Archive for the ‘small business website’ Category
Monday, January 5th, 2009
In the recent debate on how evil Network Solutions is, I neglected to give you the non-evil alternatives.
JumpDomain Whois
The easiest thing to do is go to an old registrar that quit answering my emails so I moved all of my domain names away from them. They had non-existant customer support, so I’m sure they won’t mind us using their tools.
https://domains.jumpdomain.com/whois/whois.cgi
Go to the URL above and put in your domain name. Hit Submit Query. It will also return all of the DNS info. Bookmark that page. I use it all the time. It’s by far the easiest and fastest way to look up available domain names without getting into trouble.
Whois?
First, if you are a Mac user (and I won’t get into that religious debate now), if you go into your utilities folder, there is an application called “Network Utility”. If you open that up, you’ll see all of the tools listed across the top. Click on “Whois”.
You can type in the domain name you want to check on and click on the “Whois” button. It will return all of the DNS info for that domain name or it will say “No match for…” the domain name you are looking for.
Terminal Whois on a Mac
If you are brave, you can open the Terminal application and type in “whois” followed by the domain name. That will also give you the DNS info.
Posted in DNS, Free Small Business Web Site, domain name, small business website | No Comments »
Sunday, January 4th, 2009
This is a great check list to run through while you review your existing web site. If you have any of these things, please remove them. I’m begging you. It’s for the sake of the children.
Quoting from 10 Reasons Why Your Church Website Needs Work | Web Site Design Blog
1. You have an over excessive use of animated clipart.
This may have been acceptable in the 90’s for personal home pages, but it should never be used on a church’s website.
If you want to really annoy your visitors, keep this feature because it works.
2. You play background music that cannot be turned off.
If you want to really annoy your visitors, keep this feature because it works.
3. Your site is in frames.
So you figured that you would make it easy for the navigation to be updated. Too bad you didn’t realize that search engines and some web browsers cannot properly view frames.
4. The last time you updated the site was two years ago.
It’s always good to know what events took place in the past, too bad we have no idea what’s going on in the present.
5. You utilize scrolling marquee text.
Sure it may look okay on CNN, but it looks horrible on a website.
6. You use numerous font types throughout the website.
A little Comic Sans here, a little Arial there and a few Wingdings here, it’s a masterpiece! Perhaps only to a child.
7. You built the site using Microsoft Word.
It was easy, just outline everything how you wanted it and then save as webpage. It doesn’t matter how different web browsers and different screen resolutions see the site, because it looks fabulous on your screen.
8. You used Java or Flash for your navigation.
Look at the pretty cool effect. It’s a shame that search engines have a hard time trying to crawl a site with that type of navigation.
9. You didn’t properly resize images before you added them on the site.
Why is that picture of the Pastor so blurry?
10. You have used the same website design for the past five years.
Why change it now? That old outdated look really defines our church.
Read the entire article at:
http://blog.collinsinternet.com/34/10-reasons-why-your-church-website-needs-work/
Posted in small business website | No Comments »
Friday, January 2nd, 2009
If you ever have a link that says “Skip Intro”, then you need to remove the page that contains that link. There’s no question or debate about this. The ONLY time I would ever do that is if you are promoting a video game or a movie. The only time ever.
Have you ever heard anyone tell you about a really cool splash page?
What good does it do if your website has the most beautiful web pages ever designed, but it doesn’t convince people to engage with your organization?
They don’t happen as much as they used to, but there are still websites out there that are more of an art project than effective promotion tool.
I’ve seen some splash pages that were a just monument to the web designers Flash and CSS skills. Designers love this stuff, but it’s the users that you need to worry about. Have you ever heard anyone tell you about a really cool splash page that they saw?
Regardless of your designer’s technical prowess or if the pressure is coming from some management above you, resist the temptation to use a splash page.
Just say no.
Posted in SEO, Web Site Starter Kit, content, design, development, marketing, promotion, small business website | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
Who needs ‘em?
I do remember one year that I sat down and thought through some goals I had for my life. At New Years, I sat down and wrote them out and formalized them. There were only 3 or 4 and they were very specific and attainable.
During that year, I actually remembered those goals and started to make decisions based on them. Should I do this or that? This lines up with the goal and that would be a lot of fun, but doesn’t line up with the goal.
I kept track and measured myself during the year. Nothing hard core, but I was aware of exactly where I was on the quest.
What do you want to achieve?
At the end of the year, I had done really well on them all. I was shocked at how well I had done. I thought I had stumbled across a new way to make my life everything I ever wanted it to be.
I create even more goals for the next year. I had charts and graphs for the entire upcoming year. I had a manila folder. I was set. This new year was going to be great.
About 3 months into the second year, I realized that I had no idea what those detailed goals really were for each step along the way. I couldn’t remember the details. At 6 months, I had given up on all of them. Quit. Done.
At the end of the year, I hadn’t accomplished anything. I was still were I started and completely distracted by other things.
What do you want to achieve? Pick a couple goals. Make them simple. Make them measurable. Then go accomplish them.
What are your goals for the upcoming year? Leave a comment.
Posted in SEO, business development, management, marketing, promotion, small business website, web traffic | No Comments »
Monday, December 29th, 2008
It looks like there will be some valuable articles on WordPress SEO over at Remarkablogger. Since I’m such an advocate of WordPress and SEO, I’ll be interested to see what he has to say. He usually have some good information that I can learn from.
Quoting from About WordPress SEO
Why WordPress SEO is Separate from Blog SEO or “Regular” SEO
WordPress SEO needs to be its own thing because of all the unique factors a blogger needs to understand when applying basic SEO principles to a WordPress blog. For example, many of the common points of standard SEO advice have to be translated into how to specifically do them for WordPress SEO. Things like:
Title tags
File names
Headings
Redirects
Meta tags
Robots exclusion
This Ain’t the Old Days Anymore
Back in the day, web pages were edited by hand, and you had to know HTML, and, for some of this stuff, a little scripting. How is today’s blogger going to accomplish the above without any editing of HTML or scripting?
WordPress. With WordPress, about the most technical thing you need to know is how to install a theme or a plugin (and with the advent of WordPress 2.7, even plugins have become super-easy). There are plugins for WordPress SEO. Problem is, that’s not quite enough. You have to know what to do with them in order to really improve your search rankings. And in order to do that, you have to know SEO.
Read the entire article at http://michaelmartine.com/2008/12/28/wordpress-seo/
Posted in SEO, Wordpress, content, marketing, promotion, small business website, web traffic | No Comments »
Sunday, December 28th, 2008
I really appreciate comments. I really do. I love the interaction with people who use this site. Most of all, I love being right and crushing the opposition.
Network Solutions is waiting for you to search for an available domain name using their site.
I wrote a post titled
Network Solutions Sucks. I must admit that I have strong feelings about Network Solutions or NetSol, as it’s also called. I am deeply biased with a loathing that permeates my entire being.
With that as background, I got a comment or two from Jack Carlson, who, again, I really appreciate for commenting. He defended NetSol and I had to question if I was right about their practices or not. I know what happened to me and a client of mine. Maybe they saw the error of their ways and changed their practices. I needed to reevaluate.
I checked Wikipedia (and since it’s on the Internet, it must be right of course,) and they also had references that all seem to check out. I think this section below is probably true. It matches my experiences and my client’s. Please click through and read the whole thing.
What do you think? Have you ever had a good or a bad experience with NetSol? Please leave a comment and we’ll all battle it out in the never ending search for the truth.
Network Solutions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Controversy over domain name front running
There is evidence that there are parties subscribing to this information which are buying some of these domains within milliseconds of them being de-registered.
On January 8, 2008 Domain Name Wire published a story alleging that Network Solutions practices domain name front running.[18] “If you try to register a domain at Network Solutions, but decide not to register it, you won’t be able to register it anywhere else,” the article says.[18] “Network Solutions registers the domain in its company name with the words ‘This Domain is available at NetworkSolutions.com’.”[18] Circle ID reported on January 8, 2008 that Jonathon Nevett, Vice President of Policy at Network Solutions and one of the seven members of the ICANN community who was consulted by the ICANN committee looking at domain tasting abuse,[19] had offered a response to the news story stating Network Solution’s policy.[20] The policy was “a security measure to protect our customers,” said Nevett.[20] “When a customer searches for an available domain name at our website, but decides not to purchase the name immediately after conducting the search,” Nevett added, “after the search ends, we will put the domain name on reserve.”[20] Nevett said that if the domain was “not purchased within 4 days, it will be released back to the registry and will be generally available for registration.”[18]
Posted in DNS, Free Small Business Web Site, domain name, free, small business website | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
This is quite an indictment against the church’s use to technology, or the lack there of. This is how the secular world views the church, as “a primitive, backwards relic from a superstitious, theocratic Dark Age”. While this article is specifically about the Catholic church, the view applies to most all Christian churches.
I think that phrase could also be used for any business that doesn’t have a web page. In 2008, there is not reason that any business doesn’t have a web site, none at all.
It’s not that hard folks. It’s really not. I sell a book, Web Site Starter Kit, that will tell you how to get a web site for free, (yes, free!) and it won’t suck, I promise. You need to drag your small business or church out of the Dark Ages and into the 21st century. All the kids are doing it these days.
The Teapot Atheist: Isn’t that cute! The Church figured out the intertubes!
Church is a primitive, backwards relic from a superstitious, theocratic Dark Age.
The whole story is quite a commentary on what people really think about the Church. Why would it be news for them to use the internet if it didn’t defy our understanding of the fact that the Church is a primitive, backwards relic from a superstitious, theocratic Dark Age?
Read the entire article at The Teapot Atheist: Isn’t that cute! The Church figured out the intertubes!
Posted in Free Small Business Web Site, Web Site Starter Kit, church, content, free, marketing, promotion, small business website | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
Here’s some clarity to what is happening. If you are going to offend someone, you should be clear and precise about what you are saying.
Saddleback Church Site Not Taking Down Gay Condemnations After All / Queerty
We received a nice email from Kristin Cole, the press rep for the Sadleback Church letting us know that they are keeping their anti-gay rhetoric on the church website after all.
Cole writes us:
“I wanted to make sure you were aware that the Q & A addressing homosexuality on the Saddleback Church Web site has not been permanently removed, but rather repurposed for clarity. I know your readers have noticed the change.
Read the entire article at Saddleback Church Site Not Taking Down Gay Condemnations After All / Queerty
Posted in small business website | No Comments »
Monday, December 22nd, 2008
The “suckage ratio” can tell you which company or product to use, including web hosts.
You can do Google searches on exact phrases by putting quotes around the words. If you want to know what people are saying about a specific company or product or web host, do a search for these phrases: “product” and “product sucks”
When you compare the suckage ratio of one product to another, you'll get an idea of what the general population thinks of the products.
Note the number of results returned for each search.
Divide the number of “product sucks” search results by the number of “product” results. That is your “suckage ratio”. The idea is to compare the number of times the product is talked about with the number of times that it is talked about negatively.
The number itself doesn’t tell you anything important, but when you compare the suckage ratio of one product to another, or of one company with another, you’ll get an idea of what the general population thinks of the products or companies. I wouldn’t this as the only point to base a decision on, but it’s a good piece of information to have when making choices.
As you can see from the chart below, Powweb, the web host that I recommend, I use and I am very happy with, is very close to the best. I don’t have any experience with BlueHost, but maybe I will have to check into them.
| Web Host |
Total |
Sucks |
Suckage Ratio |
| Hostgator |
2,980,000 |
1,900 |
6.38% |
| HostMonster |
2,060,000 |
926 |
4.50% |
| iPower |
1,470,000 |
1,650 |
1.12% |
| Pow Web |
779,000 |
815 |
1.05% |
| BlueHost |
2,120,000 |
2,180 |
1.03% |
Posted in marketing, small business website, web host | 2 Comments »
Sunday, December 21st, 2008
One way to rate companies is to search for their name and the word “sucks” to see how many pages contain that term. Put quotes around the two words for the best results, e.g., “Network Solutions Sucks”.
Search for just the name and compare those results to the “sucks” results. Divide one by the other the get a ratio, then compare that ratio to other companies’ ratios to see what people think about them.
Try to use the company with the lowest “sucks” ratio. In effort to support that rating, here is my rant about how Network Solutions Sucks.
Network Solutions Sucks!
Whatever you do, DO NOT go anywhere near Network Solutions. They are evil. They are not the only evil registrars out there, so be careful about what you are signing up for.
I once had a client who used Network Solutions to look up a domain name to see if it was available or if it was registered already. It was available, so they asked me to register it for them. Of course, I suggested Godaddy.com and tried to register it, but it was on administrative hold at Network Solutions.
They had done us a favor by putting a hold on it because they knew we were interested in it. They didn’t want anyone else to get it before we did. That was nice of them. Oh, and they’d take the hold off and give it to us for $60 unless we wanted to register with them.
They will also grab your name if you register it with them and let it go at the end of the registration. You will have to pay them a bunch of money to get it back from them if you change your mind. Enom.com has been rumored to do similar things with domain names, so steer clear of them.
The reason that Network Solutions is so evil is that they make you actually call them and listen to a sales pitch before they will release your domain name for transfer.
I hate Network Solutions. Network Solutions Sucks.
Posted in DNS, content, domain name, small business website, web host | 5 Comments »
Friday, December 19th, 2008
Back in the dark ages, the days before Wordpress, I created a site for a friend using the latest and greatest methods of the day, tables. I happened to be great at laying out and implementing tables for designing web pages. I even taught a class in how to do it for the large aerospace company I worked for back then. This was back when we were still afraid of the Millennium Bug.
I happened to be great at laying out and implementing tables for designing web pages.
I taught him how to replace images when he wanted and how to write a bit of PHP and HTML. He learned, but I don’t think that he ever made any changes, maybe a few images. This is a wedding flower site, so there are a lot of images.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. He wants to add some videos and a video page. I have just written a book on how Wordpress is so wonderful for everything, so I figure I really need to convert his old school web site into Wordpress.
Wordpress is great with CSS and I’m a huge believer in CSS myself, so it was particularly difficult to read this old code that I wrote years ago, using tables. One of the cool design features of his site is that every page is a bit different in layout. There are random images strewn about the place. I used multiple templates and passed variables to change the images.
To convert the old site to Wordpress, without having to recreate the whole thing, meant that I needed to create new template pages for each section, using the existing tables, then assign the templates to the pages.
I threw in a div in the middle for the content on most. The front page is totally custom, so I actually have the template as the entire HTML page, with no content displayed at all. It’s just an HTML page.
The tricky part was the menus. I learned how to do child menus for the Venues pages, so that each venue gets its’ own page with a submenu of all other venue pages, because they are children of the Venue page which lists them all. I’ll do another post on menus to explain that better.
It took a lot of tweaks, but I finally got it to work. The decisions had to be made on which data would be hard coded and what would be “content”. He’s got to have the freedom to make changes to a lot of it, but I didn’t want him to be able to make changes to other parts.
I think it turned out OK. Please don’t view the source on it, unless you want to see some ugly code. Ack. It all works though. It’s possible to convert an existing site into Wordpress.
http:/www.flowerart.biz
Posted in content, design, development, small business website | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
Years ago, I set my browser’s default background color to gray, the shade of gray that the original Mosaic used. Since then, I’ve been shocked at how many sites don’t specify a background color.
Write this down. Specify a background color for your site.
Jeffrey Zeldman Presents : Is your (website’s) underwear showing?
It's astounding how many web designers forget to specify a background color on their site.
Read the entire article at Jeffrey Zeldman Presents : Is your (website’s) underwear showing?
Posted in design, development, small business website | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
Dwight D. Eisenhower: “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
This seems to sum up the essence of web project management. There are always plans and as long as you understand the plans, then you can change them when you need to, and you will need to.
In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.
It’s really important that you understand what you want to do with your web site. You need to know the content and how the content is organized. You need to know what the user is supposed to do and why they come to your site. You should have a site map, with little boxes and lines and arrows between them all. You should have a list of pages with the content written out for each page. You should have all that.
But…
As Pee Wee Herman said, there’s always a big but.
You need to know all of that stuff so that you can change it when you need to. Things will be different than you assume they will be. Something will come up. Something will break. Something will work better than expected.
Usually, when a client sees their site for the first time, even after they planned it and agreed to it in detail, they want changes. It happens every time. I have NEVER built a site to plan and had the client approve it without changes. Doesn’t happen. It won’t happen to you either.
Just be ready for it when it comes, because it’s coming.
Posted in content, development, marketing, small business website, web traffic | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
Dwight D. Eisenhower:
“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
Posted in small business website | No Comments »
Monday, December 15th, 2008
She doesn’t mention the idea of using search terms, your keywords in your URL. That’s the best way to get found for those search terms.
Choose the Best Name for Your Business Web Site | The Small Business Blog
Some business owners get caught in the trap of thinking their business name and their domain name have to match. They don’t. Schultz advises you think of your potential URL as more than just a name, but as a descriptive call to action as well. And, he adds, think locally. For example, a plumber might choose as his or her URL “BestPlumberOnWestside.com.”
Think of your potential URL as more than just a name, but as a descriptive call to action as well.
Once you buy your domain, your job isn’t over. Remember that your URL is your Internet identity. Use it as your e-mail address. Schultz advises that your domain name appear on your business cards, in your e-mail signature, and on all your marketing materials and other business collateral. And spread the word. Get registered on all the search directories, social networking sites, and rating sites like Yelp or Angie’s List. Ask your customers to go to the various rating sites and rate their experiences with your business.
Domain names are cheap enough that you can buy one whenever you get a good idea, years before you actually start the business. I own around two dozen URLs. Some may never see the light of day, but I have high hopes for a few of them.
No more excuses. Coming up with a domain name is fun, easy, and inexpensive. How many business activities can you say that about?
Read the entire article at Choose the Best Name for Your Business Web Site | The Small Business Blog
Posted in DNS, SEO, domain name, free, marketing, promotion, small business website | No Comments »
Friday, December 12th, 2008
I finally got the book done and up on the site. The sales page is done and you can actually buy it now at www.websitestarterkit.com
There’s a bonus of one month of email support if you buy it now. That won’t last forever, but I’m not sure yet when I’ll stop offering that.
Posted in marketing, small business website | No Comments »
Thursday, December 11th, 2008
Google and your users like to see regularly updated content. It’s just the way things are. In the old days, you got the morning paper every day. Today, you read the morning RSS feed every day.
No one will see it until that date rolls around.
Wordpress has the ability to schedule a post to be published anytime on any date that you want it. You can go away on vacation and it will keep on pushing out the content. No one will ever know you’re gone.
When you write your post, edit the date, over there on the right, to some time in the future. Go ahead and publish it. No one will see it until that time and date rolls around. Schedule a bunch at one time or just write when you want. It will publish them on the regular schedule that you decide.
Posted in Free Small Business Web Site, domain name, small business website, web host | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
Everyone knows that the economy is in trouble. How should you react as a small business owner? How are you going to pay the rent next month? Which employee are you going to let go? How will you keep your current clients? Don’t panic.
The easiest and quickest budget item fora small business to cut back on is marketing. There’s no immediate affect felt, so you think it might be safe to cut, but nothing could be worse for your business. The Harvard Business Review said:
It is well documented that brands that increase (marketing) during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times.
The best time to take advantage of your place in the market is in an economic downturn. Because other people are quick to cut marketing, you will have the perfect opportunity to reach even more prospective customers. In a downturn, aggressive PR and Communications strategy is the solution.
Building or updating your web site is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to reach those prospective customers. Now is the time to put some time into reviewing your web site. Does it say everything it needs to say about your small business? Can you add features that allow more customer involvement or at least feedback? Maybe it’s time to have a professional review your site and give you suggestions on how it can be improved.
Now is the time to spend more on advertising, not less.
Posted in marketing, small business website | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources » Blog Archive » How to Convert More Website Traffic into More Customers & Sales by Inviting Prospects to Take Action
Here Are 3 Easy “Calls to Action” to Convert More Website Traffic into Sales on the About Us, Media and Contact Us Pages
1. On the “About Us” page, after your bio, add a powerful client testimonial praising your expertise and your measurable and specific impact on the client’s bottom line. Then add the line “Ready for these kinds of results in your organization? Click here to get started now!” (This links to the contact page).
This call to action, in fact, can be used for any page that does not have an obvious next step.
2. Your “Media” page should not just be a collage of logos. It should contain short videos of your TV appearances, audio clips of your radio interviews or featured-expert interviews on teleseminars. It should also include links to the articles where you were quoted or links to your articles that got published on the top websites. Let the world see what a sought-after, in-demand expert you really are.
With that being said, a simple, but effective call to action would be, “Sarah B. Marketer looks forward to being the featured expert on your next program. To schedule her appearance right now click here.” (This links to the Contact page.)
3. The Contact page, by definition, is a call to action. It needs to take your visitor by the hand and lead them through the next step.
It should not just be a page that displays your mailing address, phone number, and main corporate e-mail. Rather, it should lead with a paragraph that congratulates the reader for their decision to take action. Then, it should explain the process for getting in touch with you. It should also describe what someone should expect once they contact you.
Next, guide them through a simple web form that asks specific questions. This way you can do your homework and present prospects with a specific response and action plan. Make sure to keep this form as brief as possible, and only ask questions that directly inform how you and your visitor would do business together in the near future.
Having a web form, rather than just a link to your e-mail address, guides your visitor to take a specific action. This raises their level of commitment to you and increases your chances that they will buy from you.
Bottom line: Make sure that every page on your website provides a roadmap for your visitor with a specific call to action. This is the only way your prospects will reach the destination that you prepared for them. And, it’s the only way you will increase your website sales conversions.
Read the entire article at SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources » Blog Archive » How to Convert More Website Traffic into More Customers & Sales by Inviting Prospects to Take Action
Posted in content, development, marketing, small business website, web host | No Comments »
Saturday, December 6th, 2008
Web Site Starter Kit First Draft is done!
I need to go back through it all and review it, but the basic idea of using Wordpress.com to set up a free web site is a good one. I have all kinds of tips and tricks to make that the best possible web site you can get, including SEO and promotion of the site.
As an example, I created a free site aimed at 3 keywords. Within 3 weeks of creating it, it was number 3 in the search results for those keywords in Google. That shocked even me. This SEO stuff really works.
Of course, now that I’ve written it all out, Wordpress is releasing a new version and the admin interface is very different. It’s in production on wordpress.com, but the downloadable version is not available yet. It should be any day now.
When it is available, I’ll go do screenshots and the book will be ready to sell. It will be aimed at small businesses, really small ones, and in addition to background on general good web site ideas, it will have a “free” and a “cheap” method for creating web sites.
It should be all done and ready to go by next week.
Posted in Free Small Business Web Site, SEO, Web Site Starter Kit, content, design, development, domain name, free, marketing, promotion, small business website, web host, web traffic | No Comments »
