Web Designing Tutorials

Back in October of last year, I made my first post with the concept of “Do-It-Yourself” tips for Web Design.  This is the last post in that series that is titled “Keep Your Site Updated And Monitor The Traffic” and happens to be the very thing that many new Website owners fail to consider in their Website management.  Here are a few things to consider for why and how you should be keeping your site updated:

1. The Search Engines put an extreme amount of value to new content which will show up in the Google Page Rank as one of the many factors Google considers in assigning importance to a particular Web page. For competitive Keyword Phrases, those pages with a higher Google Page Rank of at least a 5 or better will generally hold their positions in the top listings over time.
2. Update or add new text content at least monthly to any page that you expect to be competitive in the search results.  If you have an e-commerce site, you can simply have a monthly text ad that you change each month.  Use keyword rich text in that ad (keyword phrases that would be used in a search for your site).
3. Develop a Sitemap page that list all the pages in your Website, their priority of importance to you and when they were last updated.  Submit this Sitemap page to the Search Engines for indexing when it is initially developed.  The important thing here is to make sure you keep your Sitemap updated with the current dates that each page was changed.  I will make a “How To Develop A Sitemap” post in the future as this topic is one in itself and beyond the scope for this article.
4. Create a Blog for your Website and post articles with links back to your main site.
5. Use RSS feeds written in PHP or HTML on a page that you want to keep competitive in the search results.
6. Make a post with a link to the page with new content to your site in Twitter and Facebook or any other Social Media network you may use.
7. Use  Google Analytics to track your Website traffic which will tell you how many visitors have come to your site, which pages have been viewed, which keywords they have used, which sites referred them to yours and other important information.  You can also use a Professional Search Engine Marketing specialist like myself to provide you with this information as well as many others things to assist you in your Marketing efforts.

The easiest way for the average person to “Do-It-Yourself” in keeping your site updated is to use items 2 and 6 above.  I would also consider having a professional develop a Site Map, a Blog, and integrate an RSS feed into your site as they are additional ways to provide and promote new content.  I cannot say enough how important new content is your Google ranking and to search engines as a whole in the results that they return to a user.  Don’t let your site go stagnant, work with it periodically to keep it in the running.

I came across this nice video and article about “Giving Your Business A Dose of Passion” by Abby Johnson:

She discusses, Accountability, Sharpening Skills and Becoming an Expert as ways to revive the passion for your business.  I would agree and add a couple of things to provide yourself some additional power:

1. Accountability - Ask yourself: Are you promoting your business daily?  If not, you should by attending business/community events such as your local Chamber events where you can network.  You should Blog, use Twitter and other Social Media tools to promote your products, services and just simply yourself as an Expert.
2. Sharpen Your Skills - Ask yourself:  Are you educating yourself daily?  If not, you should be following your industry journals, checking on your competitors to see what they are up to or taking an online course or two.  CPA’s, Teachers and many professionals are required to take Continuing Education Units (CEU’s) in order to stay informed about current trends and to remain certified.  If you want to stay ahead of the game, you should be educating yourself daily!
3. Become An Expert - Part of educating yourself will lead you to this point of Becoming An Expert, but I would add, you need your current and future customers or clients to know that you have become an expert in your field.  Use Enewsletters, Blogs, Twitter, Social Media and Articles to write about subjects in your industry.  Not to brag about how great your are as an individual, but to provide useful information about your industry or areas of your business.  In your postings, provide links back to your Website or other articles you have made which will not only help in creating additional traffic for you,  but to really promote your business.  You want to become an Authority Figure in your industry which creates respect and return business or following.

Abby’s article got me thinking again and helped to provide some juice to recover from a slow Holiday season for me, so I would recommend viewing her video and reading the article.