Oregon Web Team

Search Engine Optimization Seminar Outline - 2008-02-19

2008-02-19T06:55:00.000-08:00

About Website Design
- Questions for your web designer
- Custom vs. Template
  - Template
    - Sometimes extremely affordable (and even free)
    - Cost usually involves tailoring website to your specific needs, content and corporate identity
    - Potentially used by many websites
    - Little chance that template will fit your exact needs
    - Sometimes not designed well for search engines
    - May not be fast loading
    - examples:
      - http://designs.oregonwebteam.com/
      - http://www.freewebsitetemplates.com/
  - Custom
    - Unique to your website
    - Designed to fit exactly your needs
    - Tailored for search engines
    - Tailored to be very fast loading
    - examples:
      - http://www.portlandblindsandshutters.com/
      - http://www.oregonwebteam.com/
SEO

If this question is answered at the end of this SEO segment, you will win a free Coffee Mug:

"What should be the very first website adjustment in any Search Engine Campaign?"

Why SEO?
- Brochure hidden in cabinet?
SEO 101

If 5 websites talk about a subject, how does Google know which one to put first?
2 things to consider

On the page content
Off the page factors

Letter From Google

SEO 201
- Industry Agreed Upon Top SEO Factors
How much does SEO cost?
- Question: Why do some website owners pay so much for SEO?
- Answer: Why do some stores pay so much for location?
- Mug winning question: What should be the very first website adjustment in any Search Engine Campaign?
What kind of organization should do your optimization?
FREE SEO TIPS!
- Local Search
- URL / Category / Product naming
  - Good
  - Bad
- Are Meta Descriptions important?
- 5 Min Break

Search Engine Paid Search Links
- Printed Yellow Pages Vs Search Engine
  - Yellow Pages
    - One ad
    - No Changes for months
    - Geographically located to Major Metropolitan
    - Targeted by Category (example: 'plumber')
    - Results tracked by humans/staff
  - Search Engine Ads
    - Infinite Ads
    - Change often
    - Geographically located as small as cities
    - Targeted by specific and exact key words (example: 'outhouse plumber high elevation')
    - Results tracked automatically
  - Case Study
  - Keyword tool, example of costs
Stats / Analytics
- Overview

RSS feeds per tag in blogger

2008-02-13T08:27:00.000-08:00

Just in case you didn't know, Blogger shares Wordpress's ability to spit out different rss feeds for each tag. The basic syntax for the rss feed is:

http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/labelname

I got that handy bit of information from Digital Inspiration's website.

Google Adwords Keyword Tool update

2007-10-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

I was doing some research today for a client and found that Google had added a very needed feature to their Keyword Tool. Until very recently, when researching key words through Google, the user had to either choose to view relative search statistics OR relative estimated CPC (cost per click) fees. Now the user is able to see all relative data by showing and hiding whatever columns are appropriate for your research. Great job Google! (I put in compliments like that every once in a while in case their bots are easily influenced.)

Search Engine Seminar Links

2007-10-05T08:22:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are the links to the key web sites we looked at during our 90 minute (PLUS 30 additional free minutes) seminar. Thank you all who attended! I especially appreciated all of the great questions.

Internet Statistics
Page Rank Diagram from Wikipedia. And here's the full page related to it.
Google's recommendations regarding hiring a Search Engine Optimizer.
Google's recommendations about how to design your site (We didn't have time to go over this document).
A great article from a Search Engine Guide web site regarding the steps to a successful optimization implementation.
How to add your site to Google's local search.
And finally, link to sign up for Google AdWords (sponsored links).

I hope you all had as much fun as I did. Let's do this again next year to discuss new ideas!

Oh, and I couldn't leave without sharing the letter Google wrote to one of our clients:

--------------------------------

Dear Site Owner,

We have recently moved you to number one on our search engine for basically any search phrase you could ever hope for for these top 10 reasons:

You have really cool flashing text on your site.
Your mom's blog links to you.
You purchased $50 worth of adwords and that means a lot to us
You have the most meta keywords we have ever seen. That's awesome.
We happened to see your bumper sticker with your domain name using our Google Earth satellite.
We thought your scrolling marquee was very web 3.0
Anyone brave enough to put fuscia text on a neon green background deserves a leg up.
Your email to Santa was seen by our servers.
So was your FWD to Santa with the inspirational poem.
We appreciate that your whole office refreshes your web site 10 times per day.
(We thought of one more) You have the best picture of David Hasselhoff we have ever seen.

Because of the nature of the interweb, we do not guarantee you will stay in the top 10 positions for your desired search terms. However, due to our deep loyalty to your site in light of the above list, we promise to have our workers continue to flip our switches in such a way to give you a leg up.

Grateful for your wonderful information regarding Polish Hot Dogs,

Google

Branding - Not Just for Livestock

2007-10-01T16:27:00.000-07:00

There's not a lot I can say about the importance and pervasiveness of corporate branding in our society. This stems from the fact that it would be ridiculous to attempt a counter-argument. Every time you step out of your house, turn on the television, open a web site or read a magazine, you are confronted instantly with anywhere from a few to a few hundred (or even thousand) brands. In The Complete Graphic Designer, Thomas Hine is cited as stating that consumers, after spending half an hour grocery shopping, are bombarded with up to 30,000 brands.

30,000. And that's just at the grocery store. Consider the billboards, car decals and business signs that they encountered on the way to and from the supermarket. The sheer number seems an insurmountable mountain of competing brands. How can your new brand possibly hope to compete? Luckily, with good design your brand can not only stand out, but also become instantly recognizable.

There are many things to consider when developing a brand: What are you selling? Who are you selling to? What message do you want to convey to consumers? Where is the branding going to apppear? Though I've oversimplified these questions somewhat (you'd be surprised at how deep those rabbit holes go), the basic ideas are all there.

One of the most important things I've learned to keep in mind is the tried and true saying of "Keep it simple, stupid." Branding needs to act quickly and specifically to get your company recognized. Let's take a company with a famous phrase, for example. Jif peanut butter is widely known for its catchphrase (you probably thought it to yourself while reading this): "Choosy Moms Choose Jif." The line has become commonplace on television, radio and households across the country. However, pick up a jar of Jif peanut butter and I challenge you to find that line anywhere near the front of the jar. Here, I'll even provide an image of a jar:

And another image of just their brand:

The power of the brand is so strong that consumers immediately know what product they're looking at, as well as its famous byline. There is no need to complicate their brand with extra words or phrases, except for the small emblem on the package informing consumers whether it's crunchy or creamy peanut butter. From a design standpoint, I take issue with their use of the Fresh Roasted Peanut Butter emblem, as I feel that it's completely unnecessary, especially for such a well-established brand.

To sum up, branding is an integral part of creating any corporate identity. The difference between a well-designed and a poorly-designed brand is potentially the difference between failure and success. Don't be afraid to redefine your brand as your company continues to grow and evolve. Keeping your brand fresh will keep your company fresh in the minds of your customers.

Design Matters

2007-09-20T10:07:00.000-07:00

First of all, welcome to the Official Oregon Web Team blog! Here, our team manager, Josh McKenney, and I will be writing on our two favorite topics: web development and design.

Over the next few weeks, I hope to delve into the wide array of topics that graphic design covers. As this is the first post, however, I wanted to start by listing a few key design areas that I am constantly aware of while laying out any web site.

Typography: My latest design obsession, type is one of the most important tools for getting your intended message across accurately and effectively. There is nothing worse than a beautifully-designed site marred by mismatched fonts, font sizes, and font colors. There is, in fact, something of a science to type, which we'll explore further in the future.

Color: Communication is not just about type and fonts and images, but also about color. Should that background color bright red type on a white background, or maybe black type on a yellow background? Why do certain color schemes evoke certain preconceived notions about your corporate identity? With millions of colors and hues to choose from, which are best? What colors go well together? Stay tuned.

Visual Hierarchy: This basically determines how your visitors will move through your web site's information. What will they see first? What do you want them to see first? What is most important, what is next important, and next important, and so on. Visual hierarchy is a combination of sizes, colors, positions-on-the-page, shapes and contrasts.

Branding: Don't have a logo? Not happy with your logo? You're not alone. Branding is one of the keys to quickly and effectively communicating with customers and clients. It is also one of the most difficult aspects of communication and design. In the space it takes to spell out your business' name (or sometimes even just its initials!) your brand has to communicate who you are and what you're all about. Your brand helps determine how clients experience your company and product. We'll make the branding experience a good one.

Content: Finally, even the most visually impressive design can only do so much to save poorly-written content. Not only is content important on the development side in order to gain SEO (Search Engine Optimization), but it should also keep your visitors moving smoothly and intuitively through your site and its information. Luckily, writing effective content is not as difficult as it seems on first glance. In future articles, we'll talk about key words, structure and the importance of being succinct.

Again, welcome to the Official Oregon Web Team development and design blog! Check back weekly for new articles and updates.