Why Get Certified.... What Are The Benefits
Recently I was asked this exact question. Why would someone want to
take the time to get certified? I did some searching and here an
article
that addresses this exact topic. Here are the reasons: If a person
wants to spend money for upgrading their skills,
- Pursuing knowledge and credentials in a specialized area of technical study
- Finding and signing up for classes
- Studying for an exam
- and passing an exam
..... then this person is
- A self-starter
- Follows through on planned activities
- is professionally minded
- and has knowledge in a defined area of study
These are they type of people I want to hire. If things are equal ,
the certified person would be the one that I would hire. If the odds
are against the other person then certification would give them a positive
contributing factor in the decision of who to hire. (Paraphrased
from
http://www.itworld.com/career/234739/value-it-certifications. December
20, 2011 -- Eric P. Bloom former CIO, President of Manager Mechanics LLC)
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10 SEO Tips
Search Engine Optimization
Here are ten tips that we found to help you
get better page rankings on your website.
I. Limit Multimedia
What is old is proven and true. Web designers are constantly competing
against each other to design a more hip website but is it actually a
site that is functional. A lot of time I just click past the Flash
screens. They take up to much time and time is money. So, get into the
head of the visitor to your site. Use multimedia for training and for
informative pieces. Keep away from Flash screens because Google ranking
bots don't understand them.
II. Use text, not graphics
Graphics are cool but not functional. When search engine bots go to a
site they are looking for content. Search engines bots cannot find the
information if it is located in a graphic. If you are using graphical
buttons for navigation, make sure you have textual links located
somewhere on your page. The search engine will then be able to naviagate
the site. if the search engine cannot navigate the site then it will not
rank the page well within the searches. Keep the graphical links to a
minimal. Make sure that the search engines can get to the text links. If
you have a complicated page, then position the links at the top of the
page.
III. Don't be too clever
Stay one step behind the current technology. The web was built for
research and usability. Entertainment sites, Games etc are all great. We
are in the business of selling products and services. Have you ever
looked at Amazons website? Amazon is one of the leaders of selling
information. They do not use fancy Flash presentations. They are using
black on white text. Search engines like this type of text. It is simple
to navigate and that
means more visitors will come to the site. The easier your site is to
navigate and search the more visitors will come to your site and tell
others about it.
IV. Be straight forward
One of the pitfalls of designing a website is being evasive or being too
cute. If you can understand the information that is great but what about
your audience. A major downfall is a large graphic with hotspots on it.
Unless you move your mouse around the image you will not know that it is
clickable. The search engine bot will not be able to do this and so you
will end up failing on navigation. This will push your site lower in the
rankings on the search engines which means less customers.
V. Avoid frames
Everyone wants to be cool and stylish. Red alert frames are outdated.
They are from the 90's. Search engines do not like them. If search
engines (momma) are not happy with it. Then avoid it. Remember not everyone is
using the latest brower, so keep it simple.
VI. Make it easy to move around
When you are designing your site remember you are not the one using it. You need
to design the website for navigation by the visitors. If the website is
not easy to navigate then visitors will not come back. Ask yourself
these questions:
- Does the website make sense from a visitor's standpoint?
- Is information easy to access?
- Do you have unavailable links? - Search engines do not like broken links
and you will be penalized.
VII. Provide visitors with different routes
When
visitors go on your site you want to provide multiple routes to progress
around the site. By doing this you will provide more information to the
search engines. Some of the different ways:
• Sitemap - A sitemap will list the different links within your website
providing more ways to navigate the website. Search engines will find
this appealing.
• Table of Contents or Index Page - This is another technique that you
can use. This will list your links in alphabetical order.
• Navigation bars - These are very handy for navigation. Caution!!! - If
using JavaScript and other dynamic programming you need to make sure you
have another way of accessing the links. Search engines have a hard time
negotiating script to find the information. So, the links that you have
will not be indexed correctly.
• Navigation text links - Links in text will help individuals find more
information on your website. If individuals can easily navigate the site
then the search engine bots will also. Some SEO professionals will
recommend that you put these links towards the top then at the bottom.
VIII. Use long link text
The more information that you provide with your links the more information you
will give to the search engines. This also easier for the visitors to
navigate your websites. Try to stay away from "Click Here". This does
not tell the visitor why they should click on the link. When designing
your website links make sure that you include your keywords. This will
help in calculating your keyword density. This is the % of keywords on
the page.
XI. Stop restructuring the website
Broken links are mostly caused by restructuring of the website. When visitors
bookmark your site they will be presented by 404 page not found. You can
prevent this by not changing the structure of your website. Plan in the
beginning and keep that structure. Only make changes that will not cause
broken links. You can also create custom 404 page not found. A custom
404 page can redirect an individual to a page within your website which
can keep the visitor within your environment.
X. Spell Check
Nothing annoys visitors about a site more then misspelled words. This ensures
that your keywords are utilized to their maximum value. So, before you
publish your site have someone proof read the site. Make sure you use
the spell checking services in your web design software.