This blog speaks about the relationship between professional website development, those build your own website companies and how they relate to Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  As a website designer and SEO marketing specialist my education is never ending so I am constantly reading and studying.  I recently picked up a book off of Amazon called "How to get on the first page of Google, the beginners guide" by Shawn R. Ward.  I am very impressed with this book and feel compelled to share the information within and my perspective of that information.   

Do It Yourself Website design

Chapter 1 of this book is right up my alley with what I am constantly telling potential clients when they call to ask about the difference between develop business websites vs. the easy Do It Yourself (DIY) website development that a person can build at places like Wix.com, GoDaddy, Vista print, Yola and others.  To begin with this "DIY" website development is made to look so easy on the commercials.  Just drag and drop and voila! you have a website.  Seriously folks it never works like the commercial says it will.  

Last year I had an old friend call me on the phone.  I had not seen her since high school (1978).  She has her own business and her competition was crushing her and she can no longer rely on the usual customers.  She had to upgrade into the 21st century and get a website.  I was happy to hear from her and and remembering the 1970's and how smoking hot she looked in those hip hugger bell bottom jeans with her tie dyed T shirt, I had decided that she was going to get my full attention.  She told me her tale of woe working with Wix.com.  How she has been racking her brain trying to get this easy to use DIY system to work as it is advertised.  I told her that she need not worry, I will take care of her.  She just needs to go through my list of 80+ custom websites for business that have been professionally built by me and pick one.  I will then change the images, text, logo and contact information and Voila! she has her professionally built custom website development.  I went on to tell her about the additional benefits her website would get from my company as apposed to any of the DIY website builders.  She would get 10,000 to 20,000 professional email campaigns, a blog, 10 email addresses unlimited email, hosting all included in the low price.  She said that the DIY website builder was going to charge her for each of these items, raising the price well above that which I am charging.  

DIY website builders vs Professional websites.

What these DIY website companies do not tell you is this, yes it is very easy to build a custom website for business, if you are already skilled in website development!  If this sounds like a trap it is.  So once you have completed this easy to build yourself website (for those that can actually complete it) what you have is not custom website development, instead you have a poorly designed website that is difficult to navigate and will very likely chase away more customers than it will bring in.  Lets look at this another way.  Each custom website for business is basically the front line sales person.  It is the first contact between your company and a new or existing client.  If your website is poorly designed, unappealing to the eye and difficult to navigate it is as if your sales person has pulled up to a sales meeting in a 1978 AMC pacer that smokes, coughs and pollutes the air.  Unless what you are selling is old AMC pacer, you are going to loose every sale.  What you want to drive to a sales meeting in is a nice new Cadillac or Lincoln and dressed to impress.  Yes, the professionally built websites from Wilkins Websites are the Cadillacs and Lincolns. 

DIY website builders and SEO

Now that you have completed building this DIY website, congratulations by the way, you are facing something that you may not have anticipated, the search engines.  If your DIY website or any website has not been built with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in mind you will never been found by the search engines.  Search Engines like Google, Bing/Yahoo have certain criteria that they require from websites that only professionals are aware of.  The websites built by Wilkins Websites are all built to be SEO compatible.  What is SEO compatible?  Basically properly communicating with Google, Bing/Yahoo and other search engines.  Only a professional custom website development can communicate with the search engines and if you can not communicate with Google, you are invisible.  I know this is a lot to take in.  You felt that once your website has been built then you can better compete for business.  That was true in the 1990's, but no longer.  Building your website is 1% of the job.  The other 99% is SEO.  I have attached my price list for Website Design, Website Template purchase and Website leasing.  Take a look, give us a call and I know we can increase your business with our Professional websites and SEO services.  Thank you

What do I mean when I refer to "Inexpensive SEO services online"?  SEO is Search Engine Optimization.  SEO marketing service is the service provided by a reputable SEO company that can place your website high in the search engine result page or (S.E.R.P.).   There are 2 completely separate industries of SEO companies and 2 separate SEO price lists.  The first of which is the legitimate SEO company that work tirelessly everyday to place your website URL high in the S.E.R.P. so that you can be found on the internet search engines such as Google, Bing/Yahoo.  Lets face it, if you can not be found, your company is basically INVISIBLE.  The second type of SEO company is the inexpensive SEO marketing service that you find on sites promoting overseas IT support and  also some American companies.  An American Company?  Yes. 

American SEO Scam

I received a  phone call from a company right here in San Antonio TX.  He offered to get my website placed on the first page of google for a cheap SEO cost.  It seems that if he had done his homework he would know that my company also offers SEO to small business, but I am always searching for additional SEO marketing specialists so I gave him a quick interview.   I was working at my computer at that moment so I asked for his domain name or URL.  I pulled up his website then quickly checked his website ranking.  His website was ranked at over 15,000,000 in the world, this is not good.  I was polite when I compared my website ranking to his.  I said "For a company that specializes in SEO, you are ranked kind of high at over 15,000,000".  He replied "what is your website ranking?"  "150,000" I replied.  He hung up the phone.  Keep in mind that the lower your ranking the better.  It is similar to golf, the lowest score wins.  A perfect example is Google is ranked #1, Youtube is #2 and Facebook is #3, so you can see that my score of #150,000 is much closer to the top than his website at #15,000,000.

  This was an American SEO company that was trying to scam me.  If I had hired him, he would have worked for me for 3, 4 or 6 months before I noticed absolutely no increase in website ranking and no placement on the S.E.R.P. for the website I had him working on.  The money my client would have spent would have been wasted and the revenue lost from loosing potential business would have been even greater.  This inexpensive or cheap SEO company is an alternative to the legitimate SEO marketing service mentioned above and is very dangerous.  They take advantage of the fact that it takes several months of legitimate SEO marketing work to show any real progress in increased website ranking and being found high on the search engine result page (S.E.R.P.).  You must trust the SEO company working for you is actually doing the work you are paying them to do, and there is very little you can do to know that they are actually doing proper SEO marketing.  This is exactly how they take advantage of unsuspecting American companies.  By the time you find out that there is absolutely no improvement in your SEO ranking several months have passed.  These American companies have been paying for this SEO marketing service for months before it is found out that the work is not being accomplished or not being done properly.

Overseas SEO  

A few years ago I investigated working with an overseas SEO company, not just one, I tried many, hoping to find legitimate overseas SEO services online.  I would interview many, hire whom I felt was the best SEO candidate, then after months of paying them, found that the SEO cost was a waste of money.   I would fire this person, then look for another, I never found a legitimate overseas SEO marketing specialist.  It seems that they all began the same way, very humble, saying the right things in the right way.  Luring me into a place of security and confidence that this guy or gal will place my website at the top of Google and my business would sky rocket.  Notice I used the word "Confidence".  Being lured into a feeling of "Security" and "Confidence" is the foundation for the words "Con Man", "Confidence Man" or "Confidence Woman".  I had to face the facts, I had been Con'ed!   

I spent about $10,000.00 over a 2 year period, giving these Con men and Con women opportunities to do what they promised they could do, it was a giant waste of money.  I was certain that I could find the right person, I did not.  Think about it, 2 years trying to get a good SEO specialist from this collection of con men.  What was the lure used to get me into this con?  It was 50 to 1.  What is 50 to 1?  The money transfer from the USA to their country was every dollar I spent, was $50 to them, or every $100.00 was $5,000.00 to them.  While I was paying what they saw as a great deal of money, it was pennies to me.  I fell for the lie that these people were quality professionals that I could hire for literally pennies.  

The lost revenue I suffered in this 2 year period was even greater than the $10K I spent.  While my competitors were being found on the first page of the Google, Bing/Yahoo, I was no where to be found, my company was invisible.  My competitors were getting the business and the revenue from this business while I was getting the Con.  The potential revenue I lost because I was trying to save money was huge.  Basically, the SEO specialist that I could hire for just a few hundred dollars, could I afford this?  The answer is NO.  This was the most expensive inexpensive venture ever conceived. I take full responsibility for this failure. It was my greed that caused me to fail. Lets face it, thats how the con men get you, with your own greed.

The solution

So what did I do about this?  I hired an American born and educated SEO marketing specialist to work for my company full time.  This man has taken my website ranking from 16 million to 127,000 in just 6 months and my ranking continues to climb each day.  My business is now found on the first page of Google, Bing/Yahoo for many of the key phrases we use.  My business is no longer INVISIBLE, it is now COMPETITIVE.  The business that is being generated for me far exceeds the cost of his service, and this is all I ask of my employees, to produce more than it costs to pay them.   I now offer SEO services to other companies in need, knowing that my SEO services online can do for your company what my SEO marketing specialist has done for my company.  I have kept the prices reasonable and affordable by offering different SEO packages, different SEO cost for different levels of SEO marketing.  Notice I said "Reasonable and Affordable, Not INEXPENSIVE or CHEAP". The point I am making here is, by trying to save SEO cost on inexpensive or Cheap SEO services, you will spend far more money in the long run because the money spent is like throwing it out the window, and the revenue lost due to lack of business will be even greater.  I hope you consider my company to service your SEO needs.   My price list is below 

Communicating with Google

Have you ever wondered why some people are successful?  How did this person rise to the top when they do not have your skills,  your expertise or experience?  It is because they are great communicators.  This person is a success because he or she has mastered the ability to communicate with others.  This person hears what other people are saying, he or she understands it and responds in a manner that is heard and understood by the other person.  People find this person easy to work with so deals are struck, goals are accomplished and money is made, this is why this person is successful. Steve Jobs was such a person.   Search Engine Optimization or "SEO" is basically communication between your website and people on the internet.  A person communicates with the search engine by typing in a word or phrase, and the search engine then communicates with websites that have relevant information that relates to what the person has asked.  

Your website appearance also communicates a lot, both negative and positive.   Lets use an example of people and clothing.  When someone is going for a job interview, they will very likely wear a suit.  When I was a young man it was proper to wear a blue suit, a white shirt and a red tie to an interview.  The colors Red, White and Blue communicated conformity or cooperation.  I appeared to be someone that can follow instructions and work well with others.  When I wore this suit and combination of colors I was always offered the job.  I would reply, "I thank you very much, may I get back to you next week with my answer?"  You see I had other interviews that might produce better pay and work conditions so I did not want to just take the first offer.   I have no idea if this is still a practice or not, but this was proper communication using appearance 30 years ago.  Here is an example from today's society.  If someone were to go to a police station to apply to become a member of the police force, he or she would not show up wearing gang colors and face tattoo's.  This would communicate to the desk sergeant that this person would not be a good cop.  How your website is set up, or its appearance is important as well. If your website is difficult to manage or navigate, it is not communicating properly with people that are searching the internet.

Now that I have communicated to you the importance of proper communication with search engines and communication with people through appearance, lets get a bit more technical, (Not too technical).  Websites that are successful have mastered communication with the search engines which is Search Engine Optimization or SEO.  These websites were likely created by a company that creates custom websites for business.  Wilkins Websites is a Website designer located in San Antonio Texas.  We are a Certified Veteran Owned Business. We create Custom Websites for Business.  Our websites are rewarded with high website rankings, a large amount of backlinks, are found on the first page of the search engine result page (S.E.R.P.) and have a great deal of website traffic.  So how do our websites communicate with Google, Bing/Yahoo so that our clients may have these things?  We are also a good Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) specialist as well as Website Designer.  Our Custom Website Development is created hand in hand with our SEO team.  We understand that SEO is not just a "one time set up and your are good" thing.  SEO is a constant battle.  It is quite possibly the most competitive business out there today.  

When your website development is complete, we have made sure it is pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate.  Then we register your website with the search engines like Google Bing/Yahoo.  For instance in Google, there is an area called Webmaster Tools Search Console.  Here we put in your website address or (URL).  Google will give us a short piece of code to place in the head tag of your website code.  It looks a little like this, <head>code google gives you goes here</head>, then we test.  Google then "Fetch's" your website, (their words not mine).  Google will then communicate with your website.  Next you choose times of day when it is best for google to "Crawl" your website (again their word not mine).  After that you must submit a "Site Map".  A Site Map is basically a page that has all of your website pages and links.  When all of this is complete, Google will then communicate with your website and "Crawl" your website and read it to find out what it has to say, what information does it have and then it logs this information into its algorithm.  When someone communicates with Google a search engine query like "Can I take advantage of Website Leasing instead of Website Design?"  Because Google has "Crawled" WilkinsWebsites.com its algorithm knows that Wilkins Websites is a Website Designer located in San Antonio Texas that has Website Leasing as well as Website Design.  If WilkinsWebsites.com has what Google refers to as "Relevant Content" to the query or question then this website is listed in the Search Engine Result Page (S.E.R.P.).   How high in the list of website design companies will depend upon how well written my content is, or does my website have "Relevant Content" and is the question answered with my website.  

There is so much more to SEO than this, but this answers the basic questions most people have, "What is SEO?" and "How does it work?".  If you are unhappy with your current SEO Marketing team because they are just not producing the results they promised, or you do not have an SEO specialist at all, feel free to give us a call or send us an email.  We are happy to help.  We look forward to hearing from you.  Our SEO price list is below.  Thank you

 

Wilkins Websites Specialize in creating professional websites with SEO website optimization and getting those websites to rank in the search engine results page S.E.R.P.

Domain Authority is just one of the tools used in the very complex world of SEO.

Domain Authority is one of the most important website metrics there is especially when it comes to SEO website optimization. This metric was developed by Moz, and SEO experts believe that the greater your domain authority, the more likely it is for your website to generate more traffic and even rank high in search engines. Domain Authority is a score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERP). Domain Authority scores range from one to 100, with higher scores corresponding to a greater ability to rank.We calculate Domain Authority (DA) combining many of our other link metrics — linking root domains, number of total links, MozRank, MozTrust, etc. — into a single DA score. This score can then be used when comparing one site to another or tracking the "ranking strength" of a website over time.To help Domain Authority calculations approximate actual ranking positions, Moz will employ machine learning against Google's algorithm to best model how their search engine results are generated. It is however important to note that just because a website has a low DA ranking, does not mean it will not rank high in the SERP. This does not mean you should abandon your attempts to increase your DA ranking. This means that increasing your DA ranking along with your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts will help you to dominate the SERP.

How to Improve Your Domain
Authority?

As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, increasing your DA ranking along with your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts will help you to dominate the SERP. When it comes to improving your domain authority, it's a must that you improve search engine placement through effective (SEO). This includes all aspects of SEO, such as site structure, its navigability, URL structure, breadcrumbs, header tags, meta tags, keywords, word count, alt tags, and so on. Content marketing is essential for your domain to gain authority. Wilkins Websites offers several levels of SEO packages for our clients which will improve your DA, SEO and SERP ranking.Step 1 - Improve your overall SEO

Step 2 - Produce quality and likable content

Your content marketing strategy will only begin once you have lots of linkable content. Ideally, you should create an article or infographic every day. Yes, that's a lot, but it's necessary. Content is actually the core of your internet marketing campaign, so you have to take it seriously. Keep in mind also that it's not all quantity that matters. More importantly, you need to create content that offers valuable information to your audience. As Google calls it "Relevant Content". Google in its efforts to contain the Black Hat SEO crowd will change their methods and algorithms frequently. Recently at the time of this blog - Relevant Content or "is this content relevant to the Search Engine Query"? is very important in Googles SERP.

Step 3 - Pay attention to internal linking

High quality back links are extremely important, but do not overlook your internal links. Internal links are simply links and anchors. Anchors are basically links that are on the same page, that will scroll from topic to topic just by clicking on the anchor text. Internal links are anchors from page to page on the same website. Quite often when we do regular work on our existing website, without realizing it, we are breaking these links. Broken links are frowned upon by Search Engines and will cost you with a lower score in your DA and SERP ranking. Search Engines will follow these internal links from page to page and if that page leads to a dead end you will be notified with a 404 message on your Google Webmaster Tools page. I check my google webmaster tools daily to see if there are any new issues with my website that need to be addressed. If there are, I do not post pone, I fix it right away and keep my errors at ZERO.

Step 4 - Regularly check for toxic back links

You need to regularly check your link profile so you could get rid of spammy links. It's important that you not wait to be penalized by search engines before you make a move and clean up your link profile. There are many resources online that you can check out to know how to remove toxic back links. Daily I will go through the list of websites that are trying to link to my site by posting on my blogs. I check the URL to see who they are and what they do. Quite often I will find a porn site trying to link in, I put a stop to that right away by deleting that link. Sites like this will cause your website ranking and DA to sink so fast it will make your head spin. Since my business is Website Design, Website leasing and Search Engine Optimization I look for websites that are doing the same or similar thing that are linking in. I approve these right away. The more quality the website, the greater they will improve my DA and Website Ranking. So don't let just anyone link it. Lots of good links are good, lots of bad links are bad.

Step 5 - Don't rush things and be patient as you wait for results

As long as you are doing the steps above, there is no reason why your domain authority will go up. You need to give your domain time to age as well because this can also affect its authority. As a matter of fact, the older the domain, the better or greater its authority is. All you need to do is have discipline and dedication in doing the necessary things to improve your domain authority.

Conclusion

There are many other sites out there that can give you all the information you need to learn how to improve your domain authority. If you have no time to do all these, the best option you have is to invest in a reliable SEO marketing service provider like Wilkins Website.