Establishing Web Presence
When looking to establish a web presence it is very important to ask yourself what you need, and equally as important to find a company that can provide you with everything in that list. It is not good enough to go to one company for web design, another for emarketing, and yet another for search engine optimisation. All aspects of a website tie into one another and so too do all aspects of programming a website.
All to often we see clients coming to us for search engine optimisation (SEO), after having their site designed by another company fully in flash or javascript, when one of their main priorities was to be visible in search engines. Flash is one of the worst programming techniques to use when website visibility in search engines is paramount. Yet because the company that designed the website specialises only in flash web design and not in search engine optimisation; when asked by the client will my website be search engine friendly the company replies, "yes, just wait two or three months". Or they compare with other flash websites "Cartier, Nike and Adidas all use Flash and their websites are extremely visible". Yet what they can't tell their clients is why these websites are so visible.
One ranking factor used by search engines as a guage of website ranking, is sites linking in to your website. You can use this as a factor in your search engine ranking, but keep in mind that this is only 1 of over 100 different aspects that all join together to boost your overall ranking.
By typing "link:www.yourwesitename.com" into Google, Yahoo or MSN you can see how many other websites link back to you. Lets start with the first example given above - Cartier. Cartier have 376 websites that link to them. See for yourself by typing "link:www.cartier.com" into Google. This is quite a good amount. Of course the more websites linking to you the better. I should also point out that it is best to have one-way incoming links. This means that you should not link back to them. These are the most valuable links to have.
In comparison to Cartier, Nike and Adidas are way ahead. Adidas have 2,330 incoming links to their website, and Nike have 3,090. Another aspect to note is how these links are gained. Since Nike, Adidas and Cartier are such large brands, they gain their incoming links organically - people link to them with out them asking and therefore, incoming links are build continuously at a steady rate. This is by far the best way to build incoming links.
Compare this with many of the packages found on the internet, many of them utilising black-hat SEO techniques (SPAM techniques), which offer link-building campaigns and the like for US$20 (or something along these lines). These companies should not be trusted when it comes to building incoming links as they more often than not use SPAM techniques such as linking to link-farms, sites setup purely to build reciprocal links. They link to you, you link to them. Sometimes you will stumble across these sites and wonder how on earth you found them. Many of these companies have now been banned from the search engines as algorithms become more advanced.
Relying on incoming links to build your website ranking, if you have a flash website can take years upon years. It is best to work on building your companies recognition in the industry and let incoming links build themselves. This will result in the best link strategy. Getting back to establishing a web presence, consider the following items when building your website:
All to often we see clients coming to us for search engine optimisation (SEO), after having their site designed by another company fully in flash or javascript, when one of their main priorities was to be visible in search engines. Flash is one of the worst programming techniques to use when website visibility in search engines is paramount. Yet because the company that designed the website specialises only in flash web design and not in search engine optimisation; when asked by the client will my website be search engine friendly the company replies, "yes, just wait two or three months". Or they compare with other flash websites "Cartier, Nike and Adidas all use Flash and their websites are extremely visible". Yet what they can't tell their clients is why these websites are so visible.
One ranking factor used by search engines as a guage of website ranking, is sites linking in to your website. You can use this as a factor in your search engine ranking, but keep in mind that this is only 1 of over 100 different aspects that all join together to boost your overall ranking.
By typing "link:www.yourwesitename.com" into Google, Yahoo or MSN you can see how many other websites link back to you. Lets start with the first example given above - Cartier. Cartier have 376 websites that link to them. See for yourself by typing "link:www.cartier.com" into Google. This is quite a good amount. Of course the more websites linking to you the better. I should also point out that it is best to have one-way incoming links. This means that you should not link back to them. These are the most valuable links to have.
In comparison to Cartier, Nike and Adidas are way ahead. Adidas have 2,330 incoming links to their website, and Nike have 3,090. Another aspect to note is how these links are gained. Since Nike, Adidas and Cartier are such large brands, they gain their incoming links organically - people link to them with out them asking and therefore, incoming links are build continuously at a steady rate. This is by far the best way to build incoming links.
Compare this with many of the packages found on the internet, many of them utilising black-hat SEO techniques (SPAM techniques), which offer link-building campaigns and the like for US$20 (or something along these lines). These companies should not be trusted when it comes to building incoming links as they more often than not use SPAM techniques such as linking to link-farms, sites setup purely to build reciprocal links. They link to you, you link to them. Sometimes you will stumble across these sites and wonder how on earth you found them. Many of these companies have now been banned from the search engines as algorithms become more advanced.
Relying on incoming links to build your website ranking, if you have a flash website can take years upon years. It is best to work on building your companies recognition in the industry and let incoming links build themselves. This will result in the best link strategy. Getting back to establishing a web presence, consider the following items when building your website:
- eMarketing - Update your clients regularly. Design, send, track, archive and manage your communications through events, surveys and/or newsletters.
- CMS - Content Management System. Keep your website up-to-date simply.
- Graphic Design - Will you require a corporate identity, brochures or adverts?
- Web Applications - Tools to simplify your common tasks, such as 360 appraisals, photo uploaders, graph updates etc.
- Search Engine Marketing - SEM - Get your site listed in the top 20 positions of all the major search engines through search engine optimisation (SEO) or Pay Per Click (PPC) Management.
- On-Line Promotions - Benefit from high volume traffic of other websites such as Geoexpat or asiaxpat.
- Live Website Monitoring - Monitor who visits your website with the ability to chat to them live, as well as use valuable statistics that reflect your marketing techniques.
If the company you are with cannot provide you with all the services that you need, then you are quite frankly with the wrong company. The most important aspect of building a web presence is to choose a company that can both understand and implement all of your needs and desires, not to mention suggesting other options that you may not have thought of. Compelite strive to offer their clients the best service available, that is why they look at every aspect of web design and development when building your online web presence.
Labels: flash, search-engine-optimisation, website-design
posted by compelite at 11:28 AM
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