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What Do You Know About CMS?

For many website owners, CMS is becoming more and more of a must-have technology for so many reasons.  Let’s dig in and take a look…

I keep hearing about “CMS.”  What is this anyway?

Well, first of all, CMS stands for Content Management System.  Basically, it’s a type of software that’s installed and interfaced with a website to enable an authorized user to log in and make updates and changes to specified pages from anywhere at any time.

How can CMS help me?

Some CMS systems are more user friendly than others, but all-in-all, CMS is intended to enable those who might not be technically inclined and those who just don’t have the time to invest in learning a new computer language to make easy updates and additions to their websites.  Working with a CMS system to add or edit content on a website is generally as simple as logging in to your email and writing a message.  By using a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) format, users can even edit fonts, add images, and much more—in many ways it’s just like using a favorite word processor program.

Can my existing site be converted to CMS?

In most cases, the answer is “yes.”  However, depending on the design and coding used for your existing website, it might require significant modifications, and in some cases, a complete website redesign.  Either way, adding CMS to your website will save plenty in the long run, as the need to hire a web professional every time a content update needs to be made is no longer a necessity.

Is CMS search engine friendly?

Most CMS systems are either non-intrusive enough to be search engine friendly alongside the existing search-friendly code or come with built-in features that promote a healthy search presence.  As with anything, this is only one component of creating the big picture definition of a search optimized web presence.

What are the alternatives to having CMS on my website?

The alternatives are to continue to use a static-code website platform.  For advanced users—those with a solid proficiency for HTML and other web code—using CMS is probably optional, but certainly a helpful time-saving convenience at least.  For those who don’t understand a lick of code, but just want to be able to log right in and make their own changes to their website content, CMS is a modern essential!

Want to learn a little bit more about the benefits of installing a content management system for your website?  If so, just give one of our experts here at WSpider a ring—we’re always eager to help our friends and customers use effective technologies to save time and money.

5 Catchy Headline Templates That Work Time And Time Again

As promised in our last post here on the WSpider blog, we said we’d share a few of the most effective ways to write headlines for your web pages or blog posts.  Remember how we talked about creating a headline that really works is more of a science than an art?  Here’s the time tested and well proven formulas that work time and time again.

TEMPLATE ONE:

“8 Ways To Create Eye Catching Headlines”

What makes this one work?  Well, it’s a numbers game…plus, it offers visitors a “how-to” solution.  Readers love number list type of web articles and using a “___ Ways to ___” headline works every time!  Just go ahead and ignore those that insist that this headline strategy has been overdone—of course it has—but it’s ever-effective and that’s why it’s still so popular!

TEMPLATE TWO:

“Checklist: Are You Covering These Headline Essentials?”

Lists are bookmarkable, checklists are naturally printable, and the headline asks the reader a question—drawing them deeper into the article.  What could be better?  This headline example covers three great bases along the way to hitting a reader-memorable home run.

TEMPLATE THREE:

“A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Headlines That Work”

Who doesn’t want to have the have the topic they’re interested in learning more about literally spelled out in simple, easy to follow steps?  “Step-By-Step Guide To ____” headlines are effective because they help to take away the intimidating edge as a reader approaches a subject they’re eager to know more about.

TEMPLATE FOUR:

“DRAW ATTENTION! (with these headline tips)”

What’s so great about this headline?  To start with, it’s bold and get’s right to the point—and gives the reader an immediate benefit by doing so.  It’s not afraid to capitalize on capitalization.  It captures attention further by following up with almost a “shhhhhh…” moment, especially after starting big.  This makes readers think and in many ways naturally feel expression, which ultimately helps to draw them further into the article.

TEMPLATE FIVE:

“Read This And You Can Write Great Headlines Too.”

This headline formula is all about telling the reader exactly what’s in it for them right at this very moment.  Basically, at the first glance of the page or article, they’ll know that if they just give it a minute or two, they’ll be able to improve in some way or another.  And we’re all about self-improvement, right?  If there’s any interest at all in the topic, this is a surefire way to connect.

Oh, and do you want to know one thing to avoid at all costs when writing headlines for the web?  Don’t try to be overly catchy or gimmicky with the headline.  For writers, it’s really easy to get caught up in trying to create a snarky or “bright” phrase or catch with the headline—but most readers just won’t get it or simply just don’t care.  Make your headline attractive, but keep it as straightforward as possible at the same time for best results!

Why Write Effective Page Headlines?

Headlines are perhaps the single most important part of what’s written on a web page. Why?

• First of all, the headline is the first thing people see—good headlines attract attention and encourage a reader to keep on reading further down the page after their initial interest has been captured.
• Headlines are the first opportunity to share the theme of a web page and the keyword or keyword phrase that the page discusses. This is essential information for both human readers and search engine spiders alike.
• Your headlines are frequently used by search engines as part of the way they describe your site to searchers in their listings. Using the right headline can encourage searchers to click to visit your site instead of one of the other listings displayed.
• A page’s headline is often expected to multi-task as a lead in to the page on other pages and sites. And of course, your headline is the most common link anchor text to use when linking to the page it represents.
• Headlines are also often required to represent your site on social media sites like Twitter and Digg. This is extremely important these days!

Indeed, headlines are big stuff. Something to focus on because they define your page from start to finish.

Invest Time In Your Headline

Here’s the thing—it does take time to come up with a good headline, but the best thing about it is that once you’ve come up with a good headline for a page you are creating, you’ve also done the hardest part of creating the written content for that page. In other words, the thought process that goes into creating effective headlines by default also requires you to really think out what the body of the page will be about—helping you establish a game plan for writing the entire page.

But What About Specific Headline Ideas?

We’ll get to that in the next post on headlines and share a few good headline templates that work time and time again. And by the way, did you happen to notice how basic the headline for this blog post was? It’s worth noting that sometimes simpler headlines are better than more complex or “catchy” headlines. We’ll also share the details on that.

Writing effective headlines is more of a science than an art. Simple formulas work time and time again. Stay tuned to the WSpider blog for the next headline post. Now that you know why writing effective page headlines is so important, it’s time to cover all the fun details (and yes, writing for the web can actually be fun)!

An Introduction To SEO

Search engine optimization, more commonly referred to simply as SEO, has really become a major topic over the last few years when it comes to website promotion.  And it’s not a big surprise—SEO done right is not only incredibly effective at driving targeted traffic to an organization’s website, but it can also be an extremely attractive value when compared to other web marketing strategies, dollar for dollar.

What Exactly Is SEO?

Well, let’s take a look from a very basic perspective—that of an average internet user.  Ready?

When you’re looking for specific information on the internet regarding virtually any topic imaginable, what’s the first thing you do?  If you’re like most, you’ll probably log on to Google, Yahoo!, or a similar search engine and type in a few words (known as keywords) into the search box.  In just a fraction of a second, you’re presented with an initial page full of listings to websites that presumably match what you’ve searched for.

Chances are, you’ll find and visit the first few listings shown on the first page of the search results, right?  Well, if you’re like most, this is the case—listings on the second page or beyond might as well be non-existent.

So if you’re operating a website, the goal is to show up on the first page of search results.  Have you guessed how this is done yet?  If you’re saying, “SEO!” you’re absolutely correct.  The process of search engine optimization is simply a set of strategies and methods that are designed to set a website up for probably search listing success for a certain keyword or keyword phrase.

Another Thing To Consider…

Again, when you do a search with the major search engines, you’ll actually be presented with two different types of results on the listing page, presented side-by-side.  Here’s what you should know:

Paid Search – These often look just like regular search results, but are actually in fact paid-for advertising.  Often shown as the first three or so search results at the top of the page, and also frequently shown along the right side of the results screen, they are bought by website promoters via a bidding process to show up for certain specific terms searched.

Organic Search – This is where SEO is most focused.  Organic search results are the listings shown that make up the majority of the search results page.  They’re free to website promoters, but do require a good deal of attention to actually show on the first page.  Organic SEO’s number one goal is to get a website listed here.

And That’s The Value!

Because they are free, organic search results present tremendous value to a website promoter.  Spending a marginal amount of revenue to create and implement a solid SEO plan not only costs much less than paying for advertising (paid search), but also delivers lasting results that keep on showing up long after the initial optimization is complete.

We’ll have more coming on the basics of SEO on the WSpider blog very soon—stay tuned!

Saturday Question And Answer Session

With so much going on lately in the realm of web development and search optimization, it’s kind of difficult to keep up with all of the changes!  No worries, today, we’re going to slow things down a bit and take a look at a few recent questions that have come up recently.  Without any further delay, here’s today’s question and answer installment…

Question One:  Should I be doing anything proactive to be ready for the upcoming launch of Google “Caffeine?”

Answer:  We touched briefly on the new Google Caffeine update just the other day on the blog.  In case you might have missed that, in a nutshell, Google is doing a major update to their back-end search system.  The immediately obvious change is a noticeable increase in speed—both in performing a search and in websites’ content being indexed and listed practically immediately.  This part can only be good for website owners.

Right now it’s a bit early to tell how much of an impact the update will actually have on how sites are listed and ranked.  Insiders at Google have said that most average users will not notice much of a difference—it’s safe to say most rankings will remain similar to what they are now with only minor changes here and there.  WSpider can help ensure your website fits within Google’s recommended guidelines.

Question Two:  What’s the deal with local search?

The term “local search” is generally used to talk about the white page style listings that each of the major search engines provide now.  For the most part, local search is really not anything separate from how you might think of traditional search—the search engines even do a really good job automatically integrating local results as they might be relevant to any specific search.  Generally speaking, there is a simple but separate submission process to make sure your business is listed locally on the search engines.  We’ll be happy to help you take care of this, just give us a call!

Question Three:  How do I ensure my website ranks number one in the search listings?

Well unfortunately, there’s really no easy way to do this (and certainly no way to guarantee this—watch out if someone promises you number one rankings).  What is usually possible is achieving quality top ten rankings for results-producing niche and long tail search terms related to your site.  It’s a process that is best started from scratch and well planned out before you even begin to build a site.  Of course, this doesn’t mean that search optimization won’t work with an existing site—it will—but, it’s always easier when building from the ground up with search performance in mind.

That’s it for this week’s Q&A…if you have any questions you’d like us to answer for you, please just send them our way!

Search Gone Wild!

Wow, is there ever a lot of buzz going on in the world of the search engines lately!  Sure, there’s always something new and exciting happening when it comes to the search engines, but this summer has been downright hyper-active.

New Search Launches

The major buzz of the summer has of course been the new launch of Bing from Microsoft.  Designed to kick start a new level of liveliness into the company’s previous MSN/Live.com search engine, it’s certainly succeed at this lofty goal.  Completely reworked and re-branded as a “Decision Engine” instead of just another search engine, they’ve hit their mark.  People have been talking about Bing for good reason—it’s definitely a slick new product.  Fast, accurate, and all around well-packaged, the site’s market share has made respectable gains since launch.

New Partnerships In The Works

Barely us any time to breath after the launch of Bing, the news of Yahoo! and Microsoft announcing a search partnership began to kick into overdrive.  The deal’s still not totally complete—with a few kinks to work out, along with several questions arising about anti-trust issues now lingering overhead—but the basic idea of this partnership is that Yahoo! will no longer produce and deliver their own search results.  Instead, the traditionally second most frequently used search engine will display search results from Bing.  It’s not completely clear what this all means yet, but one thing is certain—by joining forces, the two companies will make a major leap towards closing the competitive gap with Google (first place in search traffic by large margins).

More Hot New Search News

Not to be outdone by all of the search engine buzz, Google has also just announced a major update.  Dubbed “Caffeine,” the search giant has modernized the back end engine behind the search.  Apparently there will be no flashy new user interface, but the search results will continue to improve and the performance has been reworked to be lightning-fast.  Not yet rolled out to the general public, the jury is still out on how this update will really make a difference in the whole scheme of things.  We’ll all find out soon when it goes mainstream!

What It All Means For The Savvy Website Developer

Perhaps this is the most important point of all (and also the most frequently asked question out there among website owners).  Every major search engine change does affect your search results in one way or another, but there’s not too much to worry about.  If you’ve developed a solid search strategy -- hopefully hand-in hand with WSpider :) -- and you are providing relevant value to your visitors, in all likelihood, you’ll continue to rank well (if not improve) in the search results.

Keywords, Keywords, Keywords: The Magic Of Focused Content

Experts in the web development business have long known about—and frequently used—keywords as part of their time-tested formula to establishing droves of laser-targeted, eager to participate visitors.  In fact, using keywords to develop a website, and more importantly, each individual web page has long been a tool of the trade—almost back to the very beginning of the web as we know it today (and certainly, as long as the popular search engines have been in existence).

Why is this?  Well, if you stop and think about it for a minute, just about all search on the internet is strictly keyword-based…

• You can’t search the web with mental brain waves alone (although that’s probably coming sooner rather than later!).
• It’s still not very accurate to search by asking a complete question (i.e. searching for something like, “what do I need to do to make my website rank higher on Google and Yahoo for my best-selling product?”).  Performing a lengthy, full-sentence search like this will confuse the heck out of the search engine—ultimately providing sketchy results at best.
• However…you can accurately perform a search for “search engine ranking tips” and come up with a list of sites offering great pointers and advice that would most likely take months on end to sort through (and of course, with some good advice and a lot of less than desirable tips interspersed within).
• Keywords are still the best and most user-friendly way to search for images, music, and other multimedia on the web too.

Using concise keyword phrases to do a search is clearly the name of the game.  Keywords are the bread and butter of connecting thoughts and ideas on the web, from searchers to information providers.

Now, as a website owner, your primary objective is to provide some type of information or another to your potential visitors and customers.  Sure, your ultimate goal might very well be to sell your product or service to a customer, but there’s a lot of “connecting the dots” before that can happen.

First, the visitor must find your site.  How do they do this?

Well, by searching with a specific keyword or keyword phrase, of course!

Now naturally, you’ll need to show up in the search engine listings for these keywords.  How is this accomplished?

Again, the basic premise is to build tightly-themed pages for your site—full of relevant and helpful information for the visitor—and all developed from the very initial phases with specific keywords in mind.

Keywords and the magic of focused content are what make the world of web search go ‘round!  Why not ask our experts here at WSpider.com to help you come up with a specific keyword plan for your site?