• Who are they?
• What are they like?
• What do they want from you?
• How are they willing to get it?
• What kind of language do they use to describe your product or service?

• Who are they?
• What are they like?
• How are they promoting themselves?
• What keywords and phrases are they using in their sites?
• Which competitors are ranking on page one of Google and Yahoo’s searches for those keywords.

List all the keywords and phrases associated with your product or service.

• In a spreadsheet:
  • Group keywords and phrases by subject.
  • Prioritize them based on what your audience wants.
• Check a current site’s keyword density.
• Learn the week’s Yahoo Buzz Index or Google Trends.
• Use free guides and tools form SEOmoz.

Buy a domain name that uses your most important keyword/phrase.

• Buy a domain name that uses your most important keyword/phrase.
• This will make people more likely to find and trust your site.

• Name your folders and page files by the keyword groups you defined in #3.
• Use unique meta tag keyword lists on each page; keep it short and related to that page.
• Each page title is unique to the page and reflects the important keywords for that page.
• Each page’s headers and subheads use the keywords.
• The body text of each page uses the keywords for that page yet remains well-written.
  • Successful Home Pages
  • A List Apart: Home Page Goals
  • Elements of a Successful Home Page
• Navigation from one page to the next is logical and uses the top priority keywords.
• Avoid internal style sheets, long JavaScripts, Flash navigation, and frames.
  • Move styles to an external .css file.
  • Move JavaScripts to external .js files.
  • Navigation should not rely on Flash.
  • Frames make navigation for search engine robots difficult.
• Use HTML text instead of image-text to display important names, content, or links.
  • Text links use keywords.
• Use descriptive and accurate alt and title tags.
  • Include the keywords in them when possible.
  • When adding outside links (either to a blogroll or text link), remember to fill the title attribute field with keywords and phrases that describe the link.
• Fix broken links.
• Use compliant code and styles whenever possible to help search engines read your page.
• Design areas of your site that take advantage of underused keywords and phrases.
• Create a crawler page
  • List-only links to your pages (a site map).
    • Example site maps: Ecampus and Oregon-Berries
  • Include no content or meta tags; just links.
  • Create a hidden link to it from the home page.
• Create a robots.txt page
  • Tell search engine robots what they can or cannot add to their index.

All visible pages need relevant content such as headlines, text, images, alternative text and title.

• Leave off any pages that are under construction.
  • Do not use the words “under construction” in your pages/site. Search engines don’t like this.
• Print every page of the site and review it.
  • Does it look like you want it to?

Test users to help determine if you’ve met the objectives set forth in your plan.

• 8 Guidelines for Usability Testing
• Can they find what they’re looking for quickly and easily?
• If not, survey them to learn how you can improve the site.
  • Observe them looking for something specific so you can learn how they navigate and perceive your site.

Submit your site’s home page or crawler page to Google, Yahoo, and other major search engines related to your industry.

• Basic guidelines
• Follow Google’s guidelines
  • Only resubmit to Google when you’ve had a major site change.
• Follow Yahoo’s guidelines

Link Exchanges

• Exchange links with sites that can support your efforts.
• But only with the sites that are already ranking high in search engines.
  • Example: Ecampus
  • Example: Contemporary Fine Art Int’l
• Consider becoming part of a web ring, club, discussion group, industry-related directory, or other organizations which list members.

Tools and services

• Hosted blogs, lenses, galleries, movies, calendars, etc.
  • Squido, Twitter.com, Blogger.com, WordPress.com, flickr, YouTube, CafePress
• Widgets (not always compliant)
  • Your Minis, SpringWidgets, Flock, Clearspring
• Toolbars
  • The Conduit Company
• Contests
  • Daily PaintWorks
• Write articles and forum posts

Begin tracking who visits your site and what they do there.

Services and products help track and graph what’s happening:

• Google Analytics
  • Sign up for free account. Add a small script to the bottom of each site’s template to activate. The charts and data available are helpful, though I’ve read some SEO experts recommend you use a stats product that isn’t made by the search engine companies.
• StatCounter
  • A free yet reliable invisible web tracker, highly configurable hit counter and real-time detailed web stats. Insert a simple piece of our code on your web page and you will be able to analyze and monitor all the visitors to your web site in real-time!

Stay abreast of industry changes by reading articles and forums listed on SEO Chat.

• Keep abreast of industry changes by reading articles and forums listed on SEO Chat (they’re rated by visitors).
• Stay inspired by reading Gorilla Website Marketing.com
• A few years ago, the SEO Moz Web 2.0 Awards chart made it easy to compare the top 3 in each category.
• For 2010 these companies made a list: Time Magazine, Webby Awards, The Stevie Awards

List your domain name on printed and other online materials whenever possible.

• Business cards, brochures, and other giveaway items
  • Leave off the http:// and www.
  • Most domains no longer need the www so use just the domain name.
    • Example: oregonstate.edu
• Email signatures
  • Never just put your name at the end of an email; use your full contact information.
  • Use an email address that uses your domain, not one with an unrelated domain such as Hotmail or Yahoo.
• Online forums, articles, and newsletters
  • Become known as an expert by writing and submitting articles to appropriate online and printed sources.
  • Send an opt-in online newsletter and provide a way for customers to opt-out.
    • Do not spam your customers or friends; they may get you listed as a spammer.
• Online Public Calendars
• Advertising
  • Consider online advertising to hit your target audience.
    • Google AdWords is the most popular form of online advertising.
    • Affiliation Marketing with trusted vendors.
      • Example: Amazon Associate program will send you money if someone purchases a book you listed on your site using the refferal tags. Check their Honor System for more benefits.
    • Maps, such as maps.google.com will list your storefront’s location.
      • Example: Oregon Berry Festival
    • Banner ads
      • Pervasive but often annoying to customers.
    • Auctions and Classifieds
      • Use other companies’ sites to sell your products.
      • Be wary of fraudulent buyers and sellers.

The internet is a legitimate arena to promote knowledge, people, places, products, services, and communities. Many businesses rely on the internet to prosper. A large portion of those businesses are making money only via the internet. And a large portion of those businesses are abusing the internet to make money. Read Spam + Blogs = Trouble by Charles C. Mann (Wired 14.9) to learn how the abuse takes place and why splogs could smother the Internet. Lately, Google is cracking down on content farms.

Building web pages may be fun; a creative outlet. Selling services and products online is another situation, however. To be a successful vendor for clients looking to you for expertise, consider that they are paying for success of their site, not just a pretty interface. Success is ‘more paying customers.’ So design and produce with their needs in mind, which includes bringing customers to their site and ultimately to their door.

Now, maybe you aren’t considering a career in web authoring, or if you are, you just want to be the designer, or just the programmer, and not the marketer. Either way, your knowledge and experience in the promotional aspects of web authoring will be needed before you create a single web page.