| ----- |
-- Log on HNA010599 started at Tue Jan 05 12:05:48 PST 1999
|
| homeparentsADM: | We are just starting...we can start by introducing yourself (tell your business, and url if you have one) In alphabetical order..that worked last time |
| AnitaJ: | I am Anita Jackson, and I do web design mostly for motorcycle web sites. |
| AnitaJ: | But I also have a site that I maintian for myself for plant food called Algoflash |
| homeparentsADM: | I'm Barbara, I do the Stay-at-Home Parents site, url is http://homeparents.about.com |
| Janet: | Hi my name is Janet Crosby, and I have Paragraphics (web design) http://www.baxsie.com |
| Julie: | Julianne Gentile - The Mommy Mall , two Mining Co. Sites (Cleveland and Action Games) and GenGlo Consulting & Design (too many urls to list)... |
| Donna: | Donna Davis Magnolia IN |
| TriciaB: | Tricia Begnaud here. I have Solutions @ http://solutions.simplenet.com |
| TriciaB: | And I just made my family site on my own last night... nothing fancy but I did it myself! |
| Julie: | excellent |
| homeparentsADM: | neat, Tricia! |
| homeparentsADM: | It's a neat feeling, making your own site! |
| AnitaJ: | Tricia, that is just how this addiction begins, LOL! |
| homeparentsADM: | Julie, what's the first step in getting good placement on the search engines? I was thinking having good titles and meta tags? |
| Julie: | oh hey today is my 9 year anniversary online |
| TriciaB: | Congratulations! |
| AnitaJ: | OMG!!! Julie that is Amazing!!!! |
| Janet: | she was online when online wasn't cool... |
| homeparentsADM: | happy anniversay, Julie! |
| Julie: | I have achieved true geekdom |
| Julie: | ok, as far as Barb's question/comment, titles and meta tags are a good first step |
| homeparentsADM: | does everyone know what meta tags are? and where to put them? |
| AnitaJ: | Julie, how much of that stuff in Meta Tags is really necessary? |
| Julie: | only title, keywords and description |
| Julie: | each are vital |
| AnitaJ: | the reason I ask is because if you use meta tag builders on the net |
| Heidi: | description? I haven't heard much about using that one |
| AnitaJ: | they put in ALL KINDS of stuff, at least some do |
| Julie: | yes, some are obsolete, some are there to give credit to the generator, the author and some are for ideas never implemented |
| homeparentsADM: | I don't use those, Anita..I add my own keywords..but it's hard to know exactly what to add... |
| AnitaJ: | ahhhh, thank you |
| Julie: | but strictly for the purpose of search engines, title, keywords and description are all that is needed |
| Julie: | title is extremely important |
| AnitaJ: | Just a word of warning about meta tag builders.... |
| Julie: | many sites just put the name of their site on every page, which is worthless |
| AnitaJ: | One put in a comment tag once and some engines refused to list my site because of it. |
| Julie: | comment tags in the head of your page are a no no |
| AnitaJ: | Yep, learned that one the hard way! |
| TriciaB: | What is a comment tag? |
| Julie: | some people used to use them to add extra keywords to the document. A spider can read a comment, but it does not show on the page |
| Julie: | like this "comment tag" kids, kids, kids, kids, kids "end comment tag" |
| Heidi: | isn't that considered spamming the search engine? |
| AnitaJ: | Tricia, if you have it in your Meta tags many search engines won't list you. |
| Julie: | initially those sites would come up high on the spiders, but then they got smart and started banning those pages |
| Julie: | some engines will still allow this, but because some do not, it's best to avoid it |
| Heidi: | I ran into one site that had *line* upon *line* of stuff like that in the body of the text, same color as the background. |
| Julie: | Would anyone be willing to tell us the title on their home page, so we can look at it |
| Julie: | Heidi: that is spam, also bad |
| Heidi: | Lets see . . . You mean the title that's listed in the meta tags or the one that shows up in the browswer |
| AnitaJ: | Gosh Julie all my sites are in such disrepair |
| Donna: | Does having an entrance page help? |
| Julie: | well we can work on it.. |
| AnitaJ: | but, how about http://www.algoflash.com |
| AnitaJ: | entrance page? please explain? |
| homeparentsADM: | on my current feature, the title is "Impeachment and Our Kids - Stay-at-Home Parents- 12/22/98 |
| Julie: | ok Anita's title is very good.. Anita can you cut and paste it in here |
| Heidi: | One of mine says Impressions Web Site Design |
| Julie: | Barb, yours is also excellent... |
| homeparentsADM: | haha...thanks to the Mining Co. template, Julie! |
| Julie: | it clearly says what it is and includes the name of your site, and the date |
| AnitaJ: | Algoflash Award Winning Plant Fertilizer Home Page |
| Heidi: | Why the date? |
| Julie: | heidi, because articles are generally time sensitive |
| Heidi: | ah. That would make sense. I'm thinking of non-article stuff. |
| Julie: | ok Anita's title is good because it includes a few keywords |
| Julie: | as well as the company name.... |
| homeparentsADM: | and it shows people you update regularly..I' d think..I don't have dates on the list of links pages.. |
| AnitaJ: | but it needs more doesn't it? |
| Julie: | I would suggest skipping award winning and home page and including a few more keywords |
| Julie: | Algoflash: plant fertilizer for blah blah blah.. or something like that... |
| AnitaJ: | OMG!!! Just realized it has spam comments in the header! Oh Lord! |
| AnitaJ: | Thanks Julie, good idea |
| Julie: | keywords are excellent and all lowercase |
| AnitaJ: | good grief :-0 |
| AnitaJ: | shouldn't some be in caps? |
| Julie: | however keywords should come before the description |
| homeparentsADM: | lots of search engines are really penalizing spam..I sometimes wonder if I repeat the word "parents' too much.. |
| AnitaJ: | Oh! I had no idea, thanks for pointing that out! |
| Julie: | no, if you use lowercase then it will come up if a searcher uses either lower or upper. If it is a term that is commonly capitalized, it wouldn't hurt to add the caps version, because relevance may be a bit higher then |
| homeparentsADM: | Julie, do you suggest "mispelling some keywords that are commonly misspelled? |
| Julie: | Anita, the description is not a description at all |
| Julie: | barb: yes |
| Julie: | as long as you include the correct one, also |
| AnitaJ: | You mean in my page or in general Julie? |
| Julie: | Anita, on your page.. the description should be a real sentence... not keywords.. this will be used as the description for your link in most engines |
| AnitaJ: | |
| Julie: | don't be embarrassed.. this is a good example... |
| AnitaJ: | thanks good point! |
| homeparentsADM: | Anita, right..this is how we learn!! |
| AnitaJ: | glad I used it, now I see I have work to do! LOL! |
| Julie: | also, you should customize the title, keywords and description for each page |
| Julie: | Anyone else want to have their tags scrutinized? |
| AnitaJ: | Janet you are an excellent designer, show us one of your sites? |
| Heidi: | you can look at mine http://www.concentric.net/~Lovekids/ They stink! |
| homeparentsADM: | you want to repeat your title in your description, right, if possible? |
| Donna: | could you look at my site,if we have time? |
| Heidi: | gotta add a description. I hadn't really thought of that part before. |
| homeparentsADM: | we should have time, Donna..we can make this a 3 or 4 parter if needed, this is an important topic. |
| Julie: | not really Barb.. in most cases the title becomes the link and the description will be the annotation for the link |
| homeparentsADM: | ah, ok, Julie.. |
| Julie: | ok Heidi, your title is Impressions Web Design |
| Heidi: | Uh, huh. |
| Heidi: | Dull, right? |
| Julie: | good that you include the words web design, but they are so common that it will not help much... |
| Heidi: | Yeah, I figured, but my brain wouldn't give me anything else. |
| Julie: | a better choice might be Impressions Web Design: and a few keywords |
| Julie: | what is your focus? |
| LisaB: | You can scrutinize my tags... |
| Julie: | web design for small business? |
| Donna: | Thanks,the url is http://www.magnoliaink.com |
| Julie: | hosting? |
| Heidi: | focus: small business mostly |
| TriciaB: | Okay, a little bird said Can we look at my site? |
| Julie: | ok, then include that in your title |
| TriciaB: | http://solutions.simplenet.com |
| Julie: | keywords need work and should be below the title... |
| Heidi: | Impressions Web Page Design for Small Business Sites |
| Julie: | you need some individual words... and remember web design is very common, so you need to include other words |
| Julie: | Heidi: excellent |
| Heidi: | OK, I never figured the order mattered. |
| Julie: | and then add a description below the keywords |
| Heidi: | thanks :-) |
| homeparentsADM: | then, Heidi, if someone searched for "web design, small business", you'd have more chance of showing up.. |
| Heidi: | hmmmm. I like that! |
| Julie: | yes each term between commas is unique |
| Heidi: | What sort of key words for a web design site, though? |
| Julie: | web is different than web design |
| Julie: | web design, www, design, home pages, html, web pages, designers, |
| Julie: | look at the first site that comes up when you type in web design and see what they have |
| homeparentsADM: | Heidi, I think, yeah, what Julie said..LOL...and maybe add small business, business, SOHO, |
| Julie: | also, before I go to someone else, the text on the page and the alt text in your graphics is very relevant |
| Heidi: | Hmmmm. OK, thanks. BTW, SOHO??? |
| Julie: | many engines use an algorythm that uses the keywords plus page text to determine relevance |
| Julie: | yes |
| Julie: | oh my typing is bad today, forgive me |
