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This Week's Quote
Ability is what you're
capable of doing. Motivation
determines what you do. Attitude
determines how well you do it.
- Lou Holtz
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This Week's Glossary Pick
AUTORESPONDER
An
application triggered when a user sends
e-mail to a specific address or submits a
web-form, providing an automated e-mail
response to the sender. It may also
notify the web site administrator by an
additional e-mail. Another goal of
more complex responders is to send various
e-mails to the user as reminders. |
|
 Dense
is Good
In addition to the family of web hosting
services we provide, we're also in the
business of building web sites, and it would
be a rare occasion upon which a new client
didn't ask how to rank at the top of search
engine results. They see their
competitors ranking in and want to be
assured of the same success. Although
it doesn't happen over night, it is a
process that when followed properly, can
achieve successful results.
Part of achieving successful page ranking
involves paying attention to Keyword
Density. This is a percentage
measurement comparing the number of times a
keyword or phrase appears in a web page,
compared to the total number of words in
that page. In a relevant search,
search engines will determine the importance
and validity of a keyword or phrase based on
the number of times these words appear in a
page. Keep in mind that search engines
review these results and implement other
measures of relevancy, so spammers who make
use of keyword stuffing are well advised in
advance to be compliant.
When planning your copy, prepare a list of
keywords and phrases you believe people will
use to find your site. When writing,
find creative ways to repeat these words.
You will need to find a good balance between
satisfying the needs of search engines and
the need for interesting reading by your web
visitor. You will need to avoid words
like, 'it', 'they', 'those' and 'these', and
so on as replacements for your keywords and
key phrases. Take your time in writing
your copy.
Remember that positioning content on a web
page can make a difference to individual
keywords. Words near the top are
likely to be given more weight. Do not
include a list of keywords that form no
sentence. Do not attempt to make use
of hidden text for the benefit only of a
search engine. Engines pick up on
these non-compliant practices and are likely
to penalize your site for it.
If including related links to other web
sites, do yourself a favour as well by
turning those links into descriptive
hyperlinks. If pointing to a web site
on photography tips, use a link that reads
for example, "Photography Tips for Award
Winning Results". Don't use "Click
Here".
Finally, when you do the math to calculate
Keyword Density on a page with very little
text, the percentage may be high, but search
engines are not likely to deem a page with
little context as very important. |
