Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Is Your Online Content Well-Written?

Do you know what helps a web site gain top ranking spots? A site is not going to hold the top position due to its outstanding collection of photos or eye-catching design. The answer is very simple – well written content (good writing). Your site can achieve this by consistently having much better written content than the rest of the bunch.

Google’s top five pages receive majority of the traffic delivered due to the main searched keywords. Online users are able to find these sites because they have placed these keywords within the content of their sites. For example, if one of the most searched keywords is Web Design, placing this phrase on your homepage will attract majority of Google’s unique viewers.

A lot of web designers and site owners do not understand the importance of proper grammar and wording. Many believe that adding pictures, audio, and other types of web content is more valuable.

Top Content Success Features

• Content Relevance –Text should include frequent words that are associated with top searched keywords.
• Lists – Bullets and numeric format is commonly used for text.
• Paragraphs – Long groups of text may turn visitors away. Keep paragraphs to a minimum of 1-4 sentences.
• Spelling & Grammar – Errors are common on most sites. You can eliminate these errors by using Microsoft Word’s spell check.
• Updates – Written content should be updated on a regular basis. Keeping content fresh will draw more and more viewers. Updates can be made monthly, weekly, or even daily.

Recommendation: have your content reviewed by a professional writer or by someone who is good with words. Doing this will help eliminate any errors and the chance of running away your guests!

Also, we suggest that you update your web site on a regular in order to keep it new and innovative. Content Management Systems are very helpful when it comes to updating and placing written matter on websites.

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, November 16, 2010

How Important is Site Tagging?

Search engine optimization professionals believe that the most effective ways to guarantee that a web site will appear on result pages of search engines is by using proper site tags. Pay-Per-Click campaigns and top keywords are just as important, but a web site’s HTML tags help search engine crawlers retrieve the most information.

A proper SEO plan involves well-written content. All content is very important for the user interface portion, as well as the HTML regarding the crawler-facing aspect. A web sites ranking depends greatly on the “behind the scenes” tagging that manages the page. No online visitor is able to see the HTML, but without it, users wouldn’t be able to view the site!

Site tagging is only successful when the correct HTML commands are place in the appropriate areas. Your hardest task will be deciding on what types of tags to use and what needs to be included.

Basic Tags

• Title
• Heading
• Meta Tags
• Body

A page should always include these particular tags. This is how a search engine finds a web site.

Title tags are by far the most important SEO tag for any web site. Placing the right keywords in a title tag can increase its efficiency. Search engine spiders and crawlers use title tags for determining the web page topic.

With the proper HTML tags, a company can inform a search engine a lot more about a site than the written content can tell it. There are many aspects to tagging a web site. The right strategy should be used to ensure that tags are as helpful as possible.

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

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Why Use Electronic Mail?

Printing advertisements, writing and sending a stamped letter is old school marketing. With the incredible amount of Internet users, businesses are beginning to find new and innovative ways to use electronic mailing to their advantage. It’s FREE, prompt and more resourceful than other forms of communication.

Our community has become a lot more environment-friendly over the past two years. Families and businesses are looking for ways to not only save energy but to save money as well. As a result, electronic mail (also known as e-mail) has become very popular. It’s paperless and is absolutely free for anyone with Internet access.

A business should consider sending clients and potential customers advertisements through e-mail because:

• Messages can be sent to several individuals at one time. This way you don’t have to send out each message one by one.
• Key features, such as an address book, allow you to create groups with similar clients. This will help you target the individuals who are most likely to respond to each particular message.
• It is more reliable and confidential than other types of communication.
• E-mail messages can be personalized. Color, banners, and photos can all be used to add life to your content. Sending a broad message often causes individuals to ignore your initial efforts.
• Staying in touch with customers on a regular will potentially build a long term relationship. Once a message is sent, you are able to see the results of your efforts instantly. Discern who responds and who opts-out of your messages.

The most popular electronic mail providers include AOL Mail, Yahoo Mail, and G-Mail (Google). These servers provide unlimited storage of messages, key feature abilities, and endless communication between individuals with Internet access.

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, November 10, 2010

Blogging 101

It is very fortunate for the businesses that are beginning to understand the importance of blogging. The overall idea of blogging makes a lot of sense when you look at it from a marketing and advertising point-of-view. Submitting articles or blogs helps link a company’s web site, encourage potential clients to seek more information regarding them, and gives a business the chance to reach people around the world.

By definition, a blog is a type of web site that includes recurring entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics and video. Most blogs display entries in reverse-chronological order (with the most recent being the first). Often used as a verb, the word “blog” also means to maintain or add content to an actual blog.

A lot of companies prefer to use blogs because it allows them to meet their customers more directly. Unlike flyers or electronic messages, a blog is more interactive and can be visited more frequently.

Search engine optimization professionals recommend that a company post a new blog each day or weekly. Customers and clients like to see updates; it makes them believe that you are serious about your business.

Below is a list of CODANK Charlotte Web Design recommended blog sites:

• Articlesland.com
• Articlesbase.com
• Hubpages.com
• Blogspot.com
• Digg.com
• Technorati.com
• Onlinemarketingconnect.com
• Getyourcontent.com
• Articleblast.com
• Merchantcircle.com
• Populate.net
• Articlepress.com
• Goarticles.com
• Articledashboard.com

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

Monday, November 8, 2010

Web Branding Tips for Businesses

As a business owner, the best investment you can have is an online website. A website is not only very crucial for business, but establishing an overall web branding is critical as well. Web branding is a impressive way to stand out within the World Wide Web.

Think of web branding as another way a company can advertise besides using television, magazine or newspaper. By definition, a brand is classified as a symbol. Symbols are known as designs which represent something else, and a brand is meant to package all of the associations, experiences and characteristics into an abstract construct.

In order to lure in customers, a company’s brand should have all of necessities to catch their attention. Whether it’s sound, phrases, logos or imagery, it should be something in which people come into contact with.

Below are a few CODANK Web Design web branding tips. A company should read them carefully and then plan accordingly.

Consistency – Make your brand memorable. Make sure to be consistent in your web design when you’re building it. Keep consistent colors, visuals and typography.

Uniqueness – Differentiate your web page and brand from your competitors. If you don’t, it won’t really be memorable!

Size & Position – Position your logo in the upper left area of the webpage – that is the area most people look to see what site they’re on.

Character – Give your brand character. You can do this by introducing it with a little personality; something that your audience can associate their selves with.

Color – Choosing the right color is very important. Color stimulates emotions and carried with it subconscious associations to numerous things and characteristics.

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

Friday, November 5, 2010

Traditional Media vs. Social Media

Using the Internet to your advantage is what’s going to keep your brand name out there. Social media is a powerful tool when used correctly. Social networking sites are popping up seems like every other month, making it hard to even keep up. Similar to other forms of marketing, social networking has its pros and cons.

By definition, social media describes web sites that allow online users to share information, media, content, etc. Common examples are the popular social networking sites:

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Friendster

Other popular social media sites that offer a slightly different type of membership include:

• YouTube (video sharing)
• Photobucket (image sharing)
• Flickr (image sharing)

Studies show that people gain more information, education, and news by electronic media and print. The Internet and social media is more popular than traditional media, such as newspapers, televisions, and film.

Described below are the differences and similarities between social media and traditional media:

• Both grant the ability to reach a global audience.
• Traditional media is owned privately or by government, while social media tools are available to anyone at little or no cost.
• Social media typically doesn’t require specialized skills and training.
• Once created, traditional media cannot be altered. For example, once a magazine article is printed and distributed, changes cannot be made to that article. Social media can be modified at any time.
• Social media is available in different forms. Online users are able to choose from forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, social bookmarking, podcasts, and video sharing.

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

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Where Do Online Users Search?

The World Wide Web has granted users the opportunity to find basically any and every type of web site that is online. Accurately, there are thousands of search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN/Bing, which provide the ability to search the Web.

The greater part of online searched are carried out at a small number of search web sites. A great question to ask is, how do the most popular sites rank? The answer depends on how you measure popularity. The term can be measured based the following criteria:

• Total amount of searches conducted
• Total amount of time visitors spend searching at the site
• Total number of site guests
• Audience reach (percentage of site visitors)

All of the above measurements tend to provide slightly different rankings. Below is a list of the Internet’s most popular search sites. The results are based on one month of searches during August of 2007. The study was conducted by Nielson/NetRatings. Roughly 8 billion searches in the U.S. were recorded. The results include:

• Google.com – 53.6%
• Yahoo.com – 19.9%
• MSN.com – 12.9%
• AOL.com – 5.6%
• Ask.com – 1.7%
• My Web Search – 0.9%
• BellSouth Search – 0.5%
• Comcast Search – 0.4%
• My Way – 0.4%
• SBC Yellow Pages Search – 0.4%

Be advised that this is a list of search sites, not search systems. In some cases, the sites own their own systems. Google supplies its own search results, however AOL does not. My Web Search is a metasearch engine receiving results from Google, Yahoo, and Ask.com.

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, November 2, 2010

Online Communication Tools

Being able to communicate via the World Wide Web or communication software is becoming more and more popular everyday. Social web sites like Facebook and MySpace, as well as commercial sites such as eBay and Amazon, enabled software systems allow users to interact no matter what time of the day or week it is.

By definition, computer-mediated communication (online communication) occurs through the use of two or more networked computers. Communication can take place via instant messages, e-mails, chat rooms, and within other formats.

Social software applications consist of both interactive and communication tools. Interactive tools are used during interactions between a pair or group of users. It works best to establish and maintain a connection among users, improve the mechanics of conversation and talk.

Different Types of Online Communication Tools

• Instant Messaging – communication with another person in real time.
• Blogs – (web logs) online journals for a particular person.
• Text Chat – normally associated with chat rooms; communication with many people at once, publicly.
• Forums – electronic bulletin boards

There are many notable social software products and services available. Below are a few examples that facilitate a variety of social contact.

Instant Messaging
• HUD
• AIM

Blogs
• ArticlesBase
• HubPages

Media Sharing
• Vimeo
• YouTube
• Flickr

There are numerous reasons as to why online users take part in online communication tools. More and more developers are crafting software that benefits both the user and the business. The latest real-time communication tool is known as Google Wave. This application can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

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