Why CMS?

Why CMS?

CMS stands for content management system. It is a software based system for creating a website.You can either code a website from scratch or you can use a CMS.

Coding a website from scratch can be a very arduous and expensive way of creating a website. Everything must be coded from scratch. Whereas, a CMS created website you can leverage the structure of existing templates and the software core to have a jump start on the coding. You start from a base and customize from there.

CMS has allowed the website creation companies to be able to create affordable websites for smaller companies! No longer do websites cost 10's of thousands of dollars. You can have a very creatively designed website now for just hundreds of dollars.

Remember though, having a website and having a website that is "found on the Internet" are two different things. Anybody can make a website but not everybody makes websites with on-page SEO created right into structure of the website......

Click here for an example of a CMS created website

More to come.......


Jeffrey Dean
Owner of LMS Website Services
www.lmswebsiteservices.com
248-804-9744

Professional Looking Website VS Do it Yourself Website

Comparing a professionally built website with one of those "do it yourself" websites is a self serving subject. Since I create professional looking websites packed with good SEO juice, I'm probably biased!!! Well, not probably, I am biased. But for good reason....

There is a huge difference in a professionally created website. I will just give you some facts and let you decide for yourself.

In my experience, I can always tell when a "free" website was made by the owner of the company. (Free is really not always free in the end now are they?). Sites that you get "free" from like YP.com or ATT when you sign up for a listing (and here is where "free" is not really free since you are paying to be listed and your "free" website is included in there.....) are short on features. They look homemade. Kinda like when you look at someone's landscaping. You can always tell if the homeowner did it themselves or if they had a professional landscaping company with a landscape designer come out and do it for them. Same thing with a website.

Through the years I've looked at so many websites that you could tell were "home made". Now, is this really the impression you want to give your customers? Probably not......

A professional website looks professionally made. Your customers will go online and call you because your website says "professional company".

These particular types of websites (home made websites) are probably worth what was paid for....nothing!

Now some of the free online website creation services are much better than these "homemade" websites but are still, in the end, do it yourself websites. I will give them credit for appearances (which is important) but what about SEO (search engine optimization). They do have tools to use to help you in this but really, what do you know about SEO? With your limited knowledge of SEO do you really think you can get the results of a professional?

With Google constantly changing their algorithms how can you possibly know how to get yourself found on the Internet. And if you can't get found then what good is a website?

For example, there was a time that back links would give you great relevancy with Google and really kick start your ranking. The reasoning was, the more back links the higher the ranking. The higher the ranking, the higher you were found on Google (and let's be real, if you aren't on the first page of Google than you really aren't anywhere. And I know that the 2nd and 3rd pages are "good" too but most searchers don't even go that far). Well, now if you have too many "low quality" back links Google may even penalize your site and drop you completely off the radar (see my previous back link blog).

Have you ever heard of the Panda update? How about the Penguin? These are things a professional website creation company knows about and the average Joe doesn't. So there is incredible value in using a professional firm that can do the right thing for your company.

So if you are serious about getting into the 21st century with your marketing and you have a "homemade" website, you probably aren't getting the results that you anticipated. Creating a website built from the ground up with SEO in mind will be a great start towards your marketing goals.




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

Is Your Website Mobile Optimized?

Mobile friendly websites........is your website Mobile friendly?  Because if not then your missing out on a very important aspect of Internet marketing.

First of all, Google wants your site mobile friendly.....need I say more? If Google wants your site mobile friendly then you should make your website mobile friendly. With so many people these days searching the web for just about everything, your website should show well on mobile devices.

People that search on the go (people on the road) want their information fast. They want convenience and speed. If your website loads slow or is not optimized for mobile then these people will go somewhere else. They want simple and fast (did I already say fast??). They don't want to have to search your website on a small screen that is hard to navigate on their mobile. Google knows this and is rewarding sites that are optimized for mobile (so they can enhance their users experience) and penalizing sites that are not mobile friendly.

Two ways to make your site mobile friendly. Either have a separate mobile site that links to your main site or have a responsive website design.

A separate site can be a simplified version of your main site. Something easily navigated with a link to your main site so people can go there if they want to.

A responsive website "responds" to the device used to find your site. If a tablet, then the website will adjust its size and rearrange its components to fit the screen size. If a mobile device, same thing. Your site will appear differently on a desktop, tablet or mobile but it will still be your main site. Google prefers this method. They want (as of now) responsive sites.

Ok, nuff said about mobile optimized sites for now......



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

Optimizing Google+Local Step 2

Okay, sorry about the long delay between posts but I've been slammed.

Step two of optimizing your Google+Local page. Once you've verified your listing on Google+Local, now you need to fill out all of your companies information. So enter in your company address, phone number, website URL (this is very important because if creates a quality back link to your site), hours you are open, a description of your products and services. Fill out everything you possibly can. The more thorough you are the better. Upload lots of pictures that show your company in a great light.

One of the most important things you can do is fill out the description portion of Google+Local. And when you do, you will need to fill it with all of the keywords that pertain to your company. Any keyword that you want to rank for and is prominent on your website should be optimized here. Just cram this description area with loads of keywords (how to find important keywords in your specific field is a subject for another day).

So, anywhere you can put in your keywords as you fill out your Google+Local form, should be taken advantage of.

Lastly, you should link your Google+Local page URL to your website. And vice versa. You will already have a back link to your site when you enter in your website address, so now you should add something to your website. For ex: On my site at LMS Website Services I have put the words "See our Google+Local page" and then linked it to the URL of my Google+Local page. So it links both ways.

Well, that's it. If you follow these procedures you will have gone a long way towards getting listed first in the Google+Local area of Google's search results.....



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

Optimzing Google+Local

Optimizing Google+Local

Well Google has changed it's local search results from Google Places to Google+Local. This is Google's local directory. Kind of like it's yellow pages for all local business's. Being found in Google+Local is not hard.

Google will index your site and if your company is located in a certain city, let's say White Lake Michigan, then anybody searching for your type of business in White Lake, Michigan will show up in Google+Local.

Now here's the rub. Even though every business based in that city will be listed in Google+Local, not every business will be on page 1. Some will be pages back. Is that where you want your company to be?

Okay then, one thing you can do to be optimized on Google+Local and be found higher up in the rankings is to optimize your name and company description when you claim your company on Google+Local. Oh yes, I almost forgot, you will need to claim your listing so you can optimize it and manage it.

You will need a Google account and/or a gmail account. Once you have these you can go in and search for your company on Google maps (go to maps.google.com. Once there you can search for your company. In the search bar at the top, put in the name of your company and address or city where you are located so Google has some information about your company and will find the right one.

Once you do that you should see companies listed on the left side. Click on the "reviews" link for your business and that should take you into the listing. If that is your business you can scroll down and you will see a box that says "is this your business?" and "manage this page". Click on this link and claim your business.

You'll need to verify your business to prove that you are the owner. That's step one.....

More to come on the next step in optimizing your Google+Local page so you can be found on the top of the search results in the Google+Local area....




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

More Stuff on Back Links

Okay. Naturally occurring back links. What are they??

Naturally occurring back links are the links to your site that other sites have mentioned (put in) in their blogs or on the websites (or many other places on the web for that matter). Gone are the days when you could put a "links" page on your site with lots and lots of links to other sites in exchange for them putting  a link to your website on their "links" page. This was called link exchanging or reciprocal links (which aren't all bad, more on this later).

Google sees a page full of just links to other sites as link farming and not a "vote" for that site. Google will penalize this practice if it becomes blatant enough.

Naturally occurring links happen, well, naturally. For example: Say we are a carpet retailer and we mention some of the carpet mills that we carry carpet from. It our content we "link" the name "Mohawk" to their website so customers can go to Mohawk's website to check out the newest styles, colors and trends. That would be a naturally occurring link and Google gives that link high value. In most cases anyways (we don't want to get into every aspect of linking because we could be here all day!!).

So, part of every business owners job is to try to have an ongoing link strategy that will help build their brand (like this blog is doing for us....lol).

Good back links are harder and harder to come by these days and gone are the days of buying low quality back links in bulk.

More to come.....


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

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