The Best Way to Set Up Your Blog: Subpage vs. Subdomain
In our previous series, Blogging 101, we talked extensively about many of the best practices associated with writing a blog. But what about the hierarchy of how your blog is set up? In other words, is it set up as a subpage or a subdomain of your website? If you’re not a web designer or copywriter, you’re probably scratching your head wondering what the difference is between the two. Have no fear! Tingalls Graphic Design is going to define each of them, as well as let you know which one is the better choice when you have a blog associated with a website. Your Blog as a Subdomain In a […]
The Value of Outsourcing
Does your business outsource? Depending on the size of your company, you may outsource lots work to or you might currently have no partners you outsource to. Either way, we’ve got a question for you: what is your perceived value of outsourcing? Outsourcing can have an immense impact on the quality of your products or services, as well as the overall success of your company. When you alleviate difficult, time-consuming tasks that you might not be the best at (I have an immense shortcoming with accounting myself), you free up time to build your business. Being able to spend more time on improving sales, products or services means your company […]
How Google Places Can Help Your Business
Do you use Google Places? Many local and regional companies can greatly benefit from a solid Google Places account. But they either don’t know about it or haven’t been using it to its fullest potential. Let’s be honest, adding another thing to your to do list may not sound like any fun, but if you’re a company that’s looking to gain more local business, you’ll want to take the time to build your account well. Setting up a Google Places account from scratch will take you somewhere between 1-2 hours. Here’s how to do it … First, if you don’t have one already, set up a free Google account. This […]
Best Practices for Website Design
Whether you have a website you’re looking to revamp, or are in the process of creating a new one, there are some best practices you’ll want to be aware of to make sure your website design is the best it can be. Not All Code is Created Equal Coding, or the language on which your website is built, is an important component of website design. If your code is built well, it will make for a better user experience because pages will function optimally and load faster. How your site is coded also affects your SEO (Search Engine Optimization), which is critical to gaining more traffic on your site. Content […]
Blogging 101: Using SEO in Your Blog
Are you using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on your blog? Whether you know it or not, you definitely are. The real question is, are you using SEO effectively? Many of the topics we’ve already covered in this series contribute to successful SEO on your blog. If you’ve missed any of the Blogging 101 installments, you can find links to all of them below. Let’s take a look at one more element that needs to be discussed: the use of keyword phrases. But first let’s take a step back and answer the question … What is SEO? Search Engine Optimization is a multi-step process designed to help increase traffic to your […]
Blogging 101: Original Content vs. Duplicate Content
In this installment of our Blogging 101 series we’ll be discussing content — which are the words we use in each of our blog posts. We’ve already talked about content length and quality, and now it’s time to take a look at original content vs. duplicate content. Original Content So, this one’s pretty straightforward. Original content is exactly what it sounds like: made from scratch, unique, one of a kind. It’s content that you’ve written yourself, even if that means you’ve drawn from other material (which you can site in your blog post) for the information. Google likes this type of content, and so do readers. Duplicate Content Remember when […]
Blogging 101: Blog Post Frequency & Length
In the fifth installment of our Blogging 101 series, we’re gong to cover optimal blog post frequency and length. These are two more pieces of the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) pie that need to be understood so they can be used effectively to reach more readers. Blog Post Frequency So, you’ve decided to start blogging and you’re wondering how many posts you should produce each week. And while one is better than none, and two is twice as good as that, the sweet spot for most businesses is three times per week. Why? Because it provides your blog with a good amount of fresh content each week, without producing too […]
Blogging 101: What are Tags & Categories?
In this installment of our Blogging 101 series, we’re going to talk about tags and categories —specifically what they are, and how to use them in your blog posts. Since tags and categories aren’t part of the actual writing of a blog post, they can easily be overlooked. But if you want to learn how to write a successful blog, you’ll want to make sure you include them in every post. Blog Tags Tags are keywords or keyword phrases that are placed in the tags region on the backend of your blog. Here’s what the input box looks like in WordPress: Tags are for search engines, and they let Google, […]
Is Poor Web Performance Hurting Your Internet Marketing Efforts?
When most clients come to us for business web design and say they want “a great site,” they are typically thinking about the way they want it to look, not how they want it to act or what they want it to do. Development – the process of adding stability and functionality into your business website – has always been more important than people tend to think. But now, there is even more evidence that ignoring it can cost your company money. That’s because Google, the world’s largest search engine and most important Internet marketing hub, recently confirmed that it takes speed into account when determining search rankings. In other […]
Are You Making it Easy for New Customers to Find You Online?
If you’ve ever hired someone to work on Internet marketing or a search engine optimization campaign, you probably already understand how important keywords are to the visibility of your business website. But, do you know how to find the best ones… the terms and phrases that make it easy for new customers to find you online? Although a lot of business owners and executives don’t spend much time thinking about keywords, they can literally make or break your campaigns. When people search for information for companies on the Internet using sites like Google and Bing (or even social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn), the results are compiled and arranged […]
5 Signs You've Gotten Bad Search Engine Optimization Advice
Search engine optimization and Internet marketing have gotten to be big enough, and complex enough, that most businesses wouldn’t even dream of trying to manage things on their own. There are just too many concepts to take in, and details to stay on top of, for the average owner or executive to handle in-house. In most cases, they turn to businesses like ours who can help them increase their rankings on Google and turn search engine traffic into a stream of new customers. But what if the advice or service they are getting isn’t accurate, or up to date? Unfortunately, that situation is more common than you might think – […]
10 Reasons Why Your Website Might be Under-Performing
There are a lot of reasons why websites don’t quite live up to your expectations but, by addressing the following issues you can help boost the popularity of your website, the number of visits you get, your leads and future customers/clients. 1) You’re not taking advantage of social media – Social media is the modern version of word of mouth advertising and it’s a very important way to reach new audiences and promote loyalty among your current fans. 2) You don’t have a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) framework built into your site – SEO is constantly changing, but defining your keywords, writing informative and engaging content, and entering your meta […]
3 SEO Trends, What’s In and What’s Out
Ranking at the top of the search engines is the goal of many websites but not all of them know how to get to the top. There are a variety of different approaches you can take to improve your search engine optimization, some legitimate, others not so much. Tingalls Graphic Design stays on top of SEO trends and always recommends using best practices. To that end, we’ve come up with the latest SEO trends, what’s in and what’s out. IN – Good Content Content is king, especially in the world of websites. Targeting one or two keywords/keyphrases for each page and then using those keywords in content that is informative […]
6 Website Best Practices to Attract Viewers
Most website are designed to attract viewers and yet there are sites that aren’t putting website best practices into use and are instead turning off customers or not drawing them in in the first place. Tingalls Graphic Design has pulled together six website best practices to help you attract and keep visitors to your website. 1) Compelling content. The content on your website is meant to attract people and keep them there. If you’re writing for search engines or trying to be too clever with your content you may be turning away visitors in droves. Tell people what they want to know in a straight forward, succinct manner and only […]
Website Trends from Tingalls Graphic Design
Tingalls Graphic Design has seen the web play a more important part in our business and in yours over the years. Web design is one of those ever changing fields that is often dictated by trends and public demand and acceptance. While some trends are absolutely spot on and important for the evolution of your website, others are exactly the opposite and can turn off your target audience. And some trends are just like fashion; your look doesn’t affect performance, but your customers may find you outdated. We’ve looked at our web design projects for the last few years and made note of a few […]
Localized Search Engine Optimization (LSEO)
Some of you may have noted that when you’re doing a Google search the results seem to be more localized. If you type the query “Mexican restaurant” into Google you’ll get results from your area, not from all over the country or the world. You may also be aware of Google Places; which is something to look into and sign your company up if you haven’t already. These small changes show that there is a larger change underfoot, the change to localized search engine optimization. For some companies this is very important, for others it’s not very important at all. If you’re a company that feels your location is important, […]
5 Big SEO Mistakes
We’ve covered SEO tips in the past, but what about SEO mistakes? What are you doing, or not doing, that can actually be harming your website’s ranking on the search engines? 1) Keywords – you’ll repeatedly hear how important keywords or keyphrases are to your SEO, similarly, using the wrong ones can hurt your company. Take the time to know what terms people are using to search for your company or your competition. For example, more people search with the phrase “Real Estate” than “Home for Sale”; so you want to optimize for the keyword “real estate”. 2) Click Here – How often have you seen “Click Here” on a […]