Back Links

Stuff About Back Links

Google likes back links. The more links you have from other sites that link to your site is a vote for your site. Google sees all the links that link to your website and they see that as a vote of confidence for your site. The more "votes" your site has, the more relevant Google finds your site. The more relevant your site, the more page rank. The more page rank, the higher you go in Google's search results. And that's what we all want don't we? To be found higher and higher on Google's search results.

If you can sift through all the directories on the first page of Google, you may be able to find some of the relevant sites that pertain to your search.

In my experience, the first page of Google search results is filled with directories such as: Yelp, YP.com, Angie's List, Manta, Merchant Circle etc. And it goes on and on. So every time you search, let's say for a retail carpet store, you will be inundated with directories and probably see about 2 actual carpet company websites on the first page (that is in the organic search results).

Why is this? Because the large directories have teams of SEO (search engine optimization) people constantly working on this aspect of their online marketing campaigns. And they have lots and lots of back links that link to their site.

SEO is a constantly evolving thing. And Google's algorithms keep constantly changing (for our good they say) so it's hard to always get and keep your website on the front page of Google.

Every back link you acquire will transform to a vote of confidence to Google. So getting back links (high quality links from high quality websites) is a highly desired thing. Do not under any circumstances partner with a company that promises lots of back links for a price. These will be low quality back links and Google will see through the strategy and penalize your site (this is a very bad thing).

Back links should happen naturally.

More soon........


Jeff Dean
LMS Website Services LLC
http://lmswebsiteservices.com

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody from LMS Website Services. Remember the reason for the season.

Jeff Dean
LMS Website Services

Get Your Web Site Found Locally

Have you ever searched for a local company and get confused by the myriad of search results that show up? There was a time when you could search online and your results would generate local business's for you to contact.

Now, when  you search, the first page of Google may only have 1 or 2 local business websites that will show up. The large online directories have been dominating search results in a way that can be annoying when you are just trying to find a local company to do business with.

A typical page in Google's search results will yield three main areas. The top area (and side area) is the paid ad area, then the main content area and within the main content area you will have the third area which is Google My Business (formally Google+ Local).

Typically, the top and side paid area will be shaded slightly so that you can tell that it's the paid area (even though it can be hard to see sometimes. You really have to look close to see it). This is Google's way of generating money for itself by selling these placement ads that will insure that your website is at the top of Google. This can be a relatively inexpensive way to be found up high on Google but the costs can add up quickly if you don't monitor your activity. (Google does allow you to set your daily spending limits but sometimes just one click can use up your daily allowance which means you are done for that day and your website will not show up again until the next day). This is one way to be found on the first page of Google but not the best way! People tend to distrust those paid ads (since they are paid after all and haven't worked or earned their way to the front page of Google by their relevancy!!).

So, being found organically is by far the best way (and normally the cheapest way in the long run). SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the term used for the work that is done to increase your website's relevancy which will in turn get it climbing up the search result's ladder. The main content area will be the organic search results (I will speak more on this at a later date).

Today we focus on Google+ Local. The local search result area. Google will find your website and display it here if the address for your company is physically located in the city which was searched for. For example: if someone searches for "website creation company highland mi". Then hopefully every website creation company that has their physical address in Highland Michigan will be listed in the "Local" area in the search results that are displayed.

Ideally you would like to get listed first in this partitioned area. Good optimization of your Google+Local listing will get you listed first or at least up high on this list (it is not alphabetical). There are a number of things you can do to optimize your Google+Local area.

Next Blog: Some simple things you can do to optimize you Google My Business listing.....

Jeff Dean
Owner of LMS Website Services LLC
http://lmswebsiteservices.com

Why Have A Website......

Why does every business need a website?

Did you know that in a recent survey by Inc. Magazine that over 75% of consumers search online for a local company to service their needs? And that other surveys put the percentage even higher than that! When was the last time you used the phone book to locate a local company? Even the phone book companies are building an online directory because they know that the days of the phone book are numbered.

Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY (maybe not grandma but everybody else), searches online these days. Either through their home computer, smart phone or tablet. If you are not online (your competitors are trust me) than you are missing out on all of that business that is looking for your type of company.

People I talk to tell me that even if a friend or relative refers a company to them they still go online and check them out. If there is no website then that company loses credibility. For some business's, credibility means everything.

Your website is your storefront. If you don't have a traditional brick and mortar store then your website becomes your only storefront. If you do have a traditional brick and mortar store then your website becomes your virtual storefront. When I used to run a retail store for a large floor covering chain we learned soon enough that the outside of the store was the "first impression" that the customers got when they approached the front doors. This "first impression" would carry over into their buying decisions when they entered the store. The same goes for your online storefront. If it looks great. If it is simple to navigate. If it shows well to the consumer then you have a great chance of getting that customer to actually call you or come to your store.

Have a website! Have a great looking website! Generate more business! Easy, huh??

Jeff Dean
Owner, LMS Website Services
http://lmswebsiteservices.com

Special Features on Websites

Okay, you've built a company website. You've researched and optimized your keywords (and put them in the right place). You've added images and have optimized those images and optimized your keywords within those images. What else?

Most high quality websites will have all of the above but will also have some special features. For example: if your company sells products then maybe you should have an e-commerce solution. Or maybe if you run a singles ministry at church, you may want an event calendar that shows all of the events that are planned for the month. That's just two  of a myriad of special features you can add to your website that will make it unique and interesting.

Contact forms are a great idea for a website. RSVP forms have their place too! Making your company website interactive is a great way to get your potential customers involved. If you own a restaurant then you could have reservation system in place so your customers can reserve a day and time for dinner. News sites could have an RSS feed that would bring in constant new content with breaking news. People could sign up for news alerts to be sent directly to their cell phone.

I have lots of customers with an email client installed onto their website. From this extension, the business owner can design (or I can design them for them) and send out email blasts to their customer base with new offers and news about whats going on. If designed correctly, they can send these emails out free of charge. This will be a huge savings going forward for these particular business owners. The pricing of email marketing has been getting very expensive. This is where having a way to send your own emails can really pay off. And you can launch these emails directly from your website!

An art gallery (or an artist themselves) can create a feature rich art gallery right on their own website. You can show off all of your newest art. You can combine a gallery with an e-commerce extension and show and sell your artwork right from your own website.

Special features on websites create excitement, function and interaction. Websites have come a long way from the original sites that just provided content. People want to get involved. Does your site create that option? This is just one way to upgrade your website.

Nuff said for now, eh?


Jeffrey Dean
LMS Website Services
http://lmswebsiteservices.com

Adding Images To Your Website

Okay, you have a new company website and you have researched your keywords that are relevant to your industry. You have populated your website with the relevant keywords and optimized your keyword density. Good start. Now what's next?

Pictures. No website will look appealing and draw customers interest unless you have some visual beauty on your website. Pictures will draw interest. Pictures will also show what your business is all about. In the early days of the Internet, pretty much every site was just a collection of text and content. Websites were very informational and were not very visually appealing. Now most websites will have pictures, videos, downloads, interactive content and more!

Visually appealing websites are a must these days. For the consumer and for Google. Now you will have to optimize your image content. Page speed is a big consideration with Google so you must optimize your images for faster load time. You will also need to optimize keywords in your image alternate text as Google will consider this also.

Adding images and video to your website is good but must also be aesthetically and strategically placed. Good design is important. You will need to keep these considerations in mind along with keeping your website clean, simple and easy to read. The consumer doesn't want to have to spend a lot of time trying to navigate your site. Remember, when it comes to a well constructed website, the consumer must be considered and Google also when designing your website.

In website design, the consumer looks for a visually appealing website, ease of use and content that is relevant to their search. Google on the other hand looks for relevant content, page speed, optimized images and video, fresh and new content, relevant back links and lots more......

If you thought building a company website was as easy as going to one of the many free or low cost website builders online then you were mistaken. As you can see, there are many many considerations to consider when building a high quality website. Building a website is critical for your companies success so you should build it right.

This is the third installment in this series on building a high quality website and dealing with consumer interactions and Internet marketing.



Jeffrey Dean
LMS Website Services
http://www.lmswebsiteservices.com

What's next?

Okay, so you have a website for your new company. Now what?

This is the second article in my new series on a new company's online presence and continued interaction with consumers and potential clients on Internet related services.

Having a website is a great start but where do you go from there? You need to get yourself found on the Internet. Google wants all of it's search results to be relevant to the searcher. People search for all kinds of things on the Internet and Google wants to be your preferred search engine. So it is important to Google to present relevant results when people search for things.

So Google has provided certain information to webmasters to insure that rules are followed thus insuring quality search results for their customers. Having a website is not enough. You need to be aware of what Google wants so that you can optimize your site to conform to those wants.

One important thing to remember is Google wants high quality fresh content on websites. If you are providing fresh content on your website, Google's search bots will find this when they crawl your site and rank you accordingly. This is one of the myriads of ranking factors involved when ranking your site albeit an important one. Probably the most important ranking factor!

So having unique, new and quality content is very important to where you will show up in search results (of course this also takes the most work).

Also, when writing your unique and high quality content it would be wise to know which keywords are important (and words you would like to rank for) and populate your content with these words. Google will add importance and relevancy to any content that provides a higher keyword density score (You can overdo this so be careful. Too high of a keyword density score and Google will assume you are trying to game the system and will penalize your site and thus your rankings!).

To sum up: New high quality content, keyword rich content and ever changing content is an important factor in whether you will show up in search results! This cannot be understated.

More to come......


Jeffrey Dean
LMS Website Services
http://lmswebsiteservices.com

Is Having a Website Enough?

When you start a new business, you will need a website. A company website will accomplish much. It provides legitimacy and vital information about your company. I'm always astounded when potential clients say that they don't need a company website. Everybody, and I mean everybody, goes on the Internet to find anything and everything these days. If you're not there then you're missing out!

So, is a website enough? Just build it and they will come? Well, not likely. You will need a website that can be "Found on the Internet"!

Do you know what it takes to rank higher in Google's search rankings? What about optimizing meta tags, description tags, title tags? What about the importance of site speed? Do you even know how to test for site speed? Is your site mobile ready? What about citations? Do you have any?

These are all very important facets of your online presence. Having a website is extremely important. What you do with it is just as important. Are you using your website to bring in new business? How about leveraging your Facebook page with the home page of your company website. Are you adding fresh new content to your website?

So many things to know. So many things to do. Just keeping up with all of Google's new algorithms can be a full time job.

Having a company website is a great start. But after all, it is just a start.......

This is the start of a new series of articles that I am writing about companies online presence and continued interaction with consumers and potential clients on Internet related services.

More to come!

Nuff said for now......

Jeffrey Dean
LMS Website Services
http://www.lmswebsiteservices.com

Are Domain Names For Individual Cities a Good Idea?

Being found in local search results is a great thing if you are trying to increase your business in your area and surrounding cities. Google gives you a leg up being found in the city where your business is physically located. But how about the cities surrounding your local city that you also service?

Most business's that I handle always want to be found in the cities surrounding their home city. How can this be accomplished?

Probably the best way to be found locally (but outside of your home area) is to create landing pages that are optimized for each individual city that you would like to rank for. What are landing pages? They are pages of your website that people will "land on" when doing a search for the services you provide. For example: let's say I need to rent a dumpster and I live in Holly, MI. I would go to the Internet and enter in search something like this- dumpster rental company, Holly MI. Google will then compile results based on my search criteria and present them in a well ordered fashion, starting with the most relevant (based on their own algorithms). How does Google decide which websites to show and how high in the search results? Well that's a totally different subject but suffice it to say, they have lots and lots of algorithms that compile results based on their own search criteria and what they deem as relevant. Some of them they will let us know while others are kept a state secret. So we use our best "guess" in those cases but based upon current knowledge of how Google works we can usually come up with a strategy that works within Google's framework and get websites to the top of the rankings.

But this blog today is not about the importance of landing pages but about putting the specific city name in a domain name. What do we mean by that? Well let's say we own Billy Joe Bob's Plumbing LLC and we reside in Milford, Michigan. Google will impute to us a high ranking for anybody searching for a plumbing company in Milford, Michigan. However, in Brighton, Michigan not so much. So how do we get found in Brighton, Michigan?

Landing pages is one way. Another way is to put the city name in your domain name. I have found that Google will give you more page rank if the city is in the domain name. So, using our example from above, if Billy Joe Bob wants to be found in Brighton, he can purchase something like this: Brightonplumbingcompany.com. Having the individual city name in your domain name will increase your relevance for any search using that city. Now remember, content is still king in the world of search results so whereas you will get a boost from having "Brighton" in your domain name, the content on your webpage is still the most important factor.

Think of your individual search results as an accumulation of a bunch of different factors. The main factor is probably page content. Factors such as: page content, keyword density, using specific keywords in general and which ones to optimize, meta tags, title tags, header tags, meta description etc. There are many factors which determine your page rank. Down the list of important factors is having a city name in your domain name. Now, if you have a city in your actual company name then that will be a great factor in your ranking in your home city. Google gives great importance to a company that has a city or state name in it's actual company name. Something like: Michigan Plumbing Company. Every time someone searches for "plumbing company Brighton MI", Michigan Plumbing Company will get some consideration because it has Michigan in it's name and the searcher put "MI" in it's search criteria.

So, is putting "Brighton" in your domain name a good idea? Well, in general I would say, it depends. You will get a boost from having Brighton in your domain name but it depends on how you use it. Remember, content is king and a keyword in a domain name is just one factor (and not the most important factor) in Google's ranking system. If you purchase a domain name with Brighton in the name then the best way to optimize this strategy is to have a one page site that you will land on when people search for a plumbing company in Brighton. That way you can optimize the content with the domain name. Then link your one page optimized city site to your main company website. Google's search bots will follow and index the links between the two web pages and the main webpage content will impute into the one page optimized city site.

This is one strategy that should be part of a bigger overall optimization plan that works in harmony to get the most from your SEO. Another way to link the two domains together is to redirect one domain to the other. This is not as good as having a one page site optimized for a certain city and linking it back to your main domain name but it will still show a path to Google that the cites are linked. How do you do this? First, you purchase the domain with the city in it (Brightonplumbing.com) then you redirect it to your main domain name (Billyjoebobsplumbing.com). Now you have two domain names for your company but really only one website to represent it. While not having a one page website attached to that second domain name (which is the best way) you will still get a boost from any search that includes "Brighton" in it's search criteria.

So, to sum up, having a city name in your domain name works great if you are physically located in that city. If not, it still will give you some SEO juice but works best if used in tandem with a one page city optimized webpage. Remember, with there being a myriad of factors involved with a website's page rank, the best strategy to use will include using all methods together to create a well balanced strategy that will get you found on the Internet. One factor alone will not suffice to get your found.

Nuff said for now, eh?



Jeffrey Dean
LMS Website Services
http://www.lmswebsiteservices.com

Do You Have a Backup of Your Website?

Backups. Do you have a backup of your website? Backups are important ! If anything was to happen to your website then you would have a way to restore your website to it's original form.

So many things can happen to your website. Your host company's server could crash. A hacker could break into your site and install malicious code and you would have no idea. Or they could crash your site. If a hacker wants to break into your site, there really isn't much you can do about it. You could have all the security measures in the world for your website but if a determined hacker wants to get into your site, they will.


If something bad were to happen, what would you do? If you have a backup (located off site from where your website is hosted) then you can just upload all of your website files and overwrite the existing site. This will normally take care of the problem and should restore your site to it's original look. But it's important that you keep an updated copy of your site on your local computer and not on the same server that your main website is on.

Backup early and often. You want to make sure that if you were to lose your website that the backup copy is the most updated form of your website. Otherwise you will be reinstating your site to an outdated version. So make sure your backup is a replica of the most updated version.

Are you backed up (you know what I mean)?

Nuff said......



Jeffrey Dean
LMS Website Services
http://www.lmswebsiteservices.com

Some SEO Stuff (Keywords).....

Understanding keywords and keyword search.....

Being found high up on Google search can be easy or extremely hard. It depends on so many things. Today we will focus on keywords, keyword phrases and search terms.

For example: let's say we own a plumbing company. So we do a keyword search to find the most searched for terms in the plumbing industry. Keywords and keyword phrases such as plumbing, plumber, home plumber, plumbing repair, toilet installation, drain cleaning and so on....(anything somebody may use as a search term when they do a Google search).

As we look for the most searched terms we can then know which keywords and keyword phrases that we should populate our website with. If there are 96,000 searches a month for the keyword phrase "home plumber" and only 1,200 searches a month for the keyword "plumber that will come to my home" then of course we want to use the keyword phrase "home plumber" over and over again in our content. Here is where I will mention keyword density. Keyword density is basically how often a keyword appears in the content text of your website compared to how many overall words are there. If you have 100 words or phrases on your website and the keyword "plumbing" shows up 10 times then your keyword density is 10%. The more your target keyword shows up in your text the more relevant Google finds your website for that particular keyword. So if someone searches for a home plumber and you have "home plumber" listed numerous times on the home page of your website then Google says "Hey, this site is really about home plumbers" and they rank you higher for that search term and display your website higher in the search results. 

You must understand that "home plumber" is not the same keyword as "home" or "plumber". If someone searches for "plumber" then your site will register because you have that search term but Google's algorithms knows that your main keyword is really "home plumber" and not plumber so you will get less SEO juice. You will still get some but not as much as someone searching for "home plumber". Google knows what you are trying to get across and will index you accordingly.  You may appear on the first page of Google search results for someone searching for "home plumber" but on page three for "plumber".

So if you want to rank for "plumber" and for "home plumber" then you need to optimize both terms and increase your keyword density in your content for both.

Now here's where you can't get greedy. Let's say after doing a keyword search you find all of the keywords and keyword phrases that most people will use to find your company. Then you cram your website with keyword phrase after keyword phrase. You go for the world record of keywords jammed into one home page. You think that will ensure you are found number one on every Google search. Well, not so fast.

Google is not stupid. They know when someone is trying to job the system. If they perceive that your website content doesn't read naturally, that it has so many keywords and keyword phrases in it that it is an obvious attempt at ranking high in search then Google will penalize your site and your website will plummet in the rankings. So there is a balancing act between having enough keywords dispersed throughout your site and having it read naturally.

So, you need to find the correct keywords and keyword phrases to populate your site with. Then you need to have them in the text of your site and have them appear often and appear in a natural way.

Now, you may do everything right and still find yourself on the 2nd page of Google search results and you wonder why. There are many many reasons for this. Let's name a few here:
1. Other companies in your profession also have a webmaster who knows these things and they have optimized their site too.
2. Other sites may have more quality back links than you do (other websites that link to their site).
3. Other sites may have a longer track record with Google and thus has Google's trust and thus will almost always show higher up in search results (this can be combated)
4. You may be located in a city with lots and lots of competition. They all are trying to be number one on Google (and everybody can't be number one!)
5. You may be in a city with no competition and therefore easily rank number one because nobody else is in your area (landing pages can work really well here to get a site ranked high in a certain geographical area where there is little competition)

Lastly, I would like to touch on keywords that have low search volume. Normally you would like to rank for the most often searched for keyword or keyword phrase. If your website ranks well for a large volume search term then you have a great chance of showing up more often in people's searches. But keep in mind, the higher the search term volume, the higher the competition. If you choose to rank for a low volume search term then maybe you will always show up high in the rankings for that particular keyword. Since it is a low volume search term, very few will optimize that keyword or keyword phrase. If you are the only one that optimizes that low volume keyword then you will always show for that keyword or keyword phrase because Google finds your website relevant for that low volume keyword and doesn't find other sites relevant at all. Not many searches but no competition either.

Nuff said for now, eh?

Jeffrey Dean
LMS Website Services
http://www.lmswebsiteservices.com

Google's New Algo and How It Affects You.....

Mobile Friendly Ranking Factor.......

Google is rolling out a new ranking factor for mobile. On April 21st, 2015 Google is adding an algorithm to it's mobile ranking system that will benefit any website that is "mobile friendly". Google realizes that more and more people are searching the web with their mobile phones and tablets so Google wants every (or the most possible) website to be mobile friendly.

What does mobile friendly mean? It means that when people search and find a website on their mobile phones, the website will "fit" into the screen size. Google realizes that people will scroll up and down on their phones to peruse a website but they don't like to scroll side to side. Traditional websites were sized to fit the desktop. They didn't fit the screen size of tablets and mobile phones.

In recent years webmasters have started to install a mobile friendly template onto their sites so that when people found them on their phones, the site would "fit" within the parameters of the phone screen size. One drawback to this solution was that the mobile template (the overall look of the website) was, in many instances, different than the main website itself.

So webmasters started looking for a different solution. What they came up with (and what Google prefers) was a responsive style website. What needed to be done was somehow the website itself would have to realize what device was trying to access it's files and then present the website in a manner that was consistent with the device itself. In general, this is how it's done. Within the core coding of the website itself, code would be imputed that would control the way the website was presented on the end users device. So, for example, if someone on a cell phone was trying to find LMS Website Services, then the site would realize "Hey, a cell phone user is trying to load me". This would trigger the code behind the scenes and the website would reconfigure itself and move certain elements around so that they fit the mobile phone screen size in a pleasing manner. No scrolling side to side. No small text to try and read. The text would re size itself also to make it more readable on the smaller screens.

Does Your Website Fit All Screens?

In the past, a website that was not mobile friendly would rank just as high as a site that was mobile friendly but as of April 21st, that will not be the case. Google wants all websites to be mobile friendly and they will rank (and show in search results) mobile friendly sites higher (everything else considered being the same). Google's intent, in my opinion, is in the end to only present mobile friendly sites in their search results. They want the user experience to be enhanced and a non mobile friendly website showing on a mobile phone is, in their opinion, not a good user experience. So now that mobile friendly appears in Google's algorithm (affecting page rank and position in search results), this would be an important time to reconfigure your website to be mobile friendly if it isn't already.

So, is your website mobile friendly? If not, your position in Google's search results is going to be adversely affected. As the times change, Google changes so we must change. Get your website mobile friendly. It's important!

Jeffrey Dean
LMS Website Services
http://www.lmswebsiteservices.com

Smush It....

Continuing in the vein of site speed concerns, this week we'll tackle image optimization.

Back in the day, lots of websites had text only. Or content. They were mainly for informational purposes only and how they looked was a secondary concern. These days websites are used for anything and everything so how they look can be paramount. The use of images, videos and any other number of features is what makes a website look great. People won't spend much time on a website that has text only and looks boring. People want to spend time on a website that is visibly entertaining. A website that will stimulate the senses.

So the use of pictures is a great idea to beautify the appearance of any website. The problem arises

Optimize Your Images

when the pictures are too big. A website with lots of images that are 2400px by 2100px will load slowly. Even if the image has been scaled down by the web application, the original image is still huge. So when a browser downloads a website with lots of large pictures it takes a lot longer to load.

Every picture on your site should be optimized to load quickly. One way of doing that is to only store images on your site that are the actual size that you want presented on your website. Even then the image can be smushed (optimized) so that it takes up even less bandwidth and space. So when the web browser loads your website it will load much smaller and thence much faster.

All images should be scaled down to the optimum size and then smushed (optimized) to even a smaller footprint before loading them onto your website. This will ultimately speed up your website which will help your Google rankings.

Nuff said......

Jeffrey Dean
LMS Website Services
http://www.lmswebsiteservices.com

Stuff about CDN's.......

Some general information about CDN's.

As we continue down this road on site speed and how fast your website loads we will explain in very simple and general terms how a CDN works.

Using a CDN will provide faster site loading time and some added site security. CDN (content delivery network) is technically a network of servers located in strategic areas around a region or the globe. All websites are loaded from the server where the site files are located.

Let's say, for example, you are searching for a company that sells wholesale flooring products. For our purposes we'll say this company is located in China. They have a website that is hosted by a company located in China (this hosting company is where the website files are sitting). You, being in Atlanta Georgia, are trying to find this company's website. Without a CDN, your computer will go over the Internet and pull these website files from the hosting company in China. So what you see on your computer is a website that was pulled from China.

Now, that's a long way for that website to travel to get to your computer. That takes time. Sometimes too much time. Most people will not wait for that website to load if it takes too long and will try a different company.

A CDN is a host server that will store most (not all) of that website's content (including images and text) in a location closer to you. Let's say that the CDN is located in New York. So now, most of that website that you are trying to load is located in New York and not China. This website will now take much less time to load since it's coming from New York. The idea is for search results in Google to load fast and for all of the websites served up to load fast thereby increasing the user's experience.

CDN's aren't for everybody. If you own a small plumbing company in Fenton Michigan, then you really don't care if your website loads fast for someone searching for a plumber in Beijing! However, Google still uses site speed as a ranking factor so even though your website may not need a CDN to serve your potential clients, you may want to use a CDN anyways.

CDN's cost money so any choice to use one must be leveraged against the increase in traffic that may or may not occur. Spending money on a CDN to increase your site speed ranking that doesn't lead directly to an increase in website traffic and hence more business for you should be carefully considered. High traffic sites should probably use a CDN whereas a smaller, locally owned company who is just trying to service his small local area probably doesn't need to spend the money. Of course every case is different and should be considered on an individual basis.

Now you probably know more than you ever cared to know about CDN's, eh?

Nuff said......





 Jeffrey Dean
LMS Website Services
http://www.lmswebsiteservices.com

Site Speed Continued.....

Continuing in the same vane as last week, we will look at site speed issues again this week.

I just came across a blog that did a review on free (not really free) or cheap (not really cheap) website creation companies that offer a "build it yourself and save money" type of business model. They will push the fact that you don't have to have any knowledge of coding. You can build a website with the drag and drop method.....

Lots of things wrong with this.

1. You are restricted to what they offer when it pertains to customization. You can't customize your website any way you want because they only offer certain looks and layouts. This can be a huge problem or no problem at all depending on what you want to accomplish with your website.

2. Lots of extra code is included in every website you build because all of the tools you use to make your website are coded into the website behind the scenes. This creates a low quality website with lots of clutter in the code. This can affect your Google rankings, site speed and other loading factors.

3. What about keyword search. They will offer some SEO tools but how do you know how to write your on page content. Probably one of the most important factors in Google rankings is your on page content. Which keywords are most searched for in your industry and how do you include them in your content? How will Google perceive your keywords? What about keyword density? Have you ever heard about that? Which keywords do you want to rank for? These low cost, DIY website creation companies won't help you with any of this will they?

4. What about Gzip compression, image sprites, optimizing your images for site load speed, smushing your images, parsing your javascript, minifying your CSS, HTML and Javascript, leveraging your browser caching etc, etc, etc? What are these low cost website design companies doing for you in these areas? These are all important issues in site speed performance.

A great site to use to check your site speed is GTMetrix. They will measure your site performance using Google's Page Speed Insights and Yahoo's YSlow.

This is all important stuff when it comes to Google ranking your site and how relevant your site becomes to certain searches. Anybody can build a website but can anybody build a website that will have built in value? Just because you have a website doesn't mean you will be "found on the Internet". Building a website the right way takes knowledge. Knowledge of what Google wants. Knowledge of how to get your site shown on the first page of Google. Otherwise, really, what is your site worth if it can't be found because it was built cheaply without any of these considerations in mind?

Next week CDN's.......(what the heck are CDN's? Tune in next week and find out....)

Jeffrey Dean
LMS Website Services
http://www.lmswebsiteservices.com

The Growing Importance of Site Speed....

Site speed. Or loading speed. In other words, how fast your website loads.

How fast does your website load?

Google is putting more emphasis on how fast a website loads. They feel that a faster loading web site enhances the user experience. And Google is all about the end user experience. Google has come to realize that people don't/ won't wait for a slow loading website to appear. If a site takes too long to load, most people will just exit out and go to another site in the search results.

You don't want this to be your site. A website that loads too slowly and hence provides a low quality user experience. If your site is slow, Google will lower your rankings. Lowering your rankings will cost you in the search results. Of course site speed is not the only factor in site ranking but it is becoming increasingly important to Google and plays a big part in where you will be found in search results.

Knowing this, we must do the things required to speed up your website. This is an integral part of
current SEO strategies. Also, increasing your site speed will be an ongoing task. You won't just optimize your site once and figure all is good now. We need to constantly monitor our sites to make sure they are still loading at a fast pace.

Some things that can be done to speed up your site are:

1. optimize your images for file size
2. minify your javascript, css and html code
3. leverage browser caching
4. avoid landing page redirects
5. enable compression
6. reduce the size of above the fold content
7. use CSS sprites
8. and lots more really....

There are a couple of online tools that can be used to look at your site speed. Google developers will use page speed insights. There is also Yahoo's YSlow and GTMetrix which will test both for you.

Page speed is getting more and more important all the time so it is worth it to spend some money on having your site speed looked at and optimized. Your Google rankings will thank you!

Jeffrey Dean
LMS Website Services
http://www.lmswebsiteservices.com

Keeping It Simple Yo.....

Keeping it simple. There are a lot of websites out there. Some are very complex and serve a certain purpose and some are very simple and serve their own purposes.

There are times when having a huge, complex website is a good thing. Some large companies have so much to say and provide for their intended audience that their sites must out of necessity be large and complex. They want to have everything on their website to serve their potential customers. Even though this is a good thing, these sites can be cumbersome and hard to navigate sometimes.

Most people just want to get on a site, find what they need and then get off. In these days of wanting everything now and wanting them fast, we must, as webmasters, take into account how the consumer uses these websites. I find myself researching things on the web and am amazed at how long it takes to accomplish this simple task.

I was looking into base layers the other day (something I can wear when it's cold and when I'm hiking) and by the time I was done, 2 hours had passed. I couldn't believe how long it took just to look into which type of base layer was the best and why. How much they cost and was the price of the higher end base layers worth the additional money or should I just go with a mid grade base layer and save the money. So many things to consider. My preference would have been to find out all these things is less than 2 hours. Maybe something like 10 minutes would have been nice.

So the question arises. Why would it take so long for such a small task? I found websites that I thought would give me information that I was looking for but found that they didn't really help me. It took me a while to find the correct website that gave me the answers I was looking for. This is what Google is striving for. To present relevant websites to people that are searching for certain things. So that they don't have to take 2 hours to find everything they want on the web.

So one of our strategies here at LMS Website Services is to keep it simple. Most of the websites we build are simple and to the point. Presenting the critical information to the consumer while resisting the urge to complicate things with a lot of worthless content.

Remember, most people don't want to spend 2 hours on the Internet looking for what they want. They want to get on, find what they want and get off. So a simple, beautifully made and presented website has value to the customer and to Google. Don't forget, we have to please the customer and Google at the same time. After all, the customers won't find you if Google doesn't present you to them.

In summary, you should have a website that is simple enough so the customer can easily find what they want in a timely fashion. It should look great (simple doesn't mean it looks cheap or skimpy). The consumer will judge you and your company by the presentation of your website. Remember, your website is an extension of you. It represents you. It's the first impression a potential customer has of you (and we know what they say about first impressions). Your website should also present to Google what you are all about so they can present "you" via your website to your potential customers. Your homepage should have your company name and phone number in a prominent spot which is easily found by the customer. It should have the basics of what you do so the customer will know quickly whether you can be of service to them or not. If yes then they will normally continue to peruse your site for all of the pertinent information that they require.

The end result will be a call to you to inquire about your services and how you can be of help to them in their particular situation. And that's all good.....

Nuff said for now, eh?

Jeffrey Dean
LMS Website Services
http://www.lmswebsiteservices.com

Some Reasons for Having a Website.....

So what are the reasons you should have a website if you own your own business. Well there are plenty of good sound reasons to have a website so let's just name a few, eh?

1. You can have a website for marketing reasons. If you've ever paid for print advertising or yellow page ads then you know how expensive those types of marketing can be. They run into the thousands of dollars and once the ad is gone, it's gone. Now on your website, you can create an ad for a fraction of what the print ads will cost (and I mean a fraction). And once you've created a marketing page on your site, you can leave it there forever if you want to. It'll never "be gone" unless you want it to go away. For that matter, once a page is made, you can put it up on your site, then take it down and put it up again at a later date. It'll always be there (whether it's live on your website or not). It's not like print ads where they're here today and gone tomorrow (which means you have to get more bang for your buck while the print ad is running because like I said before, once it's gone, it's gone). And so is the money spent on the ad. So let's hope you got your money's worth with that print ad. Whereas the website ad will continue to draw customers for you for as long as you want it showing on your web site. Now that is a great value!

2. A website will not only draw you new customers but it will also substantiate your business. Lots of people won't use a business that doesn't have a website. They feel like: no website then the business maybe isn't legitimate or maybe a fly by night company. They just feel that if you have a website then maybe you'll be around for a while. They feel like the website is a permanent structure and makes you trustworthy to deal with. Trust me, this is how customers think. So having a website for your business is essential in most cases.

3. You can use your website to inform people and customers of what you have going on. Maybe you have a sale on a certain product that your supplier is closing out. Maybe they have a couple of water heaters they are closing out cheap. You can use your website to announce this "great deal" that you have and you just may find a customer that is looking for just what you have to offer. Somebody that would never have found you otherwise. Or you are offering a limited time deal on some sort of service. Like maybe offering furnace checkups at a discounted price in the fall. You know people are looking to get this done before the cold weather sets in and they will be looking (online of course) for deals on this service. They may as well find you (unless you don't have a website of course......) because then they won't find you!

4. Another reason for having a website is to let potential customers know about you and your services. Letting them know your hours of operation and if you have a store then letting them know how to get to your location. This is a place that you can let customers know how long you've been in business. You can put testimonials on your site letting customers know just how great you really are.

I can go on and on about why having a website is not only essential to any business in the 21st century but is cost effective, informational and another way for customers to get a hold of you. What are you waiting for?????

Nuff said.......

Jeffrey Dean
LMS Website Services
http://www.lmswebsiteservices.com