If you’ve noticed the search results from Google have been changing a lot recently, you’re not alone. There have been some real changes in how the search giant ranks search results. Google has recently ended real-time search for Twitter, but that doesn’t mean search engines are not using social media sites to impact ranking results.

Twitter is an important part of search engine strategy. Many companies are having enormous ranking success resulting from clever use of Twitter. Here are some things to keep in mind when you want to start using Twitter to increase your website traffic:

Create professional content for Twitter that is relevant to your business. It’s okay to post a fun Tweet now and then, but in general businesses should stick to posting content that’s relevant to their industry and their audience. Ultimately, you want your followers to re-post your content to their followers and so forth.

All of this content needs to contain keywords that are important to you and your search results. You should use #hashtags (that would be the # in front of an important keyword) to highlight the import and keywords relevant to your business in your Twitter posts.

Make sure your Twitter name contains relevant words. Twitter makes you provide 2 names when setting up your twitter account. The 1st one is the name of your company, and you can use up to 20 characters. Keep this name is close to your actual business name as possible, as this is how people will searchfor you and find you on Twitter. The 2nd name Twitter requires is your Twitter name, or username. It’s the name that follows the @ symbol. Again, try to keep this name as close your business name is possible. If you have to abbreviate, keep the most relevant words intact.

Add a link to your webpage. You will not rank higher in Google search results by adding a link to your webpage on a tweet. But you might get additional website traffic from your followers and also generate additional Google searches for you from users.

The bottom line is that Twitter is not about telling people what you had for breakfast. It’s not texting. Twitter a powerful tool that has many amazing uses. One of the most valuable, least understood and appreciated is the power to boost your search engine optimization.

1. Mobile Device Optimization.

There are too many users viewing websites on mobile devices for this to be ignored. Even on mobile devices that allow flash content to be viewed, it can be taxing on the still limited resources of those devices and may not function propery on every device. There’s a reason Adobe has ceased flash mobile player development. http://zd.net/vh63EP [ZD Net] Other things to consider: the way users navigate a site by touch rather than a mouse click on a mobile device, making sure the layout looks good, or reducing loading times. Besides, not many people have unlimted data plans for their devices. Also, arriving at a site that just doesn’t work can be frustrating to visitors. If your goal is to reach more people through your website then be sure everyone on any mobile device is at least able to view its content hassle free.

2. Be Transparent.

Be clear and direct about who you are and what you do. New visitors to your website can benefit greatly by immediately knowing this information and it will contribute to them remaining on your site for a longer period of time. You don’t want to leave prospective customers confused about what kind of company or business you are. For example, “MPC Studios is a website design company providing marketing and promotional services.” offers clearer information than “MPC is dedicated to providing quality services with integrity to its customers.” Being transparent and open about your business will help add value and trustworthiness in your customer’s eyes.

3. Easily Accessible Contact Info.

Keeping your visitors engaged is imperative if you want a way of making them come back for more of what you have to offer, such as products or services. You want to take “visitors” and convert them into your “customers” or “fans” by creating a communication bridge with them. Having contact info easily available can help people get in touch about purchasing products or services or figuring out where you are located. This in turn will generate sales and/or feedback.

4. Use Relevant, Professional Looking Photography.

Visual appeal is important in keeping a site visitor interested and on your site. Stay away from using poor quality images just because you already have them lying around. If you want a photo of yourself or of staff don’t use a random image cropped from a group shot for example. That may work fine on facebook, but not on your website. What people see on there is a reflection of your business or organization. Opting to have professional looking images will make a huge difference in the site’s overall quality as well. If you are already consulting a professional let them advise you on what to use.

5. Be Concise Both Visually & Verbally

Make sure your content is readable, by avoiding walls of text. It helps to omit any irrelevant content and then breaking down text into paragraphs with subtitles. Visually, differences in text size or added images break up the page so it’s not a strain to read..

6. Repeat When Necessary

The most important information should be listed frequently on the website, for example the navigation should also be included in the footer. The contact info/page/form should be accessible from every page. It’s not redundancy it’s reinforcing availability of important elements.

7. Give Them the Information They Are Looking For

Don’t be afraid to list prices for products and services. This is a large part of the reason potential customers or clients will visit your website in the first place.

8. Don’t Ignore Typography

Avoid tiny fonts. Don’t use font color and backgrounds that lack contrast, and don’t cram together your content. White space is always a good thing.

9. Follow Convention

At least where it counts. Everyone wants to be different, but the average visitor expects navigation to be located in one of a few places, they expect the logo to link back to the homepage, they expect links within the text to be underlined, etc. Being edgy or different is great but not at the expense of a usable website.

10. Don’t Add Background Music or Sounds

At least don’t have it start playing when the site loads – especially with no easy to find mute button. Just because it can be done it does not mean you should. Sound effects are unnecessary as well. It is likely site visitor’s are already playing their own music already. There’s nothing more annoying than when music starts playing from out of nowhere and it takes forever just to figure out which of you hundred browser tabs it’s coming from. A website done right can make a loud impact without all the noise.

The video gallery on their site contains some of the video productions we’ve produced for them. Such as the latest one from Harvest Night. 



http://youtu.be/xBRocFXnTpo

We also produce print material such as their Que Pasa Newsletter which is also available online.

http://bit.ly/ufkXv8

We’ve also done photography and branding campaigns that included billboards. 

http://bit.ly/uoOSeu

Not only does RGV Art Online offer high quality prints from many local artists, but they also publish a magazine, RGV + Beyond Arts & More, in their efforts to promote art appreciation and artists in the area. It’s available to read on their site. 

http://bit.ly/v3WkC0



http://bit.ly/ssBbHK

All the artists selling prints on the site have bios on their own Artists’ pages.



http://bit.ly/vkTfzV

You can browse for prints and add them to your shopping cart for easy purchase.



http://bit.ly/vazMYA

If you’re an artist interested in selling your work you can submit an application to join through the convienient online form.

Noteable Features:

Photo Gallery: http://bit.ly/sNjDhH 

The photo gallery is a great way of checking out what the Farmers’ Market is all about. 


Participation & Contact Form Pages: 

If you wish to participate in the farmers maket you can download the PDF application forms right from the site or contact The Brownsville Farmers’ Market through the easy to use contact form page.

http://bit.ly/uuxAdL

http://bit.ly/siwjgN

http://bit.ly/vfDMkQ

Our MPC Studios Google+ Page is up! Be sure to circle us to keep up with all cool stuff we’re working on whether it’s a website, print material, or photography & video or just to get updates on what the fish in our Harlingen office are up to.

Vist Mcallen.org for the latest news and events in and around McAllen. We’ve recently streamlined their website design for ease of browsing. http://bit.ly/rJcLXS

Notable Features:

A Twitter feed sits just below the top navigation bar full of the latest important information.



BuyMcAllen.com is a page brought to you by the McAllen Chamber of Commerce that is full of the best deals from merchants in McAllen. You can also learn more about the McAllen Chamber’s Value Card program.

Website Features:

Online ordering of Organic Citrus Fruit is available in bulk or in gift boxes through the online shopping feature. You can shop by category or price, or even through the site’s search function. Once you’ve placed an order you can track the shipment. If you’re searching for a similar e-commerce solution, MPC Studios can help you get set up.

Adobe has made the decision to cease development of Flash Mobile Player. They plan to concentrate on mobile apps and HTML5, but will still provide support for current versions with bug fixes and security updates. How much did Apple’s decision to keep flash off iOS play a role in this? [ZD Net] http://zd.net/vh63EP

The marketing and merchandising agency for the Texas Valley Citrus Committee, TexaSweet’s new site is MPC Studios’ latest launch. Visit the site to order fruit, get free recipes, and discover all sorts of educational information about the Citrus Industry in Texas over the years and today.