eDIY Software Newsletter 25^th January 2006

Because the Web Site Builder software is provided as part of an eDIY web hosting subscription, existing eDIY web hosting plan customers will be upgraded automatically to Version 4.0 as soon as it's released. You'll be hearing more about this new version in subsequent monthly newsletters.

Along with the release of Version 4.0 of the Web Site Builder software we will also be upgrading our on-line help system. We plan to offer you an additional ways of finding the information you require, as well as providing more in depth help pages for the new software features and overviews for beginning users.

Existing eDIY subscribers will automatically have more disk space and network traffic
All existing eDIY customers will benefit from increased capacities on their web sites as a result of our move to new web hosting facilities.

Capacities still vary according to which plan you subscribe to, but we hope you'll be impressed to learn that at the top end  SHOP 1000 Plan customers now have 250Mb of disk space for pictures and files and a huge 10,000Mb of traffic per month.  Our home page summarises the new plans for new and existing customers.

Generally speaking, you'll find that the new capacities are approximately 10 times greater than before.

Search Engine Optimisation Tips: New detailed Keyword and Description fields in version 3.9.0
From now on we will be publishing new information to assist you with enhancing your web site's online reputation in the eDIY newsletter, starting this month with a new feature in version 3.9.0 that will give you additional control over your web site's visibility to search engines and, more importantly, to your new prospective customers.

You can now add keywords to product groups or individual products. Check out (and please use) these additional fields - you'll find them in the Product Group and Product editor windows respectively, under the Long Description tabs.

Just in case you're wondering exactly what keywords are and why they're such a good thing to have on your site: keywords are descriptive words, or more often short phrases, relating to your company and/or your product(s). You don't see these on your web pages; rather, they are tucked away in the HTML source code in what's known as meta-tags.  To see this code, visit any website with a browser such as Internet Explorer and click the View -> Page Source menu option.  This shows you the raw web page and near the very top you'll find <meta name="description" and <meta name="keywords" - these are pretty important when it comes to getting good search engine results.

A good way to come up with suitable keywords is to brainstorm, either on your own or (even better) with someone else. Keep in mind what someone surfing the net would be likely to type into a search engine if they were looking for something similar to your product(s). Many search engines use keywords to help them rank pages in their search results, which is why they can help bring more business your way.  Don't be scared to look at your competitors pages using the View - Page Source command above to find new keyword ideas - anyone can view the source code to any web page so they may have already looked at yours.

Search engine optimisation has also been enhanced in the Page Description field, which is found in the Page Settings window under the General tab. You don't need to use this field any differently from the way you have been; we just want you to know that by including extra information in these fields you'll be helping search engines provide more relevant results, with you in a better ranking position for the right search.

A tip for writing descriptions: use your keywords and turn them into meaningful, grammatically complete sentences. Some search engines use them to provide the body text under their search results, so it pays to be relevant and to-the-point.

Interesting and useful web site links
In keeping on the search engine tips theme, be sure to try these sites below to assist you in knowing where your site stands currently and ideas on how this can be improved. 

http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/ - this is a very useful web site to help compare your placement with other sites.

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ - this web site can show you how many people have entered certain keywords into search engines. Use the results as a guide to words you need to cover in the new detailed keyword and description fields described above.