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Web Design Information |
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How Web Design Can Affect Search Engine RankingsJohn Metzler Uniquely built web sites can create unique issues when promoting your site on the search engines. From a basic 3 page brochure site, to a corporate site with hundreds of dynamically generated pages, every web site needs to have certain design aspects in order to achieve the full effects of an SEO campaign. Below are a few points to take into consideration when building or updating your web site. 1. Size Matters. The size of a web site can have a huge impact on search engine rankings. Search engines love content, so if you have only a few pages to your site and your competitors have dozens, its virtually impossible to see a top page ranking for your site. In some cases it may be difficult to present several pages of information about your business or products, so you may need to think about adding free resources for visitors. It will help in broadening the scope of your web site which search engines like as well as keep visitors on your site longer, thus possibly resulting in more sales. 2. Graphics-Based Web Sites. While web sites that offer the visitor a more esthetically-pleasing experience may seem like the best choice for someone searching for your product, they are the most difficult to optimize. Since search engine robots cannot read text within graphics or animation, what they see may be just a small amount of text. And if we learned anything from point #1, that will not result in top rankings. If you really must offer the visitor a site jam-packed with graphics, or even a Flash experience, consider creating an html-based side of your site that is also available to visitors. This site will be much easier to promote on the search engines and your new found visitors will also have to option to jump over to the nicer looking part of your site. 3. Dynamic Web Pages. If most of your web site is generated by a large database such as a large book dealer with stock that is changing by the minute you may find that some of your pages do not get indexed by major search engines. If you look at the URL of these pages you may find that they are extremely long and have characters such as , #, &, %, or = along with huge amounts of seemingly random numbers or letters. Since these pages are automatically generated by the database as needed, the search engines have a tough time keeping them up to date and relevant for search engine users. One way to combat this problem is to offer a search engine friendly site map listing all your static pages just to let them know that yes, you do have permanent content on your site. A good internal linking system also helps in this case because if search engines see links going to and from these dynamic pages, they may index and assign them decent PageRank values. The link popularity of your site may carry more weight in this case as well, so if you cant offer as much static content as your competition, make sure you have an aggressive link campaign on the go. 4. Proper Use of HTML. There is quite a bit of sub-par web design software out there. Word processors usually have a way to create HTML documents which can be easily uploaded to a site via ftp. However, in many cases the code that the search engine robots see is mostly lines and lines of font and size formatting, not actual relevant content. The more efficiently written web sites usually achieve higher rankings. Our choice for web design software is Macromedia Dreamweaver, as it is an industry standard. It also makes using CSS Cascading Style Sheets a breeze, which can drastically cut down on the amount of text formatting in HTML code. And there are some no brainers too. Web sites with abnormal amounts of hyperlinks, bold or italicized text, improper use of heading, ALT, or comment tags can also expect to be thrown to the bottom of the rankings. 5. Choosing a Domain Name. The golden rule to web development of any kind is to keep your visitors in mind above all else...even search engine optimization. When choosing a domain name, one should pick either your business name if you are making yourself known by just your name, ie. Chapters or Kleenex brand tissues or a brief description of your products. Domain names can always help with search engine optimization, as it is another area of your web site that important keywords can appear. Exclude long-winded domains such as www.number-one-best-books-on-earth.com as no one will ever remember it and it will be hard to print on business cards or in print ads. If you need to change your domain name for any reason, you obviously dont want to lose your existing rankings. An easy way to do this, and one that is currently supported by most search engines, is the 301 redirect. It allows you to keep your existing rankings for your old domain name, while forwarding visitors of that site to your new one virtually seamlessly. 6. Using Frames. Just dont, its that simple. Frames are a thing of the 90s and in the Internet world that is eons ago and are not even supported by some search engines. The ones that are able to index your site through frames will most likely frown upon them. Whatever you are trying to accomplish by using frames can usually be done with the help of PHP includes or CSS Cascading Style Sheets. Some browsers are not frames-compatible, so theres the danger of some visitors not being able to see your site at all. Bookmarking of individual pages within a frame becomes difficult without lengthly scripts being written. 7. Update Your Information. Not only does information printed two or three years ago look badly on your organization when it is read by a visitor, it is also looked down upon by search engines. Web sites that continuously update and grow their web sites usually experience higher rankings than stagnant sites. When the trick to SEO is offering visitors the most relevant information, you can bet that the age of web pages is taken into consideration by search engines. Consider creating a section of your site devoted to news within your organization, or have a constantly updated resources area. Many shortfalls of web sites can easily be attributed to designers who just dont keep the user or search engines in mind. Search engine algorithms are quickly improving to try and list the most user-friendly sites higher, given that the content and link popularity are there to back it up. So first and foremost, know your target market and make your web site work for them before focusing on search engine optimization. If you build it properly, they will come.
| ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | RELATED ARTICLES web page building for beginners 3 An inexperienced website builder must understand that free web hosting is a great way to get more than one site up and running quickly, and that www.articlecity.com is the fastest and easiest way to fill those sites with relevant material. For instance, my site at www.saquoyah.com has one hundred and sixty pages that were written by various authors and posted at ArticleCity by the writers. This arrangement fulfills five purposes to the satisfaction of everyone involved. First the writers of the articles get to help the readers and themselves by having links back to their websites. Second, ArticleCity gets many links to their index page and that in turn keeps their site in a top placement with search engines. Third, the little website owner saves an enormous amount of writing, yet gets his or her website full of pages that link back to their index page, so the search engines will place their site a little higher in placement. Fourth, the person doing a search gets to find a lot of points of view by various writers on the one subject they are poring over. Fifth, the search engines have more pages in their database for the searchers to look through. Making Your Website Work for You: Attracting Visitors Just building a website is not enough. You need to get people to visit it. And just submitting to the search engines won’t do much.Here is a brief overview of 3 effective strategies to get people to your website: 1Search Engines, 2 PR and Marketing and 3 Email Newsletters. Here is a quick list of do’s and don’ts for each: Web Hosting: To Switch or to Stay That’s a question that can only be answered by you. Depending on your current status and relationship you have with your provider, along with your evolving business objectives and needs, can determine what course of action to pursue. What are your issues and concerns Ask yourself some basic questions and see where you stand after you’ve answered them. -Are you no longer satisfied with your current provider -Did they deliver on the level of services that you signed up for -Has technical support and customer service been to your satisfaction -Or has your business grown considerably, and the hosting company cannot provide you with the level of capability and technical support you require Why Arent You Using CGI The very name CGI used to send chills up my spine. For years I put it in the too-hard-basket. But like most things in life, CGI is not as scary as it seems. If you have a cgi directory on your website and you know how to FTP files, chances are you can have a CGI script up and running in less than 20 minutes. Web Hosting: 4 Factors in Choosing a Hosting Company When choosing a web hosting company there are a whole lot of different factors that should go into your decision making process. One of the biggest factors should be: Content is king Introduction The Reality of Successful Web Site Today For a number of reasons, the analysis of customers feedback is too often given little attention. Still, people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals c David Ogilvy. Its an inexcusable omission for those, who strive for having a successful web site. There are dozens of ways to receive feedback and unlimited ideas for your customer service improvement in it. But you cant afford phone everybody from your CRM list or correspond with each customer via email or regular mail. It will flatter them but bother you. Fortunately there is such a magic tool as web-based forms, which allow site owners to automate the process and to use the received data in your analysis; the analysis, aimed at your web site usability optimizing. Give Your Website A Chance I often wonder how serious people are when it comes to their websites. I thought that most everyone knew that the phrase "Build it andthey will come" no longer applies on the internet but Im not sure how many people really believe it. How Much Does A Website Cost To receive a complementary consultation and free quote for your website project, complete our project survey form located here. How to reach #1 in Yahoo! Part 2 KEI - Keyword Effectiveness Index. The value of a keyword or keyword phrase that helps a web site reach the #1 position in search engines by comparing how often the keyword or keyword phrase is used and comparing it to how many web sites are using that keyword or keyword phrase to market their site. Choosing the Right Web Designer Introduction MySQL Database Handling in PHP Most interactive websites nowadays require data to be presented dynamically and interactively based on input from the user. For example, a customer may need to log into a retail website to check his purchasing history. In this instance, the website would have stored two types of data in order for the customer to perform the check – the customer’s personal login details; and the customer’s purchased items. This data can be stored in two types of storage – flat files or databases. iKobo Review - Part 2 Attempt 1 Conclusion Online Marketing Law! Whats Happening You read that right. Theres a new law in California for online marketing. This law is thanks to the CaliforniasOnline Privacy Protection Act. What to avoid to make your website design effective The effective design is this one, which is maximum simplified, conformable to your users because they are your main purpose. This one, simply and clearly announcing what is your website about. This one, quickly offering the users exactly what they are expecting to see on your pages without being troubled with insignificant information. The big mistake made by lots of web designers is to project their activities from their own point of view, without thinking about user. Web Site Monitoring Is A Global Necessity Bill Huang sits down at his computer. As he connects to the Internet, he glances out at the sun poking its nose above the Hong Kong skyline. It will be another busy day, and he has to order those slippers for his wife before rushing off to a meeting. Dotcom Business Plans Archive project One of the most important initiatives in the domain of business documentation is that of professor David Kirsch from the University of Maryland, who thought of a dotcom Business Plan Archive - , a project that consists of collecting business plans for posterity. The project was started in 2002, through the Web portal businessplanarchive.org. The site was built by Webmergers.com and the University of Marylands Robert H. Smith School of Business, in collaboration with the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.The project received financial support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. First Web Hosting Experience Well… youve purchased a domain name… created a pretty design… filled it with content… what now How to successfully market your website... Keep Them Coming Back - Update Your Site If you are anything like me, your website is a reflection of yourself. It contains your thoughts and communications, exposed to the entire world at all times. Look at virtually any non-commercial web site and you will get a glimpse at the person behind the monitor. ![]() |
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