Web Design
Q. What should be considered before beginning a web design project?
Q. Should I have an animated flash intro as my home page?
Q. Is a database required?
Search Engine Optimisation
Q. What are “key phrases”?
Q. How do you apply search engine optimisation for a key phrase?
Q. What makes a good key phrase?
Q. What is link popularity?
Q. Optimised pages have lots of text. Do people read all those words?
Q. What is spam and do you use these techniques?
Q. What is my site ranking dependent on?
Q. Can you guarantee a number #1 position in the search engines?
Web Hosting
Q. What is web hosting?
Q. What is a domain name?
Q. Choosing a domain name
Q. Can I keep my domain name when I change a host?
Q. How do I upload my site?
Web Design
Q. What should be considered before beginning a web design project?
A. There are some basic points to consider prior to agreeing a web design project with a company or designer. It is important to think of the following:
- Who is the target audience
- What is the objective of the website?
- Where will the content come from? (Text, images, logos and photos etc.)
- Who will I ask to build the site, and do they have a portfolio of satisfied clients?
Q. Should I have an animated flash intro as my home page?
A. Children can sit mesmerised in front of animated cartoons for long periods of time, most adults or business people searching for business or services on the Internet will not. If you have a product or service best showcased by using animation, it is advisable to add it as a link to a page within your site, thus giving potential customers the choice to view it or not.
From a search engine perspective a flash intro on a home page seriously damages a website's chances of being found easily even though Google is now starting to read information from flash files.
Q. Is a database required?
A. Databases are ideal for organisations that need to offer a large choice of products or services to customers over the Internet. For real estate companies for example, if a large number of properties need to be listed and changed regularly then a database is likely to be required. For less than one hundred properties of which only a few are likely to be changed on say, a quarterly basis, then a database is unlikely to be necessary.
Search Engine Optimisation
Q. What are “key phrases”?
A. When someone types a search term into a search engine, we refer to this term as a key phrase. For example, someone trying to find a real estate company may type “real estate Marbella” in the Google search box – “real estate Marbella” would be the key phrase here.
Q. How do you apply search engine optimisation for a key phrase?
A. There are many factors involved in search engine optimisation. An important factor for most search engines is that the content of your site matches the typed in key phrase. Your site should therefore be written with certain key phrases in mind. We have facilities that enable us to pinpoint the optimal key phrases that are associated with your business.
Q. What makes a good key phrase?
A. A good key phrase is one that actually gets typed in by users, but has very few other web sites competing for it. A key phrase like "web site design" is certainly typed in thousands of times every day, but there are tens of thousands of web sites competing for this phrase so it would be hard to get a good ranking for this - also, a phrase like this is not specific enough for a web design company's needs - someone searching for "web site design" may simply be searching for tips on good web site design. A better phrase to base your search engine optimisation on would be "web site design companies uk", which has less sites competing for it, but still receives quite a few business related search requests every day. Of course, this is just one of many factors that determine your ranking - repeating a key phrase many times will not improve your ranking on its own.
Q. What is link popularity?
A. Search engines (especially Google) measure your site's importance by looking at who links to your site. Each site that links to you is classed as a 'vote' - you get a higher vote if the site linking to you is both related and also considered important by the search engine.
Q. Optimised pages have lots of text. Do people read all those words?
A. They sure do - as long as the text is written in a way online readers can read it. Studies show that customers will read longer Web copy if the text is well presented and easy to read. Certain usability techniques can enhance readability, making even long text easy to read. Furthermore, customers like text - it's the only way they can make an informed decision about whether they want to work with your company. Customers will read your SEO writing as long as it's persuasive, informative and interesting.
Q. What is spam and do you use these techniques?
A. Absolutely not! Spam refers to methods some companies adopt to deceive search engine algorithms, by exploiting "loopholes" in their systems. These methods only tend to work short term (if at all) and in most cases lead to a ban. Most search engines have a Spam reporting procedure and many companies will not think twice about reporting your site if it utilises spam techniques (especially if their site had been pushed down the rankings by yours!). Spam includes doorway pages, cloaking, invisible text, tiny text, page stuffing, duplicate pages and keyword saturation.
Q. What is my site ranking dependent on?
A. Site ranking tends to be "cumulative" and is dependent, among other things, on the following factors:
- the specific keyword phrases (search terms) that have been targeted
- the overall competitiveness of your industry - how many players are there?
- whether you are targeting a regional, national, or international market
- how well ranking is monitored and the site tweaked over time for SEO improvement
- the progress of your reciprocal linking campaign
- the number of competitor sites achieving new ranking themselves.
- Back to top
Q. Can you guarantee a number #1 position in the search engines?
A. Nobody can guarantee a number #1 position or specific ranking for your site for a given keyword phrase. There are simply too many factors beyond anyone's control - the search engines changing their ranking algorithms, efforts made by competitors, and new sites being added to the Web. This is a sort of ongoing competition in which you must keep playing hard and using strategy to reach for the top.
Web Hosting
Q. What is web hosting?
A. Web hosting refers to the process of publishing a web site so that it is available to the world on the Web. Paid web hosting also involves getting a domain name.
Q. What is a domain name?
A. A domain name is a sequence of letters and numbers that determine the address of your site. This site's domain name is "andaluciaws.com” You need to register a domain name before your web site becomes accessible at your address.
Q. Choosing a domain name
A. Although it is not a key factor in search engine optimisation it certainly helps to have a key word relevant to your business or services present in the domain name of your website. When choosing a domain name it is also important not to make it too long or too complicated as this could result in typos and other complications when people are looking for your site.
Q. Can I keep my domain name when I change a host?
A. Yes. We recommend that you register your domain name with a separate registrar before getting a hosting plan. Then, when you need to move to another host, you just need to point your domain name’s servers to this new host. If you registered your domain name with a host and now you want to move, you should find your registration records or contact this host and ask them how to control your domain name. If you have a problem, you can usually see the name of the registrar by performing a "Whois" query on your domain name and then contacting them.
Q. How do I upload my site?
A. The main method of uploading files to your site's account is by using FTP. When you sign up with a host, you will get an FTP account that lets you access files in your account (usually yoursitename.com, your main account name and password). Then you can use a built-in Windows or Internet Explorer FTP client, or some other software that supports FTP such as Cute FTP to transfer files from your hard drive to your account.