spider

[LiviLou]

What exactly is a spider? I keep reading about it, but have no idea what it is. I know this make me out to be the newbie I am, but I'd rather ask someone how knows.

If spiders are so important, how would I add it to my site? http://webpages.charter.net/onepageatatime/

[carbonize]

A spider is a script or program used by search engines and other people to crawl around the world wide web visiting web sites and adding them to their database.

[LiviLou]

What is a good program to do spiders with, or is there even one?

[carbonize]

You want a spider?

[LiviLou]

I don't know. I need to do something to get the word out about my program. I understand that I'm just getting started, but these children are very important to me. I've actually got people lining up to let me send these pages to them. Now all I need are the funds to do it with.

[carbonize]

Oh you want your site submitting to the search engines?

[LiviLou]

I've got it submitted, but my site is so far back in the list that I don't know if anyone will ever find it. I'm just trying to find ways to get it closer to the top of the list.

[carbonize]

What you need to do is use the keywords you have in the mets tag in your sites actual text as well. This will help improve your position. Also there are a lot of img tags without alt text. Put some keywords in the alt text of these images.
The main question is what keywords do you want to be found under?

[LiviLou]

Truthfully, I don't know. I've got a few that are listed. But after thinking about it for a few days and doing a little research, (which I should have done earlier) I'm not sure anymore what keywords would apply to my site. I'm pretty sure that I have the keywords in the text, but I'll go over it again and make sure.

Any suggestions on keywords?


Also there are a lot of img tags without alt text. Put some keywords in the alt text of these images.


What do you mean by this?

[carbonize]

as in blah.jpg [b]alt=

[minstrel]

I'm not sure anymore what keywords would apply to my site. I'm pretty sure that I have the keywords in the text, but I'll go over it again and make sure. Any suggestions on keywords?

I would suggest things that suggest terminal illness in children, children with special needs, that sort of thing:

"terminally ill children, special needs children, childhood illness, emotional support programs for children"

Basically, what words or phrases might people enter into a search box that could lead them to your site? Note: sometimes it's worth including common mis-spellings of keywords...

I've just added a link to your site at http://www.psychlinks.ca/Pages/childsp.htm (and by the way this is neither a plug for my site nor a request for a reciprocal link - I just think your project has some merit). To start, have a look at other sites listed there and contact them to ask if they would be willing to link to your site. Maybe offer to link to them in return. Then, do a search on Google and other search engines for keywords and phrases such as those above, and contact the webmasters of those sites to ask about linking to you. See other threads here at WebProWorld for suggestions about requesting links.

This will help you eventually to get a better listing on Google and some other search engines.

[LiviLou]

I appreciate the link, and the advice! I never thought about using phrases, just words. Will definitly fix that.

I want to thank you for not treating me like an idiot. I know that I have alot to learn about web design, and with all the nice people on this forum, I will learn.

[carbonize]

We only treat idiots as idiots. Everybody has to learn sometime. Will add a link to my site as well, the more people link to you the more times google and other search engines wil visit your site.

[LiviLou]

Honey, I'm southern, some people can't help treating others like idiots. Anyway, to the topic at hand.


as in blah.jpg alt=

What a cool thing to know. Thanks for the advice. Used it on my site. That's sharp.

Also thanks for the link. I really appreciate all you've done for me.

Just added pics of my husband and I. Will add a pic of me to the forum as well.

[carbonize]

Alt text is what a browser will display if the image cannot be found. it is also what pops up when you put the mouse over the image. As I said, we don't treat people as idiots, even Americans.


Just kidding. We do treat Americans as idiots.


</sarcasm>Think I better stop before the mods ban me.

[Mr Fudge]

Hi
Work on that title!
<title>Helping Children Smile One Page at a Time</title>
You have 125 characters you can use in your title tag, which are well worth making use of. Just sit for a moment with an empty search box and detemine what you would enter to find your site then put them within your title eg
<title>Helping sick children,chid cancer,etc to
125 characters</title>
Overture have a useful tool - go to advertising / tools / suggest keywords - that will tell you how often the words or phrases you're considering get searched.
Wordtracker.com will do the same job but in more depth - just click on "trial"
That title is the single most important thing to get you up top.
Good Luck
Steve
www.baby-toys.co.uk

[carbonize]

You may be allowed 125 characters in the title but 60 is the recommended amount as some search engines don't like more than that.

[LiviLou]

Thanks, I'll check them out and see what happens.