Category Archives: Web Design

Related offerings from Techware’s design studio

Today, the World Wide Web Turns 20 Years Old

Posted on by
Reply

Twenty years ago today, CERN made the World Wide Web public, on a royalty free basis. Clearly, their vision from the start for the internet was for it to be international and open for everyone to access and use.World Wide Web logo Today, there are billions of web pages to access on the internet, but in the beginning there were very few. To celebrate it’s 20th anniversary, CERN has restored the first web page ever on the internet to it’s original address. Just think where the web would be today without internet pioneers like Tim Berners-Lee laying the foundation for what the web would become. I am only 4 years older than the World Wide Web, and I wonder how my life would be different if I didn’t grow up with the internet. Here’s to another 20 years of evolution, refinement, and (I hope) continued openness and freedom to surf to any page on the web.Visual Representation of the Web and Interconnected Web Pages

Fulfillment with Techware Dist – An Easy Choice!

Posted on by
Reply

Fulfillment wikipediaWouldn’t it be nice to be able to focus on growing your business and not have to handle the complex day to day issues of warehousing, producing and delivering your product?

With Techware Dist’s dedicated fulfillment department that goal is within reach.  Whether you need light assembly of components into predetermined products or full production of product sets or kits from the ground up, we have you covered.

fulfillment 500Our design department can make sure that your project has professional polish and that your web, collateral and physical products all have a cohesive brand identity.

Our central location and centralized purchasing can help save you money and our dedicated warehouse means your items will be safe and sound. We can assemble or “Kit” them into your finished product and ship them to your customers all over the world utilizing our partners at UPS Mail Innovations. Our partnerships with all the major freight companies will save you money and make delivery and tracking a breeze.

It’s important now more than ever that your business is hitting on all cylinders. Our fulfillment department does just that, allowing you to focus on other more important aspects of your business.

Call us today to learn more about how Techware Dist’s dedicated fulfillment department can take a load off your shoulders and help you build a better, more successful business.

SEO Tip #5 – Videos Get Better Google Rankings Than HTML Web Pages

Posted on by
Reply

Not only are good, informative, and / or entertaining videos preferred by your prospective customers or followers, videos are 53 times more likely to get you a ranking within the first page on Google according to Forrester Research.

Google has made it a priority to serve a variety of media options for any given search query.

The good news is that you have a much better shot at getting on the first page of Google (the first ten results) with a video than with a standard HTML web page or article.

Recommended steps:

  1. Submit both the video and the page displaying the video to the major search engines
  2. If using a 3rd party video platform provider like Youtube, then make sure that the links point back to your website.

SEO Tip#4 – Don’t Neglect Your Interior Web Pages for Higher SERP Rankings

Posted on by
Reply

Many site owners believe that they only need to optimize their home page for the search engines. Where they fail is not concentrating on the more numerous internal website pages.

Search engines, their search bots and spiders, no longer index and read the home page more often or thoroughly than the deeper internal pages on your site. It is possible, and in some cases very easy, to have internal pages out-rank your home page for important keyword phrases.

So what should you do?

Start by identifying the pages on your site that deal with your most important products, services or themes.

  1. Add your most important keyword phrase to the end of your url. The keyword phrase we are targeting is bolded. Example – techwaredist.com/cd_printing
  2. Each page should have an unique and descriptive page titles that feature your most important keywords and keyword rich phrases.
  3. Each page must have solid keyword rich H1 tags
  4. Write great, original content on each page that deals with the appropriate topic, product or service you are focusing on.
  5. Update your content on a regular basis. Make sure the updates are fresh and valuable for your prospective customers or audience.
  6. Add a short 20-40 second video discussing valuable ideas, demonstrations or lessons on each of these interior pages.

Need help getting started? Simply contact Drew at 952.944.0083 or email: drew at techwaredist.com to get your interior web pages ranked higher on Google and Bing.

SEO Tip#3 – Good Keyword Research

Posted on by
Reply

Optimizing your website for good, relevant keywords is probably the number one key to successful search engine optimization for Google and Bing.

  • Use a great free tool like Google’s Keyword tool
  • Start with phrases you think your customers will type into the search engines
  • Target long-tail words (3 to 5 word phrases) as they are less competitive
  • If you have mostly local customers, target phrases with your city or state name included in the phrase

Once you have a strong list of the keywords and phrases you want to target, then write high-quality pages within your site that have your phrases naturally sprinkled into the copy. Work in your keywords where it makes sense, but not excessively (keyword stuffing could get you penalized by Google and it sounds awful to your potential customers).

Try and target 2 similar keywords per page. Typically going for more that 2 per page within your site will not work.

Need help with your website design and internet search marketing?
Call Drew at 952-944-0083.

SEO Tip #2 – Optimize for Long-Tail Keywords

Posted on by
Reply

Long Tail keywords are phrases that are at least 3 words or more. Longer word phrases are not searched for nearly as much as more popular 1 or 2 word phrases, but the traffic is typically much more targeted and therefore a much better quality lead or visitor to your site.

Another bonus to longer, less popular keyword optimization is that there is less competition. That means it is much easier to achieve high rankings (page 1) on Google and Bing.

Longtail example: bicycle repair minneapolis (only 200,000 webpages) versus
Short keyword: bike repair (competing against 8,470,000 other webpages)

So what should you do?

  1. Create a page targeting the longer word phrase – techwaredist.com/bicycle-repair-minneapolis (just an example).
  2. Write some good content, page titles and an H1 using phrases like “bike repair in Minneapolis” ,  “we fix bicycles Minneapolis, MN” and “Minneapolis bike repair”
  3. Update your new page with good relevant content on a regular basis

Call us for help with making your website search better on Google and boost your profits by driving high quality leads and buyers to your site.

952-944-0083 – Keep checking back for our weekly website tips

Search Engine Optimization Tip – Relevant URL

Posted on by
Reply

Creating Better URL’s

Want to get found on Google by more potential customers or prospects? Here are a few tips.

1. Come up with a domain name that includes your most important keyword or keyword phrase. Keep it short. Use no more than 1 hyphen.

  • Example: You own a bike repair business in St. Paul, Minnesota – a great url/domain for you would be stpaulbikerepair.com or bicycle-repairs.com.

2. Get  a dot com address – they search much better than .net, .biz, .org, .tv, .info, etc.

3. Individual page url’s on your site should also be unique and feature a relevant keyword.

  • Example: with for the bike business –  stpaulbikerepair.com/we-repair-schwinn-bikes or stpaulbikerepair.com/schwinn-scooters-on-sale

4. Incorporate your city or state in the domain in order to capture Google, Yahoo and Bing local search results – stpaulbikerepair.com

Need help with your website, design, functionality, shopping cart, SEO, or Social Media presence? Call or email Drew  – 952.944.0083 or drew at techwaredist.com

 

Akayna Studios launches new online store – UDOdisks.com

Posted on by
Reply

After weeks of image gathering and search engine optimization surrounding the new store UDOdisks.com, the new store was finally launched this summer. In using BigCommerce we have found a great foundation for a new e-commerce solution that is robust enough to handle any amount of products while giving nearly complete access to all aspects of the website and product display.

As a one stop shop for Sony MO Media and as well as other Magneto Optical Disks, UDOdisks.com provided our marketing and design team with a tool that has allowed steady growth both in sales and user traffic. BigCommerce can be a wise choice for any company wanting to launch an online store.

UDO Disk logo

E-commerce tip: Building an online store does not mean you will attract customers. There are many other marketing tools and processes required to be successful selling online. Google Adwords, article writing, blogging, traditional marketing efforts and social media are just a few things to be considered when launching any web-based project.

It is important to hire a professional web designer and developer to build your online marketing program.

Posted on by
Reply

Professional web developers can make all the difference. It’s fine to support your family and friends that are aspiring web designers, but not at the expense of your business’s web site.

I have run into it too many times. Companies that say their sister built my site, my secretary built it or my cousin’s, nephew’s, good friend in high school. In the end I am all for helping young developers hone their skills, but it should never be at the expense of what your business can accomplish with a strong web marketing program designed and implemented by a professional web developer.

Everyone knows Google is the number one search engine and for good reason. Google has perfected and offers comprehensive search capability that evolves, changes and grows with users habits and keyword searching trends. Google analytics can give any company keen insight into how people are coming to your site, where they are going and how long they are viewing your content. There are sophisticated ways in which to assign specific value to conversions based on what people do when they visit your site. A companies’ focus with their web site should be to receive a return on what they have invested in its development.

Some developers are simply designers that can build magnificent looking sites that use Flash animation, sound and video with awesome graphic design and wonderful backgrounds. This is great and if used properly and can be very effective in gaining the attention of potential customers. However, if used simply to be cool and flashy it can actually hurt the ability for potential customers to find and use your site to buy or contact you about what you have to offer. The whole purpose of a business web site is to generate business and inspire trust and brand recognition.

The designers that don’t pay attention to simple search engine optimization (SEO) basics are not providing your business with the best value for your hard earned advertising dollars. Your web site is on the front lines of how people look for goods and services and judge the value of what you have to offer. Google is your home page and maximizing your web development with that in mind can be the difference between a break even return or a two, three or more times return on your investment in your web site.

By hiring a knowledgable, talented and thorough minneapolis web developer you will see the difference in your traffic, usability and growth for your web presence. Have your cousin’s, nephew’s good friend from high school build a site for your family or local school group not experiment with your companies image and potential revenue generating ability.

Here’s an SEO tip: What does the title of your home page say? Does it say untitled document or have the name of your business? If you are Nike or ESPN a page title with your name is fine, but if your Bob’s Tire and Lube and that’s the title of your page, your page title is the first thing Google sees to index search terms for your web site and Bob’s Tire and Lube will most likely not be the first thing people search to find your business. Think of how you would search for the products you offer and title your home page with those terms.

Search Engine Optimization

Posted on by
Reply

What is Search Engine Optimization?

To put it simply: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) SEO is a powerful way of getting your website noticed, by customers and search engines alike. It is a process of building a website in a way that allows it to easily be found, indexed and ranked by search engines (like Google or Yahoo!). That way, when a relevant search is made, your website is that much more likely to show up. By properly building and coding a website, the chances of it ranking will increase greatly.

If my website is already built, is it too late?

No, it’s never too late to address the SEO of a website. You could have the coolest website in your industry, but if no one can find it, what’s the point? Having a website that is already established puts you ahead of newer websites already. However, there is a lot more to it than that. SEO is not just “some marketing term that doesn’t actually mean anything”, or “just a sales angle”. If you have a website, you need SEO – its that simple.

What will Akayna Studios to help my current website?

Akayna Studios (ASI) will start with an SEO audit. After determining the SEO issues your website may have, we will work with you to remedy them. By focusing on targeted keywords in the code as well as the copy, we can establish proper content and purpose for each page. However, there is much more to it than that. Our strategies address image handling, alt tags and much more. We will create files that interact directly with the search engines, ensuring the correct pages are found and indexed.

If I need a brand new site, can you design it?

Absolutely. Our web design begins with SEO in mind. There are numerous factors to consider when designing and optimizing a website. Some things as simple as HTML meta-tags can help, but must be done together with several other SEO techniques to be effective. When properly optimizing a website, there are no instant-fixes or shortcuts. Time is a factor in a website’s ranking, so beware of companies offering quick solutions through low-cost ‘submit everywhere’ programs or mass linking. These may get your website banned. Search engines reward websites that are informative, original and trustworthy.