search engine algorithm update factors

How Google Has Improved Their Local Search Algorithm

Google Completes Biggest Algorithm Update to Local Search in 6 Years  Google is constantly making updates to their various search algorithms that affect your business’s search engine visibility. Late last year, Google rolled out another major update, in fact the biggest algorithm update to local search since 2016. This latest update drastically improves results on […]

editorial use only; close up of Google My Business phone icon on smartphone screen

Why Your Business Should Utilize Google Posts

SEO Content Social Sharing on the Internet’s Most Popular Search Engine Any business with a website should already understand the importance of visibility on search engines like Google. Furthermore, as a business owner with some understanding of SEO, you know that having a Google Business Profile is critical to reaching and engaging potential customers. After […]

identifying and appealing to user search intent

Understanding Search Intent in 2022

Attracting new customers is tough, especially on the internet. Run a search on Google or Bing and you’re sure to find hundreds of blog posts and how-tos selling fancy platforms guaranteed to grow your customer base. And in fact, if you were to read one of these blog posts, you might actually discover that you’ve […]

components of average web design in 2022

Best Web Design Trends Over Time: 2002 vs 2022

Why It’s Important to Stay Ahead of Web Design Advancements A lot has changed since the initial internet boom of the 1990s. The internet is bigger, faster, and constantly evolving. The same can be said of web design trends. We all understand that with time comes change. And with change comes reflection. And this principle […]

google search results may be affected with the rolllout of Google Page Experience to desktop

Google Page Experience Comes to Desktop

We finally have a timeline for Google Page Experience on desktop! Google announced the update at I/O 2021, but never gave an official release date. That all changed in the new year. Rollout for Google’s page experience ranking tool begins February 2022 and will be complete by the end of March 2022.  Google Page Experience […]

audience targeting in digital marketing

Audience Targeting: Remarketing vs Prospecting

A target audience is a group identified as the focus of your marketing campaign. A well tailored audience makes advertising easier and more effective because you have an idea of who you’re marketing to. Furthermore, by understanding the “who”, you can refine how you’re marketing to these groups to make even more impactful campaigns. In […]

SEO

What Factors Affect SEO

22 SEO Factors to Pay Attention to in 2022 On-Page SEO Website structure When it comes to search engine optimization, website organization is a huge factor in creating a strong SEO foundation. This is important not only for search engine crawlers (AKA spiders), but also human users. In order for your content and your website […]

Woman shopping in downtown Santa Rosa during Black Friday

Black Friday Marketing

How to Plan and Execute Your End of Year Sale Marketing It’s that time of year again. Around the world, companies are rolling out their Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and holiday sales events earlier than ever. Arguably one of the biggest sales seasons of the year, end of the year sales can make or break […]

person's hand using cell phone to post to social media

Best Times to Post on Social Media in 2019

What are the Best Days and Times for Social Media Posting? Social media: it is something businesses everywhere can’t ignore any longer. Did you know — it has been reported that 75% of consumers bought a product because they saw it on a social network? If you are one of the many businesses that has […]

Why Mobile Friendly Web Design is Crucial in 2018

In the past, Mobile-Friendly Web Design simply meant a website should shrink down to fit the dimensions of a smaller screen, i.e. smartphones & tablets. A website would look and operate on a mobile device exactly as it would on its desktop counterpart, just not as conveniently. This lack of mobile sophistication often resulted in […]

Content marketing visualization

4 Digital Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business Online in 2018

1. Content Marketing & Content Development First, know that content creation isn’t going anywhere and remains among the top priorities in digital marketing. For a business or brand, content marketing’s objective is to ultimately drive interest and leads in the product or service but the focus of the content created must be of benefit to […]

Small Business Week 2017

5 Digital Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

Happy Small Business Week! West County Net is proud to be a small business dedicated to helping other businesses throughout Sonoma County find success online. In the spirit of Small Business Week, we wanted to offer some suggestions for improving your business’ online presence and ensuring your online house is strong. 1. Make Sure Your […]

West County Net Map of Trees Planted

Be The Change

We recently celebrated our fearless leader, Paloma Sky Patiño, earning her spot among the ranks of the North Bay Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 for 2017.  Read the full article on Paloma and this honor on North Bay Business Journal. At West County, we pride ourselves on being a team of dreamers, thinkers, and creatives […]

Cloud Hosting in Santa Rosa at West County Net

To Cloud or Not to Cloud

For the past few years, the term “The Cloud” has become a huge selling point in the IT business. Everywhere you look you will see an advertisement for going to “The Cloud”.  Whether it’s simply storing data in the cloud or running your ERP software in the cloud, we here at West County Net get […]

Traditional Advertisement

Inbound Marketing & Small Business

This is a good example of the kind of advertising that nobody wants to see. Depending on how deep you’ve delved into the rabbit hole that is online marketing strategy, “inbound marketing” may be an unfamiliar term. Rest assured, inbound marketing isn’t false hype for “the next big thing,” nor is it some snake oil […]

screenshot of West County Net website both on desktop and mobile platforms

Why is Responsive Design Important?

Responsive Design: an approach to designing and programming a website wherein, depending on the size of the screen on which it is being displayed, content on the site is scaled, rearranged, and/or transformed in the interest of making it as easily viewable and accessible as possible. In other words, your website works good on phones […]

The Cloud

Implementing a Cloud Service

Cloud computing is quickly becoming the standard for cost-effective web hosting, data backup, and information technology services. Businesses of all sizes (including giants like Netflix) use some form of cloud service for their integral day-to-day operations. When you consider the money that businesses can save by avoiding purchasing their own servers, it’s no wonder there […]

The History of SEO

SEO History 101

Search engine optimization has been a violently shifting landscape since its inception in the mid 90s. On the one hand, you have SEO companies and their clients, who want to rank as high as possible so more people see their websites in search results. On the other hand, you have search engines (like the giant, […]

old West County Net logo

Websites Designed for Success

WordPress was originally developed as a platform for bloggers to self-publish their blogs. Because its goal was to be accessible for as many people as possible, it is exceedingly easy to use. There’s no need to contact your webmaster if you want to update content on your site—your website is yours to change whenever you want. With WordPress’ simple and intuitive interface, it’s as easy as logging into the site’s backend and making the change.

IT Security

Password Security & Best Password Practices

The recent credit card information breach at Target has a lot of people thinking about big business security issues again. What kind of information do the businesses we trust so much have and how easy is it exactly to access by some anonymous hacker? The problem that the Target credit card breach highlights is that—no […]