Ft Lauderdale Web Design Professional

Just picked up on a tasty morsel of search info. Browsing the blogs, and came across the update on Google that they are now including anchor links in organic search results, when the content is relevant. The idea being that they are taking you right to the most relevant content immediately. Personally I am more surprised that it took them this long to realize this.

What a sigh of relief for all the folks who integrate javascript functionality, and often rely on anchor links to interact with the user. For those who dont know what anchor links are, they are basically links within the same web page. In particular on long pages, it allows web developers to link to content further down the page, without forcing the viewer to scroll. Basically the browser jumps to the content that has the a name or Anchor name, that corresponds to the link. Links will contain the # followed by some alphanumeric identifier. Naturally you would want to use a keyword relevant name to increase the relevancy of the page to the targeted keyphrase.

In the comments of the blog, there was a suggestion by a “Google tech” who claims that using the id of a container like a div can duplicate the anchor tag. At the time of this posting, this has not been tested here, on all browsers.

Happy optimization!

For help optimizing your website contact us for Search Engine Optimization Services. We are local to the Fort Lauderdale, Miami area.

There are certain keyphrases that are extremely competitive and difficult for a new website to gain visibility for in organic search engine results. “Web Design Ft Lauderdale” is one such phrase. As a local web developer in the ft lauderdale area, it has been a goal to break into the top ten results for web design in the ft lauderdale area.

One thing I have noticed about the results for this keyphrase, whether in Google or other major search engines, you run into the same web design companies in the ft lauderale area. SGPROFL.net has broken into the top 50 on several occasions. Maintaining a relevant position has been more illusive than one would imagine.

The main thing that is consistent across the board with the web design companies that dominate the top of the heap, is that the companies have been on the web for a longer period of time and as well have more domains pointing back to them, than a newer web company. Some use alternate domain names to help improve the primary site, and many other techniques that can only be achieved with longevity on the web.

This is not to say that one should not try to break into this keyphrase, but rather look to similar key phrases that are also relevant to your business and is  a popular search term. Breaking into local search key phrases is often much easier than general or more broad terms. Put on your thinking cap and try to get more relevant keyphrases that are still popular with users, but less competitive than a more desirable keyphrase. Not accepting defeat, but realizing your strengths. Perspective is everything.

Search Engine Optimization

Clearly a lesson I will share with all. SEO is an ongoing process of watching and learning. The diligent are ever aware of shifts in the SERPS…no I dont rap. I have been using a very cool tool..free tool I might add, which nicely delivers the top 200 search results from Google. Free Google Monitor will go through the list of keywords I enter or import from a csv, and look for a specific website among the results which can be reduced to as few as the top 5 results to the top 200 results. I have been comparing its accuracy to actual search from a web page, and the results have pretty much been inline.

Anyway, I digress. The point is that I have become more aware of how and when most importantly, to affect different search optimization techniques.  I have been targeting a pretty competitive keyphrase, keyword combination. I have been able to break into the top 100 using pretty simple search engine optimization techniques. You can check out my website http://www.sgprofl.net for more details about the techniques practiced.

Over a period of lets say a week, I will watch the position of “the website” plummet from 60 ish down to below 100 ish. Not a very nice taste in my mouth as I profess to be an SEO professional. My first approach is to analyze the competition. What do I look for? Well it depends on the niche. After all, every niche has different techniques that work better than others. I blame it on the users really, after all, their words set the trend on what keywords to target after all. What is also evident, is that different niche websites emphasize different elements of search engine optimization, in order to affect a better position in organic SERP.

The keyphrase web design for example, would be very difficult for a new website to jump in and skyrocket to the top, at least in my experience. Web Design is a highly competitive keyphrase, and you will find that the majority of the top listings are websites with high quality inbound links. They obviously employ different techniques, and don’t rely on only one perspective of search engine opimization.

Keywords and keyphrases as it pertains to search, will return different responses from different seo professionals. This is mostly a result of experience. I have the experience to see websites perform well in organic results with both too many keywords, and very few keywords. Some websites make it to the top without using any meta tags whatsoever. I get it when people say that seo is white magic or black magic, depending on your perspective, and your objectives I guess. While there is no one key to success, there are some basic techniques to be observed in order to consider your website optimized.

Definitely always write for the visitors. Overdoing keywords may work in the short term, but using keywords properly in well written copy, will serve you better than spamming keywords in your copy in order to try and catch every possible keyphrase people might use to find your website.  Definitely use sitemaps, both for visitors and for search engines. I find this tool useful for Sitemaps for Search Engine Optimization. Plan out your website structure. Write an outline and plan your link structure carefully.  Definitely watch your server logs and see where your traffic is coming from. If you dont have access to one, you may consider sgpro web services to build a custom Statistics Platform for your website. I have experience with using server logs to dispute pay per click traffic. Dont underestimate the power of server logs, nor should you trust your pay per click reports.

I will cut this short here and add more later. Hope this helps.

Web Design Ft Lauderdale

I am currently employed by a company who specializes in Design. I was hired to help optimize their websites and provide any programming they need for clients or in house.

The most disappointing part of working there, is the initial lack of trust most employers have with new employees. As I understand it, they seem to have  a problem keeping programmers here, and I am begining to see why. The most obvious flaw in the process, is that they dont even give me a chance to prove myself.

The male partner of the owners ( a husband and wife team) let call him Sam. Sam feels that he knows SEO, and that he should apply whatever techniques the number one website is using (visibly). We have had disagreements on how to optimize certain websites. Unfortunately, the owner always wins. The first most notable disaster was when I was required to add links to an existing e-commerce website that was already performing well, but not converting well. Anyway, about a week into the new links being on every product page ( pretty much duplicate links), the position in SERPS began to plummet. This was the first time that the employer conceded that he did not make the right decision.

The most disappointing situation to me, is that they asked one of our Graphics guys, to optimize the company website. HUH? Yeah, thats right. I try to advise the guys as they find their way through code and keywords, but the final say is not mine, and we are now paying another company $1000 a month to manage our payper click account. The graphics guys are doing the best they can with what they have to work with, but as I said before, they are pretty much following instructions from the boss. Needless to say, the SERPS for the company website have been less than promising, which is why they are now paying for clicks.

I was checking some keyphrases for my personal websites, and noticed a pay per click ad for the company I work for next to my organic result( no charge for my position..lol). I had to pause for a second. I have to just reflect and think, should I be hurt? I dont think so. In life we all have to endure the consequences of our decisions. Just as it was my decision to raise a family, it was my decison to work for a living rather than rely solely on freelance. I have to remember that I am just an employee, and a new employee at that. I tried to look at it from his perspective, and to be honest, I would not have made the same decision.

It is what it is. I work for a living and do freelance on the side. http://www.sgprofl.net/

Search Engine Optimization

Well another Monday has gone, end of the month, so Google crawl if it hasn’t happened already is now due. Hold on to your stats, another shift in the wind. No I haven’t heard something you haven’t.  I’m just saying, when “The Google” updates the index, there is a chance that page results may get affected, could be good, could be bad.

I have been obsessed with statistics, SERP (Search Engine Result Pages and positions therein), and the infamous Google Crawl. All of the above means nothing, if you can’t convert the thousands of visitors you have pouring through your site every day. I say pouring through because if you are not converting your website traffic, then are they just leaving? Surely you have some information that a search engine believed was relevant to the search phrase.

A good place to start would be to eval the exit pages. If you know not about exit pages…please use your friendly neighborhood search engine, and get some knowledge. Websites with high traffic volumes and low conversion rates, definitely warrant a once over.

First let me define what I mean by conversions, and the rates thereof. A conversion can be defined as getting a website visitor to perform a desired action on your website. The desired action may vary between submitting their email address, to purchasing a product. The idea is that your position on page 1 of SERP’s is sending your website traffic that is interested in what you have to offer. If your visitors are not doing what you hope for, or are not following a particular path to the conversion page, then you may need to re-evaluate your website.

In my experience, the primary reason for lack of conversions, can be one or a combination of several reasons. The basic underlying root cause of a visitor not “converting” is the lack of confidence in the site. Customer confidence goes a long way on the web, especially in the realm of e-commerce. One practical solution is to get a totally objective party to review the website in question,  without knowledge that you are a part of it , and give you an evaluation as to why they would or would not perform the desired conversion.

As a developer, it is often difficult for me to review a project objectively. I often enlist the help of friends and family, to offer some feedback. There are some simple things to offer your customers to improve customer confidence. Make sure that all applicable policies are listed, a privacy policy seems to be helpful in most cases where you ask for an email address. Businesses should list their full street address whenever possible. Including a phone number is always a big plus. These items, in text, not a graphic, will also help to improve your relevancy in local search results.

Bottom line is that conversions is also a game of numbers. It is almost a rule of thumb, that 10% of website traffic will convert in some way. Increase your traffic to improve your rate of conversion, and keep the customers happy! Nothing like return business to keep the wheels turning…

Sitemaps are a must if you want the major search engines to know about your website. Every site should have a sitemap.xml file in the root directory, wrapped up nice and neat for the web spiders that come a knocking.

A good place to learn about sitemaps is on sitemaps.org. Once you have determined that you need to implement a sitemap, you will want to create an account on Google.com. This will grant access to a section called Webmaster Tools in Google. As part of your account, you have the ability to notify Google directly, when you update your sitemap. Google will then send a crawl to the site, and updates will occur more quickly than just waiting for a crawl. There are several other tools within this section that will help improve your sitemap, as well as the content of your site. Definitely worth a peek.

I  have been tinkering with sitemaps for a few years now. I have found several techniques for implementing sitemaps that I will discuss in a future blog. There is a way to automate your sitemap submissions using the links I will include below. You of course will substitute your domain within the link, and you can automate your sitemap submissions.

*http://submissions.ask.com/ping?sitemap=*

*http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ping?sitemap=*

*http://webmaster.live.com/webmaster/ping.aspx?siteMap=*

Be sure to include the absolute url to your sitemap file, ie; http://www.sgprofl.net/sitemap.xml.

Check out some of the other major search engines, some have different requirements for automated sitemap submissions. Optimizing your content can not be stressed enough. Spamming sitemap submissions will not get you to the top of the heap.

;P

Interesting discussion with “R” on the phone today. We were discussing the potential for a brand new website to acheive good position in organic search, immediately after launch. We were really engaged talking about saturated business categories, and unique niche businesses.

My friend “R” had recently developed, (designed, built, and optimized) a website for a real estate client. We were discussing how the client, after being live for two weeks, was disappointed he was not showing up in the search results. Puzzled, “R” asked the client what keyphrase they were using. Yes, the client expected to show up on the first page of organic search results for the phrase “real estate”. The client had to be reminded that the optimization for his site was for a local targeted search. This is not an uncommon occurance, especially with clients new to the web. Even seasoned website owners (clients)  do not have a clear understanding of targeting keywords and popular search phrases. A solid seo firm like SGPRO, (shameless plug) will invest some time into finding the keywords that advertisers are competing for. Services like Google Adwords, can be used to determine the most competitive keywords and key phrases for a particular subject matter. This information can then be used to determine if the keyword usage is increasing in popularity or decreasing in popularity. Strategy by definition is a plan. Take the time to strategize, determine what your users are doing, in order to reach them.

Remember, all things are possible, they just take a little extra effort.

I have been experimenting with Google spiders and how they evaluate a page. I have known that they love the first textual content they come across. However I tried an experiment to see how soon they detect the change in the page. I was also curious about how soon changes to the site are detected by google spiders (*crawl rate). It turns out that Google was crawling the site several times a day. The updates to content placement had a positive impact on organic search within two days.

I would not expect the results to be the same for all websites. Each domain will have to be evaluated individually. Websites can manipulate this in a positive way by simply adding new content on a regular basis. Please dont just change one or two charachters on a page and expect google to be duped. This may work for a short period of time, but this will not stand against your competitors posting actual new content.

I digress, the point of the post is to clarify that the first textual content on any webpage is used to evaluate the rest of the content and its relevance to keywords. Using a simple table structure for displaying the text, the top left column should have your optimized content. Then one has to delicately balance the use of targeted keywords in the remaining content of the page.

As well, it is a good idea to constantly evaluate search trends. Your website may appear at the top in organic search for web design lets say, meanwhile, more people are searching for new websites. Its great that your performing well for keywords, but are they the keywords that your targeted market are using? Always stay on top of search trends and update your keywords and content as you see fit.

Happy Hunting.