DO THE HARD WORK FIRST

• Identify the potential Google search terms for your business. Don’t think only about the goods and services you are offering but also about your customer’s needs. If you are chiropractor, sport injuries might be a good search term. There are free keywords generator tools on the internet, use them.
• Rank the potential search terms based on the relevancy to your business, how often they are used on Google, and how many websites you compete against. There are free keywords ranking tools on the internet, use them.
• Group your best potential search terms by themes and come up with the 2-4 top themes you want to target with your website. Your website will have one GOODS & SERVICES page for each of those themes.

TEXT FOR THE IMPORTANT PAGES

• Websites don’t get Google’s attention, web pages do. You heard it before, content is king and Google looks for pages with original, meaningful, and well organized content. This content is usually found in the GOODS & SERVICES pages of your website.
• Write the textual content for each GOODS & SERVICES page, one page for each theme. The purpose of these pages is to describe the goods and service you offer and to convince the readers that you offer the best value proposal.
• Take it easy on the text, you are not writing a book. Use simple words, short sentences, and short paragraphs. 5th grade English will do the trick.
• The text of your GOODS & SERVICES pages will make or break the success of your website. The text should be user friendly, interesting, and inviting.
• Make sure the top search terms for each theme come naturally throughout the text. If paragraphs don’t contain your top search terms they probably don’t belong to that page. 
• Coming up with the right text for your GOODS & SERVICES pages is easier said than done. Work and rework the text of those pages. Getting help from a professional writer might be a smart investment.
• No matter how good they are, your webmaster or website writer knows very little about your business. Get involved with this critical step of the process.

TEXT FOR THE OTHER PAGES

• Your ABOUT US page should convince your visitors that you know what you do, are trustworthy, and bring value. Be personal, be human, be humble, but don’t be bashful. Include your name, address, picture. Talk about the community activities you are involved with, honors you received, your expertise, your company, and what you bring to the table.
• Your HOME page should summarize the goods and services you offer, who are your typical customers, and what kind of company you are. Save some time by reusing some of the text on the ABOUT US and GOODS & SERVICES pages.
• Your CONTACT US page should let your visitors know your operating hours, where is your business, and how to contact you.
• Your TESTIMONIALS, GUARANTEE and other pages should support the message of expertise, honesty, and value that will convince your visitors to contact you.

CREATE YOUR WEBPAGES

• Create your web pages. Use a modern Google friendly and mobile compliant programming tool. I strongly recommend Weebly that is very easy to use and powerful enough to meet the needs of most small business owners. Keep things simple but be creative. Use images and logos to stand out but be careful not take your visitors away from your content.
• Create the sitemap, install the Google Analytics tracking code and setup the Google WebMaster tools. Publish your website and submit it to the major search engines. This is specialized work, seek professional web design help as needed.

OPTIMIZE EACH OF YOUR WEB PAGES (ON-PAGE SEO)

• Google will look for the presence of your keywords in specific visible and invisible areas of your web pages that have to be individually optimized. Optimize each page individually. Textual content and layout changes are to be expected during this step. There are lots of things to look at and specialized tools to facilitate this process. Seek professional on-page SEO help as needed.

MARKET YOUR WEBSITE (OFF-PAGE SEO)

• Internet marketing are promotional activities designed to convince the search engines about the seriousness of an existing website. Since it does not involve modifying your website, internet marketing is often called off-page SEO. There are lots of things to look at and specialized tools to facilitate this process. Seek professional off-page SEO help as needed.
• Setup a Google Local and Bing local account for your business and get reviews from your satisfied customers.
• Exchange links with complementary non-competitive businesses.
• Get listed in key local directories such as yellow pages, Yelp, and others. There are hundreds of them and some of them are specialized by sector (dentists is an example).
• Create Facebook and Twitter accounts and be active in the social medias community, especially if your customers are social media addicted.
• Invest on pay-per-click ad campaigns such as Google AdWords and Facebook.
• Create and post YouTube videos.

WORK AND RE-WORK YOUR WEBSITE

• Your competitors always tweak their websites, especially if they see your website on top of theirs on the google search results. If you don’t get ahead of them you will get behind. Don’t think you will ever be done working and re-working yours.

WALK TO THE BANK WITH A SMILE

• There is no magic trick, it is all about knowledge, dedication, and hard work.
• There is no doubt in my mind that if you follow these steps seriously your website will bring customers and will become a cost-effective marketing tool for your business.

We are there to help, contact us or call us at (920) 850-4642. We will get back to you promptly. 

At Alco Web Design LLC, our designers believe there are some steps you can take before the redesign process that would minimize the risks and they’re listed below.

Understand What Works
Have you ever heard the phrase ‘why fix if it ain’t broke?’. It applies perfectly to website redesign. While a regular update is necessary to keep the website looking fresh and current, you don’t need to sacrifice familiarity to achieve that result. One of the best examples of this is the Amazon.com website. 

The design concept and colors have changed very little over time, but the company regularly upgrades the look and polish of the platform. It’s important to study your existing website keenly and understand what works in this. 

For example, if the color scheme appeals to your audience, don’t change it. If you understand the best aspects of your website, you can come up with a solid plan to redesign your website around them. 

Always Focus on The User
Everyone has different preferences and sometimes they can clash. At times business owners have their own design preferences that their target audiences might not appreciate. In such cases, you need to find a middle ground where your design aesthetic meets the demands of your target audience. You need to keep in mind that the customer always wins. You need to create something that’s user-centric and would provide them with the best experience with your company. 

Evolution Instead of Revolution
It might be more convenient to overhaul the entire website at one stretch rather than add improvements and updates regularly, but the results are usually very disturbing to website users and customers. Sudden and drastic design overhauls almost always lead to disaster. 

It’s a better idea to study the website carefully, monitor visitor behavior, and create a redesign plan based on that information. You can make small updates to your website regularly and make sure the change us steady and gradual. 

You can always get in touch with us if you want more information on website redesign or our services here at Alco Web Design LLC. Just give us a call on 920 8504642. You can also fill in this contact us from and we will get back to you promptly. 

If you deeply modify your website all the time, you might ruin your brand presence and see a drop in conversions rates. Website redesign is always a step you should take carefully and this information might help you make that decision. 

Why Optimize?
Sometimes all you need to do is change small aspects of your website to see a great improvement in conversion rates. At Alco Web Design LLC, we’ve seen minor changes in layout, color, headline, and even background images lead to an increase in conversion rates. Experts believe that companies should change and update their website every 4 to 5 years. 

Now, this doesn’t have to be a big redesign because subtle changes and small accents can do wonders. This is often called evolutionary design where the looks of the website grows with the time and market. A good example of this would be the Amazon website. The company website’s overall look and feel hasn’t changed much but subtle alterations make it look current, modern, and interesting. 

That website has never needed a major design overhaul and if they attempt to do it, they might lose considerable amount of customers. It’s important to recognize that people prefer familiarity and comfort when it comes to user experience and design. 

Why Redesign?
Optimization and evolutionary design might be a safe step to take, but sometimes you need a redesign. You should approach an experienced designer when:

• Your company direction changes and you have new products and services that won’t be benefited by the previous design.
• Your website looks old, clumsy, and completely outdated. That would chase your prospects away and reduce your conversion rates.
• You’ve done hundreds of optimizations with A/B testing and still haven’t seen any positive results in conversion rates and sale.
• There are too many problems and very little traffic. In such cases, it would take ages to test and iron out the design flaws so a complete redesign is a wiser, more affordable option.
• Your website uses old technology that doesn’t perform well with modern devices and browsers. 

If you want more information on optimization, redesign, and our services; don’t hesitate to contact us at Alco Web Design LLC. Just give us a call on 920 850-4642. You can also fill in this contact us from and we will get back to you promptly. 

The redesign will have to be planned well if you want it to be effective. At Alco Web Design, LLC, we suggest you consider the points listed below. 

Mobile Compatibility -That’s the first thing you need to focus on. If your website is very old, it might not load easily or well on mobile devices. There are many online tools that allow you to check your website’s mobile compatibility. You should look at the results of the analysis carefully and take note of the problems. Modern websites need to be responsive. These websites can scale easy to any screen size and won’t compromise the design or content. 

User Experience-User experience is one of the most important factors in website design. After all, if your visitors have a bad experience on your website, they won’t return. They might even leave behind a review with details about their bad experience, which will discourage other prospects. Your website should be easy to navigate, well-structured, and informative. You need to make user experience your goal during the redesign process and ask your designer to create a streamlined portal for your business. 

Design -Looks matter in website design. Outdated designs often lead to high bounce rates and low conversions. If your website looks like it belongs on a Windows 98 OS browser, you need to immediately get it redesigned. Here are a few things you should keep in mind:

• The design should be current and fresh
• It should represent your brand and company message well
• The site should appeal to your target audience and visitors
• The screen shouldn’t be too crowded with content or clickable links. Clickable elements on the page should have enough white space to accommodate touch screens 

During the redesign process, you should make sure your website lives up to modern design standards. You should also make sure that your website is search engine friendly and quick to load on all kinds of platforms. 

You can always get in touch with us if you want more information on website redesign or our here at Alco Web Design LLC. Just contact us and we will get back to you promptly.

A few years ago, the process of creating a website was harrowing, expensive, and cumbersome. Most people were relieved when it was created and assumed that they wouldn’t need an update for several years to come. Unfortunately, technology evolves at a rapid rate and websites need to keep up with the times. But, when is the right time? Does your site really need a redesign? At Alco Web Design LLC, we’ve put together a list of signs that would clearly tell you whether your website needs an update. 

• Slow to Load - Did you know that about 50% of Interest users want websites to load in 2 seconds? And they would completely abandon the website and never return to it if it doesn’t load in 3 seconds? That’s how important speed is in the grand scheme of things. If your website takes ages to load, you need to rectify the problem immediately. That requires a website redesign. 
• High Bounce Rates - When people click on your link, glance at your website, and immediately leave, it is called bounce. Every website, no matter how well-designed, will see some bounce rate and that’s normal. Some visitors accidentally click on links, or are distracted by something else. However, high bounce rates are an indication of a problem in your website content or design. If a large number of your clicks leave your website almost immediately, you need to take a serious look at the design, and consider an upgrade. 
• Low Conversions - Your website must convince people to buy your products or hire your services. The website replaces an actual store or office while the content replaces a sales person. If these two aspects aren’t compelling and impressive, people will not purchase your products. That leads to low conversions and diminished revenue. If you have this problem, your website doesn’t serve a purpose. After all, it exists because you want to increase your reach and revenue. If it doesn’t help you achieve those goals, it’s of no use.

You need to upgrade/redesign your website when you see these signs. You can always get in touch with us if you want more information on website upgrade or our services here at Alco Web Design LLC. Just contact us and we will get back to you promptly. 

Search engines are getting increasingly sophisticated. In their effort to deliver the most informative and relevant search results, the algorithms look at multiple sources to gauge the legitimacy and the authority of a particular website. These sources include Google+, Yelp, Yellow Pages, and other such business directories. 

If your business is listed on such high-authority networks, the search engine algorithm would trust your website and consider it legitimate enough to be displayed on organic local searches. 

What are Citations?
Before the Internet exploded onto the scene, people used to manually browse through a directory like Yellow Pages to find a business and its contact information. That piece of information is known as a citation. With the internet, citations are listings of your business name, address, and information in electronic directories. 

Now, users just need to type some words on the search bar and they can get results in a fraction of a second. They don’t need to browse through bulky directories as the search engines would give them all the information they need. But where do search engines get their information from? 

Some of that information comes from citations in local online directories. Just like we’ve grown to incorporate the Internet into our lives, our directories have as well. Today, we have the White Pages, Yellow Pages, Yelp, Google +, and other such directories. They have business names, contact information, and perhaps even ratings and reviews. 

Why Do Citations Matter?
Like with the old yellow pages, citations increase your business’ visibility. The more citations you have, the more visible you are to the search engines. Businesses with several good quality citations often rank very high on search engine results page. In fact, it’s one of the most important ranking factors for local search. Having a citation in all local directories will place you on an even footing with big-name companies and allow you a fair share of the market. 

There are hundreds of citations sources to consider for your website. You just need to make sure that your citations are placed on reputable and high-authority websites. Search engines will consider the quality of the source when they determine how to rank your website. 

If you want more information about our citation building services, don’t hesitate to contact us, we will get back to you promptly.

​Google has a massive presence online and over the years, the company has grown from a simple search engine to an Internet giant that offers a wide range of services. They constantly introduce new upgrades and services at a rate that can make anyone’s head spin. Trying to keep up with the changes can be intimidating and exhausting. Fortunately, Google constantly tries to simplify its services and consolidate them as much as possible. 

Different Arms of Google
It’s important to be highly visible on Google, especially if you want to increase your rankings. However, for that you need to understand where you’re present on Google. Even if you’ve not provided any information about your business to the search engine, it’s likely you’ll still find information about it online, because Google takes information from various sources. You need to ensure that all of this information is consistent by looking into your online presence. 

• Google My Business – This is the control module and you can access most of the places where you’re present, via this portal. The setup is easy; all you need to do is log into My Business using your Google id. Once you find it, you should verify the address and claim the business as yours. You now have control over your business presence on Google. You can access Google+, Maps, and other such services through this portal. 
• Google Maps – Google Maps is one of the most important aspects of Local Search. Users often find local businesses on Maps and use the navigation option to reach it. It’s very important to keep your Maps data accurate. While you’re claiming your business, make sure that the pin is positioned properly. Misleading data can frustrate search users and compromise your reputation. 
• Local Search – The Google local 3-pack system places the three best results from local search at the top of the local search engine results. The locations of these results are also displayed on Google Maps. Business that are placed in the local 3-pack enjoy very high visibility and foot traffic. 

As you might have already concluded, these three arms of Google can help small business website owners, allowing them to compete with big names companies and increase their revenue.

If you want more information on Google or our services, don’t hesitate to contact us at Alco Web Design LLC, we will get back to you promptly.

​Regardless of the industry you operate in, competition is on the rise. More than likely there are a large number of businesses online that provide products and services that are similar to yours. What many business owners fail to realize is that internet shoppers are very interested to know who they do business with.

By Alain Houle, Alco Web Design LLC

That’s exactly why they check the “About Us” page on your website. If you have just a smattering on information there and haven’t really cared to write anything substantial about your background etc, they may be more inclined to leave the website and take their business somewhere else.

Here are some pointers about what you can add to the “About Us” page:

• Don’t be afraid to speak about your background. If you started off small, mention it; this approach will help you focus on giving a human face to your business. The one way to set your business apart from the competition is to give it a personal touch and that is exactly what the “About Us” page does. 
• Don’t ramble. Speak with clarity and mention everything in brief and stay away from mentioning trivial things. It’s important to be truthful and maintain brevity.
• Strike the right balance between promoting yourself and just giving customers a peek into what your company is all about.
• Consider the use of photos, videos and relevant infographics. But don’t use it to such an extent that it takes away from the content on the page.
• Make mention of your company’s vision, mission statement and values. Again, it’s important not to make it too flowery or too lofty. 
• Include a Call To Action at the end. Here too, it’s important not to get too aggressive as that can sometimes be a put off. In addition to your contact details, add a subtle line that encourages readers to delve deeper into your website or contact you via the number or email listed there. A successful marketing strategy at this point would be to offer a sign-up discount or some other offer. 

As you can see, the “About Us” page on your website isn’t as inconsequential as it may look like. It’s a great way to connect with readers, tell them more about your company and encourage them to stay on your site. For more online marketing tips and for comprehensive web design solutions, spend some time on this blog or contact us, we will respond promptly.

​Most people that are looking for a product or service will end up conducting an online search. They will look at multiple sites that provide that product or service and zero in on one that matches their requirements. Not only do they look at the specifications and description of a product; they also want to ensure the site they are purchasing the product from is a credible company.

​By Alain Houle, Alco Web Design LLC

​They ascertain this by looking at what the position of the website is on the SERP (search engine results page). You will rarely find users moving onto the second page of the search results. So when there are so many biggies out there with established companies working on their marketing strategies, how can the small businesses keep up?​

Some strategies
The good news is that it’s possible even for small businesses to reach that coveted position on the SERP; they can do this by focusing on building website authority. Take a look at a few things that can be done easily:

• Carve a niche- This is very important; if you deal in multiple services or product niches, your marketing focus will also get diluted. The minute you pour more effort into just a few select keywords, your visibility on search engines will increase.
• Long-tail keyword strategy- These are nothing but longer phrases that incorporate your keywords. Statistics prove that long tail keywords help improve ranking- they may bring in less traffic than smaller and more keywords, but the traffic will be more specific to your business. 
• Local SEO- If you are a small business, its best to focus on Local SEO and target a local audience rather than aim for national or global visibility. The latter two won’t bring in business and won’t add to your authority either.
• Focus on inbound links- Use local specific keywords, post press releases and work on increasing the number of inbound links to your site. These links should also come from other high authority sites in your specific industry. 
• Reviews – The other way to jump in rankings is to focus on cultivating very positive reviews from different customers. That doesn’t mean you solicit reviews or compensate customers for posting favorable reviews. However you can encourage them with occasional call outs via social media sites, or you can encourage reviews using Yelp stickers on your social networking profile. 
• Authority content publisher- When you want to build credibility, trust, loyalty and awareness, the one way to do that is to frequently publish quality content. Build your on-site blog and distribute videos, podcasts, webinars and ebooks etc via various channels.

When you are consistent with your brand building strategy, you will automatically become a dependable authority in your field. For more information about how you can build authority for your business website, and for comprehensive web design solutions, contact Alco Web Design via email; we will respond promptly.

Writing is writing isn’t it? So why making such a fuss about writing for the web? Simple: On the web people do not really read, they skim through. This makes a world of difference! 

​By Alain Houle, Alco Web Design LLC

On the web people scan through a lot of content within a short period of time simply because they have so much information easily available at their fingertips. If they are unable to find what they are looking for at a glance, they will simply move to another site. Unless they are interested, market research has shown that on an average, a viewer will stay on a site only for 5-20 seconds before they leave.​

Tips to create the best Web content
Knowing that you have just a few seconds to make an impact and hold the attention of a visitor, here are a few tips to create engaging Web content:

• Ensure that the content you post is relevant. The information that is displayed on your site has to be updated and relevant to the service or product you are offering.
• The information should be precise and to the point. Keep in mind that visitors to your website are skimmers and they want to be able to judge at a glance whether your site has what they need. 
• Be topic specific with what you are posting. Break down the content and have dedicated sections or pages for specific topics. Don’t confuse your visitors with too much content- that will only send them away. If you feel that you want to add some more relevant information to a particular page, you can insert hyperlinks in the text.
• Proofread your text and ensure there are no spelling or grammar errors. If your content has too many errors, visitors will only perceive that you are unprofessional and that you run your business in the same manner.
• Most Web content professionals use the Inverted Pyramid Method to create content. It means you should place your conclusions at the start of the page and then work your way down from there. 
• Write assertively and for your audience, not just for SEO and Google. Use short sentences and intersperse the content with relevant images and videos.

For any question or for some help with writing content for your website, visit our website or simply contact us, we can help!

​In competitive environments, even well designed and well optimized websites have difficulties to stand out and draw their share of visitors. Internet marketing are promotional activities designed to bring potential customers to a website. Here is list of them, please visit our internet marketing page for more details.

​By Alain Houle, Alco Web Design LLC

​Tell the world about your website: Tell your suppliers, customers, colleagues, partners, friends, family, baby sitters, church members, etc. and invite them to visit your website. Give them an incentive by offering an on-line coupon or some information only available on your website.

Conventional advertising techniques: Your website name should appear on every email message you send, business card, letter heads, invoices, yellow pages, promotional items, advertisement flyer, etc. Radio & TV ads, they still work, use them!

Get linked: Ask your suppliers, customers, partners, chamber of commerce, business associations, town hall, local paper, non-competitive businesses, etc. for links to your website. Figure out who links to your competitors and request links to your website. Grease the skid by offering a reciprocal link.

Give a reason to your visitors to come back to your website: Periodically change content, offer sales and promotions, create on-line only promotional items, etc. Publish a blog and send newsletters or periodic emails with links back to your website.

Facebook: I hate Facebook but with 1 billion accounts, Facebook is a force to be recognized. Create a Facebook page and periodically post new information inviting people to visit your website. Once again, give them an incentive by offering an on-line coupon or some information only available on your website. Consider doing the same for Twitter.

YouTube: Create video(s) about your company, post them online and invite viewers to visit your website. YouTube is owned by Google that will reward you for your effort. Create a YouTube channel and group all your videos so they are easy to find.

Local listings: Remember the old Yellow Pages phone book? Many websites offer an electronic version of the Yellow Pages and will gladly list your website for free. Local listings are a must for many small businesses that rely heavily on local sales. Google My Business, Bing Places, and Yahoo Local are the most important and a good place to start. There are many other local listings, prioritize your efforts.

Get reviews and positive feedback: Ask your satisfied customers to post on-line reviews on Facebook, Google Maps, Bing Places, and Yahoo Local. Grease the skid by providing them with incentive such as a coupon, discount, or gift card.

For more details please visit our SEO Internet Marketing page.

We all know how the appearance of a site is important to grab the attention of visitors. However, after the first impression, it’s the Web content that keeps your visitors browsing your web pages. The longer visitors stay on your site, the greater the chances are that you will get a sale or an inquiry.

Aspects to Focus On 
Therefore, it makes a lot of business sense to have relevant, credibly written and compelling content on your business website. Here are some aspects to keep in mind: 

• Visitors to your site will want to know 2 simple things. Do you have the products/services they are looking for and what it is exactly? Keep your website simple, clear, and easy to navigate
• Keep the content on your site effective yet simple. If there is too much jargon or the writing is too complex, you will just be driving your visitors away 
• Position the content right; the most important information should be placed first. Categorize the products and services you offer so they are easy to find.
• Give clear and precise information about what you offer. Once visitors have understood what you offer, ensure they also have all the other relevant information required to make a well-informed buying decision 
• Use catchy headlines but don’t use too much sales talk while writing Web content
• Add relevant and interesting images and graphics. Hire a graphic artist if you have to, make every page nice and professional looking
• Use bullet points where applicable- you will find that a lot of visitors are “scanners”. They go to a website and just scan the content. If  you have bullet points at the right places, providing the right information, it will help them decide whether they want to delve deeper into your Web pages 

Keep in mind that Web design and Web content have to work together to create an outstanding impact on the visitor. This also makes it important for you to hire the services of a company like Alco Web Design that can handle both - Design and Content - in an expert manner. For more details, contact us or visit our website at www.alcowebdesign.com.

Aspects to Focus On
Creating a new small business website can be complex and seem a little intimidating at times, but proper planning and a methodical approach will help you launch your business website with the least amount of hassle. 

• The Objective - Even before you get into the details, you will have to lay down a strong foundation. Understand what you want to achieve from your site.  Are you selling any products or services or are you just trying to attract people to your offline business? Once you have this before you, it becomes the central theme of the entire project.
• Clear Picture - Sit down and visualize how you would like your website to look. Check online and look at some other sites, try to see how they work and identify which sections, tabs and pages your site will have. Though the Web designer will be handling the actual designing, you can always give your inputs and have them work on that concept. Don't copy others, do better!
• The Content - Even as the website is getting designed, start working on the content early. Make extra effort to see that you have credible and relevant content that has no grammatical errors or typos. This will help attract and hold the attention of your visitors. Regardless of how great a website you have, if the content isn’t engaging, you will eventually lose business.
• Click To Action - Customers look for convenience and when they are reading a particular page, they just may not want to go hunting for your contact information all around your site. Give them the shortcut they need to go where you want them to be. 
• Blog - This is an important part of your website. Publish interesting and useful blog posts. This will help create a following and will encourage any potential customers to contact you or even sign up for your newsletter. Add fresh content to it regularly, this will help attract traffic.

Focus on creating a user-friendly & seamless website experience for your visitors; keep the content updated and you will find that steadily there is an increase in the amount of traffic that reaches your site. For more information, you can contact us or visit our website at www.alcowebdesign.com.

​Changing Algorithms
For any strong local business, it is very important to invest in local reviews, maps and directories. If you only spend all your optimization efforts on your site, chances are that you are going to miss out on some fantastic opportunities. Google keeps changing its algorithms on a regular basis and in July 2014, the Pigeon update added more importance to local maps as well as directory websites such as Yelp. 

About Local Searches
It’s important to understand how local searches are relevant. For instance, when you look for “hardware store Greenville” you will have to actually scroll past 3 map listings as well as 3 organic ones before a local website listing shows up on the page. Typically, that means the first local business listing is in 7th position on the page. It’s not likely that many people will scroll down that far and reach your website result. This is why it’s crucial to optimize your online presence with Google Maps and Directory Sites. 

Things to Do
When people are in a particular area and are looking for a business, it’s very important that they be able to find your company quickly and easily or else they will simply take their business to your competitor. These are the things you should focus on:

• The first thing to do is to ensure that your business is listed and that all the displayed information is accurate
• This can be done for Google Maps through Google My Business
• The Google My Business application provides a simple way for any local business owner to claim an existing listing or create a new one
• It’s vital that you optimize your listing by adding information such as hours of operation, photos, your URL as well as contact information 
• It’s important that you create deals & reviews on Yelp as this adds to the credibility of your business
• Engage with your customers via Google Maps and Yelp regardless of whether the reviews are positive or negative ones

Get the help of a professional Web Design and Online Marketing company like Alco Web Design to manage your ongoing SEO strategy on Google Maps and Yelp. You can contact us or visit our website at www.alcowebdesign.com.

Recent researches proved that articles with longer content rank significantly better in Google’s search results. It’s true that many visitors will not have the patience or the time to read lengthy posts, but this happens when the content on the site or blogs is not interesting enough. Longer posts tend to have a much longer shelf life with the search engines as they also gain more social engagement and authority. 

Some Facts 
The minute you team up with a good web designer and content writer you will find a difference in the amount of traffic that comes to your website. Here is how it works: 

• Meet User Needs- Most businesses only focus on SEO. They post content and then only focus on adding loads of keywords and key phrases. In most instances, this makes the content unreadable for the people visiting the website. From Google’s viewpoint, having excessive keywords amounts to spamming. Write content for readers first and then think about the search engines, not the other way around.
• Better Search Rankings- Even as you do this, it’s also important to be found. Even if you have a small short blog which is very impactful, Google might not rank it. If you go on Google and search for any product or service and look at the top10 search results, you will notice that all of them have  pages with at least 2000 words of content.
• More Keyword Matches- In 2013 Google launched its Hummingbird algorithm. This focused on searching high-quality content websites that have meaning and substance. Long tail keywords are the best to use as those are the ones that match customer queries the best. Market research  has also proved that visitors who have used a long-tail keyword, convert much better compared to those who don’t.
• More Social Engagement & Links- People are much more likely to share content that is longer as they feel it is more valuable. Google also factors-in the total number of backlinks and social shares into a website’s ranking so you want your articles to be shared.

At the end of the day, both quality and length of the content matter. For more information about how we can build great content for you, contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.  

Topping Search Engine Results
Another important fact about website content is that it should be updated on a regular basis- that is the only way your site will be able to hold the interest of repeat visitors; it will help increase conversion rates and ROI. When you have a business website, you want to be sure that it stays at the top of web searches and having the right content helps in that. There are a few important things related to web content: 

• The content  should  be sales oriented but care has to be taken to ensure that this aspect is not overdone
• The information should be relevant to the service or product you are selling
• Avoid using jargon as visitors will simply move away from your website
• The content should have “share” buttons to your social media pages. This helps in SEO and in reaching a larger audience
• It should have appropriate calls-to-action (buy this, call us, learn more, etc.) which helps  in increasing sales
• All the pages should be updated on a regular basis- it helps in Search Engine Optimization and  holds the interest of repeat visitors

The Interest Factor
Another important fact to consider is that even if web content is largely text, it should be made interesting with the addition of videos, info-graphics, etc. This holds the attention of the reader. If you are a small business owner, it is crucial that you focus on having outstanding content on your site. An easy way to have up to date content is to periodically write informative blogs and articles related to the product and services you are selling.

Content marketing is a very effective online marketing strategy. Not everybody is a prolific writer and Alco Web Design can help you with the content of your web pages. We have access to professional content writers who are able to write your blog posts and even your web pages in a format that will interest your visitors and the search engines. For more details contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.

​So your website has been designed and launched and you breathe a sigh of relief and think you can just wait for business to start flowing in and profitability to increase. But the truth is that launching a website is only the start. In order for it to keep attracting traffic, you will have to ensure that is properly maintained. 

Website Maintenance Tips 
Your website it is a reflection of the condition of your company and everything has to be crisp and fresh. Keeping your site updated is about ensuring that the content is current as well as the graphics, videos, and everything else too. Things change quickly with computers and your SEO strategy will also have to be periodically tweaked. The different things that you have to do watch for are: 

• The pages should have fresh content 
• Ensure that the contact information is updated
• Make sure that all the press release and news items are current 
• The text  should be completely  reviewed  for editing 
• Price of products in the shopping cart should be  reviewed and updated
• Remove  the old products from the shopping cart & add specials
• The images  should be tagged  properly and should be relevant 
• All business information and changes to staffing etc should be updated  

An Extensive List 
As you can see, this is quite an extensive list, but having a site with old and irrelevant information hurts more than it helps. As a business owner, you may not have the time or the knowledge to deal with those updates.This is exactly why you should have your Web design company handle your updates.  

Cost-Effective Solutions 
Most Web Design and Development companies offer periodic maintenance options to ensure that your site stays crisp and fresh and that it continues attracting traffic. For more information about maintenance options for your website, contact us or visit our website at www.alcowebdesign.com.  We will provide you with very cost-effective solutions that will ensure your website continues to generate business year after year.

The Relevance of Analysis
The main reason is because the sites that are successful help their visitors meet the main reason for their visit without any kind of fuss. A large percentage of sites either underperform or fail because they do not focus on the business objectives of their sites and do not measure the performance of their online platform against their target audience. This is where website analysis comes into the picture. A good web design and development company will also always provide website analysis services. 

In-Sync with Your Audience
The software shows you how successful you have been in meeting the objective of your site. It will also reveal exactly which of the marketing channels are functioning & which ones aren’t; the pages or sections of your site that are popular and which ones your visitors are avoiding. When you have all this information, the company that is helping you with online marketing will then draw out a detailed marketing strategy and alter certain elements of your website so that it actually works for your business. 

Local Marketing Strategy
If certain marketing channels do not seem to be working for you, it’s best to abandon them and focus on the ones that are giving you more visitors and business. In addition to these functions, website analysis tools are also able to capture the geographical location of your customers and if you are using Local SEO and targeting local customers, you will also get a view about how well the strategy is working.

As an online marketer, you have to learn to be flexible and adaptable and it’s also very important to have a very good online marketing partner to help you with Web Analytics. For more information, contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.

​There are a number of things that business owners can do on a regular basis to get better results from their websites. Here is our guide that will give you an idea about the things you can do

By Alain Houle, Alco Web Design LLC

Relevant Content- Google keeps updating its algorithms on a regular basis and the focus now is on having quality content on your website. What’s important is that the content that is on your site has to be updated, changed and added to, with regularity and at frequent intervals.  Fresh content keeps your site at the top of search results, keeps visitors engaged and interested and ensures that repeat visitors have something new to look at when they visit your website

Customer Feedback- It’s important to get some objective feedback about your website design and its contents. Connect with customers and ask them questions such as:

• Could you find our contact details easily?
• Do you like the look and layout of our website?
• Could you subscribe easily to our newsletter?

These are the kind of questions that reflect all the goals of your business website.  For instance, if you want people to subscribe to your newsletter, the subscription process should be easy and have as few clicks as possible.

Blog- When you update your blog on a regular basis and keep adding relevant   content to your site, visitors are encouraged to add comments and feedback. This helps you improve the way your site is structured and creates a positive impact.

Sourcing Appropriate Images- It’s best that you use your own images- it’s not really nice to see the same image that you have on your site on a competitor’s site. There is also the question of copyright issues and when you have your own images, it solves both these problems.

Navigation- Once your site is up and running, make it a point to analyze the hits. You are also able to see the duration for which a particular customer was on your site and the links they clicked on.  The key pages must be placed strategically & your contact form should not be more than just a couple of clicks away.

There are a number of other aspects that have to be looked into while designing and developing a business website. The one way to get it right is to hire the services of a competent Web Developer. You can contact Alco Web Design or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.

If you want the search engines to continue acknowledging your presence and want to be sure that customers will keep finding something interesting on it every time they visit, you will have to evaluate and update your website on a regular basis. 

The Latest Technology
There is a constant influx of new technologies and when you hire the services of a competent Web Design & Development company, you are assured that your website will get the change it needs. Web development professionals are always up-to-date with the latest technology launches in the field and these can be incorporated into your website to ensure that you are getting the traffic you should. 

Mobile Compatible Sites
If your business site is 3/more years old there is also a possibility that it is not mobile compatible. Today many people prefer to view sites via mobile devices and if your site does not show up in an optimal manner on these devices, you are losing out on business and your profitability will be affected.  Apart from this, there is a lot of new functionality that can be incorporated, such as RSS, social media integration, blogging,. video presentations, games, and others.

Regular Review 
All of these go a long way in allowing you to connect with your customer base and help in driving traffic to your site. The objective is to drive sales as this is the main reason for having site in the first place. It helps in improving your online visibility and in building a strong online community and reinforcing your branding. 

Web professionals can ensure that all your contact information is up to date and that customers have no trouble in connecting with you.  The internet is on round the clock; this also means prospective customers may look at your site at any point of time for the information they need. It makes good business sense to have a site that is updated and spruced-up. That is what maintaining a fresh look is all about. You can contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.

There are 3 main reasons why you should keep your website updated: 

• Woo Search Engines- This becomes the key reason for you to keep your website updated. All search engines prefer websites that are updated frequently and this is why it is important for you to have fresh and unique content  on your site
• Impress Customers- If you have old newsletters etc on your site and, visitors to are going to feel that your company is not doing much. It’s important that your customers feel that you are a company that takes its business seriously and that it evolves
• Attract Inbound Links- When you keep adding something new to your website, people are more apt to notice it and will discuss about it via social media networks, blogs etc and attract more traffic  

How It Can be Achieved
There are a number of ways in which you can keep your website updated: 

• Incorporate a Blog- If you do not have a blog on your site- add one now. It’s a simple way  of adding new content and helps in increasing your credibility  in the industry 
• News Section- This is important too. Even if you feel that there aren’t too many newsworthy things happening in your company, post something related to your business. If you have attended an industry event- write about it; if you have served your 1500th customer- turn it into news piece. This will keep your site on the right side of search engines
• Add images/ videos to your site- Include a gallery page on your site as it’s easy to update this regularly. Also add short and relevant video clips such as product demonstrations and tutorials. Adding a description about each new addition will give your site the search engine  recognition it needs 

Other Things You Can Do
In addition to these things, include testimonials on your site as well as new menu pages. In short, make every effort to keep updating and making changes to your site on a monthly, fortnightly/ even a weekly basis and see the positive impact it has on visitor traffic. 

Alco Web Design can handle all Web Design and development functions. You can contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.

​As a business with an online presence, you have hired a company to handle SEO for you. Analytics show that you also have a significant amount of traffic coming to your website, but your visitors are not staying in your website- They just vanish! This can be extremely frustrating for a business owner. When it comes to catching the attention of customers, the competition is very high.

By Alain Houle, Alco Web Design LLC

Things that Can Go Wrong 
So, what is it that is going wrong and how can it be rectified? If the search engines are bringing visitors to your site, but your site is unable to hold their attention long enough, it may simply means the page layout may dull, confusing, boring, colorless. Be objective when you are looking at your site, and see how the overall effect is, at first glance. If you find that it looks very cluttered and that there is too much of information on the home page- that is likely where your problem lies. 

Things that can be done
The simple fact is that visitors to your site want to see web content that is laid out in an interesting manner. If visitors do not find your site attractive, they will go looking for more attractive ones.  Luckily, this is something that an expert Web Designer will be able to fix for you.  The website layout can be restructured, the clutter can be removed, graphics can be used to emphasize the areas that have more important information and attractive colors can be added. 

In addition to this the links should be placed in such a manner that visitors are able to navigate the site more easily. Making these changes can go a long way in improving your conversion rates and increasing your bottom line.  The longer people stay on your site, more the chance of them making an enquiry or a purchase and that is exactly what successful marketing is all about. 

Marketing Logic
The logic behind this is simple- would you enter a store that had dull and drab window dressing  or one whose display windows were attractively decorated? It goes without saying that you will prefer to shop at the latter and even if both the stores sell the exact same products, when it comes to profitability- it’s the display that will make an impact.

Similarly, when you have a website, you want to catch the attention of your visitors and encourage them to browse around- that is exactly what good web layout will do for your site. For more information and the best Web Designing services, contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.

 This is how Google Adwords works: 

• A user types the keywords or the search terms for the products/services he or she is looking for 
• Once the keywords that a business has chosen for their site, match the ones that users are searching for, your AdWords will be displayed above or adjacent to the search results
• Once an interested user clicks on your ad, they will be directed to your website for more information or to purchase the product/service 

Google AdWords have proved to be one of the most-effective forms of paid online marketing. Though the working seems pretty simple, it takes the expertise of a professional to ensure that the campaign works the way it should.  Take a look at the benefits of PPC: 

• Measurability- With Google AdWords, it is possible to measure every aspect of your marketing campaign. You will have access to information like the number of clicks that were actioned & the number of impressions. You will also know what the CTR or the Click-Through-Rate is. You will also be able to measure the  total number of conversions & the conversion rate, the cost per click & cost per acquisition
• Cost Effective- This is a very effective advertising medium as you pay only when a user actually clicks on a particular ad. You also have the option to “switch-on” and “switch-off” Google AdWords as required and this gives you the flexibility to choose the amount you want to spend
• High Relevance- Since all the high-relevance ads are displayed, it effectively levels the playing-field for all advertisers 
• Highly Targeted- Google uses very sophisticated targeting capabilities. This provides you various channels via which you are able to make changes to your campaigns, as required. You can use aspects like Language Targeting, Location Targeting, Mobile Targeting and Re-marketing. This adds punch to your advertising campaign

Expert Online Marketing Services
As with any online marketing campaign, the important aspect is to ensure that you have a well-established and credible company handling the work for you. Alco Web Design has the expertise to provide you with very impactful Google AdWords solutions which ensures tangible results. For your entire Web Design and Google AdWords needs contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.  

If you have heard about landing pages and wondered what their relevance is- read on. The primary aim of having landing pages is to effectively convince your visitors to provide you with his/her information in lieu of a good product or service offer. It is an ideal way of converting a visitor into a lead. 

It is important for small businesses to have at least a few landing pages on their websites. But what is more important is that these pages have some means for capturing contact data. Most businesses focus on their organic rankings via Google but tend to forget the sales aspects and strategies. 

Why Do I Require Landing Pages?
The final objective of having landing pages, is to have visitors purchase immediately, but this is a very idealistic expectation. Almost 96% of 1st-time visitors are not really ready to buy, and that is exactly why landing pages are important. Once you have some contact data, it will be easier for you to nurture them through the sales funnel and continue marketing to them via phone calls, social media or email. The larger the number of landing pages, greater the chances of generating leads. 

We at Alco Web Design have a great deal of experience and expertise in this field. For all your Web design needs contact us or visit our website, www.alcowebdesign.com.