Read the blog post on the Miva Merchant website

The FleetFilter philosophy is simple: keep the small auto parts store feel with no call centers, outsourced customer service departments, or complicated shipping techniques while retaining the original aggressive pricing structure.

Brenham Napa / FleetFilter.com owner, Brian Schneider originally contacted us out of frustration because of an array of problems with the original FleetFilter Ecommerce store. Issues ranging from the original Windows Web server based store had been hacked, client data had been stolen and no store data or files was ever accessible because the original host “owned” everything.

Other problematic areas included the “Quick Add” feature (add multiple products to the cart simultaneously) never worked, the store didn’t have any product descriptions, the dynamic URLs were useless as far as SEO (and visitors) went and a lot more.

After the launch of the new Search Engine Optimized Miva Merchant Fleet Filter store, Brian had this to say about Webwest Internet / LA Servers:

FleetFilter.com carries a full range of Wix Oil Filters, Wix Fuel Filters and a wide array of Wix & Napa Filters and Accessories and much more.

It’s said that everything is bigger in Texas and FleetFilter.com sustains this adage by being one of the largest discount Wix & Napa filter houses on the Web while maintaining the small auto parts store experience.

Listed below are the basics to coding lean, green, fast loading web pages that search engines can easily spider to index your website as well as presenting content in ways to attract more visitors.

But updating your site regularly and acquiring quality backlinks will more than likely benefit you the most.

Title Tag

The title tag is most important. Each page’s title tag should be unique and contain the main keyword phrase for that page. Don’t go over 4 keyword phrases per page. Once again, less is more – the leass keywords per page, the easier it is to rank higher.

Unique individual HTML Web pages

Using actual text on Web pages is extremely important for visitors and especailly for Google. People can read text in graphics but Google cannot. A Flash or image intro page will block spiders from indexing your website right at the homepage.

Deliver frequently updated content that people want to read. Descriptive text content not only allows website visitors to see exactly what your site is about or sells, Google finds and indexes these text-based keywords, ranking the website accordingly. Web pages that have little or no text on the pages have little or no chance of Google indexing them.

Unique Meta descriptions and keywords

Create simple meta descriptions that contain some form of your page keywords. Make the description read well to people, not just loaded with page keywords. Meta keywords aren’t used by many search engines these days but it doesn’t hurt to include them. Don’t go overboard with keywords. You should only be targeting 3 or 4 keywords at the most anyway.

Valid XHTML (or HTML) and CSS

Poorly written or bloated HTML code can make your website much harder for Google and other search engine spiders to index. Use the w3.org code validator to write clean, green, semantic markup.

Invalid code forces web browsers into quirks mode and makes them guess on how to render your webpage. In quirks mode, Web browsers don’t always guess correctly and your webpage may look completely different when viewing it in a different Web browser.

HTML text links on every Web page (Not Flash or JavaScript)

Even though Google recently announced that they can now find and index text inside Flash graphic files, we have yet to find a Flash website ranking high or at all in Google’s organic SERPs. Some Web designers create Flash navbars, which search engine spiders cannot follow, rendering the inner website pages non-indexable. Javascript dropdown menus are also search engine killers.

If you must use Flash navigation, make sure you insert standard HTML links somewhere on the page. Always use SEO friendly CSS dropdown menus – never use Javascript. If success is your website’s bottom line, the BEST guarantee that your page will be indexed is to use real text and text links on HTML pages, not images of text.

External CSS and JavaScript files

Always having more content than code is extremely important. WYSIWYG editors (like FrontPage, Free Site Builders and even Dreamweaver) are terrible at adding a ton of useless code into HTML pages. Always call CSS and Javascript from external files and make it easy for Google to find and index your content!

Descriptive image alt tags

Since search engines can not describe photos or graphic images, the alt text helps them verify the content on your page. Additionally, the alt tag was orginally created to allow blind users to have image descriptions read to them using screen readers.

The alt tag should accurately describe the image but too much text may be considered keyword stuffing. A few descriptive words or one sentence is plenty. Never use images or Flash for large amounts of text.

HTML Sitemap and Google XML sitemap

A text link to the HTML sitemap in the footer of of every web page is necessary for users to find information and it makes it simple for Google to index all your pages. You should also create a sitemap to submit to Google Sitemaps but linking to it on web pages is not necessary.

Privacy Policy link in global footer

Providing a privacy Policy lets your visitors know what you will and will not do with their their personal information. If you have an eCommerce store, having a Return Policy is important too. Most merchant account companies require that your eCommerce website have a return policy page.

robots.txt

Incorporating a robots.txt file will instruct search engine spiders what and what not to index on your site. You can block less important pages from being indexed to increase your link density. This is a better method than using the “no-follow” tag on a page link.

Search Engine Friendly URLs using htaccess

Use content keywords in page names with dashes for more than one word names. Long database URLs should be htaccess rewritten to make more sense to people and Google!

Using “Green Solar Outdoor Widgets” as an example:

Conclusion:

Choosing a quality business domain name for branding and SEO can be a delicate assignment. Many good domains are already taken or cost thousands of dollars to come by from a domain owner or dealer.

The bottom line in your domain name quest is to secure one that is clear about your business, is easy to remember and brand, as well as being endowed with a keyword or two.

Search engines give an extra thumbs up to a site that has keywords in its domain name. Keyword rich names also tend to be easier to remember, so repeat customers will not only type it in directly in the future, but easily refer it to others.

A little creative logic can be used to land a precise business domain name that:

• is Distinctive
• is Easy to remember
• is Brandable to your business
• has extra Pizzazz for SEO

Considerations for registering outstanding business domain names

1. What does your company do?
2. Do you sell a specific type of product(s)?
3. Is your business location specific?
4. Registering a new domain name for longer than one year demonstrates a certain commitment to your business.
   Short domain name registrations is typical of scam websites, appearing briefly and then disappearing to put up other phony sites in less than 1 year.

   As a result, new websites registered for just one year may be placed in the Google Sandbox. (new website being placed on probation and throttled in searches before being given full value for its trust and credibility)

5. Purchasing an old domain with good page rank is beneficial if it applies directly to your business
6. Domains with dashes between a couple keywords aren’t bad but you have to say “dash” when you talk about the name or people will automatically type it in without the dash and go to a competitor’s website.
7. Any domain extension will work but it’s still a “dot com” world so we suggest acquiring a .com domain.
   Upon hearing your company name, most people will visit that name “dot com” online first. If a competitor has the .com version of your domain, that’s probably not good!
8. Provide detailed contact information in your website footer, including your company name, address, and a phone number to aid in establishing new domain trust and credibility.

Business Domain Name Technicality Scenario

Problem: You’ve already got a website and domain name. You now realize that a different domain with your keyword in it would be more suitable to Google.

But you don’t want to switch domains and Email addresses because your business associates already know you by your current domain name.

Conclusion: Securing a quality business domain name for 5 years should cost less than a week’s worth of Starbucks. Show your true professional commitment and spring for multiple years when registering a high caliber company domain name.