A Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (”organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. Typically, the earlier a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific search engines.As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO companies like our Florida based marketing firm consider what people search for.

Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords or key phrases and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines to your website’s information. The acronym “SEO” can also refer to “search engine optimizers,” a term adopted by an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients.Search engine optimizers may offer SEO as a stand-alone service or as a part of a broader marketing campaign or web service. Because effective SEO may require changes to the HTML source code of a site, SEO tactics may be incorporated into website development and design. The term “search engine friendly” may be used to describe web site designs, menus, content management systems and shopping carts that are easy to optimize.

There may be different levels of SEO depending on the your objectives, budget or geographic saturation. Warning - Be careful of companies who discuss variations of what is know in the trade as Black hat SEO or Spamdexing. These methods depend on link farms and keyword stuffing that degrade both the relevance of search results and the user-experience of search engines. Search engines look for sites that employ these techniques in order to remove them from their indices. Many web design companies and SEO companies out-think themselves and get away from the basics with the idea they can manipulate the search engines into ranking their web pages higher than they warrant. Many times this backfires costing the client’s website permanent damage with regard to future rankings in the major seach engines.

A Work Of Art, Inc., (awoa.com) based in Fort Lauderdale and Coral Springs, Florida along with many other webmasters and content providers began optimizing sites for search engines in the mid-1990s, as the first search engines were cataloging the early Web. Initially, all a webmaster needed to do was submit a page, or URL, to the various engines which would send a spider to “crawl” that page, extract links to other pages from it, and return information found on the page to be indexed.

The process involves a search engine spider downloading a page and storing it on the search engine’s own server, where a second program, known as an indexer, extracts various information about the web page, such as the words it contains and where these are located, as well as any weight for specific words, as well as any and all links the page contains, which are then placed into a scheduler for crawling at a later date. Early versions of search algorithms relied on webmaster-provided information such as the keyword meta tag, or index files in engine. Meta tags provide a guide to each page’s content. But using meta data to index pages was found to be less than reliable because the webmaster’s choice of keywords in the meta tag could potentially be an inaccurate representation of the site’s actual content. Inaccurate, incomplete, and inconsistent data in meta tags could and did cause pages to rank for irrelevant searches.

Web content providers also manipulated a number of attributes within the HTML source of a page in an attempt to rank well in search engines.By relying so much on factors exclusively within a webmaster’s control, early search engines suffered from abuse and ranking manipulation. To provide better results to their users, search engines had to adapt to ensure their results pages showed the most relevant search results, rather than unrelated pages stuffed with numerous keywords by unscrupulous webmasters.

Since the success and popularity of a search engine is determined by its ability to produce the most relevant results to any given search, allowing those results to be false would turn users to find other search sources. Search engines responded by developing more complex ranking algorithms, taking into account additional factors that were more difficult for webmasters to manipulate.

Google headquarters Page and Brin founded Google in 1998. Google attracted a loyal following among the growing number of Internet users, who liked its simple design. Off-page factors (such as PageRank and hyperlink analysis) were considered as well as on-page factors (such as keyword frequency, meta tags, headings, links and site structure) to enable Google to avoid the kind of manipulation seen in search engines that only considered on-page factors for their rankings. Although PageRank was more difficult to game, webmasters had already developed link building tools and schemes to influence the Inktomi search engine, and these methods proved similarly applicable to gaming PageRank. Many sites focused on exchanging, buying, and selling links, often on a massive scale. Some of these schemes, or link farms, involved the creation of thousands of sites for the sole purpose of link spamming.

In recent years major search engines have begun to rely more heavily on off-web factors such as the age, sex, location, and search history of people conducting searches in order to further refine results.By 2007, search engines had incorporated a wide range of undisclosed factors in their ranking algorithms to reduce the impact of link manipulation. Google says it ranks sites using more than 200 different signals. The three leading search engines, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft’s Live Search, do not disclose the algorithms they use to rank pages.

Getting indexed - The leading search engines, Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft, use crawlers to find pages for their algorithmic search results. Pages that are linked from other search engine indexed pages do not need to be submitted because they are found automatically. Some search engines, notably Yahoo!, operate a paid submission service that guarantee crawling for either a set fee or cost per click. Such programs usually guarantee inclusion in the database, but do not guarantee specific ranking within the search results. Yahoo’s paid inclusion program has drawn criticism from advertisers and competitors.

Two major directories, the Yahoo Directory and the Open Directory Project both require manual submission and human editorial review. Google offers Google Webmaster Tools, for which an XML Sitemap feed can be created and submitted for free to ensure that all pages are found, especially pages that aren’t discoverable by automatically following links.Search engine crawlers may look at a number of different factors when crawling a site. Not every page is indexed by the search engines. Distance of pages from the root directory of a site may also be a factor in whether or not pages get crawled.

White hat versus black hat - SEO techniques can be classified into two broad categories: techniques that search engines recommend as part of good design, and those techniques of which search engines do not approve. The search engines attempt to minimize the effect of the latter, among them spamdexing. Some industry commentators have classified these methods, and the practitioners who employ them, as either white hat SEO, or black hat SEO. White hats tend to produce results that last a long time, whereas black hats anticipate that their sites may eventually be banned either temporarily or permanently once the search engines discover what they are doing. An SEO technique is considered white hat if it conforms to the search engines’ guidelines and involves no deception. As the search engine guidelines are not written as a series of rules or commandments, this is an important distinction to note.

White hat SEO is not just about following guidelines, but is about ensuring that the content a search engine indexes and subsequently ranks is the same content a user will see. White hat advice is generally summed up as creating content for users, not for search engines, and then making that content easily accessible to the spiders, rather than attempting to trick the algorithm from its intended purpose. White hat SEO is in many ways similar to web development that promotes accessibility, although the two are not identical.

Black hat SEO attempts to improve rankings in ways that are disapproved of by the search engines, or involve deception. One black hat technique uses text that is hidden, either as text colored similar to the background, in an invisible div, or positioned off screen. Another method gives a different page depending on whether the page is being requested by a human visitor or a search engine, a technique known as cloaking.Search engines may penalize sites they discover using black hat methods, either by reducing their rankings or eliminating their listings from their databases altogether.

Marketing strategies considered - Eye tracking studies have shown that searchers scan a search results page from top to bottom and left to right (for left to right languages), looking for a relevant result. Placement at or near the top of the rankings therefore increases the number of searchers who will visit a site. However, more search engine referrals does not guarantee more sales. SEO is not necessarily an appropriate strategy for every website, and other Internet marketing strategies can be much more effective, depending on the site operator’s goals.

A successful Internet marketing campaign may drive organic traffic to web pages, but it also may involve the use of paid advertising on search engines and other pages, building high quality web pages to engage and persuade, addressing technical issues that may keep search engines from crawling and indexing those sites, setting up analytics programs to enable site owners to measure their successes, and improving a site’s conversion rate. In addition, paid search results or “Pay Per Click” campaigns are certianly not the way to go for many business types for various reasons such as low profit margins, and low sales volume combined with popular key word associations.

SEO may generate a substantial return on investment.
However -search engines are not paid for organic search traffic, their algorithms change, and there are no guarantees of positioning, continued placement, referrals or revenue growth based on search results alone. Due to this lack of guarantees and certainty, a business that relies heavily on search engine traffic can suffer major losses if the search engines stop sending visitors. It is considered wise business practice for website operators to liberate themselves from dependence on search engine traffic.A top-ranked SEO blog Seomoz.org has reported, “Some search marketers, in a twist of irony, receive a small share of their traffic from search engines.” Instead, some of their main sources of traffic are links from popular websites within a company’s industry type. These can include free listings, articles, banners and other sources within a website that generate incoming traffic.- David Nagle - Creative Director, A Work Of Art, Inc. - AWOA.COM

Business owners looking for a web design company often make the mistake of choosing a designer with emphasis on price and often overlook the company’s or individual’s

1) design talent
2) advertising and marketing knowledge
3) how long they have been in business.

A website is much more than just a place to visit online. A company website is a marketing tool, a location to advertise, a powerful way to persuade visitors interested in your products or services to make contact and ultimately choose your company among the thousands of competitors vying for their business. And, it should serve as such in the most effective way possible. When you choose a company to develop your site, the following important factors should be considered and possibly weigh heavily on your decision making process. If you follow these important guidelines you will have a powerful online presence that not only is attractive, unique and appealing but will have the effectiveness to grow your company and make you money.

1) Design capability: The first factor to consider is the creative ability and talent of the designer. Cookie cutter templates are easy to acquire and most average “designers” use them as a foundation for a company’s web page design. This is because they are usually technical people with no design talent or they are using the most basic and inexpensive web applications to build your site. In this scenario you will end up with web pages that look unimaginative and dull. You’ve seen them! They are everywhere! Lots of simple text, simple format, square pictures dropped into the page without proper design or creativity. Smart companies hire an experienced designer with unique creative talent that will “custom design” your web page from scratch using high end design applications before they are coded or scripted. This allows you, the client, virtually unlimited freedom to express your ideas, themes, and branding in your site. It also sets your pages apart from anything else your visitors will see in your competitor’s web pages. The result is - a) a unique looking website that potential customers will remember b) Unlimited visual an technical capabilities throughout the website c) More effective branding, advertising and marketing throughout the web pages.

2) Marketing and advertising Experience: The development of a website should take into consideration the market demographic your company is speaking to. The personal, political and cultural profile, age group, and environmental considerations among others will be a determining factor on how a knowledgeable web developer will design and write the content of your website. The psychological implications intertwined within a website can produce a subliminal or conscious thought process that coerce decision making. If you do not relate to the person you are trying to influence it can be an uphill battle from the minute they arrive at your home page. many website owners wonder why they get many hits but few page views and even less action on their contact forms. A good website design company will have the ability not only to market and advertise your website but to incorporate effective marketing and advertising techniques within your website.

3) Experience and Longevity: How long has your web design firm been in business? A week? A few months? A couple years? I can tell you that the number one conversation I have each and every day with prospective clients is this - caller: ” I hired a web design company a many months ago. They haven’t finished my website, they are many problems with it and now I can’t get in touch with them. They took a deposit and now I have no website and I am out thousands of dollars.” Well, I feel for these business owners. This is a major problem in the web design industry. It is too easy for one to go purchase an inexpensive web application like “Microsoft Front Page”, spend a couple months learning the software and turn around and hold themselves out as a web designer. This represents a majority of the web designers out there. There are many experienced firms out there, but many more who fit the previous description.

One question needs to be asked up front - “How long have you been in business?” Five years should be the minimum requirement. The next question - “Can I have references of those you have done business with longer than 3 years, and can I contact them?” That will give you a good determination of the company’s reliability.

Check the company’s prior work online and look for the inbound link on the customer’s website to the designer’s website. Another easy test is - when you call the web design company do you get a knowledgeable person right away? Will they give you good advice? Will they answer all your questions in a friendly and patient manner? If you answer is no to any of these questions it may be time to move on to a company you are more comfortable with. Like any thriving industry with a high demand, the website design and development industry has inexperienced individuals jumping onto the bandwagon left and right and it’s up to you to be cautious when selecting one to which you are about to lay down thousands of dollars to.The cost of designing a website can vary from company to company. The last red flag to watch out for is the offer to design a website for a few hundred dollars, or $75 or less a page. You will not get a properly developed commercial website for less than $200 per page. Bargain hunters often end up like the caller I described above. In the end, they pay twice - they pay for the low cost website, and then they pay for the properly designed website and the total amount is about 130% more than what it would have cost if they had hired a competent company in the beginning.- David Nagle / Creative Director, A Work Of Art, Inc.