Digital Arts Offer: Learn Web Design and Study for Free!

Good news to those who want to go to college but can’t afford to. Salt Lake Community College now offers free SLCC tuition to students taking up courses in the field of digital arts, such as web design, graphic design, photography, illustration and much more. With this scholarship program, students can get a Certificate in Digital Arts or an Associate Degree in Digital Arts without worrying about tuition fee payments. The US Department of Labor has taken care of it for you!

In today’s world where information and design is key, particularly for the world wide web, websites are multiplying and there is a growing need for skilled web designers, illustrators and graphic artists. In recognition of the need to develop skilled workers to meet this need in the digital arts industry, the Department of Labor has partnered with Salt Lake Community College to provide free training to those who are interested in building their skills in illustration, graphic design and web design in Utah.

This is an exciting opportunity for those who qualify and who want to develop a career in the Salt Lake City web design and digital arts field. It is also open to those who are already employed in the digital arts industry but would want to take his or her career a step further.

This offer is for a limited time only and is offered to students who meet the following requirements for the Utah scholarship program:

• Meets high school level requirement – either has a high school diploma or its equivalent via a GED
• Belongs to the low income bracket or is currently unemployed
• Is 16 to 24 years of age
• Is or has been a recipient of food stamps for the last six months
• Is a citizen of the United States
• Is homeless or placed in the foster care system
• Is currently unemployed due to lay-off or termination or due to the collapse of one’s own business because of the economic downturn (for any age)
• Is unemployed and has claimed all available unemployment allowances or benefits (for any age)
• Is a displaced homemaker (for any age)
• Is currently working in the field of digital arts and would like to improve or learn new skills

Please note that eligible students meet one or more of the above requirements.

If you are interested in applying for this program, visit the Available SLCC Tuition Programs page of the school website to see the complete list of certificates and degrees that are offered in the scholarship plan. You can also visit the Eligibility Requirements page to check if you qualify for tuition.

About Salt Lake Community College

Salt Lake Community College has in its roster over 100 degree programs, not just in the field of digital arts, but also in other technical, vocational and academic areas. The courses and credits provided by SLCC may be transferred and accepted for credit to other four-year colleges belonging to the state. This is because the school has received accreditation from the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.

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Get Your Website Fully Indexed by Google & Yahoo

Do the major search engines know your website even exists? In order for search engines to know about your website, you must first ensure that it is fully indexed by Google and Yahoo. Your website will only show up in search engine results pages when it has already been fully indexed by the search engines.

Once this happens, you can begin applying SEO strategies and working your way to the top of the search engine results page. Google, Yahoo and MSN will see the pages you have optimized or the changes you’ve made only after it has been fully indexed. The major search engines have provided users with how-tos on creating a sitemap that tells them which files are on your website. Google also has tools that can help you obtain the page count that the search engines have indexed.

Some tips to get your website indexed faster.

• Be sure your website content is unique, relevant and valuable.
• Create inbound links to your website.
• Create a blog that can provide additional web presences for your website.
• Create an HTML sitemap or an XML sitemap.
• Remove “NOINDEX” tags from the page source of your web pages.
• Make sure there are no broken links in your website.
• Make sure that you have a sitemap that is structured well so as to help the search engine crawlers to index all the pages in your website.

To find out if your website has been indexed, simply go to Google, Yahoo or MSN and type site:yourdomain.com in the search box. This search will show what webpages the search engine has already indexed.

Below are instructions on how you can create sitemap accounts, as well as how to make a good sitemap and how to upload it to the search engine concerned.

Create a Google Sitemap Account

1. Go to http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps.
2. Click on ‘Create a google account’ on the lower right hand side.
3. Follow the instructions and create an account.
4. Return to http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps. Login with the username and password for the account you created
5. Enter ‘http://www.WebsiteName.com/’ in the top left box that reads ‘Add Site:’, click ‘ok’.
6. Click on ‘verify your site’ in the yellow box.
7. Select ‘Add a META tag’ from the drop down box.
8. Copy the meta tag and paste it under the meta keyword tag on the homepage of lifebalm.com.
9. Go back to the Google screen and click on ‘Verify’.
10. Once it is completed and verified click on ‘Sitemaps’ on the top bar.
11. Click on ‘Add a Sitemap’ in the blue underlined text near the top of the screen.
12. Select ‘add general web sitemap’ from the drop down.
13. In the ‘My Sitemap URL is:’ box put ‘http://www.WebsiteName.com/sitemap.xml
14. Click “Add web sitemap”. If it completes, you are finished.

Create a Yahoo Sitemap Account

1. Go to https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/mysites.
2. If you do not have a Yahoo email address, click on ‘sign up’ on the lower right side of the screen and create one.  If you do have one, login with your Yahoo id and password.
3. In the top box type ‘http://www.WebsiteName.com’ and click the ‘add my site’ button.
4. On the following screen click on the green ‘Authenticate’ button.
5. Click ‘Ready to Authenticate’.
6. Click the ‘download’ button, upload the file to your website server via ftp.  You may need help from your web hosting provider to do this.
7. You will have to wait 1-3 days before it authenticates, keep logging in and checking back.  Once it is authenticated, continue to step 8.
8. When you login click on the ‘manage’ button next to ‘http://www.WebsiteName.com’.
9. At the top will be ‘http://www.WebsiteName.com/[box]’. In the [box] type in urllist.txt.gz and click ‘add feed’.
10. If there are no errors you are finished.

Make a Sitemap and Upload it

1. First download Gsite Crawler here:  http://gsitecrawler.com/en/download/
2. Install the program.
3. Make a profile for your website, www.websitename.com, include the ftp information from your web host provider.
4. After you have answered all the questions, close the program and open it again.  You should do this about once a month (steps 5+)
5. Select your website name from the list of ‘available projects’ on the left.
6. Click on the ‘recrawl’ button on the top with the green arrow and gear.
7. Wait until it is finished, (it will pop-up a box telling you it is done)
8. Click on the ‘Generate Report’ button on the top, select ‘Google Sitemap’.
9. Click ‘Save’, ‘Yes’, ‘No’, ‘Yes’, ‘Yes’, then ‘ok’.
10. Click on the ‘Generate Report’ button on the top again and select ‘Yahoo’.
11. Click ‘Save’, ‘Yes’, ‘No’, ‘Yes’, ‘Yes’, then ‘ok’.

Adaptivity Pro for your SEO needs

To help you create a good sitemap and ensure that your website is completely indexed, you can go to Adaptivity Pro. Adaptivity Pro specializes in Utah SEO, Utah web design and development, as well as Pay-Per-Click Management, Social Media Marketing and E-Commerce Marketing. Adaptivity Pro has worked with numerous establishments in Salt Lake City and the rest of the Utah area to create great value services for your business.

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Creating SEO-Friendly URLs

What is a URL? And more importantly, how do I create the most useful and beneficial URL for my website?

Actually, URLs that are well-designed have a strong impact on your SLC Search Engine Optimization efforts. When a URL is designed so that it is easily found by search engines, then it can also be more quickly indexed in their records. This helps to ensure that the pages of your site are indexed (or “seen”) by the search engines and this improves your rankings.

Creating search engine friendly URLs for websites are usually more easily done on static websites than on dynamic or e-commerce websites.

When creating SEO-Friendly URLs, remember the following tips:

Don’t:

-          Use dynamic URLs

-          Use very long URLs

-          Change your URL if your site is already doing well

-          Use numbers or confusing symbols. Stick with descriptive keywords.

Do:

• Keep it simple!
• Use static URLs (ones that don’t change)
• Use shorter URLs (no more than 3 to 5 words)
• Use descriptive keywords in the URL
• Use hyphens instead of underscores
• Use URLs that are meaningful to your audience
• Use fewer folders. Your structure should not be more than three or so folders deep. For instance, you have: http://websitename.com/About-Us/History

Google looks at your URLs. The longer the URL, the less weight Google will give to each keyword. Also, recent research has shown that short URLs (as per Google Search results) tend to receive more click-throughs than longer ones.

Using dynamic URLs may cause problems with duplicate content. When the search engine indexes a particular webpage and you get the same webpage named as a different URL, you can potentially be penalized with regards to duplicate content, even though the webpage does not actually change. Or, you may split your link value between the URLs that are used for that webpage. Static URLs remain the same and will give the search engine one specific URL for that particular webpage.

Adaptivity Pro for your SEO needs

If you need help maximizing your search results and getting more visibility for your webpage, let the experts help. Adaptivity Pro specializes in Utah SEO, Utah Web Design and other valuable services that help you shoot your way to the top of the search engine results pages. Adaptivity Pro has proven its professionalism and expertise for quite a number of establishments and businesses in the Salt Lake City and Utah area. Adaptivity Pro is also your partner for services such as Pay-Per-Click Management, Social Media Marketing, Email Marketing, E-Commerce Marketing and much more.

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HTML Coding Cleanup: Maximizing your Visibility

Keep it simple, sweetheart!

That piece of advice has done a lot of people good. And it may also prove helpful to you as you consider cleaning up the HTML coding for your website. Although HTML code is “behind the scenes”, never seen by your readers, it still has an effect on the way your website works. You see, you will need to do periodic clean-ups of your HTML codes, as these tend to get cluttered over time due to updates and changes made to a web page. As a result, page load times slow down, the webpage becomes less efficient, and ultimately, it can drive down your search results ranking.

The more ungainly and cluttered your website HTML is (where it is bloated with unnecessary or even sloppy HTML code), the harder the time a search engine spider will have “looking” at the content on your webpages. The search engine spiders may decide that they have gone far enough and stop looking at your page. This can cause you to lose precious points towards your site ranking.

Having clean HTML helps in drastically improving your ranking in Search Engine Results Pages. Clean and uncluttered HTML makes the search engine spiders find and index your webpages more easily. It also gives them an easier time to navigate between webpages of your site. Search engines look into text, keywords (with keywords up to a certain density percentage), links and link titles or tags (title tags, alt tags and H1-5 tags).

Below are a few pointers on keeping your HTML in good working order:

Don’t:

• Have unnecessary HTML comments.
• Have browser errors in your HTML code.
• Have files or graphics that are missing.
• Have dead links.

Do:

• Keep all css code in external .cs files.
• Keep all javascript in external .js files.
• Keep all javascript in external .js files.
• Validate your website against w3c standards and fix critical errors.
• Ensure you are using valid css code.
• Use div tags instead of tables if possible.
• Use server-side include files rather than browser based scripts for repeating HTML.

For a quick fix on HTML code and CSS code, try using http://validator.w3.org. Although not all errors (with regards to SEO or online marketing) will be discovered, some 10% of these will appear so that you can make the necessary fixes.

Adaptivity Pro for your SEO needs

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Copywriting for SEO

The information highway zooms by at breakneck speed! Really, there is relevant (and sometimes non-relevant) content to be had for almost every topic under the sun! Type your keywords in Google or any other search engine and you will find myriads of things people have to say about every imaginable topic.

It’s because more and more, people are realizing the importance of web copy in Search Engine Optimization. If you want to strengthen your website’s presence on the Internet, if you want people to find you more easily, providing good copy for the web is one key strategy.

Done properly, you can enjoy increases in your search engine results, in your website traffic, as well as in the number of people calling or e-mailing you about your products or services.

Here are some guidelines when drafting copy for SEO purposes:

Don’t:

• Write overly long articles that are only made up of text bunched together into paragraphs. (Who wants to read that?)
• Write only for search engines, where your content is not only uninteresting to read but is barely coherent for human readers.
• Make a claim without evidence. Saying that “we’re the best” without showing how provides your website with no value whatsoever.
• Limit yourself with a particular schema. Just because a particularly relevant topic does not fit into your existing topics/subtopics does not mean you don’t have to write about it. Do write about topics that are valid for your industry.
• Use technical jargon that the average reader won’t understand. When you are using an Acronym for the first time, give its complete name.

Do:

• Incorporate keywords so that they read naturally in the article.
• Do some branding. Incorporate product names, the services you provide, manufacturer names, etc. in your content.
• Back-up your claims with the truth. Provide evidence of research, or specific examples.
• Write using bullet points, subheadings and graphics. Remember, people don’t read your articles word for word. More likely, they will just scan through the article. Make your articles easier on the eyes with the use of the above elements.
• Use the write length – 1 to 2 pages will suffice.
• Write for human readers, as well as for search engines. You should have calls to action that readers will be invited to follow.
• Write on a personal level. Avoid writing in the third person, instead, use “you”, “your” or “we”, “ours”.
• Point your readers to other pages on your website if a particular topic is mentioned in the main text.
• Keep your content relevant and interesting – make people want to read what you have to say. Don’t just write corporate “fluff”.
• Be sure to make regular updates with your content. (Update at least once or twice a year, or more often, if possible.)
• Appeal to your reader’s interest and emotions, rather than logic.
• Use your content to provide solutions to a client’s or a reader’s problem. Give the “how-tos”; do not simply say you are the solution.

One way of enriching your Internet presence is by starting a blog about your website. Be sure that this blog is not just about “praise releases” of your business can also use your blogger identity to create networks within the blogging community., but should have interesting, relevant and readable content for your readers. You

Adaptivity Pro for your SEO Copywriting needs

Quality content does not come easily. It may take a lot of hard work, so we suggest that you let professional wordsmiths do the hard work for you. Adaptivity Pro is your premier source of Utah SEO and Utah Copywriting Services. Adaptivity Pro also specializes in Utah Web Design, Pay-Per-Click Management, E-mail Marketing and other valuable services for your business.

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