Google’s Latest Update and your Business

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Google's new algorithm HummingbirdGoogle has just launched it’s new algorithm named “Hummingbird”.

If you didn’t already know, Google uses a secret algorithm to determine what should be displayed in a search query. The latest incarnation of this algorithm is called Hummingbird.

So what, I hear you say. Well if you are a business owner with a website, you should care because there is the potential that it will affect your search rankings and because of the way Google now deals with what it shows the searcher, it could also reduce traffic to your website.

This algorithm overhaul aims to limit the “fluff” that is sometimes present on a website purely for SEO, and filter that stuff out, so that the the searcher gets more relevant and useful search results.

The Hummingbird algorithm has moved away from traditional keyword analysis of the content, and now uses “conversational” techniques that are more in tune with what the searcher is looking for.

Google have found that user searches are becoming longer and very specific, so the new Hummingbird algorithm focuses on the searchers’ “intent” by trying to answer the searchers’ question.

How does the Hummingbird Update affect your Business Website?

This latest update will undoubtedly affect your current rankings.

It may be negative or positive, or in other words, your rankings may improve or get worse or a combination of both.

For those businesses that had poor rankings for generic non specific terms, you may well find that your rankings improve.

If you don’t want your rankings to suffer with this latest update, Businesses will need to rethink the content of their websites to come more into line on how people use the internet to search for goods and services.

Hummingbird places a higher emphasis on conversational techniques and natural language, and has been driving towards better support for longer search queries. Hummingbird takes this a step further by trying to provide answers to questions rather than finding matches for keywords.

This is because serving up results based on keywords does not always reflect what it is someone is searching for.

When formulating the content of your pages, you will need to consider what sort of questions will be asked by a searcher and incorporating the answers within your content.

What this means is that simply having content on a page for the sake of having content, does not have the same impact it once did.

Why Hummingbird may affect traffic to your website

One of the big changes that has come with the new update is the way Google displays information.

Search data may now be displayed to the right of the search results.

For example, if you type “Gravity” and then search, to the right of the search results you will see information from the IMDb website showing data from their website about the movie Gravity.

Now this may be great for the searcher, but what this means is that the searcher is now less likely to visit the IMDb website.

Other things that may be displayed in the Brave New World of Google Search are things like links to YouTube videos or a link to “Watch It Now” on Google Play, ie. Google’s own content.

Wherever possible, you will now find Google trying to direct people to their own content rather than your website.

So what can your Business do?

Well not a great deal.

About all you can do is try and concentrate on the content, framing it in a way that answers questions people may be searching for, ensuring at the same time that it uses natural language without looking spammy and without keyword stuffing.

Stick to the other principles of SEO by including relevant images, videos, headings, page titles and page url’s.

Top 8 SEO Tips

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Search Engine Optimisation Tips, SEO TipsThe first step to getting found online is obviously to have an online presence via a website.

But simply having a website isn’t enough. Unless you are appearing in Search Results, and preferably somewhere near the top of the first page, then the only way people will find your website is through advertising.

Advertising can take many forms including print and signage, but there are online alternatives ranging from free and paid for Internet Business Directories like Start Local, True Local, Hotfrog and the like.

In addition to that, Google have their own “Paid For” advertising called AdWords.

But wouldn’t it be great if your website appeared right at the top of the first page of search results without paying for it?

These results are called “Organic Search Results”. Those are the results that naturally appear at the top of the Search Results page and that’s what SEO is all about.  Getting to the top of the results page.

Getting to the top is easier said than done.  Google’s algorithm for determining the ranking is secret, so any individual or company that tells you that they can guarantee a number 1 result, or even a page 1 result, is probably in need of a reality check.

Having said that, there are plenty of things you can do to help your cause.  So with that in mind, here are my Top 8 SEO Tips:

  • Read the Google SEO Guidelines – Google actually give you a clue about what you need to do. It takes some of the guesswork out and spells out exactly what you should and shouldn’t be doing. It’s amazing how many people attempt SEO without reading this first.  Do yourself a huge favour and read the Google SEO Guidelines.
  • Use a good SEO Plug-in – Something like All-in-one SEO Pack or better still WordPress SEO by Yoast. It has a “Content Analysis Function” which will help you write better content and help you optimise your website’s Page Titles and Descriptions, and displays a Google snippet preview. It will also automatically generate XML Sitemaps which Google uses to help Index your website.
  • Write Good Content – DO NOT fall into the trap of keyword stuffing. Write original content from the heart. Google is all about the End User Experience and trying to serve up the best result for it’s customer’s. If you write unoriginal garbage, or you plagiarise content from another website and change a few words here and there, have no doubt, you will be penalised. You will hear this term everywhere, but it’s true, when it comes to Google Search Results, Content Is King.
  • Do Regular Updates – Add content to your website regularly.  But not just any content, content that is relevant to whatever it is your website is about (See previous point). It can be in the form of Reviews, Tips and Tricks, News Articles or a Blog Article like this one you are reading right now.
  • Avoid Using Flash – Whilst Flash animation can add some pizazz to your website, unfortunately Google’s Search Crawlers have no idea what information they are displaying.  So from an SEO point of view Flash is bad.  But another downside is that Apple devices don’t support Flash and anyone viewing your website with an Apple Computer or Tablet etc will not see it.  So there is a double wammy.
  • Structure your website clearly – Every page on your website should be accessible from at least one link on the site, and preferably from the menu structure. Hiding the visibility of pages is a big No No. Your Navigation Structure should be logical and easy to navigate. If you have to jump all over the page to find things, then that presents a poor user experience and you will suffer the consequences.
  • Generate Backlinks – Backlinks are links on other websites that link back to you. Ideally they should come from websites that are related to your industry, and the Anchor Text used should be a keyword that is beneficial to you. An example would be Website Design Caboolture. The Anchor text in this example is “Website Design Caboolture” which links to this website at the url www.websitedesignmorayfield.com.au. Generating backlinks is not an easy task. It is even harder generating backlinks from websites related to your own industry. After all, who is going to link to a competitor?  Some backlinks will occur as a matter of course through people just doing it, but you can also register your business on internet directories as previously mentioned. Whatever you do, DO NOT fall for paying for backlinks as this will most certainly see you penalised by Google.
  • Do Key Word Research – Decide on the keywords you want to target and use them in the content on your page, and in the Page Title and Description.  But don’t forget to use other words related to those keywords.  For example, I might want to target the keyword or phrase “Computer Repair”. Examples of related keywords would be, “PC Repair”, “Fix Computer”, “Computer Technician”, “Computer Servicing” and so on. To do keyword research you can try using tools like the Google Keyword Planner, or SEMRUSH.

Summary

So this is the reality, SEO is a slow process. You can get some moderate results quickly, but SEO is a long and laborious process that is ongoing. Stick to the SEO Guidelines and adhere to the rules, and at least you won’t be penalised. Remember, if you try and pull the wool over Google’s eyes, you will lose. Stick to trying to create quality, relevant content and make the user experience a priority, and you should see positive results.

How to stop Comment Spam

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Over the years I have used many different Plug-in’s and methods to reduce Comment Spam on my websites.

Those Plug-in’s included the default WordPress Plug-in [tooltip title=”Info” content=”Akismet is a hosted web service that saves time by automatically detecting comment and trackback spam. It’s hosted on their Servers, but they give you access to it through a plugin and an API.” type=”info” ]Akismet[/tooltip] (at last count on my main website it has blocked 3,306 Spam Comments), [tooltip title=”Info” content=”An extremely powerful anti-spam Plug-in for WordPress that reduces comment spam, including trackback and pingback spam. It works invisibly without CAPTCHA’s, or other inconveniences to site visitors. The plugin includes spam-free contact form feature as well.” type=”info” ]WP-SpamFree[/tooltip] (it’s blocked 4,725 Spam Comments), and along the way various other Security Plug-in’s and methods.

But none of them have been 100% effective.

Sure, they “reduced” the amount of Spam, but some Spam has always managed to get through.

Now obviously you need to set your WordPress Discussion Settings so that they must be approved by an Administrator first (see image below), but having to plough through the Spam Comments and manually delete them too, well that is an additional Admin overhead we can all do without.

WordPress Discussion settings

Discussion Settings

Comment Spam has been a real bug bear for me, and to be honest, a pretty big problem. But at last I’ve finally found a Plug-in that reduces Comment Spam to zero, zilch, nada!!! That’s right, it’s 100% effective in preventing Comment Spam.

Well, let me qualify that by saying that it’s 100% effective against automated Comment Spam.

Obviously, if a real human is determined and prepared to take the time to post a bogus comment and physically undertake the CAPTCHA test, then you won’t stop that.

The Plug-in in that I have discovered is [tooltip title=”Info” content=”Fun Captcha presents a mini-game that blocks the bots while giving your users a few moments of fun. It’s a real security solution hardened by experts and automatically updated to provide the best protection.  Users complete these little games faster than other CAPTCHAs, with no frustrating failures and no typing. Fun Captcha works on all browsers and mobile devices.” type=”info” ]Fun CAPTCHA.[/tooltip]

The trouble with most CAPTCHA systems is that they are quite difficult to read (see the image below), and visitors to your website hate using them, and the Spammers are getting smarter all the time and can circumvent them.

CAPTCHA Examples

CAPTCHA Examples

So what Fun CAPTCHA does is stop the BOT’s, and turns the CAPTCHA system into a mini-game.  The visitor wishing to post a comment is required to complete the game with a series of mouse clicks, rather than trying to decipher hard to read CAPTCHA Images, and it works on all Browsers and Mobile Devices.

The best thing is that Fun CAPTCHA is totally free, however you must create an account on their website to obtain some security codes first.

Below is a video that shows how the Fun CAPTCHA Plug-in works.

You can download the Plug-in from the WordPress Plug-in Directory.

Web Designers Caboolture

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Web Designers Collaborating CabooltureOK, so I just couldn’t resist posting this image of two Web Designers at work collaborating on a new “Web” Project hahahahaha.

Note the thoughtful concentration and consideration going into it?

It tickled my funny bone so I thought I’d share it.

Seriously though, if you are looking for a Caboolture Morayfield based Web Designer, give us a call today.

We have been designing websites locally for over 10 years, and have the know-how required to build your Business Website, quickly, efficiently and professionally.

Why we use WordPress for Websites

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WordPress Website Design Caboolture Morayfield

 

There are many reasons we use WordPress for the basis of our Web Designs.  First and foremost for me it’s because WordPress is by far and away the easiest to learn and understand.

But here is a detailed list of the reasons and advantages to using WordPress:

  • It’s FREE and Open Source – Being an Open Source Project, WordPress is completely free to use, forever!!!. Being Open Source means that there are people around the world continuously contributing to the project and improving it with extra features and improved security.
  • An Abundant Array of Plug-in’s – If you need to add a particular function to your WordPress website, you can almost guarantee that there is a Plug-in available to do it.  There are Plug-in’s for SEO, Contact Forms, Buttons, eCommerce, Photo Galleries, Guestbooks and Forums, Social Networking and the list is endless.  By and large, the majority of plug-in’s that you would want to use are also free, with Plug-in developers offering “paid for” versions which add some extra features, or support for a fee.
  • User Friendly CMS – In my opinion, WordPress has to be the easiest and most flexible Content Management System (CMS) around.  I have used others, but WordPress is very intuitive and there is a wealth of information and help forums online if you get stuck.
  • Themes let you “Style” the look – The way your WordPress website looks, feels and behaves is determined by the Theme used.  So if you get sick of the look, or just feel like a change, you can achieve this by simply uploading a new Theme, activating it, and hey presto, there you have it.  Of course it isn’t quite as easy as that because the reality is that some content may not suit the new styling, but there is nothing that is overly difficult to overcome.
  • Your website can grow with you – Your WordPress website can grow with you and you can easily upgrade it with new features and security. You can change your Theme at any time without the need to re-do your whole website. Plug-in’s can be added for enhanced functionality (add e-commerce if your business grows, a photo gallery, conatct forms, etc.).  WordPress is used by millions of websites, so it won’t be going away in a hurry.
  • Good for SEO – Over the years I’ve used various SEO plugins including All-In-One SEO, WordPress SEO by Yoast, and Google XML Sitemaps.  But even without these plugins, the simple structure of WordPress, the permalinks, and the easy linking in WordPress is Google friendly. I even heard a statement directly from the horse’s mouth Matt Cutts (the head of Google’s “Web Spam Team”) when he spoke at WordCamp San Fransisco 2009 where he said, “WordPress is a great choice” and went on to say how much “WordPress automatically solves a ton of SEO issues“.  Don’t believe me, see for yourself below.

 

Top 5 WordPress Plug-in’s for your Business Website

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Top 5 WordPress Plug-in's

 

There are almost an infinite number of Plug-in’s available for a WordPress based website.

However, there are some that I believe are a must have regardless of what type of Website or Blog you have.

The following Plug-in’s are the top five that I believe are essential and you should have installed:

    • Change the urls (web address) for the WordPress dashboard including login, admin, and more.
    • Rename the “admin” account. For example you could rename it admin2013.
    • Change the WordPress database table prefix. The default is wp_.  The plug-in will change it to a random set of letters.
    • Change wp-content path. You could change this to anything, for example site-content.
    • Ban bots and other hosts.
    • Prevent brute force attacks by banning hosts and users with too many invalid login attempts.
    • Enforce strong passwords for all accounts from Subscriber’s to Admin’s.
    • Detect and block numerous attacks to your filesystem and database.
  • BackupBuddy – This plug-in has saved my bacon on more than one occasion.  Imagine you have spent 100’s of hours and dollars developing your website, and the unthinkable happens.  Your website is hacked and your website is compromised, or even worse, the Web Hosts’ Server is hacked and everything is lost.  Now wouldn’t it be nice to be able to restore your website from a backup almost immediately?  Well that is just one of the things you can do with BackupBuddy.  BackupBuddy is a “Paid For” plug-in, but it’s worth every cent.  With BackupBuddy, you can:
    • Back up your entire WordPress installation. Your Widgets, Themes, Plug-in’s, Files, Images, PDF’s and SQL database – the entire website!  Just like you would backup your laptop or desktop computer, you should be doing regular backups of your website. With BackupBuddy you can schedule backups and have them sent off-site to Dropbox, Amazon S3, Rackspace Cloud, an FTP server, or your email. Or you can download them straight to your computer.
    • Restore your WordPress site fast. The restore function in BackupBuddy is very simple. Upload a file called importbuddy.php and your backup file, and it restores WordPress including your Themes, Widgets, Plug in’s, and everything else. You don’t even need to re-install WordPress first!
    • Individual File Restoration – Did you make a whole lot of changes to your theme and then decide that you wanted everything back like it was?  Now you can identify files to restore individually, instead of having to go through a complete site restore!  Easily browse your backup .zip file contents right from the dashboard and decide which files to restore.
    • Move your WordPress site to another Web Host easily.  Not happy with your current Web Host?  No problem.  Simply make a backup of your website, sign up to a new Web Host, upload the backup file and importbuddy.php script and run it.
  • WordPress SEO – WordPress SEO would have to be the most complete WordPress SEO plugin around. It does everything including a Google Snippet Preview and Page Analysis that helps you optimise your page content, image titles, meta descriptions and more, as well as creating XML sitemaps, and a heap of optimisation options in between.
  • Broken Link Checker – Over time, a website will accumulate quite a number of links within pages, both internal links and external links.  These links will occasionally break when the website they point to cease to exist for any number of reasons.  You would only know if this was the case if you happened to check the links periodically, or you are notified by a vigilant visitor to your website.  Broken Link Checker will notify you via the WordPress Dashboard and via Email if it detects any broken links.
  • Imagify – One of the biggest mistakes I see when people manage their own websites (and sometimes by so called professionals), is the use of images that haven’t been optimised for web use. Imagify takes the hard work out of optimising images by doing it as you upload them. Of course you should still resize images to an appropriate pixel count first, but with this plug-in, images will be optimised on the fly. If you already have images on your website, there is also a bulk optimisation feature. The free version of the plug-in offers 25MB of data per month at no cost. After that, a fee is applicable, or you can wait until the next months anniversary and pick up a further 25MB Free.

CMS Websites at risk from Hackers

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Content Management Systems (CMS) websites like WordPress have long been a target for Hackers.

CMS systems like WordPress are popular because they are free and Open Source, and very flexible to such an extent that just about anybody can create a Website, or Blog, or eCommerce website with relative ease.

The problem is that a lot of website owners either fail to keep their CMS and plug-in’s up to date.

New versions of the platform and plug-in’s are regularly released, not just to improve functionality, but to plug security holes.

This is why Hackers love to target CMS websites.  It’s because they know there is a high chance of discovering an unpatched website.

Even if you do keep the platform and plug-in’s up to date, you must also do a few other things.

Here is a checklist:

  • Use a strong Password – You must not use easy to guess and simple passwords.  Never use “Password” as your password for example.  Also avoid using dictionary words, pets names, family members names etc.  Use Upper and Lower case letters in combination with numbers and keyboard characters like @#$%^&* if possible.  If you find it difficult, try substituting some letters with characters or numbers.  For example MyPassword2013 could become MyP@55w0rd2013.
  • Use a good Security Plug-in – My favourite Security Plug-in is Better WordPress Security.  Among the things it does is:
    • Change the urls for WordPress dashboard including login, admin, and more
    • Rename “admin” account
    • Change the ID on the user with ID 1
    • Change the WordPress database table prefix
    • Change wp-content path
    • Ban troublesome bots and other hosts
    • Ban troublesome user agents
    • Prevent brute force attacks by banning hosts and users with too many invalid login attempts
    • Enforce strong passwords for all accounts of a configurable minimum role
    • Detect and block numerous attacks to your filesystem and database
  • Add CAPTCHA to your User Log-in – I like to use another Plug-in called SI-CAPTCHA Anti-Spam.  Not only does it add CAPTCHA to your Log-in, but to WordPress forms for comments, registration, and lost passwords too.

It may sound daunting, but if you have your website hosted and maintained by Spotty Dog Computer Services, all the updates are included in our Monthly Maintenance Fee.  And as an added bonus, if a Hacker does manage to compromise your website, we make regular backups so we can restore your website if it all turns pear shaped 🙂

Do you want an online catalogue for your Business Website?

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It is often quite beneficial to display your Business Product Catalogue online in a format that actually behaves like a Print Catalogue.

For a start, even if you have an eCommerce website, a Flipping Book Online Catalogue looks flash and will impress your visitors.

Secondly, it provides a way for your visitors to interact with your website in a fun way, whilst at the same time allowing them to see your Products or Specials or whatever it is you want to display.

Now this can be achieved two ways.  Either using a Flipping Book Plug-in, or my preferred method, using software on your computer to create the Online Catalogue, and uploading the files to your website.

Below is an example of a Specials Catalogue that I created for my Computer Repairs Business.

The latest version of the Flipping Book Software has integrated support for the HTML5 standard which means that your publications are readable on almost all devices, including iPhones and Android based Phones, to tablets like the iPad, and E-readers.

Watch the video below to learn more about the capabilities of Flipping Book software.

Small Businesses Targeted by Scammers

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Domain Name Scam and Billing ScamIncreasingly I am seeing not only my own business targeted, but I am getting a huge amount of inquiries from other businesses asking me if something they received in an email or through the post or via the telephone is legitimate or a scam.

Invariably they are scams.

There are all sorts of tech threats such as viruses and spyware out there, but it’s the age old tricks that are still fooling small business owners.

Instead of trying to hack into your computer by stealth, scammers are finding it easier to just send you an email, or fax, or just phone you with an offer they hope you can’t refuse.

One of their common tricks is to send a business a fake Invoice in the hope that someone in the office pays it without asking any questions. It’s easy enough to do when you’re under the hammer and snowed under with paperwork.

Office supplies have become a favourite with scammers invoicing you for stationery or toner and ink cartridges that you never ordered, or even sending you an email stating that your refills are ready.  Such an innocuous-looking bill could easily slip through the cracks and be paid, especially in a small business without a dedicated accounts department to keep an eye out for such things.

There are a multitude of variations to the fake billing scam, so always check your bills carefully. Another big one is receiving an invoice from dodgy Directory Services or Advertising Company requesting payment for listings which were never published or were ran without your authorisation.

Fake Domain Name renewals are becoming more prevalent now.  They will ask for payment so you can continue to use your website address. Sometimes you’ll receive a bogus invoice, perhaps for your Domain Name, or more commonly, one which is similar to your Domain Name.

Some dodgy Domain Name Registrars have been known to send out what looks like an invoice from your current provider but is actually an authorisation to transfer your Domain Name to them. They even check online records to see when your Domain Name is due for renewal, with the hope of catching you off guard because you’re expecting an email from your real Domain Name Registrar anyway.

Dodgy Domain Name Registrars are also known for sending out emails claiming that your competitors are trying to buy up Domain Names similar to your own and offering to sell those Domain Names to you first.

For example my website is www.websitedesignmorayfield.com.au, so they might offer me www.websitedesignmorayfield.net.au and www.websitedesignmorayfield.org.au – claiming that if I don’t pay for them my competitors will buy them in an attempt to steal my customers.

Scam emails are also used to sneak spyware onto computers. Rather than sending out Spam offering cheap medications and Viagra, hackers are now sending spam disguised as a legitimate notification from a Bank, Courier Company, Airline, the Tax Office or Post Office.

The style might change, but they all require you to open an attachment or click on a link to check the status of an order or delivery. Do so and your computer could be infected with Malware designed to steal passwords or perhaps lock down your computer and hold your data to ransom.

Alternatively, you might be logging into a spoof website and handing over your password. The safest option is never to trust links or attachments in such emails and to contact the service provider directly if you’re unsure.

Scammers aren’t afraid to use the telephone either and there have been a spate of phone calls in recent times purportedly from Microsoft, claiming your computer is infected with a virus or has some other issue.

The scammers request remote access to your computer, and then identify supposed errors as an indication you have a virus and then demand money in order to remove the virus. If you receive one of these phone calls, just hang up on them.  Once inside your computer they can cause extreme havoc if you refuse to pay.

All of these types of scams rely on human error rather than technical and security weaknesses.  Scammers will often target junior staff hoping to fool them. The best way to protect your business is to educate your staff about the potential dangers of scams and enforce strict policies regarding the placement of orders and payment of invoices.

Vigilance and education are the keys to keeping your Business and Bank Accounts safe!!!!