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How to Create Effective Site Titles and Descriptions :
Learn to write killer titles and descriptions for your site
& get you listed at the top of search engines and directories.
Keep one eye on the prominence and frequency of your keywords in the title and description of your Web site and another eye on the weight of these keywords as a percentage of the total number of words that make up your first page.
You'll need to keep your third eye on the appeal of the statements you make in your description of the Web site. You have more than two eyes, don't you? All good Web marketing folks need lots of eyes.
The following title and description may get you a high ranking for a keyword search on the word "mortgage":
!AAA Mortgage banking, the Mortgage money lenders |
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Mortgage, lenders, money, mortgages, mortgage money, mortgage loans, home equity loans, mortgage money, What it says, however, is unappealing. Instead, look at another site description that would also rank high, and see which site you would be more likely to visit:
Direct response companies, those firms that make infomercials
and run classified ads in papers across the country, have
studied and mastered the art of writing headlines. What they
learned is that headlines are most effective when they accomplish
four things:
1. Solve a problem
2. Solve that problem quickly
3. Solve that problem for what appears to be a small or reasonable
amount of money
4. Make the reader curious to learn more
With that in mind, the following headline is acceptable,
but not as effective as it could be:
"I can help you to get out of debt and get a good credit rating
- I've done it for others; I can do it for you!"
A better approach is to use a headline that will draw more
inquiries:
"Correct your bad credit in under a week for less than $49!"
The second example solves a problem, does so quickly and
shows how much money is involved. People relate to this appeal
because it has a fundamental basis. Remember one of the many
adages about goal setting, "A goal without a deadline is a
wish!" Or, how about what they teach you in business school
about proposal writing, "Never offer a plan that does not
include both time and money."
The direct response model is effective because it addresses
these things, especially time and money. As you write your
page description and title, think about this. Then, ask yourself
before you submit them to the search engines:
1 Is my headline compelling?
2 Is it interesting?
3 Will it make someone curious to learn more?
4 Would I read it and want to visit the site?
5 Does it include time and money?
6 Does it solve a problem?
7 Does it suggest that it solves that problem quickly?
8 Does it show a price? (Only emphasize the price if yours
is very attractive)
Be careful, you don't want to offend anyone's intelligence
- and many direct marketers write headlines that underestimate
readers. Read it yourself and make a determination if you
would find the title interesting - if you don't, you can be
sure that others won't.
This direct response model does not apply universally in its
purest form.
Many Web sites do not sell things directly and are informational
in nature or support what ad execs would call image advertising.
However, do not overlook this fundamental truth: Being first
in the search engines is great. Being first and compelling
is better!
Your listing in the search engine should be compelling. If
the description of the site directly below yours is more compelling,
you lose - a prospect will pass over your site.
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