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Why Your Website loads too Slow…….

Why Your Website loads too Slow…….

Slow loading websites make for a terrible user experience and more than ever Google will punish your rankings for disappointing your visitors.

Amazon estimates each second of increased page load costs $1,600,000,00 in lost sales. Page Load or the speed your home page populates a browser is critical to the success of your website. If this is true then why are there so many slow loading websites?

Like most computational processes, the steps in completing a task impact the time to complete. For example, a manufacturing process which assembles 25 components into a finished product will take more time than a similar process that assembles only three components. It’s the same for websites. The filesize and number needed to render your website in a browser have a direct relationship to Page Load. For an excellent explanation how your slow website is effected click on the infographic below for an an excellent infographic from Hostingfacts.com

web speed

Infographic from Hostingfacts.com

Similarly the resources available will have a similar impact. Again, back to the manufacturing example; a team of five people will likely accomplish a task quicker than a team of one. So what we’ve learned is that the  hosting resources allocated and the number of tasks needed to render a website will have a direct effect on page load.

pingdom-logoDo yourself a favor and use the Pingdom Speed test which will measure your website’s page load from a variety of servers located across the world. Check the time required for the server to receive the request and respond. Also see how long your images, scripts and files take to load before your website completes. Optimize or decrease the file sizes of images if possible to speed up your load times.

If the time needed to render your website is more than five seconds, your website is seriously slow.

In my ten years of experience managing websites, below are the main factors that slow page load on a WordPress site:

  • Large image files on the main page; typically in a slider. Sometimes as big as  10 MB. Reduce the size of the image by cropping or use an image optimizing plugin like Smush it to compress the file.

  • Unnecessary plugins or conflicts between plugins. Delete unnecessary plugins

  • Malware.Use a malware scanning tool like Sucuri sitecheck to scan for malware.

  • Cheap shared Hosting Plans. Upgrade your hosting plan

  • Excessive number of script files; often javascript or css files. Takes coding knowledge so you may need to hire a professional.

When tasked with improving the page load of a website, I look at all these variables first for a way to cut out valuable seconds in loading time. Often I counsel the client to improve their hosting plan, eliminate unnecessary images and plugins and implement caching with terrific results.

Many slow loading sites are the direct result of faulty web design. Which means these sites were intentionally built to be slow.

Web designers have a responsibility to counsel their clients that excessive use of plugins and large images will slow their site, resulting in diminished user experience and low rankings. Clients don’t realize that all these extras add ” file weight” to a site. It’s best to keep the website homepage factual and to the point. Avoid large sliders with expansive images. Talented web designers know how to optimize images and compress and minimize scripts but most designers don’t. When aclient is left with a slow site loaded down with unnecessary clutter a designer’s response might be “I gave you what you wanted.”

Like a race car built for speed, unnecessary file size weight needs to be discarded and page load must always be considered when designing your site.

Say more with less  and you will peak your prospect”s interest and motivate them to seek more info. If you have a slow loading site and need insights on how to quicken page load,  contact Taylortown SEO at  ( 321) 230-3197 or visit our website at www.taylortownseo.com

 

 

 

Half of your advertising budget is wasted – But which Half ?

Half of your advertising budget is wasted – But which Half ?

John Wanamaker, who many consider the father of modern marketing in America once stated he knew “half the money he spent in advertising was wasted, but he didn’t know which half .

 

In effect, John was saying that he knew he was spending twice what he should be spending on advertising but was unsure where to make any specific budget cuts and still achieve the same results. Sure he could see the impact of advertising at the back end but which strategies were leading to these results? You could run circulars, newspaper ads or even advertise on television to a wide audience hoping to create interest in your products and services. Today, modern marketers have many more tools to gauge the effectiveness of their marketing. Especially in the digital marketing arena. John Wannamaker would have been please,

 

 

Today, modern website analytics software can provide you a wealth of knowledge about your customers – if you care to listen

 

In my experience Google Analytics can provide effective and low-cost data to determine exactly which digital marketing efforts are bringing actionable results.

 

What about Google Analytics?

 

Google analytics is a website platform provided by Google, in most cases free of charge

Google Analytics is a premium web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic, currently as a platform inside the Google Marketing Platform brand.

Just some of the insights Google Analytics can provide you include:

  1. What search terms and social media sites are bringing traffic to your website.
  2. What are the demographics and location of your website visitors.
  3. Which pages are they visiting and for how long?
  4. Which website visitors are taking a desired action, like completing a sale?

 

With data from Google Analytics you can easily gauge the effectiveness of paid social media advertising, your search engine optimization efforts and your long term trends. With so much actionable data available using Google Analytics, why aren’t most people taking advantage of what Google offers? It can’t be cost because there is no cost associated. Google Analytics is relatively easy to install on your website, so that shouldn’t be a problem. In my rears of experience, I have found that many small businesses do not fully understand the benefit of analyzing their website traffic. They seem to be comfortable navigating in the dark.

 

Let 2019 be the year you fully understand the benefit of website analytics.

As an Orlando SEO company. Taylortown wants Orlando small businesses to know their website data and make well informed marketing decisions based on actionable insights. Start using the free tools that Google has created to move your business to the next level. It’s easy to do and we are going to help.

In fact for the rest of 2019, Taylortown SEO will install Google Analytics on your website for free. That’s right Free! Just give us a call at (321) 230-3197 and we can schedule a time to set it up. Get insights on your website visitors behavior for free.

 

 

 

Is my $200.00 monthly SEO budget a waste?

Is my $200.00 monthly SEO budget a waste?

How much website SEO can my business get for my $200.00 monthly investment?

 

 

New clients frequently ask this or similar questions. Perhaps another marketing company has said you need to spend $1000.00 or more  monthly to see any real SEO results. Because most small business owners have a limited understanding of what SEO actually consists of; I will attempt to rephrase thei question to drive at a client’s actual concern. A better phrased question might be:

Will my modest investment in website SEO have any Return on Investment?

 

A very legitimate questions but perhaps too narrow again in focus. Website SEO incorporates Google’s search algorithm into an overall marketing strategy. This generally results in a better organized website and useful website to potential customers. Modest monthly SEO investments in your technical SEO: such improving meta-titles, meta descriptions and refreshing content will over time raise your SERP quality score and push your website up in the search rankings. More visibility in the search engines will generally result in more clicks to your website.But will these modest website improvements drive revenue to your business?

 

The correct answer is; It depends.

 

Your unique situation may be that to overtake your competition will require more effort (effort equals investment) to appreciably move your SEO dial for the most competitive search term.To achieve the results you are seeking, first consider. your specific circumstances. The number of special factors affecting your results are numerous and may include:

How competitive is your industry?

What is your geographic market?

How your users interact with your website.

How well your website content converts.

 

 

Think of the ways your potential customers become aware.

 

Perhaps your outside sales force drives prospects to your website utilizing marketing materials, attending conventions or business seminars. For your sales force, your SEO optimized website is a 24 hour marketing resource which adds credibility to your company and educates potential prospects. Email marketing and social media will drive traffic to your website with your timely message.perhaps the most financially beneficial way is to optimize and promote your business will in the Google Search Algorithm.   Search engine users who enter questions or query into Google search are looking for an immediate and qualified response. When your optimized web content is one of the first search results, users will automatically infer a high level of trust in your content by its placement on the page. If your content can answers their query, an immediate connection is forged. Your prospect will think “Wow, this company really understands my needs.”   A modest investment can bring results.  The road to SEO optimization is long, results and progress needs to be earned. Below are my key areas to focus when your SEO budget is limited.

 

Technical SEO:

 

Most websites will have technical imperfections that can be corrected over time at a modest budget. These include correcting any indexing issues, page load issues, Meta titles, meta-descriptions or <h1- h4> elements. These are the logical first steps in any SEO plan and will clear away any impediments or roadblocks to future SEO rank improvements. Depending on how many issues are present, you may be able to resolve most over 4 or 5 months positioning your website for long term results.

 

Blog Posts:

 

Writing regular well written and SEO blog posts will greatly advance your website in the Google SERP’s if done in the right way. Try thinking of what questions your potential customers ask as possible blog topics. Any topic that is timely, relevant and useful to your internet audience is fair game. A monthly budget of $200.00 should facilitate the creation of one or two well-written blog posts to benefit your website.

 

Link Outreach:

 

Small businesses often have difficulty getting authoritative websites to link back to their website. Backlinks from high quality websites are still a huge SEO boost. How might your small SEO budget allow attract backlinks to your website. One way to attract backlinks might be sponsorships in your community. When your business sponsors a race or a charitable event ask them to put your logo on their website to link back to your website.

 

An SEO budget of $200.00 or $300.00 per month is not wasted. The time to start making improvements is now! Beware of marketing companies who say your small budget is wasted.

 

How your website SEO is destroyed by a Pharma hack

How your website SEO is destroyed by a Pharma hack

SEO is the strategy of convincing Google your website is reputable.

When your website is poisoned with Pharma or blackhat SEO spam, all your efforts are lost.

Blackhat SEO and Pharma spam has been around for years and will likely be around for many more. It’s purpose is to promote non-reputable internet pharmacies that sell unlicensed drugs and calling them Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, Ambien or some other patented drug name. The internet pharmacy through illegal methods places malicious code on your website that redirects to their site. One of the primary reason for hackers to take this action are these spammy links look appear to be an endorsement from your reputable website to their spam website and can influence the Google search algorithm.

The United States government takes down these counterfeit sites when they can.

Trafficking in counterfeit drugs over the internet is illegal. As far as I know, innocent websites which have been hacked by bad actors have not been seized by law enforcement but when you website has been hacked, it is possible your website visitor could see the noticed I have placed above if they click on a spammed link.

The Google search engine knows your website has been compromised and will sink your website in the search results.

Google views hacked websites with disdain which will have a disastrous effect on your traffic and your business. Can you blame them? Why would a dentist or a preschool promote erectile dysfunction drugs? Unfortunately the pharma hack is quite insidious and most businesses will not even know their website has been poisoned by bad actors. My company makes an effort to contact website owners and inform them of the situation and recommends a plan to recover.

First Step in SEO Recovery – Clean the Hack

To recover your SEO rankings you must clean all vestiges of the hack. This includes any mention of pharma products, redirects or urls to spam pages. Leaving any part of this process undone will likely result in re-infection. The process is laborious and is best done by a professional but can be done by an individual with a knowledge of WordPress file structures, FTP protocols and malware detecting tools. After you are certain that hack has been removed, you can go to the second step.

Second Step: Have the Google Bot re-index your site:

Through the Google search console re-index your site and it would be wise to re-submit your site map. Also check you backlinks in Search console and see if any spam sites are linking to your website. If so, you will need to get familiar with Google’s Disavow procedures

Third Step: Pour on the beneficial SEO:

Now would be a good time to pour on beneficial SEO, such as: technical improvements to your website, adding additional high quality contact and sourcing reputable backlinks from trusted sites. Your SEO recovery will be faster and more permanent when you ca prove your website is a secure, high quality website providing useful answers to search queries.

 

 

 

 

Has your business been slandered by phony online reviews?

Has your business been slandered by phony online reviews?

Michael Taylor

Michael Taylor – Founder of Taylortown SEO

Garnering positive online reviews has long been a marketing goal for Orlando businesses, but have the actions of a few unethical business owners and marketing companies diminished their value?

In my opinion, Central Florida is awash with phony reviews paid for and submitted by business owners, marketing companies, family members or submitted by competitors to slander a business which threatens the business model of many “review” companies like Yelp and Trip Advisor  who rely on consumers trusting their reviews. If your business has been slandered by phoney online reviews or your competitor is getting positive reviews which are obviously false then you know the shady side of online reviews.

The New York State Attorney General’s office recently fined 19 marketing companies more than $350,000 for generating phony reviews written by offshore workers as a shot-across-the-bow to alert companies the practice is illegal and deceptive. Even Amazon has filed suit on more than 1000 individuals for placing false reviews on Amazon. The inevitable outcome is a diminishing trust of reviews submitted on site like Yelp, City Insider, Google, YP and Merchant Circle. Although many of these companies have algorithms in place to detect phony reviews, by and large a significant amount of reviews found online were bought and paid for.

Legal ramifications of falsifying reviews

By law, a reviewer should disclose if they have been paid or compensated for a review or endorsement.  In addition, for a reviewer to criticize or state factual claims when they have never actually patronized a business is tantamount to slander. The only acceptable reviews are given by actual consumers who have first hand knowledge of a business and are motivated to post their actual reviews based upon their personal experiences without compensation.

Your Rights as a business

I’m not a lawyer but to my understanding you have the right to pursue legal remedies when someone makes a factual misrepresentation of your business. Now this doesn’t mean that consumers can’t give their opinion but if they intentionally mistake a fact (for instance claiming that your medical or dental college degree is falsified) with intention to harm you, that is slander and against the law. However, if a customer simply states their opinion, then you have little recourse.

When your competitor is creating false reviews?

Unfortunately there is little you can do without risking your reputation. By all means do not misrepresent yourself to leave negative review. What you can do is do a little research on the profiles of the person’s doing the reviewing and determine if they are indeed in your market area or possible make a living manufacturing reviews. With a little research you may uncover the evidence you need to make a complaint and have the reviews taken down.

How should my business encourage reviews?

My recommendation is to encourage reviews on social media like Facebook, which tend to be more believable with consumers because the submitter has a profile available. if you are actively engaging your customers, you can expect a certain amount of customers to express their gratitude or support in a genuine way when you provide an them an outlet. outlet. Also, it’s not a disaster if occasionally you get a review that is not complementary. Perhaps one in five reviews will be some sort of complaint, and believe it or not, the public expects to see these reviews when researching a business. Additionally a fantastic way to solicit genuine reviews is on social media like Facebook. Occasionally, you should post a link to your Google Plus page on social media, inviting those who are actual customers to post a review.

Remember, a review submitted by someone who has a verifiable profile is worth ten times more credibility than one submitted without one. Concentrate on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and others that provide detailed user profiles for your reviews and let the other review sites sort out their own problems while you prosper.

 

 

 

 

 

Outbound marketing and inbound – What’s the difference?

Outbound marketing and inbound – What’s the difference?

cold callingIt’s an undeniable fact most business people must market their business to the outside world. The marketing efforts need to  create an awareness of the their products and services plus stimulate interest or desire in prospective clients. Every product or service solves a problem; either real or imagined. If your roof is leaking, you are aware of a need to keep dry. Different needs satisfy “wants”.Maybe you simply have a desire to visit someplace tropical and lush. Either way; keeping your head dry or satisfying a lingering desire for a tropical vacation will motivate you to make a buying decision. Marketers use both inbound and outbound marketing strategies to influence us to make a buying decision in their favor. Knowing the difference between inbound and outbound marketing and plus synergies between complementary approaches is fundamental to a successful marketing plan.

Examples of Outbound Marketing:

  • Making cold calls to identified prospects who may need your product
  • Sending emails to people who dropped their card in your fishbowl
  • Canvassing a business park speaking to business owners.
  • Placing a billboard on the side of the road.
  • Sending a postcard via US mail to a targeted zip code.

Examples of Inbound Marketing

  • Optimizing your website so it ranks well in Google
  • advertising in the Yellowpages directory
  • Creating a Youtube channel that provides practical advice
  • a permission based newsletter.

The outbound methods are seen by your audience as an interruption while the inbound methods requires an effort made the prospect. Both methods can be effective, especially when they are interwoven together in a natural way.

Examples of a complementary Outbound/Inbound  Approach.

  • Click to call button on a website.
  • Advertising your website on a billboard.
  • Sending a mailer which invites the recipient to a seminar
  • Handing your business card to a social acquaintance.

At some point the prospect is given a choice to continue or not with a complementary approach. When you hand someone your card, it is up to them to contact you. When someone clicks the “call button” on your site, they are are asking for to continue the conversation. When your prospect gives you permission, it is no longer an interruption but a real business conversation.

When a business has a website that does not motivate a visitor to take immediate action or at least continue the conversation further, most of the positive synergies of the website visit are lost. Not every visitor will immediately go further, but if someone is inclined, they should feel very comfortable requesting more information at alater date. The long lasting effect is the positive awareness of your business in case a need arises for themselves or someone close in the future.

If you have doubts on the effectiveness of your website to motivate visitors to become customers; contact TaylorTown SEO and we will utilize website tracking software and usability standards to gauge the effectiveness of the site. It’s easy to overlook one factor which may be killing your online conversions. Let us take a second look using our methods for no charge.

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Is your company website susceptible to “Google Dorking”?

Is your company website susceptible to “Google Dorking”?

Google indexes the entire web continually and so if your website is visible on the web, you can be sure that Google is crawling your entire website with automated software bots looking for any significant changes that may have occurred on your website. google dorkUnfortunately files or information that you never intended to be public-facing may be uncovered using techniques called “Google Dorking” which leverages the capabilities of the Google search operators to uncover data which may never be intended to be public facing.

From Wikipedia:

Google hacking, also named Google dorking, is a computer hacking technique that uses Google Search and other Google applications to find security holes in the configuration and computer code that websites use.

Businessinsider.com recently published an article “Term of the Day:”Google Dorking” which detailed the threat to businesses showing how usernames and passwords, private customer correspondence even bank account information can be uncovered using this advance hacking technique.

Recently I uncovered in the Google results private customer correspondence sent through the website’s contact form visible to everyone in the Google Search results. Of course, I notified the company of this security breach and I assume it was remedied or blocked from Google’s indexing bots.

Some of the common operator scripts that a hacker could simply put in the Google search results to uncover information about your website. According to Techworm.net the following
Google operators imputed into the Google search bar can uncover sensitive info you probably don’t want exposed. This example uncovers email ID’s

Another dork can be used to glean emails ids from Google.

Dork: intext:@gmail.com filetype:xls

What can your business do to prevent your sensitive information hidden from hackers using Google Dorking techniques? There are many good security practices which would help keep your company information secure. Below, I have listed a few:

  1. Keep your highly secure information off your website. If your website is simply your public facing marketing brochure, there is no reason to keep sensitive information on your website. Public facing website are accessible to the entire world so limiting access to your sensiteve info is critical.
  2. Keep up with security updates. Following behind on your website security updates only makes your website more vulnerable. Think of security updates as a priority item to be addressed quickly rather than just someday.
  3. Penetration Test your website for common Google Dorks: Try penetration tests on your own website to see what comes up.  If you feel unsure how to go about this, enlist the help of a professional to examine your website for security leaks.

Together we can keep our websites and customer information secure if we follow good practices. The first step in employing good practices is to identify what information needs be kept private and make sure it is not accessible through the internet.

 

 

WordPress web development using themes

WordPress web development using themes

Wordpress logo WordPress is now the predominant CMS (content management system) platform for developing websites and our agency thoroughly embraces WordPress as our preferred platform. CMS Platforms like Joomla and Drupal, although still popular are losing market share to WordPress for many reasons which include: ease of maintaining, default blog, worldwide support of a development community and thousands of free or almost free plugins which add functionality to a website. Launched in 2003, WordPress provides an effective online publishing tool for any person or organization

WordPress is free and open source allowing developers access to the source code so they can create innovative features or functionality commonly called plugins. As part of the WP eco-system, designers and developers create WordPress themes which are pre-made templates built using the WordPress source code. Our Orlando based agency primarily uses quality WordPress themes for our client projects which saves us time and our clients money. Your typical WordPress theme has structured  PHP, valid HTML and Cascading Style Sheets for the front-end of the website relying on the default MYSQL database to house the data. It is very easy to change themes in the WordPress Admin area should you desire to change the look of your website.

In our agency, we have few go-to sources for quality themes which we rely on to produce quality work for our clients. Our criteria for selecting our top providers include: quality support, frequent updates, captivating visual appeal and robust framework which pleases our clients.

Roll the drums please, here are TaylorTown’s top sources for quality WordPress themes.

simplethemes

One theme provider we keep going back to is Simplethemes. The pricing and license agreements are very favorable to developers who plan to re-use a theme for multiple clients and above all “GOOGLE LOVES THEIR THEMES”. I have many clients who rank on the first page of Google for their respective markets with little or no marketing effort based on the clean semantic code and the ease of adding SEO friendly content. While some theme providers have opted for a large, expansive image in the forefront, Simplethemes puts the written content up front and is prominently displayed. In particular, I am partial to the Synapse and Impacto themes for their ease of use, clean design and SEO juice.

Enfold WordPress theme

Enfold by Kriesi is available at Themeforest for around $59.00 and is a rock solid theme with a huge visual impact and quick support from the developer. if you like a stunning header image with overlay layers, ready made pages already formatted, and clean, not-bloated code then Enfold is a good choice for you. Theme updates are frequent and come with few surprises. Many times I have started a client project using another theme and mid-stream switched to Enfold to get the solid results my clients require. If you choose Enfold once, I am certain you will go back to purchase additional licenses.

Divi

Divi by Elegant Themes has met all my expectations for ease of use and consistent, timely support and has found itself a place in my stable as my go-to theme for lead pages. I found it integrated seamlessly with Gravity Forms to make lead pages a work of art and has cut hours off my development time. I’ve used other themes from the Elegant Themes collection and have found them to meet client expectations, especially the Evolution theme. Additionally Elegant Themes send articles and educational materials to their developer clients which I have found to be helpful.

 

Twenty fourteen

A WordPress default theme, Twenty Fourteen makes my favorite list for a multitude of good reasons. First of all, the WordPress default themes are assured to be top quality, albeit basic and are guaranteed to be updated till the end of time. If you have a website which may be in place for 10 years, one of the default themes make a very good choice. Twenty Fourteen is a magazine layout which is great for visual appeal plus adding SEO optimized content. Worried about customizing the theme? You shouldn’t be because there are many CSS tricks and hacks available online. Get your merit badge by customizing a default theme into a customized website that your client loves!

 

 

 

 

 

How cheap SEO and Web Design could cost you thousands.

How cheap SEO and Web Design could cost you thousands.

Michael Taylor

Michael Taylor – Founder of Taylortown SEO

Most businesses like to save money. Business owners need to be careful not overpay for any materials or services they purchase. So how can underpaying for SEO or Web Design services spell disaster for your business?

 

 

 

 

 

Your presence on the internet is your public face. Why spend immense effort building quality into your brand, but neglect your online presence simply due to price. Below, I list ten reasons for not to make pricing your only deciding factor when evaluating Web Design and SEO providers.

 

1. To properly practice SEO, the company you hire must understand the dynamics of your marketplace. Who are your fierce competitors? Who is your targeted customer and what are their demographics? Cheap SEO providers will not take the time to consider your competitive environment when they build your quick and cheap website.

2. Cheap SEO and web designers violate copyright laws. Cheap web designers will snatch a copyrighted image and place it on your website, exposing you to legal claims. Want to pay a photographer thousands of dollars for the copyrighted image you stole? Insist on seeing a proof of license for all images.

3. Cheap SEO providers will incur the wrath of Google long after you’ve paid their invoice. Google will penalize your site for an unnatural or spammy linking pattern. Don’t expect your cheap SEO provider to answer your call when your website has been “Google Spanked”.

4. Cheap SEO providers will typically want to auto-debit your credit card. To them it’s the gift that just keeps giving.

5. Cheap Web Designers will have access to your guarded passwords and website log-in info. Have a dispute and they might lock you out of your website, hosting account or worse. Maybe they will place a few spammy links on your site to benefit other clients, so deep in your code that you will never find them.

6. Cheap Web designers will not produce an SEO friendly web site. Your little flash animation intro just killed your rankings in Google. Why didn’t they mention this when you agreed to spend extra for the dancing giraffe.

7. Cheap SEO providers are often located off-shore but claim to have a U.S. presence.

8. Cheap SEO providers will show increased website traffic, but is the traffic human? Automated bot traffic can be counted as website visits on traffic reports; but when was the last time an automated bot bought anything?

9. Cheap website designers are here today and gone tomorrow. Have a problem or need website updates in the future? Your cheap web designer is long gone and it’s time to start over.

10. Finally good website design and SEO is at least 50% marketing acumen. Marketing acumen is gained from study, experience and insight. Your cheap website wrangler has none of these skills and no desire to learn.

[note style=”alert” show_icon=”true”]Research potential providers in Google before making any commitments and never provide your credit card info. [/note]

TaylorTown SEO strictly adheres to best practices and highest ethical standards with our clients. Don’t ask us to write you phony Google reviews or sabotage your competitor; we just won’t do it for any price.  We are honest about our capabilities and the benefits you can expect by using our services. We’ve been serving this market for over five years and intend to grow by supporting our clients for many years to come.

 

Why your website needs to grab attention “Above the Fold”

Why your website needs to grab attention “Above the Fold”

“Above the Fold” is the top half of your website which is visible on a computer screen without scrolling and must communicate clearly what is your intent.

The term “above the fold” is a newspaper man term which describes the top half of a newspaper. The top always gets more visibility than the lower half. Imagine seeing a stack of newspapers in a store or vending machine. The “big headline” is always above the fold along with the major stories. Websites are a lot like newspapers. You need to capture your visitor’s interest  “Above the Fold”. newspaper boy

While there is ample discussion on the scrolling habits of website visitors and how time is spent scrolling below, I believe the type of website and who is your target audience plays a large part in how you should treat the  “Above the Fold”. One thing is certain and that is the top of your home page is your prime website  real estate. By prime real estate, I mean that most people will make their usefulness evaluation of your site when they are at the top of the page.TaylorTown believes you must clearly state five things above the fold to capture attention.

These five points are: Who you are, What you do, Where you do it, Why you are the best and What do you want the visitor to do now! Also a phone number or contact form should be very prominent as a call to action to encourage conversions.

Clients will ask we questions concerning regarding SEO and the layout of their website. Some are questions are:

Is having a large expansive image in your “Above the Fold” area a good idea? Well, my initial reaction would be no, unless your chosen image answers these five important questions and contributes to your message. It’s definitely easier to write descriptive text explaining the purpose of your site than conveying this  info with images. Sadly I’ve noticed poor images above the fold with little direct relationships to the purpose of the site. A true waste of your website’s prime real estate and your visitor’s limited attention.

Will ads or affiliate links above the fold hurt my SEO? Yes, it likely will and this is a recent algorithm change meant to improve user experience. Ads above the fold invites your website in getting spanked by Google.

How else could my content “Above the Fold” hurt my SEO? If your content above the fold slows down your load- time then you may lose some SEO points. Try a page speed checker and if you get this warning ” Eliminate external render-blocking JavaScript and CSS in above-the-fold content.” you may want to consider coding improvements.

Where you place your most important message which around here we call our “power statement” gives guidance to Google of it’s relative importance. Learn page organization from the newspapers to hit a bulls eye with your audience and Google.

If you have questions about your effectiveness ” Above the Fold” contact TaylorTown SEO and we will utilize many free tools to help you understand how  Above the Fold  effects your SEO and User Experience. Don’t waste your most valuable web real estate. State your message clearly to capture your visitor’s attention and their interest.