Custom web design - $45 per hour

Affordable Custom Web Design

Frequently Asked Question

How can I get my site listed first when someone performs a search?

It's an understandable question best answered by first providing some basic Search Engine information.

There are 3 main search engines which account for almost 85% of all US searches:

- Google (about 48%)
- Yahoo (about 21%)
- MSN (about 14%)

There are basically 3 ways to increase the chances that your site will appear in search results:

  1. Make sure your site uses "search engine friendly" development. This makes your pages accessible to "crawlers" which search a website's content and html tags.
  2. Have other websites provide a link to your pages. And have outbound links on your site to other quality websites.
  3. Participate in the paid marketing programs offered by each search engine. The most common method is to bid on keywords used by people searching for your product or service. The more money you bid, the better your chance of having your site appear in the "Sponsored Links" located in the top of the results page or the right margin. If someone clicks on your link, you pay the search engine the amount you bid for the keyword.

How can Affordable Custom Web Design (ACWD) help?

ACWD can optimize your site (item #1 above) for "search engine friendly" development. This consists of:

- Properly optimized HTML tags (title, meta, header, image, href, keywords, description)
- Layout content for optimal position of keywords and primary copy
- Descriptive file names
- Logical linking structure
- Sitemap for larger websites
- Development in XHTML and CSS standards

How can I find out more about Google, Yahoo and MSN?

The tables below provide a brief summary of the primary features offered by each. Links are provided to the appropriate areas of their websites so you can find out additional information.

Google (Also supplies AOL and Netscape results) Percent of all US searches: 48%
Submit your site for free: http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl

Search results depend on:
- How many other sites provide a link to your site.
- How many outbound links you provide on your site.
- How well your page design complies to Google guidelines.
Pay for a Sponsored Ad: http://www.google.com/ads/
Participate in Google's "Adwords Program." Your ad appears at the top or the right of search results. You pay Google each time someone clicks on your ad.

Search results depend on:
- Your choice of keywords and description.
- Your ad's bid price and click thru rate.

 

Yahoo Percent of all US searches: 21%
Submit your site for free: http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html

Search results depend on:
- How many other sites provide a link to your site.
- How many outbound links you provide on your site.
- How well your page design complies to Yahoo guidelines.
Pay for Yahoo marketing programs: http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/marketing
- Sponsored Search (from $50-$300 per month)
- Search Submit Express ($50 annual fee plus cost-per-click)
- Directory Submit ($299 annual fee)
- Product Submit (Yahoo Shopping site; cost-per-click)
- Enhanced Listings (part of the Directory program)

Search results depend on:
- Your choice of keywords and description.
- Your ad's bid price and click thru rate.
- Following Yahoo's guidelines for each program.

 

MSN Percent of all US searches: 14%
Website ranking is completely automated and depends on:
- Web page content.
- The number and quality of websites that link to your pages.
- Relevance of your website’s content to keywords.
You cannot pay to boost your website’s relevance ranking; however, MSN offers advertising options: http://advertising.msn.com/home/home.asp