Website Auditing Tools Protect from Common Website & SEO Blunders

Fortunately the development community has kept up with the changes and built tools to help test and audit the various parts of a website where things tend to go wrong. The following is a list of free online testing tools that should be used for most website edits though some are selected by preference and can be switched out with other online testing tools.

Auditing for page errors

Spell Checker

This tool crawls your website’s pages and reports on possible spelling errors. It will very often report on spelling errors that are industry terms thus still spelled correctly but is still a great free resource when running a quick review to catch potentially embarrassing slip ups.

Broken Link Checker

Broken links typically occur when you manually change the URL of a page or pages on your website and also when a site you are link to externally changes or remove a page. Both can have negative implications for your website’s SEO but the former is far more damaging than the 2nd example.

Internal links (those that are located in and link to pages within your own website) help you users navigate your website and also help show Google where your pages are located. In addition other websites will often link to your website or a page within your website and these external links pointed to your site provide you with what is sometimes referred to as “link juice.” Whatever term you prefer for the concept Link Juice the idea is that the link has some value to it that is passed onto your website. However if it is passed to a broken link then your website no longer receives any of that value.

You can retain some value from these links that go to broken pages by setting up redirects to the pages you want them to go to instead but the most important thing is that you catch them quickly so that you can make the fix.

Structured Data Tester

If your website wasn’t built recently then you’ll likely have nothing to do with this tool. Even among newer websites structured data is not always used but it’s extremely valuable and can benefit your website’s SEO game big time. The code isn’t always intuitive which opens up the chance to make a lot of mistakes. If you add in any structured data (i.e. schema code microdata etc.) then it’s always smart to test it.

W3C Validator

Fortunately validation errors do not have any intrinsic SEO value so if you run the validator and find them present on your website you may not need to be alarmed. However the validation error results in your website’s performance such as load times then there could be a negative impact on your website’s usability and/or SEO. It is a best practice the fix all validation errors but there are often occasions where this can be more trouble than it’s worth.

Optimizing for Social Media

Open Graph Tester

Open Graph is some behind-the-scenes meta data that you put in your website pages that tell Facebook and other social media groups what to show when your link is shared. You’ve probably shared a link or two at least a few times already so recall the image title and description that popped up a second or two after the share gave you a small preview of what it would look like… that’s what this data controls.

Twitter Card Tester (Must be logged in)

Twitter Card data is just like Open Graph but for Twitter. Same exact concept but different meta tags control it and there are different rules on how many characters you’re limited to. In most cases you’ll want to keep these pretty close to the same thing you have in your Open Graph data.

Best Practices for Performance Benchmarks

Google's PageSpeed Insight

I personally have a grudge against this tool. The main reason I do is because you’ll find tons of websites that load incredibly fast and rank incredibly well but score horrible according to this tool. In other words take your score here with a grain of salt.

However I still recommend this tool as a best practice because it can help identify areas to improve and that’s never a bad thing. The documentation that is then provided when an error occurs or a best practice isn’t followed is often worded in a way that is either over complicated or leaves you without any clear solution. If you hit that spot then I’d recommend hanging it up on your wish list somewhere… prioritizing many of the suggestions will often results in a near fruitless endeavor.

Varvy Page Speed

In my opinion Google’s PageSpeed Insights could take a few tips from this tool. It’s more visual captures much of the same data and it helps you capture what’s really important to fix vs all the “best practices” that often don’t end up resulting in much SEO benefit. My conclusion is that this tool is great to run alongside of Google’s PageSpeed Insights – side by side they really help complete the picture and show you what fixes are worth prioritizing.

Getting the Most Out of Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

W3C Link Checker

Although this tool is very similar to the broken link checker it still provides value heavily on the site of finding redundant redirects (among other things). A redundant redirect is when a link re-directs to another redirect. Remember how we talked about “Link Juice” a couple paragraphs earlier? Well redirects cause a little bit of that link juice to spill out so that redirects are never as valuable as a direct link. Note that this is for every redirect so if your redirect goes to another redirect then you lose even more.

ADA Compliance Validator

Based on W3C’s Accessibility Compliance standards this tool’s main purpose it to ensure that website’s contain readable alternative text on visual media to assist those with visual impairments. The standards are not legally required for many businesses but are still encouraged and are considered by most experts as a best practice. Their placement not only helps assist the visual impaired hear what content is on your website but also serves as opportune placement for keywords to help you rank for various keyword search terms. Google lists this as a strong Search Engine Optimization (SEO) practice and places considerable weight of these sections for the use of keywords.

XML Sitemap Generator

If your website is built in a CMS your sitemap may be automatically generated or you may have access to a plugin that handles it for you automatically. For that reason this suggestion is only for static sites or those that do not have a tool that handles this feature.

A sitemap is basically an outline of your website that also identifies its structure (which pages lead to which). The good sitemap will recognize not only the pages of your website but also how often they should be reviewed and what weight they should hold.

The sitemap can then be submitted to search engines (i.e. Google’s Search Console) to alert them that there has been changes to your sites structure. They actually do this already without your help but it can assist them and is recommended by them as a best practice. In the end if Google says it’s a best practice and it’s easy to do then it’s definitely worth your time.

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Shopify has officially named Capitol Tech Solutions as their only Shopify eCommerce Partner in the Sacramento region

After four years of designing successful eCommerce website for clients utilizing the Shopify platform we are excited to announce that Shopify has officially named CTS as their only expert partner service provider in the Sacramento region.

“We are very excited and honored that Shopify has named CTS their only Expert Partner Service Provider in the Sacramento region. The ability to create the custom eCommerce sites that our clients envision and partner them with such a powerful platform is a great way to set them up for future success.”
~ Bobby Reed CEO Capitol Tech Solutions

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Compared to other platforms Shopify offers a much easier tooperate User Interface (UI) along with a very strong 3rd party development community that can extend Shopify's functionality to meet almostany need your online store might have. Their system is extremely fast offerscompetitive hosting plans and has built-in version control for all major files(eliminates most risk when developing unique features for your store).

If you've been waiting for the switch then now is the time to as Shopify is running a huge promotion. From now until December 31 2016 every merchant you move from BigCommerce Volusion or Mozu to Shopify Plus will receive up to six months of subscription fees and data migration free* — a deal worth well over $15000 USD.

See full article

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Cyberfort Software

California Utilities Emergency Association (CUEA)

Norcal Tax Credit Advisors

Save Safety Signs

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When most small businesses plan a new web design typography is often not considered too heavily or it is even overlooked entirely. It’s important to note that an experienced web design team will understand the importance of typography and have a plan of which fonts will look best and where.

Size

Typography can help add emotion and meaning behind words as well as create emphasis and organization to your each of your website’s page structure. Large words draw emphasis and having them display in all caps can create added emphasis. It is typically a best practice to have larger words be those that are the most important which are often headers to sections on the page that give a brief summary or idea of what content is below in a smaller font size.

Another way to create importance on words is by bolding them italicizing them or even making them thinner. Alternating between text sizes and thickness can create a good visual appeal in many cases but don’t get carried away or it could becoming distracting and look tacky.

Serifs

There has been a lot of research done on typography and an ongoing battle of how fonts with serifs (added lines at the edges of letters) or without serifs are best to be used. The results have not revealed any drastic difference. However a preference I’ve seen throughout the web tends to favor sans serif (without the extra edges) fonts for large amounts of content and small sizes of fonts. Fonts with serifs are more often found in headers titles or logos but even that appears to be disappearing in more modern designs.

SERIF SANS SERIF

There’s not wrong or right decision in most cases either and selecting a font with or without serifs should be more about your company’s branding and what looks best in the design.

Custom Fonts

For a long time most websites stuck to what is referred to as “web safe fonts” and the list has changed somewhat over time. I’ll refrain from giving you the entire list but the few I sometimes use include Times Georgia Verdana Arial and Helvetica.

More common to todays web design practices is to select custom fonts for a website that help better fit with the site’s branding and design. Custom fonts also show an added care or value that you have for the site and can help create a brand for the site.

There are lots of places to buy fonts but read the licensing carefully as it’s often extremely restrictive. Probably the least restrictive in the “free” category is Google’s Web Fonts. Often more restrictive but nto always is Font Squirrel. Also if you already pay for Adobe Cloud then you have access to a nice library in Adobe TypeKit.

Don’t go too crazy when adding fonts to your site either as they can slow the site down a bit. I typically try to limit most pages to 3 custom fonts though I’d say that’s more of a preference than a rule. I also find that too many different fonts on a page can look a bit odd or clash with the design though I’d say there are definitely exceptions which typically would happen on the home page or some sales/promotional page.

Expanding Your Knowledge

If you find Typography intriguing and want to learn more check out this great visual typography glossary along with an excellent article on some more noteable typography research.

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You may have noticed how in many question based searches Google now offers answers before requiring you to actually go to a website. This is what has been coined a "Featured Snippet" and really has nothing to do with any code you placed on a page but rather how Google is displaying an answer to a question based search in their search egine.

Here is an example of a Featured Snippet that came up when I search "How to bake an apple pie. There are not always steps listed for the questions as some answers can be given with a single answer such as definitions.

Why would you want a Featured Snippet to appear linking to your site?

Simply put traffic. There have already been tons of studies about the benefit of these snippets and many sites are seeing huge increases in traffic simply due to their ability to best answer a common question… or even an uncommon one. How relevant that traffic is can be a different issue entirely but I'd recommend to make the page that answers the question easy to navigate so that they can explore any other portions of our site that you might want to drive traffic to.

How can your answer appear as the Featured Snippet in a Google search?

As usual this is completely up to Google. They are as usual not entirely transparent on how this selection process works and even if they were it would be worth little to know since they change their algorithms so frequently now.

Regardless the bottom line on how to get there is pretty simple. Google wants to show the most relevant results to those searching and will continue to refine their algorithm as best hey can to provide that. In conclusion you want to answer the question the best you possible can – organized concise and correct.

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No doubt you've already heard about Pokemon Go and you've likely seen people of all ages walking around stairing into their phones playing it. Not only is Pokemon Go a huge gaming fad right now but it's also a great opportunity to bring in business. Businesses' all across the states are reporting huge boosts in their walk-in sales using some fairly inexpensive tactics.

Please note that these tips are particularly for businesses who want to increase walk-in traffic and that most of the largest success stories involve the food and clothing industries… and reports have ranged from 75% sales increases to even nearing 400% increases.

Pokemon Lures

In Pokemon Go there are locations spread around your city that are generally chosen as they are or resemble pieces of art. These can be murals statues plaques artsy bike locking areas and more. These locations are called Pokestops and players can go to them to get items that help them as they play the game.

One item which is a bit rarer to find that others is called a Lure Modules. Lure modules last for 30 minutes and attract rare Pokemon to any Pokestop for all players in the area. Businesses are taking this and turning it as a way to bring in customers by using signs to let people know that they are both a Pokestop and that they will be activating Lures. Lures can also be seen as active when in the game.

Some companies are also stating in their signs that the Pokestop is for paying customers only. There's actually no way to enforce this but it does communicate to the players that you'd like them to pay.

So how much does it cost?

As of now it is extremely affordable though I'm going to guess this could change in the future.

You can only buy the lures with you guessed it Pokecoins. Buying in bulk is the cheapest option but you can buy whatever you feel is best for your business.

For this post I'll calculate the cost on the most expensive option as it's still very affordable and gives you the most for your money.

14500 Pokecoins can buy you 21 bundles of 8 Lure Modules. That's 168 Lures total. Each Lure lasts for 30 mintues so that adds up to 84 hours worth of Lures (about 60 cents per Lure or $1.20 an hour). Depending on your hours that's probably going to last you a little over 2 weeks.

If it boosts your business even 50% percent it's likely going to make up for the small cost. Whether Pokemon Go is fad or here to stay I'd highly recommend trying it out to see if it's a fit for your business.

What if your business isn't next to a Pokestop

In some ways the Pokestops have created an unfair advantage for some unexpecting companies but this is going to change according to Forbes. The company who makes Pokemon Go Niantic is a bit overwhelmed with feature requests right now and is working hard to improve it's servers to support the massive surge of players but they have confirmed the ability to request to be a Pokestop (and to be removed as some businesses do not like the increased traffic).

In the meantime you can contact Niantic here though I wouldn't expect quick turnaround time at this point.

Learn more about Capitol Tech Solution's Social Media Marketing Services

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Facebook advertising performs significantly better than many other forms of user experience that I've tried. For email marketing I've found anywhere around 1-2% is pretty average and that's very similar for Google AdWords.

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California WaterFix

Connecticut Counseling Services

Beach Cities Watch Company

Weideman Group

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