Mac SEO Blog

With many iWeb users e-mailing us, letting us know that their websites do not look good in Internet Explorer, we began investigating ways to help iWeb users make their sites become a lot more compatible with Internet Explorer. In the video below, we will discuss and demonstrate seven different ways to ensure your iWeb website has a better chance at being more compatible with Internet Explorer. The following is a summary of the seven steps, with the video tutorial below.

1. Text based navigation menu (Better for all web browsers and search engines)
2. Web-safe fonts (Always a good idea to use no matter what)
3. No shadows and reflections for text and images
4. YouTube for video, not QuickTime
5. No embedded images from third-party websites
6. WebCrusher’s ‘Improve Internet Explorer Compatibility’ option (plus makes your site faster too!)
7. Check compatibility in all web browsers

Although iWeb makes it extremely easy to build websites, there are still things you need to consider when designing your websites. This video goes over many of these guidelines. Because of the nature of the web, we do have a few limitations but we can still design beautiful and professional websites with iWeb.

iWeb and Internet Explorer Video Transcript

Many iWeb users have been reporting that their websites appear abnormal when viewed in Internet Explorer. In this video, we are going to go over several ways of making an iWeb site more compatible with Internet Explorer. This doesn’t mean that everyone’s website will look perfect in Internet Explorer, but an iWeb site’s appearance in Internet Explorer can be greatly improved by following these steps.

Make sure to listen to each step carefully, and not leave any of them out. Especially one of the last steps we will talk about, which involves our application called WebCrusher, which most of you are familiar with. For those not familiar with WebCrusher, it’s an application that reduces the size of your site so that it loads faster in your users browsers. We have released an update to it, that specifically targets this issue with Internet Explorer.

The first way of making an iWeb site more compatible with Internet Explorer is to make a text based navigation menu. This is because, for security reasons, Internet Explorer may not have javascript enabled, which is what is needed to show the iWeb navigation menu. For both Internet Explorer compatibility, and SEO benefits, change your navigation menu to a text based navigation menu. So to change your navigation menu in iWeb you will first need to disable the current navigation menu. To do this click on a page of your website, open the Inspector window, select the page tab, and then deselect the option that says Include Page In Navigation Menu. Repeat this process for all pages on your site.

When this is complete, you will no longer have any links in your navigation menu. Now you will need to create a custom navigation menu using text links. Simply click on the Text Box button, type in your anchor text, resize the box, and move it to where you want it to be on your navigation menu. Then highlight the text, and press the inspector button. Then go to the link tab which is a blue circle with an arrow in it. Check the option to Enable As Hyperlink, and type in the URL or select the page from the drop down menu. Repeat this process for the remaining links. When you are all done, select all text boxes by holding down command and clicking on each text box. Then copy what you have selected. Now you will need to go to each page on your site and press the paste button. And your navigation menu will now be text as opposed to javascript.

The second step is very easy to do. Using a font that is considered web safe, will give iWeb users a much better chance at having their website load correctly in Internet Explorer. To find a web safe font, just press the Fonts button, and click where it says Web. Here is a list of about 10 different fonts that you should choose from to use on your site. These fonts should be used everywhere on your site that contains text. Using web safe fonts will increase the compatibility of your website with Internet Explorer.

The third step is also an easy one. Much like how we want to avoid using fonts that are not considered web safe, we also want to avoid altering our text and images by using shadows and reflections. Doing so will also increase our chances at having our sites load normally in Internet Explorer. So how can you check to see if your text and images have shadows or reflections? Simply click on the text or image, press the inspector button, click on the Graphics tab and see if Shadow, or Reflection are checked. If they are, you may want to consider unchecking them so that your site can be viewed better in Internet Explorer.

By default, iWeb uses QuickTime, which is installed by default on all Mac computers. This isn’t the case for Windows users, however. Instead of putting your videos on your site directly, it is a better idea to upload them to YouTube, and then embed them on your site using the YouTube Widget. This will ensure the best compatibility for users who might not have QuickTime installed on their computer.

To avoid Internet Explorer giving your users security warnings, do not include HTML Snippets that embed images from other websites. This might sound a bit technical, but basically to avoid any security popups for Internet Explorer users, only use image and media files from your local computer.

An example of something that would provide a security warning for Internet Explorer users is this;

What this does is tell the web browser to load an image from a third party website which it may interpret as a security risk.

This next step is the most important one, as I mentioned earlier in the video. In this step, we are going to be using WebCrusher. The version of WebCrusher I am using in this tutorial is 1.9. Make sure you have this version or later. It is always a good idea to make sure you are using the most recent version of any software. Visit our website at ragesw.com to make sure you have the latest version.

The first thing you will need to do is open the Preferences by clicking on WebCrusher in the menu bar, and selecting Preferences. Next, under the Tag Optimizations heading, look for an option that says Improve Internet Explorer Compatibility, and make sure it is selected. Close the preferences window, and drag and drop your website folder onto WebCrusher like you normally would.

In the bottom left corner, there is a button that says Options. Click on that button, and make sure that Only Optimized Modified Files is not checked. The reason for this is because we want to make sure we apply the Improve Internet Explorer Compatibility option to every page on our site. Then, you can press Go and optimize your site and publish it like you normally would.

Since every website is built differently, it is still very important to check your site’s compatibility by visiting your site in as many browsers as you can. The most important thing to understand is that your site will not be perfect in many browsers, especially older ones such as Internet Explorer 6 and 7. Following the above steps, especially the step involving WebCrusher will make your site look much better in Internet Explorer 8 and higher. It is important to note that you should not expect perfection, but combining all of these methods should result in your site looking very good.

In the first lesson of the on-page optimizations section, we will discuss a commonly overlooked place to insert your keywords. Remember to register to view the entire RapidWeaver SEO course, and to ensure you are watching the most updated video tutorials.

Video Transcript

If we take a look at what we see in our address bar here, we see this site’s domain, which is rockbottomgolf.com. If we look directly beside the domain name, we see “golf swing trainers and practice aids.” The latter part of that address is what is known as the page filename. Page filenames are a fantastic place for us to include our websites keywords. Unfortunately, many webmasters make the mistake of not taking advantage of this opportunity. You will notice how this particular address is not painfully long, has dashes separating the words, and is very clean looking. This page name makes it much easier for search engines to understand what this particular page revolves around. If we compare this address to one that looked something like this, we can really get a good idea of how search engines would have an easier time categorizing this page.

It’s typical to see webmasters naming their page files with generic names such as page1 or homepage. Our goal is to utilize every option we have for incorporating our keywords into our website. Whenever you create a new page, make sure your file is given a keyword rich name.

If you already have pages with poor filenames but are actually successful with search engines, do not change the filename as this will ruin your ranking. Just be sure to apply this optimization tip in the future.

To name your files, highlight the file in the Webpages navigation on the left. Then press the Page Info button, and where it says Filename, type in your new page file name. Try to use a key-term that is greater than one word, and less than 6 words in length. Remember to use dashes to separate each word. It is important to note that your homepage’s filename will be index.html. Do not rename this page. Just leave it as is.

Coming up with a domain can be a difficult challenge. Determining whether to use keywords, or business names in your domain name can be a tough decision. This tutorial will discuss this issue, and hopefully guide you in the right direction. Even if you already have a domain name, it can be a good reference for any future domain names you plan on purchasing. Remember to register to view the entire SEO course, and to ensure you are watching the most updated video tutorials.

Video Transcript

Many of you may already own your own domain name, but for those who don’t, or for those who are considering buying a new one, there are a few things that I want to discuss with you.

When choosing your domain name, you have two options. The first option is to make your domain name something along the lines of your company name. The other option is to have your domain name contain one of the key-terms you have recently researched. You will see that as I flip through these websites, some have company names as domains, while others have key-terms. Some sites even have a combination of both.

If your company name is already branded, it will make most sense to include the name in your domain. If you are able to include keywords in your domain, it certainly will not hurt you when it comes to rankings. Including a key-term in your domain will give search engines another indication as to what your website is all about.

I wouldn’t put too much debate into deciding whether to use a company name or a key-term as the domain. The domain is something you will not be able to change. If you can’t make up your mind, I would suggest using your company name over a key-term. The reason for this is because your company name most likely won’t change, similar to how you won’t be able to change your domain.  You also want something that has the potential to become a branded name. A key-term doesn’t not give you that opportunity.

While it may be an added bonus to have the key-term in your domain, it won’t make too much difference in the long-run. And like mentioned earlier, you can always do the combination of both company name and key-term.

When you are deciding on what domain to use, you can use the domain checker on our site at www.ragesw.com. Although they are not easy to remember, domains with dashes separating the words are easier for search engines to differentiate between the words in the phrase.

If you already have a domain, and have been concerned with its brand-ability, don’t worry about getting a new one. It may benefit you to use the one you already have as many people believe new sites struggle to rank for the first 6 to 9 months, almost as if they must pass a probationary period before search engines trust them.

In the first of two tutorials for the Planning Stage of our SEO process, we are going to discuss how to choose proper keywords, and an easy way to organize them. Remember to visit video course page, which will have all the tutorials outlined in a very organized manner.

Video Transcript

The reason we are starting with keyword research is because we will be using our keywords throughout all three stages. So to begin our keyword research, open up your web browser and go to google.com. Next, type in the search phrase “google keyword tool” and click on the first result, which should be the Google Adwords External Keyword Tool.

This will take us to the Google AdWords keyword suggestor tool. Type in the Captcha if the popup box appears for you. In the box that tells you to enter your word or phrase, type in a keyword or two that you think most closely relates to the content on your site. As an example, I will type in golf clubs.

After just a few seconds, a long list of potential keywords shows up. Let’s start with the first keyword we see. To the right of this keyword, we see that there is a green bar under Competition. What this means is that this particular key-term has many advertisers competing for top placements in the sponsored links section of a Google search. A key-term with not as much green in its advertiser competition bar will not have as many advertisers competing for the sponsored links section. What this indicates to you as you are creating your web site, is that targeting a key-term with high competition may be an extremely tough challenge, and as a result, you may find more success targeting a key-term with not as much competition, which would be indicated here by a smaller amount of green in its bar.

I’m going to just pause this demonstration of Google’s keyword tool, to show you a good way of double checking that the competition is in fact low. So let’s assume that the keyword I have found with low advertiser competition, and a high search volume is “golf tour club.” I will go to google, and search for this term. The first thing I will notice, is the number of results. This term actually has a relatively high number, so that might indicate to me that this term may be too competitive. The next thing I will do, is check out the sites that rank highly for this term. What you want to be asking yourself, is whether or not these sites are of high quality or low quality. If they are high quality sites, this is another indicator to you that this phrase may be hard to compete for. If they are low quality sites, then thats when you might decide to target this phrase. To figure out if they are high or low quality sites, it will have to be a judgment call by you, but you can visit the site, and see if it is professionally done, and then also see if it is a site that has a lot of incoming links, or even see if it has a high page rank. We will learn more about incoming links and page rank later on in the video. For now, let’s get back to Google’s keyword tool.

Beside the advertiser competition is the Global monthly search volume. This number is based on an average of the global monthly google searches for each key-term performed over a 12 month period.

The figure beside the Global monthly search volume is the Local monthly searches. This number is based on the 12 month search average for your targeted country and language. The search I am showing here is targeted for the United States, and English.

Finally, the Local Search Trends bar graph shows the monthly fluctuations in searches for this term. It is also based on your targeted country and language.

Another cool feature that Google has added to the keyword tool is the availability to sort the keywords. On the right side of your page, you should see a drop down menu right beside the words Sorted by. The default will be set to Relevance, however, you can change it to any of the options you see here such as keyword, competition, and global monthly searches.

As we scroll down the list, you will begin to see all of the other suggested related terms, along with their advertiser competition and search volume. It is highly recommended that you spend some time going over some of these key-terms, creating new ones, and figuring out some good terms that you can use that are still highly searched, but do not have as much competition associated with them.

When you see phrases that you like and want to use, click on the check box which is located on the far left side of the keyphrase. Repeat this for all keywords that you want to target. Once you are done, you can download these keywords. Click on the button that reads Download and choose Download Selected. Choose whichever format you’d like, and download your keywords. Keep this list handy as you will be referring back to it throughout your optimization.

The first video in our RapidWeaver SEO Video Course outlines what this course is about and what you can expect from all of the tutorials in the course. Remember to get visit the video course page, which will have all the tutorials outline in a very organized manner.

Video Transcript

Hello, my name is Jeremy and over the next little while, I will be showing you how to properly optimize your RapidWeaver web sites so that you can have the best possible chance of ranking at the top of search engines.

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is the process of attracting more visitors through search engines. You will notice how I do not define SEO as having a top ranked site. This is because even if you have a site that ranks at the top of all search engines, there is no guarantee that searchers are typing in the specific keywords you rank for, and will even click your website in the search results. In this series of tutorials, we will cover the basics of how to discover highly searched key-terms and how to determine which ones are best to target.

These tutorials have been created to help you to understand the major optimizations, and how to implement them on your site. With so much information available on the web, search engine optimization can seem very confusing and time consuming to learn. These tutorials are to-the-point, and allow you to visualize what needs to be done, so that you can have a better understanding at a much quicker pace than if you had to sift through a 400 page book.

SEO is a process that we must go through in order to achieve our desired results. It’s not something you do once and just forget about. It’s a form of marketing and if you want to keep on improving your chances at success and growing your business it is something you will constantly evaluate. Remember, if SEO were an easy thing to do, every site would be number one in search engines, which is simply impossible.

This video will be broken down into three stages. The first stage, called the Planning stage, will be the briefest. We will go over a couple of things that we should do before we even begin optmizing our website. The second stage will be the on-page optimization stage. This is where we will be looking at the different methods for making our actual site more search engine friendly. The third and final stage will be the off-page optimizations, where we go over different methods of getting our RapidWeaver website noticed by search engines.

The video will be shown in step-by-step format. This does not mean that you must follow this plan perfectly, but it is setup that way so that those who require this type of instruction still have that opportunity.

I want to make a note that the applications I use in this video are available to purchase or download for free at www.ragesw.com. You are not obligated to purchase any of these applications. The work can be done by hand. That is, you can still complete the tasks without the applications, however, using the applications will make your life a lot easier.

Remember, if you have any questions or do not understand one or more of the concepts, you can start a thread in our SEO forums, or submit a ticket through our support system.

We have just released a new update for SERank, our search engine ranking checker. In this update, we have improved the reports section so that it is more aesthetically pleasing. The table row heights will adjust to the content in each cell, so nothing will get cut off.

If you are using SERank for your clients, or for your company, the reports in SERank are a great way to present the data in an easy to understand and organized manner. Check out the reports if you have yet to do so.

Download the most recent version of SERank, and stay tuned for more awesome updates.

We regret to inform everyone that the web service used by SEKeyword to obtain the suggested keywords has been discontinued by Yahoo. As a result, RAGE SEKeyword, our free keyword research tool and keyword organizer has been discontinued.  We are looking into alternative sources for keyword suggesters that will integrate nicely into our easy-to-use application, but for the time being, the software will no longer be supported.

As an alternative, we recommend using the Google Keyword Tool . Our SEO Video Courses will explain in greater detail how to use the Google Keyword Tool, and how you can find the proper keywords that you should be targeting on your website.

We are excited to announce a new update to SERank. SERank allows users to check rankings for multiple keywords, in multiple search engines, with just a few clicks. The following items have included in this update:

[FIX] Fixed a crash when updating search engine scripts
[FIX] Stability improvements
[CHG] We changed the name from RAGE SERank to SERank so the update will not replace the existing version you have on your computer. Please keep this mind when updating.

We recommend deleting RAGE SERank from the Applications folder (as well as the dock) to avoid any confusion. This way, you won’t open the old version by accident.

Download the latest version of SERank right now!

In this video, we’re going to show you how you can add an image map made in MapDesign to a RapidWeaver 5 website.

Video Transcript

There are two types of image maps that you can make in MapDesign. A Simple map, and an Effects Map. This tutorial is going to show you how you can add a Simple Map to your RapidWeaver website.

After you have created your image map, you will need to export the image map by pressing the Export To Web Site button. Make sure Simple Image Map is selected and press the Next button and save your image map.

Once you save your image map, you will notice that you have an index  file, as well as an images folder that contains your image.

Open RapidWeaver and add a new page. Make sure you select the HTML Code page. Next, open the images folder, and drag and drop the image into the Resources section.

Now open up the index file in an HTML editor so that you can see the code. Highlight all of the code that is within the opening, and closing body tags. Copy this code, and go back to RapidWeaver, and paste the code in your HTML Code page.

Locate the image path, and replace images with resources just like I have done.

When you press the preview button, you will see your image map, and you can test to see if it works by clicking on the hotspots.

We are happy to announce that we have just published an update to Sitemap Automator. The new release contains the following updates:

• [NEW] Scanning your website will now be faster in this version
• [FIX] Sometimes the wrong referring URL would appear for a broken link
• [FIX] Fixed certain scanning issues with websites that use 301 or 302 redirects

Try it out and let us know what you think!

Download Sitemap Automator 2.4