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Archive for the ‘MN SEO’ Category

Setting Business Goals

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

Everyone wants to succeed in their business. This post will discuss some of the things to remember to set healthy, achievable goals in business.

Before setting your goals, define your niche and stick to it. Be honest with your capabilities and expectations for your business. When creating your goals, start with the bigger picture and set long term goals. Create as many measurable goals as you can to track your progress. Be sure to leave some room for adjustments along the way because more often than not you will have to stray from your original plan.

Errors do not equate to failure.

In your pursuit, don’t forget to take time for yourself and to learn from those around you. Read tips from other people in your business and remain humble. Soak up as much information as you can in variety of different ways. Learn from their mistakes as well as your own.

Web Designers & SEO with Minneapolis Web Design

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

Web design and search engine optimization (SEO) are closely related and because of that designers are frequently questioned about it. There is a lot of gray area about what the designer’s responsibility is and what is in their power. SEO involves much more than just design, but there is still a lot that the designer can do to help. A web designer can create search engine friendly sites to give future and ongoing SEO efforts.

A search engine friendly site makes it easy for different search engines to find the content, determine what the site is about and allows the site to rank as high as possible based on content.  Designers should have a basic understanding of on-site SEO and what can affect their rankings. They should also avoid making any promises to clients that say their design will positively affect the site’s search engine ranking. There is only so much a designer can control so they shouldn’t promise more than what is in their power.

A designer can do a few things to aid SEO though. A designer can discuss SEO with their client in order to determine good keywords, can discuss and create optimized page titles, create clean code with primary content high in the code, and use internal links to help visitors and the search engines find the most important content.

Web Design Trends According to Minneapolis Web Design Firm

Monday, May 24th, 2010

2010 has and will continue to produce a variety of trends in Web design. Trends are both loved and hated by many, but are trends nonetheless. The ideas and trends continue to grow, develop and shift as the year goes on, helping both the Web sites and the Web designers evolve.

Thoughts from Minneapolis Web Design

Some of the trends surrounding 2010’s Web design revolve around headings and type.  Typography continues to be a major trend in 2010. Oversized logos, headers and footers are gaining popularity to help increase brand recognition. Slab typefaces also go along with large headers and are all capital letters that are bold and striking that help express a company’s identity.

Other trends relate to the overall page layouts. One-page layouts are becoming quite popular to help focus on personal profiles. Web designs are also paying homage to retro design. A successful retro design focuses on inspiring and exuding a playful tone. Because of the recent transition of the print media to online, magazine layouts have become trendy. A magazine layout allows the viewer to see everything quickly because all of the information is on one home page.

There are also some design and graphic specific trends in 2010. Minimalism is key for Web design in 2010. Websites contain lots of white space and showcase new colors. There has also been a change in sketching or hand-drawn designs to use a personalized design that helps them become of the overall corporate design.

Singular vs. Plural in SEO

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

The plural and singular versions of a keyword can mean extremely different things to a customer and to a search engine like Google. These differences can mean the difference between a campaign’s success or failure.  There are a lot of factors to consider, but the two most important ones to discuss are 1) the intent of the searcher and 2) and the number of searches.

Making a word plural by adding and “S” to the end of your search word can completely change the meaning and direction of your search. If the plural of your main keyword can mean something different than in the singular, a search engine may decide that the searches represent different needs. In putting your key word into a search engine like Google, if your top ten results appear different between the singular and plural, you should consider which things are more important for your business and make that term most effective.

One version of a keyword will often get more searches than the other, but it is not always the same across the board. A quick way to research what your site’s keyword might be is to use Wordtracker’s free keyword tool and see what you might find.

Overall, plural and singular keywords can be very different in regards to SEO. They are different according to both the customer and to search engines. They can create a variety of searches and direct the searcher different ways. In order to aide your decision between plural and singular keywords, do some keyword research to see what might be best for the target of your website.

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