Quite a while ago, Google made an announcement that stated that they have yet again decided to motivate website owners to create quality sites. This time, they have targeted websites that take ages to load. Google’s announcement stated that their search ranking algorithm will include a new signal: site speed.

Google has stated that the increasing of site speeds in important due to simple logic: faster sites are equal to happy viewers. This is bound to be music to the ears of web surfers who are tired of waiting for graphic loaded websites to load. This is also good news for website owners as faster sites will reduce operating costs.

In reality, the decision to take site speed in to account is a good step. How many times have you waited for a website to load and then closed down the browser in frustration as the site takes ages to load? Probably too many times to remember as most websites come packed with visual marvels that take quite a while to show themselves. By the time they do, you probably would have lost interest. In order to not allow this scenario to play out with your website, there are a few tips and tools that can be employed the speed of your site.

There are quite a few ways to improve your site’s speed. The most economic ways are available on the internet. For example, the Firefox add on ‘Page Speed’ could be used to evaluate page performance. If your site appears to be too slow, it will offer suggestions to speed up your site. But that’s not the only free tool on the internet, Yahoo also offers something similar with YSlow. If you are seeking for advanced features, try WebPagetest where you will be treated to an optimization checklist as well as full details on site loading and etc.

So, as you can see there is plenty of open source software that will evaluate your website for any sluggish behaviour completely free of charge. If you are still unsure, it would be best to consult a professional to handle the job.

However, this new addition to Google doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to turn your website in to a text-only wasteland that will once again result in your viewers from clicking away: this time, in boredom. The information available within the site still counts the most when it comes to Google rankings.  The best way to make sure that your site will do a good job on the search results page is to practice moderation. Keeping your content to the point and optimized but not over stuffed with keywords (Google’s allergic to keyword stuffing) and your website attractive but not over crowded is the right way to go.

How easy would it be if after hiring a brilliant web designer to create the site you’ve been dreaming of, you were then able to stand outside and wave people in to buy? Ideally, that’s what we would all do once we’ve got this great site that advertises our services or products. Eventually, you’ll run out of friends and relatives to beg his or her opinion of your site. It’s time to get your name out there.

And so your work begins. Assuming that your web builder has done his or her job and built a site that is as aesthetically pleasing as it is content-rich, it’s now up to you to bring traffic to it. If this were an easy thing to do, there wouldn’t be as many websites struggling to get “hits” to it, right? A great site and page views don’t always get to ride off in the sunset together. As such, really the only way to get traffic is by utilizing Search Engine Optimization, a.k.a. SEO.

In the past, the bigger the marketing budget, the better your sales. Larger than life ads in appropriate trade magazines usually meant your phone would ring off the hook or a gander at your website. Today, it’s all about getting people to visit your website, get them to stay a while, even enjoy their morning coffee while doing so. Here are a few suggestions to consider to get people clicking away.

Articles

Having now realized that you need traffic to sell whatever it is you that you have, having articles written is a tool that many companies use to achieve this. There are several places, once these articles are written, to place them.

Keyword Density – Content Rich

Constructing articles that are as informative as they are “SEO rich”, it’s a generally accepted principle to use a 3-7% keyword density. An example of a keyword is the following. Your company sells bracelets made of porcelain. Simply using the term “porcelain bracelets” with a sentence that is poorly written or makes no sense is tantamount to not having bothered to submit a piece about your wares. However, discussing the virtues of a porcelain bracelet or how elegant one looks when paired with an evening gown will be fun to read and bring you traffic.

Something to Avoid

If you opt to employ the services of either a writer or a web designer who claims his or her SEO Company to be SEO experts, run in the other direction! They’ll assert that for a rather hefty price he or she can all but guarantee you’ll be number one in all the search engines.

Given that the criteria used by search engines changes frequently, attempting to circumvent the system, so to speak, isn’t possible. Your best option is to stay current with the most recent rules, as it were, and watch your company’s name “climb the charts”.

Having the right features in your website might be the difference between success and failure.

Search Engine Optimization

Your website should be search engine optimized. This way, it will rank highly with search engines. A high ranking is important because many web surfers only consider what is on the first page of the results list. The high ranking increases visibility and consequently increases hits and sales.

Links

The links should be suitable and they should be easily visible. This way, the surfer will navigate to your landing page and other pages to get more information on what you have on offer. You should be particularly keen on links if you have more than one service or product on offer. If you only have one service or product, you do not really need links. You should also consider back links to respected websites – these will increase your site’s credibility.

Good Content

The content should encourage potential customers to buy. The information should be clear, to the point, and unambiguous. Note that if you have too much text, potential clients or customers will get bored and they will navigate without reading your call to action.

Customer-friendly Service or Product

The product or service should be customer friendly. You should therefore do surveys to determine what customers want.

Contact Information

A large number of website owners forget to give their contact information. Contact information is not only important to potential clients who want to learn more about what you have on offer, it is also important to other website owners who want to do link exchanges. The contact information should preferably be on every page of the website. When you provide contact information, surfers will be able to inform you if there is any problem with your website such as a technical problem.

Buying Option

Provide your clients or customers with different buying options. These may include PayPal, credit cards, and other payment service. This way, potential clients or customers will not be put off by a paying option they are not comfortable with.

It is important to update your WordPress website to avoid hackers and keep your page secure. Many WordPress users, however, are afraid that their website settings and themes will go back to default when they update. The following tips and techniques should ease your mind while updating your website.

1. Back up all files before updating

Just to be safe in case something goes wrong in the process, have a database backup for all files used for your WordPress website. This ensures that you have website settings to fall back on.

2. Only edit the theme and plugin files, not core files

The core files provided by WordPress are the ones that keep your website up and running. Do not alter these files, but work with the theme files and plugin files. Since the theme and plugins are what determine the way your website looks and feels, they are more malleable than the core files.

3. You can update automatically or manually

Depending on your preference, you can do the WordPress update automatically or manually. Automatic update is done by clicking on the auto-update link on your website’s admin dashboard. Manual update is done by downloading the WordPress auto-update plugin, then clicking on it to use the step-by-step process.

4. Disable all plugins before updating, and reactivate them after the update is done

You need to disable the active plugins on your WordPress website to have the update run smoothly. The only exception is the Maintenance Mode plugin, which allows for your website’s maintenance and upgrading. Once the update is complete, go back to your dashboard and activate your plugins on the “Recently Active” section, and your website will be good to go.

5. Take your time while updating WordPress

The main concern about doing a WordPress update is more to do with making a mistake and losing your website altogether than getting hack attacks if you do not update. Remember that many websites have been updated and still remained in good condition, so take your time and update your site.

There are many ways to optimize web pages which all contribute to high search engine rankings. These 5 tips are the basic things that every web page must have in order to get optimized for better traffic.

1. Original content

The largest part of a web page consists of written word, which makes it the most important of all website features. The web content must be original for the page to rank higher. You can make use of plagiarism checking tools to ensure that your content is not duplicated anywhere on the Internet.

2. Always use SEO on every page

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a tool used to increase web traffic and optimize web pages. The most basic and useful SEO technique is using keywords, which identify the content to Internet users. If your web page is about the free software, your keywords appearing throughout your website could be, for example, “free software download”.

3. Descriptions

Web page descriptions are used right at the beginning of your web content as a summary of what your website is about. They appear in search engine results and give the reader a prompt to visit your website.

4. Links and trackbacks

Another great tips is to add links on your web page and have other websites link to yours. This kind of win-win arrangement can be done with websites that have a related theme to your web page, as well as sponsored links on the same. Traffic is generated when a website visitor clicks through to your page to find more information.

5. Regular updating

The web pages with the highest ranking are usually those that have regular updates in terms of content. You need to get articles coming in on a regular basis whether you write them yourself or hire a writer to do it for you. More recent content ranks higher on search engines.

A combination of all 5 easy tips above is ideal to optimize any web page on the Internet.