However, the portion of a Web site seen by web users is only half the site. Although the site’s look and feel and content are an extremely important extension of the organization’s branding strategy, properly addressing the invisible portion—or programming of the site’s meta data—is just as critical. The site’s meta data holds all the information that search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and now Bing need to crawl and rank the site. The branding strategy should be just as prevalent here as it is in site’s visible information.

Determine keywords based on branding strategy. It is critical to use words that are searched by users and    accurately represent the brand. Keywords that are programmed into the site’s meta data; including page titles, URLs, and page descriptions, as well as in the site’s content will all aid search engines in locating and displaying the site. Programming the site’s meta data to be harmonious with its design and content will not only make the site more search engine friendly, it will ensure the branding strategy is powerfully articulated on each and every page.

Today, an organization’s first impression on a potential customer is most often through its Web site. It is not uncommon for consumers to research products and services before picking up the phone or traveling to a store. Sound branding strategy will increase visibility, credibility, and profitability. If a company’s Web site does not accurately reflect its branding strategy both in the visible portion as well as the meta data, chances are the site will not be found. Potential customers will never see the value you offer.

The Web has also effected the way organizations brand themselves. The web’s ubiquity and ability to break down geographical boundaries, makes it more important for organizations to distinguish themselves online. One of the most effective ways to stand out from the crowd is through your web address, or url. A url should uphold the tenants of effective branding—it should strive to be relevant, memorable, tangible, timeless, and important. Though an organization’s name would appear to be the most obvious choice, there are other conventions for choosing a url—attaching a geographic area (bostoncarpetcleaning.com) and using a descriptor (carpet-cleaner.com) are just a couple options.

Recently the options of choosing a url have increased to allow numerals. Organizations now have millions more opportunities to secure an effective url by including number and letter combinations. Adding a numeral into a url is another way to extend your brand and stand out from your competition.

In the coming year, organizations will have the ability to purchase a unique suffix. Instead of having .com, .org, or .edu; companies can have .anything. Though this is coming at a hefty cost—$185,000 plus a yearly maintenance fee of $75,000—companies willing to pay the price will have the opportunity to set themselves apart and own a unique suffix. These changes will continue the evolution of the Web, will set a new precedent for the way organizations market themselves online, and will affect the way enterprises brand themselves in the future.

1. Website metrics are free!—there are several quality, open-source software solutions that are able to gather and analyze data as well as benchmark your site against similar sites, giving you invaluable insight with minimal capital outlay.

2. Website metrics are easy to use—the free, open-source software is designed with you in mind. Most website metrics applications are capable of running custom or prepackaged reports that are displayed in visual and easy to use format. Because the software is web-based, you can access your analytics from any computer at any time.

3. Website metrics help you learn about your site’s users—once you know where visitors are going with in your site, you can see why they are going to your site and what’s most important. Web site metrics help put your site’s visitors into perspective; who they are, their geographical location, how they navigated through your site, which pages they paused at and which they skipped, if they purchased anything, and where they exited the site. This invaluable information provides actionable feedback for strategic modifications that will make your site more user friendly.

4. Website metrics will help you drive more traffic to your site—once you have installed metrics on your site and observed the trends of your users, you can start to revise your site to make it more appealing to search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Discovering how people found (or didn’t find) your site is valuable information about keyword strategies you should implement for search engine optimization.

5. Website metrics helps you plan for the future—as you monitor your site with website metrics, patterns will emerge. Use the information about these patterns and trends to help increase the traffic to your site and build your brand. As you plan upcoming marketing initiatives, consider the online community as a viable audience.

Website metrics are a crucial source of information about your web presence and your online audience. One of the best things about the web (and email) is that it provides the platform to collect endless amounts of measurable data that is waiting to be analyzed and put to good use. Make your website work for you and become one of your most valuable marketing resources.

1. Use keywords wisely
Keywords are an important search engine optimization tool that are often misused. Instead of packing a page with several keywords, it is best to select one key term (one to four words) on which your page will focus. Implementing this approach allows search engines to pick up your most important message on each page.

2. Implement header tags
Header tags are a great way to attract the attention of the search engines. Strategically placing keywords within a page’s headings and callouts strengthen a page’s ranking and is a great search engine optimization tool.

3. Incoming Links
Show support for your site by obtaining as many incoming links as possible. An incoming link is a link that connects to your site from an outside site. An effective search engine optimization tool, obtaining links will help your site grow in popularity with the search engines and Web users.

4. Be brief, but not too brief
Having an appropriate amount of content on each of your pages is another important search engine optimization tool. Pages that are too long or too short can be passed over by the search engines in favor of pages with a more approachable amount of content. Try to keep your content between 300 and 1000 words for maximum impact.

5. Always update your content
The more you update, adding content to your site, the more the search engines will have to catalog. When you add content, your site becomes active—the search engines value your efforts by pushing you higher up the ranks.

Implementing effective search engine optimization is one way for your site to be viewed by more Web users. Using these search engine optimization tools is a great way to get started and send your site up the ranks.