Common SEO Mistakes

Posted on September 1, 2010 by admin

The most common mistake when designing a website with SEO in mind are problems with the way keywords are dealt with. How many times have we all seen websites where the keywords are dropped in every other phrase it seems? Don’t make this error. Search engine algorithems are not impressed with an unbelievably high keyword density.

In fact, they may ban your site from their search results for using such a tactic. Instead, sprinkle your keywords liberally throughout the text as you would in normal conversation. Keep the reader in mind. Not just search engine results. Not using keywords in specific places is often another stumbling block. Places where you will always want to use your keywords are your title and meta title tags. These are the most important parts areas of your site with regard to search engine bots. Don’t sell yourself short by not turning them to your advantage.

If you are stuffing so many keywords in your content that it becomes unnatural to the reader, do yourself a favor and revise your content so it flows naturally. Find that happy medium and you will see your hard work pay off in the results!

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Finding a Web Developer

Posted on August 30, 2010 by admin

In today’s competitive business environment it is crucial to secure any advantage you can get. A great website will be a valuable resource that will generate leads, customers, and brand awareness. This will add significantly to your bottom line.

The single most important advice to keep in mind when choosing a web developer is that the more you know what you want in your website the more you can search for a web developer who can deliver it. Having specific features, style options, and a general idea on the size and page number you want, will go a long way in deciding the criteria for which web developer will be best for you. By taking the time to figure out what you want, and following this step to find the developer to deliver it will ensure that your website will be a integral and profitable part of your business operations.

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Getting Your Press Release Out There

Posted on August 29, 2010 by admin

Get your press release into the right hands. A little research will go a long ways in this regards. Find out what sites and outlets will be interested in your product. Community sites and blogs are great for this. Press releases aren’t just for journalists anymore. You’ll have a greater chance of an active blogger mentioning your product than any news service. That doesn’t mean leave them out, however.

If your company is using a PR firm, make sure you are all on the same page, with a list of people and organizations to target. They may not be familiar with search engine optimization techniques, but more often than not, their skills will coincide with improving the visibility of your page ranking anyways. Remember, the extra time doing research to identify good targets of your press release will almost certainly pay off in the end.

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Content is King

Posted on August 27, 2010 by admin

A great website is an invaluable resource for any business. It is a representative of you and your company. And it should look the part. With a great website, traffic and customers will be increased, brand image will be reinforced, and customer service will be made easier. It is therefore crucial to have a website that you and your business can be proud of.

It can’t be said enough, content is king. Make sure that you have material on your website that is worth looking at and visiting. While this seems obvious at first glance, really take the time to think about what your website will provide to the customer and how it will fill their needs. With good content any design problem can eventually be overcome. With bad content, it does not matter how well your site functions or how well it is designed, it will fail.

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Cheap Websites Equal Long Term Expenses

Posted on August 26, 2010 by admin

Today I am going to talk a little bit about the decisions company owners are faced with when choosing a web design company or freelancer to take on their web development needs. On average our company receives about 15-20 requests for quotations and web design mockups a week from small to large sized projects. In many cases people are willing to extend their budget appropriately to ensure they receive quality design and development. However, what I am interested in discussing today are the people who are lured in by web development companies that give an unrealistic quotation; in order to receive the business knowing they can not provide the client with the quality development necessary.

In some cases we can bring people back to reality with complete honesty about what they can expect to receive within their budget. No one ever wants to turn down business, but if the budget is not there to provide quality service that both parties can be proud of, then it is not worth cutting corners. Brazen Web Design wants to have an end product that ourselves and the client can be extremely proud of and are happy to add these sites to our ever growing portfolio. There is nothing worse then under bidding a project and not being able to deliver the quality that the client deserves. We just wont do it. That does not mean we are not flexible on our quotations or that website payment schedules can not be modified, but quality service and development is of up most importance.

Just in the past 4 months we have had 2 potential clients decide to move forward with another firm due to the cheaper quotation provided. And just recently both these company owners have contacted us back lettings us know that the other company fell short of delivering what they anticipated. We were asked to renegotiate our quotation and take over development. When this happens more time and more money is wasted, and the majority of the time work must be done completely from scratch. I urge people to make their decision carefully and do not make a decision solely on a sticker price. In the web development business you get what you pay for and in the long run it is not worth sacrificing quality for a few hundred or few thousand dollars.

Is saving money now worth losing out on your online business volume because your web development company was so eager to make a quick dollar they couldn’t provide the time and care necessary to take care of your needs appropriately?

If you get a quotation that seems to good to be true, then most the time it is. If you care about your business, your online presence, and your own customers then take your time and make the right decision when choosing a web design firm to fulfill your needs. If you find the right company a fruitful long term relationship for both parties can easily be established.

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Web Design Psychology

Posted on August 25, 2010 by admin

There are two schools of thought when it comes to Web Design. Should our experiences influence design choices or should our end-users and site visitors determine how we design our website? The difference may be unimportant to some web developers, but this can have a major impact on how your site performs. Do you listen to your site visitors as they interact with your site or do you as the designer dictate best practices? As a web designer myself I understand the importance of building the website to fulfill the objectives of the client, but this shouldn’t necessarily supersede the site visitors needs. Loyalty to existing clients is necessary and listening to their needs are very important when redesigning or improving your website.

In a perfect world, there would be a balance between properly satisfying the needs of the brand and creating an appealing web presence that drives users to take specific actions, feel certain emotions, and create certain thoughts. Successful web designers achieve this symbiosis. Of course, there are many challenges such as cost, purpose, guidelines, and platform limitations. Web designers express that objective of a website through layout, form, color and theme. To provide designers with the best possible canvas to help achieve the objectives and goals set forth, it is essential to address the psychology of design form the perspectives of purpose, balance and branding. Those able to romanticize the experience while remaining in line with fundamental artistry achieve a certain mastery of design psychology and provide a website with dramatically better odds of success!

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Website Usability

Posted on August 25, 2010 by admin

Website users & visitors behaviors change and evolve and it’s up to website owners to adapt. Constant attention must be given to how users and search engines interact with your site to ensure that you not only attract visitors, but give them reasons to come back. Because as every web professional knows, the more users interact with your site, the better the odds they convert.

Taking 15-30 minutes a day to make changes, tweeks, and improvements to your site will convince visitors to re-visit and stick around. With any website that we own or develop we want the site visitors to complete the tasks we designate for them. In most cases we want to persuade them to even do something beyond what they came for, or maybe tell someone they know what we offer. Here are some ways you can take a fresh look at your website every day to ensure maximum usability:

1) Give someone not familiar with your website a task to complete on your site. Observe how they navigate your site and go about completing that task. Note any issues, or difficulty the user may have.

2) Write a document that details the site’s purpose, intended audience, how it will generate revenue and current information architecture.

3) Create guidelines for each page based on this document, so that no matter who touches a page, the site remains consistent.

4) Write text cases, and test repeatedly to be sure that any changes didn’t upset a requirement.

5) Experiment with Google website optimizer and analyzer free tools. You can find something to do every day. Simple testing can help you determine if a button works better than a text link for example.

6) Run link and spell checks. Nothing kills a “professional” look faster than misspelled words and pages with broken links.

7) Work to update your code to make it accessibility compliant, per section 508. You can find more information out at section508.gov.

8 ) Change up your content and keep it fresh. This not only helps your site visitors interested, but it is good for fresh search engine indexing.

9) If you sell products, change the images. This is not the same as rotating them. If you showcase four items on the homepage, then switch them out with something different occasionally. This keeps things fresh and showcases more of your products.

10) Be sure to invite feedback with an e-mail survey or on-site form. Changing the questions periodically is a good way to get different types of feedback about different areas of your site.

11) Perform functional testing and check error messages. Enter bad data into your forms to see what happens. Users often have difficulties with forms, so you need to be sure they get what they need in the event of a hang-up, whether it be a new form, or an administrator’s contact information.

12) Stay current on form design standards and update accordingly.

13) Keep updating your unique selling proposition and expertise. This might include showcasing price comparison charts and publishing third-party feedback and testimonials.

Although you may think your website is superb, there will always be problems and your work will never be done. However, committing to keeping your site up to date, fresh, and staying on top of bugs will pay off and be appreciated by your site users. Show you care about the usability of your site, and used it shall be!

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Website Link Building Strategies

Posted on August 24, 2010 by admin

Once you have your website built, keywords finalized, and on page SEO implemented it is time to get serious about off page search engine optimization such as link building. Although older link building strategies such as directory submissions, press releases, and of course buying text links are not as effective as they once were; what has not changed is that a successful link-building campaign is key to a successful search engine optimization strategy.

There are a few tips we would like to share with you in order to help you get the most out of your link building campaign.

These include:

1) Submit to Niche Directories: Submitting a site to directories that focus on a specific industry can provide more value than general directory submissions. Not to mention that the majority of niche directories are more flexible allowing anchor text to be used. What does that mean? That means keyword phrase link backs! Very valuable.

2) Create Social Media Profiles: This one should be obvious in this social media crazed internet world, but surprisingly there are still many companies unwilling to make the switch simply because it is out of their comfort zone. It is absolutely essential to build a profile on social media sites for your company name, brand and as an individual. This will allow you to promote content to a large audience which can lead to many incoming links. Setup your profiles, and then use tools such as ping.fm, hootsuite, and tweetdeck to save valuable time updating all your social media profiles with ease.

3) SERP Link Building: This stage of link building takes some patience. Do a google search for your top keywords and see what websites are ranking in the top 50-100 positions. These are all potential link partners. Start with the top results and move down the list, because these links tend to have the highest google pagerank. To get them to lnk to you, see if the website has a resources section and request a link. Consider expanding to related sites and not focusing solely on competitors. Offer to guest blog or contribue an article and you will build a long time link partner.

4) Create a blog: Again this seems fairly obvious, but you would be surprised about how many people do not incorporate a blog into their website plans. Once you have the blog up and running submit it to the top blog directories to get syndicated. Also, please check out my article written about SEO for Blogs to make sure your blog is very SEO friendly and getting indexed. If you dont have time to write content for yoru blog, consider hiring freelance writers to write for you. Promote your blog posts within your social media profiles and watch the links increase over time.

5) Write Articles Targeting Social Media: This takes the most creativity and most work but should not be overlooked. In order to be successful, it helps to build up your social media profiles and have an active friend network. The key is to create content that appeals to a social media-centric audience. The result is many more links to your website. Do not expect every article to be a huge success, but keep trying new article topics and link baiting techniques.

They key to all this is repeating the process and if you can manage to master any of these forms of link building you will see your hard work come to life with higher rankings in SERP’s.

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SEO for WordPress Blog Sites

Posted on August 23, 2010 by admin

We recommend a blog integration to our clients for all websites we develop. In our opinion making a commitment to blogging on a regular basis is one of the most important decisions you can make in your SEO efforts. Once you have made the decision and commitment to blogging take the next steop to ensure all of your hard work is rewarded. Focus on the search engine optimization (SEO) aspects of your blog. Whether your looking for new customers or to build stronger relationships with current clients, a shared goal should be attracting as many targeted visitors as possible from search engines.

WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms on the internet largely because of its thousands of available plugins donated by the community. Many of which are focused at helping improve the SEO quality of your blog. Along with superb content consider the below plugins for your blog. We install these plugins with each and every blog installation we create for a client. The process is as follows:

- Design a Unique Custom Blog Layout with our clients input and feedback

- Install the latest wordpress blog & Integrate the custom design

- Install the below five plugins (all of which can be found in wordpress.org/extend or in your wordpress dashboard)

1) All in One SEO Pack – One of the best plugins available which will allow you to write custom meta information for all your posts and pages!

2) Contextual Related Posts – This plugin will display a series of related blog posts at the end of each published post by seeking those with relevant tags!

3) SEO Smart Links – Interlinking your posts is a great way to strenghten the SEO elements of your WordPress website. SEO Smart links will interlink your posts and pages as you write and publish them.

4) WP-DB Backup – Nothing will kill your SEO efforts faster than losing all your data and informative content. This tool will email you a backup file of your entire database whenever you want!

5) Google XML SiteMaps – When you add new posts and pages to your website everyday, you want major search engines such as google, bing, ask, and yahoo to know about it. This plugin will update your sitemap automatically as you publish new articles and will ping major search engines to let them know.

Successful SEO starts with producing top quality content, but it doesnt stop there. It is an ongoing process incorporating many different strategies. We use these WordPress plugins to give our clients a competitive edge with search engines, and we suggest you do the same.

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Web Designers Checklist

Posted on August 21, 2010 by brazenwebdesign

When designing a client’s website you must avoid the error of designing in a way that is inaccessible to search engines. An overreliance on graphics is the most common way of rendering your site invisible to Google, Bing, or Yahoo. The majority of search engine robots can’t read text that is implanted in jpegs, gifs, and flash. We could talk forever, and will get more in depth soon, but every web designers checklist should include the following:

1. CSS – Use it where possible and avoid having search engine worth text placed in graphics.

2. Meta Data – Include Unique relevant title tags (and other meta data of course) on each page before launching the website. Proper title tags are extremely valuable for search engine placement, and potential click thru’s verses your competitors. If you are found in search engines next to your competitors and you have “Home Page” as your title tag and your competitor has “Get An Instant Quotation | Get a Free Mockup” which site do you think the potential lead is going to click on? Do not lose potential business because of improper Meta data, especially the all important Title Tag.

3. Fast Loading Pages – Make sure you optimize all your images, graphics, and site pages so that they load as quickly as possible. We have all been to a website and left because the load time was intolerable. People do not have much patience this days on the internet, optimize what you can to increase the speed of load times.

4. SiteMap – This is a useful tool to help guide the search engine spiders to make sure they get to all of your pages. Whats the point of having 10,20,100,1000 pages on your website if search engines or your site visitors can’t find them?

5. On Page SEO – Do not Rely on blackhat techniques. This is an excellent way to get your site banned from search engines. Instead take some time and write good copy that is relevant to your meta data, and useful to your readers.

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