search engines in that they're actually edited by people), but since I haven't seen the site it is possible you're not even ready for that yet. If Jill and Doug recommend you work more on your content before submitting to the directories, go with their adivce. They've been doing this much longer than I have.

At any rate, you've still got plenty of time to optimize the site before any search engines run across you.

[JGIRL]

I just posted to get my site critiqued and analysed here. I am ready to be chewed up for suggestions since that will have a way to go before I even start. At least I can improve that right away to its full potential. Since I don't even know how to design.

I did tons of research and learned HTML really well amount other languages. Now I need to do some improvements.

Im getting out my hammer and nails!!!

:thebomb:

[qwerty]

Ok, I've got a few quick suggestions to get you started:

The title tag for your home page should be a quick description of the site itself, using your keyword phrases. You probably don't need the company name, and you definitely don't need "home page" there.

You're using a large font for your headings, but you're not using heading tags (h1, h2, etc.). The search engine spiders look for heading tags in order to get an idea of how you're structuring your content.

You need text links to your other pages in addition to the graphic ones.

You have 2 keyword and 2 description meta tags -- can't do that. And I don't know what a classification meta tag is for. But the description tag should just be a brief overview of what the site is for. You don't need to say what it isn't, and I'd ditch the exclamation points too. It doesn't matter too much that you've got typos in there, as it needs to be rewritten.

The main thing you need to work on is your content. And as I haven't researched your market, I can't tell you which keywords to work in, but you should try to think about the people you'd like to find your site on the search engines. What do you think they'd be typing into the search?

[JGIRL]

Im confused about the h1 h2 thing.
The search words are usually crafts, shows, art then the searches can get into the kinds of crafts and arts like woodworking etc. SO I would have a lot of way to move for the keywords.


What font is the best to use??? Most of my fonts in the web site are 14,16,or 18. I was told never to go below a 10.

So I tended to use those three kinds of fonts.

[qwerty]

Well, there are font faces (like arial or times), there are font sizes, which can be measured in a number of different units or can just be relative to what a browser is set to treat as its standard size, and there are the different tags into which you can put text.

You've got plenty of <p> tags, for paragraphs, which basically tell the browser to display normal text. A heading text is (at least in its default state) larger and bolder than normal text, and it has more vertical space between it and the line that follows. And headings are used to set off one section of text from another, kind of like chapter headings, or headlines in a newspaper article.

On your home page, such lines as "home page," and "LIVE Show Times/Places and Dates:" look as if they're headings, but they're not in <h1> or <h2> tags, so while they may visually accomplish what a heading does, they won't be seen by a search engine as one. It's important to structure your page in such a way that the search engine will know what you want it to see as important.

[Advisor]

No, no, Jgirl!

You don't really think your little site is going to show up in the top of the search results when someone types "crafts" in Google, do you? Or art? etc.

Think about it. There are millions, if not billions of sites about crafts. Why would yours be the one to make it there?

You have absolutely got to think in terms of keyword PHRASES not keyWORDs.

Very specific keyword phrases that have to do with exactly what you sell. What kind of crafts? What kind of art? Then you absolutely have to research your keywords. Go to Wordtracker.com and research them there.

Like I said above...once you pick your keyword PHRASES, you have to then base your copy around them. Not just in headlines, but everywhere on your page. Everywhere.

Two or three different phrases targeted for each page of your site.

Jill

[Advisor]

so while they may visually accomplish what a heading does, they won't be seen by a search engine as one. Says who? Have you tested this?

Jill

[qwerty]

Originally posted by Advisor
Says who? Have you tested this?

Jill

Nope, can't say I have, but it does make sense structurally. And using an h1 or h2 will add a more consistent look to the site.

There was a long argument in the google forum last week about resizing headings and whether that could cause problems (the idea being that you could reformat heading text to make it look like normal text and thereby throw more keywords into your headings, which I believe is a huge abuse of the tag), but in about five pages of rants, I don't recall anyone questioning whether it made more sense to just use larger and bolder text rather than actual headers.

I wonder if anyone has tested that.

[JGIRL]

so the headers <H1> has to be Html I take it.

I got it now (I think) !! Now I have to learn how to apply that!

As for the phrases that will be a huge chore for me. Since I am selling everything and anything when it comes along, I will have to use alot of them special words. I think now I'm just worried about getting my site ready to how it is supposed to be.

Most people can def. tell this is a beginners work web site. :-))
It really is since I am a really beginner. HAA! I feel like I am on training wheels now after reviewing some of these posts and designer site threads and other threads.

Here I thought was doing so well and I was sooo proud of my site. Talk about blows, but at least I am learning all of this now since this site is so new and less than one month old, then to have this up and live for years before it hit search engines and have the site like this (as is). So I guess blessings come in small packages.

I thank you all for your time spent on me so far!! I am very grateful I found this site. Whoever started this is wonderful!!

[qwerty]

Originally posted by qwerty
I wonder if anyone has tested that.

It looks like we have the beginning of research on the issue right here in the forum. (http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8894&perpage=10&pagenumber=1)