Put your visitors before the engines

In my last article I published a list of “TEN DO’s” from the 1998 edition of “Web Publishing for Dummies”, today we review ten things the authors thought you should NOT do. You might be surprised, as I was, that all ten are still applicable today.

The great thing about this book (if you ignore references to CompuServe, Prodigy and GeoCities) is that it was written before the search engines moved to the front of everyone’s mind. The information presented is primarily focused on creating a better experience for your visitors, and that is something that we should all be working towards.

Take a moment or two and review this list – did I miss anything? more…

Am I a Web Publishing Dummy?

I was somewhat startled to discover a copy of “Creating Web Pages for Dummies (1998)” on my desk this morning. The book promises I’ll be able to “Create Dazzling Home Pages – In No Time!” I’m still not sure who put it there, or what they are trying to tell me, hopefully that mystery will soon be solved, and hopefully they were thinking I’d get a laugh from it and not that I’d learn something from it. As I glanced at the table of contents, it did generate a grin or two – there’s a whole section devoted to geocites. However two chapters stood out more than the rest “Ten Web Publishing DO’s” and “Ten Web Publishing DON’Ts.” I just knew these tips from the early days of the web would create some laughs, so I flipped ahead and looked at the lists. I could not have been more wrong. Why I was wrong is connected to the fact that there is something very important to note about this book – the ONLY mention of anything search engine related is this brief definition:

Search engine: Web-based services that help you find things you are looking for.

Why is that important you ask? Because this book was written before web designers/developers thought that getting attention from Google was more important than giving visitors good content. The fact that the authors were concerned with content makes both of their lists still (mostly) accurate. Below is the list of ten “DO’s” along with my comments about how they may (or may not) apply today.
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You want your WordPress powered site to rank well, right? Like most site owners you have probably read dozens of blogs, and more “Top 10 SEO tips for WordPress”, or perhaps “Must Have WordPress Plugins” posts than you care to remember. The only problem is that many of these articles just say you have to install the plugins, not how to use them. I’ll admit that I am as much at fault as anyone else. Here’s the problem; while some plugins require little or no configuration, and even less on-going attention – All in one SEO pack is not one of them. Miss a check box or ignore a field and you could be doing more harm than good – your site rankings could drop faster than Wile E. Coyote holding an Acme umbrella.

This post will be updated from time-to-time when there are significant updates to the plugin.  Items that are new to this post will be bolded.  Additionally, I’ll mark items that could be detrimental to your rankings with a caution sign.

Updated on 6/1/2010 – The version currently being covered is 1.6.11.

Version 1.6.8.2 contained some unknown updates so that it was compatible WordPress.2.9, also the developer introduced a “pro” version that is available for purchase.  As far as I can see the there are no functional differences between the two versions.  The pro version seems to intended for use by hosting companies and consultants who do not want the donation request displayed on the configuration pages of their clients’ sites.

Version 1.6.11 adds an language update, some bug fixes and code optimization.

I am disappointed to say that the author of this tag seems to have less and less time for answering questions and communicating with the millions of people that have made his tag so popular.  As a former web application developer, I know first-hand it is a time-consuming and seemingly thankless job.  I cannot fault the author for wanting to make some money with a “pro” version.  However, I completely disagree with how he has done it.  Monthly charges for upgrades is, in my opinion, crazy for this software.  I donated before the pro version existed, and I am sure that many others would gladly pay for this wonderful tag if not for the monthly fees.  According to the WordPress.org plugins directory, it’s been downloaded more than 5,000,000 times.  Lets all send him a dollar so we can get rid of the monthly fees and he can hire a team to maintain the tool while he sits on the beach…how about it folks?.

Visit the SEO pack creator’s page for a reasonably complete change log.

All in one SEO Pack Configuration – site settings

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Your site needs good structure and a delicate balance of code and content.  It needs tools and services that make it easier for the search engines to find you, and therefore easier for people to find you. You need tools that encourage your readers to spread the word about you, and to come back and visit again and again. That’s where WordPress plugins for SEO come in.

Want to know more? Hop on over to AgentGenius.com and read about Must Have WordPress SEO Plugins

Do as we say, not as we do

If you are even remotely involved in marketing, communication or PR, you have no doubt heard of Ragan Communications.  The good folks at Ragan have been providing expert advice for years.  Ragan, like many others in their field, have been getting more involved in Social Media, e-marketing and even Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

One of Ragan’s staff writers recently posted an “aticle” (UPDATE: Original article now resides in member’s only area.  Here is a Google cached version) (UPDATE: Now the Google cache is dead too…sorry) on how to land on the first page of Google.   In the story, author Michael Sebastion summarizes for us a presentation made by John Spagnuolo at a recent Ragan conferance (which generally are quite good – you should go to one).

Michael’s summary was well-written and John’s suggestions, aside from implying Web teams are slow and difficult to work with, were accurate.

How many SEO rules can one article break?

The page this article is on breaks many of the rules talked about by John, and a few other  important rules of SEO. more…