12 Web Design Terms Everyone Should Know

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Being in the world of web design can sometimes feel like learning a new language. You will read terms like CMS, hosting, compression, CSS. Do the terms ring a bell to you? Maybe yes, maybe no.

There are a lot of technical terms referring to the different aspects of web design and it can get confusing at times. For some who are just getting started with being a web designer or just someone looking to have their website designed, it can be really overwhelming at first.

Here’s a list of important terms that one non-web designers should know:

  • CMS

     

    • It means Content Management System. It is a platform that enables designers to develop and modify the content of a website without requiring one to have any technical knowledge about web codes

  • Domain

    • is simply the name of the website and it usually ends in .com, .net, .org. Domains nowadays can end with .me, .design, .io.

  • CSS

    • Cascading Style Sheet
    • Used to format the look of a website that determine how different the elements within the web page will appear on the screen by the user. It allows the different elements like color of the text, size, background, position of the different parts of the page to be set.

  • Compression

    • Optimization of file or data sizes in a format or reasonable size that takes up less space and that will eventually help to speed things up.

  • CTA

    • Call to Action
    • These are links or buttons prompting you to “Click here”, “Sign Up” that will vary depending on the website you are into is an example of a CTA. It entices or expects users to take a particular or predetermined action.

  • Hex Code

    • It is a six-digit code that starts with a #. Each hex code has its assigned color that will appear on the designer’s web page.

  • Typography

    • Refers to the arrangement and usage of different typefaces. With typography, websites are able communicate well with their visitors.

  • Hosting

    • Provides services by which data will be stored on a publicly-accessible server. Once it is uploaded, people are able to view the content of a website.

  • SEO

    • Search Engine Optimization
    • This enhances the likelihood of your website to appear or be discovered in various search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. Typical SEO techniques includes the use of keywords that can be helpful on the content portion and the use of metadata.

  • Visual Hierarchy

    • Web designers come up with a visual hierarchy before putting content on a website. This is important when figuring out what’s more important and what needs emphasis.
    • Helps to make sure your message gets across the right way.

  • Resolution

    • Refers to the image detail. So, when your images have a higher resolution, the higher quality it has. When a high resolution image is used in a website, it looks clear, crisp, and colorful. The image will have more details. When the opposite happens, a low resolution image will appear blurry and pixelated.

  • Responsive Web Design

    • When you say a website has a responsive web design, this means a website will fit in all screen sizes or different devices. This helps users experience optimal and seamless browsing on your website.

Why Our Clients will Always Rank Higher

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If you are really serious about keeping your business competitive despite the humongous competition that’s been happening in the online world today, you should have the best combination of backlinks, optimized keywords, and easy-reading contents.

 

SEO (search engine optimization) serves as the lifeblood of your business, and it requires the appropriate business philosophy to help you get through the test of time. But first, you need to understand how positive and negative backlinking practices will affect the results of your SEO strategy. Employing a clear, unbiased backlink throughout your content definitely helps bring your website near on top of every search engine.

Why do we need SEO?

Search engine optimization improves a website ranking by using SEO planning and authoritative sources while making a website appear credible within the first few pages of the search results. Though a set of keywords can generate thousands of results either related or unrelated to an industry, only a few of them are visited. In addition, Google has enforced strict guidelines to follow with regard to the use of SEO keywords and content building. This is why SEO strategies for every industry are becoming more unique just to stay on top.

Ingredients of an ultimate SEO strategy

Because of algorithm updates such as Penguin, Hummingbird or Panda, SEO requires a unique blend of components to achieve success. Online visitors often need only a couple of search result pages and additional 30 seconds to evaluate a website. In fact, optimized 2-3 keywords are enough for your business to rank favorably on your part. Fortunately, there are calculating tools now available to gauge the logarithmic formula for keyword density.

Where to get effective SEO backlinks?

SEO backlinks should not only come from popular and huge-size domains but also from diverse domain sizes and trustworthy sources. As SEO experts always conclude, the more popular domains your website is connected, the more visitors you convert into clients. Unfortunately, this philosophy won’t become helpful to you since only established enterprises will benefit from this, leaving your business behind. The best SEO backlinks are those unrelated links which are connected to your business and do not demonstrate self-vested interest, only pure and honest opinion.

Google algorithms always make a system upgrade each year, and they already developed an efficient system that detects the overuse of backlinks and SEO keywords. Worse, Google now penalizes website developers who are employing multiple sources of backlinks within the same industry or business model. True enough, SEO backlinks should come from diverse sources not directly related to your industry but from people that would be interested in your products and services. Using our own philosophy and reliable SEO strategies, our clients will always enjoy reaping the fruits of their labor in full satisfaction.

The meaning of quality backlinks

For every industry or subject matter, a trusted domain defines the level of quality backlinks. If you are running a sports shoes and apparel store, you’re likely depending on athlete insights, suppliers, and fellow business owners. However, would it be beneficial on your part to trust people who are enjoying playing sports or attending the fitness gym regularly? Indeed, ordinary people like your neighbors can share personal insights and some valuable information about a specific sport. As a result, your business can create a natural distribution of quality backlinks that would help your website reach a reputable standing on the search engines.

Backlinks are crucial to attaining the goals of your SEO strategy particularly if you are building a new website or promoting your current platform. And because we know how to create the best backlink profile, our clients will always rank higher.

 

Why blogging should be a key part of your digital marketing strategy

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Having a blog for your business is one of the first things every digital marketer will tell you. Us included. But why? What’s the point of a business blog? How can one benefit your business?

 

In today’s post, we’ll cover the four key reasons why having a blog is such an essential part of a digital marketing strategy and why a blog is a must-have for any business.

 

You’ll get more traffic to your website

Blogging is crucial for effective SEO. One of the things we preach is the importance of keyword targeting and thematic content for ranking purposes. A blog is a great way to achieve both of these things. Firstly, creating blog posts that are targeted at specific keywords will increase the number of terms your business ranks for. That means your site will appear more in search engines and more people will visit your website as a result. But having more content and more thematically related content can also boost your site’s overall rankings. And this can result in huge jumps in ranking position and huge spikes in traffic. It’s really a simple equation: the more content your site has, the more chances it has for ranking.

 

Your business will gain credibility

Another direct benefit of blogging is that your business gains credibility and becomes established as an authority. By blogging, your company gets the chance to show that it knows what is talking about. It’s also an opportunity to address the most commonly asked questions from users and customers and to face some of the roadblocks to conversions head on. By showing you know your industry as well or better than anyone else, you can quickly establish the kind of trust that customers need before they make a purchase.

 

It can convert traffic into leads

Touching on the above, sometimes your visitors need a bit of encouragement to purchase from you. Maybe they aren’t at the purchasing stage yet. Maybe they are still researching. By having a blog, you can educate your audience and help guide them down your conversion funnel from browsers to customers. What’s more, every single blog post can be a sly advert for your business. By adding a lead generation call to action at the bottom of your posts, you can turn readers into customers in a single click. What other marketing channels can say the same?

 

It contributes to long-term growth

Blogging isn’t a one-off piece of marketing. Your blog posts will last as long as the internet does. That means you’re going to get lifetime value from your investment. If you write a blog and email it out to your audience, you may get five leads. The next day you might get five more. But that is not the end of it. Because your blog will get ranked in Google, you can keep receiving traffic and leads from it forever. By that point, it’s not even an active form of marketing – it’s passive and you can earn leads while you sleep.

 

Want to grow your business’ blog but don’t have the time? That’s where we come in. We can take care of everything for you: coming up with ideas, writing the content and even publishing them. And you still get all of the benefits discussed above.

The Key to Successful SEO and How We Deliver It

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Good SEO is the cornerstone of any successful online business, and investing in reliable and result-oriented tactics is the way to go. However, not all techniques are equal, especially since algorithms change regularly. If you want your business to thrive in an ever-changing environment, you must learn to be adaptive and innovative.

 

The Tao of SEO: Creating Your Success Story

 

You may find it surprising that the most reliable SEO methods are rooted in the Ancient Chinese philosophy of tao. That is, to become like water. It’s a fancy way of saying you should be flexible. And in the world of SEO, such adaptability can spell the difference between success and shameful failure.

 

Back then, SEO focused too much on direct force rather than innovative techniques. It would explain why most websites with outdated SEO are now off the internet. If you’re serious about creating your own success story, you should explore methods that endure and change with the times.

 

The Laws for Successful SEO

 

1. Tackle Page Relevance Mathematically

Page relevance is decided by keywords. But with the current Google algorithm, saturating your website with keywords is a sure-fire way to lower its ranking. Our team uses state-of-the-art algorithmic formulas to optimize your pages with the right amount of keywords. This ensures maximum traffic from Google searches without any consequences.

 

2. Employing Links Effectively

We’ve managed to find out that using natural and organic links are more effective at bringing in traffic. Link source diversity, especially if combined with keyword diversity, is a near fool-proof approach if given enough time to work its magic.

 

3. Outsmarting the Cyber Market

Keywords are in and of themselves a market. Employing keywords that have low competition can prove to be effective, so long as the keywords have high relevance and value to your targeted audience. This allows you to create a solid presence within a short period of time.

 

4. Focusing on Quality

Quality is one of the biggest deciding factors to the success of your online business. A page is only worth the content it can provide for the average web surfer, and most pages suffer a loss of traffic due to lack of quality. Quality should also extend to the layout, images, and overall aesthetics. We can give you seamless pages which provide all of that, plus more.

 

5. Taking the Dynamic Approach

Dynamism is an approach that allows a website to effortlessly adapt to changing algorithms. Open-ended and organic optimization techniques make this possible. It is this feature, combined with all other guidelines that make a website endure.

 

Making the Laws Work for You

These simple SEO laws have been tailored to best fit the ever-changing dynamics of website optimization. If you’re after a reliable method that ensures the functionality and relevance of your website in spite of online advancements, these five guidelines will guarantee exactly that.

 

If you need to modify your website to better compete with the current market and the new rules that govern them, we are more than happy to help!

 

Thematic Sites and their Importance for SEO

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Generating quality content has been the backbone of any digital marketing campaign in recent years. After all, creating fresh and informative content on a regular basis is crucial to achieving better search engine rankings.

 

The problem, however, is when there are only a few links to your pages and the amount of traffic being generated by your site doesn’t convert to desirable actions like purchases or product/service inquiries at the least.

 

If you are someone who puts a significant amount of time, effort, and money into your content, nothing can be more heartbreaking than realizing that your work is not generating the kind of results that you expect.  It would mean going back to the drawing board to think of more effective ways and strategies to bring in more exposure towards your site or blog’s content.

 

Now if you are tired of all the heartaches and failures and want to begin enjoying positive returns for all your content marketing efforts, then stick around because you will surely love what we have in store for you today.

 

Operational and Thematic Content

The thing is, every single content is unique and coming to terms with this reality will help you a lot in your digital marketing endeavours. It’s certainly important to put some considerable thought and effort into creating content for your website but what you should always avoid is generating content without purpose and goal. On the other hand, the best approach would be to focus your attention on the role of on-site content.

 

So first things first, you need to know how content works for readers and search engines so you can use the proper strategy and enjoy optimum results. Content on every website can also be classified into two groups:

 

  • Operational Content
  • Thematic Content

 

What is Operational Content?

Operational content represents the general framework of your business. For a Personal Injury Lawyer in Washington, operational content would be the professional legal services that he or she offers, the address of the law office or firm, its opening and closing hours, and so on and so forth.

 

This content is basically the core information that searchers will look into before they opt for your business.  Although there is less room to play around and create link building opportunities with these kinds of information, operational content is extremely important when it comes to your website’s functionality and overall user experience.

 

Why Thematic Content is Extremely Important

Thematic content embodies the essential details of your business, such as the description of your product or service, client testimonials and referrals, list of past work, and your businesses missions and vision and core principles.

 

This kind of content provides plenty of SEO opportunities – perfect for keyword optimization, creating backlinks and best of all, offering value to website users. Thematic content is also the number one content strategy that e-commerce marketers use to generate sales and drive traffic.

With that being said, if you notice a lack of traffic and influence in your website, there is a high possibility that you are not investing enough on thematic content.

 

The Importance of Diversity when it comes to Link Building

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When it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization), which is the process of making your website more visible in search engines, the best way to make your website more popular is by having a diverse link profile.

 

What is a link profile?

A link profile is the network of links leading to your website, the more links, the better. A search engine like Google prefers links from various websites than from one.

 

Google’s algorithm isn’t stupid. When you have a lot of backlinks, links that are on other websites that lead “back” to your website, from one particular webpage, it will think that you are conspiring with said webpage to make yours more popular and visible. This action will cause Google to become suspicious of you, and it’ll affect your ranking in the list of websites it displays.

 

In other words, you’ll be safer if you make links from various websites rather than making a lot of links from one specific webpage. This is called Diverse Link Building, and it is what we practice here. But having a lot of links from different web pages isn’t enough.

 

Diverse Link Building

In technical terms, it’s having a lot of links in different websites rather than having a lot of links in one. But, as I said in the previous paragraph, having a lot of link from different web pages isn’t enough, you must also consider what the websites are about. It is better if you link your websites with ones that have similar content or that are at least a bit relevant to yours. For example, if your website is about gaming or anything about computers, there’s no reason for you to have a link from a beauty website.

 

Another important thing is for you to have backlinks not just from different websites but also on different platforms (news sites, social media, blogs, etc.). It is better to have links in a news website like Rappler, a video sharing website like YouTube, and a popular blog than having a link on ten forums sites.

 

Finally, not just the quantity of websites must be taken into account but also quality, this is referred as the “Authority” of a website. How much a website is trusted is counted by how much authority it has. For instance, having a link in Forbes is better than having a link from an unknown blog.

 

Summary

To sum it all up, Diverse Link Building is key when it comes to SEO and is the approach to link building that we use exclusively. A diverse link profile is better than having a lot of links on one website. What’s more, having backlinks from different types of sites, not just different websites is also important. The authority, or how much a website is trusted, should also be considered. The website you have a link must be relevant to yours.

 

For more information on how we can help you build an effective, diverse backlink profile, get in touch today.

 

SEO traffic dropped? These might be the reasons why

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Search engine ranking determines how your website performs in the online world.

Digital marketers, business owners, and even content creators spend so much time trying to maintain or improve website rankings for as long as possible. Unfortunately, witnessing your hard-earned rankings go down can make you feel frustrated especially if you don’t have enough idea why your SEO traffic is dropping fast.

 

Here are some reasons why SEO traffic drops dramatically in many online platforms today:

 

Website penalties

If you ever notice your website is nowhere to be found, consider checking its status using Google search console. Google will penalize your site when it violates specific SEO guidelines such as excessive use of keywords and backlinks.

 

The presence of malicious links and excessive redirecting links won’t be helpful to spare your website from getting penalized. Also remember that if you have duplicate or plagiarized content detected on your site, you’re more likely to encounter SEO traffic drops.

 

Search engines are not able to find your website

Changing a domain name for whatever reason may affect your SEO traffic mainly if the search engines are not aware of it. It will appear as if your website does not exist when the search engines are unable to detect you. Google and other search engines have their respective SEO tools when you decide to modify your domain identity.

 

Website redesigns and migrations are also crucial factors why there are sudden drops in your SEO traffic. When URLs and related links become broken, there’s a huge possibility that your website may get lost.

 

Trim down the content of your low-performing pages

SEO traffic slowly drops when you are indexing the web pages but fail to update the content. Google, for instance, can detect low-quality content and boost the quality ones. Since Google is making continuous efforts to enhance its search algorithms, it is advisable to focus on the web pages you are interested in page ranking. If your website is rarely visited or filled with low-quality content, it will affect its overall performance as well as its SEO traffic.

 

Create more interesting content

Newly-created content is important since search engines will always rank sites according to the quality of the material. The more content is made original, the higher ranking a website can achieve.

 

Aside from this, you may also experience SEO traffic drops due to the following:

 

  • If you are unable to detect that your competitor has outclassed you
  • If you fail to identify your under-performing pages, missing links, and unrelated links
  • If you are not able to notice the position changes of your website from search engine result pages
  • When Google does not inform of algorithm updates
  • If your site doesn’t have a mobile-friendly version, the majority of today’s population have easy access to the internet through smartphones and tablets.

 

SEO traffic drops seem inevitable as online competition among website owners gets tougher and tougher each day. It is true that SEO strategies will play a pivotal role in today’s online marketing wherein businesses strive hard to maintain a respectable ranking on the search engine results page.

Mobile-First Indexing and What It Means for Small Businesses

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Google continues to be a revolutionary search engine, thanks now to its mobile-first indexing. It’s a screeching shift from its conventional desktop-first indexing where most websites are optimized. Due to the large volumes of searches originating from mobile gadgets, Google started to launch some tests in 2016. Early this year, the tech giant announced that the mobile-first indexing will start to roll out.

 

Of course, large enterprises will hustle to make their websites mobile-responsive. But what would happen to small businesses who can’t afford to keep up right away? Would they be left behind in the deepest realms of the SERPs regardless of how valuable their content is?

 

What does mobile-first indexing mean?

Mobile-first indexing is actually very simple. Rather than the usual desktop-first indexing, Google will start prioritizing mobile-friendliness as the key factor for cataloging a page. Once the full rollout of this new setup is in the works, mobile-responsive websites will definitely have the upper hand in the rankings.

 

Google stated that this would not affect how they will index content. Still, the change will have a solid impact on your SEO and how you will fare on the SERPs.

 

If your website does not have a mobile version yet that is almost identical to its desktop view, your rankings may suffer.

 

No reason to panic…yet

Small businesses have no reason to panic (for now). The rollout of the mobile-first indexing is still in its first phase. Google also assured website owners that the first wave of the indexing would be for those with mobile-responsive sites. This is borrowed time on the part of small businesses with meager resources to keep up with the ever-changing SEO.

The consolation here is that content is still a key player in rankings. If you have better content than mobile-friendly websites, Google will probably give more weight to your platform.

 

Steps you can take

Right now, you can perform some steps to mitigate the possible impact mobile-first indexing can inflict on your website. If your site is adjusting well in terms of appearance in mobile gadgets, you don’t have to make any changes as long as you’re happy with your rankings.

 

Make sure to check your website’s loading speed. If the content is too massive for mobile view, it would likely take a longer time to show. Your readers would not want that, neither does Google. You can improve this part while planning for a bigger move to conform to the new indexing process.

 

If you are a small business with no means of tweaking your site’s format, you don’t have to panic. Your content will still be alive on the Google platform. Yet, those with high-quality content and mobile-responsive websites would enjoy Google’s leaning.

 

In the end, coming up with how your website can pit on performance would be your ace card. And that includes starting to build a website that can be a digital shape-shifter.

 

How To Immediately Improve Your SEO

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In the advent of search engines, SEO is the name of the game.

 

Sure, you can optimize keywords and beef up your website with valuable content. But here’s the bitter fact: all website owners do the same. You have to find ways to immediately improve your SEO aside from the old tactics that are starting to gain digital cobwebs. Here are four easy ways you can boost your SEO to stand a chance at the top search engines:

 

1. Go beyond sensible content

 

Having relevant content that answers reader queries is a default requirement. But you shouldn’t end there and wait while search engines index your pages and keywords. Embed videos on your posts and optimize your photos by adding the keywords as alt texts as well as inputting original description tags.

 

Utilize the power of linking. If your site is WordPress-based, an outbound link can turn the Yoast SEO button green in an instant. Make sure that you’re not using broken links. Also, never link a page more than once on the same post. Sticking to white hat tactics will keep your website off the brink.

 

2. Speed it up

 

The attention span of an online user is marked at 12 seconds, but when it comes to opening website pages, it shouldn’t be longer than three seconds. Slow-loading sites are sure to lose visitors and plunge at the realms of the SERPs.

 

Install caching plug-ins and ensure that your website code is squeaky clean. Resize your photos and videos to reduce the memory space it eats up on your website. All these may take time to finish, but you just can’t afford to lose more visitors because your page takes ages to load.

 

3. Make your site pleasant to look at

 

Humans are visual beings. This is the basic fact that you can take advantage to improve your SEO. Ditch the serif fonts and use one that’s easy to read like Verdana, Helvetica, and Arial. Avoid grey seas of texts and use sub-headers to organize your ideas. Putting your blog post points in bullet form would be more pleasant to the eyes of the readers. They would likely continue reading and visiting your website if it’s easy on their eyes.

 

You can play with colors but never overdo it. Boldface text and colorful letters aren’t good options as it makes your website look less professional.

 

4. Make it mobile responsive

 

Usability is the make-or-break part of SEO. Making your website mobile responsive will save you from the shame of jumbled content or worse, the 404 Error. In terms of ranking, Google has a leaning towards websites optimized for smartphones.

 

This point isn’t just a matter of climbing up on Google’s results page. More people are browsing the web through their mobile phones, and with your website still stuck on the conventional desktop format, you lose that share of viewership.

 

You don’t have to be an SEO master just to start optimizing your on-page content. Perform all these steps and check your traffic after a few months. You might be surprised by the quick change.

10 Content Ideas For Your Website

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apple, computer, desk

A beautiful website might be able to attract website visitors, but what makes them stay is the content. Most companies and websites know this fact. Content is important if you want your website to stand out from the rest. Impressive content for your website will give you an obvious advantage. A good-looking website will never be enough because you need to constantly share new content to make your website trustworthy.

Here are 10 content ideas for website:

  1. Provide buying guide.

    People choose to shop online rather than going to the store. You help consumers in deciding what is best. Since you are knowledgeable, guide them in selecting a summer attire or a prom dress if you have a fashion website.

  2. Feature testimonials.

    When you feature your happy clients, more people will surely choose your website over competing brands. Make sure to constantly share how your clients or subscribers feel about your products and services. Other people will trust your site since they read your client’s stories of success.

  3. Conduct a poll or survey.

    Sharing what you know is not enough. From time to time, it’s also helpful to listen. Ask your website visitors how they feel about your website or you can also get their suggestions on how to improve your website. Converse and interact with your followers on social media. Consumers are very vocal on the internet now. You will surely get an honest answer!

  4. Highlight achievements.

    Whether you got featured on a local paper or received a recognition, let everyone know. Spread the good news and announce to your followers the recent milestone of your website. When you make a post about it, don’t forget to thank the writer of the article or the award-giving body responsible for the appreciation given to your website.

  5. Collaborate with other brands.

    It’s always you who gets to share. You can also ask fellow bloggers to write for you and share insights about what they know. If your website is all about beauty products, ask a book blogger to recommend books about fashion and makeup! This new content may attract new website followers.

  6. Create videos.

    You are not limited to just text. Color things up and upload a visual content. This allows your readers to take a break from the usual routine. A new content will keep them engaged. For example, you may want to show your go to makeup products on an ordinary day. Sharing your fashion must-haves is also a good idea!

  7. Let your online visitors meet the team.

    Give a face to team behind the website. You can introduce your team in the website’s About Us page. Assign different member to your website’s various sections.

  8. Keep yourself updated.

    Know the top trends and blog about it. Once you share it on social media, it will surely gain interactions and reach new audiences since it’s about a talked about topic.

  9. Share your inspiration.

    Share the lessons you learned from your biggest influences. Link them up and share websites that gave you inspiration. Before you it, other bloggers are also citing you and your website as their inspiration. Create a friendly community that builds each other up!

  10. Make a list.

    A huge chunk of text is boring. Make a list instead so people can easily follow what you are telling them. People will definitely go for the shorter post than a long and boring one. You can make a year ender post about the trending topics, your growths, and plans for the future of your website. On a lighter note, you can list gift ideas for Christmas or a list of your favorite summer destinations. A list might be short, but it’s definitely gonna be sweet.

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