October 5, 2009 | 3 Comments
One of the most useful tools for new webmasters and people venturing into the world of SEO is a product by Google called Webmaster Tools. Although Google’s no-nonsense interface makes an effort to cut out everything unnecessary, it can sometimes be difficult for novices to jump into using the application without a little guidance. This is where we come in. Below I have outline 7 things that every person that manages a website should implement when getting set up with Webmaster Tools for the first time.
1. Verify the Site
This first task is actually easier than it looks. In order for Google to know that you actually own the site, it is required that you prove it by copying a chunk of code into the top section of your homepage’s code of the site in question. You will need (FTP) access to your site’s code in order to do this or, as an alternative, you can simply name one of the files on your site the big, long string of gibberish that Google gives you.
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October 2, 2009 | 1 Comment
October is a busy month for for us at Envoca. We have been pretty excited about the official public launch of Google Wave and have been having fun with our new accounts. Aside from having plans to launch a half dozen websites and eat a lot of turkey this month, we will also be attending several regional tech events alongside other Portland web design firms. These events are always helpful for keeping us ahead of the curve on the latest trends and tools that people are using in the web marketing sphere.
Drupal Camp PDX
Drupal Camp PDX 2009 is being held October 9-11 at NedSpace Old Town, right above Backspace at NW 5th & Davis in Old Town Portland. The Conference planners state that, “DrupalCamp PDX is a unconference…developed entirely by the camp participants – you and your fellow Drupalers.”
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September 8, 2009 | 6 Comments
At Envoca one of the things that specialize in is building websites that generate leads for our clients. It is one thing to design a good-looking business website for a client but it is quite another to build a website that brings business to a client. One of the other things that we specialize in is legal internet marketing. When we work on projects that are a combination of the two you can find examples of some of our best work.
Staying Ahead of the Curve – The Hydroxycut Recall
On the morning of May 1, 2009 the FDA announced that the popular diet drug Hydroxycut was to be recalled due to severe cases of liver damage and the risk of death. Several of our clients are law firms who handle pharmaceutical injury lawsuits and wanted to be able to take the cases of people injured by this drug as soon as possible. We have found that these days, when people need a lawyer, they look on the internet to find one. Therefore, it was important to us to make sure that people searching online for a Hydroxycut lawyer found our clients on Google as soon as possible.
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August 12, 2009 | 2 Comments
The second official day of Search Engine Strategies (SES) is now underway and some interesting things have happened so far. Yesterday we had the privilege of hearing Clay Shirky speak on Social Media and its effects on world affairs. Clay touched on the effects of social media’s consumer impact and even sported the now infamous “3 wolf moon t-shirt.”
The trade show was open so I got a few minutes to chat with the folks working on Bing’s up-and-coming mobile search platform as well as WYS from Google who is known online as “that guy who does the Google webmaster videos with Matt Cutts.” In the afternoon I got to sit in on a panel that included 3 of the top 5 people involved in SEO in the world namely Bruce Clay, Michael Gray, and Aaron Wall. Then in the evening, WebmasterRadio.fm put on their Search Bash after party where the industry’s movers and shakers were able to well…move and shake together.
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August 10, 2009 | 1 Comment
It’s Monday night and the Envoca team is out in full force on the first official night of SES San Jose.
Deborah has been our navigator for the trip, navigating us from the airport to the light rail to the hotel with little to no injury. Ryan has spent the evening running around downtown San Jose looking to buy clothes to work out in…of course packing them would have been too easy.
I spent the flight coming here listening the screaming two year old sitting next to me. She was trying to get her mom to let her listen to her iPod which had been turned off due to FAA regulations. Yes, you heard me correctly. The two year old is addicted to her iPod as well. No wonder Chris Pirillo calls them Apple’s “gateway drugs”. Now I am sitting in the lobby of our hotel blogging, tweeting, and listening to some guy play jazz piano and drinking ginger ale. It totally makes up for earlier.
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