Is Your Website Up to Date?

The key to attracting new customers, keeping existing customers coming back, and winning at Search Engine Optimization (SEO) requires a steady effort to maintain your website by adding fresh, new content on a regular basis. Google is constantly crawling the web and looking for new content, and it rewards websites that do a good job of adding new, relevant content by promoting that content and those websites to the top of its index and Search Engine Results Pages (SERP).

The best way to win at SEO is to make it a habit to create and post new content. Had any new projects lately? Share those on your website and not only will you attract new customers, but you'll let existing customers see what you've been up to. Add new photos, text and information as soon as its available. Ideally you should be adding new content all of the time. If your website has a Blog, then use that tool to create specific, relevant content that describes a new product, service, news or event. Google loves that kind of content and it will quickly rise to the top of the SERP and expand the footprint of your website, which again increases your SEO benefit. Or if you don't already have a Blog, we can set one up for you that gives you a great way to keep your site updated with fresh content that you can manage yourself with our easy to use WebAdmin™ technology.

Of course if your website is not mobile-friendly or a modern "responsive" design using the latest HTML5 technology, then you are overdue for a more comprehensive overhaul. Click here to see if your website passes Google's mobile-friendly test. We are living in a mobile world and in 2018, 58% of all site visits were from mobile devices. Importantly, Google now considers mobile-friendly sites as a ranking factor in its algorithm. So if you aren't thinking Mobile First, you are already behind.

» Contact us today if you haven't updated your website recently and let's get you back in the game!

Introduction to Progressive Web Apps (PWA)

The internet never stands still, and just when you thought the mobile revolution was behind us, a new technology is already transforming the industry and poised for the next digital revolution. This technology will combine the best of the web with the best of an app. We're speaking of a Progressive Web App, or PWA. A PWA is a mobile-friendly, responsive website that has been updated with the latest technologies to give it the look, feel and performance of a dedicated smartphone app. PWA websites can be installed on a phone's home screen, with a unique icon that launches just like an app. Additionally, PWA maintain full functionality and database integration that works even when offline, just like an app. PWA can access a phone's camera and GPS functions and incorporate touch gestures just like an app. PWA can also send push notifications to a phone's user - you guessed it - just like an app. And because PWA use web standard technologies, they work the same for any platform or device. In fact, most any modern HTML5 responsive website can be configured to work as a PWA, without having to start from scratch.

PWA are poised to transform the web and app industries because they solve a number of inherent problems with apps. Apps are expensive to develop and maintain because separate apps must be developed for both iPhone and Android platforms. Apple and Google also take a hefty percentage of all app sales through their app stores, which leaves developers with no alternatives because Apple and Google control these stores exclusively. So developers stand to win by not only having a "build one and done" solution, but also by circumventing these expensive fees that Apple and Google take from their app revenue.

A bigger problem is these app platforms are cut off from the web. They cannot be linked to nor indexed by Google or other search engines, limiting their scope and reach. PWA intend to solve these problems and are fully searchable, and with Google as the predominant tech company pushing this technology ahead, you can be sure that it is only a matter of time before PWA become the standard for all apps and websites. The network effect and global reach of the internet is what makes it so powerful and such an irresistible force, as well as its open source standards and relatively low development costs.

Many leading companies have already deployed PWA solutions, including Microsoft, Google, Forbes, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Uber and more. According to Google, web push notifications helped eXtra Electronics increase engagement by 4X. And the ability to deliver an amazing user experience helped AliExpress improve conversions for new users across all browsers by 104% and on iOS by 82%. And those users spend twice as much time on the site. Twitter has credited their PWA with a 75% increase in the number of Tweets, 65% increase in pages per session, and a 20% decrease in bounce rates. Pinterest has seen a 40% increase in time spent on the mobile site, as well as a 44% increase in user-generated ad revenue.

Do all websites need to be PWA? That's debatable. But could any website benefit by having a customer install it on their phone, with easy one touch access and push notifications that drive customer interaction and conversions? Probably so. Can you or anyone afford to resist the tide of technology that affects us all? Certainly not.

» Got questions or just want to know more about how PWA might affect your business? Contact us and let's talk about your online future.

Web Hosting 101

Did you know that web hosting plays an integral and crucially important part of your website's SEO performance? As long as the website is up and running, most people don't give much thought to the web host or even understand what it takes to keep a site online 24/7/365. The web server and website file structure plays a key role in how your website is seen by Google and other search bots. Website responsiveness and page load speed is a crucial factor in your website's SEO performance, as well as customer satisfaction and overall conversion rate. Your website's speed and subsequent SEO factor is directly related to the server that hosts your site, as well as the database, network and datacenter infrastructure that everything resides in.

Behind the scenes, how your website files and directories are organized is another crucial factor in your SEO strategy. Beyond that, having root level access gives us the ability to optimize underlying technologies and techniques that only a search bot can see. These proprietary techniques are confidential and highly prized because they are so very effective in speaking this "robot language" that they can make or break a website's visibility and SEO performance. You won't have root level access at any of the bargain web hosting providers such as GoDaddy, Squarespace, Wix and others whose primary business is selling cheap websites to the masses. That's just one of the many reasons why these websites can never match a fully custom website in terms of performance, design and SEO.

Website hosting also encompasses security, reliability and uptime availability, as well as ongoing maintenance and support. In a typical shared hosting environment, a website will reside on a server filled with thousands of other websites, each one maintained by disparate individuals who may or may not understand security or best practices. Often these sites are built with Wordpress or other common CMS platforms, each one subject to inherent security vulnerabilities and constant exploits and targeted attacks. Each of these websites acts as a doorway directly to the server, which in turn affects each and every site on that same server. Therefore, a website is only as secure as the weakest and most insecure website on the server it shares. If there are a thousand sites on a server but only one is not patched and thus gets hacked, that's all it requires to take down the entire server and every site on it. Read the Stratatomic Hacking Report for an eye-opening look at internet security.

Stratatomic maintains a dedicated hosting platform that houses ONLY STRATATOMIC WEBSITES, which are all 100% custom coded and not affected by Wordpress or other common hacks or exploits. Our hosting platform features a RAID 5 configuration for maximum redundancy and data integrity and is powered by a Linux operating system and Apache HTTP Server technology, which is the backbone of the internet and used by many of the largest eCommerce firms and government agencies, including Amazon, Google, IBM, NASA, NYSE, the US Department of Defense, and many more. Our web hosting infrastructure completed a SAS 70 Type II Audit Process and Certification in 2010. Our success is in the seamless integration and exceptional service and support we provide for the complete system.

At Stratatomic, we are dedicated to helping our clients WIN the SEO game by creating unique websites that are specifically engineered to perform at the highest levels in all aspects of web technology and design. That's why we are Greenville's longest established and most awarded web design firm.

» Interested in learning more about our secret "robot language" and techniques. Sorry, we can't help you there. But if your website is powered by Stratatomic, you already know that we build a better mousetrap.