Technology changes quickly on the Web. If you haven’t updated your website in the last year, you’re likely missing out on traffic, customers, social marketing opportunities, and much more. Here are our top five reasons to get your website up-to-speed today:
- 1. Higher Search Engine Ranking.
- Search engines are the No. 1 way your prospects find you. But if your website isn’t designed, coded, and optimized to rank high in searches, those potential customers simply won’t find you.
- 2. More Traffic.
- Indexing, external links, e-mail marketing, strategic campaigns, and more, all add up to improving visitor rates and increasing your site’s return on investment.
- 3. Better Visitor Experience.
- A logical flow and clear path to your information results in more page visits, more time spent on your site, and more satisfied visitors.
- 4. Easier Maintenance.
- Updating your site with current information, blog posts, or news doesn’t have to leave you at the mercy of your Internet provider. A content management system makes it easy to update your site on your own.
- 5. Social Network Connectivity.
- Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are now integral to the business world and key to boosting your exposure, credibility, and ability to reach new and current customers.
jweissberg Blog Articles Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Website Design
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jweissberg Blog Articles Website Design, WordPress Template, Wordpress Themes
Jeff Weissberg, a partner at SoCal WebWorx was recently interviewed by Xemion.com, the leading national directory of website design companies. The interview touched on a number of critical topics including how to prepare for the website designing process and how often your website should be updated.
The full interview is posted here: http://www.xemion.com/interviews/socal-webworx-website-design-and-marketing-in-socal The following questions are answered in-depth within the Xemion blog post.
1. What types of services does your website design firm offer?
2. What work needs to be done BEFORE hiring a web design firm?
3. What factors determine the price of a custom website?
4. What is the process like for designing a website and what can a client do to make it go smoother?
5. Are clients asking more questions about social media and seo? What should they know?
6. What can clients do to make sure their website is found by search engines like Google?
7. What type of ongoing maintenance is required with a website? How does your firm help with this?
8. How often should you update your website design?
jweissberg Blog Articles Search Engine Optimization, Website Design
As technology continues to evolve at an increasing pace we are seeing several trends emerging in the website design and development business. Here are a few key trends we’re observing regularly.
More Website Packages – Pros & Cons – These can offer you a fast way to get up and running. Especially helpful for businesses building their first website. Customization will of course be limited on lower priced template based packages.
Industry Consolidation – As with other industries, large established companies in adjacent industries continue to introduce website design services. In addition they continue to buy out smaller companies to gain larger market shares. Large companies, especially public companies, are likely to offer more standardized packages and less customization than smaller firms.
Overseas Outsourcing – See our recent posting: Overseas Outsourcing of Website Development – Pros & Cons. In the end you get what you pay for!
More e-commerce Websites - Everyone seems to be looking to sell something online these days. Shopping cart sites are proliferating from rubber stamps to nutritional supplements and even home furnishings.
Designing for ipads, iphones and netbook computers – As technology continues to evolve everyone involved with the internet is running to keep up with new browser devices and browser software. This especially impacts the design use of Flash animation as many developers are turning to jQuery / php code to meet animation requirements for all browser devices.
jweissberg Blog Articles Website Design
Before actually signing a contract and hiring a specific web design firm you are well advised to do some homework.
Most importantly, you should make decisions regarding the functionality and features you desire. Are there specific dynamic requirements that the site must have? For example, secure on-line shopping e-commerce, on-line testing, blog or forum, etc.
It’s helpful to research related sites. Find examples of your likes and dislikes. This will help you make decisions regarding your website needs and will assist in defining a realistic budget. It will enable web design firms to give you accurate quotes and proposals and for the chosen firm to move your site development in the right direction from the start.
In addition, you should give serious consideration to the Search Engine Optimization and marketing expertise of the company you choose. Many aspects of on-site SEO are more economical and efficient to do in tandem with your website design and development. When handled in synch decisions regarding site content and formatting will result in a site that is visually enticing to people as well as search engine friendly for maximum organic search engine traffic.
Lastly, if your website is going to be a marketing vehicle for your company or organization hire a firm that understands marketing communications to maximize your brand identity, develop a benefits oriented website and create a positive experience for visitors.
jweissberg Blog Articles Search Engine Optimization, Website Design
Just as with brochures, catalogs and other traditional print-based marketing materials, your website will most likely eventually need some updating and revisions.
From time to time most websites need to be refreshed as information and images on your site become outdated. At some point you may even consider a total re-work of your website to reflect a timely image. You may also have features you want to add to your website which require major rework. It may turn out to be less expensive to simply start again than adding patches on an old website. Your website may be built for older browsers and some functionality may not be working properly on new hand-held Internet browsing devices.
The right time to rework your website is an individual business or organizational decision. Some companies redo their websites every year to reflect changes in products and services. Many companies rework their sites within three years of going live and within five years most companies are re-visiting their website designs. Many large companies have in-house web designers and developers for making on-going site changes. Of course most smaller companies cannot afford such a staff and will turn to a professional web design firm for assistance.
We live in a time of rapid social and technological change that demands a concerted effort to “keep up with the times”. Sometimes a “Marketing Makeover” is all it takes to revitalize sales, reach new customers and increase profitability.
jweissberg Blog Articles Custom Website Design, Website Design
Custom Website Design is the process of planning, mocking-up, designing and programming of digital content for viewing via the Internet. The completed website should be suitable for search engine requirements and display through a web browser or other web-based interfaces.
Custom website design is different from template-based website design in that each site is approached as a unique marketing / sales vehicle for the client. Unlike a template-based site, a custom site is designed to meet your individual business needs and is not easily replicated by competitors.
The intent of custom web design is to efficiently and effectively communicate your marketing message via the Internet and lead viewers to take the desired actions per your business goals. This may be to call for information, or make a purchase or donation on-line, or to simply sign up for your newsletter.
A well-executed custom design should of course also have real value to the intended viewer audience. In choosing a web design company look to see that their sites reinforce their clients branding efforts, are easy to navigate and use graphic elements to effectively communicate the key site features, content and purpose. Most importantly, site visitors should have a positive experience when visiting your website.
jweissberg Blog Articles Branding, Custom Website Design, Website Design
Search Engine Optimization – SEO – continues to be a dominant topic of discussion amongst webmasters and business people alike. The true story in this posting illustrates the importance of the topic.
Recently an ongoing client referral called our office to ask about our SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services. His website was already completed and posted by another web design company, but I was certainly open to helping with his SEO efforts to improve his site ranking and daily traffic.
After a quick scan of the site it was obvious that it was developed entirely in Flash. Now don’t get me wrong. I love Flash animation and we incorporate Flash banners into many of or client sites as well as our own site. But the thing is that search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, ASK, etc.) cannot read verbiage from Flash files. Therefore, despite all the content rich verbiage on his site it is of no help in his SEO efforts. Unfortunately, before we could assist in his on-site SEO keyword efforts we would have to circumvent this search engine impediment, by either building and posting a jQuery (JavaScript) keyword-rich background file for search engines to read, or converting the site to HTML/CSS so its content can be seen by search engines. Either way this would be an extra step and expense for the client beyond our usual SEO services.
So to answer the original post question, it’s never too early to incorporate SEO efforts into your site development. If you think of website design and development as building an automobile and On-Site SEO as labeling the auto parts, it should be obviously more efficient to do both activities at the same time. You certainly wouldn’t want to build the car first and then try to reach all the parts to label them. That duplication of efforts wastes both your time and money.
We recommend you start your Search Engine Optimization efforts early, and develop your site concept and keyword phrases simultaneously. Incorporate effective SEO techniques into your verbiage and content formatting as you design and build the website.
jweissberg Blog Articles Search Engine Optimization, SEO, Website Design
The design and development of a new custom website can be an enormous effort for some clients, especially the process of pulling together the website assets and content. So its no surprise that when the site goes live many clients want nothing more than to be done and get back to their regular business tasks. Unfortunately, even after the website is completed and posted there are additional actions that can be taken to increase the website’s visibility on the Internet. And it is advisable to complete these tasks as soon as possible after launch for maximum benefits.
Following is a short list of the highest priority tasks for optimizing website traffic after your site has gone live.
- Install and configure Google Analytics. Google Analytics allows you to view in detail the Internet traffic coming to your website, its source URL’s, number of pages visited and duration of time before bouncing off site. The sooner you begin collecting this data the better you will be able to analyze your website traffic.
- Submit your completed website to the major search engines – Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Getting found on the Internet will be expedited by correctly notifying these major search engines that your website is posted live.
- Submit your website address (URL) to all relevant industry directories and major Internet directories including DMOZ and Yahoo. The respective links are: http://www.dmoz.org/add.html and https://ecom.yahoo.com/dir/submit/intro . Being listed in these directories will definitely contribute to your search engine optimization success.
- List your website on the Internet wherever appropriate. You can write and submit articles to relevant blogs and include your URL wherever permissible to create “back-links” to your website. Create a Facebook “Fan Page” for your business and use social networking directories such as Linkedin at http://www.linkedin.com to spread the word about you website.
In closing, remember that once you’ve got a great website make sure your potential clients and customers will find you in search engines by following the steps above. Organic (no-paid) search engine optimization is an ongoing effort that should ideally begin as soon as your new website is posted live.
drobertson Blog Articles Search Engine Optimization, Website Design
When planning your website deign and layout its important to consider the way a viewer visually scans a webpage. Did you know that there are specific theories on viewer’s eye patterns when scanning a webpage? By understanding the hot spots on your webpage it can lead you to position elements for the most effective visibility. I am aware of three such theories and will describe and illustrate each below.
1. The Triangle pattern (also referred to as the Golden Triangle and the Google Triangle). This may indeed be the hottest area and most commonly first viewed section of a webpage. As company greetings and navigation buttons are frequently in this area it would stand to reason. What this pattern does not consider is any additional locations a viewer scans to on the page.
2. The Zig Zag pattern (and Double Zig Zag pattern per illustration below). I first encountered this pattern theory in art school, presented as the way a viewer scans a painting. Later a graphic artist went on to describing the same pattern. In a speed-reading class the theory was encountered a third time.
3. The F pattern. This pattern proposes that eye movement scans across the navigation area and then back on the same line. The eye then scans down the left and again moves horizontally mid way down the page. The F could also become an E pattern if there are elements to attract the eye upon reaching the lower left part of the F.
There are some obvious common denominators worth noting between the three patterns.
- The initial horizontal eye movement across the banner / navigation areas.
- The horizontal scans midway across the page in both the F and Zig Zag patterns.
- The top to bottom approach in the F and Zig Zag Patterns.
Your web designer can add sticky features and images to help encourage eye movement along the common patterns and help you layout your page for maximum effectiveness and a positive viewer experience.
jweissberg Blog Articles Custom Website Design, Website Design
