Web Design, Internet Marketing, E-commerce, SEO Blog | Las Vegas, NV

I have been criticized by other developers who love Flash technology because I have said that Flash is not very search engine friendly.  Well, here we are hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth.  Adobe’s very own have said there “has always been a bit of a tradeoff” when using Flash.  “You get all the great graphics and experiences but you lose some search capability.”

Well, now Adobe is helping to change all of that.  This, to me as a developer, is fantastic news!  Adobe just announced that they are teaming up with Google and Yahoo to make Flash and other RIA (Rich Internet Applications) more searchable.

Even though I do applaud this move, I do want to point out still as a web user, that Flash can be over done.  My advice is to use it sparingly and not to go wild with it.  Remember, not everyone is a flash fan.  I come across many people on a daily basis who say to me, “I hate those flash banners, they are so annoying and slow.”  So…just keep the end user in mind when you are working on your website and adding flash.

As far as Adobe’s news though….that’s good news for developers and seo professionals alike.

Over the past year, as my clients become more aware of the web and how it all works, I’ve received several questions about PPC (Pay-per-click) campaigns. Most of my clients wonder if PPC works, what types of costs they can anticipate, and if they should even dip their toe into the water so to speak.

First, let me clarify that SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a process that web developers and marketers do to get your website listed higher in natural search results (or non-paid search engine rankings). SEO is the first place I start with all of my clients. This gives me the information I need from the client’s standpoint as to what keywords and phrases are the most valuable to them. Then, once I get the SEO set for the initial launch of their website, I recommend they try PPC campaigns to hedge the traffic to their website while the natural SEO is taking place.

PPC Campaigns are a great way to market your website right away, as soon as you launch it. It gives you an immediate traffic boost, and hopefully, an immediate return on your investment. PPC campaigns are a valuable source of data that help to complement your marketing analysis as to what keywords and phrases people are typing in when they go to your website. Think of PPC campaigns as advertisements, because that’s exactly what they are. But, the beauty of PPC, is the amount of control you have and how well you can analyze your conversions.

If you are interested in advertising your website with a PPC campaign, my first recommendation is Google Adwords. Adwords is always the first place I suggest, since Google has held the majority search share and continues to grow each month. Google Adwords has a great help menu, if you decide to do it yourself…or you can hire a professional to manage your account. Here are just some of the features on Google Adwords:

• You can choose your geographic location (so if you only want to advertise locally,) you can.

• You can pick your days and times you want your ads to show.

• You can choose to place your ad on the Google Search Network and/or the Content Network.

• You enter the budget you can afford and the system will work its best to stay within it.

• You can track your conversions (i.e. Registrations, Email Subscriptions, Sales, etc.) with their conversion tools so you can really analyze your ROI.

If you’ve been anxious about taking the plunge with a PPC campaign, let us help you. For more information on PPC and other internet marketing opportunities, contact us and we will be glad to help.

When shopping for an SEO expert, you may want to ask what color hat the SEO company wears… a white hat or black hat?  I know this question seems extremely crazy, but there really is such a thing as a white hat seo or black hat seo technique.

What’s the difference between white hat or black hat SEO?

Simple.  White hat seo is the technique of optimizing your website for search engine indexing, without doing anything deceptive.  White hat seo experts use ethical methods to getting your site listed with search engines, and do not try to ‘trick’ the search engines for top rankings.

Black hat seo is a deceptive practice that normally use techniques that search engines feel are spamming or just downright tricky.  A black hat seo may be able to gain top rankings on keywords/phrases, but they are normally short lived as once the search engine finds out what they are doing, they can be banned from the search engine.

What types of techniques are considered black hat?

Hidden Text - This is a process of hiding text on a web page.  For example, one type of hidden text is placing white text on a white background.  The search engine sees the text as visible in the code, but the website browser does not.  The black hat seo is trying to trick the search engine into reading text that is not visible on the page for a real visitor just to enhance their rankings.

Keyword Stuffing - This is a process where keywords are literally ’stuffed’ onto a page with nothing else on the page.  For example, if I had a website for real estate, and all I had on the page was a bunch of keywords and no real content…this would be considered keyword stuffing.

Doorway Pages - Doorway pages are used to deceive the search engine because they are ‘fake’ pages that a user will never see.  They are normally filled with keyword stuffed content just to try to fake out the search engines.

Although black hat methods can work…they normally are temporary and once found out, are banned from search engines.  Don’t let these types of techniques tempt you into higher rankings.  A well thought out, content rich website with white hat seo techniques will far outlast the black hats.

This post is a continuation from our SEO series “What is SEO?”

Why do I need SEO?

SEO, short for Search Engine Optimization, plays a vital role in getting your website listed on search engines. It can make the difference between people seeing your website just by searching for phrases on Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc… or whether you are so far hidden in these search engines that the only way to be seen is to pay for it.

SEO is a small phrase for a much larger purpose, but today I will try to write some helpful information in order for you to gain more insight on why this is a phrase to remember.

SEO Resources

If you browse the web and do a search for SEO you will come up with all kinds of articles, forums, seo training and tutorials, along with a wealth of promises by seo companies that guarantee you number 1 spots on all the top search engines. That being said, let’s examine some of the top ways in which you can insure your website is search engine ‘friendly’… and I truly mean friendly in the most ethical ways.

Common SEO Tips and Advice

• Guaranteed Number 1 Spot - I have had many clients over the years tell me they received a telephone call from a company claiming they can get them to be the number 1 search phrase on Google. They tell me that the company has reviewed their website and for a small fee (normally a few thousand dollars), they can get my client’s website listed number 1 on Google for any search phrase relating to their website.  Can this really be true? YES…you can be number 1 on Google or any search engine…IF YOU PAY FOR IT.

  It’s important to understand that natural/organic seo is a process that does not happen overnight.  And it is equally important to understand that it is not the ‘norm’ to be listed number 1 for EVERY search phrase that relates to your business.  Even the best SEO’s will have trouble with this.  When someone guarantees you the number 1 spot for every search phrase, this is absolutely too good to be true.  And the only way they would be able to follow through with this, is if you paid for it through a search engine marketing advertising campaign.

• Simple Website with Clean Coding - Search engines crawl the web looking for websites.  When they crawl your site, they look for copy to read on your website.  This copy will include Meta Data and Title Tags, content/copy on your site and navigational links.  When you build a website, there are key things a web company who understands SEO will suggest to keeping your site simple and search friendly.  For example, Flash should never be used entirely to create a website because flash code does not contain any real content value.  Since flash operates more as a program and not as plain HTML, the search engines do not really read these files.  (At least not yet anyway.)  However, that being said, Flash does have wonderful multimedia value and can add that little bit of creativity or artistic vision that just separates you from the rest.  When a customer is dead set on using Flash, I will make suggestions on what we can do to try to make the website as search engine friendly as possible, which may be creating a separate HTML website, along with specific programming things we can do to replace flash with HTML using javascript/css.
• Text Links versus Graphic Links - Text links are much more search engine friendly since they are exactly that…text.  The search engine can read them.  Graphic links, buttons or artsy-fartsy graphic navigational menus are not search engine friendly.  There are things a good seo can do to make them more seo friendly, but a good text link can make a HUGE difference on how well your site is ranked when indexed.
• Dynamic URL’s and Dynamic Content - It is a mistake to think that these two items are one in the same.  Dynamic URLs are web addresses with a question mark (?) in them, while dynamic content is normally content that is being pulled from another source, like a database or file.  Our ecommerce shopping cart uses the Apache server to rewrite dynamic URL’s to turn them into static URL’s.  These static URL’s normally get indexed better because a search engine is able to read these URL’s that are static and not constantly changing, as dynamic URL’s.  Dynamic content, if displayed as plain HTML or CSS, is also search engine friendly.
• Rich, Descriptive Copy - When you write the copy for your website, make it keyword rich and as descriptive as possible.  I always ask my clients this one thing that normally helps them to understand what I mean here.  The question is:  If I were on Google or Yahoo searching for your business…what search keywords or phrases would I type in to find you?  By them answering this simple question, it allows me to optimize their site with relevant keywords and descriptive copy that should help them in getting their site indexed and ranked higher in the search listings.

Are we SEO Gods?

There are many SEO companies that promise you the world.  At netMouser.com, you are given the facts about your site and how well it ranks as well as what we can do to get it to perform even better.  We don’t promise you the world, but we sure will work as hard as we can on making your site as visible as possible so that it is much more search engine friendly.  If you would like to set up an initial SEO evaluation, contact us.

SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization.  The purpose of Search Engine Optimization is to increase your website’s natural -or- organic listings (non-paid)  in search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN / Windows Live Search, and other search sites.   This means developing your website to be search engine friendly, through development techniques and copywriting, along with coding your website with specific keywords, descriptions, etc… (META Data) that search engine spiders read when they comb through your website.

Over the next few weeks, we will talk about specific SEO techniques, best practices and other helpful information that will enhance your organic SEO results.

If you have a current website and are unsure if it is has been optimized for search, contact us for a low cost analysis.   All websites developed by netMouser.com have SEO built in to the initial website package.  We feel that you cannot develop a website the correct way without planning for SEO at the beginning of development.