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Does Your Website URL Really Matter?

When starting a new website, it can seem like the hardest part of the process is ensuring that you have a catchy URL that will stick in the mind of your customers. However, while this may seem like an easy task, you may spend inordinate amounts of time finding that your perfect URL is already purchased or parked by someone else that wants a large amount of money to sell it. But does your website URL really matter or can you make do with a third or fourth choice from your list? Keep reading to find out!

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Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is fundamental and essential for any ecommerce or mobile website design. Properly created and executed SEO will help position your website properly on search results; allowing it to be found at the most critical times.

A professional website design service company like Skynet Solutions can build your website in a way that will please both your visitors/customers, as well as Google, Bing, and other search engines. More importantly understanding how SEO can help your web presence become more relevant and profitable is our job as website design professionals. Skipping the basics of SEO will only leave your site’s foundation a mess and prevent you from fully maximizing revenue opportunities.

During the Introduction to SEO session at SES New York, Carolyn Shelby (@CShel), Director of SEO, Chicago Tribune/435 Digital, fully explained the extreme value SEO can deliver to a site, and stressed the importance of basic SEO using the following analogy: “Skipping the basics and spending all your time and money on social and ‘fancy stuff’ is the same as skipping brushing your teeth and showering, by buying white strips and wearing expensive cologne.”

Although the Introduction to SEO session was intended for industry newcomers, Shelby’s tips offer important reminders for even experienced website design companies who have been optimizing websites for years.

What is SEO and its purpose?

We will start with the purpose of Search Engine Optimization and move into what it actually is next. So, what’s the purpose of having good SEO?

  • To create an informative and seamless user experience for your visitors.
  • To communicate to the search engines your intentions so they can recommend your website for relevant searches.

Think of your website like a cake. Who doesnt like a good analogy? Your links, paid search, and social media act like the icing, but your content, content management system, and infrastructure act as the sugar in the cake. Without these items your cake it would be tasteless, boring, not eaten and would grow stale. A professional website design company like Skynet Solutions can help explain and maintain your website so that it never gets stale.

What are search engines looking for:

Search engines want to do their job as best as possible by referring users to websites and content that is the most relevant to what the user is looking for. So how is relevancy determined?

  • Content. Is determined by the theme that is being given, the text on the page, and the titles and descriptions that are given.
  • Performance. How fast is your site and does it work properly?
  • Authority. Does your site have good enough content to link to or do other authoritative sites use your website as a reference or cite the information that’s available?
  • User Experience. How does the site look? Is it easy to navigate around? Does it look safe? Does it have a high bounce rate?

What search engines are NOT looking for:

Search engine spiders only have a certain amount of data storage, so if you’re performing shady tactics or trying to trick them, chances are you’re going to hurt your website’s performance in the long run. Getting a website design service company to develop specific tactics catered for your needs will help you hit the ground running straight!

  • Keyword Stuffing. Overuse of keywords on your pages.
  • Purchased Links. Buying links will get you nowhere when it comes to SEO, so be warned.
  • Poor User Experience. Make it easy for the user to get around on your website. Too many ads or a confusing navigation can make it too difficult for people to find content they’re looking for and will result in an increased bounce rate.
  • Images. Images are not indexable or readable by search engine bots. If the most important information about your service is listed in an image then you are omitting this information from being visible to the search engines.

Knowing, understanding, and reviewing your website bounce rate is an important element for any business. Discussing and reviewing our clients bounce rate is a regular tactic practiced by Skynet Solutions that has proven to increase overall performance. These are some of the items that are provided for our clients in our monthly reports. If your business is need any of the items mentioned above please contact us today!

 

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Digital Marketing News Marketing

Improve Your SEO with Schema Markup

While many people are aware of how important the content on their website is or that ranking well requires your website to be user-friendly, they generally aren’t aware of the more technical aspects that come with effective SEO. As one of the more effective backend ways to improve your website SEO, schema markup provides relevant information to search engine robots to further explain the importance of your webpage. In this article, we will look at why schema markup is important and some of the ways you can use it to improve your SEO.

The rise of importance or schema markup become more apparent in 2011 when major search engines like Bing, Yandex, Google and Yahoo began collaborating to develop schema.org. This microdata can be used to apply context to search queries to help improve the quality of the search results that can be obtained through the search engine by a user. This is especially important for ambiguous webpages that may need a little more context to be understood. Schema markup is a clear break from HTML markup that is used to adjust display information since it is completely contextual to what the page content is.

Search engine ranking metrics are constantly changing, and, for that reason, it is hard to provide that schema markup provides a direct boost in organic search rankings. One proven benefit of schema data, however, is that it gives a boost to rich snippets and placement in search engines for voice search and provides a more attractive link for users. For instance, one added benefit is that your overall rating will show up for reviews that are on product pages or any page that has a review system built-in or it could show actual product pricing through the search engine at any given time.

As you might imagine, this support can improve click-through rates and further improve your SEO metrics that contribute to organic growth. But properly implementing schema markup is critical for the best results possible. While this may seem like a challenge to many small businesses, the team at Skynet Solutions is here to make it simple. With over a decade of experience in great web design, marketing and SEO, we can help ensure that your eCommerce website has all of the pieces needed to find success online.

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How Can Skynet Solutions Help?

Skynet Solutions is committed to providing the best web design services possible. If you are ready to expand your web presence, refresh your website design, start your eCommerce website or enhance your digital marketing, we are here to help. You can fill out our online contact form on our website or connect with us on FacebookTwitter and LinkedIn.

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Digital Marketing News Marketing

Why Does Your Business Need a Blog?

As a business, it can be hard to see the need to invest in writing services or divert the time of your employees to create blogs for your website. However, failing to maintain an active blog could be souring your reputation online and steadily dropping your search rank. Given the prominent role that content plays in modern digital marketing, it’s no surprise that your business needs a blog to be successful. But how exactly does a blog help your business and why do you need one to help your business grow?

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Digital Marketing News Marketing

Is Your 2020 Marketing Plan Ready?

With the year coming to a close, there’s a good chance that you are working through the final steps of your existing marketing plan. While you may be tempted to continue using the same strategy for another year, there are many reasons why this may not be the best approach. And, although you are likely busy with the holiday retail season, now is the time to start preparing for next year. If you are struggling to get your 2020 marketing plan ready before the year ends, the experts at Skynet Solutions are here to help.

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Digital Marketing News Marketing

Improve Your Search Ranking: SEO Tips for Small Business

As a small business, you are always looking for low-cost ways to help improve the reach of your business. Throughout your research or conversations with marketing professionals, there’s a good chance that you have heard about search engine optimization (SEO). While there are many different ways you can implement SEO into your business’ marketing plans, here are some easy SEO tips to help you get started quickly.