Web Savvy Marketers

Clean up incoming website links after redesign

Every so often you need to take a look at your website and prune some of the old material from your website. I recently went through the process with cgwebhelp.com. During the recent redesign, I removed the whole FYI section and many sub pages from other sections. The material was dated and it was time to streamline the site.

While search engines love to see current relevant content, you should take care when completing a redesign so that you don’t lead visitors and search engines to an old page or worse a page not found. Not only is it confusing and annoying for people coming to your website but it can also hurt your search engine rank.

If you go to Google and search site:cgwebhelp.com, you’ll see all the incoming links that Google has coming to the site. Many of the links listed are pointing to old pages. You’ll want to fix that so all listings are pointing to your new website.  To do that, you’ll want to do two things.

  1. Make sure that the old pages are actually removed from your server
  2. Set up a 301 Permanent redirect for any removed pages to an applicable section of your new website.

If you’re working with a web designer you’ll want to ensure that they’ve completed those two things when completing the updates to your site.  To check, you can  do a search on your site by searching “site:yourdomain.com”  and start clicking through the links — if they all direct to your new site, you’re in good shape.  If not, there’s still some work to be done.

If you’re a do-it-yourself kind of person and you have access to your  hosting account and Cpanel you can set up the 301 redirects yourself.   Log in to your Cpanel and look fro the Domains>Redirect link.  Once there choose “Permanent 301 from the dropdown, type in the url of the old page or directory that needs to be pointed to a new url and the new URL in the spaces indicated click update and you’re done.

301 redirects

If you want to redirect a whole directory as I did in the example shown above click the “Wild Card Redirect” box.  That’s it.  Now go back to Google and click through your links to verify that they’re all going to your updated pages.

5 Steps To Marketing Success

5 Steps to Marketing Success

Roy H. Williams, The Wizard of Ads, has helped small companies grow into big ones for 20 years. Roy uses a simple five step marketing process. The steps are easy to understand but hard to do. Understand and complete them and your company can flourish.

1. Focus.
What are you trying to make happen? How will you measure success? See it clearly. Say it plainly.

2. Evaluate.
Who’s the competition? What’s the customer looking for? What’s holding you back?

3. Prioritize.
When two of your goals come into conflict, which one bows the knee?

4. Strategize.
What’s the shortest route to your primary goal? What tools can dislodge any impediments?

5. Implement.
Quit talking and DO something. Nothing changes until you take action.
________

Chris Amorosino, Amorosino Writing, LLC
Upcoming Workshop, January 14, 2010: postwritingworkshop.eventbrite.com

How is SEO like a college degree?

I know, I know, another blog about Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Well it’s a hot topic with our clients and often an area of confusion. SEO is simply optimizing a site to ensure that it is found when doing a search on Google, Yahoo or other search engines. Now the term ensure may be too strong because although SEO is important, there’s no magic to guarantee placement. A site that ranks third on the first page on Google one day may be at the bottom of page two the next day due to changes in the way in which the search engine looks at the site.  And it may also vary form person to person–but that’s another story.

Although this can be a bit frustrating we do know that there are a few things we can do to make sure a site improves its ranking. First and most important is content–making sure that the keywords used in a search are in the content of a website is essential. The more comprehensive the content of the site, the more likely it will rank well on search engines.

The second way to improve search engine rank is to make sure that the keywords used in a search and in the content are included the meta and title tags . The most important terms should be included in these 2 tags. This is also important because the title and meta description may be what the search results will show and you’ll want to make sure that it correctly conveys your message.

Also important to SEO are incoming links. The more links you have from other sites to yours, the higher you may rank. The key here, however, is QUALITY links. You’ll often see ads to get you 15,000 links. Most of these won’t be applicable to your site and can even hurt your ranking. Quality links would be regional, industry directories, etc.

The bottom line is…SEO is a continuous process. Since search engines constantly update their way of looking at sites, SEO is not a one time fix and although there are no guarantees, it’s not something you can ignore.

How is SEO like a college degree? With a degree you’re not guaranteed to get the good job, but without it, you’re not likely to get it. Similarly, SEO doesn’t guarantee a first place search engine rank, but without it, you’re not likely to be found.

Question of the Day: Any Value to Reciprocal Links?

Is there any value in responding to the email and to providing a link to the website from your site?  If you have a website it’s likely you’ve received emails like the email below:

I have visited your website yourdomain.com and I was wondering
if it would be possible to get a link to my partner’s website on it?

I’ll place a link back to you on our website, your link will be placed exactly here:

If you agree, then please link to me….

Please don’t forget to send me the title of your website after you
place my link so I can do the same.

Years ago getting reciprocal links was a pretty common practice.  It was thought that search engines would rank sites better if they had numerous inbound links.  It may still be true that sites with numerous inbound links will rank better than those without inbound links, but modern SE’s  recognize if the links are relevant or if they are just exchanged links.   So rather than respond to or initiate reciprocal links with unknown sources, a better strategy for obtaining inbound links might be to find relevant directories or businesses that are a source of referrals for your business in the “real” world and if appropriate ask them to link to your websites.  Inbound links can also be generated through the social networks – join a discussion on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook and you’ll likely see a spike in traffic to your website

Stay safe on social networks

Is there a danger to accepting  unknown blog subscribers and Twitter followers?  The short answer is yes.  But if you have a blog and you are communicating via social networks, presumably one of your goals is to spread your business or organization’s message.  So where do you draw the line?

I received this TWITTER Question from a client: “Is there a danger to me in being Followed by someone who rarely tweets, follows a lot of people, has few followers? Do I need to block these people or is it sufficient to not follow them back. Sometimes, I can see that Twitter has suspended them for improper activity. What is the danger? What are they doing?”

If you suspect danger, trust your instincts.  You can set your Twitter settings to restrict access to only those people you approve. Consider how you use your Twitter account — if it is used to communicate with a business community and the goal is to build community you probably want to attract as many followers as possible.  If your account is of a more personal nature you probably don’t have the need to allow unknown followers access to your account.

If you see that Twitter has suspended someone for improper activity it means they have violated Twitter’s rules.  It could have involved impersonating someone else, spamming, threatening someone, copyright issues or any number of other issues that Twitter includes in their Rules.  I would probably block anyone that Twitter has suspended or that you suspect of being involved in any of these activities.

I’ve put together a list of basic safety tips to help you stay safe while communicating with virtual strangers online through your website, blog or social networks.

1.  Don’t give away personal information.

  1. Don’t provide home address or phone number on your website or in your profile
  2. Don’t tweet or post that you’re away from home — don’t post vacation photos until you return home — no need to inform the world that your house is vacant
  3. Don’t include personal information like your birth date in your profile.  Birth dates are helpful to idenity theives.

2. Be careful with social networking “apps”. When those Facebook applications tell you they need to access your personal profile in order to work — you might think twice about how important it is to use that application.  See Facebook Application Privacy for details and set your limits based on their information.

3. Watch out for “Phishing”.  Whether a social network post or an email, always assume that the identity of the poster could be an impostor–especially if the message seems out of the ordinary.  Be suspicious!  Assume any link that leads you to a login page to be suspect. See “Fraudsters Target Facebook With Phishing Scam”.  If you receive a message from a “friend” that you suspect is a “phishing scam”, both you and your friend should change your account passwords.

4. Do NOT use the same username/password combination on all your accounts.  If a thief obtains your username/password to your Facebook account, make sure it doesn’t also give him access to your bank account, Amazon or Paypal accounts.

5.  YOUR BLOG: Review your blog’s user and discussion settings.  If using WordPress the subscriber level by default allows them to read, comment and subscribe to your RSS feed.  There doesn’t seem to be too much danger in that.  However, I think it’s wise to review your subscriber list frequently and delete any suspicious addresses.

More information about online safety can be found at the following links.

Web site safety building safer websites

11 tips for social networking safety

The cobbler has new shoes

Designing a website for a client and designing one for yourself seem to be two different animals.  For one thing, the clients pay better.  Maybe that’s the reason why the cgwebhelp company site has taken so long to get redesigned.

Finally the new site is in the works and will soon be replacing the old look.  Say goodbye to the dancing header and the snappy tune – it is no more.  Say hello to the new site with a focus on staying connected–through my blogs, at cgwebhelp.com and websavvymarketers.com, and through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

I look forward to your comments and your feedback. –cg

Avoid the Click, Click, Clicks

Are you struggling to write highly effective content for your website? Go easy on blaming yourself. Writing for the web is very different than writing for print.

Web writing has to be different because we don’t read web pages in the same way we read a book or magazine. The light given off by a computer screen can be harsh on our eyes. We may struggle with glare and inaequate contrast between the letters and the background. We may also have trouble adjusting our screens and chairs for comfort.

Plus reading on a computer reminds us of looking at a TV, another box that emits light. And a mouse seems like a television remote, also a device for controlling a light-emitting box. So most of us treat web pages with the same short attention span we bring to TV programs. It’s click, click, click away.

The typical web reader will quickly click off your website if the page seems boring or complicated. She scans text, avoiding areas of densely written content and can easily miss information. To slow down the clicking:

  • Get to the point fast. Think like you’re writing an ad.

  • Use short sentences and paragraphs.

  • Include informative subheads.

  • Put information in lists with bullets or numbers.

  • Put key information in bold.

 

Mara Braverman
Braverman Marketing & Communications, LLC

If it Seems too Good to be True…It Is!

I’ve been hearing more and more about people getting scammed by on-line companies when attempting to set up their own site. In fact, I recently spoke with a client that spent $4,700 plus $39.95 a month for a website and several months later has nothing to show for it. Now don’t get me wrong, there are many legitimate companies out there on the worldwide web, but if they’re talking large returns with little or no sales, marketing and effort – it’s not going to happen.

When it comes to creating or re-designing your website you’d be more productive if you focused on the planning of the site and hired someone else for the programming. Deciding before hand exactly what you want from your site and clearly communicating that with your web partner is the most effective way to build a website.

Too often people decide what they want their site to do for them after they’ve created it. For example a site that’s created to drive sales is much different than one that’s strictly for informational purposes. It’s imperative to determine the direction in advance so that you don’t end up having to re-design and re-program the site afterwards. In addition, what you want from your site will determine the type of tools used.

The bottom line is… If someone contacts you from an on-line company, look them up. A simple Google search can provide you with a lot of information. In addition, although these companies may promise incredible deals, nothing can replace the one-to-one relationship with an established, local company. It’s always nice to be able to speak to someone whose name you know.

Deep Six All Clichés

For the health and well-being of your business writing, deep six all clichés. It’s as plain as the nose on your face.

As far as the eye can see, they multiply like rabbits. It’s hard to swallow the hare- brained idea that we cannot avoid these old as dirt phrases. Rely on clichés and people will think your elevator doesn’t go to the top floor or that you’re a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Don’t you see eye to eye with me on this?

Say what you will, clichés bore us to tears. Even if you must burn the candle at both ends, find substitutes for them. Doing so is more than a feather in your cap. It means your copy can fire on all cylinders and won’t read flat as a pancake. Even a writer as dumb as a bag of hammers, knows that variety is the spice of life and that clichés have lost their salt.

So drag those squealing, stinky rodents of writing to the paper shredder and show no mercy. And don’t shred on me, I’m just the messenger.

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