Internet spiders and how they help websites

An internet spider is a robot that crawls around the world wide web. They are also sometimes called crawlers. They use an algorithmic programme that follows links throughout the net searching for new content. This then fetches the new webpages and adds them to the search engine indexes. Google is a crawler-based search engine, as it relies on spiders to automatically create its listings.

Some spiders have even been given names, such as Mozilla for Netscape, Scooter for Alta Vista and Slurp for Hotbot. They leave evidence of their visits just like human surfers in analytics, code and stats.

Spiders enter and leave websites through links, which act as portals throughout the net. That’s why it’s important to have lots of incoming links to your website to encourage spider activity. If you provide lots of new content for spiders to feed on, they will remember to visit your site more frequently.

Spiders only see text on the webpages, therefore pictures and Flash programmes are invisible to them. You can add alt tags to your pictures which are written descriptions behind them, enabling spiders to understand your images.

Spiders are programmed to look for new content with links, tags and keywords. They particularly relish appropriately selected keywords combined with extremely relevant links and their destinations.  They don’t like hidden or invisible keywords, as they think they’re being fooled. If your site’s navigation is complete, spiders will visit every page, indexing anything that’s new. If you treat spiders well, they are more likely to return.

Spider top tips

• provide lots of new content for spiders to feed on
• remember to put alt tags behind your pictures
• gather as many relevant inbound links as you can for spiders to enter
• remember to add your tags within your blog posts
• create contextual links (linked key-phrases) for maximum effect
• make sure your links go to relevant destinations
• blogs are visited hourly by spiders, unlike websites who may not be visited for several weeks

What is Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising?

Pay per click is a form of paid for online advertising by Google. These adverts are found in the shaded area of a search engine page above the ‘organic’ or natural links (usually the first three links), and the remainder are placed in the area reserved for Sponsored Links in the right sidebar.

PPC, also known as Google Adwords, comprises a headline link (which is extremely important, as it contains keywords that are relevant to the search details), two lines for the description (carefully composed to contain highlighted relevant words plus being meaningful) followed by a URL which shows which website you are going to. The headline is the live link and should be directed to a highly relevant webpage for maximum effect.

Every time a visitor clicks on an Adwords ad, the company pays a fee ranging from 1p to £25. How much is paid depends on the value of the keywords in the headline. The more popular keywords command a higher price, and that depends on the subject and how many people are searching for that particular word.

But the more you pay doesn’t guarantee a higher position in the sidebar, this is dependent on the performance of the ad. So if you’re clever, you could have your ad with a lower paying keyword performing better above a more expensive advert. The more relevant your keyword is to the destination of the link, the better its chances in placement.

You don’t need to spend a fortune in PPC if you employ a wise Adwords adviser. As well as selecting inexpensive and highly performing keywords, you can juggle the price during a campaign, and set a ceiling per day so you don’t go over budget (once you’ve reached the maximum amount of clicks, your ad is automatically withdrawn). The more relevant you are in your adverts, particularly when directed to squeeze pages or highly suitable webpages, the more you’ll succeed in your conversions.

Top tips on PPC

• Take time to properly research your keywords
• Use wordtracker.com or digitalpoint.com or tools.seobook.com to find keywords
• Services: acknowledge the problem rather then offer the solution; products: be specific with particular items rather than the general shop
• Reverse thinking: don’t go for the most popular general keyword because it will be extremely expensive and you won’t position very high
• Look for highly relevant selected keywords for more poignant searches that get you further to the top of the page for less money
• It’s vital your ad is relevant to its destination, your headline keyword should totally match the webpage it is directed to
• If necessary, create specific webpages for each advert to maximise conversions

Saying exactly what in the tin

Following on from my visible networking material idea I came across this business card from Jill Wigmore-Welsh. I wanted to share it with you because it stood out from all the other business cards at this networking meeting I went to.

Why? Because the first thing it said is what she does, but in a way that was beneficial to the customer. There isn’t much room, and she even managed a rhyme, but the aim of her business was the most visible element on the card, whereas her details took a back seat.

I like this idea, because the customer should always come first. Why should our networking material bang on about ourselves? The customer cares only about themselves and what they can get out of you and your business, not actually your business. Use the fact that we’re all naturally self-centered, so by turning the tables we can take advantage of this fact and steal a march on our competitors.

What do you think of this idea – your comments are always welcome!

‘Blackberry’ doesn’t say ‘babies clothes’ to me

One young entrepreneur was asking for advice on her babies’ clothes business on a women’s business forum. She had decided to call it ‘Blackberry Babes’ and wondered if it was a good name or not. This is my response:

I’m still a little confused why you need to use ‘blackberry’ – is there some underlying reason for this? I immediately thought of the hand-held electronic system. I certainly agree that ‘babies’ is better than ‘babes’.

I should take a good luck at the USP of your product. What is special about it? What does it have that your competitors haven’t? Does it use special fabrics, are the colours significant, does it cater for specific kinds of babies’ requirements, or what?

Then I would think about how it change the lives of the babies, or their mothers. Concentrate on that phenomenon when you do your marketing. For example, an ironing service shouldn’t talk about what they do, ie your ironing, but what their customers can do if their ironing is done by the company, ie free time with the family, weekends free from household chores, no more ironing piles towering on your washingmachine! You should be describing ‘what’s in it for them’, not your product, because customers couldn’t care a tinker’s toot about you or your business, they only care about how it affects themselves.

What is so special about your babies clothes that marks it out as different from all the others, has a special element that makes the recipients lives better, and offers excellent value? Take these facts, work out your ‘keywords’ and create a name using them. For example, a courier service called ‘Fetch it now!’ – says exactly what’s on the tin.

Why this and not ‘blackberry’? ‘Blackberry’ doesn’t suggest to me baby clothing, it suggests to me more of food, or blackberry stains on sticky babies. If you are going to have a website for your company (hopefully an e-commerce one where mothers can buy on-line) by having a keyword rich name will not only make it easier for the search engine spiders to find your company, but easier for search engine users who type in those ‘keywords’ in their searches for baby clothes, not to mention the mothers who will understand exactly what you can do for them.

The result may be a little more boring than ‘Blackberry babes’ but if you want to survive on the internet, being cute and pretty won’t cut the chase.

How to make your clicks more effective

A website owner was moaning to me about how much he had spent on pay per click (PPC) advertising and had got very little in return. This is probably because he had entered into the venture by himself, so obviously there were some concepts he was not using correctly.

To start with I would advise you to go see a Google Adwords expert, because this is the area they work in every day, so they understand how to effectively use this system and will get the best deal for you.

But if you don’t, then here are some things to consider. First, each PPC advert works on the effective use of keywords. You can find these out through sites like Wordtracker.com where you will see which keywords surfers on the net are using the most. But this means the most popular words cost more to use, so it is worth looking further afield or thinking outside the box to find more cost efficient versions.

Second, where are you sending your clickers? You may have produced an effective ad which get lots of clicks at a reasonable cost, but how can you maximise on converting them into paying customers? Consider the subject of your advert, and then look at the landing webpage. Is it relevant?

It’s no good having an advert on one particular subject, let’s say baked beans, and your advert’s URL directs your customers to the index page of Heinz. Your customers are looking only for baked beans, so give them a landing page which is solely about baked beans. Going to a more general page will not only put off your customers, they may get diverted onto another subject or leave through another link. Your landing page needs to be totally focused on the subject at hand.

Third, what is the objective to your PPC advertising? Your landing page should have one aim and that is to get your customers to do something: contact you for more information, sign up for a free gift or special report, fill in a questionnaire or whatever. Don’t expect people to respond to an unfocused or cryptic message, or just the index page of your website which doesn’t have the advert’s subject immediately available.

You need to effectively guide your customers to do what you want them to do, but without being condescending in your approach. Explain concisely and coherently the purpose of the advert, and limit the number of choices to achieve a more positive response.

Contextual Connections

Just a quick post to emphasise the importance of using contextual links for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) purposes.

This is when the reader sees a relevant word or phrase which is a link going to a particular webpage. The URL for this link isn’t the same as the word or phrase that is visible, the information or instructions behind what the reader sees takes the link to its destination.

For example, visit my website to find out more about Alice Designs isn’t my website’s URL, nor is it immediately visible, but if you were to mouse over that link above and look below where that URL is shown at the bottom of your web browser, you would see it. And if you were to click on it, it would go to my website.

Contextual links are excellent food for spiders (SEO bots), especially if the link phrase itself is stuffed full of keywords or relevant words to the URL in question. If the information in front of them matches up with what they find at the other end of the link, then that earns you extra brownie-points.

You can also use contextual links to help towards disguising your email link against spammers. OK, this won’t necessarily deter the sophisticated versions, but usually simple bots won’t recognise a cleverly constructed contextual link as a email address, thus reducing your susceptability for spam. Something like Want to know more? Then ask me a question doesn’t gjve the impression of being an email link to an ordinary spider because it doesn’t contain the ‘@’.

And for goodness sake avoid using ‘click here’ everywhere, this is a totally useless form of contextual link. Be far more imaginative!

Many Layered Word Cake

Last week I ventured into the world of words in business. One aspect to consider is the words used in a website. Your webpages should be relevant to your campaign, so research into your target audience and then produce benefits for them: find the pain and offer a solution.

Dont’ forget to elaborate on your individuality or speciality, and you can make it more important by relating a successful scenario, or provide a series of examples and think up a brilliant call to action they cannot refuse. Gather customer details in return for something of value, to be used to form a relationship. But above all eliminate the complication factor: take your customers by the hand and gently lead them in the right direction: make it obvious but not condescending, enticing and relevant, worth-while but not dull.

Investigate into relevant website keywords by taking a step back and thinking like a potential customer; undertake research into what people type into a search engine to find your business and go to websites like Wordtracker.com to find out what the latest trends are and how surfers think.

If keywords are the building bricks of a website, then the tags in the code (behind the scenes) represent the mortar. These use the keywords to provide the necessary food to please the ‘spiders’ (search engine robots) and give them something varied and interesting to do. Links also contribute to spider happiness and come in the form of anchor, incoming or contextual (internal, external or descriptive), leading to lots of activity rewarded by recognition and eventually a higher search engine position!