Visitor Satisfaction

It’s oftentimes a difficult balance for web site owners. How do
you please both visitors and search engines? Well, it’s not
easy, but if you follow certain steps, it isn’t that difficult,
either.

So which is more important, to please the visitors or the search
engine spiders? The unequivocal answer is to please the
visitors. What good is a site that attracts spiders but not
actual people? And what good is a site that only attracts some
visitors but not search engine spiders? In this newsletter, we
will go over writing content that interests and pleases both
your readers and the spiders.

So how do I write content that pleases a visitor?

First, stick to writing content that is relevant to your site.
That means that if your site is about Rock music, you should not
have any content about dogs, as that only makes your site look
bad and repels visitors.

Second, write content in an easy to understand, conversational
format. Do not use big, fancy words just for the sake of looking
smart or pleasing search engine bots. I can’t count the number
of times I’ve visited a site with content that is so hard to
comprehend that I do not wish to ever come back to that site
again. You want to make a good first impression on anyone who
takes the time to look at your site, so make sure your content
is easy to understand.

Third, never ever write content that is long, dull, and boring.
If the point you are trying to get across can be said more
concisely in 500 words, than why waste another 300 words droning
on and on about the topic? This is a huge turnoff to potential
visitors.

Fourth, make sure that all of your content is grammatically
correct. I know, this is hard because we live in the instant
messenger world, where sentences like “how r u?”, are thought to
be acceptable. However, anyone who is well-educated will
appreciate good grammar. Make your site shine in this
department.

Fifth, don’t overuse keywords and keyword phrases. In other
words, don’t make it blatantly obvious to the reader that you
are trying to attract search engine spiders to your site. Make
an effort to make sure that your keywords and keyword phrases
flow into the content of the article. This is easier said than
done, but can be accomplished with a little fine tuning.

But what about search engine spiders? How do I please them?

Search engine spiders are actually very easy to please, much
easier than actual human beings. This is because search engine
spiders aren’t subjective—they don’t care what the subject is
about; they just care about the number keywords and keyword
phrases.

The only way you can possibly displease a search engine spider
is by overusing a keyword/keyword phrase and making your site
smell like spam. Search engine spiders are now more advanced
than ever, and so they are better able to ignore sites that are
full of spam. Too many keywords or keyword phrases that are
blatantly there will hinder your site from being crawled by
spiders.

As is mentioned in another of our newsletters, a keyword density
of 1-3% is generally considered to be good. Any less than 1% is
bad and will make it harder for your site to get listed on
search engines; any more than 4% makes your site look like spam.
If you haven’t checked out our other newsletter, keyword density
is basically the number of keywords or keyword phrases in a
piece of content divided by the total number of words.

Before you write your article, take some time to make up a short
list of keywords that are relevant to the topic at hand. Then
try to naturally sprinkle them into your content, so that your
content will please both the search engine bots and your
readers. If you are able to do that, you will have a successful
site in no time. Not only will the search bots love you, but
actual people will, too!

Writing content that is good for both people and search
engines is an absolute essential to making your site a
powerhouse. So follow the rules above and you will be able to
write excellent, pleasing content!

Len