Having, and more importantly maintaining a blog, is an inexpensive marketing tool that has 3 major benefits:

1. Search Engine Optimization
   On the web, content is king! People are on the web to find information via text, video and graphics. The more valuable content you have on your blog related to your company field, the more text there is for search engines to find when spidering the web to pull search results. If you are writing about your niche, you will be using field-related, keyword rich text which will help search engines find your content.

   Search engines also love frequently updated websites. As highlighted in the definition above, a blog is meant to be updated regularly. Strive for at least 1 good post a week.

2. Position Yourself As An Expert In Your Field
   Show your readers why you are the best. Everyone has a website advertising that they have the best product/service. Step above your competition by outlining your expertise through informative articles that help your readers better understand your product/service. Not only do you have a quality product, but you have the knowledge and experience to back up the statement that you have a quality product.
3. Create Community
   Blogs that post often and have quality content can attract a following of like-minded readers. With the ability to interact through comments, a blog can create a community of returning readers who want to engage in the content. Returning users allow you the ability to up-sell new products and services and continue to positively promote your brand.

   A blog does allow you the option to filter comments before you allow them to be posted to your blog. This is a great tool for blocking out spam comments or inappropriate copy from an immature user, but please do not use this filter as a means to cut out all controversy. You are trying to create a community. Even communities of like-minded users have varying opinions and experiences. Embrace the different minds in your community. If one of your readers comments about an issue with your product/service or does not agree with your post, publish their comment. Use it as a brand building, public relations opportunity. Address any product issues and respectively reply to any difference of opinion, or open it up to others in your community to join in the debate!

Great Blog Writing Resources:

• Pro Blogger: http://www.problogger.net
• Blogging Pro: http://www.bloggingpro.com
• Copy Blogger: http://www.copyblogger.com
• Business Logs: http://www.businesslogs.com

Contact Bigfork Web Development, Inc. to get more information about a blog or have a custom blog created for you.

Phone: 406.837.3334
Email: info@bigforkweb.com

The text used in a link is very important for usability, accessibility and search engine optimization. Link text should be descriptive, clear and concise.

Do not use the term: Click Here

Usability Issues with Click Here

Most users are looking for particular information, so they scan your website pages looking for what they want. When scanning a screen of text, links are often one of the elements that stand out to a user. While it does give a clear action, a link that says Click Here does not tell the user where that link will take them. Links need to make sense out of context.

Accessibility Issues with Click Here

Web users with visual impairments use screen readers to look at a website. The screen reader reads the content on a webpage to the user. Visually impaired users like to scan pages just as non-visually impaired users do. To scan a page for links, many use a tool that pulls all page links into a list and reads them out loud. This pulls the links that are being read by the screen reader out of context and Click Here does not make any sense.

Search Engine Optimization Issues with Click Here

Search engines follow links to spider the web. Therefore, links are a great place to have keywords associated with your site. Search engines are likely to notice them while following links.

Search engines, especially Google, are very fond of websites that create the best user experience. Writing good links will not only create a more usable website, but will also make your site more search engine friendly.

Great Link Examples

Remember, all links need to be descriptive, clear and concise.

• Download magazine article PDFThis link is clear that the user will be downloading a PDF. It is descriptive in what content the PDF will contain. And the link is concise and to the point. Every word in the link serves a purpose.
• View web design services
  This link clearly states that a user is going to a page with content about services. It describes that the services are web design services. The link is also concise, only including text that helps to make the link descriptive, clear and concise.
• Contact Us
  This link clear and descriptive, telling the user that they will be taken to a page with contact information for the website they are on. It is very concise with a quick action.

Learn More:

• W3C Web Developer Tips
• ISITE Design - Don’t Click

Many web design and development companies force you to host with them by controlling your domain. Often clients who try to leave a company are not able to obtain physical files of their website or their data from their service provider. This prevents clients from switching their web hosting or taking their site to other developers. It prevents you from ultimately having true control and ownership of your online property! Sometimes when these unscrupulous companies go out of business, domains and site files are lost forever.

It should be every web design company’s objective to build the best site for their client; one that the client owns and can have freedom of choice with, like any other product or property. This not only means registering domains under the actual website owner’s name and providing site files when asked, this also includes creating files and formatting data in such a way that it can be easily moved.

As we move into the next generation of internet usage and computing, we will see more and more reasons to allow for this sort of portability. In an age of cloud computing, where all files, applications and other data will be online, data portability becomes crucial. What does this mean to you? Essentially, you will be able to one day access everything you need or want to use from any internet connection instead of relying on your physical personal computer and its software and store of documents. Theoretically, when the web evolves to this level of full internet integration (what many call Web 3.0) you will not need your personal computer or the software for your job or home use - you can access everything you need from anywhere via the internet.

Because of the cloud computing future of the web, all web design companies should be developing easily portable, transferable websites, business tools, interactive programs and data that adhere to Universal Web Standards. Because technology and the web are constantly changing and evolving, all tech firms should prepare by creating quality goods with sound, honest practices.

Your domain name should be:

• Short and Sweet
  It is a good rule of thumb to keep a domain under 20 characters. The shorter, the better.
• Easy to spell and say
  A good domain should be easy for your target audience to pronounce and spell. Otherwise, they may try to look for you and end up on the wrong website because of a spelling error.
• Descriptive
  When people see your domain name, they should be able to tell what they are going to find when they go to it.
• Memorable
  Your domain should be easy to remember and impactful or catchy.
• Legal
  Make sure you are not in violation of someone else’s trademark.
• Unique
  Make sure your domain name does not closely resemble a competitor’s domain. You do not want users accidentally going to your competitor’s website.

Types of Domains

Choosing a domain name should be part of your business goals and marketing plan. You can choose a domain that is your company name such as www.bigforkweb.com or one that includes keywords such as www.montanawebdesign.com.

Company Name Domain

Keep in mind that some people type in your company name when searching for your company specifically. If you are planning on marketing your company name well and think you will get a good amount of traffic from users typing your domain directly, you may want to stick to using your company name as (or in) your domain name.

If you are starting up a company or are thinking of a name for your blog, you may want to think Google. Companies like Google, Yahoo!, Squidoo and Boing have what are called brandable domains. Smashing Magazine defines a brandable domain as “establishing a distinct identity and communicating indirectly to evoke interesting ideas and feelings.” These website names are not only memorable and fun to say, but very easy to find in search engines if the user is searching for that particular company. There are not many other words or companies that include the character string squidoo!

Keyword-Rich Domain

If you do not plan on marketing your company name heavily and need your domain name to help users find you in search engines, you may want to go with a keyword-rich domain. Remember to keep your keywords under 20 characters so a user can still type in your domain with ease.

In the past, not all search engines have been able to separate out words in a domain strand. To show search engines the breaks between words, we separate words with hyphens (www.web-design-montana.com). There is still some controversy with Google’s abilities to separate out words, but it is starting to look like it is safe to lose the hyphens. You will not cause any harm by using them if you prefer hyphens, just keep them to a minimum. Spam sites are notorious for using a lot of words in domains separated by a lot of hyphens. So keep hyphens under 4 or 5 to not be perceived by search engines as a spam site.

You should use a hyphen when a strain of words put together can have 2 meanings: cargofast.com could be, car-go-fast or cargo-fast.

Extensions

There are several web domain extensions available. The most common are .com, .net, .org, .info, and .biz. The most common and most preferable extension is dot com. Because of the growth of the web, it is not as easy to get a dot com that fits all of the above definitions of what a domain should be. If a dot com is not available in the domain name you want to use, you may want to think about a dot net. Many non-profit organizations use dot org. Some believe dot biz will become very popular in the future for business sites. You can purchase multiple extensions of the same domain (website.com, website.org, website.biz) and forward them all to one primary domain. Work with your web provider to make sure this is done correctly.

Learn More:

• Smashing Magazine
• ProBlogger
• Guru of Search

A question that often arises for small companies investing in a website is: why should I hire a professional web design company when I can get my sister’s, mother-in-law’s, friend’s kid who dabbles in html to create one for me for $200?

Just as you know your company better than your sister’s, mother-in-law’s, friend’s kid who dabbles in your field, so do professional web design companies. There is an abundance of constantly evolving knowledge and skill that goes into every step of creating a website. A professional company will have a team of specialists who devote their lives to the web and more importantly have the experience to know what will work best for your website.

A professional web design company is versed in search engine optimization, usability, web standards, secure coding, and current design techniques. This knowledge will ensure that your site looks modern, works in current technologies, is secure, is organized in a way that allows users to find what they need in your site and will be found by major search engines such as Google.

Another common sneak around to a quick and inexpensive website is using online templates that allow you to create your own website. This may seem like a great idea for a company with a small web budget, but you may end up paying for it in the long run.

There are an abundance of websites that sell templates. It is not a bad idea to look through them for design inspiration, as a lot of them are very nice looking, but a template does eliminate a lot of customization and another company can purchase the same template and have a site that looks just like yours!

So, you buy a pretty template, then what?! You will have to invest a considerable amount of time into figuring out the process of building an actual website with your newly purchased template. You will have to buy and learn web development software. You will have to learn about Cascading Style Sheets and probably at least understand HTML. WYSISWG (what you see is what you get) programs such as Dreamweaver and FrontPage make web development a bit more understandable, but they are not fool-proof and many developers often work the majority of the time in code view. Often, these templates are not labeled well and can be confusing even for professionals to manipulate. This is already a lot of time and money that you are investing just into figuring out the basics. Wouldn’t your time be better spent focusing on your customers and generating sales?

If you are able to figure out the software programs and successfully manipulate the template, are you knowledgeable on the best way to display your information and organize your website for maximum usability efficiency? You can have a nice looking website, with great content, but if a user cannot quickly find what they are looking for, they will not stay on your website.

How about search engine optimization? Without adding content and description meta tags, alternate titles, proper use of text links, correct percentages of keyword/phrase content, keywords in header tags and more, no one will be able to find your pretty template website.

Depending on where you purchase your template, the code behind the nice looking template may not be standards sufficient. This may cause problems down the road if you want to incorporate any customized elements such as databases or eCommerce into your website.

It may be tempting to have your website built by someone inexpensive and inexperienced, or to purchase a template and build it yourself, but if you are going to make the necessary investment and get your company online, why not do it right? A professional web design company has a vested interest in your website’s success. They have the knowledge, experience and practiced judgment to incorporate your website into your brand, to get your site found by search engines and to create a useful product for your customers, which will in turn increase sales and pay for itself.

Millions of people are interacting on the web all over the world, every day.

The internet has become a global community of social connections, niche information and group discussions. If you are an expert in your field or know enough to intelligently write about your subject, get your company name and website out there by getting involved in blogs, YouTube and social networking.

» Blogs

A blog is short for web log. It is a website that has frequent content updates. Content can include news articles, commentary, graphics, video…etc.

Technorati, a popular blog directory, has indexed over 133 million blogs since 2002. There is a blog for just about every subject you can think of! You may already follow a few blogs in your field. If you find one that you like, you respect the content written and the blog has a good number of followers, make sure to join in the conversation and add your knowledgeable comments. If you have an article on your website that has more information about a posting subject, make sure to add that url in your comments. Get your url out to the world and help users find more information on your subject.

You can search for blogs in your field on Technorati’s site.

If you feel that you have more to say about your niche than just commenting on other blogs, start your own blog. You can set one up for free through WordPress or contact BWD to customize one for you. Be sure to include your researched keywords for your website in your blog postings when applicable.

BigforkWEB Blog

» YouTube

YouTube is a video sharing website. Users upload videos to the site for others to see.

While YouTube started out as a place to share funny and interesting videos, it has evolved into a business marketing tool and a great place for research.

While students are turning to YouTube to research school projects, small businesses are turning to YouTube to advertise.

According to advertising research firm, the Kelsey Group, small businesses spent $10.9 million on Internet video ads in 2007 and will spend as much as $1.5 billion in 2012.

As of March 2008, there were 70 million videos on YouTube and even more daily views of those videos. If you have informational videos that support your products or services, promotional videos that advertise your company or fun videos of clients enjoying your rustic Montana ranch or powder packed ski hill, get them on the web. Make sure to add your website url in your YouTube profile.

Just like blogs, you can comment on YouTube videos. Get involved and present yourself as a knowledgeable asset in your field.

Please contact BigforkWEB to help you create a YouTube account. We also provide video services.

BigforkWEB YouTube Videos

» Social Media

The term social media is best described by the online open editing encyclopedia, Wikipedia: Social media are primarily Internet and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information.

There are many social media websites, but we are just going to focus on a few of the most popular.

Twitter
Twitter has become a very popular communication tool. President Obama frequently uses his Twitter account to make public announcements. He has over 140 thousand followers!

Many businesses use Twitter to communicate with clients. It is a great place to announce a limited time special on a 16oz vanilla latte to your followers and generally keep in front of your audience.

Create yourself an account and let your clients know you are there and why they should follow you. If you need a little help, BigforkWEB can set you up on Twitter and get you tweeting to your clients.

BigforkWEB Twitter

- Become a follower of BigforkWEB to hear about recent launches, promotional deals and other BigforkWEB happenings.

Facebook
Facebook has more than 175 million active users! It is a great social hangout for all ages. Most Facebook users are there to talk to friends and meet people, they are generally not looking for a new dishwashing detergent or a deal on a 16oz vanilla latte. Some of the best business for Facebook accounts are vacation destinations or activities where Facebook users can log on to your Facebook site and post pictures and stories of their roping adventures at your laid-back horseback riding camp or post a sick video of a wicked landing at your rail park.

BigforkWEB Facebook

- Become a fan of BigforkWEB to see photos from recent events, RSS feeds from the BigforkWEB blog and be informed on promotional deals and educational events.
Delicious
Delicious is a social book marking site where users can store and share bookmarks. It is a great way to share blog and news articles with others who may be interested in the same topic, or tags.

To simplify the book marking process, it is a good idea to add these popular book marking icons at the bottom of your articles (as you see we have done below). If you click on the Delicious icon () you will be able to quickly add this article to your Delicious page and share it with others.

Social book marking is a great way to let users advertise for you! It helps you get your company name out in the web world and show users that you are knowledgeable in your field.

Please contact BWD if you need help adding the icon code to your blog/news pages.

Resources:

• Facebook stats
• Twitter White House article
• Technorati stats
• New York Times
• CNN Money

Why Should You Invest in SEO?

The days of people pulling out a phone book to find a local coffee shop are slowly diminishing. A survey by internet data firm comScore in 2007 found that 60 percent of consumers use the web as their first-line tool to search for local businesses. Therefore, not only should your company be on the web, but your website has to be visible to search engines, via SEO, so consumers can find you.

SEO intends to increase quality traffic to your website, or better the chances that users searching for your products, services or information are quickly able to discover your website. With over 13 billion searches performed in America this last January* and growing web competition in every field, it is not always an easy task to get found through a search engine. But it is necessary that you better your chances of being found. Keep up with, or get ahead of your online competition by optimizing your site and engaging in other good SEO practices such as social networking and link building to increase your chances of being found by consumers.

Where to Start: Natural Search Engine Optimization

A good place to start is with organic or natural SEO. Most tasks performed in this type of optimization are to better help the user navigate and understand your website. Search engines are programmed to be very human-like in the way they skim through a site. If your site focuses on human usability and trying to give your user the best, most up-to-date content, it will likely be easier for search engines to access content on your site as well.

The main focus of natural SEO is text. The text on your site should contain researched keywords that your target audience will most likely use when searching for your product, service or information. It is important to always think of the user while creating the text on your website. If the text is over stuffed with keywords or is not a simple read, search engines are going to find it just as complicated as the average user.

Just like a newspaper, text on a website should be formatted in a clear hierarchy of importance. Every page should have one main header that clearly defines the subject of the page, secondary headers after that to separate out grouped content, and so on. Add those researched keyword in headers when applicable.

Bold text that is important to the user, use bullet points where you can and remember to link! The web is all about being able to link to more information. Be careful not to abuse bolding, bullets or links. Use them to allow for quick scanning of the page for both human and search engine visitors. Keywords should be added whenever applicable to headers, bolded, linked and bulleted text, as search engines give these elements more weight than average text.

A very important element of natural SEO is the page title. The title is added in the code of the page and is displayed in the top bar of the browser window. It plays a large role in search engine ranking algorithms. The title is often used as the “teaser text” that appears under site links in search engine result listings. Therefore, the title needs to be a compelling sentence that will lure visitors to click on your link over the other listed results. A title also needs to contain page keywords and accurately summarize the content on the page, all in one short sentence.

Other natural SEO factors include site structure using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), text replacing graphics whenever possible, image alt tags, meta data, minimal use of JavaScript and more. You web developer should be able to help you with these items.

If you are interested in natural SEO or would like more information on SEO, please call BigforkWEB - 406.837.3334.

It feels like only yesterday that you invested a good amount of time and budget into creating your website, but is it time to do it again? Is your website still as effective as it was when it was first published?

Technology on the web is a constant evolution and if your site has not been updated in the last few years, you may be missing out on an opportunity to increase its value.

A redesign is not just updating the graphics and making your site look modern and beautiful. While up-to-date and professional looking design is an important part of a website, it also needs to have current code standards, be built with search engine optimization in mind, contain current interactive features, feature outstanding content and be well laid out so users can find what they need quickly.

Let’s start with design since that is what a user first sees when they open your website.

Does your website still reflect your visual brand? If your marketing items such as brochures, business cards or mailers have changed in design, so should your website. It is important to keep a constant look and feel to all of your marketing pieces. Brand recognition is what makes people remember you.

How does your site look compared to your competitor’s website? If your site is a mix of red and green text on a pure white page with a large .gif image of a reindeer running in place in the center of your blinking navigation….it is a good presumption that your competitors are going to get what would have been your business! Users tend to trust sites that are nice to look at. Think about when you go to purchase something online, would you trust the running reindeer with your credit card number, or do you look for a site that looks a bit more professional? Most people are not going to have confidence in the reindeer and head straight for your competitor’s website.

It is important that with a redesign, your site still maintains a bit of the same branding as the previous site. If you do have valuable returning costumers, a drastically different looking site might confuse them.

The design catches the users’ attention, but does your content keep them from leaving your website?

A website could be the most beautiful thing you have ever seen, but if it is not easy to navigate or does not have quality content, users will leave.

Can a user who has never been to your website find what they are looking for quickly? If a user has to click around aimlessly to find something, they are going to give up and go to your competitor’s site. Does a user, who has never been to your website, immediately know on the home page what your company does? If the main focus of your website is to sell a product online, does your home page (and supporting interior pages) point the user to your online store in an obvious manner?

Content gets added on over the years and can become repetitive and sometimes useless. If your content is not fresh and well written, users will leave. How does your content look compared to your competitor’s website? Is it time to clear out and clean up text?

Do your users want to come back?

Would you want to re-visit your website? Is there a reason to? If your content remains static and you do not have interactive features such as user log-ins, blogs, realty listings, event calendars, form submitions, etc., you are not giving users a reason to come back and check out other products or services you may offer.

Behind the scenes code standards are also very important, even though you cannot see them.

HTML and other web codes are always changing for the better. Tags that were used only a few years ago such as font tags are now depreciated. Depreciated elements are outdated. They still work, but there are better ways to do what the depreciated element did. There is a rumor that depreciated tags will eventually not work in future browsers, but no one knows for sure.

The code in a site should also be structured correctly and contain SEO elements such as title tags and meta data. Every page should have depreciating header tags with keywords to outline important sectioned data. Navigation items should be in list format and created as text when possible.

Now what?

If you question the appearance and / or effectiveness of your current website, it may be time for a redesign, or even a few simple updates. We would love to talk to you about your current website and find out if there is anything we could do for you. Please call us at 406.837.3334.

Dictionary. com defines joy as the emotion of great delight and appreciation in someone or something. The Flathead Valley has more than lived up to the Toy ‘N Joy definition. Your true generosity has warmed our hearts and will bring an abundance of joy to local children and relief to their parents this holiday season. We deeply appreciate you and your part in making our small community the shining gem of joy that we love to call home.

Happy holidays to you and yours.

Toy 'N Joy Shop

Toy 'N Joy Shop

We’re already getting a great response to this year’s Toy N’ Joy Shop drive for the Salvation Army. These toys will go to families that were not adopted in other Salvation Army holiday charities such as Adopt A Family and Angel Tree. You still have until next Thursday, December 17th, to bring in your donations. Thank you to everyone who has made a donation so far.

Drop-off boxes

BigforkWEB 7579 Highway 35 Bigfork, MT 59911 406.837.3334

Colter Coffee Roasting 424 Main Street Kalispell, MT 59901 406.755.7826