Here are two examples that will help convey the importance of optimizing your website with local search keywords.

Scenario:
John lives in San Jose, CA and is looking online for a pizza restaurant that offers New Your Style pizzas.

John’s first Search:
John goes to Google and does a search for “New York Pizza”, the results are a list of Pizzeria’s in the state of New York .  Well, John is in San Jose CA so this search won’t help him find a local pizza restaurant.

John’s second Search:
John realizes that he did not include the local city that he lives in when he did his search, so he goes back to Google and does another search but this time includes the city he lives in: “New York Pizza San Jose”.
This time John gets a list of local San Jose Pizza restaurants that offer New York Style pizzas. And this is exactly what he is looking for!

In Johns second search every website that came up on page one of Google had the Keywords “New York Pizza” and “San Jose” incorporated into the content of their websites.

In summary, it’s important to have Local Targeted content on your website so that local customers can find your website when they search for your services!

By: Hector Moran
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A UVP is a great way to capture website visitor names and emails to build a database of website visitors. This database will become your most powerful marketing tool. With these emails you can send your prospects and clients’ newsletters, offers, surveys, and much more. The result will be a two way communication with your prospects and clients, which can later translate to more business.

Some items to think about:

How are you capturing visitor names and emails?

What Unique Value Proposition can you use on your website to engage your prospects and clients?

Let me know if you have any questions and I will be more than happy to give you some ideas and suggestions.

Hector Moran
Striking Web, Inc. – Small Business and Affordable Website Design Company
Remember! If you don’t have a website, you don’t exist!
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So let me get to the point:

1. Think about what your website represents to the website visitors that are looking for your services. For example if your website offers vacation rentals make sure that your website has the correct look and feel so that when you get a visitor to your site they get a good first impression. – Really understand your audience!
2. Make sure you have good content and good keywords setup on your website. Do spend some time making sure your website is optimized for the search engines.
3. Find out how your competition ranks so that you know where you stand with keywords you want to pursue.
4. Get other websites to link back to your website one way. The more good relevant links that you have coming to your website the better you will rank. This can take 2 to 3 months to create but well worth your investment.

Come back for the next blog posting that will have more information and tips on how to rank better on the search engines.

1. Before you even start to work with a web design company have a list of the types of websites you like.  This will be important information for the web designers and the project managers working on your project.
2. Think about what function your website will serve for your business.  For example will your website be a place for your visitors to come and view your catalog? Or will your website be a source of information about your services and products? Or will your website be an online store?
3. If you don’t already have a logo start to think about colors for your logo.  It always helps if you have a hand drawing of an idea for a logo.  We can turn hand drawings into beautiful logos.
4. Make a list of how many pages you will need for your website.  For example the common pages on a website are the Home page, About Us page, Services Page, Blog page, and Contact Us page.  Having an idea of how many pages you will need for your website will also give your Website design company an idea of what your project will cost.
5. Think about a budget, how much you are willing to invest in your website.  Remember that this is a marketing investment in your company and your website is your presence on the web.  Work with your Web design company if you have a low budget so that they can give you an idea of your options. 
6. Start thinking and start writing the content you want for your website pages.  If you need help with your content talk to your web design company.  They can refer you to a content writer.
7. Make a list of keywords and key phrases that you know people will use when searching for your services online.  Also, be sure to ask about Search Engine Optimization for your website.  Some web design companies also offer this service but if not they can refer you to an SEO company.  Keep in mind that this service requires a good budget and a commitment of at least 4 to 6 months.
8. Think about a Domain Name you want for your website.  Try to keep the name short and simple, but also make sure it relates to your business.  Keeping it simple will help people remember your website.  Good examples of short and simple domain names are names like google.com, yahoo.com , msn.com, facebook.com, etc.
9.  Be sure to ask your web design company how long your project will take. This will give you an idea of when it will be completed so you can plan accordingly.
10.  Last but not least, if a relative tells you they can do your website, unless that relative is me, I would suggest you contact a professional web design company. My point is that if you want your website completed in a few weeks you really want to work with professionals that create websites for small businesses!

Hector Moran

Oversized Headers And Logos:

 In this year, things are big and so are the headers and logos. These oversized logos and headers is that they help create a better impression on visitors and work extremely well for brand recognition.

 Hand-Drawn Designs And Sketches:

 Another latest trend is to have hand-drawn design. The big reason behind the growing popularity of these designs is that they look personalized and allow a personal interaction between the site and its visitors.

Interactive Designs:

 In 2010, you will find many sites with interactive designs based on Flash. The advent of sIFR, swfobject2.2, and other specific Flash technologies has made Flash-based sites accessible for search engines. So, be ready to see designers making use of more redeeming Flash elements now.

 Typography:

 Although many trends have just started capturing a large market, few trends from 2009 are still going strong. Typography, for instance, is one such trend that was extremely popular in 2009. You will again find new websites with typography as their basic design element in the year 2010.

 In addition, you will see more and more websites with Modal Boxes, Minimalism, Hub Images, Intro Boxes, and Oversized Footers. However, these are only few of the very best and latest website design trends. All of them are growing in popularity and that’s the reason why you should keep them in mind when designing a new website. In fact, it is a better idea to hire an experienced website designer, as he is updated with all these trends for designing a new site or redesigning an old one with the latest website design.

Let’s take a look at the Pro’s and Con’s of using a website builder service.

The Pro’s of using a website builder service:

1. Low cost to build the website
2. You get to choose from hundreds of pre-designed templates for your website look and feel
3. You get a simple website ready to go in a short period of time
4. Great for companies that just want a website on the internet and are not concerned about search engine optimization (SEO) of their website.

The Con’s of using a site builder service:

1. With low cost template site builders you usually have to put up with banner ads. These companies know they are offering the service at a low cost so they use your website real estate to place banner ads that make them money.
2. You can’t get a custom template. You have to choose from the templates offered to you.
3. Someone else can get the same design that you choose and then you won’t have a unique website design.
4. Because you are using a website builder application to setup your website you may not have the ability to make your website SEO friendly.

I could spend more time on the Pro’s and Con’s but the bottom line is that you get what you pay for.   Web developers are experts at building websites to your needs.  Let us do the work for you and we can save you time and a lot of headaches!

What are those factors? Enumerated below are a few of them, some more important than others.

A perfect website design will always have the right type of keywords fitted in right places. It is due to this important fact that you should proceed with designing only after conducting a thorough keyword research. Check for the keywords that your competitors are using, and then devise a better plan.

 Directory Structure:

For a better website, you should never overlook the importance of having an accurate directory structure. It is a good idea to plan a horizontal directory structure, as it provides quick access to the search engines to pick up different files.

Optimized Images:

One important factor to consider is the type of images that you have on your site. Images enhance the visual appeal of your site, and make your site more informative, but optimize them for size. Avoid making them look blunt, or that will hamper the downloading speed.

Flash Files:

Flash files help to design a mesmerizing site, but it is advisable to avoid them. It is true that search engines are now in a better position to crawl and index these files, but never let your love for flash block quick access to the text.

These basic, but extremely important factors can have an impact on the site you design, to represent your business. However, there are other factors that keep changing due to a change in SEO rules and search engine preferences. That is why it is better to call in an experienced designer to help you have a quality website design.

If your website is not designed according to the SEO principles and rules, then you are not going to see many people coming to your website. This is so because a web design for SEO is going to help search engines to index your pages, which in turn helps buyers and searchers to find your website. However, the burning question is, how on earth can a person choose a web design for SEO? In order to solve this issue, you need to choose a design that complies with the following factors.

Code Optimization:

When selecting a design, make sure that you check its code, which should be optimized. For a fully optimized code, you should also pay attention to W3C compliance.

Pay Attention To The Visual Appeal:

Make efforts to enhance the look of your site, but don’t go overboard with the use of flash and heavy graphics. This sort of web design is not suitable for SEO purposes.

Font Size:

Most people overlook this important point and end up designing a website with unsuitable font sizes. The font size should neither be too big nor too large. However, make sure you choose a web design with such a font size that is suitable for your target audience. For instance, if your website sells insurance products to retirees, it is important to have a larger font size. The font should be smaller if your website is geared towards young audience.

These are just a few important features to consider for a better web design for SEO, but there are many others as well. Due to the complex nature of SEO web designing, you should try to get in touch with professional and experienced designers. That is a better way to put up a website that lures a lot of visitors.

Facebook History:

Founded in February 2004, Facebook is a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and coworkers. The company develops technologies that facilitate the sharing of information through the social graph, the digital mapping of people’s real-world social connections. Anyone can sign up for Facebook and interact with the people they know in a trusted environment.

Facebook Figures

• More than 400 million active users ( growing at about 50 million users per month)
• 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• More than 35 million users update their status each day
• More than 3 billion photos uploaded to the site each month (Amazing!)
• More than 3 million active Pages on Facebook
• More than 1.5 million local businesses have active Pages on Facebook
• More than 20 million people become fans of Pages each day
• Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans

Facebook Users

• Average user has 130 friends on the site
• Average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook (Wow, incredible!)
• Average user clicks the “Like” button on 9 pieces of content each month
• Average user writes 25 comments on Facebook content each month
• Average user becomes a fan of 4 Pages each month
• Average user is a member of 13 groups

Facebook Mobile Users

• There are more than 100 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
• People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice more active on Facebook than non-mobile users.

Ok, now that you have some facts about Facebook and its users.  Wouldn’t you say that it would be wise to represent your business on Facebook with a business page?  Who wouldn’t want to have the possibility of exposing their business to millions of users?  Who wouldn’t want to have their business take advantage of the viral nature of Facebook?

Seriously, if you own a business and you are not taking advantage of the exposure Facebook is offering your business then you are missing out on a HUGE opportunity.

If you get it and you need help setting up your Facebook page, and you’re ready to get some training on what to do, then give us a call!