VLUeM - 10/23/06 - VITAMIN LAWYER UPDATE e-MEMO
--------------------------------------------------------
Here’s what I cover in this memo:
1. SoPs – More on Operating Procedures
2. Top Ten SEO Factors – from Entire Web
--------------------------------------------------------
1. SoPs - More on Standard Operating Procedures
I know I’ve been telling you quite a bit over the past couple months on Standard Operating Procedures. There is an important business reason for that: bit by bit the FDA is coming out with more requirements that apply to dietary supplement companies, enforcing a provision in the 1994 DSHEA law giving FDA authority to codify current Good Manufacturing/Marketing Practices in the industry.
In comments to one member of Congress, discussing a meeting on SoPs, FDA stated: “The agenda included topics regarding the small business entities' manufacturing practices and standard operating procedures for: (1) personnel; (2) buildings and facilities; (3) equipment; (4) laboratory operations; (5) production and process controls; and (6)
warehousing, distribution and post-distribution of' raw, intermediate and final products . The meeting included a discussion about the verification of the identity, purity and composition of dietary supplements and dietary supplement ingredients.”
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/96n0417/96n-0417-c000098-vol3.pdf
There has been continuing controversy regarding SoPs for the industry. GNC made its position clear in 2003, “FDA asserts that “dietary supplements have their own set of unique requirements as a result of the characteristics and hazards due to their ‘hybrid’ nature, e.g., dietary supplements can be considered as falling somewhere along the continuum between conventional foods on the one hand and drugs on the other.” Dietary supplements in fact fall within the food category and were treated as a food item for their entire history. DSHEA in 1994 confirmed the food status of dietary supplements and provided an expanded definition of the category.”
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Aug03/081803/96N-0417_emc-000197-01.doc
As a result, the original intention of FDA to have formal cGMP in place several years ago has been delayed. Now the agency seems to be imposing the regulations in a more piecemeal strategy. I’ve recently been reading FDA warning letters that cite a lack of an SoP as a concern of the agency.
To anticipate these developments, I’ve created a standard Operations Manual for my Vitamin Lawyer Consultancy clients. As the SoP is developed, it will cover all the areas cited by the FDA above. The most recent addition to the SoP is a page of instructions about reviewing Advertising Claims, whether on labels, literature or web sites. Those clients who are on a regular monthly retainer agreement with me have received that additional page already.
As an “added value” to my extended client base, I would be happy to provide a copy of this SoP page upon request. Of course the best way to be kept up to date is to be a regular monthly retainer client. And, you receive two added bonuses: a lower hourly rate and the use of my Vitamin Lawyer Oversight Seal. Drop me an email if you’d like more details.
See also [includes outline of SoP]: 07/05/06
See also [Crisis SoP]: 11/16/06
Updates:
www.VitaminIndustryCompliance.com
------------------------------------------------------
2. Some more good SEO advice from Entire Web -
"Entireweb Newsletter - October 24, 2006 - ISSUE #277
www.entireweb.com
Top Ten SEO Factors
These are what I believe to be the top 10 most important things (not necessarily in order) that you need, in order to get your website found in the search engines.
There are many other factors as well, but if you follow these guidelines, you'll stand a much better chance, and you'll be off to a good start.
1. Title Meta Tags
The title tag is what displays as the headline in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). It's also what displays in the top blue band of Internet Explorer when your site is displayed
Your title tag of your website should be easy to read and designed to bring in traffic. By that, I mean that your main keyword phrase should be used toward the beginning of the tag. True there are websites being found now that do not use the phrase in the title, but the vast majority still do as of this writing.
Don't make the mistake of putting your company name first, unless you are already a household name, like Nascar or HBO. People are likely searching for what you have to offer, not your name.
Your title tag should be written with a capital letter starting the tag, and followed by all lowercase letters, unless you're using proper nouns. Some people prefer to capitalize every word, too.
2. Description Meta Tag
The description tag is the paragraph that people will see when your page comes up in the search results.
Your description tag should be captivating and designed to attract business. It should be easy to read, and compel the reader to act right now and follow your link. Without a description tag, search engines will frequently display the first text on your page. Is yours appropriate as a description of the page?
A proper description tag is what people will see below your title. You should make proper use of punctuation, and with readability, use your subject and geographical references.
3. Keywords Meta Tag
The importance of Meta keyword tags fluctuates from month to month among different search engines. There is a debate in the SEO community as to whether or not they help at all on certain search engines. In fact, in the summer of 2004 it appeared as if they were losing importance altogether.
However, you'll NEVER be penalized on any search engines for using relevant targeted keywords in moderation, and they can only help you with most, especially Yahoo.
Avoid stuffing your keyword metatags with too many keywords. Just use relevant tags that apply directly to the content of that particular page, and don't overdo it.
4. Alt Tags
The small yellow box that comes up when your mouse cursor is placed over an image is called the ALT tag. Every relevant image should have an alt tag with your key words or phrases mentioned in the tag.
A proper ALT tag goes after the file name, and before the Align indicator. * - The ALT tag is no longer being considered for ranking purposes by some search engines. That said, it still cannot HURT you, and will still help you with some engines. My recommendation is to continue to use them, but be sure to avoid keyword stuffing. Besides, who knows when the pendulum will swing back the other way?
5. Header Tags
The text of each page is given more weight by the search engines if you make use of header tags and then use descriptive body text below those headers. Bullet points work well too. It is not enough to merely BOLD or enlarge your text headlines.
6. Link Text
Search engine spiders cannot follow image links. In addition to having image links or buttons on your web pages, you should have text links at the bottom or elsewhere. The text that the user sees when looking at the link is called the link text. A link that displays products does not carry as much weight to the search engines as a link called oregon widgets. Link text is very important, and is actually one of the most frequently overlooked aspects of web design that I've seen.
7. Site Map
Using a site map not only makes it easy for your users to see the entire structure of your website, but it also makes it easier for the search engines to spider your site. When the search engine spiders come to visit, they will follow all of the text links from your main index page. If one of those links is to a site map, then the spiders will go right to the sitemap, and consequently visit every page you have text linked to from that site map. On the site map page, try to have a sentence or two describing each page, and not just a page of links.
8. Relevant Inbound Links
By relevant, I mean similar industry or subject related sites. Right now, no single strategy can get your site ranked higher faster than being linked to by dozens of other relevant websites. It used to be that the quantity of incoming links mattered most, but today, it's much better to have three highly relevant links to you from other popular related websites than 30 links from unrelated low ranked sites. If there are other businesses in your industry that you can trade links with, it will help your site enormously. Link to others, and have them link to you. It's proven, and it works. To see who's linking to you, in Google type the following... links: yourdomain.com
9. Your Content
Not to be forgotten of course, is the actual content of your webpage. It must be relevant helpful information that people want to read. These days, each webpage should be laser focused on one specific product or subject, in order to rank highly for that search phrase. The days of writing one webpage to appeal to dozens of search terms are long gone. Ideally, each page should have between 400 to 650 words on it. Too few, and the search engines won't consider it to be relevant enough. Too many words and the search engine spiders may have a hard time determining the actual subject or focus of the page.
Use your keywords or phrases often, and use them at the beginning of your paragraphs wherever possible. Don't overuse them and make the page sound phony, but don't write a page about a certain subject, and not mention that subject repeatedly either. Reading it out loud to yourself is a great way to judge how natural your text sounds.
Concentrate on writing quality pages that actually appeal to the human reader. Write pages that provide the reader with exactly what they are looking for; that is, information about the exact search phrase they've entered.
10. Avoid Cheating
With all of these tidbits of information, it's tempting to think that you can stuff 100 keywords into your title, or create a page with the phrase oregon widget company being used 100 times in headers, text links, ALT tags, bullet points etc. but that cannot help you. In fact, it can penalize you, and get your website banned from certain search engines.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Author: Scott Hendison is an internet consultant that specializes in search engine optimization and internet marketing. He has written over 100 articles that are available on his website. He has also developed a tutorial area for beginning search engine optimization, at 'SEO101'."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That’s all for now – I hope you find this information useful!
