Article Advise

submitted: Aug 19th 2008 | by: DavidRadovanovic | Total views: 1 | Word Count: 1015 | |

What differentiates a New York Web design company from any other Web design company? Competition! Those searching for top quality Web design in New York have hundreds of possible candidates to select from in an area of just a few city blocks. That's what I call competition!

If you are not from the area it can be difficult to envision. This might help Imagine typing "New York web design" into Google's search box and getting hundreds of pages with thousands of links of returns. Instead of clicking on those links however, you're walking into hundreds of offices; each offering their own unique flavor of Web design.

But, with the competition comes a competitive edge that is critical in a struggling economy. Of course we all want to look good on the Internet, but when you're competing with your real live neighbors in addition to those online; you have to step it up a notch.

Having said that, I'd like to offer some inside advice from a flourishing New York Web design business. Specifically I'd like to hit on some of the more important aspects of Web usability, which is the most important starting point of any design project yet, typically the one least addressed.

First of all, people don't typically read a Web page. They gloss over it. Actually, they quickly scan it so you need to get their attention right away and keep it. Here's how...

1.) Use your most important keywords as the anchor text (that's the text comprising the hypelinked words) in your links throughout your page's content. This is a biggie! Want to see how big?

2.) Keep your functional areas consistent throughout your site, especially the navigation links (top navigation, sidebars, etc.) search boxes, login areas, and anything else that requires interaction. The more comfortable a visitor feels using the site, the more likely they are to stay for a while and venture deeper.

3.) Embed a link to your homepage within your company logo. This is expected by just about every site visitor who has been on the Web for any length of time. It's a safety net many users rely and to deny it could result in major inconvenience to your visitors.

4.) Place a search field in a convenient location. But make sure it searches ONLY within your own site. "Search The Web" features practically beg your visitors to leave your site.

Also bear in mind that you want search engines to be able to easily find and get what it needs from your site in addition to live ors. A pretty Website is nowhere near enough. To be found by customers you must first be found by search engines. To do this we use something called search engine optimization or SEO. Following are 3 "must do" items for your Website to do list, if you want your site at the top of Google.

1.) Use your most important keywords as the anchor text (that's the text comprising the hypelinked words) in your links throughout your page's content. This is a biggie! Want to see how big?

Want to see for yourself? Go to Google.com and do a search for "Click Here" (without the quotes.) You should notice two things right off. First there are well over 1.6 billion competing Web pages. ?Click Here? is not a search engine friendly use of a hyperlink. It doesn't tell the search engines what they would be searching for. And second, the number one match is for Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Ready for the crazy part that might destroy your conceptions of what matters most in SEO? The words Click Here do not appear anywhere on the page or in the META tags. It's number 1, of 1.6 Billion competing Web pages, because thousands of other Websites used "Click Here" as their anchor text of choice in the URL for the download page. Crazy huh? This is great news for you! You can easily take advantage of that power by linking to and from pages within your Website. Which leads us nicely into Tip number two...

2.) If you deem that SEO is a priority for your site, create a unique page for each of your main keywords. Just be sure to link the anchor text from each page to the page that has that specific keyword as its focus.

Insider Advice: As a Web developer you can deliver more value to your clients and earn substantially more by learning about SEO and helping get your clients sites to the top of Google, Yahoo and MSN. There are plenty of great SEO tools that can help anyone become a quick success with little time or effort. Just find a product that delivers and has customers you recognize. eBay, Motorola and Lexmark all place their online success in the hands of a tool you can get for $250 at http://www.iBusinessPR0M0TER.com. Just dig around and find a tool that has the best success rate with clients who could easily afford anything but choose to stick with that one.

3.) Keep pertinent anchor text at the top of your mind when requesting inbound links from other sites. This is the yardstick by which Google measure's site quality.

This is how you can build your brand using your own words. Getting visitors there is only half the battle, keeping them is a whole different ballgame. Now, similar to tip number 2, you want to request specific keywords be used in the anchor text leading to your pages from other sites. And be sure to request each link to the most appropriate page. Just linking to the homepage doesn't cut it anymore.

Warning: Avoid reciprocal link farms like the plague! They are so easy for Google to spot it's a joke.

If you are in need of quality links but don't have time to setup link partnerships yourself, you may want to try a service that facilitates "3 way linking" like the one at http://www.3WayLinker.com.

It is both simple and brilliant Site X links to Site Y. Site Y" links to Site Z. And Site Z links to Site X forming a simple yet effective chain of one way links.

That's all for now. Good luck!

About the Author

David Radovanovic is a New York Web Design specialist who began in 1993. A Web media specialist, he launched WhatsTheBigIdea.com in '03. In addition to Web, David is among the top graphic designers in New York.

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