Friday, October 29, 2010

How Page Titles Help a Website

Page titles are one of the most crucial essentials within search engine optimization. When search engine crawlers analyze a web site, the very first part that it looks at is the page titles. A ranking in search results is also due to the measurement of the title on a page. For that reason, a web designer and copywriter should always construct content for a web site with correct page titles.

A page title is found in the HTML tag and is also used on search engine result pages. Good titles can greatly enhance your web sites search engine optimization (SEO).

When creating your page titles, take into account the following tips, suggestions, and recommendations:

• Consider using special characters in the beginning and end of your title to increase notice ability. Characters such as, parentheses, arrows, and asterisks often help to catch a viewer’s attention to your title page.
• Never repeat phrases and keywords in your title tags. Repetition is known as SEO spam to most search engines, so avoid repeating certain words if possible. Do not duplicate keywords in order to obtain a crawler’s attention. Doing so could result in your site being excluded from search engine listing.
• Make an effort to keep titles to 50 characters or less, including spaces. Certain search engines will only index up to 50 characters while others might index up to 150. Yet, sustaining shorter page titles will keep you in search engine results.
• Try not to use your company name in the page title. A better alternative is to use a descriptive keyword or phrase. Using keywords will help to explain exactly what is on the page. It also helps guarantee that your search engine rankings are precise.

Not tagging your page titles properly can cost your web site its high ranking. All of your titles should be short, descriptive, and tagged into your web page coding. By utilizing title tags, you are increasing the possibility of ranking high in Google, Yahoo, Bing/MSN, and many other search engines.

About CODANK Web Design

CODANK is a top rated Web Design and Internet Marketing firm located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services.

For more information, visit us at www.codank.com

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Social Media 101

By definition, social marketing is a systematic method of marketing along with additional concepts and techniques used to achieve behavioral goals.

As social media begins to become more and more popular, search engine optimization and marketing professionals are encouraging business owners to take advantage of these social web sites as channels for promotion.

Popular Social Media websites include:

• YouTube
• Twitter
• Flickr
• Facebook
• MySpace
• Digg

Businesses have been using MySpace for years to create custom pages for their own promotion. MySpace and other sites give you the opportunity to reach current and potential customers in and around their target demographic.

Online marketers are learning the ins and outs of building a social media profile, growing their network and strategically updating their content. But, it is now time to start advertising. Below are a few aspects of social media advertising that a company should know about.

Advertisements should contain the present state of your business – Always keep your advertisements updated with what is currently going on with your business. You never want to mislead your potential or current customers.

Target the correct consumers with your message – It is vital to place ads of relevance on web sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Because majority of their users are young adults, products and services geared toward them would be fit for advertisement on those types of sites.

Understand your targeted social media channel – As stated above, by knowing who is using social media sites is very important to advertisers.

About CODANK Web Design

CODANK is a top rated Web Design and Internet Marketing firm located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services.

For more information, visit us at www.codank.com.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Content Management System vs. Search Engine Optimization

A great concern of many web site designers is the affect that a content management system (CMS) has on search engine optimization (SEO). In the past, content management system applications published content with drawn out, complicated URLs or often created several copies. Because of this, search engines seldom accepted the URLs and often ranked the web site lower than normal. Fortunately, CMS applications are designed to be more SEO friendly.

Search engine optimization is very important and should be taken seriously with any type of web site. Entrepreneurs and small business owners who may not have a large budget are now considering how they are going to receive high page rankings within search engines. These individuals are educating themselves on SEO and other technological genres.

Nowadays, most content management systems are expected to improve a web site’s search engine optimization rather than to hurt it. When shopping around for that perfect CMS, ask yourself the following questions: “How does the software or application help with my SEO?” and “What specific parts of the application or software will help to advance my SEO efforts?”

On the other hand, be sure to pay attention to the structure of the application and how it helps you develop your content. This aspect is very crucial simply because a CMS is meant to maintain your content in an orderly manner.

Below are the six main categories of a Content Management System:

• Enterprise CMS (ECMS)
• Web CMS (WCMS)
• Document management system (DMS)
• Mobile CMS
• Component CMS
• Media content management system


About CODANK Web Design


CODANK is a top Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Thursday, October 7, 2010

User-Friendly: Content Management Systems

Many Internet Marketing and Programming companies provide different products designed to help clients and their web sites. Not every client is “tech savvy”, and because of this companies offer various Content Management Systems.

A Content Management System is a file driven web system that allows a user to update and create their own web site content, pages, and upload images 24/7. Also known as CMS, this system is user-friendly and requires little HTML knowledge.

Depending on the supplier, Content Management Systems vary in price. Some are affordable while others tend to be a bit more expensive. It is best to compare CMS’s before a final purchase. If possible, sign up for a trial package.

A Content Management System allows you to manually update:

• Text Content
• Images
• Web Pages
• Links
• Blogs
• Banners and more…

Inside the CMS, updates can be made into the pre-determined content area of each specific page. Each editing feature is available via a browser with no HTML experience or FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software needed.

Editing tools normally included with a CMS:

• Add/manage a directory of members
• Create new pages and delete older pages
• Add text/multiple images
• Add News and Specials/Features/Events headlines and corresponding stories
• Add/edit various calendars

A great feature to most Content Management Systems is a client’s ability to assign access to various users. This allows a site administrator to permit numerous people the ability to view or edit pages on the website, hence allowing those associates to manage available content.

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Study Your Potential Consumers

Marketing campaigns and advertisements tend to focus on specific groups of people. Before billboards, magazine ads, and online postings, companies study their consumers in order to better understand their buying habits.

The process of studying consumers’ behavior is called Behavioral Targeting. This type of study uses information collected on a person’s web browsing behavior (by online companies). Online businesses collect data such as:

• Performed searches
• How often an individual stays on a web site
• Particular pages visited

Fortunately for online companies, they are not only able to track the behavior of users but they are meeting these potential customers in places where they are more likely to make a purchase.

When using behavioral targeting, the following methods are normally utilized to evaluate the different behaviors:

Sequential Behavior – a behavior that happens when a user signs onto a website and then visits pages or performs actions in a chronological manner.

Expected Behavior – what a business expects users to do on a specific type of site.

Repetitive Behavior – a type of behavior from which potential customers do over and over again; users accessing a page in a certain order, repeatedly jumping to a site or at a particular time.

In addition to the behaviors listed above, there are also many categories of behavior that are much more precise. CODANK Charlotte Web Design has included a brief list of some of the categories that can be monitored using behavioral targeting. They include:

• Dog lovers
• Motorcycle purchasers
• Theme Park seekers
• Expecting mothers
• Online Gamers
• Smartphone users
• Vacationers
• Movie watchers
• Luxury car seekers
• Personal investors
• Credit card shoppers
• SUV researchers
• Home buyers

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com