Have you ever finished a conversation with your search engine optimization analyst and were left with your head spinning a little bit by some of the terms they’ve used? It’s understandable, the search engine optimization process can be confusing if you’re not constantly involved in the process. Here are a few of our commonly used terms when we discuss SEO with our clients:

• Algorithm – Google’s algorithm calculations give you a specific result on the search result page. By using different items, such as your frequently visited page, location, etc., Google is able to give you what it thinks you’re looking for.
• Black Hat – Techniques that go against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, which include: keyword stuffing, paying for links, automatically generating content, hidden text, etc. Using these practices could result in your website not appearing in organic listings.
• Blog – This section of your website is updated most frequently, including information such as: latest news, tips in your industry, etc. The content is written more conversational than the remaining pages of your website.
• Bounce rate – This measurement is how long users are staying on your website before navigating elsewhere. If people are coming to your website and leaving quickly, this could affect your organic search result ranking because the algorithm will think users are not finding what they need on your website.
• Crawler – A bot scans your website automatically to discover additional pages, images, etc.
• Directory – The directories are much like an old phone book. They’ll list your business name, phone number, address and website. Some directories, such as Yelp or Google+, will also allow users to provide testimonials on your business.
• Duplicate Content – The content of your website should be unique to your business. If you have the same content across multiple domains, search engines will think you’re using black hat tactics to rank your business.
• Organic Ranking – By creating relevant content, link building and other SEO tactics, search engines will list your website in the results located below the paid ads or local map listings.
• Sitemap – A page or document listing all of the pages of your website that provides the user or GoogleBot with information on your website’s structure.

The Advanced Digital team values communication with clients and are always open to answering their questions. The list above is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to SEO terminology. Are there any SEO terms that you’ve wondered about? Let us know in the comments below.

Chances are you have heard the phrase, “Content is king,” from your marketing or search engine optimization team at one point or another in the last few years. It’s a valid statement. But with all of our talk about the aesthetics of your website, you may be asking yourself: “Why is content important to the first impression of a website?”

To put it simply, the content is going to communicate to users your services and why they should trust you. With a brick-and-mortar store, for example, during hours of operation anyone is free to walk in and speak with someone face to face and get to know what they offer. As your website doesn’t have a closing time, it is important that your content can communicate your business to your potential customers perfectly and clearly.

Let’s say your garage door is making an awful sound and you need it fixed quickly. As you’re researching companies you will have a list of questions running through your head. Do they offer what you need? Are they reliable? Are they affordable? etc. It’s late at night so you are unable to call someone to ask these questions, so you’re left to browse websites. The first website you look at offers very little information on their services and very few testimonials from past customers; it looks outdated and it is hard to navigate. Based on what you’ve seen, your first impression may be that they aren’t knowledgeable in the repair, the company is disorganized or the customer service is poor due to the lack of reviews. The website you look at next offers you a great explanation on the services they provide, the website is easy to navigate on all platforms and the website includes testimonials raving about their professionalism, knowledge and affordability. Which company would you choose to go with for the repair? The answers pretty clear. Your content speaks for you around the clock, so make sure it is saying the right things.

Although content is just a fraction of what goes into SEO, it is something that has increased in importance over the past few years. The high-quality unique pages and blogs increase the visibility of your website and increase social engagement.

Additional things to think about:

Some extra things to keep in mind when it comes to your website’s content:

• Support images with text. Infographics are great for communicating your business’ message and keeping the attention of your users. However, search engines do not have the ability to read the image, instead they rely on supporting content to explain the graphic content.
• Titles and meta data. This information is going to explain to users (and search engines) what your page or blog is about. The characters are limited, so you want to grab the attention of users quickly. Your descriptions should make you stand out amongst the competition.
• Use blogs to branch off additional content. Content creation is extremely important to your website, this way you can link back through your website and show search engines you’re constantly offering your customers reliable and relevant information.

We hope that this blog series on first impressions has given you a lot of food for thought when it comes to your website. Advanced Digital Inc. keeps all these aspects that we have discussed in mind, as well as more whenever we work on our client’s websites. If you’re interested in updating your own website in order to make the very best first impression possible, Advanced Digital Inc. is happy to help!

Chances are your website provides customers a first impression of your business. Is the website clean and organized? Can products or services be found easily? Many of us are visual people and you form an opinion of a company from what you see first. For example, if an e-commerce website is unorganized and the website looks outdated, you will probably go elsewhere for the same product. The messy layout and outdated look is going to lead you to believe the company is old, the factory is disorganized and it may take you longer than you want to receive your item.

When your potential customers come to your site, they essentially want everything laid out for them above the fold. Much like when eating at a buffet, you’d like everything set out before you so you are able to pick and choose what you would like. Put simply, the easier you make navigating your website, the lower your bounce rate and higher your conversation rate.

Key Components To Keep in Mind

Some key components to keep in mind when it comes to the usability of your website:

• Are the services or products your website offers easily identified and accessible from your home page? Potential customers should be able to tell what services you offer and what your business is about by your menu, slider (or hero image), call to action buttons, etc. Various heat maps of websites show users tend to put all of their focus on the top of the page, as you go down the page users are clicking fewer links.
• Are your web pages loading at an appropriate speed? You don’t want users to feel like they’ve traveled back to the dial-up days. Choosing the right host, reducing ads, enabling cache and compressing images are just a few of the things that can help speed up your website. Slow page-loading times could increase your bounce-rate and result in the loss of a conversion.
• How are website errors handled? Instead of having a 404 Not Found page only stating, “404 Not Found,” you may want to offer them other options. Latest blog posts, service pages, about your company and most importantly the contact us page. Like we stated earlier, you potential customers want everything laid out in front of them, they could become increasingly frustrated with the usability of your website.

Is your website user friendly and attracting potential customers?

Welcome to part one of our three-part series here at Advanced Digital in which we will go over three key components to make sure you and your website are making not only a great first impression, but a lasting impression that will keep your customers coming back to your website.

By nature, many of us are very visual people. Much like when meeting someone in person face-to-face for the first time, your first impression will stem from things based on their appearance. Are their clothes wrinkled? Do they have a nice smile? What’s their body language like? These very same knee-jerk judgments are made when visiting a site for the first time. Is the font easy to read? Are the photos pixelated? Can people immediately tell what your brand is based on your homepage graphics alone?

It is with these things in mind, and knowing how human nature works, that it is of the utmost importance to invest in solid web design. If the overall aesthetic of your website looks dated, overwhelming, or of poor quality – the same impressions will be projected onto your business’ services or products. It is as they say in the foodie-world, “you eat with your eyes first.” If your web design is professional, clean, and essentially aesthetically pleasing a user is more likely to feel confident in your brand.

Key Components To Keep in Mind

Some key components to keep in mind when it comes to your visual presentation of your website:

• Is your website clean, easy to read and navigate? Potential customers should be able to find things easily. If your website is cluttered, hard to read and hard to navigate, they could leave your website and find a similar product with one of your competitors.
• Are the fonts you’re using compatible across platforms? It is important to consider the users on your website. You may have a font such as Wolf in the City installed and set for your page headers, but there are potential customers that will see a different font if it isn’t installed. If you’re looking for fonts that will stand out and grab the attention of your customers, we recommend using Google Fonts. The font library has over 700 fonts with multiple styles to choose from (handwritten, display, serif, etc.).
• Do you have images on your pages? Let’s face it, your customers are going to skim the content of your website. If you can communicate your services with images, you’ll be able to keep their attention and keep them on your website. We can’t forget about SEO, although images are important to keep your customers, you will need to support them with text and descriptions for the search engines.

So… what is your website’s visual presentation communicating to your potential clients?Subscribe to our blog so you can keep up to date with all of our future blog posts, including part two of this series where we go over: content and what role that plays in a user’s first impression.