Research . Study Questions

Black Hatter or White Hatter SEO Techniques . week five

May 14th, 2010

1. What are some SEO issues that may arise from using non-HTML based content?
As discovered in the previous post ‘Accessibility + Web Standards Techniques = Findable Content,’ search engine optimized content is written using semantic and accessible HTML code. Using non-HTML based content creates a barrier to search engine bots since these bots use semantic markup to read content. The more well written the semantic markup, the faster search bots can index a page, and the more likely your website will be ranked higher in search engines.
For example, using Flash-based content creates issues with search bots since they cannot read the content in a SWF element. Since the search bots cannot read the content, they cannot read keywords or understand the hierarchy of elements in the content. Flash creates a barrier to search bots that will negatively affect your website’s search engine rankings. Although there are ways to make Flash more findable, the best practice for creating optimized content is to use HTML-based content.

2. What is the difference between black hat and white hat SEO?
Black hat SEO involves hidden text, keyword stuffing, and additional deceptive techniques to increase search engine ranking. Many search engines will penalize your website if you utilize these black hat techniques.

Whereas white hat SEO involves ethical strategies that boost website search engine rankings. White hat techniques include creating keyword-dense content and Meta descriptions, following web standard guidelines, and writing semantic markup. Using white hat SEO will naturally create a popular website with search engines without causing issues that will ban your site from search engines.

3. What black hat SEO techniques could get your site banned from search engines and why?
Black hat SEO techniques that could get your website banned from search engines include cloaking, creating pages to link search bots to different content from the user that is full of keywords; hidden text or links, or keyword-rich content that is hidden the same color as the background and therefore hidden within the background so only search bots can see it; doorway pages that contain content stuffed with keywords that does not flow naturally but that search bots will read but that users will be redirected to another page. Most search engines do not approve of these methods since they are deceptive marketing tactics. These techniques mislead the search engines and often use keywords and content that have nothing to do with the actual subject of the website only to create high website ranking. Fortunately, search engines consider their audience a priority. In order to provide the best search results for their users, search engines enforce SEO guidelines that, if not followed, will get a website banned from the engine. Search engines that approve and endorse white hat SEO also protect designers. Those using good design and moral SEO practices will reap the benefits; their clients will be happy when they rank high in search engines, the audience will be happy when they find the information they need, and the designer will have a website that functions amazingly and that also ranks high in the search engines.

Resources:
‘Whitehat SEO versus Blackhat SEO practices by Search Engine Optimizers’ AHFX.net
High Risk and Low Risk – Black Hat vs. White Hat AHFX.net

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Website Search Engine Popularity . week four

May 7th, 2010

1. Identify various methods for increasing your site’s perceived popularity with search engines.
Website popularity is determined through the amount of referring sites that direct the user to your site. There are some methods to help increase the ‘cool’ factor of your site that will catch the attention of search bots and help the site’s search engine rankings. Contacting similar web sites to exchange links places your web site in direct traffic for others readers. If the companion website is well respected, the reciprocal exchange will not only increase traffic but will also add credibility to your site as well. If you build up credibility based on consistently reliable information in your website, websites will be more inclined to refer their visitors to your site.

Other methods for increasing a site’s popularity include submitting an informative article from your site to online publications. These publications will most likely link back to your original article, increasing the amount of credible referral web sites.

Search engines will also take notice of your site once you have submitted it to web directories. The search engines look at both the quality and number of referring links. The directories notify the search bots that there is a site in the queue to index.

These and other techniques detailed in Google’s Webmaster Tools Help will help get your website’s name out there and build popularity.

2. Identify various sites and resources for submitting your site to search engines and directories.
Submitting website’s to search engines and directories inform the search bots that your site is out there and ready to be indexed. There are hundreds of search engines on the web. Where to start? The main search engines to consider submission include: Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Ask. However, there are free resources for submitting a website to many search engines at one time. These sources include: addme.com, submitexpress.com, and freewebsubmission.com. By simply inputting your URL, the tools will submit the site to many of the most popular search engines.

Directories will list your website among certain categories in their index. Search bots will also index your site once it comes across the link in the directory. Open Directory Project at dmoz.org is a free web directory that is volunteer-driven. Many of the popular search engines provide an option to be listed on the Open Directory, so it is a reputable source that will add value to your web site.

3. Identify the difference between a search engine and a directory service.
Search engines use robots to index all websites, going through content of each page, and inputting this information into the database using certain algorithms. Submitting a website to the search engines may aide in the index process time.

In contrast to search engine robots, people review and classify each website that are submitted to directories. Only websites that are submitted to directories will be considered and added to the directory database.

4. Identify various analog techniques and resources to market a web site.
Marketing a website offline builds a website’s credibility and customer base. Revealing the online website through offline or analog marketing will be noted with an audience expecting information via digital format. Not only will it gain users, but it can also increase the website’s inbound links. Some analog techniques to market a website include press releases, newsletters, and newspaper / magazine ads. Information sent through press releases and newsletters could be cited in journals, thus sending incoming links to your website.

A website’s corporate identity, business cards and postcards, will put a ‘face’ to the online identity. These resources will include the URL to direct users after convincing them about the usefulness of the website. The message should be clear and concise to pull the users online where they can get the full message to explore more.

5. Identify best practices in dealing with all customers on your web site.
Customer service takes a new twist when online. However, your audience still expects great customer service, this never changes. In terms of design and information hierarchy, keep your website easy for the users to access, navigate, and find subject matter. If the users are not able to find something, providing easy to access contact information and providing pertinent information for the user to get in touch with you, proves to the user that you are trustworthy and there for them. Using multiple forms of communication, such as contact email, facebook, twitter, and other social media outlets, lets the user choose how they prefer to contact you. If you are using many different forms of communication, you still must be able to maintain these outlets and get back to all customers as swift as possible.

Even though you are not conversing with the client face-to-face and they might be difficult, you should not feel it is ok to send an angry email or message to a difficult user. Especially online users spread word fast, and one angry email could give your website a bad reputation. Handle all customers with care and it will build your websites standing, ultimately drawing in more users.

Resources:
Mezel, Christian. ‘Global Marketing (emphasizing technical specifications).’ 101 Web Marketing Ideas and Tips. seopedia.com. Oct. 2006.
Building Findable Websites by Aaron Walter

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Rich email campaigns . week three

April 30th, 2010

1. Explain the major considerations of designing a rich email campaign.
When designing a rich email campaign the focus is typically first on marketing techniques to express the intended message to the audience, to reel them in. However, there are also major legal considerations and user-friendly features to email campaigns. Jack Roberts’ ‘Email Campaign Best Practices,’ an article on suite101.com, sums up the most important considerations in email campaigns. When sending out mass emails for marketing purposes, you should consider the return emails and replies. To handle the influx of replies, it is best to set up an email dedicated to the campaign replies and to have someone frequently check and respond to the replies. Sending out a mass marketing email and then never responding to the users will negate any marketing efforts in sending out the email. Also, these replies might contain some helpful feedback from your users about your efforts. In order to filter out the bounce back, automated message responses, set up a system that reads the subject line of the response and deletes the ones that read ‘out of the office’ or ‘mailbox full.’

Roberts notes the legal considerations as well. An ‘unsubscribe’ option must be available on all email campaigns so the user can choose to opt out. Whether it is providing a link that sends a message or detailing the option to reply with ‘UNSUBSCRIBE’ in the subject link, an option to no longer receive emails must be present and must be obliged. Also, when collecting subscriptions to email notices, make users feel secure providing their email without the threat of being spammed, provide a link to a privacy policy and information about how frequent the emails will be. It is best to hold the contact information in a database with all of the email contacts and information so that all of the replies and unsubscribe requests can be maintained through an efficient system.
Following these best practices will enhance your marketing efforts and provide a good user experience.

2. How might you send a rich email campaign and track the results?
It is very important to maintain email campaign data in a safe and secure spot (away from spammer hackers) and to keep up with the user requests to subscribe or unsubscribe. In order to easily maintain data, send and track an email campaign, there are mailing list management systems that can assist in the task. These systems not only handle large data lists, but also track important information, including email opens, clicks inside the email, bounce rate, etc., that help judge the effectiveness of the email campaign. Three of the main mailing list systems that can help keep you and your team organized and help track results are: MailChimp, Campaign Monitor, and Constant Contact. If you have the time and the resources, you can also create your own management system and track results with Google Analytics.

3. How is HTML and CSS for an email campaign coded differently than for browser display?
HTML and CSS coding for an email campaign and for browser display have their own unique elements. Mark Wyner’s article ‘CSS and Email Kissing in a Tree’ on A List Apart details the interesting techniques for coding email campaigns. Styling email campaigns can be a headache. Many email clients will shorten the header section removing the linked style sheets, while other email clients will reject linked style sheets altogether. Wyner has done some heavy-duty testing with different methods to use styling and certain layout options while still keeping the code compliant with web standards. He suggests to use inline styles and using a ‘div’ container to maintain the layout and styling. Although it is not optimal to use inline styling, most of the typical browser code rules do not apply or work with email code. Another ‘code of conduct’ that flies by the wayside when coding for email campaigns is the use of tables. As stated in Tim Slavin’s ‘How to Code HTML Email Newsletters’ on SitePoint.com, HTML tables and inline CSS are the safest way to preserve styles and layout based on the email clients’ lack of CSS support.
According to Slavin, email layouts contain a header, body column (can be divided into two columns), and footer. All of these elements can be contained in tables. Slavin’s article also includes great resources for email templates, layout options, and standard code tweaks.
A very similar aspect between browser and email coding is the need to test, test, test. One of Slavin’s tips is to test HTML emails with the images turned off in the email client to make sure the content is still clear and available.
Additional resources on how to best code for email campaigns can be found in various email management system documentation. Below are links to these resources.

Resources:
‘Top HTML Email Coding Mistakes’ on MailChimp.com
‘Guide to CSS support in email clients’ on campaignmonitor.com

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