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Monthly Archives: September 2009

Web Design, Search Engine Optimization, Data Backups, and Other Topics. Huh?

A non-web designer colleague asked this afternoon which topics a group of us techies would like to speak on:

• Computer security
• Backups
• Computer maintenance
• Web site development
• Search engine optimization

The grouping of ideas illustrates exactly how too many web designers approach a new site. Web design is one topic and optimizing the site for visibility on search engines is another subject all together.

Of course, one of the purposes of most business web sites is to attract new clients who stumble across the web site by searching Google or Yahoo or Bing or somewhere.

But, designers and their clients too often create a web site without focusing on the site’s purpose, getting new clients. The new site is structured without thought to showing up in search engine result pages. In fact, the new site may be difficult to modify to add search engine friendly text, graphics, or tagged information.

The problem is more broad: in today’s world of hyper-specialization, the creation of web sites has been deconstructed into too many discrete tasks, each lorded over by a guru who is quick to say that this or that aspect of a web site simply isn’t in their field.

There are the designers for the look of the site. There are usability experts. There are functionality designers who are distinct from coders that implement the functionality designed. And, different from all these experts is the search engine optimization analyst.

All of this specialization might be reasonable in a design project team for a major corporation. For 90% of small- and medium-sized businesses, the tunnel-vision specialization is detrimental.

Most businesses want to sit down with their web person and have the one expert create an Internet presence that will meet the commercial needs of the business. The business owner doesn’t expect to talk to one person about the site’s look, another about its friendliness to users, and still another person about placement in search engine results. The owner wants a general contractor who will build the site.

At best, separating the topics of web design and search engine optimization is another sign that the Internet is coming of age. It now supports a bureaucracy, or at least a Curia. It won’t be long before there are Search Engine Optimization college classes and technical certifications — if there aren’t already.

But, I question the awkward division of the unified task of web site development.

Most businesses cannot afford a web site project staffed with specialists and, I suppose, coordinated by a project manager. The businesses need a single web designer who takes into account visual appeal, usability, search engine optimization, and all other aspects of the site.

I enjoy seeing a business owner look over a new site that we created together. One where I may have even taken some of the photographs while designing the pages and tuning them for showing up in Google.

My customers cannot afford an army of Internet technicians working on their site. And, they don’t need one so long as we remember the business goals of the business web site.

So, I suggested to my colleague that I would be happy to give a presentation on web design that would include tips on search engine optimization. We’ll see what he says.

By |2009-09-30T18:56:52-07:00September 30th, 2009|Search Engine Optimization, Web Design|2 Comments
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It's Not Stealing If They're Your Friends?

So, you find a really neat article on a topic that relates to your business and you want to share the find with your clients and visitors to your website.

Here’s a scenario I run into frequently with clients.

You’re not a thief, so you make sure that you give credit in the re-posting to the original author. You even link to the author’s page. You mark up the article a bit to emphasize what’s important to your clients, but the entire article — byline and all — is still there. You send the article to me to post to your website with some nice graphic.

I ask if you have permission from the author to copy their work.

You say that you’re acknowledging their authorship and that you’re just spreading their expertise and helping their reputation.

I ask if you have permission from the author to copy their work.

You ask if I can’t just put up the page. You’re sure no one will mind.

I ask you to confirm that you’re ready to indemnify me and to defend me at your cost for any copyright claims by third parties.

Let me confess that I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on television. However, I understand something about intellectual property rights and respect the right of creators to be able to determine where their work is shown.

By default, creative works, including Internet postings, are copyrighted by their creators and no one can use them without permission. The author or artist doesn’t have to do anything special to have copyright rights.

Permission to use someone’s work may be very easy to get. I have been emailed at least a couple of times by people wanting to copy an image on my personal website. The emails explained what the photos would used for and also told me that there would be a credit line but no money. I readily agreed to each request, flattered that someone liked my photography. I think my reaction is a typical one.

In the case of web article or blog entries a lot of authors would love to be considered an expert whose opinion is worth repeating. Re-posting their work with a link back to their website offers them exposure and a chance to sell their services.

Permission to copy is also sometimes granted on the website. Instead of saying nothing or “All Rights Reserved”, a copyright holder may choose to use a Creative Commons or other model copyright statement that specifies that people can re-use their work in some — or all — situations.

Copying from your friends (even those friends you’ve never met in person) expands the store of knowledge you can share with your clients. You look good for sharing valuable information. At the same time, the original author gains stature and potential clients for their own business.

Just make sure you say “Please” and get permission before you do the copying!

By |2009-09-25T14:31:31-07:00September 25th, 2009|Professional Services, Web Design|1 Comment
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Get More Newsletter Readers: Answer the Spam Challenge

Spam challengeMore and more people are trying to cut down on the spam that floods their in-boxes. Some Internet Service Providers like Earthlink and Web Hosting Services like Webmasters.com offer built-in spam challenging logic to their email accounts. Because I have several active email accounts I use Spamarrest to limit what gets passed along to my inbox.

These spam-limiting features all work by finding out who sent the email to you and then doing one of three things.

  • If the sender is someone you know of and approve, the message will be forwarded to your inbox.
  • If the sender is someone you know of and have blocked, the message is deleted.
  • If the sender is someone you don’t know, the sender is sent a request to verify that they are a human and not an automated spammer (see example at the right). If the sender responds to the challenge within 7 days, I get their original message and they are put on my list of approved correspondents. If the sender does not respond, their message is deleted in 7 days.

A huge majority of my email, over 95%, is in this third category. And, a huge majority of those messages are from automated spammers who never answer the spam challenge and whose messages are deleted in a week.
Spam statistics

Occasionally I look through the hundreds of messages from unknown senders. Whenever I do, I usually see a newsletter or group mailing from someone I wouldn’t mind hearing from.

But, they didn’t answer the spam challenge.

This failure to respond is a wonky waste of time. Their business has spent hours of time — and therefore lots of money — preparing the mailing to me. But, after they mail their message, they don’t go through the replies to the newsletter to see that my automated service didn’t recognize the newsletter’s email address and wanted to verify that there were people behind the message.

All the newsletter writer would have to do would be to click on the link in the challenge email and then fill in a CAPTCHA or answer a question. They would only have to do it one time, because the the email address would be added to the approved list and future editions of their newsletter would be delivered automatically.

Worse, in my experience sending newsletters, a fair number of clients and prospects will reply to the newsletter itself with questions or even orders. If the sending business hasn’t assigned anyone to read the replies, then it is missing business in addition to readers.

It’s simple. If you send out an electronic newsletter, give someone in your organization the task of reading replies sent to the newsletter address. Have them answer the spam challenges. Tell them to answer the messages placing new orders, too!

By |2009-09-22T07:01:57-07:00September 22nd, 2009|Marketing|0 Comments
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Professional Resume Writer Gets a Mini-Site

Resume writing service's owner Jerome ImhoffThis morning we published the first edition of a resume writing service’s site. Jerome has been a professional in staffing for over 10 years and started his business to help people get jobs in this troubled economy (or, to be ready for the coming boom in re-employment).

Congratulations, Jerome!

If you’re resume is looking tired or if you’re ready to spend some time with a job coach, see what Jerome can do for you!

By |2009-09-15T09:59:29-07:00September 15th, 2009|Sample Clients, Web Design|0 Comments
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Contact Galen

Please email Galen your comments or questions.

Telephone: 415.347.6479

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