SEO: How Does Google Work?
May 4th, 2012
I found and watched this interesting video from Google 'Evangelist" Matt Cutts. He is the guy that Google sends out to speak at SEO conferences and to explain and promote Google. It is worth watching below if you are engaged in SEO for your organization. And just in case you want more from Google here is the link to the Google Channel on Youtube. There is lots of interesting (and some nerdy) stuff there.
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News Announcements: Tooting Our Own Horn
May 2nd, 2012
If you can remember 1997, if you had any internet access at all it was a 33.6 modem. There was no Google, no YouTube, no Amazon - almost nothing we know today. But we were already here helping a few clients get online with modest websites. Many of those earliest clients are still with us today.
This week Williams Web celebrates 15 years in business, and that is worth at least a little trumpeting. So here goes, and please forgive our pride just this once as we “toot our own horn”.
‘Toot’ Number 1 – Client Loyalty.
We built our business on the philosophy that profitability is the by-product of good service and reliability. We also built our business to be able to withstand economic ups and downs, and we are thankful that so-far we have. As a result, most of our clients stay with us (or come back to us after exploring the ‘greener’ grass on the other side for a while). Our clients know that we will serve them well, and that we will continue to be available to serve them in the future. That is as much our ambition today as it was in the beginning. We value our clients greatly and try to show it every day.
‘Toot’ Number 2 – Superior Product.
Our SiteNow® website management system has actually been called ‘venerable’. That word doesn’t seem to fit a CMS system, but nonetheless we accept it. What an honor it is for one of our products to be called revered, lofty, and impressive. And if we may say so, SiteNow really is “all that and a bag of chips”. SiteNow is used by more clients in our region that any other commercial CMS. In fact, it may be used more than all commercial CMS systems combined in our area. There is good reason for that:
- SiteNow is more logical and easier to use.
- SiteNow is consistently updated with new modules, improvements, and web standards.
- SiteNow websites consistently rank higher in search engine results and many are #1 for their primary target phrases.
- SiteNow is flexible, extensible, and versatile so you will never hear us say “We can’t do that.”
And all of our client’s websites are on managed and monitored servers at Rackspace, where almost 50% of the Fortune 100 companies host websites, services and applications. That means superior reliability and availability for our client’s websites.
‘Toot’ Number 3 – Staff Continuity
Throughout our history, the average tenure for Williams Web management and production staff is over 8 years. Why does that matter? First, it demonstrates that Williams Web is a great place to work, and happy employees are happy to serve - and that makes our clients happy. Staff continuity also means continuity of support. Our clients have built effective and understanding relationships with various Williams Web staff members whom they call on and even depend on for their various support needs.
‘Toot’ Number 4 – Innovation and Progress
To the best of our knowledge, our SiteNow system was the first commercial CMS system created by a company in our area. Our HIPAA compliant patient forms system is used by many medical practices. And now, Williams Web is leading the way again with fully manageable mobile and responsive website solutions.
How’s that for a brass quartet?
I’m done tooting, so now this blog will return to its usual informative content, at least until 2022 when we might need to strike up the band again for our 25th anniversary. Hopefully, we will have the opportunity to serve your organization during the next ten years and beyond.
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WilliamsWeb.com Relaunches as a Responsive Website.
April 12th, 2012
Today williamsweb.com has been relaunched as a responsive website.
Responsive web sites are created to conform to the screen size of the device being used. So from desktop to smart phone and every device in between, the Williams Web website is viewable as if created for that device. And of course, the content is still completely managed within our SiteNow website management system.
We believe that companies like ours that seek to provide effective web solutions to other companies and organizations should lead the way. Our responsive web site is an example of our committment to progress. and an example of what clients can and do expect from us.
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Social Networking: Facebook Fear and Fatigue?
April 9th, 2012
For the past year I have had this argument with myself (and a few others) about the value of Facebook for some businesses.
For retailers who have a regular business relationship with their customers, Facebook makes a lot of sense - “Here are our new products, our upcoming sales, our holiday hours, etc.” Facebook can work well for non-profits too because many people have an affinity for certain kinds of charitable work and are interested in following and engaging when possible.
On the other hand there are manufacturers and B2B services that aren’t sure about the value of Facebook, or least about the ROI for the time that needs to be invested to do it right. They have very little engagement, and what they do have is friends, families, vendors and suppliers and v.v. On the other hand, our's is a B2B service company, and we think FB and TW are pretty good tools to communicate with clients and friends. We publish our blog to FB and Twitter, and the stuff we post is usually pretty valuable to our clients and others.
So, there can be value in social media for businesses like ours if used for education and communication instead of just being “another marketing tool that everybody said we have to have, and now we don’t know what to do with it, and we are so dad-gum frustrated with it, and no one here knows how to use it, and now it has changed AGAIN, and we can’t remember the login most of the time, and when we do we have nothing to say or no time to say it…”
Purposeful or painful: Which version of Facebook does your business use? Have you ever considered that it’s actually OK to not be on Facebook? For some businesses that is obviously the right choice. So don’t be sold on something that may not be needed, and often isn’t helpful at all. If you go FB-free, it may actually set you free to focus on the things that ARE useful and helpful for your business and your customers.
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SEO: Dial Back the Organic SEO
March 23rd, 2012
How things continue to change...keep dialing back the organic SEO.
It looks like Google is about to release another significant algorithm update (to go with the hundreds of small ones they do every year). This time the focus is to reduce the rankings of sites that have been overly SEO'd.
So it is as we have been saying, Google loves good and reasonable content, page titles and URLs, and as I said in the last post - a semantically consistent page.
Here is a good link to learn more.
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