Blue Ocean Blog

It has been an everlasting issue among the webmasters that which type of URL will be better from the SEO point of view. Generally, static URL is preferred by the webmasters.

What is a static URL?

A static URL is the URL that links to a target without calling a script. It does not change and does not contain any URL parameters.
The static URLs are having web-pages in which the content remains the same unless the changes are hard-coded into the HTML. The users can easily interpret the relevancy of the content on the web page from the ULR itself.

Example: http://www.mbs-massage.com/wellness.html

Advantages of Static URL:

• It is easily indexed by the search engines
• Better click-through rates in SERPs, emails, web contents as compared to dynamic ones
• Easier to use and share on and off line
• Simpler to remember and increased branding
• Higher keyword relevancy and prominence
• More friendlier to the end users

Disadvantages of Static URL:

• Updating the website is a tedious process and requires hard coding
• Difficult to maintain

What is a Dynamic URL?

A dynamic URL is the one that that works on a script to connect to a target. A dynamic URL is an address of the page that results from the search of a database-driven web site or the URL of a web site that runs a script. The dynamic page is simply a template which displays the results of the database query. The changes are made in the database instead of the HTML code.

The kind of websites which generally suffer from the problem of having dynamic URLs  are e-commerce stores, forums, sites employing content management systems and some types of  blogs like Mambo or WordPress, or any other database-based website.

Example: http://www.solarsecurity.com/commercialview.aspx?Pid=1

Advantages of Dynamic URL:

• Customer friendly as it offers better CMS
• Simple to maintain and update the web-pages and the content
• Better option in case of portals and large websites
• Better if it does not contains more than 3 parameters
• Google(1 of the 4 major search engines) can now easily crawl through the web-pages

Disadvantages of Dynamic URL:

• Not liked by the search engines, they cannot easily index them
• Low click-through rates
• Do not have any keywords in the URL
• Can’t be indexed by the search engines if it contains 4+ variables

Eventually I would say that whatever kind of URL you go for, just make sure it’s compatible to what your website actually requires and the search engines copes with.

WAP or wireless Application Protocol, has added up a new dimension to the Internet i.e. mobility. We all know it well that Internet has grown fast, well really fast! Mobile Internet has also kept pace with the growing technologies. WAP bridges the gap between the wireless devices and the internet including the corporate intranets. It also offers an aptitude to deliver unlimited range of mobile value added services to the subscribers – independent of their network, bearer and terminal. Mobile subscribers are having the accessibility to the same amount and type of information from a pocket-size device as they can from the desktop.

Moving with the growing technology the mobile phones are making it easy for the subscribers to access the internet with great ease and comfort. WAP makes it possible to access the internet through the cellular phone and other handheld devices. It no more constrains the subscribers to stick to their PCs to do the same. It has been estimated that in the coming five years more and more people will be accessing the internet from their mobile phones.

The most up to date standard being used is WAP 2.0, which was published in 2002. WAP 2.0 adds support for the standard Internet communication protocols: IP, TCP, and HTTP. It is quite flexible to work with all the existing applications and upcoming wireless 3G technologies.

WAP also defines a wireless application environment (WAE) that aimed at enabling the operators, manufacturers, and content developers to develop advanced differentiating services and applications including the micro-browser, scripting facilities and e-mails.

WAP 2.0 supports a Push Model, which allows server-based applications to send or “push” the content to the devices via a Push Proxy. Push functionality is especially important for sending news, announcements, and notifications to interested users.

Advantages:

• Users

  • “Mobile” and “Internet” applications working at a compatibility level.

• Manufactures

  • Optimized for hand-held devices with inadequate capacities
  • Browser functions on all the networks

• Operators

  • Visual interface to the already existing and new features
  • Generating traffic in the network zone

• Developers

  • Making it possible them to generate applications using telephony events and push

A Google sitemap is a kind of XML sitemap that makes it possible for a website to be continuously indexed and updated on Google. It must be considered that this site map is quite different from the one that is normally available on the websites. This sitemap is particularly generated for the bots only, like Googlebot. In fact, it is the kind of sitemap that helps Google crawl the website better. Using such sitemaps increases the chances of every page on a website to be properly indexed. It must be kept in mind that this kind of sitemap is generally NOT accessible by the visitors.

This sitemap contains all the URLs present in the website. It makes the crawler even index the pages that are otherwise not likely to be indexed, like the dynamically generated flash, JavaScript or Ajax. It also makes it easy for the developers to update the website as Google doesn’t recommend creating a new one for every change. Whenever you update your site by adding or removing pages, you just have to tell Google about it by resubmitting your Sitemap.

One can create a sitemap in any of the following ways:-

1. Manually create the site map based on the sitemap protocol
2. By using a Sitemap Generator. One should have the Python installed on the webserver for this. The Google Sitemap Generator is a Python script that develops a Sitemap for your site using the Sitemap Protocol. The script uses URL lists, web server directories, or from access logs to create the sitemaps.
3. By using any third-party tool. There are various third parties which offer tools that you can utilize to create a valid Sitemap.

Google’s free tool, Sitemap Generator requires Python 2.2 or higher installed on the web server. It is preferable to create the site map based on the sitemap protocol and the latest amongst them is Sitemap Protocol 0.9.
Benefits of Sitemaps:

• A sitemap is helpful if the site is having dynamic content,
• Sitemap is most important if the website is having pages that aren’t easily discovered by Googlebot during the crawl process—for example, pages featuring rich AJAX or images.
• Sitemap also helps if the site is new and is having a few links to it.
• Sitemap has a significant role when a website is having a large collection of content pages that are not well linked to each other, or are not linked at all.
• One can also use a Sitemap to provide some additional information about the website, like the date it was last updated, and how often you expect the page to change.

Google makes use of the data available in the Sitemap to analyze the website’s structure, which eases the process of crawling through the pages and indexing them. Creating a sitemap and submitting them will be profitable for the webmasters in most of the cases, and in no case will they be penalized for it.

While designing a website, you can opt for a number of different styles available for the effective branding of the customers, users or readers. An important factor to be considered is picking up a style that copes with the brand you are designing for.
Here is a glance at ten of the most creative styles in use in web design today with example of the best websites that utilize them.

1. Illustrations and Cartoons

Illustrations and cartoons can really make a web design lively.

• http://www.floridaflourish.com/

2. Two Tone Colour

Though doesn’t sounds much stirring until used well but focus can be placed on the content as this style of web design ties in well with the minimalist design which increases the users’ focus on the content.

• : http://blog.squarespace.com/

3. Photo-Realism

Photo-realism is a technique that is associated with reality. It is a great way to harmonize the content especially when used as a large background image.

• http://ecoki.com/iphone/

4. Transparency

Another great way of making text more readable is Transparency. To give more looks to it, text can be placed above images.

• http://envato.com/

5. Gorgeous Typography

Great typography is an art and therefore is one of the more creative ways to display content online.

• http://andrewlindstrom.com/

6. Textures and Patterns

An effective way of adding depth to a web design is by using textures and patterns into it. Commonly this style is used on the background either as a repeated image or a big background image.

• http://www.simonemaranzana.com/

7. Grunge

The grunge look can often look a little muddled and chaotic but that is part of the appeal.

• http://sycfuk.com/

8. Nature

A website designed with natural elements into it creates a familiar liaison with the outdoors and stir up the feeling of being down-to-earth. Nature can also give a design an organic feel.

• http://www.komodomedia.com/

9. Abstract

Abstraction is a very creative artform due to the freedom it gives the designer. It can simply be used as a good looking visual effect.

• http://www.lyricalmedia.com/

10. Retro

Retro Design is commonly used to sell a product or service with styles that originate from anywhere from the 1920s to the 1970s.

• http://fortysevenmedia.com/

To attract traffic on your website it is quite necessary to know the process by which the search engines index the websites. The article contains some of the factors which must be kept in mind while developing a search engine friendly website. It contains some information that a person must know in order to get the website indexed by the search engine crawlers or spiders.
It is a good idea to have knowledge of the elements which determine the crawling of any website and its successful indexing so as to rank well on the various search engines. The site can be worked up in a user friendly method which helps the spiders to determine what to crawl and how frequently to crawl.

Important Indexing Factors:

1. Website Content:
   Updating the content on the web pages and putting the fresh content is one of the best methods to keep the spiders coming back to the website regularly. It really very important to regularly put up fresh content to your website. One can easily gain the attention of the crawlers by this simple process. A new content signifies the importance of the website and enables the bots to frequently visit the websites. Google’s algorithm contains Query Deserves Freshness (QDF), which is a component to detect the websites, with updated content (for example the news websites) and hence invites the bots back to the site for repeated crawling and indexing.
2. Link structure:
   The link structure in the website is also an important factor to be taken care of. The link structures are made use of by all the major search engines to crawl the web. The website having a good link structure which is starting broadly from the top and sinking into the category and sub category level, with all the important pages just three to four clicks away from the home page, are easier to crawl. Putting up a sitemap on the home page further aids the bots to find all the content on the site.
3. Through the Webmaster Tools:
   The webmaster can also implement the Google webmasters tools to enhance the indexing process. On logging into the Google webmaster tools, there is a provision to increase the spider’s crawl rate. It does not function on its own.
4. Domains:
   The domains also help a lot in inviting the bots. Domain having good quality links is also very important and it affects both the crawl rate and indexing of the websites residing on that domain.
5. Pingback and Trackbacks:
   These play a very important role to attract the Google crawlers. If any website is having a regularly updated blog or fresh articles posted on it at regular intervals, it will be a perfect site to have a feed and export it. Google Blog Search and feed tracking also assist in growing the crawl activity. Whenever a new post or article is published on the site, the search engine is pinged to let it know that the new content has been placed.

The above stated strategies are very simple and still effective. If implemented in a proper manner they can help you a lot to attract the spiders to your website and hence increase the visibility of your website.

Software as a Service emerged as an alternative technology for costlier ERP and CRM solutions. It is a developing mechanism of delivering software applications to customers over the Internet. SAAS, also known as ‘On Demand software’ or ‘hosted software’, can be enforced rapidly and eliminates the infrastructure and ongoing costs that traditional applications require.

Its software that’s developed and hosted by the SAAS vendor. Unlike traditional packaged applications that users install on their computers or servers, the SAAS vendor owns the software and runs it on computers in its data center. The client does not have possession of the software but effectively rents it, usually for a monthly fee.

SAAS is ever more popular for its aptitude to simplify deployment and reduce customer possession costs. It facilitates the developers to sustain many customers with a single version of a product. SAAS is also often coupled with a “pay as you go” subscription licensing model.

The major benefits of the Software as a service (SAAS) include:

• No need of installation: accessed directly through internet
• No specific platform required: it can run on any platform
• Centralized management: everything is done from a single source
• Automatic updates: latest version available every time you log on
• Access your data anywhere: all data is stored on the server of SAAS provider
• Cost effective infinite scalability: pay as you go model
• Higher quality services/products at a lower cost: more customers lower cost
• No infrastructure required: reduced expenses

Till now we discussed as to how businesses can profit by becoming SAAS customers. In some cases, businesses can promote by becoming specialized SAAS providers, too. Becoming a SAAS provider can also benefit a business that is having some dependent entities—such as franchisees or resellers—with which it has a strong business association, but underprivileged IT process automation and information relocation.
Finally, we can say that SAAS has proven itself to be a feasible option to traditional software delivery. In the coming years, SAAS solutions will become more popular and more services will become extensively available that will not only cover the front office but also back office processes. The cost effectiveness and the ease of exchanging information between various consumers will make SAAS solutions a strong competitor on the software shortlist.

Organizing the process of website development, like any system development, is divided into various life cycle steps. This is basically done to help the team format effectively and the standards and procedures are adopted to achieve maximum quality. The output of one phase is the input of the other phase.
Basically Web development is a process of designing a website for World Wide Web using various programming and designing technology with some changes and challenges into it.
Web development includes following processes:

1. Analysis: Based on the information one is provided one has to determine the needs for the development of the project. One has to determine as to how the website enriches the current IT system, whether it is HR or commerce, how the website is going to improve the business, how the website will join the existing system, who the target audience is and what will be the function of the website, i.e. commerce, information, support, and communication, just to name a few.

Input: Interviews with the clients, Mails and supporting docs by the client, Discussions Notes, Online chat, recorded telephone conversations, Model sites/applications etc.,
Output: 1. Work plan, 2. Cost involved 3. Team requirements, 4. Hardware-software requirements, 5. Supporting documents and 6. The approval.

1. Specifications and documentations: A proper analysis is done and preliminary specifications are drawn by covering up each and every module of the site. After reviewing and approving the preliminary document, a written proposal is prepared, outlining the scope of the project including responsibilities, time-lines and costs.

Input: Reports from the analysis team.
Output: Complete requirement specifications to the individuals and the customer/customer’s representative.

1. Prototyping: Before the final product a prototype designs of the website. These are basically developed to decrease the problems created from the miscommunication, which is a barrier to the development of an effective website. The prototype consists of layouts and navigation trees to create an overview of the site to get it verified from the client. There can be a lot of suggestions and changes from the client side and all the changes should be considered before moving into the other phase. As once quoted by George Bernard Shaw,

“The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

Input: Requirement specification
Output: site design from templates, images and prototypes.

1. Content writing (Optional): The phase is necessary especially with the websites. A specific and relevant content has to put on, following the type of business strategy the website is built for. The spellings and grammar check must be over in this phase itself.

Input: Designed Template
Output: Website with the formatted text.

1. Coding: Now it comes to the programmer to code the website keeping up with the design of the website. The coder must not tamper the look and feel of the website. The programmer must understand the design and navigation or may interact with the designer to do so. The end- user documentation can also be prepared by the coding team, which can be used by the technical writer who can understand them and writes help and manual later.

Input: Website with forms and requirement specification
Output: Database driven functions with the site and the coding documents.

1. Testing: Different from the software, the website needs an intensive testing as the system functions more as the multi-user system with limited bandwidth. Both automated and manual testing are required to test the website accurately. The testers may implement the testing tools for the purpose. After the website is hosted a live testing must be done of the websites and web based applications (e.g. Links test).

Input: The website, supporting documents, requirement specifications and technical reports.
Output: completed Applications/Websites, testing reports, error logs.

1. Promotion: This phase is especially for the websites. Once it is completed the promotion or marketing is started. The process involves creating the meta tags, constant analysis, submission of the URL to various directories and search engines. If required one can go for Pay per Click i.e., Paid click and paid submissions.

Input: Website with the content on it and client mails mentioning the competitors.
Output: Website with necessary meta tag preparation

1. Maintenance and updating: websites need a regular updation so that it is fresh and up to date. All the bugs and errors in the website can be removed during this phase.

Input: Website/application, content functions to be updated, re-Updated reports.
Output: Updated website
Every website begins with an idea but without a consistent planning and right methodology the basic idea also gets lost and the website becomes a failure.

The concepts related to the search engines were quite different before. The various search engines follow their own strategy and different algorithms to crawl the websites. In earlier days the search engines used to give more importance to the websites which were having more of the relevant keywords on the web content, but so is not the case today. The search engines have become wiser and the algorithms of the bots are built up more sagely. It all depends upon the content as well as the design of the website. One must always remember that the ultimate end-user is the human being.
It is a general misconception that search engines frequently crawl the websites that are having more of the root keywords inserted into the content. This would have been true in the past, but no longer search engines work like this, except MSN which still follows the same rules. The most important search engine, Google, does not likes the content which is having more than enough keywords tucked into the content. Creating a unique content is really important to from the search engines’ point of view. In SEO, allocating keywords in the title, header and bold HTML tags not only helps the reader to make out the topic of a page easily but it also assists in optimization since search engine takes into consideration of the keywords in these tags.The keyword density is another important factor to be taken care of by the writers. There is no fixed criterion about the keyword density but still there is an approximate percentage decided that is to be followed by the writers. If the content is quite readable and unique then there are no hard and fast rules for the keyword density even. The overall emphasis must be laid upon creating a unique and knowledgeable, which attracts the attention of the human readers/visitors.

Next to content creation, another important factor to be taken care of is designing a page to ease the process of indexing by the search engine bots. If a content rich page is not indexed by the search engines, the content is of no use to the website. The navigation system of the web pages must be proper and there must be a site map on the home page to aid the search engines find you. It is wise to have text links navigation so that bots can spider all the internal pages smoothly. One must avert the use of JavaScript and Flash made navigation system since most bots will ignore them. To overcome the problem, designers can always comprise a set of text links at the bottom of the page.Few search engines lay stress upon the content close to the top of a page. Therefore, it is prudent to design the layout in such a way that the content appears before other parts of the page. Being placed at the top of the page, it aids the search engine bots to identify the essential content of a page and index them. Utilizing the right side navigation menu is another method to gain attention.While doing SEO, webmasters cannot push aside the important factors like content and design of the website. After all this, SEO comes into action.