HELP total idiot here

[foxy]

Hi my name is Steve i run a Scuba Diving resort and dive school on a very small caribbean island called Utila, we specialize in Whale Shark trips, teach all levels of diving up to instructors, do shark diving, and in our small exclusive resort we have vacationing divers, it is set on the beach in fantastic location......

Now the problems, i know nothing about the internet or how to promote my website i am an absolute idiot when it comes to computers i had a friend design the site and it seems to be doing fairly well [www.deepblueutila.com]about 650 hits per day not bad i dont think for a small island resort but i need higher rankings in the search results, i have a google ad word ad which brings in a few hits.

I want to know from all you guys what can i do to improve my site what should i be doing how do i improve my ranking status within the search engines and anything else you guys think i should know please tell me HHHHHEEELLLLLPPPPPP

[flood6]

OK, I have been working on websites for a few years now, some have been doing this professionally for well over a decade. To think that anyone can tell you all there is to know about web design, development, promotion, and SEO in one thread (or 10), is like someone starting a thread and saying to you, "I've never seen a body of water bigger than a bath tub, now tell me everything there is to know about diving".

Even if it were possible to explain it, you wouldn't absorb the information. You'll need to break it up into more digestible sections.

I saw you submitted your site to the Site Review forum. In fact, you did it twice. I'll go reply with a few observations in one of those topics.

Depending on how much time you have to spend on this each day will most likely dictate the best way to go about learning. This forum is a great place to start. Click around some and read what people are talking about. When you come across something you don't understand, try the Search feature (http://www.webproworld.com/search.php) to learn more. If you can't find the information you need there, try a google search. If you still don't find an explanation, post your question in the applicable thread.

Learn some more about flash. This will help you to figure out what you like about your site and what you want changed. To start, try searching for "flash tutorial (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&q=flash+tutorial&spell=1)". You will find plenty of help designed to help beginners get started.

You mentioned wanting better positioning in the search engines. Again, webproworld is a great place to start. Nearly every question related to search engine optimization has been asked here at some point. Search for it. Realize that everyone will have their opinion and that you are going to have to decide for yourself who you want to believe on many of these issues.

I guess what I'm saying is that you need to poke around some more so you can learn what questions you need to ask. This is a great place for it.

Good luck.

[doobied_newby]

To increase site visits, buy keywords with other sponsers like Overture, FindWhat, Kandoodle, ect. The higher the ranking ($ per click), the more your site is recognized by other specialty search engines. This will lead to your site being part of search engines that do not charge for clicks.
Tracking your site visits to view how the visitor came to your site is very important in optomizing your keyword ads. I use Hitslink ($10/mo) on my html pages and am looking into how to insert the script into my flash pages as well.
Good Luck

[voodooboy]

The first thing you need to do is embed the flash file within an html page. This will allow you to put in meta tags and code based body copy which search engines will track.

Be very specific in your search terms, and check their validity using overture.com's search term tool. If the terms are not being searched then their is no sense in using them. Once you have search terms, use tools from instantpositions.com and sitereportcard.com to help with optimizing.

This should get you started. Remember to be specific, you would have a better chance of placing for the search term "Caribbean Scuba Diving" than you would for just "Scuba Diving".

Hope this helps.