Website Design and SEO Blog by Malcom Chakery

Recently, Google Analytics has made some exciting new changes sure to delight anyone who uses their services on a regular basis. These changes include a plethora of features designed to make Google Analytics even more user friendly to the business website. And while all the quirks of the upgrades may not be 100% eradicated (and new web product is ever 100% bug free when it is initially released?), that should not hold one back from taking advantage of the great features now available.

So what are these new features available on Google Analytics? Check this out!

· Users can have up to 20 different dashboards and each dashboard can have up to  12 widgets

· Users can set interaction goals like tracking, optimizing file downloads or how many videos are viewed.

· Graphing and comparing metrics over a set time frame

· Toggling between profiles and sites while focusing on a specific report

In addition to these great new features, Google is also working on these options:

· Exporting reports to PDFs

· Emailing reports

· Migrating reports from the old analytics system  to the new one

· Linking new AdWords and AdSense accounts to the upgraded analytics system

· Scheduling e-mails

· In-Page Analytics (a report that lets you see how guests use your website, see what they are clicking on and learn how your site is meeting their needs)

These changes come in addition to new sources for increased exposure through social sites such as Quora, GoWalla and Plixi. These personal networking sites allow you to drive traffic to your site as well as increasing opportunities for exposure and conversion rates. If these sites are unfamiliar to you, don’t fear. According to Website Magazine, they definitely have value as places that drive traffic to your site. Other places you may want to consider for getting website exposure are:

· Pulse.yahoo.com

· Classmates.com

· CafeMom.com

· Fanpop.com

· FormSpring.me

· Circleofmoms.com

· Fotolog.com

· Woome.com

So, what about you? Are you ready to make the Google switch? Why not take a few minutes to check out the new and improved Google Analytics and see what it can do you for you!

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of web design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.com orwww.chakeryseo.com. Or feel free to call 1-855-CHAKERY.

As the economy continues to struggle, retailers are forced to do all they can to promote their brand and build up their customer base. And whether it is through coupons, special events, sales or promotions it is vital that they make efforts to get their name and their products/service in the public eye.

Of course, when it comes to online shopping, the competition is even steeper as comparison-shopping is as easy as a click of the mouse. In fact, statistics show that there are more than 100 million people using comparison-shopping sites like Google Products each month. Consequently, having your site seen on a comparison-shopping site is a huge boon to your business. If you are eager to get your brand out there, here are five tips to keep in mind:

Don’t be shy!-If  budget is an issue, check out free comparison shopping sites such as LeGuide.com, caboodle.com or Shopwiki.com to get started. Take some time to research which sites will work best for your needs.

Take your time when preparing your data.-Use the best images of your product, have content that is free of typos, use accurate titles, the best client reviews and anything else you can put together that will make your products shine.

Get their attention.-Use coupons, special promotions or whatever you can use to promote your product and show consumers that you want them to use your product, but are aware of their desire to save money.

Don’t run out of your product!-Pay attention to how much of the product you have available. You will not build your business if you run out of the promoted product(s).

Continue to do your homework.-Once your products have been listed on comparison-shopping sites for a while, take some time to do some analysis and determine what products are doing the best and make whatever adjustments are needed. Sites such as become.com offer customer service help and the metrics tools to help.

At Chakery Design, we want to see you succeed. Branding is an important part of that success. Call today @ 1-855-CHAKERY if you would like to learn more about promoting your business.

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of web design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.com orwww.chakeryseo.com.

What’s in a Name? 10 Tips for Selecting a Domain Name

If you are considering a new website-whether it is a brand new one or an affiliate of an existing business-one of the most important considerations is the domain name of the business. After all, the domain name is how people will find your business online so you want that name to be easy to remember while letting people know whom or what it is your company does.

Your domain name (also known as your web address or URL) should meet several basic criteria, in order to be easily remembered. These important elements of a domain name include:

The domain name should be easy to type and remember.

Domain names should not be more than 67 characters; this includes numbers and characters.

Avoid hyphens as they are inconvenient to type and are often left out of the web address-especially when it is spoken rather than written.

While keeping the domain name short is recommended, do not make it so short that it is cryptic or difficult to remember.

Avoid using “my” or “the” as part of the name. If you do use my/the be sure that you always include them when you say the name. (e.g. Mynewsite.com  not newsite.com)

Avoid plurals or misspellings as they can be forgotten or overlooked.

Select a name that represents you well; include a keyword to improve search engine rankings.

Ideally, you want the TLD (Top Level Domain) extension-.com ; however, .org, .edu, or .net are all good extensions as well. Less advisable extensions are .biz, .co, .us or other lesser known extensions.

Run any ideas for your domain name on BustAName.com  to determine if the name will work as well as you envision. You may also want to check Google Keywords to determine if there are any keywords that you might want to include.

Ensure that you are not violating any trademark issues. This can be checked at USPTO.com or Domain Law on sedo.com.

Once you have a domain name that you are pleased with and that meets as many of the criteria above as possible, you are ready to get started on building your website. Talk to Chakery Design about creating a website that is all you want it to be.

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of web design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.com orwww.chakeryseo.com.

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By now, you have likely realized that one of the best ways to give exposure to your company, without investing huge amounts of money in advertising, is social media. So, if you have taken the plunge and had a custom Facebook or Twitter design created, you now want to utilize it to the fullest potential. Recently, Mashable.com offered some tips for marketing your business through social media sites. Here is a recap of some  their ideas:

1. Show your human side. Be sure that comments and tweets sound like they come from a real person, not just some computer generated info. Have someone (perhaps a team of people) whose job is to keep post fresh an interesting. In addition, don’t stress out if there is a typo or misspelled name on the page. Simply post a note saying “Oops” and correct the error. This lets others know you are human. J

2. Have goal or focus group that you want to reach with your social media site. Thinking about this before you begin interacting online will save time in the long run and help build your brand as well.

3. Interact-Listen and respond to what your fans and followers are saying. Be sure to respond to questions and comments. This is a great way to let people know they are important to you. Also, it will allow you to deal with any negative situations before they result in a lack of business.

Have good content.  Don’t just focus on interacting with your fan base, provide them with something interesting to look at, read, listen to, etc. Consider using polls to find out what your followers are thinking about or are looking for.

Be sure you understand the differences in platforms. Twitter is best for basic customer inquiries, saying thanks, brand updates and basic conversational dialogue. Facebook is more like a community and is great for announcements. For many businesses, Twitter allows for more conversation than Facebook, which is why you see so many businesses, television programs and celebrities using it.

So, be social and build your business online. Whether you do all the communication yourself or have a team do the social media for you, you will be amazed at how something so relatively simple can make such a big difference in promoting your company.

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Perhaps the most important page of your website is your home page. And, while most of us have heard that you should never judge a book by its cover, when it comes to your website, its “cover” is often what decides whether a guest will stay or leave. Moreover, while you may think your website’s homepage is warm and inviting, your guests may not agree.

If you want to test the usability of your website, ask a friend who has not previously visited your site to do so and then give you their honest feedback. If they love it and find it easy to navigate, then you have done your research and executed a hip homepage. However, if they have more cons than pros, then you have some work to do. If you find yourself in this less than perfect place, here are some changes and considerations to make.

1.       Help guest be aware of what you are offering. If a site guest cannot easily find what it is they are looking for, they will leave. Conversely, if your homepage has too much activity, then you will lose them as well. Remember if you emphasize everything then nothing is important.

2.       Determine what your homepage’s goal is. Do you want to showcase products, introduce yourself to the customer or show off the latest press release? Whatever it is, make that your focal point. Ideally, your goal is to sell your service/product through presenting its qualities in a way that is inviting and clear.

3.       Optimize your homepage by using elements that support your conversion rate. For some sites this may be done with multimedia graphics while another may be better served with text or video. Keep in mind Dr. Tony Alessandro’s rule, “Do unto others as they want done to them.”

Simply put, you want guests to your homepage to have a cover that is inviting and interesting. After all, if they do not stay a while, you won’t have the opportunity to get to know them as clients or customers. Be sure that your homepage draws guests in.

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of web design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.com or www.chakeryseo.com.

In their ever-changing effort to make the world’s most popular search engine more useful, the good people at Google are unveiling the new feature today that might seem familiar to a lot of users: a “+1” button that appears next to search results and sponsored ads.

What is the +1 change all about? Similar to Facebook’s “like this,” it’s a chance for searchers to note a result that they find particularly helpful, and to share that opinion with others in their (for now) Gmail network. In other words, when you click on +1, your contacts can see it if they run across the same search result. What’s more, Google plans to start compiling +1’s, possibly for integration into their search algorithm. Eventually, more +1’s will likely mean a more relevant site and better search positioning.

For Google, this is a great move. Not only does it add the possibility that searches will become more efficient, since people can now essentially “vote” on which sites and pages are most helpful, but it also makes the world’s largest search engine more social. Facebook and Twitter already offer similar options, and this is a smart way for Google to join the game. Additionally, it could make ads more valuable, as users can +1 those as well, giving certain marketers better exposure.

Only time will tell how +1 is going to shake out, but it certainly adds a new and interesting dimension to search engine optimization. By bringing users directly into the mix and asking for their opinions in a way that goes beyond simply finding out where they collect and spend their time, Google is essentially furthering their trend of rewarding sites with interesting, relevant content that’s written for people… not search engine spiders.

SEO is changing all the time, and mostly for the better. By giving users another tool to find what they’re actually looking for, what Google is really doing is giving you +1 ways to stand out in the crowd.

Tired of search engine optimization talk and want to start seeing results on Google, Yahoo, and Bing? Contact Chakery Web Design & SEO for a free consultation today!

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of web design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.com orwww.chakeryseo.com.

Have you been posting articles on your favorite sites, or writing blog post but have not seen any increases in revenue, site guests or SERPs in the past few weeks? If so, don’t despair. At the end of February, Google changed their algorithm, which affected websites of every type and size. This algorithm, dubbed by many as Farmer, is designed to weed out sites where there is an abundance of duplicate and less than stellar quality content. As a result, many site owners saw a significant downslide in revenue and a lowering in page rank.

When asked, Amit Singhal  of Google, explained that the weeding determinations were made by sending  questionnaires to testers and asking them to rate sites based on questions such as “ Would they be willing to share their credit card ?”, “Did they feel there were more ads than content?” and “Do you feel that this site is authoritative?” Once they had their answers, Google made changes.

These changes mean that website content providers, bloggers and those writing link articles will have to work harder to improve site rank. To fail to do so, will mean one’s site(s) will rank low. If you are one of the 1,000’s who were affected, you may be wondering how to climb back up the page rank ladder. Here are several steps to help you recover:

· Trash any web content that does not add site value.

· Protect what is yours. If you run across content that was unique to your site on  another page, run a WHOIS search to locate the site host is, then firmly request that your material be removed from the site.

· Be creative! While imitation may be the highest form of flattery this not so on the web. Write original articles and blog posts so that your site will stand out from the crowd-not blend in at the bottom of the list.

By making just a few changes in your style, before you know it, you can soon be back where you were before the “Farmer” weeded the Web.

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