Blog | 3 Olive Studios

Is your website coded for SEO?

2009-10-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

Follow these tips below to make sure your website is coded properly for SEO:

1. Optimize images: Always use the alt tag to describe every image. It is helpful if one of your keywords describes the image.

2. Use Headers (H1, H2 etc...): Use the header tag to add importance to a phrase or a word. Again, including a keyword in a header tag is helpful.

3. Keep your styles external: Use external CSS and JS Style Sheets.

4. Meta Tags: Use Meta Tag descriptions in the head of all your pages. As a rule, go from general descriptors to specific ones.

5. Clean code: Avoid iframes, complicated javascript and messy code.

6. Validate: Validate code with W3 standards.

If you are unsure if your code is optimized for search engines, 3 Olive Studios offers a FREE analysis of your code. You can contact us at info@3olivestudios.com.

www.3olivestudios.com

Things that will hurt your SEO

2009-10-20T19:21:00.000-07:00

There are many ways to increase your SEO and subsequently get more traffic to your site. BUT there are also ways that can hurt it resulting in lower page rankings.

Make sure you (or your web designer or online marketer) are NOT doing the following:

1. DO NOT Build the site using Tables. This structure makes it harder for search engines to find your relevant content.
2. DO NOT Build the site using a lot of frames
3. DO NOT Over-optimize a page for keywords (Google will pick up on "keyword stuffing" and not index your site)
4. DO NOT Repeat content on different HTML pages.
5. DO NOT Use text colors that are similar to their background colors.
Google may interpret your text as being cloaked (as in, trying to trick the search engine into seeing something that the user does not see).
6. DO NOT use inline styles. Make sure that your javascript and css are in external style sheets, so that the search engines can find your relevant content more easily.
7. DO NOT use automated-programs, such as Web Position Gold to help with your SEO. Google specifically reccomends that you do NOT use these programs in their web master guidelines. On that note, make sure your webmaster has read Google’s Web Master Guidelines.

3 Olive Studios in Boston Magazine!

2009-09-10T19:58:00.000-07:00

3 Olive Studios was recently mentioned in Boston Magazine for our work with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Mc Hammer Tweets?

2009-08-31T08:58:00.000-07:00

MC Hammer talks about social media at Harvard's Gravity Summit. TODAY!

Gravity Summit

3 Olive Studios: Music

2009-08-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

3 Olive Studios is currently listening to:
MGMT

Template: Editable attributes

2009-07-23T11:02:00.001-07:00

Template: Making attributes editable:
Use this when you want to keep one template throughout but want to be able to edit certain attributes of an un-editable regions. For example, if you include the navigation links in the main template as one uniform color, but want one of the navigation links to be a different color on it’s corresponding page, the you would need to make that attribute editable.

IN THE HTML TEMPLATE:

1. In the template, have an id and class on each navigation link. For example:

You would have an a href linking it to the about.html page as well but I took it out for simplicity reasons.

2. In dreamweaver, go to splitscreen view. In the code, click on the

. On the bottom of the window (below the design) there is a list of all the divs. Make sure you are on the

by clicking on it. The code will become highlighted after you click on it.

3. In the drop downs, Go to Modify>Templates>Make Attribute Editable.

4. A dialogue window will pop up.
Attribute = CLASS
Check the box
Label = class_about (the name of your class)
Type = Text
Default = Link (You can name this whatever you want. In the CSS, we created classes named “link” and “current”. The link class defines what the navigations will be like as links. On the template you will define all of them with this class. For example, if the links are black, then they will be defined as black in the link state. However, if you want the link of the page you are on to be blue, you would designate this with the “current” state on the respective page.

THE CSS

1. This is saying that whenever the state is link, it will be in the state that is in the dreamweaver template and defined in the id #nav_about:

#nav_about a:link, #nav_about a:visited{

height:29px;

width:91px;

float:left;

text-indent: -100em;

background-image:url(images/nav_about.jpg); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:top left;

}

#nav_about a:hover, #nav_about a:active{

height:29px;

width:91px;

float:left;

text-indent: -100em;

background-image:url(images/nav_about.jpg); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:bottom left;

}

2. This is defining what the link will look like in the current state (it is saying that for all pseudo selectors of link, visited, hover, and active, the link will look like this.
#nav_about .current a:link, #nav_about .current a:visited, #nav_about .current a:hover, #nav_about .current a:active{

height:29px;

width:91px;

float:left;

text-indent: -100em;

background-image:url(images/nav_about.jpg); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:left bottom;
cursor:default;

}
3. .link{}

THE HTML PAGES
1. Make a html page from the template. Name it about.html.
2. Go to Modify>template properties
3. Select the class name, in this case “class_about”
4. At the bottom change class_about to current.

Bullet point in html WITHOUT lists

2009-07-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

This will give a bullet point without using lists:

& #149 ;

(no spaces though)

Blog post: expalin html without blog converting it

2009-07-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

To explain html code in your blog without the blog converting it you can use the textarea tag. See below:

Rollovers in CSS

2009-07-22T19:29:00.001-07:00

CSS rollover: Example: rollover in your navigation

We will create a rollover using only css for our navigation.

1. We are going to start by using illustrator or photoshop to create the on and off states of your navigation. First, Create the off-state of the navigation. In this example the div is 30px by 100px and the navigation is about.

2. Double the height of this document and copy the off-state and paste it in the other half in the exact same position as it is on the upper half. Change the color in the bottom half(or whatever differentiates it as the on-state).

3. Save for web devices

4. In the html, you have something that looks like this:

5. The id is named nav_about. The link goes to the about.html page. The “about” text will not be shown because the css will position the text in this id 100em’s out of the document as you will see in the next step.

6.The css will look something like this:

#nav_about a:link, #nav_about a:visited{
height:30px;
width:100px;
float:left;
text-indent: -100em;
background-image:url(images/nav_about.jpg); background-repeat:no-repeat; background- position:top left;
}

#nav_about a:hover, #nav_about a:active{
height:30px;
width:100px;
float:left;
text-indent: -100em;
background-image:url(images/nav_about.jpg); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:bottom left;
}

7. This basically says that when the link has been visited or is just a link (the off-state) then the background image will be positioned from the top left of the image. In the hover or active state the background image will be positioned from the bottom left and hence show the on-state of the image. The text-indent will position the text in the html out of the document. The height and width is defining the parameters of the div. With a height of 30px, you know that the image that you are using for both the on and off state would be 60px (30x2) in height and 100px wide.

Keyword suggestions

2009-07-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

Quick, easy and FREE way to find keywords:

http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

http://www.trafficzap.com/keysug.php

Here is a "do-it-yourself" way to find your keywords. They may not be the most in depth analysis but it is quick, easy and FREE and will get you on the right track.

A little staff personality:

2009-07-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

Follow two members of our company as they learn to cook:

Booze Kitchen

3 Olive Studios Quick tip: Creating a multi-page PDF

2009-07-13T20:21:00.000-07:00

How to export a multi-page document into a PDF :

To create a multi-page PDF, go to:
1. Acrobat Reader>File>Create PDF>Merge Files into a single PDF
2. "Add Files"- Choose the files you would like to merge into one PDF (in the order you would like them to appear)
3. Click "Combine Files" in the lower right-hand corner
4. And you have your multi-page PDF

3 Olive Studios Quick tip: Photoshop and batching

2009-07-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

1. In Photoshop cs4 go to windows>actions. This will bring up the actions palette.

2. In the drop down menu of the actions palette (the little down arrow in the upper right-hand corner), select "new action".

3. Name the action and assign a function key (for example,name: resize; function key: f1). Assigning a function key will allow the action or actions to occur everytime you press that key.

4. Press record

5.Everything you do after you press record will be part of this action until you press stop. So, for example, if you want to resize photos to 100x100, then (with one photo open) press record, go to object>image resize>100x100>ok> and then PRESS STOP. If you assigned the function key 'f1' to this action, then every time you have a document open in photoshop and you press f1, the action will apply

New artwork at 3 Olive Studios

2009-07-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

CSS: no outlines

2009-07-02T22:02:00.000-07:00

You know those annoying dotted outlines that appear when you click on anchor links? Well if you do not want them on you site, simply enter the following into your css

a {
outline: none;
}

Web Analytics: 5 Sites to visit

2009-06-25T07:23:00.000-07:00

1. Webtrends.com
2. Hitslink.com
3. Omniture.com
4. Clicktracks.com

And 3 Olive Studio's favorite:

5. Google Analytics

All of these sites offer information on tracking and analyzing your web traffic. Some offer free code to put into your website.

3 Olive Studios Quick Tip: Improve your page rank

2009-06-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

3 Olive Studios presents to you: TOP 5 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR GOOGLE PAGE RANK

1. KEYWORDS: Not only do you want informative and helpful content on your website, you also want to make sure that it contains your specific keywords. By keywords, we mean the words that your target audience might type into the search engine to find you. You want to match those same words in the content of your site, the description of your site, and in the metatags (more on this below). For a free keyword generator follow this link: Keyword generator

2. URL SUBMISSION: Submit your URL to the Open Directory Project. Follow this link to submit http://www.dmoz.org/. This is a free service. There are many other directories that you can submit your website to. Some are free and others cost money. Yahoo, Business.com, and Bestoftheweb.com are a few paid directories to consider.

3. SITE DESIGN: Make sure your site is designed by a professional who understands the importance of SEO and how the search engines crawl through and index your site. For basic advice, you should follow the rule of thumb that the navigation is either across the top or to the left. Include a sitemap if possible. For more information contact us at 3 Olive Studios | Contact.

4. CODING: When coding your site, make sure you or your website designer include Meta description tags, meta keyword tags and page title tags. The Meta description tag is the bit of information that shows up in the Search Engine under your name. For example: 3 Olive Studios includes this in the meta description tag: 3 Olive Studios is a web design, graphic design, and marketing company in Boston. So when you search for "3 Olive Studios" you will find the sentence above under the title. The Meta keyword tags is where you enter the keywords that we referred to in tip #1. And finally the title tag describes which page you are on in the website. All of these tags are located in the head of each html page.

5. BUILDING INBOUND LINKS: Building inbound links takes time and persistence. You want to find companies that are in your field but not your competition and suggest a link exchange. Writing press releases and quality articles that will benefit others in the field is helpful as well. Stay away from the link farms because they will just end up getting you banned from the search engines.

3 Olive Studios Quick Tip: Google Toolbar

2009-06-24T11:53:00.000-07:00

3 Olive Studios uses Google Toolbar for numerous SEO techniques, such as finding out page ranking, number of inbound links, and how many pages are indexed. The google toolbar is free to add. Follow these steps below to become more informed on the search engine optimization of your website:

1. Go to the google home page and click on more
2. When the list of everything google offers appears, go to toolbar and download it (follow the instructions until it pops up on your browser)
3. Once the google toolbar is on your browser go to the + symbol to add more tools. Add the Google Search Tool.
4. Once the Google Search Tool appears (the signature google G icon), click on it and enter your url.

Check back soon for ways to improve your ranking!

web organization

2009-06-14T09:43:00.001-07:00

While building websites, web designers and developers need to have an efficient file naming system and folder organization. 3 Olive Studios system is clean and intuitive. For each new project we have 4 main folders:

1-logo
2-sitework
3-website
4-other

Keeping your web concepts, logos and html pages separate will help you greatly in the long run

3 Olive Studios gets a pet!

2009-06-11T20:13:00.000-07:00

3 Olive Studios new pet fish is named Fiesta. Check back in for more updates

More SEO... TAGS

2009-05-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

USe meta keyword tags, meta description tags, and title tags in the head area of your HTML document. And do not overlook the use of the alt tags to describe your images!

SEO tips

2009-05-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

Use h1 tags in the html to add more importance to a word or phrase. Include your keywords in your h1 tags.

Out and About

2009-05-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

3 Olive Studios employees were caught seen at the Banned in Boston Fundraiser on April 29, 2009:

http://boldfacers.com/?page=happening&happening_id=49 (photo #5)

Banned in Boston, a comedy musical revue featuring the city's notable political, business and community leaders, raised more than $435,000 for Urban Improv, an interactive program teaching youth to use improvisational theatre for violence prevention and conflict resolution.

Blogging by Mack Collier

2009-04-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest concerns you'll hear from bloggers struggling to write that next post is 'it's all been said before'. And it's true, by now every topic has pretty much been covered and dissected from every angle. But does that mean you can't bring something new to the table?

A popular theme/point in social media circles is how a company can leverage a blog as a tool to establish their expertise. A great way to do this, is by sharing their knowledge, and creating content that others can find value in. Think of it as growing your influence by giving away knowledge.

This point has been blogged about countless times by countless people. But notice what Shannon Paul does here in blogging about this same idea. She ties this point back to a personal experience, in this case her grandmother's ability to make wonderful cakes. She talks about how her grandmother shared her recipes with others, but despite knowing what ingredients went into the cakes, somehow no one could make cakes that tasted as good as Shannon's grandmother.

By giving this information away, Shannon's grandmother became known for her expertise in making cakes. Shannon ties this idea back to your blogging, by sharing your knowledge, you invite collaboration, and give others the tools and ideas they need to succeed. You empower others, and in doing so, you create value for them, and become known as an expert in your particular area.

By taking that idea that had been covered countless times, and equating it to a personal experience, Shannon has made the core idea more relevant, and interesting. And as a bonus, she has made it easier for her readers to connect with her. How many people will read that post and think 'my granny was the same way! No one could cook better than she did!'

So if you are looking for a topic to blog about, don't be afraid to add a personal anecdote to illustrate your idea. Often, you will make your post more interesting and relevant, and you will probably make it easier for your readers to connect with you as well.

Join a Meetup Group

2009-04-13T05:46:00.000-07:00

Search meetup.com for groups of interest in your area. These groups are a great way to meet people in your field and to learn and share ideas and knowledge.

3 Olive Studios is part of The Cambridge Search Engine Optimization Meetup Group and The Boston WordPress Meetup Group.