Despite all of the SEO services that exist these days—many of them mediocre at best, business websites are still making some major blunders. While this is by no means an exhaustive list of some of the missed opportunities out there, these are some of the big ones that are constantly being seen over and over again.
Just wanted to publish a small note addressing the Google update to sitemaps. If you’ve seen a shift in the search rankings and more specifically, the rankings of your site, it’s to be expected. I have compared the data ever since google noted in the old sitemaps that they were changing over to a new system.
If you happen to be like most web property owners or developers, you probably totally understand how difficult it really can be to attract significant levels of targeted traffic to your website. This traffic—or actually, the traffic’s visitors themselves—are the lifeblood of a successful web presence. After all, without traffic and visitors, a website is a lot like some long-forgotten about book that’s fallen behind the shelf in a huge library…it’s basically not even known to exist.
Now that’s a bit harsh, don’t you think? However, as harsh as it can be, the cold hard truth of the matter is that it’s still true.
The moral of the story is simple. Attracting traffic one way or another is what almost every website owner works so diligently at doing because we all know exactly how important visitors are to having a site that’s meaningful and successful.
But wait…There’s more to the story! Read the rest of this entry »
What really makes a website good? If you were to take poll among a handful of friends that happen to be mostly average when it comes to using the web, the chances are really likely that the answers would vary substantially from asking a different group made up of technology proficient experts. But here’s the kicker…
Both groups are probably right and wrong at the same time.
How can this be so? Well the truth is that defining what makes a website really good is largely an objective preference among a site’s users—inclusive of factors such as what graphic design scheme has been used, what information is presented, where the navigation is located, how easy it is to use, and so on. Some business categories are practically expected to deliver a certain type or “look” when it comes to their sites, while other organizations have much more freedom to explore and push the boundaries with their websites. Read the rest of this entry »
Is your site valuable to its visitors? While nailing down a website’s value is sort of an elusive thing, here are seven remarkably simple ways to put your site’s value to the test…
One – Ask Yourself If Your Site Presells. Instead of just coming out and asking for the sale, one of the best ways to test a website’s value to its visitors is to analyze what information is given to the visitor upfront at no cost or with no further request. Giving visitors answers to their questions before expecting further action from them builds trust. That’s what preselling is all about!
The iPhone is an unbelievably functional and popular little gadget that is definitely taking strides towards making the web more mobile. Sure, other mobile devices are also popular and will certainly add to improved mobile web technology too (especially with the much anticipated Google Phone making its arrival), but this shouldn’t really make things much more complicated for optimizing sites for mobile. If it works for the iPhone’s built in web browser, chances are good it will work well with the browsers on other mobile devices as well.
If there’s one myth that’s definitely become common – more than ever with the ever-increasing popularity of content management systems (CMS) or blogs – it is that meta tags are no longer important. Well, we disagree – to some extent. Meta tags still play an integral function in the usability of a website and a site’s overall optimization for search.
It never fails, that novice web developers and clients alike are not prepared for the consequences of making major changes or overhauling an existing, established website.
I have seen first hand the damage that can be done to websites rankings and revenue when you let just anyone start playing around with the content and code. The biggest mistake is usually made by inexperienced, or unknowledgeable developers/site owners who have no clue how to protect against the loss of existing site rankings. That being said, even experienced web designers don’t always recognize that care must be taken when redesigning an existing website.
Tracking website traffic is not just about counting the number of visitors finding their way to a website or blog – after all, that’s the easy part. Rather, it’s even more revealing to watch visitors and keep track of how they interact with the site. Tracking all aspects of web traffic is absolutely essential because of the guiding information it will uncover and make transparent.
One surefire way to develop a better website is to watch and emulate what the professionals are doing with their sites and blogs. Fortunately, the pros almost always follow a formula that’s easy to understand. Here are a few of the more important guidelines…