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Apture Highlights

After the recent Google Panda Updates (more later) I've been looking for new modules that add to the user experience when on the website. So I tested Apture Highlights out and so far the response has been great.

Did you spot it yet? You don't need to leave the website to search, Just highlight anything on the page and see what happens.

10% Discount for registered members of the NZ Society of Naturopaths

Sound good?  If you are a registered member of the NZ Society of Naturopaths you are automatically entitled to a 10% discount on our website design services.

Prices start from $600 for a five page site with onsite SEO, google analytics and basic social networking tools included. An extra $400 ( total cost - $1000) will enable you to add a blog and unlimited pages yourself and includes an hour of training to ease you into managing the content yourself. Upgrade is of course available at any time.

See an example of a Drupal based Naturopath content management system site: Heart Tune

Kate is thrilled with her new site and our ongoing support.

Please do contact us at any time for a free consultation and quote!

Choosing a Content Management System - Why We Use Drupal

Drupal open source software saves our clients thousands of dollars and as Drupal themselves say:

Come for the software, stay for the community! (I did)

Drupal is a modular Open Source content management system (CMS) that's used by millions of businesses worldwide. Check out The Whitehouse, The Examiner, The Economist, The World Wildlife Fund and Symantec for examples of Drupal based websites. If that isn't enough evidence that this software is highly regarded I don't know what is.

I have been using Drupal software for many years for many reasons:

  • Scalability
  • Dependability
  • Security
  • Support
  • Flexibility
  • Robust
  • Free!
  • And more...

You may want to start out with a simple brochure website and then later add on a blog, community forums, newsletters, social networking capabilities or any number of other facilities. I feel confident in saying that Drupal can handle anything you want.

Talk to us at Cybershed about how you can utilise Drupal to power your business on the web - affordably!

Ongoing Support and Why It's So Important

You may not think about this too much when you're first looking for a website designer but ongoing support is a crucial element of your client experience with any web design company. Often it's not factored into the quote you receive and ends up costing you a lot more over the time than you may anticipate.

Some designers charge by the hour for ongoing support but you can breathe a sigh of relief with Cybershed because customer support is top of our list for client care.

If you email us we'll get back to you quickly and answer your query in a language you can understand (we don't baffle you with BS either). From there you can make a decision about the direction in which you want to move. And because we are local we operate the same hours as you (generally speaking) and are contactable by telephone during office hours also.

Not to mention the hour of free training you receive to help you get on with the business of adding and editing content yourself once the site is up and running. Again another cost saving measure you benefit from immensely.

Here at Cybershed we believe in offering top value for our services, saving you money in the long run, whilst nurturing you and your website. How your site performs reflects upon us (naturally) and we are as invested in your success as you are and will be right besides you every step of the way.

Want to add social networking into the mix? We will consult with you for free and come up with a solid plan. Further necessary costs (backend development) are outlined clearly and each step can be planned like a miliary campaign to best leverage the options available to you.

How about a blog? Or adding community forums? Video? Email marketing - newsletters etc? When you have a CMS (content management system) based website these can all be added to your site later and you can be secure in the knowledge that you'll be getting the very best of advice for free about how to implement them.

We know this formula works! Check out Kathlene's testimonial, you'll see what we mean:

 

Amanda has been absolutely brilliant when she came on board to do my website. With me having very little experience in the world of social networking, Amanda was able to see clearly what was required, speak a language I could understand and listened to my needs and input. She designed a very smart and eye catching site that reflects the kind of work I do and is easy to navigate. She has also been very helpful with various tools and ideas for further development and social networking. In no time at all I had this fantastic website with a content management system and ongoing support from Amanda.  I would not hesitate to recommend Cybershed and Amanda’s services.

Katheen Cole - Heart Tune

Sound good? Contact us now for your free consultation and let's get the ball rolling!

22-33 SEO tips

22. When optimizing your blog posts, optimize your post title tag independently from your blog title.

23. The bottom line in SEO is Text, Links, Popularity and Reputation.

24. Make sure your site is easy to use. This can influence your link building ability and popularity and, thus, your ranking.

25. Give link love, Get link love. Don’t be stingy with linking out. That will encourage others to link to you.

26. Search engines like unique content that is also quality content. There can be a difference between unique content and quality content. Make sure your content is both.

27. If you absolutely MUST have your main page as a splash page that is all Flash or one big image, place text and navigation links below the fold.

28. Some of your most valuable links might not appear in web sites at all but be in the form of e-mail communications such as newletters and zines.

29. You get NOTHING from paid links except a few clicks unless the links are embedded in body text and NOT obvious sponsored links.

30. Links from .edu domains are given nice weight by the search engines. Run a search for possible non-profit .edu sites that are looking for sponsors.

31. Give them something to talk about. Linkbaiting is simply good content.

32. Give each page a focus on a single keyword phrase. Don’t try to optimize the page for several keywords at once.

33. SEO is useless if you have a weak or non-existent call to action. Make sure your call to action is clear and present.

16-21 SEO tips

16. If your site content doesn’t change often, your site needs a blog because search spiders like fresh text. Blog at least three time a week with good, fresh content to feed those little crawlers.

17. When link building, think quality, not quantity. One single, good, authoritative link can do a lot more for you than a dozen poor quality links, which can actually hurt you.

18. Search engines want natural language content. Don’t try to stuff your text with keywords. It won’t work. Search engines look at how many times a term is in your content and if it is abnormally high, will count this against you rather than for you.

19. Not only should your links use keyword anchor text, but the text around the links should also be related to your keywords. In other words, surround the link with descriptive text.

20. If you are on a shared server, do a blacklist check to be sure you’re not on a proxy with a spammer or banned site. Their negative notoriety could affect your own rankings.

21. Be aware that by using services that block domain ownership information when you register a domain, Google might see you as a potential spammer.

10-15 tips SEO

10. Use keywords and keyword phrases appropriately in text links, image ALT attributes and even your domain name.

11. Check for canonicalization issues – www and non-www domains. Decide which you want to use and 301 redirect the other to it. In other words, if http://www.domain.com is your preference, then http://domain.com should redirect to it.

12. Check the link to your home page throughout your site. Is index.html appended to your domain name? If so, you’re splitting your links. Outside links go to http://www.domain.com and internal links go to http://www.domain.com/index.html.

Ditch the index.html or default.php or whatever the page is and always link back to your domain.

13. Frames, Flash and AJAX all share a common problem – you can’t link to a single page. It’s either all or nothing. Don’t use Frames at all and use Flash and AJAX sparingly for best SEO results.

14. Your URL file extension doesn’t matter. You can use .html, .htm, .asp, .php, etc. and it won’t make a difference as far as your SEO is concerned.

15. Got a new web site you want spidered? Submitting through Google’s regular submission form can take weeks. The quickest way to get your site spidered is by getting a link to it through another quality site

SEO tips 7-9

7. Be sure links to your site and within your site use your keyword phrase. In other words, if your target is “blue widgets” then link to “blue widgets” instead of a “Click here” link.

8. Focus on search phrases, not single keywords, and put your location in your text (“our Palm Springs store” not “our store”) to help you get found in local searches.

9. Don’t design your web site without considering SEO. Make sure your web designer understands your expectations for organic SEO. Doing a retrofit on your shiny new Flash-based site after it is built won’t cut it. Spiders can crawl text, not Flash or images.

Read more

Three seo tips 4-6

4. Don’t be obsessed with PageRank. It is just one isty bitsy part of the ranking algorithm. A site with lower PR can actually outrank one with a higher PR.

5. Be sure you have a unique, keyword focused Title tag on every page of your site. And, if you MUST have the name of your company in it, put it at the end. Unless you are a major brand name that is a household name, your business name will probably get few searches.

6. Fresh content can help improve your rankings. Add new, useful content to your pages on a regular basis. Content freshness adds relevancy to your site in the eyes of the search engines.

 

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Three SEO Tips

Three SEO tips web developers can use

1. If you absolutely MUST use Java script drop down menus, image maps or image links, be sure to put text links somewhere on the page for the spiders to follow.

2. Content is king, so be sure to have good, well-written and unique content that will focus on your primary keyword or keyword phrase.

3. If content is king, then links are queen. Build a network of quality backlinks using your keyword phrase as the link. Remember, if there is no good, logical reason for that site to link to you, you don’t want the link.

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