Optimize your site for your target audience, not just the search engines.

I recently attended an online seminar dealing with Search Engine Optimization. I was hoping to find specific rules I could follow to make web sites rank well with the Search Engines.

Unfortunately, when it comes to SEO, there is no magic formula. Your rankings will constantly move up and down, regardless of anything you do! Everyone, even professional SEO companies, seems to have a different opinion or interpretation of the best approach.

But never fear, things are not totally out of your control. There are some basic guidelines you can follow to help things along and I plan to share some of these with you in upcoming newsletters.

I believe the first step is to remember that every web site has its own unique needs and its own target market. That is why I try to make sure both the client and I have a precise understanding of the audience they are trying to reach. You need to optimize your site to meet their needs.

Whatever you do for your web site to make it better for the search engines must also make it better for your users. You don’t have to do something for the search engines that you really don't like, or that you think looks stupid. With common sense and creativity, you can have a web site you will be proud of, and which will also be found by people looking for what you offer!

The World Wide Web is growing faster than at any time in its history, reaching almost 75 million sites.

An October 2005 survey by Netcraft found 74,409,971 sites, as measured by the number of registered domain names. 2005 is the strongest year so far for Internet growth, with the Web adding 17.5 million sites. This easily surpasses the previous annual record of 16 million in 2000 during the height of the dot-com boom.

Netcraft has been doing these survey for over 10 years. The first Netcraft survey in August 1995 found only 18,957 sites!

Netcraft analysts feel that the boom in Web sites is partly driven by more small businesses getting online. This point of view is backed up by other recent studies which show that the use of the Internet by businesses with 10 or more employees had become fairly standard practice and that businesses around the globe are committed to the Internet.

It is Election Time ... which reminds me of one of my favorite movies... Napolean Dynamite.

This independent film actually came out last year, but keeps gaining in popularity and has reached cult status. I have probably seen the movie a dozen times. (Do I really want you to know that about me?!)

Here is a link to the Official Napolean Dynamite Web site. Sweet.