Frequently Asked Questions
Click the tabs below to view different frequently asked subjects, such as advertising questions, general business, our process, payment options, SEO, ect. If you can’t find the answer you’re looking for contact us! We’re happy to help!
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which refers to the practice of improving your website’s visibility and ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs) to attract more organic (non-paid) traffic.
SEO is crucial because it helps your website rank higher in search engine results, making it more likely that potential customers will find and visit your site. This increased visibility can lead to more traffic, conversions, and revenue.
SEO comprises various elements, including keyword research, on-page optimization (e.g., content, meta tags), off-page optimization (e.g., backlinks), technical SEO (e.g., site structure, mobile-friendliness), and user experience (UX).
SEO results can vary depending on factors such as the competitiveness of your industry, the quality of your website content, and the effectiveness of your SEO strategies. Generally, significant improvements may take several months to become noticeable.
Keywords are specific words or phrases that users enter into search engines when looking for information or products. Choosing relevant keywords and strategically incorporating them into your website’s content can help improve your site’s ranking for those queries.
On-page SEO refers to optimizations made directly on your website, such as content quality, keyword usage, and meta tags. Off-page SEO involves external factors like backlinks from other sites, social media signals, and online reputation management.
Mobile-friendly websites are like having a shop that’s easy to visit no matter where people are. Search engines like Google prefer websites that look good and work smoothly on phones and tablets.
Good content is like telling a great story—it keeps people interested in your business and coming back for more. Search engines love websites with helpful, informative, and fun content.
Backlinks are links from other websites that direct users to your site. Search engines view backlinks as indicators of your site’s authority and trustworthiness. Quality backlinks from reputable sites can significantly improve your search engine rankings.
Keep an eye on things like how many people are visiting your site (traffic), where your website shows up in search results (rankings), and if people are taking action like signing up or buying (conversions). Tools like Google Analytics can help you track these things.
Crystal Calhoun is a very fast and positive communicator with years of experience and a passion for making clients happy. On a work day you can expect to hear back from her within minutes, sometimes a couple hours, depending on the workload.
Backlinks are when other websites link to yours, they will get you higher in the search engines.
So if you can do a contest and have those ladies post an article on THEIR website with a LINK that goes to smmcosmetics then that would be a backlink and would get you higher and higher on the search engines. The search engines see it as a “recommendation” or a vote in favor of your site when others are posting links to your site. Make sense? What’s even more valuable to you is if one of their websites has to do with makeup and fashion. If their website has similar keywords and has a link to your website, that’s the best kind of backlink brownie points you can score!
I got a lot of free stock images because I wrote an article on my website about their stock images (depositphoto). But my site had to be approved in order to receive the reward… my site had to have similar interests (illustration and image keyword stuff) which it does, so then I qualified…. because to them my site just gave their website a boost up with the search engines.
Q: Someone gave me a quote for numerous keywords that would put me on top three search engines top of page, but minimum is $400 a month for a min. of 3 months. Flat Fee, not pay per click.
A: I would be VERY careful with these kind of promises! Have they shown you their portfolio, do they have many references of successful happy clients that you can personally contact yourself for reference?
If not then I’d strongly suggest staying away and moving up the search engines organically or at least finding someone that can show proof they can do what they are promising… proof through a wide variety of references and an impressive portfolio.
Posting more articles is very search engine aggressive, then getting people to link from their website to your website (link building) is aggressive. You can also do aggressive SEO through Youtube videos, always being sure to post good keywords in the title and then your domain name. Also on all your posts and pages use good keywords in your titles… This too is VERY helpful in your quest to reach the top!
The meta tags are very important to use for the most sought after keywords. You want to reach people who don’t even know your name, so you use keywords they’ll use. In other words – don’t use your business name (it’d be okay in like the About us meta tags but I don’t think it will help you much in other places) you’ve got to put out words that strangers are looking for in the search engines.
- Title Meta Tag – most important – use up to 5-8 main keywords but try to keep it short and sweet
- Description Meta Tag – (Or Excerpt) – very short summary of the page using similar keywords
- Keywords – put just a few keywords – no more gazillions, it may hurt and not help as the Search engines are now on alert for keyword spamming… So… just a few keywords having to do with the content/description. 5-8 should be perfect, don’t go over 10 though
Concerning the Title
- Use your most important keywords first. The words that most relate to your page and the words that will get people most interested in clicking your link.
- Don’t spam your title with only keywords, make it an understandable and inviting to click.
Important Tips For SEO
Search Engines LOVE information, links, pages, time, and more information…
Again, keywords – don’t spam, just use what applies to you and your page
The more information, the better! Information that is filled up with keywords that relate to what your site is all about or to what you are selling. Don’t use a bunch of keywords that don’t relate to your website though otherwise the search engines may block you for “spamming”! My website is all about my many different services, so I use those keywords all the time throughout my website and blog (ie. website designer, ebay store designer, ecommerce designer, etc…) I do not put keywords that do not relate to what my page or my website is about.
Articles – Use your own!
Also, be careful that you do not use articles and information written and repeatedly used by many others. If the search engines see that you have information that is found in many other website’s they will not value your content and mark you as merely spamming your site with invaluable content. A while back I tried using articles from an article bank. Unknowing that I was actually doing DAMAGE to my ratings rather than good. When I posted the free articles in my website my website was knocked back DRAMATICALLY (from the bottom of page one on the search engines to about the bottom of page 12!) It was a disaster that I’m still trying to recover from!
So again, when you post information on your website – try to keep it fresh, new, and information that is your own / not copied from other website’s. There are times when I will copy a portion of information from website’s, such as ebay rules, or CSS informational guides for my clients to benefit from… but I will never get another free article from an article bank – ever again! agggh!
Question: Should switch to WordPress? Is it better at SEO than Blogger?
Answer: Yes and No. I love working with WordPress, but WordPress is not what’s going to get me ahead with the Search Engines. What’s going to get me ahead is me actually using my blog – on a regular basis. However, using your own domain name over a sub-domain such as what happens with blogger is much more effective. This is explained better below.
Domain Names For Your Blog
Also something to strongly consider, when you have a blog, have a domain name for the blog. When the blog has another domain (such as blogger or wordpress) ie: madetobeunique.blogspot.com the search engines will give it lower ratings. But if you have your blog affiliated with your own unique domain, then it will give you a much better rating with the search engines. ie. www.madetobeunique.com
So in short… have your own domain name associated with your blog… and post information regularly with information that is your own. Use keywords that relate to what your information is all about. And don’t spam. Doing this will drive your website, ecommerce, and or blog to the top of the search engines, and quickly!
I’m always looking to give my customers the best quote possible so knowing what work is involved really makes a difference! Here are some questions I commonly ask new clients before I provide them a project quote:
What service/s are you considering hiring me for?
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- WordPress Website Design
- Shopify Website Store Design
- Logo Design and/or Logo Branding
- Labeling, CD/DVD or Packaging Design
- Social Media Banner Cover Designs
- other (please be specific)
How would you like your design to look?
What kind of products do you sell or plan to sell / if any?
How many pages are you interested in having me custom design for you?
page examples could be
- Homepage
- About Us
- Contact Us
- FAQS
- Category Page
- Product Page
- other (please be specific)
Are there any special features or functions you would like it to have?
Is there a design or a website page that you admire, or some things about it you like a lot? If so, please send me a link so I can get an idea of what kind of look of functionality you are interested in having. This step actually helps a LOT.
For print marketing inquiries I also ask these important questions:
- Is there a specific size or file type (such as psd, pdf, eps, ai, other) you need the design to be in?
- Do you have a template outline for me to use that your printing company has provided you?
We have no problem waiting to begin your project if you need a little time to plan things out. Hiring us now might save you money in the long run as we are likely to raise our prices in the near future. Our objective is like most everyone’s; work less and get paid more. We too would love to spend more time with our families regardless of our love and addiction for design!
I wanted to share some sites with you (some you may already be aware of) that really help drive more traffic to your website as well as get your products more attention and in the end, more sells!
- Deviantart.com (HUGE website for all kinds of artists)
- Zazzle.com (you can make products w/your pictures)
- Twitter account
- Flickr (good for search engine optimization if you add website links in the descriptions!)
- Photobucket (same as Flickr but also helps with auction listings)
There’s a bunch more, but those are the ones I use and benefit from the most.
How to fill a blog… Honestly I let my clients and prospect clients help guide me with that. When I answer their questions I will grab some of the content (my answers) and post it to my blog. This is great for my visitors that have the same questions, so it may save me time later on by already addressing those questions, but also for Search Engine Optimization! The Search Engines just looove all that information, information and information. So, when you have a blog, consider doing the same, post Frequently Asked Questions to your site, as they come in.
It’s good to add content regularly to your website in small even portions… like a page a day if possible. It doesn’t have to have a lot of information, but the more the merrier as far as the Search Engines are concerned! It’s okay to add a lot all at once, but I’ve seen somewhere that it’s good not to add too much all the time otherwise the Search engine red flags go up and they think you may be spamming your site with content… So gradual content added is most recommended. (of course you want to get your site filled up with products so I’m not referring to filling up your store – just addressing the notion of after your store has been filled – to keep information coming in – gradually).
There are websites that offer Free content or free articles – STAY away from these sites, the Search Engines have documented their articles and their links and will consider your website a spam website if you post these free articles on your site. I learned this the hard way… I used to be on the bottom of page 1 for Google with the keywords: ebay store design before I gave free content articles a try. It has taken me roughly 3+ years to recover because I used free articles to build my site up. BIG lesson learned!
So again, when you think about adding content to your blog/website, do it gradually and use fresh information or fresh answers to questions you receive (or questions you can think up that someone maybe searching for). Trendy stuff and beauty news is also great to add to your blog.
Made To Be Unique also offers content writing services that are written uniquely for you, so this is something also to consider when needing content rich information for important pages and posts.
After deciding which services you’d like to hire me for based off of a custom quote I would then kindly request a full or partial payment in order to reserve time for your projects needs. After receiving payment I would then send you a questionnaire form to fill out. I will need you to fill this questionnaire out as thoroughly as you can. The more information you provide me, the better!
I will also need you to send me any pictures and/or information you want included in your design. If you do not have quality pictures that you would like me to use I would then strongly recommend you researching to find some wonderful royalty free photos from iStockphotos to be used within your design. I can help you with recommendations if needed or desired.
I’m not completely positive how long it will take for you to get back up to the top again like where your site used to be. It may be a matter of time for the search engines to re-recognize your site but there are things you can do to help it get recognized sooner rather than later.
#1 sign up with www.google.com/analytics and get your website connected so that Google can track it and the page stats. I’m pretty sure there is a place in Network Solutions that you can put an analytics code in some place probably in options or settings. (It’s been a while since I was in NS). If you can’t find the place for the code then it’d be worth contacting a NS representative to show you where to put it.
#2 start a business blog or add some more website pages for additional content. Search engines like to see fresh new content added to sites. People are looking for current news which is why business blogs are so powerful for getting great results / search engine success. So again, consider adding some more website pages or have a business blog posting some new fresh information about your products. Maybe add fresh testimonials on a new page or talk about new products.
There are more ways to get the site re-recognized such as a facebook fanpage, youtube videos that link to your website, and other social networking sites. They all take time and energy but help in regards to getting more noticed in the search engines.
Let me know if you need help with any of that. Some folks like to do as much SEO themselves as they can, and others are just too busy and need help.
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A few weeks later I received the following update:
Once again thanks for your ongoing help , the site has been up live again and webpage back ranking on the first page again with a number of key search words :)) thanks again !!