Digital Marketing by Patrick LaJuett

Doing a bit of searching this morning, and was quite surprised to not find a succinct weekly SEO checklist.  So I decided to take a few minutes to outline my approach.  Hope it helps! Monthly SEO Tasks 2019   Research: Industry, competition, target audience, target keywords. Tools: Google, Answer the Public, Word Tracker, Ubersuggest, Excel. Website Maintenance: Create backups, check for broken links, fix spelling errors. Tools: Plesk, Expression Web Weekly SEO Tasks 2019   Monitor Performance: Traffic analysis, CTR, keywords, sources, devices, demographics, funnels. Tools: Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Data Studio by Google Website Audits: Check for valid HTML structure, URLs, metatags, mobile friendliness. Tools: Screaming Frog, Google Search Console, Varvy, Siteliner, Think with Google Create Content: Create core site pages, write Blog posts Tools: Blogger, Grammarly, Expression Web, Notepad, XML sitemap Social Sharing: Sprea...

10 Questions Your Web Designer Should Ask You Here are ten questions I ask as part of the initial sales call and web design project kickoff meeting: Who is your target audience? (b2b, b2c, etc.) Where is your target audience located? (local, regional, national, global) Description of your 'typical' client? (general public, professional, hobbyist, etc.) What is the primary goal of your website? (sell, acquire, inform, etc.) Who are your main competitors? What marketing are you currently doing? (tv, radio, web, print ads, etc.) What are your branding guidelines? (logo, colors, typeface, etc.) What types of graphic files can you provide? (photos, graphics, icons, etc.) Do you have a content author available? (text, articles, social media, etc.) Do you have access to your current website analytics data? Each project is different, but this helps get us on the same page. For more etailed info, here is my " 6D Development Process " for Website Design Proj...

Make Sure Your Website is Mobile Friendly. Earlier this year, Google Search expanded its use of mobile-friendliness as a "ranking signal". This change affected mobile searches worldwide and had a significant impact on Google Search results. Google's Mobile-Friendly Test Tool How to get the“mobile-friendly” label from Google. Avoid software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash Use text that is readable without zooming Size content to the screen so users don't have to scroll horizontally or zoom Place links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped If you want to make sure that your page meets the mobile-friendly criteria: Check your pages with the Mobile-Friendly Test . Read Google's updated documentation, " Webmasters Mobile Guide " on how to create and improve your mobile site...

12 steps to follow for a building a successful WordPress site. Set-up a basic Linux hosting plan on a secure server environment. Bluehost, 1&1, GoDaddy, etc. Install the WordPress application (should be a 1-click install via host control panel) Purchase and install a WordPress theme Themeforest is a good place to start TIP - Make sure it passes Google's mobile friendly-test Customize the WordPress configuration and settings Upload your logo Modify colors to match your brand Set fonts and sizes Create or import content Add pages Author blog posts Upload images Bigstock (fee),  Pixabay (free) Enhance user experience Add desired menus (top, side, footer) Add widgets Connect with social media profiles Install plugins to extend WordPress functionality Security - Wordfence Backups:  BackWPup Search engine optimization - Yoast SEO Test, tweak and test some more Launch Submit website URL to Google Search Console Submit XML Set prefer...

How Do I Appear First in Google Search Results?   Here are best practices for improving your ranking in Google search results: Provide high quality content on your site. Google tries to find the best answer for our users’ requests; if you write the best material, you’re in the game.   Make your site mobile friendly. Many users search on mobile devices; Google’s search results favor pages that they think answer the user’s request with the best possible user experience on their platform.   Use informative titles and snippets. Good, clear titles and accurate meta tag descriptions help Google understand the purpose of a page and generate useful snippets in our search results.   Add structured data to enable additional search result features such as stars, event information, or site search boxes.   Make sure that you follow Google’s guidelines and avoid pitfalls that could affect your ratings. Patrick LaJuett manages a website design agency : + LaJ...

How to Disable Comments in WordPress 1. This applies to new posts that you will publish from now on: Navigate to Settings > Discussion > Uncheck "Allow people to post comments on new articles". 2. To disallow comments from already publish posts: Navigate to Posts > Select all and "Edit" under bulk actions and hit apply > Choose "do not allow" next to comments and click update posts. Patrick LaJuett manages a website design agency : + LaJuett.com , where he supports clients as a Web technology consultant and search marketing strategy adviser.

More Clickable Ad Banners It's been a while since I designed online ad banners.  Back in the mid-2000s, I did a lot of them for AOL's YP ad campaigns.  The small size constraints certainly can present a challenge.  Here are some things I have learned over the past decade or so. MY TOP 10 AD BANNER DESIGN TIPS: Use standard size ads ( https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/6002621?hl=en ) Make text as large as possible for legibility Adhere to existing branding specs Use glows and shadows to help text "pop" Use visually interesting photos Compress files as much as possible Test color blindness rendering ( http://color-blindness.com/coblis-color-blindness-simulator ) Incorporate ad size into naming conventions (i.e., WW-Puget-336x280) Get approval on one ad size before creating additional sizes A/B test design variations as well as call-to-action text Here are some example of our recent ad banner designs... Patri...

Recommended WordPress SEO Steps These are the baseline steps I take when optimizing a WordPress website for search: Backup Plugin- Install  BackWPup : **Run backup job before installing plugins** Security Plugin - Install  Wordfence : Keep WordPress core and plugins up-to-date Organic SEO Plugin: Install WordPress SEO by Yoast Customize all Page Titles & Meta Tags Utilize Google Webmaster Tools Utilize Bing Webmaster Tools Tracking Plugin: Install Google Analytics -  Google Analytics by Yoast Performance Plugin: Install PageSpeed -  GZip Ninja Speed Note: The plugins listed are my recommendations only.  Many alternatives are available, just make sure they are compatible with your version of WP. Patrick LaJuett manages a website design agency : + LaJuett.com , where he supports clients as a Web technology consultant and search marketing strategy adviser.

How to embed an image slider in Google Sites I found a simple little jQuery image slider that can be easily embedded into Google Sites.  It is fast loading and adapts well when rendering on mobile devices.  Here are the steps I use: Get Unslider: The jQuery slider that just slides. No fancy effects or unnecessary markup, and it’s less than 3kb. Developer page:  http://unslider.com Download files here: unslider-Google-Sites.zip Upload .JS and .HTML files to a new folder in Google Drive Create your banner IMAGES and upload them to the same Drive folder Tip - use a sequential naming convention... 01.JPG, 02.JPG, 03.JPG Modify the inline CSS contained in file unslider.html Modify the transition speed and image timing in file unslider.min.js Share the Google Drive folder and all of contents Copy the URL from share link Insert an iFrame gadget in Google Sites Configure the iFrame gadget settings Paste URL: https://googledrive.com/host/ 0BwbEKZDYh_HCbGw...

10 Social Media Practices to Focus On in 2014 My top ten list of social media practices to utilize in the upcoming year. Publish often - Daily or weekly if possible Listen and respond - Let your customers know that you care Don't talk down to your audience - Be clear and succinct Integrate with your core website - Hook into existing streams and feeds Experiment -  Try social networks you have not yet used (Tumblr, Instagram, etc.) Hash it out - Use hash tags to help people find your content #ilovehashtags #organizeandtag Comment and reply -  Converse about things you are passionate about Be generous - Share your knowledge Establish authority - Own your niche Be thoughtful  - Humility and kindness go a long way Happy and prosperous 2014 to all! Patrick LaJuett manages a website design agency : + LaJuett.com , where he supports clients as a Web technology consultant and search marketing strategy adviser.

A look at the new "Search Appearance Overview" pop-up window that appears in the updated Webmaster Tools UI. I didn't catch this until recently, but Google has added a nifty little tool to help explain search results elements, and how we can influence the data they contain. Next time you login to Webmaster Tools , look for the Search Appearance interactive pop-up tool. It's accessed via the information (i) icon located in the left-hand menu: Webmaster Tools Search Appearance Overview When you hover over and click specific elements, a bubble will reveal helper text along with clickable links over to Google's Webmaster Tools help screens. Source: Google Webmaster Tools Title Element Write informative, relevant descriptions in the HTML title tag for each webpage. In Webmaster Tools use the HTML Improvements feature to help optimize the title tags on your site. Snippet  Element Provide an accurate, succinct summary of the page’s content in its m...

How to Organically Optimize Google Sites for Search Here are the simple or baseline steps I take when performing SEO on a Google Sites website.  It is not a complete list of Google Sites SEO techniques, but the minimum that I recommend.  I hope you find it helpful: 1. Use keywords in Google Sites Name (i.e., Jeep FC-150 | 1959 Forward Control) 2. Make sure Page Titles are unique (i.e., Jeep FC-150 Specs) 3. Use keywords in Page Descriptions (i.e., Collection of Willys forward control Jeep print ads...) 4. Create a custom footer with name of company (i.e., Copyright 2013 My Jeep FC-150...) 5. Add a new Announcements page populated with interesting keyword rich posts* 6. Enable the auto-generated sitemap page in the links configuration 7. Register a domain with name of company, geographic identifier or service description (i.e., jeepfc150.com) 8. Map custom domain to Google Site 9. Submit sitemap.xml to Go...

 I go through a similar explanation almost every time I pitch a new customer. Very well done and easy to understand.