There are many people who are unaware of W3C compliance and many who don’t know what kind of role the W3C compliance plays in SEO. First you need to understand what W3C compliance really is. W3C stands for the World Wide Web Consortium and this body or association has been providing the guidelines for website structure since 1994.

The guidelines or rules have been created according to the best practices and there are certain reasons why you or your website designer should comply with the W3C guidelines. All the reasons are not SEO driven and some of the non-SEO reasons include:

• W3C Compliance will ensure that your website is accessible to the disabled.
• W3C Compliance will also ensure that your website can be accessed through different devices like cellular phones and PDA’s and also from different browsers like Mozilla Firefox.
• W3C Compliance will ensure that in spite of the different functionalities and requirements of different technologies and browsers, your website will be accessible and function in across different mediums in a similar way.

Now that you know the non-SEO reasons for ensuring full W3C compliance, you will probably ask: what has this got to do with SEO?

According to a statement made by Frederick Townes from W3Edge web design, if you use the standards and incorporate the best practices then you are ensuring that your website will be designed in such a way that it is easier for search engines to interpret it. At the same time, the search engines will be able to skew the content-to-code ratio in the right direction and force the information on each of the web pages to be accessible.

Basically, he means that if you remove excess code from your web pages then the keyword driven content will get a higher priority. The second most important thing is that following the W3C compliance will ensure that your web site can be easily spidered.

How to add W3C Compliance to your website

Actually it is easier said than done. If you don’t have a website then you can have it designed based on the W3C compliance from scratch and your website designer needs to know how he/she can do it. If you have a website, which is not W3C compliant then you have only one option:
You need to hire a web/graphic designer who is familiar with the W3C standards and has the capability to redo your site based on the standards.

Either ways, you will benefit if your website is W3C compliant.

Let us look at a worse case scenario where you will have to do the website all by yourself. There are quite a few good resources that you can take advantage of. One of the best is the FireFox Web Developer extension. You need to first install the FireFox browser and then install the Web Developer extension.

One of the major aspects of this tool is that it provides a one-click check for W3C compliance and it will provide you with a list of the different types of errors, their cause and the solution and everything will be according to the W3C standard. The Web Developer extension can test CSS, HTML, and XHTML, compliance.

How to start

The Easy Route.

Request a quote today and we can do the work for you!

OR:

Once you have downloaded the Firefox browser and installed the Web Developer extension, you will need to bookmark your resources. Once this is taken care of, you will have to test your website and at the same time check that your site meets all the W3C standards.

You should first start with the CSS validation. CSS validation is an easy process and can be done quickly as compared to most of the other code files. Once you are done with CSS, move on to HTML or XHTML validation. This will take at least a few hours and even more. The bigger your website is, the more time it will take.

After the validation of CSS and HTML, you will have to comply with Accessibility standards. In this process, you will be cleaning a chunk of your existing code and moving some of the code to CSS.

What is the need?
By now you are probably wondering why you need to do all this. The only reason is that once you complete all the validations, you will have a fully compliant website. Although the W3C compliance is not the only factor that drives SEO but if your website maintains the standard then you will definitely have the edge in the rat race.

Here’s a sample:

“We can’t thank you enough for helping us build our business. When Alyssa found Digital Success there was no hesitation on our part. You were everything we were looking for.

“The Designers were unbelievable. Every day we would talk about how simplified this whole process was.”

-Jared and Alyssa, Cedar Rapids, IA-

This article is the second in a two-part SEO checklist specifically for small business owners and webmasters. Last week, I shared 20 “dont’s.” Naturally, this week addresses the “Do’s”—things to make sure you include whether you’re hiring an SEO company or doing it yourself.

Small Business SEO Checklist: The Do’s

1. Commit yourself to the process. SEO isn’t a one-time event. Search engine algorithms change regularly, so the tactics that worked last year may not work this year. SEO requires a long-term outlook and commitment.

2. Be patient. SEO isn’t about instant gratification. Results often take months to see, and this is especially true the smaller you are, and the newer you are to doing business online.

3. Ask a lot of questions when hiring an SEO company. It’s your job to know what kind of tactics the company uses. Ask for specifics. Ask if there are any risks involved. Then get online yourself and do your own research—about the company, about the tactics they discussed, and so forth.

4. Become a student of SEO. If you’re taking the do-it-yourself route, you’ll have to become a student of SEO and learn as much as you can. Luckily for you, there are plenty of great Web resources (like Search Engine Land) and several terrific books you can read. Aaron Wall’s SEO Book, Jennifer Laycock’s Small Business Guide to Search Engine Marketing, and Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day by Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin are three I’ve read and recommend.

5. Have web analytics in place at the start. You should have clearly defined goals for your SEO efforts, and you’ll need web analytics software in place so you can track what’s working and what’s not.

6. Build a great web site. I’m sure you want to show up on the first page of results. Ask yourself, “Is my site really one of the 10 best sites in the world on this topic?” Be honest. If it’s not, make it better.

7. Include a site map page. Spiders can’t index pages that can’t be crawled. A site map will help spiders find all the important pages on your site, and help the spider understand your site’s hierarchy. This is especially helpful if your site has a hard-to-crawl navigation menu. If your site is large, make several site map pages. Keep each one to less than 100 links. I tell clients 75 is the max to be safe.

8. Make SEO-friendly URLs. Use keywords in your URLs and file names, such as yourdomain.com/red-widgets.html. Don’t overdo it, though. A file with 3+ hyphens tends to look spammy and users may be hesitant to click on it. Related bonus tip: Use hyphens in URLs and file names, not underscores. Hyphens are treated as a “space,” while underscores are not.

9. Do keyword research at the start of the project. If you’re on a tight budget, use the free versions of Keyword Discovery or WordTracker, both of which also have more powerful paid versions. Ignore the numbers these tools show; what’s important is the relative volume of one keyword to another. Another good free tool is Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool, which doesn’t show exact numbers.

10. Open up a PPC account. Whether it’s Google’s AdWords or Yahoo’s Search Marketing or something else, this is a great way to get actual search volume for your keywords. Yes, it costs money, but if you have the budget it’s worth the investment. It’s also the solution if you didn’t like the “Be patient” suggestion above and are looking for instant visibility.

11. Use a unique and relevant title and meta description on every page. The page title is the single most important on-page SEO factor. It’s rare to rank highly for a primary term (2-3 words) without that term being part of the page title. The meta description tag won’t help you rank, but it will often appear as the text snippet below your listing, so it should include the relevant keyword(s) and be written so as to encourage searchers to click on your listing. Related bonus tip: You can ignore the Keywords meta altogether if you’d like; it’s close to inconsequential. If you use it, put misspellings in there, and any related keywords that don’t appear on the page.

12. Write for users first. Google, Yahoo, etc., have pretty powerful bots crawling the web, but to my knowledge these bots have never bought anything online, signed up for a newsletter, or picked up the phone to call about your services. Humans do those things, so write your page copy with humans in mind. Yes, you need keywords in the text, but don’t stuff each page like a Thanksgiving turkey. Keep it readable.

13. Create great, unique content. This is important for everyone, but it’s a particular challenge for online retailers. If you’re selling the same widget that 50 other retailers are selling, and everyone is using the boilerplate descriptions from the manufacturer, this is a great opportunity. Write your own product descriptions, using the keyword research you did earlier (see #9 above) to target actual words searchers use, and make product pages that blow the competition away. Plus, retailer or not, great content is a great way to get inbound links.

14. Use your keywords as anchor text when linking internally. Anchor text helps tells spiders what the linked-to page is about. Links that say “click here” do nothing for your search engine visibility.

15. Build links intelligently. Submit your site to quality, trusted directories such as Yahoo, DMOZ, Business.com, Aviva, and Best of the web. Seek links from authority sites in your industry. If local search matters to you (more on that coming up), seek links from trusted sites in your geographic area—the Chamber of Commerce, etc. Analyze the inbound links to your competitors to find links you can acquire, too.

16. Use press releases wisely. Developing a relationship with media covering your industry or your local region can be a great source of exposure, including getting links from trusted media web sites. Distributing releases online can be an effective link building tactic, and opens the door for exposure in news search sites. Related bonus tip: Only issue a release when you have something newsworthy to report. Don’t waste journalists’ time.

17. Start a blog and participate with other related blogs. Search engines, Google especially, love blogs for the fresh content and highly-structured data. Beyond that, there’s no better way to join the conversations that are already taking place about your industry and/or company. Reading and commenting on other blogs can also increase your exposure and help you acquire new links. Related bonus tip: Put your blog at yourdomain.com/blog so your main domain gets the benefit of any links to your blog posts. If that’s not possible, use blog.yourdomain.com.

18. Use social media marketing wisely. If your small business has a visual element, join the appropriate communities on Flickr and post high-quality photos there. If you’re a service-oriented business, use Yahoo Answers to position yourself as an expert in your industry. With any social media site you use, the first rule is don’t spam! Be an active, contributing member of the site. The idea is to interact with potential customers, not annoy them.

19. Take advantage of local search opportunities. Online research for offline buying is a growing trend. Optimize your site to catch local traffic by showing your address and local phone number prominently. Write a detailed Directions/Location page using neighborhoods and landmarks in the page text. Submit your site to the free local listings services that the major search engines offer. Make sure your site is listed in local/social directories such as CitySearch, Yelp, Local.com, etc., and encourage customers to leave reviews of your business on these sites, too.

20. Take advantage of the tools the search engines give you. Sign up for Google’s webmaster Central and Yahoo’s Site Explorer to learn more about how the search engines see your site, including how many inbound links they’re aware of.

21. Diversify your traffic sources. Google may bring you 70% of your traffic today, but what if the next big algorithm update hits you hard? What if your Google visibility goes away tomorrow? Newsletters and other subscriber-based content can help you hold on to traffic/customers no matter what the search engines do. In fact, many of the DOs on this list—creating great content, starting a blog, using social media and local search, etc.—will help you grow an audience of loyal prospects and customers that may help you survive the whims of search engines.

Just like last week, this list could continue well beyond these 21 “DOs.” Your additions are welcome in the comments.

With this checklist and last week’s list of “Don’ts,” you should be able to develop a good plan of attack for your SEO efforts for your small business.

Matt McGee

That is why we build your listing on Google Maps for you with every website we build for free.

Today you only have to type one or two words in a search bar and you are presented with many solutions, each with their own specialty. You are no longer restricted to the geographic boundries of your local area.

It only makes good business sense to advertise where your competition does or you will find yourself being left behind very quickly.

Having a website can be one of your most effective sales tools. Customers can visit your site, get information about the products and services you offer, read faq’s and contact details and even shop your online store allowing the visitor to buy a product without ever having to leave their chair.

Even if your businesses is currently successful, if you haven’t noticed it yet you soon will find out that not having a website today would be like not having a listing in the Yellow Pages a decade ago.

Even if your business generates most of its sales through word-of-mouth advertising or networking; potential customers will want to view your web site. The right website gives your customers the impression that they are dealing with a professional and secure company, of course it is up to you to maintain that sense of professionalism to make the sale and nurture any repeat business. Additionally, the cost of maintaining a Web site is probably the most cost effective advertising you will ever do.

In order to build the most effective website you can there are some points you should address.

First you need to decide how you would like to introduce yourself to your potential customers and what information you would like to have available. This can be as brief or complex as you desire. You should definitely research your competitor’s sites and critique them to discover what works and what doesn’t. Besides your competition’s site; you should also search the Internet to discover which styles of website you like and dislike. Remember that your website offers information to be able to engage your customer’s interests, so when writing your content, write it in a way that encourages them to find out more.