Mozak Design Blog

I Love my Website … Why Doesn’t Google?

If only Google could appreciate the graphic design of a website. Alas, all it sees is the code behind the scenes and the content written on the page. Google could care less about a perfect image or words that are able to dance on the screen.

Yet, with that said us humans do care about a web sites appearance. We like pictures and art.

So what is a business owner to do?

As with most things striking a balance is key. Too much text and your customers will leave; too little and Google will ignore you.

My advice:

Add a BLOG to your site

The addition of a BLOG allows you to share information with the public. Google loves this.  The more you say, the more of an encyclopedia you become. Share tips and tricks with you clients, or blog about upcoming local events. Share what matters to you. Visitors to your website will read what you share and connect with you. These are the relationships the allow business to flourish.

Partner with a Web Designer you TRUST

A quality Web Designer can strike the balance between art and technology. In fact the great ones are masters of both. They create graphically unique sites with cutting edge code behind the scenes.

You can SEO iWeb Sites!

Have you even noticed that your iWeb site
never seems to come up in the Search Engines?

One of the biggest challenges for an iWeb Website is being found on a Google search. The main reason for this is iWeb by default favors turning everything, even words, into pictures. As you can imagine, Search Engines cannot read pictures.

While working with one of my Portland customers I discovered the following blog: http://allaboutiweb.com

I highly recommend all iWeb users check it out. He shares tips on how to transform your website into one Google will like.

Backlinks for SEO

While a well optimized website is critical for good SEO performance; it alone is not enough. Backlinking is a essential partner for success in the Search Engines.

Now, what is a backlink, you might ask. A backlink is created when your site is linked to from another site or a blog.

When your site has backlinks, search engines like Yahoo, Google or MSN recognize it as one having good quality content, the idea being that if someone has linked to that site, then it must be valuable. So, the more the backlinks, the more important your site. This helps it to top the ranks in search engine listings.

The anchor text in the link also plays a very important role in search engine listings. The visible text of a link that can be clicked is known as anchor text. Search engines try to determine what your site is about by checking out the anchor text. So it is a good idea to include the main keyword phrase wherever possible.

Let us look at some of the methods that can get backlinks for your site.

• You must offer your visitors quality content that is unique. Be innovative in your approach to writing articles. Your website content should be different and offer relevant information to the users. Anything controversial will increase the user’s curiosity level and they will link to your site for more.
• You can submit articles rich in content to some article directories. These will get published and appear on other sites with your link appearing in the Resource Box. You can even write regular columns for sites in your area of expertise.
• Other websites should be able to easily link to your site. Create a “Link to Us” page with html code that can be pasted directly to their site.
• Making an arrangement for trading of good quality content will earn both parties a backlink.
• Put up your site on free directories that cater to your area of expertise. Find some blogs where you can post comments and you may be able to earn some backlinks to your site.

Backlinks are critical to a website’s ranking in search results. Backlinks provide targeted traffic to your website that can translate into increased profits, especially for small businesses.

A SiteMap for Your Wordpress Blog

In the world of SEO sitemaps are consider a basic for every website. This got me thinking – Why not create a sitemap for my Wordpress Blog.

In my quest for an answer I went straight to the source – Google. There I found the following:

“A Sitemap does not affect the actual ranking of your pages. However, if it helps get more of your site crawled (by notifying us of URLs we didn’t previously didn’t know about, and/or by helping us prioritize the URLs on your site), that can lead to increased presence and visibility of your site in our index.”

So what is Google saying? Essentially a Sitemap will not effect how pages are ranked. However, it will increase the speed at which the page is found and indexed by Google.

Wow! this is the proof I was looking for. If I can speed up the rate at which the search engines fine new entries on my wordpress website I am all for it.

Otherwise I will need to wait till the next time Google decides to crawl my home page. From there, Google will need to follow a link to my Blog and finally notice I made a new entry. That could take a while. I’m not one to wait; especially if I do not have to.

So I am off to generate a sitemap specifically for my wordpress blog so I can say to Google “Hey Look! Check this Out!”

SEO Techniques to Improve Website Traffic

In order to earn sales leads through internet marketing, it is crucial for a website to be highly ranked on the search engine results. Search Engine Optimization or SEO ensures high ranking results for a website. Most site owners are aware of this and therefore adopt SEO techniques to achieve the rankings they desire. Some of the most useful SEO techniques and some do’s and don’ts are discussed here.

• Web Page Title
  

When a search engine reports a result, the first line of each result is the title of the website page. When the user reads the title, he/she knows the relevance of the website vis-à-vis the search criteria. For example, if you are searching for a web design firm in Portland and one of the results is “Portland based ABC Web Design Company”, then you know that the page or website is what you want. Needless to say, the title tags should contain the strongest keyword relevant to the particular website that is understood by both, the user and the search engine.

• “Alt tags”

Alt tags refer to alternate tags which are assigned to images. It helps explain the image as well as notify the user as to which image is missing if it (the image) fails to download. Additionally, it is a location to tastefully integrate keywords. Good SEO web design practice to makes abundant use of them.

• Keyword Density

Keyword density is the percentage of the total word count occupied by the keyword/phrase on the web page. Strategic placing of keywords in the title and the body of the text will help to manage keyword density which is one of the essential SEO techniques.

• Content Quality

A site with rich and unique content usually ranks amongst the top in search engine results. Constantly updating the content on your site makes the site dynamic, therefore, search engines are more likely to rank your site among the top in the listings.

• Well Designed Websites

Creating an attractive website design is one way to keep up the flow of visitors. Many a times the users are put off due to a poorly designed site that is difficult to navigate or its contents are difficult to read. Website design for the site should be such that it can be viewed easily in all major browsers.

• Pratices to Avoid

Avoid bad SEO techniques like spamming which may cause your site to be banned. Your website should contain pages that are rich in content while using the targeted keywords. However, be careful not to overwhelm the reader with a very high keyword density.

The best SEO web design practice would be to keep things simple on your website. See that your site loads easily, is simple to navigate and above all provides useful information to the user. Following good SEO techniques will certainly help you achieve your desired ranking; leading to increased traffic to your site and an increase in business.