Code Header Description Title

Everything You Need to Know About Meta Descriptions

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The meta description is about a 160 character snippet, a tag in HTML, that summarizes page content. Search engines show the meta description in search results mostly when the searched for phrase is contained in the description. Optimizing the meta description is a very important aspect of on-page SEO.

The function of a meta description for your page is simple: its main purpose is to get the visitor from Google to click your link. In other words, meta descriptions are there to generate clickthroughs from search engines.

What is Metadata in HTML

Metadata is information about your HTML document that isn’t visible on a page, but is in the search results. Metadata usually specifies the page description; author of the asset; the date of publication or the date of the last update; keywords, etc. Metadata is supported by all the major browsers such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera, and Safari.

Search engines don’t use metadata as a ranking factor in their algorithms and SEO experts discourage website owners from adding meta keywords to the HTML of a page. Why? Mainly because these meta keywords don’t help anyone with anything apart from showing your competitors what keywords you are trying to optimize your pages for. So better skip on meta keywords.

On the other hand, there are meta titles and meta descriptions which are still super important for any HTML document. In this piece of writing, we are going to explain how to write a meta description and what the benefits behind it are.

What is a Meta Description?

Meta descriptions display preview snippets for a specific page, giving a clear idea of your site’s content straight from the search results and encouraging users to click-through to your site. This makes it a paramount part of search marketing. A meta description is a short HTML attribute of about 155 characters – including spaces – and displays under the title tag and link in the search results.

Description in META tag

“The description tag is one of the most important elements shown to the users for the typed query. The meta description is presented as a snippet of your content. It tells your potential visitors what kind of information they can find on your web page.”

Optimal Meta Description Length

“The meta description is used by Google to present your website’s content on a search engine results page. The amount of characters that could be displayed is limited, though. Shorten the description of your site and try not to exceed 160 bytes.”

Meta Description Code Example:

<head>

<meta name=”description” content= “When migrating your website, there is always a risk to lose your keyword rankings. Discover everything you need to do to avoid SEO migration disaster.”/>

</head>

Meta Description in Search Results:

Meta Descriptions in Search

WordPress Meta Description: (by Yoast SEO)

WordPress Yoast Meta Descriptions

Its function is to summarize the content of a particular page. The better written your meta description is, the more click-throughs it drives. Meta description optimization is a necessary part of on-page SEO.

The best examples of meta descriptions come from search engines themselves. Anytime you want to check how to create yours, look at Google, Bing or Yahoo.

Is a Meta Description a Ranking Factor?

A meta description tag isn’t a direct ranking factor; however, there is a strong correlation between higher rankings and a well-crafted meta description. That’s because this short paragraph provides a unique chance to advertise your content to the searchers and convince them to read further.

A compelling meta description makes people click-through from SERPs, positively impacting your click-through rate. CTR already belongs to the list of behavioral factors that have a strong influence on search rankings.

Meta Description Length

Your meta descriptions should accurately convey and wrap up what your page is about within one or two sentences.

Search engines have limited space and aren’t capable of displaying long meta descriptions on SERPs. So the character limit of a meta description is 155 characters. – This is what can be fully displayed without any cut offs. Longer descriptions will end up being cut in the middle of what you wanted to say. So make them engaging but concise.

Search engines can also add some extra snippets to your results, making your meta description even shorter. So don’t go for the maximum meta description length, find your optimum instead. For instance, we usually stick to 150 characters.

Incorporate CTA

Your meta description should work for you. As the name itself suggests, it should be descriptive and written in a way that encourages clicks. The second part of your meta description should promise to benefit readers in some way and make them click in order to find out more. At the end of your description write “Find out more” / “Learn more” / “Discover more” or any other incentive to boost clicks.

Keywords in Meta Descriptions

Even if search engines declare that meta descriptions don’t improve your ranking (meaning, incorporating keywords is not a must), write them anyway.

As you can see on the screen below, when you type in a particular phrase into a search box in Google, like for instance – meta description – you are provided with a list of results with all the keywords appearing in bold. This also refers to keywords in meta descriptions.

Meta Descriptions Example

So including keywords in this short HTML snippet will at least draw more attention to your page when a user searches for a particular phrase. And this is a substantial advantage.

Use Rich Snippets to Enrich Your Meta Description

Structured data is a very useful element to add to your metadata. Depending on the type of content that you publish, factors such as ratings, price, and date of publication can determine whether a user clicks on your resource or not.

So always leverage rich snippets to make your meta description even better and more detailed for searchers. Add structured data to your results using WordPress plugin – schema.org – or if you aren’t using WordPress, you can use Google markup helper to help guide you through the process of adding rich snippets to your pages by adding the missing tags.

Uniqueness is Key

Make sure that all your meta description tags are unique on each page, as the repetitive ones can cause you some serious duplicate content issues. You can check the uniqueness of your meta descriptions using Google Search Console. Go to → Search Appearance → HTML Improvements → Duplicate meta descriptions. There you will be provided with the full report.

How to fix duplicate meta descriptions?

It’s best to rewrite them or entirely get rid of them. In the short movie above, Matt Cutts explains that it’s better not to have any meta descriptions rather than have duplicate meta descriptions across pages.

If no meta description has been specified, search engines will display an excerpt from the page instead. Search engines can auto-create a meta description by choosing the most relevant part of your text on a page. Matt Cutts suggests that in some cases, it can be the best solution, especially when you aim to avoid duplicate content.

Where to start if you have a big website?

Check out your best-performing assets in Google Analytics regarding sessions and the trial conversions they generate. To do so, go to Behaviour → Landing Pages and add the proper Goal.

Then, click on the sessions column to organize your data, and note the best volume pages down. Afterward, go to the goal column and organize the results in a similar manner, and once again, jot down the best pages.

This research should give you a clear overview of which meta descriptions to optimize first. The correct optimization of metadata should boost their performance.

However, independently from the research, start with your homepage.

Homepage Meta Description

The homepage meta description is a very particular case. This is your most valuable resource, so an excellent approach is imperative. Craft and optimize a meta description for your homepage first, remembering to incorporate your primary strategic keywords. Try to wrap it around a compelling marketing message that emphasizes your unique selling points.

Your homepage will usually show up in the search results along with site links underneath. Site links highlight other relevant pages that are deeper in your domain and are meant to help searchers navigate your website, as they enable to jump directly to a page of interest.

One-line site links, as well as two columns site links, are generated automatically by search engines, and the decision of what to display is based on the relevancy: what results can potentially be the most useful to a particular searcher.

You can’t decide on your end what will be displayed, but you can make sure that your results have great meta titles and meta descriptions.

So once your homepage meta description is done and well-crafted, the next priority is optimizing the metadata of pages that appear below.

Homepage meta description from Google

Once you are done, you can go back to the results of your research. Remember to follow all the rules included in this piece of writing! Finally, use the TurkReno On-Page Optimization tool to see if your meta description for a particular URL is correct. Go ahead, check them all!

Happy optimizing!

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How to become a website designer

How To Become Professional Website Designer

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Although every young web designer starts their journey from the same place, taking suggestions from the veterans in the industry goes a long way in treading the first few steps. From there, you have to write your own story. There are a lot of new creative minds trying to set their feet in the web design business. However, in a market that is already saturated, it is not easy to leave a solid mark. The right skills, expertise, intelligent decisions, and of course a spark of luck, is really what is required to reach your goal.

What really is a professional website designer?

A professional website designer is a computer professional who produces a website using web programming languages. Their job is to assemble websites, content and graphics creatively using technology, tools and computer software. These websites visually communicate ideas and information to the consumers/clients.

The projects undertaken by website designers usually include developing company websites, managing networks and servers, learning how the ICANN system works and how DNS is used in domains, creating company internal sites, managing social media sites, writing personal and professional blogs, and much more depending on the specific application. They are very engaged in creating content for search engines and social media like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, web pages, and usually have a say in the graphic design portion of the creative.

What makes a successful website designer?

Here are a few tips that will help you in establishing your career as a professional website designer:

Get professionally qualified

Though creativity is a natural flair, technical education is a must in almost any field. There are some steps one should go through before starting as a website designer.

  • Get a formal education – Undergo a formal training in the field of graphic design, web design, or visual communication.
  • A college degree or an associate degree would be helpful in knowing the fundamentals in this area. Design software like Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver are requisites for any website designer to learn and master. Other IDE softwares work. This can be accompanied by new tools and application knowledge as a supplement.
  • If a college or a diploma course does not seem feasible due to financial reasons, do your own self-study using textbooks and the vast sea of knowledge on the internet. Some great options for self-learning are Treehouse, Lynda.com, SkillShare, Kelby One, Creative Live, Codecademy, W3Schools and more.

Run your own network

We can’t stress how critical it is that a website designer have their own tools. That means their own network. This network needs to be a dedicated resource from a reliable hosting company like TurkReno Incorporated where there are no clouds and no shared environments. You can’t do this at somewhere like GoDaddy as they don’t sell anything but crap. It is absolutely essential that you begin learning how to harden a website as soon as possible to prevent intrusions and security flaws.

Learn the top web platforms

The more diverse you can get with different web platforms, the more successful you will be. These web platforms include:

  • Basic HTML5 – HTML runs the web. You should know this well enough to eventually write it on a blank sheet of paper.
  • WordPress – WordPress controls over 50% of the public Internet and is one of the most popular platforms available. There are millions of plugins that result in millions of different types of sites you can make, too.
  • Joomla – Joomla is a solid CMS that rivals WordPress. It has similar functionality, but is more focused towards the skills of the developer.
  • Drupal – Drupal is the most difficult of the three CMS’s as it relies entirely on your knowledge of programming. This also makes this CMS the most customizable.
  • Magento – This is one of the most popular eCommerce CMS platforms and is a good start for those who want a solid eCommerce web design platform.

Specialize in a niche

The arena and scope of website design are vast, and therefore, it is better to specialize into a particular stream. Secondly, with the market being flooded with designers of this niche, specialization could give you the edge in the competition. For example, some young professionals could opt for an addition in multimedia, print, animation, and advertising. Weigh all the pros and cons before taking the plunge into your field of specialization.

Keep reading and learning

Every successful person we know doesn’t stop learning. Even after the completion of any formal training, keep reading about the new design tools and applications that launch. It gives an insight into the industry changes, makes you more confident and gives clients a better impression if you are updated with the latest innovations in the web design field. Keep practicing to improve your expertise.

Stay updated with tools and technology

The recommended tools for application by website designers’ are:

  • Adobe creative cloud programs – These include Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Muse, and Dreamweaver
  • A reliable operating system – Use a good platform where designs can be made, applications can be downloaded and design programs can be run efficiently. We prefer MacOS.
  • A notepad and pen – This should be accompanying the web designer everywhere he goes. Rough sketches and points can be noted to use for ideation later.
  • Tablet or notebook – Though optional, this device comes handy when on the move or when quick changes have to be made.

Start small

As a newbie, it is best advised to start will lower means, keeping a low profile. One can easily start from home to save costs and look into the various avenues of freelancing sites. Investments should be made step by step once the revenues start flowing. In this process of starting small will help you discover your talent and then you can specialize in working in that stream. Grab any job, however small that comes your way, as it is your next step to the level ahead!

Market yourself well

Make an attractive portfolio of your work, highlighting your strengths and achievements. Since it is the designing world, it should be strong enough to grab attention. Also, try expertise in one field. It could be web development or blogging on technical issues or any other field you enjoy working in. Try and create a niche, so that when a company is looking for someone to design a website, it is only you that come to the mind. So basically: Leave an impact. At this stage, one has to put the best foot forward and try and deliver better than the client’s expectations and much before the deadline. This will leave the customer impressed and happy and would recommend your work to other organizations in future.

Dare to dream

It is not the most qualified that are the most successful in the field. Knowledge is necessary but how to employ it, and how creatively you can design is what makes the best stand out. Do not be afraid to take risks, challenging projects and nail gritting deadlines. Deliver good work and charge for it. Be confident in yourself and let it radiate in your personality and work. Who knows, after a few years, your story might shape the future of other young designers.

Stay updated

This is a highly vital point in this competitive and constantly challenging scenario where technology is being developed and dumped every minute. You have to be aware of the advances and developments in the web design arena. Listen to people, be alert, sign up on the social networks, meet the peers in the industry, read design journals, and make a note of any interesting web design you spot at any public place. You can use this for inspiration later.

In conclusion, the website design market is a hard niche to crack. It requires significant dedication, skill and business/marketing intelligence to make a name for yourself, and build enough credibility to earn a comfortable income. The results are worth it, though, working from home in your pajamas is only part of the dream!

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web design mobile alabama

Ten things to know when choosing a web design company

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Websites can be one of the greatest tools for a business online. But, if you go down a path that is not a good match for your goals and budget, it can be an expensive and time-consuming headache. Purchasing a website design service can be tricky, simply because sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know and that can make it harder to ask the right questions. To help you out and get you oriented, we have written this awesome article about what you need to know before choosing a website design company.

1. Is the website design company established and experienced?

It’s important to find a website design company that has experience. You can measure this in years running their business, number of clients served and also through the quality of their web design portfolio.

Years in business indicates that the web design company is stable, is successful in running a business, and that they will be able to competently work with your business for long term results as they have done for their own. The number of clients served indicates that the company should be very familiar with the full spectrum of website projects and business verticals and won’t take on a project that they don’t have the experience in completing. It also indicates that they have had the opportunity to iron out their work processes and are familiar with, and are able to execute, deadlines and timeframes.

Three questions to ask are:

  • How long has the company been designing and developing websites?
  • How many clients do they have?
  • How many employees do they have?

In order to try and save a tiny bit of money there is often a temptation to get your website designed and developed by a new company, a freelancer or a friend of a friends nephew that’s just graduated from college. Often freelancers and small-time developers just don’t have the experience they thought they did and what seemed like a money-saver can become an expensive repair job as you will more often than not need to start from scratch again. We have heard these unfortunate tales time and time again and we have found that going with inexperienced or cheaper companies and freelancers is often a short-term approach for ultimately what is a long-term project. Realistically, a website is an ongoing project and it is important to partner with an experienced and established company that will be there for the long haul, that has the experience to offer you ongoing support and advise and that is focused on creating a quality product for you.

2. What should I expect to pay?

A question we often hear is – “how much should I really pay for a website?”

Website prices can range a lot. You can get a website designed for as little as almost nothing and just pay for hosting, or the price can go all the way through to $35,000 and beyond. One of the interesting things about the web design industry is that you can get quoted a considerably different amount for the same job depending on the company that is quoting you.

As is the case when looking to purchase anything, there is a temptation to go with the cheapest option. You can buy website design services from between $300-$1100, however it is important that you understand what you are purchasing as these cheaper services always have limitations. Another important thing to consider with these cheaper products is that they are often out-of-the-box solutions and you won’t get the consultation and customization that can be critical so that the website is best serving your business interests. These cheap options can still work for some people, but not for all.

To a large degree the saying “you get what you pay for” holds true in the web design industry. However, there is a point where the price just keeps going up and the quality of the work or expertise doesn’t justify the cost.

Obviously price is dependent on the specific functionality that you require, but if you have a budget of between $3000 – $10,000, and if you follow the points in this article when selecting a web design company for you, you should be able to get a professionally designed and developed website for your business or project.

The best way to look a website is as an investment in your business. In retrospect, many web designers feel the same as they are investing their time into creating, managing and finishing a project they would like to see be a success. If you are prepared to pay a little extra, do a little research and choose the right design company, your website can be an asset and money making tool for years to come.

3. Do you have access to update the website content yourself?

Business doesn’t wait. So ask and make sure you will have access to update and edit the content of your website 24/7 on the fly or on your own time. This is most commonly achieved by web-based software called a content management system or CMS. Regardless of whether you intend to edit and upload the content of your website yourself or hire someone internally to do it for you, it’s important that your website is built on a content management system so it’s easy to make changes.

A CMS is considered as best business practice in website development for businesses small and large and has become fairly common these days. It is important to consider as if your website isn’t on a CMS, it can create a lot of expense later on when you’re wanting to change or add content. You also want to make sure that the CMS is an industry standard platform, that it’s easy to use, and that good training and support materials are available to you. WordPress and Joomla are both great examples of CMS platforms that meet these expectations.

4. Will you get support when you need it?

Does the web design company you’re purchasing the website from offer on-going support? If they don’t, this is a huge red flag. When you purchase a website, it is very important that you choose a web design company that offers reliable, generous and cost effective support on an ongoing basis. This is incredibly important as a website has a lot of different functions and aspects to it, and it helps to have professional assistance available when you need it.

Things you might need help with:

  • Your emails
  • Your domain name
  • Your hosting
  • How to use the CMS of your website
  • eCommerce setup and maintenance
  • Other general technical issues

Without quality support, you can find yourself in a predicament where you need to then find a different web developer to fix the problem that you have encountered. This can lead to an extraordinary amount of frustration, wasted time and additional expense on your part.

A story we hear often and our clients have experienced repeatedly is with freelance developers or small web design companies who start working on a project and are fantastic in the beginning, but within 6 to 12 months their enthusiasm and commitment wanes. Often they’ve started a steady job or taken on new projects and then old projects are not as fun to work on, or they don’t have time to work on them anymore. So make sure that the support is in place with a company that has support as a part of their business practice.

5. Keep all of your services in one place

It’s very helpful to be able to simply have one company handle everything that relates to your website and online presence. This is doubly helpful to the web development firm doing the work when troubleshooting any issues. Secondary services are anything that will support your business and your online presence. That could be graphic design services, copywriting, domain names, hosting, support, and, most importantly, online marketing and social media. You want to know that the web company you’re dealing with can offer a full range of services that relate to your website and that they have good, solid marketing skills.

Your website is an investment into the future of your business and it’s going to have a life-cycle of it’s own alongside your business. A website is a long-term project for you and as you develop your business. You will want to make the most out of your online presence using different services to promote your business, as you grow professionally.

6. Are there any additional or hidden charges

When you are purchasing a website and receiving quotes, in addition to getting a fixed project price, it’s important to be aware of any limitations, ongoing charges and costs that may be related to the website.

For Example: web hosting and support fees. It’s very common to pay for hosting on a recurring basis. But, you will also want to know about additional web development costs or future design costs. It’s good to know how much the ballpark design studio rates are per hour to cover your needs. And it’s also important to establish the project scope and prices straight up.

Sometimes without proper management, a design company can allow a project to go out of scope and budget or get delayed due to unexpected challenges. Suddenly you’re in a situation where you’ve invested money in to the project and now it’s more expensive than what was originally quoted. This can also happen because you have decided mid-way that you want more functionality too, but that’s something you should discuss with the design team first as additional charges would likely be expected in that case.

Another thing to consider are the particular limitations of the overall service, for example, limited hosting storage or design revisions. If the company is placing limits on these you can guess there’s a chance that you will be charged extra or experience some technical issues if you exceed these limits.

7. See samples of the work performed in the past

It is important to review and ask for samples of the work and craftsmanship that the web design company has produced in the past. This will give you a good reference point as to what they can provide for you. It’s important in these cases to not only look at the quality of the design, but also the functionality of the websites. Any good web design company should be able to show you a large amount of work that they have done. This will be a very good indication of the service and quality that you’ll receive from their company and it’s a great place to start in terms of evaluating the company.

Along with this, it is also good to review any testimonials or case studies that the company may have from their clients. It is good peace of mind to know that their clients are actually happy with the service that they’ve provided.

8. Keep it American

It’s always great to support and buy American goods and services, however in the web design industry there are a couple of other things to consider above and beyond simply supporting American businesses.

Within the web design industry there is a temptation to outsource development and support to overseas countries to save money, however this is often at the expense of the customer’s experience as there will be time delays and communication issues. And most importantly they just won’t understand you as an American small business.

Having American support and service means that the company you are dealing with will understand you as another American business and should be working in the same business hours as you are. Any problems are more likely to be resolved quickly and easily.

In addition to this, your website will load faster if it is on a server in the United States. Often times, even United States web design businesses use overseas servers which means that your web page needs to travel further when loading which can create a time lag. And out of sheer lack of knowing how to host a website, a web design company may just have bought in to a brand that they feel is a good choice. Feelings and business don’t mix — knowledge of how a business actually functions down to the core is a primary reason a business is successful. This is no different with hosting a website.

9. Are you working with the developer directly or is the company merely providing a turn-key website design service?

Maybe it’s due to the fact that technology is so readily available in this day and age and crafty businesspeople think they can get away with it, or maybe it’s the fact that some companies believe that they can truly be everything to everyone. In any case, there are companies that are out there masquerading as website design companies that don’t even actually do a single line of programming or actual design in-house at all. They outsource. As a matter of fact, they’re merely self-glorified order-takers with catchy buzzwords trying to make a quick dollar. Companies that are primarily print media are notorious for doing this since everyone believes that since they can put out a big production newspaper that they also can put out a big production website. You might as well find a way to set your money on fire, and be prepared to set a lot of it on fire, when dealing with one of these types of false-front companies. And there’s a good chance that the high price tag may just be a high price tag so that the real web design company or the person they’re outsourcing to in another country actually doing the work is paid a reasonable amount for their secrecy and the company selling the work makes an insane margin for generating a sale.

While that may sound fine to some people on paper, in reality what actually happens is your site will need to be updated and will end up breaking at some point due to a change in technology, an update to a CMS (which is notorious with both WordPress and Joomla) or you decide you want additional services and begin tinkering with the settings yourself and get lost. When that happens and you need help from who you bought your services from, you’re going to be at the mercy of whoever they contracted to do the job to still be around as the company who offered the service isn’t going to be able to service the request themselves. Hope, in this case, doesn’t float and you’ll just end up drowning in debt, wasting your time time and losing productivity and sales.

Getting around this is simple: Ask to speak to a developer and throw some technical questions at them. See how they respond. If you can’t do that, or they do speak to you and you feel like they’re just telling you what you want to hear just to take your money when you’re ready and willing to spend thousands of dollars, take your money elsewhere very quickly. Chances are you weren’t speaking to a real web developer. It should be absolutely no problem for you to take 5 minutes of a developer’s time from any size web design company to see if they can understand your needs and verbally conceptualize what it is that you need in technical terms. It’s what a website design company does by nature, so speak to the creators of your new site before you spend any money. They don’t have to be personable people (and often times they’re not), just knowledgable.

10. Is the web design company providing a mobile responsive website design?

This is critical in this day and age. Not only does having a mobile-friendly website affect your ranking positively with Google, but more than half of the people shopping for services or doing research are doing so from their smartphone or tablet. No one wants to pinch and zoom on a website to read or fill in information on a form.

Typically, a mobile responsive website should be included in the cost of having a website created, especially when having a website created on a CMS such as WordPress or Joomla as a mobile website is native to the most recent versions of both of these platforms.

At TurkReno Incorporated in Mobile, Alabama, we’re passionate about website design. We’d love to speak to you about your next project. We’ve got several ways to get in touch: fill out our free online estimate form, call us at (251) 279-0278, or visit our contact page and send us a message. We look forward to helping you with your next website design project.

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Website Design in Mobile Alabama

How To Become A Web Expert Without Spending A Dime

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I recently read this online and really felt like it spoke to me directly.  I know that parts of it are a bit catchy, but it serves a very good purpose and point.  Read it, comment, all kudos go to the original author though.

Imagine you’re a master at making money online, that you’re passionate, and excited during almost every hour you spend working. Visualize people coming to YOU for answers to their most important Web-related questions. Envision emails and phone calls flooding in every day with eager, prospective customers. Read on to learn the secret to achieving all of this.

If I could show you how to become a Web design, development or marketing expert without spending a dime, would you want to learn?

Imagine you’re a master at making money online, that you’re passionate, and excited during almost every hour you spend working. Visualize people coming to YOU for answers to their most important Web-related questions. Envision emails and phone calls flooding in every day with eager, prospective customers. Read on to learn the secret to achieving all of this.

First, discernment and discretion are vital. There are many programs online, many e-books, many self-proclaimed Web gurus and so much information today that it’s overwhelming and could send you to the poor-house faster than the speed of digital communication.

Where should I go to learn Web marketing? How should I spend my time? Who should teach me? What websites offer the best information? How do I make money using the Internet? What are the most important things I should learn? Should I learn Java or PHP? What are the fundamentals? How do I write effective copy online? How long will it take me before I can start my own business? The answer to all these questions can is . . .

Before I explain, let me tell you a brief story of my inchoate professional life. I barely knew what a computer while in college. It was only after living on both coasts playing live music did I conclude that a career in computers may make me a few more dollars than a career in music. It was then I decided I wanted to become a Web expert.

I had first considered attending a high-priced computer school that a programmer friend had recommended. But I had no money, and the school required all its students to attend full-time. I needed to eat and provide a roof over my head, and for that I needed to work full-time, so this expensive computer school was out of the question for me.

Although my options were limited, but I diligently looked in the Want Ads till I found a job that I could possibly do that was related to computers. The job title was “Internet Exploration Specialist”. I know that sounds slightly strange, but if you had met my chair-throwing, screaming and eccentric boss-to-be, it would make a little more sense.

I got the job and outlasted the most optimistic office pool prediction for how long I would remain working for the perpetually livid CEO. Looking back, it was probably one the best things I could have ever done (minus the maniacal boss, that is). I learned how to surf the Web. I became an expert Internet peruser, a digital explorer, a website connoisseur, and a professional information superhighway surveyor.

At around the same time I learned one of the secrets to becoming an expert at something. You have to put the time in. People who remain working in careers that they hate don’t put in the extra time to develop a career in something they love. Pure and simple. So while I had down time at work, I read books and found websites that taught me how to do things Web-related tasks. More importantly, I spent time after work and on the weekends reading, practicing and developing my Web skills.

Back when I began developing my Web career, the Internet wasn’t as big as it is today. There weren’t as many options for learning Web-related skills. Since I had no money, I simply searched for free online tutorials, primers and how-to’s. They became my staple for learning. Since I had seriously developed my Web surfing skills, I inevitably found many highly educational websites. And there weren’t as many scams back then either, there weren’t as many “gurus”. Web marketing or e-marketing hadn’t even become terms yet, so I had a lot of success getting reliable information.

Today it’s different. This is both good news and bad news. I’ll start with the bad news.

You can’t throw a rock into the Internet ocean now and NOT hit a get-rich-quick plan, a Web marketing curriculum, or an e-marketing “expert”. You’ve got StomperNet, Portal Feeder, Pipeline Profits, The Rich Jerk, Strategic Profits and Traffic Secrets to name only a few. There’s too much to choose from and they all come for a steep price. Now many of these programs may teach you a lot, but it will cost you. I’m here to say that you don’t need to spend any money. You’re reading this for free, aren’t you?

But here’s the good news.

Because of the way Google ranks websites now, because the very nature of the Internet as man’s most prolific and complete resource on everything, and because of human nature being curious and information-driven, the Web has massive amounts of extremely useful, high-quality, free information. People are falling all over each other trying to produce and publish high-quality Web content all at no cost to you.

Again, Google is one reason. One main way Google ranks a website is by how many authoritative sites link to that website. The best way to get new links pointing to your site is by creating useful content that anyone can access. If the content is fresh, original and high-quality, people will link to it.

And here’s more good news. Of all the subjects there are in the world, and therefore all of the subjects discussed online, the Web is the most popular.

Of course this has to be true. Think about it. Who’s doing all the posting? Webmasters. And what do webmasters know best? The Web. So you’re going to find a huge amount of tutorials, primers, articles, forum posts, blogs and websites that offer tons of useful information on how to become good at all kinds of Web-related things, and all at no charge.

Here are a few tips for effectively searching online.

  • Open up two or three browser windows at a time. One should have Google, the next Yahoo or MSN Search and the third should be your working browser. Use all three browsers when searching by toggling to each of them. By using different search engines, you’ll get a wide range of different results.
  • Use quotes around your phrases to find exact phrases. This will give you results that have the words in your phrase only in that order.
  • Use long tail search phrases when using a search engine. Long tail means many words. The more specific your search phrase is, the more relevant results you’ll get. For example, searching in Google for “free tutorials for beginner web marketers and expert career advice” instead of “web marketing tutorials” will yield more relevant results for you.
  • Use the minus sign to weed out superfluous results. For example, if you’re looking for event tickets and you type in “Boston tickets”, you’ll end up with lots of airline related results. Instead use “Boston event tickets” “airline flights”.
  • Get creative in contructing your search phrases. Combine multiple concepts.
  • Don’t just use search engines. Join forums like WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint, SitePoint, HighRankings and SEOChat, visit blogs, and read how-to’s and tutorials found in article directories. Regularly visit authority webmaster sites like DevGuru, Developer.com, TheNetGazette.net, HTMLprimer.com and WebKnowHow.net.
  • Go to and participate in Web 2.0 sites such as PlugIM, FreeIQ, Digg, Technorati, Simpy, Del.iciou.us, MarkTD, BibSonomy and Squidoo.
  • Become good friends with your Favorites or Bookmarks feature in your browser. Set it up so you develop a well-organized, useful list of websites, Internet destinations and Web pages and posts that you can constantly refer back to.Becoming an expert Web marketer or Web programmer can be done by putting aside time every day to learn your craft and by becoming good at finding the right information online that doesn’t cost anything. The more you search for useful information, the better you’ll become at it, and it will soon take you less and less time to find what you want.Therefore, the answer to all the questions above is: you’ll need patience, discipline, time management skills, and Internet searching skills. The searching skills come to you by simply practicing, by putting the time in online. Everything you need to know to become a Web expert without spending a dime is literally a few clicks away online and most of it is free. Get to work.

Copyright: Copyright © 2007-2008 Jason OConnor

Jason OConnor is President of Oak Web Works – The
synthesis of Web design, technology and marketing

Jason is an expert at Web design and programming, e-strategy, and
e-marketing

http://www.oakwebworks.com

mailto: joconnor888 @ hotmail.com
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Drop us a line! Web Site Design, Web Development, Web Hosting, Web Everything from TurkReno Incorporated in Mobile, Alabama.

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Sneaky SEO – Using Google Images to Your Advantage

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Few people use sitemaps effectively, and fewer actually use their images effectively. Even though most will think of SEO as just text content, it actually includes all content on your pages such as images and code functions.

What I’d like to point out is a simple process of making sure that you can maximize your SEO using the images that are on your pages.

1. Make sure ALL images have a descriptive ALT tag.

By doing this, you’re not only helping the plain-text SEO, but you’re also helping Google and other services index your site correctly if you follow that simple step.  Not sure if you are using the ALT Tags correctly?  Check your site at DomainTools.  You will see something that looks a lot like this:

Images: 1 (Alt tags missing: 0)

Ready to take this to the next level?  Good.

2. After you’ve verified your site, created a sitemap, submitted it to the major search engines, you can then select an option in Google Webmaster Tools called “Enhanced Image Search”.  The really great thing about this service is that you can begin to index your site in a whole new way.  So how do I do this again? Glad you asked.  Here’s the instructions per Google:

What does it mean to opt-in to enhanced image search?

If you choose to opt in to enhanced image search, Google may use tools such as Google Image Labeler to associate the images included in your site with labels that will improve indexing and search quality of those images.

To opt in to enhanced image search:

  1. Sign into Google Webmaster Tools with your Google Account.
  2. Click the URL for the site you want.
  3. Click Tools, and then click Enable enhanced image search.

Once you have opted in to enhanced image search, you can opt out at any time by returning to this page and clearing the checkbox.

If you’re really bored, Google Image Labeler is actually a pretty fun way to pass the time.  You and a random partner pair up and start guessing what a picture should be called.  Now the idea, for Google, is not to take just your matching suggestion, but also to try and associate all of the terms that were suggested during that and that’s how they improve their “algorithm”.

3.  Use image names the same way that blogs create permalinks.  For example.  This blog will have a permalink like “sneaky-seo-using-google-images-to-your-advantage” in the URL.  So, go start describing your images and make sure that they are the same within the code.

These things do matter and show up in different types of search engine algorithms.  Use this tip to your advantage.

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Site is still down; Blog re-design launched

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Well, I’ve taken down the main site for a few reasons. For one, Yahoo wasn’t caching it at all because it was in Flash. I know that it’s really not that important to me, but it is to other people when trying to explain things and then come back to them a year later to readdress them like I said I would.

It’s important to note that the holder page that I made for the site is still using Google Analytics. Also, here’s a lesson to show that search engines WILL pick up single characters and put them into their search results as a page title. For the most part, the instances that would happen in when a new search engine comes around, like Cuil, it may or may not think of that page as a directory page.

Who knows. I’m just rambling now, so I’m going to go finish my page.

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The Best Things ARE Free – Introduction

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One of the biggest focuses that I have had for SEO, and being SEO minded, have been on planning what strategy should I take.  The biggest goal of any SEO strategy is to drive traffic.  Once you lose focus of attempting to drive traffic, it should be only for one of two reasons: 1. You quit worrying with it, and 2. You’re getting sued or having legal action taken, i.e. Cease and Desist Letter or Proposal.

I have taken many different ideas and converted them into working SEO strategies that have taken great shape over the media and drawn plenty of attention.  What I hope to cover in this blog should satisfy a great deal of information, especially the “why” of the method.

In knowing a working strategic action plan, there is a greater chance of having the ability to repeat your rate of success for a longer period of time.  Which, in turn, should result in more traffic.  To some people, traffic is money.  To some people, traffic is the illusion of the ability to have money spent as well.  It really depends on you, and your goals, at that point.

I digress.

What I want to focus on right now are the methods that we can take to get an authoritative ranking in Google.  I will come back later and describe what exactly an authoritative ranking is because there is a math to it.  We want to focus on attempting to get links that are external pointing to either a page or the root URL of our site.  So, how do we do that?  Well, any time a site is showing an active off site a link back to our site (for instance https://turkreno.com), we gain authority because someone else is talking about our site.

Once enough talk and traffic is generated, you begin to work away at the inconsistencies that still exist from the time you began working on SEO.  And that’s what we want, a reason to return to keep your mind fresh on what you’re designing.

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