We are not going to get too technical today, since many readers might not be so knowledgeable about web programming. But I’ll offer some guidelines that you can keep in mind when working with your website developers.

As a universal principle: Make sure everything works as planned in all the major web browsers.

First, determine your servers’ capabilities. Do you have any bandwidth limits? Bandwidth is another term for website traffic, operational as well as “coming from” or “going to” activities. What is the cost for extra bandwidth every month? How much web space do you have with your hosting package? Are these enough for your website function and load fast? What operating system do your servers use—Linux, Unix, Windows—and is it the best option for your site? Are there any pre-installed scripts and content management systems that you can try? Are there any limits on using certain types of scripts and tools (CGI, rsync, SSH access, wild cards)? Do you have access to the server logs, and stats to analyze your website traffic sources, visitor types, and other useful data?

Keep your website’s major files in the root directory of your server. This is really good for both WU (website usability) and SEO. Place the codes in separate files for security reasons, and also for SEO purposes. If you use Java scripts, make sure they are not placed in the same file of the page; just add a code snippet, which will call the script from another file for execution. When it comes to SEO, this technique of placing everything separately will not only let your website function faster, but will also give you a bit of a search engine ranking advantage.

Website security is a critical issue, and you need to use secure web servers. You should password-protect your major back-end files and directories. Also, back up your website files and databases periodically. Do multiple backups. Control your site’s traffic and try to note anything suspicious. Keep your own computer free from Trojans and viruses. Don’t allow people whom you don’t fully trust to access your computer. Be in constant touch with your server’s support people and warm them right away if you notice any danger to your website.

Do not assume that all users will have the same browser features, or will have set the same defaults. Some users select larger fonts, and some users may turn off backgrounds, or use fewer colors. You should find out what settings most of your visitors are using. You can do this by analyzing your website traffic. You can also specify on your site what browser, resolution, font size, etc. with which the site is best viewed .

Lots of Internet statistics can be checked here: http://www.thecounter.com/stats/

You also need to use a set of webmaster tools by Google, which can be found at http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/. These are free tools to diagnose your site and better optimize it for Google, set parameters, and generate statistics. They can be very helpful in making your website technically friendly.

Shavkat Karimov
Internet Marketing Manager
mobileStorm, Inc.
Every problem comes with a solution
SEO Consulting Services

In my previous post I talked about some of the most important link building rules. Today’s post will continue exploring the subject, and will outline more rules you need to follow in order to successfully gain external links for your pages.

Make sure to check out the robots.txt file of the site you are about to get a link from. The page that will be linking to yours shouldn’t be excluded in the robots.txt file.

Try to get links from sites located at different Class-C IP addresses. This is important when you are having a massive link building campaign.

It makes sense to pay for links when the link is indeed worthy. Even when monthly fees are involved, don’t avoid this opportunity. Look at the page’s pagerank and again, make sure the page is relevant to yours.

Get links from authoritative websites that are actively supported. These should have nothing under construction. Also make sure these sites don’t seem not to have been updated for a long time.

Keep in mind that the links you are gaining are coming from sites using the same language as yours. If your site is in English only, get the links from English-language sites.

Try to avoid links that would be labeled as “sponsored” or as ads. Also, don’t get links from pages that already have more than 50 external links. In many cases it would be just useless.

Avoid sites/pages with scraped content, link schemes, too many contextual ads, popups, and intrusive advertising. Also avoid link farms, web-rings, link-exchange programs, poor and weak directories, FFA (free-for-all) sites, guestbooks, classifieds, hacker, pharmacy, gambling, illegal, offensive, or pornographic websites.

Make sure you are not just getting the same links everywhere. Always use different keyword combinations in the link anchor text. Be creative and at the same time make it all “natural.”

The pages you are getting links from should already be indexed by the major search engines, otherwise your link won’t be picked up at all. Type in the page’s URL into the search field of a search engine to see if it’s indexed.

And finally, keep everything under control, especially when you work with a team . Track all submissions and note the links becoming active. Correct the newly appeared links if needed. Follow up when necessary.

Shavkat Karimov
Internet Marketing Manager
mobileStorm, Inc.
Every problem comes with a solution
SEO Consulting

I’ve written many posts on how you can get those links. However, there are certain rules you need to follow to make your link building campaigns most effective.

The most important rule: Get relevant links only! This is vital for your search engine rankings, so this one rule should be followed all the time.

One-way links are better than reciprocal links (links being exchanged), three-way links, or other options. External links should point to not only the homepage, but also to other important inner pages of your site.

The links should appear slowly, about one to five per day maximum. Otherwise it could look suspicious or unnatural for search engines; this might harm your site rather than help it. So don’t rush—plan your work wisely.

Links should contain the target keywords in the anchor text. It is a good idea to have the link inside some relevant text paragraph, and not alongside lots of other links.

External links must be permanent and static, not dynamic with query strings or otherwise auto-generated. Simple HTML links are the best. Links should not be from framed pages, since they most likely wouldn’t be read by search engine bots. For the same reason, external links must be in the text, not in images, flash, or graphics. Also, links cannot be through a redirect script or some other JavaScript.

Don’t use any hidden links or other unethical tactics. It’s not worth it!

It is better when links open in the same window. In other words, make sure target=_blank and other similar tags are not used in the code of the link. Never include a rel=nofollow tag with a link; this tells Google not to follow that link!

Don’t try to spam blogs or forums with automated comments or posts. And don’t try other so-called black-hat (or even grey-hat) techniques. You’ll just get into trouble sooner or later.

I wouldn’t suggest using link exchange/text brokering programs. Manual work is always more rewarding at the end of the day.

Get links from well-visited sites instead of barely web-visible ones. You can get an idea of the site’s traffic from checking on Alexa.com or Compete.com.

That’s it for now. In my next post we will discover more rules for obtaining strong one-way links to your website. Stay tuned.

Shavkat Karimov
Internet Marketing Manager
mobileStorm, Inc.
Every problem comes with a solution
SEO Manager’s Expertise

In this installment of my Website Usability series, we will discover components and pages that can enrich your site and make it more user-friendly.

Occasionally, you might have visited sites that were “poor” in terms of their components. So what was missing? Possibly a number of things.

Some sites lack their own title, slogan, and logo— these elements are a must-have trio. You want to let people know your brand’s name, your organization’s motto, and your brand-recognition element, or logotype. Include this component somewhere on the header of your site.

For businesses selling something online, obtaining personal details, or offering services, the law sometimes requires a Terms and Conditions component. This page will also help protect your online business from misunderstandings on the part of your customers or website guests. A Privacy Policy component is also highly suggested. You can include these two components as small but visible text links in your website’s footer menu.

If your site’s material is fully or partially copyrighted, you might want tell your visitors. Include the copyright information in the bottom menu—it usually looks like a copyright sign (the letter “c” encircled ©)—and your site’s official name right after that. You might want to include the years the copyright is active, for example “2006-2008.”

We’ve already talked about it before, but it wouldn’t hurt to remind you about sitemaps. You really want your visitors to know your site’s structure, and a sitemap will definitely help them find the pages they need.

Another “must” for content-rich sites is a search feature. It should be placed in the visible area above the fold, and should be easy to use and work properly. Some sites are using free search forms provided by major search engines, which might be a good idea if you can’t build a simple search engine in-house. If the site has a large number of pages in different formats, styles, categories, and segments, you can add an advanced search function whereby people can search by subject, author, date, category, format, etc.

It makes sense to tell your visitors about your site or who is behind it. That is why many reputable sites have the component called the About Us page. This tells about the site and/or its owners, thus showing your openness to the online public.

Another feature that shows your openness, and also helps your site to be user-friendly and meet website usability requirements, is the Contact Us component. This can be a simple feedback form. You can also add your physical address, phone numbers, email addresses, etc.

By the way, there is no need to hide your email addresses under images. Instead, use spam-filtering software with your email clients and for your website from the hosting platform. It is also ideal to give your business address and phone number(s), if you are fine with people calling to ask questions. It will show your visitors that you have nothing to hide and will make them comfortable to do business with you.

You can include those last two components in any visible area of your site (homepage and all other pages); they usually are located next to each other.

If you sell products or services, a very good idea is to have a live chat option available on any page of your site. This makes it as if your visitors entered the real-life office of a reputable organization—there always someone to talk with who can help them out.

You can also add a report broken links component, so that your visitors will be able to help you make your site better and free from errors.

Finally, it is a great idea to add a custom 404 error page (“page not found”). Here, you can include that report link. The custom 404 page will help you not to lose visitors.

In general, the more interaction features you add to your site, the better. Just make sure it’s not annoying. Pop-up windows screaming “Wait!” when someone is trying to leave the page might be very distracting, and thus harm your site rather than help it.

If you follow my above suggestions on website components, you will make your site more user-friendly, and benefit from that effect.

Shavkat Karimov
Internet Marketing Manager
mobileStorm, Inc.
Every problem comes with a solution
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