Getting Started With SEO

#1 – Meta Tags

Many SEO’s these days say that your meta tags are not that important anymore and I also believe that to be true to an extent.  While it is true that search spiders crawl your website for content, it is also true that websites will still read your meta tags before reading the rest of your site. It is also true that there are other meta tags that can have an effect on your site but we are only going to discuss the basic 3 which are the Title, Description and Keyword Tags.

#  The Title Tag – The Title Tag is by far the very most important and effective Meta Tag.  When you add a bookmark or favorite to your browser the test you see there is from your title tags. In addition search engines will normally use your title in their listings and when they crawl your site.

<title>Put Your Title Here</title>

The most basic but important step to take when thinking about applying seo to any website is the title tags.  Your website’s title is always displayed in search engine results and is the first thing people see from your site.  Not only should your title be catchy but it also has to describe your site using keywords preferably. I believe your title tag is the most important meta tag in regards to seo so you may as well spend the 5 minutes doing it right.

If you own a website that contains many different categories with separate pages for those categories like a store or even some blogs it would be wise to create individual titles for each of those pages like I have started doing at this online mall. So far I have only done the first few categories, Automotive, Babies etc.

*You should always try to place your best keywords at the front of your title tag even before your company name if you choose to add it. This gives those keywords better weight.

By giving each page it’s own title, search engines will view this page almost like it is it’s own website. This is one of the simplest steps you can take that can have the largest impact. If you have a large site it can take time but it is worth the effort so do it.

Try to use as few words as possible but try to use related keywords that describe your site and what it does such as <>Webdevoman – Web Development Blog<> There are some that believe they can cheat the system by cramming in keywords etc but this will only end up having a negative impact on your site. I would suggest using your company name and a very short description using relevant keywords.

*     Use No More Than 5 – 10 Words In Your Title Tag

# Description Tag – While the impact of this tag is negligible I believe it is still worth the time it takes to do it. I also believe that any keywords or search phrases used in any of your tags will have an effect on the keyword weight just like any other keyword will have anywhere on your site or maybe even more so.  While some search engines such as Google may not view your meta tags as important, other search engines and directories may.

<meta name="description" content="Your Description Goes Here">

Your Description tag should contain related keywords but should also describe your website or the page it’s on.  I believe this tag should contain no more than 10 to 15 words with less being better than more and this should also be readable.

*     Use No More Than 10 – 15 Words In The Description Tag

# Keyword Tag - This tag is really very simple to create. Find the 10 to 12 absolute best keywords that describe your site and separate them with a space.  Honestly I have always used a comma to separate keywords but while doing the research for this article I was actually swayed to change my opinion and I will be listing my keywords with no space as I have suggested here.

<meta name="keywords" content="Place Your Keywords Here">

The reason for this seemed like it could be a valid reason but I don’t believe anyone really knows for sure whether a space or a comma makes any difference when listing your keywords. Some say that when you place a comma it actually separates the keywords while a space will allow search engines to use the keywords in various search phrases instead of individual keywords.

*     Use No More Than 15 – 20 Words In your Keywords Tag

I hope you found this article useful but please feel free to participate and speak your mind on this topic.

Thanks For reading,

Webdevoman

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Hi all and thanks for stopping by. The longer and longer I own and use my Ipod the more and more useful I find it for taking care of my clients and my own personal web development needs. Before purchasing this little box of joy I never thought I would find so many use’s! I figured it would be great for my continuing education and I could listen to boring lectures and other podcasts. Man was I wrong!

I use my ipod for nearly anything and almost everything I would use my laptop for! While I don’t use the Ipod for coding or design work it is very helpful with any type of work you do related to website development etc and that is what I am going to talk about in addition to mentioning some great apps..

One of the most useful ways I can use this device is monitor analytics for my clients websites.  I can see how my marketing is doing and I can get nearly all of the information right on my Ipod or Iphone that I could get from going to the Google Analytics website.

# For analytics I use Analytics Agent Pro

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Hi All and welcome to another edition of WebDevoMan.

I had every intention of discussing another Firefox Extension today but unfortunately many of the add ons I would like to review are not compatable with the latest version of Firefox. These reviews will have to wait until these extensions can get caught up. besides, If everyone else feels the same way about thier IPods as I do than noone will mind a discussion.

I use my IPod for many web development related purposes.  I monitor all of my websites and my clients websites. I also monitor adsense revenue and e-mail.

Keep in mind that I am limiting this article to IPod use in relation to web development and related. If I were to go into an IPOd’s other use’s we would be here all day.

So, lets get started with E-mail and the calendar which are both free apps included.  There are paid alternatives as well but so far I have been happy with the default E-mail and Calendar apps. These are both very simple so I won’t spend too much time.

# – E-Mail App – The e-mail app allows many kinds of e-mail and some are already preset for you to save time. POP Mail and IMap are both included and are very easy to set up.  There are many settings to fine tune things to your preference.  I currently have over 15 e-mail accounts set up and I have never had a problem. Accounts are easily viewed and replies are easily sent. The only negative I have found is deleting large amounts of e-mail.  If there is an easy way to delete large numbers of mail at once I have not found it.

# – Calendar App – The calendar is also very simple and useful. You have the ability to sync it with your Google Calendar and it will show your events and even alert you when needed.

The following apps are for monitoring your traffic stats, earnings, page rank etc.  These are not included with the IPod and are paid applications.

# – Google Analytics – This app is one of my all time favorites and I use this numerous times every day.  The version I have is the premium version but there is a free version offered. Obviously you will need a Google Analytics Account and you will have to place a small section of code on pages you want to monitor.

Once you are all set up you will have the ability to view your site visitors, traffic sources, keywords, referrals, adwords referrals and even adsense generation. The app even has a useful graph that lets you see your stats over a period of time. There is much more to this app than mentioned here so trust me when I tell you it is worth every penny of the $2.99.

# – SenseApp – This IPod App allows you to monitor your adsense accounts. This app is very simple but also very useful if you like to keep an eye on your adsense earnings. The image below says it all and there isn’t much I can add.  As of right now this app is $3.99 and well worth it if this is important to you.

SenseApp Ipod App

Here is a list of some other Ipod Apps you may find useful for web development related purposes.  There are a few that are educational as well and in edition to monitoring your website stats etc the IPod is an amazing teaching tool.

# – SiteRank

# – SeoIt

# – Pokeseo

# – DomainScout

# – PHP Ref

# – Rankings

# – WebMag

# – Web Developers Bible

# – WordPress

# – Evernote

# – Box.net

# – ICheatSheets

# – Reference Cards

Check back here soon if you find this information useful because I will be adding another edition soon related to IPods and their usefulness when it comes to working with websites. The next article will be based on Website Promotion and Social Site Apps.

If you are looking for a new IPod you will not believe the prices! Go and check out this 32 gig model with a free shipping special included. This price cannot be beat!

Thanks everyone for reading. I am always interested in feedback so please let me know how I can do this better. I would also like to know what types of reviews you are all interested in.

WebDevoMan

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