Today's SEO tip is about the importance of using discretion in all of your URL writing.

Let's face it - even the most diligent SEO guru has a lazy moment or two. Spurred on by that devilish voice in your head, it takes all of your will power to deny taking the easy way out when it comes to handpicking keywords to put in your URL. What you want to do is throw a few directories in front of your previously existing URL; what you should do is take the time to rewrite the elements that actually propel the page's content. Although that tiny addition to your URL seems completely harmless, you have been warned! True, if the legacy URLs are redirected to the new keyword URL to maintain link popularity and de-index the legacy URLs, you'll probably see no consequences. Sure, your now much longer URL will probably get indexed and therefore be free of any impact, but beware! You would hate to be accused of the ultimate sin: keyword stuffing!

The best way to avoid keyword stuffing is to keep it simple. A URL of four or five words that sounds natural can be perfectly normal. I would warn against using a URL that looks like this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/feb/23/honda-formula-one-bernie-ecclestone-richard-branson-jenson-button-bruno-senna-mercedes-benz, (yes, this is actually real). First off, it's just too long. No one would ever physically type a URL of that length if they saw it in print. Second, it looks spammy! A URL like that combined with this particular site, itself, is constantly losing credibility. Not only are almost all of The Guardian's URL's typically like this, but its articles are full of pointless and annoying links. Generally, it's very easy to associate these over-stuffed and obnoxious URLs with a lack of value. Is sacrificing quality really worth a few measly SEO points? Make sure to consider keyword proximity and density before writing your URLs to avoid sacrificing the integrity of your website. Stick with keywords and leave out the junk - adverbs, adjectives, pronouns - think about exactly what your target audience is looking for and what they would type into Google to find it.

Here are a few examples of search engine friendly linking, which is really easy to do when use a content management system that enables you to just type in the keywords you want to use in your URL, and it creates the links for you. (Btw, you would not believe how many ecommerce sites still use links with SKU numbers instead of model names).

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Internet Retailer Web Design conference is coming soon. Here are 10 common web design mistakes they have prepared to inspire people to attend the conference. 1. The Home Page Syndrome You put most of your design resources on the home page and treat product pages as mere information pages—not marketing opportunities. In the session Designing Landing Pages that Sell, you’ll learn that the sale is really made on the product page. 2. A Design Pet That Bites. You fall in love with one design function, using all the cool graphics you can, at the expense of meeting other key objectives, such as simplifying site navigation. In the session called One Site, Many Masters: Accommodating Conflicting Design Objectives, you’ll learn how to please your pet while not overlooking basic rules 3. Beware the Overbearing Geek. You let your IT professional run wild and dictate design parameters that ignore marketing or merchandising needs. In Programmers Are from Mars, Customers Are from Venus, you’ll learn how to let the customer rule the design roost. 4. Conventional Wisdom Can Be Stupid You adopt generally accepted design standards but fail to adapt them to how your own customers use your web site. In the session How Your Market Defines Your Design, you’ll learn how to gauge what design elements your customers are looking for. 5. Do It Now—Ask Questions Later. You make a relatively minor change to your design without rigorously testing it. The next thing you know, your online sales are dropping. In the session called The Importance of Testing, you’ll learn how to thoroughly test the impact of design changes. 6. The Don’t Fix What Ain’t Broke Mentality. Your site is working so well you don’t think about redesigning it until it blows up on you. In the session called Is It Time Yet? You will learn how to spot telltale signs that your site is overdue for a do over. 7. Who Are You Anyway. You choose an outside designer to work on your site without checking his/her retail web qualifications or success record. In Choosing the Right Design Partner, you’ll learn how to spot a good retail web site designer before you move forward. 8. The Anything Goes Attitude. You assume that with broadband web access everywhere, you can load up your site with all kinds of images. In Every Byte Counts, you’ll learn otherwise. 9. It’s Just A Store. You think web sites are just like stores and need only products neatly arranged. You forget that non-product content is often what attracts people to a site. You will see what we mean at the session What Engages Shoppers Now—And What Will Engage Them Tomorrow. 10. What Are You—Anti-Social? If your site doesn’t use forums, blogs and reviews, it fails to connect to the community it serves. Retailers in particular miss this, but the session Leveraging Social Technologies Strategically in Your Site Design will set them straight. registration details can be found here: http://irwd09.com/registration.asp?eid=24246027&bid=142881

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10 web design reasons to attend the Internet Retailers Conference (IRWD) at the all-new Fontainebleau in Miami Beach on June 19-22, 2009. Here are just 10 common design mistakes you’ll learn to avoid at IRWD ’09:  

1. The Home Page Syndrome: You put most of your design resources on the home page and treat product pages as mere information pages—not marketing opportunities. In the session Designing Landing Pages that Sell, you’ll learn that the sale is really made on the product page.




2. A Design Pet That Bites: You fall in love with one design function, using all the cool graphics you can, at the expense of meeting other key objectives, such as simplifying site navigation. In the session called One Site, Many Masters: Accommodating Conflicting Design Objectives, you’ll learn how to please your pet while not overlooking basic rules.




3. Beware the Overbearing Geek: You let your IT professional run wild and dictate design parameters that ignore marketing or merchandising needs. In Programmers Are from Mars, Customers Are from Venus, you’ll learn how to let the customer rule the design roost.




4. Conventional Wisdom Can Be Stupid: You adopt generally accepted design standards but fail to adapt them to how your own customers use your web site. In the session How Your Market Defines Your Design, you’ll learn how to gauge what design elements your customers are looking for.




5. Do It Now—Ask Questions Later: You make a relatively minor change to your design without rigorously testing it. The next thing you know, your online sales are dropping. In the session called The Importance of Testing, you’ll learn how to thoroughly test the impact of design changes.




6. The Don’t Fix What Ain’t Broke Mentality: Your site is working so well you don’t think about redesigning it until it blows up on you. In the session called Is It Time Yet? You will learn how to spot telltale signs that your site is overdue for a do over.




7. Who Are You Anyway: You choose an outside designer to work on your site without checking his/her retail web qualifications or success record. In Choosing the Right Design Partner, you’ll learn how to spot a good retail web site designer before you move forward.




8. The Anything Goes Attitude: You assume that with broadband web access everywhere, you can load up your site with all kinds of images. In Every Byte Counts, you’ll learn otherwise.




9. It’s Just A Store: You think web sites are just like stores and need only products neatly arranged. You forget that non-product content is often what attracts people to a site. You will see what we mean at the session What Engages Shoppers Now—And What Will Engage Them Tomorrow.




10. What Are You—Anti-Social? If your site doesn’t use forums, blogs and reviews, it fails to connect to the community it serves. Retailers in particular miss this, but the session Leveraging Social Technologies Strategically in Your Site Design will set them straight.

Register today at the Internet Retailer Web Design Conference, where you will benefit from the only conference dedicated to retail web site design improvement.

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Chrome isn't ready yet for the big leagues because it doesn't integrate with Auto Form Fillers like Google's own SEO friendly toolbar, or Roboform so we still use Firefox and IE when doing web site design projects in our Los Angeles based LaDezign.com. That's why today I'm writing about a new plugin for Firefox called Firebug which puts a wealth of web development tools at your fingertips while you browse a web site.

1. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page.
2. Firebug is always just a keystroke away, but it never gets in your way. You can open Firebug in a separate window, or as a bar at the bottom of your browser. Firebug also gives you fine-grained control over which websites you want to enable it for.
3. Firebug makes it simple to find HTML elements buried deep in the page. Once you've found what you're looking for, Firebug gives you a wealth of information, and lets you edit the HTML live.
4. Firebug's CSS tabs tell you everything you need to know about the styles in your web pages, and if you don't like what it's telling you, you can make changes and see them take effect instantly.
5. When your CSS boxes aren't lining up correctly it can be difficult to understand why. Let Firebug be your eyes and it will measure and illustrate all the offsets, margins, borders, padding, and sizes for you.
6. Your pages are taking a long time to load, but why? Did you go crazy and write too much JavaScript? Did you forget to compress your images? Are your ad partner's servers taking a siesta? Firebug breaks it all down for you file-by-file.
7. Firebug includes a powerful JavaScript debugger that lets you pause execution at any time and have look at the state of the world. If your code is a little sluggish, use the JavaScript profiler to measure performance and find bottlenecks fast. The command line is one of the oldest tools in the programming toolbox. Firebug gives you a good ol' fashioned command line for JavaScript complete with very modern amenities to execute javascript on the fly.

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Living in Los Angeles has its perks and one of them is that L.A. has become a hub of technology companies. One of the most noteworthy associations in the technology space on the West Coast is the Digital Coast Roundtable. Their roster of members has some real industry stalwarts like the Panasonic company. So when I had a chance to work on redesigning their web site and integrating their old content into our Web Site Architect CMS Platform you could say I got off my rump and jumped at the chance. In the case study area of my site, you will soon find a step by step analysis of the DCR site upgrade. I want to thank Conchetta Fabares at DCR for her thoroughness and follow-through at getting this project underway and completed. Stay tuned as we develop this case study.

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This section is devoted to web site design tactics and strategies. Make sure to download my free web design checklist from www.laDezign.com which covers more than 30 items you need to ensure exist on any web site. Recent Web Site Design Related Postings [catlist=4]

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