Web Designer 6 & SEO

For the past 6 years I have been designing websites for small businesses using FrontPage 2003, however, I have purchased Web Designer 6 and am keen to use it for my clients. However my dilemma is that many of my clients employ the services of a SEO company, which often makes changes to the website. I am wondering how can I manage this?

Usually I provide FTP details to the SEO company, who downloads the client's website, makes the changes and uploads it again. I then synchronise the remote website with my local copy.

However, I am wondering if the SEO company makes changes to the HTML website, do I then need to download the HTML website from the remote server, import it into .web before I can make changes?

Many thanks

Welcome to TG,

First of all I should point out that Web Designer is not a HTML editor, so you cannot import HTML for editing.

Editing of the exported HTML is generally not recommended, though not impossible.
However, if you need to make changes to the .web file and re export and publish, all of the SEO work will need to be done again.

So you see it might be tricky to sychronise all this.

Thank you for your quick response.

Do you have any suggestions on how this could be overcome please?

I know one of the things the SEO company does is place <h> tags in the document. Is that something I could do myself?

I have only just started using Xara Webdesigner and I love how easy it is to work with, but I am trying to wrap my mind around certain tasks. I've been reading as much as I can in the Help menu and watching the videos, but one thing I could not find is how I link text to a pdf file, for example. I have imported a pdf file, using the import function and it displays as a small pdf icon, which opens up the pdf file. What I can't work out is where within my .web document the pdf is stored, so that I can link text to it.

I really appreciate your help.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by web4business

I know one of the things the SEO company does is place <h> tags in the document. Is that something I could do myself?

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Header tags have been discussed a number of times at TG.
Before we go any further with that, I'd like to point you to this thread:
► http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=45511

Quote:

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Originally Posted by web4business

I have imported a pdf file, using the import function and it displays as a small pdf icon, which opens up the pdf file. What I can't work out is where within my .web document the pdf is stored, so that I can link text to it.

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PDF files are not stored in the *.web file, they are copied to a support folder in the same location as your saved *.web file. This support folder is used when publishing your finished site, so you have nothing further to do with this.

The steps therefore are:
Add link (as you have done)
Drag'n'drop works well - choose 'Add link' from the pop-up import dialogue:
Attachment 73137

Or you can create a link from text using the Link section of the Web Properties dialogue.
Attachment 73138

The placeholder code is automatically added by Web Designer, nothing further to do.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by web4business

For the past 6 years I have been designing websites for small businesses using FrontPage 2003, however, I have purchased Web Designer 6 and am keen to use it for my clients. However my dilemma is that many of my clients employ the services of a SEO company, which often makes changes to the website. I am wondering how can I manage this?

Many thanks

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Do this yourself (and maybe charge for it too). Implement Google paralytics, the right keywords, meta tags and site map. You can learn all this from google and test it with their tools. Some SEO companies claim this is almost impossible to learn, but with good content, matching keywords and title tags you've done the most important elements that google loves! This can all be implemented in XWD.

Tom

Quote:

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Originally Posted by camelot217

Some SEO companies claim this is almost impossible to learn

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LOL, who taught them then?!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pauland

LOL, who taught them then?!

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"Keywords" some and almost ;-)

I'm not saying they are all bad. But, an awful many are. I get several emails a week from companies that can get me to the top of google. So far I have never been able to find them on the top for SEO companies in their city in google. If they claim they can get me on top how are they not able to get themselves on top? After asking that I never hear from them again.

I know, these are the bad ones. If you need one, just type SEO in your city and pick the one on top.

To separate the good from the bad there are some good tips here:
http://www.google.com/support/webmas...n&answer=35291

Tom

I won't be engaging any SEO specialists. It's not something that bothers me. If I wanted to start traffic I'd do it via blogs and contributions to various sites as well as do the "obvious" SEO stuff (whether it works or not).

Quote:

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with good content, matching keywords and title tags you've done the most important elements that google loves

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So true. There's a lot of mysticism out there about SEO - some fact, some fiction, but good, relavent content, moderately consistent site updates/changes, title tags, maybe a few meta keywords and a description, a good domain name, and a few other things seem to work just great. My main company site, with no SEO expert involved at any level hits #1-#3 on google for "spam and virus prevention" (typed without the quotes). Granted this is a hand coded site, but take a look at the title tag on the page that pops the search engine.

I have an H1 tag on that same page for "Spam and virus protection" but that term has me out on like page 10.

If you really want to use Xara AND keep your SEO person, it would probably work out best if they just told you what changes they wanted to make. Seems like they should be open with you about the changes that they are making. This would "keep them honest" as well, as you would know that changes were actually being made.

If all they are doing is changing around meta tags or something, then you need to find someone else (or do it yourself) anyway.

Hope this helps.

Aren't SEO companies wonderful human beings?!

Don't believe the hype, as mentioned above follow the simple rules and you can get your clients site fairly high in the rankings with xara. I have done a website for a customer who hires out aquariums to offices etc. I have managed to get his website number 1 on google for his chosen keywords of Aquarium Hire Shipley/Bradford/Bingley/Ilkley etc and in the top 3 or 4 for Aquarium Hire leeds/Huddersfield/Halifax/Otley etc and in the top 10 for Aquariums Hire in the UK, as well as well placed for Fish tank hire etc. This was done without any H1, H2 tags etc and I've never really done any SEO before, everything i learnt I did by partly reading all the posts on here and a search of google. MY personal opinion at the moment is:

1. Get your keyword in the domain name if you can
2. Get the keyword in the page title
3. Get the keyword in the description
4. Repeat everything in the description on the page itself
Make sure to include the target location (town, city etc) in 2, 3 and 4

I also typed a keyword into google and checked what all the top 10 had in common in terms of weighting of Keywords. meta tags, Heading Tags, Domain name keywords and Page Title Keywords and came to the above conclusion. SEO companies talk alot these days about in=bound links from top ranking sites etc but I don't think they are as important as people think. Get the client to join as many business directories as they can or do it for them and charge them.

I get quite a few emails from SEO companies promising to take one of my websites to the top of the search engines by using the best and latest optimizing tools and techniques. When I ask them why they are not ranked on the top themselves for SEO optimization I seldom get a reply. I can't imagine marketing something that does not work for my business. I realize this market has lots of competition, but still show me that what you sell works for you too.


Tom

Hi Tom,

You have nailed it. SEO is more hype than fact. There are things that can be done to make a site hit the top of a search engines listings, but how long it will remain there is subject to many variables. Not the least of which is the search engine companies' methodology that may change at any point in time.

I have to say I'm mightily sick of the suggestion that these threads give that twiddling with a web page leads automatically to google stardom. These threads just ignore the other ways that sites get promoted -principally referential links from other sites and the frequency of searches made via the search engines. A lot of these links and searches are made on the basis of old-fashioned hard work on publicising the site in venues beyond the website itself - newsletters, emails, forums, review sites and specialist discussion sites, either as direct publicity or as the source for some product or service. Nor should we forget the old-fashioned advertising methods - newspapers, magazines, pamphlets and even signage on vehicles.

So don't expect stardom on the basis of tweaking the website alone - you have to do some actual work to let the world you're out there. As they say, web site success breeds success and I've no doubt that web site searches for your site/service/product/company helps breed search success also.

Of course, not getting success could just as well be about having a poor site/product/service and word of mouth discourages other visitors, not just the lack of a few good keywords. The vast majority of sites I visit I'm not inclined to visit twice or venture beyond the home page and that includes sites created using Xara product!