The answer to this question is Yes if not a resounding YES! Today there is very little that cannot be found on the internet. Most people today;especially the younger generation, reach for the mouse and keyboard when looking up a phone number rather then the phone book. Go ahead do a search for the product your business sells, there is more than a big chance that someone is online selling it. If you are a local business do a local search (ie. Cincinnati coffee shops) and see how many local competitors have already made the jump into internet marketing.
OK now its starting to sink in: your business needs on online presence. How do you do it without breaking the bank? Here at InteractOne we build complex, interactive, and media rich websites; however, we also have solutions for clients who can’t invest a huge amount of money into a website. These solutions include professional looking websites that are true asset to your business. They are search engine friendly and can be expanded upon in the future. Call or contact the Cincinnati Web Design Proffessionals at InteractOne today to get your business started in the online world.
Links are very important when it comes to traffic & page rank. They can help boost your site to the top of the search engine results and a re a necessary part of SEO or search engine optimization. When it comes to links not any link is exactly alike. Each carries with it a unique set of variables that can either make it more valuable to your website or actually cause it to hurt your rankings. While web design, keyword placement, and the informational architecture is important to your site links can be the difference between ranking at the bottom of the first page of search results or at the top. And believe me, that bit of difference can cause your traffic number to go up significantly. Finding quality links will take some time, communication skills, and research. When first looking for for websites start by looking for the the ones closest and easiest to to your business. You can start at free listings( Just make sure they are respectable) and from there you can move on to your own customers, friends, neighbors, relatives, etc. To keep the links you gather from sapping your index page rank make sure you set up a links page. It is also important to get rid of any one way links that are not reciprocal ( linking back to your site). If it is paramount to have that link you can always use the “no-follow” link attribute to discourage search engine spiders from following it. The best links are non-reciprocal and are usually the hardest to get; however with persistence and patience you will yeild results and the payoff will be worth it. If you need assistance with creating a link campaign please do not hesitate to call InteractOne to talk with a Internet Marketing specialist. Have a great day!
When planning an online marketing strategy it is good practice to simplify what you offer into no more than twelve keywords. List these keywords/phrases out and determine the order of importance. The first keyword/keyphrase on that list should always be on your mind when making search engine optimization changes or modifications to your websites homepage. The other keywords should be used on the homepage; however, should be focused on the other pages of your site. The three biggest mistakes I see when doing Search Engine Optimization for websites is way to many images, poor use of alt tags, and poor keyword density and placement. When trying to optimize an already created site these mistakes require creative solutions. Remember if your search engine ranking is not where you want it to be the only way you can change it is trying new things! Now trying to move from a SERPs ranking of 5 to 3 it’s best to be cautious when making changes. If you are on page 5 or greater no amount of changes could make things any worse. If you are making a new website for your business now is the time to incorporate SEO best practices into your design. A web design centered around a focused message will garner the attention of both your customers and search engine spiders alike & is a best practice that is guaranteed to yield results!
TMongan
Well here it is my first blog post! Because Search Engine Optimization is such a big thing right now it will be the subject of my first post. I’m just going to cover the basics here; however, I don’t mind going into a more in depth discussion & I’m sure I will as the post grows. Enjoy!
There are many things you can do to help improve your search engine listings. Here at InteractOne we call these best practices and they are included in our base SEO package. For every web page there is a set of Meta tags. These tags are sometimes seen by human viewers in the search results page for search engines (title tag, description meta); however, they are more importantly used by search engines to evaluate and classify your website. There has been allot of talk around the blogosphere about the relevance of these tags. Whatever you read remember that although the importance of these tags has diminished the last couple of years in no way are they irrelevant. Simple proof is going to major websites and viewing there source code (control U in Firefox, View then source in Explorer); sure enough there they are. The most basic layout is:
Title
Description
Keywords
When explaining this to people the next question I often get is “what do I put in these tags to maximize my SEO?” Although it may seem like an easy answer it is a bit more complicated than you think. First there are character limitations. Put to many words in and you look a spammer, too few and you’re undercutting yourself. My personal rule is under 70 characters for the title tag (including spaces), Under 150 characters for the description tag (including spaces), and only 5-10 keywords describing my business in the keyword tag.
Basis Rules for the Title Tag
-The first words carry the most “weight” so put what your business does there
-Make sure it is legible and enticing to human eyes (this tag show up in the search results)
-If you want to include your business name put it at the end
Basis Rules for Description tag
-again the beginning words carry the most weight
-This may or may not be included in search engine results so keep it nice for human eyes
-put a call to action at the end
Basic Rules for Keywords tag
-First words carry the most weight
-make sure these are the most basic words describing your business
-don’t waste too much time on these
If you follow these simple steps you are on your way to getting a good listing on any of the major search engines!
Shop around long enough for a website design and your sure to come across any number of pre-packaged solutions (websites-in-a-can).
If you are shopping for a new website and have come across these products you probably have the following questions. Are these products valid, will they satisfy my needs within my budget? What is the differences between buying one of these pre-packaged deals and having a custom website built by a professional firm?
First of all you must understand that “pay for what you get” also applies to technology. Cheap website-in-a-can solutions often are cheap for a reason. Often they lack flexibility, design-ability and are nearly impossible to properly configure for Search Engine Optimization. That being said, if all you need is a website to post some information about your organization and you don’t care how it looks or how it ranks in the search engines then some of these packages can be of value for you.
Here are several website-in-a-can solutions I recommend for building a simple website in a night.
-Homestead - easy to use w/ decent design templates
-Google - stable platform combines with nice email services
On the other hand if you plan to build a website for ecommerce, corporate branding, professional representation, lead generation or inventory listing save yourself some serious pain and embarrassment and don’t even consider the website-in-a-can products. Instead, call a professional website desgin company. Trying make a professional site with one of these pre-packaged website products would be like trying use a “do it yourself” dentistry kit; painful, ugly and unproductive.
A big frustration many organizations have is managing content for their websites. Often Word Docs are passed along a chain of 3 to 4 people before the content actually gets posted to the website and by the time the content goes live it may already need to be revised.
“Why can’t we just update our site whenever we want” seems to be the million dollar question. We’ll I’m happy to announce that there is a solution for this question. Enter the age of Content Management Systems (CMS).
CMS come in many different sizes, shapes and colors but in the end they all serve to help organizations directly edit the content on their websites without having to get a tech person (IT) involved.
No matter which CMS solution you choose you will need the help of a competent web design firm to install/configure the software and train your staff on how to use it. Once the software is installed and running your organization can benefit from the increased speed and efficiency of managing it’s website content without calling IT.
So your located somewhere in the middle of nowhere USA (lets say, Cincinnati OH:) far from the tech capitals of the world. You know the web is gaining more and more traction and will someday most likely outrank all other forms of media for marketing.
What will the plight of your organization’s marketing be in this new age of media? How can you get a foothold in this market without traveling far and wide to find a reputable Internet Marketing firm.
Good news….many tech firms are cropping up all around the Midwest to meet the growing demand for Internet Marketing Services. These firms are often well suited for servicing the “conservative” Midwest market and provide a full range of services such as Website Hosting, Email, Website Development, Shopping Carts, Search Engine Optimization and Intranet Software Development.
So next time your thinking about revamping your website, doing search engine optimization or building a shopping cart look no further than your local yellow pages. If you want to be really high tech just Google the “name-of-your-city, web developer”.
InteractOne is an internet marketing firm specializing in website design and is located in Cincinnati Ohio. All material on this site is for informational purposes only. If you would like to copy or reproduce any site text or images please contact a website design team member for permission. If you are in need of our services or would like a quote on a website designed for your business please call or contact us anytime.
