In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series we talked about the basics of search engines and the importance of keywords and site structure. Today we will take a look at some web page strategies that you can utilize to help increase your SEO ranking and get those pages closer to the top of the search engines!
Web Page Considerations:
Assuming that you have already determined and established some good key words for your VO business, consider purchasing domains that have your keywords contained within the name. For example, a domain such as http://www.telephonevoice.com/ or http://corporatenarration.com/ would certainly be handy to have in addition to your main domain. (Too bad these are taken already!) :) Purchasing domain names is fairly inexpensive these days and can really help to boost your online marketing. I personally own about nine domains so far! Each one of these will be tailored for SEO and point back to my main VO website. A great place to start if you haven't already purchased your domain, or want some competitively priced domain and web hosting services is godaddy.com. Another good one to look at is bluehost.com.
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| Use the KISS principle! |
Your SEO rankings will most definitely be affected by the speed at which your page loads. Current data has shown that speeding up your page reduces the overall operating costs, and as a result, most search engines integrate a speed factor in their algorithms for rankings. A great place to test your pages for speed is at WebPagetest - they will give you loading time results as well as suggestions for improvements for your site.
Tailoring your pages for SEO can sometimes be a time consuming task, but certainly not impossible if you focus on one web page at a time. A certain amount of writing flair combined with a focused marketing objective is necessary. Writing tags to entice both your clients and search engine spiders is not a trivial task. Pick your most important pages first - the first one that you should concentrate on should be your home page.
Every web page is written in code called HTML, which stands for HyperText Markup Language. Essentially, HTML code is the basic building-blocks of all web pages. HTML is written in the form of HTML elements consisting of tags, enclosed in angle brackets, <html>, within the web page content. HTML tags normally come in pairs like <h1> and </h1>. The first tag in a pair is the start tag, the second tag is the end tag (they are also called opening tags and closing tags). Between these tags, web designers can add text, images, scripts, etc. Certain tags such as the the title, h1, h2, etc., and meta tags can be tweaked to help increase your SEO ranking and are discussed below.
The purpose of a web browser is to interpret HTML documents and compose them into visual or audible web pages. The browser does not display the HTML tags, rather it uses the tags to interpret the contents of the page.
View Page Source
In order to see the source (HTML) code for any web page, simply right click anywhere on the web page except on a link or an image, and a menu should appear where you can select "View Page Source" A new window will pop up with the source code for the page. You can also get to the Page Source by selecting the "View" option on your browser menu. Once you are looking at the source code page, you can use ctrl F to find specific tags in the source code. Make sure to go to those high ranking sites and check out your competitors pages! What are the tags and keywords that are used for the site?
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| View Page Source |
In order to see the source (HTML) code for any web page, simply right click anywhere on the web page except on a link or an image, and a menu should appear where you can select "View Page Source" A new window will pop up with the source code for the page. You can also get to the Page Source by selecting the "View" option on your browser menu. Once you are looking at the source code page, you can use ctrl F to find specific tags in the source code. Make sure to go to those high ranking sites and check out your competitors pages! What are the tags and keywords that are used for the site?
Web Page Title
<title>Your Keyword-Rich, Descriptive Page Title Here</title>
<title>Your Keyword-Rich, Descriptive Page Title Here</title>
Your web page title is the title that is displayed at the top of the browser, and weighs heavily in the algorithms of the major search engines, so identify your primary keyword phrase and craft a good web page title. Use your keyword phrases and existing web page titles (from competition research) that already rank well to come up with good titles.
It is also helpful to identify a secondary keywords and keyword phrases for your web page. You can use these keywords as part of headings (<h1>, <h2>, etc.), normal web page text, anchor texts, image alternate or title texts, etc.
<meta name="keywords" content="KEYWORD1 KEYWORD2 KEYPHRASE1 etc.">
<meta name="description" content="An accurate, keyword-rich description about your page">
The general consensus among SEO experts is that meta tags are no longer used by major search engines, however, meta tags may still matter to certain smaller topical and country-specific search engines. It certainly doesn't hurt to place these in your code, however, avoid keywords and phrases that have nothing to do with your page. Be mindful not to abuse, or "stuff' them full of too many keywords. If you do, your site may be penalized!
When composing your keyword meta tag, many search engine optimization experts suggest listing your keywords without commas to allow for multiple combinations of search terms. Your description meta tag should be an accurate and informative description of your page. Some search engines may use this text for their web page description, and it may also assist search engines in grading the relevance of your site.
Web Page Headings - H1, H2, H3, etc.
<h1>Your Keyword-Rich, Top Level Heading Here</h1>
<h2>Your Keyword-Rich, Level 2 Heading Here</h2>
<h3>Your Keyword-Rich, Level 3 Heading Here</h3> etc.
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| Use CTL F to find tags and keywords in source code! |
Use good sub-headings (<h2>, <h3>, <h4>, etc.) to structure the rest of the web page and to create natural pauses that flow when the visitor browses your web page. Create logical and informative bullet lists that will make your web page interesting and useful. Use your secondary keywords in headings if it makes sense.
Images And Alt Text
<img src="image.gif" alt="Your alt text goes here">
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| Add ALT tags to your images |
Web Page Content
Always remember - good content is key for SEO and for your website! Determine the purpose of your web page - What should your ideal customer do when she reaches this page? Is your call to action very clear and is it easy for the visitor to see it without scrolling?
Incorporate your keywords in the content of your website in an accurate and informative manner. Well written content will not only engage the reader and encourage links to your site, but will help search engines determine how “relevant” your page is to your key words and enable a better overall ranking. Your ultimate goal with every written page should be to entertain, inform, and entice the reader!
In my next article, we'll talk about the importance of links, both internal and external, as well as blogging and other strategies for SEO. Until next time,
Best Wishes and Much Success,
Anne
In my next article, we'll talk about the importance of links, both internal and external, as well as blogging and other strategies for SEO. Until next time,
Best Wishes and Much Success,
Anne
Please feel free to refer to my previous articles in this series for reference:
About the Author: Anne Ganguzza has an undeniable passion for all things voice-over and especially enjoys sharing her knowledge with others. This led her to a full time career in voiceover and inspired her to form the local meetup group for voice over artists affectionately known as the Orange County VO Peeps. She is a current member of the Media Communications Association-international (MCA-I.), the LA/Orange County chapter of Media Communications Association-international, and was most recently elected to the Board of Directors for the Media Alliance of Orange County. She is also a current member of the Society of Accredited Voice Over Artists.
As a voice over artist, her voice is described as professional, believable, warm, and friendly. Her experience includes voices for corporate narration, E-learning, IVR/On Hold Systems, commercials, infomercials, Audio Books, Live Theatre Broadcasts, and Government/Educational promotional videos and advertising. For more information, please visit Anne on her website at http://www.annespeak.com/
I am so lucky because I found this concept part-3. I already read part1, 2 and found those useful. I hope it will be also useful for me. Thanks foe nice post.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your comments Steve! So glad you found the information useful. I just posted Part 4 about links and SEO - make sure to check that out as well.
ReplyDeleteWarm Regards,
Anne