Free Blogs on Google Page One

Most SEO experts will state that it is difficult or next to impossible to achieve top search results getting free blogs on Google page one. However, sites on free hosting can make page one, and I feel that based on current lower costs to get online that top level domains are practical and preferred for personal websites. The real question of the day is can free blogs achieve Google page one?

The answer is 'yes'. View the screenshot below (shown smaller than actual size) taken earlier today based on a visitor to one of my blogs. The search returned 3.7 million results for the phrase: Maine brook fishing. My personal blog of childhood stories entitled Growin' Up in Maine is shown listed at #1 on page one.



SEO or search engine optimization is about quality content that returns relevent results in Google and the other major search engines. Obviously, the free blog of Maine stories has the content, credibility, and trust to be awarded the top spot on Google page one.

Another surprise search result for that blog was being #1 for the search phrase: cement lawn ducks. Granted, that search returns paid results above my free blog, yet most SEO experts will agree that the real goal and evidence of success is about being first in natural organic results.

While free blogs can make Google page one, my advice is buying a top level www domain. The Growin' Up in Maine blog was a blog layout design experiment early in 2007 that I planned on scrapping. As it turns out nostalgia for the 1950's and 60's made the blog surprisingly popular with baby boomers and it got a reprieve. I suppose next I should take MY advice and put the Maine Stories on a paid domain, too.



TAGS: advice blog google seo search engine optimization web design

Action Plan for Blogger FTP Blogs

For owners who have a Blogger blog design hosted on their server instead of Blogspot or a Blogger custom domain, the Blogger FTP publishing service to post and upload content to your server via FTP will cease on May 1, 2010.

If you have a blog that uses the Blogger platform, you should have received an email from the Blogger Team within the last 30 days announcing the date and reasons. The time to implement an action plan for Blogger blogs published to your server is NOW.

Google owns Blogger and explained that the small fraction of Blogger users who do publish via FTP does not justify the cost to maintain ongoing security to allow publishing to servers outside Blogger's control. If you own a Blogger blog design hosted on your server, and you plan to continue being an active blogger, you MUST take action.

You still have two months to implement because the original deadline of March 26th in the announcement email was extended to May 1st. Act now. Plan now. Implement well before the deadline to avoid the risk of losing content.

This does NOT affect blog owners with free hosting on Blogspot who have a blog address like yourblogname.blogspot.com, or Blogger designs if you have a custom Blogger domain redirected to their servers.

If I designed your Blogger platform blog then you ARE publishing via FTP to your server and MUST take action. Here are the options to consider for affected blog owners:

1. If you choose to take no action you permanently lose the ability to add posts to your blog.
2. The most practical solution may be a technical setup moving to a Blogger custom domain.
3. An alternate solution is moving from a Blogger design to Wordpress at significant cost.

NOTE: Other options may exist. The 3 presented are based on my experience and customer base.

Option 1 may be practical for blog owners who have not posted to their blog in 12 months, or more. Your blog most likely has zero ranking and if you have truly abandoned your blog, you could remove it or let it just sit. Do nothing and existing posts will remain on your server unless you remove them.

Option 2 is the most practical and perhaps cost effective solution for blog owners who want to remain active in publishing blog posts. The technical steps to move from your server to a blogger custom domain means redirecting existing pages to point to the Blogger server, and then future posts will go there automatically.

I do not plan on offering this one-time fix as a service. Instead, the following resources may be referenced when choosing to use the custom Blogger domain option. This means you may hire someone or choose do-it-yourself.

Information: http://blogger-ftp.blogspot.com/
FAQs: http://blogger-ftp.blogspot.com/p/faqs.html
Tutorial: http://www.newsome.org/2010/01/how-to-move...

NOTE: I am NOT offering this Option 2 conversion as a service because of the learning curve, limited time to act, and my choice of Option 3 to convert from Blogger to Wordpress. I did not do an in-depth review of the above resources, so it may be more difficult than expected depending on your experience and circumstances.

My choice is Option 3 for the blogs I own. The "engine" that drives a blog consists of 100's of custom programmed files that make the blog work properly including publishing posts, filing posts by month, or archiving them, and more. For Blogger designs this "engine" or blog platform resides on the Blogger server outside the control of the site owner.

Wordpress platform designs begin by uploading their software "engine" to your server, so the security control does not require extreme measures because the system is allowing access by you to your server, not a third party server.

To convert a Blogger blog to Wordpress requires a new template design, export of blog content from Blogger, conversion of that content compatible to Wordpress, installation of the Wordpress "engine" software and template on your server, import of converted content into Wordpress, and finally file redirects of archives, tags and labels to Wordpress format archives, tags and categories.

The move to Wordpress is the most time consuming and costly choice. While taking control is a key advantage of Wordpress, maintaining control was really the problem at Blogger. They share enough of their software engine to publish only, so to protect the security of people interacting with their server they will no longer permit FTP access.

The Blogger decision to cease support for publishing to an owner's server via FTP was unforeseen, and certainly out of my control. A blog is still the easiest way to "add original quality content often". That phrase is the essence of how websites succeed, so I will continue to promote and encourage my customers to be active blogging.

If you have questions or need help understanding your blog or an action plan, email me soon. The deadline is approaching quickly.



TAGS: advice blog blogger design ftp web design

Review of SubmitEaze Software and SEO

Having purchased SubmitEaze directory submission software several years ago for seo or search engine optimization reasons, recent updates and enhanced functions make this a good time for another look at SubmitEaze. Part of website optimization strategy for search engine optimization involves backlinks which are links to your website from other sites. These are like votes when found by Google, so by acquiring more votes your site is more likely to increase its rank.

Two methods of acquiring those backlinks are "Website Directories" and "Article Directories" featured in my series of do-it-yourself seo reports released in 2007. Follow that link to download your free copies of the PDF reports (no email or registration required).

In a hurry to learn how? Visit their site to watch the SubmitEaze demo videos.

In summary, you acquire backlinks by getting listed on other websites. The Website Directory lists businesses by category with links to those sites, and the Article Directory sites accept advice articles for syndication that includes links in the resource (About the Author) box. Get listed, or write helpful articles about your business niche and submit to 100's of directories.

Prior to SubmitEaze, the submission process was VERY time consuming. Each site you visit meant doing copy and paste of content over and over, so submitting to 100 sites could take 2-3 days. SubmitEaze is a very fast and semi-automated software program with a system to submit your site or articles to directories in minutes, not days.

First released for web directories only, SubmitEaze now handles article submissions, too. My advice is to review the SubmitEaze software and watch their demo videos before you buy. I started out doing manual submission of my website, and then bought other software before discovering SubmitEaze and making it my standard.



TAGS: advice seo search engine optimization articles directories review submiteaze

Flickr Public Domain Photographs

Struggling to add illustrations or graphics to your website design or blog posts? Consider Flickr public domain photographs.

The photos are mostly collections from public archives and as explained on the Flickr usage page http://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/ the photos became public domain for one of these reasons:

1. The copyright is in the public domain because it has expired;
2. The copyright was injected into the public domain for other reasons, such as failure to adhere to required formalities or conditions;
3. The institution owns the copyright but is not interested in exercising control; or
4. The institution has legal rights sufficient to authorize others to use the work without restrictions.

Free to use does not mean free to package and resell as a collection. Please respect copyright when using content for your projects online or in print other than material you own. The Flickr commons is a great resource for photographs to use in your website design or blog posts, but be warned to watch the clock. It is easy to become engrossed in thousands of options and you could end up spending long hours away from your design.



TAGS: advice copyright design graphics illustrations web design

Firefox v3.5.7 and v3.6rc1 Review

Here's a review of the latest Firefox release candidate browser. I took the leap and chose to test out and review the latest BETA version of the Firefox browser earlier today. See the download and release links below if you decide you want to help out and be a BETA tester, too.

I stumbled across the option when rebooting Firefox resulted in a message Want a sneak peek of the newest, fastest version of Firefox? which included a link to download and test Firefox v3.6rc1 BETA. The RC1 release candidate versions are language specific with over 70 choices and you may select from Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux.

Download link: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html
Release notes: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/3.6/releasenotes/

A disclaimer on the splash page states: This is pre-release software: you may encounter compatibility problems with some websites and add-ons. If you find a problem please let us know or file a bug. For more details, read the release notes and known issues.

The installation was remarkably fast, and first tests of typical load problem files like videos in full screen and large audio mp3 files was very impressive. I did notice the overall look was different, so checked themes and discovered 1 out of the 3 themes which included the default was not compatible from v3.5 to v3.6, so that was a minor disappointment.

My second choice and even the default theme were fine, yet I decided to search an alternative and tried the recommended theme found here https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7517 and entitled Sivermel. It's simple yet not cramped, and an excellent choice considering my work in web design keeps me at the computer 12 plus hours a day.

Taking a closer look at add-ons, I discovered that ColorZilla, CoolPreviews, FoxTab, and ScreenGrab are not compatible in v3.6rc1, so ceased to function. The add-ons I use the most are web design related and all were compatible, so other than missing ColorZilla I'm very pleased.

As far as an indepth review, I don't use many add-ons, so readers are cautioned that the warning about compatiblity of add-ons should be considered before becoming a BETA tester.

In conclusion, my recent experience with Firefox upgrades had been disappointing because browsing speed seemed to drop to a crawl. That explains why I was anxious for what they called "the fastest version" and decided to see if the difference was noticeable. From my initial experience which was subjective and not scientific, I am very pleased with the performance of the Firefox v3.6rc1 browser and glad I took the plunge.



TAGS: advice browser firefox review web design

Problem Web Design Clients

Eric Miller, a writer for About.com Guide published a great piece for freelance designers in graphic art or custom web design like me. The article is entitled "10 Early Warning Signs of a Bad Client" and Eric writes on each of these points in detail.

1. Everything is "Easy" or "Quick"
2. Promise of Future Work
3. Unrealistic Deadlines
4. Questioning Your Rates
5. They Fired their Last Designer
6. You Don't "Get It"
7. The Disappearing Client
8. Spec Work
9. Disorganized from the Start
10. Trust Your Gut

Follow this link and read the entire Eric Miller article for advice evaluating potential problem clients to save headaches on both sides of the bargaining table. No order is better than a bad order if a difficult situation becomes impossible and hurts your reputation.

As mentioned to a client over the weekend, when all is said and done Any contract is worthless if either party resents the deal. It has to be win-win to retain mutual respect and the value of your reputation as a designer, so know when to say "no" to a client.



TAGS: advice design clients web design

Ignore Those Link Exchange Requests

My advice is ignoring ALL link exchange request emails, or any email that does not address you by name but starts out like "Dear Webmaster" or a similar impersonal salutation.

Links to your site are like votes when found by Google, but the value is zero if the links are reciprocal. You link to me and I'll link to you negates the value because it was not a voluntary one way link to a website based on merit.

I teach natural linking and organic seo search engine optimization methods that hold value long term.

Other link schemes use 3-way linking to deceive search engines. Site A links to B and B to C then C back to A. The links are no longer 2-way "reciprocal" yet they were not earned based on merit, so 3-way links are another attempt to trick search engines. Google's supercomputers easily catch this tactic and punish those websites with poor ranking, or if too blatant your website could be blacklisted.

Some designers or site optimizers who do not keep up with the latest trends will insist you need an active campaign to acquire those backlinks. Sadly, an aggressive campaign that worked wonders 3-5 years ago may backfire today because so many website owners have exchanged links (including for payment) as a deceptive means to increase Google ranking and traffic.

I warned about this and documented evidence from an actual case study 2 years ago in a blog post I wrote in November 2007 entitled Update on Backlinks and SEO Value. The facts and points made in that blog post are still valid today.

Provide a quality visitor experience and continue to add original quality content often to attract other site owners to link to your site. Avoid those link exchange requests or any other unnatural method of improving your ranking based on a scheme. The best strategy is keeping your site content fresh and interesting.



TAGS: advice design links seo strategy

Web Design Trend Predictions

Some things never change. In December 2008 I created a pdf report extracted from a podcast episode transcript entitled "2009 Web Design Predictions", and upon review a year later the web design trend predictions I made were spot on.

Looking ahead the advice from the 2009 web design trends report looks good for 2010, also. I estimate that 9 out of 10 websites will need a makeover in 2010 to keep up with what their site visitors really want, so it is time to take a critical look and consider an annual budget for keeping your website fresh.

The basics of providing a quality experience for your visitors begins with the web design layout, and I still recommend a standard web page width of 960 pixels wide. Besides an attractive web design, navigation for site usability continues to be key for keeping visitors on your site. It's time to consider using video, flash, and audio for an enhanced visitor experience, also.

The seo or search engine optimization advice in that report is still valid, plus I'll be reviewing new seo trends to consider for 2010 in the near future. A cms or content management system of web design is still the best way to add original quality content often, so again, some things never change.

You may view online or download the 6 page 2009 Web Design Predictions Report from this link (252kb pdf). As usual, you do not have to register or reveal an email address to get your copy.



TAGS: advice cms predictions seo search engine optimization web design

DupeFree Pro Software Survey Taken

The developers of DupeFree Pro software for checking duplicate content and testing article keyword density, just to name two great features, are asking existing users to reply to an online survey of possible new features. If YOU have taken my advice for downloading their free program and receive their survey request email, please take the time to comply. Here are some of the comments I included in my submission.

For me DupeFree Pro is used mostly for keyword density and article word count. It might be nice to have the option to set a target density for a keyword, ie 4 percent, then test and if the density is low, have a value displayed in DupeFree Pro for the number of times to add that word to achieve my target percentage.

That's easy to achieve by trial and error yet with a number it would be easy to copy/paste that key word X number of times in appropriate places within the article while maintaining human readability. Otherwise, with trial/error and copy/paste I compromise the target and stop while thinking "good enough".

In addition, I made the following comments

You have a great product which I am happy to promote and suggest people use. Many have. A 50 page PDF tutorial I wrote on custom cms web design and do-it-yourself seo makes reference to free resources for research and testing of website content.

The free ebook has been downloaded 1000's of times, and includes DupeFree Pro as recommended for testing keyword density. The 4 percent target keyword density mentioned earlier in the survey is what I suggest within the 1.5-6.5 percent in your documentation. It has worked very well for me.

My core business is custom cms web design. I truly believe holding my position on Google page one at #1 and #2 for custom cms web design for the last 2 years is due in part to your fine software. Thanks!

Finally for my readers, given the opportunity please take the DupeFree Pro survey to help them in deciding on future developments and enhancements of their software.



TAGS: advice content DupeFreePro seo web design writing

TimeStamp Date and Time Code Converter

The challenge of the day was learning new php and mysql related terms involving a web design upgrade, and then finding a timestamp date and time code converter. The research began without knowing the right words to describe what was needed! It's time to share the solution for novice designers facing the same mystery.

Searching the date and time code 1190073600 plus php or mysql, and then words like translate or convert, did not explain how that timestamp code translates to midnight on September 18, 2007. Knowing how to create similar dates and specific times in a proper 10 digit code was a variable necessary for importing updates to a searchable database being considered in a web design project.

Don't even try to find a date or time in that code. 1190073600 is more cryptic than the 07 meaning 2007. The code 0000000000 translates to midnight on Thursday, January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 (GMT). That timestamp is the unix epoch, or reference date for unix based servers, and time is calculated in seconds from that "zero" time and date. Therefore, the mystery time code definition of 1190073600 is that moment in time 1,190,073,600 seconds after the unix epoch.

Noontime today when converted to a unix timestamp would be human readable as Thursday, November 5th 2009, 12:00:00 (GMT) and translates to 1257422400 as the unix timestamp. Without an understanding of how that 10 digit date and time code was created, it took persistent and stubborn research before finding this online timestamp (date and time) code converter.

With the solution and clearer terminology in hand, Google "standard time to unix online tool" and the first tool in search results today was this standard time and unix timestamp converter which converts the code or datetime either way. The linked 4webhelp.net version interface and display was nice, yet others in the top 10 results were adequate online tools, also.

Will I be disappointed if I can integrate and update the database without needing that date and time code converter? No. The solution was fun to research and will hopefully help others as curious or stubborn as me.



TAGS: advice design database tool timestamp unix web design

People Search and Premium Options

Online research is part of the detective work involved doing web design. Here's a solution for people in the USA annoyed by people search and premium options when looking for friends, relatives, or acquaintances. Google just their name and most likely you will get results that only lead to paid options before you can discover details that allow contacting that person. Now go to the White Pages for people search for good old fashioned data without a premium price tag. Yes. Free.

I'm in favor of maintaining online identity security, yet published information from phone books or other common public records should not be sold just because you live 1000 miles away from the source. I stumbled upon the White Pages website quite by accident recently when wanting to contact a past business contact to interview as part of a new web design project.

I had all but given up on free lookups until I Googled their name and found their current residential address and phone number on the White Pages site. They do list paid sponsor ads in their result pages, yet at least the basic information was displayed at no charge which I thought was a thing of the past. The best part of the success story? All I needed was the name and state!



TAGS: advice design research web design

Twitin Twitter Online Tool Review

Frustrated or overwhelmed managing large numbers of followers and people you follow on Twitter? The Twitin Twitter online tool from Buzzom.com may be the solution you need to get back in control.

A novice Twitter user may look at the stream of tweets flying by 24/7 when they have 1000+ friends and think it's like a freight train passing at 100 mph and you're expected to read the grafitti on each train car. Strategies for following, unfollowing, reciprocating, and then communicating with Twitter friends in your new social circle will be easier using an online tool like Twitin.

There are many tools you could review and choose, and after trying several I am most impressed with the Twitin Twitter online tool. As shown in the graphic above, you have choices that are automated to figure out people you follow who do not follow back, who follows you that you may have overlooked following back, and a bunch of other tools for very advanced Twitter account management.

Besides automating the routine functions just mentioned that allow you to match up people to follow or unfollow, another option suggests a list of Twitter people that are very likely to follow you back. After using their tool for about an hour, I permanently blocked a handful of people following me who tweet content that I found too offensive. I reciprocated with 200+ followers who I didn't realize were following me unnoticed because that freight train is moving so fast. In addition, I unfollowed about 100 people who I chose to follow who did not reciprocate after several months.

Next, a real cool online tool at Twitin that I recommend is their "Cross Follow" option. Input the ID of a person on Twitter who you know and respect with similar interests for your niche, and Twitin allows you to review the unique people in their followers and following lists for consideration. The list leaves out known matching contacts to those you already follow.

Review 50 names at a time that include data on followers/following and other detials, and then select check boxes for ones you want to follow. When done, press the follow button to automatically follow persons on the list. When that task is complete you get instant feedback on the success rate.

Finally, Twitin has a locking tool that allows you to selectively lock people on your lists. You can set IDs that you never want to follow as well as those you will never unfollow to prevent deleting them by mistake later. Twitin is great. Don't get too carried away because Twitter does have API call limits, yet if you do get an error message in Twitin you can likely return an hour later and continue.



TAGS: advice examples online tools reviews twitin twitter

Auto Repair Custom CMS Web Design

A new cms website recently launched as an auto repair custom cms web design for DitY Auto Repair near Orlando, Florida. The initial website launch is 99.9% done as text content is being reviewed by the site owner for some final tweaking, and a few customer testimonials may be added, also. The site is illustrated with around 50 full color photographs of different aspects of auto repair.

DitY Auto Repair is a unique and innovative concept in do-it-yourself auto repair. Customers can rent bays, lifts, and professional tools, plus have the advantage of an on-staff ASE Certified Mechanic for advice. Vehicle owners can avoid the dangers of diy at home or shade tree mechanical work by working indoors in a real auto repair shop, yet save the price of a mechanic with do-it-yourself.

The site features a standard top header and footer on every page, custom sidebars, and an admin backend that allows the owner to add unlimited pages to their custom cms web design. Advanced features are available for business owners interested in a similar project with a matching blog, custom product video, audio tracks, or custom flash or photo galleries. We'd love to hear from you to quote or answer questions about custom cms web design.



TAGS: auto repair cms content management system website launch website design

Custom CMS Design LLC Collaboration

After teaming up and forming Custom CMS Design LLC with my son, Roger Degerstrom of www.CodeRepair.com, we just launched 1 of 4 websites offering custom cms web design related services as the first website in the Custom CMS Design LLC collaboration.

The other 3 each begin with custom-cms-design and are .info, .net, and .org for different aspects of custom cms web design for advice, franchises, and an online school respectively.

The .com site that just launched, www.custom-cms-design.com, is for custom cms web design services, plus it is the company headquarters site that includes a matching integrated custom cms web design blog for posting company news.

The cms web design school and advice sites will be fully developed next, and the intitial franchise website will be an introduction with a more formal offering to allow web design professionals to participate by June next year.

As each new site is launched a matching Twitter account will be activated. For now, the first one is on the Twitter public timeline, so you may follow or message @cmsPro for cms web design related tweets.

Roger and I will continue to operate our existing commercial websites for solo custom cms web design work as sole proprietors from Virginia and Florida, and actual projects in the Custom CMS Design LLC collaboration will begin in Q1 2010, or perhaps sooner if we feel the timing is right.



TAGS: cms custom cms web design launch news website

DIY Do-it-Yourself Web Design System

The most popular DIY Do-it-Yourself web design system for managing websites is called a cms, or content management system. It allows the owner to take over and add unlimited new pages to their site without learning advanced technical skills. For example, you write content in plain text and enter info in a few boxes from an admin area and it publishes that text in xhtml with zero code errors. Easily upload photos to insert in the page, too. Google rewards sites that add original quality content often, so imagine having a site with 450-500 pages without paying for changes each time.

My specialty is custom cms web design. Go to Google search and type in that phrase: custom cms web design. Next, look at the search results (after the paid ads) and my site should be listed #1 worldwide (maybe #1 and #2) for companies who offer custom cms web design. Besides the initial design, technical setup, and launch, my clients get a 50 page pdf ebook showing how I made page one, so they can use the same seo search engine optimization principles and strategy to dominate their niche.

View or download the 50 page DIY CMS Web Design and SEO Ebook for an overview of cms plus advice on writing content optimized for search engines. The ebook includes links to free online tools and software plus advice for best practices in search engine optimization.

Most small business owners get started with a small website as a good "starter" site, yet converting that to the cms will allow them to take over to easily add, edit, or delete content. Other designers who offer seo services will charge as much as $5000 to $20,000 just for the search engine optimization advice contained in that ebook download.

I give that seo advice away at no charge to my clients as part of a custom cms web design project. My current published rate for adding pages to an older static web design is $250 per page, so 20 pages would be $5000. Imagine a do-it-yourself website and having a 100 page site. Instead of $25,000 at $250 a clip for each new page, the custom cms design and technical setup plus converting existing pages into the system is yours for a one-time fee as little as $2500.

Compare older static web design services and the latest custom cms web design price list, and then contact me with questions or to learn more about custom cms web design and search engine optimization.



TAGS: advice cms content management system seo search engine optimization web design

Vacation Rental Custom CMS Web Design

Final tweaking and launch of an Orlando vacation rental cms web design took place within the last month for anOrlandoVacationVilla.com. This custom cms web design is a content management system in xhtml with css and features a flash photo slide show on the home page, virtual tours, contact reservation forms, plus a visitor comments guestbook, and more.

The custom cms web design website photo gallery created entirely in css includes searchable text for seo search engine optimization benefits compared to flash. Mousing over thumbnails presents an enlarged view with text captions that can be indexed by search engines.

The advantage of a custom cms web design is the owner may add, edit, or delete content without any knowledge of xhtml by simply creating plain text files, entering content in the admin backend, and selecting publish to update content. A cms, or content management system, is the easy way for a website owner to update a web design optimized for seo without paying each time for changes.



TAGS: content management system cms design launch design seo web design

Website for Hispanic Small Businesses

Hispanic small business owners represent nearly half my clients for custom web design. I'm pleased to announce a valuable resource by Juan Silvera including his Hispanic Small Business Blog at HispanicSMB.com. El Blog de Juan has been online since 2006 providing valuable insight for Latino small businesses.

Some of my clients contact me for a quality custom website that is designed with bilingual content. Once the English version is launched, site owners have the option of translating all pages for visitors who prefer reading content in Spanish.

In addition to announcing the HispanicSMB site, a link has been added to the Small Business Resource Center blogroll for the benefit of my clients interested in learning more about business trends for US Hispanic businesses. Visit their main site for more content including a Latino small business forum, how-to videos, directory, and library for Latino small business owners.



TAGS: advice blog Hispanic small business small business advice web design

Tableless XHTML Web Design Tips

You decide your site design in xhtml code will be tableless. The term tables in a database and tables in xhtml are different. One refers to content and the other presentation, or how that content is displayed on the actual web page. Data belongs in columns and rows, so tables are an exception to the concept of a tableless xhtml web design.

If you have a dynamic site that uses tables in a database, that is different than tables for layout. Don't be confused by the difference. A MySQL database happens to use tables to store data hidden on the server and extracted as needed. That is content. Think of those as storage bins for data necessary to drive the engine if your site uses a cms system. That use of the word "tables" is entirely different from the xhtml method of table layout using a matrix of rows and columns to present content.

The use of tables for layout in xhtml does not refer to the content. That is presentation. If your site will be tableless yet is a cms web design, that means the system extracts data from the database table where it is stored, and it is automatically assembled into the xhtml document which is what search engines and visitors see. For my custom cms web designs there will not be any tables code in the xhtml unless it is required for presentation. That conversion of data from a cms database to a tableless page means pages will not be presented with the outdated technique of bloated code using a table matrix of columns and rows.

Would a design in xhtml that I create ever use tables for layout? Not for the entire page, but perhaps sometimes for a portion of page content, yet rarely, and only when actually displaying some type of chart. For example, if a page needed a matrix displaying prices by quantity presented in rows and columns, in that case using a table for layout for just that section of the page would be appropriate. The mistake designers make is trying to precisely control the layout of a page by putting everything in "boxes", or table cells, in columns and rows.



TAGS: advice cms tables web design xhtml

Launch and Forget It Web Design

The clients I service for custom website design who return for changes or upgrades "get it" when I advise people to add orignal quality content often.

Having a website with over 650 Google page one listings for web design related phrases in less than a year since consciously optimizing my site last June, I share how-to with clients for duplicating that success, and in a phrase the secret is "add original quality content often".

A strategy of launch a site and forget it violates that principle for success because Google rewards websites with better ranking in search results if they update continually to provide an improved visitor experience.

If you don't track statistics for your site visitors and let your service provider update you, those stats could be misleading. A client I first met had one of those reports stating their site had "over 1500 hits a week", yet the client was surprised having zero new prospects contact them.

The important number is not hits which is a call to the server for content including graphics, but the number of unique visitors. One page with 10 graphics visited by 10 people gets 100 hits just for those graphics. If you can't make the time to track stats, at least insist on reports of page loads and unique visitors.

Measuring effectiveness of an advertising campaign compared to your website traffic requires metrics with factual data. Knowing how people found you allows you to make decisions about the best way to allocate your advertising budget. If your website draws the traffic print ads do not, the focus and budget may be better spent on adding new content to your website.

Search engines treat sites differently than 4-5 years ago, and how people find you has changed, too. Today the majority of people looking for a product or service search online first. Business owners who routinely ask "How did you find us?" can measure site performance compared to print advertising. Tracking trends, a major local newspaper downsized the layout and number of pages and the pinch in ad revenue goes beyond the current economy.

Know what works. If the return on investment for print ads is less than you pay, and your website brings new prospects, it is time to invest those dollars into expanding your site to avoid the pitfalls of a launch and forget web design.



TAGS: advertising advice hits statistics web design

Web Design Sitemap URL Advice

From a client email inquiry earlier, advice was requested for how to evaluate their web design and specifically their sitemap URLs listed versus indexed by Google. Changes should not be alarming, especially when a custom integrated blog is included in the design. Here was the explanation for the benefit of readers.

Perhaps some of the previous URLs were archive files for the blog. That is duplicate content and not penalized but no reason for Google to index into their directory, so no worries about your overall ranking. Continue to post to the blog and I expect the PR to remain positive. I do caution, however, that PageRank fluctuations are no indication of how well your site will perform in search results. It is only one indicator of the value you provide.

The PR of my key pages "bounce" up or down year to year and recently down, yet traffic from Google continues to rise. Long term your traffic and certainly conversions despite the economy from month to month and year to year remains the key trend to analyze. Short term fluctuations should be studied for reference only unless something nose dives.

Strategy is a long term look at results whereas tactical tracking is day to day. My advice to all small business website owners is view your stats strategically. PageRank is not the cureall, and certainly losing sleep over one aspect of overall online success needs to be avoided. Changes in URLs indexed by Google are likewise normal, so be aware all site pages may not be indexed and don't panic.



TAGS: advice pagerank sitemap web design

Cross Browser Compatibility in Web Design

Here's a link to a 2008 blog post on testing cross browser compatibility of your web design with links to the current version of 4 of the 5 major browsers including some advice and 2007 usage stats by browser for my site for all of 2007:

It's good to know the setup of site visitors to know pages in your web design display well for the majority while 100% is the real goal. I can't wait for IE6 to get below 10% as it continued to plunge in 2007 and 2008. This post is an update of IE6 based on visitor statistics for 2008. IE6 is at 22% of visitors now, and down from 42% a year earlier. You can download all 5 to test and remove desktop icons of ones you don't use.

Forget Netscape. They're defunct and no longer supported. However, be careful where you download. There are phishing sites (scams, virus trojans, spammers) that offer "downloads" that may be malicious and infect your pc. My advice is always going to the official sites as listed in the blog post linked above. They should be current.

A new browser from Google branded "Chrome" was introduced in September 2008. It has made gains yet not as well as I predicted at the time of the release. They made initial inroads for about a month then stalled. It had minor problems and resources to improve beyond the initial release though minimal have increased their share to 4% since last September. That is significant for a newly released browser brand.

My Sept 2008 review of Google Chrome includes a link to the Google Chrome download page.

For small business owners who contract to have their custom web design outsourced, my advice is requesting evidence of cross browser compatibility testing to the latest version of major browsers as a minimum.



TAGS: advice browsers small business advice testing web design

December Podcast Contest Results

The December podcast contest asking listeners to write 25 words or less about a favorite episode of the Small Business Website Mailbag podcast ended at midnight on December 31, 2008. With $500 and $250 prizes to be given away for design credits for web design, seo services, or matching graphic artwork, visitors may have had too much to do or writers block. Perhaps some doubted their writing skills thinking they couldn't win and gave up before trying. Regardless, zero entrants were received which means no one won by writing in.

After considering a drawing of current clients, I came up with another method for picking a winner and decided how before looking at my email inbox for the last day of 2008. Both prizes would go to the last client who emailed me for any reason on December 31st. The last message received in 2008 was for a vacation rental web design in progress for www.AnOrlandoVacationVilla.com, and the email arrived at 1:04 p.m. local time.

Advanced options discussed outside the scope of the custom cms web design project will be done at no charge. Stay tuned to the web design advice podcast and future episodes. New contests may be announced.



TAGS: contest news podcast promotion web design

Welcome to Our Website in Web Design

From experience in web design and seo, the phrase Welcome to our website in web design would be my last choice for a page title. Search engines like key words in titles and "Welcome to our website" doesn't really define what to expect when following a link to that page. Let's have some fun.

The latest podcast episode of the Small Business Website Mailbag launched earlier entitled Website Title and Description with audio advice about web design and seo including tags for title, META description, and META keywords.

To explain effective title tags that help define a site theme and enhance search engine optimization, the podcast episode points out the phrase "Welcome to our website" as a poor choice for a page title.

For an effective page title tag in web design your choice needs to include key words about what you do because people searching online are more likely to search by product or service rather than brand name.

While it is VERY unlikely anyone would search for "Welcome to our website" looking for a product or service, I decided to test that phrase in Google enclosed in quote marks. Someone has to be #1 on page one, right? As of today's date, the winner is the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Congratulations!

In my opinion as a specialist in custom web design, people struggle to acheive a #1 Google page one listing, so if asked I would advise the staff at the university to keep their "Welcome to our website" page title. They deserve an award!



TAGS: advice content podcast seo search engine optimization web design

Custom Integrated Blog Design Launch

A second custom integrated blog design launched this week for author Ben Furman of Black Hawk Press. Mr. Furman is an independent publisher and writer, and former FBI Counterterrorism Chief who writes two genres of fiction. The audience for his mature content blog on counterterrorism is adults, and the latest blog features information about his fantasy adventure series for young adults.



Each custom integrated blog matches the pre-existing web design and each sidebar features a custom logo graphic as shown above to illustrate the theme of each blog. The original blog included posts on both themes, and the new blog separates content based on the target audience. Included in the custom integrated blogger template design is an audio player so visitors may listen to book excerpts, also.

The main site has more information on all books including reviews and links to purchase online.



TAGS: blog blogger blog template launch web design

Restaurant CMS Web Design Launched

A custom restaurant CMS web design launched earlier this week for Kabob Place, an Indian food restaurant in Orlando, Florida. The initial launch is a home page plus 3 pages with their Indian food menu of soups, appetizers, side dishes, main dishes, desserts, and beverages. In addition to the home page and menu, the site features a custom Orlando map of their location.



The above screenshot of the Indian restaurant home page with custom web design graphics is shown smaller than actual size. The Kabob Place Indian Restaurant is near MetroWest in Orlando and caters to local residents with quality Indian food at modest prices.

The custom web design is valid to XHTML and CSS2 and complies to W3C standards with zero code errors or warnings. The CMS, or Content Management System of web design, allows a website owner to add unlimited new pages to their site without knowing XHTML or CSS code.



TAGS: cms content management system website launch website design

Quality Web Design and Low Price

A new podcast episode on the Small Business Website Mailbag released on Saturday with advice when comparing quality web design and low price. The advice for small business owners presents how to judge web design quality and then the right questions to ask when requesting a custom web design price quote.

The audio program is entitled "One Tough Web Design Question" and includes a checklist of features to look for when asking for quotes for a custom web design. Site quality and search engine optimization value goes beyond aesthetics, and this podcast episode explains how combining a professional look with quality xhtml code in a cms web design provides value and long term website performance.

The podcast emphasizes the secret to web design and seo, or search engine optimization, and attracting visitors to your website including search engines: Add original quality content often.



TAGS: cms podcast seo search engine optimization web design

Two New CMS Web Designs Launched

In the last week two new CMS web designs launched with a Florida insurance company website for Harmony Insurance in Kissimmee, Florida, offering auto insurance, home insurance, plus life, health, and business including workers comp. The other web design is an Orlando Florida real estate website for Henry E Epinsel, Realtor, offering homes for sale in the Orlando and surrounding Central Florida area.

Each is a CMS web design, or Content Management System, which allows adding unlimited new pages. The insurance site features an online insurance quote request form and the real estate web design has info for sellers and buyers with a mortgage calculator on the buyers page, plus a link to search all Florida MLS.

The launch of each initial site cms web design will continue to evolve as new pages are added. The Harmony Insurance site will have additional online forms beginning with a fast quote form and then individual quote forms for other insurance products. The English version of the real estate site will be translated and reproduced in Spanish in the near future.

Each site web design meets W3C for XHTML with CSS2 and zero code errors or warnings.



TAGS: cms content management system website launch website design

CMS Web Design Client Audio Feedback

Another custom cms web design client has recorded an audio testimonial with feedback after the recent launch of their custom website project. Follow this link to the Atlanta recruiter cms web design project overview, and then listen to the audio recording of the customer's comments. A text transcript is posted with the audio, also.

Remarkably, within a month of the launch of this custom cms web design and matching blog, their site achieved Google page one listings for some very generic search phrases related to recruiting services in the Atlanta area. I never guarantee any client page one in search engines, yet following the search engine optimization advice for natural seo quality worked quickly for them.

The secret to search engine optimization is still "add original quality content often". Success begins with a quality web design as the foundation for performing well online. The kind comments from Fidelis Search LLC owner Brian Swaney about the custom cms web design are certainly appreciated.



TAGS: audio cms content management system testimonial website launch web design

GoDaddy Makeover and Email Tutorials

With the recent GoDaddy web design makeover for a revised look including new navigation, their email tutorials provide a great tool for customers who favor this very popular domain registrar and hosting service company. Follow this link to the list of GoDaddy email tutorials to learn how to setup email service on your personal computer.

Often my web design clients opt for the free email forwarding included with a new domain or hosting purchase. While you may easily have email for info@(your domain) forward to your free email account at services like Google GMail, Yahoo!, or AOL, there is a downside. For small business owners in particular your image as a professional organization will be enhanced if your return emails are sent directly from an email account that matches your domain name.

Customers emailing you from your website where an info@ or sales@ email link includes the domain name may feel you lack sophistication, or even be unpleasantly surprised, if the return message uses a free email service provider. The GoDaddy email tutorials make enhancing your corportate image easier than ever. The strategy of creating a favorable first impression will be reinforced with a gorgeous web design and matching email to your domain, and then make sure to send return emails from that same address.



TAGS: advice email setup GoDaddy web design

CMS Web Design for Atlanta Recruiter

A custom cms web design launched last week for Atlanta recruiter Fidelis Search, LLC, and includes an integrated matching Blogger custom blog template. Fidelis specializes in assisting Atlanta area corporate clients recruit qualified job seekers for accounting and finance related positions.


The custom recruiting web design includes the ability to easily add unlimited new pages using simple text content and graphics that are converted automatically to xhtml with css to meet W3C standards.

Visit the accountant and financial recruiter website of Fidelis Search, LLC, and check out their new Atlanta Job Blog custom matching blog.



TAGS: cms custom blog web design website launch

Google Search and Poor Spelling

Web design and search engine optimization strategy to misspell keywords to maximize Google search results for poor spelling is unnecessary. Graphics shown below provide evidence for a web design related search phrase that brought a visitor to my website earlier today. Google continues to improve processing of search requests for the most relevant results even if you cannot spell. In addition, Google will cross reference for similar terms to provide results based on synonyms.

The two graphics below display Google search result examples for the phrase "tutorial ebook web design" without quote marks. Each graphic has circled labels numbered 1-4 as follows: 1) underlined search box phrase (incorrect spelling and then correct), 2) position at #1 on Google page one, 3) total number of search results, and 4) the #1 result in Google.

Some SEO consultants would advise adding misspelling of key words to keyword lists anticipating that some people cannot spell. I disagree with using that tactic for search engine optimization. In this first graphic below, the visitor Googled "tutorial ebook web design" with commas between each word, except the word "design" was spelled phonetically as "desain".



In the second graphic shown below the correct spelling returned the same #1 result, and total results were similar except with 20,000 more results when spelled correctly.



The first screenshot graphic was taken after following Google search results while checking visitor statistics for my site. While on that SERP page I then corrected the spelling for "web design" and took the second screenshot. The total results were similar at 351,000 when "web design" was misspelled and 371,000 when "web design" was correctly entered, and each returned the same #1 result.

Next, testing each search without any commas provided identical results. Keyword lists for search engine optimization, or seo, in your web design META code are given very little importance by Google. Yahoo and others may still index keywords hidden in the META tags to determine the theme of your site; however, each key word in your keyword list should appear somewhere in the text that displays to visitors on that page.

Why would anyone intentionally include misspelling in their web design and risk offending their visitors? First impressions are important to keeping people on your site. If they see you cannot spell it could affect your credibility, so some visitors will leave immediately to the next Google result. Trust Google search results for poor spelling to bring traffic without trying to second guess potential visitor typing skills.

Finally, doing grammar and spell check of your web design text content is highly recommended before launching new web pages or blog posts. Poor spelling or grammar will strike a nerve with visitors and intentional errors are unnecessary as search engines become more sophisticated. The secret to success in web design and search engine optimization is summarized in my favorite phrase "add original quality content often". Misspelling violates the word "quality" in that advice for successful web design.



TAGS: advice Google seo search engine optimization spelling web design

Custom Blogger Author Blog Launch

A new custom blogger template launched earlier this week for the publisher and author blog of BlackHawkPress.com. The new integrated blog design color scheme and graphics match the pre-existing web design for a consistent look. Adding a custom integrated blog to any small business website enhances search engine optimization, or seo, and helps attract search engines.

Black Hawk Press is an independent publisher of counterterrorism novels by Ben Furman, publisher and author, as well as another genre with an adventure series of fantasy novels for young adults. Mr. Furman provides an inside look of worldwide intrigue and suspense based on real world experience aimed at adult readers. The childrens series of fantasy adventures offers excitement while providing positive messages for young readers.

The Black Hawk Press blog will feature posts with audio excerpts from their books, insider information about counterterrorism, and professional writing tips by Ben Furman. Follow this link to the custom integrated blog design for Black Hawk Press author Ben Furman to compare the look to their original web design.



TAGS: Blogger blog custom blog launch seo search engine optimization web design

Google PageRank Update Q3 2008

For small business website owners who like tracking site performance, the Google PageRank update for Q3 2008 took place over the weekend. Now forums will fill up with PR topics including replies by site owners wondering why their small business website PageRank remains unchanged, or dropped. Some will go up.

Google did a great job 11 months ago sending sites to oblivion who were involved in buying and selling links. Backlinks from other websites are still like votes when done naturally, and a related site linking to your site adds value. However, PageRank is only one factor of seo, or search engine optimization, in determining the success of your website.

Compare expectations with actual performance, and if you convert traffic and are at least modestly satisfied with site performance, my advice is don't get too hung up on PageRank. Some owners use social networks to boost traffic, yet high traffic is useless without converting visitors into buyers.

A better web design strategy is still my favorite 5-word phrase: "Add original quality content often" as the secret of search engine optimization and to improve the performance of your website design. The words "original" and "quality" within that phrase will get visitor's attention, and then those plus "Add... content often" will attract search engines. PageRank as well as performance is more likely to deteriorate if you build a site and let it sit without updates or new content.

Like anything, begin your web design with a good foundation as in quality code and content, and then continually improve on both as you apply natural seo strategies, and you should be smiling at future Google PageRank updates. An ongoing annual budget for website revisions will be key in staying ahead of your competition, while launch-and-forget-it web design strategy is bound to fail.



TAGS: advice PageRank seo web design web design strategy

Google Chrome Stats on StatCounter

Checking stats for custom cms web design related searches for my site at StatCounter.com I noticed a link to their blog with a post about the new browser Google Chrome stats on StatCounter for the first 8 days since its release.

Comparing my visitor browser stats to the relatively low number of 1.02% tracked by StatCounter as now using Chrome as their browser of choice, my count was over 5% on one day that I checked. The global numbers on StatCounter indicate growth in that 8 day period for Chrome and "numerous browsers including Konqueror, Opera, Playstation, Blackberry, Iphone, Seamonkey etc." and a decline in IE, FireFox, and Safari.

These are very early numbers, yet as predicted in my review of the Google Chrome browser 10 days ago, "Trust Google to consider your input and then stand back and watch them conquer another internet niche with leading edge technology that responds to what users really want."

For average internet users the Chrome choice may be an easy one. My personal favorite is still FireFox because of the add-on plug-ins and extensions for web developers, yet that attitude may change as more programmers step up and assist in enhancements for Chrome. People employed in web design and even site owners, need to add Chrome to their list of browsers to test for cross browser compatibility. A quality custom web design will display well in all browsers.



TAGS: advice browser Google Chrome review stats web design

Advanced Photo Edit in Xara Xtreme

This advanced photo edit tutorial in Xara Xtreme shows an example of how to hide unwanted portions of a photograph for web graphics in custom web design. The process from start to finish took 5 minutes. In this case the web graphic needed to be revised to remove the toddler playing in the hallway. Here's how the photo edit was done in a series of 6 illustrations marked A to E:

Photo A (below left) shows the original photo taken by the client which displays the toddler to be removed. Viewing the carpet, floor trim, and wall to the right of the baby, I selected a vertical portion taller than the person, and created a rectangular clipping mask as shown in photo B (below right).



Photo C (below left) shows the cropped vertical section of the carpet/trim/wall taken from a cloned duplicate of the photo. The original photo placed in the background has 65% transparency applied in preparation for the next step.

Photo D (below right) shows the carpet/trim/wall clipping stretched horizontally to cover the toddler and part of the background decor. To create a realistic graphic, solving the problem of the clipping covering the planter and leaves will be next.



Photo E (below left) shows less transparency on the background, and some transparency of the carpet/trim/wall for an enhanced view, and then the clipping mask drawn precisely over the planter and leaves without revealing any of the toddler. Select the mask and carpet/trim/wall graphic and use CTRL+2 to crop the masked portion.

Photo F (below right) shows the final web graphic after removing transparency of both pieces to digitally create the new photo. The carpet/trim/wall piece has feathering applied so it blends in better with the background, and now the photo is ready to insert in their custom web design.



Users of Xara Xtreme may use shortcut CTRL+K for cloning and CTRL+B and F to send pix front or back during the edit. Select the mask and photo then use CTRL+3 to crop. The only other feature needed in Xara is the feathering tool. For higher quality work for print rather than in a web design, use the steps in this photo edit tutorial to begin, and then zoom in for more precision.



TAGS: advice photo edit tutorial Xara Xtreme web design