May 2018 - Precise Online Management

Web design on your phone?

May 31, 2018

Having checked out a few of these Universe websites, they are pretty unique looking. Do they look professional looking? Not at all in my opinion. I don’t think the creator of this mobile web design app is looking to cater to businesses, rather individuals who want to showcase their work or portfolio. Fair enough. They seem to flow and format just fine on smartphones. However, looking at an example site on my laptop made the site format in an awkward narrow manner. I certainly don’t see the app taking off into the mainstream web design community.

Should you change your SEO every time google makes an update?

May 30, 2018

I’m often conflicted with these same feelings when it comes to Google. If they ask me to jump do I say how high? Getting ranked in Google has a trickle-down effect to the success of your website. Which in turn, can affect how much income you generate. Like anything, I think each aspect of optimization and SEO needs to be researched on a case by case basis. Meta descriptions, for example, aren’t guaranteed to be used in the search results. Rather than go back and change the length of all the previously optimized descriptions, time would better be spent creating new content.

Infiltrated Wordpess.com accounts used to install rogue plugins on self-hosted sites

May 29, 2018

File this under the weak passwords category. This is not a hack or breach of WordPress’s systems. Rather, it is a matter of hijacking credentials for wordpress.com and utilizing jetpack to install a spam plugin on linked self-hosted websites. The most common trend sees usernames and passwords that were discovered through data breaches of other systems and then using that information to see if those credentials match up with a WordPress account. Since many people like to use the same username and password combination across multiple platforms, there was bound to be success in this method of attack.

Adding the city name in URL to boost local SEO in that area

May 28, 2018

I disagree with Yoast’s assessment that putting the city name in a URL can have a negative impact on your customers. Unless you require customers to come to the business location to get a product or service, there is no harm. Maybe you’re a bakery with a physical storefront that people can walk into and purchase goods. If you deliver to nearby cities and not lying about the physical location there should be no downside to the user experience. A lot of grocery stores offer delivery to nearby neighborhoods. The trend of home delivery is ticking upwards and you can only benefit from it.

Yelp files formal complaint against Google

May 25, 2018

I find it pretty ironic that Yelp, of all companies, is advocating for user’s rights when it comes to Google’s local searches. What I would really like is if Yelp took a long hard look at its own policies. If you try to challenge a negative review, they just turn the other way. I’ve had issues in the past where clients of mine have been left with bad reviews. Reviews from customers that were unable to prove that they actually conducted business with my clients. I have no doubts that these reviews stem from competitors looking to damage the reputation of these businesses.

Google Home uses structured data to read aloud recipes

May 24, 2018

While I’m not a fan of voice assistants, I can’t deny their ever-growing popularity. It makes sense for Google to intertwine their assistant with search features. What’s more, is that I can see the value of a person in their kitchen searching for recipes and having the ingredients and/or steps read back to them. Since schema makes that possible, not only do you get the visual benefit in the search results but now also the advantage of being communicated verbally to searchers.

The power of using domain names for branding and marketing

May 23, 2018

I used to have the mindset that a business needs only one domain name to maximize its potential. I started to realize that if you want to market a particular product or service, a short domain can work wonders. Take for instance the domain precise.host. I registered it for the sole purpose of redirecting to our lengthy services page. With such a short name I can put it prominently on a business card without trying to cram it in. Since it is so short, it is easier to remember and can be quickly typed in.

Dealing with the blogging blues

May 22, 2018

Why you should quit blogging

Yep. I fell for the title. I thought the author’s post was going to be a holier-than-thou outlook on blogging. I’ve seen plenty of other articles with similar scolding titles. Reasons why you SHOULDN’T build an Amazon affiliate website comes to mind. It’s as if they’re saying, you can’t do this so don’t even try. Of course, you’ll only be successful if you can stick through the rough times. You also have to accept failure but not give up if that makes sense.

The context of internal links

May 21, 2018

When I talk to other website designers, they all understand the importance of SEO. A lot of them think that content and backlinks are the only really important factors when it comes to ranking for terms. They’re right in the sense that both of these things are crucial to achieving good rankings for targeted keywords. However, not too many value the other factors such as on-site optimization. This doesn’t just mean how well or fast a website performs for a visitor, but also how the content is structured.

Consumers will now be notified of business review responses for Google Reviews

May 18, 2018

I missed this announcement. Granted, it only happened a few days ago. The author of this article makes a great point. Now that notifications are going out to business owners, the expectations of a response by the consumer will surely increase. In the past, I’ve always looked at writing a review for a business as a way to show appreciation or to vent. I generally don’t like writing negative reviews unless the service or product was extremely unsatisfactory. This includes deceptive practices by the business or rude/uncaring staff.

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Monthly Archive for May, 2018