Webcraft Webmaster Services

There are two main components to SEO, on-site and off site. On-site is easy as you have control over it. You'll want to make sure each of your key pages (i.e. home page, main category pages and product/service pages) are targeting 2-3 main key phrases unique to that page. Then you'll want to make sure you're using these keywords on your pages in the following areas. 1. The page title. Try to keep this under 70 characters for all of your additions to be seen by Google. 2. Body copy. Two or three instances of your keyword or key phrase will reinforce that it's what your page is about. 3. Meta description. This doesn't affect the search engines, but it usually shows up in the two lines of the Google search result, so adding your keywords in under 160 words while making a pitch as to why a user should click on your link here can help improve your traffic. 4. Alt tags. If you have pictures on your pages of your target keywords, make sure

This is the hardest part about SEO and the toughest to understand for most people. Good links to your site will make you rank higher. If you think about how many times you search and see Wikipedia show up, it's because people constantly reference Wikipedia by linking to pages on the Wikipedia website. To Google, this means the content is relevant and authoritative. So to boost your own rankings you'll want to get some links. But where do you even start? That's a question with a lot of answers, but for beginners the easiest thing to do is to see where your competitors are getting their links. If a site links to them, they should link to you, too, right? If you want to check out a competitor's links, one of the best free tools is Bing Webmaster Tools. You'll need to first get your site verified (you can learn how to do this here) and then you'll have a chance to get to the goodies in your dashboard. Just click into Diagnostics & T

Some 'cool' features of websites, such as day-glow flashing text, 'hilarious' whizzy animations or innovative menu systems, are just irritating. It has been shown that most visitors ignore all these special effects, and will leave your site if they can't find what they want quickly.

Websites filled with graphics may look appealing when you view them on your own computer, but when users access them they can take ages to download. Although more and more people are getting fast (broadband) Internet connections many people still use slow modems. Remember, most people won't hang around on a slow website. So, if you want people to find out more about your company then make sure that the website runs quickly. The best way to do this is to avoid too many graphics. Photos are fine, and they help to show who you are, but if you have lots then place them on a special "pictures" page so that people can choose whether or not to view them. Wordpress system automatically optimises images you include so they are appropriate for use on the Internet. If you are not using Wordpress please learn about the different image formats, resizing and how to compress images before considering building a company website.

There's little point investing time and money in a website if you don't know how well it's performing. Fortunately, there's now a huge range of both free and paid-for tools which can analyse how your site is performing. They're often designed with ordinary users in mind, and show graphics and breakdowns to make the data easier to understand and use. * Measure traffic sources. Knowing where visitors are coming from means you can tell how social networking is performing for your business, how well your email campaigns are working, and help you decide on calls to action. * Measure conversion rates. Converting visitors into leads or business is the goal of online marketing so you need to know which calls to action or pieces of content are persuading visitors to take that final step. * Check your results often. Google Analytics presents your data clearly but you should still check your results frequently and drill down into the data to make sur

South Africans worth following on Twitter So you may have just joined this thing called Twitter, or you've become completely bored with your friends talking about their pets and kids. Looking for some interesting people to talk to on Twitter? We've compiled a list of 10 top South African personalities you should be following on Twitter, and why we think they're worth it: Helen Zille: @helenzille "Aunty Helen" is the Premier of the Western Cape and the leader of the Democratic Alliance, South Africa's official opposition party. One of the country's top prolific tweeters, she often interacts with her followers, helps people resolve issues in their community or puts them in their place. Michael Jordaan: @michaeljordaan As the CEO of First National Bank, Michael Jordaan has made a tremendous impact on the way we see and use our banks. Even if you don't bank with FNB, you'll find the other banks are following his exam

When you think about online visibility for your local business it's so easy to get wrapped up and overloaded with what you should be doing on the internet to promote your website. Yet, small changes to your every day business routine can make a big difference. Often, business owners think about being visible online as a way of reaching people whom you have had no contact with at all. That's true in many cases. Sometimes, online visibility is as simple as making sure that people you interact with (even briefly) as part of your usual business routines are aware of your online presence. Not everyone wants to pick up the phone or call in to your premises to find out basic information like your opening hours or who to contact. Sometimes people just want to find out a bit more about you and your company. In this day and age of always being plugged in to the Internet, your website is the first p