Is there really a need to provide your website or online business a domain name? What difference will a domain name do to your website or online business? Domain name or the unique name that you chose for your website or online business – independent of ISP – is beneficial to webmasters, website owners, online business owners, online customers and online users. Domain names are significant in many ways. Listed here are some of the basic benefits of having a domain name.
Benefits of Domain Name
• Domain Name Allows You To Change Web Host or ISP Without Having To Change The Name.
It will be easier to change to a different web host or ISP if your website or online business owns a domain name. If ever you find a better web host than the one your site is using right now, you can easily transfer to it without the burden of having to change the name again. There will be nothing to hold you back from moving on towards a different web host since the name will remain the same.
In short, domain names are portable – you can literally carry it anywhere you want or in varied web hosts as you please. Now no one can hold you back from changing web hosts and ISPs. You won’t be tied up to your old web host or ISP again!
• Domain Names Provide Identity for Your Online Business.
Giving your website or your online business a domain name is actually giving it its own identity. Owning a domain name for your website or online business builds the credibility and image of the business. Even for the regular online users, visiting a site through its domain name is definitely better than visiting it through a free site with such a long name!
• Domain Names Give Your Site An Edge in Search Engines Submission
There are some search engines that do not accept submissions from a website with no domain name – meaning the ones hosted by a free site. Lucky if you find a good number of search engines that will accept your submission.
• Domain Names Make It Easy For Your Customers To Remember Your Company.
More often than not, it will be a whole lot easier for your customers to remember your company or online business if it has a domain name. Moreover, it will be easier for them to visit your website using a domain name. Having a domain name will be beneficial not only to you as a webmaster but to your customers and the general online users as well.
Domain names are essential for your website or online business in terms of identity, image, credibility, portability and search engine submission. But the benefits do not stop there. Giving your website a domain name also helps your customers.
By : Monica Lorica
This article is written by nPresence an online web marketing agency that specializes in Search Engine Optimization, Pay Per Click advertising, Content Management Systems, Web Design, Conversion Tracking and Analysis. For all your all your web marketing needs, please see Internet Marketing Agency.
Article Source: http://www.articlecache.com
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Is Domain Name A Must-Have In Websites?
Importance of Inbound and Outbound links in Website?
Backlinks or Inbound Links are links that are directed towards your website and are the building blocks to serious Investigate Engine Improvement. The number of backlinks a website has is a sainted indicator of its popularity or importance with explore engines. Search engines, namely Google Relinquish solon accomplishment to websites that know a larger Ware of character backlinks and consider those websites more relevant in a search query.
It is not enough to just have a high number of inbound links; they need to be quality links. For seek engines to determine the quality of inbound links the content of the site is critiqued. The content of the websites you have inbound links with needs to be relevant to your site. The more relevant the inbound links are to your site helps determine the quality of the links. For example if your site is hotel related than linking to a site about SEO Services is not relevant and is therefore not a quality link.
It is very easy to get a higher-ranking using backlinks than it is to influence search engines with external backlinks from other sites, which is why backlinks matter so much in a search engines algorithm system. Recently search engines criteria for quality inbound backlinks has gotten harder. This is due to people using deceptive tactics like hidden links or automatically generated pages whose entire purpose is to generate inbound links to other webpages.
By having quality backlinks you are attracting visitors to your site. You can’t just build a website and expect that people are going to find you without being pointed in the right direction. People previously used Reciprocal Linking to achieve this.
Reciprocal Links were discussed in a recent Google update as one of the targets for its latest filters. In order to boost website rankings through the number of inbound links, webmasters had agreed upon Reciprocal Link Exchanges. This link exchange occurs when one webmaster puts a link on their website to point to another webmasters website. Many of these were not relevant links and were just disregarded by search engines. The inbound links were not counted but the outbound links were still counted which lowered the relevancy score of many websites and caused them to drop off the Google map.
If you are interested in engaging in effective search engine optimization techniques, you do need to have an appreciation of the importance of backlinks. Indeed, when it comes to an effective SEO strategy, backlinks can be a crucial element of an overall campaign of website.
Guides for links:
1. Bad lineament inbound links can’t decrease your page rank but, if you link to a bad Quality web site it will have a bad effect on your site ranking.
Before linking to a website:
1- Browse the site carefully to find out that is a legal site and don’t do illegal things.
2- Inactivity to comprehend out whether it is indexed by operation engines or not. Look the URL of the website to see it is indexed or not.
2. You can boost your situation by linking to high quality sites.
Some search engines consider and analyze your outbound link such as inbound links. May be outbound link is not as effective as inbound links but, those can improve your situation.
Many webmasters are afraid to link to other websites. They think less outbound links is better than more but it is dependant upon the sites that you link to. Link to high quality sites makes your site better look like a more natural part of the web in Search Engines.
Other advantages:
1- With linking to high quality sites your visitors can obtain more info about that topic and so many of them don’t forget where they came from.
2- Webmasters you link to them may link back to you and also your new and old visitors may link to you because of good content and good outbound resource links.
The End of this article: when you want to link to a high quality site website feel relaxed to link to it but, don’t just Stuff your page with outbound links. Consider every thing when using the space on your site.
You can read this article also at Website-control.
About Author Jayesh Pau
Experts in providing search engine optimizationSearch engine optimization, website marketing, Internet marketing
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Friday, July 11, 2008
Create A Web Site Or build A Blog?
Many small business owners are jumping on the blogging craze and after a couple of months, they come to realize that blogging is far more difficult than the time it takes to create a web site. Should you create a web site or build a blog; that's the question. Before you go out and build a blog, you should understand what blogging is. Blogs are very similar to web site building, except for the fact that your web site pages are more seo friendly and stay longer in the search engines. A blog gets updated often, and you will have to keep adding content on a regular basis, to keep your blog ranking highly in the search engines. I believe that your much better off, building web pages that are content rich, and very informative, that will keep your visitors on your site. Once, you have a steady flow of visitor, then you should add a blog to your site. Once you create a web site, a theme based web site, will generate more traffic than a regular blog. Blogs don't attract buying visitors. Readers of blogs, just read the newest post and dissapears. Unlike web sites, your visitors spend more time on your sites, following the links you have added to your pages. Seeing that your pages are all related. I always create a web site, just for the purpose of pre-selling and to help me with my affiliate marketing. One you learn how to build a web site for profit, you will come to realize that a blog lacks structure. The whole blogging concept is very complicated for newbies. They build a blog, and do absolutely nothing with it, and then give up. You will understand the logical concept behind building themed sites, they target a specific topic, and your visitor will be able to follow this process much easier than a from your blog. Once you create your web site, with easy to follow links, the pattern will be easy to follow, and easy to understand. A blog should be mainly used to get visitors to your site. Once they are on your blog, lead them to your web pages. Creating web sites with that frame of mind will win in the long run. No matter which web site builder you choose to create a web site, your chances of making money online with a web site will be much greater than any of the top blogging platforms online.
Alexander Marlin is an Expert, and he will show you how to create a web site, the easy way, without the need to learn HTML. Learn how to design your own website without HTML.
Source : http://seoarticles4u.com/Create_A_Web_Site_Or_build_A_Blog_a4045.html
SEO Color Scale: White, Gray, Black
Anyone who is familiar with search engine optimization has heard the terms, “white hat” and “black hat” in reference to SEO practices. Discussion abounds when we attempt to draw a line in the sand between what is considered “white hat” and what is considered “black hat.” There are those that claim that any type of website optimization is considered cheating. There are also those who are willing to do anything to get ahead, regardless of the consequences later down the line. So when does website optimization turn from white to black? Is there a gray area, and if so, how big is it? Below I will discuss two areas of website optimization and the differences between white and black hat in both of them. Website Content Anyone who has spent any sort of time in website optimization knows that including keywords in your content is one of the best ways to get a ranking for that term. Including the correct amount of keywords is called optimization, adding too many keywords is called spam. Is there a magic number/percentage? Many SEO experts say, as long as your content is readable, then it isn’t spam, other experts say that a keyword density anywhere between 8-15% is optimal. This area is probably the most heavily discussed of all the optimization methods in terms of white hat and black hat. In fact, much of what is called “content enrichment” has been put under the label of “gray hat.” This involves items that are legitimate optimization techniques but are generally abused. For example, including the keyword “computer parts” in your content is essential to your site if you want to rank for that term. Due to the millions of potential competitors for that term, the word might need to appear on your page a little more than normal in order for that page to be fully optimized. This practice is abused by those who use the keyword so many times that the article ceases to become informative and becomes more of a page geared towards the select .001% of the world’s population who actually gains pleasure out of reading the same phrase over and over again. It is no secret that the search engines love content. In their eyes, the more content, the better chance that some of it contains information that users are searching for. However, the search engines are not dumb; they know which side their bread is buttered on. If a search engine stops providing meaningful results and turns first page rankings into what boils down to a “keyword race”, the search engine loses credibility and eventually, revenue. Therefore, it is in the search engine’s best interest to keep spammed content out of the top results. Linking Another important aspect of website optimization is your linking campaign. A well structured linking campaign can lead to significant increases in your search engine rankings. Many webmasters see the value in linking and use devious methods of achieving them. Google has made it very clear that anyone caught paying for links will receive a penalty. So what does this mean? How can Google tell if a link has been paid for? The truth is, they probably can’t. However, if they see that it is because of massive number of links pointing to your site, a red flag immediately goes up. If they see that a decent number of links pointing to your site are from “link farms” or completely unrelated sites, you will undoubtedly be penalized. In an ideal, white hat, world, everyone would understand the value of linking and there would be almost nothing but reciprocal links, or genuine one way links. The truth is, we have all paid for a link, whether it is to a blog, or to another site. The nature of the linking business just works that way. However, if you want to avoid a Search Engine penalty, take great care to make sure that the links pointing to your site are at least somewhat related to your industry, services or products. The difference between white and black hat when it comes to linking, might not necessarily lie in the method of procuring links, but in the number of links acquired and the relevancy of those links. As an SEO specialist, I would much rather have one link pointing to my site from a reputable, related site than 100 links to my site from questionable domains. Now it’s Time to Choose a Side! There is always some risk involved when optimizing a website. Methods that increase rankings today can be just as easily lost with a simple twist on the algorithm dial by any of the major search engines. The simple truth is that sites that resort to black hat SEO tactics generally need to do so because the content on their site is not meaningful enough to achieve a first page ranking any other way. I am not here to sit on my cloud of judgment and hand down life lessons to all of you sinners out there, but take a good look at your SEO practices. I have seen SEO companies use black hat methods to help a client achieve number 1 rankings and then laugh all the way to the bank once the search engines change their algorithm and the client suddenly finds themselves out of the top 50, or even worse, banned from the search engines. There are many Search Engine Optimization companies out there who have proven that white hat methods work. They have been able to distinguish the borders of the gray area and stay comfortably away from less than reputable methods of achieving high rankings because their client’s long term success is very important to them.
Aaron Garcia is an SEO Analyst for MorePro Marketing, a Search Engine Marketing company. He has conducted extensive research in the field of Local Search and is also heavily trained in content optimization techniques. He has spent significant time as an SEO copywriter and has written numerous optimized press releases.
Source : http://seoarticles4u.com/SEO_Color_Scale_White_Gray_Black_a4135.html
Friday, June 20, 2008
Make Your Website Rank Higher in Major Search Engines! Benefits of CSS in SEO
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language that permits web designers to attach style like spacing, color, font, etc. to HTML documents. Cascading style sheets work similarly to a template; permitting web developers to label style for an HTML element and after that apply it to the number of web pages required. Thus, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are collections of formatting rules, which control the appearance of content in a web page. With CSS styles you have great flexibility and control of the exact page appearance; from precise positioning of layout to specific fonts and styles. There are many benefits of using CSS. One of the major benefits of using CSS is the easy maintenance of the website. Maintenance of a website made with CSS is much easier compared to the ones which are table based. CSS splits the presentation style of documents from the content of documents and makes the maintenance of the site easier. Aside from being able to make site extensive changes with no trouble through one CSS file, the clean code it generates makes it easier to update. Webmasters can characterize the appearance of a site in one place, and change the whole site by changing just one file. With CSS, when you decide to craft a change, you simply alter the style, and that element is updated automatically anywhere it appears in the site. So, if you have to alter the color of all pages in your site, you only have to edit one style sheet. This saves you enormous amount of time, particularly if you have to edit each page independently. CSS generally requires less code compared to table based. This makes your code lighter and cleaner. Clean code makes a huge difference in maintaining your site. Cascading Style Sheets Benefits and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Another major benefit of CSS is that it makes your website SEO friendly. The reason behind this is simple. The search engines spiders are actually very lethargic. They do not go through the bundles of HTML codes to get to the indexed codes. Font tags and tables make the HTML code very cumbersome; thus, reduce the accuracy of the results. If you use external CSS files to design and determine the design attributes; the HTML code will be clean and it will result to better search engine rankings. With some knowledge of CSS you will be able to change the code layout without destroying the actual visual layout. For instance, you could easily make the main content of your site to show up above the header or navigation menu in the code of your website; thus will help to show search engine crawlers the importance of your content. I personally saw a huge boost in rankings in fully CSS web sites. When I look at someone's website that was built using old school HTML code with tags such as: TABLES, TD, TR, FONT and so on, I feel awkward and immediately convert that site to a fully table-less CSS layout. There are many tools on the Internet that shows the actual code over text ratio weight of your site. Do you know why? Because modern search engines such as: Google, Yahoo and MSN love light-weighted websites. They want to see your content; the text, not the code. With CSS everything is possible. You practically externalize excessive code into external file, thus leaving the actual page clean and simple. Website Accessibility CSS makes your website more accessible. The number of users browsing the web through hand held devices are continuously growing tremendously. It is estimated that by 2008, one third of the world's population will be using hand held devices for accessing Internet. It is always important that your site is accessible to them also. You can make an additional CSS document particularly for handheld devices like cell phones, which will be called up in place of the regular CSS document; which is not achievable with a tabular layout. CSS benefits accessibility chiefly by separating document structure from presentation. By separating style from markup, webmasters can simplify and clean up the HTML in their documents, making the documents more accessible. Increases Download Speed of Your Website CSS code downloads faster than tables. Browsers read through tables twice previous to exhibiting their contents; first to work out their structure and then to determine their content. Moreover, tables are shown on the screen as a whole, no part of the table will be displayed until the entire table is downloaded and rendered. Tables support the use of spaced images to assist with positioning. CSS generally requires less code than cumbersome tables. All code to do with the layout can be placed in an external CSS document, which will be called up just once and then stored on the user's computer; while the table layout stored in each HTML document, must be loaded up each time a new page downloads. Also with CSS, you can manage the order of the items downloaded into the screen. You have the control to make the content appear previous to the slow loading images, which is liked by most of the web users. Cross Browser Compatibility For all webmasters out there! CSS makes your website more professional. Taking the benefits of CSS like making your websites load faster and easy to maintain, you save a lot of time and labor. This in turn makes you lots of money. CSS makes links of the website look more attractive and dynamic. Using CSS, you can slot in rollovers easily and effectively, without having to use a single character of JavaScript. Thus, CSS gives your websites a professional look. It is wise to use CSS to jive with the current trends of the industry. All major browsers like Firefox, Explorer, and Netscape presently recognize CSS and it is definitely safe for web designers to use CSS now.
Mikhail Tuknov, search engine optimization specialist and a founder of Infatex.com, search engine marketing company. With an extensive backgound in Internet marketing and web site development, Mikhail offers web site promotion services: SEO, Link Popularity, PPC, SEO copywriting and ROI Tracking.
Source : http://seoarticles4u.com/Make_Your_Website_Rank_Higher_in_Major_Search_Engines_Benefits_of_CSS_in_SEO_a1752.html
SEO and Good Website Design with CSS
James Kendall writes in an article for webdesign.org "One of the more recent developments in web design is the use of CSS and Semantic markup. CSS and semantic web design has several benefits: clarity in code, browser and other web-enabled devices compatibility, seperation of content and presentation, smaller burden on bandwith, and better visibility in the search engines." Read the entire article. Pretend you're a search engine and you have 3,946 web sites to look over and record information about in less than an hour. Now I don't know how many web sites are spidered by search engines in a given hour, but I'm trying to make the point that the search engines are very busy looking at web sites and making decisions about them as they do. Amazingly enough, the second bit of code will display the very same thing as the first! See how much easier and quicker that reads? Search engines look for the textual content just like you do and they only have so much time to read through each web site. Because the search engine spiders use a top down method for retrieving information from a web page, the search engines may not end up reading all of your content. If they can't read all your content, you will not get ranked appropriately!
So, you're a search engine. Which one of these web page portions can you find the content in most quickly?
"<table width="580" border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="0" bgcolor="silver">
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="top"><font size="2" color="red" face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">This is a brief bit of Code!</font></td>
<td align="right" valign="bottom"><font size="1" color="black" face="Georgia"> Tables were never meant for layout purposes</font></td>
<td align="left"><img src="images/someimage.jpg" alt="Some Image"/></td>
</tr>
</table>"
OR
"<div id="layer1"><h1 class="red">This is a brief bit of Code!</</h1>
<p class="gray">Tables were never meant for layout purposes
Link to Something Important
</div>"
If you use "rollover" buttons or images as links to the other pages in your site, the search engine can't read them at all and will not follow those links to see what the rest of your site is about. If they can't gather information on those other pages in your site, they won't rank them at all.
Finally, wouldn't it be great if your web site could be read by people using a computer, a cell phone, a PDA or the next invention to view web sites? Becasue CSS is a standards-compliant coding language, it can! It will even work with standards-compliant devices not invented yet.
About the author
Cindy Dykstra of CD WebMaker has been successfully designing and marketing web sites since 2000. Her company website offers information on web design, hosting and marketing to web site owners.
Source : http://seoarticles4u.com/SEO_and_Good_Website_Design_with_CSS_a2229.html
SEO Overhauls with CSS: If You Rebuild It They Will Come
As an SEO one of the most common things I find when I sit down to analyze an existing web site is that it was built either a long time ago or with aging techniques. The situation is different every time, but I almost invariably find myself suggesting to the client that some coding changes are in order at the most basic level. This may be as simple as using proper heading tags where aging tags were used to add relevance to the page. I often rebuild image-based navigation menus using CSS and valuable anchor text. In the more extreme cases I'll suggest to the client that the best bet for on-page optimization is to reconstruct the site layout entirely with more SEO-friendly methods.
Table-based Woes
There are a lot of good arguments on both sides as to whether tables are still a good method to lay out web pages. With the advent of CSS-driven layouts several years ago it became possible to achieve very clean code while still creating vivid visual experiences. However, there are still plenty (and a majority, in my experience) of web sites out there that use tables for layout. Do these sites function more-or-less exactly like their CSS-driven counterparts? More-or-less, yes. The user experience can be identical. When it comes to the source code, however, there are usually some very big differences.
I recently rebuilt a client's eCommerce site and the result was an estimated 300 less lines of code per page. While it would be arbitrary to argue that this count has a direct correlation to search rankings it certainly demonstrates the level of extraneous code that table-based layouts without significant CSS support can contain. This site was in particularly bad shape with no heading tags to be found and JavaScript-driven rollover images for all navigation.
It took about twelve hours to recode the template and migrate the content. Today this client enjoys much better rankings and traffic. All the result of the CSS rebuild? Obviously not - like any SEO worth his salt I combined this rebuild with ongoing link building and content optimization efforts. I find it hard to discount this, though, since the improvement in the hierarchy and density of content in the code was significant.
CSS and Information Hierarchy
Google openly calls for the proper use of HTML to tag page content and the maintenance of a clear hierarchy in their webmaster guidelines. Ignoring spam filter issues (which you should be effortlessly avoiding by being honest, right?) it makes sense to maintain proper tagging and organization in your source code. What makes CSS so viable a solution for SEO is that it keeps the layout and presentation out of the way. A well-coded page with proper CSS support can have all of the visuals of a table-based counterpart but with source code that is easy, even comfortable, to read for a human being. It isn't much of a stretch to say that this cleanliness and organization probably improves page relevance in the eyes of Google and the crawl process as well.
Some other ways that a CSS-driven layout offers improvements:
- Faster page load times
- Code order flexibility (the ability to move content higher to the top of the source code without altering the page visually)
- Easier and quicker site updates and maintenance
- Improved accessibility (for vision-impaired users and otherwise)
- Link building opportunities (from online galleries for notably-designed CSS-driven web sites)
- Crawler Resource Management
Google is running some of the most powerful servers in the world. No doubt, when Googlebot sets out to index pages it is driven by a very quick machine. However, the shear volume of the web as well as the rate at which Googlebot indexes new pages (usually a week or more) suggests that resource management is a big part of Google's careful measurements. It is reasonable to expect, then, that when Googlebot visits a page that contains thousands of lines of code it doesn't bother reading through to the end. At some point the crawlers will cut and run - there are, after all, billions of other web pages they need to get to. CSS-layouts drastically reduce the amount of source code needed to present content pages, making it less likely that Googlebot or another crawler will abandon the crawl process and leave your page before scanning all content.
Is rebuilding your site with a CSS-driven layout going to launch you to top rankings for competitive search terms? Probably not, but it should help. Most table-based sites that don't use CSS support are also poorly optimized from other standpoints - inbound links, content relevance, keyword research, etc. A CSS-driven layout coupled with proper HTML tagging leaves you with the best platform possible to improve your search rankings down the line. It has also, in many cases, brought on an almost immediate improvement in search visibility for established web sites.
About the author
Mike Tekula is the founder and Lead Strategist at Tek Web Solutions, a New York SEO Company that specializes in driving increased web site traffic.
Source : http://seoarticles4u.com/SEO_Overhauls_with_CSS_If_You_Rebuild_It_They_Will_Come_a3012.html
CSS Validation and HTML
HTML validation and CSS validation are controversial issues with some people. This article discusses some of the issues that have come increasingly to the fore in web development. The article will also provide a practical method that overworked webmasters can use to improve their website. What does Validating HTML or CSS Mean? For those who are unfamiliar with what validating a web page means, it basically refers to using a program or an online service to check that the web page that you created is free of errors. In particular, an HTML validator checks to make sure the HTML code on the web page complies with the standards set by the W3 Consortium (the organisation that issues the HTML standards). There are various types of validators - some check only for errors; others also make suggestions about your code, telling you when a certain way of writing things might lead to unexpected results. A CSS validator checks your Cascading Style Sheets in the same manner; basically, most will check them to make sure that they comply with the CSS standards set by the W3 Consortium. There are a few which will also tell you which CSS features are supported by which browsers. Note that validating your web page does not ensure that it will appear as you want in various browsers. It merely ensures that your code is without HTML or CSS syntax errors. Ensuring that your code appears correctly in different browsers require cross browser testing. Why Validate Your HTML Code? 1. It Helps Cross-Browser, Cross-Platform and Future Compatibility Although you may be able to create a web page that appears to work on your favourite browser (whatever that may be), your page may contain HTML errors (or CSS errors) that do not show up with that browser due to an existing quirk or bug. Another person using a different browser that does not share that particular bug will wind up viewing a page that does not show up correctly. It is also possible that later versions of your browser will fix that bug, and your page will be broken when people use the latest incarnation of the browser. 2. Search Engine Visibility When there are errors in a web page, browsers typically try to compensate in different ways. Hence some browsers may ignore the broken elements while others make assumptions about what the web designer was trying to achieve. The problem is that when search engines obtain your page and try to parse them for keywords, they will also have to make certain decisions about what to do with the errors. Like browsers, different search engines will probably make different decisions about those errors in the page, resulting in certain parts of your web page not being indexed. The safest way, it is held, is to make sure that your web page validates error-free. 3. Professionalism Even if you test your web site with all the various browsers in existence on all the platforms in use (Mac, Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, etc) and find that it works perfectly in all, errors in your site reflect poorly on your skill as a web developer. The issue is two-fold: firstly, a poorly coded web page reveals that either the web designer does not know his stuff or is a sloppy worker; secondly, it affects his marketability.
Kyle Newton is a professional internet marketing specialist and can launch and manage your complete web presence from Web Design to SEO with professional results that make your projects, services, or products a success on the web.
Source : http://seoarticles4u.com/CSS_Validation_and_HTML_a1934.html
Advantages of using tableless CSS | XHTML Web Design Techniques
Tables used to be the "in" thing when it came to designing web sites. As with many other things though, new techniques and methods standards are bound to emerge with time. When once tables were seen in most web pages, some experts now suggest that tables should be thrown out of the window. In simple words, tableless web design is basically a method whereby page layout control is achieved without the use of HTML tables. Instead, text and other elements on a page are arranged using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). This language is the brainchild of the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). It was designed in such a way as to improve web accessibility as well as to make use of HTML for semantic purposes rather than presentational purposes. One thing that has been making the headlines in the past year or so is the term SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques. With search engines such as Google and Yahoo making big waves in the information sector, web designers are scrambling to get on their good side. The one main goal of a web designer is to get his site on the top pages for search results. How is this achieved? By making one's site search engine friendly. Search engines make use of various techniques to index all existing web sites. Based on these various techniques, they assign a page rank to the web site. The higher the page rank, the more chances it will be high up in the search engine results. The higher up the site is in ranking, the more chances that people will visit the site. That means good news for the web site. That is where semantics and HTML come in. So how about tables? Web designers who favor tables assert that they make the design process easier and less time consuming. More so, they assert that tables are more compatible with various web browsers. On the other hand, proponents of tableless formats assert that tables do not adhere to web standards and web accessibility. Over the years, people have been trying to come up with web standards that are based on logic and that would make it easier for everyone involved to access web sites. Text readers, bots, mobile devices, and other elements were all taken into consideration. As such, the tableless format has come into popular use. Why should you follow this standard? Here are a few reasons as to why you should go tableless: The current W3C standards dictate the use of tableless design.
Though tableless formats are being widely used for page layout control, it does not necessarily mean that tables are not being used anymore. They are merely not optimal for presentation purposes.
About the authorhttp://www.PSDxHTML.COM is an entity which offers conversion from PSD or PNG design to HTML / XHTM / CSS. Their end results are of excellent quality while their fees are reasonable. They specialize in making tableless CSS layouts, SEO semantic markup, and cross browser compatibility. As a secondary service, they also offer the redesigning or recoding of web sites to the CSS layouts.
Source : http://seoarticles4u.com/Advantages_of_using_tableless_CSS_%7C_XHTML_Web_Design_Techniques_a2118.html
SEO: more HTML, little actual marketing
Sitepoint's forums recently featured this interesting discussion where the original poster explains that in a sense, HTML already covers the basics of search engine optimization. If you think about it, that's quite a reasonable way to look at it. SEO is just another facet of appropriate HTML practices, and this topic would be more appropriate in a site like HTML Dog than in WhateverMoneyBlog #18472. It's a basic thing when it comes to running a good website. In other words, if you are good with HTML, SEO should be your bread and butter. Correct use of meta tags, page titles and headings, alt text in images and links, these are all scanned by search engine spiders. THAT is SEO, and not much more. SEO might be considered a part of marketing, but it is a very small, indirect form of marketing. By default, good SEO practices already happen on their own if you write good code. But it still means squat for getting traffic if your website has almost no good content to keep your visitors coming. Other points that summarize the discussion: * SEO is the end result of accessibility, usability, and good content of a website. However, the guidelines for search engines are different than those for people that want to read your articles. With this said, it is very sensible to say that being a marketing genius is irrelevant to knowing SEO. This should be the responsibility of a good HTML coder.
* 95% of the stuff people talk about claiming to be SEO just falls into- wait for it- online marketing practices. No buzzwords are needed to describe this.
* About the only non-coding related aspect of SEO would be keyword research.
JustChris is the owner of the website Zero Dominance, which provides tips and tools, ranging from the technical to the intuitive, for helping you create a better website. Check it out and create a better site in no time.
Source: http://seoarticles4u.com/SEO_more_HTML_little_actual_marketing_a3629.html
55 Quick SEO Tips Even Your Mother Would Love (2) - Ten Bonus Tips Added
- 56. Use Google Alerts to be alerted about back links - http://www.google.com/alerts. Add link:www.yourdomain.com to the Search Terms box to get notified by email when someone links to you.
57. Optimize your press releases just as you would a web page. Use your keywords, keyword anchor text and headlines in a way that will maximize your visibility without being spammy. In addition to possible pickup by major news sites, these releases are archived on the web. And, remember, don’t put out press releases to sites like PRWeb unless you have REAL news to share.
58. Move JavaScript and CSS to external files whenever possible. This will make your code tighter, move your content up higher, the page will load faster and the spiders will have fewer possible roadblocks in their quest to devour all that good content you wrote .
59. Build pages around phrases like Where can I or How can I because there are a TON of searches for variations of these. Just search for one of these phrases using the free WordTracker Keyword Suggestion Tool and you’ll see what I mean.
60. If you write articles for distribution to article sites for mass distribution (a great way to get back links), be sure to publish the article on your own site first and give the spiders a chance to crawl it. That identifies you as the originator of the content. Then push the article out for distribution across the web, making sure you have a link back to your site in the article content.
61. Tweak and test. Make one change at a time and evaluate what effect it had on your ranking, if any. Changing too many things at once can confuse things to the point where you don’t know which change you made did what.
62. Local search is getting hot! Create a local listing for all locations if you have more than one. Don’t just create a local listing for the main one. Get them all in there! Start with local listings at Google, Yahoo! and Live. Include photos, videos, links, web pages and coupons if available.
63. Don’t try to fake it. Those 50 domains you bought in 1998 with dummy content all linking back to your main site might have made you #1 last decade, but now they can get you booted from the rankings altogether. The “mini-net” is dead.
64. Want to see what Google has indexed from your domain (or any domain for that matter) during, say, the past seven days? Just point your brower to http://www.google.com/search? q=site:yourdomain.com&as_qdr=d7 .
Simply change the “yourdomain.com” to your actual domain name and alter the “=d7? to be whatever number of days you are looking for (d5, d10, etc.). Or, change the “d” to “w” for weeks or “y” for years.
65. Test domains should be invisible. It you are using a domain simply for testing new designs, functions, etc., be sure it is not accessible to spiders or users, who will both be confused about which domain is the real thing. If the spiders can get to it, you could be in for big duplicate content issues. A simple way to block all spiders is with the robots.txt file.
Richard V. Burckhardt, also known as The Web Optimist, is an SEO based in Palm Springs, CA with over 10 years experience in search engine optimization, web development and marketing
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
55 Quick SEO Tips Even Your Mother Would Love
Everyone loves a good tip, right? Here are 55 quick tips for search engine optimization that even your mother could use to get cooking. Well, not my mother, but you get my point. Most folks with some web design and beginner SEO knowledge should be able to take these to the bank without any problem.
1. If you absolutely MUST use Java script drop down menus, image maps or image links, be sure to put text links somewhere on the page for the spiders to follow.
2. Content is king, so be sure to have good, well-written and unique content that will focus on your primary keyword or keyword phrase.
3. If content is king, then links are queen. Build a network of quality backlinks using your keyword phrase as the link. Remember, if there is no good, logical reason for that site to link to you, you don’t want the link.
4. Don’t be obsessed with PageRank. It is just one isty bitsy part of the ranking algorithm. A site with lower PR can actually outrank one with a higher PR.
5. Be sure you have a unique, keyword focused Title tag on every page of your site. And, if you MUST have the name of your company in it, put it at the end. Unless you are a major brand name that is a household name, your business name will probably get few searches.
6. Fresh content can help improve your rankings. Add new, useful content to your pages on a regular basis. Content freshness adds relevancy to your site in the eyes of the search engines.
7. Be sure links to your site and within your site use your keyword phrase. In other words, if your target is “blue widgets” then link to “blue widgets” instead of a “Click here” link.
8. Focus on search phrases, not single keywords, and put your location in your text (“our Palm Springs store” not “our store”) to help you get found in local searches.
9. Don’t design your web site without considering SEO. Make sure your web designer understands your expectations for organic SEO. Doing a retrofit on your shiny new Flash-based site after it is built won’t cut it. Spiders can crawl text, not Flash or images.
10. Use keywords and keyword phrases appropriately in text links, image ALT attributes and even your domain name.
11. Check for canonicalization issues - www and non-www domains. Decide which you want to use and 301 redirect the other to it. In other words, if http://www.domain.com is your preference, then http://domain.com should redirect to it.
12. Check the link to your home page throughout your site. Is index.html appended to your domain name? If so, you’re splitting your links. Outside links go to http://www.domain.com and internal links go to http://www.domain.com/index.html.
Ditch the index.html or default.php or whatever the page is and always link back to your domain.
13. Frames, Flash and AJAX all share a common problem - you can’t link to a single page. It’s either all or nothing. Don’t use Frames at all and use Flash and AJAX sparingly for best SEO results.
14. Your URL file extension doesn’t matter. You can use .html, .htm, .asp, .php, etc. and it won’t make a difference as far as your SEO is concerned.
15. Got a new web site you want spidered? Submitting through Google’s regular submission form can take weeks. The quickest way to get your site spidered is by getting a link to it through another quality site.
16. If your site content doesn’t change often, your site needs a blog because search spiders like fresh text. Blog at least three time a week with good, fresh content to feed those little crawlers.
17. When link building, think quality, not quantity. One single, good, authoritative link can do a lot more for you than a dozen poor quality links, which can actually hurt you.
18. Search engines want natural language content. Don’t try to stuff your text with keywords. It won’t work. Search engines look at how many times a term is in your content and if it is abnormally high, will count this against you rather than for you.
19. Not only should your links use keyword anchor text, but the text around the links should also be related to your keywords. In other words, surround the link with descriptive text.
20. If you are on a shared server, do a blacklist check to be sure you’re not on a proxy with a spammer or banned site. Their negative notoriety could affect your own rankings.
21. Be aware that by using services that block domain ownership information when you register a domain, Google might see you as a potential spammer.
22. When optimizing your blog posts, optimize your post title tag independently from your blog title.
23. The bottom line in SEO is Text, Links, Popularity and Reputation.
24. Make sure your site is easy to use. This can influence your link building ability and popularity and, thus, your ranking.
25. Give link love, Get link love. Don’t be stingy with linking out. That will encourage others to link to you.
26. Search engines like unique content that is also quality content. There can be a difference between unique content and quality content. Make sure your content is both.
27. If you absolutely MUST have your main page as a splash page that is all Flash or one big image, place text and navigation links below the fold.
28. Some of your most valuable links might not appear in web sites at all but be in the form of e-mail communications such as newletters and zines.
29. You get NOTHING from paid links except a few clicks unless the links are embedded in body text and NOT obvious sponsored links.
30. Links from .edu domains are given nice weight by the search engines. Run a search for possible non-profit .edu sites that are looking for sponsors.
31. Give them something to talk about. Linkbaiting is simply good content.
32. Give each page a focus on a single keyword phrase. Don’t try to optimize the page for several keywords at once.
33. SEO is useless if you have a weak or non-existent call to action. Make sure your call to action is clear and present.
34. SEO is not a one-shot process. The search landscape changes daily, so expect to work on your optimization daily.
35. Cater to influential bloggers and authority sites who might link to you, your images, videos, podcasts, etc. or ask to reprint your content.
36. Get the owner or CEO blogging. It’s priceless! CEO influence on a blog is incredible as this is the VOICE of the company. Response from the owner to reader comments will cause your credibility to skyrocket!
37. Optimize the text in your RSS feed just like you should with your posts and web pages. Use descriptive, keyword rich text in your title and description.
38. Use captions with your images. As with newspaper photos, place keyword rich captions with your images.
39. Pay attention to the context surrounding your images. Images can rank based on text that surrounds them on the page. Pay attention to keyword text, headings, etc.
40. You’re better off letting your site pages be found naturally by the crawler. Good global navigation and linking will serve you much better than relying only on an XML Sitemap.
41. There are two ways to NOT see Google’s Personalized Search results:
(1) Log out of Google
(2) Append &pws=0 to the end of your search URL in the search bar
42. Links (especially deep links) from a high PageRank site are golden. High PR indicates high trust, so the back links will carry more weight.
43. Use absolute links. Not only will it make your on-site link navigation less prone to problems (like links to and from https pages), but if someone scrapes your content, you’ll get backlink juice out of it.
44. See if your hosting company offers “Sticky” forwarding when moving to a new domain. This allows temporary forwarding to the new domain from the old, retaining the new URL in the address bar so that users can gradually get used to the new URL.
45. Understand social marketing. It IS part of SEO. The more you understand about sites like Digg, Yelp, del.icio.us, Facebook, etc., the better you will be able to compete in search.
46. To get the best chance for your videos to be found by the crawlers, create a video sitemap and list it in your Google Webmaster Central account.
47. Videos that show up in Google blended search results don’t just come from YouTube. Be sure to submit your videos to other quality video sites like Metacafe, AOL, MSN and Yahoo to name a few.
48. Surround video content on your pages with keyword rich text. The search engines look at surrounding content to define the usefulness of the video for the query.
49. Use the words “image” or “picture” in your photo ALT descriptions and captions. A lot of searches are for a keyword plus one of those words.
50. Enable “Enhanced image search” in your Google Webmaster Central account. Images are a big part of the new blended search results, so allowing Google to find your photos will help your SEO efforts.
51. Add viral components to your web site or blog - reviews, sharing functions, ratings, visitor comments, etc.
52. Broaden your range of services to include video, podcasts, news, social content and so forth. SEO is not about 10 blue links anymore.
53. When considering a link purchase or exchange, check the cache date of the page where your link will be located in Google. Search for “cache:URL” where you substitute “URL” for the actual page. The newer the cache date the better. If the page isn’t there or the cache date is more than an month old, the page isn’t worth much.
54. If you have pages on your site that are very similar (you are concerned about duplicate content issues) and you want to be sure the correct one is included in the search engines, place the URL of your preferred page in your sitemaps.
55. Check your server headers. Search for “check server header” to find free online tools for this. You want to be sure your URLs report a “200 OK” status or “301 Moved Permanently ” for redirects. If the status shows anything else, check to be sure your URLs are set up properly and used consistently throughout your site.
Richard V. Burckhardt, also known as The Web Optimist, is an SEO trainer based in Palm Springs, CA with over 10 years experience in search engine optimization, web development and marketing.
Source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/55-quick-seo-tips-even-your-mother-would-love/6760/
Monday, June 9, 2008
Moving to another web host or server?
Taming the Beast.net recently needed to move to another server with our current host due to an increase in traffic. While moving to another web host or server can be a straightforward task for smaller sites, it's more of a challenge for larger ones. Even if you only have to move a small site, there's still a few things to bear in mind.
While we knew a few months in advance we would need to make the move, when it actually occurred it all happened pretty quickly - of course, a number of things I was "gunnadoo" never did happen before the move - something that I regretted during the transition.
The following is a series of tips that may make your move a little smoother and will minimize any downtime you may experience.
Geographic issues
If you are moving your hosting from one country to another; before you do so you may need to consider the impact it will have on your traffic - search engines are becoming a little more geographic savvy; but the technology definitely has flaws. I'll use an Australian site based on an Australian server as an example.
Let's say you have 2 totally different sites:
ljkdfjaljl.com.au
lfjdfjioa.com
.. and at present they are hosted on Australian servers and your target market are Australians. You have decided you wish to take advantage of cheaper and more reliable hosting in the USA; so your sites will be hosted on American servers.
The site with the domain ljkdfjaljl.com.au, shouldn't experience any changes in terms of search engine traffic, but the lfjdfjioa.com site may experience some negative impact.
The reason for this is the way some search engines, including Google, are currently working. When you live in a particular country and go to Google.com, you are automatically redirected to the Google of your country; e.g. Google.com.au.
In the first couple of months of 2004, It was pointed out to me that Google would then return "pages from Australia" by default when any query was entered.
Although searchers are given a choice of whether they wish to search "pages from.." or "the web" via radio buttons directly under the search box - people don't tend to see these things unless they've performed a couple of searches and they aren't finding what they want.
When a local search is performed, Google tends to give more weight to sites that either have a domain name ending in .au or are physically hosted on an Australian server. Google can determine hosting location via the IP address, which is a unique identifier.
Currently (April 04), Region specific Google has changed the default setting back to search "the web"; perhaps as the result of user feedback, but it's an issue to bear in mind.
This doesn't mean that simply by selecting another Australian host that you can avoid this issue. Many Australian hosts still have their servers physically located in the USA or the UK. The best bet if local traffic is absolutely crucial to your online business is to purchase a country specific domain name and then use mod_rewrite for redirecting the old domain name to the new name.
Check with your hosting service.
Whether you are moving to a new server under your current host or moving to a new web host altogether; it's worthwhile to enquire with your hosting service provider as to whether they will move your files for you. Remember to ask nicely and they may do it for free :).
If you are moving to a new hosting company, this is a service that can be used as a bargaining chip for you to open an account with them. If your new/current host agrees to do this for you, remember that script paths may be different (see below).
Draw up a plan - in writing
One of the mistakes I made was not to draw up a solid plan - there's so many side-streets and alleyways on Taming the Beast.net now that I had totally forgotten about some of our sections - the plan was all in my mind - not the best strategy ;0).
Your written plan should contain milestones - solid dates for tasks to be completed. If you are a Microsoft Outlook user, put these dates and tasks into your calendar - it's so easy to forget things when running an online business.
Clean up your web site
As with moving house, moving your web site to another server or service is an excellent opportunity to clean things up a bit. Why take a stack of garbage with you?
Carefully go through your site folder by folder to check for what you don't need any more and liberally apply the use of the delete button. Moving servers is a fresh start, so you may as well start it out right.
Check and fix current problems
Broken links, scripts not functioning properly? Here's the perfect opportunity to set things straight. One of the problems of running a largish site is that little glitches slowly build up over time; the "I'll attend to that tomorrow" kind of stuff. After a couple of years, the list of little glitches can be a mile long! Now's the time to fix those things before you occupy your new home.
If you're looking for a good link verification service, the W3C provides one free of charge:
http://validator.w3.org/checklink
Notify your members/subscribers.
If your site offers membership services or you have a list of subscribers for an ezine etc. it's worthwhile to start notifying these people *weeks* in advance - not the day before.
People tend to skim over ezines and email updates - so the message needs to be repeated over and over as you get closer to the big day. This way you can spend the time during transition on transition and not bogged down responding to email from angry visitors.
Script/database paths
Very important - different hosts may have different paths for CGI scripts and MySQL databases. Well before you make the move, draw up a list of every script on your site so you'll know what you'll need to change.
Make a copy
After you've cleaned up your site, make a copy of it on your hard drive. Call the original web something like - mysite-old. That way you'll always have a proper backup should you have to back out of the move. Use your "new" copy to make changes to script paths etc to suit the new service.
Changing file names/folders?
If you need to rename folders or file-names, bear in mind that this could have a negative effect on your traffic as many search engines take a long time to update their listings (see below). Also, your link partners may be linking to specific pages on your site. By changing file and folder names/locations - visitors from these sources may be greeted with the dreaded "404-File not Found" error.
If you do need to make changes, it's wise to use a search engine friendly 301 redirect. That way, your old listings will redirect automatically to the new pages. Read our guide to implementing a 301 redirect.
Email addresses
Make a list of all your current email addresses used in conjunction with your site and ensure that you mirror these addresses on your new server. In your email software, add the new accounts to your lists, but *don't* delete the old accounts just yet. During the DNS update, you'll may still receive email via the old domain - for a couple of days, you'll be getting mail from both.
Expect things to go wrong
"The Best-Laid Plans Of Mice And Webmasters" - while Shakespeare would probably have a mild fit for such a misquotation, it fits a web site move very well. No matter how much you plan, or how careful you are - things are bound to go wrong. If you've put aside a day for your move, double it - just to be sure. This is especially important if you utilize a substantial number of scripts on your site.
Other search engine issues
You've worked long and hard to gain decent search engine rankings - to lose them could mean a serious dent in your traffic and profits. If you're not changing file names or folders, moving shouldn't be a problem then should it? Not necessarily the case.
Some search engines don't cache web site information by domain name, but by IP address. When you change your server or service, no doubt your IP will change and some search engine robots may "lose" you - for months.
For this reason, if you can afford it, it's wise to leave your old web site files up for a month on your old server space after you have made the move to the new server. During that time, check your server logs for spider activity to ensure that your most important search engine sources have found you. Learn more about search engine spider identification.
Changing domain names?
What if you aren't changing file and folder names, but you are going to change domain names as well - your search engine rankings and reciprocal links are again at risk. That's where the Apache mod_rewrite module can help. Read more on using mod_rewrite for redirecting domain names safely.
Files on server before DNS update
Ensure that you have moved *everything* onto the new server before updating your DNS records for your domain name - don't wait until afterwards.
DNS records can take up to 72 hours to update around the world and during that time, your name may "bounce" between the old and new server.
If you wait until DNS has updated properly, you may lose traffic through links appearing to be dead and worse, your search engine rankings may disappear altogether. Also, if you are publishing your new site (with updated script paths etc.) via your domain name, you may end up with the new files on the old server - this could be disastrous if you have perform a rollback and continue utilizing the old server for some reason - *especially* if you haven't kept a clean copy of the old site.
Microsoft FrontPage Issues
This can be a challenge for FrontPage users, as FrontPage publishes via the domain name. Before making the move, ask your new hosting service if you can publish to an IP number, rather than name. If this isn't possible, you'll need to publish your site using FrontPage's FTP function.
This will mean that components of your site that require FrontPage extensions being installed won't work initially. Hopefully, this will only be for a few hours until your nameserver changes are live in DNS and you can just publish to your site via the domain name, overwriting all the files. In this scenario, the important thing is to make sure all your files are at least on the new server.
Don't forget to enable FrontPage extensions on your new server, or to check with your new hosting service whether they have been installed.
Monitor DNS changes. During the time of transition, especially in the FrontPage scenario outlined above, it's important to monitor the progress of the DNS update. This can be done very easily using a free tool such as HyperTrace. HyperTrace can be downloaded here:
http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/htrace.htm
HyperTrace shows you the route that information travels from your machine to another machine on the internet. It will show you the Name Server of your current hosting service and once the update starts occurring, the new hosting service. Bear in mind that this may "bounce" from old to new during 72 hour transition window and it may be a day or two before you see the new nameserver details at all. Check, recheck and then check again.
Once your new site is live in DNS and stable, start checking things out - again, and again and again. You could also send out a note to your subscriber list explaining that the site is now live on the new server and you would appreciate any bug reports. This can save you a lot of work and gets your visitors more involved with your site - it's a good PR exercise.
Good luck - I hope your move is smooth
Michael Bloch
Taming the Beast
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content, tools and software.
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Source: Free SEO Articles & Tips http://seo-articles.philsite.net
Monday, May 26, 2008
301 Redirects and Search Engine Optimization
There are multiple reasons to redirect URLs. For one, your web pages may have moved but their old URLs may still live in users' bookmarks or in search engine indexes. Without implementing some sort or redirection, that traffic would be lost to a 404 Error Page.
On occasions, you may also want to register several extensions for your domain name: 'mydomain.com', 'mydomain.net' and 'mydomain.org', and have 'mydomain.net' and 'mydomain.org' automatically redirect visitors to your site, hosted under 'mydomain.com'.
Furthermore, if your company sells several products, you may want to give each of them an individual domain name, and have it point to a specific subdirectory of your main site. For example, if you own a site called 'businessvideos.com' that sells a product called 'Marketing Made Easy', you may want to set up a domain such as 'marketingmadeeasy.com', and redirect it to subdirectory: www.businessvideos.com/marketingmadeeasy/.
There are several ways to redirect domains, however, most of them will get you in trouble with the search engines. The search engine friendly way to redirect URLs is to use what is know as a 301 redirect (you can see how Google and Yahoo! specifically endorse this kind of redirection). Here is my take about the different redirection methods and their implications on search engine optimization:
Meta-Refresh Javascript Redirect
You can redirect visitors by placing a snippet of JavaScript code within the HTML code of the page you want to redirect. With this method, you can specify the number of seconds before the visitor is automatically redirected to the new page. Search engines don't like this method, because of the potential for abuse: you could write an optimized page for a non-competitive search term, and then automatically redirect your unsuspecting visitor to whatever URL you want. For example, it could be relatively easy to write a page about English literature, have it indexed and highly ranked by the search engines, and then redirect your visitor to a casino or Viagra site. If search engines allowed this, users would quickly stop trusting them. That is why search engines penalize this practice, and why you should avoid it.
Parked Domains
You could register an additional domain name, park it, and make it point to the DNS servers of your main site's hosting account, so that when somebody types the additional domain, they will be transported to your main site. However, this approach may lead to search engines listing the same content twice, one for your main domain, and one for your additional domain. In the past, unscrupulous webmasters would use multiple domains to spam search engines and directories, making them list the same pages hundreds of times under different domains. Even if your intentions are good, we don't recommend this approach to redirecting your additional domains, since search engines may penalize your site for duplicate content.
302 and 301 Redirects
When a request for a page or URL is made by a browser, agent or spider, the web server where the page is hosted checks a file called '.htaccess'. This file contains instructions on how to handle specific requests and also plays a key role in security. The '.htaccess' file can be modified so that it instructs browsers, agents or spiders that the page has either temporarily moved (302 redirect) or permanently moved (301 redirect). It is usually possible to implement this redirect without messing with the '.htaccess' file directly, using your web host's control panel instead.
From a search engine perspective, 301 redirects are the only acceptable way to redirect URLs. In the case of moved pages, search engines will index only the new URL, but will transfer link popularity from the old URL to the new one so that search engine rankings are not affected. The same behavior occurs when additional domains are set to point to the main domain through a 301 redirect.
The URL Forwarding Feature
Most domain registrars offer a feature called URL Forwarding. With this feature, you can register a new domain, such as 'mydomain.net', and have it point to mydomain.com (or to any other URL). The problem, however, is that registrars usually do this by implementing a 302 redirect (page moved temporarily). While Google handles 302 redirects very well, passing link popularity from the additional domain to the main one, other search engines don't do this well, diluting link popularity by splitting it between the two domains, and negatively affecting rankings. Therefore, it is better not to use this method, and implement a 301 redirect instead.
To '301 redirect' an old URL to a new one, just go to your web host's control panel, and choose the "Redirects" option. You can then set up the redirect by filling the blanks. You want to chose redirect option "Permanent" to implement a 301 redirect.
Redirecting additional domains
To 301 redirect an additional domain (like in the case of the .net or the .org version of your domain name), you have to set it up as an add-on domain with your web host (some hosts offer this option for free, and some others charge a small monthly fee per domain). If the additional domain was not registered with your web host, you will first have to go to your domain registrar and change the DNS (domain name servers) to the DNS of your web host (you may have to wait a couple of days before this change becomes functional). Once you've done this, go to your web host's control panel, choose the "Add On Domains" option, and set up your add on domain as follows:
New Domain Name: additionaldomain.com (Do not put any http:// or www)
Username/directory/subdomain: additionaldomain (Enter 'additionaldomain' by itself. Do not put any '.com' or 'www')
Password: 123ABC (Enter whatever password you want).
Then, set up the redirection by filling the appropriate box with the URL of the landing page (where you want your traffic to go).
Once your additional domain is redirecting to your landing page, take this one last step to see if everything is working fine: go to a server header checking tool, type your add-on domain in the query box and hit enter. If you get a message similar to this: "Status Code HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently", then your 301 redirect is working.
You can also use 301 redirection for common misspelled versions of your domain name, or for other good domain names that you don't want your competitors to get.bd14582_.gif (185 bytes)
Author:Mario Sanchez publishes The Internet Digest ( http://www.theinternetdigest.net ), an internet marketing content site packed with useful articles and resources, and SEO Tutorial ( http://www.seotutorial.info ) where you can learn the basics of search engine optimization in four easy steps.
Source: Free SEO Articles & Tips http://seo-articles.philsite.net
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Website Design Classic Mistakes
Having been involved in the internet industry for a large part of my working life, I have spent a lot of time researching and browsing the internet and reading websites, mainly for client design research, but also for occasional personal use.
The one thing that I find most disappointing, is the apparent lack of thought going into website creation and it's purpose, which in turn creates a missed opportunity for many e-businesses to become successful.
My personal perspective on e-businesses and their websites, is that if they don't take pride in their websites and show to their customers a passion for what they do, chances are, they won't take pride in their products, and the passion for providing good customer service will also be missing.
What you must remember, is that your web site is a direct reflection of you and your business. The appearance of your site is the most important factor in determining your potential success rate. In short, if your site doesn't look professional or pleasing to the eyes at first glance, the majority of people will assume your products and/or services to be of similar poor standard.
At the other end of the scale, you could fall into the trap of going overboard with the design and over complicate things with incorporating high costing flashy graphics. You may end up with a great looking and highly aesthetic web site, but the danger with this is that your site may prove unreliable and at times may take too long to load. There is nothing worse for a customer than trying to visit a slow loading site, and most will close the browser window in complete frustration. As i'm sure you will be able to work out, this will ultimately cost you business.
The other major consideration (if not the most important) when designing a website is your content. Not just links, but content with passion, relativity, and understanding to the customer. When someone is searching for something in particular and they visit your web site, they're visiting for a reason. Your site has something they want, Whether this be your product, service, and/or information. If they are unable to obtain what they're looking for, they move on to the next site and so on. To be able to get your visitors to stay and look around your website, you must give them a reason to. Providing them with quality content will achieve this goal.
There have been countless other lists and articles on the subject of website designing mistakes, but I have compiled my own list, from a designer's perspective, of some pitfalls to look out for when considering either designing a website or purchasing a template. They are:
Poor/slow load time
Not very pleasing to the eye
Poor spelling/Grammar
No contact information - particularly an address
Poorly designed navigation
Text too bunched together/hard to read
Broken links
Poor cross-browser compatibility
Over-sized, slow loading graphics
Too many graphics
Horizontal scrollbars
Long, long, long pages/too much information on one page
Overuse of flash graphics
Poor choice of colour scheme
The use of frames
Too many pop up windows
Poor content organization
Advertising banners
Too many different colours
Under construction signs
Remember that the simple, clear, informative and well designed sites are the most successful. If you are a current e-business and your sales aren't what you had hoped, consider the above and take some time to look openly and honestly at your site. Spending money on improving your website is a much better investment than throwing money away on trying to advertise and market a site that just isn't good enough to sell your product or services.
If you are looking for a template or a custom designed website, be aware of the above and be prepared to ask your chosen designer or template provider questions to ensure that your hard earned money doesn't go to waste on an inferior design, which contains any of the above.
Asking questions won't cost you a penny, and in doing so could actually save you a lot of money over the long term.
Getting your website right first time is vital in terms of saving money and time. The earlier your website is up and running properly, the quicker you will be able to reap the rewards of a successful e-business.
Author:Joe Smith is the lead website designer for www.jss-design.com
Source: Free SEO Articles & Tips http://seo-articles.philsite.net
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Two Powerful SEO Techniques
Hi...
Back to basic and most of webmaster already known about these but I am quite sure that more than 70% of them are not follow these two things.
I will try to apply both of them to my blogs and Stores.
Let's see the results.
Thanks Waiman Yau for you triggering.
The Two Most Important SEO Techniques
Marketing your website and business on the Internet can be a chore and a really difficult task! The organic search results in search engines like Google are the golden egg of marketing. Getting listed high in Google guarantees lots of website visitors and that means lots of business!
Of course the story is not so easy, and everyone is vying for top spot.
Search engine optimization or SEO is the practice of optimizing your website to help it rank better.
In actual fact there are onsite and offsite factors that play a part in this.
Here I will reveal two of the most important things that you can do to help your website rankings.
There are HTML tags that you can use on your webpages that can really help with ranking.
If you do two of these then you could be well ahead of the competition.
The first one is the title tag.
It is really important that you use the title tag and place the keywords that you are optimizing for here.
Ensure that you do not just string a load of keywords together but make sure that it reads well. You don’t want to keyword spam! There is another reason for this.
The title often displays as the heading of your webpage in the search results!
The next most important HTML tag is the heading tag, or more specifically, the h1 tag.
This is also somewhere that you should place your keywords that you are targeting.
The h1 tag is basically the Heading of your page.
Search engines like Google places good emphasis on this tag.
In summary, you should ensure that your keywords are placed into the h1 tags.
If you just do these two simple things, then you will be halfway there to finishing your onsite SEO work! There are other stuff that you can do but these two are the most important.
Now, did you know that not all of your competitors are doing this? You can use special software to literally spy on your top competitors to see how they are optimizing their websites.
With this knowledge, you can literally do what they do! If there are areas that they have neglected, like using the h1 tag, then you can add that to your site and have one up on them! Powerful stuff! Visit my website at www.seofactory.co.uk and you can find out the one that I use to do this very sneaky trick! A hint, it is the number one software reviewed!
By Waiman Yau
About the Author: Waiman has reviewed many of the best SEO software on the market. Go and read the reviews now at http:// www.seofactory.co.uk.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Search Engine Optimization Tutorial Part 1 - Have A SEO-Friendly Web Design
by Cheow Yu Yuan
If your website is built on Flash and JavaScript, search engines will not be able to crawl the content of your website. With no content, it is impossible for search engines to award your site with good rankings. Therefore, if your site in built with either of the above platforms, you must change the architecture before any optimization effort can reap reward.
So what if your site contains dynamic pages? A dynamic page contains an URL which looks something like this: “http://www.yourdomain.com/products.asp?productid=59â€. When search engines index a dynamic page, it eliminates every thing after the "?" and index "http://www.yourdomain.com/products.asp" which displays nothing. With this, search engines will not be able to index your dynamic pages. Hence, no good ranking will be awarded too.
Therefore if you want to achieve good organic ranking on search engines to drive quality leads for your business, you need to have a SEO-friendly website. It is a norm for every SEO agency to review your site before any optimization can commence. If they find your site unsuitable for SEO, they will suggest changing the architecture of it.
In order to optimize more keywords on your site, pages with quality content are very important. Therefore, it is important to plan the sitemap of your website properly. Let’s say that you wish to optimize a particular product called “Product ABC - Model ZZZ†of your company. The best practice is to create a page which only talks about this product. Place the product name in your Title and Meta tags, and within the content of the page. You should also name the page according to the product name such as “Product-ABC.htmlâ€. This will make this page highly relevant to search engines when someone searches for “Product ABC - Model ZZZâ€. This will make search engines to give your listing a higher ranking in the search result page.
To add more interactive to your website, instead of building it entirely on Flash, you can use Flash banner instead. Flash banner adds interactivity to your site, without jeopardising the need to have quality content for search engines to index.
Good SEO performance always results from having good website architecture. With a SEO-friendly website, you are on the right track to obtain high organic ranking on search engines.
Cheow Yu Yuan is the co-founder of OOM, which specializes in search engine optimization.
Check out more about Search Engine Optimization at www.optimalonlinemarketing.com
From http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=909219
