Free SEO - Search Engine Optimisation HTML Tips - St Albans

Free is a currency we all understand ! :) I am always seeking that which is free or cheaper than that.

Computer Rage - Do computers sometimes make you feel like this? Perhaps you are struggling to build your own web site. Find relief from your suffering via this page. Whilst learning how to create my own web site I was most grateful to other guitarists who had their own web sites, and were in fact web masters, in the USA who helped me with links to free online tutorials. Those links have been listed below along with a few more I accquired. I also attended workshops on SEO - Search Engine Optimisation tips which I attempt to explain on this page. Master the skills of copy/paste and your free DIY web site will be just a few clicks away. Never be afraid to try something new - Remember: Amateurs built the Ark, Professionals built the Titanic. There are many HTML code training sites on the internet via search engines. A good place to learn is Bravenet where all aspects of web site creation are explained and they offer free web site hosting.

SEO - Search Engine Optimisation - Running a web site without doing any Search Engine Optimisation is like winking at a pretty girl in the dark; you know what you are doing, but no one else does. Search engines are continually changing their algorithims so be sure to comply with their requirements. The most essential things that I have found useful in addition to all the information on the net are these below: Please be advised that all the information is only my opinions and others may have different views to mine.

Please see below the HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language of the Entry Page to my website which is what the search engine robots see when they visit my site. The crucial items I have highlighted in pale green.

Think very carefully what the essential keywords for your site should be. Invite friends to write down the search criteria they would use to find you. For my business the crucial keywords are "St Albans" and "guitar". I have also included "lessons" for good measure. So that is the TITLE of the HTML document taken care of and that is what you will see in blue on a search page when your site is listed.

Next is the META TAG DESCRIPTION. Here again you will include your keywords and a little more information about your business and/or site. Please note that I have included my telephone number at the front of the description. This means my prospective customers can call me without even visiting my site. Also useful if my host server is down for maintenance. This is what you will see in black text under the active blue heading on your search engine listing.

Now we move to the META TAG KEYWORDS where you may list your keywords again. Note that I list all my keyword in lower case.

Here is the RATING META TAG. By the way META is just for information. I believe that the RATING tag is important. I often like to view my sites from other locations than mine and on one occasion I was blocked from acess to my site. It seemed that because my site did not have the META RATING TAG my site was deemed to be of adult content. So, always include the rating tag, in my case GENERAL to ensure your site will be allowed access to the majority of browsers.

Now we have the ROBOTS TAG. You can see that I am telling the search engine robots to index my page and follow any links. If I did not want that to happen I would enter: "noindex,nofollow".

No we come to the h1 tags. In my oinion the h1 tags are important. It would appear that Google likes the h1 tags. It is generally reckoned that if you get things right for Google then it will be okay for all other search engines. Note how I put my keywords between the h1 tags. This is what the search engine robots will see and also your visitors will see. The h1 tags make the text look:

BIGGER.

Now comes the ALT text for the picture of the Telecaster guitar. You can refer to it on my Entry Page. You can put your keywords here if you wish. I have chosen to put some humour there.

And now we have the content of the page. I have chosen to use two simple links to my Teaching Information and my Free guitar tips.

SPAM - You will notice that my e-mail address on my page is NOT hypertext. It is a graphic. This is to try and thwart e-mail spiders harvesting my address and passing it on to their evil masters. I get very little spam despite the relatively high profile of my site. There are various ways of "hiding" an e-mail address. JavaScript is popular but a little outside of my comfort zone as it is prone to cause browsers to "lock up" if not used carefully. The golden rule seems to be no more than one JavaScript coding per page, preferably none.

So there you have it. Consider the most relevant keywords for your web site and get them in the title, keywords and description of the HTML and get them in the body of your page. Links from other sites to yours are useful for search engines to find you. An easy way to get links is to exchange reciprocal links with other sites. You can do it with me if you wish. Ideally your links chould also include links with other sites that have relevant content to yours. I wrote some guitar playing articles that I submitted to a prestigious guitar themed site. They published my articles and courteously linked to me. That was a back link. I did not need to reciprocate so possibly Google will rate that link highly. Back links give your site credibility especially if that site has content telated to your site.

It seems that Google own You Tube therefore my guitar tutorial videos on my channel may give me extra ranking points especially when you consider that other video channels with guitar related content have subscribed to my channel. There is a link from my guitar site to my video channel and back from the channel to my guitar site. Plus my tutorials have many "hits" and people have left favourable comments.

Can you see where all of this is heading? Intuition. Do what comes to your mind that you consider the authors of Google algorithims will consider as worthy to rank your site. But beware of using "black hat" techniques. Some people stuff their web page content with keywords the same colour as the background of the page so visitors can not see them. The hope is that Google will rank the page high because it has so many keywords. Bad move. "black hat" techniques like that can get you banned from Google for a long time. Stick to "white hat" techniques and you won't go far wrong.

I always try to include free information on my sites as I feel that that will encourage other people to link to me, pretty much the same as I am doing right here for you. If you feel so inclined please do link, thanks!

So that's a brief overview of the HTML of my Entry Page. You are welcome to copy it into your site and just adjust the text as you see fit. There are other aspects to my HTML but I feel that I have given you all you need to know to optimise your web site HTML for SEO. It's getting late so I will retire and will endeavour to add more information regarding SEO another time. If you would like to contact me you are welcome provided I am not asleep and you do not want to borrow money! You can access my contact details via my Entry Page.

p.s. Note how HTML uses American language not English. E.g. "COLOR" not our "COLOUR" and "CENTER" not our "CENTRE".

Suggestion: Google: "100 ideas for marketing your business" and you will be overwhelmed with useful content.

This web page is very much under construction. I've got lots more to tell you so please visit back soon.

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">

<html>

<head>

<title>St Albans guitar lessons</title>

<meta name="description" content="Tel: Bob 01727 851809. 'Interesting Internet site' - Making Music magazine.">

<meta name="keywords" content="free tips tabs guitar lessons st albans uk">

<meta name="AUTHOR" content="Bob Houlston">

<META HTTP-EQUIV="content-type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">

<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en">

<meta name="RATING" content="General">

<meta name="ROBOTS" content="index,follow">

<meta name="Generator" content="HTMLpad">

<style type="text/css">



</style>

</head>

<body bgcolor="#000000" link="#00FFFF" alink="#00FFFF" vlink="#00FFFF">

<center><h1><font face="ARIAL" color="#FFFFFF">Bob Houlston<br>St Albans guitar lessons</font></h1></center>

<center><font face="ARIAL" color="#FFFFFF" size="3"><img src="telecaster-537x180.gif" align="bottom" border="0" width="537" height="180" alt="Minimalism...

I charge extra for it! ;)"><br><br>

<b><a href="guitar-teacher-st-albans.htm" title="Guitar lessons St Albans">Guitar lessons information</a> | <a href="home.htm" title="Access free guitar playing tips + tabs">Free guitar tips + tabs</a></b></font></center>

</body>

</html>

Have you ever wondered what those strange looking squares of abstract black and white are for? No, they're not modern art but two dimensional bar codes called QR - Quick Response codes. When you shop in a supermarket the shop assistant scans your shopping into the till with a one dimensional bar code. The two dimensional bar codes can store a vast amount of information e.g. your name, telephone number and website address. You download the relevant app into your smart phone and use the camera in your 'phone to scan the code which then takes you to the URL of your site.

Alternative explanation from David: QR or 'Quick Response' codes are being used by businesses to provide potential customers with a web address or other information. They work just like a traditional barcode, but can hold more data because, unlike simple barcodes, they are 'two dimensional'. Using a downloadable app on your smartphone, you can read a QR code and be liked directly to relevant information.

You will find QR codes in all sorts of places, such as on business cards, posters and signage, marketing materials and stationery - in fact, pretty much anywhere they can be printed or stuck on. You can create your own QR codes to put on your business stationery as well, using softare available on the web. QR codes originated in the automotive indusstry, where they are used to identify specific car parts.

Learn more and create your own free QR code via:
QR code / Quick Response code - how to generate or create a Quick Response code
QR code... Download free KAYWA reader - access The KAYWA Reader and information

It appears that Google owns You Tube so that gives us all something to think about.

Directories
Investigate local newspapers for their online directories
There are thousands of directories, where you can list your website, usually without charge.
It is a good idea to register with a reasonable number of these.
Here are some directories which allow you to list for free:
www.britishbusiness.com
www.bttradespace.com
www.dmoz.org - Human moderated directory = HUGE! Could take 3 hours of WORK. Use it!
www.freeindex.co.uk
www.hotfrog.co.uk
www.kyotee.co.uk
www.searchme4.co.uk/
www.scoot.co.uk
www.businesslist.co.uk
www.bizwiki.com - free business listing site

Business Link - www.businesslink.gov.uk - Suggested useful websites:

Getting British Business Online - free websites
Moonfruit - free websites
www.marketingfile.com
www.yell.com
www.dma.co.uk
www.moo.com - creative printing e.g. business cards
www.google.com/webmasters
www.seomoz.org and /www.seomoz.org/learn-seo and click on Beginner's checklist.
www.totosites.com - marketing blog
Keyword research resources:
https://adwords.google.co.uk/select/KeywordToolExternal - Google search insights
If it moves search for 'Google Keyword Tool'
www.keyworddiscovery.com
www.wordtracker.com - identify keywords and phrases most likely to be typed into search engines
www.webworkshop.net/pagerank.html - Google Page Rank explained
National Business Register - support & set up for entrepreneurs & new businesses. Register business name and web domain name. Access information for new businesses.

weebly.com - The easiest way to create a website. Free. Powerful. Professional.

Google +1 - Recommend on Search, Share on Google+

321Free - access freebies
Ad-Aware - free anti-spyware
Add Me! - free search engine submission and optimisation tips
AVG - free PC anti-virus package
Axzona - useful links
B7P Hosting - free web site hosting - no adverts
BACK LINK CHECKER - Free online tool
Bravenet - free site hosting, tools and tutorials - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Cool Net Tricks - favicon.icon creation
Dive Into Accessibility - 30 days to a more accessible web site
DownLoad.com - safe, trusted and spyware free
Dynamic Drive - DHTML scripts
File Jumbo - upload files, download files, share files all for free
Firewall Plus - free package from PC Tools
Free Index - Free directory & listing
Gimp - Free image editing software
Google Analytics - Enterprise-class web analytics made smarter, friendlier and free
Google Business - Help customers find you on Google Maps / Places
Google Webmaster Central - Get data about crawling, indexing and search traffic.
How Google Works - Nigel Temple explains
How Web Pages Work - tutorial
HTML Goodies - free tutorials
HTML-Kit - check code
Java Script Kit - comprehensive
Lisa Explains HTML - free tutorials
Mouse Coordinates - capture X - Y positions
Music Match - create MP3 via free basic jukebox
NCAM - National Center for Accessible Media
Net Mechanic - site tune-up!
Online Internet Training - free tutorials
Paint.net - free image editing software
PCTopTips - hints & tips plus freeware
PDF Converter - free converter
PDF Online - free converter
Paint Shop Pro - free trial - partnered with Corel
Pingdom - free up time checker of your web site
QR code / Quick Response code - how to generate or create a Quick Response code
QR code... Download free KAYWA reader - access The KAYWA Reader and information
Scoot - most useful free listing in their online directory
ScrubTheWeb.com - free search engine optimization tools
Search Engine Watch - free tutorials
Site Valet - online validator
Spider Food - free tutorials
Submit Express - free search engine submission
Survey Monkey - create your own free online survey
Terrapin FTP - free 30 day trial
The Marketing Compass - effective marketing techniques, customer attraction ideas for small businesses
W3Schools - Online Web Tutorials
Wanadoo / Freeserve - Site Builder - innovative ISP
Web Monkey - free HTML tutorials
Xara Modules - dynamic content for web page
YOLA.com - Stop browsing. Start building. Free web site hosting no adverts.
ZoneAlarm - free firewall
ZYMIC.com Free web site - Hobby hosting with no adverts.

Discover what sites are linked to yours by entering link:URL e.g. link:http://www.xyz.com in a search engine (but not Google as it doesn't work properly so use Yahoo!).

<View - Source> on browser reveals HTML - Hyper Text Mark-up Language code, note American spelling.

Useful non-blanking space code, found on keyboard number pad, using: Alt + 0160

Google ignores dashes/hyphens so do not use in website addresses.

On PC keyboard:
Ctrl and + or -

Windows flag and click Tab.

Ctrl and wheel of mouse.

Ctrl and 0

When did Google last visit your site? If you would like to find out, visit Google and type in the following within the search bar:

cache:www.yourwebsiteaddress.xxx

If nothing appears - you have a challenge on your hands. If Google visited fairly recently, everything is OK.

R o l l e r C o a s t e r

Rock 'n' Roll web site design by Bob

***** `&' *********************************
**     #           Bob Houlston          **
**     #           Guitar Tutor          **
**    _#_          St Albans UK          **
**   ( # )       Tel: 01727 851809       **
**   / O \    Free guitar tips + tabs:   **
**  ( === ) www.houlston.freeserve.co.uk **
**** `---' ********************************
'Interesting site' - Making Music magazine

You can't hold a gun and play guitar at the same time.
So if everyone played guitar there would be World Peace.
I can't promise you fame or riches but what I can offer you is a chance to save the world one song at a time.

Home

I've just noticed that Google indexes PDFs.

10^th April 2012.

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