Travel Agent - August 20, 2007 - (Page 43)

Wouldn’t you feel that if all these travel agents were suggesting you talk to this one guy he might know something on the subject? Search engines work the same way. By becoming a site everyone refers to on a specific subject, you gain credibility with search engines. So how do you know if a site is credible? If you do not have it already, download the Google tool bar. The tool bar will bring up the rank of any site you are on. It’s that easy. Download the Google tool bar at http://toolbar. google.com. Create Individual Titles and Descriptions for Your Pages This is what you see in the blue bar at the top of Internet Explorer. Does yours say Home Page? Title tags are how search engines compare the relevancy of your page in a search query to another site. In addition, if you are doing a payper-click (PPC) campaign, it can effect your placement as well; so, it pays to edit your title and description tags. Wordtracker is an excellent tool to help you choose the best keywords Examine Site Architecture and Navigation Create a site map for your site and what actions you would feel the viewer might take to make a decision to request more information. Looking beyond your top and left navigation, create a set path for your viewer to follow. Offer hyperlinks at the end of a page that lead to the next page and the next action. Consider how your pages interlink with one another and use keywords in those links. Including internal navigation within your content provides search engines with keywordrich paths through your site. To create a site map page, ensure everything is neat and relevant across your site: Irrelevant links and content could be detrimental. Map your entire site in a handwritten tree and link content accordingly. Then use this to create a site map. Add a link to the site map from both your home page and your navigation. Track Your Efforts and Your Competition Both Yahoo Site Explorer and Google Webmaster have free tools that let you see how many pages of your site are indexed, who’s linking back to you and if there are any errors on your site. Knowing how many pages are indexed is another important stat you can retrieve from Yahoo Site Explorer. This data indicates how good your site’s internal structure is and whether your site is crawled extensively. This is the key to the deep indexing of your site. By looking at your site from your visitor’s perspective, you will appeal to both search engines and your potential customers. By focusing on your specialty for search, you can target your audience to increase your conversions. And by taking time to implement these guidelines, you will increase your visibility for search, insure all the steps to convert your web site into a lead are there and get your site in shape for those 460,906 million annual unique searches worldwide. Pay Attention to Blogs and Community Sites Utilizing blogs and forums can improve your site’s overall visibility. Sites such as www.flickr.com, www.myspace.com and www.technorati.com offer community outlets and promote a sharing of information. Also put these “public bookmarks” buttons on your site and your articles. If you want to start a blog, WordPress offers a free blog tool that is easy to set up. While blogs do take time to maintain, they also offer unique and relevant content that is user generated and offers you the ability to get viral links into your site through the open dialogue they promote. Understanding Site Maps Providing an XML site map is a quick and easy thing you can do to help search engines understand the important pages of your site. Google, Yahoo and MSN all accept XML site maps. Having a site map and then submitting it through Webmaster Central (www.google.com/webmasters/ sitemaps) will provide not only valuable insight into when your site was crawled, but also any errors on your site causing problems with the crawl. August 20,2007 TravelAgent 43 http://toolbar.google.com http://toolbar.google.com http://www.flickr.com http://www.myspace.com http://www.technorati.com http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Travel Agent - August 20, 2007

Contents Editor's Letter News You Can Use Agenda: Fam Trips, Calendar of Events, Deal of the Week Cover Story: Hot Cruise Ports: 2008 and Beyond Central & South America: Costa Rica’s New Resort Europe: Heathrow Upgrades Hawaii: Grand Wailea Resort Hotel and Spa Caribbean: Westin’s Plans in the D.R. Still on Track Africa: Pacific Delight Tours’ South Africa Itinerary Hotels: West Virginia Icon Gets Makeover Tech Advisor: Search Engine Optimization 101 Spa Luxury Travel Expo Update Advertisers’ Information Classified Marketplace People & Places

Travel Agent - August 20, 2007

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