How Fast is Your Website? Does it Matter? Test it!

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How Fast is Your WebsiteDoes the amount of time it takes your web site to load have an effect on your Google Search Results? As with all things “Google” the answer is Yes, No and Maybe all at the same time!

YES – Adwords: Website load times have a direct impact on placement and cost for Adwords Pay-Per-Click advertising. Google states that Landing Page load speeds “will begin to impact your landing page quality and, therefore, your Quality Score.” This means that slow pages will pay more. Read more here – adwords.google.com/support

NO – Organic Results: As of this writing Google does not currently penalize sites with poor load times unless the site “times out” and the Googlebot Spider can not access your sites content and interior pages.

MAYBE – The Future: Its safe to speculate that in the (very near) future Google will be adding a “load time” calculation to its organic results ranking algorithm. It really makes sense when you think about it – slow sites create a poor user experience. Google Search Results are one of the primary products they deliver to customers, so why serve up a frustrating slowpoke. If your slow, your gonna go!

How fast is slow? A reliable source has indicated that your site should load in less than 4 seconds according to this tool – webwait.com

What can you do if your site is dragging its feet? There are a number of elements that determine the speed your site is rendered. Hosting and servers, site structure, graphic design and on-page scripting all contribute to your sites delivery speed.

RightNow SEO clients, contact us for a free WSO (Web Site Optimization) analysis report!

VIDEO: Google’s Matt Cutts on Speed and Shirts

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Interview With Chris Tucker

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An interview with our own Chris Tucker by Dr. Steven R. Van Hook.

Steven R. Van Hook, PhD is a credentialed online instructor in courses for Global Management and Business Communications at Cardean University. He has taught courses in Marketing, Advertising, and Marketing Communications for the International Program at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and courses in Marketing and Global Economics for Antioch University. He also teaches online MBA courses in Managerial Marketing and Global Business for Ellis College of New York Institute of Technology.

Steven is the founder of Worldwide Media Relations based in Santa Barbara, and produces the All About Public Relations site.

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3 Steps to Search Engine Success in 2009

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Chris Tucker @ NetraficThe way the world does business these days is online. No matter what sector of industry you look at, the internet has completely changed how marketing gets done forever. Smart small businesses can actually compete with the Goliaths online, but only if they do a better job at being present for prospective business. Small business can act swiftly and make changes while the Goliaths go through endless committees and approvals before taking action.

You made the decision to optimize your web site and we are excited to be helping you. But there are some rules and recommendations that must be followed closely to have the success you desire come to fruition. Our business relationship is a partnership. Stagnation can occur if either party is unable to keep their part of the bargain. So here are the basic things we need you thinking about and doing this year to keep the ball rolling up the hill:

1) Search engine spiders come around to your site regularly. Some of them come once a week. Some come once a day. Some will come every couple of hours. What do you think happens to these guys when they see no change to your website after visiting on a regular basis? They get bored. They start coming less often in favor of visiting sites that are changing regularly. Your site begins to drift aimlessly and can begin to drop in rankings. What is the answer ? Make a plan to add fresh content to your site on a regular basis. If you are not blogging or adding news, then new pages need to be devised. In either case, when you make a change to a page or add a page, you must send us notice of your action so we can check for optimization. Otherwise the effort is in vain.

2) If you are blogging, blog with purpose. A stale blog is worse than no blog at all. Stale blogs ruin credibility. Blogging gives your website a voice. You are passionate about your business, your industry, where you are, what you do. Blogging personalizes your business. It helps people get to know your business and feel comfortable with it, making it much more possible for a business relationship to form.

3) Get social. Like an approaching storm, the internet continues to evolve. The main benefit that attracts people to the internet is that they get to control the game. They can close a window or move on to another site faster than you can say “where’d-they-go?”. Social media takes this evolution another step forward. People are rating you. People are making comments about you. They are posting pictures and videos. If you are not engaged in this social interplay you are sitting out the game.

That’s it! A nice short list! And you have a partner that is waiting to help you with it all. So, there is no reason to be left behind this year. Down economic periods are fraught with business challenges but one of the biggest of those is how you can take advantage of all the opportunities borne during a period such as this. Smart small businesses can actually gain strength and market share more easily when the majority of competitors are drawing back. You can either let the down economy carry you away or make it work for you. Are you up to the task? We are!

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Out With the Old, In With the New!

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Link-A-Billy Dave @ Netrafic2009 Is The Year Of….

This is just my opinion folks so feel free to blame the messenger if you disagree.

Things You Should Focus On in 2009

Local Search – make sure your business is optimized for Local Search. It does not matter if you are purely an online entity, you are local to someone, somewhere. The bottom line is traffic for your site whenever you come up in Local Search. If you have multiple locations, Netrafic has developed tactics to appear in local search in all your locations.

Social Marketing – You can no longer completely ignore creating a meaningful presence on major social networks. In 2008 we spoke about the importance of protecting you brand in social circles. In 2009 you must develop those online assets so the competition does not get too far ahead for key search phrases.

Video Production – If you have no video (or poor quality) circulating on the Net, then its time to get going. 2008 saw an explosion of mixed search engine results that included off-site video. Netrafic clients (with video) engaged in our link development program enjoyed search results that included video in addition to their website. If you don’t get going this year, you are behind.

Conversion, Capture, Contact Optimization – CCCO capitalizes on the traffic you are already receiving by optimizing methods to get your visitors to interact with you. Pick up the phone, fill out a form, join a group, download a white-paper, bookmark the site – these are all conversion methods. The best form of Conversion involves the Capture of post-visit data such as email address, snail mail address and phone numbers so you can Contact in the future for re-marketing purposes. Look for a new CCCO program from Netrafic in the near future!

Great Creative – Flash is no longer an issue as far as SEO is concerned. As long the the basic principals of designing a search engine friendly website are followed, Flash will not hurt your organic search rankings. This is great news, because great creative content is what Flash is all about. Focus on adding some life to your site in 2009 and watch your Visitor Time on Site soar, and your Bounce Rate drop!

Great Content – What??? You just said Flash was no longer an issue, what gives? There is always a “hitch in the giddy-up” and here it comes; add all the Flash you want, you will still need to include copious amounts of content for the search engines to consume. Help! Netrafic can point you and your web design team in the right direction.

Things to Stop Obsessing About in 2009

User Generated Content – UGC is a spectacular way to build a UGC website or social site. Its a complete waste of time and money for the common website. I watched as several sites insisted on adding comments, ratings, uploads, forums, and sharing modules to their sites. These modules attracted people, if you consider spammers to be people. In 2009 consider confining any UGC to comments on your blog.

Analytics Obsession – Pick a platform you like, and stick with it. Stop running multiple metrics – the numbers will NEVER match up. Stop looking at your stats 3 times a day. Don’t freak out when your numbers drop for a single day. In 2009, invest your time on improving the conversion of visitors that are on your site Right Now!

Page Rank – Its over. Not completely over (as in dead – done) but its time to stop obsessing over it. Google Page Rank or PR, is nothing more than an approximate measurement of the standing of a website. Its no longer the prime consideration when trading links (relevance is) and PR1 sites can be competitive in natural search.

Pay-per-Click Advertising – It’s become way too complicated – let a professional obsess over it. Turn your campaigns over to a specialist, like, um, Netrafic?

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