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May Search Engine News From
www.searchengine-news.com
Google - On Thursday, April 29th, Google registered for their highly anticipated Initial Public Offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Google announced their new and already controversial Google Mail – they call it Gmail – service.
Fresh Tests on Google's Meta Tags - This month we're reporting new tests which suggest that Google is now using the contents of the meta keyword tag to influence rankings.
Overture - ... paying to have a webpage listed through Site Match/ Yahoo is one of the surest and fastest ways to let Yahoo know that your new site exists.
Ask Jeeves / Teoma - Meta Tag Testing at Teoma - Recent test pages we've had indexed in April suggest that Teoma is not likely indexing the meta keyword tag contents
MSN - No significant changes to report over the past 30 days at MSN ... http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request
ODP / DMOZ - No changes to report for the past 30 days at ODP.
Yahoo - Fresh Tips and Tests on Yahoo's Meta Tags - Some of our recent tests show that pages with a unique keyword in the meta keyword and meta description tag contents will both be found when doing a search for that unique text. Meta Keywords are supported! ...and he recommends separating each keyword phrase using a comma.
Yahoo offers a feature that will allow you to find incoming links. Entering link:http://www.domain.com into the search field will return results that shows who is linking to a specific URL.
Top 5 Tips For Choosing A Web Designer - By Jamie Kiley From
If you're in the market for a new website, one of the first things you'll need to do is hire a web designer. As in any field, there are good web designer and bad web designers, and it's important to know how to determine which is which. Here are 5 tips to get you started:
1. Don't judge a designer's skill solely on graphic design skills. - Just like you can't judge a book by its cover, you can't judge a web designer based on his or her graphic design skills alone. While graphic design is important, attractive images are not the most significant determinant of good design. In fact, they are a comparatively small part of what makes a good website.
Instead of focusing completely on visual image, concentrate on evaluating a designer's other skills.
Evaluate the designer's portfolio by asking these sample questions:
- Does this designer design with usability in mind? In other words, is the site designed for form or for function?
- Does the designer have good organizational abilities? Look for organization of the entire site as a whole, as well as the organization of individual page layouts.
- Does the designer employ good navigation techniques? Try out some of the sites in his or her portfolio and carefully examine how easy it is for you to navigate around the site and find specific pieces of information.
- Instead of using graphics just for the sake of pizzazz, does the designer use graphics purposefully to organize the page and to direct a visitor's attention to important points?
- All sites should motivate a visitor to do something, whether it is buying a product, filling out a quote request form, signing up for a newsletter, etc. Does the designer do a good job of visually showing visitors how to take action?
- Does the designer design sites that are easy to use?
- Instead of asking, "Does this site look good?" ask, "Would this site make me want to buy a product if I was in that site's target market?"
2. Talk with references. - Don't just peruse the sites in a designer's portfolio. Get in contact with some of the designer's past clients and question them on the specifics of their experience. Ask how long it took to complete their website, as well as how easy it was to work with the designer...
3. Have a basic knowledge of good web design techniques. - It helps significantly in evaluating a prospective web designer if you know at least the basics of good web design. This way, you'll be in a better position to judge good techniques from the not-so-good.
4. Don't necessarily go for the lowest bidder. - Remember, it's not just about getting a website; you'll need a website that will actually perform. Price and quality usually have a direct relationship, so you'll get what you pay for. Designers who are overly inexpensive ordinarily lack experience, are difficult to work with, don't understand much about online marketing, or don't truly have a grasp of good web design techniques. A website from such a designer won't be beneficial.
5. Look for a designer who asks good questions. - Astute designers should probe you for specific answers to such questions as:
- What is your primary goal?
- By what standard will you measure the success of your site?
- Who is your target audience?
- What are the primary benefits of your product or service?
Look for a designer who obviously understands marketing, not just graphic design.
Sell More w/ Great Photography From
By Heather Conary ... Imagine you're driving down a back country road, and you see two apple stands. They both look the same, yet one charges a few dollars more than its competitor. You decide to buy some apples, and stop at the cheaper stand. When you peer into their bins, you see that they're half-full of bruised, rotten apples. You decide to try the other stand, which offers bags overflowing with ripe, shiny red apples that look juicy enough to sink your teeth into.
Quality - If you're working from a digital camera, it's imperative to use the highest possible quality and resolution settings. A camera with at least 3 megapixels is best, as most pictures for the Web will stay fairly small -- they won't need the quality provided by high-end digital cameras.
Lighting - No matter how good your product is, if your original photo is overexposed or poorly lit, no amount of editing will save it. To end up with a truly great product shot, you need to start with something good.
Backgrounds - Ever wonder why products in catalogs are always shown without backgrounds? Even clothing models are typically shown on plain white. Without distracting elements hovering behind the product, a customer is free to see the product itself.
Conclusion - Always keep in mind that you're trying to sell product. If you wouldn't purchase something from your own Website because of the image quality (or lack thereof), something needs to change.
Just remember, no one wants old, bruised apples, so make sure yours are shiny, new, and worth buying.
More Accurate Google Reciprocal Link Counter!
Google's old way of determining how many other sites link to yours is inaccurate and rather misleading. The old way was to do a search in Google for link:http://www.richswebdesign.com/. If you just selected this link, you would see that 279 other sites link to Richs Web Design. I know that is WAY low!.
The more accurate way to determine how many other sites are linking to yours is by searching at Google for www.richswebdesign.com -site:www.richswebdesign.com. Now you see that some 772 other sites are linked to Rich's Web Design... Much more accurate!
Just select your own site below!
Some newer or smaller sites show more links using the old fashion search ... link:http://www.YourSite.com.
GoogleRankings Tool
Mass Keyword Search
Enter up to 10 different Keywords for the same domain name,
and check the position of the web site in Google™
336-408-9075
Rich@RichsWebDesign.com
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