1) Search Engine Algorithm changes

Do you know what Mobilegeddon is?

• April 22, 2015 Google Major Algorithm change called Mobilegeddon
2014 Mobile Traffic exceeded Desktop/Laptop Traffic
Websites that are not mobile ready are not shown in queries
How do you know?
a) Google Mobile Test test your site here
The old Site Failed (Link no-longer works after new site activation)
The new Site Passes
b) Webmaster Account (now Search Console)
How Google communicates with you
This is what a webmaster account look like here
Here Google tells me this site is not mobile ready – here.
These 2 links only work when Prospectus is logged-in

• Major Algorithm Changes every few days – Review history summary

• What is the significance?
If your website has not been updated in the last 3-years, it is dying a slow web-death.
If you did not hire a ‘professional’ or made your own website, your site is failing.
Full-time webmasters barely keep-up with weekly algorithm changes, a novice can’t.
Maintaining a website has become ‘complicated.’

Why you need a great website

• You have 10-seconds to get attention
55% of Visitors Spend Fewer Than 15 Seconds (Hubspot 3/14/2014)

• Lots of competition
In 2014 the number of domains reached 271,000,000
See Registered Domain Names
984,000,000 Site on-line Right Now
See Current Sites On-line

• Do you rank? Where do you rank?
Check your website rank
average daily visitors plus avg pageviews over 90-days the
highest combination of visitors and pageviews is ranked #1.
Rank for eabcnetwork.com

You can see where site development started in April
Before then rank hovered over 20,000,000 – 21,000,000
• See EABC Member Sites Alexa Ranking
If your site is ranked over 17 to 20-million you are getting NO traffic
Several EABC Member sites are in that category

2) Web design trends

• Did you ever get Advertising Age?
Couldn’t wait to see what was new each month
• Today we have:
Webby Awards
AwwwAwards


• Picked out a few example site from the current winners
PAL ZILERI
Google Ideas
Trail memories
Eye Heart World
YUFUKU Gallery
Pitchfork Bat for Lashes
Not new -from my top 10 list – scroll your mouse & watch
Guido Sgariglia
Sony
Bose

3) EABC New Website Development Notes

• Accepted the assignment to rebuild the site in April
• Message – from Board Meeting
‘European’ sounds exclusive
Not just Europeans – any nationality
Inclusive
Focus on ‘business’
Lots of different speakers


• HTML site vs. WordPress
HTML is manually coded
WordPress is database driven
Database entries are ‘rendered’ by the Browser based on CSS
Browsers (esp Safari & IE) render slightly different
Several people can work on the site simultaneously
Strength: Search Engine Optimization – SEO
WordPress sites typically outrank sites from other platforms
Matt Cutts (Google Sr Mgt) praises WordPress as SEO-friendly
WordPress serves 60.4% of CMS traffic & 22.7% of overall web

Develop a color scheme

• Typically we use the site’s logo
• Look at the current site

The site had a header block but not really a logo

• Created a ‘logo study’

• Finally a winner emerged

Develop a background to help branding

The website has 8 main pages and 6 sub-pages
All pages – except 2 – uses this background