SEIntelligence : Alt Text

November 15th, 2011

SEIntelligence also makes it incredibly easy to add alternative text, or alt text, to your website images. Watch the following video to learn more about alt text, and how you can easily implement it on your website through SEIntelligence.

Video Transcript:

A picture may say a thousand words, but to search engines it doesn’t say much. Because of this, and a few other reasons, the alt attribute exists. On the Images tab, you will see the Alt Text and Image columns. Under the image column, you will see the file name of your images. If you click on each of them, you should be able to see previews for your images.

So why do we create alt text. As stated earlier, search engines are not really able to see an image the same way a human is able to. For search engines, the alt text can be a helpful way to understand what an image is. The alt text is also helpful when an image does not show up in a browser. This might happen when the image doesn’t load properly, or the user is using a non-visual web browser. In it’s place, the alt text will typically appear.

To add, or change your alt text, click in the alt text area and type your alt text. Your alt text is almost like a brief sentence, or a few words describing your image. Avoid using one word descriptions, but also avoid writing excessively long sentences.

Be brief, and to the point, while trying to include high quality key-terms that users would actually search.

For example, this image shows a set of men’s left handed golf clubs. This is exactly what I will type in. It contains good keywords, and describes the image perfectly. It wouldn’t be enough if I typed in golf clubs as that doesn’t really describe the photo well. It would be too much if I typed in left handed golf clubs that are nice and shiny and super expensive to buy.

When you type your alt text, it can be exactly like you see here. Almost like you are writing a sentence. No hyphens or commas are needed to separate the words.

SEO For iWeb : Header Tags

November 10th, 2011

Adding header tags to an iWeb site has never been easier. Follow the instructions carefully in this video tutorial to learn how you can properly add header tags to your iWeb website.

Video Transcript:

Being introduced for the first time ever, iWeb users will now be able to add header tags to their websites, without having to hand code it in the HTML. Header tags are another way for you to demonstrate to search engines which keywords are important on your page.

So what is a header tag, and how do we make one?

Basically, a header tag is a block of text that can be compared to a title, or a headline for a larger body of text. Think of a newspaper article. There is a headline which indicates what the entire article is about. Then there is a subheading which gives a bit more insight into the article.

Our websites are similar to the structure of a newspaper article. A headline can contain our primary key term for each page, and an optional subheading can contain our secondary key term for each page.

In HTML, there are six headers that you can use. Those headers are h1 through h6. I am only going to demonstrate adding an h1 header since that is what most of you will be doing. If you want to add an h2 as well, then feel free to do so. h1 and h2 are the most popular headers, so use those if you have room on your site. Trying to add all headers to your site is not generally a good idea, unless your site is structured in a way that makes sense to do so. Also, the rule of thumb is to only have one h1 per page.

So to do this in iWeb, simply click on the Text Box button, and type in this code you see here.

The area where I wrote ‘This is my header tag’ is where you should type in your header tag. The HTML here should look identical to mine. But the text part should contain your header tag which could be anything you want it to be. I recommend putting the main key-term you are targeting for this specific page.

Before we move on to the next step, I want to point out that you can also change the font of this text like you normally would with any text, by highlighting the text and clicking on the Fonts button.

Now when you publish your site to a local folder, and load the site in iWeb SEO Tool, you must check the box to Convert header tags in text boxes to HTML code, and then press the Apply To Entire Site button. What this will do is strip the HTML code from the site, so that only the actual text is being shown. Remember, your header tag should be visible on your site. If you can’t see it, or if you still see the HTML code, it means you did not do this process correctly, and you will need to try again.

Some of you can expect to run into some issues when adding header tags. For example, you will notice that the header tag does not always end up in the same place online as it did in iWeb. This is normal. You may need to play around with it a bit until you find the right spot. To make things easier on yourself, try not to place the header too close other items on your page. This will leave you with a bit of a buffer for when the header ends up in a slightly different location.

Also, if your site has a black background, you most likely won’t be able to see your header. If that is the case, just send us an e-mail read this knowledgebase article on how to alter the font color.

How To Add A Contact Form To An iWeb Website

November 9th, 2011

A lot of you have been asking how to add a contact us form to your site in iWeb. Here is a quick tutorial showing you how to easily add a form to your site. Don’t forget to also use MailShoot to add a mailing list signup form to your site in iWeb.

Video Transcript:

You can easily add a simple contact us form to your iWeb website. First go to foxyform.com

In the Step 1 settings section, select the fields that you would like to appear on your form. A standard form will have Name, and E-mail. You can choose to add some others such as subject and phone number, but I recommend keeping the total fields to a minimum.

In step 2 Advanced settings, here is where you can change the way the form looks. I won’t go into detail on this section, but I do encourage you to play around with this section if you want to customize your form a bit.

Then enter your e-mail address. This is the e-mail address where you will receive the messages from the people who type something into the form on your website.

At the bottom, you can see a preview of what your form looks like.

Then press the Create Formular button. Highlight the HTML code and copy it.

Then open up your site in iWeb. Click on the Add Page button, find your theme and add a blank page. Delete any extra text that comes on the blank document.

Then add an HTML snippet to this blank page, and paste the code you just copied. You now have a contact form on your website. If you want to add this form to any other page on your site, or add it in any different way shape or form, feel free to experiment.

For more helpful iWeb tips and tricks, be sure to subscribe and visit our website.

Sitemap Automator 2.5.1 Released

November 8th, 2011

Sitemap Automator 2.5.1 is now available. This free update adds improvements to web page scanning. If you have had any issues creating your XML sitemap file, this update will have probably fixed them.

Sitemap Automator creates speciality formatted XML sitemap files that list all of your web page files. You can then submit these files to all major search engines including Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask.com to quickly and easily get your website fully listed.

SEIntelligence 2.2 Released; Lots of Fixes, Favicon Support

November 4th, 2011

We have just released a large update to SEIntelligence, our most powerful SEO Software.

SEIntelligence, released just 1 week ago, was our largest software release to date, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The beauty of SEIntelligence is that it works with all the popular web building software and provides step-by-step recommendations on how to improve your website for the best search engine rankings.

This update of SEIntelligence includes a large number of improvements and fixes. It adds support for favicons. Now you can select any image and use that as your favicon for your website. It automatically converts header tags from iWeb sites just like iWeb SEO Tool did. You no longer need to use iWeb SEO Tool to optimize your iWeb sites as SEIntelligence will do it all for you (note: this is all done automatically in the background for you).

It also includes some important fixes for collecting back links for your competitors and fixes a crash when pressing the Apply All button to apply your optimizations to your website.

This version also includes a number of interface improvements and other bugs fixes.

Download the free demo

SERank 2.6 Brings Important Fixes and New Search Engines

November 2nd, 2011

SERank 2.6 is now available. This new version brings important fixes including fixing a problem with CAPTCHA’s when too many searches have been performed. It also adds over a dozen more search engines including the popular Yandex search engine.

You can Download the update from the SERank download page.

All New Professional SEO Software for Mac OS X Released

October 27th, 2011

We are very pleased to announce the official release of SEIntelligence, our most powerful search engine optimization software for Mac OS X.

SEIntelligence uses statistical analysis to compare your website to the top ranking websites in Google, Yahoo, Bing and other major search engines. It then tells you exactly what you need to change on your website in order to beat your competition.

SEIntelligence can also track back links to your website and to your competitor’s websites. Providing reports and key SEO metrics, including social media marketing strategies.

Download the free trial version of SEIntelligence today.

SEIntelligence is by far our most robust and feature rich SEO software for Mac OS X. It works great with any website no matter what web building software was used including iWeb, RapidWeaver, Sandvox, DreamWeaver, WebDesign, WordPress, SquareSpace and more.

SEIntelligence builds on, and replaces our free iWeb SEO Tool. It works in conjunction with our other SEO products including Sitemap Automator, SERank, and WebCrusher.

Confused? Need Help? No Problem!

October 26th, 2011

You Need Help? Here We Are!

Many of our customers use Apple’s website building program called iWeb. We speak to many of these users on a daily basis, and a very common thing we hear from them is “I am brand new to all of this, where do I begin? How can I use your company to make my life easier?”

If this sounds like you, then read the remainder of this article. We will cover the basics of our products/services and how each of them can really benefit you. The level of difficulty for all of our software is low. We have training videos for absolutely everything, so no need to worry about being in over your head.

Strongly Recommended

1. So someone has told you that you need to change your title tag. Not sure what that is? Our FREE SEO For iWeb Walkthrough Video Course will teach you everything you need to know about making your iWeb site more search engine friendly.

2. Google can’t find your site? This is not surprising. Use Sitemap Automator to get your site listed in all major search engines.

3. Have you noticed that your iWeb site loads slow? Your customers have noticed too! Slow loading sites means users clicking the back button. Use WebCrusher to drastically improve your website’s loading time.

4. Website visitors don’t always buy right away, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t interested. Collect user’s e-mail addresses with MailShoot. Easily add a mailing list sign up form to an iWeb website. It really is so easy.

Highly Recommended

5. When you try to rank for certain keywords on your site, you’ll need to monitor where you stand on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Use SERank to easily check your rankings for multiple keywords in multiple search engines.

6. Facebook is one of the most visited websites in the world. Connecting with your customers on Facebook is a no brainer. Use MapDesign to create a custom Facebook page.

More Advanced Users

Want the most powerful SEO software we offer? Use SEIntelligence to compare your site to your competition, and use the suggestions made to improve your website all in one spot. (Warning: Could result in high rankings!)

Let’s Not Forget Hosting

Here at RAGE Software, we pride ourselves on being your businesses one-stop-shop for everything your website needs. We encourage all iWeb users to switch to our web hosting. We also take pride in our excellent customer service and exceptional iWeb knowledge – a feat no other web hosting company claims to have. Your website is important to you, and you are important to us. When you switch to our web hosting, you will not be disappointed.

We hope this article gives you a better understanding of what we do, and how we are able to help your website succeed. If you have any inquirers please don’t hesitate to e-mail us.

SEIntelligence : Video Instructions

October 26th, 2011

Listed below are step-by-step instructions for using SEIntelligence. It is highly recommended that you watch each video and follow the recommendations. The videos are fairly short in length, but watching them and following along will make your optimizations go a lot smoother.

Introduction

1. Opening Your Website in SEIntelligence
2. Keyword Research – Learning how to find high quality keywords

On-Page Optimizations
2. Getting Familiar With On-Page Optimizations
3. Adding Meta Keywords & Getting Ready To Do On-Page Optimizations
4. Adding Great Title Tags To Enhance Search Engine Visibility
5. Writing A High Quality Meta Description
6. Editing Other Meta Tags
7. All About Header Tags
8. The Importance Of Internal Links
9.Putting Words To An Image with Alt Text
10.High Quality Page Content
11. Using the Site Settings Tab
12. Applying Changes & Publishing Your Site
13. Re-Opening Your Site In SEIntelligence
Site Settings

1. Site Settings
2. Header & Footer Code Tab

Other SEIntelligence Videos

1. SEIntelligence for RapidWeaver – Part 1

MailShoot : Embedding A Signup Form In RapidWeaver

October 26th, 2011

In the tutorial below, we will show RapidWeaver users how you can easily embed a mailing list sign up form on your website, using MailShoot. The process is fairly simple and will only take a few minutes minutes.


Video Transcript:

Keeping a mailing list is a great way to for you to keep in touch with your website visitors. It can also be a really good avenue for you to promote your product or services to people who might be genuinely interested in what you have to offer.

This tutorial is going to show you how to embed a mailing list signup form on your website. In case you are not familiar, the application I am showing you is called MailShoot. MailShoot is a mailing list manager that will allow you to easily embed your signup form on your website. You can then manage all of the e-mail addresses on the list and send them e-mails whenever you desire.

For this demonstration, we’re going to stick with the golf theme and assume I am running a golf website. The first thing I am going to do is save my document. I do this by clicking File, and going to Save As. I will them name my project and save it.

The next thing I will do is click on the Mailing List button. Currently, I have no lists because this is a brand new document. I will click on the Plus sign to add a new list.

If I double click on my list, the list editor window will appear. This is where all members of my mailing list will appear after they have been added.

So now we’re going to begin making our mailing list signup form. The first thing we are going to do is change some of the field names. These are going to be the fields for the information that we want to get from people who are signing up to our mailing list.

So here I will input just a few examples of the information I might want to collect from potential customers. (favoirte golfer, handicap, name of country club, left handed)

When I’m finished inputting the fields, I will press Done, and my next step will be to setup the Subscribe Page.

In this first step, I’ll need to give my list a name. I am going to call it Jeremy’s Golf Shop.

The List Short Name will be what is used in your signup form’s URL. This name must be unique across all MailShoot users so I’ll just add some random digits to the end of it to ensure it is unique. You can do the same if you’d like, or you can click on this Check button to see if what you have entered is unique or not.

Next I’ll enter a password for my list, followed by a list description.

In the Owner’s Details section, I will need to fill out all of these fields. The owner e-mail is especially important as this is the email address that users will see when the signup to the mailing list, as well as the email address where you will be notified of a signup.

The welcome message can be customized to your liking, or you can leave it as is.

In the custom fields section, you will need to tick off whatever custom fields you want included on your signup form. I will tick off the ones I customized earlier in the tutorial.

You can choose from four different type’s of fields you want to use. You can also input a default value for each field, as well as indicate if you want to the field to be a Required field or not.

In the links section, here is where we will get our code for embedding the form on our iWeb website. I’ll simply press the publish button, and the embed code will appear. You will also notice that two links appear. The first link will take us to the Subscribe page. The second link will take us to the unsubscribe page. When you create your form, click on these links so you can see first hand what your subscribe and unsubscribe pages look like.

Now, I’m going to highlight the embed code, and copy it.

In RapidWeaver, I am going to add a new page. I am going to choose the HTML Code page option. I will simply paste the embed code, and as soon as I click on the preview button, I will be able to see my sign up form. Now you might notice here that some of my signup form is cut off. All I have to do is go back to the embed code, and change the value in the Height field, and check to see if I can now see my entire form.

And that is how you set up your mailing list sign up form. Remember to save your work as you go in MailShoot. For more MailShoot instructional videos, visit the MailShoot product page at ragesw.com/products/mailshoot.html