FAQ's

Domain Names

Q: What is a domain name?
A: Think of it as your address on the computer. (Just like the address on your mailbox.)

Q: Any advice on choosing a domain name?
A: Try to include keywords in your domain. Your domain should specify exactly what you do. If your company name does not reflect that, then try adding a keyword to it. (i.e. JaneDoe.com does not tell anyone what you do, but JaneDoeRealtor.com does.)

Hosting

Q: What is a host?
A: Think of it as the house in which your website resides.

Email

Q: Why do I want my email to be myname@mybusiness.com?
A: Several reasons:

• It makes people type your name and your business name! Therefore, they are more likely to remember you!
• It sounds permanent! Using a free address such as myname@hotmail.com leaves them wondering if you'll be out of business soon, or have only been in business a short time.
• People that use free addresses are the same ones who say, "I'm not very good at computers." Technically savvy people say, "I'll have my tech people look into that." Which of these two businesses would YOU choose?
• Your business should not depend on a free email provider. You can't fire MSN!
• You can use your catch-all email account that comes with your hosting to indentify spammers, thus eliminating them!

Q: I don't want to learn another email program. I like what I have.
A: With our hosting, you can have your myname@mybusiness.com and choose to either forward it to whatever mail you prefer using, send it to your Outlook or Outlook Express, or use our webmail.

Templates

Q: What is a template?
A: It is the graphics on your site that stay consistent throughout. Components usually include your banner/logo at the top of the page, your navigation, and your footer.

Search Engine Optimization, A.K.A. SEO

Q: What is search engine optimization?
A: Improving how your website interacts with search engines and thereby boosting your overall search engine ranking.

Q: What is a title tag? Why is it important?
A: Your site title shows up in the blue bar at the top of your browser. Your title is the number one place a search engine looks for keywords. By placing a title tag in your site's coding, you control what the user sees at the top of their browser, and increase your chances that search engines will list your site when your keywords are searched.

Q: Why is quality body text important?
A: A large part of the way search engines rank your site is according to your keyword density. This means how many times your keywords show up within your body text. If there is no quality body text, the search engines deem your site as not having valuable information for its users, and do not score you favorably.

Q: What are Meta tags? Why are they important?
A: Meta tags are lines in your site's coding that tell search engines about your site. The two most important Meta tags are your "keywords" and "description". The keywords tag simply lists all the keywords that you think people will use to search out your site. There are several ways to generate keywords, but one of the simplest and most effective ways is simply asking others what words they would type in to look for you! Your description is what the search engine displays as a summary of your site under your site title when its listed by the engine. If you don't include this tag, the search engine will usually display whatever it finds within the first few lines of your coding. Normally the first few lines of coding are your navigation, thus your description can look like a bunch of nonsense. Users are more likely to click on a site with a description that is concise, especially if they are on dial-up and don't want to waste time clicking on sites that are not what they are looking for.

Q: What are graphic image tags? Why are they important?
A: Have your ever rested your cursor over a picture on a website, and noticed a box with descriptive text pop up? That is a graphic image tag. It is an excellent place to add keywords, thus increasing your keyword density on a page, and increasing your chances that search engines will rank your site higher.

Q: What is hypertext navigation? Why do I want to include that at the bottom of my pages?
A: A lot of the coding web designer's use for your sites navigation is coding that search engines cannot read. If they cannot read it, they will not be able to crawl to the other pages of your site. Once again, if the search engine cannot find your pages, it will deem your site as not having quality content and will not rank you very favorably. Hypertext navigation is written completely in html, which is a language all search engines can read. By placing this on your site, you ensure that the search engine will find all your pages. You have ensured a win-win situation because your readers can use the fun, appealing main navigation, and the search engines can use the hypertext navigation.

Q: What are javascripts? Why do I want them in external files? What is a robots.txt file?
A: Javascript is a type of coding that search engines most often cannot read. Web designers use it to jazz up your site. Javascript's are used for navigations with rollovers, hit counters, datelines, etc. If you put them in an external file, it gets them out of the way of the search engines, and still allows them to run on your site. A robots.txt file is a file that search engines specifically look for. You can tell the search engines what not to read in your site with this file. If you put the javascripts in an external file, and then tell the search engine not to read this file, you have solved the potential problem of search engines leaving your site because they can't read it.

Search Engine Submission

Q: Why do I need to submit my site to search engines?
A: Research shows that a large portion of traffic comes from search engines. You want that traffic to come to you!

Q: Why do I want to submit my site to free search engines?
A: 2 reasons: First, to expedite them finding you, and to make sure they keep coming back, thus you don't get dropped from their index. Second, each of those search engines, whether you've heard of them or not, provide a link back to your site once you are indexed on them. The larger search engines rank some sites higher than others because they have more incoming links than the others. They see sites with lots of incoming links as popular sites, thus you are ranked higher.

Q:Can Easyway Web Design guarantee my site a certain ranking on a search engine?
A: Just because we submit you to the search engines that we do, we can not assure you a high ranking. We do not own the search engines, therefore, we cannot control them. We CAN optimize your site, according to the latest research on what works, in order to attract the search engines. We CAN submit you to them, thus notifying them you are there. (Note: It may take a few weeks to a few months to show up upon initial submission.)

Q:I've been contacted by a company that guarantees they can make my site appear #1 in the search engines. Should I jump on this opportunity?
A: First of all, ask them how they found you. The simple fact that they found you contradicts the fact that they think they can improve you! If they were able to find you, others are too, which means you are already ranking favorably in the search engines! Secondly, ask them if they own the search engine. If they do not, how can they guarantee what it will rank their customer? Third, ask them if they were to do this amazing feat for you, could they guarantee you'll stay there for any length of time? You'll love the answers you'll get for these questions! A very good information page on Google's site that addresses this: Search Engine Optimizers .

Recriprocal Links

Q: What are recriprocal links? How do they help my site?
A: Recriprocal links are when others link to your site, and you link to them in return. The more incoming links (that means others linking to you) you have to your site, the more likely search engines deem your site popular, thus you are ranked higher. You want to try to keep your links relevant to your site also. (i.e. If you are a realtor, links to a title company, mortgage broker, and homeowner's insurance agent would be relevant.)

Pay-Per-Click

Q: What is pay-per-click? Advantages? Disadvantages?
A: Pay-per-click is when you bid for a "sponsored link" position on a search engine. The two largest pay-per-click services are Google Adwords and Overture. Google powers AOL's, Earthlink's and AT&T's search engines. Overture powers MSN's, Yahoo's, HotBot's, and Net Zero's. The advantage of pay-per-click is that it is very targeted, very effective advertising. The disadvantage is that it can be VERY expensive, and it only works well if you are looking to market nationally/globally.