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Building A WebSite Content Map – Video Tutorial

Building Scalable Page Navigation with WordPress

The following video provides an explanation of how to use Sort Order in WordPress to set up logically organized and scalable page based navigation.

What You Need to Know about SEO, Pt. 5

Previous Sections:

Part 1:  What is SEO and Why Should I Care?

Part 2: Does SEO Really Matter?

Part 3: What should I expect from SEO?

Part 3: Part 4: How Do I know if Someone Pitching SEO Knows What They are Talking about?

Now: How to find a trustworthy SEO service provider?

Self proclaimed SEO experts are everywhere so finding a good one can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. There are several problems in trying to find a trustworthy SEO, particularly for the typical small/medium business owner or company. Not least among the difficulties is:

• The sheer volume of self proclaimed “SEO Experts”
• Knowing enough about SEO to know what you need (which can take months) but not get snowed by a fly-by-night expert
• It is nearly impossible to compare SEO experts side-by-side
• Pricing can be all over the place and can have many variables such as vendor availability, interest in your project, depth, …
• Notoriety might point you in the right direction but can’t be counted on for making a decision
• The Search Engines themselves don’t really help you understand what to look for
• Discerning “claims” from “facts” can be extremely difficult

So what to do? While it’s challenging, it’s not impossible to get good help and there are a few strategies at least that can assist:

• Ask for case studies and read them carefully, also research them yourself. If the case study says they got a site to 1, 2 or 3 on the first page of a Google search for “x keyword” then go and see where that search leads on Google. Things change, but as long as they are within reason and the study is fairly recent it can be a good sign.
• Ask for references
• Hire an SEO consultant to help you vet and determine who the best firm might be to work with (this will cost you but will save you loads of time and money)
• While you have an SEO consultant working with you learn as much as you can

Some other things to look for:

• Again, case studies.
• Pricing model and what you can expect for the price
• If anyone Guarantees you a #1 Rank on Google be very cautious. SEO is complex and even if they can get you up there (briefly) there is no way they can be sure of sustaining that.
• Do they provide a sustainable framework with detailed plans for your SEO needs?

The reality of SEO is that it is a game with ever changing rules which require a sustainable plan to get results and keep them. Most SEO consultants (vs. firms) can help get you to first or second base, maybe even third but if you want to really optimize your SEO and get the biggest bang for the buck, you’ll want individuals who dedicate all of their time to this and who can back it up.

If you’re looking for SEO help or have a huge SEO project and need someone to manage it or consult with you, contact us to see how we can help.

Coming Up: Part 6: How long does the SEO process take? (hint: this is a trick question)

BlackBox Tech Now Offering Packaged WordPress Services

We’re proud to announce we’ve finalized and rolled our our packaged WordPress offerings. Our three packages (Essentials, Standard and Professional) offer an opportunity to get up and running quickly and affordably. Of course we’re still happy to provide a quotes on projects which have greater needs than what is offered in one of the packages. Feel free to contact us about custom projects or go get a packaged site and get started now!

What You Need to Know About SEO, Pt. 4

Previous Sections:

Part 1:  What is SEO and Why Should I Care?

Part 2: Does SEO Really Matter?

Part 3: What should I expect from SEO?

Now:  How do I know if someone pitching SEO services knows what they are talking about?

It seems as though every one is talking about SEO and pitching their services right now and as with any “hot topic” not all service providers are created equal. Whether you are being approached by an SEO service provider or are actively looking for one there are a few key things which can help you sort out many of the fly by night operations. If I were going to hire someone for SEO, here are the things I would look for:

1. Web Experience: In general, how long have they been in the game, even prior to the onset of SEO (as we know it now). Individuals with years of experience building sites, managing content, etc… should have a better undertanding of the big picture and how SEO fits into it.
2. Metrics: This breaks down into two parts. a) They should be offering you measurable metrics on which you can judge their performance such as an improved page rank, increased traffic, the number of individual pages on your site generating search traffic, the ratio of visitors to keywords and b) the should not be guaranting you the #1 page rank on Google. We all want the #1 page on Google for some keyword but SEO is an ever changing game and I would be skeptical of anyone making such promises.
3. Understanding the Evolution: SEO is an on going process, not something you do once and walk away from so if someone is talking to you about managing SEO on a month to month basis they aren’t (necessairly) trying to just pull money out of you over a long period of time, again, you should be measuring their success. However, they should be helping to train you or the people that write for your site how to handle their part of SEO (keyword rich writing, good titles, appropriate use of header tags) while they are managing the technical side.
4. Understanding Keywords: The SEO consultant should also understand how to target appropriate keywords and phrases to your business. This includes understanding the keywords and phrases that you don’t want to focus on. Keywords to avoid are more important in pay-per-click advertising where you are paying everytime a keyword drives someone to your site but if they aren’t targeting keyword/phrases then you still aren’t getting your money’s worth.
5. SEO takes time: As I said before, it is evolutionary, it doesn’t have to take a long time but don’t expect your SEO consultant to come in and drive traffic up by the time you get back from grabbing your morning latte’. If they tell you then can do it that fast be wary. There are ways to goose traffic for a short burst, get you excited, they take the check and head out the door as you watch your traffic dwindle back to its previous level. You are paying the consultant, learn from them while they are there.

These 5 things might not keep all of your enimes outside the gate but it should help filter out many of them. Not long ago my father was approached by someone pitching SEO and they dropped a long list of keywords in front of him  that his site was not optimized for. Obviously they didn’t know what his one and only son does and fortunately he called me. At the top of the list they caught a few that might have helped but it wasn’t long before the list off 200 or so keyword/phrases was for things like “home healthcare california,” the problem being my father is in New Jersey and operates locally. The point is, if someone cold calls you and drops a list like that on your desk, take a look and see if all of them really apply. There may be some keword/phrases you wouldn’t have thought of that might help but if they clearly don’t apply (like California to someone who only does business in New Jersey) then it’s an instant disqualifer for that consultant.

Coming Up: Part 4: How to find a trustworthy SEO service provider?

What You Need to Know About SEO, Pt.3

Previous Sections:

Part 1:  What is SEO and Why Should I Care?

Part 2: Does SEO Really Matter?

Now: What should I expect from SEO?

SEO is meant to help you accomplish one thing, increased website traffic via natural search (as opposed to paid search). To be fair, and SEO experts reading this have already figured this out, that this is a bit of an oversimplification but for purposes of this series that is the goal.  Ideally the appropriate use of keywords, titles, headers, descriptions and other elements of SEO will help people find your content.  There are many different strategies to get people to your site and SEO is just one but it is arguably the most important one.

The better your SEO the easier you make it for the search engines to direct people searching for what you are discussing.  Whether you are hiring a firm or consultant to help you with your SEO, or winging it on your own, you should expect higher ranking in search results for the keywords/phrases you identify and you should expect more traffic from those searches. You should not expect your site traffic or sales conversions to go through the roof over night, true SEO takes time and persistence though if executed appropriately, SEO can yield results in a relatively short period of time.

Up Next: How do I know if someone pitching SEO services knows what they are talking about?

What You Need To Know About SEO, Pt. 2

Previous Sections…

Part 1: What You Need to Know About SEO

Resuming our discussion on SEO, the question is “Does SEO really matter?” If you’re creating a personal site for friends and family probably not, but then you’re also probably not reading this blog. For anyone who cares about being found online, SEO matters. However, like a lot of things it is the topic du jour (along with Social Media) that will eventually become a regular part of how you manage your website rather than a specialty. Processes will become more automated and the competition for traffic more abundant. But if you want to be found online making sure that your site is friendly to the search engines which will be largely responsible for driving people there is a worthwhile undertaking.  More importantly it puts you ahead of the majority of people who won’t bother with SEO and puts you in the running with those who do.

Another reason SEO matters is because it is largely a business intelligence issue if done well, which is why professionals (upcoming post) will help. The mechanics of SEO are frequently not that hard, but like all tools, when put in the hands of someone who really knows how to use them, they become much more powerful.  The business intelligence of SEO comes from knowing your website and it’s visitors and applying and what you know (which is always changing and evolving) to your SEO. On that note, when I say “knowing” I really mean “knowing” not guessing, not intuition. I’m referring to solid analytics and analysis which lead to rational, informed decision making about optimizing your site. The long and the short of it is, if you want to be found online, SEO matters and doing it right is as important as doing it to begin with.

Up Next…”What Should I Expect From SEO?”

How to Craft Good Article Titles

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve had several conversations about blog titles and how important they are. While clever, quirky or even witty blog titles are tempting they may be on one of the easiest things to correct which is preventing you from increased readership. Since people tend to scan more than read online, a clear, simple, to-the-point title for your article is essential. Good titles do several things for you including:

1. Being good for your Search Engine Optimization: Make sure your title has the keywords that speak to what is in the article
2. The grab attention no matter the medium, remember, not everyone reads your site on your site, they might be using an RSS reader, DIGG, Google alert, etc… so if the title doesn’t clearly grab their attention they’ll likely skip right over it.
3. Relaying to the reader what they are going to read about.
4. Build trust with the reader. The learn that they will get from you what you say you are going to deliver.

All of this doesn’t mean you can’t get creative with your titles, ask questions in them to entice reading or even get a little humorous, but keep the following things in mind when you name your posts:

1. It should clearly, specifically and as briefly as possible articulate what the article is about.
2. Don’t use more words than necessary
3. After you write the article ask yourself “If I just scanned this headline, would I know what the article is about?”
4. Use terms that most people can understand, less jargon more plain speaking.

If you worry less about trying to be clever and more about just getting to the point you’ll likely reap the benefits and your readers will appreciate it.

What You Need To Know About SEO, Pt. 1

“SEO” or “Search Engine Optimization” is all the rage in Internet technology circles right now and purveyors of SEO services may be easily mislead, intentionally by unscrupulous vendors or unintentionally by the media and blogs.  So in an effort to help individuals and businesses looking for SEO services but wanting to avoid getting ripped off or simply making a mistake, I’m starting a series of posts on the topic aimed at would-be buyers.  This will not be a technical series but rather a business one. The questions you can expect this series of articles to answer include:

1. What is SEO and why should I care?
2. Does SEO really matter?
3. What should I expect from SEO?
4. How do I know if someone pitching SEO services knows what they are talking about?
5. How to find a trustworthy SEO service provider?
6. How long does the SEO process take? (hint: this is a trick question)
7. What is there to SEO besides SEO? the conversion question…
8. and probably a few others I’ll think of along the way…

To get off to a quick start I’ll answer question #1) What is SEO and why should I care?  Search Engine Optimization is, by definition, the practice of  tweaking or modifying various aspects of your website with the intent of improving your visibility to search engines and your rank or placement on them. In other words, it’s an effort to show up on the first page or two of a Google search, and as high on the page as possible, so that your website will get more traffic.  You should care because the search engines are the most prominent way people find the content they are looking for; and, if you are selling a product, promoting your business, or providing content which is paid for by advertising, traffic to your site = business opportunity = revenue.  It’s also important from a competitive standpoint because if your competitors are invested in SEO, and you aren’t, whether you have a superior product/service or not, you are diminishing your competitive advantage.

Never in history have the barriers of building a business and selling products and services been so low as they are in the Internet age; and search engines are, at least for now, the gateway to the internet.  Not ranking high doesn’t mean your business will fail, and successfully ranking high doesn’t matter if you can’t convert visitors to customers. But ranking well on Google, Yahoo, and MSN will give you a big leg up and and better opportunity to boost your bottom line.

Up next: Does SEO really matter?

.htaccess Loves You…

Chances are that if you have been working with WordPress over any measurable amount of time, you have encountered .htaccess.  Perhaps you were trying to configure permalinks?  Maybe you were trying to secure a directory?  Regardless, .htaccess gives you a large control over your site and your WordPress user experience.  In my opinion, a rudimentary understanding of .htaccess is crucial for bloggers and non-bloggers alike who self-administer their web presences.

Before we look at a practical application example involving .htaccess, let’s review what .htaccess is, what it governs and where it typically lives.  The .htaccess file is essentially a text file and, as such, can be edited by any number of text editors found out there today including notepad, ultraedit, etc. No big surprises there. The .htaccess file is usually found in the root directory of a webserver for a particular website (e.g. www.mysite.com/.htaccess). The location of the .htaccess file is important because it will affect what .htaccess has control of. In general, the .htaccess file will exert control over and cascade below to any directories and files under it. So, if you have an .htaccess in any directory underneath your root directory, the .htaccess file not have control or affect any directory or file above it in the file system. 

Next, let’s look at a real world application of .htaccess. One of the greatest utilities of .htaccess can be found in the ability to ban an IP or a range of IP’s from your site.  As usual, whenever I edit a file, I like to make a copy of the original just in case I need to revert back for any reason.  Usually, I like to rename files by adding the suffix:

.bak

or

.old

Use whatever naming convention makes most sense to you.

Moving on, let’s assume that the IP you want to deny access to is 123.456.789.0.  Open up your .htaccess file in your text editor of choice and use the following commands – one per line, please.

## USER IP BANNING
<Limit GET POST>
 order allow,deny
 deny from 123.456.789.0
 allow from all
</Limit>

NOTE: Two comments on this particular exercise:

• I am always one to want to comment my code.  Makes for easier maintenance in the future.
• One command per line, so make sure your text editor does not have a wordwrap feature toggled while you are editing.

Now, let’s go one step further with our example.  Let’s suppose that you have a _range_ of IP’s that you want to ban.  Personally, I’ve never run in to this particular scenario; however, you may have the need, so we will cover the potential below:

## USER IP BANNING
<Limit GET POST>
 order allow,deny
 deny from 123.456.789.
 allow from all
</Limit>

Notice the command to deny our sample IP is now missing the 4th quatrain of the address, in this instance, the ending “0″.  This command will now tell your site to refuse any connection from an IP with the prefix of:

123.456.789

Please remember that this is a small example of the power and utility of the .htaccess file.  I would recommend that, if you are interested in the topic, you refer to the official documentation on Apache Directives found on the Apache site.

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