Google Makes Site Speed A Ranking Factor

Website owners, take heed: you don’t need to stop whatever you’re doing and eliminate all tools, videos, and pictures from your Website.  But as soon as it’s convenient, you may want to recheck how quickly things load, because Google announced this afternoon that it’s begun to factor site speed into its search rankings.

We hope this development hasn’t caught anyone by surprise; without citing specific dates, Google’s been talking about it for quite some time.  Also, in a new official blog post, Google pointed out that site speed is perhaps something everyone should have been paying attention to all along.

Then here’s one more piece of info: according to Google, this change was actually implemented “a few weeks back.”  Sneaky.

Anyway, Google explained on the Webmaster Central Blog, “Speeding up websites is important – not just to site owners, but to all Internet users.  Faster sites create happy users and we’ve seen in our internal studies that when a site responds slowly, visitors spend less time there.

We’ll say one more time, though: this doesn’t require anyone’s immediate attention.  Google says, “While site speed is a new signal, it doesn’t carry as much weight as the relevance of a page.  Currently, fewer than 5% of search queries are affected by the site speed signal in our implementation and the signal for site speed only applies for visitors searching in English on Google.com at this point.”

For more information, please check out our Website at 877webteam.com

9 Important Tips for a Fast Loading Websites

It is important to have a reasonably fast loading web site so that viewers are not made to wait for a long time and to accommodate users on slow internet connections. Search engine algorithms also do take into consideration your load time.

Learn how to create and maintain a fast loading web site with these useful tips on load time and website optimization. Follow these tips while designing, programming and maintaining your web-site:

1.Optimize your HTML code
Make sure that your site doesn’t have any unwanted tags or broken links and that it is optimized for load time. Errors on your web pages can slow down your website – Make sure your website is error free!

2.Maximize content area
This not only reduces load time, it enhances the readability of your site.

3.Minimize use of graphics, Flash and scripts
These are the major contributors to the size of your web page, so try minimizing them. Try using background colors and fills instead of heavy images.

4.Optimize all heavy files
As much as possible optimize heavy graphics, Flash files and scripts. In editors like fireworks and flash you can see the various options in the preview panel to reduce the sizes. See how popular web sites like google and yahoo have pages that are very small in size and thus load in seconds.

5.Stick to simple designs
Most fast loading sites have very simple designs. Take the hint! Complicated designs will slow down your pages.

6.Spread out your content neatly
In case you find yourself having very long pages of content, break them down into separate logical sections and thus bring down the sizes of the individual pages.

7.Use Text Links instead of graphic buttons
Basically try to make use of text links as much as possible as they are easier to maintain. Use CSS Styles for text links to make them as attractive as buttons.

8.Use Div tags instead of Tables
Go in for a pure CSS tableless design right from the beginning. Using Div tags instead of tables for your design is what you need to do for better load time and total control over your layout. It also ensures that it is scalable for whenever you want to make design changes in the future.

Effective Table Design: In case you must use tables use them wisely and sparingly. Design using nested tables instead of using cell merges and splits. Use separate tables where ever possible. Not designing for 100% height is better as if you use just one outer table, the web page is displayed only after the table is loaded fully. If many outer tables are present [you can have different tables for the header, content, footer, etc.] the page displays the content of each table as soon as its elements are loaded. 

9.Check your W3C standard validity and Load time regularly
To maintain an excellent website you must give thought to how to improve your website on an almost daily basis! Maintain an error free website and tweek it regularly.

For more information, please check out our Website at 877webteam.com

Search Content Quality Guidelines

Here are a few things Robots Want to see:

•Original and unique content of genuine value.
•Pages designed primarily for humans, with search engine considerations a secondary concern.
•Hyperlinks intended to help people find interesting, related content, when applicable.
•Metadata (including title and description) that accurately describes the contents of a web page.
•Good web design in general.

 Unfortunately, not all web pages contain information that is valuable to a user. Some pages are created deliberately to trick the search engine into offering inappropriate, redundant or poor-quality search results. This is often called “spam.”

Here are a few things that Robots consider unwanted:

Some, but not all, examples of the types of content that you do not want to include:

•Pages that harm the accuracy, diversity or relevance of search results.
•Pages dedicated to redirecting the user to another page (doorway pages). 
•Multiple sites or pages offering substantially the same content.
•Sites with numerous, unnecessary virtual hostnames.
•Pages produced in great quantities, which have been automatically generated or which are of little value.
•Pages using methods to artificially inflate search engine ranking.
•The use of text or links that are hidden from the user.
•Pages that give the search engine different content than what the end user sees (cloaking).
•Sites excessively cross linked with other sites to inflate a site’s apparent popularity (link schemes).
•Pages built primarily for the search engines or pages with excessive or off-topic keywords. 
•Misuse of competitor names.
•Multiple sites offering the same content.
•Sites that use excessive pop-ups which interfere with user navigation.
•Pages that seem deceptive, fraudulent, or provide a poor user experience.

For more information, please check out our Website at 877webteam.com

Home Page Best Practices for Local Businesses

The home page of a website is valuable marketing real estate to brand, build, and boost your locally based business. Follow these home page best practices to maximize your selling power.

Clearly Communicate Who You Are, What You Do, and Whom You Serve.

You have two seconds to capture your website visitor’s attention. Make it immediately clear what products and/or services your local business sells. Identify what market you serve (geographically and demographically) to immediately pre-qualify the right customers. Do not be afraid to identify your niche. Use your home page to attract the right customer.

As a locally based business, make it very clear where you do business. Using the local area code with your phone number instantly indicates that you’re nearby.

Employ Professional Website Desig

You communicate value not only through your words but also through your design. Don’t look at professional website design as an unneeded expense — rather as an investment that lasts years and sets a tone that supports sales. In addition to graphics, your design can include professional photos of your business location, or even a video introduction.

Trust starts visually. Of course, web surfers scan rather than reading carefully, so design with that in mind.

Have a Clear Purpose and Call to Action

The purpose of your website needs to be designed into your home page. You wouldn’t build a house without a blueprint. The same principle applies to your website’s home page.

Next, decide what will be your calls to action. Do you want web visitors to call? Join an e-mail list? Visit a certain area of the website? Every local business will have varying purposes and calls to action, so determine what yours are. Don’t expect a web designer to know these by osmosis. All of your answers become design criteria that must be incorporated into your home page.

The top right hand corner of a webpage is the most valuable “call to action” area on a website. The upper middle area of a website is most visible for marketing messaging.

Newsletter Sign-ups

Websites have only second to make a large first impression. Sometimes visitors will leave and come back until they trust you. One way to maximize website visitors is to build an e-mail list. Most local business owners do not take full advantage of e-mail collection as a web marketing tool. Add a e-mail signup box is an easy way to get the most out of your visitors.

In today’s over-e-mailed world, you need to communicate value in order to increase e-mail signup box conversions. “Sign up for our Newsletter” doesn’t cut it anymore. Use your local niche expertise and offer a newsletter with good information. The difference between “Join our e-mail List” vs. something worthwhile like “Get the Insider e-mail for Website Design and SEO”. This makes a big difference. When there is something worth signing up for, you will capture more e-mail address that allow you to sell to your website visitors.

Make your home page a “north star” that guides your visitors to where you want them to go. Success begins with that first page. Getting people to your site is only half of the local marketing puzzle, getting people through the site is what makes a real impact.

For more information, please check out our Website at 877webteam.com

How to Choose Effective Website Photos and Images

Not all images are created equal. The right image on a web page can capture attention, inform, and even persuade your site visitors. The right image can communicate who you and your company are more quickly and powerfully than words alone can do. The wrong image, however, can confuse, annoy, and even repel your visitors. The wrong image can give your audience a negative impression of your product, service, or company that you may never have a chance to correct.

Since the selection of images can be so crucial, here are a few guidelines that will help you learn to evaluate and select just the right images for your site.

Guideline #1. Does it convey the right feeling?

Whether intentional or not, images communicate mood to your audience. Color, background, facial expression, and other less obvious features combine to evoke feelings in a way that may not be obvious at first.

Guideline #2. Does it add information?

In Broadway musicals, there are no extraneous songs – every song contributes to the storyline, moving the plot forward. They’re substantive and content-rich, not just afterthoughts or embellishments.

Guideline #3. Is it (at least fairly) unique?

The wonderful thing about stock image sites is they make it easy for you to find and buy high-quality images. The terrible thing about stock image sites is they make it just as easy for your competitor — or anyone else — to find and buy the exact same images. So it’s possible to see the image you just bought for your home page being displayed on a billboard or brochure for a completely different company. And that’s no way to stand out in the marketplace.

Guideline #4. Is it contextually cropped?

Contextual cropping can make the difference between an impactful and a ho-hum image. Cropping is especially important for small images, where there’s not much space to communicate. Generally speaking, the smaller the image, the fewer details you want in it. So if you’re creating a small image from a larger one, you’ll want to crop out any unnecessary details and make sure the key element is front and center.

For more information, please check out our Website at 877webteam.com

25 Quick SEO Tips Even You Can Love

Everyone loves a good tip, right?

Here are 25 quick tips for search engine optimization. Most folks with some web design and beginner SEO knowledge should be able to take these to the bank without any problem.

1. If you absolutely MUST use Java script drop down menus, image maps or image links, be sure to put text links somewhere on the page for the spiders to follow.

2. Content is king, so be sure to have good, well-written and unique content that will focus on your primary keyword or keyword phrase.

3. Don’t be obsessed with PageRank. It is just one isty bitsy part of the ranking algorithm. A site with lower PR can actually outrank one with a higher PR.

4. Be sure you have a unique, keyword focused Title tag on every page of your site. And, if you MUST have the name of your company in it, put it at the end. Unless you are a major brand name that is a household name, your business name will probably get few searches.

5. Fresh content can help improve your rankings. Add new, useful content to your pages on a regular basis. Content freshness adds relevancy to your site in the eyes of the search engines.

6. Be sure links to your site and within your site use your keyword phrase. In other words, if your target is “blue widgets” then link to “blue widgets” instead of a “Click here” link.

7. Focus on search phrases, not single keywords, and put your location in your text (“our Palm Springs store” not “our store”) to help you get found in local searches.

8. Use keywords and keyword phrases appropriately in text links, image ALT attributes and even your domain name.

9. Frames, Flash and AJAX all share a common problem – you can’t link to a single page. It’s either all or nothing. Don’t use Frames at all and use Flash and AJAX sparingly for best SEO results.

10. If your site content doesn’t change often, your site needs a blog because search spiders like fresh text. Blog at least three time a week with good, fresh content to feed those little crawlers.

11. Search engines want natural language content. Don’t try to stuff your text with keywords. It won’t work. Search engines look at how many times a term is in your content and if it is abnormally high, will count this against you rather than for you.

12. Be aware that by using services that block domain ownership information when you register a domain, Google might see you as a potential spammer.

13. When optimizing your blog posts, optimize your post title tag independently from your blog title.

14. The bottom line in SEO is Text, Links, Popularity and Reputation.

15. Search engines like unique content that is also quality content. There can be a difference between unique content and quality content. Make sure your content is both.

16. Links from .edu domains are given nice weight by the search engines. Run a search for possible non-profit .edu sites that are looking for sponsors.

17. Give each page a focus on a single keyword phrase. Don’t try to optimize the page for several keywords at once.

18. SEO is useless if you have a weak or non-existent call to action. Make sure your call to action is clear and present.

19. SEO is not a one-shot process. The search landscape changes daily, so expect to work on your optimization daily.

20. Use captions with your images. As with newspaper photos, place keyword rich captions with your images.

21. You’re better off letting your site pages be found naturally by the crawler. Good global navigation and linking will serve you much better than relying only on an XML Sitemap.

22. Links (especially deep links) from a high PageRank site are golden. High PR indicates high trust, so the back links will carry more weight.

23. Understand social marketing. It IS part of SEO. The more you understand about sites like Digg, Yelp, del.icio.us, Facebook, etc., the better you will be able to compete in search.

24. Use the words “image” or “picture” in your photo ALT descriptions and captions. A lot of searches are for a keyword plus one of those words.

25. Add viral components to your web site or blog – reviews, sharing functions, ratings, visitor comments, etc.

For more information, please check out our Website at 877webteam.com

Why Use CSS?

Ease of site maintenance

 CSS offers many benefits to site administrators. Like using templates and library items in Dreamweaver, CSS allows site wide editing of styles from one location. There is no need to update pages — once the style sheet has been attached, simply make your style changes and upload the CSS file. Maintaining your styles in this manner also introduces site wide consistency in visual presentation. CSS is easy to use and is widely implemented, and it is a mature technology that is built on the forward-thinking foundation.

Flexibility

 With CSS, you maintain better control over your page elements and components. For site administrators working with Dreamweaver (and Contribute), you control what styles are available for your content providers.

 And when it comes time for a site redesign, most of the visual presentation of your site can be redesigned by editing the CSS files.

 Accessibility

 Since CSS helps you to present a site with the content separated from design specifications, your pages are inherently more accessible for those site visitors using assistive technologies (such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, etc.). And lean code with improved page structure is also more accessible for alternate access devices (such as handheld browsers, web-enabled cell phones, etc.).

 Speed

 Since the CSS file is read by the browser and stored in memory, your pages will load faster because the code to style the visual elements is not included in every page. CSS-based pages are also faster to draw in the browser window than HTML table-based layouts.

 Separating content from presentation

 As more site administrators move to web-based content management systems, your CMS-based site is easier to maintain with CSS since the content is separated from the visual markup code. This also allows administrators to easily reposition content (such as RSS news feeds) and restyle content (such as using a separate style sheet for the purposes of printing).

For more information, please check out our Website at 877webteam.com

PageRank Technology

PageRank Technology:

PageRank reflects Google’s, MSN’s, Bing’s, Yahoo’s, etc view of the importance of web pages by considering more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms. Pages that they believe are important pages receive a higher PageRank and are more likely to appear at the top of the search results.

PageRank also considers the importance of each page that casts a vote, as votes from some pages are considered to have greater value, thus giving the linked page greater value. They have always taken a pragmatic approach to help improve search quality and create useful products, and the technology uses the collective intelligence of the web to determine a page’s importance.

Hypertext-Matching Analysis:

The search engines also analyzes page content. However, instead of simply scanning for page-based text (which can be manipulated by site publishers through meta-tags), the technology analyzes the full content of a page and factors in fonts, subdivisions and the precise location of each word. They also analyze the content of neighboring web pages to ensure the results returned are the most relevant to a user’s query.

The life span of a Robot query:

A Robot query normally lasts less than half a second, yet involves a number of different steps that must be completed before results can be delivered to a person seeking information.

1. The web server sends the query to the index servers. The content inside the index servers is similar to the index in the back of a book – it tells which pages contain the words that match the query.

2. The query travels to the doc servers, which actually retrieve the stored documents. Snippets are generated to describe each search result.

3. The search results are returned to the user in a fraction of a second.

For more information, please check out our Website at 877webteam.com

Search Engine Barriers

There are a hand full of common mistakes that pose roadblocks for spiders. A few Web design techniques actually make it nearly impossible for spiders to read and index pages. That’s not to say these techniques can’t be used, it’s just that they have to be thoughtfully used in ways that accommodate the spiders. Some things to avoid:

Frames
Most spiders are unable to navigate frames. Content within frames is likely to be missed entirely by search engines, as they can’t jump from frame to frame.

Forms and Drop-Down Menus
These pose a similar problem to spiders as frames. Spiders can’t submit requests through a form or drop-down box, so the content behind the form or drop-down won’t be indexed. One solution is to create an alternate way for spiders to get through by offering an alphabetical list of the content or a linked site map. By offering both methods, you meet the needs of human visitors and spiders.

JavaScript
JavaScript is programming language that can be embedded in Web pages and read by browsers and add interactive or dynamic functionality. When some spiders visit, they pretend to be browsers with JavaScript disabled. Some sites redirect browsers with JavaScript turned off to another page. There are ways to effectively incorporate JavaScript in Websites to take full advantage of its functionality, without discouraging search engines.

Flash
Avoid welcome or splash home pages that offer little information or that are composed entirely of Flash animation. Flash is an animation software that makes it possible to add video or cartoon-like graphics to Web pages. But Flash is difficult or impossible for spiders to interpret. We’re not suggesting throwing out Flash entirely, as it is popular and can be used to great effect.

Bad HTML and Poor Spelling
Coding mistakes and spelling errors cause problems. Coding errors create obstacles for a spider and a spelling error can keep your content from showing up in search engine results. On the other hand, attention to commonly miss-spelled words and tactfully incorporating these words into a page can bring incremental traffic.

Broken Links
Some search engines will penalize a page for having broken links, which are links that point to pages that no longer exist or have been moved. It’s another reason to stay on top of your site, checking and updating to insure accuracy.

For more information, please check out our Website at 877webteam.com

!!!!! GET BANNED !!!!!

!!!!!  GET BANNED  !!!!!

Never redirect to another domain
Redirecting to another domain is not a 100% guarantee that you’ll be banned from search engines. But it is a very common spammer trick used in conjunction with doorway pages and cloaking. If you set up a redirect that goes to a new domain, you need to write it as a 301 HTTP redirect, not a 302 or meta refresh. This tells the search engine that this redirect is permanent, and they should change to the new domain in their directory.

Be Careful Redirecting to New Domains – You Could Be Banned
Since this trick is commonly used by spammers, it’s a very good idea to avoid doing it. Search engines can be very hard to get back into if your site is banned by mistake.

Never link invisible images
Invisible images are images that are 1×1 pixels in size and cannot be seen by the naked eye on a Web page. Since links are given some priority in ranking a Web page, linking images that cannot be seen by your customers appears to be aimed only at search engine spiders.

Don’t Link Single Pixel Images
This is similar to hiding text or displaying different content to search engines than to your customers. And don’t assume that search engines can’t read CSS or HTML tags that resize full-sized images. If you do this to optimize your pages, your site will be banned.

Never include invisible text on your pages
Hiding text by making it the same color as the background color may fool your customers, but it won’t fool search engines. Another variation of this is where you make the font size so small that it’s unreadable by the naked eye.

Don’t Hide Text
Search engines understand CSS and font and background colors. They also recognize that a font-size of 1px is not going to be readable. Text that is hidden from your readers but visible to search engines is considered spam and will get your site banned.

Don’t Use Doorway Pages
Doorway pages are designed to trick search engines into thinking that the site has a specific keyword relevance that it may or may not have and they are pages meant to be seen only by the search engine. So, most search engines will ban sites from their directory when they discover you use them.

Don’t Cloak Websites
Search engines want to provide a resource of information that is real, not something that has been doctored to give artificial results. When they discover that your site is cloaking, it will be removed from the search directory.

For more information please go to 877webteam.com