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 Search
Engine & Site Optimization
When programmer types use the word optimization they are usually
talking about search engine optimization (SEO)
or "Searchability," but there is another type of optimization,
often overlooked by many web developers, known as site
optimization. Below we will briefly discuss both, the differences
and why you should consider them both when hiring your web design
team.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO), also known
as Searchability
Everybody wants to be number one on Google® this is of course
difficult since there are now double digit billions of websites
worldwide. Any site designer worth it's salt will build in the
various components to allow search engines to find you and list
your site correctly. Then comes the difficult part. The rules
for getting listed number one or even on page one are as varied
as the search terms someone might use to find you, the search
engine they use, your location in respect to them (if important)
and more. To do this job correctly a heavy amount of upfront consultation
must take place between you and the company offering you SEO services.
Companies that make blanket statements like "We can make
your site number one" are blowing smoke up your skirt. Number
one in what, where, when? Depending on your business niche, you
might attain a good ranking, but for how long and from what search
location, etc.? We don't promise #1 out of the box, but with time
and perseverance we will get you into a descent position.
Don't take our word for it as our customers.
It all starts with understanding your target audience
There are many aspects to making you searchable outside of the
search engines proper; listing with organizations that list appropriate
businesses; setting you up with a FaceBook, MySpace, YouTube,
Wikipedia and more; involving a blog where appropriate and some
good old fashioned methods of advertising. Traffic, you see varied
in how we get it there, is another way to make your site more
searchable to help fulfill what the search engines refer to as
"relevance".
With all that being said, there is the whole issue of pay-per-click
(PPC) and this does have some value to certain types of businesses.
Regardless of what the search engines say it does weigh in on
where your site will appear when searched. The squeaky wheel gets
the grease. We can set you up with a PPC and maintain it for you
with a complete reporting and accountability program sent to you
at regular intervals or train you to maintain it yourself. Just
inquire and we will be happy to get
your proposal started.
Site Optimization
This term is a bit broader than just the SEO portion it involves
the raw HTML, ASP, actual images, art, browser compatibility,
etc. and, once again, understanding your target audience
We've all gone to that web site that seemed to take an eternity
to load, even with a broadband access. A device is set there telling
you to just wait a minute. How many times do you? When you have
how many times has it asked you to download a plug-in to view
the page correctly? Come on now!
Most designers can make a site look good, but now look at it
in several environments such as older systems, with older browsers,
with a slow access speeds and the wheels start to come off. Often
referred to as "bleeding edge" technology many sites
don't need it and it doesn't do anything to help sell the your
product or service. A web site shouldn't call attention to itself
but to you or your company and if something doesn't work on your
page or it takes too long to load you've lost that prospect, before
you even got started.
Minimization is another way to put it. Give them as much as they
need, but not at the expense of load time. This is a three fold
approach:
- First any graphics on the page should be sized down
to the minimal size needed to still look good and still load
as quickly as possible. We use a number of techniques we have
developed over the years to cause this to happen. It often means
trying it more than one format before determining which is the
smallest and most effective (a step skipped by most web developers).
We won't bother you with the whole JPG, verses GIF, verses PNG,
etc., but suffice it to say we know what we're doing in this
regard.
- Second is the code. Whether you are HTML, ASP, PHP
or any other language, minimizing the code that loads is paramount.
Removing any unnecessary tags and code that do nothing for the
appearance or functionality of your page. This seams like a
simple concept, but with the advent of WYSIWYG (what you see
is what you get) web site design tools almost anyone willing
to buy them can design a web page. Most inexperienced designers
build using only these tools with no understanding of the code
that makes them work, so you get a lot of wasted code downloading
each time someone views one of your pages. We can work at a
code level to minimize this!
- Third is navigability. Now your prospect has found
your site, but can they find what they looking for? We discuss
this in more detail on our Design Page,
but suffice it to say, that if they aren't finding what they
are looking for and fairly quickly, they're gone. We always
keep that in mind in the design process.
This site is an example that you don't really need a complex
site construct to deliver a simple message. Our's is, yeah we
can do that. Do reallly want to know exactly how?
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