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2014-04-01
SEO Terminology - Buddy Web Design (April 2014 newsletter)

You are included in the monthly mailing list of Buddy Web Design because of our recent interaction regarding a website for your business.

One of the main aims of a website is to get business when people search for things on the internet. The process of getting your website to page 1 of search engines is called SEO or Search Engine Optimisation.

On the website www.seobook.co.za you will find more information on this topic and it includes the free SEO Book, Relevant SEO 2014 (What small and medium business owners need to know about SEO).

The following is an extract from chapter 2 of the book and covers important terminology.

2. Important terminology, definitions and introduction

To understand SEO there is some terminology which needs to be understood first.

Search Engine:

A search engine is a website like Google, Yahoo and Bing. These websites have changed the way people search for things. People no longer use the yellow pages to search for things, they visit their favorite search engine to search for businesses like yours. Search engines writes programs and formulas (algorithms) to determine which web pages provide the best information.

Webpage:

A webpage refers to an individual page on a website. Each page of a website has a unique URL (Page address).

Website:

A Website is made up of individual web pages. A typical small business websites consist of the following web pages. (Home page, about us page, a couple (or hundreds of) products and services pages, FAQs pages, newsletter / blog pages, photo galleries, links pages.)

CMS:

CMS is an acronym for Content Management System. A Website + CMS allows the website owner to update the individual web pages of their website, the individual pages which makes up a complete website. Technological advances have made content management systems easy to use and affordable. Kids in primary school are now using tablets for learning. Wozaonline have already signed up more than 25,000 small South African businesses. Business owners are migrating to Websites with a CMS. (CMS Websites).

Robots and Spiders:

Robots and spiders are programs used by search engines to crawl through the internet which consists of many billions of individual pages.

URL:

URL is an acronym for Uniform Resource Locator and refers to a specific page address on the internet. There is only one webpage for each individual URL.

Links:

Links is important for the robots and spiders to function. They start off with a few individual webpages and follow the links on those pages and then follow the links on those pages and so one. Without links search engines would not be able to function. Website owners decide to which pages they want to link. On the website www.kwikwaponline.co.za I have for example linked to pages I feel would provide valuable further reading on the subject of SEO for small and medium businesses. I can link to a website's general home page or target a specific URL / a specific page or section of an "outside" website. These links are called outbound links.

Link Anchor Text:

The text which I have used to describe the links are my description of the links.

Backlinks / Inbound links

Backlinks or Inbound links are links coming into your website form other websites.

Page rank

The founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergy Brin, invented Page Rank. They rate a website according to the numbers of backlinks and more importantly the quality of those backlinks, considering the anchor text of those back links as well. Page rank is an important part of SEO and it is done off your website. (Off-site SEO)

On-site / Off-site SEO

For the bulk of small and medium business owners On-site SEO would be the prime strategy when doing search engine optimization.

SEO

SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization and it involves things you can do on your websites as well as things which happen off your website. By linking your business Facebook page, your Google+ account to your website you are busy with off-site SEO. By working on quality content on your website, you are busy with on-site SEO. If you get the on-site SEO right you are more likely to succeed with off-site SEO. People will regard you as a quality resource on a specific subject and will link their websites to your website. The more important those people and websites are, the higher the value search engines place on the inbound link. It is similar to publishing a book and getting an endorsement by a respected well known person, or similar to producing a movie and mentioning in the press or on the DVD cover, what the New York Times said about the movie. That's how search engines see it.

Google+

Google+ is another way people can give your website a thumbs up. It is also considered by Google as an indication of the importance of your website or of a specific page on your website.

Irrelevant SEO

Making sure your website is crawlable, ensuring the correct Meta tag descriptions are being used at the right places, are some of the irrelevant SEO factors for small medium business owners as it is up to skilled professional programmers and coders developing CMS websites to make sure that these things are in place when designing the architecture of your CMS Website.

They are no less important though and it is important to discuss these factors with the web design company you engage with. Web design companies typically employs specialist PHP developers and HTML specialist. You do not need to know details about what this entails but to ask your web design company for examples of their clients on page 1 of Google.

Algorithms

The programs and formulas used by search engines to ask questions are called algorithms. There are more than 200 of them. These change on a daily basis. +- 2 per day at Google in 2013 alone. Whenever there are major changes being implemented it is given a name like Panda, Penguin and Humming Bird. These major changes can see a website drop from nr 1 to number 1000 quite quickly, like when Google recently started penalizing websites with a large number of low quality inbound links, whether the website owner was responsible for this or not.

Black- and white hat SEO

Trying to cheat search engines with practices such as keyword stuffing, hiding website text from humans but not the search engines or being involved with a low quality link building schemes are called black hat SEO. Getting caught with black hat SEO will see you being removed from the index of search engines completely. White hat SEO refers to the process of giving search engines what they want. It involves an ongoing process of adding fresh and relevant content, not duplicated information and definitely not information copied from another website. Search engines like Google fight black hat SEO and they are a company valued at +- 370 Billion dollars. They have the resources to perfect their programs and formulas and the popularity of black hat SEO is dwindling.

White hat SEO seeks rewards on the longer term which is lasting. It is the way to go.

SEO experts

SEO experts studies all of the aforementioned constantly. Considering that Google is only 15 years old in 2014 and that things change quickly, it is a daunting task, but it is a lucrative profession. Having your business website on page 1 of Google means big business for both small, medium and large corporate businesses. Whilst there are great informative websites on the subject of SEO owned and ran by the best in the industry they usually target and service big corporate businesses or the upper section of medium business. Your average small and medium business will not be able to afford the services offered by these companies, let alone a small medium South African business having to pay in Rand for these services.

The big corporate Web Design and SEO companies employs or contracts a considerable number of skilled individuals as they target big corporate clients.

Typically a small South African web designer does it all himself. Not only the web designing part (production) but also his own little business' admin, sales and marketing. Considering the web designing part comprises of graphic design, coding and programming then you understand why traditionally web design has been very expensive, out of reach for the average small business owner in South Africa.

We now have affordable turnkey CMS web design and development solutions which has changed the web design landscape in South Africa forever.

Crawlable

Before a search engine can index you in their index they first need to be able to read the text on your website. They cannot read text on Images and battle with flash. Website text is better read than text on word documents uploaded to websites. Word documents are better read than PDF documents. It is better therefore to write your newsletter/blog as website text and not PDF.

Time = money

For most small medium business owners time = money. To engage on an extensive self-help SEO learning course by sifting through all the information available on the internet will be a very costly exercise. We do recommend further reading and on the website www.kwikwaponline.co.za we will link to other useful resources. You will encounter many irrelevant information on the subject of SEO and you will probably want to give up. Still today, even getting a website off the ground is halted by the lack of time and or money.

A lot of time is wasted on free resources like Facebook and free website builders like Wozaonline and Wix. These will be discussed in more detail in this book but the short version is that I hardly ever encounter these websites on page 1 of Google plus there is little human support.

I hope that this information and rest of this book will make understanding the internet, SEO and developing a sound Website development plan for your business a lot easier and more affordable.

I recommend that you watch the following video on YouTube to have a great understanding on how search works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNHR6IQJGZs

Social Media Marketing

Social Media includes platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pininterest and Instagram among others.

Using these platforms to market your products and services is called Social Media Marketing.

These platforms need to offer a return on investment ROI to their shareholders so they want you to pay to advertise on their platforms.

They allow a certain amount of free advertising or benefits but they are moving to limit those free benefits so that in the end you are gently forced to consider advertising with them.

LinkedIn is a professional online network and can be a valuable tool for professional business networking.

Activity on Social Media has become important indicators for search engines as to the importance or ran of your website, similar to Backlinks.

To get started today you can reply via email or phone Francois on 0745470221 or Melanie on 0768470492.

Have a good April 2014.

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Kwikwap Website Consultant: WWW. Buddy Web Design . CO.ZA

Terms and Conditions

Website consultant: WWW. Buddy Web Design . CO.ZA
Email: francois@kwikwap.co.za
Cell number: 081 828 3402

1. Introduction
These are the general terms of the relationship between you (website visitor) and us (website owner). The terms cover all use of this website. You agree to the terms by visiting and using this website.
2. Definitions and interpretation
2.1 Definitions. In the agreement:
terms means the terms, consisting of:
these terms of use; and any other relevant specific terms, policies, disclaimers, rules and notices agreed between the parties, (including any that may be applicable to a specific section or module of the website); we, us, or our means Buddy Web Design, the owner of the website. It includes our officers, agents, employees, owners, co-branders and associates where the terms limit or exclude our liability; you or your means any visitor to this website, including any other person, website, business or agent (including any virtual or robotic agent) associated with the visitor.
2.2 Conflict. If the meaning of any general term conflicts with any other relevant specific term, the specific term will apply. Specific terms apply to a specific section of the website or have been specifically agreed between you and us.
3. Use of this website
3.1 Licence. We grant you a limited licence to use this website on these terms. We may cancel your licence at any time for any reason. Your licence is automatically cancelled if you do not get our written permission before using this website in a way these terms do not allow.
3.2 Breach. If you breach any of the terms or infringe any other person's rights (including copyright), we may cancel your licence, block you from using the website, claim specific performance or damages against you and take any other steps the law allows, without affecting our rights.
3.3 Framing. You may not frame this website or any of its pages.
3.4 Linking. You may only link to the home page of this website. You may not deep link (link to any other page) or link in any way that could suggest that we endorse or support you, or that you have any rights in our website or intellectual property.
3.5 Virtual agents. You may not use any technology (including spiders, crawlers, bots and similar virtual agents) to search or gain any information from this website.
4. Your capacity
4.1 Capacity and agreement. You promise that you may visit this website and agree to the terms because you are: are at least 18 (or regarded as legally adult), and have the legal right and capacity to do so; or are not 18 yet, but have permission from your parent (or legal guardian) to do so.
4.2 Accurate information. You promise that you will give only accurate information to us and this website.
5. Intellectual property
5.1 Ownership. Except as provided to the contrary in the agreement, all right, title, interest, and ownership (including all rights under all copyright, patent, and other intellectual property laws) in, to or of this website are our sole property or will vest in us or a third party licensor. All moral rights are reserved.
5.2 Trademarks. Our logo and sub-logos, marks, and trade names are our trademarks and no person may use them without permission. Any other trademark or trade name that may appear on our marketing material is the property of its respective owner.
5.3 Restrictions. Except as expressly permitted under the agreement, the website may not be: modified, distributed, or used to make derivative works; rented, leased, loaned, sold or assigned; decompiled, reverse engineered, or copied; or reproduced, transferred, or distributed.
6. Limits to our liability
6.1 You use this website at your own risk. We provide the website `as is`. We do not give any express or implied warranty or make any other promise about this website. For example, we do not warrant that it is good quality, fit for any particular purpose, accurate, complete, up-to-date, legally effective or secure. We also do not warrant that it is free of latent defect, errors, malicious software or infringing content, or that you will have quiet or uninterrupted use of it.
6.2 You indemnify us. You indemnify (or promise to protect) us against any claim, demand, loss, damage, cost, or liability (including reasonable attorneys' fees) related to your use of this website.
6.3 Faults. We will do our best to fix any fault in this website as soon as reasonably practical after we find out about it. This is the limit of our responsibility and liability for any fault in the website.
6.4 Direct damages limited. If the previous clause does not apply for any reason, our maximum liability to you for all claims for direct damages is R100. This limit applies whether a claim is based on contract, delict (tort) or any other legal cause of action.
6.5 No liability for indirect damages. We will never be responsible for any indirect or consequential damages or losses, even if we should have foreseen them. These may include any loss of profit, loss of goodwill, loss of use or damages related to lost or damaged data.
6.6 Other website. We are not responsible for anyone else's website.
7. General
7.1 Entire agreement. The terms are the entire agreement between the parties on the subject.
7.2 Changes to website. We may change or stop publishing this website without notice and will not be responsible for any consequences.
7.3 Changes to terms. We may change the terms by placing a notice on this website. If you do not agree with the change, you must stop using this website or the changed terms will apply to you.
7.4 Facts about website. If an administrator of this website signs a letter confirming any fact related to the website, that letter is conclusive proof of its contents. These may include the version of the terms that apply to any dispute, or what content or functions the website had at a particular time or date.
7.5 Waiver. We do not ever waive (give up) our rights, even if we allow you any favour or extension of time, or we delay enforcing our rights against you.
7.6 Severability. Any term that is invalid, illegal or cannot be enforced must be regarded as deleted. The remaining terms continue as intended.
7.7 Law and jurisdiction. South African law and conditions (such as time and date) govern the terms. Only the South African courts may decide any dispute about the terms.

Privacy Policy
1. Collection We collect certain information: when you contact us on our website; from your web browser; from cookies we may send to your computer and from web beacons on our website to track how you use our website and to try and give you a personalised experience; and optional information, that you provide when you upload or download content from our website.
2. Use We may use your information: to send you send administrative messages and email updates to you regarding the website; for marketing purposes; targeted content in certain, specified instances.
3. Disclosure We might disclose your information in the specific circumstances mentioned in this policy.
4. Security Our hosting company will host your website in a secure server environment.
5. Your choices You can turn off cookies in your browser; or You can opt-out of marketing communications with us.
6. Contact us You can contact us with privacy related questions at francois@kwikwap.co.za address
7. Audience This policy applies to all visitors to our website (`you` and `your`).
8. Purpose of this policy We respect your privacy and take the protection of personal information very seriously. The purpose of this policy is to describe the way we collect, store, use, and protect information that can be associated with a specific natural or juristic person and can be used to identify that person (`personal information`). Personal information:
8.1 includes certain information collected when you contact us (see below); and optional information that you voluntarily provide to us (see below).
8.2 excludes information that has been made anonymous so that it does not identify a specific person; permanently de-identified information that does not relate or cannot be traced back to you specifically; and non-personal statistical information collected and compiled by us and information that you have provided voluntarily in an open, public environment or forum including (without limitation) any blog, chat room, community, classifieds or discussion board. Because the information has been disclosed in a public forum, it is no longer confidential and does not constitute Personal Information subject to protection under this policy.
9. Acceptance of terms By using this website you are deemed to have read, understood, accepted, and agreed to be bound by these terms.
10. Collection
10.1 On registration. Once you contact us on our website, you will no longer be anonymous to us as you will provide us with personal information.
10.2 Collection from browser. We automatically receive and record internet usage information on server logs from your browser (`usage information`).
10.3 Cookies. When you access our website we may send one or more cookies (small text files containing a string of alphanumeric characters) to your computer to collect certain usage information. We use information gathered by cookies to improve the website. Please note that some of our business partners (e.g. advertisers) use their own cookies or widgets on our website. We have no access to or control over them. Information collected by any such cookie or widget is governed by the privacy policy of the company that created it, and not by us. We use Remarketing with Google Analytics to advertise online. Third-party vendors, including Google, show your ads on sites across the Internet. Lead Find and third-party vendors, including Google, use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) together to inform, optimize, and serve ads based on someone's past visits to this website. Visitors can opt-out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising and customize Google Display Network ads using the Ads Settings.
10.4 Web beacons. Our website may contain electronic image requests (called a `single-pixel gif` or `web beacon` request) that allow us to count page views and to access cookies. Any electronic image viewed as part of a web page (including an ad banner) can act as a web beacon. Our web beacons do not collect, gather, monitor or share any of your personal information. We merely use them to compile anonymous information about our website.
10.5 Recording calls. We will monitor and record telephone calls that you make to our call centre, unless you specifically request us not to.
10.6 Optional details. You may provide information on a voluntary basis (`optional information`). This includes content or product that you decide to upload or download from our website or otherwise use any optional features and functionality of the website.
10.7 Purpose for collection. We may use any optional information provided by you for such purposes as indicated to you at the time you agree to provide such optional information.
11. Consent to collection We will obtain your consent to collect personal information: in accordance with applicable law; and at the time you provide us with any optional information.
12. Use We may send administrative messages and email updates to you regarding the website. In some cases, we may also send you primarily promotional messages. You can choose to opt-out of promotional messages.
13. Disclosure
13.1 Sharing. We may share your personal information with: other divisions or companies within the group of companies to which we belong; and an affiliate, in which case we will seek to require the affiliates to honour this privacy policy.
13.2 Regulators. If you contact us regarding your experience with using any of our products, we may disclose your personal information as required by law or governmental audit.
13.3 Law enforcement. We may disclose personal information if required: by a subpoena or court order; or to comply with any law.
13.4 Marketing purposes. We may disclose aggregate statistics (information about the customer population in general terms) about the personal information to advertisers or business partners.
13.5 Employees. We may need to disclose personal information to our employees that require the personal information to do their jobs.
13.6 Change of ownership. If we undergo a change in ownership, or a merger with, acquisition by, or sale of assets to, another entity, we may assign our rights to the personal information we process to a successor, purchaser, or separate entity. We will disclose the transfer on the website. If you are concerned about your personal information migrating to a new owner, you may request us to delete your personal information.
14. Security of personal information Our hosting company will host our website in a secure server environment that uses a firewall and other advanced security measures to prevent interference or access from outside intruders. We authorize access to personal information only for those employees who require it to fulfil their job responsibilities.
15. Retention of personal information
We will only retain your personal information for as long as it is necessary to fulfil the purposes explicitly set out in this policy, unless: retention of the record is required or authorised by law; or you have consented to the retention of the record. During the period of retention, we will continue to abide by our non disclosure obligations and will not share or sell your personal information.
16. Limitation We are not responsible for, give no warranties, nor make any representations in respect of the privacy policies or practices of linked or any third party websites.
17. Enquiries If you have any questions or concerns arising from this privacy policy or the way in which we handle personal information, please contact us.

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