Archive for the ‘Web Development’ Category

Linking from a Baaaad Neighborhood Can Shred Your SEO

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Why Move?

Bad Neighborhood Links are Bad News
It is no secret that linking to and from a bad Internet neighborhood can seriously slow, halt or even reverse your SEO progress. However, now, I have first hand knowledge of what can happen when even a single source has cross links with a site in a good neighborhood.

We recently moved my personal blog to my company site - which is where you are reading this. Initially, we thought it might be a great way to get some inbound links with linking text being exactly what we wanted it to be.

We soon found that in actuality, cross links from XPRT Creative to http://jpoyer.wordpress.com began a slow descent of XPRT Creative ranking in Google, Yahoo and MSN SERPs. (more…)

Content is King? Horse Hockey!

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

I have read so many things over the years about why content is important. Why content is the most important. Why content is KING. I just have to disagree. I know, as a born copy-writer it’s blasphemous for me to speak in such a manner, but I would be remiss not to mention it.

Don’t get me wrong. Content matters. It really does. Words can change the world. But not without the man or woman or design behind them. Or the brand that makes the words credible. Or a myriad of other things that support good content.

But no matter how you slice it, content just not king. Here are the top three reasons this is true. (more…)

Dynamic vs. Static and How They Relate to Site Development

Saturday, May 17th, 2008

Pretty much every web page you look at falls into one of two very broad categories: Dynamic or Static.

What is a dynamic web page?

Dynamic refers to a page being created “on the fly.” This means that the content from that page doesn’t actually come together until someone clicks on a link to that page. When someone views a dynamic page, some or all of the information on that page is pulled into the page from another location, like a database. (more…)

Unraveling a Domain Transfer

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

Have you ever attempted to transfer your domain and it seems like there are so many hoops to jump through that it’s not even worth the effort? Does it seem like it’s a confusing ball of knotted string that you just can’t unravel? As a member of a web development team, I have had the opportunity to transfer many domains (and as a result have taken my fair share of Ibuprofin). When you are transferring your domain, having a good checklist will help tremendously to take the knots out of the process.

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TAKE CONTROL of your DOMAIN! Part II

Monday, February 4th, 2008

If you didn’t read Take Control of Your Domain Part I, it has important information you need to understand regarding your domain. Go read that first and then come back to this one. This post, Take Control of Your Domain Part II deals specifically with the hosting aspect of your website owner experience. Some of this can get pretty technical (so put your nerd cap on and pay attention - heh heh), but it is important to understand when taking control of your domain and your website. (more…)

TAKE CONTROL of your DOMAIN! Part I

Monday, January 28th, 2008

When you have a website, there are actually three different major parts that you need to know about and understand. Especially if you are working with an awesome creative firm like XPRT Creative to develop a superb, problem solving, useful, effective and aesthetically pleasing website. (plug? what plug?) Your web developer will need you to understand these things, so if you are considering getting a new domain, or hiring a new company to host or build your site, this is important stuff. Read on, read on. (more…)

Did You Get My Form Submission?

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008

You know what would be so great? We could have a form on our site, and we’ll collect people’s information and then we’ll build up our contact lists and leads, because we’ll be sending out important information, specials and discounts through email, and people will come to our site from across the Internet to sign up and we’ll be able to email them regularly and keep in touch and increase our sales and customer interaction!

WON’T THAT BE GREAT?!!! Yes, it would be great IF:

… we didn’t get hundreds of bogus emails from random addresses that don’t exist.

… we get e-mails that contain characters we don’t recognize — like someone is submitting scripts or trying to hack our forms or something.

… people would fill out the information I really need, like mailing address or phone number.

… people would fill out the information in a useable format. (more…)