Author: cbmstage

  • Google’s Extended Sitelinks – Finally!

    Google’s Extended Sitelinks – Finally!

    You should already know what is SEO…right? Google Sitelinks, once considered the holy grail of SEO have finally got a facelift from Google. They come in the form of “extended sitelinks”. Basically, they look like this (and I love showing these off!).
    Google Extended Sitelinks XTELWEB
    The old Google site links were great in that they gave your website more exposure. This helped would be visitors to quickly access areas of your company website that were relevant to what was being search for. With the new Google Sitelinks, your web site takes up all the space above the fold. The fold is the view of the monitor (1024 x 768 resolution, 17″ monitor) without having to scroll up or down. So lets look at this real quick, 1024×768 monitor resolution has the largest global usage share when it comes to web visitors. With Google’s Extended Sitelinks, when a visitor does a relevant search for your page, or for keywords/keyword phrases, your site takes up the whole screen! Is that awesome or what? A potential client will see this and think you have taken over Google! (maybe not..) But you see where I’m going with this, right?

    What changed with Google Extended Sitelinks

    Visibility. The links have been boosted to full-sized text, and augmented with a green URL and one line of text snippet, much like regular search results. This increases the prominence of both the individual sitelinks and the top site overall, making them easier to find.

    Flexibility. Until now, each site had a fixed list of sitelinks that would either all appear or not appear; there was no query-specific ranking of the links. With today’s launch, sitelink selection and ranking can change from query to query, allowing more optimized results. In addition, the maximum number of sitelinks that can appear for a site has been raised from eight to 12, and the number shown also varies by query.

    Clarity. Previously, pages from your site could either appear in the sitelinks, in the regular results, or both. Now we’re making the separation between the top domain and other domains a bit clearer. If sitelinks appear for the top result, then the rest of the results below them will be from other domains. One exception to this is if the top result for a query is a subpart of a domain. For instance, the query [the met exhibitions] has www.metmuseum.org/special/ as the top result, and its sitelinks are all from within the www.metmuseum.org/special section of the site. However, the rest of the results may be from other parts of the metmuseum.org domain, like store.metmuseum.org or blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/about.

    Quality. These user-visible changes are accompanied by quality improvements behind the scenes. The core improvement is that we’ve combined the signals we use for sitelinks generation and ranking — like the link structure of your site — with our more traditional ranking system, creating a better, unified algorithm. From a ranking perspective, there’s really no separation between “regular” results and sitelinks anymore.

    – From Google Webmaster Central Blog

    How do I get Google Sitelinks for my website?

    There is no one easy answer for this. The trick is to realize that SEO is an on-going process. It does not ever take a break. So you need to hire an SEO company, that understands SEO strategies and techniques in order to get your site to the top of search engines.

    With that, you should also realize that SEO starts on your websitebest SEO company could not SEO a “sub par” website. Your web design needs to be free from errors, contain NO Flash, and have certain on-page elements established to ensure a completely search engine friendly web site.

    That’s what we do at XTELWEB, we build search engine friendly web sites that rank HIGHER, because they are built with SEO in mind. It’s our passion. Contact us for a free consultation!

  • Easy Ways On How To Create Good Quality Website Design

    If you are inexperienced with website creation, you should start by learning as much as possible about the basics. This article is among the many resources available to new designers, providing a great starting point. Read on to learn tips you can use to create better web designs.

    Search Box

    Make sure your visitors can search for content on your website. If visitors are searching for something specific, they should be able to use a search box. When one is not available, chances are they will move to a site that is searchable. Put the search box in the upper right hand corner of the page because this is usually the first place people look for one.

    Keep page sizes down. Not everyone who uses the Internet enjoys speedy connections, so they are likely to lose interest if your site takes a long time to load. If the wait is too long, your visitors may give up and leave.

    Use some pictures on your site to make your site attractive. This will make it more appealing to your visitors. People always like to look at interesting pictures that they have never seen before, and many times will spend hours on your site looking at them.

    Utilize the software out there that doesn’t cost you a thing when you are designing your own site. Costly software is also available, but you can get good results with free tools since you are the main factor in the success of your site. You simply must be willing to find these helpful design resources.

    Be an expert on your subject. It is very important that you conduct plenty of research about your subject if you are thinking about using the site as a blog. By providing your viewers with information that is murky or false, you lose traffic. It is important to know what you are talking about.

    Content is the most important aspect of your site. The appearance of the site design is crucial, but content keeps visitors coming back. When the content on your site is valuable and useful, visitors will continue visiting your site.

    As you have seen, it is important to know the principles of web page design if you want to make an attractive web site that works properly. It might be hard to know where to start since there are so many different resources to choose from. You can get a head start by utilizing the insights given here.

  • Top 5 reasons to use WordPress for your small business website

    Top 5 reasons to use WordPress for your small business website

    Top 5 Reasons to Use WordPress for Your Small Business Website

    SEO – With the economy the way it is, everybody is focusing more on their website. A website lets you reach out to customers all across the globe. This is why WordPress is so powerful. It’s has a strong sense of SEO. Utilizing the “permalinks” feature allows for great SEO URL’s.
    Content – WordPress is a content management system (CMS), so of course updating pages and posts are very simple. It even features a rich content editor, called TinyMCE, that allows the quick insertion of video, images and other media content. Adding a link to another website does not require the knowledge of HTML, its all built-in!
    Top 5 reasons to use wordpress for your small business website
    Extensions – Extensions are what make WordPress so powerful. Don’t get me wrong, the core is great by itself, but there are things you may want to add. For instance, say you have a photo gallery you need employees to maintain, just type “WordPress Photo Gallery” into Google and there is probably a dozen or so options for you. It’s that simple!
    Support – WordPress has a well kept community of knowledgable individuals that are willing to help. You can do a Google search for your problem or head over to the WordPress Community Forums to find your answer. There is a ton of support out there.
    One-click-installation – Most hosting providers utilize a “quick install” system of some sorts that allows you to easily install popular web software. If you look on the list, you will find WordPress.

  • Don’t Know Where To Start With WordPress? These Tips Can Help!

    The blogging platform WordPress is very popular at the moment. It has made some huge waves on the Internet like no other. WordPress is fairly easy to use if you know what you’re doing. Keep reading and learn tips about WordPress and how it can benefit you more.

    Don’t choose a design that’s identical to what others that have a WordPress website use. You may be tempted to do this because it’s a time saver, but your site will just look run of the mill. Make a site that’s as unique as your business.

    TIP! If your post contains a long title, be certain to adjust your permalink. For instance, an overbearing or difficult URL would be along the lines of “Top Tips For Parents of Unruly Children.

    Use Alt and Title when you are using WordPress. text as you are uploading images to your posts. Both allow you to add more keywords to your page, which effectively increases your page rank.

    Moderate comments and content that add nothing of value to your blog. This will keep your site user-friendly to the honest people who are viewing it. Check out Akismet for a great way to remove spam.

    TIP! It is relatively easy to include video blogging in your WordPress site. This can involve a bit of a learning curve, but it is well worthwhile.

    You want no special characters visible within your URLs. They can give search engines a hassle when trying to spider your site, so it is best if you remove them completely. Keep your URL’s short and to the point.

    Do not automatically assume your changes were not retained when making adjustments to your site. This is most often not the case. Clear the browser cache to avoid this issue. Save changes by holding the ‘shift’ key while refreshing the browser.

    TIP! When it comes to posting, keep a schedule. If you know when you have to post, you’ll be more motivated to get it done.

    Unless you dictate differently, your posts always show up in a chronological order. In order to rearrange things, dates will need to be changed. In order to do that, open one of your posts and you will be able to see the date at the top right hand corner. Click the date and change it. Save your post and its order will change.

    Do your posts have many comments? If you do, it can be cumbersome to sift through all of them. To remedy this, you can use a plugin that adds page numbers to your comments section. This makes your website easier to navigate.

    TIP! Blog post URLs should not have special characters in them. Spiderbots may have difficulty with them.

    Create the best greeting for the top of your WordPress website. This will make visitors feel like your blog is more personal. In this way, your page will seem more human, and it will be accessible via the plugin called WP Greet Box.

    Allow users to email your articles if they want to. This is important for sharing purposes as well, as many users may not be able to access Facebook or Twitter at work but may want to share your articles with friends. Utilize a WP-email application to ensure this happens.

    TIP! Do your posts get comments from lots of people? If so, weeding through all the comments may be difficult for you and for other visitors. Include a plugin which will add numbers to the pages in this section.

    WordPress is something that you can easily learn. Once you know what you are doing, there is almost no limit to what you can accomplish with your site. Learn more about blogging on WordPress to reap all the benefits.

  • Solid Technology Advice For Someone Starting A Tech Blog

    Running A Blog is everywhere nowadays. Everywhere you turn nowadays it seems like someone is writing a blog. However, a successful blog involves both planning and decision-making. With some hard work and using the tips presented here, you can see your little blog grow from a small, loyal band of readers to a readership in the thousands.

    A key to a successful blog is to blog often. A common error that bloggers make is that they start a blog but post infrequent updates. When readers are not given frequent updates, they may become bored. Once is a week is good for both updating blogs and sending out emails.

    Regular Basis

    TIP! Do not overuse Adsense ads, plug-ins, images or keywords. This will only cause you to get flagged by search engines and make it harder to find you.

    Make sure to have frequent updates. New content on a regular basis is the only way that your blog will experience an increase of viewers. If you don’t post new content on a regular basis, people won’t get into the habit of visiting your blog regularly. Try to aim for posting at least one time every day.

    Make your blog different to everything else that is out there. Unique and interesting content will help you gain more readers. Using rare information is also good. Blog about hobbies or experiences that are unique. Be intimate, personal and honest. What is important is developing a reputation with your readers for providing content that is difficult or impossible for them to find elsewhere.

    Don’t make long, meandering posts or posts that meander and don’t get to the point. Your blog needs to be filled with information, but also be concise and readable. Apart from certain literature blogs, people don’t want things described with the level of detail that a famous author might use. They want you to get to the point.

    TIP! Write new blog posts as often as possible. In order to maintain and increase the amount of traffic that your blog receives, you must constantly provide new content.

    Allowing guests to make posts within your blog is extremely helpful. This could develop a good relationship between you to other blog owners, and you don’t know when this could come in handy. Cultivating quality relationships may allow you to reap unexpected rewards. You may need a favor down the line, and the blogger whose guest post you hosted may be willing and able to help you.

    Don’t let feedback effect you emotionally. Read it and respond to it. Even if you choose the perfect topic, and write about it well, some people will have a negative opinion to share. Use constructive criticism to help improve the quality of your blog. If somebody is hostile, combative or negative, write a polite, calm response thanking them for their input. Don’t engage such commenters; just thank them and forget about their opinion. This shows maturity and helps to increase your readership.

    As you know, blog posting is an important part of the online world. Blogs are created for many reasons, but they all want to get their message to their target audience. Apply the helpful advice and tips from the above article to help you design and create a blog that gets your message out to the people you are wanting to reach.

    TIP! When writer’s block strikes, don’t succumb to the temptation to copy content. Plagiarism is something that is taken very seriously, and any reputation that you are trying to establish for yourself will be lost if you do something like this.
  • Finding Website Creation To Be Hard? Get Help Here

    There’s a lot more involved with web design than you think. From planning the site to getting all the wording just right, it can be a bit overwhelming if you don’t know what you’re doing. If you use these tips, you will be prepared to handle everything that web page design throws at you.

    When you design a site, pull it up in various browsers. What you may see might not be what other people see. Make sure you understand the popular browsers out there to design for all. You may also want to view your site using a different computer operating system to make sure that everything is compatible whether they are using Windows, Mac, or Linux.

    This isn’t the 90’s, so avoid frames. Frames worked well in the earlier days, but there are too many flaws in the design. Designs on frames can make it hard for people to get your site bookmarked and they won’t like scrolling either. There are easier ways to give seamless flow to your site.

    Do not use a lot of graphics. Graphics are important, but too many can yuck things up. Don’t use graphics as a decoration for your site; they should be used to make it look professional. Having the right amount of graphics will improve your site’s usability and reduce the clutter.

    You want to ensure that your site is easily able to be scanned. Most visitors do not have a lot of time to spend, so they scan to see what they want to read. Make sure your text is placed in sections, so readers can look over it quickly. Put your most vital information near the top. This helps make sure that visitors get the information they need in the quickest way possible.

    Don’t have pop-ups. Everyone hates getting pop-up after pop-up on a website. Many people will leave a site that has pop-ups, even the big sites. Just avoid these irritating ads, so your users will be happy. Some website hosting services require you to use pop-up ads; you should view such policies as strong arguments against using such a service.

    Avoid using too may font types. You definitely want to consider what the fonts are actually going to look like on different screens and whether they are too small to read easily. Verdana is used by most sites. It is easy to read in various sizes and colors.

    Web Design

    This article should have given you a foundation with web design. When you find some unique tactics, you can better grasp web design concepts and use what you know to create great designs. Check back with these tips if you’ve had any difficulties.

  • Website Creation Tips That Make You A Smarter Site Designer

    Have you always wanted to design a website but never knew where to start? Maybe you have dreams of becoming an online entrepreneur but your finances prevented you from having someone else build your online presence. The article below will provide you with the tools and techniques to get started with your own powerful website.

    Always look over your website in many types of browsers, as you are designing it. What you see on one browser is not necessarily what others see on other browsers. You need to know how your site looks to all visitors that are arriving at your page. You may also want to view your site using a different computer operating system to make sure that everything is compatible whether they are using Windows, Mac, or Linux.

    Be careful with your color schemes while designing your site. It is important for the text to be legible when set on the background color you have chosen. The better choice is using darker fonts against backgrounds that are lighter. If you can’t decide if the colors are right, ask someone you know for feedback.

    Visitors want to have access to a website quickly, which is why your pages should load easily. If a visitor needs to wait while the page loads, they may click off your site and not return.

    Know what your subject is. If you’re going to have a blog site or something similar, you have to be sure things are done to learn about that subject before posting anything. When you do not seem genuine or knowledgeable, you will quickly lose readers. You need to understand the subject to write a good blog.

    Photoshop is a great tool that novice designers should invest in to help make better looking web designs. Photoshop really speeds up the development of even complex websites. When you are working without something similar to Photoshop, it will create a steeper learning curve for design, and increase the time it takes to reach your goals.

    Follow the tips presented here to produce a good, basic professional website. Regardless of why you set up a website, it is a great marketing tool. Best of luck to you!

  • Excellent Website Creation Strategies That Really Help

    Website design can be a surprisingly great source of income. Make sites for yourself or other people for pay. The nice thing about website creation is that you can do it at any time of the day, from wherever you want. Therefore, there is more freedom in your schedule.

    Make sure the combination of colors your site uses is attractive and makes the site easy to read. Choose a font and color that will help your words stand out from the background. Dark text colors on lighter backgrounds tend to be easier on the eyes than light colors on dark backgrounds. Don’t be afraid to ask a friend or colleague for their opinion of the color scheme.

    TIP! The 90s called. They want their web frames back.

    Your background is the keystone of your design. Animated GIF backgrounds and complicated patterns on your website can be very distracting to viewers trying to absorb your content. Choose a background which coordinates well with the message that you are trying to impart, it must blend in well with the balance of your website design.

    Learn any shortcuts that you can and try to use them. There are many shortcuts that can be used when designing your website. Learn as much as you can about shortcuts. There are lots of HTML codes that can help you make changes quickly without going through the upload process.

    TIP! Don’t overload a website with more graphics and photos than necessary. Graphics are essential to make sure your site is pleasing to the eye, but overusing them just clutters the page.

    To help make your website more attractive, incorporate some pictures that you took. Pictures help to break up a boring text-only website and give it a more user friendly vibe. People will take more time browsing your site and looking at pictures.

    Dedicate a place where readers can give their input and feedback. This lets you see if anything is confusing, or if you’re missing something on the page, so that you may fix it as you can. This lets your visitors feel like they are actively involved in your site and will want to visit again.

    TIP! You should always take time to removed old, irrelevant content. If there is content on your page highlighting an event that is already part of past history, your readers are going to abandon you quickly.

    Eliminate pop-up windows from all pages on your site to create a user-friendly experience. They may seem helpful, but they are seen as more annoying by visitors than not. It’s likely that many of your visitors can’t even see them due to browser settings, so keep them happy and stick to one window at a time.

    Meta Tags

    TIP! Never use pop-ups. There is nothing worse than visiting a website and getting assaulted by tons of pop-up ads.

    To help you design your site to attract more visitors, you need to include good meta tags on each page. Your site can show various search engines exactly what your site is all about when you have meta tags. If you use irrelevant meta tags, instead of tags that describe your website’s content appropriately, search engines will classify your site incorrectly and you won’t get a lot of traffic.

    Do not add pop-up advertisements to your site. PPC ads are often necessary, but pop-up ads just tick visitors off. People will not want to visit or click away immediately. Ads should be kept simple, without the need for crazy pop-ups.

    TIP! A good key to remember is that your site should load in 10 seconds or less. A good site will appear before a visitor’s eyes within moments.

    Double-check content on your website to avoid having your content look and feel rushed. Content should be read easily and quickly. A site with errors is not very professional and it will make people want to stay away from your site.

    You can gain insight from sites you enjoy, but try to use your own ideas when creating your site. Develop your own designs and features, as well as improving upon ones that you have seen on other sites. If you do this, you’ll constantly improve your abilities and reach your potential as a web designer.

    TIP! Newsletters can generate repeat visits. This is great for captivating someone whom may have viewed your site, but then gone on to forget about it entirely.

    With everything you read about in the above article, you should be able to understand how to create a website. Utilize this information to create a beautiful site.

  • Here Are Some Top Blogging Tips From The Experts!

    There is a high chance that you already know what a blog is. A blog, short for “web log”, is a serialized webpage on which the author puts up frequent posts on their daily life or other interesting topic. It usually involves one specific subject and has a more personal feel than most web pages. Read on to learn how to start a blog. If you already have a blog, the tips in this article can help you spice it up.

    Try to continually be available for your readers. Ensure that they can reach you in many different ways, such as through comments or social media. When you connect with your blog readers, they will expect that you will be around. When you start feeling like you want to give up, keep in mind that your readers will be very disappointed.

    Don’t overuse things like plug-ins, ads, images, or keywords. If you do this, search engines will flag you, negating all the work you are doing. Strive for smooth writing that flows naturally.

    TIP! You can help raise interest in your blog by reading and commenting on other blogs you’re interested in. If you use Google Reader, try maintaining a separate folder within it to utilize for keeping up with other blogs that you want to follow.

    Regularly post new content to your blog. New content that is fresh and relevant is what will attract and retain your audience. By not posting new content, readers will have no reason to come back to your blog. Ideally, your should post a minimum of once daily.

    Owning your domain name, instead of taking advantage of a free site, can serve to your advantage. You will increase the professional appearance of your blog for the small fee. Visitors will have less trouble remembering the blog if its title includes your business name.

    The best blogs on the Internet capture the minds and hearts of their readers. By carefully following the advice of this article, you can become a more successful blogger and expand your reader base. While some people blog simply for fun, others make good money with their writing. With dedication and passion, your blog has a much greater chance of success.

    TIP! Don’t ever copy things from the web. Never plagiarize, as it will rapidly ruin your reputation.
  • Great Website Creation Tips You Can Really Use

    Web designers have to acquire a lot of different skills to design a website people will want to read. There are many resources that will help beginning web designers find their way, and the article below is one of them. This article contains tips that will lead to better website design.

    Use the proper graphic tools for web page design. Many people no longer use use bitmap graphics because the files are large and take longer to load. Try GIF, PNG or JPEG files instead. PNG should be used for buttons with text and screenshots that have 256 colors or more. JPEG images are good for pictures.

    Always delete any outdated content that is on your website. You will come across as undependable or an amateur if you have information on events that have long passed. Users want to spend their time on sites that are cared for, and leaving up old information shows a lack of attention to the site. Create a schedule that will help you manage information and specials, and remind you to take down useless items.

    To work out the visual aspects of your site design, you can use a program like Photoshop to create mockups. When amateurs use Photoshop, they often create very professional grade sites based off the capabilities of the software. If you try to skimp on price by using a generic program that doesn’t do a good job, you may find yourself spending much more time than necessary to finish your website.

    Offer your site visitors a way to provide you with feedback. This will help you recognize mistakes in your design and give you the opportunity to fix them. If you actively seek your visitors’ feedback and make changes as a result, your visitors will feel like active participants in your site. This will encourage them to keep visiting the site.

    Regardless how your website is designed aesthetically, it is important to make certain that all of the files have small file sizes. The smaller the size of each of your files, the quicker your pages will load. You want your website to load very quickly when potential clients visit. You should remember also that some visitors may not use an Internet connection that is high speed. Run tests to ensure that even dial-up users report a smooth user experience.

    The introduction to this article stated that new web designers need to learn certain fundamentals in order to craft websites that look good and work well. With so much quality data on this subject available, you may have a hard time knowing where to begin. The article you’ve just read should be a good starting point for understanding the general rules of good website design.