Chapter 4 : BUILD A WEBSITE THAT GETS THE CLICK

The target here is to build a marketing website in such a way that your website will rank well with the search engines . I am not going to explain in full how the engines work (and they work all different as well) , but i will give some guide lines here to rank well.
Before we talk about the content let me explain something about the ....

1 .Structure of your marketing website
Your Theme-Based Content Site is made of a home page that gives the “what's in it for me” about your site. Think of your site as a pyramid, with the home page crowning the pinnacle. Your home page should link to seven(as most common example) other pages. These seven Keyword-Focused Content Pages will contain content that is about your most profitable keywords AND that fit with the whole Site Concept. Review your MASTER KEYWORD LIST and select your seven best keywords(select on the basis of profitability and fit). You will link your home page to these seven, both within the body copy, as you outline what the site is all about,and from within a text or graphic navigation bar. Your home page should not link to any of your merchant (or your business website) pages – it’s too early. Its job instead is to link to your HIGHEST-PROFITABILITY pages. It must get the click to at least one of these seven pages. This is important for two reasons...
1) Your visitor hits a “money page” -- your HIGHEST-PROFITABILITY Keyword-Focused Content Pages weave “in-context” text links to your merchant while OVER delivering great content. This is how you make your income, so we want to lead your visitors to your highest potential pages ASP.
2) Your spider-buddy follows the links and indexes (i.e., brings back to the Search Engine’s database) your most important pages first, and most reliably… the deeper a spider has to go, the more likely it is that he misses and fails to bring your bacon back to his database home. So we want to structure our site so that the HIGHEST PROFITABILITY pages have the best chance of being dragged back to all those spiders’ homes.

We’ll call your HIGHEST-PROFITABILITY pages “TIER 2” pages, since they are on a second TIER below the home page. Each of these pages can themselves link to 5-10 pages (“TIER 3” pages). TIER 3 pages should relate to the TIER 2 page that links to it. So, your TIER 1 home page links to 7 TIER 2 pages (not more, because your navigation bar starts looking pretty congested). And your TIER 2 pages each link to 5-10 TIER 3 pages.

Blur???? :-) , ... Easy , with an example . Let's go back to our " surfer".

Homepage.... all about surfing (no merchant) ! But there will be an in text- link to "surfers gadgets" (Tier 2) and on this page a text-link to " sun glasses " (Tier 3 ) .
From "Tier 2/surfers gadgets" and "Tier 3/sun glasses" a text-link to the merchant's website .
From "Tier 3/sun glasses" a link back to "Tier 2/surfers gadgets" . From "Tier 3/sun glasses" and "Tier 2/surfers" back to the homepage .

2 . Content of your website

PRE-SELL to CONVERT as explained earlier in the introduction .
Keep in mind the keyword focus !!!!! As in the example , the content of ''TIER 2" pages not around the keyword "surfer" but around "surfer gadgets" . By doing this peoples using search engines to find "surfer gadgets" will arrive at the "TIER 2" page but will discover there your whole website and of course your merchant !!!! (We will talk about keyword density later) . We call the focused keyword of a single page the SPECIFIC KEYWORD .

KEYWORDS SHOULD BE WORKED IN in
1) TITLE tag
2) META keyword tag
3) META description tag
4) H1 and other header tags
5) Body copy
6) Link tags
7) File name/domain name
8) Image ALT tag and name of image

Let's explain all this...

1) TITLE tag
* Must contain your Specific Keyword at least once (example "sun glasses" ) no more than twice, and with some kind of variation or synonym. Try to include your most important General Keyword, too.(example "surfing" )
* Up to 70, even 80 characters. Get your most important message in, right at the beginning. If the engine cuts your title off at 60 characters in its listing, you’ve still fired your “big gun.” Meanwhile, some engines will show up to 90 or so characters.
* Remember, the title appears as the link in Search Engine listings. It must “get the click” -- so make sure it’s attractive, without being misleading. Getting your Title right for both your reader and engine is the single most important thing you can do.

2) META keyword tag
* Simple. Don’t dilute your META tag with a million synonyms.
* You could add a few General Keywords that people might add when they search (ex., “discounts, shopping”). If you do put more than one keyword in this META tag (separated by commas),always put your most important one, the one that this page focuses upon, first.

3) META description tag
= “DESCRIPTION” content”
*The META description is the other half of what searchers see in the Search Engine’s listings. So, like the Title tag, make sure it’s attractive, without being misleading. A gentle, good-natured tease, like the above, will do well.
* 150-200 characters. Some engines cut off the title listing at as little as 140 characters.
* Should contain your Specific Keyword at least once (try twice if it fits and see how it ranks).
*Include one or two of your most important General Keywords.
* Remember, do not repeat the TITLE in this tag. The reader will just see the same phrase twice in the Search Engine’s listing, once in the title and once in the description.

4) H1 and other header tags
The headlines are more important than your regular body copy. That’s true for both human readers and for the engines.And remember this... some engines don’t use the META description tag to form the second part of their listings (i.e., after the Title) in their search results. In those cases, they will usually use the first words on the page, which are...
• Your H1 tag (first headline), and…
• The first words in the body copy after that.
Here are the key musts for your HI tag...
* Contains your Specific Keyword at least once. Try to include an important General Keyword too (different from the one you used in your Title).
* No longer than 80 characters, 40 is better.
* Helps to “get the click” -- so make sure it’s attractive, without being misleading
* Does not contain your Title. Otherwise, if the engine uses your H1 tag, your listing and H1 tag will both say the same thing... needless repetition.
A good strategy… Take your META description tag and chop it into two pieces...part for the headline and part for the opening paragraph of your body copy.

5) Body copy
Start your body copy strongly and deliver great content in your body copy.Your intro paragraphs establish your PRE-SELLING . After that, you’ll deliver the benefits of your website... you’ll answer the“what’s in it for me” question that every visitor asks when arriving at a site. And you’ll do it while blending in your keyword. Specific keywords are most important , and sprinkle gently with other keywords.
Some guidance ... for word count on pages :
*GENERAL KEYWORDS on HOMEPAGE : 2 - 3.5%
*SPECIFIC KEYWORDS on TIER-PAGES : 2 - 3.5%
*GENERAL and RELATED KEYWORDS on TIER-PAGES : 0.5 - 1%

6) Link tags
We discussed the structure of your site above. Links create the TIER 1-2-3 structure. And they belong in the flow of the copy. Text links must flow naturally,and beautifully, with the content. Think of your links as providing a service to your readers. You offer your links as recommendations or tips or as a service for your readers to see and use. So don’t just save them for the end, where you impassively list them. And it’s not just your readers who see the links. Yup, the engines do, too. So include your Specific Keyword, and variations and synonyms thereof, in visible, blue-underlined text in your links to your merchants.

7) File name/domain name
Include your Specific Keyword in the file name of your html page. It just might add a relevancy point or two with the engines.The only exception to this, of course, would be your home page. The homepage must be named “index.html” -- but that’s OK. We already have its Specific Keyword included in the domain name, because it is your Concept Keyword!

8) Image ALT tag and name of image
This is probably the least important, but what the heck. Name one or two of the graphics on each page after that page’s keyword focus.