Avatar News January 30, 2007

10 Useful Tips For Creating A Search Engine Friendly Web Site

You may have heard of the expression before, but a 'search engine friendly' Web site is, in other words, a Web site that can be easily found and indexed by search engines and a Web site, which will appear as high as possible in search engine results' pages (SERPS).

Why is it important for a Web site to be search engine friendly?
It doesn't necessarily follow that every Web site is required to be search engine friendly; some businesses may not need their site to be 'found and indexed' by search engines. However, with over 6.7 billion searches conducted online in the U.S. market alone in December 2006, it's fair to say that Internet users make good use of search engines!* For those Web sites that aim to attract business from search engine users, planning a search engine friendly Web site should be at the very start (and heart) of the Web design process.

Here are 10 useful tips for building search engine friendly Web site foundations:

1. Think about search engine friendliness before starting your Web design and build
2. Plan your Web site carefully, think about the balance between 'people friendly' and 'search engine friendly' content
3. Research your market and the words people enter (keywords) into search engines to find businesses and services relevant to yours
4. Create search engine friendly pages, with clean and easy-to-read code and keywords located within them
5. Provide text and lots of it because that's what search engines like! Set aside an area on your site so you can regularly publish new 'text-based' content such as articles, news and special offers
6. Avoid frames and overly excessive use of Flash formatted content and graphics in favour of text-rich elements
7. Position elements of a page carefully to help search engines find the core content
8. Include a site map and clear, simple navigation (avoid complicated pop-ups, Flash and entry pages)
9. Link your text to other pages on your Web site using descriptive text (search engines like following internal, as well as external links, so make sure there are plenty of them)
10. Remember, the most successful Web sites provide useful information for people first, search engines second... so think about publishing content that people want to link to, or will send onto others and get maximum mileage from the online community spreading information for you.

These are basic search engine friendly foundations, but if you've got some, if not all of these in mind when you start planning your new Web site, you're well on the way to snuggling up with search engines!

Special Offer — Save 25% On Your Form Spam Fix

Clearing out your mailbox after the Christmas break? If you've still got unwanted form spam strangling your legitimate business enquiries, then this month's special offer for a form spam fix is for you*.

The size of the spam problem is mind-boggling. Back in 1978, a year of flares, 'fros and mo's, an email spam was sent to 600 email addresses. According to research into the spam epidemic, by June 2006, this figure had exploded with over 55 billion spam emails being sent every day. This rose to an even more staggering 85 billion spam mails sent every day by December of the same year. With spam accounting for up to 85% of 'abusive' mail, prevention measures such as our form spam fix and mail filtering software, Rocket Spam are well worth serious consideration. Our spam form fix works by asking the user of a form to type 5 or 6 unique characters (generated by some nifty programming) into their submission. Rocket Spam is only available for individuals and companies based in New Zealand.

Special Offer
Our form spam fix service is valued at $240+gst (2 hours of programming time), but if you buy your fix before the end of February 2007, we'll take 25% off the price. That means you make a cool $60 worth of savings! View the spam fix in action.

Contact Michael via our spam free form today!

* Technical restrictions may apply, depending on your server set up.

Avatar Movie Extras

The news that Weta Digital in Wellington will be working on the special effects for James Cameron's upcoming sci-fi movie epic, Avatar, inspired a few 'talents' around the office to reveal themselves. If anyone knows when movie extras are needed, give us a shout — the crew at Avatar will clearly make first-rate aliens.

Don't forget that principal photography for the movie is being shot here in New Zealand, so the 'Avatar Tour of New Zealand' may just be the next big tourist attraction!

Interesting Tidbits

• Banksy graffiti giveaways. This talented, thought-proving and sometimes controversial UK artist, 'Banksy' offers some of his art as free online images, which can be downloaded to print or use as a desktop... "Prints look best when done on gloss paper using the company printer ink when everyone else is at lunch."
• Please, draw me... This artistic blogger draws a cartoon a day, based on the email suggestions he receives. Black metal morris dancers and 'aquaholics anonymous' are great!
• Aussie cricketer goes for a song. Bowler Brett Lee spends his time off field strumming his guitar, which has resulted in a Bollywood chart hit with Indian icon, Asha Bhosle. "You're the One for Me" is sung in both Hindi and English.
• Going goggle-eyed yet? If the thought of not watching enough TV gives you cold sweats, you'll be pleased to know that you can now watch your own TV on any mobile phone, PDA, laptop or any other PC that has a media player with streaming capabilities. Phew. Check out Orb for more.
• Freehand circle champ. If your writing goes all over the place on a whiteboard, you'll appreciate just how brilliant this freehand circle is! View US teacher, Alexander Overwijk, in action drawing a perfect circle in less than a second.
• Make a few extra pennies. If you're feeling the pinch after Christmas, turn to these fantastic money making ideas. All you need is paper, glue and musical talent.
• Apple launches the iPhone. Apple has launched the stylish-looking new iPhone, which according to them 'completely redefines what you can do on a mobile phone'. Not only is it a revolutionary mobile phone, but it's a widescreen iPod with touch controls and a breakthrough Internet communications device too.
• Beware of toxic phone syndrome. Whilst we're talking about phones, have you ever wondered how clean your phone is? According to recent research by a cell phone retailer the bottom of your shoe and your toilet seat are likely to have fewer germs and nasty icky things on them than your mobile phone. Makes texting seem even more attractive, doesn't it?
• What's in a name? Nominative determinism refers to amusing instances where people's names coincidentally reflect some aspect of their jobs, professions or lives — find out more about Cardinal Sin, Harry Nipples and Mr Breedlove.
• Magic movie moments. Back in 1978, a group of 12 year olds made a 10-minute short movie based on Jaws. Their work, Shark, takes one back to carefree childhood days (their shark is sublime).

Sites of Interest

Here's a selection of sites we've updated and/or marketed recently...

• Rocket Mailing (design)
  A new look for Rocket Mailing, an email marketing software which enables you to create, target, personalise, send and track email messages.
• Rocket Spam (design)
  Rocket Spam also gets the make-over treatment with stylish new branding. Rocket Spam is a software designed to block and filter spam emails from your inbox.
• New Zealand Baches & Holiday Homes To Rent (design and promotion)
  Thousands of baches and holiday home listed in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific to rent or to buy, plus holiday tips and information.
• NZ Adventure Tours (promotion)
  South Island touring options from Christchurch based operator, NZ Adventure Tours, including Hanmer Springs, Maori cultural and Mount Cook Aoraki tours.
• Amber Court Motel (update)
  Located near Tahunanui beach; this Nelson motel offers its guests a wide choice of motel accommodation, including one-bedroom studios, easy access units and a two bedroom family apartment.
• Opononi Lighthouse Motel (update)
  The beachfront accommodation at Opononi Lighthouse Motel in Hokianga, Northland, is one of the few New Zealand motels offering views of dolphins playing in the waves.
• Apex Project Management (update)
  Apex is a leading project management consultancy delivering training and consulting services to many successful organisations in New Zealand and overseas.
• Elmtree House (update)
  Leading Christchurch bed and breakfast accommodation in an elegant 1920s setting.
• PDL (update)
  Part of the Schneider Electric group, PDL New Zealand's electrical and electronic products are sold in many international markets.
• Riverview Lodge (update)
  Riverview Lodge offers quality accommodation in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere and is ideally situated on the banks of the picturesque Avon River in Christchurch.