Mystic Liquid

Small business website design is more than creating a shopping cart with product images. It’s about creating a positive experience that will hopefully cause a customer to return. You want it to be easy to use, function properly, and look pleasing. There isn’t much to it you would think but it’s not as easy as it seems.

Mystic Liquid tries to focus on three principles of small business website design that apply to all websites.

The first is Simplicity

This is such an important principle, that it can easily be made into the top three web design principles all by itself. The important thing to always remember is that a web site must be designed to be as user friendly as possible and that is because of two main reasons. These are:

You want to make it easy for any future updates.

You want to make it simple for a user to navigate quickly and seamlessly.

This applies to all aspects of the website, from the design, to structure and the code.

Our next principle is its Modularity

All websites should be built and designed in a modular manner. What this means is that you want to create the site as a series of modules/components instead of a run-on sentence.

Doing so entails actions such as creating logical divisions in the site structure. Simple things like extracting out common elements like footers and using ‘include’ procedures to reinsert those elements back into your pages. Another option is to use external CSS style sheets rather than embedding it into your pages.

Modularity helps comply with the simplicity of the design as mentioned above. The thing I like most is that it cuts back on time and effort.

The final principle is the website’s Balance

The balance in a web page is one of those design aspects I see so many other designers take too lightly or forget completely. You need to balance out how much information is delivered on a page. You are basically deciding how much “stuff” to put on a page.

Do you want the page to be simple to look at or would you prefer it to be busy and exciting? These are two important questions when creating the balance. Just be careful that if you create a page that is too busy and overwhelming, more than likely a user will find it to be a distraction and will leave the site.

It’s Valentine’s Day and the love is all around. With said, I would like to let everyone know that we love building websites and SEO. We wake up the morning and think about what great ideas we can try today and it fills our hearts with that anxious feeling you get staring into the eyes of someone you care about….ok, maybe not that much!

All over-dramatics aside, we do enjoy creating websites for Scranton small businesses as well as enjoy the fact we are the leader in the Scranton SEO field but it didn’t happen overnight. Learning about the different intricacies of website design and better yet all the different theories behind search engine optimization is a large task. The trick is knowing where to look. Here are a few posts that I read over the past few days I found extremely helpful. I hope you do to.

Search Engine Land has a fantastic write up on why they love small business SEO.

Lisa at Bruce Clay wrote an informative piece on 6 easy steps of SEO.

Aaron Wall has a video explaining why business owners need to start blogging immediately.

Brian Clark at Copyblogger has another great post on writing innovative and interactive content.

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day and give that special someone a day to remember.

Domains, Domains, Domains

One of the reasons Mystic Liquid has become the leader in the Scranton SEO industry is because from day one we understood the importance of the right domain. Before any SEO campaign is started, heck even before a website is built, we begin the task of finding the perfect domain name to suit all of a clients needs now and for the future. It is hands down one of the more underrated steps during the process of on-site optimization.

The right domain name can make or break a website for both SEO and user purposes. In the eyes of a user, a domain name works towards forming impressions about your online credibility. A well-chosen and relevant name works to develop a good, lasting impression in the minds of those current and potential customers.

If your website is trying to create a new brand or develop a new niche in the market, register a domain name that contains as few characters as possible. Make it short and easily recognizable for those lesser experienced web users and above all avoid using multiple hyphens.

Search Engines Love Relevant Domain Names

For SEO purposes a good domain name is crucial. Think about it. It’s the first thing the search engines see when they find your website. When we are choosing the right domain name, we want it to contain at least one or two of the major keywords you are trying to rank for. Thus by doing so, search engines automatically assume you are an authority on those keywords.

It isn’t a bad idea to put together your site’s goals, keywords and objectives before choosing one. The domain name states what you do best, instead of just what you do and is wonderful way to develop a long-term online brand, supplement a brand as well as a short-term traffic catcher. If it is at all possible, choose one that describes the product or service you are offering.

A catchy name that sticks in the minds of users is also a plus when looking for the perfect combination of words. Take Mystic Liquid or Equator Live for example. Someone may not remember what we do perhaps but they certainly will remember exciting names like these!

The Down Side of a Bad Domain Name

A poor domain name leaves your website looking non-credible and potentially unreliable. Two things you don’t want to be when trying to build authority and business.

If your domain name does not contain any keywords on the subject matter or theme of your site, I wouldn’t expect to see any type of ranking benefits from the search engines.

I’ve also seen a few shady webmasters try black-hat tactics such as keyword-stuffing just to see their sites banned from the SERP’s pages due to these spammy tactics.

Take the Time to Find the Right One

As you can see choosing a domain name isn’t just something you can go on a whim. After you found one that you think would work for you, visit some of the more reputable registrars such as GoDaddy or Blue Host. They offer easy to use tools to help find relevant domain names based on the keywords you want your website to rank for.