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This makes 4 days that I have been crawling all over this site. Very easy to get distracted by all the topics. Can anyone direct me to straight forward explainations (tutorials?) on optimizing my site for the engines. Specifically:
-What's all the text vs. HTML about?
-How do I determine the best theme (words) to use for the spiders?
-Is there a list of the best SEs to submit to? I'm up on America, but that's about it. (I hear there are other countries out there)
-What's the pr5+ links stuff about? I've placed 4 outbound links on my site. Any tips for acquiring inbound?
I take it that using a service or program is a waste of money. I have this AddWeb 5 program that wants lots of cash but, it lists like 1,000,000 search engines that it'll automatically submit me to. Is there a freeware program or an easier (read: cheaper)way?
Thanks for supporting nuubes like me (where are the smilicons found?)
-What's all the text vs. HTML about?
Not really sure what you mean here. Please clarify?
In an effort to try to help you with the rest of your questions:
-How do I determine the best theme (words) to use for the spiders?
Try to determine which keywords the average surfer would use when trying to find your site/products. Then optimize your pages for the various words you feel they will use.
There are some tools offered at some of the search engines which may be of use. It may cost you to use them though. I haven't tried to use them for a long time. Someone else may be better able to assist you here.
-Is there a list of the best SEs to submit to? I'm up on America, but that's about it. (I hear there are other countries out there).
Go to the homepage of Webmasterworld and look at the list on the right hand side of the page under "The Search Engine World". There are forums dealing with all major SE's and directories. You will find an abundance of information there.
-What's the pr5+ links stuff about? I've placed 4 outbound links on my site. Any tips for acquiring inbound?
PR = Page Rank which = incoming links to your site. You can look upon incoming links as votes for your site by others in similar or related industries. The higher your page rank, the better ... and the more likely your site will be listed at the top of the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages).
Is your site listed in the DMOZ or Google Directory yet? That's a good place to start. Also, look at some of your competitors links and then write to the various webmasters and ask for links to your site too. Check the DMOZ categories for related sites. For instance, if you sell roses, look for flower shop directories. Then contact the various sites and ask for links.
Unfortunately, there is no quick way to learn SE optimization. You have found WebmasterWorld which is a great start ... now all you need to do is find 8 to 10 hours per day to read all the posts. Within a brief one or two years ... you will be a wiz! ;)
where are the smilicons found?)
Scroll down when posting a message and you will find HTML style codes with all the style info in there forthe forum :)
Craig
1,000,000 search engines that it'll automatically submit me to. Is there a freeware program or an easier (read: cheaper)way?
Don't do it! The easier, cheaper, and more effective way is just to submit the site yourself. Read this thread [webmasterworld.com] and you'll see that there are only a handful of sites that both accept submissions and are worth submitting to.
By all means, as Liane said, start with DMOZ. But don't bother with any automated "bulk submission" softare.
Regarding my first post: When I asked about text vs. HTML, it seems a lot of tips say to try and have as much text on your site vs. HTML. Is there a difference between the text I create in Dreamweaver and that which I paste in from Word?
And the different <tags> is confusing. Which tags are the most important for spidering? Seems like I used very few <heading1-6> and lots of <paragraph> on my site.
Along those lines, I'm sure this is probably not a good thing but, so that I can be sure, I placed a few lines on the page that were the same as the page font. I figured they were invisble to the surfer but, not the spiders. Was this a bad thing? Thank you for your supports :)
