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Little Known Link Strategy – Outgoing Links Matter Too!

You know the routine, right?  Over and over again, those familiar with gearing websites up to receive plentiful traffic talk about the essential need to receive lots of quality in-pointing links to your site.  And scoring plenty of these natural (and preferably on topic) links is certainly essential.

Incoming Links Matter…

But the little known component of a solid high-performing link strategy is that your website’s outgoing links matter too.

And do they ever!  Here’s the thing—search engines place substantial investment of their efforts in measuring which websites will best satisfy their own customers when a specific keyword term is searched for via the search engine.  With so many businesses and websites out there competing for a fair share of that natural source of incoming traffic, the key typically ends up being focusing more on scoring as many in-pointing links as possible to boost the site’s link popularity—and therefore, to hopefully boost search positioning.

But Search Engines Are Smarter Than That!

The search engines are smart.  Again, because they have a significant interest in providing their searchers the very best quality, accurate results, they aren’t so easily manipulated with just tons of incoming links as many of the unscrupulous practitioners of search engine optimization (SEO) would have you believe.

Why Outgoing Links?

Your website’s incoming link popularity is a major factor, but having outgoing links placed naturally and strategically helps to show that you’re not just in it all for yourself.  When you link outwardly from your informational content to external sites that will also provide true value for your visitors, you’re playing a more active and responsible role in the overall web community.

The search engines pick up on this.  It’s natural for their algorithms to assume that websites that give back to their visitors and their overall niches’ community by offering no-obligation links to other relevant and helpful sites are the same sites that are just much less likely to be greedy with an “it’s all about me approach.”  It’s really all about give and take—kind of like the golden rule.

It’s The Right Thing To Do.

So, go ahead and link to your organization’s friends and other great sites that you feel might help your visitors—it’s the right thing to do.  The search engines understand what you’re doing and if you’re doing it for the right reasons, it will probably help your rankings even more.

One final piece of advice though…don’t go overboard with external linking.  Sites that the search engines deem to have too many outgoing links are considered to be “link farms,” and penalized as such.  You’ll be perfectly safe if you keep it to just a couple well thought out links per page.

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Explaining Search Friendly Design To The Marketing Department

Sometimes they just don’t get it.  They mean well, and of course they have the best intentions of your company in mind, but they continue to insist on just getting the company’s web strategy all wrong.  Does this sound all too familiar?

If your company’s marketing department insists on applying traditional, but often outdated marketing tactics to your website, then this scenario probably does ring a bell.  Unfortunately, experts at using the web to its fullest potential all too often are fighting an unnecessary battle with traditional marketing folks who don’t quite see eye to eye with how a website and overall web presence can be used for maximum effectiveness.

Hopefully, you’re one of the lucky ones—working with marketing professionals that really get the web.  But if not, here are a few talking points you might consider bringing up the next time the inevitable conversation takes place again…

  • Flash is great—just not for searchable text! While using Flash as part of a website’s design can look really great and really appeal to the visitors, relying it for 100% of the website’s presentation is a fatal flaw for search engine friendliness.  Search engines rely on the text within your site to index and rank your site.  The bottom line is that the search engines can’t read or understand your site if all text is presented to the readers as a Flash design.
  • Web visitors want more than your company’s brochure copy. Yes, web visitors are looking for more than the traditional company brochure—they’re looking for detailed, easy-to-read content.  Sales copy can and does often work on the web, but there’s a time and place for it.  Lengthy, formal dissertations are not acceptable to most visitors of your site; instead, visitors want the details presented in a friendly context.
  • It’s about more than looks. Graphic design plays a vital role in both offline and online marketing, but websites must be about more than graphic design alone.  Websites have to have real content to attract visitors through the search engines—a pretty site alone that’s informationally empty just won’t cut it.
  • A good website is easy to read. Remember, visitors to your site want to find the information they came for quickly and easily.  Believe it or not, the way the information is presented has a huge impact on whether or not they’ll stick around long enough to find it.  The first rule is to keep the default font size large enough for comfortable reading.  Next, it’s a really good idea to keep paragraphs short and use bullet points, headers, and subtitles frequently to add whitespace and guide the reader to what they’re seeking.  This might not be necessary in traditional print, but it is the way of the web.

In the end, it’s all about keeping in mind that the web is a completely different beast than offline marketing.  While some ideas are cross-functional, in practice, all web experts will tell you that there are major differences too.  Understanding how visitors use the web and offering a solution based on those facts (rather than just the offline marketing goals) is the best way to build upon a foundation of success.

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Web Design Approach: User First!

When it comes to designing or re-designing a website, there are many ways to approach the project. Some clients have in mind a certain look they want to achieve, while others focus on features the site should have. When I start any new project, one of the most important questions I can ask my clients is ‘Who is your target audience?’ The answer to this question informs the style, structure, features, layout, and language of the site.

Flesh out your “user”

When identifying the target audience for a site, I like to think of the audience as a specific person. I think of the age demographic and choose the average age. More male or female? Average income? Taste in movies, books and lifestyle in general are all part of this character.

Building the blueprint

When my user goes to this site, what are they looking for? Information or products for sale? Perhaps they would like to listen to music.  What is the easiest way for them to get what they need? The features and function of the website are calculated based on these questions. Structure is next: what style of navigation is easiest for this user? Which pages should be presented first? My approach to navigation is that it should be obvious so my user does not have to figure out a maze, but can automatically find where to go. If there are subpages, the category title should be simple and very descriptive.

Coloring the design “skeleton”

When I have my features and navigation structure planned, it is time to think about style and language. It is important to me to represent the brand well in these designs, so I start with the logo and identity for color and style, but always keeping in mind my user. What would they like to see? Glossy buttons, big type, or should it look like a metal machine? and how would they like to be spoken to? Should we use a casual, cheery tone, or is a more formal, academic style appropriate?

In sum:

The most successful website (and print) designs speak directly to their intended audience using features, layout, style and language created especially for that group. They are not going to look the same, or have the same features but the commonality should be the ease of use. It is because I believe so strongly in this approach that I make custom deisgns for my clients, starting from square one every time. Every client is different, and their audiences all have different needs. And yes, of course you are invited to call for your custom design consultation, always free of charge!

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Simple Tips for writing Effective Website Copy

One of the most important aspects of a successful website, no matter what the goals are, is in how the text is written. Here are some basic guidelines for writing for the web:

  1. Know your Audience
    Different groups respond to different language and messages. Define who you are speaking to, and write to them personally. People will respond if they can identify personally with your message.
  2. Keep it Simple
    We like to think that people will read our websites word by word, but really what web users do is scan the site for the information they are looking for. Keep your writing clear and to the point.
  3. Tips for Search Engines
    Make a list of the search words and phrases that are most important to your website. As you write, insert these words and phrases in headings, links, bold text, page titles, file titles and liberally placed throughout the copy. Search Engines compare meta tag information with the actual content of your site in order to serve the most relevant results. Write a description of the content of each page using these words and phrases to be placed in the code and also in the copy.
  4. Call to Action
    Effective websites are obvious in their point. If you are selling a product, all text should direct the user to that product. If you provide a service, invite the public to contact you with questions, or to receive a call back. Put this item near the top, and on the home page. This is the point of the site- let’s make it the easiest part to find!

Keeping these points in mind will help you write effective website copy and will support your success. Ask your website designer or marketing professional for help to get the most out of your writing.

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Saving Space with Slideshows

Website real estate is just as precious as a plot of land, especially the top half of the screen “above the fold” in newspaper layout terms. This is the prime spot for your most important content: Brand Name, Navigation, Information about Who you Are and What you Offer. It is great to have some snappy photos or illustrations to complement your prose, but too many can clutter the space and confuse your website visitors when you’d like to be serving them.

Santa Cruz Waves Website Screenshot

Santa Cruz Waves Website Screenshot

When laying out the site for Santa Cruz Waves, we had many fantastic photos to work with as one of the partners is a photographer. At our first meeting we discussed their primary concern, which was to create a content-rich website that had a clean, uncluttered look while staying within a limited budget. Rather than create an on-screen “contact sheet” look of many thumbnails, we settled on one main area for a good size image for each page. The images cycle through in automatic (javascript) slideshows, so many images may be displayed “above the fold” without disturbing the continuity of the clean design. (To those who may counter with the idea that an image that constantly changes is distracting to the written content, a concern of mine in fact, we kept the cycle time to 4 seconds, which is pretty slow for web-browsing speeds, but not too slow to see the slides!)

Do you have a website design quandary? Contact Me for your free web design consultation.

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