Lumino Web Design

E-MAIL MARKETING - BEST PRACTICES

Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

E-MAIL MARKETING - BEST PRACTICES

1. Keep it Short

Limit text. Your subject line should grab your reader. Use bright, linked buttons or eye-catching text to help a reader navigate quickly to their point of interest.

2. Keep it Simple

Although HTML can create Web page-like e-mails, they still have to get by spam filters and have correct formatting to be read by the many different e-mail programs out there. Lumino Web Design uses tables to create blocks of content that will appear in a logical layout - even if the images are blocked. E-mail flyers should operate on the WYSIWYG principle —what you see is what you get — regardless of the customer’s e-mail set-up.

3. Stick to a Clean Design

Given the ability to use CSS and HTML to design our e-mails, it can be tempting to go wiggy on the jazzy with color and intricate graphics. Most often though, simple designs are the most effective and easiest to navigate. Many designs today have black backgrounds or a very neutral color palette with selective highlights. See your latest Apple advertisement if you don't believe me.

4. Try Using Texture

People miss the old fashioned "letter". Why not try using a background that looks more like a love letter from the 20s than an e-mail flyer...

5. Work Around Image Blockers

Many readers will not be able to view your e-flyer's HTML images unless they change the settings in their e-mail program. This happens with Microsoft Outlook, BlackBerrys and other handheld devices. Image blockers are designed to prohibit spam and viruses from messing up your computer, so they do have a role to play. We make sure not to imbed important text and links into an image that may not even appear to your audience. In addition, we ALWAYS create a specific web page or micro-site for your e-flyer where the message may be accessed with all buttons and images functional - as intended.

SEO and Google Shopping

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT

E-Commerce Clients - Go For Google Shopping Feeds Savvy online-shoppers cut to the chase when looking to buy a product on the Web. By selecting the Google "Shopping" tab in the drop-down-menu under MORE, they are taken to a search page that looks like this. ➜ When they type a product search into the top search bar a new results page appears with a “Best Match” photo, a list of stores that carry the item, price of the item at various retailers, and a filter function to quickly find the best deal. The Google Shopping Center is dominated by the big players, Amazon, Sears, Best Buy etc., but smaller players can still earn extra clicks and conversions by having their stock on display here. Listing your products on Google Shopping is also a way to create more back-links to your website.
Google Product Ad Extensions Lumino Web Design offers set-up of Google Products as an add-on to our SEM (Search Engine Marketing) service. Once we have made a product feed with full details adhering to Google’s product feed parameters, we can link your product feed to your Google Ad campaign to produce something that looks like this under your ad. ➜ Setting up Product Extensions on your AdWords account is quite simple. Once we have your product feed uploaded to your Google Merchant Account center, we use “Ad Extensions” tab to line your Google Products with your existing Google Ads.
Product Listing Ads We can also set up PLA’s. Product Listing Ad campaigns are similar to AdWords, but look like this when displayed. ➜ We can manage them through the Adwords interface or Adwords Editor just like any other campaign. Unlike normal text ad campaigns, PLA campaigns are not keyword-based. The more important factor with PLA’s is quality and relevance of your product feed. Google issues very specific parameters and formatting instructions for its product feeds and we make sure your data feeds meet their criteria. We use as much detail as possible and update often. A broken or misguided link will put your whole product feed into disfavor. In order to track performance of your Product Listing Ads, we separate your ads according to product labels, making sure that each label has been validated. Setting up your online store is just the beginning. Make sure you hire a web design company who will offer the value-added service of marketing your products on the Internet.

Conversion Funnel - Best Web Design Practice Sketch

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Search Engine Land recently featured an iPad (53 Paper) doodle series by marketer, Scott Brinker. This "funnel doodle" was first in the series on how to convert a visitor to your website into a paying customer.

The author asks if a a sketch is worth a column's worth of words, and we would have to confirm, YES!

When we design your website, we imagine we are your prospective customer seeing your product for the first time. These four funnel questions determine the design, the keywords, the color choice, the photo placement... in short, everything on your web page.

That's best practice web design in a nutshell.

To be honest the really cool thing about his article was the intro to the iPad App by - 53 Paper. For any keyboardphobes or doodlers out there, this has to be the innovation of the century.

Lumino Launches MolinariPools.com website

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Lumino recently launched www.molinaripools.com.

Molinari Pools has been servicing the Vero Beach area for over twenty years. They are incredibly busy, but even a well established local business needs to adapt to modern times and be available on the web. After all, that's where most people look when they go to hire a service nowadays.

Their company offers just about every imaginable service related to swimming pools, so they were glad to finally have a website where they could explain the broad range of services they provide.

Lumino worked with Molinari Pools to incorporate an existing logo and still present a new and stylish image.

"Looks awesome!! I'm very excited!

Thanks!!" Joel Molinari

OLYMPIC YEAR

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT

On his way to the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics Joe London
sees a guy carrying a long pole.

"Are you a pole vaulter?" he asks.

"No I'm German, and my name is Hans," answers the athlete.

NEW SHOPPING CART FEATURES

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Lumino Web Design E-COMMERCE solution now has even MORE FEATURES:
	Upsell - "Add-On" items appear directly under main product Add-To-Cart Product Description/Special - text appears under product photo Klarna Check Out - integration with KLARNA for European websites Larger Photos - product photos appear as large as 800x800 in lightbox Deluxe Shopping Cart Solution with expert local support for as low as $39/mo!

Call LUMINO WEB DESIGN & SEO today
and expand your business with web sales!

See Two Way Radio Gear Web Shop for a demo of LUMINO E-COMMERCE.

Google Plans to Penalize Over-Optimization

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

You know SEO has gone to far when you begin reading content on a website and can't even decipher the meaning of a sentence behind the deluge of keywords.

During a recent SXSW panel discussion between Matt Cutts from Google, Bing's Senior Product Marketing Manager and Search Engine Land's Danny Sullivan, Cutts revealed a plan by Google to penalize "over-optimization" of web content.

In the coming weeks or months, Google plans to change its algorithm so that sites with an annoying percentage of keywords and and links will be downgraded.

Critics are calling this move another empty promise by Google, while those of us who are over-optimistic, hope the move will genuinely improve search results and reward White Hat website and SEO providers who create informative, relevant content.

Update Facebook Now

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE NOW! The new FACEBOOK TIMELINE format is not optional.

Starting March 30, Facebook will have a new look. The new FACEBOOK TIMELINE has a significantly different layout, with a large top photo and posts that run vertical down two sides of a timeline. The new format is not optional, it is a system-wide change. Ask Lumino Web Design & SEO to update your business Facebook page to include a large header photo, collage or mega-logo.

Contact Lumino Web Design & SEO to update your business Facebook page for TIMELINE.

Give your business a Facelift!

NEW FACEBOOK TIMELINE

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

If you've logged onto your business Facebook page in the past few days, you may have noticed something different. The Facebook home page now has a new layout called FACEBOOK TIMELINE that provides a visual history of your business over the months and years. For private people this layout acts like a visual autobiography, or family album, with documentation of the years collected all on one page.

The question for us is, "How can businesses make the most of this new format?" Well for one thing, the format is mandatory not optional, so if you have a business Facebook page you'll need to update it with a cover photo and scan through your posts to make sure they land in a logical sequence. It's a good time to check for any posts that should be hidden or deleted as well. Since the new Facebook Timeline layout sets precedence on photos, we advise businesses to choose high quality photos and include them whenever making a post.

Contact Lumino Web Design & SEO (tel. 772-563-8255) to update your business Facebook page or have one created.

Google rolls out 40 new search quality updates with Panda 3.3

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

On February 27, 2012 Google announced 40 new improvements to the quality of search results it provides. As usual what was not said, merely hinted at, was as interesting as what was said.

GOOGLE SEARCH QUALITY HIGHLIGHTS FOR FEBRUARY, 2012 INCLUDE:

Google has changed their evaluation of links; "in particular, we are turning off a method of link analysis that we used for several years." (This leads us to ponder what they were doing before that turns out to be undesirable.)
Local search results are now even more streamlined to global results, providing greater consistency.
When doing an image search the results will be in larger format and contain a more updated assortment of images.
Reliability of local searches will improve as Google improves location detection for both query and document.
Linked to what we learned when Panda 3.2 was unveiled, Google has made strides in giving fresh content precedence over stale content.

Click here to read the complete list...

Norwegian-English Web Translation

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Lumino Web Design offers dual language platform websites. Our native Norwegian and American staff are skilled copywriters in these languages and can offer a dovetailed English and Norwegian version of your web design.

Two Way, 2-Way or Two-Way?

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

When optimizing www.twowayradiogear.com for Google, I ran into a question on the keyword "two way radio". The dictionary will tell you it is spelled with a hyphen, but it is also very commonly spelled without a hyphen or with the number 2.

"If your main keyword has several versions, is it better to use the most popular one exclusively - for consistency - or set a wide net and hope you catch all ways people "think" your product is spelled?"

Purposely misspelling a word on your site is probably a bad idea. However, if you know that your keyword has two or three alternative spellings, it is a good idea to use all versions but confine one keyword version to one page. In other words, do not mix spelling versions within a single page.

Nature - the antidote to a day of SEOing

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

When you're bug-eyed from scanning statistics and re-writing copy, get outside for a healthy dose of nature's antidote to SEOing.

5 KEY QUESTIONS to ask before hiring a web design / SEO company

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

1. Does the web design firm offer comprehensive services?

A premium web design offering should include the following:

Elegant, intuitive, fast-loading design – to appeal to users
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – to rank high on Google
CMS (Content Management System) – to allow easy editing
Custom in-house programming – for specialty forms, Intranet…
Upgrades – to allow easy expansion to E-Commerce...
Social Media Integration – links to Facebook, Twitter, RSS Feed…

2. Does the web design firm write error-free, interesting and succinct copy?

It is wise to study the web design firm’s portfolio. Click on some recent sites and check for spelling mistakes, organization of content and general interest to the reader. You may be surprised to find out that many web design companies do not actually write any web content for you. Professional copywriting can cost as much as $500 per page over and above the web design.

3. Does the web designer understand the needs and constraints of a business owner?

A web design company with staff who have experience building and marketing their own brand will be better able to guide and advise you on current Internet marketing, budget and usability issues.

4. What is included in the SEO service?

The basic tasks of optimizing a website for search engines are:

Optimizing all pages for fast loading
Writing clear, informative copy
Researching keywords for global and local searches
Using keyword and content matching to name menus, select headlines, write meta-titles, meta-tags and image tags
Optimize links

A web design firm offering a value-added product will also:

Offer suggestions for link building
Create Facebook and Twitter pages for your business
Register your site on Google/Bing maps and local directories
Offer suggestions for Internet advertising campaigns
Explain web marketing options such as Google Products, Google Author…

5. Does the web design firm offer a clear follow-up communication service?

Who will you go to if you have questions? It is optimal to speak to the designer or programmer directly. Intermediary communication is a waste of your precious time.

To sum up, if you’re lucky, you’ll find a web design company, like the one described above, that offers Web Design, Computer Programming, Graphic Design and Internet Marketing Advice - all in one package.

Lumino Web Design & SEO We do all that.

Andre Vold, CEO of Lumino Web Design & SEO, Vero Beach Florida

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Besseggen Trail
Jotunheimen Mountains
Norway

This TECH BLOG is my reminder to stay current on the latest web programming technology - and it's also a service to other computer programmers who are looking for help solving a tech problem.

Here is a quick TECH BLOG BIO to let you know how I came to know about programming...

I am a native of Norway, but went to university in the United States. I have a computer engineering degree from Arizona State University. After graduation, I moved back to Norway, joined IBM and simultaneously obtained an MBA from the Oslo School of Economics. After several years as Vice President, IBM Norway, I struck out on my own and started the Norwegian E-Learning company, Apropos Internet as well as Virosafe Norway and ViroSafe Denmark, distributors of anti-malware / anti-virus software. My American wife, Corinne and I have now settled in Vero Beach, Florida and are offering SEO, WEB DESIGN and E-COMMERCE services to businesses from Melbourne to West Palm Beach.

As a veteran computer programmer and entrepreneur, staying current on changes in technology has been essential to the success of my companies. The Lumino Web Design TECH BLOG is a collection of solutions to computer programming puzzles that I hope will help other programmers.

Profile on Google+

Dynamically Loading UserControls from jQuery with Parameters

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

jQuery is an extremely popular javascript libary and by using its powerful Ajax interface, there are limitless possibilities when it comes to creating responsive and flexible web services.

Andre Vold, CEO of Lumino Web Design & SEO

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

This SEO BLOG is my reminder to stay current on the latest in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and it's also a service to Florida businesses who want to learn more about SEO and why it's important.

Here is a quick SEO BLOGGER BIO to let you know how I came to know about search engine optimization...

I am a native of Norway, but went to university in the United States. I have a computer engineering degree from Arizona State University. After graduation, I moved back to Norway, joined IBM and simultaneously obtained an MBA from the Oslo School of Economics. After several years as Vice President, IBM Norway, I struck out on my own and started the Norwegian E-Learning company, Apropos Internet as well as Virosafe Norway and ViroSafe Denmark, distributors of anti-malware / anti-virus software. My American wife, Corinne and I have now settled in Vero Beach, Florida and are offering SEO, WEB DESIGN and E-COMMERCE services to businesses from Melbourne to West Palm Beach.

As a veteran computer programmer and entrepreneur, staying current on changes in technology has been essential to the success of my companies. The Lumino Web Design SEO BLOG is a smattering of SEO topics that are vital to my business and potentially relevant to yours.

Profile on Google+

Google launches "Search plus Your World"

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

If you have a Google account, and are logged into Google when you search, now you'll find it's not just keyword related public websites that come up, but also keyword related personal content from friends, family and contacts. If you are planning a vacation to the Grand Canyon say, your search might just bring up snap shots from your cousin's trip to Arizona last May.

Some are already accusing Google of anti-trust violations while some feel the added personal content will enrich the Google search function.

Check out the official Google blog to get the full story and decide for yourself...

André Vold

Google launches "Search plus Your World"

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Lumino Web Design of Vero Beach partners with Ironside Press - print, direct mail and graphic design expert

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Ironside Press - Vero Beach print and graphics expert partners with Lumino Web Design for seamless integration of all your print and digital marketing material!

After completing the new web design for Ironside Press (print, graphic design and direct mail expert in Vero Beach) Lumino has entered into a design partnership with this well known local print services provider. Now clients can come to one place for ALL their marketing needs - both tangible and digital.

Give us a call and let us share how we combine our talents and resources to offer seamless integration of your business' print and Internet marketing materials.

Lumino Web Design 772.563.8255

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Why SEO? Location. Location. Location.

Imagine your website is a store at the mall. Without SEO (Search Engine Optimization) your Google ranking may be the equivalent of - LOWER LEVEL MALL - farthest from the parking lot. When we optimize your website for Google, we prepare your site to move from that undesirable location to - MAIN ENTRANCE of the web's virtual mall.

Frequently Asked Questions About SEO - Search Engine Optimization

Paying for a website that is not designed and optimized for customers searching on Google, is like paying for a brochure that has to stay at the print shop. The whole point of having a website is to drive more traffic to your business. SEO puts you out front for all to see.

1. What is SEO and why is it so important?

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the science of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a website from search engines via “natural” or “organic” search results. The higher your website ranks on Google (or other search engines) the greater the likelihood for potential customers to choose your business when they are ready to buy. A Lumino website, optimized for search engines, can help deliver more targeted traffic & provide cost-effective leads to your business.

2. Why should I hire Lumino Web Design to perform SEO?

With over 200 factors that influence organic search results, including "pre" and "post" procedures, SEO can be time consuming. At Lumino Web Design, we work through a methodical series of steps to make your site more relevant, popular & trustworthy! We’ll build you a search optimized website, help you choose relevant key phrases, and incorporate SEO best practices to help boost your rankings. We also provide monthly reports, so you can monitor your progress!

3. What are backlinks and why do I need them?

Backlinks, or inbound links, are links that are on an external site that point to your site. These links measure the “popularity” of the site. Not all backlinks are considered equal. These links should come from reputable sites. Search Engines factor in the amount of quality backlinks a site has when determining its relevancy. A site with quality backlinks will be considered more important & appear higher on the search engines when searched by a user.

A big part of the SEO job we do for you is to register your site on nationwide and local search directories such as AT&T, YellowBook etc. By submitting your landing page to relevant directories, we’ll obtain backlinks to help increase your page’s relevancy on all Search Engines.

4. Why does it take time to see results?

Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo! & Bing can take as long as 4-6 weeks to crawl and index a site, let alone rank a site on the first page. We’ll incorporate SEO best practices along with constant updates to your business profile, or landing page, to get you the results you need!

5. What steps are involved in the SEO process?

We begin "pre" Search Engine Optimization on your site the minute we secure a domain name for your website. From there, we carefully program, select and edit your website's information (includes hidden tags, images, text and links) to increase its relevancy on Search Engines.

After your website goes live, we begin "post" search engine optimization. We register your website on more than thirty-five national and local listings and directories. This increases your visibility from other Internet sources and generates backlinks which are crucial to increasing your value to the Search Engines.

Our proven procedure of "pre" and "post" SEO techniques will improve your presence on the web!

5 KEY QUESTIONS to ask before hiring a web design / SEO company:

1. Does the web design firm offer comprehensive services?

A premium web design offering should include the following:

Elegant, intuitive, fast-loading design – to appeal to users
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – to rank high on Google
CMS (Content Management System) – to allow easy editing
Custom in-house programming – for specialty forms, Intranet…
Upgrades – to allow easy expansion to E-Commerce...
Social Media Integration – links to Facebook, Twitter, RSS Feed…

Optimizing all pages for fast loading
Writing clear, informative copy
Researching keywords for global and local searches
Using keyword and content matching to name menus, select headlines, write meta-titles, meta-tags and image tags
Optimize links

A web design firm offering a value-added product will also:

Offer suggestions for link building
Create Facebook and Twitter pages for your business
Register your site on Google/Bing maps and local directories
Offer suggestions for Internet advertising campaigns
Explain web marketing options such as Google Products, Google Author…

Tips on getting the most out of your BUSINESS FACEBOOK PAGE

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Once Lumino has created a FACEBOOK PAGE for your business there are several
things you can do to keep your Facebook page updated and attract "LIKES".

Q - How often should I post items on Facebook?

A - The same rule of thumb for e-mail flyers applies to Facebook posts. You don't want to irritate your audience by over-doing it and drive people to "UN-FRIEND" you, but you do want to keep your Facebook page fresh. Once a month is fine. Twice per week should be your maximum.

Q - Are there any special rules about what I write?

A - Be sure to include proven keywords in all your posts. If you cannot remember what they are, check back with a Lumino Web Design employee.

Q - What kinds of things should I write?

A -

Link to reputable newspaper articles about your product or service.
Vary your content by trying to write a humorous story now and then.
Post photos of recent work or new products.
Send Season's Greetings
News about new employees
Manufacturer tips
Your company's community involvement
Environmental angle if applicable

Q - How can I make it easy for my contacts to LIKE my business on Facebook?

A - Add a link to your BUSINESS FACEBOOK PAGE to your e-mail signature. Every time you send an e-mail to someone they will have the opportunity to click on "Like us on Facebook" directly underneath your sign-off.

SEO work on Pool Guard Pro website

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Lumino Web Design just finished SEO work (Search Engine Optimization) on www.PoolGuardPro.com. They came to us with their existing website and asked if we could improve their site's ranking on Google.

We'll be keeping a close eye on www.PoolGuardPro.com as it climbs from "page nowhere" to "In Your Face" on Google.

Contact Lumino Web Design & SEO to find out how we use:

Professional copy writing
Keyword research
Computer programming know-how
Social media like Facebook and Twitter
Internet Directories - local and nationwide - such as Yelp, Bing, YellowPages.com
Bing and Google Maps

... to turn an unknown website into a familiar corner store.

New Service - Lumino Web Design now offers CUSTOM FACEBOOK pages for businesses

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

NEW SERVICE!

CUSTOM FACEBOOK PAGES FOR BUSINESS

Customize your business FACEBOOK PAGE with logo, slide show, video and other cool stuff. Lumino Web Design is now offering bespoke business Facebook pages. We create a customized Facebook Page, then integrate a Comments plugin and RSS Feed to provide customer service and enable conversations with friends and your overall client community. We add Like Buttons on your site to encourage people to share and surface their tastes, two ways that improve your ability to curate content.

Hello grapevine!

Call for quote 1-772-563-8255.

Major Changes in Google's Search Algorithm

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Search Engine Optimization is all about trying to reverse engineer Google's algorithms - or maybe we should call it "playing cat and mouse" with Google. Google has more than 250 parameters that controls the ranking your site will get on the search result page - Google calls this the PageRank, named after Google's founder Larry Page who came up with the initial Google algorithm.

In honor of Steve Jobs

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

"Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else."

Leonardo da Vinci

Lumino Web Design Launches new Website for Nordic Cab

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Lumino Web Design launched a new website and web store for Nordic Cab. The company uses almost all features of the Lumino system. They sell bike trailers in eight countries. Finland needed a bilingual platform, and Norway increased sales dramatically by selling directly over the web.

Since Internet marketing and electronic billing are seemlessly integrated, the owners, who travel often, can work from anywhere and pay no “per user” fee.

Google's Panda Update 2.2 makes big changes to SEO

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Tuesday, June 21 is the day when Google rolled out its Panda update 2.2 and changed the SEO rules forever. The Panda algorithm is also know as Farmer, and its sole aim is to make the web more user friendly by removing unwanted content. The algorithm was developed by Google engineer Navneet Panda - hence the name.

Google fights back against unethical SEOs

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Google has just launched a major update of its search engine algorithms. The changes are primarily directed at unethical search engine optimization techniques such as "link spamming" or "web farming". Some SEO operators use these techniques to generate traffic to their customers' website. The problem is - the traffic is not genuine, so any advances made on the search engine ladder have no connection whatsoever to increased quality or popularity of the website. We gave an example of this in a previous Lumino news article about J C Penney.

According to the New York Times article - "Seeking to Weed Out Drivel, Google Adjusts Search Engine" - the world's leading search engine has been inundated with complaints about poor quality search results due to "link spamming". Google is utterly dependent on its search results providing the most relevant results possible, otherwise they risk losing their customer base to competitors such as Microsoft Bing or Yahoo. It is extremely important that Google act quickly to disable such techniques as "link spamming" and "web farming".

Google still has 66% of the market share in the USA and even more in other countries, according to the web analysis firm comScore. However, they still face stiff competition from competitors. A company called HitWise measures how satisfied users are with search results by analysing the speed at which they leave a search result after clicking on it. They discovered a satisfaction rate of 86% with Bing users, but only 66% of Google searchers were satisfied with the search results provided.

The algorithm changes announced by Google this week are expected to produce drastic consequences for low quality websites and unethical search engine optimizers.

Google changes its algorithms to deter unethical search engine optimization

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Google announced today that they had implemented several changes directed at unethical search engine optimizers. Two of the best known techniques used by this group are "link spamming" and "web farming". By creating superficial websites, with content copied directly from other sites and links to the customer site, unethical SEO operators have been able to propel their client to the front page of Google.

Many honest, hard-working search engine optimizers are fed up, and have begun reporting these cheaters to Google and Google is finally putting their foot down. Google implements about 500 changes to its algorithm each year, but the changes made today are said to be the most expansive in several years. The changes are expected to have considerable consequences for low quality web sites that have been employing unethical search engine optimization techniques.

I have written more on this topic on the Lumino News page.

Be sure to check out:

J C Penney exposed by New York Times and demoted on Google

Google fights back against unethical SEOs

Google Cache - What does it mean?

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

In this article I will explain how we can use the information from the Google Cache to improve our SEO efforts.

Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Before you go on with your search engine optimization efforts, it is important that you understand the differences between Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). A well planned SEM campaign can greatly enhance your SEO efforts - at least in an early stage of your campaign. I will talk a lot more about Search Engine Marketing in later articles. This article will explain everything you need to get started with an effective SEO and SEM campaign.

J C Penney exposed by New York Times and demoted by Google

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT


		In Sunday's edition of the New York Times David Segal exposes how even a big player like J C Penney can be brought to its knees when caught trying to pull a fast one on Google. ("The Dirty Little Secrets of Search" NYT February 13, 2011.) For a short period, which included the holiday season, J C Penney came up number one for searches on everything from "dresses" to "carry on luggage". The New York Times investigated and found there were links to J C Penney from thousands of obscure websites - many having nothing to do with the keyword in question. They reported the "link scheme" to Google and, within hours, J C Penney's number-one ratings plummeted to the depths of pages five, six and lower. J C Penney reacted by firing their SEO provider, SearchDex. This story reveals how tempting it is for a business to try to buy their way to the top spot on Google, and it exposes the swift punishment if you get caught. Schemes such as the one deployed by SearchDex are called "black hat" SEO methods and Google repeatedly warns us not to use them. "It takes years to gain a man's trust, and only seconds to lose it."

Use Header Tags and Text Modifiers for SEO

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

In this article I will discuss the use of Header Tags and text modifiers in your web pages. Use these simple rules to better organize your web pages for both human readers and for Google and other search engines.

Search Engine Optimize Hyperlinks and Image tags

Sat, 29 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

In this article I will discuss how to search engine optimize hyperlinks and image tags. If you have read my previous postings, you will probably say by now - more tags? Give me a break. Well, Search Engine Optimization is all about the sum of those seemingly minor steps that, combined, will make a difference.

So, don't give up quite yet. Image tags and the way Google interprets these are actually pretty exciting...

Don't become an E-nnoyance

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Sending e-mail flyers to customers is a great way to promote new products, flag an upcoming sale or educate customers on service or features. But how much is too much? Ask yourself how many times you have unsubscribed recently due to sheer annoyance over daily repetitive e-mails from company #$&%$&/!!.

Jay Goltz, who owns five businesses in Chicago, wrote recently on his concerns about over-doing e-mail marketing...

"I think there’s an issue when it comes to e-mail promotion, and I have taken to calling it e-nnoyance elasticity, which refers to how many people will unsubscribe to your e-mail list as you increase the number of e-mails you send out (if you can send out a lot without people unsubscribing, your e-mails are e-nnoyance inelastic)...

I feel that it is important to have an open understanding with our customers about what they should expect if they trust us with their e-mail addresses. But how much is too much? Is once a month too much? Or is that not enough to stay top of mind?...

No doubt, many other companies have experimented and found a frequency that works for them — although I have to say that, based on personal experience, there are still a lot of companies pushing the limits on e-nnoyance. Of course, even if I choose to opt out, these companies may still have found a number that works for them.

There are many variables including new offerings, seasonality of the product, and competition. We have decided to limit our e-mailings to, at the most, once a month."

Jay Goltz, New York Times Online Edition, January 27, 2011, 7:00 AM

Title Tag, Meta Description, Meta Keywords

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

In this article, the third so far in my SEO Blog (plenty of more coming though), I will explain the term "Meta tags" and the importance of these HTML tags when it comes to search engine optimization.

Domain name, web-adresses (URL) and file names

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The importance of well designed domain names, web-addresses (URLs) and file names / menu names...

A brief history of the Internet, WWW, Search Engines and Search Engine Optmization

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This is the first in a series of articles on SEO or Search Engine Optimization. (These articles have been written by me, André Vold, founder and chief programmer at Lumino Web Design).

In this first article I'll provide a short history of the boom in SEO services, and a description of what it means to "optimize" a web site for search engines such as Google.

Significant Increase in Mobile Payments

Sat, 18 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

PayPal reported a 300% increase in payments via cell phones for the period from November 15th to December 15th, according to Techcrunch.

PayPal has recently updated its iPhone app with the ability to make donations to a number of charitíes - and has experienced a 67% increase in mobile donations this holiday season compared to last year.

Statistics like this - a 300% increase in mobile payments and a significant increase in "normal" e-commerce - show that e-commerce is continuing its strong growth. More and more people choose to do their Christmas shopping from the comfort of their couch instead of driving to a busy mall. Many are using an iPad or iPhone this year instead of the standard desktop computer or laptop.

Shouldn't you also be selling your products and services online? Don't miss out on this significant market opportunity!

Making AjaxRequest Calls From UserControls and Content Pages

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I think this is a fairly common scenario. You have a master page (or several), user controls and content pages in your asp.net application. You also use the Telerik RadControls for additional functionality on your web pages, and you want to use the excellent, built-in Ajax functionality in the RadControls.

I recently implemented a tab strip with a context sensitive menu, i.e., right click on any tab strip to get a context menu. A click on any on the context menu's items will make an Ajax call to the user controls code behind .cs file. The problem I ran into was that the tab strip is implemented in a user control - and thus the context menu must also be in the same user control. The user control must then have a RadAjaxManager definition on the page. However, I also have other Ajax stuff going on in my system, and therefore ran into a problem when it comes to handling OnAjaxRequests and the use of RadAjaxManagerProxy (because the proxy does not expose the OnAjaxRequest function). Here I will explain how you - with a few, simple lines of code - can solve this problem.

Pop-up Menus Hidden Behind Flash Content

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Here is a solution to a fairly common problem - why do pop-up menus get hidden behind Flash content and not other images or content. Setting the Z-index to a high value does not have any effect either. Well, there is a simple solution to this problem, and it is done by setting a couple of parameters in your Flash markup. Here is the markup that you need to include:

<object width="600" height="400" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000">
            <param name="Movie" value="/uploads/NC_2010_USA_home2.swf"/>
            <param name="play" value="true"/>
            <param name="quality" value="high"/>
            <param name="wmode" value="transparent"/>
            <param name="loop" value="false"/>
            <param name="menu" value="false"/><embed src="/uploads/NC_2010_USA_home2.swf" width="600" height="400" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" wmode="transparent" loop="false" menu="false"></object>

Make sure to include the markup in yellow and you should be all set.

André Vold

Payment Solution using PayPal Express Checkout SOAP API

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I've just implemented a payment solution using PayPal Express Checkout with the SOAP API. Since PayPal - and especially the SOAP API - is not trivial, I thought I would share some of the implementation details with you.

I, like every other developer out there, started out by going to the PayPal site - paypal.com. You then click the "Business" tab and select the "Products & Services" link. Well, what will you find - not more than 6 different web-site payment solutions. There is a lot of documentation and information about each PayPal offering, and in addition you have the PayPal X Developer Network - https://www.x.com/. The documentation is great - but totally overwhelming :( So if you really want to learn how to use PayPal, it is probably better to go and buy one of the many great books that are out there - or you could just read on...

Converting to Search Engine (SEO) Friendly ASP.NET 4.0 Routing

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I've been working on implementing routing in asp.net 4.0 forms for the last couple of days. The way the guys at Microsoft implemented this is actually really nice. So to make my CMS - PrimePublish - more SEO friendly, I decided to convert it to asp.net 4.0, and specifically implement the new SEO features that this version has to offer.

In this blogpost, I will describe some of the issues that I was faced with when converting. These are typically related to Javascript, CSS (Stylesheet), AJAX calls, and so on. It actually took me a long time to figure out all the small things that all of the sudden did not work after I implemented routing. This blogpost attempts to give you a list of the most common issues, and I also try to explain some workarounds that I implemented.

If you are just starting out with asp.net 4.0 and want to implement routing, then you should start out by reading Scott Guthrie's blog from october 2009. Scott gives here a simplied, but very good explanation of the asp.net 4.0 routing features.

Session timeout, how to avoid timeouts as long as user is on site

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

How many times have you pushed the "Save" button just to realize that your session had timed out and you lost everything. Pretty annoying, isn't it? Well, in my CMS system - Lumino Publish - I had to come up with a good solution for this, and I set out searching the web for a solution. There are actually a lot of solutions out there, and I finally settled for a solution that uses jQuery and its POST routine.

There are several issues you should be aware of when implementing this solution. First of all, session timeouts exist to prevent excessive memory being held up on the server. You may say that I can just increase the SessionTimeout parameter in web.config to let˙s say 2 hours, and problem solved! However, imagine a timeout value of 2 hours on a high traffic site, holding all session data for thousands of user sessions. There is also another problem - and usually related to the previous issue. In the case of shared hosting, you may not even have access to the session timeout, simply because the memory usage has to be controlled. On such systems, web applications often tend to timeout after only 15 minutes, regardless of your settings in the web.config file.

Well, here is a solution that will solve these issues, and avoid session timeouts. Use this solution with caution, as there could be security risks involved in not having web applications time out.

Regular Expressions (RegEx), cheat sheets and examples

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Are you like me and tend to forget the regex-expressions between each project? Well, I just had to revisit the usage of regex, and came accross these cheat sheets on the web. They came in pretty handy for me, and I therefore thought that I should post them here for later reference.

I have also posted a few examples that might come in handy for you. I even posted a snippet that will find any HTML tag and its closing tag - a pretty cool regex-expression!

Search Engine Optimization, 301 Moved Permanently

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Ever wondered how to automatically redirect from one URL to another - and to do this without getting penalized by the search engine. Well, it's pretty easy - read on for an explanation and code example...

First of all, always use the "301 Moved Permanently" feature to redirect a page from the old location to the new. Otherwise, you may experience a huge downward leap in search engine rankings, 302 hijacking penalties, or other penalties from the search engine. Do not use JavaScript or client-side redirects as these often will be misinterpreted by search engines and cause penalties.

The most common use for the 301 redirect, which all site owners need these days, is the redirect from the "non-www" version of the site's URL to the "www" one (for example, http://mydomain.com/ to http://www.mydomain.com/). This helps prevent the 302 hijacking.

Insert the code below into your Global.asax, and you are all set :)

Session variables versus ViewState

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Every now and then programmers will get these confusing error messages that can take hours to figure out. I recently ran into one like this. After having implemented a few changes in my program, the program would crash with an error message like:

Type 'SomeNamespace.Web.Data.ProviderDataSourceDeepLoadList' in Assembly
'SomeNamespace.Web, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'
is not marked as serializable

I eventually tried to Google (actually I typically use Bing) the error message without much luck. There were very little information on the net about this particular error message, and I therefore had to figure this one out on my own.

I eventually found the solution to the problem. The thing was that I had replaced a session variable with a variable stored in ViewState. Switching the variable to a Session variable solved the problem and the error disappeared.

Happy debugging :)

André Vold

Localizing JavaScript variables

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Ever made a localized web site? Well, ASP.net has excellent support for this using local and global resource files. However, a project typically also involves JavaScript functions - often using the "alert" feature to give feedback to the user.

IE Conditional Comments in CSS

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The concept of Conditional Comments was introduced with the release of Internet Explorer 5. It makes it possible for the developer to detect IE browser versions, and thus give the developer an option to load style sheets based on the version information. This way, your application can take full advantage of the advanced features found in newer browsers, while also writing pages that downgrade gracefully in less-capable browsers or display correctly in browsers other than IE.

Conditional comments should be placed in the <head> section of your pages (or Master page) and has the following syntax:



Make sure you load your general stylesheets before the conditional comment to adhere to the cascading rules of CSS.

Conditional comments come if a variety of flavors like:
                    //If Internet Explorer
              //if less than Internet Explorer version 8
            //if less than or equal Internet Explorer version 7
    //the OR operator

Conditional comments are Microsoft's preferred means of differentiating Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) rules intended for specific versions of Internet Explorer.

NB! If you are using Telerik's RadControls, then be aware that RadAjax does not interpret the IE conditional comments correctly, i.e., . One simple fix to this problem is to set the EnablePageHeadUpdate property of the ajax control to false. You may read more about this on the Telerik Watch blog.

CSS, what about those old tables

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Are you like me and have finally managed to figure out the "new" stylesheet standards. That is the system for absolute and relative positioning, left and right float, and so on. Well, you are in for a treat...

Traditional CSS is pretty much designed to display a vertical stack of blocks, piled one on top of another - each containing either another stack of blocks, or text wrapped to fit inside the block. This system has its obvious limitations, and is the reason to why a lot of web designers still use the old HTML table tag when designing web pages.

Tables have actually been part of the CSS specification since CSS 2.1, but the problem has been that the browsers - specifically Internet Explorer - did not support this specification until the release of IE8.

After the release of IE6, and its established dominance in the market, Microsoft decided (silently) to scale down - or even stop - its browser development and moved its programmers on to other projects. While other browser companies continued to improve their browsers, Microsoft's browser simply hibernated. However, based on Firefox's growing popularity, Microsoft eventually decided to get back into the race and develop new versions of IE. On October 18 2007, IE7 (six years after IE6!) was introduced, however without support for some crucial CSS2.1 support like table layout.

With the introduction of IE8, Microsoft is definitely back in the browser market. IE8 has full support for the CSS2.1 specification. And now the race is on for implementing CSS3.0...

You may read more about CSS tables on http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/tables.html.

Uploading and downloading files with AJAX

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

AJAX is a great technology as it enables the designer to make responsive user interfaces by avoiding loading unnecessary information whenever an update is required. I, therefore, use AJAX extensively in my projects, and it normally works great.

On a recent project I ran into a problem though. I Ajax-enabled a GridView and a FormView, but the problem arised when trying to download files from those controls. Uploading or downloading files does not work in AJAX. This is a limitation of the XmlHttpRequest component, used in all AJAX frameworks for asynchronous calls to the application. You must therefore force a full postback in order to upload or download files.

Nested joins in SQL

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Ever tried to perform nested joins in SQL. It can get pretty messy after a few joins...

On a previous project I had to join five tables with a combination of inner and outer joins. Click on the "Read more..." link to see the code I used in a my project.