Here’s a summary of how Google assesses content for search rank quality:

• Does the content appear to be written by an expert, and provide original or unique information?
• Is it quality content, well edited and absent of spelling, style or factual errors?
• Does the content provide substantial quality when compared to other pages in the same search results?
• Is this content repeated on multiple pages within your site, just with slightly different keyword variations? (If so, your site will be penalized.)
• Is your site, or the article author, a recognized authority?
• Is the content newsworthy, and of the quality you would expect to see in a magazine or book?
• Is the information presented comprehensive, and both sides of a story presented?
• Is the page content something you would bookmark or recommend to others?
• Is the written content trustworthy? If the site includes e-commerce, does the content make you comfortable providing your credit card information to this site?
• Do the sites linking to your pages have quality content? (While you cannot control other sites’ content, it’s important to try to limit inbound links to quality sites.)

Every time Google rolls out a search algorithm update, your search rank may change. Simply chasing algorithm changes with keyword revisions is time-consuming, costly, and often leads to the type of search rank gaming search engines are trying to defeat.

Searches will never penalize good content–that’s the best way to obtain and maintain a strong search rank.

So what makes a mobile-friendly site, and does your site need to be “mobilized?”

How does a mobile site work?

Simply put, a mobile site is one that recognizes the device being used, and adapts to the browser window size. This is often called (buzzword alert) “responsive design.”

Most recent smartphones will show the majority of websites as-is, but those sites either become so small they are difficult to read, or the user must scroll horizontally and/or resize page sections to view the content. A mobile-friendly site will detect that a smartphone is being used, and reorganize content for the small screen so that it is both legible and does not require horizontal scrolling.

While it’s not perfect—this is being done for a desktop browser—you can see a simulation of the effect using the link below.

Desktop Simulation of Garland Mobile (Note: The “mobile” site may not render properly on older desktop browsers such as IE7 or 8—the mobile version was designed for devices like iPhones, not a small IE7 window.)

While there are multiple ways of “mobilizing” a website, the best in most situations is to design a single site so that it seamless adapts to the device or browser being used to view it. Another option is to use a script that detects the device, and sends smartphones to a second version of the site, often on a subdomain (mobile.your-domain-name.com). There are also some third-party services that claim to create a mobile version of your site for free, but our tests show them as likely to work as “one-size fits all” stretch pants fitting a 150 lb marathon runner and a 450 lb sumo wrestler!

Do I need a mobile-friendly site?
With smartphones, tablets and handheld browsing growing much faster than desktop browsing, the answer is—or will be—yes for most. But the answer also depends on your target market. If your website is geared for the elderly, a mobile site is not likely to have much impact. But if your site caters a younger crowd, or you have a remote sales force that needs to connect from the road, a mobile site is probably a must.

Feel free to contact us for information on making your site mobile-friendly.

If a site isn't in Google, does it exist?

If you think SEO is just about hidden code, keywords, and link campaigns, think again. We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating:

The “secret” to SEO is good, compelling text content. As a site owner, that’s what you should focus on, and let professionals like us help with the rest. So what are the most important SEO Factors?

Search engines continue to change, but in general, the three most important SEO factors include:

• Good content that is updated regularly
• Sites with well-written content following a consistent theme
• Inbound links from authoritative sites (although inbound links are being devalued after some of the trickery practiced by major retailers in Dec 2010)

Notice we’ve said nothing about keywords. Yes, they still have relevance, primarily:

• In visible text
• “Long-tail” keywords (multiple words that specific a particular product or service) are most likely to rank high and convert visitors to customers
• As long as they match the visible content, there are some “backend” coding spots where they should be included

But above all else, let your SEO focus on people, not search engines. You can do this by applying:

• Phrases that match how people search
• Think outside industry jargon
• Optimize pages for one keyword phrase that best matches the content

There are many other factors to consider, but we’ll deal with those in future posts. But as a site owner, focus on what only you can produce–search engines will never penalize good, compelling content!

It’s become a marketing mantra–you MUST have your business on Facebook, or Twitter, or LinkedIn, or…

With hundreds of millions of daily visitors, it makes perfect sense to have a presence for this growing social media audience. But it’s not like the movie Field of Dreams where you build it and they will come. Successful social media requires a major time commitment, creativity, and focusing on your audience.

After all, it’s SOCIAL media, not ads media. Social media has exploded because it’s, well, social! It’s a place to find friends and family, share interests, and networking. No one will follow your social media site if it’s content is nothing but shameless ads for your products or services.

Before you start a social media campaign, carefully consider the following:

* Have you established clear goals for social media? Are you simply trying to build traffic to your web site, get leads, or use it to answer questions?

* Do you or your personnel have the time updating and monitoring your social media pages. A successful campaign requires prompt responses. Someone needs to check your social pages regularly, and an active presence can require several hours a day.

* Can you produce quality content? For many companies, this is the biggest challenge. You need to be creative, and be able to generate interesting content on a sustained basis.

* Learn about and engage your audience on a social level. The goal is to build a sense of community by sharing fun stories, tips, music, videos, or anything else your audience enjoys. These do not necessarily have to relate to your business—no one wants to follow endless promos.

* When you do post a promo, reward your audience with some special offer (free shipping, free consultation, a discount, whatever). This offer should be exclusive to your social media fans, as you want to give them continuing incentives to follow you.

* Engage your audience and build on personal relationships. If someone posts a compliment, thank him or her. If they post a criticism, don’t simply remove it–respond ASAP and try to resolve the problem publicly, or at least demonstrate you do care and want to correct the situation.

Blitz Media Design can help set up your social media pages, and provide specific tips on creating and managing your social media program.

Good, compelling content.

Were we to add one more word, we’d say “good, compelling text content.” What SEO factors should be considered for your site?

The Basics
Search engine optimization is the process of improving the volume and quality of your web site traffic from organic (“free” vs. “pay-per-click”) search engine listings. The days of having your site designed, then having someone stuff the back end code with keywords to have the site zoom up the rankings are over. There are still some important hidden tags that impact search rank. But trickery and “black-hat” SEO tactics may get your site banned from search engines.

Blitz Media Design’s SEO Philosophy
Approach search engine optimization like the stock market. Your goal should be long-term gain, rather than playing a hot tip that may work in the short term, but will hurt you in the future.

Focus on site traffic (the results) rather than whether or not you’re No. 1 – the rank is meaningless if no one searches for your top-rated phrase.

The Key SEO Factors
Search engines want the “best of the best” at the top of their results. Factors that searches use to identify “the best” include:

• Compelling content. You have seconds to grab a visitor’s interest. Avoid those “welcome to…” headlines and start with what you offer and how it benefits the visitor in a short, effective headline.
• Sites that have many inbound links from other, relevant sites. They are considered a “vote” for your site. Links from link farms and irrelevant sites are of no help. Reciprocal links are of little benefit, unless the linking site drives significant traffic from their site to yours.
• Sites that have current content. If your site hasn’t been changed in months or years, its search rank is almost certain to erode.
• Sites with ample content that follows a theme. A five-page site with only a paragraph or two on each page, no matter how well written, is not likely to rank well. Searches tend to favor larger sites and verbose pages of about 400-600 words per page.
• Since people are unlikely to read that much text, construct your content so a person scanning the page will see the most important information (think bullets and subtitles). Also, white space can be more effective than graphics.

Keywords
Note that we didn’t include keywords in the list above. That’s not to suggest they should be ignored.

Use keyword phrases in your headlines, and concentrate on “long-tail” keyword phrases. These are phrases of three or more words that are more specific than a single keyword, and more likely to convert searchers to visitors. For example, if you sell books, you probably have no chance of a Page 1 ranking on Google or Bing for “books” or “book sales.”

But a phrase like “rare books in Cincinnati Ohio” will focus the search results to a point where you have a realistic chance of getting a first page listing.

Is SEO Dead?
No, but it constantly changes. Recent trends include localized search (the results you see on Google from Cleveland are probably quite different than when searching from Chicago), blending of videos and images in the results, social media, personalized search, and constant efforts to eliminate “SEO Trickery” to obtain a high rank.

The best strategy is to focus on niche keyword phrases, concentrate on good content, and pay more attention to site traffic and conversions than rank. No matter how the searches change, good content will always be the most important element.

There’s no hard and fast rule as to how often to redesign a website. As web designers, we have to resist the urge to suggest “you should redesign it NOW!”

While there’s no set schedule for a redesign, here are some factors you should consider in deciding when it is time to redesign your web site.

1. Does your site look out of date, especially compared to your competitors?

Web trends change more often than clothing fashions. If your site looks as dated as Herb Tarlek’s plaid suit (Google that name if you don’t remember the TV show WKRP in Cincinnati), you need a redesign.

2. Are you on your second or third computer since a redesign?

If yes, you need a redesign–a site that works on Internet Explorer 6 is not state of the art by any stretch of the imagination.

3. Does your site’s code make your web designer cringe, sigh, or grumble?

Back in the old days, we built websites using tables for layouts due to limitations of browsers. We often joke that we’re not designing websites this afternoon the same way as we did this morning… while it’s not quite that bad, your web code needs to be current to display properly on modern browsers.

4. Do any of your pages have a “Last updated…” line that is more than six months old?

If so, your site at least needs some content updates. If that last update is more than 12-18 months old, you probably need more than updated content.

5. Is your website converting visitors into customers?

Check your web stats frequently–if visitors are leaving the site as soon as hitting the home page, you need to address this problem now. If the text hasn’t changed for months (or years), at least on the home page and your products or services pages, your content probably isn’t effective.

6. Is your web traffic down?

Search engines are continually refining how they rank web sites. While keeping your content fresh will help with your ranking regardless of design, searches do factor in the quality of your web code and page load times in your ranking. Older code could be hurting your search rank.

7. Can the site be made easier to use?

Visitors are impatient–if you don’t make things easy to find, they’ll hit the back button and look for the next site in search. We have many new design techniques to make things easier to find, and to drive visitors to the content you want them to see. Again, some of these techniques were not available a few years ago.

8. Does your website accommodate new technologies, such as the explosion of mobile devices?

Web sites designed for the desktop browser may not work properly on iPads, or smart phones including iPhones, Droids, and Blackberries. Even if they do function, a site intended to be viewed on a 20” monitor is, at best, cumbersome on a three-inch screen.

Blitz Media Design can provide a version of your web site that’s optimized for handheld devices.

These are just some factors to consider when contemplating a redesign. Web sites should be regarded as an evolving process, not a “one and done” product. You should always strive to improve your site, making a tweak here and there, updating the content regularly, and fixing something that’s not working as planned immediately.

As far as the design, you should evaluate it at least annually to make sure it’s still meeting your market needs and expectations. If you haven’t redesigned the site for more than two years, it’s definitely time to at least consider a complete overhaul!

Computers and CMS software are not creative—they are tools where the results depend on the person using them. So what should you realistically expect from a CMS?Let’s start with what a CMS cannot do:

1. It will not perform design work. It uses the templates that were created for you. It’s not a replacement for skilled designers who understand web usability, SEO, and how to get visitors to take the next step (buy something, donate, or contact you).

2. It‘s not a substitute for Photoshop, Illustrator, or the graphics tool of your choice. A CMS has nothing to do with the creation of professional images or illustrations.

3. It’s not a programming tool. Unless your designer provided special tools or templates for the purpose, a CMS will not allow you to create virtual tours, surveys or complex forms, or a shopping cart.

Here’s what a CMS can do:

1. The primary function of a CMS is to enable a site owner to make simple updates to existing pages or templates without having the designer do those things (although we’re happy to make updates if you wish).

2. It will allow you to add links to other pages on your site, or other sites (but if you link to other sites, be sure to use the option that has the other site open in a new window/tab).

3. You can upload photos or graphics. The creation and web-optimization (rescaling and reducing the file size) should usually be done offline before you add them with the CMS. (We do have a feature in our CMS that allows some editing of the image before placing in your page.)

Here are some general recommendations when using your CMS to update your site:

1. Focus on what you know best–conveying your organization’s message effectively. You’re the expert-crafting relevant, effective text is the single, most important thing you can do with a CMS. If you’re not a good writer, find someone else in your organization to help, or at least review what you compose before posting it online.

2. Avoid clutter! Novices try to cram numerous “important” items into a single page, and end up with a cluttered mess where nothing stands out. The page becomes like a messy desk-all the important items are indistinguishable from the rest.

3. Avoid using multiple fonts, sizes or colors that make a site look like a ransom note! Your web designer set up a professional format for presenting headlines and other text items both for aesthetic and (if they know what they are doing) SEO reasons. Failing to follow their lead may hurt your site’s usability and search rank.

4. Avoid using underlined words-visitors assume underscored words are links.

5. Limit the use of centered text. It can be harder to read, especially with long lines and multiple paragraphs.

6. Last but not least, no CMS is very good at dealing with the strange characters that seem to appear when copying and pasting text from MS Word. You can avoid a great deal of frustration by pasting the copy into a text editor such as Notepad first, and then copying it from there to the CMS. Saving a copy of the Word document as plain text and then copying that will probably work, too.

When designing web sites or printed pieces, clients sometimes ask us to make the logo bigger. Here’s why you shouldn’t worry about making your logo bigger.

People do not buy based on a logo. Have you hired an accountant, an electrician, or bought from an office supply company because of their logo? No. You hire and work with businesses because of the service, knowledge, price, and the other benefits that they provide to you.

If you don’t believe me, read what Paul Rand has to say on the matter. (Who’s Paul Rand? He’s the man that designed the logos for ABC, IBM, and other high profile clients.)

“A logo doesn’t sell (directly), it identifies. A logo derives its meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around.”

A logo cannot communicate to a potential customer or client that you have a product that can cut their productions costs or that you check every detail so they get a great result. Over time a logo may represent those qualities and benefits to those you work with because it represents your business.

For someone who is not familiar with your business, the best your logo can do is to be professional in appearance and memorable. So it might lead to some phone inquiries, but it’s what you do with that call and the benefits you offer that will sell.

So rather than worry about how big your logo is on marketing material, your time is far better spent thinking of how to communicate your benefits to potential customers. It’s the designer’s job to create a piece that informs with text and images and emphasizes how you can help the client. Additionally, a designer doesn’t need to make the logo large to draw attention to it. Attention can be drawn to the logo through its position on the page, the space around it, and the background color.

We understand you’re attached to your logo because it symbolizes your business, but if your logo is huge on a page, customers might miss the text describing the benefits you have to offer. Wouldn’t you prefer someone immediately see how you can help them, rather than immediately see your logo?

One of the best things about a web site is the ability to update it economically and often. Search engines favor sites that are updated frequently, and updates give visitors a reason to come back.

But are you delivering web updates in the most cost-efficient way to your webmaster? If not, you’re creating more work for yourself, and increasing the costs!

First, if you’re sending your updates as Microsoft Publisher, Acrobat PDF, or PowerPoint files, you are NOT doing yourself or the designer any favors. To correctly post the content from any of these files, the webmaster will have to extract text and image elements separately. It may take longer to extract and correct the formatting from these files than it does to create the HTML code for them!

Second, if you’re sending updates to your web designer, do NOT try to “design” anything for that person. You hired them for their expertise—let them do their job.

Third, if you’re sending things via Word—which is usually fine—do not use special fonts, or bother with Word’s page layout options. Any formatting beyond bold and italic creates more work for your webmaster. Also, NEVER underline any text that is not a web link—underscored text on the web is assumed to be a link.

The best way to send your web designer content is:

Text: Plain text or Word files with minimum formatting (bold and italics are fine) for your written copy.

Tabular Data: Excel (preferred) or Word tables.

Photos: TIF or JPG format are generally best (preferably at 300 ppi. High resolution allows for resizing while maintaining a good online appearance. Photoshop files (preferably NOT flattened) are acceptable. Please do NOT resize or rescale them yourself, or grab them from web pages.

Logos: vector art (EPS or Adobe Illustrator) are preferred. Otherwise, high resolution TIFs or JPGs are acceptable.

Multimedia files: QuickTime, MP3, M4V, MPG, WMV, AVI and other common formats should be fine. For Flash, we prefer the original Flash files rather than resulting SWF files. If possible, please let us communicate with the people who created your multimedia files to determine the best way to deliver them to us for web use.

Please note that, in general, providing graphics or multimedia within PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, PDFs, page layout programs (InDesign, Quark, MS Publisher) may not work, or may result in poor quality results. When possible, provide us with the original media files.

Following these guidelines will make it easier for you and your webmaster, and reduce web update costs.

Coming in a future blog post… the best ways to transfer LARGE files!

Remember what Mom said when you were a kid and you wanted to do something all your friends were doing? “If everyone was jumping off a bridge, would you?” Wanting your site to look or work the same as another site should come with that same warning because most websites fail to grab visitors’ attention.

So how do you know what websites you shouldn’t imitate? We’ve made a list of seven styles of sites you should never follow.

“The Las Vegas”
It’s bright, flash, and tacky, but lacks the gambling and booze that makes the real Vegas a party.

Rather than telling the visitor about the benefits the site overwhelms the visitor with as many graphics as possible.

Symptoms include:

• Big images, huge images, and ginormous images
• More colors and flash than Richard Simmons’ wardrobe

“The School Play”
Sure it’s cute if it’s your own, but it’s inhumane to force someone else sit it through it.

This is the site with a flash intro that has no “skip intro” link, took 2 minutes to load, and drags on endlessly.

Symptoms include:

• Animations and photos that are vague or having nothing to do with your business
• Numerous adjectives flying around the screen.
• Website users leaving after 10 seconds

“Corporate Speak”
It would be easier to understand Yoda reading the complete works of William Shakespeare than to interpret this drivel.

Rather than concisely stating what they do in less than 20 words, this site heaps on the business buzzwords making it unintelligible.

Symptoms include:

• Use of phrases like “…your single-source provider for turn-key solutions and synergistic partnerships”
• Visitors wondering what you do

“The Ransom Note”
A three-year-old considers it a goal to use every color while finger painting, and this site applies the same logic to its design.

Using every font in every color does not convey a professional message. It makes the business look like a kidnapper demanding money.

Symptoms include:

• 72 point bold Comic San… in red
• Yellow text on a white background

“The Labyrinth”
You have a better chance of finding a plot in a porno than finding what you’re looking for on this site.

When the visitor first comes to this site they have hope they’ll find what they want because there are links to everything. However, the navigation is confusing and they leave because they find nothing.

Symptoms include:

• Links, links, and more links
• Did I already look at this page?
• Phone calls that start, “I couldn’t find it on your site…

“The Ghost Town”
The Smithsonian isn’t looking for the oldest web sites still in existence.

The site makes visitors wonder if you’re still in business. (See Mistake 4: The ghost town web site for more details)

Symptoms include:

• Text stating “Site last updated in 2002”
• An animated “Under Construction” graphic

“The Social Media Whore”
This website is desperate to tell everyone how kewl* it is because there are links to every social network on the web.
*If you spell cool “kewl,” you aren’t.

It’s fine to have a couple of links to Facebook and Twitter. It’s not ok to have dozens of social media links everywhere. All this does is send visitors off of the site, where they quickly become distracted by some YouTube video of a monkey falling out of a tree.

Symptoms include:

• Body copy that reads like a teenage girl’s text message. OMG!
• Abundant use of the word “Tweets”
• Facebook “Like” links on everything.