NorCal DesignsWebsite Design & Development

How do I get my site on Google?

noreply@blogger.com (jphillips) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 11:48:00 +0000

If you want your web site to be highly ranked Google and other major search engines create quality content to add to your web site—create content that the users you want to view your web site will value and connect with.

Does SEO (Search Engine Optimization) have value?
Google doesn't think so.

Why does Google dislike SEOs?
Nobody likes spam. SEOs have a reputation for perpetuating spam; using practices like submitting sites to thousands of search engine directories, creating satellite sites that use optimized keywords to point to a main site, writing and spinning bogus "Boondoggle" articles and blogs to use anchor text full of key words to rank their main site higher.

What does Google like? SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
Google gets profit from Paid advertisement; Google wants businesses to use their paid services. For businesses who want to be ranked higher the answer is simple, bid higher than your competition. The most successful businesses are probably the businesses who are willing and can afford to pay more for specific keywords. These top businesses will be rewarded with their higher bid prices by being listed higher on Google's search results.

The good news for the underdogs is that if you do not have the resources to play bidding games and risk money on paid advertising you have an alternative—to achieve sustainable high ranking results on Google you simply have to create quality content. Create content that users want to link to. Create new content with new information that is useful to the visitors of your site. Put value in the content of your web site so that you can make a connection with the visitors.

If you need help running a PPC (pay per click) advertising campaign or creating quality content for your web site to rank higher in organic search engine results you may benefit greatly by retaining the services of persons skilled in search engine optimization and web site development. Just make sure that if you hire a SEOer or SEMer to put value in your content and make a connection with your users.

Affordable Web Design

noreply@blogger.com (jphillips) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 09:58:00 +0000

What is affordable Web Site Design?

The cheapest web site solution will mostly likely let you down, will be a waste of your money, will not bring you any value. My collegiate team was transported in busses by the company who offered the lowest bid; the result was that no one ever slept in one of those busses and many of my team mates found religion on one of our many harrowing road trips. Cheap might get you to your destination but it can be risky.

Will affordable web site design bring you greater prosperity?

Of course this is based on your individual needs and your relationship with your web site designer or web developer. Less experienced designers might charge half of what an established web design firm would bid on the same project, and you might get great work for your money, or you might get less superior work and end up having to pay an established firm to redesign a site you already spent money on.

If you can find a web designer that you trust, who values your opinion of their work and their desire to serve you more than the financial benefits of retaining you as a client you will probably receive greater value for your purchase no matter what price you paid.

Most Web Site Designers are willing to help you out by offering a deal that works for both of you. This could mean a web site with less frills, by only being able to promise a specified number of hours for your web site project, or that your web site will take longer to produce than it would for a client paying the full price. Talk with your web designer and see what they might be able to do to help you by finding a solution that is mutually beneficial.

Non-Profit Tip: Google Website Clinic Form

noreply@blogger.com (jphillips) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 21:03:00 +0000

Google Non-Profit Website Clinic Form!

This is a great resource to have Google professionals review your site and give you tips on how to make your web site a better tool for your non-profit organization.

"Submit your site to be considered for review, analysis, and advice from Google's Search Quality team! Please note that if you submit your site, you agree that Google may use your site as an public example in our follow-up site clinic posts on the Webmaster Central Blog and in other public forums. You acknowledge that Google may publicly identify problems with your website."

https://spreadsheets1.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFhvVTZ6dE5CNlFGUVhFWHQ3YTUwc1E6MQ

Kiva.org Empowering 3rd world Entrepreneurs with Micro Loans!

noreply@blogger.com (jphillips) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 18:12:00 +0000

Kiva.org is a site that connects people by allowing every day Joe's to lend micro loans ($25 & up) to help alleviate poverty. The loans go to Entrepreneurs all over the world who work every day to make their world a better place.

This week Kiva touts a 98.5% repayment rate on loans, over $2 milllion in loans, about 5,000 new lenders funding almost 6,000 new entrepreneurs, and 1 loan every 9 seconds!

I think of this site as a real life version of Sim City, I get to put money to develop businesses and see the money returned to me to lend out again to make our world a better place.

Check it out for yourself and maybe play around with micro-loans see how our small contributions can change the world.

See the change:

Pepsi Refresh Project

noreply@blogger.com (jphillips) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 23:55:00 +0000

Interesting experiment in Social Giving, the Pepsi Refresh project gives away 1.3 million per month to user voted and submitted ideas to better: Health, Arts & Culture, Food & Shelter, The Planet, Neighborhoods, and Education.

Connecting with social media platforms like Facebook, the Pepsi Refresh project allows users to spread donation requests throughout their own social networks to push ideas they believe will help to make a better world.

I hope this works and other companies follow suit!

check it out at: http://www.refresheverything.com

"the community is the end goal."

noreply@blogger.com (jphillips) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 19:18:00 +0000

reposted from: http://philanthropy.com/blogPost/Social-Networks-Shouldnt-Be/27055/

Social Networks Shouldn't Be Used Solely as Fund-Raising Tools

By Derek Lieu
For as long as nonprofit groups have used social-media tools, they have faced the perplexing problem of Internet money math: How do all of those supporters and friends add up to real dollars in the door?

But Zachary Sniderman, an assistant features editor for Mashable.com, suggests that money shouldn't necessarily be the object of nonprofit groups' social-media efforts. Social good, after all, is also about the process of bringing people together.

Take the Livestrong campaign. The group behind the ubiquitous golden wristband, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, recently started a Facebook campaign that encouraged fans to share their personal cancer stories on the social-networking Web site. The foundation wasn't trying to raise money through this effort. It was trying to bring people together behind its cause.

In this case, Mr. Sniderman writes, "the community is the end goal." The campaign did raise money, but as Brooke McMillan, the Lance Armstrong Foundation's online manager, said in the Mashable post, the social good came from "the actions of the people in the community."

Participation in online communities, Mr. Sniderman writes, "can help make [donors] feel like they are part of the organization and part of the solution."

That connection is crucial for advocacy groups, which depend on mobilizing members to rally in support of their causes. "Having a million people is more important than having $1-million," says Ben Rattray, chief executive of the social-change Web site Change.org.

Do you agree with this assessment? Is social media truly changing the way nonprofits connect with supporters—or are these tools merely new ways to accomplish the same goal?

Why are friends important to intervene for your goals?

noreply@blogger.com (jphillips) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 03:56:00 +0000

"In fact, the availability of these data, I think, heralds a kind of new era of what I and others would like to call "computational social science." It's sort of like when Galileo invented -- or, didn't invent -- came to use a telescope and could see the heavens in a new way, or Leeuwenhoek became aware of the microscope -- or actually invented -- and could see biology in a new way. But now we have access to these kinds of data that allow us to understand social processes and social phenomena in an entirely new way that was never before possible. And with this science, we can understand how exactly the whole comes to be greater than the sum of its parts. And actually, we can use these insights to improve society and improve human well-being."

Google Adds Twitter Updates To Search Results

noreply@blogger.com (jphillips) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 19:40:00 +0000

http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2010/09/14/google-adds-twitter-updates-to-search-results/

Official Google Blog Article

Here’s a copy of the announcement, which came from search VP Marissa Mayer:

At Google, our goal is to create the most comprehensive, relevant and fast search in the world. In the past few years, an entirely new type of data has emerged — real-time updates like those on Twitter have appeared not only as a way for people to communicate their thoughts and feelings, but also as an interesting source of data about what is happening right now in regard to a particular topic.

Given this new type of information and its value to search, we are very excited to announce that we have reached an agreement with Twitter to include their updates in our search results. We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you’ll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information.

Why you should care about HTML 5

noreply@blogger.com (jphillips) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 21:24:00 +0000

Great article: Why you should care about HTML 5

New Creative Commercial Interiors Web Site Design in Sacramento!

noreply@blogger.com (jphillips) — Mon, 10 May 2010 08:38:00 +0000

Creative Commercial Interiors is a full service office furniture dealer with 20 years commercial office furniture trade experience. Jason, the owner of Creative Commercial Interiors, provides suggestions and ideas that make the overwhelming choice of office furniture quick and easy and affordable too!

Check out the changes we made to Creative Commercial Interiors' website:

We are currently working to optimize the Creative Commercial Interiors website for search engines as well as marketing via social media platforms. Or continued Brand Image management for the Web Design for the Sacramento based Creative Commercial Interiors includes functional goals for acquiring new customers while maintaining the aesthetic appeal!

Website & Marketing Projects for 2010!

noreply@blogger.com (jphillips) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:37:00 +0000

NorCal Designs is excited to work with a variety of clients across Northern California on website design & development projects, search engine and social media marketing! A few of our latest projects:

Foster Family service
Location: Sacramento, El Dorado Hills, Cameron Park, S. Lake Tahoe, Stockton, Santa Rosa, Jackson
Servicing: Over 20 counties in California!

We are currently updating Foster Family Service's website with a new Brand Identity! We created a logo for Foster family service that uses pop art to simulate motion and life while incorporating a starfish symbol that has been used as a basic ideology for Foster Family Service for many years.

The website design for Foster Family service focuses on fund raising, sharing who they are, championing foster care ideas to communities, and soliciting people to become involved.

Pro Solutions
Location: Pittsburg, CA 94565
Servicing: Bay Area, San Fransisco, Sacramento, San Jose

We are working with Pro Solutions to create a website that incorporates their new identity and shows off their core competencies and industry leading services to acquire new clients. We also provide tools and industry research for Pro Solutions to better service their existing customers with their new website design.

Sundance Self Storage
Location: Galleria, Baseline, Highway 65, El Dorado Hills
Servicing: Sacramento, Roseville, Rocklin, Granite Bay, Lincoln, El Dorado Hills
Sundance Self Storage needed an updated layout with new funcitonality and additional company information. We modified our existing layout for Sundance to incorporate Google Maps, navigation icons, client testimonials, and more!

Golden State Interiors
Location: Sacramento

"We build dreams!" The tag line for Golden State Interiors was our inspiration for creating a website that allows potential clients to view the amazing works of custom cabinetry created by Golden State Interiors. Check out the portfolio section of the Web Site to view the stunning examples of their work online.