January 2005

The Net Gazette
Helping You Help Your Site

Greetings and Best Wishes for 2005. In this issue of The Net Gazette we are going to explore some great techniques in e-marketing and Web design to improve your Web presence.

Web Tip #1:
The more time you spend on the Net, the more good ideas you'll find for improving your own website and e-marketing initiatives.

In other words, if you have a question about anything, anything at all, try to find the answer online. If you have a task, try to find out if you can complete it somehow on the Net. Finding any excuse you can think of to spend more time online will ultimately help your business online.

For example, here in Boston we've been getting wholloped by snow storm after snow storm. Almost 40 inches has fallen on us in the past week alone. One of our family's vehicles wouldn't start the other day and we began to think about buying a new car. Where did I turn? To the Web of course. I started visiting numerous car websites, and using their interactive features to learn about pricing, features, locations, and opinions.

Just by visiting a number of big sites, such as http://www.jeep.com and http://www.infiniti.com, I learned a lot about how to present information that helps sell. Even though I run a small business, there is a lot to learn by looking at the big guns. (I could do without some of the annoying Flash, but hey, maybe that makes their Web designers happy, see Web Tip #2 below). I don't recommend using annoying Flash.

Try to spend more time on the Net. You may find possible partners and resellers. Or you may find new ways of doing old things. You may learn something from a website that you can employ in your own initiatives that will help you sell more. The information out there is almost limitless. Please surf with an open mind, but also, be discretionary and scrupulous. Some ideas are just plain bad. Stay away from the stinkers.

E-Marketing
Among the many kinds of e-marketing techniques and initiatives you can employ for your Web presence, search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the best. Achieving high rankings in the engines for some choice keyword phrases is one of the greatest feelings in the world. Maybe it's because I'm a geek, but I tell ya, it feels really good.

How do you get good rankings? That is the million dollar question. I could write a book on this subject. In fact, there are books out there on just this. So instead of overloading you, let's just tackle one aspect of this at a time. You can expect more information and suggestions on search engine optimization (SEO) in subsequent newsletters from us.

One of the best ways to achieve high search engine rankings is by establishing quality inbound links. This is especially true for Google. Search engines have algorithms that determine which site is relevant for a particular keyword phrase. The specifics of the algorithms are kept secret by the engines, but we know of general rules that these algorithms follow. One of them is 'the more quality and relevant inbound links that point to a site, the better it is going to rank'.

So, if there are 2 links on other websites that point to your site, and there are 150 links on other websites that point to my site, all other things being equal, my site will out rank your site in the search engines. Google is known to put the most weight on inbound links, but this applies to most of the top engines such as MSN and Yahoo.

Another way to go about Strategic Link Development is to find sites that will post your link without having to trade. Web directories are great for this. They allow you to post your link in their directory and most of the time do not require a reciprocal link.

But where do you find such Web directories? Here are two Web pages I found that contain a list of some directories:

http://www.overthemark.com/seoblog/item/11

http://www.businessseek.biz/page.php?page=web-submit

If you want to start improving your search engine rankings, go to each directory in each of these lists and add your website.

Here's what we use when we add our website to a directory:

Title: Inexpensive Boston Web Design, Development and E-Marketing for Small Business
URL: http://www.oakwebworks.com
Description: A full-service Web firm here to help your business make more revenue using the Web. We can get your business online for the first time, or help you build a money-making next-generation website. Call for a site consultation.

Notice that in the Title, we use keyword phrases that are applicable to us and not the name of our company, Oak Web Works. You ought to do the same.

Web Design
I found a really great tool on the Web the other day (I was following my own advice from Web Tip #1 above and was surfing around). But before I tell you where it is, check it out in action by going here. Notice the slideshow at the bottom right of that page? That's what the tool does. I didn't write the code that makes that happen. I just used the Web tool which generated the code and then added it to my site.

Here's where to go to use this neat tool, and best of all, it's free (but they ask for a donation): http://www.barelyfitz.com/projects/slideshow/wizard/

Of course you have to create the images yourself to use in your slideshow, but it does the rest for you. Very cool and requires no programming.

But please, use this tool only if you have a real need for it, not just for coolness's sake. If you want to save Web page real estate, or if you have many products or engaging and relevant images that will help you sell and help your customer learn more about you, then a slideshow may be just the thing.

Web Tip #2:
Design for the customer, not for yourself. Don't include features on your website for the sake of "coolness". Don't design for design's sake.

Lots of websites have Flash intros or intricate and complicated features that do little to add value to the site. Many times, over-designed sites are done for the designer's sake, not the customer. Big graphics may be fun for the Web designer to create, but annoying to the site visitor who has to wait for the site to slowly download because of the big pictures. Other times, websites are over-programmed and unnecessarily complicated just to please the programmer, not the customer. A successful website is there simply for the customer's experience, no one else's.

In the next issue of The Net Gazette we're going to look at more ways to improve your search engine optimization, another great Web design technique, and maybe we'll get into some technical programming stuff as well, all in the name of improving the Web, one site at a time.

To learn more about these subjects or if you have a need for e-marketing, design or programming services, please visit www.oakwebworks.com.

Also, if you have a moment, take a look at another site I run, http://www.getredsoxtickets.com. Who knows, you may find a great show or game to attend.

Happy Webbing.

- Jason

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