Everyone can use some advice now and then, from the neophyte to seasoned web veteran. If you’re new to web design, then tips are crucial to your understanding of how things work, how they should be crafted, and how to do things the right way. If you’re already an expert, then tips and advice can at least reinforce that you’re doing things right. Besides, who doesn’t like a little positive reinforcement now and then?

These six (6) tips aren’t “Web 101″ advice, but they’re not Graduate level either. They’re just good, solid advice for crafting your website to elicit positive results, both from your visitors as well as from search engines.

1. Content means content

If you create content, make sure it’s useable and searchable content. To put this another way: text means TEXT! Catch phrases, company slogans, site/personal/business messages, even addresses – if it’s meant to be displayed as text, then display it as text. Do NOT embed text in images. Sure, it may look cool when you create it in Photoshop, but search engines can’t read text embedded in images (at least not yet). Take some time and learn how to use style sheets if you want to stylize your text. That way you can not only make text look pretty, you also leave it visible to search engines.

2. Act as a Visitor

If you’re building a website chances are you’ve used the web to look for something. You’ve visited a site to buy something, research something, or look at something. You’ve experienced the hassles of searching and you’ve either easily found what you want or you’ve spent more time than necessary finding it, so use that knowledge to your advantage. One of the most useful things to remember when building a website is that search engines want what users want: useful, relevant, easily searchable and understandable content, site organization and information. Make it as easy as possible for people to buy, for people to learn, for people to do whatever it is you want them to do on your site.

3. Keywords in Page Titles and Descriptions

Okay, so maybe this IS a little Web 101, but it’s still very relevant, and falls in line with #2. Be sure to use the words people search for in your page titles and page descriptions. Don’t “stuff” keywords in there, but DO use them.  If you sell custom widgets to pipe fitters in the greater Philadelphia area, then the page showcasing those widgets should be called “Custom Widgets for Pipe Fitters in Greater Philadelphia”. Clear, to the point, and a phrase like “custom widgets Philadelphia”, a solid targeted search phrase, is in there. As far as how “much” to say, a good rule of thumb is to keep page titles to 70 characters (including spaces) and page descriptions to 250 characters (with spaces).

4. Link to YOUR Own Stuff

Internal links can be as important as external links. Besides, you don’t want to send visitors somewhere else for information as that means, quite simply, they’re leaving YOUR site. Once they’re gone, they may not come back. If you can at least recreate content found elsewhere versus just linking to it, then do that, but organic content (that is, content YOU create versus content you rip from somewhere else) can make a huge difference and it is always a good way to keep people coming back for more. The web was built for sharing information, but if you DO use someone else’s content ALWAYS give credit where credit is due – it’s not only the right thing to do, but you may make a few friends, and receive reciprocal links, in return.

5. Create a Foundation for your Site

Okay, this is a little high level, but it’s an often-overlooked part of creating your site. We’ve discussed linking, page titles and descriptions, and the importance of site content. This tip relates to site structure and organization. Think of the “Three Click Rule” – that is, it shouldn’t take a visitor more than three (3) clicks to find the content they want. Now, carry that over to how your site is organized from a folder and sub-folder standpoint. The closer your pages are to the root of your site (that is, the main entry point of your site), the easier it is for search engines to find the pages. In addition, from a URL and linking standpoint, this URL [www.YourDomain.com/products/custom-widgets-philadelphia-pipe-fitters.html] is much easier to crawl, not to mention understand, than this one [www.YourDomain.com/products/custom/widgets/pipefitters/philadelphia.html] as the page is sitting closer to the root of the site.

6. Dashes, Not Underscores

One final simple suggestion: use dashes in page names instead of underscores. Not only do people process dashes as clear separations of words, but search engines (particularly Google) see words separated by dashes as completely separate terms. However, words that are separated with underscores are seen as a single term.  Therefore, use custom-widgets-philadelphia.html and NOT custom_widgets_philadelphia.html.

So there you have it. Are there any questions about any of these? What about YOUR suggestions?

When you start diving into the world of advertising, creating landing pages that a customer will be directed to is critical to the success of your conversion rate. The job of the landing page is to give the customer all the information they will need in order to take an action such as purchasing a product or entering their information into a form. Here are three tips to following when designing your next landing page.

Everything needs to match

When creating your landing page, keep in mind the visual elements of the ad that the user clicked on to get to your landing page. Make sure your landing page matches the ad they just saw. If you have an image that has blues and whites with a picture of dollar signs, then those same elements should be present in your landing page.

Focus on your message

Keep focused on the intent of the landing page. If you are trying to sell an electric screwdriver then your landing page should only focus on that screwdriver. Once you start promoting other products you can confuse the potential customer and lose the sale. Don’t forget they came to your site for the product you were promoting on the ad so only discuss that product on your landing page.

Keep important elements above the fold

Keep all essential elements that a user will need to convert above the virtual fold of your landing page. If the user has to scroll to convert or to look for information that is vital to the decision making process, there is a strong likelihood that the user will exit your site without converting.

Bonus Tip: Test, Test, and More Testing

Once you have finished designing and coding your landing page, make sure you take the extra step of testing everything in a useable environment. Make a checklist of all the important elements and check them off once they pass with flying colors. Some areas you should test:

• Does the landing page match the creatives
• Is your message Focused
• Are the vital elements above the fold
• How long does the page take to load
• Are all links working properly

The term Style Guide is rather broad, and it can mean different things to different people in different professions. Traditionally, however, it usually refers to publication guidelines.

Journalists, for example, follow usage and punctuation rules as outlined in the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook; book publishers usually adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style; academic papers in the social sciences–at least in American Journals–follow the style guidelines set by the American Psychological Association (APA).

These guidelines cover things like how to refer to organizations and places, how to cite sources, and even tell you how to use commas. The purpose, of course, is for consistency. A newspaper article in the Big Bend Sentinel, in Marfa, Texas, follows the same editorial rules as one written for the Baltimore Sun.

Corporations and large organizations commonly have their own publication style guides as well, which helps keep their brand, identity, and message consistent across any number of media. To get an idea of what I’m talking about, take a look at the University of Pennsylvania’s web style guide.

As a university with a lot of moving parts, different schools and departments that, to some degree, operate independently from each other, Penn ensures a high level of brand consistency with their style guide. So when anyone within the university, or someone working on behalf of the university (such as an outsourced web design company), publishes content–say, a new website or page–guidelines have already been established. This includes everything from approved colors, logos, branding standards, and general content guidelines.

But what about small businesses? Do they need a style guide too?

Your business might not have the prestige and crafted image of an Ivy League Institution, like the University of Pennsylvania, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have just much control in how  your brand is transmitted to the world.   So the the answer is yes, you should create  a style guide, especially if you have several employees that have a hand in communicating externally, or if you’re looking to hire a third-party firm to develop your web presence or market your business, although you might want to keep in mind that your style guide will probably be on a much smaller scale. We’re talking something that might be, at least  initially, as short as one printed page long, which outlines the set-in-stone aspects of your business’s identity.

This might include:

• Branding: Example — your business is registered as Southern California Decor, but in terms of how you want to market your company, you’re always referred to as SoCalDecor, which is ALWAYS spelled as one word.  List all specific ways your brand should be and should not be displayed and referred to, including trademark usage and abbreviations (e.g. Do not refer to SoCalDecor as “SCD” unless “SoCalDecor” is previously mentioned in the same paragrpah).

• Color values, preferred fonts, logos, and required elements such as slogans.

• Tone: Example — your business doesn’t take itself too seriously, so you might want your image to reflect that, from the design of your website to the language used on your web pages, media relations, and printed collateral. Write out a description of how your brand should present itself externally.

• Usage:Example –  Only refer to staff as Yard Architects and never “landscapers.”

Of course, once your business grows and evolves, your style guide should grow with it.  And don’t forget, the next time you’re working with a web designer, a copy writer, or a marketer, be sure to tell them, Hey, here’s my style guide, it’s important that you follow my branding guidelines.

So what are your thoughts on creating a style guide for your small business? Do you feel setting your own style guidelines is an important aspect of protecting your brand? Let us know in the comments below.

If you’re one to follow technology news, as I do, you’d probably notice that “mobile” pretty much dominates the chatter these days. Thanks to the iPhone, of course, first introduced in 2007, we’ve all witnessed an ever-increasing craze for mobile gadgetry, which can be explained by both innovation in smartphone technology and its head-on collision with our other tech obsession: social media—or, more specifically, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and location-based services, such as FourSquare, which all thrive on mobile platforms.

As our personal and social lives radically change before our very eyes, what are the implications for small businesses? Does your business need a mobile website now? Or, even more daunting, an iPhone app? An iPhone app AND an Android app? What about an iPad app?

Before we go any further, lets make sure we clear up any confusion between what a mobile website is versus a mobile app.

A mobile website is just that—a website. It’s built just like any other website (i.e. in HTML) and is hosted on a web server somewhere, just as your “regular” website might be hosted at Newtek Web Services. The difference, however, is that a mobile website is optimized for a small screen.

For an example, check out ESPN’s regular website compared to it’s mobile version. If you’re on your PC right now (and not your mobile phone), you’ll get the full affect of how dramatically different the two versions are. A mobile website will typically lay all of its navigation in a single, vertical column, and remove much of the pizzazz that you would normally see on a regular website.  And when you visit a website that has a mobile version available, it will detect whether or not you’re on a mobile device, and then automatically route you to the appropriate version.

A mobile app, on the other hand, is a piece of software that is installed on your smartphone, just as, say, Microsoft Word is installed on your PC. While many of the most popular mobile apps are video games or social tools, like the Facebook app, there are businesses that do offer a mobile app as an alternative to its website. For example, Ebay has an iPhone App and a mobile website, both of which serve the same purpose.

So which one of these does your business need—a mobile site, an app, or both?

Well, the answer is perhaps neither. Here’s why:

1. You sort of have a mobile website already

If your business already has a “regular” website, you pretty much have a mobile website already, too. On most next generation smartphones—the iPhone, Android, Palm Pre, or a recent Windows Mobile or Blackberry—the included web browser can render a website in nearly the same fashion and quality as the web browser on your PC can. The main difference between the two, of course, is the screen size. And as time goes on, mobile browsers will only get better and faster.

2. Your business type may not warrant the effort

There are only so many apps a user is able (and willing) to have installed on their smartphones. Until recently, iPhone users could only have 180 apps installed at any given time. The most popular apps are games, social media tools, news, and utilities that help you get through your day. So unless your business fits into one of these categories, you’ll want to really think about the return on investment before putting any money on building a mobile app.

As for a mobile site, unless your website is content heavy, and involves a lot of pages, categories, and navigation (such as ESPN), acquiring a mobile website is probably not necessary. You’ll notice that just about every website that does offer a mobile version will be a pretty “big-time” company or webiste (other than ESPN, think Wikipedia.org, Amazon.com, etc.), and this is for the simple reason that “regular” websites with a lot of navigation and content can be a bit more difficult to experience on a 4-inch screen.

3. Your “regular” website needs more tender loving care

The smartest thing to do, especially if you’re watching your budget, and unless you have a website that fits into one of the niche categories that would warrant a mobile site or app, is to put all of your web efforts into your business’s primary website. After all, in this day and age, your website will continue to be the face of your company.

So if you’re looking to expand your web presence, be sure your “regular” website is up to today’s standards. If you have an ecommerce site, you’d be better off investing in a dedicated SSL certificate, finding a better shopping cart, acquiring a more affordable merchant processing solution, and making sure your website attracts visitors and is easy to navigate.

Not sure about these things? Have one our experts give your current website a free analysis. Give us a call today or email us at community@newtektechnologyservices.com.

Let us know what you think. Have you been considering a mobile site or app for your business?

It’s true these days, that you don’t need to know much about back-end coding to have a good website. In fact, there are a lot of really great web tools out there that can help you build a website rather quickly.

But what about SEO (or search engine optimization)? Do you need to know much about that? Well, yes…and no.

SEO can be a tricky, tricky beast, but most builder tools, including Newtek’s SiteCenter, have some pretty nifty components built in to help. And a basic understanding doesn’t hurt either.

Last week I sat in on a Social Media Club Phoenix seminar delivered by Evo Terra, an authority on the subject. Without getting too bogged down in the minutia of it all, he said there are only 5 things that matter for SEO, and as long as you pay attention to them, you’ll be well ahead of most others in the SEO game.

In case you don’t have time to listen to Evo’s presentation (even though I urge you to invest 15 minutes of your time because it will be worth it), here are the 5 things that really matter:

Write great content: According to old school thought, most always believed that there was a tried-and-true formula for achieving keyword density. Ignore this. Just write great content that will truly add value. Key things to keep in mind:

• The more pages on your site the better (Just make sure each and every page is necessary and adds value)
• Roughly 500 words is the sweet spot for amount of content per page. Obviously if the page doesn’t call for it, don’t worry about it.
• Investigate the popularity of your keywords. Find the phrasing that your audience will likely be searching. In addition to Google’s Keyword Tool, try using Google Insights for Search as well. Here’s a screen shot of a search I ran:

Write Smart Titles: This is SO crucial! Keep these tips in mind:

• Put your keywords up front in the title. If you’re writing a blog post on your site about hiking with dogs, title it “Hiking with Dogs: Three Safety Tips to Keep in Mind” RATHER than “Three Safety Tips to Keep in Mind When Hiking with Dogs”
• Don’t try to be pithy, cute or clever. Title your pages and posts in a way that gives away the secret. There are no spoilers in SEO.
• Invest 10 minutes to find the best title that will deliver the best results. Write out three different titles and pick the best.

Use H1 Tags: This is the tag that really tells the reader what the page is about. Revisit the “Write Smart Titles” tip because the same rules apply here as well. Also, make sure you only use one H1 tag per page. Using more than one will only confuse Google.

Link Text Matters: Link text is the text you use to link to various pieces of information both on your site and off of your site. Key tips to keep in mind:

• For better search results, link concepts, not things. Take this sentence for instance:

• Keep the conversation going with additional links, not only to your own content that relates, but outside content as well. It just makes you a better digital citizen. If you have a blog on your page, look into Zemanta.

Clicks Come From Descriptions: Today, description tags play a singular role: to entice visitors seeing you in a search to click to your site. So in other words…write it well, and write it for human beings, not Google crawlers.  Here is what the description looks like in a search:

Like Evo said, pay attention to these five things and you’ll already be ahead of the game. When it comes to the basics of SEO, have you found there are other foundational things to pay attention to when optimizing your website or blog? Leave your helpful nuggets in the comments below and let’s keep the conversation going.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Getting started with SEO (e1evation.com)
• Cooking Up Great SEO: An Analogy in Photos (seomoz.org)
• Few Valuable Tips On Improving Search Engine Ranking (ronmedlin.com)
• Optimize Your Brand for Sharing and Social Search in 11 Steps (briansolis.com)
• 11 Mind-Blowing Reasons Your Company Needs Facebook (convinceandconvert.com)
• SEO Trends to Watch for in 2010 (smallbiztrends.com)

Last week, I offered three reasons to give a Do-It-Yourself website builder a try. While many of the emerging builders perfectly fit the needs of business owners desiring a hands-on approach to the website design process, it’s not for everyone.

There are many reasons to consider going the custom web design route, especially if you have more complex needs and are willing to invest more resources into the overall process.

Without Further ado, take a look at three reasons to go the custom website design route:

1.) You don’t even want to entertain the thought of doing it yourself

Let’s face it. When the lawn needs mowing, you’d rather make a call to a landscaping company than head out there to start yanking on the mower chain. (I’m right there with you on this one…no judgment.) Just because you can do it yourself doesn’t mean you should.

More importantly, as a small business owner, spare time is likely something you don’t often encounter. I was talking with my hairdresser about the builder vs. custom route the other day and she said, “I have no idea where I would find the time in my day to do it. Besides, I’d rather be doing what I love…cutting hair.” Therefore, if you’re a person already pressed for time, custom is definitely your solution.

2.) You have some specific needs for your web design

Don’t get me wrong…website builder tools can meet the needs of many, but for those with specific needs, a custom design is the right choice.  Here are a few reasons why:

• You have a WordPress blog (or perhaps a Drupal or Joomla CMS) that you’d like to integrate into your website design
• You already have a shopping cart application, and want to carry it over to your new website design
• You’ve envisioned a website that has lots of advanced Flash applications
• You’d like to integrate a Pay-Per-Click campaign and need the help of a web design professional
• You need a custom database, or segmented log-in pages

3.) You’re not quite sure what you want…

If you know you need a website, but you’re having trouble envisioning the look and feel, tapping the creative mind of a professional is a very enticing choice. Or maybe you have a loose idea of what you want, but would like to see and hear some different options from a well-established web design professional. This is probably one of the biggest benefits when it comes to going the custom route, not to mention the SEO advantages that come along with seeking the expertise of a professional. P.S. If you’re looking for some inspiration to get your own creative juices in motion, this is a great place to start: www.smashingmagazine.com

Whether you go with a website builder tool like  Newtek SiteCenter, or opt for a custom solution, the fact is, there is a solution for everyone, and we’d be happy to help you.

We’d love to hear from you. If you just completed, or are in the process of completing a new website using a builder tool, do you have any tips to share? Same question goes out to those of you currently working with a custom web designer.