Nov
26
Web Design And SEO
Filed Under Web Design SEO | 2 Comments
When it comes time to launch a website or re-launch an existing site, often SEO or search engine optimization is an afterthought. SEO must be taken into consideration at all times if you want your website to rank highly in the SERP’s. Get Found Now utilizes a unique and proprietary approach to website design.
SEO and Website Usability
Website design is based upon usability. How will visitors use the site? How will they find what they are looking for? How do you get your products or services in front of your users? These along with basic usability practices are usually in the forefront of web design project meetings. If they aren’t, then you need a new website design company!
Along with those important questions and answers, search engine optimization must be in the mix or your site will get nowhere fast. Of course if your business model is based upon pay per click traffic, then you can ignore this article. If you aren’t made of money, than this outline will help you create a solid design plan that will take into consideration the most important factors in creating an Internet Presence for your company in the 21st century.
A Website Designed In Layers
The way Get Found Now designs and implements websites is through a layer system. We look at a project as having 2 distinct layers:
- The Usability Layer - this layer of a website is all about users. We make usability the primary focus and give site visitors all the tools they need to find what they are looking for and get the products or information they require quickly, preferably within 2 clicks.
- The SEO Layer - built for search engines, the SEO Layer is where keyword discovery, URL creation and other search engine optimization tactics are put to use. While deep link navigation is often thought about as a usability function Get Found Now uses it to create tiers of pages that serve as the foundation of the website and the way search engine’s crawl and index the site.
Get Found Now designs two separate websites, one for users, and one for search engines. These two layers are then connected with Web 2.0 applications. Using social network marketing techniques we combine the layers into one cohesive website that will appeal to both visitors and search engines.
This article is the first in a multi-part series that will look at Web Design and SEO. To learn more about Get Found Now and Internet Presence Management, call 727-856-4695 and speak to Victoria or Michael Stankard.
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Nov
9
There is a new wave of online marketing companies like Get Found Now that are not easily categorized. We no longer fit the mold of a traditional Search Engine Optimization company. Its funny to think of SEO as traditional since a few short years ago nobody knew what I meant when I said I was an SEO engineer. Now there are an abundance of jobs for SEO and Search Engine Marketing people.
The fact is more and more companies are realizing that they need to have an in-house staff to do their SEO, rather than outsource it. There are still plenty of companies that have neither the money nor desire to staff the positions required to maintain their online presence. That is where we come in. My peers and I are Internet Presence Managers, we handle every aspect of a company’s online life. There is a lot to it and we need to have a lot of different types of skill sets to be successful. Here is a breakdown of what Get Found Now does and why we can fulfill all the online requirements of just about any company.
What Internet Presence Management Entails
While I am by no means the first person to coin the phrase Internet Presence Management, my business is the only one that I could find that incorporates the whole package. I am sure that there are some companies out there that are similar, but if they can’t be found in basic searches, do you really want them to be managing your Internet Presence when they can’t be found in the search engines themselves?
Internet Presence Management Step 1 - SEO Server Technologies
Internet Presence Management starts at the beginning of all online businesses: the server. Get Found Now’s hosting partner is Rackspace. There is no better web hosting company on the planet. They have 24/7 support, bulletproof backup and multiple data centers around the world that guarantees no downtime. They also support multiple platforms. Our platform of choice is Linux. While I maintain a Windows 2003 box for clients that won’t go away from asp or .Net, our programming is mainly PHP and MySQL.
Having multiple dedicated servers with the capabilities to support any platform or programming that new clients require, allows Get Found Now to mange any type of website or e-commerce system. While we do not force our clients to host with us, they all do. We simply must have control at the server level to manage the communication between our servers and the search engines. Every advanced server technology requires access at the root levels. Whether we are doing a mod_rewrite of database URL’s, redirecting old pages to new naming conventions or managing files and server behavior through .htaccess, root level access is a must.
Google itself is a huge Linux super node, multiple open source computers that are the basis for their crawling and indexing. While they don’t penalize sites running on IIS, their Webmaster Help Center clearly states that you should have an If-Modified-Since HTTP header:
Make sure your web server supports the If-Modified-Since HTTP header. This feature allows your web server to tell Google whether your content has changed since we last crawled your site. Supporting this feature saves you bandwidth and overhead.
This is a feature of Apache, the world’s most implemented web server, which is open source. It is possible to manipulate the HTTP header through ASP.NET, but it isn’t the easiest thing to do and you have to programmatically alter settings that are natural in open source operating systems.
Another major tool for SEO is the .htaccess file which again is an Apache function that allows for re-writing, redirecting and other must have directory features. IIS just doesn’t have the SEO mojo that Linux does.
Whoever is in charge of your Internet Presence better know about servers and needs to be versed in both Windows and open source applications.
Internet Presence Management Step 2 - Website Architecture
Next up is the site itself. While most SEO companies start with keywords as their first step, Internet Presence Management firms start with structure of the website from the server on up to final designs for both usability and SEO. One of the big separators between us and our competitors is the ability to envision a complete website from the foundation level, taking into consideration site structure, deep link navigation, programming, usability, SEO and analytics along with basics such as keyword management. Keywords are critical to the URL creation or re-write on existing projects, but an overall architecture must be developed first.
Get Found Now has a team of programmers and designers that work with SEO engineers to set up a solid Internet Presence. Decisions about the technical framework, the aesthetic look and how the site will function all have to be made with search engine optimization kept in mind at all times. During the initial design and strategy meetings, a basic foundation of keywords will be decided upon that will allow for the URL structure to be created.
The URL and flat directory structure are the most important aspects of how a search engine spider will crawl and index the site. While deep link navigation is more often than not thought of as a usability feature, it is just as important for SEO. Pages need to be set up in layers or tiers that are organized to best pass through authority to their child pages.
The concept of a website as layers is not the mainstream view. When designing a site, we separate the SEO layer from the usability layer and then combine the two through Web 2.0 applications. This is a tough idea to wrap your head around if you think inside the box. We look at websites differently because that is what experience has taught us. Just looking at SEO will make the site hard to convert leads. Just focusing on usability will make it hard to get placed in the search engines. A happy medium must be maintained, but every decision has to be based on search engine optimization.
Internet Presence Management Step 3 - Content Is King
Get Found Now is all about the content. You won’t get anywhere in the search engines without solid unique content. Tactics such as keyword stuffing and link baiting are only successful if there is content to back up the SEO. I know there are a lot of exceptions out there, but my feeling is Google is going to do more than crack down on paid linking, that it is going to crack down on ad-only, content weak sites.
We offer a content management service that is second to none. Every one of our authors is also a seasoned SEO tech. They are trained in both research and optimization from the start. By providing our clients with fresh up to data content we are keeping the search engines happy. With Google’s Universal Search, Yahoo and Live’s algorithm changes and the emergence of ASK as a major search engine, news oriented sites are getting more juice than ever.
It is critical to any successful website marketing plan to not only write good content, but to get it out there. Get Found Now has a solid system we call the Managed Content Syndication Service. This service is hands down the most aggressive organic marketing package available. With unique keyword heavy content and our network of publishers and news outlets to syndicate it, Get Found Now has put together a powerful solution for our clients.
Social network marketing has gained such prominence with the search engines that you absolutely must have a blog to survive in the organic SERP’s. Get Found Now uses WordPress along with proprietary plugins and optimized themes to gain exposure from the search engines. Our natural commenting service that builds up discussion on our blogs, also lends longevity to blog posts in the rankings.
Contact Get Found Now to learn more about our services.
Internet Presence Management Step 4 - Building Buzz And Inbound Links
Once the site structure is in place and content is created, the next and most important step is link building. The good old days of reciprocal linking are over. A website has to fight for inbound links. The only way to rank highly for competitive keywords is by amassing inbound links that have the keywords within the anchor text. Get Found Now utilizes many different strategies for acquiring inbound links.
While paid linking used to be a regular go to guy for us, we have gone away from most paid link companies as well as pay for blog post services that allow unrelated links or content on their publishers sites. Any links must be on topic or they will not help you in the long run. We are moving more towards buzz building campaigns and have had more success than ever. By utilizing news outlets and optimizing press releases, Internet Presence Management companies like Get Found Now are obtaining thousands of solid inbound links from potent sites. Nothing works better than building natural buzz for getting those inbound links your site needs for authority. Without authority highly ranked pages can’t pass through their weight to other pages on your website. Link Juice is the latest term for pass through ratio, but all SEO people know that only inbound links can push a website up in the SERP’s.
Through Web 2.0, search engine optimization and server technologies, Get Found Now has the solutions to manage any company’s Internet presence. With constant testing of applications and advanced marketing strategies you can’t pick a better company to Get Found Now!
Contact Get Found Now to learn more about our Internet Presence Management services.
Nov
8
Do you know anyone that is qualified to run Text Link Brokers’ Strategic Linking department? If so you could qualify for a $5,000 referral fee. I have been working with TextLinkBrokers.com for many years and would apply for the job myself if I didn’t have to move to Arizona. The position is aimed at an experienced link builder with skills in SEO and project management. Of course the right candidate would have to have serious experience with link building. Click Here For Job Details.
As far as the referral fee goes, anyone who refers the winning candidate will get $5,000 after they have been with the company for 90 days. If you don’t know about Text link Brokers, they have been around for a few years and offer link building, sponsored reviews and other advanced SEO services. I have used several of their programs to much success with several clients. The fact that they are expanding is a good sign for the paid linking industry.
If you or someone you know has the skills to direct Text Link Brokers Strategic Link Building Department you can send a resume to:
Troy Ireland, Troy –at– Textlinkbrokers.com
or Jarrod Hunt, Jarrod –at– Textlinkbrokers.com
Nov
5
Technorati Tags A No Go
Filed Under Social Network Marketing | 2 Comments
A lot of webmasters, especially bloggers, use Technorati Tags as a means of site promotion. I have been testing them on several site for a few months now and have found that they are worthless. While the tags might have some use from a usability standpoint, that is only the case if Technorati actually serves your pages on their site when one of YOUR visitors clicks on the tag. They have had many technical issues including inbound link tracking and now they are having issues serving up relevant results from tag clicks.
I ran seven tests on seven sites last month and more than half the time Technorati failed to show results from any of the sites. In fact they show an error message that states there are no pages from the blog about “search engine optimization”. It would almost be funny if you didn’t take into consideration the time wasted with Technorati widgets and plugins.
From an SEO standpoint I have seen 0 inbound links credited from Technorati in either Google or Yahoo. This is from seven sites that each have over a thousand inbound links from other sources. There were no other tangible benefits from Technorati tags from SEO or traffic. As far as the authority, the highest number I was able to achieve was 75 on a site that is in the top 125,000 in Alexa and has a 7 PR. The site gets over 1500 unique visitors a day and not 1 came from Technorati last month.
I have removed the simple tags plugin as well as the tags code from all the sites. The next test will be using the full features of WordPress tagging. I will keep you all informed on how that goes.
For now the conclusion is Technorati is a no go from all 3 standpoints:
- SEO - no benefits in search engine placement from Technorati Tags
- Usability - there is no benefit from having visitors leave your site and go to Technorati.
- Linking - I have seen no inbound link credit from Technorati in either Google or Yahoo.
My recommendation is to loose the Technorati widgets and not waste any time with specific plugins for their tags. I will still ping their system when my blogs are updated, but will no longer go out of my way to incorporate their stuff into my sites.
Nov
2
ASK Added To Rank Tracker
Filed Under ASK Updates | Leave a Comment
Good news for those of us that use Rank Tracker to monitor their search engine placement. They have added ASK to the engines that they track along with AltaVista and Alexa. As ASK gets more relevant, having an easy option to track your placement is a must. If you don’t know how to submit your site to ASK, check out my post ASK XML Sitemap Submission for the inside scoop.
If you haven’t used ASK in a while you should give it a try. I have been relying on ASK more and more for research. Their main search engine is still the Teoma algorithm and even though they changed the name to ExpertRank, it is still one of the best. One thing that I have found about ASK is they give little credence to ad heavy sites. Content is king at ASK and it is a tough nut to crack from an SEO standpoint. They are ahead of the game in many ways and have long embraced social network marketing sites that are relevant.
Rank Tracker is my tool of choice for keeping track of my site’s placement. WebPosition is overkill and I just don’t like Digital Point. It is extremely fast and doesn’t take up a lot of bandwidth or computer power to run.