Windows 10 for FREE

Remember that annoying pop-up you’d always get a while back prompting you to upgrade to Windows 10?  Most likely you were using Windows 7 and were happy as a lark using it but that darn popup kept coming back over and over asking, or should I say forcing you to upgrade to Windows 10.  Well, if you find yourself missing the boat and wishing you could have upgraded but missed the deadline – good news!  For those who use assistive technologies, Microsoft is extending the deadline for those users until December 31st.

I don’t have any need for accessibility technologies – do I still qualify?

Have you ever used the magnifying tool built into windows?  Have you ever pressed CTRL + or CTRL – to increase or decrease the browser display?  Have you ever adjusted the mouse sensitivity?  Chances are, you’ve benefited from an assistive technology in one way or another – so yes, you qualify.

How do I get the FREE Windows 10 Upgrade?

I was about to buy a new licence after my computer crashed after previously upgrading to Windows 10 from 7 and since then certain programs wouldn’t run on Windows 7 therefore I felt inclined to upgrade once again.  So, I trolled the internet and came across this article from CNET explaining how to get the free upgrade for Windows 10 and decided to give it a try.  Voila!  Back in action and right where I left off saving myself a few bucks right before Christmas.  If you feel like you are cheating the system, then don’t – it’s all a matter of how to interpret the title on the Microsoft page. “Customers who use assistive technologies can upgrade to Windows 10 at no cost“.  Again, if you’ve used a tool that helps you use your own computer better – then you qualify.

Hopefully you are able to read this post or the one on CNET in time to get it.  Best of luck!

Understanding the basics of how search engines work will help you have more of your website pages indexed by search engines. Spiders are tools or programs search engines use to scour the web and collect information as pages are developed each day.

Spiders!  Yes, that’s right – Spiders!

Think about it for a moment – the internet is an inter-connected “web” of pages strung together by web links upon web links.  Google releases millions of spiders each day to crawl billions and billions of web pages.  Picture a spider’s web now and study how each web strand is connected to each other.  The spider will crawl on each web strand (or web page) to get from A to B.

What is a search engine spider?

An internet spider is a program that automatically fetches pages from your website.  Alternatively, it is also known as a bot, robot or crawler.  We like to refer this activity as “spidering” or “crawling” a web page.  As a result the spider will collect information about each of your web pages.

How do I get spiders to visit my web pages?

In the past, getting a spider to visit your web page was as simple as going to Google and submitting your website.  Therefore, in order to get a spider to crawl your web page today – you need to have links from other websites. Think about the logic behind this for a moment.  While the web grows everyday, spiders need to be able to make the leap from one page to the next efficiently.  So, you need to get links on other websites pointing to your own – bottom line.

What does a spider do when it arrives on your web page?

The first thing a spider will do is make a couple quick checks to see if in fact they are allowed to even search the page in question. Hence, there are two ways a spider will know if they are allowed to index or crawl a web page.

1. by checking the robots.txt file or
2. any http headers.

Once permission is granted the spider will collect any html meta data provided by the page. Meta data is information that helps categorize and organize the web page content for search engines.  I’ll write another article about meta data very soon!

What do web spiders check?

After the spider has gone through the preliminary checks for permission and meta data – it will then begin to collect content.

• Page titles
• Sub-headings
• Images
• Paragraphs are all considered part of your content.

Above all, the most important element you can provide in your content will be links to other pages within your site or other people’s websites. Consequently, linking to other websites that are useful in relation to your own content will increase the user experience factor.  But why would you want to link to someone else’s website and move people from your site to theirs?  As a result, Google puts even more emphasis on creating a great user experience hence stating it in their  mission statement. “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”.

Real people employed by Google to view your website

Google takes “user experience” to the next level by employing people to visit indexed websites and go through a checklist of items to help gauge the level of user experience.  This is very important to understand because Google realizes that spiders can only do so much in regards to evaluating and collecting information.  The best possible advice I can give to your underlying Search Optimization strategy is to create the best possible user experience you know how.

In Conclusion…

Competing for key words your competition is already ranking for is not easy and most times is an uphill climb.  Even more today, Google is putting more emphasis on users’ mobile experience when viewing your website.  There are so many factors when considering Search Engine Optimization and we’ve only begun to scratch the surface!  Do you need Search Engine Optimization services?  If so, contact us and fill out our website quote form.  You can thank us later!

Does mobilegeddon affect my business?

Small business owners need to know if their website is mobile friendly and if mobilegeddon has already affected their business. Consequently, ignoring it’s effects could mean lost revenue for your small business.

What is mobilegeddon and how can it affect my website?

Mobilegeddon is a term given to the algorithm update Google introduced on April 21st, 2015 to improve mobile user experience. Essentially, it affects the rankings of websites that are non-responsive and considered unfriendly for mobile users. Because Mobile search has been increasing year after year Google has implemented the need to improve mobile user experience.

To put it bluntly in a few words you’ll simply lose your mobile page rankings.  Losing your mobile page rankings could mean a dramatic decrease in revenue for your business. As a result, having fewer organic search traffic directed to your mobile website could only mean potential loss in revenue.  The demand for web developers to make websites mobile friendly prior to 2010 was much less than it is now.

What does it mean to have a mobile friendly responsive design?

Mobile responsive design means that a website that will respond accordingly to various device types, screen sizes and orientations. Smartphones and tablets will essentially view the same website differently in comparison to a PC.  Therefore; having a responsive design will help ensure and maximize an optimal mobile user experience.

There is a quick way to visually test for responsive design by using your browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer. Give this a try.

1. From your desktop PC open your browser window
2. Resize your browser window from the top right corner
3. Move inward slowly with your mouse

If it is responsive you will notice the content adjusting vertically and the menu disappearing turning into a hamburger button.

How do I know if my website is affected?

Google provides an easy way to check if your website is in their good graces.  It’s called the Mobile-Friendly Test.  It will run a quick diagnostics on your website and will let you know within a matter of seconds. Drum roll please!

How can I get a mobile friendly website?

If your website is built using WordPress then you can incorporate a mobile responsive theme.  However, choosing any WordPress theme does not necessarily mean your website is automatically mobile friendly. You can find a lot of well built WordPress responsive themes at Elegant Themes.  We are a huge fan of the DIVI Theme and DIVI builder.  It is not only mobile friendly but it also allows us to develop quickly and provide an easy to use interface for our clients to update their own content.

At TDTSolutions all of our new designs and redesigns include a mobile responsive version.  As a result, we will only use mobile responsive WordPress themes to develop client websites.  In addition, WordPress increases our ability to provide clients with the best mobile solution with a fraction of the development time required. This is good news for you because it means we won’t rake you over the coals trying to up-sell you a mobile website because it’s already included!

In conclusion, if a multi-billion dollar company such as Google says it’s important to have a mobile friendly website then you better listen!  It only makes good business sense or else it will hurt you in the end.

Please feel free to contact us – we’d love to help you get a mobile friendly website.

People very rarely read everything they see

The normal behaviour is to visually scan pages looking for key words within the titles, headings, sub-headings, list items, links and so forth.  Your business website relies on proper and meaningful titles and headings.  Web designers and copywriters need to work closely to format and create content so the best possible results can be achieved for their client.  Writing copy for the web is a skill and an art and as Google states: Content is King.

So how do people read the web? by JAKOB NIELSEN on October 1, 1997

They don’t. People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences.

Scanning content

There are tips and tricks to catch people’s attention and most importantly keep their attention – at least while they are scanning.  As Jakob Nielsen suggests:

• highlighted keywords that are bolded and hyperlinked
• meaningful sub-headings (not “clever” ones)
• bullet lists
• one idea per paragraph
• half the word count (or less) than conventional writing

Website Designer and a copywriter

A good copywriter will know various aspects of writing for the web to help catch and maintain the reader’s undivided attention.  The Flesch reading ease score for every article is a way to measure the readability of the content.  Having a high Flesch reading score will increase the chances of your reader effectively reading each sentence and paragraph.  Website designers are responsible for the visual display or format of the content.  Making sure the right words are bolded, lists are generated, proper titles and sub-headings are used is very important.  Imagine what the content would look like without any formatting.

Losing the reader’s attention

Unless your content resonates deeply with your reader then chances are most people who you’ve attracted with your meaningful title or heading will not likely read the whole article in it’s entirety.  Knowing how to implement the “Inverted Pyramid” approach is important. Starting with the summary or main topic of your story at the top of the page and then working down into the finer details of your article.  If you are going to catch the attention of your readers then you need to do it in the first paragraph.   

The act of subconsciousness scanning

When you pick up a newspaper or magazine are you reading it  word for word, front to back? Unless you are the editor, you will unknowingly scan very quickly only looking at images and headlines of each story.  IF you do find something something interesting then and only then will you start to read more.  Making sense?

Put it to the test

Next time you see someone pick up a newspaper – observe the reader and see how much scanning they do versus actual reading.  If you know the person quite well, ask them a few questions after they have flipped through a few pages.  What did you find interesting on this page?  What caught your attention with XYZ article?  Knowing the behaviour of people and how they read the web will make it easier for you to write and format content.