Web Design | Brand Development | VolveMedia.com©

Error 404 Pages and You

volvemedia — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 07:35:25 +0000

I was discussing with a client the need for customized 404 error pages.

The Error 404 “Page not found” is what is displayed when you visit a page on a website and that page, for whatever, does not exist or is unreachable. Without a valid website to display, the server sends a response to your browser that says “404 Page not found”.

The 404 error is an HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) regular code. The error response usually will indicate that though your browser was able to communicate with the server, it didn’t find what was requested or there was an error when processing the response.

It’s necessary for your website to be setup to display a standard 404 Error page when necessary. Doing so is not only valuable to visitors, who could be given a list of pages or other resources on your site to choose from instead of seeing just an error page, but also having a customized 404 error page is beneficial for SEO. So, if you don’t already have a 404 Error page please make sure your web developer sets one up for you immediately.

Reputation Management: Tip #1

volvemedia — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:44:01 +0000

Many potential clients come to us often proclaiming of negative information about themselves, their products and/or services. While reputation management online is not necessarily a straight forward or easy process there can be certain things to take into consideration when deciding on a strategy for handling negative feedback.

First and foremost, if you can secure the services of a good lawyer, do so. You would be surprised at just how easy it can be to let your lawyer petition a website to take down a negative comment about your services or products.

Secondly, the more involved you are online and the more you interact with existing and potential customers, the more easily you can control negative feedback.

How? If you manage the forum where people come to discuss your services/products then you are more easily able to eliminate negative feedback while promoting positive feedback. Plus, having a social presence on forums, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and other large social media networks allow you to interact directly with people about your products and services and also assist to add additional links about you while pushing unmoderated, unfiltered links from other sites down on Google.

Google Caffeine is now LIVE

volvemedia — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 03:23:26 +0000

Yep, after months of testing, deploying, retracting and finally deploying again Google’s latest algorithm update is live and final across all of its data centers.

What does that mean for you and your site? Well, check all of your keywords and see where you now rank. If you have risen or are seeing the same result, then congratulations. If not, then contact your SEO people RIGHT AWAY and tell them you have dropped in rankings for your website.

Most of the times sites have fallen a few spots is due to spammy or bad bad links. So, it may be wise to ask another SEO company to review your site and SEO back links and give you their recommendation.

We offer just such advice and nond of our clients’ sites have dropped for any of their keywords.

Different Cities, Different SEO Results?

volvemedia — Mon, 31 May 2010 04:25:45 +0000

Yes, it is generally tougher to rank highly for valuable keywords in larger markets it is also tougher. Volvemedia has a few clients in very small markets and it has been generally easy to manipulate and optimize for search engine placement.

Google is smart enough to know that a company specializing in “web design” in Winter Park, FL is not competing with other websites targeting Orlando, FL. We have numerous clients who are located in a metro area of a large city and try to optimize and promote their products/services in the local and metro areas.

We typically advise our clients to promote within the scale of the larger market. So, if your website is based out of a smaller metro area it is in your best benefit to target and market for the larger metro area.

You don’t have an address in the larger city/area? No problem. Get a P.O. Box for the sake of internet promotion and SEO and have your mail forward to your main address through the P.O. Box. This will boost your SEO for the larger metro/city area as well as help target those prospective clients/customers who specifically target businesses in certain areas and cities.

Does Having Active Google Adwords Campaigns Increase Natural Site Rankings?

volvemedia — Thu, 27 May 2010 08:47:03 +0000

In short, No!

Google states plainly that AdWords totally separate from their search algorithm. Google has insisted that it does not accept money for organic rankings and there are no indications to believe differently.

It seems that monthly we at VolveMedia have clients who ask us “Are you sure they don’t drop our rankings when we decrease or eliminate Adwords campaigns?” If you have the same questions about your website and using Adwords, rest assured that you are safe to change, add or eliminate Google Adwords completely without penalty.

Need a Recommendation on Professional Services? Search Twitter First!

volvemedia — Sat, 22 May 2010 04:59:40 +0000

More and more people are turning to social network searches to find information on everything from products to services. Want to know more information about an online ecommerce store or find reviews on the pizza place down the street? Forget about going to their website. Instead check out what people are saying on Twitter, GoWalla, FourSquare, Facebook and other social networks.

You’ll get very recent opinions and have a direct link to discuss reviews with others.

Part of our services here at VolveMedia is to make sure our clients’ products and services are searchable both through traditional search engines but also on the major and several minor social networks. We work hard to manage our clients’ reputations online and are there to answer questions regarding our clients’ services and products.

Now that many tweets and facebook pages are being indexed by search engines it makes complete sense to take these social networks seriously and not only plan for them but to promote yourself and your business on them.

Is Google Finally Final?

volvemedia — Tue, 11 May 2010 06:18:20 +0000

I’ve been keeping a very close eye on several Google data centers across the US (through the reports of other interested colleges). It appears that a large majority of these data centers are showing Google Caffeine updates.

Does that mean that it’s over? complete? final? done? …in short…it will never be over for those Google updates. Google updates their search algorithm weekly. However, yes, I do feel that the bulk of the updates that have been popularly titled “Caffeine” has been released.

I’ll be keeping an continued eye on our clients’ keywords but everything is looking very very good. We, as well as our clients, are very pleased with the results.

Color Theory and Targeting International Visitors

volvemedia — Sun, 02 May 2010 06:31:58 +0000

We at VolveMedia have numerous clients who depend on visitors from other parts of the world to help make their businesses successful. Having your website be multi-lingual ready is important but so is making sure the design of your layout conveys the appropriate message to your international visitors.

Here’s a color wheel from www.informationisbeautiful.net that is a visual representation of colors and their emotional meaning in different parts of the world.

Leasing Domain Names For Your Business: Good or Bad??

volvemedia — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 06:40:27 +0000

I’m not going to make you wait for the answer. It’s a bad idea. A new website, rootorange.com has launched with the intent of leasing out premium domains to small businesses. In their words: “Small businesses can now lease a generic domain name they have always wanted just for their local market. ”

So, internet searchers who need, say, a mechanic in the Orlando area can simply type into their search box “mechanic” and if rootorange.com leases out one of the top websites in Google for mechanics (ex: mechanics.com) then a visitor will be able to click on mechanics.com to find a local mechanic. This is supposed to give small and personal businesses a fighting chance against the big boys, however it’s all just a gimmick.

There’s already websites out there that offer similar services. One is called yellowpages.com or directory.com that offer visitors more tailored search results including maps, reviews, coupons and more.

Lastly, using a website to “lease” a website ties you to that company and prohibits any business small or large from taking advantage of SEO for their business. One of our words of wisdom we offer to all our clients is that every business should own their own brand. That includes their own domain. You don’t lease a brand or a business name, nor should you lease your domain.

10 Dos and Don’ts for Brands on Twitter – A Rebuttal

volvemedia — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 07:39:37 +0000

Today I read an article on Mashable.com. It can be found here: http://mashable.com/2010/04/27/twitter-brand-dos-and-donts/ . While I agree with many of the numbered points in the article I have to strongly, very strongly disagree with point number 1.

In summary, the author’s first point is titled “Don’t Be a Showoff” and says “Don’t post links to your latest press release, promote articles written by your CEO or make extravagant claims.” This is very bad advice. I understand why the author posted it, but that statement fails to take into consideration exactly what benefit posting company related information has.

Now, i’m not going to say that Twitter and other micro-blogging or macro-blogging efforts are as beneficial or can replace launching a dedicated press release campaign for company product releases, trade shows, etc. However, utilizing Twitter to announce to followers company info can be a valuable way reaching your intended audience.

The main reason you SHOULD absolutely Tweet everything important regarding your company is this main fact:
Over 10% of all internet searches are done using Twitter. If you do not announce company info you will fail to make that information available to current or potential clients and customers.

It’s just that simple. Your brand and corporate identity will not suffer from announcing important updates and information through Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. In addition, that information will be indexed in Google and other search engines and will actually help your website when it comes to ranking for valuable keywords.

Take a look at the other points from that Mashable article as there is some really valuable info there but please disregard the first point. Your company might just depend on it.