Color branding is a lot like cooking. Colors can be sweet, sour, tasteful or outright gross. And much like cooking a filet mignon – it takes a specific set of ingredients to pull the main course together. So before you start throwing blues into your browns and purples into your pinks, let’s talk about how WebWorks89 explores great brand color palettes.
For Immediate Release:
-Wilmington, NC- webworks89, a web design specialist in Wilmington, recently worked to design the Fiore Fine Flowers website. The new website is as captivating and elegant as the diverse floral arrangements they craft.
Fiore Fine Flowers is a local Florist, located just off of Wrightsville Avenue. Their award winning floral designs and dedicated customer service has led them to become Wilmington’s premier florist since 2008. At Fiore, a team of seasoned professionals work intimately with each client to gain an insight into the vision of their special day. Through connections with both local and national suppliers, they consistently reel in the freshest product available and turn these visions into realities. Fiore Fine Flowers also offers delivery and has a resident photographer (Jennifer), making them a true, one-stop-shop for any special occasion. The four pillars of this renowned florist are Chelsea, Jennifer, Shelley and Claire. Each with a unique background that has led them to pursue their passion in this field, learn more about the team at the “Pleased to Meet You” page on the site.
When users visit this site they are greeted with large banner images, that showcase various venues Fiore Fine Flowers has arranged and assembled. Four parent pages rest atop these interchanging banner images, making for simple user. Here you’ll find the aforementioned “Pleased to Meet You” page and a “Kind Words” page that is filled with testimonials from their cherished clients. The other two pages are labeled, “The Daily Bloom” and “Wedding and Events“, each with drop-down navigation. The “Weddings and Events” page has forms readily available at the bottom of the page where interested clientele can answer important questions and also make safe, secure online payments.
With the aesthetic beauty of Fiore Fine Flowers arrangements, it is only natural that photography plays a large role throughout the site. Both the Daily Bloom and Weddings and Events pages have categorized photo galleries, that reflect some of the professional photography and floral arrangements that Fiore Fine Flowers has brought to life. This feature is not only useful, but fun, for brides and their families who are in search of the right florist for their big day. For those looking for some fun ideas outside of the box, Fiore Fine Flowers keeps an active blog that is linked at the top left of their home page. Here you will find a long list of industry related blogs, written first-hand by the experts at Fiore Fine Flowers.
webworks89 is a professional web design company in Wilmington, who use WordPress to design custom websites that incorporate responsive design. Responsive design simply entails that a website is able to adjust its format to whatever device is accessing it, and this has become important for two reasons. First, every user wants to come to a website that’s laid out neatly and is easy to navigate no-matter what device they might be using. Users nowadays expect websites to function seamlessly and have convenient features that encourage them to learn more. Secondly, beginning April 21st of last year, Google instituted an algorithm that punishes websites that aren’t responsive in design, pushing these sites lower in search page ranks. Quality (SEO) content and neat, responsive design features work hand-in-hand to raise a website in the page ranks.
As Fiore Fine Flowers website continues to grow, you can expect it to blossom through Google’s page ranks. Visit the website today on your phone, tablet or desktop and learn more about the pristine work of Fiore Fine Flowers. You may also contact them today and speak to one of the friendly faces at their 3502-D Wrightsville Avenue location.
As industry leaders in web design and digital marketing for the Wilmington area, webworks89 plays match-maker for businesses and their customers. With the holiday season at hand, now is the time for companies to capitalize on these services.
Thanksgiving Thursday is just around the corner and the long lines of shopping for Black Friday will surely be stretched around the side. The commotion of holiday shopping has caused many to skip their trips to the mall and do their shopping from home instead. With the introduction of Cyber Monday, holiday eCommerce sales have soared over this past decade. In fact, Americans spent around 484 million dollars on Cyber Monday back in 2005; last year we officially broke the 2 billion dollar mark on Cyber Monday sales.
The era of online shopping is among us and has been for some time. Business owners don’t need a lecture on why their website’s Google page rank is important; but they may need some instruction regarding the steps necessary to achieve a higher listing. Below you’ll read about what it takes to gain a stronger online presence for your business.
Having a responsive website means everything, these days. If you missed our previous blog on responsive design, it basically ensures that your website will adapt to the screen dimensions of whatever device may be accessing it. By using Content Management Systems (CMS), such as WordPress, responsive web design neatly organizes content from device to device. With smart phones and tablets replacing laptops for primary internet use, Google has begun to index websites that are responsive and punish those that are not. Responsive websites have advanced capabilities and functions that older outdated sites do not, and Google wants to make sure they are sending users to friendly pages.
A good CMS, like WordPress, is easy to learn and this has lead it to become a popular choice among business owners. This responsive site ideally sends users to an well structured web page that seamlessly navigates the user as they explore the site. Plug-ins are available for eCommerce sites that allow businesses to showcase their products and make online payment options readily available to interested buyers. Recently, webworks89 teamed up with a local Wilmington business, Cape Fear Sportswear, and designed their new website that features all of the latest in eCommerce solutions, check it out.
Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) is a term that has been gaining traction through the years and is not foreign to most employers. SEO is vast and made up of multiple departments all geared towards enhancing a website in a search engines organic (unpaid) results. The main focus of SEO is on content. Google runs monthly algorithms that index industry related content; it checks for quality and any other websites that may back-link your content to their site. These organic methods can be thought of as long term strategy for businesses looking to strong hold their position in the page ranks.
If you’re too busy to manage your website on a daily basis, our blog on why it’s important to hire an SEO strategist may be useful to you. For the means and purposes of this blog, I’ll summarize a few talking points. You’ll want to hire someone you can trust, check for credentials. If they’re professional they should be certified in Google Analytics. Keep them in check. Have them report monthly results to you and inform you of what their plan is going forward. Be patient. SEO usually takes some time, so if you’re website isn’t seeing immediate results, that’s okay.
With the holiday season among us, some companies may not have the patience to wait for organic SEO to show a return. That’s why Pay-Per-Click (PPC) has also become the advertising platform of choice for modern business.
Pay-per-Click, also called cost-per-click, is an online advertising model that is used to direct traffic to websites through paid online ads. By using PPC, a company has the ability to get the best return on their investment by only paying for the traffic that the ads generate. These ads have 360 degrees of customization at their disposal. Some of the many facets like, location, days, times, devices and target demographics, combine to deliver these ads with the utmost precision and accuracy.
In sales timing is everything, and when the right opportunity presents itself, you have to be ready to seize it. That’s what these PPC ads do so effectively. By incorporating relevant keywords, PPC ads appear on those Google searches. So when a customer is looking for that particular product you sell, they will just so happen to come to an advertisement for your product. As aforementioned, you will only be charged for the clicks on your advertisement and not the placement itself. By catching customers at their peak of curiosity, these advertising campaigns have had compelling results.
Don’t let your business remain camouflaged in Google’s page ranks this holiday season. Contact the web developers and digital marketers at webworks89 to help your customers find you today!
webworks89 has seasoned web developers that have witnessed the vast changes in web design themes over the past 15 years. This blog offers insight to retrospective design, prevailing trends in current themes, and a forecast for future design.
From Chuck Taylor’s and leather jackets to Air Jordan’s and tank tops, popular styles and trends continue to evolve – for better or worse. The combination of different styles can subtlety intertwine to give a culture a branded identity and this reflection holds true for web design. Relatively speaking, the era of the internet is still in its infant stages. Despite this young age, page designs have already undergone a series of ‘extreme makeovers’ in a short period of time. Let’s begin with early website design and gain a feel for the landscape of a budding web page.
Websites were text based in the internet’s early years. Designs were by no means fancy, but the layout was neat and reasonably easy to navigate for the average user. This basic design resembled more study sheet than web page. As years passed, websites slowly began to incorporate new effects into their themes. These effects included, hit counters, as well Flash and text effects. With Flash text effects, words would move across the screen and jump out to the user. Look at some of the early design templates of power house companies like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Apple. By the late 90’s text could change color with user interaction and music could be embedded on web pages. All features geared towards encouraging user interaction. In fact, Flash set the standard for modern web design features- as Myia Kelly, marketing assistant at Powered by Search, described it, “the marriage of virtual graphics and interaction.”
In the early 2000’s, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) began to catch-on. These table based layouts allowed for developers to alter multiple features of websites, including: background color, text size and text style in code. Developers could now write code with universal instructions that could be applied to the entire site, rather than just an individual page. This brings us to Javascript. By the mid 2000’s, this object-oriented interactive computer language, became prominent in websites. These commands control drop down menus, advanced navigation pages and web forms. The drop down menu feature is still very prevalent in modern design themes, with related child pages that drop down when users hover their cursor over these parent pages.
Have a look at what the Yahoo! homepage looked like back in 2002. If you’ll notice, there is an increase in colors, images and over capability; but the web page is messy compared to today’s standards.
First, we have to address the fact that people no longer exclusively access the internet through desktops. Nowadays, smart phones and tablets have replaced laptops and desktops for the popular internet use. The size and scale of all these devices vary, making it especially crucial for a web page to incorporate Responsive Design. Responsive Design simply entails that a web page will adjust to whatever device is accessing it, instilling a friendly user experience on all platforms. Here’s a look at some of the leading websites for mobile devices. Websites can be made responsive through frameworks such as Twitter Bootstrap, and use Content Management Systems like WordPress to neatly organize content and embed plug-ins to advance a wide variety of functions.
Modern web design is image driven. A good majority of websites today have large Hero images that dominate the screen. Hero Images do away with the concept of above and below the fold and can have overlaying blanket text that grabs the viewers attention. This text could be a headline or a social media button, as almost every present-day website has images linked to their Facebook, Twitter or any other social feed. These layouts of these social platforms have even influenced mainstream web design. Take for example, Pinterest. Pinterest has square images neatly organized into rows and columns. These “bite-sized” images are known as Cards. Cards can effectively distribute multiple images across a page, while maintaining a neat format, easy for the user to view. Web developers saw how appealing these cards were on Pinterest and shows the impact that social media has had on the definitive features of websites.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Videos have also become widespread for websites, in fact an article by Inc. Magazine found that, “92% of B2B customers watch online video, and 43% of B2B customers watch online video when researching products and services for their business.” These videos are predominantly brief, and are meant to educate the consumer in swift fashion This design and the features that fall under it, are aimed at retaining the user on the web page; one of the most important factors when judging the success of a website.
The main goal of every website is to reel in conversions. Businesses spend thousands of dollars building their websites and thousands (if not millions) more marketing it. A great web page doesn’t just capture the user, it incites them to make a decision then and there. One way of doing this is through Interactive Product Images. Businesses want their product to jump out at users and many of these product images have advanced capabilities, like 360 degree rotators. These rotators are popular in modern eCommerce sites, as it allows the user to learn more as they interact with the website. It is critical that contact or payment information is made readily available, so most websites will have Calls-to-Action with forms located conveniently to the side so users can “Make a Payment” or “Learn More Today.”
Myia Kelly, of Powered by Search, went on to add, “Every design element here has been adapted in such a way to bring the most relevant content to the user in the most efficient and effective way. Notions of accessibility, adaptability, and usability truly define this era of web design.” Meaning, the concept of drawing conversions will never change, but the means by which we obtain these conversions, is bound to.
We don’t have a DeLorean DMC-12 to sling-shot us into the future; so to describe the design of future web pages is purely speculation. However there are a few theories out there from some well respected forecasters in the tech industry. One intriguing theory is known as Contextual Computing. Author, Nathan B. Weller, describes it as, “Contextual Computing means that our technology understands us, our needs, and our environment to such a degree that it can seamlessly integrate into our lives in previously unimaginable ways.”
By converging information from Mobile, Social Media, Data, Sensor and Location-based services, contextual computing will be able to recognize the most effective forms of web design for given users. So if one form of web design has a higher conversion rate than other designs, this user will be more prone to these page designs, ideally eliciting more conversions. This may seem far away, but contextual computing is already taking place on a small scale commercial level. Read more about Contextual Computing and other futuristic design theories here.
If you’re looking for web developers who stay up-to-date with all of the latest designs, contact webworks89 today and find out how we can take your outdated website and send it back to the future.
Written by: Ryan Shearer
For Immediate Release:
October 27, 2015 – Wilmington, NC – Southport Realty offers some of the finest properties you’ll find along the coast of North Carolina, so it’s only fitting that they have a website that reflects that. Southport Realty’s new website showcases all the latest features in Responsive Design, giving their site a sharper look with user friendly navigation.
The web developers at webworks89 worked hand-in-hand with Pamela Frandana and Kim Russ to ensure their site would be highly capable, informative and aesthetically appealing. By using Content Management Systems (CMS) webworks89 instilled a clean structure throughout the site that makes for a simple navigational experience. This structure remains constant no matter what device may be accessing the site, meaning that it is Responsive. Beginning April 21 of this year Google has begun to run algorithms that index these responsive websites and lists them above less capable, non-responsive websites.
When users come to Southport Realty’s new website they will immediately be immersed in high-definition sliders that illustrate the beauty of the Southport community. Above are clearly labeled tabs that gives users a sense of direction for whatever their purpose is on the site. Those interested in properties can look under the Property Search tab. Here they can find Residential Listings, Multi-Family Properties, Land & Homesite Listings and Commercial Properties among others. If you’re looking for an Agent you can put a name to a face on their Agents page and read up on their bio’s to learn more about their qualifications and personalities.
Whether you’re a Buyer or a Seller you can find helpful tips that walk you through these often stressful processes. Both of these tabs have mortgage calculators embedded so that you can learn and apply these aspects of the process. To the right side of the top tool bar you will find information on the various neighborhoods around Southport. This has detailed information on the communities as well as the restaurants, boating and other industries located in the area. This is accompanied with a blog that is under the “News & Info” tab, where you can find all the information you need on current events around the Southport community.
Come explore the new website today and learn more about not only the gorgeous properties available in Southport and the agents Southport Realty has in place to find that perfect fit for you and your family.
For Immediate Release:
October 27, 2015 – Wilmington, NC – The web developers at webworks89 just worked with Myrtle Grand Vacations to create a fresh design for their new website. This website showcases all the latest capabilities of responsive design.
Myrtle Grand Vacations is one of the most popular tourist destinations, not just for the Carolina’s, but the entire United States. With a wide range of properties, Myrtle Grand Vacations has the answers for those looking to rent or buy properties in the Myrtle Beach area. This area has flourished by offering something for everyone in the family. Myrtle Grand strives to provide affordable selection of high quality properties. These properties include, condos, villas, town homes as well as full sized homes. No matter what your group size or budget is, Myrtle Grand Vacations vast selection has the right place for you. Jump onto their new website and you will quickly learn just how much Myrtle Grand Vacations has to offer.
Myrtle Grand Vacations new website features all the latest in Responsive Web Design. These websites
use Content Management Systems (CMS) to structure the foundation of content throughout the site to whichever device may be accessing it; this means smart phones, tablets, desktops and even smart TV’s! This improves the functionality of the site, and Google has actually begun to run algorithms that seek out these responsive websites. They want these sites to appear high in Google searches so consumers aren’t forced to look at vast lengths to find pertinent information. By adding Responsive Design to their new website, Myrtle Grand Vacations and all of their valuable properties are now more readily found by the general public.
When you come to the new website, designed by webworks89, you’ll find a tool bar across the top with tabs for: Specials, Vacation Rentals, Annual Rentals, Owner Services, About the Area, Group Rentals and contact information. The Vacation Rentals tab allows users to search all their properties, or sort them by resorts, areas or maps. There is an additional drop down tab that has virtual tours of these fine listings. For owners of Myrtle Grand Vacation properties they can also access the information they need under their respected “Owner Services” tab. Here they can find information on property management, cleaning services, HOA management and VRBO Services. They may also access their owner log in through here. Whether you’re a renter or an owner, you will be seamlessly ‘self guided’ through this neat website.
Additional information on Myrtle Beach and the Myrtle Beach area are also made available. With a combination of descriptive text and illustrative photography, users will have a good idea of what to expect from each property. Have a look at their website HERE and find out if Myrtle Grand Vacations has the right property for you and your family!
webworks89 recently renewed their certifications for Google AdWords and Google Analytics. President & Owner, Ray Rogers, Web Developer Brett Neville and SEO Strategist, Ryan Shearer all took the certification tests this week to challenge their marketing knowledge.
As a one-stop-shop digital solutions company- webworks89 wants to make sure they have all areas covered with the services we offer. By becoming Google Certified in both AdWords and Analytics we can confidently say that we are a trusted advertiser for all of our clients. We had our employees take the test for two reasons: 1) we wanted to build upon our current understanding of these marketing platforms. AdWords and Analytics make changes from year to year and we want to make sure we’re up-to-date with all the latest marketing trends. 2) We are proud of the service we offer to each of our advertising clients and want our employees recognized for the work that we do. By obtaining these certifications we hope that potential clients in need of our services will think of webworks89!
The Google Certification tests are a true elevator of just how knowledgeable you are as an Analytics & AdWords manager. These multiple choice tests each hold 70 questions or more depending on the test. The AdWords portion requires each candidate to pass the Fundamentals test and at least one other AdWords aspect test (Search, Display, Video, Mobile, Shopping). Each user must pass with a score of 80% or higher on each test they take.
Google AdWords has become one of the most popular advertising outlets for companies across the board. These can be search advertisements that appear in related Google searches or Display ads that appear on related websites or video channels like Youtube.com. These ads are extremely successful because they appear in related searches that are relevant to potential customers. The PPC campaigns are tracked and measured in separate but connected Google Analytic accounts.
The Analytics is considered the most comprehensive of the Google Certifications tests. With only 90 minutes to answer 70 questions, users only have an average of 77 seconds for each question, meaning you won’t have the time to go in and search every answer. Ryan Shearer leads the SEO & PPC campaigns for webworks89 clients, and has some background knowledge on how to navigate and evaluate Google AdWords and Google Analytics.
“There is so much that goes into reporting an Analytics report. I always makes sure I’m in tune with what each of our clients goals are to show them the most important measurables related to that. I want them to know they’re moving in a positive direction and have an idea of what I’m doing to help them get there.” said Shearer.
You can learn more about the Google Adwords & Analytic Certifications HERE.
Web Developer, Brett Neville, and President/Owner Ray Rogers also passed the Google AdWords and Analytic certification tests. All three worked together to prepare for these comprehensive exams. Each built upon their versatile skill sets and made webworks89 a more valuable company to the Wilmington community. This involvement reflects the mindset that webworks89 brings to each client. Every month we send out analytic reports attached with a Word document that verbally translates these analytic report to clients. We know how to interpret and analyze these reports, but we also understand that most of our clients don’t. We want them to know what we did, how their site performed and what we’re doing going forward to continually build upon their brand.
At webworks89, we are results driven and pride ourselves in being an industry leader in the Wilmington area. Contact us today to learn how our Google Certified marketers can help your business grow.
October 14, 2015 – Wilmington, NC – webworks89, a Wilmington based company that specializes in web design, has recently developed a new responsive website for Cape Fear Sportswear.
Cape Fear Sportswear is just the latest of many businesses that have adopted responsive design into their new website that features all the latest features in eCommerce. Websites that are responsive have the ability to change their configuration to structurally adapt to a range of devices. This is especially crucial for businesses searching for the perfect eCommerce page to send their buyers to. These websites were once very costly and difficult to set up, giving large corporate retailers a leg up on innovative startup retailers.
By using content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, these websites automatically adjust to mobile phones, tablets and desktops to provide a more user friendly experience. Beginning April 21 of this year, Google has gone through and indexed responsive websites to place them higher on page ranks than older, outdated ones. With a growing number of mobile users, Google knows that it’s imperative for a website to be responsive. Businesses want to be discovered and responsive design is a step in the right direction in helping them achieve that.
The Cape Fear Sportswear new site makes for a straight forward user experience. A slide show of stunning HD photos was embedded into the home page. Tabs for Men’s, Women’s and Kid’s rest neatly across the top of the page; giving users the ability to shop their diverse selection of products. By adding features for eCommerce, users can customize available size and colors while they read a product feature description. With online shopping continually growing, these customization features are absolutely crucial for any retail business. The fact that the website is responsive means that whether the user is accessing the website through their phone, tablet or laptop, they are all guaranteed to have the same user friendly experience.
Cape Fear Sportswear has some store locations spread throughout Wilmington and encourage people to stop in and visit. But in this digital age more consumers are purchasing merchandise online, so whether you visit their store locations in person or visit their website- you will be guaranteed to find some of the best cold and wet gear equipment on the market from people who are passionate about what they produce.
Visit their site today and gear up for the winter!
For Immediate Release:
September 18, 2015 – Wilmington, NC – Hasten Systems, a Person Emergency Response System , teamed up with webworks89, a digital solutions company based out of Wilmington, to develop a new responsive website.
Hasten Systems provides Personal Emergency Response Systems for senior citizens. These systems make safety accessible to communities throughout our country. Hasten is an acronym that stands for Health and Security Telephone Emergency Network. By providing a sense of security for families, these systems allow for elders to live a more independent life safely. The Hasten System features: Personal Medallion Transmitters, Auto Dialing/Answering, Smoke Detector, Remote Activation of Speaker Phone, and a High Sensitivity Microphone.
The Hasten System was designed to be operated at ease, with clear labels throughout. Their new website that incorporates responsive design does more of the same. On this new responsive website, users will come to a home page that features HD photographs along with tabs aligned across the top. These tabs will educate visitors on the Hasten features as well as their history and mission statement. All contact information can be readily found throughout. Now that they’ve added responsive design to their website, the Hasten System should also be readily found on Google searches pertaining to personal emergency response systems.
Beginning April 21st of this past year Google has gone through and indexed all websites that are responsive in design. Responsive sites earn a higher place on Google’s page ranks and subsequently more companies have adopted responsive website design for marketing purposes. By becoming more discoverable, businesses will drive more traffic to their site and ideally increase their revenue. These websites have the ability to adapt their websites structure to a wide variety of devices, namely smart phones, tablets and desktops. This is done through Content Management Systems, like WordPress, that provide the architectural foundation for each website. This responsive design concept isn’t new but many companies are still letting their website lag behind and drop within the Google page ranks. It has become a modern digital gold rush that is here to stay.
This responsive design is gear to extend Hasten System’s reach to a larger community and continue to provide that sense of security that they have already given to so many families. Check out their website today, to find out just how responsive they are.
September 16, 2015 – Ryan Shearer – webworks89 leads Search Engine Optimization (SEO) marketing campaigns for their clients. This article digs into what to expect when you hire SEO managers and the different ways this position can bring value to your company.
Modern culture has acquired a sweet-tooth for digital media, subsequently more businesses have domain pages and social profiles to nourish these cravings. Since the dawn of the internet search engines have been hard at work to optimize seemingly endless amounts of web pages. As the years have passed, the strategies of SEO have changed, but one objective has remained a constant- keep strong and valuable content listed above less helpful, irrelevant content. Now more than ever, Google has a full-plate of websites that they’re responsible for evaluating and sorting through.
SEO may not be an acronym that every person is familiar with, but when explained in layman’s terms, even those with little-to-no digital savvy can grasp its fundamental importance. This field has grown and it’s now a common practice for businesses to hire specialized SEO marketers. This won’t be a redundant blog selling you on why your business needs SEO marketers; instead it’s aimed to teach average tech minds about basic SEO features as well as what to look for and expect out of SEO marketers.
So what’s the first step in hiring a SEO marketing manager for your company? And what questions should you ask these potential candidates during the initial interview?
Well first, you’re going to want to take your business model into consideration. Depending on the size and scale of your company, you may want to steer your SEO strategy locally, regionally, nationally or even internationally for those larger businesses. With more moving parts, it may be necessary to hire a collective team of SEO strategists. This way each aspect of SEO is overseen by dedicated experts who can focus on area. Once you have this business model in mind with the SEO direction you want to take, you can then begin the interview process.
During this interview you’ll want to hear ideas that a candidate has previously implemented with clients to boost their SEO, some of these techniques will be mentioned later in this blog. Just like in any other interview, look for honest and genuine qualities from each candidate. Ask them if they can deliver your business a number-one page rank on Google or Yahoo search engines. ‘Black Hat’ SEO companies are notorious for making this promise, using forbidden techniques to catapult websites to the top of page ranks. Beware of these phony SEO marketers, your site will either be penalized or in a worst case scenario, black listed. ‘White Hat’ companies play SEO by the book and will explain to you that their are no guarantees of #1 ranks, as Google is the only one that can control the order of these rankings.
When search engines like Yahoo and Google first began, the optimization tactics were loosely regulated and some unethical practices were used to gain an edge in page rankings. One of these tactics is known as keyword stuffing. Although it is imperative for your site to contain keywords, plugging in redundant keywords for the sake of increasing page rank will decrease the quality of your site. Another ‘Black Hat’ tactic is known as Link Farms, where a page will link to 50 or more websites that have nothing to do with their content or market. These websites will hold no relational significance to users and their sole purpose is to gain site popularity by any means necessary. To counter these practices, Google has added algorithms that are constantly identifying ‘spammy’ websites and punishing them in the page ranks. Without these algorithms, there would be no ‘real time’ way of rewarding White Hat websites.
Now that you know what NOT to look for in SEO marketers and strategies, what strategies do effective SEO marketers utilize to elevate their clients in search engine page ranks?
It should all start with key words. As mentioned above, you don’t want to overindulge, but without these keywords Google will have no way of identifying your business product or market. Some target key words would be your business, your target demographic, your location (local, regional, national etc.), and specified services or products. By placing these in well written, detailed content, Google will know that your site is a trusted place they can send visitors to. Creating content can be one of the most time-consuming processes involved with SEO.
By hiring SEO managers you’ll have experts who can focus on keeping it fresh, relevant and plentiful. Copywriters can also add routine, personalized blogs to your website on business related events or topics. Social media can also play a large role in the SEO process, adding notoriety to your business’s website. When these blogs are shared via social media you’ll gain additional advertising and see your SEO rank will blossom. These social pages can serve as effective platforms for gaining back-links to your site, effectively killing 3 birds with one stone. By generating quality back-links you won’t be blacklisted like other poser SEO strategist’s.
These back-links are another major factor that search engines use to optimize websites. SEO managers can create and implement link building plans with target markets and connections in your industry. Adam Heitzman, Co-founder of HigherVisibility, said, “The more people that know about you, the more people are likely to link back to your website; thus improving your SEO. Google has actually started rewarding sites for their popularity and connections with authoritative sites.” With the proper link building plan in place, these back-links will add up over time and stamp an approval of credibility on your site.
SEO is not a ‘quick fix’ solution for your website, but the benefit of having a high functioning site filled with quality content will be lasting reward to your business. Some companies use PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ads through Google Adwords to generate quick traffic to their site. This short term strategy has some merit to it, however an effective SEO plan will ultimately be of more value to your business. Dale Cook, SEO Marketing for webworks89, had this to say, “SEO is the definitive long term strategy that will raise your company’s credibility, as well as offer a user friendly experience when your website is well structured and has content that is original and educates the consumer.”
It’s hard to put a price on the value SEO marketers can bring your business as it will honestly depend on how effective they can apply their strategies week-in and week-out. Make sure you establish a solid communication report with these contractors, whether that’s over phone, through email or in-person. You should receive monthly Google Analytic reports that detail your website’s traffic. If you’re having trouble interpreting these analytical reports, ask them to write them out so you have a better understanding of your website’s results.
The traffic of domain pages will continue to pile up on popular search engines like Google. Hiring an SEO manager may be the best route for your business to take so you can beat this traffic jam and sit atop of Google’s page ranks.