The reason why this was implemented and that page speed matters is that according to studies delays in loading have a significant impact in your business metrics. It is a known fact users respond negatively towards slower loading pages. Google is trying to limit the impact on search behavior which isn’t such a bad idea.

Googler, Amit Singhal says: “When we slow our own users down, we see less engagement”. “Users love fast sites. A faster web is a good thing all around.”

Although Google’s algorithm has over 200 different ranking factors, quality should still be the first and formost concern for website owners. Page speed is in place now as a ranking factor and has been for a couple weeks. If your site was going to be impacted, it probably would’ve happened already.

1. Keep up with and Adapt to the newest and changing trends in SEO.

2. Code makes a difference: the cleaner the code the easier it will be for spiders to access and read the page.

3. Use Meta Title Tags and make each page have unique titles. The titles should match some of the content on the page.

4. Have areas for content to be displayed on every page. This is important because spiders need content to see what the page is about. Images can’t be read.

5. Page Names should be thought out. Name the pages using a keyword that describes what that page is about.

6. Navigation and Structure are important because you want the site to be accessible not only for humans to navigate through but spiders as well.

7. Keep content fresh. Search engines love new content so try ti update the content as often as possible.

8. Avoid Flash, it can’t be read easily by search engine spiders.

By incorporating just a few of these tips into your next design you will be ahead of the curve. By marrying web design and optimization you have a step up on your competition.

5. Fireworks – Adobe Fireworks is a commercial raster and vector graphics editor hybrid from Adobe that’s available for the Mac and Windows operating systems. Designed specifically for web designers (unlike Photoshop), Fireworks brings you a plethora of tools and options that make full web layout prototyping a breeze.

4. Dreamweaver – Adobe Dreamweaver is a commercial application for web development that’s available for the Mac and Windows operating systems. Its featured-packed suite of tools and options include: syntax highlighting and very smart Code Hinting, a built-in FTP client, project management and workflow options that make team work effortless, and Live View – which shows you a preview of your source code.

3. Panic Coda – Panic Coda is a shareware web development application for the Mac OS X operating system. It seeks to reduce the amount of applications (such as an FTP client, CSS editor, a version control system, etc.) you need to develop websites and to improve your team’s workflow.

2. Photoshop – Adobe Photoshop is a very popular commercial graphics editor available for the Mac and Windows operating system. Created for professional photographers and designers, it is the ideal application for manipulating images and creating web graphics.

1. Firebug – Firebug is a free, open source in-browser web development tool for the Firefox web browser. It’s many features include: on-the-fly HTML and CSS editing for tweaking or debugging, a Console for logging, analyzing and debugging JavaScript, and an intuitive Document Object Model (DOM) inspection tool to help you quickly see how the elements of a web page relates to one another.

The winners of the annual Webby awards were announced today. There were several categories that were especially of interest to us. Here are a few of the web design categories and the winners.

Best Home Page Category
Adidas won the best home page webby by beating out BAM, Interview Magazine, Modernista, and the Sundance Channel.

Best Navigation/Structure
WHITEvoid online portfolio an interactive art company beat out the likes of Nike, Modernista, and Le Coq Sportif.

Best Visual Design – Aesthetic
Saab’s Turbo Gene Test won the webby award over Patagonia, Hello Sour Sally, Absolut Vodka, and MSNBC’s Spectra.

Best Visual Design – Function
NikeID won the webby award over MOO, K-Swiss, Kontain, and Rick Mather Architects.

1. Avoid that really long domain name - Although this is considered to be common knowledge you would be surprised to see how many businesses use websites that are a mouthful. You want a domain name that’s short and easy to remember.
2. The perception of being small - Even if you are a small company running your business out of your basement, you don’t need to let potential customers know that. Compare your website and offerings to that of your larger competitors.
3. Professional Web Design - I know the first thing you think of is cost, but you would be surprised at how many options are out there that can provide you with a well designed website that looks professional. Remember it’s all about first impressions.
4. Same Ol Website - What will cause a customer to come back to you and buy from you again if everythings is always the same. Change content, pictures, or even incoporate a blog.
5. Initiatives of the week, month - Creating weekly or monthly sales, newsletters or emails can be a great thing to keep cusotmers interested in what you have to offer. The probelem that can occur is that if this is not kept up then you get a bad impression on your business. Be sure you have the resources to accomplish this!