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How to Set Up a Site for SEO Domination

by on Nov 30, 2009 (0) Comments

After you’ve researched and chosen the most powerful keywords and long-tailed phrases to draw primary and secondary traffic to your website, there are steps you can take to build an SEO friendly site that catches the attention of search engine spiders.

First, when choosing a domain name, make sure to use a keyword or a variation of one of your keywords in the name. If your first choice is taken (and it likely will be), add a related word before or after the keyword.

For example, if you’re aiming to be the top seller of mardi gras beads online, mardigrasbeads.com is likely taken. Choose bestmardigrabeads.com, or mardigrapartybeads.com or a similar name. Look at alternative Top Level Domain (TLD) suffix, such as .net.

If you already have a company main page, you may want to set up another page to link to your home page and gather more hits. You may choose a blog, an ecommerce page, an article site for expert advice, a landing page or a forum. Any of these can be configured for the best SEO effectiveness.

Some basic hints are to use text rather than pictures when possible. Use text as links, don’t provide an image for the viewer to click. Put labels under the photos that spiders will pick up.

You’ll want to include a sitemap of your page, both HTML and XML. The search engines use the XML graphical representation of your site to gather information about your site; especially important if you have a new site.

Don’t use lots of Flash if you want to be highly ranked on the searches. Google and other search engines still can’t find the links and text hidden in a graphic format like Flash. The worst offenders are those who construct their sites with Flash – not search engine friendly.

Don’t duplicate content. In other words, don’t have the same paragraphs of text or the same articles on two different pages of your site, and don’t post an article on your site and submit the same article to a directory. Pages that duplicate content are ranked lower and a seen as less valid and valuable. Keep your content unique.

The professionals here at Webdatamation can make SEO work for you by using the best SEO practices when building your site.

Has Apple Become “The Man?”

by on Nov 16, 2009 (0) Comments

Apple has built its reputation on innovation, on breaking the mold, on thinking outside the box. But can they keep their outsider ethos when they are the standard instead of the new technology on the block?

If recent and continuing developments with the Apple App Store for iPhone and the iPod TYouch are any indication, then Apple is taking on the protectionist policies more commonly associated with those big, clunky, running-scared companies that Apple has traditionally loved to hate (Think Microsoft  and IBM).

The recent desertion of Joe Hewitt from the Facebook App for iPhone is a great example of how those who value open, creative and unrestricted access are being increasingly put off by Apple’s corporate policies.

Hewitt is not just “one of the developers” on the Facebook for iPhone app, he is the application. And he bolted from the project – not because he doesn’t like what he was doing, but entirely because of Apple’s review policies. (See http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/11/joe-hewitt-developer-of-facebooks-massively-popular-iphone-app-quits-the-project/ for more).

The repressive and protectionist policies of Apple (and let’s don’t forget – AT&T behind the scenes) is disturbing not only because it is so contrary to the supposed ethos of Apple and all that it stands for, but also because Apple is the standard for smart phones and application development for smartphones.

If Apple is able to continue their policies that value profit over innovation, then other platforms will feel free to adopt similar models – the standard has been set. It only takes a look at how quickly airlines jumped on the bandwagon to charge customers to check a bag to see that oppressive reviews of new applications could be in the works for every smartphone platform.

Don’t think it can’t happen – three years ago, did it even cross you mind that you might one day have to pay an extra $25 just to take a suitcase along when you flew to grandma’s for a week?

And the other frightening thought in all of this – where does Apple’s innovation go from here? Can we expect more trendsetting and ground breaking products from a company that has joined the ranks of the “profit at all costs” behemoths? Not likely.

Google Wave Invites

by on Nov 13, 2009 (0) Comments

I have 5 Google Wave invites. If you want one, add a comment to this post and I will pick 5 people at random to send out the invites. Please make sure you include your email.

Authoritative Articles Sell Your Site

by on Nov 03, 2009 (0) Comments

While you want your website to pop with catchy introductions and pithy prose that attracts the eye, when it comes to grabbing the interest of search engine spiders, a few small paragraphs of text on a graphics-rich page is not going to cut it.

Some webmasters get a great site, make sure it’s got the right structure for search engines and uses the appropriate elements, then they get stuck.

In order to really catch the attention of the search engine crawlers, you also need to provide relevant and authoritative content to show not just those search engines, but also the site visitors, that you have significant and relevant things to contribute about your niche.

Write content-driven articles with actual value for your readers. Make the articles relevant with information that will help your readers.

What kind of content could you provide? How about the most important industry trends, the hottest products, where is current research going, a list of the best resources in your niche, a top ten ideas list, a how-to guide related to your niche, or a planning guide.

Using the keyword research you did to create your site, decide on the most valuable keywords to use, and wisely sprinkle them throughout the copy. A good rule of thumb for the basic SEO writing is to use the keyword in the first sentence, then in the second paragraph. Skip the third paragraph, use it in the fourth and in the final paragraph. An average article on the web is between 300 and 500 words, and an optimized article will use the keyword approximately once for every 100 words.

Sometimes good writing is beyond the average webmaster. If this is true for you, hire out your writing to a good copywriter. Just make sure they understand optimization and do it right for you.

Another mistake rookies make is ignoring the tags: header tags, title tags, link anchor text, and meta descriptions. Make these tags keyword rich as well.

While you want your website to pop with catchy introductions and pithy prose that attracts the eye, when it comes to grabbing the interest of search engine spiders, a few small paragraphs of text on a graphics-rich page is not going to cut it.

Some webmasters get a great site, make sure it’s got the right structure for search engines and uses the appropriate elements, then they get stuck.

In order to really catch the attention of the search engine crawlers, you also need to provide relevant and authoritative content to show not just those search engines, but also the site visitors, that you have significant and relevant things to contribute about your niche.

Write content-driven articles with actual value for your readers. Make the articles relevant with information that will help your readers.

What kind of content could you provide? How about the most important industry trends, the hottest products, where is current research going, a list of the best resources in your niche, a top ten ideas list, a how-to guide related to your niche, or a planning guide.

Using the keyword research you did to create your site, decide on the most valuable keywords to use, and wisely sprinkle them throughout the copy. A good rule of thumb for the basic SEO writing is to use the keyword in the first sentence, then in the second paragraph. Skip the third paragraph, use it in the fourth and in the final paragraph. An average article on the web is between 300 and 500 words, and an optimized article will use the keyword approximately once for every 100 words.

Sometimes good writing is beyond the average webmaster. If this is true for you, hire out your writing to a good copywriter. Just make sure they understand optimization and do it right for you.

Another mistake rookies make is ignoring the tags: header tags, title tags, link anchor text, and meta descriptions. Make these tags keyword rich as well.

Be Smart – Plan for Phone Browsers

by on Oct 22, 2009 (0) Comments

Consider: Some cell phone plans are offering Internet capabilities for only $10 a month. Each provider is announcing the availability of different types of Smart Phones on what is nearly a daily basis. Many people can access email easily on their handheld devices and will soon expect to be able to access other internet content wherever they are and whenever they want it.

What does this mean for the average business with a web presence? It means that you want to optimize your site – not just for Google and other web crawlers, but also for small screen browsers.

Although there was some talk of needing a “mobile device only” version of every website, this kind of duplication is not necessary.  In fact, a cascading style sheet, or CSS, can be written into your web page, instructing the device as it loads your page, to optimize your site for the phone or PDA that is requesting it. So writing in CSS is the first step to optimizing your page for hand held devices and smart phones.

Use a program like the Openwave Phone Simulator to test your web page and see how it will look on a “generic” cell phone type device. If you know the specific parameters of a particular type of device (say, an Apple iPhone), then you can increase the parameters and get an accurate view.

Then optimize your content. Remember that too much text is too much for a smartphone device, and keep the articles short (no more than 500 words, on average). Many small articles with relevant links are better than one long article.

Make sure that the most important elements in your page will load in the center of the phone’s screen, and are accessible without scrolling.  Make sure your pages load quickly. Cell phones and smart phones have slower internet connections than most broadband providers, and you don’t want a clunky website that gums up the works. The customer will click the “close” box after a few seconds.

Many cell phone users will block the photos on your site from loading, so be sure to have relevant and interesting ALT tags that identify your photos. You want your page to make sense to the viewer who has no photo access.

With a little planning,  you will have a great website that is optimize for both PC and smartphone use.

Sitecore Recognized as Top Content Management System (CMS)

by on Oct 13, 2009 (0) Comments

For businesses that use websites as a key strategic component of their business, a Content Management System or CMS is a vital. We at Webdatamation have long pointed to the power and flexibility of Sitecore as an outstanding solution in the CMS arena.

We’ve been using Sitecore for our own website and for client’s websites because of its incredible power and functionality. Now Sitecore has also been recognized by independent research firm Forrester Research as a top CMS.

Forrester Research points out what the experts at Webdatamation could tell you — the flexibility and power of Sitecore make it strong in areas where competitors are weak.

The system is excellent for ease in creating content and integrating the content into a site, managing the workflow, and integrating content.

Sitecore also gets high marks for its ability to effectively target sites and content, having a global approach, integrating numerous sites, and for its community controls.

Sitecore leads out in multilingual content and in providing the means for making a separation between content and the presentation. This creates a dynamic environment for delivering the message and for using graphics and text in other contexts for different purposes.

Webdatamation chose Sitecore in part because it is a powerful solution for both simple websites as well as complex, fully powered sites.

The features of Sitecore allow for a highly flexible website that can integrate all of the Web 2.0 features.  Marketing departments can add website content or sales information to a company site easily without a great deal of technical knowledge, and still maintain a professional and responsive site.

It’s simple to integrate any analytic tools  and other business software into the Sitecore system, and it’s compatible with ecommerce products so that customers and site visitors have a seamless and enjoyable experience on your site.

We also like Sitecore because of their constant updates, research and trend forecasting. We know that our customers will have all the latest tools at their fingertips as soon as they are available.

If you haven’t yet seen what Sitecore can do for you, contact us at Webdatamation and let us give you a glimpse.