Wordpress

30Aug

Top-5 WordPress SEO Plugins

Earlier today, I was storming through the blogosphere and reading many different top-5 and top-10 list of SEO and SEM Plugins for Wordpress.  It occurred to me that none of the articles I was reading had the exact combo that I liked.  There are many great examples of good SEO planning out there, but I felt it would only be right to begin postings explaining my own.  I'm not sure how long it will take to place my plan into post format, but over the course of the next few entries, I will explain how we've kept a customer on the first page for some time now, with barely any site maintenance.  Please join us in this, the first of many in this discussion.hidden linkshidden linkshidden links To begin with, let's discuss what I would think are the Basic Fundamentals of Wordpress SEO... (no, not content, I do realize it's number one on the list).  Beyond content, we have to consider what needs your site will have in being indexed easily by crawlers and bots.  For that, I suggest building a foundation with these Five Plugins for Wordpress.
  1. All in One SEO Pack - For those reading this article who are familiar with Wordpress SEO, it will be no surprise that the All In One SEO Plugin is at the top of the list.  This Plugin has turned some of the most mundane code into one of the easier experiences involved with developing and maintaining a Wordpress Blog.all_in_one_seo_pack1
  2. Google XML Sitemap– The biggest benefit of using wordpress is the manual labor you save because the software already knows where all of your content is. This Plugin submits a comprehensive index of your site to Google, Yahoo, MSN Live, and Ask.com (BING as well) every time you update your site. It’s a huge boost to your site’s SEO. The Sitemap also allows for some, not very much, but some control over the frequency with which the crawlers come by.google-xml-sitemaps
  3. Google Analyticator - Ok, so what's the point of generating lots and lots of content, if you have no idea who's reading it?  There are many ideas out there about why to use the Google Analyticator or Analyticor; most of those are dependent on what community you have to reach.  The benefit of knowing who you're reaching is that you can diversify your content/SEO Model for the demographics you wish to reach.  With the Google Analyticor, you'll have a constant gauge of how well you reach the target audience.avinash-kaushik-analytics-dashboard
  4. All Category SEO Updater - This Plugin offers more than just its SEO power.  While it offers the ability to stuff extra Meta into the category list, it has another added quality.   Have you ever had the nasty issue of attempting to add Category specific information to each Category Page?  If so, you've likely run into a bit of a headache.  This Plugin allows for a custom paragraph to be placed at the top of the content for each individual Category Page.  For those of you as long-winded as myself, this is an incredible bonus and makes for heightened customization of each CAT Page.
  5. SEO Friendly Images - SEO Friendly Images is a Wordpress optimization Plugin which automatically updates all images with proper ALT and TITLE attributes. If your images do not have ALT and TITLE already set, SEO Friendly Images will add them according the options you set. Additionally this makes the post W3C/XHTML valid as well.  ALT attribute is important part of search engine optimization. Whatever images are not viewed by the crawler bots can easily be substituted with ALT Tags.  This Plugin simply takes the hassle out of writing those Tags within the actual code (those of you who have know what a tedious experience it can be).
There are obviously more Plugins to help with SEO.  Depending on what your SEO Plan consist of, you may require many more, or just what has been listed.  In a posting later in this week, I will go into details of how to build a functional and transforming SEO Plan.  I will likely ask for Featured Content from some of the best in the business.  While we can offer quality suggestions for the SEO Development of local businesses within Illinois(especially Naperville), I will not discount the benefit of listening to those who are at the top of this business.
By SEO, Wordpress, 16 Comments
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28Aug

Improve Search Engine Crawl-from DailySEOBlog

Ok, I said earlier today that I barely ever re-post another persons work, , but it's not often that I find two incredibly written and informative articles in the same day. I also haven't had the most time to look around for good info in a few days because of work. Either way, I think that this posting deserves a read as well. The suggestions involved are ones that are valuable to know and sometimes we need to focus on more ourselves.hidden links Links within the posting have been left intact because of their weight and merit. At the end of the post will be a link back to the author. hidden links Enjoy seo-p

10 Tips to ensure better search engine crawling of your site

Even if you have an amazing site, sometimes you have to wait for ages to get some pages indexed and crawled on Google.  Why does this happen ? I’ve found many people complain that after building a great site, and doing the standard chores, waiting so long for the results doesn’t make any sense. Certain things just don’t happen as planned. Like certain pages on a site, doesn’t get indexed and if indexed doesn’t get the right visibility on the search engines. Strange. I can probably attribute all these problems to a couple of SEO factors. Let me try and explain them below.hidden linkshidden linkshidden links

1. Set a sitemap, with the right priorities

Setting a proper sitemap solves most of the problems often. But don’t take this lightly as we have many automated plugins to do the job. Many a times, the automated plugins need good tweaking to ensure that they have the right settings for your site. I have written several posts about sitemaps, like this one, check it out.

2. Publish articles regularly in a predictable fashion

This is not a  way to “control” how often the bots visit you. Google has its own algorithm to find out when it should visit you, but publishing more articles in a regular fashion sure does give Google clues on what your posting frequency is like. Nothing wrong in publishing articles in random, but I’d suggest you keep it pretty much in a predictable fashion so we make the process easy.

3. Link well contextually and often between posts

Cross linking between pages contextually is a great way to make sure that the bots visit all those pages. Contextual links are given more importance probably than any other link on the site, so make use of them.

4. Keep the directory structure simple

If you have a self designed website, make sure you keep the directory structure simple and not too deep. Having more directories to crawl will make the job difficult for the bots. Keep it simple.

5. Block the unnecessary pages with proper SEO techniques

Along with making sure that all the pages are crawled, also make sure that the ones you don’t need to show up in the search results are blocked. (Like the TOS page.) You could use the Meta Noindex and the robots.txt exclusion protocol to get things done.

6. Make the navigation bar simple and accessible

Often I see websites with complex, fancy navigation bar annoying. I mean, it doesn’t have to be fancy to impress your visitors right ? You could use classy CSS styling to get elegant looks and still impress them. The problem with fancy navigation bars are that they often do more harm than good like not allowing proper crawling of the pages linked. There are various techniques you can use to make the navigation bar attractive and still allow smooth crawling, employ them.

7. Practice deep linking

Always practice deep linking (you shouldn’t be having a deep structure in the first place.) if you have a big and deep directory structure. Do not miss out linking to any directory/pages. Use clever linking strategy to link all the directories/categories and pages each other. If possible link to all the main category indexes right from the homepage.

8. Make use of proper anchor texts and internal text links

Linking to pages with images and other elements may also result in poor crawling of those pages. Use proper anchor texts to share the contextual factor among your pages and directories.

9. Keep the URLs simple and easy to remember

Confusing URLs are neither good for Google bots as well as visitors. Google bots love simple, meaningful URLs and visitors love URLs with recall value and those are easy to remember. If you don’t want to screw up things, keep the URLs simple and easy to remember (both for bots and humans). P.S – Google does not have any problems with seemingly confusing or meaningless URLs. They still make out the content from the page, however having meaningful URLs are a definite plus.

10. Use the homepage very well

The homepage as you know is likely to gather the most link juice and importance compared to other pages on the site. (This is just a general observation, but if a page gathers more links to it, it could also get more authority and link juice than the homepage.) Use the homepage well, and add more links to the inner pages from it, so they share the authority. Essentially, factors like how fast to index, how often to index and how deep to index are decided by the search engines. But to a certain level you can control their crawling speed and frequency. The points above are good pointers to this, hope they helped you.hidden links
By Best Design Venues, SEO, Wordpress, , , , 6 Comments
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28Aug

Ten Great Ways to Crush Creativity

Normally, we don't augment other peoples post to place on our site, but today there is an interesting posting on how our best intentions can cause our websites to suffer. hidden links I think this posting could be applied to any form of artistic or business and marketing plan.  We'd like to see what our audience thinks of this article posted on  lifehack.org . I hope you leave feedback on what thoughts you may  have.  A link to the source site will be placed at the bottom of the posting.... Now for the featured post written by Paul Sloane egg Leaders have more power than they realize. They can patiently create a climate of creativity or they can crush it in a series of subtle comments and gestures. Their actions send powerful signals. Their responses to suggestions and ideas are deciphered by staff as encouragement or rejection. If you want to crush creativity in your organization and eliminate all the unnecessary bother of innovation then here are ten steps that are guaranteed to succeed.

1. Criticize

When you hear a new idea criticize it. Show how smart you are by pointing out some of the weaknesses and flaws which will hold it back. The more experienced you are, the easier it is to find fault with other people’s ideas. Decca Records turned down the Beatles, IBM rejected the photocopying idea which launched Xerox, DEC turned down the spreadsheet and various major publishers turned down the first Harry Potter novel. The same thing is happening in most organizations today. New ideas tend to be partly-formed so it is easy to reject them as ‘bad’. They diverge from the narrow focus that we have for the business so we discard them. Furthermore, every time somebody comes to you with an idea which you criticize, it discourages the person from wasting your time with more suggestions. It sends a message that new ideas are not welcome and that anyone who volunteers them is risking criticism or ridicule. This is a sure fire way to crush the creative spirit in your staff.

2. Ban brainstorms

Treat brainstorming as old-fashioned and passé. All that brainstorms do is throw up lots of new ideas that then have to be rejected. If your organization is not holding frequent brainstorm sessions to find creative solutions then you are not wasting time on new ideas. Instead you are sending a message to staff that their input is not required. If people insist on brainstorm meetings then make them long, rambling and unfocused with lots of criticism of radical ideas.

3. Hoard problems

The CEO and senior team should shoulder the responsibility for solving all the company’s major problems. Strategic issues are too complicated and high-level for the ordinary staff. After all, if people at the grass-roots knew the strategic challenges the organization faces then they would feel insecure and threatened. Don’t involve staff in serious issues, don’t tell them the big picture and above all don’t challenge them to come up with solutions.

4. Focus on efficiency not innovation

Focus solely on making the current business model work better. If we concentrate on making the current system work better then we will not waste time on looking for different systems. The current business model is the one that you helped develop and it is obviously the best one for the business. After all, if the makers of horse drawn carriages had improved quality they could have stopped automobiles taking their markets. The same principle applied with makers of slide rules, LP records, typewriters and gas lights.

5. Overwork

Establish a culture of long hours and hard work. Encourage the belief that hard work alone will solve the problem. We do not need to find a different way of solving a problem – rather we must just work harder at the old way of doing things. Make sure that the working day has no time for learning, fun, lateral thinking, wild ideas or testing of new initiatives.

6. Adhere to the plan

Plan in great detail and then do not deviate from the plan regardless of circumstances. ‘We cannot try that idea because it is not in the plan and we have no budget for it.’ Keep to the vision that was in the plan and ignore fads like market changes and customer fashions – they will pass.

7. Punish mistakes

If someone tries an entrepreneurial idea that fails then blame and retribution must follow. Reward success and punish failure. That way we will reinforce the existing way of doing things and discourage dangerous experiments.

8. Don’t look outside

We understand our business better than outsiders. After all we have been working in it for years. Other industries are fundamentally different and just because something works there does not mean it will work here. Consultants are generally over-priced and tell you things you could have figured out anyway. We need to find the solutions inside the business by working harder.

9. Promote people like you from within

Promoting from within is a good sign. It helps retain people and they can see a reward for loyalty and hard work. It means we don’t get polluted with heretical ideas from outside. Also if the CEO promotes people like him then he can achieve consistency and succession. It is best to find managers who agree with the CEO and praise him for his acumen and foresight.

10. Don’t waste money on training

Talent cannot be taught. It is it a rare thing possessed by a handful of gifted individuals. So why waste money trying to turn ducks into swans? Hire our kind of people and let them learn our system. Work them hard, keep them focused on our business model and do not allow them to fool around with crazy experiments. Workshops, budgets and time allocated to creativity and innovation are all wasteful extravagances. We know what we need to succeed so let’s just get on with it. Ten Great Ways to Crush Creativity
By Best Design Venues, SEO, Wordpress, , , , , 4 Comments
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28Aug

Limos-Alive

Recently, we were asked to remake a website for one of the up and coming Limousine services in the Chicago area.  We were shown the original site at Limosalive.com and asked what we could do with it.  After a check through the SEO grading tool at hubspot's Grader Tool, we found its score to be an 8 at best.  8 out of 100 is certainly a sign for needing some help.  We've gladly taken on this challenge and have been working on a highly functional finished product at Limosalive.net.   While building the site on a new, but similar domain, the original site never needed to be taken down, and the time of development has been far easier without the limitations of only one url.  I encourage you to look at the progress as we add to the new site.  Please compare it with the existing on.  There is a Java script associated with the .net version that i must still disable, so if scripts are not allowed, you may have to reset them to view the site we're building. Already, this site is scoring in the low 70's and will be within the top of the local limo services before Google even issues the next round of page-ranking. Here are some before and in progress pics, but more are on the way. If you enjoy this remodel, please feel free to contact us.  We are looking to improve the Chicago Web Design Community, and add whatever benefits we can to the Web Development of Illinois.
By Portfolio, SEO, Wordpress, , 12 Comments
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14Aug

Flaunt Party

flaunt partyLast week I was approached by two good friends trying to develop a social networking group for adult professionals.  My first response to their suggested idea was, "aren't there already enough of them?".  While this wasn't the most appropriate answer, they understood my response completely.  After explaining that it would be a party planning, match making and professional interaction site, I began to see their vision of a "one-stop-shop" adult social networking service.hidden linkshidden links While the idea has merit, they were running in to many problems with the build and development.  Since several Developers had written different portions of the code, none of the tags were right, and the site itself was barely visible to anyone on line.  When asked to boost the traffic ranking, I was instructed to give a basic idea of benchmarks for which to be paid for(obviously no one's paying for work not accomplished). They were ranked by Alexa at 5.9 Million and in the top 25% of internet traffic I submitted the following: I told them that conservatively, they could be ranked at 10% within 3 weeks.  While I believed to be able to do it quicker, I wanted to make a realistic promise.  That estimate was made last Thursday.  I am very grateful to say that today, Flaunt Party was ranking within the top 10.26% when it was only scheduled to be at 16% this week. By using inbound links and social networking, the site was able to double its traffic and visit time within one week, without even adding the keywords or Meta Description.  Both of these items are to be added soon, but during this developmental phase, the site must be prepared for the larger traffic that is coming. Please feel free to visit the site over the next few weeks.  It should be noted though, that while more functionality is added to it, Flaunt Party may have to be taken down for a couple of days.  Please visit frequently and comment here on what improvements you would suggest.  All valid ideas will be considered and approved.
http://flauntparty.com
Ambusha Web Site Directory Deep Link Index
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12Aug

Gem Pro Dj

karaokegraphicRecently, our friend Clint came to us with an idea... Take his Joomla site and turn it to Wordpress.  While not to disrespect Joomla as a building tool, it does have its limitations to building site traffic.  We will be working with this site and turning it into three autonomous Wordpress site. Please comment for suggestions on what directions you would see as beneficial. All comments will be taken seriously and thought will be given to any serious suggestions. The site can be found here hidden linkshidden linkshidden links Enjoy
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12Aug

Naperville Web Design

logonaperLocal web design in Naperville, Illinois is the calling for most of our business.  While we are located in Oswego, Illinois, the basis for our business model is to serve the area of Naperville with quality web design. We have found a warm market within the Naperville and Aurorahidden linkshidden linkshidden links areas.  While there have been the usual groups of scammers that give all designers a bad name, most of the area is comprised of respectable artist.   It truly is a pleasure for Brett and I to be welcomed into the community of web designers with Napervile. Christian logonaper
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01Aug

Haminal

Haminal.com is on the cusp of its re-release to the world.  Currently the site can be reached at haminal.com, but will be down shortly for maintenance.  We encourage all who have a supportive idea to voice it here.  While we don't work in any way off of public opinion, we also find it imperative to interact with our fellow artist in the community.  The site will be up at for a few days more, and its blog can currently be found here... http://sicksenses.com/haminal/ hidden linkshidden linkshidden links consham
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01Aug

Marishi 10

This is currently being built for a longtime friend of Brett.   Marishi 10 is driven by martial arts instructor Derek Thompson, also known for his work on Futurama.  This site is in the process of being revamped through Wordpress, and the domain brought back to life.  In the mean time, we ask that you visit frequently and let us know your thoughts.  Until domain security is completed, the beginning stages will only be viewable through his free wordpress blog, but this should be fixed within a few days.hidden linkshidden linkshidden links guitarshade2
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28Jul

Search Engine Optimization

process-seo In recent years, the claims have been maid that a company can place you on the first page of search engines with a fair amount of ease.  If such a day did exist, it has long since passed.  Presently, SEO is a complex and time exhausting process.  It does not have to be a pained task, but there is a requirement for time to be invested into it.  Fortunately, blogs and CMS have become the favored manner of boosting productivity and traffic to ones site. Becoming connected through other sites on line, along with key words tend to remain the only strong SEO theories that have true power above others.  It's not to say that other methods do not work, but I personally try for the notion of free before anything else.  A great article on SEO and Site Traffic was written by CNN Money HERE. There are also various outlets of ideas in boosting SEO and Site Traffic.  One group known as HubSpot utilize a website grading tool.  The results and tips given after running your domain through this program are quite beneficial to the basic output of ones site.  It would be highly suggested to begin small with steps like these.  Anyone who's conducted your site build should have included Meta Data, Alt Tags and Key Words for at least your main page.  It should be noted, if you have a Flash Based (Not Flash Included) website, you may be hurting on real optimization.  Because of its layout, flash player sites have very little if any text to be indexed by search engines.  They also take forever to load... Something the average visitor to your site may not be willing to wait through.hidden linkshidden linkshidden links One posting a week will be geared toward site developement, SEO or Wordpress. Thank you
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24Jul

Why RSS?

rss_what_it_is_480hidden linkshidden linkshidden links RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is an XML-based format for content distribution on the Internet. It’s an excellent pipeline for Internet users to get updated news content and online articles -- the stuff you want -- without having to search for it.hidden linkshidden linkshidden links When a new article is posted or a change made to a webpage, RSS keeps track of the changes and delivers them to you. RSS feeds are most often attached to text, images, podcasts and video, but they can be used with any document (word processing and spreadsheets) that has content that changes. If there are web pages you visit daily or regularly – let’s say you always read the front page of The New York Times and your best friend’s weblog – RSS eliminate the need to check for updates. Every time something changes on the page, it comes to you. RSS always shows the most-recent changes. One of the original uses for RSS is the ability to create a unique newspaper with new content waiting for you every morning. Beyond that, on the short list of things RSS can do is make it easy to search for and organize information about a particular topic, keep up with your kid’s homework, track packages, find cheap airfares or follow e-Bay auctions and sales. You can get your horoscope, search for jobs, read your favorite comics, get software updates, keep up with other people’s schedules and follow calendar listings for your favorite clubs and venues. You can see what others are saying about your favorite sports teams or keep up with what others are saying about your favorite (or least-favorite) celebrity. All without surfing through pop-up ads, slow downloads and poorly navigated sites. RSS saves time. It’s as simple as that. With Wordpress, RSS functions are automatically built into the page.  Having a feed available to your viewers makes the page more responsive to them and search engines.   This is on of many tools available to help bring more traffic to your site. -site- whyrss.com
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