Optimise This, Optimise That, Online This, Link Into That......What does it all mean?

Website optimisation put very simply is all about the way your website is structured, its content and the use of keywords within the site to allow search engines like Google and Yahoo to accurately rank your website content compared to other websites with similar content and subject matter. The whole point of search engines is to allow people to pinpoint the information that they are looking for as quickly and accurately as possible. People find this information by using key words or phrases in the search fields within search engines (many people now say.......to google or loosely 'search').

If you want people to find your club so that there is then a chance that they will visit, you need to think very carefully about what content you need to have on your website and the type of keywords that people would search for. So for example, if you are in a tourist area like the Southern Highlands of NSW, your Club should promote events that are linked to tourism like 'Tulip Time' in its content as well as the physical region like, Southern Highlands. It would be useful have a page of information all about local events and tourism highlights because this kind of information is 'rich content' as far as search engines are concerned and therefore valuable to the people who are trying to find this information.

So, when you are considering the content in your website, think about not just what is happening in your club, but also what you can include in your website to assist search engines to put a high value on the content - search engines job is to connect people to information quickly and accurately.

Pictures are nice to look at and important - but always balance rich content with pictures - too many pictures will mean that search engines don't know what to do about listing the content within your website other than for the literal domain name. Why would this matter?

Here is a good example of why....generally if a person wishes to purchase new carpet, they won't search for say www.carpetsforsale.com.au (domain name), they will search for 'Discount Carpets', therefore, the websites who have setup their website with these keywords and content that reflects the same will be ranked in search results this way, allowing people to find them - people get the information quickly and it is what they are looking for.

In Clubsationals case - we have optimised our site for many keywords, one phrase is 'discount vouchers', another is 'whats on in Clubs' and 'jobs in clubs'. This means that anyone looking to go and visit a Club is presented with offers in Clubs around NSW and can then drill down to the Club level and visit the individual Club website, if they have one. Clubsational is therefore able to scoop up potential visitors to Clubs whom would otherwise not necessarily find that Club online.

The other important side to search engine optimisation is websites linking into your site - this flags to google that your content is important enough for other websites to link into - putting a higher value when listing your website.

Clubsational has been optimising its website over the course of the 2 years that we have been operating, this means that there is value for any Club to be a part of our website with their own content whether they have a website or not. If they do not have a website, it provides a web presence for them, if they do have a website, it is an additional and credible 'club' relating website linking into their own. If you investigate search engine optimisation - you will see that these programs usually cost from around $1,200+ per year.

Anyone who would like to understand more can contact us directly and we would be happy to assist.