Twitter
Facebook
Flickr
Layout Image

Archive for September 2010

Content is Important to Your Website's Design

September 27th, 2010 by Angela

Often times when we think of web design, we only visualize the graphic elements on the website like the header, background colors or background. Another important element of a web site design is the text and image content.

Web site content is important to the overall layout of a website design and should also be considered when designing the site’s layout and a page layout. Your sites content layout affects how visitors navigate both your site and each page and well planned content supports stronger SEO content building.

As your website is being built, your designer will want a list or outline of your main topics and any subtopics so the menu and navigation bars can be formed and proper hierarchy to your content. One way to help your designer is to make a list or draw out a flow chart of your services, and information you would like to distribute to your visitors.

Once you have your topics, services and informational content organized within a list or outline, your designer can review your ideas and make suggestions any adjustments and then move onto a menu layout.

The next important step concerning text and image content will be dependent on the client. The client will want to begin the writing process of information to include on each page of the website. One can write up their own content, hire a writer or marketing expert that knows how to present your information in the best form.

Once you have the content and desired images per each web page, your web designer will then take the content and design it’s layout within a page. Sometimes the text content may benefit from some custom graphics within a page and your designer can see how to pull information from your content and suggest creative ways to present them in a visual form.

By planning in advance your main topics and hierarchy of subtopics, and each pages content you can achieve a smooth design process during the page building process of web design and strengthen your SEO.

Categories : Design Basics, Marketing, Search Engine Optimization SEO, Web Design
Comments (2)

Be Leery of SEO First Page Ranking Promises

September 22nd, 2010 by Angela

If you own a website, you have likely encountered the “Promise” and “We Guarantee” presentation to get you listed and ranked on the front page of the top search engines! However, most reputable SEO and Web development companies know they cannot promise something they cannot control so you rarely see these marketing tactics used by reputable companies.

SEO can be a huge and mysterious buzz word since the Internet is so competitive for positioning, yet we do not have access to the search engine ranking methods and the average website owner may find the methods, terms and information overwhelming. Many website owners are interested in organic (non-paid) methods improvement versus the non-organic paid methods, but may need to work with an expert to best leverage those methods and avoid expensive oversights.

The search engines use complex algorithms to figure how to rank your website rendering much of your ranking out of your control. Reputable SEO companies understand how important basic SEO is to the strength of your website and how other factors affect how your website is crawled. They will suggest legitamate  methods of optimization and work with the owner on how to help improve their sites traffic without scam tactics and expensive paid methods. You can visit Volacci for some SEO Tips to help optimize your site as well as improve traffic.

These reputable SEO companies rarely suggest questionable tactics like doorway pages, mass directory links, mass search engine submissions, immediate first page results, and the list goes on. SEO takes time and is constantly changing even from state to state and day by day as other websites update their content. There is no way to promise and guarantee positioning even on specific keyword and phrases since this can also change daily, weekly and longer term. Solid SEO tips and recommendations are still the best approach to improving your website’s SEO, and all your efforts will still not happen overnight….it takes time to build good content and be found. SEOmoz presents some tactic used to “promise” unreasonable results.

SEO specialists are not the only experts that understand SEO. Web designers and developers also understand some of the best and worse features of a website design and development that can effect how well your website is crawled and therefore working with both the SEO and design/development of your site can work well together to give your improved traffic and ranking in the search engines.

Don’t under estimate the strength of Social Media and how well it can contribute to your overall SEO and assist your website. One can SEO their different Social Media platforms as well as use them to complement your website’s SEO. As technology changes, so will new scam tactics, but also legitimate SEO techniques. Be leery of the new gadget, program or service hitting the market that makes too good to be true promises,  rather seek out a reputable SEO specialist, Web Designer and Developer to help you plan our your optimization strategy.

Categories : Marketing, Search Engine Optimization SEO, Web Design
Comments (0)

Why Your Business Should Have a Website

September 20th, 2010 by Angela

I love this topic…why? It seems so obvious to me as a web and graphic designer, but I may take a lot for granted that everyone sees the answers as I do. So, I love this topic because I have the opportunity to help other businesses learn how to utilize the web to grow businesses.

My first response to why a business should have a website is that…in the age of online searching and advanced technology, your clients expect it. Are their businesses out there that have done well without the use of a website, possibly…but the vast majority of businesses will see increases interest in their business and potential increase in revenue if they can be found and offer a great online experience.

If your competition has a website, your business should highly consider one too. If they do not, your business can corner your industry market if you take advantage of the opportunity with a new website. You can stand out from your competition or become the expert in your area.

Unlike most brick and mortar offices or store fronts, the Internet is 24/7 365 days a year, bringing daily opportunities to you even when you are not “on the clock”. You can reduce phone calls and one-on-one inquiries with a website that provides helpful information about your business. Websites are affordable and cost effective and can save you marketing dollars each year.

The next time you are considering how to spend your marketing dollars, remember that a website can save you money as a long term investment for your business and give your customers what they are looking for on the Internet.

 

Categories : Marketing, Web Design
Comments (0)

Why Your Business Should Have a Social Media Strategy

September 15th, 2010 by Angela

You ask yourself as a business owner, should I use Social Media to grow my business? It seems everyone is pushing towards this “new” trend in marketing, but should you? The first questions to ask yourself, is what are you looking to do with social media and what are the several different platforms and tools available for my business? Once you ask yourself these questoins you may discover several more questions and unknowns…and that is why a social media strategy is important.

Obviously the Internet and technology driven industry is in constant motion with new aps, new programs and new gadgets nearly every day. That is how the online marketing world revolves and social media is also in constant movement. If a business does not plan out their strategy they will find themselves jumping around the Internet trying new things with little idea of how it all fits together, then not reach their goals nor understand why a certain platform didn’t work.

One important note many businesses that are just starting out in social media may over look is that since the goal of this social environment is to build relationships and interact with the public…is that it takes time. It is possible for one or two small tools and elements to begin working for your business right away with a quick promo, but it may not be able to maintain the same results for the long run without an overall strategy.

Social Media takes time to build and nurture so your business can reap the best rewards from the planning and implementation. Many businesses have jumped the boat after only a few months of trying to use a variety of tools, but they likely did not have a strategy, nor understood the best tools and methods to use for their industry and specific audience.

Give your business the best oportunity in succeeding with an online marketing and social media plan  by working with a company that understands how the different platforms work for businesses and how to combine a variety of online tools with your website. There are some great platforms on the web, but business shouldn’t waste their time and money by jumping into the social media scene without a strategy.

Categories : Marketing, Social Media, Web Design
Comments (0)

Focus Your Branding on Community: Social Media Interaction

September 11th, 2010 by Angela

In our new age of technology and interactive web, Social Media and the interaction it brings is an extension of your branding strategy. As business owners, we engage within our own physical community doing everyday activities as well as networking face-to-face. Treat your online networking the same way by building social communities using a variety of social media tools which help to brand your business.

Social Media Branding OklahomaThe different Social Media tools  like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube are not about direct promoting and pushing your product any more than shopping at your local store calls for you to hand out your business card to every person that passes your cart.

Online interaction is the same as saying ”Hello, how are you?”. Create conversational opener as well as building long term relationships with questions and possible advice as you interact more often…just like shopping over and over at the same store.

As small businesses utilize Social Media and the variety of social network platforms they will improve their online branding while building visibility, reputation, influence and eventually referrals. If you use social media consistently, engage within your online community, you will create a stronger brand and grow your business.

Categories : Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter
Comments (0)

Top Reason Your Website and Business Should Blog: Search Engine Optimization SEO

September 6th, 2010 by Angela
Those of us in the web industry hear about it every day…your website can greatly benefit from regular blogging. But what does this mean to our client’s websites and businesses? How does blogging benefit their business and why should they consider integrating a blog into their website? Here at Allographics & Design, we have 5 top reason’s your business and websites should be blogging directly from your website.Search Engine Optimization (SEO)All businesses want to optimize their websites the best they can, and rich fresh content is one of the best ways to keep your website searched. Blogging allows for regular updated material and relevant content to be added consistently for the bots and spiders to crawl your website and ultimately increase search traffic. SEO involves creating rich relevent keyword rich content that search engines love and blogging content is just what the engines are looking for!

Hubspot recently conducted a study that shows that active blogs bring 6.9 times more organic search traffic to websites and 1.12 times more referral traffic than sites that do not blog. Overall the more blogs you post, the more your site traffic increases. A previous study indicated that small businesses can increase website traffic by up to 55% more! Check out Hubspots charts and statistics:

Active Business Blogs Draw 6.9 Times More Organic Search Traffic Than Non-Bloggers

Your blogs should be content rich, keyword-optimized and relevant to your services and visitors interests. Your blogs should also encourage and increase online followers and those that like to respond to your posts, which is why interest and relevance is important to your post’s topics. Blogging also provides inbound links with trackbacks, which also increases traffic to your site.

Ultimately, posts responses, trackbacks, and rich keyword content bring search engines to your blog and website and help increase traffic. Increased traffic to your website means an increase in potential revenue. Start blogging today!
Categories : Marketing, Web Design
Comments (0)

Our Social Strategy Seminar

FREE Social Media Workbook


Layout Image