Tag: SEO

No matter what industry you’re in, SEO is key to improving user experience - that's why major Search Engines like Google care about your site's load speed, content quality, web design, and mobile-friendliness.Besides, in the US alone, e-commerce represents over 10% of retail sales and that number is expected to grow by nearly 15% each year. In 2019, it was responsible for around $3.5 trillion in sales and is expected to hit $4.9 trillion by 2021.So, if you have an online business, you need your customers to find you, otherwise, you’re losing thousands of dollars in potential revenue. Let's learn why it’s critical to have a strong Search Engine Optimization SEO strategy in place.

ENSURES MORE POTENTIAL CLIENTS

One of the main reasons companies build-out a website is to stand out from the competition and increase their customer base. SEO is probably the most efficient and affordable marketing strategy.Did you know that a company that has an optimized website can attract more customers and grow twice as fast as companies that don't have one? And, if you hire professional SEO services, you will reach "targeted" traffic and users who are actively looking to find your product or service.

USER-FRIENDLY WEBSITES

Factors like how quickly your website loads, how easy it is to navigate, and whether or not your website is mobile-friendly impact both your standing in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) and the amount of time users spend on your site.SEO helps business owners create a faster and smoother user-friendly website that adapts to customer's needs. A well-structured and clean site will decrease the bounce rate and increase page views. Remember that search engines decide which websites to display when a user types in a search term based on different factors, including user-friendliness and quality content.

BUILDS BRAND AWARENESS

By utilizing the proper SEO techniques, you will get higher rankings on the search engine results page. The goal is to appear on the first page of major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing, and then move up to the top three results. This way, your potential customers are more likely to trust your brand when they search for a particular term rather than other brands that don't have a strong web presence.

TOP-NOTCH & PROFESSIONAL SEO SERVICES

If you want to boost your site's organic traffic and improve your search results ranking, S-FX Business Solutions is the answer. We offer innovative and affordable SEO services, including keyword research, content creation, and on-page optimization. We can be responsible for your entire online presence and generate successful results. Our strategies are personalized according to your needs, budget, and preferences.

So what are you waiting for? Let's get started...

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Nowadays, technology is indispensable for any business, from startups to big corporations. The world is constantly going through a technological revolution, so it's extremely important to keep up to date. Of course, depending on the needs of your business, you will need specific technologies that other companies probably do not need. But, there are basic technological solutions that every business owner should know and consider investing in. Let's explore some of them and embrace them to boost your growth and success. 

Web Design 

Having a website is no longer optional and you must provide the best first impression to every potential customer. You shouldn't use pre-paid website designs. Instead, hire a tech-savvy professional who can build-out a site that represents your business and entertains your target audience at the same time. You could use your website to inform them about your services and prices and let them purchase from the comfort of their home. 

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Frequently a customer relationship management is only used for sales purposes. However, a CRM allows you to log and track every aspect of every relationship you build. You'll know how long it’s been since you’ve followed up with loyal customers, which users are visiting your website, or filling out forms but not closing the deal on a purchase. It helps you stay internally organized and top-of-mind with customers.

SEO Services

If your company does most of its business online, investing in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services will positively impact your business. SEO uses specific keywords and search algorithms to make it easier for search engines to find your site. This way, your business will have more opportunities to rank on the first page of search results on different engines like Google. Also, it's highly recommended to invest in other marketing practices; digital marketing, branding, and much more. 

Technology Consulting

The goal of a technology consultancy is to inform clients about how to use their IT practices to achieve their business goals. IT consulting services can range from creating a technology to managing a process system for a business. In some cases, it includes examining the risk of an existing system. In the end, you will maximize your company's efficiency and reduce costs. 

Build a Successful Business With S-FX Small Business Solutions 

Technology will never stop evolving, so having an experienced IT advisor on your side is vital for your business success. With over a decade of experience, S-FX.com Small Business Solutions has become the best business consulting experts in town. Get in touch with us and learn more about our services. DISCOVER MORE NOW 

Backlinks, also called “inbound links” are created when another website links to yours. Needless to say, backlinks are very important for SEO in many different ways. Search engines use backlinks as a ranking signal because it is a way to show that your page or content is relevant to other people. Plus, a relevant site that links back to yours can get you more traffic regardless of your ranking.

A Good Backlinks IS HARD TO FIND

When someone links to your site, you gain a backlink. If you write an article and link back to a relevant article from another site, they have gained a backlink. So, it is a really simple concept. However, not every backlink you gain will be beneficial to you.

Backlinks vs High-quality Backlinks

Years ago, Google’s algorithm took backlinks really seriously. To the point that the more backlinks you had, the better your site would rank, regardless of their quality. Nowadays the algorithm works in a different way. This is because many websites were using what is known as “black hat techniques” to gain a bunch of useless backlinks from irrelevant websites (making them rank higher). Spam websites that link back to your site are no good. Not only the chances of getting traffic from those sources is very low, but there’s also a good chance that Google or other search engines will recognize your site as a spam site. That’s a major reason why you should take backlinking seriously.

Why Backlinks Are So Important

There are 2 main reasons why backlinks are important for your SEO:

1. You rank higher in search results
2. You get referral traffic

High-quality backlinks signal search engines that other people vouch for your content. To better illustrate how this works, imagine writing an article on your website, and you start getting mentioned by other people in your industry, and some well-known companies. This would indicate to Google and other search engines that your content is really good, thus, your article will probably rank higher.Referral traffic is also a good reason why you should consider taking on that backlinking strategy more seriously. Websites get a great deal of their traffic through search engines, but there’s always a good percentage of traffic coming from other sources. Yelp, Yellow Pages, and other listing websites are good examples of this. These visitors wouldn’t have found your website otherwise. Having backlinks from other relevant websites related to your business will drive more people into your webpage, increasing your reach and the chances of closing a deal.

Backlinks and Website Authority

You’ve probably heard the term Website Authority before. Although this term is vaguely used sometimes, it is something you should take into account when building backlinks. Usually, websites with more authority will transfer some “strength” to websites with less authority, which is one of the reasons why you should not overlook the quality of your backlinks. An inbound link from Forbes Magazine will have more impact on your SEO than a small website that hardly gets any traffic.

Improving Your Organic Ranking With A Proper Backlinking Strategy

Backlinks provide websites and businesses with plenty of benefits. Whether by impacting your traffic and ranking directly or indirectly, the more high-quality backlinks you are able to get, the better. To achieve this and get the most out of it you should simply focus on providing people with relevant content and information. The more useful your website is for visitors and other people in your industry, the more chances of getting some good backlinks and increasing your ranking. And that’s why backlinks are so important for your SEO.

A CMS is a user-friendly software that allows you to build, manage, and modify websites without having to code it from scratch. In other words, it is a tool that allows users to create a website without having to write all the code or knowing how to code. The acronym CMS stands for Content Management System and it refers to a system solution that allows people without any experience to build websites in an easy way.Statistics say that more than half of the websites on the internet are built with CMS. 

How does it work?

CMS will take the whole coding and HTML process and make it almost as simple as writing a Word document. Technically, it is composed of two main cores:

• Content management application (CMA): The part that allows users to manage or add content to the website.
• Content delivery application (CDA): The part that takes what users put in the CMA, stores it and makes it visible.

All the two parts work equally to maintain the website. 

Benefits of using CMS

Minimum or No Coding Skills Needed

Build, manage, and reshape a website without any coding knowledge. A CMS is designed to make things easier for non-developers.

Makes Collaboration Easier

CMS allows multiple users to work at the same time on the landing page. For instance, some users can add marketing content while others work on security protocols.

SEO-friendly

Some CMS's are excellent for SEO purposes. On the other hand, with extensions, you can easily detect SEO issues and repair them in order to improve your website. 

Templates

With CMS platforms like WordPress, you can choose from a wide range of predesigned templates to customize your website. 

Updates

CMS allows users to update websites in a quick and easy way. Users will be able to make major changes like a website redesign to minor changes like changing images on the landing page. 

Examples of popular CMS platforms:

• WordPress: Perhaps the most popular one. At least a third of websites online are using WordPress today. Extremely customizable with hundreds of templates and plugins to choose from. WordPress allows users to create a unique experience for their company or brand.
• CMS Hub: Optimized for search engines, with CMS Hub users can build strong and secure websites. Ideal for businesses looking forward to growing up.
• Joomla: Ideal for social and community websites. What makes Joomla different from other CMS platforms is that it offers multilingual support.
• Magento: Even though Magento is highly flexible and secure, it might be pretty difficult to use. Suitable for eCommerce, it allows users to manage several online stores and shipping providers.
• Drupal: It’s an open-source CMS, very flexible. Used by at least 3% of the websites online. Although a web developer it’s required to fully use everything offered by this CMS, Drupal users won’t have to start their website from scratch.

Build your website with a CMS

Easy to use and quick to update, content management systems are suitable for users looking to build a website that can grow over time. However, design, UX/UI, SEO, and functionality will always require technical knowledge. If you want to get the most out of your website, web designers and web developers can help you achieve just that.----S-FX.com Small Business Solutions is a boutique web design and technology consulting agency geared towards start-up businesses, small businesses and non-profit businesses.  We specialize in implementing low cost technology solutions to maximize efficiency and reduce business operating costs.Discover how to elevate your business getting the right tools and services!

Clearing cache in any web browser is relatively easy and you don’t need to be tech-savvy to do it. Edge, Chrome, Safari, and Firefox allow you to clear your cache with just a few clicks and improve your surfing experience.When you’re having issues with your browser and F5 just doesn’t cut it, clearing your cache is the way to go.

Clearing Cache on Edge Chromium

There are 2 ways you can do this on Edge Chromium (the newest version of Microsoft’s Edge); whether using a keyboard shortcut or through the menu.

Clear data with the keyboard shortcut.

1. Press the keys [Ctrl], [Shift] and [Del].
2. A new window will open. Select your preferred options.
3. And click “Clear Now”.

Delete the cache through the menu.

1. Click on the three dots on the main menu.
2. Browse to "History".
3. Select "Clear Browsing Data".
4. A new window will open. Select your preferred options and click “Clear Now”

Clearing Cache on Chrome

Chrome is a very popular web browser. Just like in Edge, you can delete your cache through the menu or using keyboard shortcuts.

Clear browsing data using the keyboard shortcut.

1. Press the keys [Ctrl], [Shift] and [Del].
2. "Clear Browser cache" window will open
3. Select for which time period you want to delete the cache data.
4. Check the box in front of "Images and Files in Cache".
5. clicking the "Delete Browser data" Button.

Delete Chrome’s cache through the menu.

1. Click on the Menu (three dots in the upper right corner of Google Chrome)
2. Open the Browser setting.
3. Select the option "more tools".
4. Click on "Delete Browser data".

Clear Cache on Safari

With its pros and cons, Apple is known for making it exceptionally easy to perform an action and Safari is no exception. Deleting browser cache can be done quickly through a keyboard shortcut or through the menu.

Clear browsing data using the keyboard shortcut.

The fastest way to clear your cache is to use the following shortcut: [CMD] + [ALT] + [E].

Delete cache through the menu.

You can also enable the developer menu to access several professional options.

1. Select "Safari" in the main menu and then go to "Preferences"
2. Click on the tab "Advanced"
3. Check the option "Show Develop menu in menu bar" at the bottom. A new menu item called “Develop” will appear.
4. Click on "Develop" then select "Empty Caches"
5. Reload the site.

Clear Cache on Firefox

Clearing the cache on firefox is simple. Just like Chrome and Edge, it offers to do it from the menu or through shortcuts.

Clear browsing data using the keyboard shortcut

1. Press [Ctrl], [Shift] and [Del]. A popup will open "Clear recent history".
2. Define the time range you want to delete the cache.
3. Click on the arrow next to "Details" to choose which data should be deleted.
4. With a click on the button "clear now" you delete the cache.
5. Reload the site.

Delete cache through the menu.

1. Press the "Alt" key on your keyboard to open the menu.
2. Go to "History" and select "Clear Recent History"
3. You will see a window like the one described above.
4. Follow steps 2, 3, 4, and 5 as explained above.

What Is Cache And Why Is It So Important?

Cache is very important, but in some instances is like a double-edged sword. It can improve your surfing experience by making pages load faster, but it can also make pages look odd or show outdated information. This happens because certain items like images, icons, and even entire web pages are stored on your browser so you don’t need to download all that information every time you visit a site. However, even though the cache can make page load a lot faster, when too much information is stored, browsing the internet can become a painfully slow experience.  When this happens, it is necessary to try refreshing the webpage (usually by hitting F5) or clearing the cache, which deletes all these saved files.

Nowadays, it’s common to use the terms web designer and web developer interchangeably. The truth is that these two jobs are different parts of the web building process that require different abilities. They’re both needed in order to build a website, but each one has its own specific functions.Broadly, a web developer is the one who uses coding language to create the core of the website, creating the skeleton of the site. The designers take care of the aesthetic part of the website: the actual look.Think of the designer as the one who designs the house. How will it look? What color will the walls be painted? Where will be the doors and windows located? Then think of the developer as the one who builds that house. Both parts complement each other. Even though there are people that can code and design a website, web developer and web designers should not be confused, and here’s why.

What is a web designer?

The web designer is the one in charge of the whole aesthetic part of the website, handling not only with the looks of the website but with the way users interact with it as well.Their main goal is to keep the visitors hooked on the website by designing an attractive and user-friendly interface. They are also in charge of including all the branding elements on the website.

UX design

Also known as user experience designers, UX designers are in charge of creating the best experience for visitors by analyzing demographic data and user’s needs. They know how to create a website that users will love and how to structure it for the client’s convenience.

UI designers

User interface designers focus mainly on the look and feel of the website. Their job is to create an enjoyable website by designing elements that are easy to interact with.

Visual design

If you merge UX and UI designers into one, the result is a visual designer. Visual designers are hired to create a website that is conveniently attractive and easy to use, always respecting the voice and feel of the brand.

What is a web developer? 

Once the web designer has finished a mock-up of the website structure and look, it is the web developer’s job to make it real. Web developers know all the codes that make a solid website. They manage all the implementation processes and they can be divided into two: Front-end and back-end developers. 

Front-end developers

Also known as client-side development, front-end developers, who often collaborate with web designers, are in charge of creating all the visual elements of the website. They mostly work with HTML, JavaScript, and CSS codes.

Back-end developers

Back-end developers are the ones who create all the elements of the website referring to the core structure. In other words, they are in charge of all the things that users can’t see, such as databases and servers. They tend to have strong coding skills and usually work with PHP, #C, SQL, and Java codes.

Two Equal Parts Of The Web Building Process 

To sum everything up, web designers design, web developers code. You can also find full-stack developers, who are actually able to address both design and development.Whether starting your company’s website from scratch or revamping your existing site, you will need both a web developer and web designer in order to create the best interface and experience for your users.----S-FX.com Small Business Solutions is a boutique web design and technology consulting agency geared towards start-up businesses, small businesses and non-profit businesses.  We specialize in implementing low cost technology solutions to maximize efficiency and reduce business operating costs.Discover how to elevate your business getting the right tools and services!

If you’re not a technology expert and you’re in the process of setting up a website for your company or business, it’s possible that you might find yourself confused. Setting up a website can be easy and accessible for everybody, and WordPress is perfect for that. It allows you to take advantage of powerful tools, it can be customized and it is one of the preferred content management systems for SEO purposes.What is WordPress? WordPress has been in the market for around 17 years. It’s not a web hosting service, as many people tend to think: it started as a blogging platform online, but in recent years it has evolved into a powerful content management system. A content management system (CMS) is basically a system that allows you to create, display, and arrange content on your website, and it’s a platform that runs completely online. Today, at least a third of the websites worldwide are using WordPress and it might be due to the fact that it has the enormous advantage of being as easy or as complex as you want.Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced user, WordPress can be the perfect fit. Here’s why. 

Benefits Of Building Your Website In WordPress

Managing, designing, and controlling your website

Since it runs completely online, you can manage your website from any computer. Plus it allows you to have multiple users and assign them different levels of access. Another feature is that your site can be fully customizable, meaning that you get to choose the look and feel of your site, providing an extraordinary experience for your users.

Pricing

Even though WordPress it’s an open-source system, which means that it is free for everyone to use, if you want to do more than just a personal website, there are plenty of paid options, plugins, and a wide range of affordable plans to choose from. You can choose whether or not to pay for advanced builders, themes, plugins, and much more. The price range of WordPress hosting plans can go from 4$ to 45$ per month, depending on the web hosting provider.

Plugins & security

Whatever you have in mind for your website, it can be done with the thousands of plugins and themes offered by the WordPress service. And the best part is that most of them are free or have an affordable price. Plugins can include social media posts and feed, calendar, security, optimizing speed, communication tools, etc… Expand your website functionality and let your site grow as your business grows. It’s safe to say that WordPress is a secure and reliable system. Offering automatic software and plugins updates you can easily enhance your site security and prevent hacks and malware.

Language and file support

When we talk about WordPress support there are two things that you should keep in mind. First is that WordPress supports more than 150 languages therefore it gives you the possibility of reaching a worldwide audience with your site. And second, is that it supports a significant type of media file. Audio, video, images, or documents can easily be embedded on your website. 

You Can’t Go Wrong With WordPress

You should absolutely use WordPress to build your website. With a vast community of users, more than 50,000 plugins you can use for extra security or features, and an easy to use interface, WordPress is the perfect fit for anyone looking to build a website.Whether you want a small personal website that serves as a business card or you’re setting up a huge e-commerce store, achieving a fully functional, SEO friendly, and professional-looking website is possible. Plus, it is so widely used that it’s actually easier to maintain than other CMS. ----S-FX.com Small Business Solutions is a boutique web design and technology consulting agency geared towards start-up businesses, small businesses and non-profit businesses.  We specialize in implementing low cost technology solutions to maximize efficiency and reduce business operating costs.Discover how to elevate your business getting the right tools and services!

The terms “web design” and “web development” are often used interchangeably nowadays. However, it is important to keep in mind that both terms refer to two different aspects of website building. Being able to work with a single agency that is capable of both designing and developing your website can bring you and your business some great benefits.Before getting into the benefits of hiring a single web design agency, it’s important to differentiate between designers and developers. Since both are involved in the process of building a website, it’s easy to get them mixed up.

• The designer is the person that will make sure all the visual elements are correctly placed. They do this by combining creativity with the understanding of how the design principles can affect your user’s experience. 
• Once the design is ready, it is the job of the developers to bring this idea to life. In other words, developers will make a fully functioning website out of the designer’s concept.

3 Benefits Of Hiring A Single Web Design Agency

Seamless Work Experience

This is one of the biggest benefits you will perceive from hiring an agency that can take care of both aspects of website creation. By having a single dedicated team that can address both design and coding, you’ll benefit from the easier communication and the overall experience becomes seamless.With a web design agency, there is no need to manage various teams and individuals. Instead, you will only need to communicate with your agency to make sure that everything is going as planned. All the aspects of creation, including User Interface Design, User Experience Design, and all the complex HTML, CSS, and JavaScript programming, can be addressed by the same team.

More Manageable Budget Expectations

The financial benefits of working with a single agency are noticeable, especially when you need to make modifications in the design. In such a case, working with two different teams would require more time and more resources.Hiring a single web design agency, on the other hand, will give you more control over your expenses. Depending on your requirements, the budget will not vary even if you need to perform certain modifications. Even unexpected expenses become less of a problem.

Quicker Turnaround

You don’t need to wait days or weeks to have a design ready before sending it over to the developers. Instead, design and development can be addressed simultaneously by the same agency. When working with different teams to address this, communication can become a problem. With all the information going back and forth between you, the designers, and the developers, the process can become bogged down.With a single design agency to take care of design and development, you can save a lot of time.The benefits of working with a single agency are not independent of each other – a seamless work experience translates into quicker turnaround and more manageable budget expectations. Today’s fast-paced world requires you to find ways of performing tasks faster and more efficiently. So, hiring a web design agency that can take care of design and coding, will be able to bring you faster results, with overall better quality.

Top Web Design Agency in New Jersey

S-FX.com is excited to announce a partnership with DesignRush, where we are recognized as one of the top web design agencies in the state of New Jersey!

Google recently announced that "Core Web Vitals" will be incorporated as a Google ranking signal. This set of specific factors will change the way the user’s experience affects your ranking. Although the update will be launched in 2021, these metrics are already being used to measure the quality of a webpage and user’s experience.Core Web Vitals are focused on page loading, interactivity, and visual stability. This upcoming change to search rankings will evaluate the overall user experience provided by a page. Once the update takes place, pages that fail to provide a good user experience will rank lower in the search results.However, if you know how to update your site for Core Web Vitals, you can use this to your advantage. For website owners and managers, this update means that you can boost your SEO by working with the right web designer.

An Overview Of Core Web Vitals

There are 3 specific measurements that make up the Core Web Vitals.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) - Page Loading

Defined as the time interval between the start of a page-load to when the largest image or text block in a user’s viewport is fully rendered, this important user experience factor is what makes a webpage be perceived as slow or fast by the users.LCP is the measurement of how long it takes for the main content to be ready. If you have ever experienced a delay in an image or a text loading, you know how frustrating this can be.

First Input Delay (FID) - Interactivity

This measures the time of the user's interactivity and how long the page is ready to respond to clicks, scrolls, or other actions. This is an important factor that can greatly affect the way a user perceives your website. When you click on a link or a button, you expect it to work right away, otherwise, it will seem broken. In many cases, long loading times can lead people to leave your website.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) - Visual Stability

This refers to the unexpected shifting of page elements when the page is still loading. It is probably the most annoying and common problem that you will ever find in a website. Whenever a website is still loading you will see how some elements like buttons or text boxes move around the screen and sometimes disappear.This is especially inconvenient when the webpage takes a long time to load completely. Sometimes it might seem like the page is ready to interact and when you’re about to click on something, it moves.

How A Web Designer Can Help You Boost Your SEO?

If you oversimplify the new ranking factors, you just need to make elements load faster. However, for LCP, FID and CLS to be correctly addressed and optimized you need a lot of technical knowledge–it’s not as simple as resizing images and editing a few lines of code. For this reason alone is that a web designer can now be one of your biggest allies when it comes to optimizing your webpage for SEO. When building a new website or redesigning an existing one, working with a web designer that is able to update the site for Core Web Vitals is important. Of course, these are not the only ranking factors and SEO takes more than just that, but if you want to take full advantage of this upcoming update and get an edge over your competitors, this is the right time.----S-FX.com Small Business Solutions is a boutique web design and technology consulting agency geared towards start-up businesses, small businesses and non-profit businesses.  We specialize in implementing low cost technology solutions to maximize efficiency and reduce business operating costs.Discover how to elevate your business getting the right tools and services!