Posts by Geoff CEO

Our highly interactive search tool makes searching for Orlando apartments an absolute breeze. [More]

Here's a good way to see what Google thinks about your website... [More]

The goal of most search engine optimization campaigns is to get a website listed on the "first page of Google" or "ranked in the top 10" under desirable keyword terms. Although the first page of Google is widely accepted as the gold standard in the SEO world, I'm here to tell you it's simply not enough. [More]

It is hard to believe that it has been more than a year since we launched CampPete.com, one of our largest projects ever! Camp Pete is an extremely robust multiplayer online game for kids, filled with more than 40 unique virtual world game scenes and 10 online football games. [More]

It is no surprise that the number and quality of incoming links have a huge effect on search engine rankings.  Google's formula heavily relies on relevant incoming links to determine the rankings of a Web site.  Now Bing has confirmed that it too heavily relies on incoming links for its rankings. Because of this, the fine folks at Microsoft have released some recommendations about how you can build incoming links to your Web site in a Bing-friendly way: You should develop your website as a brand and brand it consistently. People like to link to high quality websites. You should find relevant bloggers, industry websites and product reviewers and make them aware of your website. You can publish concise and informative press releases online. You can publish expert articles in article directories. You can participate in relevant conversations on blogs and forums and add a link to your website when applicable. You can use social networks to connect to industry influencers. Your profiles should contain links to your website. You can use email newsletters to notify people about new content on your website. You can launch a blog or a forum on your website. You can participate in relevant industry associations... [More]

Last year wichealth.org, an online education center for participants in the Women, Infants and Children program, hired us to redesign their Web site.  They had specific usability requirements for their audience, such as big buttons, easy-to-use navigation and a low-bandwidth version.  Our design team was able to deliver an extremely attractive interactive design while still incorporating the usability requirements. The new site design went live to the public a few weeks ago, and the feedback from wichealth.org's users has been FANTASTIC!  Take a read for yourself: “I love this new design, its easier and faster. And having an account where you can go back to what you read is nice to have. All the information will already be there and you wont have to retype anything or look anything up again, its there for you.”   “It is really easy, and nice to navigate. I loved the lady talking to you at the beginning.”   “I think the website is great, looks wonderful and very easy to follow. Love having a person talking right there.”   “Very impressive. I liked the fact that it was easy to use!”   “you are doing a great job, and up... [More]

Bad news for Microsoft this month.  After seeing Bing's percentage of the search market increase ever since its launch, it has now started to decrease for the first time.  This from the IBP E-newsletter: "StatCounter Global Stats finds that Bing's share of the US search market in September fell by over one percentage point to 8.51% from 9.64% in August. There was little consolation for Microsoft from the performance of its new partner, Yahoo! which also declined, to 9.40% from 10.50%." I think this means a lot of users gave Bing an initial shot to see what all the hype and marketing sizzle was about, but then returned to their old Google habits. The next few months will be very telling for Bing.  If Bing's marketshare continues to drop, then we will be living in a Google-dominated world for a very, very long time.

One important factor to good search engine rankings is how trustworthy your domain name is.  The search engines determine this by a variety of methods, the most important of which is the number of inbound links.  But also important is the age of your domain name.  The search engines like seeing domain names that have been around for a while (preferably several years) with incoming links that have remained active over a long period of time. If you are starting a new Web site with a new domain name, you are facing an uphill battle for search engine rankings because of these reasons.  One potential way around this is to buy an existing domain name. For this purpose, I recommend checking out www.flippa.com - it is an online marketplace of domain names from the creators of www.sitepoint.com (which is an excellent resource site for Web developers). When buying an existing domain name, do your homework.  Make sure it never contained adult material, never used spammy marketing or link building practices, is already trusted by the search engines, has operated in an industry relevant to yours and has incoming links related to the products or services you will be offering.  ... [More]

It's always nice to receive compliments of the work we do.  It's especially nice when we get completely unsolicited compliments about our own Web site -- www.352media.com. Listen to this great voicemail I received:  Voicemail-352media.WAV (1.10 mb) If you think our current Web site is good, just wait until our new site launches!  We are in the middle of a redevelopment process and our new site is looking fantastic.  It will launch in a few months, so check back soon!