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Ben Kemp Articles

Written by: Ben Kemp

Best Practice in Website Redesign: Part 1 - Redirection - Click To Read Article
Website redesign proposal checklists should take careful account of the current status of the existing website. Rather than just rush headlong into the web redesign / rebuild process, an assessment of the good and bad elements of the original site should be made. Include consideration of SEO aspects. All to often, the website makeover results in a dramatic downturn in search engine rankings! Don't underestimate the value of the existing indexed pages... or the benefits of current organic SERPs.

Best Practice in Website Redesign: Part 2 - Website Architecture - Click To Read Article
Website architecture can make or break a site's chances of achieving prominence in the search engine results pages. These's usually no one single element at issue, more a combination of items that collectively add up to an overly high impediment to search engines. Improper use of Flash and JavaScript are common culprits, as is failure to use the most basic of website building blocks.

Best Practice in Website Redesign: Part 3 - Off-Page Content - Click To Read Article
In this third article on redesigning a website, we are going to look closely at off-page content issues, such as meta-tags, links, domain names etc. The examples shown in the series of articles illustrate that its not the tools, its the quality of workmanship that makes the difference. If you're a website designer, you owe it to your clients to ensure you do more good than harm! If your stupidity causes the newly rebuilt website to vanish off Google's radar screen, it does not matter one iota if the site looks stunning!

Website Wipeouts - Flash, Splash & Crash - Click To Read Article
Getting a website to actively support, let alone expand your business through the acquisition of new customers is not easy. Frequently, its made more difficult by selection of inappropriate technologies as the platform, or inappropriate use or placement of those technologies in areas that would be best managed in a more intelligent way. Added to that initial misjudgement are sequential failures to address the basic "rules of engagement" in the interactions with your website visitors.

FaceBook Follies - Click To Read Article
From a purely business perspective, FaceBook makes no sense to me at all. Lemmings the world over are signed up by the millions because to exist in business, it seems mission-critical to be on FaceBook! Really? Apparently, the primary user base is still kids, students, families, budding entrepreneurs and befuddled geniuses... Those demographics should sound the "zero ROI" marketing alarm for any intelligently run business. Sophos's "Security Threat Report 2010" polled over 500 firms, 60% of whom responded that they believed that FaceBook was the social network that posed the biggest threat to security. That's aside from the billions of dollars of lost productivity!

Google Supplemental Index - aka - All The Other Crap We Found - Click To Read Article
Google Supplemental Results Index is NOT a place you want to be! The way you end up in there is if your pages are so badly described or categorised, Google could scarecely decide if there was a difference between them. They had no option but to park them in the "Other Crap We Found" bin...

Suicide in Cyberspace - Your Outward Links Can Kill Your Rankings - Click To Read Article
Link building strategies have, for most people for a long time, revolved around reciprocal link exchanges. But the rules have changed significantly and some types of links are bad - and they are going to put a world of hurt on your rankings!

Content Management Systems & SEO Revisited - Click To Read Article
Two years ago, in an article entitled "Content Management Systems Equal Business Suicide" I suggested that at that time, CMS applications were inherently devoid of basic SEO functionality. Using existing CMS versions of 2 years ago consigned many sites to the oblivion of Google's supplementary index. Since then, things have changed markedly.

The WHY of SEO - A Thermal Lifejacket for the Economic Ice Age! - Click To Read Article
Despite the many and varied articles written on how SEO is done, most people have only a vague appreciation of WHY it is absolutely essential. As the economic downturn bites into revenue streams, can you afford to ignore a key website business strategy?

12-Pack of Condoms for WordPress STD's - Click To Read Article
Wordpress STD's (Security Transgression Defilements) are a common occurrence. WordPress-powered CMS websites are far from being immune to hackers, although the latest release/s address many earlier security issues. WordPress, like other content management systems and forums such as phpBB, vBulletin, is a major target for hackers and spammers. Basic prophylactic measures, or condoms for WordPress STDs, need not be complicated or expensive.

Website Idiosyncrasies & Content Duplication Idiocies - Click To Read Article
The laziest amongst us, those with an allergy to original thought, and those who hate writing the most are almost always adamant that unique content is over-rated, unnecessary or even pointless. One of the website content frustrations I frequently endure is the failure, on the part of others, to comprehend the value of accuracy and uniqueness. There is intransigence in that respect, particularly on the part of some designers of e-commerce and content management systems. It is indicative of 3 parts of ignorance, arrogance and stupidity, in almost equal measure...

So, You Thought YOU Owned Your Website? - Click To Read Article
As part of being an SEO consultant, I’m frequently asked to conduct SEO Audits on potential client’s websites. Amongst sundry other tasks, I always check to see who the legal owner of the site is. With surprising regularity, it turns out NOT to be the guy who commissioned the report, and who mistakenly thinks HE (or she) is the rightful owner! There is more than one aspect to this…

WWW Need Not Mean WordPress Website Woes! - Click To Read Article
If you're a website designer, engaged in a website rebuild or makeover, you owe it to your clients to ensure you do more good than harm in the process! If your stupidity causes the newly rebuilt website to vanish off Google's radar screen, it does not matter one iota if the site looks stunning!

10 Search Engine Optimisation Tips For WordPress Blogs - Click To Read Article
Search engine optimisation for WordPress is essential if you are to gain maximum traction from your efforts. However, the default installation of WordPress does not include the most basic SEO functionality and generates unintelligible URLs, generic Page Titles and neither Description nor Keyword meta-tags. That search engines hate duplicate content is a given - and 3 of the key indicators are page URL, Title and Description! Fortunately, SEO for WordPress is facilitated by the concept of "plugins" or easily installed mini-applications which provide specific functionality. Here are six essential enhancements to WordPress that will make a huge difference in the qualified traffic your blog delivers to you!





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