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.

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

Greetings folks,

Yesterday, I was sitting in with my employer, talking to a client about the copy he had brought with him for the new Website we are building for him. Everything was organized, all the copy was in folders, and the client was very proud of finally putting together all the copy for his new site.

I couldn’t believe it when my boss, decided to start offering new features for the website, that were outside of the scope of the quote for the site. AAargh. I am always warning clients about this as we get midway through the process, they decide they may want to include different features from the quote. Now the boss wants to increase the amount of time the project will take, without an increase in fees for the additional work. I have nothing against giving a little, especially with clients who come to a meeting with the check for the deposit. The issue with this incident is that the extra work would in no way enhance the website, other than offering more pages of content for spiders to crawl.

I understand the motivation behind it, but it was still overkill. The content provided by the client was so keyword rich, it was un necessary to create fluff pages to try to increase relevancy. Having some experience with SEO, duh, I couldn’t wait for the client to leave to have a heart to heart with the boss. SEO Content is best optimized for readers as well as Spiders. I have found the best results on copy that is sprinkled with keywords, but is a logical read for visitors.

Luckily the client was aware of what the boss was trying to do, and opted not to force a commitment from us to complete the new proposed task. That reason alone was enough to make me want to do it, because the client was so gracious. I was so glad to hear that the client and I were on the same page, when “Joe client” admitted that he was interested in providing content to the visitors that would encourage a phone call, rather than have them read 16 pages of fluff content that would in no way promote the business of the website.

Client satisfaction is always the main priority. No matter what, the client has to be happy. However, if they are already happy, then you can rest easy that you have done your job as a professional. Relax.

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.

Greetings.

Welcome to the new Blog by SGPRO. We will discuss topics related to websites, design, functionality and last but not least optimization.

Build it and they will come is great for the movies. Getting visitors to your online presence is not as easy as that unfortunately. I am a freelance web developer in the Fort Lauderdale area. I have been experimenting with different trends and techniques as it pertains to web design and search optimization.

I have been building websites for clients for over 8 years now. I can remember in the early days, how protective I was of my code and not willing to reveal my “secrets”. Ok. First, there are no secrets. If you don’t know, try to keep an open minded approach to seeking out the information desired. Its out there, you just haven’t used the right keywords in your search. I learned a great deal from online tutorials who freely share code and encourage creativity and growth of the internet. I have decided to give back some of what was given to me.

I hope the information you find here will be helpful and useful.

Blessing and Prosperity.