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Internet Marketing Austin: SEO And Social Networking

August 20, 2012

With a website in place for your business, you are half way to benefiting from the myriad benefits that come with having an online presence in today’s web-dominated world. However, essential e-marketing techniques like SEO, SMO, and SMM are what determine whether your website gets a spot in a prime location, or remains that down-street business that just a few people know about. A few years ago, it might have been enough to just focus on the SEO strategies for your website, and ensure that your website ranked high on search engines.

However, nearly 70% of the American population having an active profile on multiple social networking sites, it is just as important to get the word of your business out on these networks. Ideally, your SEO strategies should be integrated with your social media and networking profiles, to result in a holistic internet marketing plan that not just attracts users, but also keeps them engaged. With the cut-throat competition that exists in nearly every industry on the internet, it takes persistent and dynamic efforts to make use of multiple channels for attracting users to your website.

Social media is your way to get directly in touch with your niche audience, at just a fraction of the cost and time that is usually invested into conventional marketing. You can achieve multiple purposes ranging from product marketing to reputation management, in just a few clicks on these social networks. Interestingly, social media strategies are also instrumental in boosting search engine optimization and lead generation. A part of search engine algorithms rely on user generated data derived from leading social networking sites, which means that back-links generated from these sites are of high value in improving your ranking on search engine results.

Both SEO and social networking reap results after consistent efforts carried out over a sufficient time period. If you wish to improve sales for your Austin-based business, both these tools are definitely worth experimenting with. These techniques, when carried out in tandem, will help to draw a targeted audience to your website, build brand awareness, improve customer relationships, increase customer loyalty, and ultimately boost sales and revenues for your business.

After all, business is all about relationships, and while SEO helps to initiate these relationships by bringing people to your business and efficient social networking makes them to stay there. We at Centex Technologies, Austin provide SEO and Social Networking Solutions to our clients based in Central Texas. For more information on our SEO, Internet Marketing, Website Designing and Web Development services please call us at – (800) 236-1497

Austin Website Design: Custom Website Design or Template?

August 13, 2012

Most business owners who wish to have an online presence, but aren’t sure of how to get started, end up facing the dilemma of a customized web design versus a website template. This decision is an important one to make, since it is what determines what your business looks like when a customer first visits your website. The effect of how presentable your website is is similar to that of an office space in the real world. Not only does an attractive and well-built website look professional and credible, but it also makes the browsing experience better for your customers.

Custom web design-

Benefits-

  • A customized layout that isn’t being used by any other business.
  • Search engine friendly background coding- This can be ensured by hiring an experienced web designer, and will be of immense help in your SEO strategies later on.
  • You can tell your website designer of future plans, and ensure that he leaves scope for accommodating them in future, in case you cannot afford them with your current budget.
  • You can include any particular features that you would like to have in your website, which is usually not possible with a website template.

Downfalls-

  • This might be slightly more expensive and time-consuming than a website template.
  • If you do not have knowledge of website coding, you will need to have a content management system incorporated into the website.

Website template-

Benefits-

  • These are suitable for companies that wish to have an online presence on a shoestring budget.
  • A website template has a much shorter development time than a customized website, which means that you can go live within hours.
  • You can make use of the color combinations and layouts in a website template for getting inspiration while designing a customized website.

Downfalls-

  • The design you choose is already going to be in use by several other companies.
  • It is very difficult to incorporate any customized features into a template. Even though you might incorporate some original graphics or content, a template always runs the risk of breaking down.
  • If the background coding is not done from a search-engine perspective, this can be detrimental to your SEO efforts in the long run.
  • Antiquated coding in a website template might prevent it from working well in all browsers.

Centex Technologies provide Customized Website Design And Development Services in Austin, Dallas and Killeen regions. For more information on the same, feel free to contact on our toll free number – (800) 236-1497

SEO Friendly Code: What It Means?

August 6, 2012

Correct and well-formed code is an essential pre-requisite when building a website. The code of your website has a direct impact on how it is indexed by search engines and eventually how high it will rank in search results. This makes proper code structure one of the key considerations for any SEO campaign. You must ensure that tags are well closed and the source code that you specify is not confusing for search engine bots. If you are using open source scripts, both too new and too old scripts are best to be avoided, because while the former might not be recognized by most browsers, the latter is likely to be valid just for a single browser.

By failing to abide by the pre-programmed set of rules that spiders are designed to follow, you can put your website at a risk of being improperly indexed, or even worse, not indexed at all. If your site is not indexed, any amount of SEO efforts cannot help to boost your rankings, which emphasizes on the need for SEO-friendly code. Once your code is correctly formed, you can then concentrate on optimization efforts, without having to worry about technical pitfalls coming in the way. The trick is to keep your code as clean and simple as possible.

You will be amazed at how a well-structured code not just works for your website’s rankings on search engines, but also helps it to work better by improving loading time and increasing multi- browser compatibility. Even though you will find that there are no set rules that go into the creation of a perfect code, especially considering the ever-changing dynamics of ranking algorithms of search engines, every little effort to fine-tune your page will pay greatly in terms of improved rankings.

The following tips will guide you on how to design your website’s code for superior performance as well as search engine optimization-

  • Do not use too much of JavaScript as search engines have trouble reading JavaScript.
  • Avoid using flash in the website.
  • Use H1, H2, etc tags as and when required.
  • Webpages created should be readable for search engines.
  • Include your most important keywords in the meta tag
  • Choose the text of your description carefully, keeping the most relevant part first
  • Avoid spamming using hidden keywords unless you want to get banned
  • Try to use the keywords in your links, as well as domain name if possible

Centex Technologies is a SEO Service Company engaged in SEO Web Development, SEO Website Design, On Page and Off Page Search Engine Optimization Activities and Internet Marketing serving Austin, Dallas, Killeen and other Central Texas areas. For more information on SEO services in Dallas, call Centex Technologies at toll free no – (800) 236-1497

Restaurant Website Design Tips: Austin Web Development

July 28, 2012

The measure of success for a restaurant website is that it’s supposed to get people to your restaurant. That’s it. For this, the basic principles are that the website has to be user friendly, easy to go through, have organized information and should exhibit some branding items from the restaurant itself. Your website is supposed to supply the potential customers with vital information regarding the menu, location, charges, expert services etc. The website design for a restaurant is as significant as the interior layout of the restaurant if not more. The website of a restaurant speaks volumes about its character and personality.

Designing Tips For Restaurant Websites

Prominent menu
The menu should be clearly visible in the primary navigation or a noticeable button. It’s the first thing a diner will look for when navigating through your website. The menu should be laid out neatly with the prices and appropriate descriptions if any.

Location
Your website should make it easy to track the location of your restaurant. For this, you can offer your visitors free mapping services that they can have direct access to from your website. You can also incorporate a proximity search function if you happen to have many locations. This will help your clients locate restaurants that are nearest to them.

High Quality Pictures
High quality pictures of the dishes you offer will stimulate all the senses of your clients. After all, dining is an activity that involves seeing, smelling, tasting and feeling. Good pictures on your website will help sell your food as well as offer a great description to those browsing through your website. You can take the help of an experienced professional photographer for the job.

Easy Reservations & Orders
Ensure that your preferred method of contract is prominent on your site. The numbers to call and the operating hours for reservations should be clearly mentioned on the website. Mention clearly the need to fill any online forms, requirements for fax orders and the information you will need for fulfilling the order. It should be a hassle-free experience for the client.

Reinforce Your Brand
Building a distinct brand in today’s competitive restaurant industry and standing out can be quite a daunting task. Pay attention to the logos, colors, font choices and graphics you use on your website. They should be recognizable as part of your restaurant.

Constant Updates
Keep updating your website with important information about your restaurant. Mention any event, specials or changes in the menu regularly. Your updates could be pleasant little surprises for clients who seek constant growth and change.

Centex Technologies provides Web Development and Website Designing Services in Austin, Dallas and Killeen regions. For more information feel free to call us at our toll free no – (800) 236-1497

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Geo-Targeting For Google Search

July 19, 2012

Geo-targeting is an SEO technique that focuses on making your business location clear to search engines, and hence figuring in searches done in regard to that particular location. This is an especially useful tool for local businesses that do not have a global business set up, and can significantly help to propel you higher on Google. As a user on Google, you have probably noticed that the ads and search results that you see on your web pages are relevant to your location.

Google utilizes its ability to geo-locate to make that possible. When this approach is looked at the other way round, from the point of view of the websites that figure in these search results, the significance of geo-targeting becomes clear.

Enlisted below are a few simple steps that you can take to geo-target your website for Google search-

  • Get a country-specific domain, e.g. .com.au, .ca, or .uk to make the country that you are based in instantly clear to Google.
  • Make sure that your web hosting server is based in the same country that you are targeting. Some hosting providers may have offices in a certain country, despite actually being based overseas.
  • Something as simple as the language that you use on your website can be used to gauge your location. So make an extra effort to ensure that the spellings/ grammar/ colloquialisms in your site’s content reflect your actual location.
  • It is always useful to have in-bound links from local customers rather than overseas customers for geo-targeting your website. These could be any form of user-generated content like referrals or testimonials.
  • One of the easiest ways to generate local traffic for your website is by submitting your website to local search directories. It is important to look at the directory’s quality and ensure that it is presentable before making a submission.
  • Another great way to geo-target your website for Google is to include your name, address, and even pin code on the footer of each page on your website. Be careful not to overcrowd it with multiple addresses, but to create different pages for different locations instead.
  • It also helps to include your location in the tag of your website. For instance, you should choose “Texas property dealer” instead of “property dealing services”. This also stands true for other meta content like your website’s title and description.
  • You can also utilize Google’s webmaster account to let Google know about the location you wish to serve with your website.

If your potential customers are in your local area, you need to stop wasting time on achieving global search rankings, and make the most of geo-targeting. After all, it is the local customers who will eventually turn into loyal customers!

Centex Technologies is a Central Texas based SEO company that serves Austin, Dallas and Killeen regions. For more information on Internet Marketing in Austin, Dallas and Killeen, feel free to call us at our toll free no – (800) 236-1497

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