Much as our tagline confirms, Manwaring Web Solutions is a one-stop resource for small business owners. Not only do we provide custom web design and web development solutions, we also build custom e-commerce and content management systems for clients around the globe. One thing you may not know is Manwaringweb.com is also a complete SEO Service provider. 

If your own web site is not attracting adequate visitor traffic we encourage you to enroll in a customized search engine optimization and marketing program. Participants of our SEO/SEM program simply opt-in for services on a monthly on-going basis for only as long as you desire. There is no long term obligation and no large or lump sum payment to remit. You simply advise us how much work you wish performed on your behalf . At the end of each month you are billed based on work provided and receive a detailed line-item summary of the marketing and optimization tasks performed. Manwaring Web Solutions has an extensive list of SEO clients holding top ten positions on Google for primary keywords. Here are just a few examples:  

Manwaringweb.com                          keyword               “Idaho Falls Web Design”

Manwaringweb.com                          keyword               “Idaho Falls Web Development”

Memberspreferred.org                      keyword               “Idaho Falls Credit Union”

We really do offer SOLUTIONS FOR EVERY SMALL BUSINESS at Manwaring Web Solutions. To learn how an SEO and SEM project can meet your particular needs we urge you to contact Jarom Manwaring of Manwaring Web Solutions.  He can explain how enrolling in an on-going monthly SEO Service can contribute to your overall success in the online world. 

Have you heard of Google's upcoming "Caffeine" update?  It is big news - a complete rebuild of Google's search platform!  Searchengineland.com summed it up nicely, "we can guess that this new infrastructure may include ways of crawling the web more comprehensively, determining reputation and authority (possibly beyond the link graph and what’s typically thought of as PageRank), and returning more relevant results more quickly, although Google’s Matt Cutts told me that the changes are 'primarily in how we index'".  This should be important to any website owner. Google controls such a large control of the search engine market that even small changes in a site's placement in SERPs can drastically affect the web site traffic.

Google's Matt Cutts confirmed a few days ago that this update will not be pushed out completely until after the Holidays.  I guess they don't want to rock the boat too much during the big holiday shopping season.  Matt specifically mentions that he wants web masters to breathe easy and not worry about the update until after the holidays have passed. Personally, I'm a little disappointed. I was really looking forward to this upcoming release. While I didn't roll up my sleeves and do any major testing in their sandbox (which is now closed), I did check out some of my sites - and client sites. I liked what I saw. I think this update will really help clean out sites that relied on spammy techniques to rank well and make room for more worthwhile sites - like mine! :)  I wish the update was hitting more quickly, but I guess we will all have to wait.

While setting up new web sites and helping folks register domain names we get this question a lot.  It is pretty common for people to register multiple domain names. Sometimes people just want both the .net and .com extension for the same name. Sometimes people register a handful of similar names to make sure no else can use them; decent strategies all. However, how you configure these domain names can have big implications. Having all of your domain name resolve to the same web site can cause you to be penalized by the search engines.

Consider if you purchase three domain names and point them all to your website. The search engines will view these as three different web sites all with the exact same content. This doesn't mean you can't use all of your domains - you just have to set it up correctly. You should choose the main domain you plan to use - the one you will print on your business cards and use for email.  This is the domain you will really promote and setup for your web site. The other domains should be configured with your domain registrar to respond with a HTTP status code of 301. This tells the visitor (and more important the search engines) that the content at that domain has been permanently moved – and you can point them to your main domain.

On the same thread - search engines can also consider www.yourdomain.com and yourdomain.com (no www.) to be separate web sites - earning you the same penalty. Even further www.yourdomain.com/default.htm and www.yourdomain.com can be considered separate pages with the same content.
This whole concept is called domain canonicalization. Matt Cutts explains this best I've seen, "Canonicalization is the process of picking the best URL when there are several choices." Reading his entire post on the subject is very helpful.

When getting serious about SEO, domain canonicalization is a good place to start.

We have recently completed a project working BuyMT.com, seller of Made in Montana Gifts & Souvenirs, to upgrade their web site. We did a complete redesign and rebuilt their store using our own e-commerce application.  Because BuyMT.com has been online for years and has done SEO work in the past it was very important to maintain their current search engine ranking. As part of the transition we setup 301 redirects from all of their old URLs to point to the relevant page on the new site. Not only did their rankings not fall, but coupled with the SEO improvements built in to our e-commerce application, their search engine rankings almost immediately improved.

Our Project Contributions:

• Web site graphic design
• Web site front-end coding (HTML/CSS)
  
• E-Commerce engine, installation & customization
• SEO friendly 301 redirects
• Migration of products, categories and customer information from previous shop

What does the client think?

"I've used Manwaring Web Solutions exclusively for every facet of my web presence - from the design to search engine optimization. I've been impressed with the high quality work that is always done quickly, professionally, and economically.  Jarom and his staff always go above and beyond my expectations.  Interest in my site, and sales of my Montana-made products are up!" 

- Mandi Heinle, Owner - BuyMT.com

Welcome to our new blog!  A few weeks ago we launched a new web site for our company. It has been in the works for several months.   We had outgrown our old site years ago, but you know how it goes, the cobbler’s kids wear no shoes.  Well, we finally decided it could be pushed off no further.  We felt that now was the prime opportunity to improve our own web presence, including a new web site, improved search engine marketing and creation of our own blog. What makes now such a prime opportunity?  We happen to subscribe to some sage advice from the Oracle of Omaha.

“Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful” - Warren Buffett

If any of our competitors are in retreat, we want to charge ahead and take the field. They say the great depression created more millionaires that any other period of history - I did some brief research and didn't find any concrete data - but it sure sounds good... :)  Why not? This could be a great opportunity for our business to expand and grow.  Maybe it will present the same opportunity to you.

So, why a blog?

Our blog is now a part of our coordinated search engine marketing strategy.  They say the #1 rule for search engine optimization is 'Content is King'.  Web sites that are constantly adding fresh, relevant and useful content will be rewarded. Launching a blog is really pretty easy. 'Fresh, relevant and useful' is the difficult part.  If you want to start a blog to help your business consider two pieces of advice:

1. Commit to at least weekly posts.  You don't want your site to look abandoned to human visitors. They should see fresh and useful posts.  If you are going to go through the trouble of creating your blog - stay committed to it and keep your blog updated.  If you have an abandoned blog it will look like you have disconnected.  Keep it updated!

2. There is nothing wrong with free blogs from providers such as BlogSpot.  Some companies, and individuals, have multiple blogs. Harnessing the power of free blogging services and other social media web sites can really help improve your web presence.  However, if you are only going to have one blog - put it on your web site. You want your web site - your domain - to get credit for all the great content you will be posting - not the domain hosting the blog.

If we can help you improve your web presence with a new web site, search engine marketing, starting a blog, whatever your needs might be - please contact us. We would love to visit with you and see how we can help.