why open source can harm your SEO Ranking

I came across a video tutorial and blog post outlining the negative effects a "template," specifically a wordpress template, could have on your search engine ranking.

Something I am very interested in because I have achieved a great page ranking for a specific keyphrase and I am about to launch a new version of my site using wordpress as my back end technology.

Here are my issues.

I need to be able to custom design a website from scratch;

meaning I can design a site to look the way I want it to look,

ahem, or the way the client wants it to look.

Usually, a website from scratch is something very difficult to do with an open source template.

These templates are usually made for people who don't know how to code or don't want to pay a designer to code. So for designers it's difficult to use the "convenient" back end functionality and then "skin" the templates to look the way we want.

I am getting a handle on this challenge and will post the process in a series of you tube videos once I am completed with the project.

But my next issue is this concern with my SEO ranking.

A lot of hard work, time, and energy has gone into my page ranking. Although I would love to have my new sight up and running with wordpress driving the technology, I don't want my page ranking to suffer from the upgrade.

This article that explains what could go wrong, is coming from a company that claims they have the "solution" if you pay the $90 bucks for their template. Which technically I think is a great value, but...

It seems to have the same issues as normal templates, the inability to customize the site the way I need to.

What I learned from the "explanation" is that google loves clean code, so as long as my sight "validates" I should be good.

In addition, I have not yet put the new site's design through my SEO optimizer tool to see if all the SEO techniques are fully functional.

I hope that my original approach works; but, if not, I will probably have to look into this for a solution.

I think now is a perfect time to point out one of the "drawbacks" to using a templated open source solution. Some nopun potential clients lose because they think they can save some dough by using these free readily available solutions. Actually these free templates could be doing more harm and cost more to correct than hiring a professional graphic designer from the start.

check out the demo and great explanation here;

http://www.copyblogger.com/thesis-theme-for-wordpress/

Doing your own SEO work to save money

There is no doubt that having your website show up in the first position on the first page of the website directory is a great way to drive new customers to your business.

Even if your business doesn't do business online you can benefit from an online presence.

I mean, as early as last weekend, I needed to find the address to a pumpkin patch located in River Head Long Island. A pumpkin Patch! And wouldn't you know it, I found it by googling.

Any and all businesses need to be online!

And having a professionally designed website is not enough, you need to have a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy in place that will help you achieve the first page ranking for your company.

Researching SEO techniques isn't that hard to do and there are plenty of reputable software solutions that can help you achieve a great presence in search engines.

To save money, many businesses would prefer to research how to do this work internally without having to hire a professional company. But I'd like to point out that unless your business is website design or website marketing, you should not waste your time trying to learn how to do it on your own. Instead, focus on what you do best, the money you would spend with a professional will be less than the money you save by trying it on your own. You will save on the cost of the software, save on the time spent researching topics, and save on the time it would take to even see if your techniques actually work or not.

why search engines want your page to be relevant

I have never thought of why a website needs to be relevant from the perspective of a search engine.

But I believe the latest "bing" campaign that showcases the goals of search engines from their perspective. The commercials showcase conversations and possible un-relevant results that could come up.

ie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5ZiNkGfUJ0

If a search engine constantly sends people to pages that do not make sense, then these people will stop using that search engine.

Therefore, when you design a site you should be sure to have all of the necessary code added to the sight. This code will make sure search engines can help identify what your website is about, and can help show your site in conversations that make sense to your company.

Free Keyword Research tool from Google

I came across this solution provided for free from Google.

I have used solutions like word tracker, and currently Internet Business Promoter, but I think this is a valuable tool that should either be a part of or replace some of these forms of keyword search term research.

Check it out here and test drive it for your self...

http://www.google.com/insights

Flash is SEO friendly!

I had to pinch myself this morning, because I really felt like I was "dreaming" when I read that google now has an algorithm to index flash files! http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/06/improved-flash-indexing.html

This adds to my thought of there has never been a greater time to have your own business, and be marketing that business with today's technologies. I can't begin to count how many arguments I have had in conference rooms when I wanted to add flash to a website for the "wow" factor to only be told by the consulting SEO firms "flash kills SEO rankings."

Well not anymore. So now we can "flash" away. I am not convinced that a full flash site like http://www.nopun.com/Flash_Website/Mana_Fine_Arts/ would be the best way to go, because the article talks about how "text" in a flash file will be indexed, but there really isn't anything else you can do to increase the rankings. So things like alt tags and bold text and h1 tags and a few other SEO techniques that you can use with simple html sites still may be the best way to go.

But this does mean you can have a flash element within your html site and even grow your optimization positioning because of it. Instead of it hindering your chances of ranking well.

A site like this would work well

http://www.moishesmobile.com/

To me this is exciting news because I can go back to designing sites that aim to entertain the visitors, without hindering the SEO chances.

I'd love to hear you weigh in on the subject, post your comments today.

How many pages you should write for your SEO Campaign

Today we have a helpful tip on how many pages you should write for your desired key phrase for your SEO campaign.

I have always know that if you use googles site search you can see how well a competitor is doing with google. However, I have never thought of adding the desired key phrase to that search string. Which results in the exact number of about how many pages you will need to conceptualize, optimize and add to your website to try and get close.

We are talking about the "tricky" subject of SEO here, I love to hate this part of marketing because it feels like voodoo magic. With all the work you do, as potentially doing better with no real guarantee that it will work at all. But it is a necessary evil and we keep trying until we get the results we need.

check out the article here and post your comments thoughts and reactions!

http://www.seodesignsolutions.com/blog/seo-tips/seo-tips-to-step-over-competitors/

W3 compliant for SEO and user experience

I am currently documenting a web design project from start and finish, the goal of the site is to ensure it is w3 compliant using css design.

I will be broadcasting the process on a video blog at the upcoming No Pun Youtube channel.

I thought to myself, I know why being w3 compliant is important, but I am not too sure others know.

I found this article that does a good job explaining.

http://www.isnare.com/?aid=412162&ca=Advice

SEO Write Content and forget about it

One of the biggest challenges a client faces when building a website is content.

We usually get the entire site designed programmed and ready to launch before the content is fully developed. I have realized this dilemma first hand, and I agree that creating content is like pulling teeth. But the problem is, that once we "clients/and myself" finally get the content together we add it to the site launch it and forget about it. Whew I am glad that's over, now where are my customers, and or why can't I show up on the first page of my key search terms?

There are two issues with this;

1) Google loves fresh content, content content content.

The more google crawls your site and sees that content is constantly being updated it will rank you higher. But as soon as you stop adding this content you will begin to fall.

I personally have an issue with this, because I am a graphic designer who doesn't want a tremendous amount of content on my website cluttering up my clean design. In addition to the look and feel of a lot of content I am a designer not a writer. I have plenty of opinions and plenty of things to say about topics, but usually don't know how to craft the sentences the way I'd like. But I can't let that stop me from adding new content.

My solution has been maintaining this blog. By having this blog I can add as much content as possible, and although this is not my corporate site, it's not hard to find my corporate site if you're in the market for professional graphic design services. This way I can have the best of both worlds a ton of content while my corp site is clean with a minimalist design.

I have seen this theory work, I am beginning to show up on some great key phrases that I would never have dreamed of.

2) the desired key phrase is an issue.

I would love to show up on the first page in position one for the single key phrase "design" but that is probably never going to happen. But I am beginning to show up for "professional graphic design studio" "professional graphic designer" and "professional graphic design"

Which is really cool for me, and although I don't have the phone ringing off the hook, I am getting traffic from this key phrase.

The greatest tool to help determine what phrases are working is through google's, webmaster tools, it shows your most prominent hey-phrases associated with your content, and the position reports are pretty close.

In addition I love google analytics and goingup.com,

I have actually developed a google doc that has a unique set of parameters and tools I use to track data that is important for my website. I would love to share this document with anyone who is interested just ask.

So the take away to this post, is write content and don't stop, don't let your fear of bad grammar stop you, and if it competes too much with the look and feel of your site create a blog, and instead of checking your desired key-phrase see which phrases are showing up.

As a follow up to this discussion please read this press release from dzine.

They point out that while sprinkling your content with keywords can help with your search engine ranking it could back fire from your actual visitors.

http://www.pr-inside.com/good-content-is-key-to-a-r1478218.htm

Free website tools Scam!

I was taken aback by a discovery I just made.

I am trying to help a friend do some basic SEO stuff to her website. She told me that the site was built using a free website builder tool, which I thought--ok, cool.

You got to start somewhere, and having a site online is better than not.

But I started with adding a keyword right title tag to her site, the most obvious first place to add some SEO stuff. When I previewed the site it said something completely different promoting something totally un-related to what her website was promoting.

I double checked the code and nowhere could I find where this mysterious meta-tag stuff was being added. Even on a fresh clean html page that had nothing on it, it had this mysterious meta code.

My only thought is that her "cheap" web hosting and awesome "free" web builder tool was dynamically putting this stuff in.

Which in my opinion is a perfect example of 'you get what you pay for' lesson. If it's too good to be true then it probably is...

I recommended that she host with us, and completely redesign the site since we were abandoning this one. So, we can start with a clean slate that will have fresh/clean/targeted content, branded in a way that will try and make her website aggressive instead of passive...

I thought I would share this info so the next time you are considering a cheap free tool, over hiring a professional graphic designer, it may not be the cheaper solution. Because not only will you waste time and money with the cheaper solutions but you will have to basically redo it all anyway...

Thoughts? Questions? Comments? Experiences? I'd love to hear them.

Things your competitors can do to harm your Google Position

I can't help but to see this article as informative on how to protect your own business, but the "devil" inside can't help but to think what you could do to your competitors!

Mu ha ha haaaa

Just kidding, this stuff is bad, and I would rather dive full force into white hat SEO practices that will increase business in an ethical way...

http://www.redalkemi.com/blog/google-empowers-your-competitors-to-destroy-your-search-engine-rankings/

optimize your site as you build it!

If clients can look at the whole picture from the beginning of the web project. Before the design begins, before programming begins and even copywriting. Their new website project will go as smooth as ever...

I have to admit I was one of those that would build the site launch it then add the SEO, then I stumbled onto a project where the SEO was done first, and I was amazed at how smooth it went, as I was designing the site with css and html I was able to add appropriate key words in the alt tags and links and naming conventions really saving time on double work.

Of course that only works if one firm is doing both SEO and the design,

Currently I am working on a project that I am working hand and hand with the outside SEO firm and I am just now about to review our designs with them for their input, I hope it will be as smooth as the other project...

http://econsultancy.com/blog/4547-how-to-optimise-your-website-from-the-ground-up

SEO Competitive keyword search

Here is a great little "vlog" on some competitive keyword research.

The presenter presents a few websites that can really open your eyes, on what keywords are working and for who.

You can see what is working for others then figure out what they are doing to get that traffic...

http://www.seodesignsolutions.com/blog/seo-videos/market-analysis-how-to-discover-your-competitors-keywords/

This site lets you compare your site with specific competitors

http://www.compete.com/

And finally Alexa

You will be amazed at how much information Alexa can give you on your site and your competitors

http://www.alexa.com

This site shows you what keywords the company is using and how much they are spending

http://www.semrush.com

Wanna know how much a person spends on their PPC campaigns?

Which keywords, and ad variations?

http://www.keywordspy.com

Writing your press release for SEO

It is no surprise that I have a Company Crush on Creare Group from the UK

Specifically because of their PR campaign and their focus on promoting their studio.

One of their secret weapons is the fact that they consistently launch a press release through http://www.officialwire.com practically every other day, that gets indexed by Google every time.

I have been trying to add a press release project to my marketing campaign for No Pun for a while now, but wasn't too sure where to start or on how to do it.

But Wouldn't you know it, the Creare Group has adding a two part series to their YouTube Channel further proving how cool these guys are...

You can check it out here

Now its time for action and try and get this project going.

First step in writing Press Release is to develop Topics

http://www.newzapp.co.uk/resource-hub/article-WritingEnewsletters.html

be an expert

feature guest writers

summarise or re-visit old content

feature case studies

discuss hot topics

want to know more?

Which can be Company Related or Industry Related

Secondly is "Newsworthy"

Current Events Related to Your company's

ie:Promotions, Products and Services

or

Current Affairs,

Industry Relevant News

And explain how you could provide solutions to these situations

following these points you can write or research

including what you want to achieve

--

First thing to develop is the title and your headline

1) attention grabbing and concise (Short and snappy)

2) Keep it relevant (If you promise something in your title, deliver it in the body)

3) Then keep it key word rich (Especially in the title, and the main body)

--

Structure the press release with the 5w's

1w) Who 2w) What 3w) Where 4w) When & 5w) Why

Then give an overview of your product and services and how it can be beneficial to your customers

Make sure it is punchy and avoid technical jargon that people outside your industry wouldn't understand with out sounding patronizing

--

Quotes and Statistics (Be sure that the statistics are from relevant sources not opinions from blogs)

Create a human element to the release that people can relate to

Quotes taken from specialist in the industry

--

Incorporating SEO

Take your two most desired Keywords

title = 1x

headline = if fits

lead in paragraph = 1x preferably at the beginning of the sentence

body = 5x for about 3 paragraphs with about 2 to 5 sentences per paragraph

second key phrase at least 2x in the

Be sure to add tags to the key words (make sure the places you submit your releases to allow tags)

Distributing your press releases

How to distribute your press releases online to help your SEO listings

Now that you have written your press releases with SEO in mind

Be sure that the sites you submit your site to have these 3 elements.

1) A high page rank

2) Relevant Categories

3) The ability to include links

first you should distribute to Google News

Then submit to Digg

Here is a list I (nopun.com) have been gathering to help get a start with online sites to submit to.

This first one is a paid service but is kinda the authority in press release submissions.

What I like about this is that they cover print in addition to online. It cost but if it pays off then why not?

Next are a few that I want to look into but don't have any details as of yet...

http://www.articlemaniac.com

http://www.prnewswire.com/

http://www.marketwire.com/

prurgent.com

http://www.pr-inside.com/

http://www.onlineprnews.com/

http://www.newswiretoday.com/

http://bx.businessweek.com/

http://www.officialwire.com/

http://www.prminds.com/

http://www.theopenpress.com/

http://www.live-pr.com/en/

http://taragana.com/

http://www.marketwire.com

www.prnine.com

here is a list of over 70 sites !

http://naldzgraphics.net/resources/70-recommended-sites-to-promote-your-design-related-articles/

Then update your facebook, linked in and twitter status with links to these articles

Thanks Creare Group this should give me some time to start writing my releases

SEO

There are a million and one suggestions on how to prepare your website for good search engine placement...

There are a lot of crossovers, and there are a few basic strategies that become common place...

I want to start this post to be collection of thoughts ideas and strategies.

Here's the first

http://www.promotionworld.com/se/articles/article/090812-SEO-Tips-From-Google-Bing

effective ways to write SEO titles

http://www.dailyseoblog.com/2009/09/8-tips-for-optimizing-page-titles-for-seo-design-the-best-page-titles/

tool by nopun that helps you write keyword rich and feature driven online copy

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dGZuY0xPV2FNVlgzSUxnVDVZSkRhNEE6MA..

Flash is OK for search engine optimization "SEO"

A smart design firm will know how you can make a site work well in search engine optimization along with adding flair using flash.

You can have best of both worlds

Don’t be Afraid to Spice up your Website with Flash

"Don’t let anyone talk you out of adding a Flash component to your website," says Crisafi.

Historically, he notes, sites heavy in Flash fared rather poorly when it came to search engine rankings. However, a good graphic design firm, with expertise in Flash video and animation, can actually utilize multimedia to increase search engine ranking and make your site more visually pleasing as well.

I'm not alone in this theory

http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/3866-1248965033-leading-web-design-firm-offers-advice-on-proper-seo-techniques.html

http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=23603&catid=391

Reduce Bounce Rates

It's amazing to me, that with over ten years of being a graphic designer, designing for both print and web. How there is still stuff to learn and discover.

What other kind of profession can constantly be re-inventing itself and continues to be interesting. Well at least to me...

Hence this next topic of "Bounce Rates".

Bounce Rates is a percentage you see when you review your webstats. It means that basically a visitor comes to your site but does nothing once the page loads.

This is one area of website design that frustrates me. Especially if the traffic comes from a PPC ad. I write ads that clearly present what the product or service is and peak the interest to learn more. So if a user is interested why, do they click on the ad to load the site to do nothing!, They don't explore more...

And what can we do to make this process easier for the visitor and the site owner.

Well my first suggestion comes from documenting each week the stats and capturing recommendations on things to tweak, this documentation is helpful if there is a spike in the numbers captured.

But what kind of suggestions should you use?...

I found these two sections of an article to be helpful.

Poor Website Design and Usability

First impressions make a lot of difference. If visitors enter your website and finds it all cluttered and clamped, they will feel rather uncomfortable and leave instead of exploring further. Likewise, if they have to spend a lot of time understanding your website or comprehending its features, they will ultimately get frustrated and make a move. Therefore, it is very important to have a website that is not only pleasant looking but also functions seamlessly. Visitors should feel welcome on the website and be able to browse through very easily. Intuitive navigation is the key to rich user experience.

Irrelevant Content

The content of your website should be high on information and value. They should offer some value addition to your audiences and provoke them to read further. In addition to rich information, the writing style should be such that visitors ask 'What's next?' Make sure you have well written content and guide your visitors to perform desired actions on your website.

Inconsistent Navigation

As mentioned earlier, well designed navigation system is the key to rich user experience. Similarly, poor navigation structure only serves to frustrate the visitors and make them leave. Navigation issues are one of the most common reasons for high bounce rates on websites. For your visitors to explore your website and move around easily, they need a consistent and intuitive navigation pathway.

Also check out these Must have features for your website

Some more things to consider can be found in this youtube video from google.

In addition there seems to be a collection of other helpful online material at Getonfast blog

The concept presented by google is, instead of thinking of the site terms of design, think of it terms of tasks. what do you want your users to do?

Do you want them to look at a collection fo stuff, do want them to listen to your views on something etc etc, try and focus on what you want the user to be able to do.

Heres is an interesting case study and further discussion on reducing your bounce rate

http://www.geekestateblog.com/how-low-can-you-go-instant-traffic-by-improving-your-bounce-rate/