Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Best Practices
Aug 4, 2009 pay per click, seo, web building
To leverage your PPC ad spend, it’s crucial to have a website and/or landing page that is optimized for search. The following is a list of some of the processes we perform in order for your website to be easily found on the web.
1. 301 redirect - This is a server setting (in our case Apache) For example, http://yoursite.com will automatically redirect to http://www.yoursite.com This is important since you always want Google to index the “same” URL version of your website.
In the .htaccess file on the Apache server, the following code needs to be inserted
-
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^emeraldcoastdesign.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.emeraldcoastdesign.com/$1 [L,R=301]
2. Create a “robots.txt” file in the root directory of the server. This tells Google what directories to index and what directories not to index. For example, if there is a directory where all of your video media is stored, you would want to “Disallow” that directory to be read. Whereas, if you have a directory that contains the majority of your keyword-rich content, you would want Google to read that and only that content since it is relevant to the search terms that you would like to be found for.
3. Always separate the “style” from the “content” by creating a separate style sheet. This makes it easy for the Google Bot to distinguish between your relevant “content” and your source code.
4. Always provide keyword rich descriptions in the “alt” tags of your images.
5. Try to use text in your navigation bar rather than images. This is because text can be “crawled” by the search engines.
6. Name your directories with good descriptive words. For example, if you have a “beach condo” website, name your main content directory “beach-condo”. By doing this, the search engines “see” your site as very relevant to “beach condo”!
7. Use a blog powered by Wordpress. Wordpress blogs are already fairly optimized for search engines and blogs are simply a great way for you to get great content uploaded quickly that the search engines love.
8. Use includes where possible. If you need to make changes on a site, make it easy on yourself by having common elements on your site split up into “includes”. There’s nothing more agonizing than wanting to make a small tweak for SEO sake, and realizing that the change has to be made on dozens of individual pages:(
9. Create individual titles for your pages. The “title” tag is one of the most important, from an SEO perspective.
10. Customize the meta content and keyword tags. This is important in that these are the tags that “describe” your page’s content to the seach engines.
These are just some of the search engine optimization techniques we use here at Freedom Florida. Contact us today for a free analysis of your website.
Tags: ad spend, apache, google, ppc, search engine, search engine optimization, seo, wordpress
What is Search Engine Optimization?
Apr 7, 2009 seo
Search Engine Optimization gets a bad rep. There are all kinds of slick sales people trying to sell the latest trick, the latest gimmick that will guarantee you that coveted number 1 spot on Google. There are legitimate methods of getting you to the top of search engines within days. These methods are somewhat more expensive. A professional web developer can use Search Engine Optimization methods to get you to the top of Google over time. Once you are there, you’ll pretty much “stay” there as long as you have your website “maintained” properly by someone who knows how.
Another reason SEO gets a bum rep is just the name itself. Search Engine Optimization… somehow the name implies that you can “optimize” the search engines. The reality is the search engines just “are”. They crawl each website exactly the same way giving no preferential treatment to certain companies or striking secret deals. No, you can not manipulate the search engines, but here is what you can do. A professional web developer codes your site in a way that the search engines finds “friendly”. Do you have great content, yet low Alexa rankings? Chances are the way your content is “shown” to the search engines is not optimized. Our web developers at emeraldcoast.com will gladly analyze your website to see if this is the case.
Tags: professional web developer, search engine optimization, search engines, seo, web
A Web Building Myth
Apr 3, 2009 online advertising, web building
Truth? Everybody needs a website. In the global marketplace, you have to put up shop. Maybe a myth? Consider this.
You need a message and strategy.
The message is what you want to communicate, sell, accomplish. This is the Internet where content is king. There are all sorts of reasons people can come to your website, but they won’t come back without stuff they want.
The strategy is how you market the message. Market - “I thought that I’m on the Internet - that is marketing.” No, kemosabe, you have to market your website, either through old fashioned promotion and advertising or SEO- search engine optimization - making it easy to find you in search engine results. For most people the search engine is “Google” - Google results are today’s internet currency. The better you are in Google, the more traffic you get to your website. In case you haven’t noticed, just because you “build it” on the Internet doesn’t mean that visitors will come to your site and hang out, just waiting to do your bidding.
At EmeraldCoast.com, our goal is to build custom, easy to navigate, easy to find websites that are geared toward your visitors. We don’t pile on on unnecessary graphics and animations, just enough to give your site a flair and style that is you own. We can help you gain the traffic you want through online advertising, search engine optimization and special techniques like email campaigns and video advertising. Call us for more info at 850.650.8233.
Tags: email campaigns, search engine optimization, video advertising, website building
Emerald Coast Design - Web Services Division of EmeraldCoast.com
Mar 31, 2009 online advertising
Emerald Coast Design is the web services division of EmeraldCoast.com. Located in Destin Florida, weare your local source for online advertising. For more information, click on one of the subjects below.
Website Building
designing and building, redesigns, maintenance
Travel Websites
destin.com, panamacity.com, emeraldcoast.com
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
be “found” when buyers google you
PPC
drive heavy traffic to your page or web site at will
Banner Advertising
place online ads on local newspaper and travel sites
Video Advertising
leverage the power of video advertising
Email Campaigns
get your promo out to people who want to know
We welcome your inquires. We serve Destin, Panama City and the greater Fort Walton Beach Area of Florida. For further information simply submit our online form or phone us at 850.650.8233
Tags: banner advertising, destin, email campaigns, fort walton beach, panama city, ppc, search engine optimization, seo, travel websites, video advertising, website building
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