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Tips to Creating an SEO Friendly Website on a Drupal Platform

November 1, 2016 By Andy Clarke

drupal

Despite the occasional voice in the wilderness crying to the contrary, the popular content management system (CMS) Drupal is NOT impossible to optimize for search engines. In fact, any Internet entrepreneur with even a little bit of technical savvy and a whole lot of motivation should have no trouble turning their website into a click-sucking machine that ranks well on Google for the chosen keywords. But what exactly do you need to do in order to get the most from your Drupal hosting? We thought you’d never ask.

Keyword Placement

Before anything else, you need to figure out which keywords will bring the most amount of traffic to your website. This grunt work might take hours or even weeks but it is the foundation of your Internet business. But after you create a list, then what? The proper placement of a keyword (or keyword phrase) makes all the difference between a steady stream of traffic to your article or the cyber equivalent of a great, big, silent YAWN.

There are specific locations where you should include your article’s keyword. Make sure it is in the title, and the closer to the beginning the better. It should also be found in the first and last paragraphs. These are acknowledged locations where Google’s search engine looks to determine the topic of that particular web page. Don’t worry about stuffing the keyword into the rest of the next any certain number of times. Write naturally. The rest will take care of itself.

Schema: Using Structured Data Markup to Improve Your Site’s SEO

Don’t Neglect SEO Modules

For a website owner with Drupal hosting, don’t forget to make use of the SEO modules. A module is essentially a small program that makes it ever-so-easy to add a particular functionality to your website. When it comes to SEO, there are a handful of modules that you should not overlook. These have powerful built-in features that simplify what would otherwise be a complex task, and are available at either no cost or a nominal fee. Our recommendations:

  1. SEO Checklist: Install this one first. It includes a list of the most significant actions to take in accomplishing the necessary SEO, and recommends which Drupal modules are your best bet to get it done.
  1. Content Optimizer: Checks to make sure your content adheres to best SEO practices. Analyzes pages to let you know where modifications are needed.
  1. Pathauto: Eliminates the need to create a SEO-friendly URL from scratch every time. Set the proper format and forget about it.
  1. Google Analytics: As a website owner, the more information you collect about visitors, the better. You need to know where they came from, which pages they visited, how long they stayed and more so you can produce more of the content they like and less of what they don’t.

Backlinks Still Provide Juice

Even though Google used the occasions of recent algorithm updates Penguin and Panda to try and scare so-called “link farmers,” there’s no denying that high quality inbound links are still well worth your time. The key to successful backlink building is to make it look natural. If it is natural, then you’ll have no trouble from the search engine giant whose goal is only to nail comment spam and professional link builders.

The original point of inbound links was to confirm to visitors that they will find quality, targeted content on your website. No big deal, right? It shouldn’t be if you are doing your best to provide such content. Entire books have been written on how to generate legitimate inbound links. The thing to keep in mind is to never cut corners, and don’t get caught up in numbers. It’s been said from sources who are in a position to know that a single link back from a respected website is worth hundreds of junk links.

Web Hosting Providers for Common Backend Languages

The Content Creation Cycle

It used to be that you could publish a static page and let it sit there forever. These days, that’s a sure ticket to the bottom of the search engine rankings. Google loves fresh content. Depending upon whom you ask, new content should be posted anywhere from daily to at least three or four times weekly.

And while you’re at it, make sure your new articles conform to current best practices. For instance, tossing up a 100-word piece, even if you do it seven days a week, won’t help your Drupal site gain much traction. Vary word count from 750 to 2,000+. Shorter stuff just doesn’t cut it. Go as long as you want if the topic demands it. You don’t have to recreate the same old boring format either; post white papers, infographics, ebooks, videos in addition to blog posts.

The Need for Speed

An underappreciated aspect of SEO is a fast-loading website. Believe it or not, Google punishes pages that load too slowly, operating on the theory that slow loaders make for a poor visitor experience. There are plenty of free website speed testers available online. A good one should allow you to schedule periodic tests. If your host is a perennial tortoise, consider switching or even upgrading to a VPS account.

A final suggestion. Spot check your website’s search engine rankings on a regular basis. The Google algorithm is subject to constant tweaking by the “brain trust”. What is recommended as SEO gospel one day might fall out of favor the next. Follow this three-step process to maintain that front-page ranking: educate yourself on SEO; implement current best practices; monitor your progress. Good luck out there!

Design Focus: Blogging in 2013

October 18, 2013 By Sophia Lucero

The clean, minimal, and handcrafted feel that has dominated the current generation of web design is probably most apparent in this crop of websites. Time to take some notes on their attention to detail in building an interface that’s familiar to us all.

Designs of the Week

Get solid WordPress themes, plugins, and even design training from iThemes.

Ghost
Ghost
Roon
Roon
Scriptogr.am
Scriptogr.am
Postagon
Postagon
Hi
Hi
Kirby
Kirby
Svbtle
Svbtle
Medium
Medium
Pen.io
Pen.io
Jekyll
Jekyll
Phmr.al
Phmr.al
Postach.io
Postach.io
Simvla
Simvla

Social Media Weekly

Need help in promoting your site? INeedHits has been in the search engine marketing since 1996!

Mobile, User Experience – Communicating Animation Ideas
“If you design mobile apps and you’re looking for ways to animate your interactive prototypes, you may want to figure out which solution is best for you and take the time the learn it.”

CSS – Single-direction margin declarations
“Everything I’ve written here is nigh on impossible to prove and isn’t quantifiable, but speaking anecdotally and from experience on some huge websites, the method I use works perfectly.”

Design – The Extra Mile
“Polishing is this continuous act of refining your user experience down to the smallest detail. It is what might ultimately set your product apart from crowd—it is your special sauce.”

HTML – Using the HTML5 section element
“In the enthusiasm for all the other HTML5 structural elements, there is a growing tendency for the section element to be used whether it’s the right element for the job or not.”

Content Management Systems for a Fast Backend

May 13, 2013 By Devlounge

Web designers are not often concerned with the performance of their website. This is often left up to the developer(s) who need to cater both frontend and backend codes. Considering how popular the open source movement has become I wanted to delve a bit deeper into which solutions may provide the quickest user access. I have toyed around with many various CMS engines and there are plenty of ideas worth considering.

But we need to think about which CMS solutions will be most useful to people accessing your website around the world. Which systems are the most stable and easy to install, customize, then keep running for years. It is a heavy burden to manage websites. The job is not physically strenuous but there are many various aspects and problems to deal with.

WordPress

Anybody who has gotten familiar with PHP knows about WordPress as a blogging platform. Over the recent years it has transformed into a major content management system great for managing pages and other custom post types.

The reason WordPress is such a great choice for new launches is because of the vast library of plugins for managing your site. There are free solutions for caching, comments management, user management, contact forms, and practically anything you could need. This is the main reason so many people rely on WordPress and how the system can stay online for years without much trouble. [Read more…]

10 CMS That Are Not WordPress

December 23, 2010 By Hyde

WordPress is the most popular CMS currently, WordPress focused entries garner more attention then other topics. Even though we like WordPress a lot or not, it’s always good to know what other options there are out there.

I chose some of the most known one next to WordPress to the most obscure ones. Varying form flat files to full mySQL database. Ones that require almost no knowledge to get up and running, although most CMS now a days are becoming more and more easily to install(not Movable Type).

Should it happen you are in a spot where you are not able to use WordPress, check out these 10 CMS that differ greatly from each other.

Zimplit

Zimplit is the easiest CMS (Content Management System) ever made.
Zimplit is extremely lightweight, simple and customizable. It’s easy to install, and easy to use via a simple web interface. Zimplit consists of only one core engine file

* Price: Free
* Server Language: PHP v-4.x
* Database: No
* Self-Hosted: Yes
* Plug-ins: No. But themes are available.

SkyBlueCanvas

SkyBlueCanvas Lightweight CMS is an open source, free content management system written in php and built specifically for small web sites.

Lightweight and simple does not mean simplistic, however. SkyBlueCanvas includes a lot of the same basic abilities as more robust systems but in a simpler form. The software is not meant to be all things to all users but it does offer features you expect like a familiar Plugin API, Extensibility and skinnability.

* Price: Free
* Server Language: PHP v4-5.x – Only Linux Servers
* Database: No
* Self-Hosted: No
* Plug-ins: Yes

razorCMS

razorCMS, the flat file content management system, that can be as small or large as you wish. It’s structure allows you to have just the amount of functionality you need in a flat file CMS solution, helping to keep speed and simplicity at a maximum. razorCMS is ideally suited to small to medium website projects, it can be run without need for a SQL database, due to it’s flat file structure it has no need for a database meaning it can also be a cost effected method in content management, allowing it to be used on the cheapest of web hosts, or even free hosting.

* Price: Free
* Server Language: PHP v-5.x
* Database: No
* Self-Hosted: No
* Plug-ins: Yes

LotusCMS

LotusCMS brings to the forefront design and design integration into one of the most neglected CMS niches – Databaseless Web-Design and Development.

* Price: Free
* Server Language: PHP v-5.x
* Database: No
* Self-Hosted: No
* Plug-ins: No.

TypePad

TypePad blogs make it simple for you to share your interests and get noticed.
Easily design and customize your own blog, and use our SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SMO (Social Media Optimization) tools to promote your blog and attract an audience and following.

* Price: Paid + Free Trial
* Database: Yes
* Self-Hosted: Yes
* Plug-ins: Widgets and Themes

Movable Type

It’s easier than ever to publish and share information with Movable Type. Movable Type makes it simple to manage entire websites, start new blogs, and build an engaged community of readers and customers.

* Price: Free + Paid
* Server Language: Perl
* Database: Yes
* Self-Hosted: No
* Plug-ins: Yes and Themes

Nucleus CMS

Nucleus CMS is a flexible and easy to install content management system, aka blog software. It helps you to publish a website and lets writers do what they are best at: writing items or articles, without having to worry about formatting and markup.

* Price: Free
* Server Language: PHP 4.0.6 or higher
* Database: Yes
* Self-Hosted: No
* Plug-ins: Yes and Themes

b2ecolution

b2evolution is a powerful blog tool. It includes all the features of traditional blog tools, and extends them with evolved features such as file & photo management, versatile skins, multiple blogs, detailed user permissions… not to mention plug-ins, of course.

* Price: Free
* Server Language: PHP version 4.3.2 or higher.
* Database: Yes
* Self-Hosted: No
* Plug-ins: Yes and Themes

Drupal

Use Drupal to build everything from personal blogs to enterprise applications. Thousands of add-on modules and designs let you build any site you can imagine.

* Price: Free
* Server Language: Recommended: PHP 5.2 for Drupal 5 and 6, PHP 5.3 for Drupal 7 Required: PHP version 4.4.0 or higher.
* Database: Yes
* Self-Hosted: No
* Plug-ins: Yes and Themes

Textpattern

Textpattern is an open source content management system unlike any other; it allows you to easily create, edit and publish content and make it beautiful in a professional, standards-compliant manner.

* Price: Free
* Server Language: PHP 4.4.1+ or 5.0.2+, in mod_php or fastcgi mode.
* Database: Yes
* Self-Hosted: No
* Plug-ins: Yes and Themes

Friday Focus 02/19/10: Fixed

February 19, 2010 By Sophia Lucero

This week on Friday Focus: excellent websites that happen to have fixed elements in them.

Designs of the Week

Adii Rockstar

Not only do we have a light on dark design here, but a glowing light on dark design. It’s colorful too, because of the thick demarcations color-coded by content type. My only wish is for the search bar to be part of the fixed area; I think that’s just as important a navigation element as pagination.

Taylor Frassinelli

Interesting choice of content in the fixed area: name and contact info (very important), quick links to portfolio items grouped by year, and quick links to additional info about the designer. Overall, neat and nicely organized.

Ryan O'Rourke

Another split, one page site. Cool hover effect on the brain graphic, and interesting combination of background patterns (one ornate, one techie).

Fresh01

Brilliant effect on the blue markers, telling you exactly where you are on the page and keeping things dynamic.

Rich Brown

A custom font makes a big difference. Big, bold, boxy, but not overwhelming.

177Designs

Not so exciting fixed area (they’re more for utility anyway) but does well in presenting the portfolio.

Jon Leverrier

More than half of the page is fixed—narrow content areas isn’t quite dead yet!

Fuel Brand Inc

I like how you start with a practically blank screen when you load the site. Then you get a simple yet dramatic transition animation to load each section’s content.

EMQuinn

Another thing that isn’t dead: left-aligned layouts. No skimping on the amount of whitespace either.

Vuu Media

The thing about changing backgrounds is the foreground has to match, and amazingly enough, this site pulls it off. Other than that, graceful details everywhere.

Jaype

I like the three different shades of blue in three different columns. Not too thrilled about the use of the drop shadows and inner shadows here though.

Rather Splendid

I love endless scrolling. I’m on the fence about the stark black icons, although they give a quirky feel to a text-filled site.

Drew Wilson

What really sets this design apart is the carefully chosen and crafted custom photos for each post, everything blends well. Not to mention custom type everywhere.

Social Media Weekly

Usability – Why Not a User

CSS – CSS gradients for all web browsers, without using images

CMS – 10 Simple and Light Weight CMS Solutions

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