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WordPress SEO by Yoast – An Easy Guide to Getting Started

May 22nd, 2013 by Tari Fraim

So you’ve spent all this money on a beautiful website, but what good is it if you’re not getting found? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has always been this mystical science to me – and I’m certain that I’m not alone in this regard. Fortunately, if you have a WordPress site, you are one step ahead because WordPress is known for being a leading Content Management System (CMS) when it comes to SEO. And there’s more good news! There are plug-ins – like WordPress SEO by Yoast – that make it even better!

We set up our WordPress clients with the WordPress SEO by Yoast plug-in as we’ve found it to be very effective. If you’re looking for the technical how to get started, benefits and so on, read this great tutorial by Yoast, WordPress SEO-The Definitive Guide To Higher Rankings For WordPress Sites.

For a quick, down and dirty, what you need to do when working with SEO by Yoast, read on.

Yoast Musts:

If you’re using the Yoast plug-in, there are a few things that are a “must” on your list of things to do:

SEO Title:

This is the most important area to complete. While Yoast’s Snippet Preview will generate a title for you if you don’t have one (based on your title template), it may not be the title that boosts your search ranking. Think carefully about your word choice as this is not only the first thing people see in the search results, but it’s one of the most significant areas that the search engines use in their secret “searching formula.” Use the most important words first as that’s where more of the weight is put as well as what people see first.

A few notes about the title:

The title display in search engines is limited to 70 characters. The preview will show you what the SEO Title will look like as well as how many characters you have left. You can type a title that’s longer, and while the words may be searched, the rest of the title will not show on the search.
The title should always contain your brand, typically at the end, which will help people recognize you.
It should always contain the most important keyword(s) for your post or page – preferably at the beginning of the title.
And of course, the title should be interesting enough that people will click on it.

Meta Description:

The meta description is also a crucial piece to fill out if you want to be found by search engines. This description is the summary of what your page or post is about and is limited to 140 characters. Again, you can write as much as you want, but the first 140 characters should be the most meaningful. You’ll see when you run a search that key words in the meta description (and title) are bolded, so it’s important to include keywords that people will search for.

Some people think that the meta description has to be the opening sentence(s) of your page or blog (okay, that was me at one point), but that’s not the case. Often the opening is just an introduction and doesn’t even contain your key ideas. So, remember to use words that people will search for and keep the most important content in that first 140 characters.

Optional:

Focus Keyword:

We usually let our clients know that this area is optional. Filling in the keyword or phrase will trigger the Page Analysis in the 2nd tab. The analysis lets you know if you’re using your keywords and phrases appropriately throughout your document and if you’ve done what you can to help your SEO efforts.

Again, there is so much more to SEO and Yoast’s plug-in, but this post is strictly to let you know what you need to know to get started with WordPress SEO by Yoast. For detailed information on how to set up your templates and how to optimize each of the areas, read more.

If you do nothing else, be sure to complete your SEO Title and Meta Description with meaningful content. It will boost your chances of getting found by leaps and bounds.

The Risk of Playing Technology Catch-up

May 15th, 2013 by James McCarthy

I talk with storeowners every day about their websites, POS systems and their customers and business and over the past few years I’ve noticed an alarming problem that is certainly recognized and overwhelmingly ignored by almost all storeowners. It’s the complete disregard for staying current with technology.

Here’s the problem – it’s too easy to push technology to the bottom of the upgrade pile because technology is expensive. Too expensive, in fact, to care about until its too late. Time is vicious when you ignore it.

Scenario – The storeowner opened its doors years ago and stuck in a ton of money to build the inventory and customer base and hire employees. They even bought a computer system complete with software and printers, and in the beginning, it was amazing and very cool how everything worked so well. Then they built a website and started selling online, and life was good. Yesssss!

Well, now it’s been six or seven years and the store is maturing and getting better and better. The open to buy inventory makes sense and the profits are increasing at the normal retail rate. But, now the owner is looking around and discovers that their website is looking kind of old and out dated compared to the “new guy” down the block. The computer systems are glitchy and cumbersome now and the work to keep these “dinosaurs” going is a big fat headache. The employees are complaining that the computers are slow, they’re locking up and, etc., etc., etc.

The storeowner looks in their accounting program and discovers that he didn’t budget for technology upgrades. That’s no problem, we’ll just get new computers and build a new website. And then it hits him! Ouch! Technology didn’t get cheaper it just got better. Once he starts looking around at how expensive everything is, the first instinct is to put it off again and “make do” because it’s just too much money. Twenty-five thousand dollars for a shiny new website. Are you kidding me? The cost of upgraded POS systems and new computers pushes the storeowner over the edge of denial and he makes the costly mistake of waiting, again.

Now the problems begin to snowball. Your competitors’ websites are slick and responsive to mobile devices. You see a decline in web sales because you ignored the technology trends that happen very quickly today and the traffic on your website begins to trickle south. No matter how much money you throw at other areas of your business, the sales keep declining. You need help!

Now you can’t afford to upgrade because you decided to put it off until sales increased and the opposite has happened. You can’t catch-up this way and it’s now that you really begin to pay attention. You read about record-breaking growth in Internet sales that everyone else is having except you and now it’s all hands on deck. You’re going to make a big business decision and shift everything to the web. It’s your basic crisis management thinking and it had better work. Your customers are a finicky bunch and will no longer be loyal if you don’t keep up with the times and make them happy. They want to support you, but you have to do your part as well.

Here’s a good rule of thumb to live by in the retail world and it’s a bit of a history lesson, so bear with me. Back in the mid 60’s, Gordon Moore, who is one of the founders of Intel, boldly stated that computing power and technology will double every two years. This statement has been widely regarded as Moore’s Law. Ha! He was wrong! It doubled about every eighteen months. It’s 2013 now and computing power and technology is still growing . . .

So having a technology budget that is strictly adhered to is very important for your business success. You save for your retirement why would you ignore technology? Trying to catch up is going to require a rich uncle to become an investor and even so, it will take six months to complete the upgrade. Do you have that much time? Can you afford the price of time?

Websites have a shelf life of about three years before you have to start thinking about doing something different. Computers and software programs have to be maintained and updated all the time because it takes about two seconds to recognize that four years went by, and four years for a computer is like twenty human years.

Please don’t get yourself stuck in this scenario. Pay attention, budget for growth and know that you’re going to have to eventually spend some money to stay current.

Magento Imagine 2013 Conference, The Art of Commerce

April 24th, 2013 by Todd Myers

After attending this year’s Magento Imagine Conference, it is easy to see why Magento is the fastest growing e-commerce platform on the planet. Sure Magneto is a very powerful and extendable system, but in my opinion that’s not what makes Magento such a tour de force. Instead, it’s the thriving community Magento has built and the passionate people behind the platform.

Just now as I’m sitting in the cafe of the hotel writing this blog someone came up and introduced himself. Your initial thought is probably, “Sure what is he trying to sell you?” Yes, there’s certainly people here pushing their wares, but there’s a genuine desire to collaborate and connect with people.

Ok, just moments later someone else came up to me in the cafe, but thought I was Alan Storm. I guess Alan writes a really good Magento blog because he was clearly excited to meet me, and disappointed when I told him I wasn’t Alan. If you’re a developer you might want to take a look at Alan’s blog because it is chalk full of useful information.

Here’s a summary of the things I found interesting this year at the Magento Imagine 2013 Conference. Sorry if you’re looking for a technical summary of the conference, this is not the place. Instead, I’ll be sharing my personal experiences and anything that inspired me during this year’s conference.

Taylor McFerrin & Marshall Davis Jones

Without a doubt, the thing I liked the most about this year’s conference was the musical performances from Taylor McFerrin and Marshall Davis Jones. I’m sure you’re saying to yourself, “Boy the conference must have really stunk if the highlight for you were these musical performances.” On the contrary, the conference was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed the speakers, break-out sessions, marketplace, and all the new people I met. However, I found Taylor’s and Marshall’s performances amazing and a perfect fit with this year’s theme of “The Art of Commerce”. If you ever have the chance, please go see Taylor and Marshall, they are indescribably talented and gave some of the most inspirational moments of the conference.

Side Note: I talked to Taylor a couple of times at the conference and found him to be one of the most humble and “coolest” people I’ve ever met. I’m in my mid-40s and don’t even know if saying someone is “cool” is even cool anymore. I guess that makes me most definitely not cool anymore.

Jamie Clarke

My next vote goes out to Jamie Clarke. Jamie’s account of his attempts at climbing Mount Everest and crossing Arabia’s Empty Quarter literally had me buckling over in laughter. However, if you paid close attention, you realized his talk was not all about getting laughs. Jamie has a unique perspective on what it takes to be successful in life. He believes you must face obstacles and challenges in your life to gain a better understanding of yourself. Everyone has gone through obstacles of one sort or another and as Jamie says, overcoming your fears, rejections and setbacks is an internal battle everyone must concur. This understanding will help you become a productive member of your “team,” whether that’s your job, expedition or family.

Magento Enterprise 1.13 Released

I was also delighted to hear about the release of Magento Enterprise 1.13. The performance improvements made to version 1.13 look very encouraging with some nice enhancements to the Magento index and cache. I’m also looking forward to seeing the improvements to the API, which is useful to those of you integrating your point of sale (POS) and enterprise resource planning(ERP) systems with Magento.

Responsive Design

Finally, I need to give a shout out to Brendan Falkowski and his presentation on: “Mobile First: Responsive Design for eCommerce”. His presentation was a continuation of last year’s presentation on responsive design but with all new material. It is easy to see why Brendan was nominated for “Brilliant Newcomer of the Year” by .net Awards. Brendan has a way of explaining complex problems in a way that’s both understandable and enlightening. Brendan shared his key learnings over the last year on his work with both Skinny Ties and Angry Birds, which we’ll definitely be applying in our projects.

I look forward to next year’s conference and experiencing everything that makes Magento so great!

Special Thanks: I would like to thank Karen from WebShopApps – your insight and assistance at the conference and throughout the year is most appreciated. If you have special shipping needs for Magento, I highly encourage you to look at WebShopApps. P.S. I hope you enjoyed the Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies.

Imagine 2013 – My Foray into the Marketplace

April 17th, 2013 by Beth McBride

Walking into the Marketplace at the Magento Imagine 2013 Worldwide Conference was like coming down the stairs on Christmas morning as a kid. Everything I could ever possibly want for our clients was there. And even some things I had never imagined!

I was in awe of the services that were being offered. I must admit, I was a little overwhelmed at first. I had taken a lot of time to page through the booklet and read up on all the attendees. I had a plan of action so that I would get to stop by and chat with every single one of the vendors I wanted to meet. But when I walked in, all that went out the window! I took a lap or two around the room and got such a great vibe from all the attendees there that I had to stop and talk with almost everyone.

I was most impressed with those vendors that provide multiple solutions with one extension. One of the biggest challenges I face is trying to find extensions that meet our clients’ needs. Sometimes it may take 2 or 3 to reach the end goal. The vendors at Imagine 2013 get it! They know what the retailer needs and have created a product that packages everything into one extension. I am so excited to get working with these new extensions and showing them to our clients. A few of my favorites were:

While I found great solutions and new products to try at the Marketplace, I also discovered what won’t work. You might think that is discouraging, but it’s not. It is a huge time saver! In a very short amount of time I was able to determine if a product would be a good fit for our current clients or not. I met some great people and made valuable connections for the future.

The Marketplace at Imagine is a must see for everyone. From the newbie to the seasoned Magento expert, there is always something new and exciting to see…something you may never have even IMAGINED!

P.S. If you missed the convention or just want to see what’s available, check out MagentoConnect, the Magento Extension Marketplace.

Magento Extension Favorite – Gift Certificates by Unirgy

April 10th, 2013 by Beth McBride

I find that gift giving seems to get harder and harder each year – or maybe I just have less time to think about, much less go out and purchase, the many presents that I need to. I like to find the “right” gift for people, but sometimes I’m at a loss for what that person would like or have no clue what they already have. Thank goodness for the gift certificate! Even better, the gift certificate that I don’t have to leave my house to buy!

rainbo-gift-cert We find that more and more of our clients are offering online gift certificates for their customers. With Magento, this requires an added extension; and fortunately, Magento has an Extension Marketplace (MagentoConnect) that has extensions in abundance.

For gift certificates, we like uGiftCert by Unirgy. We’ve found that this extension is easy to install and the interface and backend are easy to use. For our clients that have existing gift certificates, we are able to import the information so that customers can still use them.

UGiftCert allows you either an electronic or printed gift certificate. The retailer has the flexibility to determine how the gift certificate will show on the front end. There’s a one-time set-up where they can select the dollar increments or allow the purchaser to select a denomination, set expiration dates, generate numbers, pins or status. If the recipient only uses a partial amount, the system keeps track of the balance.

Key Features (read more for a full list of features…)

Create or import Gift Certificates (GC) to be purchased from your store(s)
Offer fixed or selectable ranges of value denominations
Full support for virtual or physical GCs
Allow you customers to supply custom gift messages to be included on GCs
GCs could be delivered via email or physical mail
Virtual GC delivery can be scheduled by shopper or auto-delivered at the time of purchase
Customize your branded certificate template
Shoppers can check GC balance from within their account or dedicated webpage
Ability to import all GC data from external sources
Comprehensive reporting on GC usage

We’re always trying to improve our capabilities and offerings to our clients and uGiftCert by Unirgy is a great addition to our arsenal. If you have a Magento site and are considering adding gift certificates, take a look at Unirgy.

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