February 09, 2007
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Disclaimer
This post provides an explanation of SEO as I come to understand it from a number of resources and optimizing and managing SEO campaigns for a number of websites. I believe the information provided is 100% accurate; however, it is important to note that SEO is an incomplete science and very few people agree on the right approach.
A Word to the Wise
Always remember that SEO is tricky and no one can claim to be an expert. If you ever are told by a company that they can guarantee that your site will in the top results of the major search engines, they are attempting to deceive you. In the end, SEO is really guess work.
What is SEO?
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the science of not only improving the number of, but also the ‘quality,’ of visitors to your website (SEO, Wikipedia). There are a number of different ways to approach SEO and, unfortunately, they all require a certain amount of guess work. The fact is that no one, at least no one that will talk, knows the inner workings of the major search engines. To quote Wikipedia,
“Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask.com do not disclose the algorithms they use to rank pages…. Some SEOs have carried out controlled experiments… although consensus is rarely, if ever, actually reached. (SEO, Wikipedia)”All that anyone can do is make educated guesses.
The one thing that most people can agree on is that SEO breaks down into two basic categories: ‘on page factors’ (internal SEO) and ‘off page factors’ (external SEO).
Check back soon for explanations...
Posted by brackme at 03:53 PM | Comments (2)
February 11, 2007
SEO Part II (Internal and External SEO Explained)
Disclaimer
This post provides an explanation of SEO as I come to understand it from a number of resources and optimizing and managing SEO campaigns for a number of websites. I believe the information provided is 100% accurate; however, it is important to note that SEO is an incomplete science and very few people agree on the right approach.
Internal SEO
Internal SEO can be a little difficult, but most agree that design and content are your best weapons. In particular, you should strongly consider:
- The placement of keywords in your domain name, title, Meta tags and content.
- Optimizing the design of your website (not how to looks to people, but to robots).
- Linking your pages together (navigation).
- Using sitemaps.
- Using consistent themes.
- The use of Flash or overuse of images and JavaScript (robots can’t read pictures…).
- Duplicating content, stealing images (search engines know when you steal…).
External SEO can be just as important as internal SEO. Effectively, external SEO comes down to incoming linking. The logic is that if people want to link to your site, than you have content that is worth looking at. Furthermore, if a really highly ranked site links to yours, you must have really great content. In short, whoever has the links makes all the rules.
So what can you do to get your links out there? Quite simply, advertise with Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing. These programs are by far the best bang for your buck. They are easy to use and will almost instantly drive traffic to your site. Some SEOs also suggest listing in directories such Yahoo Directory, which can be costly, but effective.
What shouldn’t you do? Buy or exchange links or advertising on ‘shady’ sites. Link exchange sites are not your friends. They will not help you achieve a better ranking. Search engines know that these exist and will knock you down for using them. In short, only work with companies and sites you really trust.
Posted by brackme at 07:49 PM | Comments (0)
February 15, 2007
Over optimization?
My last entry on SEO has got me thinking and I’ve done a little more reading. In my research I came across an article on over optimization. The idea is that a website could be 'punished' by search engines for being too perfect. That’s right; a site gets punished for being too perfect. For example, if a site contains too many keywords in comparison to the total number of words in the site, search engines assume the site was designed for search engines and not people, and is therefore, not as ‘good’ as another site. It may sound crazy, but it is a valid guess at what search engines do. Take a look at the article.
Posted by brackme at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2007
Quick Definition: Analytics
Analytics is the science of tracking visitors in a website. It is by far the most important part of managing a website - using any number of products the owner of a site can track their visitors and gather information about them and their experience, including (just to name a few):
- How the visitor reached the site (search engine key words, links, direct…)
- What pages a visitor looked at
- How the visitor used the internal navigation
- Where the visitor is physically located (down to the computer)
- The visitor’s operating system, browser, and screen size…
- When a visitor adds the sites to his/her favorites
Posted by brackme at 07:41 PM | Comments (1)
March 07, 2007
How to Build Your Own Website
Setting up your own website can be a fairly easy and extremely rewarding process. To help you along, I have collected a few resources and laid out a step by step to creating your own website. This post represents a great deal of research; please use it in good faith.
Be sure to add this page to your favorites - many of the links I provide will lead you away from this site!
Step 1: Find a Host
The first thing you need to do is find a host that suits you. I suggest Brackmann Custom Web Creations (my company...). Every plan provided by BCWC comes with free domain name registration!
Step 2: Build Your Site
Building a site is fairly easy using the HTML editor offered in BCWC’s (and many other) hosting platform(s). It works just like any other text editor! For a more professional look, you might also want to check out templates online (search for “website templates” on any major search engine). Many of these templates can be edited using the same HTML editor.
Step 3: Make Money - Advertise On Your Site
The best way to make money on a new website is to advertise! Google's AdSense program has made the process of gathering advertisers extremely easy - check out the following link.
Step 4: Gain Users - Advertise Your Site
For these go getters looking to actively build their user base, I suggest Google’s AdWords program (see link below).
Step 5: Build a (Basic) Online Store
The more experienced users may want to try and build an basic online store. You can sell almost anything you want. I suggest using PayPal’s services to develop an ecommerce solution that works for you. I have found that PayPal offers the most services at the lowest cost - in many cases, only a per transaction free applies. The following link will provide more information.
Step 6: Tell Me Your Story
Once you've set up your site, please tell me about it! Leave a comment here and I'll visit to see what you've done. (If you want to, you can also link back to this blog to show your support and encourage others to start their own sites!)
Posted by brackme at 12:42 AM | Comments (0)
March 09, 2007
What's Podcasting, Daddy?
This is a pod, casting it's net. And that is what podcasting is.
Actually, basically, essentially, if you would like to hear music, you must subscribe to a podcast, and then your computer will download audio on a regular basis through the use of RSS technology.
However, if you yourself would like to be an online song jockey, there are other steps to take.
For example:
- Record some precious beats overlaid with sugar-sweet lyrics using your computer mic.
- Go to a podcasting site, preferably a free one like ourmedia.org, and proceed to upload.
- Tell a friend to tell a friend to subscribe to your feed.
- Feed away.
There you have it friends, it wasn't as complicated as you thought it was. Cast your nets on both sides of the boat (I don't know what I'm trying to say with that.)
Posted by kiwesley at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)
March 11, 2007
Top 10 Reasons to Have a Website (with a Business Focus)
The other day, a prospective client (who is now a client!) asked me why he needed a website and I was a little lost for words. To me, websites are a way of life; the reason I need them seems clear (work, communication, news, fun...), but I realized that a business needs better reasons. So I came up with a few...
10. You Can Tell the World about Your Business
Millions of people have access to the internet. In today's world, most people turn to the internet first for information on products or services.
9. You Can Sell Your Products or Services (Make a Profit!)
The internet provides another avenue for your business to sell your products and services. You could make more online than in your physical location.
8. Websites Are Cost Effective (Save Money!)
Utilizing the internet is a cost effective approach to marketing your business. You can reach anyone that is interested in your product or service for much less than any other medium. In addition, any products you sell over the internet don't need to be stocked in a physical location or sold by your staff. You could cut over half of your costs by using the internet.
7. You Can Reach New Markets
Your website can be easily customized to attract any market. You can concentrate on your neighborhood, community, state, country or even the entire world.
6. Your Customers Can Advertise For You For Free
Your website will turn your customers into free advertisers. If they can easily find your information on the web, they can save it, print it and pass it on to potential customers who will need your products or services.
5. You Can Provide 24/7/365 Service
A website allows you to be in business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. You can handle customer concerns anytime, anywhere.
4. You Can Make Changes Available Quickly
Your business is constantly in motion. Your website can be updated to reflect your current prices, schedules, availability, specifications, requirements and regulations almost immediately. Your customers will be notified much sooner than if they had to wait for printed materials.
3.You Can Gather Information from Your Customers
When you combine Web Analytics (see above) with forms in your actual site, you can see what your customers have to say about you and what they would like to see from your company. Whatever you want to know, you can ask.
2. You Can Keep Your Professional Appearance
In today's world, people expect legitimate businesses to have a website.
1. It’s So Easy
I can do it all! (Check out my last entry - you can do it all too!)
Posted by brackme at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)
March 21, 2007
I Xbox Live, but hoW?
This is my confession: I do play video games once in a while. Through the massive global network called Xbox Live, I am able to interact with pimply teenage boys from Sacremento, California to a small village on the bank of the Yangtze River in China (granted the village has an internet connection.)
Xbox Live boasts a membership base of over 2 million users, and the main purpose of the service is to connect gaming citizens to each other, in effect allowing users to compete as if they were sitting next to each other in the same room. Experiences with screaming, cursing 12 year olds abound. Invigorating, I know. So, how does it work?
As you have probably guessed, and Xbox connects to the Xbox Live network through an Ethernet port on the Xbox itself. Any matches played with other players are routed through Xbox live servers, but any content of the actual gameplay (for example, who had the highest score) isn't necessary stored on the server. Many games have their own separate networks for storing game info.
Halo 2 has bungie.net and EA Sports also keeps track of game info. In games such as Halo 2, where many players are playing the same games at once, there is usually one person who "hosts" the game. This means that the person's internet connection creates optimal conditions for gameplay, and so all the information is sent to that person's Xbox and the Xbox either agrees with the info, or rejects it. (Packet Power!) Need more info? Click here.
Posted by kiwesley at 04:21 PM | Comments (0)
April 08, 2007
DHTML & Dynamic Drive
My favorite "tool" in developing websites is dhtml (dynamic html). According to Wikipedia, dhtml is
"a collection of technologies used together to create interactive and animated web sites by using a combination of a static markup language (such as HTML), a client-side scripting language (such as JavaScript), a presentation definition language (Cascading Style Sheets, CSS), and a Document Object Model. (DHTML, Wikipedia)"Breaking this definition down:
- HTML is the language that makes things bold or a certain color in a website
- Client-side scripting languages make websites interactive
- CSS is similar to HTML and usually performs the same function (although it is better and more efficient way to create websites - many sites created today are heavily CSS based)
- DOM is a standards/navigation issue - click here for more information
Now on to the website review... Dynamic Drive is a website that offers dhtml codes and examples for FREE! They have codes to dress up your forms; images; and menus, display RSS feeds, build buttons and FavIcons and so on… In addition, it’s simple navigation makes finding things really easy. I simply love it. In fact, I check the site every few days to see the newest script and ponder how I can use it! I highly recommend checking it out.
Posted by brackme at 04:26 PM | Comments (0)