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Website Improvement Tips Before Getting Listed in Search Engines
Jul 17th
Search engines like Google and Yahoo have algorithms that can detect your website automatically and all you need to do is create a website with good content that is friendly to their software in order for them to index your site. Google uses a ‘spider’ to crawl the web on a regular basis and add sites to its index. This article presents some basics which can help you to develop a search engine friendly website so that you can get some free promotion.
‘Basics of creating the webpage’
A website must be designed in such a way that it can be crawled or navigated easily. For that you must enable easy navigation through different pages and links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link present on the homepage. The content on different sub-pages must be logically connected and external links, if any, may be provided for reference content. The content of the page must be relevant to your users and should provide useful and unique information to them. That way they will be interested to re-visit the website. SEO tools must be used for keyword enrichment which helps in getting better ranks in search results.
‘Tips to make page more effective’
Apart from above mentioned guidelines, there are useful tricks that can be used to make pages more effective. You must always make use of title tags by giving the most precise objective of your website you can. Also, the meta-tag must provide an exhaustive description so that users can have a snapshot of the content at a glance of search engine result returned. As far as important parts of content are concerned, like important names or links; they must be in the orm of text rather than images as most search engines do not search through images. A good tip to help get better ranking is to have a number of backlinks on relevant external WebPages, which will aid your SEO. The backlinks also create more visibility on different websites.
‘Quality guidelines’
Almost all search engines specify their own quality checklists. If you are aiming for a particular search engine then you can go through their quality documents. Some general points can be cited here. Check for common malpractices and misbehaviour on these quality documents and make sure you avoid these mistakes at all costs.
The basic rule is to make your pages keeping in mind the users’ requirements and not the search engines requirements, which means you try to ensure you present the same content to search engines as you present to your users. By not following this rule you are doing what is referred to as ‘cloaking’. The content of the page should always add value to the visitors and it should be unique. Then and only then you can get quality visitors after they have come to your page through search results.
If there are subpages, then please avoid duplicacy of the content. Keyword enrichment is good but the content must not be overloaded with keywords only. Backlinks are great SEO tools but you should never have backlinks on spammers and offensive websites.
‘Final steps- submitting your website and follow up’
Always refer to the guidelines published by various search engines to submit your website. Apart from the formalities to be performed before submission, which are specific to each search engines, some extra features can be attached to the website.
You can use a sitemap for your website, which is nothing but a file containing the links of all WebPages in your site, in a format which is recognised by search engines. This will make sure that all pages are covered by search engine. There are categories specified by search engines based on the content of the websites. Make sure you submit the website in the correct categories.
Remember, search engines are just a platform for website promotion but it is you who has to put effort in to ensure the consistency and the popularity of your website. Regular monitoring of traffic on your website as well as competitor websites is a must. You must always keep the content updated. With simple efforts you can generate very good results.
For or Against Bothering with a DMOZ Listing!
Jul 14th
For or Against Bothering with DMOZ?
This post picks up a little from the last post on DMOZ as looking online we noticed a debate going on about whether having a DMOZ listing was still worthwhile. So we decided to do a quick post discussing the points for bothering with a listing and those against it as a summary round up of the views being put across on the subject by big players like SEOmoz who we would like to thank for their inspiration on this post. If you have a point of view on this subject we would love to hear it.
As stated in the last post, DMOZ was once seen of the mother of all Directories, The queen, the must have important link to obtain and many people still hold this view. The point for having a listing as discussed in various articles and forums are as follows:
1. Google had the directory copied originally as the Google directory, which was once linked to from their home page, it is still listed but now you have to find it in their large service list – but it is there
2. DMOZ brings direct traffic as their pages ranked well for search queries and were used directly by web visitors before Google basically cornered the market in search.
3. DMOZ received many new inbound links on a regular basis making it extremely valuable in the eyes of the search engines
4. DMOZ was an active place that was regularly used to add, review and modified links making it relevant and up to date.
5. DMOZ is still regarded as desirable by many as it seen as a status symbol, badge of honour for your website.
However the people who are not so thrilled with DMOZ arguements are equally compelling as many feel it is outdated, out of date and rendered practically useless. Below are the points made by the against camp:
1. DMOZ is practically inactive – The basis of this arguement is that many new sites aren’t being accepted and those listings that do exist are typically quite old and many just do not exist any more.
2. Big players like SEOmoz have listings in DMOZ and are not receiving more than 10 visitor a day, which only goes to prove how few people are using DMOZ.
3. The number of inbound links has dropped as people use different sources to gain links.
4. The number of people who no longer regard DMOZ as a worthwhile place to link to has increased with many companies doing very well using other link strategies with less wait time and restrictions, this includes paid directory submissions.
5. The shear number of failed submissions, due to any number of reasons including, no one to review that category and the fact that many editors are now worried about accusations levelled at them for reasons from being bribed to keep people out to bias.
6. The ROI in terms of time and effort to get a listing with DMOZ is not worth it.
These are the arguements for and against, we would love to hear your point of views on it now.
Joomla V WordPress – NO – Joomla Luv’s WordPress
Jul 5th
Since Content Management Systems became popular there have always been two camps those who prefer Joomla! which is more far more powerful system, rich in features and has a mass following of developers for extentions as well as some serious users including companies like MTV and those who prefer a WordPress a simpler, less complex system that has power but is less techie to use.
Joomla! is not really designed for blogging although it does have a basic blog functionality built in. WordPress on the other hand is designed for blogging but falls down when it comes to simple systems for membership and carts. Before everyone gets upset, we’re not saying WordPress cannot do these things , it can just not as well as Joomla!
Joomla! V WordPress or is it!
So thus begins the debate begins for the pros and cons of both systems and while both systems have merit, this post is about neither. However this post looks to see if these two excellent systems can work alongside each other.
For those acustom to both systems you will know that the two systems can co-exist alongside each other one in the main portion of your site with the other as an extension of this i.e. www.theinternetbusinesscoach.co.uk being Joomla! and www.theinternetbusinesscoach.co.uk/blog being WordPress.
Both systems in the example are in use (actually both are like this in real life for us )but what if you could use the power of Joomla! alongside the flexiblity and ease of use of WordPress – I mean instead of installing both systems seperately and running them seperately you could actually use them as one system, one set of updates, one menu etc.
Interesting prospect right – well a company has made this a reality. CorePHP released an extension for Joomla called WordPress+Joomla that will allow both systems to work together. THe basics of this new system is it is a build on extension for Joomla! 1.5 native that uses a fully loaded version of WordPress that they have managed to integrate so that if you were looking at the backend you might mistake it for a standard WordPress admin page.
Every function with the exception of permalinks, which are coded in, are the same as in a stand alone installation works as it would normally do in WordPress. They have even added a few other new bits of functionality like adding or remove blog title on a per-blog basis, ability to add or remove the sidebar – this is a site-wide option, different options for CSS style sheets – also a site-wide option, enable or disable automatic role syncing with Joomla! – a site-wide option, show or hide the author’s name in posts on a per-blog basis and they have even ported over many of the most popular plugins.
The new system will allow you to define your site design in such a way that it can be either Joomla! or WordPress or a mixture of both i.e. a WordPress home page but with module placement for arranging the page whilst still allowing you to have your blog rolls, tags etc.
You then get Joomla! options which allow you to start an online community, membership subscriptions or publish an online magazine or offer registered users an area to publish their own blogs. All in all this new extension is quite a big development in the debate for and against, infact to an extent it makes the debate moot as the two clearly can function as one allowing the power and flexiblilty, ease of use and simplicity of either to be incorporated into one.
On the downside categories still need to be synced individually, not a major issue if static content is handled by Joomla! and constant changing posts is handled by WordPress. Personally the biggest drawback would be the lack of extensions for WordPress at this time, which may put a lot of people off using it, this will change as with all things, if you are a developer or dabbler then this will not be an issue for you. Currently the main plugins avaiable are the all important SEO-All-In-One, Akismet, Lightbox and Sociable.
WordPress+Joomla MU is developed by corePHP and costs $79.95 a year which is via a subscription. You can find more information at CorePhp.
Internet Marketing Service Experts: Should You Hire Them?
Jul 2nd
An Internet Marketing Service Provider Can Help You Put The Internet Business Puzzle Together for Success.
Should you hire Internet marketing service experts or not? The correct answer is – it depends. Think about the following issues and you will come up with the right answer on your own.
How Internet savvy are you? If you can honestly say you are an expert user, doing Internet marketing on your own will be much easier. From a purely technical point of view, understanding tools and methods such as Facebook, Twitter, search engine optimization, pay-per-click and analytics tools is a challenge. Even if you are a proficient consumer of Internet services, you will find yourself confused when it comes to being a provider of online services.
How familiar are you with marketing? Even if you know how to use all the different tools, you will not be able to use them well for your Internet business if you do not understand marketing. Knowing the basics – price, products, place, and promotion is good. Then you need to have a well-designed marketing plan. Finally, you need to combine that knowledge with technical know-how to design ads and campaigns that will appeal to your target audience.
How interested are you in Internet marketing? If you are the kind of person who just wants to use Internet to do business, learning how to market your products can be a time-consuming endeavor that just frustrates you and drags you away from what you really enjoy doing. You will find yourself learning how to do things you would rather have somebody else do, while the thing that really gets you excited is pushed in the background.
To make the right choice for yourself, make a quick cost-benefit analysis. Assess your current knowledge of Internet technologies and marketing. Then find out how much time you would need to learn to do that job on your own. Include the cost of any books or seminars you would need to purchase. Then calculate how much money you would make doing the job you are actually good at. If, after all this, it makes more sense to focus on your core business and leave Internet marketing to an expert, hire one. Otherwise, do it on your own.
For a small business owner looking to start an Internet business, it can be hard to add the cost of hiring an Internet Marketing Service provider to all the other costs. But good services of a qualified professional will soon pay off and end up saving you a lot of money.
Open Source CMS for Business
Jul 1st
There are many types of website you can have these days and of all the different ways to design a site open source platforms have become increasingly popular for there ease and usability factors. Unfortunately for many internet business owners they never even get to hear of such platforms as many web designers do not use them although more and more are coming round to these fantastic systems.
So what is a CMS exactly? Well CMS stands for Content Management System, which is the collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. Basically it is a system that allows people with very little technical knowledge to manage the data such as content i.e. articles, music etc on their business website without the unnecessary cost of having a web designer do these changes to their content – a serious plus for a small internet business owner.
It is very important that a website must have content that attracts internet traffic. As a rule of thumb, a website’ content must follow Search Engine Optimisation i.e. SEO rules to get traffic. It therefore follows that if using a CMS that you choose one that is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) friendly.
Content Management Systems (CMS)
‘Need for a CMS’
A CMS is used to control content for business websites that require updated very frequently, say daily or weekly. It is an automated tool that facilitates content development and control for a Webpage. In addition to development, it can also perform maintenance functions. Everyone acknowledges the importance of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) in web content development. Without incorporating SEO, you struggle to get your website visible. Hence if you are using any CMS, then you better choose a one which incorporates SEO.
‘Basic features of a SEO friendly CMS’
The first and foremost feature of a CMS is to generate a ‘Keyword rich URL’ for your webpage. A URL should ideally be a static one, which means it should not contain a reference to some html code like ‘../threadid=12345&sort=date’. A static URL is easily recognised by search engines.
The next important function is to manage the tags. For ‘Title tag customisation’ a CMS must be able to customise tags on a page by page basis. The Meta Description is very crucial as well, it is a guide for Search Engines to use as an accurate summary of a page’s content in the search result. Hence, Meta description and robots tags must be editable via the CMS for it to be considered SEO friendly. This feature is known as ‘Meta Tag Customisation’.
Finally ‘Custom HTML tags enabling’ should offer the function of putting tags or “nofollow” tags on links. So, any CMS you choose must provide such features to manage your tags.
‘Other website functions’
Due care should be taken while designing the architecture of a website. A CMS must support a ‘Sensible site structure’ by providing as much flexibility as possible to design a good business website. So, features like customisable navigation are a must. When we talk of navigation, a CMS must provide ’301-redirects’ to allow the proper re-direction of content where necessary. Apart from that, a CMS must provide the ‘ability to access all areas’ of a website including footers and side-bars.
Some add-ons can be very handy like ‘RSS feeds’ on your website. An ideal CMS offers Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) in RSS feeds as well. With the power of RSS feeds to bring internet traffic combined with SEO, you are sure to see good results.
Last but not the least, since a search engine cannot read images, all images should be optimised and alt tags used as a must from an SEO perspective. The alt tags serve as the anchor text and allow you to add keyword-rich text. Thus a CMS must have the feature ‘Image handling and ALT tags’.
The choices are endless and up to you, do a bit of research first do not accept someone elses word that a particular CMS is right for your business, you will know what is a best fit for your business model. Hence, you must wisely select a CMS for your business webpage which will allow your business to both be visible online by having good SEO properties and also ease of use and good functionality for non-techies.
As mentioned above there are numerous options available such as Joomla! which is both popular, powerful and functional, WordPress which is very popular with total web newbies if you want to talk to potential clients, then there is drupal, Magento and too many to mention. What you need to do is to select the best among them for your internet business needs.
