Why is search engine ranking so important?

Recent studies have proven that search engine optimisation generates a better return on investment than any other conventional form of marketing. Web promotion provides a better return than television, radio, direct mail, print ads, and trade shows.

Over 55% of all Internet purchases begin with a search engine. Today’s top search engines receive hundreds of millions of searches per day. If your web site is not appearing within the first two pages of these results, you are missing thousands of qualified leads.

Having a top ranking in a major search engine is like having a full page ad in the Yellow Pages in every major city of the world. Our clients see incredible growth in their sales as a result of being moved to the top of the search engines.

How do search engine listings compare to banner ads, bulk email or affiliate programs?

A study conducted by NPD Group, a research group specializing in consumer purchasing and behavior, tested the impact of search listings, bulk email, and affiliate programs across a variety of target markets. In every situation, search engine listings came out on top.

“ Consumers are 12 times more likely to purchase your products or services after finding your web site through a search engine than all other programs combined�. NPD Group.

What about those who claim to “Submit your Web Site to Over 3500 Search Engines” ?

Not only are these “submitting only” services a total waste of your money but they can actually hurt your rankings.

These companies typically promise to submit your web site to thousands of search engines on a monthly schedule for a cost of anywhere between £10 to £149 with no guarantee of generating any top rankings. They don’t guarantee results because search engine submission is not enough.

There are less than 20 major search engines in the United States. Automated submission is a form of spam to the major search engines. They often detect and reject web sites submitted this way. This is why we submit your site manually to the engines that require manual submission.

THE RESUBMISSION MYTH: Some companies will tell you that it’s very important to resubmit each month. A few years ago this technique had some merit but now it can lead to your domain being flagged as spam. You should never resubmit to an engine unless your listing has dropped out.

What exactly does Callender Creates do for me?

We optimise your web site to rank in the top pages of the major search engines for your desired keyword phrases. We specially fine-tune your pages to exactly match the criteria of the biggest search engines based on the latest search engine intelligence.

Next, we manually submit your site to each major search engine. We then track each submission to make sure each search engine indexed your site and send you detailed ranking reports to show you exactly where you are positioned in the major engines. Each promotion includes two ranking reports: one initial report and one 3 months after submission.

We also help you with an online marketing strategy, we will share valuable tips and techniques that will increase the profitability of your business and ensure you avoid costly mistakes that cause others to lose time and money. You will receive advice, tested techniques, insider secrets, and professional consultation.

How long does this take? Will I see results right away?

It is not possible to say for sure how long it will take specific engines like Yahoo! or Google to approve and index your site. It could happen as soon as 2-3 weeks.

Each search engine indexes web sites at a different rate. As a general rule, you must allow at least 3 months for the meta search engines to fully index your site. Some engines take longer but it’s worth the wait.

You might want to consider taking advantage of one of our monthly maintenance packages as an additional service, though. This keeps your site up-to-date so you can keep SERP rankings.

If I decide that I don’t want to do business with you anymore do I lose all my search engine positions?

Absolutely not. We are one of the few Optimisation companies that place your optimized pages in your possession. Your search engine optimized pages that got your rankings are yours to keep.

How do I choose good keywords?

Good question. Targeting the right keywords is critical to your success. After extensive discussion and brainstorming, we will help you find the right keywords using professional keyword research tools. We have an entire page dedicated to helping you choose the right keywords.

What exactly is “WordTracker,” and why is it so important?

WordTracker is the best way to find the most effective keywords related to your business. You can enter a keyword phrase and it will provide an analysis for ideal keywords phrases and a competitive analysis.

Tackling myths & assumptions

Accessibility is also about avoiding myths & assumptions about how & why people use the web. It may surprise you to learn that accessibility benefits everyone who uses your website, not just people who have a disability.

Some examples of the types of assumptions & mistakes that are commonly made:

• Everyone can use a mouse.
• Everyone can upgrade to the latest browser or download the required plugin
• “Blind people can’t drive, so they won’t be interested in a website about carsâ€?.

Accessibility only benefits blind

Eyesight problems & blindness are not the only forms of disability affecting people who use your website. Accessible pages work better for everyone who uses the web, not just those with a special need or limited ability. Making a site fully accessible can increase its usability dramatically.

You must provide text only pages on your site

If care is taken making your page accessible, a text only page is very rarely required. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommend that only if after best efforts your site cannot be made accessible, should you even consider providing a text only version.
The RNIB recommend against providing a text only version as much as possible, simply because being treated differently can reinforce the feeling of marginalisation that someone with a disability experiences. From a business perspective it also leads to dual maintenance of content, which is far from ideal.

I will be prosecuted if my website is not made accessible by October 2004

Not necessarily a myth in itself, but there are a number of myths surrounding it. It is important to set a couple of facts straight here.
Some confusion exists around the date of October 2004. Some people think that there is a new piece of legislation coming into force which states websites should be accessible. This is not the case. The legislation coming into force in October 2004 is in fact the final part of the act that was implemented in 1996, & applies to the accessibility of physical spaces such as buildings. In fact, your website should have been made accessible since 1996.

Although the legislation has been place since 1996, & clearly states that websites must not discriminate against people with disabilities, there has been no case brought to test how the law will be interpreted & applied.

This does not mean that you should not take your responsibilities under the act seriously. What is clear is that website owners should have already begun to implement an accessibility programme, & should be seen to be making what the act refers to as “reasonable adjustments”.

You cannot use images

Although for example, blind users cannot see your images, it would be pointless to disadvantage sighted users by not including graphics at all. In fact, graphics can enhance the accessibility of a website for people who have low levels of literacy, the elderly or children.

Adding a simple “altâ€? attribute to the image in the coding of the page can go a long way to helping your site become more accessible. The “alt” attribute can be used to insert a description of the contents of the image. This description will be read out to a blind person using a screen reader & even though they cannot see the image, they will have enough information to underst& what is going on in it.

You have to use a large font

This is not necessary at all. If you use relative font sizes, someone who has a low level of vision can resize the text to suit their needs, & therefore you do not need to use big fonts.

Red & green cannot be used

Red & green are perfectly acceptable colours to use! Just do not use them alone to convey information. For example, a timetable which makes a statement such as “All trains highlighted in red have been cancelled” relies solely on the readers ability to perceive & distinguish colour. This could be simply fixed by saying “All trains that are highlighted in red & bold have been cancelled”, that way someone who has difficulty distinguishing the colour red can look for the bold information.

Accessibility is time-consuming, expensive & very technical

Retro-fitting a site for accessibility can be all of the above, but ultimately these investments pay for themselves in terms of a greater customer base & a generally improved visitor experience. Building accessibility into the design & build of a new site is not necessarily time consuming & technical. You’ll find that it contributes to the usability of the site & cuts down on maintenance costs once the site is up & running.

Conclusion

Design for all

Accessibility is about flexibility in design. Designers need to think in terms of providing more than one way of doing things on a website, so that if a user is unable to use one method, other options are available to them.

A better web experience for everyone

Accessibility is about understanding & supporting the needs of the people who visit your website. A well-designed site will remove the barriers that may prevent people from entering & using it.
A website that is accessible will provide the same level of experience to everyone who visits it, regardless of his or her level of ability or disability.

Why Use XHTML?

XHTML encourages good practice. All your markup will be well-formed and all your tags will be closed. This makes page rendering easier for browsers and it makes bug-tracking easier for you.

Best of all, using XHTML means that you must keep your presentation separate from your content.

Why Use CSS?

Just imagine all the benefits that come with separating your presentation from your content.

Your pages will be smaller, much smaller. Without the bloat that comes with nested tables, spacer images and font tags, your mark-up will be leaner and meaner. That will appeal to search engines.

Life will be simpler for the people in charge of the design: the presentation of an entire site full of documents can be changed by altering just one file without ever touching the content.

Life will also be simpler for the people in charge of the content: your mark-up will be human readable allowing the content to be updated without changing the rules that govern the presentation.

With Cascading Style Sheets, your content will be accessible to all browsing devices, past and present. That means everything from Lynx to web-enabled mobile devices and beyond.