Q&A: How do you get your website to appear on the first page, at the top, of a Google search?
Question:
How do you get your website to appear on the first page, at the top, of a Google search?
Answer:
Short answer, you don't. Most people when they think of searching will type in something very broad and very generic like "karate" or "training" or even a little more precise like "self defense" and see millions of results. Trying to tackle that amount of competition for the top spot is really a losing battle, unless you have very deep pockets. A better approach, and one that has a better chance of being successful for you is to focus your attention on specific search phrases.
For example, many of my martial arts clients are in the Western New York area. They aren't looking for someone in London England to hit their site, but for someone in the WNY area. So, a smart searcher will type in something like "Buffalo martial arts" (which results in 3 of my clients, and 5 of my sites on the 1st page) or "wny martial arts" (4 sites, 1 client on page 1), or "wny karate" (3 sites 1st page). Typing in something like "modern arnis seminar training" has 2 of my clients on the 1st page. Another example is "natural resource consulting" which has 1 of my clients on the 1st page of results.
It's important to think in terms of search phrases when you optimize your site, and focus on those. A combination of proper key words, solid descriptions, and appropriate text will greatly enhance your chances for high placement. Also, be certain all of your images are captioned using ALT tags. Those are an often overlooked place for extra optimization.
===
Bob Hubbard, is the CEO of SilverStar WebDesigns Inc. and an Administrator at MartialTalk.com and KenpoTalk.com. He can be reached through those sites.
Showing posts with label browser. Show all posts
Showing posts with label browser. Show all posts
Friday, April 3, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Q&A: How fancy and how big should your opening page be?
Q&A: How fancy and how big should your opening page be?
Question:
How fancy and how big should your opening page be?
Answer:
There are several different views on this. Some will recommend long and wordy, others hort an terse, others flashy, others simple. My suggestion is to tailor the page toward your goals for the site.
I recomend using a couple of graphics, 2-3 paragraphs of good descriptive text, loaded with strong keywords for the search engines to latch onto. This gives you a good starting point. You can add more paragraphs, but be mindful of how many graphics you place. Each one adds to the overall size of your main page, and slows down it's loading, especially for dialup users. A slow page detracts from the user experience.
===
Bob Hubbard, is the CEO of SilverStar WebDesigns Inc. and an Administrator at MartialTalk.com and KenpoTalk.com. He can be reached through those sites.
Question:
How fancy and how big should your opening page be?
Answer:
There are several different views on this. Some will recommend long and wordy, others hort an terse, others flashy, others simple. My suggestion is to tailor the page toward your goals for the site.
I recomend using a couple of graphics, 2-3 paragraphs of good descriptive text, loaded with strong keywords for the search engines to latch onto. This gives you a good starting point. You can add more paragraphs, but be mindful of how many graphics you place. Each one adds to the overall size of your main page, and slows down it's loading, especially for dialup users. A slow page detracts from the user experience.
===
Bob Hubbard, is the CEO of SilverStar WebDesigns Inc. and an Administrator at MartialTalk.com and KenpoTalk.com. He can be reached through those sites.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Q&A: How many different colors should you use on a webpage?
Q&A: How many different colors should you use on a webpage?
Question:
How many different colors should you use on a webpage?
Answer:
Finding proper color balance for a website is crucial to having a pleasing look. To many clashing colors makes your site look amateurish and often childish. I usually recommend using a minimum of different colors, looking instead for an easy on the eyes background, with a clearly contrasting color for fonts. Black text on a white or off white background for example. I then use other colors to compliment the design. Red on Blue gives a weird 3D like effect and is very hard on most peoples eyes. Shades of blue, green and brown, as well as darker reds seem to work the best. For cues on what colors compliment, I refer to traditional graphics tools like color charts.
===
Bob Hubbard, is the CEO of SilverStar WebDesigns Inc. and an Administrator at MartialTalk.com and KenpoTalk.com. He can be reached through those sites.
Question:
How many different colors should you use on a webpage?
Answer:
Finding proper color balance for a website is crucial to having a pleasing look. To many clashing colors makes your site look amateurish and often childish. I usually recommend using a minimum of different colors, looking instead for an easy on the eyes background, with a clearly contrasting color for fonts. Black text on a white or off white background for example. I then use other colors to compliment the design. Red on Blue gives a weird 3D like effect and is very hard on most peoples eyes. Shades of blue, green and brown, as well as darker reds seem to work the best. For cues on what colors compliment, I refer to traditional graphics tools like color charts.
===
Bob Hubbard, is the CEO of SilverStar WebDesigns Inc. and an Administrator at MartialTalk.com and KenpoTalk.com. He can be reached through those sites.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Why is it called "The Internet"?
Why is it called "The Internet"?
By Bob Hubbard
Ever wonder why this huge international maze of computers, servers, and sites is called "The Internet"?
Internet means inter-connected networks. Developed during the 1960's and 1970's, what we refer to today as "The Internet" grew from small localized networks running on colleges, universities and military bases, to larger networks connecting smaller ones, to a huge world wide network of networks.
Most people today only think of the Internet as email and websites, but in fact it is a combination of many different services.
Email consists of several different systems, including POP (Post Office Protocol) which is responsible for getting your email from your electrnic mail box, and SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) which is used to send email to the world.
Web sites run on Hypertext Transfer Protocol, or HTTP. When you type in a web address in your browser, that http:// you enter in tells the server on the other end to use the HTTP system to transfer the page to you. Modern browsers use it by default, but older browsers would fail to find a site if you forgot it.
FTP, or "File Transfer Protocol" is a means for transferring files between your system and a remote one.
IRC, or "Internet Relay Chat", also called "Chat Rooms" are the precursor to today's instant messaging and text message systems. Still in operation today, they aren't well known to most people. IRC requires special software to access.
A forgotten part of our net history is Gopher. Gopher is a combination web and ftp system for organized document retrieval. Text only, there are less than 200 Gopher servers currently online, with most neglected, however some universities still use them.
Then there is the Network News Transfer Protocol or NNTP which is an Internet application protocol used primarily for reading and posting Usenet articles, as well as transferring news among news servers. USENET is a huge world wide distributed electronic discussion system. What this means is, it is like having a global forum, spread over many systems. There are currently well over 100,000 different topics ranging from the boring to the profane. Accessing USENET requires special software called a NewsReader, as well as an account with a news provider.
As you can see, the Internet is a pretty complex thing, made simple and accessible by modern software, allowing us to communicate around the world at whim.
Additional Resources at Wikipedia
USENET http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet
NNTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_News_Transfer_Protocol
FTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC
POP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Office_Protocol
SMTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smtp
Email http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail
IRC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC
HTTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Http
Gopher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_(protocol)
=========
Bob Hubbard is an administrator of the popular martial arts portal site MartialTalk.com and president of SilverStar WebDesigns inc., a web site design and hosting company specializing in affordable solutions for martial artists. Bob can be reached at webmaster@martialtalk.com
Article Copyright © 2008 - Bob Hubbard - All Rights Reserved.
This article may be reproduced provided all text, the author bio and these terms are kept intact.
By Bob Hubbard
Ever wonder why this huge international maze of computers, servers, and sites is called "The Internet"?
Internet means inter-connected networks. Developed during the 1960's and 1970's, what we refer to today as "The Internet" grew from small localized networks running on colleges, universities and military bases, to larger networks connecting smaller ones, to a huge world wide network of networks.
Most people today only think of the Internet as email and websites, but in fact it is a combination of many different services.
Email consists of several different systems, including POP (Post Office Protocol) which is responsible for getting your email from your electrnic mail box, and SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) which is used to send email to the world.
Web sites run on Hypertext Transfer Protocol, or HTTP. When you type in a web address in your browser, that http:// you enter in tells the server on the other end to use the HTTP system to transfer the page to you. Modern browsers use it by default, but older browsers would fail to find a site if you forgot it.
FTP, or "File Transfer Protocol" is a means for transferring files between your system and a remote one.
IRC, or "Internet Relay Chat", also called "Chat Rooms" are the precursor to today's instant messaging and text message systems. Still in operation today, they aren't well known to most people. IRC requires special software to access.
A forgotten part of our net history is Gopher. Gopher is a combination web and ftp system for organized document retrieval. Text only, there are less than 200 Gopher servers currently online, with most neglected, however some universities still use them.
Then there is the Network News Transfer Protocol or NNTP which is an Internet application protocol used primarily for reading and posting Usenet articles, as well as transferring news among news servers. USENET is a huge world wide distributed electronic discussion system. What this means is, it is like having a global forum, spread over many systems. There are currently well over 100,000 different topics ranging from the boring to the profane. Accessing USENET requires special software called a NewsReader, as well as an account with a news provider.
As you can see, the Internet is a pretty complex thing, made simple and accessible by modern software, allowing us to communicate around the world at whim.
Additional Resources at Wikipedia
USENET http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet
NNTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_News_Transfer_Protocol
FTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC
POP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Office_Protocol
SMTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smtp
Email http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail
IRC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC
HTTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Http
Gopher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_(protocol)
=========
Bob Hubbard is an administrator of the popular martial arts portal site MartialTalk.com and president of SilverStar WebDesigns inc., a web site design and hosting company specializing in affordable solutions for martial artists. Bob can be reached at webmaster@martialtalk.com
Article Copyright © 2008 - Bob Hubbard - All Rights Reserved.
This article may be reproduced provided all text, the author bio and these terms are kept intact.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Q&A: How Do I Clear My Browser Cache?
Q&A: How Do I Clear My Browser Cache?
After following these instructions, be certain to shut down all browser windows, then restart it.
====
Clearing Cache on the BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
Clearing the content caches clears both the rendered pages and server data:
1. Highlight the BlackBerry browser icon and click the trackwheel.
2. Click the trackwheel again to display the Browser Options menu.
3. Scroll down to Options and click the trackwheel to open the browser options screen.
4. Scroll down to General Properties and click the trackwheel to open the General Properties screen.
5. Click the trackwheel to open the Cache menu.
6. Scroll down to Clear Content Caches and click the trackwheel to clear the cache and return to the General Properties screen.
7. Use the Escape button to page back through the screens to the BlackBerry main menu.
Clearing Cache on Safari 1.0 / Safari 1.0 for Macintosh OS X
1. Open Safari.
2. Select Empty Cache.
3. Click Empty on the Are you sure message box.
4. Exit and relaunch the browser.
Clearing Cache on Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0, 4.01, 4.5, and 5.0 for Macintosh
1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Click Edit and select Preferences.
3. Click the arrow beside Web Browser.
4. Click Advanced.
5. Click Empty Now.
6. Click Ok.
7. Exit and relaunch the browser.
Clearing Cache on America Online® 5.0 (32 bit)
1. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options to open Internet Properties.
3. Click Delete Files.
4. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on America Online® 6.0
1. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options to open Internet Properties.
3. Click Delete Files.
4. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on America Online® 7.0
1. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options to open Internet Properties.
3. Click Delete Files.
4. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on America Online® 8.0 & 9.0
1. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options to open Internet Properties.
3. Click Delete Files.
4. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0
1. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options to open Internet Properties.
3. Click Delete Files.
4. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5.0
1. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options to open Internet Properties.
3. Click Delete Files.
4. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6.0
1. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options to open Internet Properties.
3. Click Delete Files.
NOTE: Do not select Delete Cookies. Delete Cookies removes all the cookies stored on the computer.
4. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on Netscape® Communicator / Navigator 4.0
1. Click Edit and select Preferences.
2. Click Advanced.
3. Click Cache.
4. Click Clear Memory Cache.
5. Click Clear Disk Cache.
6. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on Netscape® Communicator / Navigator 6.0
1. Click Edit and select Preferences.
2. Click Advanced.
3. Click Cache.
4. Click Clear Memory Cache.
5. Click Clear Disk Cache.
6. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on Netscape® Communicator / Navigator 7.1
1. Click Edit and select Preferences.
2. Click the Triangle next to Advanced to expand it.
3. Click Cache.
4. Click Clear Cache.
5. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on Netscape® Communicator / Navigator 8.0
1. Click Tools and select Options.
2. Select Privacy under Options on the left side of the screen.
3. Click Cache.
4. Click Clear Cache.
5. Click Clear.
6. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on Firefox
1. Click Tools and select Options.
2. Click the Privacy Icon.
3. Click Clear across from the Cache option.
4. Click Ok.
5. Exit and relaunch the browser.
Konqueror
How do I enable, disable or clear the browser cache?
If you select Cache in the dialog launched by selecting Settings->Configure Konqueror... , you will be presented with a dialog box that lets you disable the cache, clear it or set its size, and change the caching policy.
How do I clear cache in Opera?
To clear cache in Opera, perform the following steps:
1: From the File menu, click to select Preferences.
2: From Preferences, click to select History and cache.
3: To clear Typed in addresses and Visited addresses (history), click Clear. To clear Disk cache, click Empty now.
4: To automatically refresh any Web page content, from the Check documents, Check images, and Check other drop-down menus, click to select Always.
5: Click OK.
After following these instructions, be certain to shut down all browser windows, then restart it.
====
Clearing Cache on the BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
Clearing the content caches clears both the rendered pages and server data:
1. Highlight the BlackBerry browser icon and click the trackwheel.
2. Click the trackwheel again to display the Browser Options menu.
3. Scroll down to Options and click the trackwheel to open the browser options screen.
4. Scroll down to General Properties and click the trackwheel to open the General Properties screen.
5. Click the trackwheel to open the Cache menu.
6. Scroll down to Clear Content Caches and click the trackwheel to clear the cache and return to the General Properties screen.
7. Use the Escape button to page back through the screens to the BlackBerry main menu.
Clearing Cache on Safari 1.0 / Safari 1.0 for Macintosh OS X
1. Open Safari.
2. Select Empty Cache.
3. Click Empty on the Are you sure message box.
4. Exit and relaunch the browser.
Clearing Cache on Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0, 4.01, 4.5, and 5.0 for Macintosh
1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Click Edit and select Preferences.
3. Click the arrow beside Web Browser.
4. Click Advanced.
5. Click Empty Now.
6. Click Ok.
7. Exit and relaunch the browser.
Clearing Cache on America Online® 5.0 (32 bit)
1. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options to open Internet Properties.
3. Click Delete Files.
4. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on America Online® 6.0
1. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options to open Internet Properties.
3. Click Delete Files.
4. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on America Online® 7.0
1. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options to open Internet Properties.
3. Click Delete Files.
4. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on America Online® 8.0 & 9.0
1. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options to open Internet Properties.
3. Click Delete Files.
4. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0
1. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options to open Internet Properties.
3. Click Delete Files.
4. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5.0
1. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options to open Internet Properties.
3. Click Delete Files.
4. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6.0
1. Click Start, select Settings and Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options to open Internet Properties.
3. Click Delete Files.
NOTE: Do not select Delete Cookies. Delete Cookies removes all the cookies stored on the computer.
4. Click OK on the Delete Files dialog box.
5. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on Netscape® Communicator / Navigator 4.0
1. Click Edit and select Preferences.
2. Click Advanced.
3. Click Cache.
4. Click Clear Memory Cache.
5. Click Clear Disk Cache.
6. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on Netscape® Communicator / Navigator 6.0
1. Click Edit and select Preferences.
2. Click Advanced.
3. Click Cache.
4. Click Clear Memory Cache.
5. Click Clear Disk Cache.
6. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on Netscape® Communicator / Navigator 7.1
1. Click Edit and select Preferences.
2. Click the Triangle next to Advanced to expand it.
3. Click Cache.
4. Click Clear Cache.
5. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on Netscape® Communicator / Navigator 8.0
1. Click Tools and select Options.
2. Select Privacy under Options on the left side of the screen.
3. Click Cache.
4. Click Clear Cache.
5. Click Clear.
6. Click OK.
Clearing Cache on Firefox
1. Click Tools and select Options.
2. Click the Privacy Icon.
3. Click Clear across from the Cache option.
4. Click Ok.
5. Exit and relaunch the browser.
Konqueror
How do I enable, disable or clear the browser cache?
If you select Cache in the dialog launched by selecting Settings->Configure Konqueror... , you will be presented with a dialog box that lets you disable the cache, clear it or set its size, and change the caching policy.
How do I clear cache in Opera?
To clear cache in Opera, perform the following steps:
1: From the File menu, click to select Preferences.
2: From Preferences, click to select History and cache.
3: To clear Typed in addresses and Visited addresses (history), click Clear. To clear Disk cache, click Empty now.
4: To automatically refresh any Web page content, from the Check documents, Check images, and Check other drop-down menus, click to select Always.
5: Click OK.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tip Of The Week : Clearing Browser Caches
There are an easy dozen+ ways to surf the web, and every so often you need to clear out the cruft to get things working smoothly again. Here's a link to a walk through of most web browsers cache clearing instructions.
http://www.deadparrottavern.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10800
http://www.deadparrottavern.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10800
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