Web Design

Micro Update Team

Micro Update staff are passionate about web design, social networking and business software solutions, including mobile smart phone applications. This Blog focuses on publishing articles on those things that we have found interesting on the web – and hopefully others will also find interesting. Please comment and give us some feedback.

Modern, fresh and maintainable websites need a combination of design, layout, social networking, should be able to be maintained by the customer, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to get you ranked highly with the search engines, hosting, content management systems, mobile phone integration – hopefully here you will find articles that help you on that journey – some technical – some light hearted.

There are now millions of websites, Micro Update (a business based in Newton Abbot, Devon) help to make sure that your web presence reflects your personality as a business and that you are visible to your customers and prospective customers. That’s why we like local businesses – people we can talk to, face to face, and find out exactly what YOU want.

Quick Tips for OnPage SEO META Description

By Jonathan Camp

meta description tag top tips from micro update The META Description tag is always placed in the HEAD section of your webpage and is not visible on the actual webpage.

All search engines will use this description on the search engine results page (SERP) when someone types in search terms. The description is shown below the link to your webpage – hence it is important to keyword enhance this text. If the search engine cannot find adequate text within the description (keywords, etc.) it will take the first 150 characters from the content of your website – which is not always what you want!

Although the description tag is not so important as the title tag, it is very important to ensure that you have relevant keywords within the description. These keywords (if matched to the search terms) will be automatically emboldened  on the search engine results page – which highlights your website against your competition – so make sure it’s correct for the content on your page. The description tag should be completely relevant to the content / title / H1 tags on your page and as such, should be different for each page.meta description tag micro update

  • Always ensure you complete a full analysis of your website pages and structure
  • The Meta Description has become less important to the search engines recently.
  • The Meta Description is used within the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) as the main description – but only up to 2 lines (approximately 140 characters).
  • Use the Google Keyword Tool to ensure you are using the correct keywords for your web page.
  • Try to make sure you create a description that is ONLY 2 lines long and the most important KEYWORDS are at the start of the description
  • Leave your COMPANY NAME out or put it at the end of the description – your KEYWORDS should be at the start NOT your company name!
  • To code in the HEAD section of each page: <meta name=”description” content=”your description up to about 140 – 150 characters…”>
  • If there isn’t a Description Tag the search engine will take the first 140 characters from the start of your content (NOT IDEAL!)
  • Try to place the Meta “Description” tag as high as possible in the HTML code (just below the title is ideal).
  • You can code accentuated letters in HTML (&eacute; = é).
  • Create a description tag that has your KEYWORDS (at the start) and misses out irrelevant words such as “and, in, is, etc.) – BUT make sure it reads well.
  • The “Meta Description” tags should be different for each page.
  • If the search phrase entered into the search engine is found in the description tag, it will be shown in bold. So it is a good idea to enter keyword phrases that you think people are searching for.
  • Make sure that the meta description phrases are relevant to your page CONTENT and Title Tag
  • Put some of your special keywords in CAPITALS as this will make them stand out when someone is searching through the SERP (results page). You need to make sure that your entry on the search engine results page is more prominent than your competitors.
  • Optimise your page so that your URL, Title, Description Tag and first H1 heading all contain similar keywords in the same order and optimised for your pages content.
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Quick Tips for OnPage SEO Meta Keywords

By Jonathan Camp

meta keywords for seo micro update Meta keywords are part of your onpage search engine optimisation techniques that you should build into every page as part of your website design process. Onpage SEO is an important part of ensuring that your website ranks well within the major search engines.

Please note: “Meta Keywords” tags are not so important for search engines – over time they have been exploited by the internet marketeers and flooded with spam keywords, hence the keywords meta details have be degraded by all the search engines. Keyword “stuffing” has now meant that the keyword aspect of your header is now pretty much unused, having said that you should note the following:

  • “Meta Keywords” tags are taken in account by the search engines, not the directories.
  • Use a “keyword analyser” tool to get related terms and generate a meta “keywords” tag – also use the Google Keyword Tool to discover some longtail keywords relating to your website content.
  • HTML: <meta name=”keywords” content=”word1, word2, word3,… “> – try to go for a maximum of 10 words and put the most important keywords first.
  • The Meta “Keywords” tag should be placed with all the other Meta statements as high as possible in the HTML code.
  • Accentuated letters can be used in the HTML (&eacute; = é).
  • Try to use different orthographies (uppercase, lowercase, singular, plural, masculine, female, etc.) for keywords.
  • Don’t forget spelling mistakes, quite often people will misspell search expressions.
  • “Meta Keywords” tags should ideally be different in each web page, relevant to the content and the title tag plus the first <h1> tag on the page.
  • Keywords are quite often used by third party webpage analysis tools to get an understanding about the webpage / site, so if nothing else, the keywords will be useful for these tools and save you a lot of time having to enter those keywords into your analysis tool!
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Solid SEO Advice That Ranks You Higher In Search Engine Results

By Jonathan Camp

Search Engine OptimisationSearch engine optimization is something any company that desires to have a successful web presence needs to do right. Whether your website is selling yourself, your company or a product, you need it to work. This article has some great tips on how to make search engine optimization work for you.

If you are looking to climb up the search engine ranks then provide a plethora of content going across many different topics. For example offer articles on baseball and football, and then some articles on personal health and wealth. By providing a plurality of content you make it more likely a user will find your site at the top of the charts.

When looking to ramp up your online profile, don’t forget that image names count in search results – quite heavily, in fact. Be sure to give your images names that searchers will easily find. If you’re writing about a particular product, be sure to include keywords for that product in the image name itself, so that the image will pop up in a Google image search result.

If you must use Flash on your website, boost your search engine rankings by providing an alternative HTML-only option. Not only will the search engine spiders have an easier time crawling and ranking your page, but your human site visitors will appreciate it, as well. The easier your site is to use, the more links people will make to it, which also boosts your search engine ranking.

TIP! Utilize the AdWords tool kit from Google, to increase the effectiveness of your keyword selections for SEO. By using these tools, you can increase traffic to your site and increase traffic that translates into sales.

Although novice search engine optimizers believe that HTML must be complex and thorough, it’s actually the exact opposite. You should keep your layout as simple as possible. The easier it is for a search engine to index your pages, the higher you will rise in the rankings. Remember, the goal is to optimize your site, not to create a jumbled mess of code.

In important tip regarding internet marketing is to do all that you can to avoid anyone not having trust in your site. This is important because you do not want to lose potential customers due to having a suspicious looking website. Your design and overall layout are extremely important in showing your legitimacy.

If you feel you are not ready to do your own SEO, then it would be best for you to hire a company that can do it for you. Make sure to do the proper research so that you know who you are dealing with. Do not hesitate to ask any questions about the methods they use and what type of results you should expect.

Try to frequently include different types of offers or sales on your website. Not only will sales optimize your search criteria, but it will keep visitors on your site longer, as most people are psychologically drawn to a deal. This can improve your overall profit and success during the course of the year.

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Why Use a CMS?

By Jonathan Camp

A CMS, or content management system, is one way of constructing a website that has many advantages over the traditional method. A CMS can be described as a dynamic website; this means that there are no pages as such, just a template for a page that is filled with content at the moment the page is viewed. The content itself, and this can be text, pictures, audio files or video, is stored in a database until it is needed. The database and all the other files required are stored on a web server — a powerful computer in what is called a “remote” location, which could be anywhere in the world. Transferring files to a web server from an individual computer requires a technology known as FTP (file transfer protocol), and this is normally used in conjunction with the interface to upload files, particularly things like images

Server technology

When the page is viewed in a web browser the content for that page is pulled from the database and inserted into the template by a piece of computer code called a script. There are several scripts that will do this job, but the one that most open source technologies use is PHP. This integrates beautifully with MySQL, the open source database and can be controlled easily by the user through a web-based interface.

Editing

One of the big advantages in using a CMS is that it can be edited by almost anyone, with or without experience, by using an ordinary browser. All popular content management systems have their own dashboard, and each is slightly different from the next, but what they all have in common is that they are easy to use. The site administrator can set the levels of access to various parts of the site for other users, so several people can edit the site. This has huge benefits for small businesses or organisations where users from different departments may upload content. Permissions can also be restricted in so that certain people can only access certain parts of the website, or only edit existing content.

Advantages

Other advantages of using a CMS are:

  • Learning how to use it is usually very quick
  • There is generally nothing new to buy
  • Updating can be done by anyone
  • Content can be added and edited from anywhere in the world
  • Most open source CMS projects are free to use

Static website

The traditional way of creating a website is to use static webpages composed of HTML code. These pages are normally styled using CSS, and various interactive parts of the site such as menu items may use JavaScript. To construct a traditional website can be quite complicated, and is usually only attempted by people with some experience and knowledge of programming. An advantage of a traditional static website is sometimes stated as its simplicity; this is often regarded as making search engine optimisation (SEO) an easier task.

Conclusion

Most of the popular CMS available today have a large variety of plug-ins and components that extend the functionality of the original, and normally there are several that focus on SEO, so the argument in favour of the static site is no longer really valid.

D, John Millard is a web designer and Internet marketer from England. His FREE 5 Day Article Writing Course is available by visiting Netresult Web Design.

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Open Source Vs Commercial CMS

By Jonathan Camp

Any business or individual contemplating the purchase of a Content Management System in order to create a website in today’s environment is faced with a dilemma: should they purchase a commercial CMS, which will be quick to deploy, have a dedicated support team (and very likely a maintenance contract) but can cost a lot of money; or should they use an open source CMS, which is usually free of charge but offered without warranty and is still regarded by many as an inferior product. So which is best?

Micro Update provides web design in DevonOpen source software has been one of technology’s “movers and shakers” over the last 10 years and is now finding favour with many industry sectors, including governments. The traditional software house now finds itself running to stand still, with open source alternatives competing on virtually all levels and dominating on price. There are many, however, who still believe that open source products are not suitable for commercial applications, a theory without any substance but one that commercial software manufacturers are keen to uphold.

The number of open source content management systems now available is large and shows no signs of shrinking. The best-known alternatives are WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and CMS Made Simple, but there are many new products coming onto the market all the time. Examples of these include Hippo CMS, Tomato CMS, Automne CMS and Gazelle CMS – there are currently in excess of 200, but most of these will have little, if any, support and many will have no documentation to speak of. The more established brands, on the other hand all have strong support communities, particularly the larger ones. Joomla for example has one of the largest forums on the Internet and WordPress is the world’s most popular blogging platform accounting for a massive 12% of all websites globally.

The thing that reassures most commercial customers about a CMS, apart from the maturity of the brand, is the fact that there is a team of developers at the end of a phone to not only give support, but to act as a middleman between themselves and this technology that they know nothing about. An open source CMS on the other hand can leave them feeling isolated and unsure of where to turn for assistance should that be necessary. What many commercial customers fail to recognise, is that the developers upon whom they are relying may well be using an open source CMS to develop their website anyway, and done properly, nobody would know.

One of the great benefits of open source software is its availability at little or no cost, and this is something that commercial developers have been quick to exploit. In fairness, most will be quite open about the fact that they are using free software and will pass those cost benefits on to the customer. Some CMS platforms like Drupal and Joomla are quite complex to set up and develop to the customer’s satisfaction, so any agency undertaking this work has every right to charge commercial fees for it. Where things can get a little tricky is in the e-commerce arena; individuals attempting to add shopping carts or electronic payment gateways should be very wary. In these cases it can be comforting to know that the assistance of the professional is only a phone call away.

D, John Millard is a web designer and Internet marketer from England. His FREE 5 Day Article Writing Course is available by visiting Netresult Web Design.

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