Be #1 on GOOGLE
Introduction and explanation - May 14, 2013
Peace & Blessings to you all.
My name is Yusuf Estes and I am blessed to own some of the number one domain names for Islam on the Internet, the thanks is to Almighty God for this.
I just realized something, since February, 1998 (almost exactly 15 years ago) I started sharing Islam on the web and built my first website using HTML code.
Today my most active domain sites show up on the first page of all the major search engines, and often in the very first position out of millions on Google, Yahoo!, Bing and many others.
Until now, I hesitated to share any of these many secrets and tips of how I developed these very powerful webpages, for competitive reasons. I just want to make sure our websites for Islam remain in the top spots for visitors when they type in their key words and that Islam is represented in the best and most simple way for English speakers.
Just today I have decided to make these secrets and tips open to my students who promise to sincerely continue this work after I am gone on to the Next World. I have no personal gain from this effort. In fact, my wife and I have spent thousands of our own money, along with other volunteers to keep this work active.
Any financial support is always appreicated, and 100% goes to keep our websites on the web, inshallah.
Here's how to support (please help us do our best job): www.DonateForIslam.com
WEB PAGE WEAPONS:
For Beginners
by Yusuf Estes
For beginners in internet dawah - well for that matter, anyone in dawah on the Internet - being seen (visibility) is everything.
After all, if people can't find you or don't know where to look for your information - you're DONE, before you ever started.
A good, well developed website is like a new born baby for you. It starts off in this world (actually the World Wide Web) as a new comer, and it needs a look of attention in the beginning as well as a lot of care as it develops into a grown up web page.
Your little baby can offer great information and fantastic graphics as well as audios, videos or even streaming programs - but still not have any visitors (or very few).
Why?
The problem is, too many other webpages on the World Wide Web - millions, billions, trillions, gaazillions(?) of pages out there on the internet -
ALL COMPETING AGAINST YOUR LITTLE BABY
What to do?
Glad you asked (otherwise I wasted my time writing this - LOL)
TOP SECRET: WEBPAGE WEAPON
Millions of people are searching for information on the Internet - RIGHT NOW!
These folks are out there hacking away at their keyboards, looking for information about everything under the sun (and under the moon too).
They want big things, little things, tall things, small things, fat things, hat things, haning things, things to hang on, things to ride on, rides to think on and the list goes on and on.
But what most people want when the search the WORLD WIDE WEB (www) - is INFORMATION.
WHERE? WHAT? WHY? HOW? WHEN? HOW? - These are all beginning words at the start of many searches on the internet.
Most important (to you and I) is the results that come up from their KEYWORD search. Those first letters a searcher types into the little box on Google will immediately start Mr. Google searching and suggesting ideas and offering links for the visitor to CLICK & GO!
What can we learn from all this to help us make our web pages be on the first page when folks do their search?
Good Question!
And that is the purpose of this writing of course.
Someone types in letters, words, sentences, and phrases to find what they want.
If do our homework, start with these proven results and build our pages according to these tried and proven methods, we can guarantee our webpages will POP UP - With FANTASTIC RESULTS!
Just think about it - GOOGLE! YAHOO! MSN! ASK, BING or any of hundreds of search engines putting our webpages right at the tips of their fingers!
SUCCESS! We love it!
OK, let's begin with our exploration of SEO!
SEO
WHAT IS IT?
The art to the whole success story is something called 'Search Engine Optimization' or SEO.
Search engines depend on certain factors coming from web pages on the World Wide Web (www). These factors determine how the search engine software will use algorithms* to provide quick and direct access for your webpage to be displayed (along with others) along with a brief description about what you have to offer, and a few technicals notes as well.
*NOTE: Did you know the word 'algorithm' is a distortion of the name, al-Khwārizmī, a Muslim from Esfahan (Persia). He wrote an influential treatise about using algebraic methods.
An 'algorithm' is a specific set of instructions to solve a problem, usually requires the procedure to stop at some point in time. Specific algorithms can be called methods, procedures, or techniques. Apply an algorithm to an 'input' in order to get an 'output' is called 'computing'. (Cool, huh?)
The KEY to SEO is all about keywords, organization, reputable external links, working internal links, maintenance and constant management.
-> NOTE: "BROKEN LINKS" are NEVER acceptable!
STATS
Monitoring the daily statistics (STATS) is another very important part of maintaining high status in search engines and on the web. You must keep up with the: WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY, WHEN, HOW of marketing your webpage(s).
Who visited your page? When did they first come to your page? Have they visited before? Why did they come? How long did they remain on your page before moving? Where did they move to? How often have they visited your page? Where are they? What was their IP address?
CLICK-ABILITY
CLICKS = HITS & HITS = PLACEMENT! Simple, but true. The more "hits" (clicked in visits) come to your page, the higher ranking your status in SEO is going to be.
WHO DO?
(Not wudu! LOL) - WHO DO? Who is going to take care of this baby?
Your page on the Internet will not have much life if you don't take care of it on a regular basis on an established routine. Keeping up with management of content, replacing or repairing and verifying links, checking out key words in different search engines on a daily basis - are all very important tasks.
You can opt to do it all yourself, most if it yourself, some of it yourself - or run away to the Bahamas and let someone else do it.
There are quite a number of SEO maintenance companies offering for small businesses and organizations. But this does add a cost factor that many of us just can't afford.
OK. Now here are the best tips for anyone having a webpage on the Internet today.
28 HOT TIPS
TO BOOST WEB PAGE VISIBILITY
Here are the most valueable 'Hot Tips' I have learned and developed for increasing the number of 'hits' and visits to our more than 2,300 Internet domain names and websites. Please feel free to share this information, and support the message of true Islam in today's world.
Any financial support is always appreicated, and 100% goes to keep our websites on the web, inshallah.
Here's how to support (please help us do our best job): www.DonateForIslam.com
- CONTENT ORGANIZATION - make sure people find what they want right away on your page. They already did a search to get to your page - Don't make them do any more to find what they want.
- PRESENTATION QUALITY - How does it look to a new visitor? Nice? Attractive? Good graphics? Lotsa animation and goodies?
OK - But what about the information they came for? Where is that? This is the problem for many new web page designers. They often get too carried away with the images, graphics, animations, designs and effects - but they forget about the main reason the visitor came in the first place - INFORMATION.
Where is the vital info the visitor is looking for? Does he have to look all over the page and dig through piles of pop-ups just to see a few sentences to change his life forever? (Well, at least satisfy his curiosity. LOL)
Give them the info they are looking for - IN WRITING - KEY WORDS - TAGS - DESCRIPTIONS - CATEGORIES - Use the best words to clearly describe your subject.
Search engines look for alpha-numeric characters, not colors or pictures. Everything on the web has an identification associated with it that contains either letters or numbers or both.
Use as few words as you can. Many people don't know the big search engines are programed to ignor TAGS and KEY WORDS over a certain number. Besides, there is no benefit for you to bring someone to a page about building good character when he is looking for laundry soap. Just use the words associated with exactly what you have. Different spellings are also not necessary any longer. Just use the most common spelling of the words people are looking for.
NOTE: There are some other characters on the keyboard that may also be used, but these are seldom used by visitors to find your site, and that is the "!@#$%^&*();->' truth! LOL - EASY ENGLISH - Use words that people use every day and can easily identify with, especially when they think of KEY WORDS to use in search engines.
I have seen much content containg very important information about Islam, but it was very difficult to understand exactly what was being said. This was due to the problem of Arabic, Urdu and other non-Latin languages not being very compatible with the English language. If you are not proficient English, get someone who is. Do not rely on guess work or poor attempts at grammar. Nothing will loose your visitors faster than messed up English mixed with transliterations from Arabic. Trust me. - DESCRIBE YOUR SUBJECT - Honest, upfront, facts and no exaggerations or excessive descriptions (like: best; biggest; oldest). Just quickly lay it out for them. "What is this all about?" Visitors enjoy simple, easy to understand facts, more than hyped up sales pitches.
- CLEAR THOUGHT - Feature your main thought for the page - make it clear, without clutter. When your content is smooth, easy to read and understand, then the folks visiting will take benefit and more important, they will be back and they will be happy to share your page with their friends and family too.
- CLEAR THOUGHT - Feature your main thought for the page - make it clear, without clutter. When your content is smooth, easy to read and understand, then the folks visiting will take benefit and more important, they will be back and they will be happy to share your page with their friends and family too.
- SHARE LINKS - Get some popular websites to share with you. Offer to put links to their webpages for links to your webpages. Then you get increased visibility and more content to offer, and so do they. You both win. NOTE: Do Not Link To Poorly Designed or Dead Web Pages - This is Certain DEATH!
- TITLE THE PAGE - Choose most commonly used words for your subject for the title and keywords. You may have some creative ability in flowery language - but, don't use it here.
- ADD-ON VISITOR INTERACTION - Simple to install features or Add-Ons bring visitors back again and again, to see what others might have to say about their comments and then to reply back to the ones who do.
- COMMENTS & REPLY - On my websites these types of features have added at least 10% to 20% to some of my articles and pages.
- FORUMS/DISCUSSIONS - Just right for any type of information page. It offers your visitors a chance to express their thoughts and ideas and share with other visitors.
- CHATS - A chat feature permits a volunteer (or paid person) to talk with a visitor from anywhere in the world. They come to the page and then see the feature, click on it, fill in the form and then make up a short message and wait until the monitor comes on to help.
- HIT COUNTER - Hit counters provide awareness for the visitors to see how active the web page is and how often other visitores come in as well.
- VIDEOS/AUDIOS - Seeing and hearing reinforces the message and helps provide a better exposure to every visitor. For help placing our videos and audios on your page, contact us for details.
- STREAMING BROADCASTS - Live events can be presented right on your web page (contact us for more details).
- MEMBERSHIP ACCOUNTS - We use this concept as an excellent way to provide hundreds and thousands of extra 'HITS' & even their emails so we can send out more links to new pages, articles, videos and broadcasts we have online.
- TICKER BOXES - These are the moving letters across the screen or in a box to let your visitors know what is happening and other subjects relative to why they came in the first place. Tell them about events, sources, discussions they can get more info from.
FACEBOOK - Get a FAN PAGE on FB and watch what happens when you start connecting with friends on FB (short for FaceBook) - A very complex yet easy to use social networking service for members to share everything that is happening in their world.. Highly attractive to youths all around the world, it is now becoming popular with the older crowd as well. Little kids and big kids - old kids too - all enjoy the many features provided (along with a lot of ads) while sharing their pictures, stories, videos, problems and their very lives with others on the web. You have to monitor or have someone monitor this on a regular daily basis or you will loose the impact and soon have very little to show for your efforts on FB.
In my case, due to extensive traveling and often times without decent Internet service, I have to hire monitors to help me keep my FAN PAGES up to date and active.
You can "Like" your friends comments on FB.
TWITTER - A more focused type of social network, aimed more at keeping members informed of events, politics, happenings and activities. Still a great place to share images and videos. But not the same crowd or number of visitors as FB
You can "Tweet" your friends on Twitter.- OTHER SOCIAL NETWORKS - Linked In, StumbleUpon and others all provide social networks and the chance to pick up more support for your webpage.
You can join and ask others to join, but first verify the type of networking it is and who is in there. 
RSS FEEDS - Other webpages can use your RSS Feed to stay updated with the latest information about your subject on your webpage(s). When you update, the whole world knows about it (well, the whole Internet world can find it! LOL)- VIDEOS/AUDIOS - Include videos from video sites (like YouTube) to keep visitors on your sight longer and more reason for them to tell others about what you have.
Try these: www.TUBEISLAM.com
You can also "link" to videos/audios on these sites: www.WATCHISLAM.com - www.HEARISLAM.com - www.99Islam.com - LOCATION - Use any part of your address or location (if it is useful) to help visitors locate you. Example: South Side Chicago, Upstate New York are OK for someone trying to find you in that area. But sometimes just the state, province or country is all you need. Example: Midwest, Northeast, Ohio, Texas, Canada, Mexico, USA, UK, Wales or Egypt. Use only what you think your visitor will type.
- STATS - Statistical Information, easily gathered and then put into a software so you can 'compute', using the built-in algorithms to find out just about anything you wanted to know about your visitors so you can see what is happening and who is visiting.
What search engines sent the most visitors to my page? - TIME - I often spend 3 to 8 hours per day (7 days a week) reading, typing, clicking, cross-referencing, searching, comparing and planning the best way to provide the higest level of valueable information on the topics my visitors are looking for.
- STRATIGIC PLANNING - You are still not done with baby care! You must have regular 'Check-Ups' to see how the baby is getting on and that is what the 'stats' do. But now you have to plan for your next campaign and make a workable schedule to do the things needed to get your page on top (and keep it there).
- The statistical information you are looking for should be displayed in multiple ways, making it easy for you to cross section your information and find out the important, relative activities happening on your webpage.
- Examples:
- How many visitors (hits) occured today (or yesterday, or in the last hour, etc.)
- How many visitors were first time visits to my page?
- How many visited previously? (When was the last time?)
- How long did each visitor remain on the page before leaving?
- Where did the visitor go next? (if it is still on one of your websites)
- Where did the visitor come from (a link on another site?; a search engine?)
- What were the words used to find my page?
- What type of computer, screen size, operating system was it?
- COSTS - Domain registry is the cheapest part, at least it seems so in the beginning. This is because a name can be registered online for under $10.00
After the initial cost of the name, there is the server or host company. This is where the information for all of your design and other information is kept. It is also how the people find your stored information.
Next is the cost of design or set up.
Then there is monthly payment for band width, graphic design and the list goes on.
You must be ready to spend some money, even if it is small compared to opening a shop and maintaining a big company, costs still add up and you do have to be prepared.
For instance, you can buy and learn how to use a software product that allows you to follow the algorithms (we talked about them in the beginning, remember?) or you can choose to hook up with Google's statistics monitoring system, or use a service provider (like I do). Whatever! Doesn't matter how you do it, but you have to do this, otherwise you are wasting your time on the Internet. - VISIBILITY - You must take some initial steps to boost your visibility with search engines, and watch your traffic and see your visitor list grow.
- DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY - Don't Waste Money on search engine and online directories. They offer paid submission options. They most often take unfair advantage of webpage developers.
Remember:
Some guys will promise the Wide World - But don't get caught in their WEB!
Our Bottom Line___________________________________________
Webpages need planning, effort and time -
but without visitors - They ain't worth a dime!
Will you help keep us #1?
Any financial support is always appreicated, and 100% is used for our websites on the web, inshallah.
Here's how to support (please help us do our best job): www.DonateForIslam.com
Tips on How to Reach More Visitors with Better Information by Yusuf Estes @2013
