Article Content

Reputable article distribution directories specifically do not permit advertising. Nor will they approve excessive but utterly pointless keyword use in the content. The only thing in the content that matters is that you provide an interesting, authoritative, original, informative and non-commercial article on the specific topic. In this case study, what was required was more along the lines of a travel article, discussing aspects relating respectively to Holiday Homes in New Zealand, Luxury Lodges in New Zealand and Luxury Accommodation in New Zealand. What we had was 3 articles, keyword-stuffed with multiple iterations of both the business name and the targeted keywords

The goal is to get it published – therefore, you need a catchy title, and interesting, topical and/or timely information. You do not need to add multiple iterations of the targeted keywords anywhere in the article itself. In most article repositories, the article body usually won’t generate a direct benefit to your website per se. What you need is an 800 word story that captures people’s interest and makes them want to include it, with attribution (author’s credits) on their website… You should therefore focus on getting the primary keyword phrase/s you want to target in the (maximum of 2) links in the Author’s Bio… Unfortunately, the first of three articles I previewed from this client had;

• 387 words in total
• 11 iterations of the business name
• 7 iterations of the primary keyword phrase (5 complete / 2 partial)
• 5 iterations of the secondary keyword phrase
• no Authors Bio

Article Links

Most article distribution directories do not permit links in the content body, only in the Author’s Bio section. The only link in these articles was in the body of the article. Articles provide you with the absolute best opportunity to generate DEEP LINKS. In this client example, the sole link was;

• in the body text – the wrong place
• to the Home page instead of a relevant internal page (deep link)
• a total waste of the link potential, due to using the Domain Name as the Anchor Text

The goals for an article are usually;

• First of all, to get it accepted for inclusion in the article repository.
• If an editor approves it, then you get a maximum of 2 (deep) links back to your site using your primary keyword phrase as the Anchor Text (link title).
• Secondly, for it to be useful, original and usable enough that other website owners will copy and publish it with attribution of source
• Publication means you get an additional 2 (deep) links back to your site, using your primary keyword phrase as the Anchor Text (link title).
• To establish trust and credibility as an author
• To get people to read your articles, and to come on your website looking for more information
• To build an information resource that expands your own website content

A good article can potentially generate 100’s of keyword-rich links to your site. An exceptionally good article may generate 1000’s of links. Either way, articles can substantially increase the total deep link count and the extent of keywords Google et al will associate with your website. This increases the number of phrases that your website is relevant to, and potentially increases your position in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) as well as increasing overall qualified traffic.

Searching for the Title of the clients article on Google, using an exact-match search, there were 8 links from two domains, both of which were bottom-of-the-barrel Press Release sites.

Obviously, his strategy needs a rethink and refocus because the current approach means the articles will never be approved and accepted by authoritative article distribution directories, let alone picked up by other site owners for inclusion in their content… The really depressing aspect is that the client was paying an SEO company for the article copy-writing and distribution service, partially rewriting the poorly written articles himself, and then expecting them to deliver miracles! So, by and large he has pretty much been wasting time and money on article link-building efforts thus far…

One of the website content frustrations I frequently endure is the failure, on the part of others, to comprehend the value of accuracy and uniqueness. There is intransigence in that respect, particularly on the part of some designers of e-commerce and content management systems. It is indicative of 3 parts of ignorance, arrogance and stupidity, in almost equal measure…

I personally believe that it’s important that every page expresses its reason for existence clearly. If you cannot achieve that simple task, how on earth could anyone who wants what you have, be expected to find your content?

Example 1: Online Gift Shop

This site’s top level pages were beautifully rendered in elegant verbiage, all embedded in delicate, pastel-coloured images… Yes, in its entirety, on all Category pages and the Home page! Not a single word of explanatory, descriptive text! Text embedded in images is such a fundamental error of judgement, I am amazed that the client’s website designers did not vehemently urge it not be done thus… Incredible!

And of course, many pages shared global meta-data… At least the Category pages were possessed of editable titles and meta-tags…The “informational” pages, on the other hand, were bereft of any meta-tag editing facility, as the designer was not of the opinion that this was relevant in the age of Web 2.0! He was eventually disabused of that notion and, after  weeks of prompting, finally deigned to add this most basic but fundamental facility.

Example 2: Prominent City Law Firm.

This site languished below the Google radar, despite their website designers having an “SEO expert” onboard – a Microsoft and Google certified one, allegedly. I built links to expand the keywords associated with the site, and hand-edited 30 of the main pages, out of 100+ pages. That helped a lot at Yahoo and MSN, but it did not get the site out of the doldrums at Google.

The designers were adamant that the site must have been black-listed in some way, and wanted me to identify the problem and tell them how to resolve it. I explained at the outset that duplicated content was an issue but the designers were emphatic that it must be something far more sinister; a legacy of the previous incumbents who had transgressed in some indiscernible, arcane, black-hat clad manner…

So, I instructed the office manager that she’d have to over-ride the objections of the designers and compel them to ensure that every single page had accurate Titles, Descriptions and Keywords. Basically, they had too high a percentage of “cookie-cutter” pages that all shared global meta-tags. In most cases the meta-tags contradicted the on-page content. As soon as that was sorted out, the handbrake went off at Google HQ, and the site popped up into page 1 SERPs for almost all relevant search phrases…

Conclusion

Duplicated content in all forms is (and always has been) a sin as far as search engines are concerned. Every page ought to be accurately described using the meta-data elements provided expressly for that purpose. Each page must contain accessible and unique content in both on-page and off-page elements…

This surely should not be such a hard concept to grasp? If you can’t accurately describe what your site is all about, in your own words, and place accurate information into all the areas Google et al look for clues as to content and purpose, how can you reasonably expect to prosper online?

• If your website software does not allow you to thoroughly and accurately describe your product and services, you should be concerned, fearful even…
• If your website designer does not think that search engines are at all relevant in the 21st century, you should be very, very afraid…

Of course, you should also bear in mind that nothing in the virtual world is set in concrete… Never, ever be afraid to start again… There are good designers out there, ethical men and women with great website software. They approach their task with intelligence, diligence, and an open-minded awareness of the possibilities. You always have the freedom to make an informed choice… so don’t settle for being 2nd best!

Domain Registrant

Each country has rules governing ownership and transfer of domain names. These rules are clear, unequivocal and rigorously enforced.  In all instances, the “registrant” is defined as the legal owner.
Frequently, domains are registered by the website designer on the client’s behalf.  Sometimes they may have been initially registered by the office junior, the wife, girlfriend, business partner, the accountant… Time passes. Things change.  Maybe now, the registrant is the ex-wife, ex-girlfriend, ex-business partner…

If your name is not listed as the registrant, you do not own the website! Best you get this sorted BEFORE the excrement hits the fan, and some one is holding knife to the throat of your valuable corporate website, demanding a 6-figure ransom!

Website Software

If you are using a licensed copy of a proprietary website software application, you certainly don’t own the software. However, if it is on your own domain, under your control, then you’ve got some security of tenure at least, should any differences of opinion arise with your website designers.

If you are using non-proprietary,  Open Source software, on your own domain, hosted on an independent server, you’re in far better shape in the sense of having control over your assets.
If you’re using proprietary software owned by your website design company, hosted on their servers…  you have a massive risk exposure in the event of a difference of opinion over when (or if) you should pay your accounts. If they are also listed as the registrant of the domain, you have placed yourself in an unenviable, vulnerable and potentially devastating position. Silly you…  Oh dear, how sad, never mind!

Hosting

Hosting is a vexed question, and its damned hard to establish if the hosting company is a real hosting company, or an affiliate reseller of another company’s hosting services. Sometimes, there are multiple tiers… That said, do you know who to call if something bad happens to your website?  The worst aspect of website designer’s hosting service is, its usually in a reseller sub-account, and you cannot have access to the nitty-gritty parts of the site. Things like FTP access, root-level file editing, messing with email accounts, installing other software, or direct access to stats data are usually off-limits. At best, that’s a pain in the bottom… at worst, it prevents you from having a full site backup in the event services are terminated for any reason!

And unrelated bad stuff happens! Last month, my hosting company’s US-based Data Centre operators got locked out of their premises, presumably over a rent or maintenance dispute with the building’s owner. Is your website designer smart enough, and well enough connected in the  data centre world, to seamlessly relocate ALL client sites to  safe environment within a couple of hours?

Website Designers

Al l website designers are not created equal. Most are honest, reliable and decent business people. However, some website designers are control freaks who like to keep cash-cow clients screwed down and locked into systems they cannot easily escape from, and ruthlessly milk them of every possible dollar.  All the while, they deliver a minimum of service, and maximum of awkwardness, and make it as difficult as possible for a client to escape their clutches.

Impartial Advice

A decade of dealing with the aftermath of the cowboys, control freaks, the bloody-minded and the plain ignorant has taught me (and some of my clients) some valuable lessons.

1. Ensure you are the domain registrant, and have access to your domain registration account.
2. Ensure your hosting account is independent of your website designer, and you have the account access details
3. Ensure you keep a written copy of your domain and hosting account details with your lawyer or bank
4. Ensure you have a full site software back up, including all configurations, modules and plugins
5. Ensure you have a full database backup every month.
6. Don’t rely totally on the hosting company’s server backup processes…
7. An oldie but a still-relevant goody – don’t put all your eggs in one basket!

This is rudimentary business risk management. Taking responsibility for your businesses activities is in integral part of management. When things go wrong, as they sometimes do, make sure you have a contingency plan.

In the first example, a high-ranking HTML-based photographers site was converted to WordPress. Exactly what I’d have done too, if the job had been given to me. Sadly, whilst the photographer was a previous client, and had long reaped the benefits of top organic SERPs, she did not think to run the site rebuild idea past me. To be fair, the new design is nice – the site looks excellent and showcases her work well. Never mind that search engine rankings have completely gone down the toilet! Why? Well, no one thought to;

1. Add 301 Redirects on old page names to new page names. That meant all indexed and well-ranked internal pages suddenly started generating 404 Page Not Found errors, and were eventually purged from all search engines indexes. All internal Page Rank was lost…
2. Previously optimised on-page content was NOT moved to the corresponding new pages
3. None of the image Alt text was moved to new images
4. None of the meta-tags were moved to the corresponding new pages
5. No XML or HTML Sitemaps provided

Suddenly, Googlebot was left devoid of internal clues as the content and purpose of the site!
In the second example, I have no idea what the original site was like, but it was on a 10 year old domain! The new WordPress site has severely compromised the company’s web-based new business by completely eliminating the search engine traffic potential;

1. No 301 Redirects on old page names to new page names – all pages lost from SE’s indexes, PR set back to zero.
2. Whilst there is an SEO module in the theme, zero meta-tag content was set up on any page!
3. Admin / Privacy settings were set to “I would like to block search engines, but allow normal visitors”
4. JavaScript main menu that SE’s cannot penetrate to find internal pages!
5. No sitemaps, just to make it even more difficult to find internal content!

So, if you’d deliberately set out to kill off a site, thats a reasonably effective way to do it…

There’s a lesson here! If you are going to rebuild your website yourself, or pay someone else to do it, you’d best ensure that the person responsible for the changes has a plan that includes at least the basics! Failing to plan is planning to fail ,as these two examples clearly show!

Let me be explicit on this aspect – WordPress is a totally excellent choice as a Content Management system, and capable of easily achieving 1st page search engine rankings. I personally will use nothing other than WordPress in my business websites. Make no bones about it – I am a raving fan of WordPress!

The examples shown illustrate that its not the tools, its the quality of workmanship that makes the difference.

If you’re a website designer, you owe it to your clients to ensure you do more good than harm! If your stupidity causes the newly rebuilt website to vanish off Google’s radar screen, it does not matter one iota if the site looks stunning! Page redirection is such a fundamental requirement, its verging on criminal negligence to overlook it! Not using freely available, fully automated WordPress sitemap and meta-tags generation tools is quite unprofessional. It confirms the designer’s incompetence, so by all means, add your name to the footer credits to let the world know who to avoid!
Of course, if your underlying objective is to keep people like me in business, feel free to ignore all my well-intended advice…

That includes a depressing number of website designers, some of whom actually tell their clients that SEO is a waste of time and money, and that it’s quite unnecessary these days because Google is smarter than ever before… Au contraire – it becomes more and more critical every day, as website numbers expand exponentially! Lack of knowledge is not confined to website designers, it also includes a number of wanna-be SEO firms who make outrageous claims about their special relationship and affinity with Google etc, but have little idea of what it takes to consistently succeed in attaining Top 30 rankings.

Be very aware that in most cases website design is taught as an Art, not as a Business discipline. Website designers are rarely taught anything about search engine optimization, and few are interested in mastering the skills required to produce optimal results. That’s all very fine and dandy – but it leaves a lot of website owners desperately disappointed in mediocre results! You’ve probably heard the analogy about building a shop in the middle of a forest too, I bet? Seriously, it really does not matter how beautiful the site is – if no one finds it, then it’s just a gorgeous waste of virtual space.

Content is Still King

Regardless of the various conflicting opinions, Google conspiracy theories and misinformation, it comes down to a very simple concept – content quality, and accurate content classification. Content is where many sites fail dismally! The sites that thrive are those with well written, well organised original, interesting and useful content. Don’t copy other peoples stuff. Aside from being illegal, at best it immediately downgrades you to second best… As a general rule, from an SEO perspective, bear in mind the most fundamental issue – Google loathes duplicate content!

Classification

There are literally millions of websites, each competing for viewers in a particular niche. Reasons for their existence vary across the A to Z spectrum – advertising, entertainment, comedy, educational, humour, informational, music, news, promotional, sports, wine, video, zoos… you get the picture, right?

In the world of books we have the Dewey decimal classification system. Every published work is assigned an ISBN number, and libraries classify all books under a rigid hierarchical subject classification system. It’s not perfect, but it works pretty well because every one uses and understands it! Erudite people write insightful book reviews, which are sometimes included in advertising and promotions. Hold this thought, its relevant to a following section. You want to find a book on a particular topic, or by a specific author, you do a search and Eureka! You’ve found it, there’s a list, even! The best books are reviewed multiple times, and take pride of place in the “best sellers” rack.

Relevancy Ranking

Using different terminology, search engines are trying hard to do the same thing – to give their searchers the most accurate list possible, containing exactly what they want, so they can pick and choose from it! Unfortunately, there is no Dewey classification system on the web. The closest thing to a hierarchical subject listing is the Open Directory, Yahoo, or one of the thousands of other web directories – all of which are inconsistently organised into completely different illogical structures!

So, here we have Google and other search engines trying valiantly to index and categorize the billions of pages on millions of websites, in hundreds of countries in a multiplicity of languages. Then, they have to calculate each page’s relevance to specific search queries…

Are You Helping or Hindering?

That’s where YOU come into the picture… It’s a big, big task – have you made any effort at all to help Google to help you? Or is your website fuzzy and unfocused, with no clear statement of content or purpose? In most cases, sites are constructed with vague intentions to do SEO as an optional extra sometime in the future… What, you want Google to do everything for you?

Done Any Homework?

Do you have any idea how your primary audience searches for the information, products or services you offer? Do the pages on your site describe your content using terms your clients use? Because that’s the only way Google can match searchers with relevant content! What? You actually forgot to do any market research before launching the site? You have no accurate, researched, hard data on the keywords your potential clients would use? You asked your friends at work for ideas? Absolutely incredible!

Let us pretend you’re looking for clients for your small bed & breakfast business in Christchurch, New Zealand. You are optimistic that potential customers in New Zealand, Australia and the UK will be able to find your website amongst the millions of competing B&B pages on the web, be convinced by your persuasive advertising copy and elegant pictures… you’d also like them to come and book directly with you, to avoid hefty commission payments on the dozens of B&B Advertising Directory sites who also want you to pay to advertise! Dream on!

So You Want Google To Work For You?

You’d really like Google et al to help connect your potential clients to your business via Search Engine Results Pages by making your site No.1… And you certainly want “qualified” traffic from Google, visitors who are specifically looking for exactly what you offer!

Anyone who thinks they can survive online without Google, Yahoo and MSN is either a thoroughly well-rounded idiot, or is a household name who does not need to advertise to generate qualified traffic. There is no middle ground.

But here’s where it gets hard! How will Google do that? What solid information have you provided Google in your on-site content, and in the off-site links to your site? Have you got a Domain Name which encapsulates your business type and location; Bed-Breakfast-Christchurch.co.nz? Or a cryptic name, like; BnBChChNZ.com? Of the two, which is most likely to give the SE its first clue as to what your site is about?

What is On-Site SEO

Think about it this way… Does your home page have an explicit and accurate Title that provides a direct and unequivocal statement of the site’s business purpose in 70 characters? Does the Title say “Bed & Breakfast Accommodation, Christchurch New Zealand” or does it say “Welcome to Dusty Lodge” or something equally asinine?

Does your home page have an explicit and accurate Description that provides a brief outline of your business purpose, unique selling proposition, and call to action, encapsulated in 150 – 200 characters? Or does it contain some vague warm and fuzzy drivel about beaches and sunsets?

Keep the book analogy in your mind, and take a look at your Home page, particularly the first heading and first paragraph… “Welcome to my website” is not a productive approach! What does it tell your visitors about you? It tells me that you are at best naïve and both you and your website designer need SEO counselling! And think about that first paragraph… is it an accurate summary of the site’s reason for existence? Eliminate that fruity, cheesy, fluffy verbiage immediately!

If your website is required to deliver a return on investment, particularly by selling products or services, or delivering customer service, informing or entertaining, your really need to accurately describe your website’s content, and allow it to become visible online. What’s that I hear? Oh, you want it to make you rich as well? But you don’t really want to make a serious commitment or effort to do the job properly? Right… good luck with that! And remember that old GIGO acronym – “Garbage In, Garbage Out!”

What is Off-Site SEO?

This may surprise you, but some people are dishonest about their site content. Frankly, some people handle the truth in a very awkward fashion indeed… Telling Google that your site is about Pamela Anderson, when its actually selling Bart Simpson comics, is deuced annoying to the people who visit it! Therefore, Google and other SE’s decided long ago that some external verification of every website’s content would assist their efforts to deliver the most relevant SERPs to their clients. Makes perfect sense to me…

How is this achieved, I hear you ask. Well, you’ve heard of links, right? Back to the book analogy – think of good links as being like a series of book reviews! What if lots of people are writing positive things about your site? What if multiple, external, widely distributed sites are all saying that your site is about “Bed & Breakfast Accommodation Christchurch NZ” huh? The balance of probability that your site is relevant to such a search is positively impacted by this external confirmation! A coincidence of keywords in on-site content and off-site links reassures Google immensely! Those keywords in the off-site links are referred to as anchor text, and should form the link title.

No, Its Not Rocket Science

Frankly, search engine optimisation, in the pure sense of the term, is not particularly difficult to understand, or to do. The aim of the search engines is to provide their customers with the content most relevant to the search they are making. Therefore, your salvation lies in making your content relevant to the known searches! Do some thorough keyword research, learn and understand your target audience’s searching behaviour. Plan pages that target specific, high-volume, low competition search phrases.

Don’t be vague, don’t waffle, and help Google to help you!

When the economic gravy pot is bubbling merrily, and there’s ample business gravy slopping over, even the mediocre get a share. But when the economic ice age casts midnight shadows at noon, and credit wolf packs softly pad the empty streets, howling balefully at the waning moon… then, when you’re sucking the last congealed streaks of business gravy off your tarnished website spoon, ask yourself… Can you afford your website to be second rate, disorganised and drifting ever further into the icy wastes of mediocrity? With a better understanding of why  SEO is so important to your website’s success, will you continue to ignore it?

Author’s Bio:

The SEO Guy, Ben Kemp, is a veteran SEO consultant who provides a guaranteed personal service on all projects. Drawing on a decade of SEO experience and website design and 20+ years of work in the IT industry,  THE SEO Guy’s Blog provides advice on SEO and WordPress CMS website design issues.

Web: www.ComAuth.co.nz plus www.Website-Designers.net.nz

Copyright Statement: This article may be copied for use on your site providing its not edited, and the Author’s bio remains intact.

As a general rule, from an SEO perspective, bear in mind the most fundamental issue. Google loathes duplicate content! Google is trying to index and categorize the billions of pages on the web and calculate each page’s relevance to specific search queries. Therefore, to have any chance of attaining appearance in Top 30 SERP’s, pages must be accurately described…

Keep in mind that Google is an entirely automated text indexing system doing its absolute best to deliver the most relevant content to its core users. Those core users are NOT website owners!!! Google’s main focus is on its search customers. If you want your website to get noticed, you’ve got to assist Google et al in every way possible, by accurately describing your own content.

Make it clear and unequivocal what each page is about. Ensure it is original content, properly described, and easily accessible…

Apparently, there are over 200 elements that Google assesses as its trying to calculate a page’s relevance to a specific search query. Individually, some of them are almost insignificant. Collectively they add up to prominence or obscurity! The thinking man understands that the more elements you get right, the higher the probability of appearance in Top 30 SERPs. Here’s a dozen of the primary indicators of unique content to an SE spider;

1.) URLs:

Precise control of every page URL, carefully using primary keywords / phrase. Use Permalinks wisely!

2.)  Title:

70 characters limit. Accurate, carefully using primary keywords / phrase. The single most important element for every page!

3.) Meta Description:

150 chars limit. Accurate, carefully using primary keywords / phrase. By default, its used verbatim in Google SERP’s. Its very important to write a catchy phrase incorporating primary keyword phrase, one that impels viewers to click on it!

I always use All In One SEO because I’m a “content control freak” and want to make sure every word is in the right place. Dynamic meta-tags are better than no meta-tags – but the ability to manually input as many elements as is possible is what makes the overall difference to SE Rankings…

4.) Meta Keywords:

Accurate, carefully using primary / relevant keywords and phrases. This should NOT be vaguely related words!!! It should be a set of long-tailed keyword phrases specifically relevant to the page content. I’d never use more than 8 – 10 phrases separated by commas.

5.) 1st On-page Title/Heading:

Headings offer limited space, but ALWAYS try and get at least one primary keyword into the title, and the tag must be H1 or H2, not an ‘imitation’ with large/bold text.

6.) First Paragraph:

Very important to get the primary keyword phrase into the beginning of the first sentence!

7.) Last Heading:

If you use one, reiterate a primary or secondary keyword phrase.

8.) Last Paragraph:

Quite important to get the primary or secondary keyword phrase into the beginning of the first sentence!

9.) Images:

Use keyword-rich image file names! Provide a descriptive and accurate image ALT text that uses a primary keyword phrase. Don’t overdo it – just lightly reinforce the page content descriptions.

10.) Anchor Text:

Provide links to other Internal Pages from primary/secondary keyword phrases within page content. Don’t waste the opportunity available to give clues to content on other pages! Using “Click Here For More” is not productive.

11.) Menu’s:

CSS drop-down menus are good. Text menus are good because they (usually) describe briefly the content of the page at the end of the link, providing an additional clue/reinforcement for the SE spiders. JavaScript menus are a disaster because they are completely invisible to Google et al.

12: Latent Semantic Indexing:

Within the overall content, don’t use excessive primary/secondary keyword repetition. Instead, employ a sprinkle of similar words having the same meaning… and variations of the primary words; e.g. mortgage, mortgaged, mortgagee, mortgagor, lend, lending, lender, financing, funding, loan, loans, loaned etc… Reinforce the primary / secondary keyword phrases with supporting content. LSI is based on a mathematical probability that if a page says its about something, AND general content also contains related words / phrases, then it IS accurately described and IS specifically relevant to related search queries.

13.) USE Google!

They’ve got two absolutely essential items designed to help you! The 1st is the Google sitemap, and there are plugins available which totally automate generation of the sitemap.xml file every time you add or edit page or post content. The 2nd is Feedburner… Create a Feedburner account, and add your RSS Feed to it. That gives you an intravenous pipeline directly into the belly of the beast! I’ve regularly got blog posts and page content appearing in “Google Alert” distributions within 2 – 3 hours of publishing the post or page! Feedburner also offers you a managed email subscription service which routes your new content directly to interested users…

Author’s Bio:

Ben has more than 20 years of experience in the IT industry, including 15 years as a free-lance IT consultant. He is one of Australasia’s longest serving website seo practitioners, with clients throughout NZ, Australia, Thailand, UK & USA. He specialises in implementing CMS websites

The SEO Guy (nz)
Email: bjk
Web: www.comauth.co.nz

When you are setting out to establish a new venture on the web, its a daunting task. The terminology is complex and confusing. There are multiple aspects to consider – domain registration, website hosting, web site design, maintenance, search engine optimisation etc. There is a temptation to take the easy option of a one-stop shop, where someone else takes care of all the complicated items that you don’t understand. That way, you get one all-inclusive bill per month. There is an old adage – Jack of all Trades, Master of None! A bigger web design company that does everything rarely does individual things as well as a carefully selected group of specialists in their own fields of expertise.

The relationship between you and your website design company will evolve over time. As you become more knowledgeable (and more demanding) the relationship might even deteriorate! It happens… If you are in a 1-Stop Shop environment, you may be unwittingly placing your web business in potential jeopardy.

Domain Registration

Do it yourself, and you ensure that you actually own the site. If you let your web designer do it for you, and he/she puts his/her name as the registrant, its not your site! Most website designers are aware of this, and take care to protect your interests. Some do not! For a company site, make sure the domain is registered in the company name, not an individuals name. If the office girl registers the site in her name, then leaves without a forwarding address, you’ve got a potential disaster in the making!

Website Hosting

Some web designers offer hosting as part of the package. Its usually a re-seller arrangement, where the designer gets a commission on the monthly hosting fees – as opposed to a server owned and operated by the website designer. Realistically, you are better to shop around and find a hosting package that delivers the functionality you require in terms of site management and software. For example, a classic Apache server with cpanel management, and PHP and MySQL databases will meet most needs. Performance can be an issue – and its not in your best interests to be hosted on a server with 600 other sites.

If you’ve chosen a .com domain, make sure you have hosting in the country that your clients are located in… otherwise, you’ll be excluded from country-specific searches! 

Choosing Website Designers

Its best to develop a design brief – specify your goals and objectives, and give some examples of sites that appeal to you. Circulate the brief to a few designers you’ve selected after reviewing multiple web design sites. Build a chart that compares what each designer offers, at what costs. Engage in dialogue with a short list of 2-3 designers and resolve any issues you did not understand in their responses to your brief.

Finally, pick someone who can talk to you on your level without being condescending. Be firm about separating components such as domain registration, hosting, and design. If the designer is insistent on combining all elements, move them to the bottom of the pile. If they have a particular CMS that they want you to use, ask them if its an open-source system. If not, ask them what happens in the future, if you become unsatisfied with them or the product. All promises should be made in writing, and signed by the CEO… in the form of a legal and binding contract.

Make sure your potential designer is listening to you, and is trying to deliver what you require, rather than what is best for them.

Website Architecture

The web site architecture that you choose can make or break you. In terms of good search engine rankings, the simpler you can make the site, the better. HTML-based sites which allow total control over all page elements will always deliver the best results. If your potential designer is insistent on building the site in Frames, JavaScript, or Flash, or combination thereof, remove them from your list immediately. The rule is “form follows function.” It won’t matter a bit how wonderful your site looks, if no one can find it.  Modest use of JavaScript or Flash is fine… but the search engines can neither read or index anything in either – so it is best to ensure at the outset that your site is not doomed to obscurity!

Website Management

Free-form editing of individual HTML pages is the best option from a search engine optimisation perspective. Its not much more complicated than using a word processor, and uploading the page amendments to the live site is not particularly difficult. However, if you are going to use a Content Management System for maintenance instead, its in your best interests to opt for an Open-Source CMS! With “open source” the software is free, no license fees apply, and anyone can work on it. You own the site content, and can more readily export it to another CMS platform if you don’t like the current one. With an open -source platform, you are not limited to a single designer or developer. If things don’t go the way you want, changing designers or developers is relatively simple.  

Content Management Systems – CMS

Proprietary Content Management Systems (CMS) present a real threat if you become dissatisfied with the developer’s service / performance. “They” own the site, not you, and you are effectively locked in to the package, which usually includes web design, development and hosting. If you want to change suppliers, you may have to abandon your entire development investment and start again from scratch! 

Such an environment usually involves shared hosting on the CMS supplier’s server. This places your site in the midst of multiple other sites all running exactly the same software platform, and often all of the same site type – e.g. e-commerce. This is undesirable from a search engine optimisation point of view.

In my opinion, a CMS system is complete overkill for a site of less than 100 pages – which is most small business sites. This comment applies equally to any totally database-driven solution. Overall, content changes very little – for many pages, it might be an annual revision. Using an HTML editor to make minor page changes requires minimal technical ability, and publishing amended pages via FTP is a trivial exercise. Exceptions to this are e-commerce, dating, portal or similar special purpose site, where you require a pre-designed application such as a shopping cart solution. Even then, combining HTML informational pages with the open-source application is still the best option.

Website Backups

This can be a simple as a monthly download to your PC of the site plus databases. Do not totally rely on your hosting company for site backups! Do not totally rely on your website designer for backups! In the event of a total systems failure, or unresolved dispute, you may be left relying on what data you have at your disposal. As a minimum, you want multiple copies of the site, stored at multiple locations. The live site on your hosting companies server, plus a local copy on your PC, plus a backup copy on your external hard drive, plus a monthly copy on CD or DVD and stored at your Mum’s place should do it! 

Business Resilience

Rule No.1: Do not put all your eggs in one basket! Basically, you need to ensure that you minimise your dependence on any one service supplier. If your web designer goes belly-up, what becomes of your proprietary CMS system? If the hosting company goes out of business, you need to be able to quickly change hosts and servers.  

• use the national domain registrar – more expensive, but they might still be in business next year!

• use open-source software, if you must use a Content Management System! 

• use an independent web designer – if your relationship deteriorates, you can easily switch to another!

• use a independent hosting supplier – if it does not work out, you can change hosting companies!

• use an independent SEO supplier – if it does not work out, pick another!

• use a regular site backup regime – multiple copies in multiple locations!

Doing so substantially insulates you from other’s failings, and ensures you can quickly respond to a change of circumstances. Even in cyberspace, an ounce of prevention is still better than a pound of cure! 

More importantly, its because there is a very high mathematical probability that a site that is genuinely about a specific topic ALSO includes multiple iterations of related words, phrases and terms e.g.;

• nouns, verbs and adjective variations

• word derivations

• synonyms

• hypernyms

• hyponyms

Therefore, the major search engine algorithms’ are now applying the concepts of “latent semantic indexing” and taking into account all word relationships within the site. Whilst an algorithm might lack “intelligence,” the mathematical model is quite robust and delivers extremely accurate relevancy assessments. To apply the concept of LSI to your site, its a matter of NOT over-loading your page with primary keywords (spamming) but instead, using variations to more accurately describe your topic or theme; E.g. using the term “SEARCH” the following options appear;

Variations or derived words; searcher, searched, searching,

Synonyms  – query, queried, querying, seeking, looking, finding

Hypernym: activity, examination, examine, higher cognitive process, investigate, investigating, investigation, look into, operation, scrutiny, see.
> Synonym: explore, hunt, hunting, look, look for, lookup, research, seek.
> Hyponym: angle, beat about, browse, cast about, cast around, comb, cruise, divine, drag, dredge, exploration, feel, finger, fish, forage, foraging, frisk, frisking, fumble, gather, go, go after, grope, grub, hunt, leave no stone unturned, looking, looking for, manhunt, nose, poke, prospect, pry, pursuance, pursue, pursuit, quest, quest after, quest for, raid, ransack, ransacking, re-explore, rifle, rummage, scan, scour, scouring, seek out, seeking, shakedown, shop, strip-search, surf, want.
> Derived: searcher

Noun
> Hypernym: activity, examination, higher cognitive process, investigating, investigation, operation, scrutiny.
> Synonym: hunt, hunting, lookup.
> Hyponym: exploration, forage, foraging, frisk, frisking, hunt, looking, looking for, manhunt, pursuance, pursuit, quest, ransacking, rummage, scouring, seeking, shakedown.Verb
> Derived: searcher.
> Synonym: explore, look, look for, research, seek.
> Hypernym: examine, investigate, look into, see.
> Hyponym: angle, beat about, browse, cast about, cast around, comb, cruise, divine, drag, dredge, feel, finger, fish, frisk, fumble, gather, go, go after, grope, grub, hunt, leave no stone unturned, nose, poke, prospect, pry, pursue, quest after, quest for, raid, ransack, re-explore, rifle, rummage, scan, scour, seek out, shop, strip-search, surf, want.The purpose of the example is to show that there are many ways to describe the same activity, product or service. 

How to Apply Latent Semantic Indexing

Implement LSI on your site by thoughtfully including variations, derivations, synonyms, hyponyms and hypernyms of your primary keywords and phrases. You will more effectively convince the Search Engines of your content theme than you would by stuffing multiple iterations of the same primary keywords into those page/s!

Yet Another SEO Article by;

Ben Kemp, aka The SEO Guy (nz)

Web: www.comauth.co.nz

Email: SEO

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