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a) get rid of everything in your head section but meta keywords, meta description, and title.
b) remove all jscript on the page.
c) put more text on the sub pages. You don't have enough actual info for the spiders to be picking up on you.
d) watch those referrals and retro engineer for them. What ever is bringing the users to your site, focus on each of the top kw's with a page dedicated to that topic/keyword.
e) bury "secure online ordering" somewhere - don't let the spiders see it. hide anything that basically says "for sale" from the front page. including "catalog".
f) more info. You need at least 30 pages of quality info about your topic area. Spiders don't have anything but generic words to be picking up off your site. Think up "how to's", candle crafting, etc...
You could get real detailed, and 50 guys would say 50 different things, but those are the starters that I'd do...
All I can say is that IT TAKES TIME...I spend about 3 hrs a day promoting one of my client's site. I work with 2 companies that are in the same business as you.
GL,Scott....
Ok, as time goes on, we will share more concepts, hopefully getting all of us better placement.
Regards,
Gl
Scott
You have a very nice looking site. You should consider using the alt tags on all of your images - the keyword(s) should come at the beginning of your meta information for example where you have: <meta name="description" content="We specialize in high quality, ULTRA scented candles. A scented candle from Aromatic Attic is..."> you might consider <meta name="description" content="Scented candles are our speciality. Ulta Scented candles shipped anywhere">
A lot of people say keyword stuffing is dead, but you couldn't prove it by me or my competition. I don't recommend you do it on your main pages or pages you submit to Altavista - but doorway pages still work really really well for us.
Only use your keyword once in your meta keywords, twice in the description. Once at the beginning of the title tag. Then open the content on that page with the keyword or phrase. Use it in every sentence but limit your page to 10 or 15 sencences...
A lot of people would tell you this is the old school of thought, but I can assure you it works very well for us. Go here to see how your competitors are doing in the Inktomi Products [Inktomi.com...]
See how many times the words scented candles shows up on this page [candlesforever.com...] they are #2 in ink.yahoo The number one page made very effective use of comment tags.
Remember to target misspellings candel - candal -sented - 10% of my traffic is from pages that target people just like me - who can't spell - Last but not least go here [inventory.go2.com...] and check out how popular your keywords are and you'll get ideas for new ones. A good rule of thumb is to multiply the results times 100 for the searches on that word or phrase that month.
Most important - Brett knows his stuff - don't miss a single page on his site.
If you have any questions reply to the board and send it directly to me. For some reason I don't get e-mail when someone replies and may not know you're seeking more info. (Brett - did you turn that off - huh)
Good Luck
Steve
stcrim@prodigy.net
ACK!, yes there are a few pages you can skip! grin.
I am due for a major overhaul on most of the back content. I've had it on the list of things to do for six months and haven't found the time. I try to update one back page every-other-week.
>re: email notification.
Yes, I turned off the response one because it was really starting to drag on the system in a couple of those long threads where everyone was getting email. You can still get it for a unique post/topic starter but not for replies.
I was already well aware of just how well my competitors were doing with "scented candle", but thanks for pointing it out anyway! LOL As far as candlesforever, They're one of the ones I had considered to be the "top dog" as far as SE placement. I did a KW count on their frontpage and mine...I came up with 11....for both! I kinda figured I was in the "now let's wait for the spiders to visit again" stage. I do have some ALT tags but I suppose I could always use more where I can fit them. I was not aware of the comment tags. I suppose I should look into that as well. I know I'm in a long uphill battle and I suppose I'm willing to settle for 3rd or 4th. That's a billion time better than where I am now! I do have a few questions about KWs when you have some time, drop me an email and I'll dump them on you if you don't mind......plurals, phrases vs. single words, etc. I HAD considered the whole "misspelling" KW issue. I figured that would be something to take up further down the road. I figured that was kinda like changing golf clubs to a really expensive, better made club to "shave off a few strokes" when you're still shooting more than 100!
Thanks again for all the help! Brett has been a godsend!
Scott
scewing@yahoo.com
Post your questions in the forum as well as e-mailing them directly to me stcrim@prodigy.net There are a lot of people here who know a lot more than me and may have additional information for your questions. (Now if we could just get Brett to part with his "Themes Know-How") If you happen to own a copy of WebPosition Gold, run your page(s) through the "Critic" the information and tutorials are worth their weight in gold. WPGold was what orig got me started in this fun and frustrating line of work. I don't use it anymore because I do my own test pages and research but I do rely on their forum for good information [marketpositiontalk.com...] though they tend to fight a lot over there. If you check it out pay close attention to posts from KK and BK, every once and a while you see Brett over there to.
How are you tracking the results of your work - in other words what are you using to read your logs??? Brett's program "Traxis" is in beta but I gotta tell ya we love it. I have three copies of it running flawlessly. Once you figure out the endless ways you can watch your search engine traffic you may never come up for air again.
(You know Brett, I think it's your fault my wife quit her job and now works with me)
Good Luck
Steve
That's the route i took...
Regards,
PS: have a nice weekend people!
The questions I had earlier were about plurals for one.....do I gear my keywords for SEs that can't differentiate or not? Also is it enough to put ", scented, candles, " in my keywords MT or do I also want to add "scented candles," in there as well.
I do not use robot.txt files so I can't speak for them. I set my pages up so that I control the spiders by what I submit. I've never had Ink spider anything I didn't submit. If I submit one page - one page is all they look at.
I have old fashioned doorway pages doing very well in AltaVista because we didn't submit anything new after the big AV wipe-out. I have a competitor with 5900 cookie cutter, keyword stuffed, doorway pages doing very well in AV. (So much for the new AV)
About "s" Set your pages up so they read naturally with "s". (One red apple a day is good for you but with a box of red apples you can share)
We don't use pix .gifs anymore. Now we make 20 X 20 transparent .gifs named button.gif and use those to direct some spider traffic. Most of all they are used to add link pop to our other sites and we use them for outbound links. "Just guessing here", but, if I'm selling apples and I have a handful of links out to the worlds biggest apple sites (from all of my pages), SE's may give that some weight. Don't know, but can't hurt.
Doorways should be as close to the top as you can get them. A competitor that we swap first and second place with on 500 plus keywords doesn't use folders - we do, but only one level. Your call... (Study your competitors - they may make you rich)
I don't place much value on meta keywords anymore. Use only the word(s) related to that page and don' get carried away. If the page is about scented candles that's all you need. Unscented candles is best put on a new page...
Steve
I've done some testing with exotic keywords in the meta keyword tag and they are not findable when the exotic is up around 100 chars, but are findable when they are down low. Could be something to that...
Steve
With that attitude - you'll get it!!! Take what you can from Brett's site before he wises up and stops giving it away.
Steve
It will really hone the communication skills.
>This particular arena fascinates me totally.
Hey, it's cheaper than booze but more addictive - the jury is still out on health issues (my hands and back are killing me).
>...before he wises up and stops giving it away.
lol. You'd be surprised at what I don't give away and just how much it costs to get it 
