Category: Website Content

Updated SEO Tips

Updated SEO Tips

Search Engine OptimizationThe web is constantly evolving so your SEO (search engine optimization) plan needs to be revisited occasionally to make sure that your content marketing strategy as well as your traditional marketing actions remain relevant.  Here are some updated SEO tips to help in this regard.

Social Media Content

The line between the ‘web’ and social media content is fast becoming blurred.  Statics indicate that over 75% of the marketers now use social media as a promotional tool.  The thrust is on to make every tweet or Facebook post get higher ranking on SERP (search engine results page).  Currently, a brand name search is more likely to find the company’s Facebook or Twitter page before you find the website.  The social media effect on SEO is still well regarded so it is important that the relevant links are incorporated and managed as part of your SEM (Search engine Marketing) strategy.

Optimizing Mobile traffic

Having a mobile friendly site is vital and research has indicated that one in five persons possess a smartphone or tablet. Where your site does not support mobile you would be severely restricting your marketing reach.  Your website should be accessible and readable on any multi-media platform and device and should be SEO optimized as well.  With all the new technologies and process integrations now available, it has become obvious that mobile traffic has far exceeded desktop traffic.

Keywords and Phrase

Make your keywords and phrases more conversational. This means that the focus is on a set of words sometimes described as a long-tail or conversation.  This allows the SERP results to be more meaningful and accurate when matching consumer actions.  The focus is no longer on keywords but on important elements of what the browser is searching for.

Links and Brand mentions

Brand mentions are words on another site, not hyperlinks, that mentions or refers to your webpage.  These implied links and band mentions, inbound links, are highly considered when analyzing page ranking.   Marketing and establishing your brand is therefore crucial. A simple link would be creating a mixed URL structure (www.yoursite.com vs.www.yoursite.com) and adding the appropriate keywords.

Content

This is still the most important aspect of SEO optimizing.  The search engines need to make sense of your content so that it can deliver the most appropriate response to browsers.  This also includes the content on the related social media pages.  The new technique of content aggregation will now have the desired effect. *iMedia Connection describes Content aggregation as a practical way of finding, collating, amassing, consolidating, presenting, sharing, and displaying content around pre-specified set of criteria to appeal target audience”.

Voice search and video SEO are two other methods of SEO optimization that are now trending and it would be wise to engage in the research to have these incorporated in your SEO campaign.

*http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/33784.asp#singleview

Tips to consider when planning to design your own Web Site

Before you rush into the one-click options for designing your own website, you need to lay some foundation for the site that you want to build. A bit of guidance is provided below and while not in any particular order, the steps will help in establishing some measurable goals.

Web Plan
Planning your Website

Set a budget:

While hosting of your website may be free (usually promotional) you will still need to pay for things like a domain name and security, so do some research into the usual cost.  Remember, there may also be Pro and Deluxe packages available and you need to know how much you are likely to spend and what you will get for it.

Decide what your website is about:

This probably should come first, since it may influence how much you should be willing to spend.
However, you need to determine what your site is about: educational, interactive, eCommerce, blogs… to name a few. You are building a website around this idea, so you need to recognize this in order to plan properly.

Develop goals and milestones:

You need to set targets for your website. For example, the number of downloads per month of a trial version e-book available on your site.  Your website must accomplish something for you or it’s really not worth having.

Website Sitemap / Table of Contents:

It’s important to establish the Web Pages needed for your Website. This step will help determine what type of content should be displayed on your Website.

Site Content:

Now that you have decided on what your website is about, you need figure out and acquire content (or body) for your website.  A blog will need articles related to your websites purpose. You could decide to make money from your website, so you will need to subscribe to the appropriate affiliate programs.  You may need to have an ordering form to accept orders. You may need to add products; whatever your website’s focus, you need content.

Set up a time table:

Don’t just leave the task of building your website to when you are in the mood.  Slot in the times that you want each activity to be done.  This will help to keep you focused. Use project management tools like Trello.com to help you create tasks and stay on track.

Back-office Support:

Maintaining and updating your website is important.  You need to keep it fresh and current so that it will always be recognized by the search engines.  The decision as to how often and who will make changes and add data to your website should be determined well before hand, so that if it will incur cost or extra time, it can be factored in your budget.

Overarching all this info is the need for research.  Search the web for any other site that may be offering the product or service you have in mind. Do your research on your competition’s Websites. Also, you may need technical help and Nuts and Bolts Web Design may just work for you.

Weird and Wacky Anchor Text is Appealing

Weird and Wacky Anchor Text is Appealing

Your website content linking doesn’t always have to be straightforward and straight laced. Often, using humor, turning a witty or funny phrase goes a long way toward gaining you higher search engine ranking. Website designers are even known to use misspelled phrases on purpose acting as anchor text, which is the links you see occurring in content copy the middle of a sentence, or perhaps as a header or sub-header.

Supply a Snippet

A good recommendation whenever you ask other websites to link to yours is supply a snippet of HTML code they can easily place on their page as well as request the same from them. This allows you to decide what the exact phrasing is providing the anchor text that links back to your site. Always vary your choice of anchor text phrasing when exchanging site links so you do not confine your choice to only one phrase.

Get Those Anchors Away

Use anchor text for linking internally on your site as well as for all external purposes. Always include an ample amount of anchor text links on your landing page, or main page, since this is the predominant page visited and will get the most hits. The appearance of “in-line” links in your text copy will compel visitors to click-through to your other pages. Do this because you will be providing visitors with additional useful information and will make their “stopping by “enjoyable. This will also help enhance your sear engine likability which improves your ranking. Using anchor text links is a great website design with a wink at SEO tactics, but when providing searchers with links to quality, useful information, you should receive “word-of-mouth” referrals. This will create additional site visitors based upon their associates having a productive experience at your site.

Make sure your anchor text links always make sense since they will be read by human beings. Also, search engines will read then just like people do.

Writing the right words for your website

The information you place on your website has become quite the hot topic in recent years. Use of websites for the dissemination of knowledge has come a long way since the days when putting text on your page was never guided by any type of considerations. All that has changed. Your content is the absolute number one priority that should be focused upon when not only creating your website, but updating and maintaining it as well. Your website words need not only be written well, but your words have to be chosen in such a way that makes your site much more effective.

Here are a few tips to follow:

  • Choose Interesting Words – Decide what information on your website is the most important for your visitors to see. Always make sure that your content copy is written toward your visitor’s interest.
  • Use The Right Search Phrases – Every person using a search engine has in their mind an image of what they’re looking for when they type in a keyword or phrase. This is sometimes called a ”trigger.” This is where the seeker inputs a word or combination of words into a search engine such as Google or Yahoo. Typically, most seekers use words that are intuitive. The same word should be ones that are used in your content copy-writing. A good example might be if someone uses the search phrase such as ”wine glasses” and you do offer these on your site, but you have categorized them as ”alcohol beverage containers.” Research the words people are using to find the same products and services you offer and employ these in your content copy.
  • Use words that focus on localization- If you run a Jewelry Store in Delaware, you should focus on creating content that emphasizes that your store is located in Delaware. Chances are,  people will search for a local business first to meet their needs.  We did this for one of our clients and it’s made all the difference with their website traffic.

If you do not feel comfortable creating your own content copy, employ a professional such as Sour Dough Communications. Your words are extremely important and you should provide only the best, professionaly written content.