1. Introduction – Realtor website design Marbella guide

Welcome to the ultimate guide to web design for realtors in Marbella, Costa del Sol. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the importance of web design for realtors, the key elements of a successful realtor website, and strategies to enhance lead generation and user experience. Whether you are a realtor in Marbella or any other location, this guide will provide valuable insights to help you create an effective online presence.

2. Understanding the Importance of Web Design for Realtors

What is Web Design?

Web design encompasses the visual and functional aspects of a website, including its layout, colors, typography, navigation, and overall user experience. It is a crucial element in creating a professional and engaging online presence for realtors.

The Role of Web Design in Lead Generation

A well-designed website can significantly impact lead generation for realtors. By creating an attractive and user-friendly website, you can capture the attention of potential clients and encourage them to explore your services. A visually appealing website with intuitive navigation can also increase the chances of converting visitors into leads.

The Impact of Web Design on User Experience

User experience (UX) plays a vital role in web design. A website that provides a seamless and enjoyable browsing experience will keep visitors engaged and encourage them to spend more time exploring your listings and services. A positive user experience can lead to higher conversion rates and increased client satisfaction.

3. Choosing the Right Platform, Domain Name, and Hosting

Selecting the Ideal Website Platform

When designing a realtor website, it is essential to choose a platform that offers flexibility, customization options, and ease of use. WordPress is a popular choice among realtors due to its user-friendly interface, extensive theme options, and robust plugin ecosystem. Consider hiring a web design company or developer to set up your website’s foundation and core elements.

Choosing a Domain Name

Selecting the right domain name is crucial for establishing a strong online presence. Your domain name should be memorable, relevant to your real estate business, and ideally include keywords related to your services or location. Consider using your own name or a variation of it to create a personal brand.

Selecting Web Hosting Services

Web hosting is an essential aspect of website management. Choose a reliable hosting provider that offers fast loading speeds, excellent uptime, and reliable customer support. Consider factors such as storage space, bandwidth, and security features when selecting a hosting plan.

4. Selecting the Perfect User Experience WordPress Theme

Importance of User Experience in Web Design

User experience plays a crucial role in web design. A well-designed realtor website should prioritize ease of use, intuitive navigation, and quick access to important information. Users should be able to find listings, contact information, and other relevant details with minimal effort.

Top User Experience WordPress Themes for Realtors

When choosing a WordPress theme for your realtor website, consider themes that prioritize user experience. Some popular options include:

• WP Residence
• Astra
• Houzes
• Real Estate Lite
• CitiLights
• Divi RealEstate
• Real Spaces
• WP Pro Real Estate 7
• Homeland
• HomePress

Choose a theme that aligns with your branding, offers customization options, and is optimized for mobile devices.

5. Designing a Website for Realtors in Marbella

Creating a User-Friendly Layout and Navigation

When designing your realtor website, prioritize a user-friendly layout and navigation. Ensure that important pages, such as listings, contact information, and services, are easily accessible. Use clear headings, subheadings, and menus to guide visitors through your website.

Incorporating a Responsive Design

In today’s mobile-dominated world, it is crucial to have a responsive website design. A responsive design ensures that your website adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes and devices, providing an optimal browsing experience for both desktop and mobile users.

Implementing a Clean and Professional Design

A clean and professional design can make a significant impact on the perception of your real estate business. Use high-quality images, consistent branding elements, and a visually appealing color scheme. Avoid clutter and ensure that your website is easy to read and navigate.

6. Enhancing Lead Generation through Effective Web Design

Creating Compelling Call-to-Actions

A well-designed realtor website should include compelling call-to-action (CTA) elements. These can be in the form of buttons, contact forms, or prominent text prompts that encourage visitors to take action, such as contacting you for more information or scheduling a consultation.

Optimizing Lead Capture Forms

Lead capture forms are essential for capturing visitor information and generating leads. Optimize your forms by keeping them simple, requesting only necessary information, and ensuring that they are easy to fill out. Consider using plugins or tools that integrate with your CRM system for efficient lead management.

Offering Valuable Lead Magnets

Lead magnets are incentives that you offer in exchange for visitors’ contact information. These can include free e-books, market reports, or exclusive access to property listings. Design visually appealing lead magnets that provide value to potential clients and encourage them to provide their contact details.

7. Implementing SEO Strategies for Realtor Websites

Understanding the Basics of SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for improving the visibility of your realtor website in search engine results. Understand the basics of SEO, including keyword research, on-page optimization, and creating high-quality content that appeals to both search engines and human readers.

Conducting Keyword Research for Realtors in Marbella

Keyword research is essential for identifying the phrases and terms potential clients are searching for when looking for real estate services in Marbella. Use keyword research tools to find relevant keywords with high search volume and low competition. Incorporate these keywords strategically into your website content and meta tags.

Optimizing On-Page Elements for Search Engines

Optimize your realtor website’s on-page elements to improve its visibility in search engine results. This includes optimizing page titles, meta descriptions, heading tags, and image alt tags. Use relevant keywords strategically but avoid keyword stuffing, which can negatively impact your website’s ranking.

WordPress SEO by Yoast: This is an essential plugin for real estate websites because it allows you to customize almost every element of each page without having to know HTML or CSS coding.

All in One SEO Pack: This is another great real estate WordPress plugin for optimizing all of your web pages, where you can easily change the page titles, descriptions, and more without knowing HTML/CSS. It even helps with canonicalization across sub-domains to ensure search engines know which pages are related on multiple domains within the same real estate website.

8. Incorporating Listings and Resales Online

Showcasing Properties and Listings

One of the primary purposes of a realtor website is to showcase properties and listings. Create visually appealing property listings with high-quality images, detailed descriptions, and key features. Include search filters and sorting options to help visitors find properties that match their criteria.

Providing Interactive Search Tools

Enhance user experience by incorporating interactive search tools on your realtor website. These tools can include advanced search filters, map-based property search, and saved search functionalities. Make it easy for visitors to find relevant properties and explore your listings in a user-friendly manner.

Integrating Online Resales Platforms

Consider integrating online resales platform into your realtor website to provide additional value to potential clients. These platforms allow users to browse resale properties directly from your website, streamlining the buying process and enhancing the user experience. It also offers a module for all new developments for sale on the Costa del Sol.

9. Utilizing Plugins and Tools to Improve Web Design

Essential WordPress Plugins for Realtor Websites

WordPress offers a wide range of plugins to enhance the functionality and design of your realtor website. Some essential plugins for realtors include:

• Estatik
• Easy Property Listings
• IMPress
• WP-Property
• Realtyna WPL Real Estate
• Essential Real Estate
• WP Amortization Calculator
• WP Real Estate
• WPCCasa
• Home Value WordPress Plugin

Choose plugins that align with your specific requirements and integrate seamlessly with your realtor website.

Implementing Tools for Enhanced Functionality

In addition to plugins, consider implementing additional tools to enhance the functionality of your realtor website. These can include live chat tools for real-time customer support, CRM integration for efficient lead management, and analytics tools to track website performance and visitor behavior.

More from our online marketing blog

• The 8 Digital Marketing Trends That Will Define 2026: A Complete Strategy Guide
• Top 5 Pain Points for Costa del Sol Real Estate Agencies in Online Marketing
• Unlock the Secrets to Selling Real Estate Like Crazy on the Costa del Sol
• How to Choose the Best Digital Marketing Agencies for Your Business
• Real Estate Lead Generation: Proven Techniques for Success

10. The Role of Content Marketing in Web Design

Creating Engaging and Valuable Content

Content marketing plays a crucial role in web design for realtors. Create engaging and valuable content that appeals to your target audience. This can include blog posts, articles, market reports, and informative guides related to real estate in Marbella. Focus on providing information that is relevant, informative, and helpful to potential clients.

Establishing a Content Marketing Strategy

Develop a content marketing strategy to guide your website’s design and ongoing content creation efforts. Identify your target audience, their needs, and the topics they are interested in. Plan your content calendar, including the frequency of blog posts and other content types, and allocate resources for content creation and promotion.

Leveraging Content for Lead Generation

Utilize your content to drive lead generation for your real estate business. Incorporate lead capture forms, calls-to-action, and lead magnets within your content to encourage visitors to provide their contact information. Create landing pages for specific offers and optimize them for conversion.

11. Regular Maintenance and Tracking of Realtor Websites

Ensuring Website Security and Updates

Regular website maintenance is crucial for ensuring optimal performance and security. Keep your website’s themes, plugins, and core files up to date to prevent vulnerabilities. Regularly backup your website to protect against data loss.

Tracking Key Metrics for Performance Evaluation

Monitor key metrics to evaluate the performance of your realtor website. Track metrics such as website traffic, bounce rate, time on site, and conversion rates. Use tools like Google Analytics to gain insights into user behavior and make data-driven decisions to improve your website’s performance.

Conducting Regular Website Maintenance

Perform regular website maintenance tasks, such as checking for broken links, fixing coding issues, and updating content. Regularly review and update your website’s design elements to ensure a fresh and modern appearance. Continuously optimize your website for search engines and user experience.

12. Conclusion: Realtor website design Marbella – The ultimate guide

In conclusion, web design plays a crucial role in creating a successful online presence for realtors in Marbella. By choosing the right platform, domain name, and hosting, selecting a user-friendly WordPress theme, and incorporating effective lead generation and SEO strategies, you can create an engaging and high-performing realtor website. Regular maintenance and tracking will ensure that your website continues to attract potential clients and generate leads. With the right web design, your real estate business in Marbella can thrive in the digital landscape.

FML Marketing are realtor website design experts. We operate from Estepona, near Marbella on the Costa del Sol. Thank you for reading: Realtor website design Marbella: The ultimate guide.

The post Realtor website design Marbella: The Ultimate Guide appeared first on FML Marketing.

Good WordPress hosting ensures a fast website. And a fast website is important for both your visitors and Google. First of all, visitors drop out if it takes too long to load your website. And Google rewards fast websites. They get higher in the search results. And website hosting is one of the most important factors of a fast website. It is the ground you start building from.

In addition, you can and must do everything yourself to make your website faster. But it all starts with a host that makes it possible to have a fast website. Otherwise, you can optimize all you like, but it will never harvest the desired result.

The other way around is also true. You can have a good WordPress website provider, but if you don’t do anything to optimize your WordPress website it won’t help you. But more about that another time. First, a number of criteria to choose a good WordPress website provider in Spain or any other European country for that matter.

What should you pay attention to when choosing good WordPress hosting?

In recent years I have moved my websites several times to other WordPress hosting in the Netherlands and abroad. This is because I was always dissatisfied with a certain aspect. One time it was slow websites, the other time it was bad support. As a result, I now know what to look out for when choosing good WordPress hosting in the Netherlands. This has led to the following criteria.

Speed

Speed is the most important criterion for me. But how do you find out if a WordPress hosting provider is fast?

To start with, you can read reviews. There are all kinds of comparison sites. And if you already have WordPress hosting in mind, you can specifically search for reviews or experiences for this WordPress hosting provider. You will then be able to read quickly enough whether it is a good choice.

Price can also say something about speed. In general, the cheaper a WordPress hosting provider, the more websites on the server, and the slower your website will be. So my advice is to stay away from discounters in the field of WordPress hosting in Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, etc.. Don’t choose the cheapest one, but pay a bit more.

It is also important where the server is located. If your target group is in the Netherlands, choose a server in the Netherlands. However, if you mainly have visitors from America, choose a server in America. This does not necessarily mean that you have to choose a Dutch WordPress hosting provider. There are also foreign WordPress hosting providers with servers in the Netherlands.

Some WordPress hosting providers have extra caching functionality. This can make your website considerably faster. Furthermore, your site will get considerably faster from SSD website hosting. So choose a hosting provider that supports this. For some time now, some hosting providers support HTTP/2. A successor to the HTTP protocol that makes your site considerably faster because files are loaded at the same time instead of one after the other… So choose a hosting provider that supports HTTP/2.

Also good: if the hosting provider has taken measures to ensure that other websites on the server cannot slow down your website.

Attention to security

WordPress sites are regularly attacked by hackers. That is why it is good to choose a website hosting provider that pays attention to the security of your website.

For example, by:

• offering the possibility to update your WordPress and plugins automatically.
• quickly close security holes on the server
• apply technology that prevents a hacked website from infecting other websites on the same server
• Here too, the following applies: Siteground has and does all of the above.

Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificates

An SSL certificate is nowadays a must (see also my other blog about this). Browsers say your site is not safe if you don’t have one. And search engines like Google give priority to secure websites. This means websites using an SSL certificate. Well, until now that was sometimes complicated to arrange. And SSL certificates cost money. Nevertheless, now you have the open-source project Let’s Encrypt. This allows you to apply for a free SSL certificate. And you don’t need your own unique IP address anymore.

Support

I think good support is very important. I always look at how to get in touch first. Is that only by e-mail? Maybe there is a support forum where you can see how well they answer questions.

Also important: how fast is the response. Is it within 15 minutes or can it take a few days? And what about support in the evenings or on weekends?

An example of how you don’t want it: I recently had to transfer a website for a customer and wanted to create an extra database for that purpose. It already started with the fact that I couldn’t do it myself (silly!). That had to be done by support. Unfortunately, they hadn’t done that. We found out on Friday after 5 pm and then had to wait until Monday morning before we could continue.

I need support at the most impossible hours because I run into something. That’s why I always choose a large WordPress hosting provider with support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A large WordPress hosting provider can offer this because they have a support team all over the world. So there is always someone awake and working. I haven’t found a Dutch WordPress hosting provider that can offer this.

A special form of support is the transfer service. Some WordPress hosting providers offer to transfer your website for free if you switch to them. This can save you a lot of time and frustration.

The numbers

The numbers or features are also important. The megabytes and gigabytes:

• How much web space do you get to set up your website? I like to have at least one gigabyte. In my case, this space is not only for my website but also for my e-mail. I use the so-called IMAP protocol. This means that all e-mail stays on the server. And when you receive an e-mail with a large attachment, you are suddenly at your limit.
• How many e-mail addresses can you have? Useful if you want to link multiple e-mail addresses to your domain. For example, for freelancers or employees who help you. Or to separate support from regular mail.
• How many databases can you use? Additional databases are useful for test sites, for example.
• How much traffic is your website allowed to have? You may not be so quick to reach this limit, but it’s good to know.
• How many websites can you put on one package? If you only have one website, that’s not important, but if you have more, you might be able to save money. And who knows what the future holds.

Extra functionality

Also look at extra functionality such as:

• Does the website hosting provider have a WordPress installer? This will allow you to install WordPress with just a few clicks.
• Are automatic backups made? How often? How far back in time can I go? Can I access it myself or do I need support for this?
• Can I access the log files myself (raw access logs)? These are files in which you can see exactly what is happening on your website. Very useful if your website is slow or has been hacked.
• Can I set “Cron jobs” myself? Cron jobs are tasks that are performed automatically at a fixed interval. A normal user will not need them. But I am not a normal user …
• Can I test my website with “staging”? With staging, you can make a copy of your website with one click of a button. With this copy you can, for example, test new plugins or make other changes. If you are satisfied with the result, you

Price – Cheap WordPress Hosting Providers: A NO GO!

I advise you not to go for the cheapest for a business website. Cheap WordPress hosting providers:

• put a lot of websites on one server, which results in a slow website.
• are often difficult to reach for support questions
• often respond slowly to support questions

For a private website that’s not so bad. But for a business website, you don’t want all that. In any case, I would like to pay a few extra tens for quality and SERVICE!

Therefore, I can not stress enough to search for a very good price/quality ratio.

A fast website

At FML Marketing, we pay a lot of attention to the speed of your site, such as:

• Fast NGINX servers in Amsterdam, London and two other continents which is important if you mainly have visitors from Europe, and the rest of the world.
• All shared website hosting servers have SSD disks, which makes your website considerably faster (nowadays many providers have this, but Siteground already offered this in 2015, indicating that they are at the forefront with new technologies).
• HTTP/2 on all shared and cloud servers, which means that the different files of your website are loaded at the same time instead of one after the other, which also results in a faster website (they have had this since 2015 when it wasn’t standard yet).
• A self-developed SG Optimizer plug-in to accelerate WordPress websites. With its caching capabilities and front-end and image optimization features, it optimizes the performance of WordPress sites so much that, according to Siteground, you can see speed benefits between 20% and 500%.
• Free Cloudflare CDN integration allowing some files to be loaded from the fast Cloudflare servers and making your site faster.
• The latest PHP version for even faster websites.

FML Marketing – Hosting Experts Marbella

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Good content is half the battle

Knowing what is relevant starts with finding out which words your target group uses in search engines. With the right keywords, you can write specifically and answer the question your visitor has. Process the keywords in strategic places in your text. But don’t force it and stay relevant. You write a text to inform your visitors, not to please Google. Moreover, Google is becoming smarter and smarter and content is becoming more and more important.

Learn more: Content SEO Audit

Faster websites are better for SEO

Good websites don’t just look sleek and neat, it also meets a large number of standards that are used. These standards help search engines to better index your website, allowing potential visitors and customers to find their way to your website. A website that meets modern requirements for SEO, will not only make a good impression on visitors but will also be displayed much higher in the natural search results. The design of your website definitely plays an important role in this.

Well coded functionalities

Websites are often equipped with all kinds of functionalities that enable visitors to perform certain actions. A like-button, a contact form or a registration field for the newsletter are examples of small and simple functionalities. Larger functionalities that are used in websites are, for example, the integration of a webshop, a forum or a photo album. The more functionalities your website contains, the more coding is required to display all of them correctly. All these codes can cause your website to react less quickly or to malfunction. This is not only noticed by visitors, but search engines also judge your website on good use of programming code.

How to solve it?

It is therefore important to use good and clean programming codes when building and designing your website, so that not only does every functionality work well, but this also does not have any negative consequences for the speed and findability of the website in search engines.

Read more: Why free websites are often not a good idea

Conclusion: Good design is important for SEO!

The content on your website, interaction with visitors and search engines all play an important role in the success of your website. Yet, all these things are packaged in the design of your website. After all, the design of your website reflects what you stand for as a company or as a private individual. It says something about your company, yourself or about the products or services you offer. A well-chosen design also fits in with the target group you have in mind and meets the important requirements for a good website. It is important to ensure that the design looks good, not only for visitors but also for the search engines. A website with a good design will be better indexed, will be higher in the search results and will, therefore, attract more visitors.

FML Marketing – Web Design & SEO Experts Costa del Sol

Thank you for reading our blog Does Web Design affect SEO?

FML Marketing is a digital marketing agency, specialized in Search Engine Optimization, SEO-optimized web design, social medial, and online marketing solutions. We are based in Estepona, near Marbella on the Costa del Sol.

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The post Does Web Design affect SEO? appeared first on FML Marketing.

What is a CDN?

CDN stands for Content Delivery Network, a worldwide network of servers that can be used to deliver content, such as images and videos, to the end user via the fastest route. For example, website owners can use a CDN to make web pages load faster.

Why use a CDN?

The purpose of a Content Delivery Network (CDN) is to deliver web content quickly and efficiently to end users. The internet is a web of networks and failure or congestion in one of those networks, therefore, causes delays. When a site’s loading time is slow, many a web surfer quits and that is why content providers turn to a CDN to ensure that their traffic is always optimized.

CND under the hood

That is why a CDN consists of a lot of extra servers that are placed at data centers and ISPs. Each CDN uses a different approach to deliver content efficiently. Providers, such as Akamai, have a policy to be as close to a user as possible. In order to deliver the cast web content as directly as possible. CDNs are not paid for by the network operators, but by content parties who want to ensure that their web traffic is delivered quickly and efficiently to customers.

Images and other Content

First, a CDN ensures that files, such as images, videos, style sheets, and JavaScript, are copied from the source to servers on different continents. Once the website owner has implemented the CDN, by changing the Internet addresses (URLs) of page elements, the Content Delivery Network will start receiving requests for certain files. The CDN then finds the optimal route. Next, it redirects the end user to the server that can deliver this file the fastest. This is usually, but not always, the server closest to the end user.

Search Engine Optimization

Website speed is current day, while I write this article, a very hot potato. Not just in terms of user experience, but even more so for your SEO. Often referred to as Website Ranking.

Website Loading Speed

Preventing website delays is an important issue for all websites today. Search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo etc.) make no secret of this: loading time is an important criterion. The CDN shortens the response time of your site and improves the loading speed.

View more: Web Hosting Costa del Sol
Blog by FML Marketing – The Creative Online Marketing Agency on The Costa del Sol.

The post What is a CDN? appeared first on FML Marketing.

Without web hosting, your website is not online and not findable for your target group. Nowadays search engines find it very important that a website is fast and does not have any downtime. It is therefore also important to look for a reliable hosting provider. You can even host your own website, by means of a server at home. However, we recommend that you look for a reliable location for your server.

A reliable location often has an emergency power supply, security and service on location. Usually the risks in a data center are as good as possible excluded and everything is done to prevent fire and/or burglaries. It is also useful to choose a server that automatically makes backups.

Web Hosting and Domain

The web hosting links the domain name to the web. So with only a domain name you can’t really do anything. Often you can buy a domain name and hosting as a package, which is usually cheaper than ordering it separately. Do you already have a domain name, but no hosting? Then you can link this with a hosting. You can also run multiple domain names on one hosting package. This is done by means of a link to the main domain.

Hosting packages

With the more extensive packages, it is often possible to build multiple websites next to each other and use them on one hosting. With the smaller simple (and often cheaper) hosting packages, only a link to the main domain is possible. These types of links are useful to forward domain names that look very much like the main domain. These types of links are useful for ease of use and to exclude errors. SEO technically, these types of domain names have no added value these days.

Web hosting features

As soon as you start using web hosting, you have to take a number of things into account: for example, you can use web hosting to create unique e-mail addresses that belong to your domain. This is often more professional than the standard e-mail addresses (hotmail.com / gmail.com).

If you would like to use a CMS system (content Management System) on your website or another system that requires a database, you should also take this into account. There are hosting parties that charge a small amount per database, but for most parties this is now included in the package. If you are going to use WordPress as your CMS, it is advisable to look for special WP hosting plans. This type of web hosting is configured for WordPress website, and often has several benefits or time savings.

Moving to another Web Hosting

If you want to move a website from one hosting party to another, you can do this with an authorization code, also often called a moving token. The moving token or authorization code can be requested from the current hosting party and must be filled in at the new party.

Do you need help finding a good web hosting? We are happy to help you! Please contact us for more information. Or choose between our lightning-fast Web Hosting Packages.

The post What is Web Hosting? appeared first on FML Marketing.

Why is the speed of a site important for your Google Ranking?

All changes Google makes to the search algorithm have one goal: to increase user-friendliness or to improve the experience of the Google visitor. The vast majority of internet traffic now runs via mobile devices. Despite the fast connections of smartphones and tablets, pages on these devices load slower than on ‘regular’ computers. And everyone knows how annoying it is to stare at a white screen (User Experience!!).

If a user clicks on your search result at Google and returns to the same results page on Google shortly after, Google sees that as a negative user signal. The interpretation of Google is that this user did not find the best information, another result might have been better: a reason to adjust the ranking. Up to now, the speed of your pages was already an indirect ranking factor. From July 2018, Google will cut this loose and use the speed of your site as a separate ranking factor.

Time to get into action. And remember: even if you do not do it for SEO purposes, you always make your users happy with fast pages.

SEO Marketing: How do I measure the speed of my site?

Google is happy to help you on your way with the free Page Speed Insights tool. It works easily: you paste your URL into it and get a report, both for Mobile and for Desktop. Important to know is that the speed per page is calculated. Another free tool that you can use is Pingdom. At Pingdom, you get next to a performance grade also the time that is needed to fully load your website.

Check here our 6 SEO tips to improve your website speed with all kinds of tools to improve your website and SEO.

At Google and Pingdom you immediately get tips to increase your speed, for most you have to switch with web developers because they are technical adjustments, but especially Google makes it as easy as possible.

SEO Marketing: Optimize your website for speed

Of course, you can immediately get started with optimizing your website, often you come a long way with, for example, adjusting/reducing images. Certainly, if you have a site with multiple authors, too large images will soon be present. A handy and quick tool to reduce your images is TinyPng. You drag an image and this free online tool will compress it automatically, sometimes it saves you 70-80 percent, overwrites the image on your page with the smaller version and gets the page through Google’s page speed tool again.

The other optimizations are more technical in nature, but solutions can also be used without direct developers. Especially when your site is running on WordPress, you can use Plugins to work with the 100/100 score of Pagespeed Insights fairly quickly. A lot of articles can be found about that.

Finally, another important consideration

The speed of your website is also a relative ranking factor. This means that your speed is compared with other websites, that try to rank on the same keyword. Google (especially with your smartphone) on your main keywords and compare the speeds of the competitors that are both better and worse than yours. Scoring better than your direct competitors for specific terms should be your primary goal!

FML Marketing – SEO consultancy on the Costa del Sol

Thank you for reading our blog and good luck improving your search engine ranking! If you require professional support, or more information about our Search Engine Optimization services, please feel free to contact us. We are here to help you and improve your Google Ranking!

The post SEO Marketing: Speed mobile website now important Google ranking factor appeared first on FML Marketing.

According to research firm Aberdeen, a fast website increases visitor engagement, retention, and boosts sales. Instantaneous websites lead to higher conversion rates, and every 1 second delay in page load decreases customer satisfaction by 16%, page views by 11% and conversion rates by 7%.

10 Best WordPress plugins to improve loading speed

First, do a pre-test via Google Pagespeed, but I think Pingdom tools (choose Stockholm test) give a better picture.

1. WP smush (this plugin compresses photos so your photos have less kb and load faster).
2. WP Super Cache (for fast loading times of your website) and Cloudflare (free plan).
3. WP fastest cache plugin is also a great alternative to WP Super Cache. Meanwhile (in January 2018) the plugin W3 Total Cache is also up-to-date and good to choose.
4. Autoptimize (combines CSS and puts Javascript under the pagefold for faster loading times).
5. BJ lazy load (this plugin ensures that you load images a bit later than the text of your website, this saves a lot of loading time and prevents (mobile) users from dropping out).
6. Far future Expiry header (Check first if your headers already have an end date via Pingdom tools for loading time / Stockholm).
7. Widget options (so you can determine where widgets are coming, and to keep your home space fee, limit loading time).
8. JCH Optimize (Good plugin to merge background images).
9. TinyPng (This is another great plugin to drastically reduce the size of your images).
10. Perfmatters. This plugin is a great addition to already installed Cache plugins. WordPress enables certain options by default, that aren’t needed for most websites and have a negative impact on the performance. available from $19,95 per year.

Improve loading speed with FML Marketing

To improve your SEO, the loading speed of your website is crucial. Moreover, this has a rather large impact on the behaviour of your website visitors. We help our clients with a full website analysis, improving speed, conversion, interaction and the overall website behaviour of your clients. Contact us without any obligations for more info or a quote! Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to subscribe and share.

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Beautiful keywords, but no one uses them

The internet is a ruthless medium when it comes to choosing the right SEO keywords. Marketing and Communication people can come up with the best terms, but if no one uses these terms to search, your website will not be found. For more than 80% of internet users (source: Nielsen), a search on the internet starts with a search engine and in the Netherlands it is Google. Google provides the user with the information he or she is looking for based on the words being typed. It is up to you whether you want to be included in those results or not.

Examples where things go wrong with SEO keywords

Choosing the right SEO keywords in Google is often more difficult than you think. A few examples: A famous electronics A-brand has once determined that their equipment is so special, that you can not call a dishwasher of that brand a dishwasher, but a kitchen unit cleaner. Nicely thought, but the latter is in the Netherlands only 2400 times per month sought and on the word dishwasher 165,000 times. What do you do as a web editor? Use the popular word, stick to your marketing strategy or both?

SEO Keywords in Google: Health sector example

In the healthcare sector it has been decided that ‘retirement home’ is not a politically correct word and that ‘residential care institution’ is a better name. Only a few people use the word residential care institution in Google and the word retirement home is more than 30,000 times per month in searches. If you want your website to be found in search engines, you can not avoid having to connect with your own target groups and their choice of words. Of course, you do that within certain limits; you will probably never use the word ‘coin’ or ‘shilling’ instead of ‘money’ or gross, indecent language. More on Ranking high in Google.

Always start with a search query

A good SEO strategy always starts with a thorough SEO keywords research. Also when developing a new website is not the functional design, but a keywords research the first step. Through a keyword search, you will get to know your target audience and you will discover whether different SEO keywords can be used for the same topic in the business or consumer market. Read more about keyword research here.

The golden tip to find SEO keywords

The fastest and easiest way to discover which words people use in Google is to try it out with Google Autocomplete. Just go to Google and start typing a word that you want to know if it is used and in which variants and combinations. What is happening? Google automatically completes your search with suggestions! These suggestions are based purely on the search behavior of other people; Google keeps that accurate. Try the following: Do not finish the word completely and see which ideas emerge Type one word and then a space to see which most used combinations there are For keywords with very high volumes, simply follow the alphabet at the second word Use an ‘underscore’ or asterisk * between the words to discover combinations.

SEO keywords in Google: no meta keywords!

SEO keywords are not the so-called meta keywords; they have no effect! Read about it in this article about keywords. Good SEO keywords are used in the title tag, the page title, the meta description and the text of the page. For each page, you choose only one SEO keyword or search term (multiple words that belong together, such as ‘online marketing’ or ‘seo keywords’).

SEO Keywords in Google: How to improve

SEO is an exercise that can be carried out in-house, provided you or your team are equipped with the right knowledge (up to date!). Due to the fact that Google algorithms are constantly moving and changing, it requires effort. Besides, it is a recurrent exercise. For professional assistance to improve your Google ranking, to convert visitors into leads, contact us now. We have a professional team to assist and we are trained to increase traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” search results on search engines, for any kind of business.

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog. Enjoy your day, and don’t forget to subscribe to our free newsletter round-up!

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Read which free WP plugins are Evergreens! With this top list, you know at least which WordPress plugins you need to install in 2018. Try to install between 5 and 15 plugins, so your loading time does not increase too much. Although…for better performance are also plugins available!

10 best standard WordPress plugins 2017/2018

How to install plugins, automatically changes within WordPress. But you can find additional explanations, read the plug-in installation explanation from the developer. Anyway, what are the standard WordPress plugins that you almost always need? This is our favorite list:

1. WordPress SEO by Yoast This is a must install-plugin. Available free and premium. (makes content findable, SEO advice within WordPress)
2. Akismet (standard in WordPress, is against spam)
3. Jetpack by WordPress.com (optimization)
4. Wordfence Security (security)
5. Contact form 7, in combination with the Google service: recaptcha (sign up). Also read about alternative forms plug-ins such as Ninja forms and Fast Secure Contact Form.
6. Really Simple CAPTCHA (with contact form, against spam responses)
7. WP Super Cache (for fast loading times of your website) and Cloudflare (free plan).
8. Google XML Sitemaps (evict if SEO by Yoast plugin already does this for you)
9. Social Warfare for floating social media buttons that are not disruptive, so your website visitors can easily share your WordPress messages on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter etc. So social media part buttons plugin. Tip: turn off the Facebook share button if you do not need it, because it saves WordPress load time if contact request with Facebook is not necessary).
10. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (internal linking between posts goes automatically, gives more site visit), do you also want thumbnails for the titles? Then use the Yuzo related post plugin.

Thank you for reading The Best WordPress plugins of 2017-2018 | Part I. Tomorrow we will be back with:

Top 10 WordPress plugins to improve your website’s loading speed

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The loading speed is one of the factors that Google looks at when determining your ranking in the search results. Reason enough to pay attention to this. Read below 5 tips to increase the loading speed of your website.

1. Optimize your images

Poorly optimized image can affect the loading speed of your website. It is always nice to show that you are creative and that you have a beautiful design, but it should not be at the expense of your visitors. Always use text where possible instead of an image. For example, if you create links to other pages, always use text. The use of image makes your page “heavier” and is also bad for your SEO. Reduce and optimize your image. This can be done very easily with the free PIXResizer program. Avoid shrinking using HTML. For example, if your image is 900 by 600 pixels and you need an image of 450 by 300 pixels, reduce it in advance and not via HTML. Place all your images in a folder on your server and avoid duplicate images. Also, make sure that the same image is not with different names on the server.

2. Take good hosting

Cheap is expensive, that can certainly apply to hosting. A cheap hosting package often means a lot of websites on a server and for a long time that the server and the website is not online. Always invest in good hosting.

3. Optimize the code of your website

Poorly written HTML, with tables, for example, will result in a slow loading website. Make sure that the code of your website is well written. You can check this with the W3C validator. Use CSS instead of layout in your HTML and place CSS and Javascript in external files. Load the CSS in the top (in the head of your page) and Javascript in the bottom of your page.

4. Optimize video

Adding video to your website can significantly lower your website speed. If you really need to stream your videos on your website, optimize them. Provide small video files. A much better option is to put the videos on YouTube and embed them on your website. Embed you place a reference to the video on YouTube on your website. It will not cost your website loading time. Moreover, it is good for your SEO to place your videos on YouTube.

5. Use a cache system

If your website uses a database to retrieve content, you can think of caching your pages. Instead of every time a visitor comes to a page, the data is retrieved from the database, this only needs to be done once. You can set yourself when the page should be refreshed in the cache (for example if you have adjusted the page). WordPress has a nice plugin for this, WP Super Cache.

6. Avoid beautiful scripts with no added value

Nice to show the weather for the next day on your website. But is it really of added value for your visitors? If it is not directly relevant to your website, delete it! What about the loading speed of your website? Do you already apply these tips? Do you have any good tips yourself? Then let us know in the comment field below. Do not forget to share this article on Twitter, Facebook and/or LinkedIn. Thank you for reading!

Increase loading speed of your website

If you require any assistance in the above mentioned, or if you would like to rank higher in Google, please contact us today! At FML Marketing, we support our customers in The Netherlands, Marbella, and Estepona with Web Design, Search Engine Optimization and more!

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