2011 was an exciting year for the web.

We saw a fast and furious transition in website development.  New products such as 1&1, Go-Daddy, and Intuit lead consumers to believe that launching a website is as easy as turning on your computer.  Oh if it were only that easy.  There are many questions and concerns that should addressed when developing a website, such as:

·         What is the goal of you website?

·         How will you measure the results of your website?

·         Who is your target audience?

·         Is your website easy to navigate?

·         Will your website be found?

·         How secure is your website and its contents?

Unfortunately we have been called in after someone has attempted to launch their own site because:

·         The site had been high jacked and turn into a Russian prescription site or worse

·         The site had been hacked and content changed or erased

·         The site had not had any hits after launching

·         Hosting costs were much higher that advertised due to “add-ons”

·         The process actually took much longer than anticipated and the result was not as expected

Time, money, and frustration would have been saved if we had been involved at the outset.  As a start-up business you only have one chance to make a good first impression.  Are you willing to risk that first impression with a “do-it-yourself” website? 

As an existing business with a dated website, how do you compare to your competitors?  Are you taking advantage of the latest technology?

Contact for a free, no obligation consultation on the best way to design and develop your website.  We know the web, it’s all we do!

The Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors

There really is a science to Search Engine Optimization. Search engines reward pages that have the right combination of ranking factors – from key words to links. Thus Search Engine Land created the "Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors.” Whether you're an SEO newbie, or a seasoned pro, you'll want to take a look.

The table separates SEO "elements" into four broad categories:

On-the-Page SEO covers content, HTML and architecture with elements like:
• Research: Have you researched the keywords people may use to find your content?
• Titles: Do HTML title tags contain keywords relevant to page topics?

Off-the-Page SEO focuses on elements related to links, social networks, trust, and personal topics. For instance:
• Quality: Are links from trusted, quality or respected websites?
• Reputation: Do those respected on social networks share your content?

Violations: highlights spammy elements like:
• Stuffing: Do you excessively use keywords?
• Cloaking: Do you show search engines different pages than humans?

Blocking: includes a few variations on an element we all hope to avoid:
• Blocking: Have many people blocked your site from search results?

Source: Search Engine Land. http://searchengineland.com/download/seotable/SearchEngineLand-Periodic-Table-of-SEO.pdf

Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/short-articles/2438/have-you-studied-the-periodic-table-of-seo-ranking-factors#ixzz1f8EbtHR9

How Often Should You Upgrade Your Website? Part 6 of 6

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) used to just concentrate on a few key words and how they were utilized in your website. Today there is much more involved in developing your SEO strategy. For instance, social media is now a major component of search engine algorithms, or a simpler was to say it – it pays to be popular.

Search engines are looking for key words, key phrases, how many times your website is visited, how many cross links do you have from other websites, and where do you rank from a social media perspective. You also need to ask yourself what geographic areas you want your website optimized within. Locally, statewide, regionally, nationally, or globally? Typically the smaller the area, the easier it is to optimize your website and improve your search engine ranking.

We have seen a trend lately of companies not paying attention to SEO due to the degrees of difficulties being added to the algorithms. We cannot caution enough against this practice as search engines are still the No. 1 method of seeking info on the web. We know it can be a daunting task to keep up, which is why we offer a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual SEO of your site for very reasonable costs.

Contact TCG today for a no obligation review of how we can help with your SEO strategy.

How Often Should You Upgrade Your Website? Part 5 of 6

Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to social media.  There are hundreds of other social media programs that can be very target specific.  Every website should have a social media component.  Think through your web strategy and determine how social media can integrate with that strategy.
 
Today, more and more contacts come to your website from a social media experience such as Facebook or Twitter.  People are seeking the advice of their friends of where to find goods and services and those social connections are invaluable.   With your social media presence, you become of member of the community.

As your social media base grows, you have the ability to directly connect with individuals who have selected to be a part of your network.  In other words, they want to hear from you!

Contact TCG today for a no obligation review of how we can help you be heard.

How Often Should You Upgrade Your Website? Part 4 of 6

E-commerce and on-line retail sales are projected to reach $197 billion in 2011, an increase of 12% over 2010.  If you are selling via your website, you need to ensure that your customers have an easy and fun experience.  Your ordering and checkout process needs to flow smoothly, knowing that every delayed step offers the customer a chance to change their mind and opt out of the transaction.  In addition, new requirements on e-commerce come into play more and more.  Do you need to collect sales tax?  What are the shipping limitations?

Kentico CMS offers an excellent ready to use e-commerce module which is fully customizable for any special needs.  In addition, we have teamed up with FirstData and SunTrust to offer our clients Preferred Merchant Services which includes discounted rates and marketing support.

If you are not involved with e-commerce our advice is to keep an eye on the future, you never know where opportunities lie.

Contact TCG today for a no obligation review of your e-commerce program.

How Often Should You Upgrade Your Website? Part 3 of 6

91% of Americans use a cell phone daily.  That’s 9 out of every 10 people in America!  If you are thinking on a global basis, 61% of all the people in the world have a cell phone.  That’s 4.6 BILLION people!  Need we say more - your website needs to be optimized to display efficiently and effectively on a mobile device.

This being said there is a big difference in both the methodology and cost between a mobile app and optimizing your website to display on a mobile device.  A mobile app is typically designed with a sole purpose in mind, needs to be downloaded onto the device, and can be quite expensive. 
On the other hand, optimizing a website for mobile display typically involves selecting the most frequented pages of your website and making them display on a mobile device in a manner that is easily utilized.  Large icons, minimal graphics, and one or two links are the key to a properly mobile optimized website.

Good examples of properly mobile optimized websites are: www.charlestonwv.com and www.kchdwv.org

Contact us today for a no obligation review of how we can optimize your website for a mobile deployment.

How Often Should You Upgrade Your Website? Part 2 of 6

Website design is not limited to how nice your website looks visually.  Sure the look is a critical component – if people don’t like the way it looks at first glance, they are moving on.  But you also need to consider how your site works; both from a visitors viewpoint and from the backend viewpoint.Let’s talk visitors first.  How easy is your site to navigate?  Do you have too many layers?  Do your drop-down boxes block sections of your website?  Is your home page cluttered?  I think you get the point.  Your home page should be open and inviting.  Information should be easily found.  Contact information should be on the home page.  Most people do not want to click more than 3 times to find what they are looking for.

What seems to be a simple question, “what do you want your website to do?”, actually calls for a very in-depth answer.  You need to give a great deal of attention as to how you want your customers to use your website.  If your website needs to provide a lot of information, you will need to be able to provide the information in an easy to find and read layout.  If you need to display a lot of images, you will need to be sure to allow for the images throughout the website.  Take time a put yourself in your customer’s shoes.  Another good tip is to ask someone outside your group to independently critique your site.

Now let’s talk about the backend of your site.  How the backend is designed directly impacts how your site will operate and the overall cost.  Therefore, considerable thought not only needs to be given to the purpose of the site, but also to how you want the site to be managed.  If your CMS is not user friendly your site will quickly become stale and outdated.  Key questions to ask:

• who will be maintaining the site?
• how often do you need to make changes to your site?
• do you know the difference between structured content and editable content regions?
• will you be displaying images? if so, how and where?
• is your website consistent with your company’s image?
• does information and/or changes need to be approved before being deployed?

Contact us today for a no obligation critique of your website’s design and functionality.

How Often Should You Upgrade Your Website? Part 1 of 6

We are quite frequently asked how often a website should be upgraded. Our response – if your website is over 3 years old, it’s most likely outdated. There have been so many changes in Content Management Systems (CMS), web design, mobile optimizations, e-commerce, social media, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies in the past 3 years that it has been challenge for even the savviest webmasters to keep pace. The following is Part 1 of our 6 Part Series offering a brief review of each area referenced above.

While there are several web browsers available, such as Firefox (21.6%), Chrome (11.9%) and Safari (7.2%), Explorer still dominates the web with a 59.3% share of the market. As each browser launches an update, your website may be impacted in a negative manner. Certain pages or images of your website may no longer deploy correctly. To make matters worse, your website may work fine when viewed by one browser and look totally different when viewed by another. Thus it is critical that you ensure that your website is compatible with all of the most popular browsers, but especially Explorer with its domination of the web.

One of the reasons for your website being susceptible to browser changes is the CMS platform that your website is built on. Does your CMS…
       •  stay current with the latest browser changes?
       •  provide you with the ability for quick and easy changes?
       •  offer e-commerce?
       •  offer social media capabilities such as blogging?
       •  automatically resize pictures before deploying?
       •  automatically make accommodations for SEO?
       •  allow for mobile optimization of the website?
       •  have various levels of users/contributors with a built-in approval process?

If you answered no to any of these questions, it’s time for an upgrade. TCG became a Gold Certified Development Partner with Kentico CMS to offer our clients the very best CMS on the market that answers yes to all the questions above and more.

Contact us today for a no obligation demo of how Kentico CMS can improve your website’s capabilities