Worth noting however, the decline in Yellow Pages use from 33% in 2007 to 30% in 2008, resulted in an increase in Internet Yellow Pages use from 17% to 19%. So with that, the 3% lose in Yellow Page use went online with 2% going to going to Internet Yellow Pages and 1% converting to search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Also interesting, despite the advancements in mobile technology, handset functionality and mobile broadband speeds, local search on mobile devices did not see an increase from 2007 to 2008. Curious! I’m not a mobile Internet user, so when I watch TV advertisements and read tech articles, I’m convinced that more and more people are going that direction.

The Take-Away: Local businesses can no longer rely on print alone to get in front of customers. A web presence is increasingly more important as local business search trends migrate to online resources.

Applied Web Vitals is a web design and development company. Please feel free to contact us to explore your next design, redesign or site enhancement project.

Well, don’t take this news as the definitive green light to go 100% flash just yet. There are quite a few considerations before replacing your HTML with flash and the “advancements” are just that—steps in the right direction. We’re not there yet and I suspect in the end, there will always be some limitations.

Google recently reported on the progress that they’ve made in crawling flash files – “Now that we’ve launched our Flash indexing algorithm, web designers can expect improved visibility of their published Flash content, and you can expect to see better search results…”

No question, this is great news. The ability to search and index flash files offers a significantly greater range of flexibility in building and presenting web content. There is still more progress to be made (a great deal more), but the hard and fast flash vs. html argument is starting to change. Some of the pull quotes from Google below highlight the limitations, which for my preferences, still leaves flash as strictly supplemental media and not a platform for mission critical content delivery.

“…if your Flash application contains links . . . Google may now be better able to discover and crawl more of your website.”

This MAY be a matter of semantics, but the comment “…Google may now be better able…” leads me to believe that indexing links in flash files is still on the horizon and not a here-and-now ability.

“If you prefer Google to ignore your less informative content, such as a “copyright” or “loading” message, consider replacing the text within an image, which will make it effectively invisible to us.”

I’m not pointing this comment out to support the flash issue, but to reiterate the limitations of some forms of media on your website. When Google uses the term “effectively invisible” and your ultimate goal is visibility, then you should examine your site for needless and/or replaceable images that contain key content for your site.

“Googlebot does not execute some types of JavaScript. So if your web page loads a Flash file via JavaScript, Google may not be aware of that Flash file, in which case it will not be indexed.”

There are tremendous advantages to using a JavaScript loading function for flash, including flash player version compatibility or availability, cross-browser functionality, speed, and more.

“We currently do not attach content from external resources that are loaded by your Flash files. If your Flash file loads an HTML file, an XML file, another SWF file, etc., Google will separately index that resource, but it will not yet be considered to be part of the content in your Flash file.”

Separately indexing loaded resources sounds pretty nebulous. Delivering content via XML tuns flash into a living and useful tool. The value of this content comes when presented as a whole not as disparate singular bits of information. Regarding loaded SWF files, this cuts the legs out from under the CMS (content management system) functionality of flash – think of a slideshow or presentation like powerpoint slides. The back-end CMS access to the flash file offers a practical way to manage and contribute content to a web site. Now, I’ve recommended and used flash for this purpose well before search engines suggested indexing the information—so in nothing has changed. I’ll continue to use and recommend it, but when that content is fully accessible, then we’re really getting there.

Back to the question of using flash vs. HTML for content delivery. Today’s verdict: HTML is still king. But keep your eyes on news as it develops. Your flash should slowly gain more mileage as Google and the search industry marches forward race to index flash.

About the author: Dominic Taverniti, owner of Applied Web Vitals, is a web design and development professional with clients throughout the U.S. and abroad. Dominic was recently honored with a Webby Award nomination for work on the Eyes On Darfur website, an Amnesty International special project.

While there most definitely is more to the subject and process of SEO (as evidenced by the several hundred pages in The SEO Bilble by Jerri Ledford), this a good streamlined list to compare your site against and get started optimizing. If you have any questions about search engine optimization or would like to optimize your website, please contact Applied Web Vitals anytime.

In the Myrtle Beach area? Join us for the Web Technology Discussion Group every Wednesday at 6PM.

SEO Punch List:

Page structure
- Great content
- URL, title, meta description, meta keywords
- Keyword/keyterm density ~5-7%
- Anchor text (incoming & outgoing)
- Image (file name, alt text, link)
- Formating (H1-2-3, Bold, Italics)
- Fresh content
- Great content (that’s right, first and last!)

Concerns
- Duplicate content
- Hidden content

Content generation
- Forums
- Blogs

Accessibility
- Splash page
- Navigation (text links)
- Flash vs. HTML
- Java Script
- ASP & PHP (dynamically built pages)

Inbound link strategy
- Press releases
- Requesting links
- Writing articles
- Web 2.0 contributions
- Affiliate programs
- PPC (pay-per-click) and Paid Links

Outbound link guidelines
- Relevant links to quality highly ranked sites
- Keyword anchor text
- Be ware of excessive links, including link directory pages
- Check frequently for broken links

Robots, Spiders and Crawlers
- Robot Exclusion Protocol (robot.txt)
- Robot Inclusion Protocol (sitemap.xml)

Fundamentals
For those just getting up to speed, you’re reading a blog now. The term blog was derived from the term “web log.” The blog as an application or platform has evolved quickly over time, but the primary format continues to be a chronological arrangement of editorial articles. The software applications behind blogs serve as a content management system, allowing users to edit, contribute and customize the front-end or user-end of the blog via a simple web-based administration panel.

Blog Options
Internal blog – If you’re interested in hosting your own blog, the major blog software applications out there are free themselves (We recommend WordPress, the platform being used for this blog). If you aren’t a developer or aren’t comfortable with digging into the server side of things, having a professional set your blog up won’t break the bank either. Blogs are generally quite simple to install – it’s the customization of design and functionality that starts to expand a blog installation project. It is worth noting that specific hosting features and capabilities are required and depend on which blog software application you choose.

External blog – Conversely, going with a free hosted blog option, like Google’s Blogger, is a great way to reach a large audience. These greater communities consisting of thousands of other blogs, giving you instant exposure to highly searched and search engine indexed networks.

Internal & External – Concurrently, running both an internal and external blog will provide the best of all worlds. This broad Internet marketing mix will take advantage of the blogging community exposure as well as improving your own website. Keep in mind though, search engines provide little or no value to syndicated content that appears identically in multiple places on the web. Consider rewriting or even posting unique copy in each of your blog channels.

Benefits of a blog
Blogs offer a number of fantastic benefits to the small business.

1. SEO: When operating a blog on your own website, the volume, relevance and frequency of content gives your site a shot of search engine optimization adrenaline. Search engines will increase the frequency at which they crawl your site for updates as you reciprocate with those updates. As your archive of blog articles—with relevant content—accumulate, so increases the relevance of your site for those keywords and terms that your articles are about.
2. Reputation: Demonstrate your expertise by writing about your industry, market or product. At the same time, this self imposed regimen of copy writing will continually advance your knowledge in the field.
3. Site Accessibility: If your site isn’t already built on a content management system, the built-in CMS functionality of blog software gives you quick and easy access to posting content on your site. Most blogs even come with the ability to post content by email – it doesn’t get any easier than that!

Start Blogging
Take one of the above recommendations and run with it—you’ll be glad that you did. You can’t make up for lost time, so get started!

]]> http://www.appliedwebvitals.com/blog/10/blogging-for-business/feed/ 0 http://www.appliedwebvitals.com/blog/8/flash-vs-html-for-impact/ http://www.appliedwebvitals.com/blog/8/flash-vs-html-for-impact/#comments Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:34:09 +0000 appliedv http://appliedwebvitals.com/blog/?p=8 Nothing hits today’s web surfer over the head quite like a “page one” search listing. Despite the WOW! design that you may be envisioning for your website, consider that a majority of people navigate the world wide web via search engines—and search engines read HTML, not flash.

We’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating – what good is the slickest, most graphically appealing website if no one can find it?

Of course, this litmus isn’t the measure for everyone. If you don’t need to be found, then a pure or predominantly flash website may be a perfect platform for you. An example would be a site offering information or services to an existing client base. In this scenario, the source of visitors is set and new customers aren’t needed.

Otherwise, consider limiting the amount of flash on your site. And above all, DO NOT use an all flash splash page for your site. Search engines enter your site the way most visitors would, through your root domain (www.yourdomain.com) or homepage. If your site’s homepage consists of a flash file that presents the page content, then the search engine sees: _________________.

To be more precise, the meta infomation (keyword, description) will be seen, but may not account for anything. Search engine algorithms (the formula that calculates page relevance according to a search word or term) have long since stopped placing heavy value on meta data, given the higher likelihood that actual page content has more to do with page relevance than hidden fields.

So there you have it. Short and sweet. HTML provides a better impact on the site traffic bottom line than flash.

From a artistic standpoint, one would argue that sacrificing visual design would impact the conversion of site visitors (conversion is essentially the desired action being taken – i.e. purchasing, subscribing, contributing). The rationale goes that if a visitor likes the site, enjoys looking at it and using it, then they’re more likely to purchase or do what it is that you want.

From a marketing standpoint, the law of numbers supersedes aesthetics and getting 10 times the visitors at a 20% conversion rate is better than getting a 100% conversion rate. In reality, a search engine optimized site could see many 100’s of times more traffic than one that receives no search engine traffic at all. And on the flip side, the 100% conversion goal isn’t probable.

So here we are in 2008 where SEO is a driving factor in site structure and design. Who are the participants and how does SEO get incorporated and at what stage. Well, the separation of designer and developer can exists, a dynamic more commonly seen on mid to high end projects where the budget affords both an “artist” and a “technician”. In this scenario, the two professionals work together to design and build an optimized site. For the small business however, the designer and developer are often one in the same and that individual needs to have a firm grasp of everything. If your survival depended on one or the other though, I would strongly argue that a mastery of SEO structure and techniques trump aesthetics.

Fortunately, the two disciplines can come together quite well. The overall quality of “design/developer” or “artist/technician” (the all-in-one professional) has improved significantly over the years—I happen to be one myself. At the same time, it’s important to know where one’s strengths lie. Not every project can be best served by the all-in-one professional. At that critical juncture, where need and budget dictate, specialists are brought together to deliver the goods.

Back to the small business though, where constraints rule the day. What should one demand of a full service web professional? Dave Davies summed it up pretty well in his article “Picking An SEO-friendly Web Designer.” Following are several excerpts:

Picking A Web Designer
There are two main considerations that you’ll need to make when you’re picking your web designer. The first is, can they build an attractive site and the second is can they build a search engine friendly site?

Building an attractive site:

When you’re choosing a designer take a look at their portfolio – put some of their designs past people in your target demographic and see what they think. It’s also wise to view the sites of the leaders in your industry to see what they’re doing (and maybe even who designed their sites). Just because you like something doesn’t mean it’s effective to your target market.

Building a search engine friendly site:

This is crucially important but probably one of the areas we have to address most frequently. I can’t possibly get into all the various areas of search engine friendly design so I’ll simply list off a couple of the most common issue we encounter and then provide references to other reading.

Enormous amounts of code on the page. For some reason, even some new designs are coming to us as though they were out of 1998 as far as the page code is concerned. All skilled web designers should have a solid grasp of CSS and should be putting all the main formatting into this file(s). Way too often we’re getting sites with dozens of font tags, color tags, size tags, etc. etc. etc. This just gives the search engines a lot more to dig through to find what they want – the content.

Bad internal links. You want your internal pages to rank. Most sites will generally target the highest priority phrases on the homepage of the site but the internal pages are the ones that will rank for specific products, services and long tail phrases. To maximize the rankability of the internal pages you need them to be easily found by the spiders and you need to associate these pages with the keywords you’re targeting. In short, you need to link to them with text and you need that text to include the keywords. This isn’t some deep, dark mystery of SEO and has been well documented and commented on but we’ve seen tons of instances where internal links are image only or worse, an unspiderable script-based navigation system.

If your designer is using image or script-based navigation for aesthetic reasons that’s fine. In fact, it’ll likely leave you with a more appealing site visually however you need to make sure your key pages are linked to in the content of you homepage or from text in the footer to insure they get found and spidered quickly and easily.

Over-optimized pages. I love seeing websites that were developed by a web designer who “knows SEO” and has stuffed so many keywords and header tags into the pages that it reads more like an eye chart than sales copy.