Internet and Touch Screens

Internet and Touch Screens

2014’s new technology trends will continue to change the way we do Internet business and put user experience to the top of the list. This is a brief theory for you to read.

In the last month, I have been browsing new laptops and desktops, to replace a few office computers. I noticed that the majority of manufacturers with Windows 8 OS have gone to touch screen. Not only have they gone touch screen, but they are forcing the market on all laptops and desktops. Even Google’s Chrome books are getting into it.

So, it looks like a melding of device platforms? In my opinion, I believe we are experiencing the development of OS for a Smart Phone and Tablet being hybridized in Laptop and Desktop computers.

What does this mean? Well, let me reformat my question. What does this mean to the end user and the internet experience? The question I have asked will be the most important topic for this year and the following year!

The Technical

What will happen to HTML and XHTML? I do not think anything will happen to them. If anything, some web designers will try to solidify that it is no longer needed and will only use it to wrap their “proprietary code” and then charge you extra for this new feature.

I am not a code person, but I do know the basics and I will be the first to say, stop blowing smoke! Over the last few months, I have changed my demeanor to be more friendly, toward web designers. Yes, new code formats will have to come into play, and companies like Apple, Google, and Windows will have to agree to be more cordial in interfacing their platforms with each other.

When smart mobile devices became more common, websites had to have a separate mobile platform. I used to argue that there was no need for that theory, or if anything, it should already be included in any web-design. HTML was the deciding factor until the big players started wrapping their code in “native” and the website URLs for mobile became m.url.com rather than url.com/mobile. I see things will finally go my way now that the touch screen PCs are all that is being sold.* It will return to one website for all platforms.

Across the board we will see website platforms being updated, to be more touch responsive. Eventually we will see a blur between traditional websites and mobile websites. As it is right now, with the exception of some of the HTML platforms, the old web platforms are not very friendly to touch enabled PCs and laptops. This will affect user experience!



Written by Rustin Hawver, Director of Internet Marketing, Vision Interface

Peacock Exposed

Is Google’s new animal algorithm “Peacock” real? It seems to be the new scuttlebutt these days, just like “SEO is dead,” and “Mobile SEO is in.” I have listened to my top adviser who said that it has not really came out yet, nor is it what some say it is.

What we have learned is that it is not an algorithm to penalize horrible looking websites. It may penalize “poor functioning websites.” These are websites with broken or poorly coded formats, or slow load times. A website’s slow load time is usually because of large pictures or complex flash elements.

I will emphasize that your web page optimization should be a key element before you publish it to the market. We are starting to see data that tells us that content is slowly coming back, so your message needs to be extremely clear and easy to understand. The website has to be engaging in order to keep your bounce rate low. Images have to be the right size for the page load times to be low (I’m still seeing websites with huge images), and then make use of alt tags for those images. Google has no real way of seeing an image, nor evaluating the aesthetic value of a website. If being pretty were the case and Google could see it, flash would still be a major factor. However; thanks to HTML 5 you can get really close to a flash website and create some really engaging layers and web effects, but your opening page must have content! If your opening page or home page is all images and code with very little content, you make it hard for the web crawlers to read and index your website. I will also add that a properly coded website, with correct title tags and message, will fit the so called “Mobile Search Engine Optimization” criteria. This is only half of the game.

The best thing to have on your website is a way to track everything. To understand your ROI, you have to know that everything is trackable on the internet!

Here is a list of all of the known algorithms with a brief description.

Panda: Targeted content, which is scraped or spun.

Pirate: Targeted unauthorized usage. This is websites that illegally use content such as copy written material, music, images, and video.

Penguin: Targeted unnatural link building, over-optimized anchor text, overused link sources.

Farmer: This was just a supplement of Panda. It targeted websites with the same content. The algorithm exists but it has been absorbed by Panda.

Evolution of Panda + Penguin: Targeted on page over optimization, over optimization of anchors, exact match domains, thin sites, bounce rate.

Disavow: targeted poor quality link sources, bogus blog networks, paid links, junk links, un-natural links.

These algorithms are a good thing for honest businesses and good internet marketing companies. What the algorithms do is get rid of bad link strategies and poorly coded websites. They also penalize the ones that do not play by the rules and are trying to make a quick buck at the expense of the public or corporations.

In retrospect, your website site should have:

1.  Excellent “Code” and working “CSS.”

2.  Excellent content with proper “title tags.”

3.  Clear and consistent message.

4.  Engaging content that keeps people on the website.

5.  Internal linking and anchor tags.

6.  Correct “alt tags” for images.

7.  Proper SEO foundation that is natural and ongoing with respect to traditions and changes in search patterns. SEO is long term and will never be dead as long as there is an online market.

For more about our services check out our website at http://www.v-interface.com. If you have a question or topic you would like me to post on, send me an Email at rustin@v-interface.com

Rustin Hawver has been part of Vision Interface as Director of Internet Services for two years. His experience goes back to 1997.

Is your website an accident waiting to happen?

We were working with a client yesterday, explaining how organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) works.  We talked about how It works with various blogs, websites and social media that start creating a buzz about your website.  As we talked, his comment was “so …. It takes the accident out of your clients finding you on-line.”  When I heard this, I knew he got it! I thought how many of us, throw something up and just hope that people find it.  We don’t plan or strategize, who we are reaching out to, or if we are even reaching out at all… nor do we calculate the return on that investment, which our websites may bring, if positioned in the right place, saying the right thing.

Attached are a few steps to take to take the accident out of reaching your potential clients:

1.        

Know who your potential clients are!

a.       Both on –line and off, 

                                                               i.      What are their ages and gender

                                                             ii.      Likes and dislikes

                                                            iii.      Their technology use (computers, smart phones, ipads, etc, )

                                                           iv.      Their time use?  -  When are they looking for you?

                                                             v.      Where do they hangout?  (Facebook? Forums? )

2.       Write your content with a few things in mind

a.       Your readers and conversion rate… does your website have a call to action?

b.      Does your website load fast?

c.       Is it easy to navigate?

d.      Are your Key words correctly placed throughout the website?

3.       What is your level of marketing?

a.       What can you realistically spend on getting your message out there?

b.      What modes do you want to use (both on and off line).

c.       Find out who you can trust to help you get your message out and heard, and at what level.

(Shameless plug) We can help you refine your message and get it out through organic SEO services!  We can make sure you reach your clients on purpose, not just by accident!

Out with Panda, in with Penguin.

 Rustin wrote this informational article for SEMA about two months ago. I was reading it and thought it was worth passing on for those who got caught in Google's algorithm changes. Sorry I am late in re-posting. Let us know what you think... feedback is always welcome!

OK SEMA Online Marketers! The new google algorithm is called Penguin. Once again this is directed at Bad SEO and over SEOed websites! Unlike Panda this one is more aggressive. If your doing things out of the normal routine, then you are in jeopardy. If you are trying to beat Google's pay per click advertising with link juicing or any means of manipulations to gain a higher ranking. WATCH OUT! None of our websites have been hit. I doubt that they ever will, because we do things on a natural level. So to re-cap on your website. 1. Have good content that is related and meant to be about you. Have plenty of content. It needs to be 45-55% of your code. 2. Title Tags are extremely important. So make sure you have the right keyword in the right title tag, and keep them short. All title tags should be less then 70 characters including spaces. 3. You don't need to be keyword rich on your home page. Spread them around. Put your main keywords on there and spread the rest around so it looks natural. 4. Stay away from generic keywords, you will loose every time! What I mean is, stay away from keywords like Ford, GM, and Chrysler. How many people are actual going to find your products or service just through those three? 5. With number 4 said, then an excellent keyword search is a must. With a good keyword search you can actually gauge what your competition is doing how many people are searching to buy or hire your services, and it shows what level of competition your going to be at. 6. Keep your anchor texts down to a minimum. you need to be below 60% 7. Have proper Branding! If you don't know who you are, chance are the search engines and your future public have no clue who you are. (you can't be found) If your trying to become number one in Google rankings with the keywords you have; you must be paying anywhere from $500 to $5,000 plus per week in pay per click adds. Google has stated they would rather give discounts to it's PPC clients if they followed the rules. So you need to really look at your website. Does your website convert traffic? SEO people get into trouble for saying that they can guarantee sales and conversions. They are wrong. Some of the Top SEO experts that I have rubbed shoulders with said this can't be done. They say we can send traffic, build cloud cover, and create high quality links that will send the right traffic ready to give you their cash. That's where the website traffic conversion comes in. I don't do website conversion, I only do SEO. I'm going to put this in military terms for what we do. If your a new website or internet business you have to send in the Marines for a full beach assault. So you need to do some reconnaissance (keyword search) Then you need to send in the Marines with the right directions. While your doing that. You have to have a good propaganda campaign to let everyone know what your doing and not get freaked out (this is where the authoritative comes in). You don't want to be perceived as the enemy by all of the locals. So you use press-releases, blogging from outside sources, ETC. This is where a good SEO technician comes in. We use all of the local and national buzz-makers on the internet to create a cloud of information around your website. And this brings quality web-traffic. If your website converts you will see a good return on investment.

Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Show

Every year we love going to the Bull and Gelding show, walking around and talking to the vendors. Or goal is to help those venders also improve their marketing and on-line presence.

This year we found that more and more have facebook and twitter icons on their cards. Others we talked to wanted to know more about it and few wanted nothing to do with it.

No one had any use of QR tags on their cards, labels or banners. These were what we focused on to share with the vendors.

You may have come to this blog from our brochure, where there is a QR code tag leading you here. You can use this same type of thing to get your potential client to your site or blog for more information or to be able to re-order product. They can be as plain or as detail as you want.

Contact us for more information to and get your QR tags working for you today!

Listen before you speak!

I was on a post of sorts where someone asked a business question and 20+ well qualified people answered with: 'check out our services", or "we can help you", or something of that sort. It kind of bugged me, cause no one asked for clarification, or exactly what that person was looking for, no one took time to listen to what the person really needed.

It’s always best to be the first responder to a question or a request for services. But, even if you are not the first, don’t just jump out there and ask for the sale. Take a bit of time and build some rapport. You have to establish trust before you can make a sale. Your reply should not be all about you and your services. Find out what your potential client needs, what are they looking for? Do your services fit their need or would they be better serviced by someone else? Even if you refer them, you will build a loyal customer for the future, because you are looking out for their best, they will remember that!

If you can fulfill their need, then move on to the sale part, quoting them a price and answering questions. The last thing is make sure your delivery is good! Over and beyond what is expected. If you do that, then they may speak highly of you on the web list or forum you first connected with them and you have a greater chance of garnering more clients of that list.

Just food for thought... In sells, it’s not all about me or my product. It’s about the client and their needs.

Creative SEO

As we grow and learn more about the ever changing world of internet marketing, we are convinced that nobody (admittedly, even us) quite nows how to use the internet correctly. Google and Facebook are still trying to define what and how they should best work with all the members searching, chatting, selling, shopping and playing games on the world wide web.

With all the noise out there, we are coming up against the age old question, how do I make my voice heard? Here is our solution: First, hire us to do your SEO... but then we will ask you who is your ideal client is...then put yourself in their shoes... what would they be typing in searching for your product or service? Intersperse these words into your content. Second focus on your links! Use the tools out there, the best one we recommend is Wikipeda and put your business on there properly, comment on relevant stuff, please read and follow their rules, and do donate to their cause. If you do it right, you have easily searchable credible link to your site.