June 2007 Archives
Search Engine Optimization is an enormous topic and one of the most effective tools that can bring a prospective customer to your website. It can be a very time consuming process and can have disastrous results if not done correctly.
Before you begin to develop your own strategy and implementation plan to optimize your website for improved rankings in the major search engines you need to be sure you consider these twenty tips and techniques that will improve your rankings.
1. Make sure your site is fully operational and all your content is in place before you have it submitted.
2. Be sure to submit the domain or URL in the correct format ( http://www.mydomain.com - some directories accept it without http:// )
3. Do NOT submit domains that redirect to another site under any circumstance. This is an attempt to deceive a search engine and could get you removed.
4. Create a website for users, NOT for search engines. Do NOT present different content to search engines that you display to your users.
5. Select the most relevant category for your site when submitting. Don't make the mistake of selecting the category too fast without checking if there would be a more relevant category.
6. The links should ideally be optimized for the keywords that you want your site to target. Search engines utilize keywords or key phrases to identify web pages which are relevant to these terms.
7. Take the time to research your keywords. It may not be worth your time and money to target words where the competition is established and overwhelming.
8. Your title text for each page should be clearly defined with relevant keywords.
9. Don't use generic terms to optimize your website. It is important that you select keywords which are not overused and aptly describe (in a few words) what the site is about.
10. Select words or phrases that target a niche segment. Create a list of relevant keywords which do not attract too much competition in your niche segment.
11. Check for broken links, correct HTML and avoid hidden text or hidden links.
12. Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. The Search Engine's crawler doesn't recognize text contained in images.
13. Include the email address of your site domain NOT a free account like Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail.
14. Using relevant keywords in your title text and anchor text can improve your search engine placement.
15. Don't repeat keywords to the point that your text becomes incoherent. It's more important to make sure your message is understood by users than it is to stuff your keywords into as many sentences as possible.
16. Don't create multiple pages, sub domains, or domains with duplicate content. Provide unique, relevant and fresh content to your users with good grammar, correct spelling, and sentence structure.
17. Do NOT submit sites that install viruses, trojans, or other malware.
18. Submit your site to premier search engines and in the top directory such as the Open Directory Project, Yahoo!, Google
19. Double check your information submitting your site to directories. Once your site has been accepted, it may be extremely difficult to change any of the information that is submitted.
20. Be patient and continue to research what your competition is doing online, what keywords they have targeted and what campaigns they are running so you can evaluate and make intelligent decisions.
Before you begin to develop your own strategy and implementation plan to optimize your website for improved rankings in the major search engines you need to be sure you consider these twenty tips and techniques that will improve your rankings.
1. Make sure your site is fully operational and all your content is in place before you have it submitted.
2. Be sure to submit the domain or URL in the correct format ( http://www.mydomain.com - some directories accept it without http:// )
3. Do NOT submit domains that redirect to another site under any circumstance. This is an attempt to deceive a search engine and could get you removed.
4. Create a website for users, NOT for search engines. Do NOT present different content to search engines that you display to your users.
5. Select the most relevant category for your site when submitting. Don't make the mistake of selecting the category too fast without checking if there would be a more relevant category.
6. The links should ideally be optimized for the keywords that you want your site to target. Search engines utilize keywords or key phrases to identify web pages which are relevant to these terms.
7. Take the time to research your keywords. It may not be worth your time and money to target words where the competition is established and overwhelming.
8. Your title text for each page should be clearly defined with relevant keywords.
9. Don't use generic terms to optimize your website. It is important that you select keywords which are not overused and aptly describe (in a few words) what the site is about.
10. Select words or phrases that target a niche segment. Create a list of relevant keywords which do not attract too much competition in your niche segment.
11. Check for broken links, correct HTML and avoid hidden text or hidden links.
12. Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. The Search Engine's crawler doesn't recognize text contained in images.
13. Include the email address of your site domain NOT a free account like Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail.
14. Using relevant keywords in your title text and anchor text can improve your search engine placement.
15. Don't repeat keywords to the point that your text becomes incoherent. It's more important to make sure your message is understood by users than it is to stuff your keywords into as many sentences as possible.
16. Don't create multiple pages, sub domains, or domains with duplicate content. Provide unique, relevant and fresh content to your users with good grammar, correct spelling, and sentence structure.
17. Do NOT submit sites that install viruses, trojans, or other malware.
18. Submit your site to premier search engines and in the top directory such as the Open Directory Project, Yahoo!, Google
19. Double check your information submitting your site to directories. Once your site has been accepted, it may be extremely difficult to change any of the information that is submitted.
20. Be patient and continue to research what your competition is doing online, what keywords they have targeted and what campaigns they are running so you can evaluate and make intelligent decisions.
The iPhone launches today and will change the cell phone industry forever. But I believe it will also change web design. It may be a gradual change but this is the start of something new for the industry.
Up until now browsing a website on a hand held device has been cumbersome and unappealing. The pages are usually stripped down and do not display the same as they do on a computer. The iPhone looks like it will change that. The early reviews say that this is by far the best browsing experience anyone has had on a cell phone.
So far, all of Apple’s marketing material only shows a couple of sites being browsed using the iPhone. And these are large volume sites like The New York Times and Amazon. They likely have been displaying their content to fit mobile devices for a while now.
How many websites will display properly on a screen with a resolution of 350 pixels wide? Many websites have sections that are explicitly told to display at a width much larger than that. What happens when these sites are viewed on an iPhone? Will this version of the Safari browser scale the sites automatically? No one knows for sure yet.
But what we do know is that more people will begin viewing websites on cell phones. The iPhone is just the beginning. If it indeed does deliver a successful browsing experience then more and more consumers are going to expect this type of experience on their own phones.
Over the next few years it will become commonplace for users to view websites on a cell phone. Right now only a fraction of sites are optimized for mobile phones. This means that along with all of the other things that go into creating a successful website, optimizing a site to work on a phone will be added to that list. As for current sites, it will likely be necessary for them to be overhauled or tweaked in some manner to properly display in this new age of website viewing.
Up until now browsing a website on a hand held device has been cumbersome and unappealing. The pages are usually stripped down and do not display the same as they do on a computer. The iPhone looks like it will change that. The early reviews say that this is by far the best browsing experience anyone has had on a cell phone.
So far, all of Apple’s marketing material only shows a couple of sites being browsed using the iPhone. And these are large volume sites like The New York Times and Amazon. They likely have been displaying their content to fit mobile devices for a while now.
How many websites will display properly on a screen with a resolution of 350 pixels wide? Many websites have sections that are explicitly told to display at a width much larger than that. What happens when these sites are viewed on an iPhone? Will this version of the Safari browser scale the sites automatically? No one knows for sure yet.
But what we do know is that more people will begin viewing websites on cell phones. The iPhone is just the beginning. If it indeed does deliver a successful browsing experience then more and more consumers are going to expect this type of experience on their own phones.
Over the next few years it will become commonplace for users to view websites on a cell phone. Right now only a fraction of sites are optimized for mobile phones. This means that along with all of the other things that go into creating a successful website, optimizing a site to work on a phone will be added to that list. As for current sites, it will likely be necessary for them to be overhauled or tweaked in some manner to properly display in this new age of website viewing.
(Part 1 of 2)
You will hear me talk about usability a lot on this blog...and everywhere else. We have a passion for usability, and yet this very important aspect of web design is often overlooked not only by clients, but also by many web designers and developers. In this, the first post of a two-part series, we will explain what usability is, and why it is important to you as you look to create a new website for your business.
Simply put, usability is how usable, or user friendly, a website is. The average web user only notices usability when it is lacking. We're sure you can think of a time when you had a specific goal when visiting a website and, no matter what you did, you couldn’t accomplish that goal. Maybe you couldn’t find a phone number for customer support, or see how to delete a product from your shopping cart, or even just how to get back to the site’s home page. More than likely, the experience made you feel stupid, frustrated, or maybe even angry. No matter what you felt, it wasn’t your fault you had a bad experience on the site – it was the sites!
When usability is done right, you leave a site feeling satisfied with what you have accomplished and with the company whose website you were on. You are far more likely to spend more time on that site, come back often, and even allow yourself to become better acquainted with the company and most importantly, give them more money!
At Cornerstone Media Group, we strive to use every usability methodology to ensure that each site we create is as user friendly as possible. This includes being aware of current findings in the field of usability, putting ourselves in the shoes of your website’s users to better understand what they will be expecting, and even spending time with your users to learn directly from them how they react to your site. This results in a far more successful website for you and your customer.
Come back for part two in this series, in which I’ll discuss why you should invest in a website that is user centered, despite what may be perceived as drawbacks to this approach.
You will hear me talk about usability a lot on this blog...and everywhere else. We have a passion for usability, and yet this very important aspect of web design is often overlooked not only by clients, but also by many web designers and developers. In this, the first post of a two-part series, we will explain what usability is, and why it is important to you as you look to create a new website for your business.
Simply put, usability is how usable, or user friendly, a website is. The average web user only notices usability when it is lacking. We're sure you can think of a time when you had a specific goal when visiting a website and, no matter what you did, you couldn’t accomplish that goal. Maybe you couldn’t find a phone number for customer support, or see how to delete a product from your shopping cart, or even just how to get back to the site’s home page. More than likely, the experience made you feel stupid, frustrated, or maybe even angry. No matter what you felt, it wasn’t your fault you had a bad experience on the site – it was the sites!
When usability is done right, you leave a site feeling satisfied with what you have accomplished and with the company whose website you were on. You are far more likely to spend more time on that site, come back often, and even allow yourself to become better acquainted with the company and most importantly, give them more money!
At Cornerstone Media Group, we strive to use every usability methodology to ensure that each site we create is as user friendly as possible. This includes being aware of current findings in the field of usability, putting ourselves in the shoes of your website’s users to better understand what they will be expecting, and even spending time with your users to learn directly from them how they react to your site. This results in a far more successful website for you and your customer.
Come back for part two in this series, in which I’ll discuss why you should invest in a website that is user centered, despite what may be perceived as drawbacks to this approach.
Cornerstone Media Group is pleased to announce the launch of the website for Precision Turf. Precision Turf is known for their high quality athletic field renovations and is a leader in their industry. To show off their work we incorporated high quality imagery into the site at every point possible. We did this using Flash slide shows, Flash pop-up windows and JavaScript image replacements.
The latest phenomenon on the web is blogs! Many people use blogs to write about personal topics, feelings, and opinions on a variety of topics and issues.
Blogs are also an effective business marketing tool. The interactivity of blogs, along with the ease of creation and maintenance, make them an attractive option for online marketing purposes. Taking the time to develop a regular readership of your blog can help you to achieve several important goals.
You can build solid customer relationships, inform people about your products and services, and generate links for search engine optimization. Take a look at the many ways that having a blog can benefit your business and you will begin to utilize blogs in your marketing efforts.
Setting Up a Blog
Setting up a blog can be pretty simple if you have the patience and time to learn how to use one. You can choose to design your own blog format on your existing site or you can use a blog from Wordpress or www.blogger.com. Your marketing goals will help you to decide which type of blog to use.
Blogs from www.blogger.com are free, but since they are not a direct component of your website, you may have to optimize them differently than you would if you had a blog integrated into your site. If you choose to design your own and have it as a direct component of your site, you have more control over design and function and you may also be able to market your blog more easily.
Profiting from Blogs
Blogs help you increase profits because they allow you to market your products and services without using overt sales messages that may cause prospects to stop visiting your site. Instead, you use blogs to communicate information and then subtly promote your own products and services. This creates goodwill for you and your business. There are many opportunities for using blogs to turn a profit. Learning about each of them can help you decide which ones are right for your business.
Blog Articles
Blog articles are considered a great marketing tool because they allow you to showcase your expertise in your chosen field. You can publish articles on almost any topic related to your business and continue to provide information to your prospects and customers. Blog articles can also be optimized for the search engines by using specific keywords that help people find your website. If you pick the right keywords, you will start seeing improved traffic results in as little as a few months. You can also integrate your blog with your marketing efforts by encouraging people to share your articles with other people.
Keyword Optimized Blog Postings
One of the great things about blog postings is that they can be as short as 75 - 100 words and still help you accomplish your Internet marketing goals. When you keyword optimize your blogs, you are using specific keywords to help people find you when they do searches for information. The more specific your keywords are, the better your chances of being found by your target market. Another positive aspect of short blog postings is that they make it easier to maintain your blog from day to day. Instead of having to write 500 - 1000 words every day, you can take as little as a few minutes to dash off a 75 - 100 word paragraph that gives information or lets people know about new products and services.
Linking with Blogs
One-way links are one of the best search engine optimization tools available. One- way links are links that are placed on other websites that point people to your website. When you post articles and other items of interest, people may like them enough to post your link on their websites. The more one-way links you can generate with your blog, the better your chances of improving your search engine rankings and driving more traffic to your website.
Affiliate Marketing with Blogs
You can also participate in affiliate marketing by using your blog. When you sign up to be a member of an affiliate program, you will want to do as much as you can to promote those products and services and generate commissions. Having a blog makes it easy for you to promote the products and services of other companies. You can write a short post about a new service or write reviews of helpful products and services and include your affiliate links. When people visit your blog and become interested in the products and services discussed in your postings, they may become interested enough to click on your affiliate links and make a purchase. As long as the products and services are appropriate for your target market, you can use a number of affiliate links so that you can make money in several different ways.
Creating a Buzz with Blogs
Blogs are part of a technique called buzz marketing. Buzz marketing is when you create a "buzz" about your company and turn prospects into loyal customers. Creating a buzz is simply putting your message in front of your target market and getting them excited about your products and services. There are several ways to create a positive buzz about your business using your blog. If you post interesting items, you will generate interest in your blog and encourage people to link to your website and share your blog with friends. Buzz marketing can also be accomplished by using your blog to promote products and services. The tone of your blog can make or break your buzz marketing efforts. Straightforward information and boring posts will probably turn people away from your site. If you make posts that convey your excitement, enthusiasm, and passion for your products and services, you will start to create the same passion and enthusiasm among your prospects. Using this technique can help turn your blog from just another web page into a dynamite marketing tool that keeps visitors coming back again and again.
Google AdSense with Blogs
Google AdSense can also be used with blogs to earn extra money. Google AdSense is a simple and free way to earn income while you are also promoting your products and services with your blog. You can sign up with Google for free and go through a website review. No obscenity or adult material is allowed in the AdSense program, but most other websites will qualify. Once you have been approved, you keep posting to your blog. The AdSense program will give you advertisements based on the keywords used in your postings. If you write a post about recipes, you may get ads about cookbooks, restaurants, or food distributors. You can choose where the ads go on your page so your blog maintains its unique look. When people click on the links provided with the ads, you will earn a small commission. You can earn even more extra money by putting a Google search box on your blog. When people use this search box, targeted ads will appear in their results. You will get a commission from each ad they click.
Selling Customized Products
To further create a buzz and improve your brand identity, you can sell merchandise from your blog that is customized with your logo or color scheme. When you have a loyal following of readers, your chances of being able to sell this type of merchandise improves greatly. You don't need to go out and have items printed only to sit in your office unused. You can use one of many companies to print products on demand as your customers order them. This eliminates the need for inventory and reduces your chances of wasting money on products that don't sell. You can find some of these companies by doing a search on your favorite search engine.
Whatever methods you choose, blogs can be a great way for you to develop your brand and create a community of loyal customers.
Blogs are also an effective business marketing tool. The interactivity of blogs, along with the ease of creation and maintenance, make them an attractive option for online marketing purposes. Taking the time to develop a regular readership of your blog can help you to achieve several important goals.
You can build solid customer relationships, inform people about your products and services, and generate links for search engine optimization. Take a look at the many ways that having a blog can benefit your business and you will begin to utilize blogs in your marketing efforts.
Setting Up a Blog
Setting up a blog can be pretty simple if you have the patience and time to learn how to use one. You can choose to design your own blog format on your existing site or you can use a blog from Wordpress or www.blogger.com. Your marketing goals will help you to decide which type of blog to use.
Blogs from www.blogger.com are free, but since they are not a direct component of your website, you may have to optimize them differently than you would if you had a blog integrated into your site. If you choose to design your own and have it as a direct component of your site, you have more control over design and function and you may also be able to market your blog more easily.
Profiting from Blogs
Blogs help you increase profits because they allow you to market your products and services without using overt sales messages that may cause prospects to stop visiting your site. Instead, you use blogs to communicate information and then subtly promote your own products and services. This creates goodwill for you and your business. There are many opportunities for using blogs to turn a profit. Learning about each of them can help you decide which ones are right for your business.
Blog Articles
Blog articles are considered a great marketing tool because they allow you to showcase your expertise in your chosen field. You can publish articles on almost any topic related to your business and continue to provide information to your prospects and customers. Blog articles can also be optimized for the search engines by using specific keywords that help people find your website. If you pick the right keywords, you will start seeing improved traffic results in as little as a few months. You can also integrate your blog with your marketing efforts by encouraging people to share your articles with other people.
Keyword Optimized Blog Postings
One of the great things about blog postings is that they can be as short as 75 - 100 words and still help you accomplish your Internet marketing goals. When you keyword optimize your blogs, you are using specific keywords to help people find you when they do searches for information. The more specific your keywords are, the better your chances of being found by your target market. Another positive aspect of short blog postings is that they make it easier to maintain your blog from day to day. Instead of having to write 500 - 1000 words every day, you can take as little as a few minutes to dash off a 75 - 100 word paragraph that gives information or lets people know about new products and services.
Linking with Blogs
One-way links are one of the best search engine optimization tools available. One- way links are links that are placed on other websites that point people to your website. When you post articles and other items of interest, people may like them enough to post your link on their websites. The more one-way links you can generate with your blog, the better your chances of improving your search engine rankings and driving more traffic to your website.
Affiliate Marketing with Blogs
You can also participate in affiliate marketing by using your blog. When you sign up to be a member of an affiliate program, you will want to do as much as you can to promote those products and services and generate commissions. Having a blog makes it easy for you to promote the products and services of other companies. You can write a short post about a new service or write reviews of helpful products and services and include your affiliate links. When people visit your blog and become interested in the products and services discussed in your postings, they may become interested enough to click on your affiliate links and make a purchase. As long as the products and services are appropriate for your target market, you can use a number of affiliate links so that you can make money in several different ways.
Creating a Buzz with Blogs
Blogs are part of a technique called buzz marketing. Buzz marketing is when you create a "buzz" about your company and turn prospects into loyal customers. Creating a buzz is simply putting your message in front of your target market and getting them excited about your products and services. There are several ways to create a positive buzz about your business using your blog. If you post interesting items, you will generate interest in your blog and encourage people to link to your website and share your blog with friends. Buzz marketing can also be accomplished by using your blog to promote products and services. The tone of your blog can make or break your buzz marketing efforts. Straightforward information and boring posts will probably turn people away from your site. If you make posts that convey your excitement, enthusiasm, and passion for your products and services, you will start to create the same passion and enthusiasm among your prospects. Using this technique can help turn your blog from just another web page into a dynamite marketing tool that keeps visitors coming back again and again.
Google AdSense with Blogs
Google AdSense can also be used with blogs to earn extra money. Google AdSense is a simple and free way to earn income while you are also promoting your products and services with your blog. You can sign up with Google for free and go through a website review. No obscenity or adult material is allowed in the AdSense program, but most other websites will qualify. Once you have been approved, you keep posting to your blog. The AdSense program will give you advertisements based on the keywords used in your postings. If you write a post about recipes, you may get ads about cookbooks, restaurants, or food distributors. You can choose where the ads go on your page so your blog maintains its unique look. When people click on the links provided with the ads, you will earn a small commission. You can earn even more extra money by putting a Google search box on your blog. When people use this search box, targeted ads will appear in their results. You will get a commission from each ad they click.
Selling Customized Products
To further create a buzz and improve your brand identity, you can sell merchandise from your blog that is customized with your logo or color scheme. When you have a loyal following of readers, your chances of being able to sell this type of merchandise improves greatly. You don't need to go out and have items printed only to sit in your office unused. You can use one of many companies to print products on demand as your customers order them. This eliminates the need for inventory and reduces your chances of wasting money on products that don't sell. You can find some of these companies by doing a search on your favorite search engine.
Whatever methods you choose, blogs can be a great way for you to develop your brand and create a community of loyal customers.
