Using the right tool for the job
In my garage I have a toolbox with many different tools for example; I have a hammer, a few screwdrivers and pliers. It’s obvious that you want to use a hammer to put in a nail, but when it comes to removing a nail I don’t have to use the hammer. I could use the pliers or maybe even the screwdriver but the hammer would be the best choice because it is better suited to remove the nail.
In web design work there are many tools and options to keep in mind and while we are drawn to some options more than others because they look pretty or flashy they might not be the right tool for that job or worst they might be hurting you in your search engine optimization.
Here are three examples of different things that can be placed on a website and the pros and cons of each one. This way you will know if this is the best tool for your website and how to use the tool better.
Tool one: “Images”
Images or pictures are the second most common item on a webpage after text; however, they can also hurt a webpage when it comes to SEO. For example, I once reviewed a webpage because the owner couldn’t figure out why when people typed in “green technology” their website did not come up at all in a search. I looked over their website and told them that the reason “green technology” didn’t come up in their search was because they didn’t have those words anywhere on the site.
The owner argued with me because he pointed to a big logo on the home page saying that they were “green technology” certified. As you can see, he told me, it says those words as big as they can be. The owner had fallen into a classic trap, thinking that a picture of a word was the same as the word itself. Currently no search engine can see words that are inside a GIF, JPEG or any other picture file format. No matter how readable your logo is the naked eye it isn’t readable by a search engine.
The solution for that website was to add an “ALT” tag to the artwork, reading ‘green technology certified’ and then to also add the phrase to the body of the text on the site.
Tool two: Flash
Flash animation, movies and interactive features all have the same problem as the image above which is that they can not be indexed by search engines. Does this mean that flash should never be used? Of course not, it just means that the flash needs to be integrated into the page with text. Or that the flash-only portion of the site, such as a picture album, is a subset of the site not the core. Anything that is presented in flash animation should be duplicated elsewhere on the site.
Tool Three: Content management software
There are many great tools out there that help companies make WebPages who, don’t know how to do HTML. Some software examples are WordPress, Joomla, and Mambo to just name a few. These softwares make it easy to make changes to content and pages quickly thought a simple interface.
The great news is that Content management software allows website to always be updated with new content, however the problem is when most of the software limits the amount of information that can be on a single page. When the size limit is reach it creates a new page and puts the older information on these new page. This system keeps the newest information on the main page however it also means that any carefully keywords that were placed on a page will be moved deeper and deeper into the website. These constantly changing pages of text can lead a website to ride a roller coaster of being up and down in the search engine placement.
Does this mean that content management software should never be used? Like the other examples above everything can be used under the correct conditions. Too often people use this software right out of the box without thinking about what the default template does or does not do.
Before you add something to your webpage think about it and ask yourself it is the right tool for this job?
Technorati Tags: website, web site, web marketing, webpage, cms
This article was first published November 6, 2008 on the Tatum Marketing blog
In my garage I have a toolbox with many different tools for example; I have a hammer, a few screwdrivers and pliers. It’s obvious that you want to use a hammer to put in a nail, but when it comes to removing a nail I don’t have to use the hammer. I could use the pliers or maybe even the screwdriver but the hammer would be the best choice because it is better suited to remove the nail.
In web design work there are many tools and options to keep in mind and while we are drawn to some options more than others because they look pretty or flashy they might not be the right tool for that job or worst they might be hurting you in your search engine optimization.
Here are three examples of different things that can be placed on a website and the pros and cons of each one. This way you will know if this is the best tool for your website and how to use the tool better.
Tool one: “Images”
Images or pictures are the second most common item on a webpage after text; however, they can also hurt a webpage when it comes to SEO. For example, I once reviewed a webpage because the owner couldn’t figure out why when people typed in “green technology” their website did not come up at all in a search. I looked over their website and told them that the reason “green technology” didn’t come up in their search was because they didn’t have those words anywhere on the site.
The owner argued with me because he pointed to a big logo on the home page saying that they were “green technology” certified. As you can see, he told me, it says those words as big as they can be. The owner had fallen into a classic trap, thinking that a picture of a word was the same as the word itself. Currently no search engine can see words that are inside a GIF, JPEG or any other picture file format. No matter how readable your logo is the naked eye it isn’t readable by a search engine.
The solution for that website was to add an “ALT” tag to the artwork, reading ‘green technology certified’ and then to also add the phrase to the body of the text on the site.
Tool two: Flash
Flash animation, movies and interactive features all have the same problem as the image above which is that they can not be indexed by search engines. Does this mean that flash should never be used? Of course not, it just means that the flash needs to be integrated into the page with text. Or that the flash-only portion of the site, such as a picture album, is a subset of the site not the core. Anything that is presented in flash animation should be duplicated elsewhere on the site.
Tool Three: Content management software
There are many great tools out there that help companies make WebPages who, don’t know how to do HTML. Some software examples are WordPress, Joomla, and Mambo to just name a few. These softwares make it easy to make changes to content and pages quickly thought a simple interface.
The great news is that Content management software allows website to always be updated with new content, however the problem is when most of the software limits the amount of information that can be on a single page. When the size limit is reach it creates a new page and puts the older information on these new page. This system keeps the newest information on the main page however it also means that any carefully keywords that were placed on a page will be moved deeper and deeper into the website. These constantly changing pages of text can lead a website to ride a roller coaster of being up and down in the search engine placement.
Does this mean that content management software should never be used? Like the other examples above everything can be used under the correct conditions. Too often people use this software right out of the box without thinking about what the default template does or does not do.
Before you add something to your webpage think about it and ask yourself it is the right tool for this job?
Thu, Nov 5, 2009
Conversion Rates, Traffic
Written by: Eric Gerds