No Google love

[dj sean]

Hello all, well I'll get right to it.

I have been working hard to improve my site http://www.theeventdj.com I've mainly done this by myself, but I can't forget the help I've gained through this forum and other sources.

The site is about a year old and I've learned a huge amount in that time.

I use www.selfpromotion.com to spread the word and learn optimization tatics. I use www.sitereportcard.com to further improve and track my code and links. I then track my hits and page popularity with www.statcounter.com

As being a professional DJ in Northern California and Nevada, I am focusing on that specific geographic location in my keywords/keyphrases. I have managed to get good page ranking with MSN (#3) and (#7) Yahoo for the keyphrase DJ in Lake Tahoe and similar but I am # 372nd in Google.

I'm not sure what, if anything thing, I am doing wrong that could be giving me this horrible placement with Google.

Any suggestions??

[nexternal]

I would try to visit SEO Tools http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/ and run the keyword density tool and also the keyword difficulty tool. Otherwise, everything looks pretty good.

Good Luck

[Purple13]

Hi.

Have you tried a Google Site Map? I noticed that my partners News Page whilst packed with keyword rich articles never featured in any search results, only the index page.

I read up on Google Site Maps and forged ahead with creating one using a word editor and copied the style/format from Googles own help and how to pages.

They don't seem to like off site links, but since the Site Map for Purple 13 has been 'registered', its news items have started to appear with links directly to the News Page URL.

This can't be co-incidence and I can only put it down to the Site Map.

The set frequency gives Google some idea of when you update changes but be realistic.

If you constantly update a page on venues (forthcoming or played at), then this would be good search fodder and a good example of setting the frequency to 'weekly' etc.

Feel free to refer to our Blog - http://purple13.blogspot.com where you'll find an interesting article on gaining Google's trust. All of the enclosed pointers may help your cause further.

Good luck.

http://www.purple13.co.uk

[Serrbiz]

Looks like your site is not very old. MSN and Yahoo are quick to pick up sites and rank them. You may be in the sandbox, as it were for G.

You're using a JS rollover, which we wouldn't use, though your interior pages are in indexed in G.

Split your service page into multiple pages with real content.

You need back links, back links, back links.

Tweak for Keyword density, but don't stress to much for that. Be light handed. Pepper, not dowse.

Might want to ditch the flash music. It's annoying the second time to the home page. Though, that won't effect your ranking either way.

There's more to do, but that should help out, plus have some patience.

M.

[webreporter]

My heart goes out to anyone in the mobile DJ industry! I did it for 10 years in SoCal.

A few things: I noticed that you have one or more broken links on your links page. Google will penalize you for having broken links. When you use an outbound link page, call it something other than "links". Try something else like "Online Partners" (partners.html) or "Industry Resources" (resources.html). Google will give you the evil eye if you use the word "links".

Your descriptions are good, but most do not contain relevant keywords. Here is a good description: "Expert and professional Mobile DJ service for Northern Californian and Nevada." It contains words that are what you want to show up for in searches and still gets the job done as a description. FYI: Don't let anyone tell you that Google doesn't weigh a description in their consideration of sites.

Try to get some more content in the form of text on your pages. Writing of copy (body text stuff) is the foundation of any highly ranked site.

Your images contain irrelevant alt tags. The one on the front page of your site has "OnBeat events pictures." as the alt tag. Shouldn't that tag be "Mobile DJ Service for Northern California and Nevada" ??? The services.html page has a turntable photo at the top and the alt tag reads "vynil record image". That tag is better suited to read "Mobile DJ Services" or whatever, something relevant.

The beginning of each paragraph should have a heading using an <h1> or <h2> or <h3> tag to indicate the heading to the search engine spider (Googlebot). This is a basic HTML page construction format.

Lastly, but most importantly, make sure you are linked back in all the places that you need to be. The national directories for DJ's, wedding planners, local magazines and/or newspapers, or anything that pertains to your industry should have a link pointing to your web site. Google may like your site because of its content, but if it doesn't have any links pointing to it, they will leave you cold. Does that suck? Yes, I hate Google for that, but it just happens to be the reality.

I hope this helps.

Rock the party.

[Irishjim]

Hello, Sean, how are you keeping up there in Tahoe?

I've quickly run a report on your site and noted some changes you might want to make to keep Google happy and coming around more often.

First, however, I'd urge you to put some of that JavaScript into folders and call the folders from inside your HTML code. JavaScript tends to clutter up a page and make the spiders unhappy.

My report runs a few dozen pages and I'll send you the complete collection if you want to email me.

Be warned, it will cost you some plugs for my Irish site www.tourclare.com on your radio show.

The report shows what the top 10 results in Google are doing right and wrong.

In addition to cleaning up your code, here's the quick-fix list.

***

General Advice
This chapter examines the general search engine compatibility of your web page.

Do the following to improve the ranking for your web page on Google.com for the search term "DJ in Lake Tahoe"

The search term "dj in lake tahoe" of your Meta Keywords tag doesn't seem to be mentioned in the body text of your web page. You should either remove this search term from your Meta Keywords tag, or add the search term to the body text of your web page.

The search term "wedding disc jockey" of your Meta Keywords tag doesn't seem to be mentioned in the body text of your web page. You should either remove this search term from your Meta Keywords tag, or add the search term to the body text of your web page.

The search term "wedding entertainment lake tahoe" of your Meta Keywords tag doesn't seem to be mentioned in the body text of your web page. You should either remove this search term from your Meta Keywords tag, or add the search term to the body text of your web page.

The search term "sound system rental" of your Meta Keywords tag doesn't seem to be mentioned in the body text of your web page. You should either remove this search term from your Meta Keywords tag, or add the search term to the body text of your web page.

The search term "disc jockey tahoe" of your Meta Keywords tag doesn't seem to be mentioned in the body text of your web page. You should either remove this search term from your Meta Keywords tag, or add the search term to the body text of your web page.

The search term "party games" of your Meta Keywords tag doesn't seem to be mentioned in the body text of your web page. You should either remove this search term from your Meta Keywords tag, or add the search term to the body text of your web page.

The search term "wedding california" of your Meta Keywords tag doesn't seem to be mentioned in the body text of your web page. You should either remove this search term from your Meta Keywords tag, or add the search term to the body text of your web page.

The search term "d.j. in california" of your Meta Keywords tag doesn't seem to be mentioned in the body text of your web page. You should either remove this search term from your Meta Keywords tag, or add the search term to the body text of your web page.

The search term "d.j. in nevada" of your Meta Keywords tag doesn't seem to be mentioned in the body text of your web page. You should either remove this search term from your Meta Keywords tag, or add the search term to the body text of your web page.

The search term "dee jay" of your Meta Keywords tag doesn't seem to be mentioned in the body text of your web page. You should either remove this search term from your Meta Keywords tag, or add the search term to the body text of your web page.

The search term "disk jockey" of your Meta Keywords tag doesn't seem to be mentioned in the body text of your web page. You should either remove this search term from your Meta Keywords tag, or add the search term to the body text of your web page.

The search term "pa rentals." of your Meta Keywords tag doesn't seem to be mentioned in the body text of your web page. You should either remove this search term from your Meta Keywords tag, or add the search term to the body text of your web page.

[mjtaylor]

...

You need back links, back links, back links.

Lots of good suggestions ALL around ... but links to and (within) your site are critical ...

Most of the backlinks you have seem to be from a forum ... nothing wrong with those, but I would look for more links from other private DJ sites using your targeted keyword phrase for the anchor text.

For example, you have a link on: http://www.californiadiscjockey.com/musiclinks.html (which is highly relevant and has PR4) but the link could be much more helpful to you if it read "Tahoe DJ" rather than "OnBeat Productions" ...

Furthermore, your links within your site could be optimized for your keyword phrase - whereever you have a link to the home page using "Home" as your anchor text, replace "home" with your keyword phrase and make it an absolute link to http://www.theeventdj.com/ (*not* to index.html) ...

Google really does use anchor text (among other things, of course) to decide what a site is about ... and yes, Virginia, PR matters whether we like it or not. ;D

Hope that helps ...

MJ

[Warren Contreras]

Any suggestions??
I don't usually post here for obvious reasons, but I like to read the newsletter for ideas. However, this post struck me as ironic.

As a Network Marketer it's extremely hard to get Google to notice my sites among all the thousands of others in that genre, but I did gain top ranking for my chosen key phrase in a few days and have kept it for months now. I don't see why anyone couldn't do the same for another topic.

One of the things many Network Marketers do when considering a new program, is to put the program name into Google and see what comes up. So having my links shown get me a lot of recognition and all it took was to start a Podcast and list my Episodes on Blogger (owned by Google).

Since you specialize in 'Broadcasting' of a sort, it sounds like a no-brainer to me. Download a copy of Audacity for free and get some hosting at SwitchPod.com where I pay $3 a month and get a specialized solution suited to my needs exactly. I also have a top listing in the Business category of their directory. You could even be 'On The Air' tonight.

I would do something about the abrupt end to the MP3 played on your site. You're missing a great opportunity for a promo message after a fade-out.

Let me know if I can help. I think Podcasting is the most underutilized SEO tool yet.

[incrediblehelp]

I would consider adding more content. Check out one of your competitors:

http://www.sierradj.com/

They offer a nice availability checker (which is probably big in your business), references/testimonials, separate pages for each service offered.

Consider converting your PDF of songs to HTML:

http://www.theeventdj.com/on_beat_top_200.pdf


Consider adding more pages around the keywords you want to get ranked for. If you want to get ranked for "Reno Nevada DJ" then somewhere on your website you need some solid content on that keyword.

Promote your blog more through out your website and link back (text links with keywords) to pages within your regular website in the posts. Also your blogs database seems to go down a lot when I was browsing it.

You can learn a lot from websites that are already ranking and doing well online.

[mjtaylor]

When you use an outbound link page, call it something other than "links". Try something else like "Online Partners" (partners.html) or "Industry Resources" (resources.html). Google will give you the evil eye if you use the word "links".

Webreporter had many (MANY) fine points, but I do take a little exception here ... it is not bad advice, I would definitely call a links page something other than links.html ... but if I had a links.html page that is indexed, I would not worry about it ... links pages are innocent until used for black hat purposes, and I think Google knows that.

Many, many sites have links.html pages which have not been created for SEO purposes, and, in any case, I have not seen any instance where sites have been in any way denigrated for that. I do see many sites where links pages (that have many other names than links.html) did NOT get any PR on the last update.

I believe this has far more to do with content, structure and the number of links coming *to* the links pages than what the page is called.

I treat my newer links pages like other content pages -- I add content as well as links and I also seek to have links come from other sites as well to my links pages.

Just my two cents ... MJ

[Inspector]

Don't post for obvious reasons? Guess I'm dense because it not that obvious to me lol....

Read everything here carefully as it is all good advice, especially the backlinks. Just any backlinks won't do. Quality backlinks and the anchor text is also very important. Your anchor text should be keyword relevant and should vary. Text after the anchor text is also important.

One thing that no one here has mentioned is putting adsense on your site. I know it's not supposed to matter, but I think it does. My results were extrememtly similar to yours until I did 2 things. 1 was add adsense. 2 was add a sitemap. Not a google sitemap, just a plain old sitemap in my case.

Here is my sitemap http://www.ableinspector.com/sitemap

I like it better than google sitemaps because it allows me to use keywords and anchor text.

[craigmn3]

Well you seem to have a nicely designed web site. A little heavy on java and js which is diluting your page with alot of code that is not relevant to your site. Although you do have text links at the bottom. You have a page rank higher than you competitors so i have to imagine your bogging down in some kind of violation.
Your title tag is curious and may be causing you some problems. It's Too long and Carries odd characters. Remember to SE Spiders are Stoo-pid, don't confuse them. so here are some steps to take

1 Change your title tage to a simple sentence, try not to repeat words

2. Same thing with the discription tag

3 Anything you can do without javascript and java...do without. It's cute but it kills. (keep the top banner it's great)

4. Re work your content and your keywords. You have a 6% keyword relevancy should not be under 80. Your Keywords are okay(do you need all of them?)....make your content reflect them. Do a keyword search.....trying to optimize for 20 keywords is tough

5 Topload your content....that is put it closer to the top. I think the spider gets tired of chewing code it want's content, give it to them

There are other steps but those should help

Happy Tweaking

Craig- Web Geek
Edited by mod Webnauts. You may have links to your web site only in your signature.

[kevan]

Well,
I have a few comments relating to the answers - just personal opinions. Firstly, I have a range of older sites and newer sites - the older ones do better in google [definitely]. One of my older sites - rootsgen.com carries a 'Whats New' page for other sites, eg pubsinlondon.net; the Whats New page gets all the credit! This has an abnormally long title page [I mean abnormal, with lots of keywords for London areas]. This is still recognised as an entry page to newer sites [these are about a year old].
I have an excellent, well established site - essexpub.net which is good in google; but the google sitemap that I run on this site has never appeared to help it in any way, so I don't tend to worry about these too much - maybe I am mistaken; but I am not a great google fan for this reason.
I use google all the time for technical support help, so don't get me wrong, it is a brilliant search engine - but it still needs a dose of epsom salts to get it to work properly.
Incidentally, my London Pubs site [a genealogical site] has about 6000 pages, all continually refreshed with new [old, if you understand my meaning] content; and scores well as a Directory for addresses, but not for the immediate repeated keywords, e.g. pubs in london only gets me about #30 whereas an individual address often comes in at #1.

These are just some suggestions that may help someone, I definitely recommend a 'Whats New' page, google always appears to like these.

My sites lack the cleverness of serious SEO, largely because I cannot be bothered [and don't have the time], it's just a bit of fun. I do score from 'word of mouth' recognition and praise though, and I guess this will eventually get the sites into the #1 spot.

I hope this may be of use to somebody - note abnormal length of title, and 'Whats New' recommendations.
Kevan

[RegDCP]

Looks like pretty sound advice.
One thing I did notice and am not sure if it will affect your listings, is that you have 2 description tags.

As stated by others, if you are going to use words in your tags, use them in your page.

Reg

[Orion]

definitely more links google: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=link%3Atheeventdj.com&btnG=Search only shows 41 inbound links...

webreporter mentioned your alt tags... alt tags are alternative to the image so that if I'm blind using a speech browser I will hear 'company logo' or 'corner image' the title attribute (..title="") however is for visual tool tip giving instruction and clarification to the site visitor ie. use none on corner image, use 'DJ in Northern California and Nevada' for the logo etc. better for SE's and better for accessibility.

Serrbiz mentioned the javascript rollovers.. lots of code to do those.. HIGHLY recommend going with text links and using css for the a:hover effect.. you can exactly match the look and feel you have there, but you'll reduce the code on the site and give the spiders more food.

everything else has been said... more content to code ratio, site map helps, more links.. yada yada yada...

oh try to get some of your customers to link to you.. ie. get your newlywed couples to put a little testimonial on their wedding photo site, something like 'We highly recommend On Beat Productions, they were our choice to DJ our wedding reception (http://www.theeventdj.com/) and did an awesome job!. etc. great source for links.

[netiskiv]

Hello,

You wrote: "I'm not sure what, if anything thing, I am doing wrong that could be giving me this horrible placement with Google. Any suggestions??"

Apart from suggestions already made by other members, I would suggest

Some modifications in your headings, in particular, H1 could better address your keyword priorities; and you may use other headings within the page in order to shed light on each keyword a second time.

The page title shows your main keywords first, which is good. Nevertheless the title is somehow too long and you could cut ineffective words (such as "we provide").

The javascript in the head is somehow long, putting the script as an external script would be preferable.

For more tricks, you might find useful to have a look at the following pages of our e-Business web site:

30 free to use expert tools for web development and optimization (http://www.iskiv.net/expert/en/free.tools.html)

free online version of i-Meta Manager (http://www.iskiv.net/expert/en/i-meta.free.html) which includes a help section for page optimization.

There are also other pages of the Expert Tools section that deal with optimization issues.

Good luck.

[dave@swimmingcat.com]

I would agree with the other posters that your keywords are not the best. I make it a point to ensure that every keyword shows up in the text on the page a couple of times. The text, ofcourse, must be normal prose. The more text the better. The robots cannot read pictures or flash - they seem to love prose.

Another technique that I use, which seems to be fairly effective, is to issue a press release. PRWEB.COM is a good site for this. It costs about $50. Write a news story about your business and submit it. The news story (along with a link to your web site) will show up on thousands of other web sites that carry the news wire service. It will definately get the attention of the search engine robots.

[Peter (IMC)]

I didn't read all the replies so I might be repeating some things, but here it goes.

Keyword focus!

Title, metas, H1 need to contain the keywords for the page they´re in. Each page needs to be about just 1 thing, and the keywords you choose for the page require to show up in all important tags.

There is not a single page in the Google index that has "DJ in Lake Tahoe" in the title,.. so you have an opportunity there.

You´re not using

tags. I would strongly advice to use them in stead of using

to get the same visual effect.

Try to learn about keyword focus. Make pages that are about just one thing.

[dj sean]

Thanks alot everyone, you've given me some great advice. I feel now that I have some homework to do.

I hope to return the favor, if anyone ever needs a [good] DJ give me a buzz and let me know your from webproworld.

[eagent]

First, great thread! What a boatload of killer contributions, and all valuable additions/comments of getting a DJ site to "Topularity".

I want to make sure I don't beat this point to death, but dave@swimmingcat.com has it mostly right for my fastest and longest-term solution, while you work to implement the other tag and keyword approaches presented.

I made a post last month regarding getting more pages indexed faster on Google. The poster contacted me directly, and I worked to upgrade his press release. So far, so good. He's getting nearly instant indexing and made page-1 results for the news, then page 1 for the prime keywords we used in the release.

The solution: A series of PRWeb press releases (http://www.prweb.com) (aka PR Campaign)with each release focused on a given set of keywords.

Then create multiple links within the release, each pointing to the appropriate page within your site. Name your attachments the keywords you're optimizing in the release (do the same for the title field and description field for each image). Add 2-3 image attachments and one optimized PDF attachment.

Then go and add a high-quality image on PRWebPhotowire.com (http://www/prwebphotowire.com), make two links in your image description: one to your press release, another to your web page in which you want to improve position.

I mention these techniques because for me and my clients, they work consistantly well. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/9/prweb291544.htm) had fallen off the radar for all but the most dedicated fan sites. 3 press releases later and a dozen PRWebPhotowire (http://www.prwebphotowire.com/releases/imid25.htm) images and he's back in action.

Keep at it. Good page rank is a process. If you apply everything you've read in these pages, you'll dominate your category within 90-180 days.

Please feel free to email me if you have additional questions. YOu can also download free whitepapers from my site below.

Best of success.
ME

[kgun]

Go to the source:

View these two videos about Qualities of a good site (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5179191836301432169) and you should treat GoogleBOT like a regular user (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6860320126300142609).

In Matt's own words:
"Make
- compelling content and
- quality of you site
the top priority".

There are also some SEO myths (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3583760678227172395) that should be thrown away once and for all.

You find other videos on that site that are worth watching. If you do your homework, you may end up loving Google.

And you should read Matt's disclaimer (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1147504221425038991).

He is a Google employer, but it is his personal opinions.

[aaron2005]

*These statistics were published in St. Louis Bride & Groom Magazine in 2003. Sources include: Simmons, 2001; USA Today, 2002; National Bridal Service, 2001; The Knot, 2002; Brides Magazine, 2001.

That is the content on you homepage? So your index is basically duplicate information.

That site just needs some logical really basic SEO, <h1>, <h2>, Logical Structure, Logical Order, Focused Content, as it currently stands it is a empty hard to follow website.

Read what Peter (IMC) says closely...easy to fix stuff.

I could do one page on any of my blogs that could outrank that entire site easy, heck one well written article describing what you do Mr. DJ could pull that site up to #1. Just make sure you make that 1 well written article your index A.K.A homepage.

Learning how to write is the best SEO skill there is...do not be afraid to speak your mind on your website, search engine bots look for humans not auto-generated garbage.

[greeneagle]

My commentary here isn't directed to the thread originator, but to everyone in general:

Content vs the frickin "sandbox"!

Can a new Site be competitive these days without 20 - 40 pages of content min, some of which is dynamic?

NO! - Not likely!

It's all about doing a competitive analysis and delivering a competitive product!

I won't touch a new competitive Site for under 3 or $4K right now...

Do we understand the difference between competitive levels and watching clients do a useless backstroke in low tide yet, or not?

Do you do a "Competitive Analysis" and deliver a competitive Site?

That's where the market is!

There is no more room for "calling card" sites to make a meaningful Internet presence and the "kids next door" doing the design!

IMO - Let's close that "chapter" and quit pssn in the "sandbox"!

It's time to quit "playing around"!

That's the "Deal We're Dealing In"!

Ken

[aaron2005]

Ken,

Is that some sort of wild and crazy "link baiting" you are doing? What's with all this emotion?


There is not a single page in the Google index that has "DJ in Lake Tahoe" in the title,.. so you have an opportunity there.

Peter is a good SEO, he states the obvious which newbies need to hear to do well in todays engines.

Please don't complicate SEO with your buzzowrds.

Thank you,

Aaron

[greeneagle]

WOW Aaron!, I almost don't know where or how to start.. Let's try and connect:


"Is that some sort of wild and crazy "link baiting" you are doing? What's with all this emotion?"

Link Bating??? You lost me there, but when anyone goes off on the "sandbox", when they are not yet fully competively positioned... yes, for me, it does evoke some emotion, especially when it's blamed on the "box", instead of planting the blame where it belongs... right squarely , smack in the middle of competitive value.

I am not sure where to go between "here and there" except to say that I didn't respond to Peter at all.

Ken

[aaron2005]

I was using Peter as an example of someone who gave good advice, what the DJ is trying to rank for is very NON competitive so you are waaaay off on this one.

I could fix this site we are speaking of in one day and it would rank within a week and I am not even an SEO really. Do not complicate things, you confuse those we are trying to give advice to in here.

[greeneagle]

What I am trying to do here Aaron is point out just how much competition there is on all the ball fields (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-50,GGLD:en&q=dj+in+lake+tahoe).

That would be 763,000 returns for the #1 phrase. I didn't even look at the rest. Most of us don't realize the level of competition we are facing.

That's all there is to it.

Take Notice, and beat them where they are at.

That's all I am pushing here.

Developers for the most part fall woefully short on their competitive analyses - day in and day out... No doubt about it!

That's the only chit I am choveling here.

I am asking you because I respect your opinion. You need to understand that near 100% of the time I have examined "sandboxed" Sites... The real issue was competitive value!

You just can't complain about being "sandboxed", when 500 sites have more pages , more information and are educational, informational, military, governmental sites yada, yada, yada.

Somebody, somewhere needs to start doing real serious competitive analyses and quit pssn in the sandbox!

Without reservation, I am completely committed to that position!

Almost without exception, there is a level of competition that has to be admonished in order to see online ROI now.

It doesn't matter what the heck you are trying to accomplish anywhere.

Aaron, this isn't aimed at you, but "GOOD GOD" can we get past this "landmark" here and go on?

What do we need to do Aaron? Do we need to do an educational series on how to do competitive analyses?

What do we need to do here?

Ken

[aaron2005]

That exact phrase only has 7 competitors (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-50%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=%22dj+lake+tahoe%22&btnG=Search) currently, so just as all SEO's do you build content that is focused on many phrases and will be found for a couple, if you work on your site in a regional way in a year or two you are the king of that region if you want it enough.

Not to be a jerk but you complicate what is not complicated.

[greeneagle]

Aaron, you and I both know that most don't search wrapped in quotes.

Ken

[aaron2005]

I do and it shows that the phrase is as easy as pie, there is no need for this guy to pay 2-3k to get optimized. ;)

[greeneagle]

Sorry Aaron,

I got lost there:


"I do and it shows that the phrase is as easy as pie.."

I am getting old and "lost my footing... (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-50,GGLD:en&q=%22lost+my+footing%22)"

;)

Ken

[Gary Golden]

We all have our days when we get fed up with trivial questions on what everyone wants to know and the people that make a living or even the ones that have done it all on there own get tired of giving out the important advice for FREE.

Most of us have gone through years of trial and errors refining what we know and reading the latest and greatest, digesting what we can use and spitting out what we cannot. Then when you throw into the mix newbies that want to only get the information that can get them ranked on top for FREE, it does get old.

Quite honestly yes you can read through the thousands of posts on various webmaster sites and obtain a good understanding of what is required to put your site on top, but all of that information is useless until you have the ability to apply it in real situations.

Obtaining good rankings on the main search engines changes every week, month, day as we see from many of the posts when people go from 1 to 300 or even completely off the charts, then come here in hopes of getting there site on top again.

The only way to retain top rankings is one of 2 ways!

1. Spend some money on having someone with the experience and knowledge to properly optimize and maintain your site. Honestly this is not a one shot deal if you want long term results, sure almost anyone with a couple years under there belt can put a site on top for some important keywords but keeping it on top for the long haul takes work.

2. You can do it yourself but you need to start reading and applying information to your site, see what works and change what does not. This is not a short term effort but requires constant dedication as rankings will change and so must your placement of keywords.

There are some constants of course that can and will stabilize these efforts.

1. Incoming links, in order to work good though you need a couple of sites yourself as incoming links are what is important if you get my drift.

2. Good quality content is also a key factor in retaining good rankings and a larger keyword base.


Good Luck to all!

[incrediblehelp]

Not sure what the confusion is here. Besides the obvious basic SEO the site is missing, the competitor websites are simply better with more features and options as stated before:


I would consider adding more content. Check out one of your competitors:

http://www.sierradj.com/

They offer a nice availability checker (which is probably big in your business), references/testimonials, separate pages for each service offered.

Consider converting your PDF of songs to HTML:

http://www.theeventdj.com/on_beat_top_200.pdf


Consider adding more pages around the keywords you want to get ranked for. If you want to get ranked for "Reno Nevada DJ" then somewhere on your website you need some solid content on that keyword.

Promote your blog more through out your website and link back (text links with keywords) to pages within your regular website in the posts. Also your blogs database seems to go down a lot when I was browsing it.

You can learn a lot from websites that are already ranking and doing well online.

This website should rank under them regardless of the SEO! Of course we all know this is not how it works usually, but this is the way the SE's want it to work. The more useful the website is for the end user, the higher it should rank.

Oh if it was that simple!

[NJ]

Being rather new to SEO, I read all these interesting posts about people's Google rankings going up and down with great attention. But, one fact seems to elude me: how do you find out those ranking numbers? I've been signing up for all the cool tools in Yahoo and Google, but I don't see those particular numbers. By the way, it was on the advice of one of these forum topics that I bothered with Yahoo at all - thanks for all the fantastic posts - and the newsletter!!!

[scanmonkey]

Being rather new to SEO, I read all these interesting posts about people's Google rankings going up and down with great attention. But, one fact seems to elude me: how do you find out those ranking numbers? I've been signing up for all the cool tools in Yahoo and Google, but I don't see those particular numbers. By the way, it was on the advice of one of these forum topics that I bothered with Yahoo at all - thanks for all the fantastic posts - and the newsletter!!!

Here's a cool tool
http://www.linkadage.com/linkadage-info/metrics_checker.htm

[NJ]

Thanks for the information! That's a great tool.

[Papadoc]

To expand slightly on the incoming links comments, you are all but wasting your time going around from forum to forum posting your link. Forum links are easy, but just as pointless. In some cases, there are no-follow tags that are auto-generated so they have no potential for value with anyone.

Neither will going for links from sites that have no PR themselves or minimal content be of any value. My advice is to get down to work and do the hard part with contacting complementary sites and asking for a link. Offer one back if you must, and don't expect overnight miracles. This takes time and it's hard. Contact a few web directories that have link value and pay the cost of being indexed. Watch out here though because thousands of these exist and many aren't worth a dime.

The other thing is to expand your online presence by creating pages on your various services and show pictures of each. If I am interested in hiring you for a corporate event, I want to know more about that. This gives you the ability to create a page just for them, to highlight and isolate those services, and it gives you one more opportunity to be seen in search engines for different terms.

Same thing with Reunions, bar mitzvah, grand openings, etc. You also give many others many other areas to link to and perhaps inspire others to think about you for these events when they would not have otherwise.

[dj sean]

I appreciate all, that everyone has contributed to my thread. All very valuable and from many different angles as well.

I see I have alot to do which is what I expected but I am thankful also by this, knowing that my problems are possible to remedy is a great relief.

I must say I owe it all to a great group of fellow surfers.....surfs up and hang ten!!!!