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Website promotion

This document was written, and licensed for publication by MDA.

What is Website Promotion?

Once you have developed your museum's website, the next step is to promote it. Website promotion means ensuring that as wide an audience as possible knows that your site exists, what kind of content it provides, and how to reach it. This involves a combination of a range of activities, the most important of which are outlined in this fact sheet.

Search Engine Submission

Many people use search engines as their principal means of finding information on the Internet. For this reason, it is vital to ensure that your website is listed with as many of the popular search services as possible. To do this, you must 'submit' the details of your site to each search engine. This submission will commonly include the web address of your homepage, your email address and a short description of the purpose of the website.

There are two main types of search engine:

  • Web crawlers (also known as web trawlers, spiders or bots) - Pieces of software that automatically 'visit' your website, creating an index of everything it contains. This index is then returned to a central point, where it can be searched by a user. Examples of web crawlers include:
  • Web directories - Created by people. In the case of the larger directories, such as

A representative will visit your site and place it in the appropriate section of the directory structure.

In both cases, you must submit the details of your website before it is indexed. There are a number of free and paid services which offer to submit your details to a whole range of services and search engines. You should always be wary of employing one of these as frequently they concentrate on smaller, less used search engines, and in some cases can result in your site being excluded for bad practice from indexes.

A great deal of importance is placed on where the search engine 'ranks' your website. Search results are displayed to the user in order of their relevance to the original query, with the most relevant ranked the 'highest'. It is therefore important that your website is ranked highly in relevant searches to ensure that the user is able to find your information.

The process of improving the ranking of your website in search results is rightly viewed as something of a mysterious art. The reason for that is that each search engine uses complex formulae to rank your site in terms of the extent to which it meets a number of fixed criteria. Within these formulae, different ones place varying degrees of importance on different aspects of the information presented.

The following are some of the main criteria used by search engines to decide rankings:

  • Keywords - keywords are words which are included in the HTML of your web page, and which search engines can use to index your website. Many have reduced the importance of keywords in rankings, but it is still important to make constructive use of them. Key things to remember with keywords are:
    • Keywords must be relevant to the content of your site;
    • When creating a list of keywords, think about the kind of term your users might be searching for;
    • Many search engines look for 'phrases' within keywords, ensure that keywords are ordered so that they can also be read as phrases;
    • Most users will enter search terms in lower case, avoid capital letters in your keywords;
    • Always include common misspellings of your most important keywords;
    • Where possible, keyword lists should be placed before any Javascript or other coding within your page;
  • ALT text - HTML code allows you to define alternative ('ALT') text descriptions of the content of images. As well as being good practice, this ALT text is used by search engines as an additional indication of the content of the page. Always ensure that ALT text is descriptive of the content of the image;
  • Page titles - HTML allows you to define a 'title' for each of the pages in your website. These titles are displayed at the very top of your browser window in the blue bar. Search engines place emphasis on these as a reflection of the page content. Always ensure that page titles are clearly legible, make proper use of upper and lower case and don't use punctuation marks or symbols;
  • Link popularity - many search engines base their rankings on the number of websites that refer to yours. It is always a good idea to ensure that all relevant sites and organisations add a link to your website. It is one of the 'codes of conduct' of the Internet that, when asking someone to link to your page, you offer to provide a similar link to theirs. This is known as a reciprocal link. You should never expect to pay, or be paid for, linking to a related organisation's website;
  • Page design - most search engines will place more emphasis on a piece of text the higher it appears on your web page. You should therefore ensure that your most important text is always sited near the top of your page.

Other Factors Affecting Your Ranking

There are a number of factors which may either affect your website's ranking or prevent the search engine from indexing your pages. These include:

  • Multimedia content or animations, in particular those created by Macromedia Flash, cannot be indexed by search engines. Always ensure that a plain-text alternative is provided for any content contained within inaccessible coding;
  • Image 'maps', or images which contain 'areas' that are hyperlinked to other pages cannot be indexed by search engines. As with multimedia content, always ensure that a plain-text alternative is available;
  • Search engines are not able to index PDF files on your website. Always provide a short title and description of the content of the file as part of the linking page;
  • If your site includes a database, remember that the majority of search engines will not follow links that contain a question mark '?'. This means that database content or dynamically-generated pages may not be indexed. If you have a site that is entirely database-generated, try and include a static 'gateway' page that can be indexed and which leads the user through to the rest of the content;
  • Search engines sometimes have difficulty with drop-down selection boxes and dynamic navigation menus, which can prevent your content being indexed. Always provide a plain-text alternative where these are used.

Finally, your ranking with a particular search engine will fluctuate over time. This is because new sites are added and old ones removed every day. It is worth checking your ranking on a regular basis and taking steps to ensure that you continue to be listed on as many of the major Search Engines as possible.

Other Forms of Website Promotion

Search engine submission and rankings are undoubtedly important, but there are a number of other key approaches to site promotion, which it is important not to overlook:

  • URL - the URL is the 'address' of your website. Many users will reach your site by 'guessing' your URL based on what they know of naming and structural conventions. You should always ensure therefore that your URL is directly relevant both to the name and status of your organisation. In some cases, it may be appropriate to register several variants of the same address to refer to your website;
  • E-mail signatures - most e-mail programmes allow users to specify a piece of text, which will automatically be added to the end of any outgoing email. Known as a 'signature', this piece of text plays an important role in letting people know how to find you. Always add a link to your website in the signature for all outgoing e-mail;
  • E-mail lists - active participation in e-mail discussion lists can drive increased traffic to your site. You should always ensure that where you mention your site, it is in an appropriate context - you should never use e-mail lists simply to tell people that your site exists;
  • Events - always co-ordinate offline events with online information and activities. People hearing of forthcoming events will often refer to your website as a first source of information. Similarly, casual visitors to your website may be encouraged to visit your museum if they can access an online calendar of events and activities. This is particularly important around school holidays, when an increasing number of parents are turning to the web to plan days out;
  • Printed materials - ensure that your website address is added to all printed materials, including posters, letterhead and any publications, fact sheets or activity sheets you may produce.

Where Can I Go for Further Advice and Information?

Spiderfood - The best source of information about search engine submission and rankings. The site includes tutorials, guidance, and links to further information on all aspects of website promotion.
[ www.spider-food.net]

Web Developers Virtual Library - an encyclopaedic look at all aspects of website creation with an excellent section on promotion and rankings.
[ www.wdvl.com]

This fact sheet was compiled with generous assistance from Nick Poole of Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, Nick Gander of the former Yorkshire Museums Council and the former Committee for Area Museum Councils.

MDA provides impartial resources for all aspects of collections information management. For more information please contact: Collections Link - 0845 838 4000.

November 2002