Bay Area Web Design

Generic Traffic Versus Qualified Traffic

Steve — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 06:26:31 +0000

One of the misnomers in the web world is that all traffic is good traffic; it simply isn’t true. In the retail world, the more shoopers in your store the better chance you will sell something. In that world the shopper has chosen your store from the look of the sign and windows outside, and is perhaps a little bit qualified. In the web world you may be bringing in traffic that is not geared toward sales. For example, for many years we were #1 for the search phrase: “web design portfolio”. Initially I thought this was a good phrase, and it was bringing in traffic, so it must be good right? Truthflly people looking for a portfolio are likely looking for ideas, not to hire a web designer.

Think about the traffic you want coming to your site, and how you want them to find you. If you sell widgets, and they are mid to expensive grade, do you want people finding you with the search “cheap widgets”? This would be bad traffic, in my opinion.

Another example for you… If a searcher is using google with the search phrase: “car” google will tell you there are more searches per day on the word car than “hybrid car”. But if you sell hybrids, wouldn’t you rather the people coming to your site actually know what they want, and are specifically searching for exactly what you have to offer? The answer is that qualified traffic is MUCH better than just random unspecific keywords that although may drive traffic, are not bringing good traffic.

-s

Link Buying… Not a Good Idea

Steve — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:45:13 +0000

I received a call yesterday morning regarding purchasing links in order to boost SEO. My immediate reply to the person calling was: “There are five rules that Google tells you to follow, that would be breaking one”. Silence on the other end of the line; and then: “But lots of people are doing it”. Well, just because people are doing things they shouldn’t doesn’t mean that I will, or that you should either.

We all know that cheating is not the way to boost SEO, and buying inbound links would essentially be cheating. YOu are not allowed to buy links, so if that’s true, then I reckon you shouldn’t be allowed to sell them either.

Although I do agree that inbound links can and do help SEO, I am not about to risk my ranking by gaming the system. My hope is that if you ever receive a call like this, you will give them an ear full as I did yesterday. Comments are certainly welcome here.

-s

Google Places Offering Free Business Photos

Steve — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 04:16:41 +0000

I read this today, and was thinking who wouldn’t want free photos taken of their business? It says they are currently seeking hotels, restaurants, retail shops, gyms, salons, repair shops, and more. They aren’t interested in major chains, but smaller business. Check it out here: http://maps.google.com/help/maps/businessphotos/faq.html

Let me know if you’ve used it, or found this information regarding Google Places helpful.

-s

Five reasons to add a blog to your web site

Steve — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 08:37:51 +0000

Google loves new / updated content.
Users love new content, show your users you are updating the site actively, that you haven’t abandoned them and the site.
Have a blog on your site rather than linking to one on WordPress so that you can enjoy the SEO benefits.
The blog makes your site look professional.
Easy content updates without hiring a web designer to help.

The Quest for the Perfect Blog / Paint it Yellow

Steve — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 22:46:49 +0000

As web designers, some of us don’t know when to stop and let things go. We live in a world of perfection… beautiful people on TV, fast cars and motorcycles, goals and aspirations. Today I’ve come to realize that sometimes good enough is OK. I’m not talking about mediocrity, I’m talking about sanity.

This reminds me of a story I was told in roughly the year 2000. It had to do with a “caption this poster” contest at Hewlett Packard in the lunch room. Basically the poster was a bunch of yellow chicks (baby chickens) and one gray one. My boss at the time dropped an entry into the anonymous box that read: “paint it yellow and ship it”.

What does this mean? It means that sometimes it’s OK to get it out the door even though it’s not 100% perfect. Do you agree?

My story comes from working on styling the submit button for this blog. It isn’t yet as pretty as I want it to be, but I cannot spend another minute on it, since it’s already taken too long. Tomorrow when I try to fix it the solution will come right away so why waste another minute tonight? Do you have these moments? Is there a name for it? I’m not giving up; just postponing in favor of my sanity.