Had a guy from Orange County, who’s name will go un-announced, (you know who you are buddy) who was skeptical at first to believe I was an expert at WordPress. Like for some reason I had to prove myself. I was stunned to say the least that we started off on such a negative. Blown away in fact. I’m sensitive like that. “o)

Now granted all this guy needed, (so he requested in his ad was a PSD to WordPress) so I was stoked to do a quick little PSD to WP. Ya, not the case. This guy from OC proceeds to drop a doozy. “Stef, none of your clients are in the top 5 on Google”. “Oh Really?”, I replied. Well buddy, I don’t know if you’ve looked at my website but I’m not an SEO person nor do I claim to know SEO. In fact most of my developer friends, and they top out at a mere 100 of them don’t do SEO. Basic SEO sure, some of us do but full blown SEO. Where we have to charge 3k to 10k? Ya no we don’t.

This guy was insistent that it’s the future and all this because Joost said so. Sorry Joost, love ya buddy but he was quoting your article that Google is making us become not only great developers but SEO geniuses too. Oh really now? Where will I find the time to do this as well?

I told this guy that it’s not going to happen. This industry is a lot like say a Doctor or even a Lawyer’s industry where there is a full range of specialists.

There’s the Graphic Designer, who is good at creating graphics and all the artwork needed for print work and perhaps even a website. Heck some GDs even know how to code some but most don’t.

Then there’s the Web Designer who perhaps does a lot of the UI/UX and get’s things ready from there for the Web Developer/Programmer. Just like a Doctor who is perhaps a GP or better known as a General Practitioner he or she will send a patient on to a specialist if the need for that should arise. And in most cases it does. Same applies here Mr. OC.

It’s hard enough knowing all the crap, scripts and math we need to know in order to do our jobs thoroughly that learning full blown SEO is just not, in my eyes, an option, nor should it. SEO experts need love too and we leave that type of work for them. Next I guess you’ll be telling me I need to know how to do your books, taxes and wash your car while I’m at it too? Thanks, but I don’t think so.

Yup, it’s true. Google decided to recently change their algorithm and start hammering down on web scrapers, better known as Content Farms. How is this going to effect SEO for honest hard working people? Checkout the story in full.

Full Story

Google’s surgical strike against content farms: Two weeks after launching its site-blocking Chrome extension, Google made the central move in its fight against content farms by changing its algorithm to de-emphasize them in search results. The New York Times put the change in context, explaining the content farm phenomenon and its connection to Google. Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan explained that Google is saying the changes only affect “scrapers” (sites that pull content from other sources), but that they’re actually aimed at content farms, too. And GigaOM’s Mathew Ingram talked about why Google may be reluctant to publicly target content farms — because they run a lot of Google advertising.

A few early returns were good: TechCrunch approved of the change, and The Atlantic’s Alexis Madrigal ran a test search comparing the old and new algorithms, finding that the information from the new one was “much, much better.” Demand Media, the most prominent of the content farms, said it wasn’t affected overall by the new formula, though, as Henry Blodget of Business Insider noted, it’s probably trying to wean itself off of Google reliance anyway.

In fact, it appears Demand Media is telling the truth: Aaron Hall of SEO Book used Sistrix’s data to point out that many of Demand Media’s competitors were among the sites hardest hit by the change, while one of Demand’s largest brands, eHow, actually got a boost. Hall implies that politics have played a role, and while there’s nothing concrete suggesting that, the way the changes spared eHow does seem…odd.

There’s also bound to be plenty of collateral damage from the algorithmic shift, and Wired looked at one Mac blog that’s been nailed by the new formula (its Googlejuice was restored after Wired talked to Google about it). Danny Sullivan reported that Google hasn’t made any significant changes to its new algorithm since rolling it out last week, though there are outlets to contact Google if you feel your site has been unfairly hurt.

Elsewhere in the conversation about search, Columbia Journalism Review’s Karen Stabiner gave an overview of the debate about search engine optimization: The anti-SEO crowd, led by the Washington Post’s Gene Weingarten, worries that the SEO mindset will privilege the powerful and eventually kill off creativity in favor of numbingly literal language. The SEO evangelists, on the other hand, say it’s just encouraging honesty and straightforwardness, something it’s difficult to object to.

source: http://www.niemanlab.org/2011/03/this-week-in-review-googles-content-farm-crackdown-facebooks-new-comments-more-tbd-lessons/

I’ve been getting away from designing in Flash more and more lately and working in WordPress now for the last 3 years. It’s really amazing to see the smiles on client’s faces when they get their new site and are able to edit it themselves. Gone are the days of trying to figure out Flash and it not being so SEO friendly.

I’m working on several photog themes because well let’s face it there aren’t a lot of nice ones out there and if there is I haven’t seen them. Clean, minimilistic, Jquery and all edited by the Client. I’ll be posting this one soon for free.

Any comments let me know. Cheers.

I’m asked often, “hey Stef, can you host my site?” Well, as much as I’d like to I don’t have my own servers but I soon will. Who can you trust to host your site? Well, let me tell you who.

1. Go Daddy
Ya, the company is all T & A but boy o boy when it comes to customer service and excellent reliable servers. I have yet to find a better company. Hands down the largest of the hosting companies out there. In 11 years I’ve only crashed once. That’s not bad. Not bad at all. Interface is super overwhelming for the newbie.

It’s like New England weather, wait 5 minutes and it’ll change. Same applies with GoDaddy’s CPanel. Constantly evolving.

Pros: Best Customer service I have ever experienced. 8 out of 10.
Cons: They change their Cpanel way too much.

2. Network Solutions.
Another great company is Network Solutions. They’ve been around a long long time and have an excellent user panel and great customer service as well. You may say well I want cheaper rates. Well, let me tell you cheap gets you nowhere. Pay a little more for a real live person when it comes time to troubleshoot and you’re business will go a long long way. I don’t know about you but I like hearing a voice on the other end when I’m trouble shooting a clients Server/Hosting.

Pros: Great CPanel, very easy to navigate.
Cons: They don’t offer a Grid Server. Booo Boooo

3. BlueHost
Probably the VW of the hosting world, very popular with the frugalees ( ya I just made that up). BH has a decent CPanel, although at times you can be overwhelmed by it, very good customer service and a stable server enviro.

There are a few others I want to write about but don’t have the time. I’ll up date as soon as I can. For now if you have any questions feel free to contact me. Cheers.

Pros: They pretty much offer everything for hosting
Cons: Graphic Interface is 1990

4. Media Temple or ( MT )
Their claim to fame is they higher amazing employees. Great, does that mean I get a discount or am I going to pay through the nose for those amazing employees salaries? You tell me.

I’m not a fan of their backend or creating a Database but all and all MT is a fine hosting company. Their customer service is very helpful and their User Interface is a bit overwhelming at first but once you get the hang of it its a piece of cake.

Pros: Clean User Interface, Easy to Use
Cons: Can be a pain creating a Database if you’re a newb

[kdstudio's new website in development now at serafin designs. click to see the progress]

Having the freedom to be able to add content at any given moment to your site or blog has to be liberating. It gives my clients a sense of freedom that just makes them smile from ear to ear. “Hey, I did that” kind of feeling squared.

I have to say, after two and half years of developing sites in WordPress and seeing the look on my clients face I can say without a doubt what a great framework to be it is to develop sites from. Yes sites. WordPress is not just for Blogs anymore, it’s used by a lot of us as a CMS for Dynamic Websites. Plus the fact that you can have a blog as well. Wahooo Scooby Doo. Sure, I’ve dabbled with other CMS systems but to me, I feel WP is just more user friendly for the client. Magento on the other hand is a great Commerce Framework and the others? Eh, they’re alright.

I heart you WordPress.

Contact me today about developing your website from Design to Development in WordPress today. Every project is different but you can expect my price to start at around $1600 for a basic website in WordPress.