Archive for March, 2009

I recently visited a site known as Website Grader. I found it as an extremely useful tool telling me of what needs to be improved, and what is appropriate in MY website. Though I was disappointed with the score, it helped me realize what needs improvement.

Using Website Grader gives a small business website owner insight on the properties of a website that can be improved. I’ve read reviews that website designers wrote saying a high grade could give small business website owners a “false sense of security”. Point taken. Regardless, the grader site gives a view of many factors necessary to be monitored in order to have an efficient running website. Some of these factors include: Domain stability, readability, page rank, traffic rank, inbound links and a final grade. By studying the report, small business website owners can see where their website excels and where it is lacking, and try to correct those errors.

By checking your small business website on Website Grader, small business website owners can gain perspective on what’s right and wrong with a site. This information can be used to improve the accessibility of a website, and enhance a website’s page rank with Google. I advise running your small business website through website.grader.com in order to find out where your website ranks.

Read more about how to Analyze a Website with Website Grader

Writing blog posts for your small business website is an important element to keep fresh content constantly added, in order to add SEO. A blog is a great place to offer your visitors useful information and advice, as I do, giving your readers a reason to visit your website often. I thought I would compile a summary of tips and pointers I use to write effective blog posts.

Write for your reader in an informal yet appropriate fashion, making it as easy to understand as if you were talking to a friend or relative. Write about what you are comfortable with, such as your business or reviews of opinions or new topics that have come up within your niche of business. Offer advice, write about things you’ve recently learned, and things you have discussed with clients to draw your readers in for your next post.

Include tags and labels in your posts, to link to outside sources and include them when you publish with Blogger. Also, write a few posts and set them to schedule every few days in Blogger, so they go out automatically even when you aren’t writing. Do research on topics related to your business and inform your readers on things you’ve learned. Write about a problem, the action taken to solve it, and the results of these actions.

Using these tips on writing blog posts can effectively improve your small business website, increase your traffic and your page ranking over a period of time.

Have a look at these other blog related posts that give tips and advice on writing blog posts, filtering spam, writing to increase traffic, WordPress advantages over Blogger, ways to come up with post ideas and more.

Look at our Custom Blog Design Prices on this website.

It is very important to use natural methods for search engine optimization because Google could give penalties for doing otherwise. In order to avoid penalties by search engines, it helps to understand what methods are frowned upon.

Correct methods for increasing search engine optimization include adding content as often as possible, keeping track of your keyword density in the process. Adding too many instances of keywords and key phrases is called “Stuffing” and search engines don’t regard it well. Having too few keywords in a page can make a website virtually “invisible” to search engines, so avoiding that is a good practice. Finding a good balance may help improve a small business website’s page ranking and reputation with Google, and around a 4 percent keyword density is recommended. This can be optimized in a downloadable program known as DupeFree Pro. Simply copy and paste the text, type the keyword in the box and click “Keyword Density”.

Having duplicate content online is HIGHLY frowned upon in Google and other search engines. Copying copywritten material WILL GET CAUGHT and penalized, so avoiding this is mandatory. Again, using DupeFree Pro can help small business website owners avoid duplicate content by copy and pasting text in the text box, and then click “online”.

Another mistake made by small business website owners is “Blasting” their website, sending your website link to thousands of emails. Blasting is an improper practice which can get your site considered as “spam” or unsolicited bulk email. Search engines pick up on this, and next thing your website may be “Blacklisted” putting your site at the end of the list in search engines. Avoiding this can keep your small business website online and aid in the increase of search engine optimization.

Practicing natural methods for search engine optimization like using optimum keyword density, avoiding duplicate content, and not blasting your website may give small business website owners the edge other sites online. Keep your content informative, original, and keep it coming in order to let your visitors know you are there to help by using natural methods of increasing search engine optimization.

Read more about Search Engine Optimization or read my entire article on Natural Methods for Search Engine Optimization.

One of the first decisions to make when beginning a small business website design is considering the creation of a home page. There are many options and techniques to attract website traffic. It is important for visitors to be interested in your product or service, and making a positive first impression should be taken into consideration to improve website traffic and search engine optimization.

An attractive home page helps draw online traffic to your small business website. Sharp graphics and layout should be appealing and to the point giving a positive first impression. Appropriate fonts and colors to match your business card or printed material may impress your visitors. Potential customers should be able to
gather information quickly and easily on your small business website’s main page and easily discern the products and services offered.

A small business website’s home page will be the first thing a visitor sees, and should incorporate techniques that attract website traffic. After all, bringing repeat customers is an advantage of having a small business website, and visual appeal will encourage them to tell a friend, or bookmark your site.

Many small business website owners do not know about a powerful networking tool known as Twitter. This website has recently gained popularity with millions of people around the world. When properly used, small business website owners can increase their site following, and advertise what they do in an online community.

Follow me for web design advice and fun stuff on Twitter.

Creating a Twitter account and obtaining followers on Twitter can aid small business website owners advertisement on the web. By obtaining a following of people in their own business, small business website owners can be exposed to many people in the same market. Many people use Twitter as a friendly “chatting” place to talk about personal affairs, but I find getting followers in the same business and offering information about what I do, invites other small business website owners to follow me as well. They can offer tips and updates that I may have overlooked on the web, and I return the favors.

Twitter is what I like to call the “business myspace”, because it’s very popular with business heads who “tweet” about ongoings in their business and related topics. But beware, spammers who get on Twitter just to push their product and send you to spammy websites should be avoided.

Find out more about Getting Started on Twitter Tips and Advice and check out these other posts on social media.

Page ranking can be directly proportional to website age, and is a key for increasing wesite search engine traffic. The longer that a website page is online, the more prestige it receives with search engines. Therefore, the sooner a company gets up and running, the more of a chance it has receiving a better page rank.

In order to have an aged site, the sooner your small business website appears online the better. If you are not online yet, there is no better time than now. Page ranking is an indication of how well search engines can index you when people search online. Older sites gain seniority, and increased page ranking is an indication of popularity.

By having an aged website, and inserting creative quality content often, a small business website can increase in page ranking. This takes having a user-friendly design, an attractive home page, appropriate tags, labels and keywords, and constant blog posting with valuable information on interesting topics. Keep these tips handy and don’t waste any time without a website.

Check the Page Rank for a Website

Stickiness is necessary for a website to be effective, sometimes websites die off quickly because of lack of stickiness. Stickiness can be enhanced within your webpage as well as in blog posts. Successful blogs depend upon having readers who come back on a regular basis. Creating a groups of loyal readers is based on quality information in your posts, and keeping your blog content original and interesting.

First of all, understand what stickiness is and how to increase it in your website. Stickiness is defined as “The amount of time spent at a site over a given time period”. Stickiness is anything about a website that encourages a potential customer to stay longer and return on a regular basis, and is measured by the average minutes each month that website visitors spend at a website, and sometimes measured by “page views”. Website stickiness is a comparison of number of visits to a webpage (repeat usage) versus the time spent per usage (session stickiness). A website is considered “Sticky” if someone is encouraged to stay for a period of time and returns regularly. Provide wanted content, allow site personalization and invite user feedback with a “comments” section. Indicators of loyalty and site views are very important measures that websites can offer advertisers.

Stickiness for effective websites means that more people will be attracted to your site and remain there longer. Stick to the topics and stay focussed to go in-depth on single subjects. By increasing your website’s stickiness you can increase your webpage’s popularity and page ranking.

Have a look at these other blog related posts that give tips and advice on writing blog posts, filtering spam, writing to increase traffic, WordPress advantages over Blogger, ways to come up with post ideas and read more about Search Engine Optimization.

Small business website owners may have difficulty incorporating the appropriate keywords and key phrases to accurately describe their small business website. By choosing the appropriate keywords and key phrases, search engines can index your website better, faster, and perhaps give the edge needed to raise website ranking.

Choose keywords and key phrases that accurately describe your business. Don’t use pronouns or vague descriptors such as this, that or it. The words in your title are should be included in the body of your website page or blog to positively influence how well search engines index and find your website.

Another tip is to make a list of keywords possibly entered to find your website online. Then by researching those keywords online at a site known as Keyworddiscovery.com, you can find out what the best possible keywords are to target your website. You can integrate their data into your own tools and search terms that drive traffic to websites by specific categories.

Proper keyword density is also important to gain a competitive edge over the competition. Download a program known as DupefreePro to check for duplicate content online and how many times keywords appear in each webpage by number and percentage. Keyword density should fall within 2% to 6% for optimum search engine results.

Using proper keywords and keyword density for your website can give the edge needed to succeed over your small business website’s competition.

Read more about Search Engine Optimization and use these Keyword Research Resources

One problem a user may find on a website is difficulty finding the information desired in a timely fashion. It is the function of the designer to make website navigation simple or else site visitors may leave quickly, eliminating the possibility of becoming a potential customer.

The main object of a website’s main page is to invite the visitor to continue searching within your website. The first impression is detrimental to keeping a visitor on your website. Making navigation buttons and photos clearly visible may help make the visitor’s experience interesting. Make the main page about the visitor’s need, and your desire to fulfill that requirement, because web surfers don’t always search for a certain product or service, but when they arrive there, they may come to a realization that they require what you offer.

Objectively develop your website with the visitor in mind, and you could increase your traffic, improve your search engine optimization, and your online business online may become more popular. By word of mouth, your website could exponentially grow. The next thing you know, your small business website gains more attention by visitors and search engines alike.