Apr 13, 2012

New Website (Photo credit: J Garrattley)
1. “I can’t afford a website.”
So you have your next-door neighbor’s teenager build you one? Please.
Many people confuse the democracy of the Internet (everyone is there!) with “free.” Many forget that, a decade or two ago, we were all spending a lot more money on ads, printed newsletters, mailings, and brochures. It was important to market professionally, and it still is. (more…)
Mar 19, 2012

Matt Cutts (Photo credit: Thomas Hawk)
As it turns out, yes. Even though it was just in 2010 that Google’s Matt Cutts said otherwise.
The good news is that Google’s recent announcement that a web site can be “overly SEO’d” is all part of a bigger plan to keep the web the democracy that it is. (more…)
Dec 20, 2011

Google Analytics’ graphical representation of visitor flow
Soon, you’re going to hear a lot more about why web site usability is the new black.
Usability enjoyed a bright but brief heyday in the early 2000s as people realized that they could make web sites that looked better than black type with blue links on a white page. Unfortunately, usability was stomped on by the rapid rise of search engine optimization in 2003 or so. (more…)
Nov 25, 2011
First, why do you want to manage your brand name across social networks? (more…)
Oct 18, 2011

Image by FindYourSearch via Flickr
I had a good laugh with a client recently. He had come to me to optimize a very large web site.
He’s the kind of client I love.
He understands that he doesn’t know (nor can he do) everything himself on his web site. At least right now. He is willing to learn.
Right at the start I told him I could save him money if he was willing to roll up his shirtsleeves. He was. He had, after all, developed more than 100 pages of rich content. (more…)
Oct 14, 2011

Image via Wikipedia
Iconstantly warn my web clients: “It’s the Wild, Wild West out there.”
For as much technology as we have, the ground rules of Internet search engine success aren’t clear. And nearly every day I hear about a potential problem that could have been solved by Setting Things Up Right in the First Place.
In other words, you need to control your own domain name. And other stuff.
I’ll keep this simple. And I’m speaking primarily to small and medium-sized businesses — the ones that outsource their IT or don’t have any IT that they know of. (more…)