Gather Your Facts

The first thing you must do is collect as many facts about the problem as you can.  Be sure to write down dates, important information and anything else that might have happened before, during or after the problem took place. 

For example, if you were working on your web site, changed a template file, and then the web site wasn’t working, you need to be sure to write down the dates each change was made (the best you can), the files that were edited, what you did (if you can remember) and the error codes or problems you had afterwards.

Be Upset, Not Angry

It is alright to be upset when something is so bad, you have to go ask or report it to a support team, however getting angry isn’t going to help get the issue resolved any quicker.  I’ve seen many people who think, “Well, if I just yell at them enough – they’ll get the message” and that is actually the worst thing you could do.  Keep a calm head on your shoulders, and remember – even when asking for help – you’ll catch more flies with honey than you will with vinegar.

Explain Your Entire Problem the Best You Can

You don’t have to write a novel about the issue, but do make sure that you explain your situation the best that you can.  If somebody request support, and just says – “Hey, (insert object here) is broke, FIX IT!” that is not going to cut the cake.  Present the facts that you have gathered in a way that anybody could understand it. 

You might have to write it, re-read it and make sure it makes your case.  Explaining things well the first time will keep you from having to go back and forth as the tech support worker tries to recreate the situation on their side, so they can find a fix for you.

If you can master those three things, then the next time you contact any support team for any reason, your situation is going to be a much better one indeed. You will get a better support experience (in most cases) and get the result you are looking for quicker as well.

Topic specific content: Place content on pages that is uniform. For instance, if you are a web host, create a full page just talking about dedicated hosting. This gives the specific page an edge over other companies who discuss all of their plans on one page (because of your higher percentage of topic-specific keywords).

Descriptive short titles: Use short titles (5-7 words), with the most specific information appearing earliest. For instance, if you are a web host, and you have a dedicated hosting page, a good title would be: dedicated hosting, reliable service by PowerHost.

The long titles don’t work well because they are more likely to be viewed as spam pages by Google, as well as confuse readers. Most people know where they are once they are on a site, and have more use for the location within the site before the site name.

Proper Headings: Use the H1-H5 tags in HTML in order to let your visitors and search engines understand what is important relative to the rest of your content. For example, make a short paragraph on each page that describes the page, and title it in an H1 heading.

This has become a very common feature of Web 2.0 sites since it both helps your Search Engine Optimization efforts and assists in clarity of your site among readers.

Contextual Linking: Include links that match your content topic in your content. You can either link to internal pages on your site, or related pages on other sites. The links however, should include titles, not just display the URL (for example: Online News).

Google checks these links and uses it to “classify” sites. They assume that links will have relevant text to the site they are linking to.

This of course, is just a quick “tune up” of your site, there are many other search engine optimization methods you can use to rank highly in Google and other top search engines.

Article by Pinny Cohen – Pinny has been optimizing sites for clients for almost a decade, and specializes in the web hosting industry’s keywords. He runs a blog over at http://www.pinnycohen.com which covers many topics including marketing, web 2.0, consumer behavior, entrepreneurialism, and healthy living.