All Entries in the "Web Design" Category

Google Crawling Parts of Flash

Well, this is good news for many SEO people who try to get good search engine listings for their clients despite all of the flash put into their websites.

Google will be crawling the TEXT in flash files. Not text embedded in the images. Not the images. Not the animations. The TEXT.

So word needs to go out to all of you flash designers out there. Use more keyword-rich text in the flash you create for clients.

Unfortunately most web designers are so interested in design they ignore SEO altogether. I’m not sure this will mean flash designers will now try to optimize the flash so it contains keyword-rich text. Likely an SEO person will have to get them to do it after-the-fact as usual. But we can hope.

New Web Business Guide Chapter 7 – Website Addons

The New Web Business Guide Introduction can be found here.

We have mostly discussed the basics, getting a domain name, choosing a hosting company, and getting your website built. If you are just going to have a static website, then you may not need this chapter, but there are some benefits to the different things you can add to your website.

Here is a short list of website addons and the benefit you might get from them;

1. Guestbook. This is one of the oldest website addons and most people do not use them anymore. It is where visitors to your website can sign your guestbook and leave a link back to their website. (Not recommended by us at all. Constant management required and spammers love guestbooks.)

2. Article Dashboard Directory A lot of people will tell you that unless you are in the article marketing or article directory business that you don’t need an article directory.

However, I have a website that got crawled by google 100,000 times last month because I have one. It also increases my search engine saturation, (number of pages indexed by the search engines), daily. Right now that website is a 30,000 page website.

An article directory is good for SEO. It takes a little time to manage because you have to approve articles and put them into the right categories. Article dashboard is the best software to install. It’s easy to manage and free.

3. A Company Blog Installing a company blog like www.yourcompanyname.com/blog and posting to it daily allows you to easily add fresh daily content to your website.

It can also bring in new traffic for your website. A lot of people are less intimidated by your blog than your website. You can publish your press releases, announcements, and special offers as well. WordPress is the best software to install if you plan to add a blog to your website.

Professional Management for Business Blogs

4. A Forum or Message Board Owning a forum sounds a lot easier than it is. The best software for a forum is either PHPbb or vBulletin in my opinion.

But keep in mind that “Build it and they will come” is from a baseball movie and does not apply to websites, blogs and forums. You have to advertise your forum. You have to keep the spammers out of your forum. You have to add content to your forum daily so people will have something to read and comment on. You have to respond to people posting in your forum.

Forum management is almost a full time job from the very beginning, so if you are planning to install a forum, make sure you are ready to devote time to it or hire a professional forum manager to help you.

5. Hit Counters & Stats Counters Another old tool to ignore. People do not believe you when you tell them a million visitors have been to your website today no matter what your little hit counter says. If you need to track stats, use google analytics or web trends.

6. Speaking Characters Use these to really annoy everyone who visits your website. I’m kidding . . . well a little. There are proper uses for certain websites for installing talking characters. However, if the reason you are thinking of installing a talking character is because you think it’s “really cool”, then don’t do it.

If the character has an actual purpose of explaining something that is not immediately obvious without the talking character, like this month’s special, then they can be useful.

8. Classifieds Ads Section Again, this is an item that has been around for ages. There are scripts that are easy to install that will help you offer a classified ad section to your website.

However, remember, you are responsible for every website you link to. Linking to bad websites will hurt you from an seo point of view. Allowing everyone to place a classified ad and a link to their website is inviting spammers, scammers, pornsters, and others to get links from your site to their site. If you are going to spend the time to approve every ad, then it can still be a useful tool.

9. Traffic Exchange Scripts Reciprocal links are dead. Don’t even consider a traffic exchange script or a webring.

10. Search My Website Scripts are actually very useful if your website is over 20 pages with a lot of content. It provides another way for users to find what they are looking for. You cannot make it too easy for users to navigate your website.

There are a lot of other website addons not covered here, but these are the most popular. In the next chapter we will move on to promoting your website after you have it built.

New Web Business Guide Chapter 6A – Website Design Part 2

The New Web Business Guide Introduction can be found here.

In Website Design Part 1 we went over The Design Your Website Quiz to find out how you will be designing your website. We covered;

A. I will be designing my own website.

B. I will be hiring someone I know to design my website

C. I will be hiring a company to design my website.

Chapter 6 – Website Design Part 1 can be found here

Website Design Part 2

D. I will just buy a website template or get a free template and use that.

E. I will be installing a CMS system like Joomla.

F. I don’t know.

I will just buy a website template or get a free template and use that.

A lot of people will tell you this is a terrible idea. There is a mindset that says if anyone else on the web is using the same template, then your website will somehow not be as professional as having an original design that you own all the rights to.

However, you have to keep in mind that someone else that used the template probably doesn’t sell the same thing you sell. The likelyhood of anyone seeing another website with the same template, then seeing yours is very low. So your users will not know the difference.

You certainly will not have the same content in it as someone else with the same template, so that is not an issue either. Take a look at this Runaway Teens Website. It was built using a free template.

Clicking here will show you it ranks number 1 in Google for runaway teens. Clicking here will show it also ranks number 1 in MSN for runaway teens. And clicking here will show it also ranks number 1 in yahoo for runaway teens.

So there is no seo reason for not using a free template or one that you buy for just a few bucks at places like monstertemplates.com.

I still recommend you have your own template designed, but if your budget is low, a free template can help you get your new web business off the ground.

I will be installing a CMS system like Joomla.

I am not a big fan of CMS systems, but some people like them and one person’s garbage is another person’s treasure. But do not believe that they are as simple to use as you will read they are. People who make a living installing them will tell you they are easy. Websites that sell these systems and addons for them will also tell you they are easy. They have their reasons.

I have had clients that wanted a CMS system. Most of them never end up using them because they find learning how to manage it is much more difficult than they were told. Unless you are willing to take the time to learn how to manage your content yourself, don’t go with a CMS like Joomla.

For those who are willing to put in the time to learn how to manage their content and believe they have the time to actually do that when changes need to be made to their site, then a CMS can work for you.

Some things to know.

1. There are a lot of free templates for these systems. Don’t let someone convince you that they are doing a ton of design work if they are just installing a theme. You can do that yourself once you learn how to use the CMS.

2. Don’t think that just because joomla.com says it’s so easy that anyone can install it, that really anyone can install it. Read the joomla forums and you will see just how many people did not fit into the “anyone” category and could not install it.

3. Beware of companies that try to sell you a CMS for thousands of dollars. Joomla and some others are free and some companies simply rebrand them as their own and sell them to unsuspecting clients.

4. On the same note, don’t think that just because Joomla and other CMS’s are free that you should not pay someone to install it and to get your first theme installed. People who do them all of the time can avoid many problems first-time users might encounter and they deserve to get paid for what they do.

Just go in with your eyes open. Don’t get taken and make sure you are really ready to manage your own content.

I Don’t Know

Don’t be embarrassed if your answer to the web design quiz was I don’t know how I will be designing my website. Most people who are starting a new web business are in that category.

For many people getting started is very confusing. There are web designers to deal with. There are coders and programmers to deal with. There are SEO people to deal with. There are internet marketers to deal with. There is adwords and other PPC programs. So people end up trying to hire good people in each category as they progress with their new web business.

Hiring a Project Manager

In my opinion, you should hire your SEO expert first. Let them help you plan your project from beginning to end. Let them pick the designers and help you create your business plan. Let your SEO person have the website built with SEO in mind so it is not an extra step.

Your SEO guide knows how the website will work and how it will be promoted later on and will have some features built in rather than it costing extra to add them later. By doing this you have an optimized website from the very beginning.

We can help you plan your project from beginning to end and take care of everything along the way. You deal just with us and we deal with everyone else for you. It’s simple and easy and you have someone to advise you every step of the way.

Call 786-317-8774 or email chris@seo.pn for more information and a free consultation.

In the next chapter of the new web business guide, we will discuss things you may want to add on to your website after the design is complete.