SWD Newsletter
Spring 2010
Ah, flowers are blooming, people everywhere are sneezing, the sun actually gets up about the same time I do; this must mean the spring Sea-Wing Designs newsletter is here!
In this issue we will cover a bit more about SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and I will talk about how page structure helps the web crawlers of the world categorize your web site. I will also introduce you to a new add-on that is offered by Dreamhost as one of a couple interesting web tools that help you analyze the effectiveness your marketing and SEO. Also, our Savings of the Month and what is coming next!
CSS for SEO
Creating visual media for the web is like working in a universe with a few extra dimensions and painting a picture that will look good in everyone’s living room no matter the color of their wall or or the size of their room or what dimension they are in, all at the same time. .
Back to SEO, there is some debate on how much CSS helps SEO, but there are several important items that point to it improving SEO. The main one is smaller file size. Since all of the visual information is stored in a separate style sheet that is downloaded only once for your entire website, the HTML code (the only part that the web crawlers look at) is much smaller making it easier for them to sift through your information.
And,CSS allows you to structure your HTML in a hierarchy that puts the most important information at the top of your page. For instance if you have a <h1> header line that you want in the middle of your page, you can write it at the top of your HTML but style it with CSS to be visually where you want it in your browser. There are also CSS tricks that allow for the replacement of javascript which is unreadable to web crawlers, therefore making any content more available.
Finally, CSS is now used in most content management systems and blog software such as WordPress and Zencart. If it is used successfully in these highly functional web tools, why go back to tables?
Track Your Visitors with Piwik!
Dreamhost, the amazing hosting company that I work with has just added a new “one-click-install” program that I think most of you may benefit from. It is called Piwik. From the latest Dreamhost newsletter:
“Piwik bills itself as the open-source alternative to Google Analytics and from what we’ve seen they’re not far off. If Google one day changes their business mantra to “Let’s be evil!” (and I suspect they may) you’ll be able to rest soundly knowing that your site stats are safe and secure from the prying eyes of the “Almighty Privacy-Eliminating Service Hoovering Internet Traffic” as they will come to be known.”
If you don’t know what Google analytics is, you can check it out here, but basically it is a way to track how many visitors you get to your site every day and some information about them. This can be very eye-opening.
The installation of Piwik is fairly simple. Dreamhost handles the database creation and file upload from the web panel and after that a small javascript is added to the bottom of each page that you want to track. For WordPress users, there is an easy plug-in. For more information on Piwik you can go to their website: https://www.piwik.org/
If you would like me to set this up on your site, please send me an email.
Savings of the Month!
Due to the popularity we are extending the offer of A YEAR’S FREE HOSTING! if you refer someone to us and we complete a full website for them!
Become a fan of Sea-Wing Designs on Facebook!
Next Issue:
Some musings about WordPress. And why words matter – an article written by our editorial staff (Mary)!