King Web Design Blog
The Benefits of Joomla 2.5

Upgrade to Joomla 2.5At long last the Joomla development team have produced the next iteration of Joomla, version 2.5. This newest version is not a simple update, but rather a complete rewrite of the Joomla engine that was 3 years in the making. Along with this major overhaul comes several enhancements that increase security, website performance, search engine optimization, and ease-of-use.

Benefits of Joomla 2.5

1. Search Engine friendly. The way the website is rendered makes it more search engine friendly. It's much easier for Google to identify important content and keywords, which will improve the foundation for your internet presence and search engine ranking. Joomla's new SEO is a great step forward!

2. More browser compliant. Joomla 2.5 uses newer standards of HTML5 to ensure your website remains viewable in all major browsers.

3. Tighter security. The database has been hardened to prevent brute force attacks. The PHP framework has also fixed many holes and security vulnerabilities that were present in the old 1.5 framework.

4. Easier upgrade process. When newer versions of Joomla 2.5 and security updates are released, you can update the website by using a one-click method which makes it very easy to keep the website secure and up-to-date.

5. Streamlined back end. The user interface in the back end is much more consistent and easier to use. It also allows you to have much more control over permissions and user management.

Should I upgrade to Joomla 2.5?

Security releases for the old Joomla 1.5 will end April 2012, meaning there will be no more support from the dev team. If you want to keep your website up-to-date to prevent getting hacked, then you should definitely upgrade. If you want your site to have better page rank on the search engines, then you should upgrade. Basically, if you care about your web presence, then Joomla 2.5 is for you.

Please note, however, that moving into Joomla 2.5 is not an easy process that can be done by the average user. Though the term "upgrade" is used, it is more of a data migration. The procedure for migrating to Joomla 2.5 can be complex and is not fool proof, so it is strongly encouraged to hire a Joomla professional who has experience with the process. Otherwise, your website could be destroyed or seriously damaged.

Will my website design change?

Absolurtely not (unless you want a change)! The template that makes up your design may need modification to make it compatible with Joomla 2.5, but the design and layout of your website will remain intact.

We are here to help!

King Web Design has performed many Joomla migrations, and we wouold be happy to provide any assistance needed to help move your website forward and take full advantage of the new features of Joomla 2.5. Contact us today for a free estimate for your website migration.
 
How to Increase Traffic to Your Website

Increase Website Traffic

Increasing traffic to your website is a lot of work, but it can be done if your practice patience and maintain a diligent attitude. Sure, there are always Pay-Per-Click campaigns, but once you stop paying for the clicks, the traffic to your website stops as well. By making a good solid effort, you can keep some of that hard-earned money in your pocket and your efforts will return in dividends in the long run.

Start a blog

Blogs are a great way to educate your customers as well as put you in the position of being an expert. Chances are pretty good that your existing and potential clients have questions about your products or services. Do you get asked the same questions time and time again? Go ahead and write a blog post about it! It will engage the visitors on your website as they most likely have the same questions. In addition, all those blog posts about your products and services will give Google tons of juicy keywords to help improve your SEO and page rank. Blogging can be difficult, but you must write a post at least once per week to maximize your efforts. If you get stuck for ideas, trying browsing other blogs that pertain to your industry for ideas. 

Ideally, you want your blog to look as close to your main website as possible, or even be integrated with your website. Contact us and we would be happy to find the best solution for you.

Social Media

Social media hubs such as Facebook and Twitter are great places to have discussions about your products and services, or even special offers. Not only will you meet potential clients, but you may even make a few friends or find a referral partner. Remember to link to your blog posts and landing pages on your website as those backlinks will help increase your page rank and draw traffic. Ideally, social media and your blog can work hand-in-hand. If you need inspiration, follow others in your industry on Twitter and see what types of things they are posting. They will most likely be able to point you to some great archives of ideas.

King Web Design is on Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to follow us and get inspired!

Email Marketing

Before you go off sending out tons of spam to your existing and potential clients, pause for a moment and think about the types of things you wouldn't mind finding in your inbox. Special offers, free downloads, industry white papers, and interesting news are just a few things you can utilize in an email campaign. You can also include a snippet of a recent blog post or link to an interesting discussion on Facebook. Essentially,  send out information that interests your readers and draws them to your website for more information.

Hopefully, these ideas will help get you jump-started and begin building essential backlinks and traffic to your website. The key is to not try to do everything all at once. Start out with your blog and build from there. Slowly add in the social media and email marketing pieces and over time, you will have developed a routine that maximizes your time and efforts.

If King Web Design can be of any assistance, please contact us for a free consultation.
 
SEO: Getting the Right Keywords

Are you using the right keywords in your website content and meta tags? Understanding the right keywords for your industry is critical if you want your website or blog to appear in search engine results. Here are a few tips that will help you identify good keywords and also see what your competition is using.

Identify Key Words

The first step is to know what the keywords are for your industry. Every industry has certain buzz words that entice potential customers. Pretend that you know nothing about your product or service, and you are a potential customer doing a Google search. What search terms might you use? Try to think like your customers and get inside their heads. Remember, these are buzz words that target your customer, not technical words you might use with a colleague.

Take advantage of Google's free Keyword Tool to find out what people are searching for globally and nationally. In general, the Keyword Tool is just to give you an idea of what people are searching for and should help you to narrow down what keywords you want to build into your website. Just enter some basic keywords for your industry or a website that is ranking well and the Keyword Tool will return a list of results showing what words are searched for the most.

In the end, you will want about 20 keywords Remember to include words such as your state, state abbreviation, and any cities you want to target., Also, choose the words you feel are the most appropriate for your business.

Check Out The Source Code

Find another website in your industry that ranks well in Google search. Then, check out the source code to identify what keywords they are using. In most web browsers, there is an option to View Source under the Tools or Page options. A new window should pop up with a bunch of code called HTML. Towards the top, look for some text that says meta name="description". Following that bit of text you should see lots of keywords seperated by commas. Examine their keywords and the list you took from the Keyword Tool. How many matches are there between the two lists? Examine several other well-ranking sites and by the end, you should have a healthy list of good relevant keywords.

Writing Good Content

Armed with a list of good keywords, start building them into the content of your website. In general, you want each keyword to be about 2% of your content. If you have 100 words, then each keyword should be used twice. Remember to not cram your keywords into unnatural positions. Using the same word multiple times within a sentence will come across as weird for your readers and customers. In the end, your content needs to be readable by people, too, not just search engines.
 
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