Tasha Harrison

Writing the meta data for your website can be one of the most laborious tasks, but it is also one of the most important parts of launching any new site or improving your existing site.

There are three types of meta data that relate directly to search engine optimisation (SEO). They are:

• Title tag/Page title: this is the title that your browser will give to the page. It is also the first port of call for the search engines when they examine your site. It tells them exactly what your page is about. Search engines use this title in your listing.
• Meta description: this should compliment your page title and give a little more detail about the content of the page. Search engines use this description in your listing.
• Meta keywords: keyword stuffing used to be a common ‘trick’ for getting your site to rank highly on Google and as a consequence the meta keywords were given a much smaller significance.  In essence they are a way of telling search engines which keywords your page is relevant to.

The reason the page title is the most important is that it holds the highest relevance for search engines, so make sure that each page has a unique page title that explains exactly what that page is about and remember to keep it brief. I always like to put the name of the company in the title to help build brand recognition in the listings on Google.

For example, a site called Clothesonline will have a page title for its blue jeans of:

Blue denim jeans – Clothesonline

For the black jeans page:

Black denim jeans – Clothesonline

And so on – it really is that simple, but very effective.

SEO is the art of driving relevant traffic to a site from search engines.  This is done getting a site to rank well on search engines for selected keywords that are most relevant to that site’s core message or product.

There are several elements that search engines look for in a site:

• Page title: this is the title that you can see at the top of your browser and that Google uses when it lists your site.
• Meta description: this is data that sits in the code of your site. It is used by search engines as the description.
• Meta keywords: keyword stuffing used to be a very effective way of ranking highly on Google, but it is now considered to be spamming.  They are still worth entering into the code, but be very specific with them.
• Headings and content: the content on your page is very very important.  Google will look at the content and judge how useful your site will be for the user. The easiest way to get your content right is to create it for your user.
• Links: other sites linking to your site shows Google that they think your site is useful, so Google sees links to your site as a recommendation.
• Site structure: when Google’s bots visit your site they need to be able to find all of your pages easily.  A logical structure makes it easier for them.

These are the basic foundations for optimising your site.

For more on SEO I recommend these articles:

Cheap SEO is not always the best SEO – Cheap is what it is
Beginner’s Guide to SEO links

In essence social media is simply sites that are social.  These include social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, and any kind of online community like a forum or a blog.

The reason social media is so important (and why the media talk about it constantly) is that it enables us to communicate with people who share our interests and passions via the internet. Before the internet people would join clubs and groups in order to meet people with similar interests. For some people this was difficult as there may not have been a group in their area. The internet enables us to meet people online more easily.

Sites like Facebook help you to meet up with old friends and acquaintances. MySpace helps new bands easily showcase their work online. Youtube enables people to share their videos.

There are many more sites that are aimed at smaller communities. LinkedIn is a networking site for business people across the world. It enables you to build a community by connecting with people you already know and their contacts as well. So if you go to a networking event and meet five people, all of whom are on LinkedIn, you can connect with them on the site and then have access to their networks.

Imagine you are opening a shop. You spend time and money decorating the interior, buying your stock and filling the shelves.

You plan a date for a big opening, send out invitations, place some advertising in the local press and make sure that your opening is going to be a success.

The same principles apply to your website. If you build a site and don’t let anyone know it is there you will have no visitors. At least with a shop people will walk past it. Generally people don’t accidentally stumble on websites, they search for them or find them through links on other websites. Sometimes they are recommended a website and type the address straight into the address bar.

Online marketing is getting people to visit your website, people who want to buy your products and become your customer.