So you’ve worked hard on your PHP, CSS and HTML for months and months to finally reveal your latest masterpiece: a unique dating website with the most advanced dating and chat features available. Or maybe he finally took out the old credit card and bought a ready-made script, finally figured out how to successfully upload it to the network. Either way, I’m sure she’s already decided on the niche she plans to fill, whether it’s for a specific geographic location or a specific group or subculture. After all, creating a general and international site may seem attractive at first, but that niche has become too filled. Also, who wants to join a dating website where the other 16 members are scattered all over the world? However, days and weeks go by, and the members you thought would flock to your amazing new creation just don’t show up, and even your closest friends no longer check their profiles. It’s time for your dating website to stand out. It’s time to be found on Google.
The process of getting your website found in search engines is called SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and the search engine you should focus most of your efforts on is Google. Google is now the king of the hill, and if you can impress this great king, chances are you’ll impress the rest of the nobles as well (ie Yahoo, MSN, etc.). This will not be an easy task, as there are millions of other valuable topics also desperately competing for Google’s attention. Unfortunately, Google only has room for so many at the head table. This is because most Internet searches never go beyond the first two pages. So if you’re not in the top 20 for at least one keyword or phrase, it might as well not even exist. So no matter how awesome you think your new dating site is, and no matter how much your friends say they like it, it’s going to take a significant number of members to call it a success. So unless you’re planning on doing some local advertising, which can sometimes be a good idea, your best bet is to live for one of these prized positions.
The first thing you have to do is choose your keywords and phrases. These are the words and phrases that people will type into Google and ultimately find your site. Unless you’ve chosen a domain name that already contains your keywords, like divorceddatinggrandmothers.com, you’ll need to find out what words people are already searching for in regards to your unique niche and create a title tag with these words. The best way to do this is to find keyword tools on the internet that help you figure out what people are searching for. Opening a Google AdWords account can be a great idea, if only to use the Google keyword tool. This will tell you how many times certain words and phrases are searched for each month. You’ll want to choose words and phrases that are relevant to your site and are searched for a moderate number of times each month. You don’t want to try to optimize your site for the keyword dating, because there is simply too much competition. And unless you plan on spending a million dollars a year on an SEO company, as many of these sites are doing, you don’t stand a chance. Their best efforts go into fighting for key phrases like divorced dating or detroit dating. Better yet: divorced dating in detroit.
When you’ve figured out which keywords you’re going to live for, it’s time to make sure you’ve placed these words in your title tags. It always amazes me how many new dating sites use their real name for the title. No one will search: thegreatloveboutique.com, unless of course they heard about it somewhere. Again, think about the words that people will use in their actual searches that might lead them to your site. When you’ve placed these words in your title tags, changing them up a bit for each page on your site, you want to make sure you’ve placed them in your meta tags as well, as well as scattering them throughout the content on your site. You can even put these keywords in your alt tags for images and title tags for links. However, do not overdo it. If you overuse these keywords, Google will penalize you for what they call spam. Try to keep it as natural as possible. If you don’t know how to do any of this, your best bet is to google how. Without knowing how to do this, your site really doesn’t stand a chance.
While there’s a lot more you need to learn about on-site optimization (what you do to your site so it gets found), most of your time should be spent acquiring links for your site (off-site optimization). This is when another website links to your website. Google considers this to be a kind of vote, and the more votes you get, especially from similar sites, the more Google will push you up the ranks. Now here is the process I would go through. First, submit your site to as many dating directories as you can. You should start with the high PR (PageRank) sites and work your way down. If you don’t have a Google toolbar that shows PageRank at the top of your screen, get one. Google it and download one. The higher the PageRank, the more valuable the link back to yours will be. And the more links you get, the more PageRank you get (just keep in mind that Google only updates its PageRank on screen every few months). Many of these directories will ask you to link back to them. This is called reciprocal linking, and it’s a bit annoying. If you know how to put links into your code, do so at your best discretion. Reciprocal links can help, especially if they are from a relevant, high PR site, but they are not as valuable as a one-way link.
When you’re done with the directories, it would also be a good idea to look for other dating sites that might want to exchange links with you. However, be careful. Many dating sites will require that you first provide them with a link before they will consider your site. You then take the time to enter your link on their site, never to hear from them again. Even though most website owners eventually remove links to sites that never link back, these bad sites have the few that don’t check. After a few weeks of exchanging links with dating sites and directories, you may want to put your head in a noose. The dishonesty and selfishness of even the most successful dating sites will absolutely shock you. If you’re ambitious, you’ll check your backlinks (links to your site) every few months, because some sites will remove them to make your reciprocal link a one-way link from you to them.
In general, however, directory links, reciprocal links, and 3-way links are not worth as much anymore. This is because Google expects sites to acquire links naturally. This would happen if someone really likes your site and adds a link from their own relevant site. If they use your keywords in the link, this link becomes even more valuable. However, you will eventually discover that not many people do this, unless a site is really awesome, or the content is especially unique or amazing. However, it’s always a good idea to try to solicit links from people who find your site. The best way to do this is to offer a textarea box containing your link code, using your keywords as the link or anchor text. Above the code you can place a small note requesting a link. Again, not many site owners will do this for nothing, but from time to time you may be pleasantly surprised. Just don’t promise them a link back unless you really intend to consider it. Too many dating sites already practice this dishonest behavior. Then, when your link requests have been strategically placed throughout your site, where admiring visitors can find them, you’ll probably want to consider advertising. Google AdWords now offers one of the most profitable forms of advertising. This advertising is targeted, so people looking for a particular dating site may find yours, at least until your site ranks up and is found that way. Best of luck.