Wednesday 23 November 2011

Ways to Improve SERP for Software Development Companies

A software development company aspiring to make it big in the industry should target at Internet marketing. Technology has changed the way businesses conduct and perform their work. Internet is the medium today for a business visibility and especially for software development companies. It has become imperative now more than ever, since software companies are vying with each other to be top performers, a software development company is visible in Internet searches. Google being the most sought after Internet search engine, visibility on the first page of these search engines can contribute a major portion to software business.

A company engaged in web application development may optimize for the services they provide for example web design, web based applications and so on. If you wish to sell yourself on the Internet choosing the right keywords is very important to begin with. To select keywords a search engine optimization expert would research through keyword tools and find the most suitable words for his company. An SEO expert should select keywords based on lower competition and higher search volumes to improve on his rankings.

Web application development companies seek to get positioned for keywords like web design, web software, web applications etc. These are highly competitive keywords and to reach a good position for these keywords would take many months and even years. Hence targeting less competitive keywords like (professional) web design or (cheap) web software or (cost effective) web applications is a better idea. These would fetch you a decent position within a couple of months. Once a position is attained for some keywords targeting other keywords becomes easier.

One factor to be observed by companies is that keywords and Meta tags is only one aspect of SEO. Content plays the most important role in search engine optimization. It is important to keep content original and keep updating the content through blog or events and happenings etc. The latest algorithm by Google stresses on fresh content. Copied content does not fetch good position and it also has the risk of being penalized by Google. To maintain interesting and engaging content on your site you must research and see what your competitors are doing to be in higher positions. A blog is one of the best ways to update content and also a chance for your creativity to expand. People in your company can contribute articles and update content frequently.

Why Search Engine Optimization at all?

There are many discussions about search engine optimization and many companies spread all over the Internet promise you the first page position in search as well a high Page Rank. They can promise even moon but the question is will what they get you in a very short time sustain over a period of time?

Let us first get an understanding of search engine optimization popularly known as SEO. Search engines work on the basis of an algorithm or program set by the most popular search engine companies.

Search engines typically have automated programs known as crawlers that crawl the web pages to examine and amass the content by following links. The information thus collected is deposited into the database called index. The job of a search engine is to bring forth the most relevant results to the keywords by matching the search query with the deposited information in the database.
Here we will consider Google as the most popular search provider and the algorithm set by Google is based on much research and carefully set. Recently the other two popular search engines – Yahoo and Bing also have started following Google algorithm.

Often we do not have a method to follow to validate what SEO companies are saying about the various methods to employ. Whether they create hype about it or SEO is a useful method depending on what we are actually aiming for.

One fact for sure is that it is not by chance that a website has reached the first page of search results. A lot of work should have been done to reach a high position in search. A website is your address to Internet world and customers look for information about your work. Hence an attractive and optimized web design works as an introduction to your work.

Content is the key factor that retains a visitor on your website once he/she gets the first look of an attractive web design. Content should be fresh and original otherwise a crawler would not index. Plagiarized content can be easily traced by Google Panda and it would reject crawling your site.

It is an independent decision whether you wish to optimize your site or keep it as it is. It is worth investing your money though to gain a position in search engine ranking position.

Monday 14 November 2011

Tips for Blogging for Businesses

New and upcoming businesses focusing on online clients should definitely read this article before they think of blogging. It would be a great idea to consider why your business needs blogging. Is it that you would like to post information internally and allow employees to access or is it to gain mileage out of getting more traffic? If you mean your blog for internal purposes then you can maintain it the way you want to but if you are targeting traffic and conversion of that traffic to business then read on.

A blog is much like your website where you would like to project your company in terms of business. Typically this would mean having an attractive web design for your blog and then information that should both be interesting to read for visitors and which can match your keywords to give you a good position in Google search pages.

A good way to start maintaining your blog is posting fresh, simple and interesting articles. If you research you will find that you can promote your business cleverly by setting the keywords and positioning these keywords in your articles. Instead of making decisions from the word go, use keyword tool to find which is suitable to you and which has more traffic and less competition. Once you have chosen these keywords it is imperative that you work on these for some time before you move to other keywords.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a powerful tool to raise your bar in the searches. An attractive web design well optimized has a definite chance to reach the first page of searches. A great design with engaging content on important topics can take you miles in SEO. Today, online marketing is a preferred tool to and great content is referenced with the possibility of high PR and greater traffic that finally translates to more revenue. It is really worth all your time if you follow simple rules to ensure your blog is noticeable.

Images in your blog should carry Alt and Title tags as Google returning to show your images is an incentive enough. Placing Alt and Title Tags is a time consuming process but definitely add value to your SEO. Do not ignore your blog. People tend to compare with blogs with web applications that have an entirely different purpose.

Friday 4 November 2011

Web Design Vs Search Engine Optimization

Web designers often ignore what goes into a search friendly design and cater only to their audience. However, search engine optimization (SEO) awareness has made designers look at what goes into making a design search friendly.SEO is a value added service that requires a continuous work and a search friendly web design only adds to this.
To understand how to make a web design search friendly let us understand first how search engines work. Search engines typically have spiders or crawlers that are automated program to crawl the web pages to read and collect the content and follow both the external and internal links. The information thus collected is deposited into the database called index. When visitors enter a particular keyword into the search box, the search engine brings forth the most relevant results to the query by matching the search query to the information in the database.
As a designer, if you do not take care about the on site optimization which is not design but provide useful and fresh content as also Meta data. Eye catching designs are for your visitors to stay and admire but the real SEO happens with relevant content. The latest Google algorithm Google Panda insists on content and content only. Web Designers often miss on the following:
• A proper linking structure from home page
• Crawler friendly home page
• Target keywords on home page
• Use flash menus that are attractive but cannot be seen by search engines
• Embedding important keywords into flash cannot be seen by crawlers
• Ajax content is not spiderable or indexable
• Changing root locations causes loss in backlink counts and ranking
• The read more as continuation is not crawler readable and should use keyword along with “read more keyword”
• Using same anchor text everywhere is considered spam
• Not having unique title and tag for every page with target keyword in it
• Long blog titles are not search engine friendly
• Stuffing the same keyword in title tags
• Not describing Alt Attribute for images – search engines cannot see images but read Alt Attribute
• Unfriendly URLs remove crawlers from your site
Content is the most important factor after the first engaging look of the web design but over stuffing can also make your visitor get disinterested. Visitors enjoy fresh content and they can be retained on your pages by providing what is interesting to the readers. Retaining visitors contributes to your site’s popularity and thus increases unique traffic.