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 

Don't need a website huh?

Don't Need A Website Huh?

It always amazes me when I run across somebody who has a small business or a local contractor and they feel like they have no need for a website. In this day and age, everybody is on the Internet for everything. Even they look on the web when they need something but still feel that they don't need a website.

Acquiring Customers

I have one local contractors who we built a website for and performed some basic SEO. He has told me that he gets approximately 2 or 3 calls per week from his site (and he hasn't even had his site for a year yet!) and is booked out over 4 months. He's looking to get a business loan so he can expand his business. He also told me that his site has paid for itself 50 times over.

Another customer of ours has told me that she has doubled her business in the first year that she had her website. Doubled!!

With these types of success stories, I am truly astounded when I run across somebody without a website and they have no interest in getting one. Don't they know that everybody that needs their services or products is buying from somebody that does have a website.

Nuff said.......

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

Why Have a Site Map....

Having a site map for your website is a great idea.

There are two main reasons to have a site map. First, a site map helps visitors navigate around your website. They can pull up a static site map that is on your website and find where they want to go very easily. A static site map should be comprised of every area that is on your website so visitors can see the structure of your whole site on one page, right in front of them. Of course, the site map should be linked so the visitors can just click on the area that interests them and go right to the page.

Secondly, a site map that is a great way for Google and the other search engines to be able to index your site. Submitting a site map to Google will get you indexed faster. You won't have to wait for Google to stumble upon your site because you are letting Google know that you are there.

Site maps are a great idea and should be used for just about every site.




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