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General
FAQ's
How
can I register a domain name?
Use this
link through our website. Here you will
be able to search for available domain names
and register any names you would like.
The pages will take you in logical order from
deciding your domain to submitting payment.
Why
is my friend, web consultant, email telling
me I should delete my links page?
We heard the same thing over
here. Basically, the search engines are forever
changing their means by which they rank sites.
Its a lot to keep up on so Cal Coast, Advanced
Access and other SEO companies keep up on it
for you :) What this email is saying is that
Yahoo has recently started penalizing sites
for link exchange. This used to be HUGE in the
SEO world. Linking was HOT and now its not.
Google does leave a little importance on linking
however Yahoo is penalizing for it. Advanced
Access has recommended you remove all your realtor
links. Cal Coast has a similar plan. This month
we would like to remove all but a couple links
in each state. We will contact your current
link exchange sites and inform them of this
new change. We then will allow them to keep
their link in exchange for a paragraph of content
on real estate in that state and or pictures
associated. This way your links pages are now
pages with content - what all search engines
love. We will need to remove most of the links
though. I know it took a a lot of time to do
this but it was the way to high rankings up
until just this month. There is no need to have
Advanced Access do anything for you at this
point because they will just be deleting your
pages entirely. I think is would be best to
fill those pages with content, RSS feeds and
just two or three quality links! Please let
me know if you are comfortable with this. Feel
free to contact me with nay questions. Hope
all is well. Thanks and have a wonderful day!
Search
Engine Optimization
We
finished my meta tag package and I'm still not
coming up for a specific keyword. Why?
Keyword research and meta tag creation
are a big part of optimizing your website to
get traffic via the search engines. Finding
the keywords people are typing in is important
so that you know what terms to use in your meta
tags AND your content and linking. To increase
your rankings on your web site there are many
steps to be taken. Remember that keyword research
is only Phase 1 of the SEO process. There are
basically, 3 main components to SEO (search
engine optimization). They are as follows:
1. Meta tags. This is where we add special keyword
to your sites code for the spider to read when
they arrived on your site. For a very small
business with a VERY targeted niche and properly
written text on their site, will sometimes only
need this step to find some traffic going to
their site for those terms. This is unfortunately
NOT the case 99% of the time. If it was really
that simple (and inexpensive) to get to the
top of the search engines, wouldn't everyone
be at the top making millions? Impossible, right?
To be at the top of the search engines, you
simply have to have more relevant information
that pertains to the keyword you want to rank
for than your competition. For many industries
and sites, that means keeping up with your competition
to apply new SEO tactics to your site.
2. Content - Content
is king, you will need to have content written
that is geared toward the keywords you are looking
to come up for. Content is anything that your
user can see on your site. It;s videos, images,
interactive pieces and text. Although all are
important to your sites success, the search
engines REALLY care about your text. Remember,
search engines weren't created to sell our product
or service. They were created to be an online
resource for people. Give them what they want,
good, quality, relevant information pertaining
to your keywords that HELP the end user, not
sell them your stuff ;)
For example: If optimizing for a term like "professional
photo organizer" and "home office
organizer", you will want to create a "landing"
page for each of those keywords. On that page
you should ideally have more content and resources
that integrate that term on your site than the
other sites that come up in the search engines
for that term. Don;t overdo it here though.
It needs to sound grammatically correct and
easy to read. If you just stuff a short paragraph
full of keywords, that's spam and certainly
DOES NOT help you. A good rule of thumb is 5%.
Now if you need 5% of your content to have your
keyword and have more content than your competitor,
you are often times creating a large page with
lots of resources and information.
Don't worry about giving away your "secrets"
here. People want to know as much about your
company and the process as possible. They wont
however, want to do the work all themselves
one they see what it entails. The more info
your site has, the merrier. If you don't know
what you are talking about, then link out to
sites that do with text that incorporates your
keyword. :) Remember the internet is the main
place where people go to research information,
then make an educated decision on what to purchase.
If your site does not take the time to educate,
the consumer will not take the time to purchase.
2. Link Popularity - a combination of the amount
of sites which you link to, and that link back
to you. You get more "brownie points"
if they are related to the business or theme
of your website. Get as much link popularity
as you can, and keep on networking for more.
There comes a point where this can be overdone,
be careful, work with professionals like Cal
Coast to make sure you're always on the right
path. Don't ever just link to anyone, that isn't
what gives you the credit. It's the link back
that help. Anyone linking to you cant hurt,
but you linking to a site that isn't creditable
can hurt so be sure to "screen your links."
If you did your keyword
research with Cal Coast Web Design then you
may remember the "high school metaphor."
Link popularity is very much like when you are
in high school. If you are not so popular but
start "hanging out" with the popular
kid, suddenly, you become more popular with
all the kids in school. Your site is the unpopular
kid (that's why you need SEO), the sites we
want to get a link from from are poplar kids.
Because we have a quality site (popular kid)
linking to us, it tells the search engines and
other sites (other kids) that you must be quality
too.
Linking to your site is important but linking
with keywords is much more effective. Often
time our company name or domain name does not
reflect what our site is about. Linking with
your keywords validates that is what you are
about. Why else would it be on another site?
That doesn't mean stop a link if it cant be
completed exactly like that. Links are good
in themselves if they don't require a link back
and is from a respectable site.
Cal Coast gets these quality links back to your
site through many avenues. We may have some
general directories to submit you to but industry
specific directories and sites are even better
for your rankings! Sometimes when we invest
time to do this but don't come across sites
that are ranked high in Google PR. Rather than
just saying, "Its no good enough,"
we evaluate the site and if the content is good
or relates to your industry then we add a link
anyway. If the site is focusing on adding content
and expanding then its only a matter of time
before it does get indexed wall and have a good
Google PR. Why not submit now while we are there
and its easy to get in without any extra costs?
If it has not have been crawled yet, it may
be soon. We have to remember that it could get
indexed later. Also, who knows, maybe it gets
indexed well in another large engine that you
didn't check.
We also use link exchange where you trade links.
We like to blog on other bogs that pertain to
your industry, start your own blog to write
about terms in your site. You either link back
to your own site with a keyword or you are essentially
optimizing your blog too. Why not have 2 listings
in the search engine ranking results (SERPs)
- your blog and your site! Twice the opportunity
for business!
Press releases and article
submissions regarding your topic also get submitted
to creditable sites and link back to you with
text you wrote on what else but your keyword
you want to be indexed for!
Cal Coast also likes
to incorporate Viral Marketing into your link
popularity campaign. Viral marketing is simply
any piece of marketing on the web (a page, a
video, a tool or gadget, top 10 list, whatever)
that is so "awesome" that people want
to share the word about it. When people get
the word out, that means sharing it with others
via means of LINKING! What a way to get lots
of reputable links back at one time!
Social Networking is another component of linking.
Social networking websites are tools that allow
you in some form or another leave your business
information on the website and usually will
also let you place a link back to your website
within your information. Social networking websites
not only allow users to share and trade information
but are an excellent way to get your business/website
information out to the public. This validates
you and your company as a respectable community
member. Being trusted in a social network means
having dozens of new potential clients and interaction
with your target market to find out more about
what they do want! Once a relationship is established
it can be easier to help someone in your network
that could use your product or service. Remember,
you aren't selling anything in a social environment.
Social networks smell salesmen. You are simply
there to help. If your product or service happens
to help (which it will since you chose the right
network), then great!
Anyway, you can see that
there are several components of SEO. Each one
of the mentioned above have thousands of technique
to implement within them. The secret is simply
having more of the good stuff the SEs (search
engines want) than your competition.
If you don't see your
site coming up for a term you want, then you
probably need to try more of the above avenues
for that particular keyword. Cal Coast would
be happy to customize an action plan for your
website should you wish. Simply contact us at
Sales@CalCoastWebDesign.com
to set up a consultation.
My
friend told me that optimization is a huge expense
and probably wouldn't be worth it. Is
this going to cost a fortune? And would
I get a lot of business from it?
As you know, any kind of advertising
is expensive, but I believe web advertising
and search engine optimization is the least
expensive form of all. Why? Because
you are not wasting money advertising to people
who aren't interested in your product, like
you would be in the yellow pages, snail mail,
or newspaper. SEO (search engine optimization)
brings you only TARGETED traffic who want what
you offer. And the best part is that it's
available to an unlimited number of people!
Newspapers & yellow pages have limited distribution,
and the internet offers the whole world an entry
through your door.
We work with small businesses and tailor the
packages to work within their budget.
Typically our start up fees are between $500-$1000,
and our hourly fee is $50. Even a little
bit of optimization will bring more traffic
to your website. As you know, sales is a numbers
game - the more who come through the more you
capture.
If you’d like to see what SEO can do for
you Cal Coast would be a good fit. Most
optimization companies sell yearly packages
(w/contracts) upward of 20K, but we don’t
lock our clients into any contracts - it’s
a month to month thing. We provide you
reports so you can see how you’re doing,
and if you don’t feel the money is worth
it you may cancel at any time.
Does
the template of my website effect my SEO ratings?
Although some templates may
be very visually appealing, other templates
may improve your rankings a bit. Search engines
cant read images and some templates have quite
a bit of them at the top of the page. If you
chose a template that does not have a lot of
images, then the search engines will see content
and text when they get there rather than images
and therefore index you better.
I
just checked on the site and there is a box
on the bottom with scrolling text. Did
you put that there? What is the function is
and what is the text about?
Yes, we did add that scrolling
thing at the bottom. You may see lots
of new text, and other tools like these that
we add. You can review everything we add
at with the login and password you were given
in your welcome letter. If you ever have
any questions about these logs, you are welcome
to call us at 888-281-7665 ext 1. What
you see there scrolling at the bottom of your
homepage is called an RSS feed. It is
a script that generates articles related to
your industry. Its a great way to have
ever-changing content on your website.
Search engines like to see that we are constantly
making updates to our sites to improve the experience
for the user. Since we are unable to touch
your site every day, this RSS feed takes some
of the work out of it for us all because it
is told to go find news articles related to
your service/product and then provide links
to them right there. Because the titles
of the articles found in the rss feed often
contain similar keywords as your own, it also
tells the search engines that you are serving
your visitors by supplying them with information
they could find useful other than your own.
We add unique ones to all of our websites we
optimize. It will certainly help your
rankings.
Why
did you exchange links with "THAT"
site? Why did you submit me to "THAT"
directory?
An inbound link is so important for that third
component of SEO, linking! Its very much like
when you are in high school If you are not so
popular but start "hanging out" with
the popular kid, suddenly, you become more popular
with all the kids in school. Your site is the
unpopular kid (that's why you need SEO), the
sites we link to are poplar kids. Because we
have a quality site (popular kid) linking to
us. It tells the search engines )other kids)
that you must be quality too. Linking to your
site is important but linking with keywords
is much more effective. Often time our company
name or domain name does not reflect what our
site is about. Linking with your keywords validates
that is what you are about. Why else would it
be on another site? That doesn't mean stopa
link if it cant be completed exactly like that.
Links are good in themselves if they don't require
a link back and is a respectable site. So, you
wonder why we link to specific sites...Cal Coast
does have specific sites we have worked with
for years that have proven to be substantial
in helping rankings. Perhaps you see one of
those. We need to spend time researching for
unique links though. We may have some general
directories to submit you to but industry specific
directories and sites are even better for your
rankings! Sometimes when we invest time to do
this but don't come across sites that are ranked
high in Google PR. Rather than just saying,
"Its no good enough," we evaluate
the site and if the content is good or relates
to your industry then we add a link anyway.
If the site is focusing on adding content and
expanding then its only a matter of time before
it does get indexed wall and have a good Google
PR. Why not submit now while we are there and
its easy to get in without any extra costs?
If it has not have been crawled yet, it may
be soon. We have to remember that it could get
indexed later. Also, who knows, maybe it gets
indexed well in another large engine that you
didn't check.
What
should I do to begin my keyword research? Should
I use any specific tools or guidelines?
Selecting your keywords is not just about a
tool. Keyword selection is a process. First
you must use as many tools as you can to find
results for specific terms and then you implement
and test and tune!
U se all the tools available that you can and
compile results. Many people use the Google
AdWords tool and Overture
Selector Tool. Additionally we have used
WordTrackers free tool and Web
CEO's not so free tool.
Tools such as Wordtracker
and
Keyword Discovery may also help you find
keyword phrases as well but these will be more
rare, but again cost money.
Let you competition do the work for you too.
If you come across spammy sites that are ranked
well in the search engines for your selected
keywords, you can let them do some research
for you. If one competitor keeps showing up
for keyword phrases you can see what types of
keywords they are using by reviewing their source
code or by using tools like KeyCompete
or SpyFu.
An article I once read said "The highest
value market research data you can collect is
collecting how the market is already reacting
to your site. If you listen to your site you
are not only going to find unique keyword phrases
that do not show up on other tools, but you
also know that
real people are already searching for them
those phrases convert (if you track conversions)
you are already trusted in some search engines
for those phrases
If you use your own logs and tools like HitTail
you can uncover entire categories and keyword
baskets where there is little to no competition."
Source:
http://www.seobook.com/archives/001998.shtml
So basically, use your sits statistics to see
what kind of traffic is coming to your site.
Its easier to optimize for terms you are doing
somewhat well in that other terms. Once you
get the op rankings, your traffic will increase
significantly from just hose few ranking places.
Don't let any one of these tools be your deciding
factor. You must use your best judgment to make
selections form all existing results and them
implement to test and tune. You will need to
re-evaluate in a few months to see if you should
be changing or replacing any keywords.
SEO
Questions For A New Designer
Will
you be able to work with my SEO consultant?
Why? Because you may need some work done in
the future that you may not be able to explain
in detail form them. Often times companies only
want 1 point of contact. Please make sure they
are happy to work with another person form your
SEO department.
Will
you be using links and navigation that are searchable
by the search engines?
Why? Java, flash, images and all that good stuff
is not legible by the search engines yet. It's
just that simple; they can't read it and need
it not only for the keywords but for faster
and easier navigation.
Will you be using CSS? If not, how will
you eliminate the extra formatting code?
Will I be able to edit it easily? With a standard
WYSIWYG editor? The content?
Why? CSS causes "code bloat." Search
engines spiders are actually lethargic. They
don't go through the bundles of HTML code to
get to the indexed codes. Font tags and tables
make HTML code cumbersome, an deduce the accuracy
of the results. If you use external CSS files
to determine the design attributes, the HTML
code will be clean and will create better search
engine rankings.
Will it have breadcrumb links? I.E.
- Home > Channel Page > Category >
Subcategory > Product
Why? All search engines index primary text and
use it to determine relevancy. Breadcrumb links
are primary text. Therefore, they are used to
determine keyword relevancy. If breadcrumb links
are formatted using important keyword phrases,
these keyword phrases will be indexed and "counted"
toward relevancy by the major Web search engines.
Additionally, Breadcrumb links are typically
placed high up on a page (i.e. above the fold),
which communicates that category pages and targeted
keyword phrases must be important.
Will
it be framed?
Why? If you look at the HTML code of a typical
framed site, you will usually see the TITLE
tag, the META tags, and then a FRAMESET tag
— and that's about it! Search engine spiders
are programmed to ignore certain HTML code and,
instead, to focus on indexing the actual body
text. But with a typical framed site, there
is no body text for the search engine's spider
to index, because the text is all on another
page (usually the inner, framed page). We don't
want it to be framed if at all possible. If
not, homepage at least needs to be unframed.
Visit http://www.highrankings.com/framedsite.htm
for more info.
Can
the Meta tags be edited on all pages?
Why? We often run into issues with editing product
pages for sites because their programmers had
coding in there that didn't allow us to change
them. This is SOOOO IMPORTANT!
When
going to deep interior pages of the website,
will directories and folders b named relevantly?
And, will you be programming so that the URLS
don't show more than 3 instances (Levels or
question marks) in the URL?
Why? Because search engines will not
always index instances of urls that long and
often can't even search that deep into a dynamic
site.
What
language will it be in?
Why? Because you should Ask
Jeeves or research otherwise if there are
search engine optimization compatibility issues
people have discovered.
Will there be
any duplicate pages?
Why? Because search engines will not index duplicate
content and will even penalize you for it. I
have seen websites where a link goes to "page
a" of a site but then another link goes
to "page b" but they both say the
same thing. Why not just link both to "page
a?"
Will it be image
intensive?
Why? Often times web designers will build an
entire site out of images with text embedded.
Search engines can't read images. They began
as an encyclopedia type resource where people
came for information. To them, text (or content)
does just that. An image intensive website,
especially at the top, doesn't tell you site
visitor what your site is about right when they
get there. If text is to be used in images,
they should be created as background images
with text on top.
Cal
Coast Web Design Support FAQ's
How
do I add an item to my "to do list"?
Log into your
http://www.ccwdsupport.com interface, and
click on the To Do List link. You
will see your existing "to do" list.
At the bottom, there is a box to add a new item.
Type your request into the box. Then,
to the right of the box there is a drop down
menu to prioritize your request. Choose
a priority, then click on the button that says
Add Record. After your record has
been added, you will see a confirmation on the
screen.
I
added an item to do, but I want to change its
priority.
Please email
info@calcoastwebdesign.com so we can make
the update for you.
I got an error page when I pressed
Add Record in my support center. Why?
It is possible you typed
a character into the box which caused a programming
conflict. The system will occasionally
reject items with quotation marks, apostrophe's,
or semicolons. Try retyping your request
without these items of punctuation.
How
do I resolve a query?
Cal Coast has designed the system so clients
can add queries but only CCWD employees can
resolve queries. If by chance you solve
your own query before we do, please send
an email to and let us know you would like
the query resolved.
Why
haven't you resolved my queries yet?
All queries are important to us, and we attempt
to resolve them as soon as possible. We
start with the most important queries on your
to do list, and then move down to the
least important. Sometimes, we run out
of 'hours' each month, and queries will move
on to the next month. All CCWD clients
determine a MAX hour limit, so we do not surpass
your budget. If you would like to adjust
your max hours, please email
info@calcoastwebdesign.com and we would
be happy to adjust accordingly.
How
many hours per month are you working for me?
Log into your http://www.ccwdsupport.com
interface, and click on the Hour Logs
link. A list of all hours worked will
appear for you in order, with the most recent
work at the top.
How
much is my bill this month?
Log into your
http://www.ccwdsupport.com interface, and
click on the Payment Info link.
This page will show you amounts currently due,
and amounts past due.
How
can I obtain my payment history?
Log into your interface, and click on the Payment
Info link. Then click on the Payment
History link below your total amount due.
This will take you to a payment history page,
which describes all bills and payments for your
account. Please remember this section
was only started in October, so if you would
like history before that time, email
Kim@CalCoastWebDesign.com .
What
are Web Reports?
Your Web Reports section stores your monthly
Search Engine reports. If you would
like to see the progress that you have made
in the search engines, this is the section to
use. Month 1 is the first month that you
were a Cal Coast client. Each monthly
report has been uploaded for your convenience.
One
or more of my Web Reports is missing.
Why?
Unfortunately this July our computer storing
the web report archives failed. We were
able to retrieve some reports, but not all.
If you notice a report is missing, but you have
it in YOUR files, please forward us the report
and we would be happy to upload it to the interface
for you. We are sorry for any inconvenience
this may have caused.
How
can I change my username or password?
Email
info@calcoastwebdesign.com with the new
login information you wish to have, and we will
be happy to update your login and password for
you.
Real
Estate General
Why
do I need TrackMy on my site?
We know Trackmy is expensive
but its well worth it and here's why.
All those people in your database are getting
listing updates from you on a regular basis,
but you don't even have to lift a finger!
If you were to pay an assistant to do this,
they would probably not be able to do as efficient
of a job, and you would probably be paying them
at least 20K yearly.
In addition, the trackmy database is the main
call to action on your website. If you
were to eliminate it you may still have IDX
through Advanced Access, but that system does
not grab their name and email address or you
the way Trackmy does. Trackmy also does
a lot of neat things that many agents don’t
know about. If you don’t feel you're
using it effectively a representative from Cal
Coast would be happy to meet with you and show
you how to make it work better for you!
Advanced
Access Clients
How
do I select a new Search Engine friendly Advanced
Access template?
You would want to pick a
template that is open on top, we need a lot
of free space so we can optimize for search
engines.
To view the templates you have to choose from
we will include some instructions:
1. scroll down to the bottom of the homepage
and click on the lock on the right hand side
2. type in password
3. click on Design center
4. click on template manager
5. Click view templates
6. scroll through all templates AA has to offer
Domain
& Hosting FAQs
How
do I renew my domain name, hosting or other
Wild West Domain Product?
When your domain or hosting is about to
expire you will receive emails from Cal Coast
Web Design sponsored by Wild West Domains.
Please be sure to click on the renew link in
the emails you were sent to renew the product
it if you are still utilizing it or wish to
han gonto it..
You
may also choose to go straight to
CalCoastWebDesign.com and click on "Register
A Domain Name" in the nav or "Login
to Domain or Hosting Account" in the content
below.
Click
HERE to go straight there now!
Once there, select "My Account" and
then login with your username and password.
From here you can select "Domain Names,"
"Hosting," or other product you wish
to renew from the "My Products" section.
From here you can click on "renew"
next to the item you want and follow onscreen
prompts.
Plesae note that we are resellers of the product
so there will be prompts to buy other products
along the way. Rest assured non of them are
neccessary to your sites success online. If
you have any questios about these products please
feell free to contcat a rep.
Now
you are ready to go ahead and check out with
your items. Simply fill in the coordinating
variables and submit. You will receive an email
confirmation with your purchase.
I
have multiple domain names that all have the
same website content on them. Why do I need
to "un-mask" and forward them all
to one main domain?
Often time we use multiple domain
names to go to the same site for marketing purposes.
This is okay. But if you are looking to optimize
your business in the search engines, you will
need to make a couple modifications to the way
those domains function. The main purpose is
to focus the SEO one one site. The reason we
focus optimization on just one of the sites
is because, when you have 3 domains that all
have the same content or same website that appears,
the search engines perceive it as duplicate
content. Duplicate content is not indexed in
the search engines. We only optimize one of
the sites or essentially you would just be competing
with yourself and making it harder to get results.
The
solution for making these sites function as
they do now while still receiving the benefit
of SEO is to "unmask"
the other 2 domains that are not your main focus
for SEO. Essentially what this means is that
when someone types in domainA.com or domainB.com
they are sent to domainA.com. Right now when
you type in domainA.com or domainB.com in the
address bar, the domain name stays the same,
making it appear to the search engines that
it is dup content. If you simply type in the
other domains and it sends you to domainA.com,
you are still getting the same content. .
 Click
here to CONTACT A CAL COAST REP right away!
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