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Showing posts with label E-Commerce Design. Show all posts
A moment ago I was checking my site on the tools SEOMoz provides and was glad I did. I found out a lot of things to improve a website or a blog and it’s really interesting to know that certain common practices are hurting our own website. That sometimes what we learned to be good is bad and what’s bad is sometimes good.
Take for example a certain website that uses the keyword "Search Engine Optimization Company" actually it’s a competitor’s blog I checked.
So there on the research tools SEOMoz provides I used the On-Page Optimization option, enter the keyword and URL then run the report. It was a shocking result knowing they have a much better reputation that BIMC, nevertheless, they still have an excellent grade from SEOMoz thinking that it was launched for about three-four months.
Things to Learn
And that's it, a rundown back memory lane. Some of it are so 2000 late but hey, we need to go back the basics to fully understand the present. I do hope you dont take it against me for not explaining this topic further, and I do pray you read the images so you can understand it without me explaining.
Pardon me for posting this last par way
too late, just got a little bit busy with other things that I miss out posting
this one.
Video Transcription: As stated on the
previous parts of “How to Avoid over Optimization Penalty?” these are all my
own understanding about Rand Fish’s lecture. If any case there’s something that
I may, or may have understand or stated incorrectly tell me so I can make
amends. If you have a much better explanation, leave your comment and let the
readers see how you view this topic.
Footer Filled with Links
Instead of adding information that
footer’s usually carry’s, you filled it with your list of links which is not a
good idea, moreover, it’s unnoticeable, gray font on a gray template.
Text Content Blocks
It’s a phrase, a whole sentence and worst
a whole paragraph of nonsense after a really engaging explanation or
information of something, a certain topic in which you as a reader is too
engrossed reading and then wham bam!, something way too unrelated to what the
former paragraph is.
Do you remember “keyword repetition””
It’s like in every paragraph or at the very least a few times your keyword
should be included in your content so that it helps the search engine, but I’m
telling you, this so 2000, back there, Panda even Penguin has not even crossed
the minds of search engine engineers.
What’s important today is content. Again,
what we need and what matters most to search engines are informative, useful,
high quality and relevant content.
Now that you know this things, as much as
possible even if you have little knowledge in this field or you are in the
point where you were going to asked for the assistance of a search engine
optimization agency, at least you have this account, this list as a guide in
checking if the one you hired is doing good thing on your website or is
probably creating, administering something bad that will soon be the end of
your ecommerce website.
In terms of Internet Marketing, even
Search Engine Optimization which one do you prefer, Black hat or White Hat? We
both know the difference between the two, internet
marketing experts will definitely choose white hat because they already
know what’s in store for them, but for the benefit of those who can’t
distinguish the difference, those who just started in this arena, I’ll discuss
it a little bit.
White Hat Tactics are techniques that
follow certain ethics, no for me, white hats follow ethics, search engine
guidelines and terms of service moreover, they administer campaigns that are
not hurtful to other SEO’s as well as the website itself.
On the other hand, Black hat are those
techniques that are considered spammy and in the long run will hurt the website
because black hat doesn’t follow the guidelines that search engines lay out.
So the question now is what will you
choose, Black hat or White hat?
In black hat you’ll be buying links and
perform link exchanges, while on white hat one can build a link building
strategy.
Search Engines, particularly Google wants
the best possible result for their users, best meaning a website that gives a
trusted, relevant, useful and informative content. White hat practices covers,
content writing, keyword analyzing, and most of the time asked the help of Ecommerce Web Designers in terms of the
website’s design for a better and friendly navigation.
On the other hand, black hats will
perform link exchange “I’ll link to you if
you link to me.” The worst thing here is that most of the time this websites share
a different niche, meaning no relation at all. So where is the relevancy here?
Moreover, you’ll definitely need to spend some cash to be able to do link
exchange especially for websites that are already trusted and authorities of
their own.
Next, black hats implement keywords stuffing,
while as stated earlier, white hats analyze keywords. Once you analyze keywords
you can incorporate the best possible one, a keyword that can cater a broader
category resulting to a more targeted audience without the need to over stuff all
possible keywords in the content.
Remember, what you need is trust and to be
able to gain one, you need visitors, and visitors are not just search engine
bots, readers, a target audience, so what does an audience want, content,
informative, useful, relevant, not something that gives unrelated, keyword
stuffed information.
Another technique that SEO’s perform is being
active on social networks. Having one profile is much better than launching
countless social profiles that you cant be active all the time.
We all know how social media becomes a big part
in terms of search engine optimization. Signals coming from twitter, facebook,
linkedin, pinterest etc are considered to be a source of ranking factors for
every web page. Having more than one profile can’t really build a social
following, you cant interact and be active all the time because you have numerous
accounts to handle unlike having one social profile that targets a broader
category in which you can be active 24/7 if you want.
So in the end, the question is still which is
which, Black Hat over White Hat, it’s not up to you.
Video Transcription: As stated on the Part I of this topic, these are all my own understanding about Rand Fish’s lecture and if there are something that I may, or may have understand incorrectly you can tell me and give me your own view on how well you understand the topic.
Manipulative Internal Links
“Links on the side bars, on the content and on the footer with the same exact anchors to the same page over and over again.”
Did you know that having a single link on a certain page is already counted? Yes, now that you know, at least inform your Ecommerce Web Designer that it’s not necessary at all to include or reserve a space for this links because there's no need to repeat it, “the anchor texts”, over and over as it only makes your site questionable to the user as well as to the search engines.
A much better approach is to link it to other pages or websites, say your blog, (more or less your blog also tackles, or a least, states something about the website you are optimizing) use different anchor texts, short tail or long tail, “a little more natural sounding” and you’ll be surprised with the results, not to mention you don’t need to worry about the “Over Optimization Penalty” in the future.
Credits: SEOMoz.org/BLOG
Its has been two decades since the first introduction of the very first web design, two decades of non stop developing, two decades of never ending “keeping up” two decades or learning new ways to established a much more better design for consumers.
From a simple design develop so that American scientist can easily understand to act as “transmission tool”, web design becomes even more enticing and easy to use due to the changing needs and updating technology of every generation.
As of the moment, web design is a very big part in terms of product and service promotion over the web. As Ecommerce started, countless Ecommerce Web Designers started to learn new ways to enhance their designs. And just as they are catching up with the latest changes, E-mobile comes into picture.
Due to the popularity of smart phones and tables, Ecommerce website owners saw the possibility of gaining traffic from this medium, thus, mobile ecommerce rise.
At first, it was really hard for Ecommerce Web Designers to shift from ecommerce web designing to mobile designing, but as the saying goes, keep on learning and one day you’ll get the proper formula. “To be able to gain traffic, thus resulting sales, the design also plays a major role, just the same as how Ecommerce Web Designs plays its part to increase its audience on the web”
Here are some tips that might help you if you are planning to go Mobile.
First is to create a homepage that is congruent to a portal, make your design in grid style so that browsing for other pages can be easily done. Create check out buttons that can be easily notice.
Use icons instead of texts, the reason is simple, by using icons it makes it easier for a user to spot and click whatever he/she is searching.
Make it readable, not too small and not too large, we don’t have enough space/screen (4 inches at the most) unlike a desktop or a laptop. A medium size is better, easy to notice, easy to tap.
Make your design clean, too much buttons, too much pictures and too much texts is hard for the eyes specially if there is only a 4” screen. Use drop down menus to categorize your products and services
And lastly, remember to indicate all services and products information accurately. Promos can be placed on the homepage, introduced an offer that only mobile users can avail. And please do pay attention to every detail as much as you are paying attention to your Ecommerce website.
Search Engine Optimization, a process in which an individual, preferably someone who has the knowledge in this industry or a Search Engine Optimization Agency implements in order to obtain the highest possible search result for a certain keyword a website administers.
Search Engine Optimization is also used by Ecommerce Web Designers to establish a design that is search bots friendly, not to mention a design that caters a touch of professionalism and easy navigation that users look for in a website.
Implementing an SEO is not a one night process; in fact, I can say it’s a gamble. One wrong move and your website might be penalized. One wrong code and it will take forever to fix it especially if you are not a professional.
Overly optimizing your website might result to a dreadful effect as Google, one of the most famous search engine announced that they will be penalizing websites that performs extreme optimizations to the point that only search engines can understand and read the content.
Anyway, as stated above, search engine optimization is not, and will never be an overnight process. It takes time to gather your resources as well as to see the results of your optimization. There are no shortcuts, and you shouldn’t carry-out short cuts such as the things stated below:
Not performing a research on keywords to be implemented. “Knowing what keyword you want is not enough” You have more than one page, more or less each page caters a different product/service, thus a different keyword is used, using a general or a broad keyword is a good choice but what about a much categorized one, or something a user might think (long tail keywords) and you as the owner doesn’t know it can be used. Consequently, not performing a research on keywords means you can’t tell or predict the huge possibility of competition.
Exclusion of a Meta Tag Copyright. Title tags, a link that is clickable for users and most of the time being indexed by search engines for every click. Meta tag description includes description of the page, and your keywords. Heading tags (H1-H6) are tags that are search engine friendly as words inside this code is the first thing that search engine reads. Also, use tags on images as “images are invisible to search engines”. So you see how skipping simple Meta tags can affect your pages in the search results?
Not performing an optimization for each page. Okay, stated above “over optimization can have a bad effect” but internet marketing experts stated that "not optimizing your pages is also unacceptable". Keep in mind that all pages are important, this means that the homepage is not the only page you should optimize. Did you know that search engines rank individual web pages and not websites as a whole? Build a link trust for each page and you’ll be surprised by the result.
Internet marketing, a huge term that encompass a broad number of facts needed to be followed and some to avoid.
When it comes to internet marketing, what do you think is the most important? Is it your websites design? Or maybe you’re content? Perhaps the services and the products you offer.
Who should you put your trust into, or better yet, where should you put your trust? Should it be your ecommerce web designer who is responsible for implementing user friendly website navigation and design? Maybe you are considering of asking for the help of an internet marketing expert
Stop, before you go into a much deeper thought, don’t you think you should learn the basic processes of this industry first before you took chances or blame an internet marketing expert?
As the title stated, “How to succeed and the reason to fail”, not knowing what the basics of this industry is like wasting all the resources. How will you know the things needed and the things that are inaccurately implemented by the people you hire if you are badly informed?
Read, research and if you can implement what you have learned much better. Read things that is related to this industry as well as to your niche. Conduct a research on what customer seeks, what search engines would love to see and the best practices you should implement. Practice, the best thing to learn is to practice right.
Utilized your website design, think as if you are the one who’s going to use it and not as the owner of the site. Being the owner, you would like to add this and that, but as a user, all you are looking for are great content, useful products and services, superb customer service and an easy navigation.
Create a strategy. First, target a certain audience and stick to it. Use a general term that can cover a broad category. Then, generate useful and catchy content. Optimized your website as well as the content, do not forget the images. Next, Link Build, you can asked a Search Engine Optimization Company or do it yourself. Then join social networks and be an active member, communicate, discuss, debate and built trust.
Add Analytics. In order to track down everything that is happening on your site. The sales that has been made, the things and time that each visitor spends as well as to get some tips and ideas on what to implement the next time.
Define bounce rate? Bounce rate is the percentage that exhibits the number of visitors or traffic that withdraws on a certain page they entered without viewing the other pages of the website. Another definition about bounce rate is that it is the amount of visitors who leaves your page after a very small amount of time, usually a few seconds.
What are the effects of bounce rate? Simply, bounce rate represents incorrect and unreliable content for a specific search term, thus it tells Google that, that certain web result is irrelevant to the term being searched. Meaning, Google will step in and most likely to replace, if not remove your website on the top result page for that certain keyword.
How can you lower your bounce rate?
First and the most important is to use the right keywords for optimization. Ensure the density of your keyword for each page. Do not include unrelated ones in hope of tricking the search results because it will only lead to a higher bounce rate. Ask for a Search Engine Optimization Company for help in optimizing your website.
Create well written content. Engaging, well written, informative and useful ones generates more traffic than you could imagine. Include images, some personal opinions or write as if you are talking to your audience. Too much “professional like content” makes content boring, full text is boring, phrases or a word that intends to help your search visibility is annoying. Instead, suggest a relevant product and post a text link at the end of your post.
Established a fast load time because no one, not even you prefers waiting. Flash movie, pop-up windows, spinning logo or scrolling texts, floating advertisements and background music affects the loading period of a certain website as well as it also irritates a user.
Take notice of your design and navigation controls. Not because Flash affects the loading time means you can’t add animations, you just need to monetize it so that it won’t affect that much on the loading period.
Your template matters for your products or services, the purpose of your website and of course your target audience. Ask a professional Ecommerce Web Designer for opinions or acquire their services on this matter. Tell them what you want or let them present their design and if it suits your taste then it’s good.
Nevertheless, you should check the navigation controls. If you are offering a number of products or services, organized each by labeling every product or service and place it on their proper categories. Give a clear description for each product and service, title, image, shipping cost, discounts and incentives, but as much as possible if you are offering something expensive DO NOT INCLUDE the PRICE have a Contact Me button instead.
Last, but more or less not the least, check your HTML code, meta tags, title tags and heading. Review your URL, check the size of your images and make sure titles are administered. Include a site map for easy indexing, offer RSS subscriptions, EMAIL newsletters, add social media sites and feeds like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Google+.
“Pin it”! Have you heard this new craze in online marketing? It’s Pinterest, one the craziest and at a point a scary bookmarking site. Unnerving, in the sense that in a short course of time. Pinterest broke the solid top 10 social networks of all time. Yes, and mind you it’s an invite only social network. Imagine if it’s just like Facebook or even Twitter where you can just create a new account and activate it.
Anyway, Pinterest has been in the industry for two years, serving the users who want to share and collect thing they loved over the web, but its just now that its starting to fully spread its wings to accommodate users. In fact, there are 7.51 million Pinterest users recorded last December, and as of the moment, Pinterest traffic is increasing four fold.
Not only this, it is said that Pinterest drives more traffic than Google+. And I have proven this true, from 800 plus traffic, I gained 23 more users a few minutes after PINNING a post. And the incredible thing is its increasing right before my eyes .
If you are thinking its for a small scale business, like an Ecommerce Web Designer like me, you are so wrong, well known, very well established brands are PINNING. Even the most trusted Search Engine Optimization Company are studying on how they can benefit to this.
Don't get me wrong here. Social Media drives traffic, Yes. It helps you increase your visitors, promote whatever product or service you offer and it also strengthens your brand name as well as the trust for your site. Nonetheless, search engines remains to be the number 1 when it comes to traffic refferals.
Consequently, in the end everything still lies on the hands of the buyer and seller. Its either they want to interact using this social networks or look for another resource. And the fact that trust is not gained on which social media you are using but on how you can cater and serve your customers.
