Devision Design and Internet Devision Design and Internet Webcrowd Web Hosting Australia Devision Design and Internet Webcrowd web hosting logo design Devision Design and Internet

Archive for the ‘Noosa Website Design’ Category

The importance of Keyword Density on search engines

Monday, January 11th, 2010

When it comes to ensuring success on the search engines there are many important ingredients that need to go into the development of your website.

Most people are familiar with ensuring your website is well keyworded, but many do not realise the importance of ‘keyword density‘.

Adding too many keywords can see your website blacklisted for spamming, while not having enough specific keywords may not be strong enough to get you a mention at all.

Often you will notice that the highest ranking websites under most general search terms are the larger directory-based websites, while the smaller individual business websites are often following.

One of the main reasons larger websites outrank sites this way is due to the Keyword Density.

Keyword Density is quite simple to master when you know how it works…
Basically Keyword Density is the density of the priority keywords throughout the entire website. So for instance if you only have a three page website, then to get a high density you would need to use the main priority keywords that you would like to be found in the search engines very heavily throughout those three pages. The problem with this is that if you use the keyword too much you could be blacklisted!

But using the same keywords throughout a website with more pages provides a higher keyword density without overly using those keywords on each page, and the beauty of a larger website is that you can also use additional priority keywords throughout the website as well, so you have a multitude of popular search phrases throughout the website.

Where I live here on the Sunshine Coast in Australia, the main business trade is holiday accommodation. Being a very competitive market it is obviously important to ensure the accommodation websites that make it to the top have the best keyword density.

Having built a large number of Sunshine Coast accommodation websites over the past years, it was always a challenge to ensure they outrank their competitors, but with a good basic knowledge of how to correctly use keywords and keyword density it becomes quite easy once you know the correct technique.

However, there are many Sunshine Coast accommodation websites lately that are integrating the booking systems of other websites into their website’s navigation, which in theory makes it easier for them to accept bookings online. However the negative reaction by the search engines from this is that they are immediately diluting their keyword density of their own website and substituting it with the linked keywords that are found on the other website that is now integrated into their navigation. This means that if the linked website contains unrelated keywords, such as other accommodation locations (for instance, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney, etc) then their density for Sunshine Coast accommodation immediately drops greatly, sending them sliding backwards down the search engine rankings ladder. Even worse, if their are replacing their own navigation with links to pages from another website then the results can be catastrophic, as the most important content of most websites, from a search engine’s perspective, is found in the top area of your web pages.

To check your own keyword density of your website I recommend a software package called Web CEO. Web CEO software allows you to review your keyword density yourself (as well as your competitors!) and allows you to change your density live yourself very easily. It will also show you if any websites directly linked into your navigation are damaging your keyword density or search engine listings.
Check out the software online at http://www.webceo.com

Using some basic techniques and knowledge of Keyword Density can get your website to the top spots in the search engines!

For a free Keyword Density report of your own website (or your competitors!) visit http://www.devision.com.au

Author: Chris Bourke of Devision Design Australia – Developers of the best ranking Sunshine Coast accommodation websites!

Add to Del.cio.us RSS Feed Add to Technorati Favorites Stumble It! Digg It!

Tags: , ,
Posted in Accommodation Websites, Maroochydore Web Site Design, Noosa Website Design, Sunshine Coast Website Design, Website Development | Comments Off

Domain Names – The new real estate market

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

Growing up we were always told to save and invest in real estate to secure our financial freedom.

Back 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago this was very sound advice.

However, with the real estate market becoming increasingly out of reach for many newcomers, and the share market a little uncertain, it is sometimes wise to look at other investment opportunities.

About 3 months before signs of the global financial crisis, I was talking with my financial advisor regarding the status of my investments, noticing that they were starting to slowly go backwards, and I asked him for his advice. He forewarned me that the market was about to take a big hit and I would be best to invest in other areas before I take a loss.

He made a few suggestions, but had no real solutions without me pouring lots of extra money into my investments, which would still be a huge risk.

I suggested that maybe I take my money and invest in the internet.
While this was a totally new concept to him and he could offer no advice in this area, I was quite confident and began putting some of my money into registering domain names.

Not just any domain names though, but good ‘top-level’ domain names.
Purchasing and managing a domain name yourself can cost as little as around $14 a year, and even doing nothing more than registering that domain name, I usually try and re-sell them for a minimum of $1500, which is a pretty good investment in my books, though it is not uncommon to make tens of thousands (or even more) for a single domain name.

Imagine if you could purchase a house, pay no rates, no maintenance and make a return 100 times what you paid for it after 12 months you’d be pretty happy!

You can even go a step further with that domain name and actually set it up as either a small commercial website, online store, or directory, so it is already ranking well on the search engines, plus making you some money, and you will usually find offers of thousands of dollars more for a profitable domain name are common.

There are plenty of very good domain name registrars where you can purchase great domain names at a very cheap rate, though before leaping in thinking that you will instantly make thousands of dollars with any domain name, make sure you do your research first;

1. Search for the most commonly searched keywords on the web and consider domain names that can be made from these keywords.

2. Check to see if these domain names are available.

3. Try and find top-level domains (eg, .com domains) rather than just local country domains as these rank much better.

4. Try and keep the domain names short and catchy. One or two word domain names usually get a better response.

5. Find out how you can make money from that domain name, such as linking up with Google Adsense, or building a small website to give the domain name more value, as well as covering all your costs associated with the purchase.

6. Find a good domain name reseller that can sell the domain for you. They usually charge a small fee for listing your domain on their website for sale, but using these services can often fetch you a lot more for your domain name.

For more information talk to Devision Design and we are happy to provide advice on choosing a good domain name, registering a domain name for you, and even how to set it up to profit from your domain name.

Registering a good domain name can be worth tens of thousands of dollars to you, and possibly a much better investment than your current share portfolio!

Article by Chris Bourke of Devision Design Australia, and the Web SEO Coach

Add to Del.cio.us RSS Feed Add to Technorati Favorites Stumble It! Digg It!

Tags: ,
Posted in Domain Registration, Noosa Website Design, Sunshine Coast Website Design, Website Development | No Comments »

Professional Business Marketing on a Small Budget

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

Starting up any new business can be tough at the best of times, and the current economic climate doesn’t make it any easier!

But don’t let all the doom and gloom you hear everyday stop you.

I would like to share some simple cost saving business marketing tips and services that our business, Devision, can provide that can have you looking as professional as the big guys, all for under $1000, including professional logo, business cards, letterheads and well ranking website!

Read on and I’ll tell you how!……

Branding & Logo Design – A few hundred dollars

We all know that one of the most important assets of any business is their brand and corporate identity. A professional eye catching and clever logo and brand is one of the key ingredients to any successful business, however a custom designed logo and corporate branding can usually cost big dollars.
But if you want a professional logo at a budget rate, many agencies such as Devision have a bank full of hundreds of unused logos created in the design process for other clients, which we offer at a discounted rate. Obviously it will not be a totally custom logo for your business, however many of the logos are generic enough that they can suit almost any type of business by simply changing a few colours, and you will save hundreds on the cost of your branding.

Business Card Printing – 1000 full colour for $50

Professional Business Cards are one of the next things on any new business list. They are the ‘first impression tool. for most businesses, so you don’t want some cheap laser-printed homemade business cards!
And with any new business you will want to hand out as many cards as possible to get your business name out there.
Devision offer 1000 full colour business cards for just $50!These are double sided (full colour front, greyscale/black reverse side) on a nice 300gsm artboard stock. There is a small charge if artwork or delivery is required, but you’ll agree it’s still very affordable!

Letterhead Printing – 500 full colour $170

Letterheads are the next thing you’ll be needing for your invoicing, promotional letters, etc. You can get started with 500 full colour professionally printed letterheads for as little as $170! And like most printing, the price per copy gets cheaper the more you have printed, saving you a packet!

Website – as little as a couple of hundred dollars

As I have mentioned in previous ramblings, your website is probably the single most important and most affordable marketing tool you can possibly have for your business. We receive around 85% of all new business directly through our website, and have clients all across the world that have found us online. The beauty of a website is you can start with a small website – a single page or a couple of pages for just a couple of hundred dollars, and in time build it up to suit your needs. With every website Devision design we professionally search engine optimise and submit it to the search engines using the latest techniques and SEO gear, so you’re not paying additional expenses later on to get on the search engines. In fact we are happy to coach you in SEO techniques so you can learn the secrets yourself and make sure you always stay ahead of your competitors!
Alternatively, for a few hundred dollars you can purchase a copy of Web CEO, the leading search engine optimisation software used by the professionals, and quickly learn to do it yourself.

Website Hosting - $7.95 a month

With your website you will also require a domain name and website hosting. Our partner company Webcrowd offer professional hosting plans for $7.95 a month, which are perfect for any small to medium professional business website, and you get the domain name of your choice (pending availability) for free!
The Webcrowd hosting includes unlimited email account, professional website statistics for your website, and you have full control via a Control Panel, allowing you to set up email accounts, add databases, etc as you need. And the best thing about Webcrowd is they are located in Australia so you get real local support!

So, add the services up that I have mentioned and you have no excuse not to get your business up and running in a few easy steps at a cost much cheaper than you probably thought. You have no excuses to get out there and beat the Economic Crisis Blues!

For full details and plenty of examples of our work, visit Devision at www.Devision.com.au

Add to Del.cio.us RSS Feed Add to Technorati Favorites Stumble It! Digg It!

Posted in Branding, Brisbane Printing, Brisbane Web Hosting, Brisbane Website Design, Caloundra Website Design, Marketing, Maroochydore Web Site Design, Mooloolaba web site design, Noosa Website Design, Printing, SEO, Sunshine Coast Website Design, Sydney Printing, Website Development | No Comments »

SEO – Get your Business to the top of Google

Monday, May 4th, 2009

By Scott Van Achte

In today’s online world search engine rankings can make your business succeed, and while rankings in Yahoo and MSN are very valuable, their combined market value is still less than that of Google. This makes achieving top rankings in Google that much more important.
In this three-part series on How to Optimize for Google we will touch on a number of important aspects for top Google rankings including website optimization, links, Google Webmaster tools, and a number of other considerations.
The focus of Part 1 will be with on page website optimization.

THE RIGHT KEYWORDS
This article is not about keyword research so I will not spend too much time on this topic, however, I felt it was important to at least brush on this slightly.

Make sure that your targets are achievable. If you select the wrong keywords it can make your entire optimization experience essentially a waste. Choose keywords that are attainable but yet still provide a reasonable search frequency for your industry. Your phrase selection should also be targeted to bring qualified traffic to your site.
Using the hotel industry as an example, targeting the word “hotel” would make very little sense but by narrowing it down to “Victoria BC hotel” you now have less competition, and a more qualified audience. Keep your targets in perspective and go after the obtainable rankings.

WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION
There are many on-site factors that play a role in your search engine rankings. Here are a number of those factors and what you can do to improve your chances of success.

Title Tag
The title tag plays one of the most important roles in search results at Google, and is almost always the heading Google chooses for each of its listings. Placement of your target phrase is best used near the start of the tag and repeated again in the middle or near the end. Three uses of your target phrase may be helpful in some instances, as long as it is not too overwhelming. For best results each page on your site should have a totally unique title tag.
It is also important to remember that because Google will use this title as the main heading for your listing, you will want to keep it attractive to potential searchers. Try to also add a call to action, or other wording to help make your listing appear attractive to searchers.
To help illustrate the fact Google takes this tag into consideration, simply do a search for your target phrase and take a look at the titles of the top 10. I tried a search for a rather broad term “hotel” and saw that all 10/10 listings had it in the title tag, and 6/10 had it as the very first word. A quick scan showed that the entire top 30 either had the word hotel, or hotels in their title tags.
If you do only one thing to your website, make sure that all your title tags are relevant, unique, and contain your target phrase for each page.

Meta Description Tag
The Meta Description tag is still occasionally used by Google as the description which appears in the search results themselves. While this used to be a more common practice Google tends to use it most often on sites with very limited content, or those which are flash based. I have seen it still used for content rich sites, however this is less common.
The Meta Description tag still has an impact on search rankings. Your best bet when using this tag is to keep it short and sweet with your target phrase close to the start and not repeated more than 3 times. Like the title tag, each page on your site should have its own unique description tag.
Meta Keyword Tag
When it comes to Google this tag is useless, and won’t influence your rankings. There is some speculation as to whether a spammy keyword tag can however, have a negative effect on Google rankings. As a result, if you do utilize a keyword Meta tag for the smaller engines, it is best to keep it clean and play it safe.

Density
Keyword density plays a role in overall rankings; however, it is not as cut and dry as it once was. Once upon a time there was a magic number that when used could almost guarantee top rankings.
This is no longer the case. Today the ideal density varies from industry to industry, phrase to phrase. To find out what density you should aim for, take the top 10 or 20 search results and see what percentage those sites are using. In most cases you will find that the majority of these sites have a very similar density to one another, and this average density is a good estimation of what you should aim for.
Body Text and Keyword Placement
The location of relevant text on your site will help establish the overall importance of your target phrase. While you do not want to overwhelm the engines and site visitors with a bombardment of target phrases at the top of the page, try to sprinkle in some instances as close to the top of the page as possible.

Synonyms
Be sure to include various synonyms for your target phrases within your body text on your site. Google will use these synonyms to tie in the overall relevance of the page for your main target phrases, which in turn can improve your odds.
To find possible synonyms you can use a thesaurus, but the best way is to search Google itself and see exactly what they consider to be similar. Simply search in Google for your target phrase preceded with a tilde, such as “~hotels”. Next scan through the search results for any text Google has bolded. These are all words that Google considers to be related. Using the “~hotels” example Google brings up phrases such as ‘travel’, ‘tourism’, ‘accommodation’, as well as various hotel chain names such as ‘Hilton Hotels’.

Keywords in Domain
There is still some speculation if having a target phrase as part of your top level domain (TLD) is of use to search rankings. From my experience, yes, there is value here, although, nothing like it was several years ago.
If you are starting off in the online world and are contemplating which domain to go for, consider one that uses your target phrase, assuming that it is both relevant to your business name, and uses no more than a single hyphen. While multiple hyphens in a domain can be successful, they are very common with highly spammy websites, so it is best to not take that route if possible.
While having a keyword located within your domain can provide some ranking juice, I would not suggest heading out and doing a domain swap. In most cases you would be better off working on your existing site than starting from scratch with a new domain.

Keywords in page specific URL
Using keywords for specific page URL’s can also help add a little bit of value to your site, providing you use them responsibly. Consider using a keyword as a directory name and as part of a file name where it naturally makes sense to do so. If you have a website that focuses on tourism and includes local hotel listings, you may want to consider the following structure for your page on the Hilton:
MyTourismSite.com/Victoria/Accommodations/Hotels/Hilton.html

Link Anchor text
This is the actual text you click on as part of a link. When full or partial target phrases are used within your text links they help pass on some value to the linked page for those phrases. This is also true when considering surrounding text. When the content around the link is also relevant, the link holds slightly more value.
While a link that simply states “click here” or “www.domainname.com” does have its place, they provide considerably less value than a link that would use “discount hotels” as its anchor.

Image Alt Text
While image alt text still plays a minor role, its biggest part is within the use of image based navigation. If you have an image linked to another page, the alt text will be attributed much the same way as standard link anchor text is.
Image Alt text should always be short and to the point and should accurately describe either the image itself, or the page the image is linking to. Do not use alt tags as a place to stuff keywords.

Inline Links
These are links that are found mid sentence or mid paragraph as opposed to a simple listing of links as found in a menu or possibly on a sitemap. Links found mid paragraph tend to pass on a little more value from the surrounding text and can offer more relevance to the linked page.

Site Navigation
It is absolutely imperative that your website be fully spiderable by the search engines. This may seem obvious, but often webmasters overlook Google’s ability to crawl a website. Google has become very advanced in what links it can follow and how it can spider a website, but there are still some things that can cause significant roadblocks.

- Flash: One of the most commonly made mistakes is the use of flash. If flash is used as a sole means of site navigation then you can count on Google not viewing your internal pages, and having a significant disadvantage in terms of site rankings.

- Java Script / DHTML: These days most Java Script and even DHTML menus can be spidered by Google, however, this is not always the case. If your site utilizes any kind of fancy navigation and you are wondering why Google has not indexed your internal pages, check out Google’s Cached Text version of your page. If you do not see any text links, then your navigation may be invisible to Google.

- Images: Image based navigation has been safe for many years now, but if your site uses this form of navigation it is essential to have brief, relevant alt text on all your buttons. This alt text will act much like standard anchor text for text based links. This is not only for the purpose of search ranking value, but take a look at Google’s cached text version of your page. If you have image based links that do not have alt text, those links do not appear. This doesn’t mean Google won’t follow them, but for anyone viewing your site on a text based browser, your links will be invisible to them.

URL Structure
Avoid long elaborate URL’s with extraneous characters. While Google has reached a point where they can index massive URL strings, it is best to avoid them if at all possible. For dynamic sites consider utilizing mod rewrites to significantly clean up the URL to not only make it more search engine friendly, but more user friendly as well.
MyTourismSite.com/?locid=”victoria”&catid=”accommodations”
&type=”hotel”&comp=”hilton”
stands a better chance if cleaned up to read:
MyTourismSite.com/victoria/accommodations/hotels/hilton.htm

SUMMARY
Basic website optimization is a critical component for successful placement in Google but is only part of the overall picture.

Scott Van Achte is the Senior SEO at StepForth Web Marketing Inc.; based in Victoria, BC, Canada and founded in 1997. You can read more of Scott’s articles and those of the veteran StepForth team at http://news.stepforth.com or contact us at http://www.stepforth.com

Add to Del.cio.us RSS Feed Add to Technorati Favorites Stumble It! Digg It!

Tags: , ,
Posted in Accommodation Websites, Brisbane Website Design, Caboolture Website Design, Caloundra Website Design, Mackay Website Design, Marketing, Maroochydore Web Site Design, Mooloolaba web site design, New Zealand Website Design, Noosa Website Design, Restaurant Website Design, SEO, Sunshine Coast Website Design, Website Development | No Comments »

12 Simple Steps to Effective Websites

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

By Nancy Fraser

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.

Edward Lear must have had some precognition about what was in store for us all with the development of the internet when he wrote this nonsensical poem.

Many people do feel at sea after they launch their website and attempt to navigate the sometimes confusing channels of the internet. They wonder why their website doesn’t get more traffic and why their inbox is not filling up with emails from people clamoring to buy their products or services.

It seems that the rules change as often as Oprah changes her clothes and who could ever hope to keep up with that!

Price quotes for search engine optimization are all over the map; the process seems never-ending and expensive.

How is it that some people seem to have great success on the web without spending a huge amount of money? Is it unrealistic to think that you can make a living working on the web?

When faced with a seemingly overwhelming challenge it helps to break things down into bite-sized pieces.

Effective websites should include the following:
1. Your website needs to focus on a specific niche.

2. You need to do keyword research and although Google no longer gives weight to Meta keywords some of the other major search engines still do.

3. Your website should have the main keyword used throughout and each page should be written around 5-10 keywords that are tightly focused on that particular page’s topic.

4. Content is still King. Well written, focused content is crucial.

5. Meta titles need to include your keywords.

6. Organization of content should include headings and subtitles to make it easy for readers to scan the pages. Be sure to include your keywords in these headings as well.

7. Most people on the web are looking for information. If you don’t give them anything of value or entertain them, they will be gone, probably for good.

8. Use keywords in links whereever possible.

9. Include a call to action and,if possible, offer a Free trial. You have to build trust before you can make a sale.

10. Check your website in various browsers (FireFox, Internet Explorer, etc.) to make sure it displays equally well in all.

11. Your personality is what attracts people to you so why would you create a generic website with all of the excitement of a flat glass of pop. Keep the content fresh so it has Fizz!

12. Most importantly, have realistic expectations of what you want to achieve with your website. With all the hype about overnight successes on the internet it’s difficult to put your results into perspective. If you expect instant success and it isn’t happening, it’s easy to become demoralized and quit before you reach your goal.

Some Other Important Web Marketing Tips

Google page rank counts! The higher your page rank number the higher you will rank in user searches. How do you find out your page rank? Download the Google toolbar here for Internet Explorer http://toolbar.google.com/T4/ or here for FireFox http://tools.google.com/firefox/toolbar/install.html.

Improve your page rank by encouraging other highly ranked websites in complementary businesses to link to yours and by developing content with a niche focus. Page rank is also affected by traffic numbers. A couple of ways you can boost traffic are pay-per-click advertising and posting articles on the web.

Your web image is at least as important as your personal image. You wouldn’t go out to meet a prospective client wearing a mishmash of styles and colours but many businesses have websites with tools that don’t work, tables and text that are out of alignment, old information, dated colours, and confusing navigation. Those things are bad enough but when an experienced web developer looks at the code on a website they often find a website that looks good but is not built to encourage search traffic.

Be prepared like the wise owl and make the job of marketing your business as easy as possible with a website that enhances your brand image and is technically sound and purrrr your way to success.

About The Author
Nancy Fraser of Nota Bene Consulting has been helping clients get better results with their marketing and advertising for over 20 years. Sign up for Notable News and get free marketing tips at www.notable-marketing.com.

Add to Del.cio.us RSS Feed Add to Technorati Favorites Stumble It! Digg It!

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Brisbane Website Design, Caboolture Website Design, Caloundra Website Design, Mackay Website Design, Maroochydore Web Site Design, Mooloolaba web site design, New Zealand Website Design, Noosa Website Design, SEO, Sunshine Coast Website Design, Website Development | No Comments »

Munna Beach Noosaville Apartments gets a new look web site

Monday, April 20th, 2009

Munna Beach Apartments – Noosa Australia

Munna Beach Holiday Apartments is the perfect Noosa accommodation for people looking to escape the holiday rat-race. Located in the quieter area of Noosa, at Noosaville, Munna Beach Apartments offer a great accommodation complex for the whole family.

Devision have recently developed a new website for Munna Beach to provide a professional touch to to their online presence. The new website has been developed to be easy to update or expand on and has been keyworded to ensure that they will be on the top of the search engines for Noosaville holiday accommodation searches.

Devision also recently renovated the Munna Beach Apartments logo, freshening up the existing design with an easy to reproduce eye-catching design.

Click here to see the new Munna Beach website, or check out more of our Sunshine Coast accommodation websites

Add to Del.cio.us RSS Feed Add to Technorati Favorites Stumble It! Digg It!

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Accommodation Websites, Noosa Website Design, Website Development | No Comments »