Art of Praise is a website run by Perth artist Barbara Holland who specialises in creating Christian art for this popular and growing niche market. She is also open to selling other works by religious artists.

• Art pieces added regularly
• Paypal selling for each artwork
• Interface adapts for mobiele devices
• www.artofpraise.net
• Lifetime support

• Allows articles to be uploaded
• Ability to comment on each article
• No nonsense interface
• www.centre-ethics-law-society.com
• Lifetime support

So on the one hand, your business name is relatively safe, but on the other, Australian domains are at least twice as expensive and can take 10 times longer to set up. To find the registrar of record for a particular Australian domain name, use the public WHOIS service.

Domain names are becoming less important

Are Domain Names Important from mariz cute on Vimeo.

Your domain name and web site are separate

Many people don’t realise that their domain name (the url of a site e.g. www.yourname.com) and their server space are completely independent of each other. You can point a domain name to any server.

What is my server?

Your server is a computer connected to the Internet. It’s literally a computer like the one you have now, except it’s plugged into the internet. Your site is literally on a hard drive in a directory. Commonly referred to as hosting, your server is the place where your database and website files live. Text, images, graphics are stored on your server.

Okay. What’s a database and why do I need one?

You’ll need a database if you’re planning to update your site. Unlike a web page running JavaScript (a simple but very effective programming language for web pages) a database retains information over time. A web page alone can’t really do that. Well it can, but not for very long. When you go from one page to the next, any data stored in a page script such as JavaScript is lost. So JavaScript is not very useful for storing stuff long term.

What is a domain name?

You can buy a domain name anywhere across the web. Once you’ve bought your $7 .com domain name, in your domain name settings, you can “point” it to the server where your website lives. Australian domain names cost $35 for 2 years (wholesale), most of which is made up of the Australian domains admin fee.

Is there any advantage to buying multiple domain names?

A lot of people buy several domain names because they are relatively cheap at about $7 wholesale (April, 2012). You can park other domains over the top of a parent domain, but unless you are actually going to build a separate website for each domain name, there’s not much else you can do with additional domain names. They are useful if you are thinking about building another website further down the track or if you intend to hold on to them for the sole purpose of keeping them from competitors. This defensive move is probably not necessary because it’s a million times more important to have an effective website.

What’s a parent domain name?

It’s best to build your website on top of the most meaningful domain name (and park your business name on top of it). I didn’t do this. My domain name is www.geoffreymultimedia.com which is not that meaningful. Www.websites.com would be more meaningful because that’s what I do. In hindsight, I should have parked www.geoffreymultimedia.com over that domain name.

Google tends to give the most attention to your domain name and then the title of your site (as well as quality in-bound links and headers etc. Read more about search engine optimisation for humans here.). I would be more likely to be found in a search for “websites” than “geoffrey” or even “multimedia” for that matter. But all this is academic. It’s really better to have a nicely functioning website.

Is this domain name dance important?

Ultimately, in business terms, it doesn’t matter what your domain name is. One question to ponder is is my domain name easily communicable by phone?. I have issues with Geoffrey because it can be spelt so many ways. Is your domain name able to be found by the search engines or is there simply too much competition? You ought to really have a site which is worth going to in the first place (read this treatise on creating the perfect website).

Most websites are about a company’s vanity and the overall design. But content is and always has been the absolute most important thing about your website.

A warning about domain names

As a general rule : don’t punch your potential domain name into any old website form when searching for a new domain. Web form info can end up anywhere and in some cases, simply searching for your domain name triggers a behind the scenes script which automatically reserves that name. It’s cruel but true. The hosting provider where you searched for a domain name can reserves it because you have searched for it. If you go looking elsewhere for that domain name, you find that someone mysteriously already has it, or at best, you have to use their server to host your site.

Punch potential names into your browser’s address bar in the very short term – and if the site address comes up with a “not found” – put an order in with your webmaster. We know where to go. Your web guy (probably a guy) will want a 2nd and possible 3rd choice – just in case the domain is already taken.

The last word on registering a domain name

• Think search engines first and forget about your company name. “Www.refurbishedshoes.com” is more likely to give better search results than “www.dinklewear.com.au” in a search for “refurbished shoes”. While Dinklewear may be a respectable family name – on the web, Dinklewear has no meaning and your aim is to sell shoes.
• Search engines give preference to domain names with the search term inside it.
• Keep control of your domain name. Don’t give it to your web design company (just point it to their servers). Register your domain first and then find a good server. Most web companies (not Geoffrey) will host your website on their computer. Later down the track you might decide to go with another host or web developer and getting your old domain name back – particularly if it’s your company name – can be troublesome.

To cut a long story short, web companies don’t like losing money and often make it very difficult for the new developer to retrieve your domain name.

My general advice is to buy the domain name yourself and point that name to a reputable server of your own. That way, if something goes wrong, or you have a falling out with your developer (that’s never happened here at Geoffrey Multimedia) the domain name is under your control.

If you do get into domain name bother

Most people usually have irrelevant or useless domain names, so if that’s you, it might be a good idea to just let it go and purchase a more useful name for your industry.

I hope this has helped. If I could get paid for the many hours I’ve spent retrieving domain names from sneaky web companies, I’d probably be rich. Don’t forget, that even though we write these articles, Geoffrey Multimedia also builds beautiful websites, so get in touch with us if you’re in the market and want a no-obligation chat about your website plans.

Until next week, happy domain name hunting.

• Australian domain name administration
• Australian WHOIS service
• .com, .net and .org domain names cost about $7 (wholesale)
• .com.au, .net.au and .org.au domain names cost $35 for 2 years (wholesale)

Jim’s new website boasts

• PayPal integration for book sales
• Ability to update pages and add new photos
• Ability to add images to the main slideshow
• Main page becomes slideshow if no mouse activity
• www.jameskerrphotography.com/
• Lifetime support

Jim’s new website to-do list

Jim Kerr’s site is a work in progress. We’re adding functionality to Jim’s site as we build.

• Camera logo / icon to be added (Home Button)
• Import book and sales information
• Add multiple galleries

One way to get people talking is to include a blog and comment section on your website.

You allow others to respond to the article by switching on the comments section at the bottom of each piece. After all, you’d love to hear what others think about what you have to say, especially if they are talking on your site. It’s actually a bit exciting. Even if only 2 or 3 people (including your Mum) actually read the article.

Not only do you welcome comment, but you actively seek out similar web-based conversations, and decide to leave comments on other people’s blog, news or article posts. For business reasons, you always link back to your own website where you can. Your own followers can comment on specific aspects of a topic or hone in on a general debate, but your aim here is not to garner back-links for SEO (Yes, links that point to you will sneak you up the search charts) it’s really just to enliven a debate you feel very passionate about.

A website article should aim to help people

When finally everyone is in bed, you arc up the computer, log into your website and open up a new blog or news page. You read your last article and decide to write something completely different. You decide to write a helpful article. A tip or industry trick that not many people know about. You infuse it with your many years of industry expertise, adding a sprinkle of sage advice where appropriate. You aim to help a future customer (no – scratch that) you offer help without the aim of bringing in new custom or selling your product. It’s a relatively short piece, but you enjoy writing it and fancy yourself as a bit of a writer. Maybe you’ll write a novel one day.

This isn’t about lead generation. Your grand aim is actually to make the world a better place. Yeah, I know – stay with me …

It’s a relatively short piece and you find you actually have a secret little thing for writing. Maybe you’re not very good now, but you can always email a link to your out-of-work writer friend who can give it the once over for a polish later. They are “writing a novel.” Maybe you will one day, too.

Reveal an industry secret or two

In the short term, you treat prospective customers as you would like to be treated yourself. Over time you let loose a few trade secrets. Not too many. Your competitors might be reading this. Perhaps you hang on to your price list. But over the weeks, you consider some of the following ;

• How can you help people?
• How can you illuminate something about your industry?
• What advice can you give away for free?
• What do you really care about?

You’ve written four articles now, but there’s not a single comment. You check your web site traffic report. The numbers are going up marginally. Your bounce rate is better (that’s the rate at which people come to your site and then leave in a hurry). The figures aren’t impressive, but they are on the up. Five weeks have passed.

The lights are on and someone is home.

Comments on your blog

Incy-wincy Google Bot web-crawler

Google bot is a bit like Father Christmas. People who have been good are rewarded with a good position in search while the really naughty ones are sometimes banned from search results pages.

Every week the spider is told (by an automatically written XML script on your site) that your site has been updated. So every Monday morning, just before he has breakfast, Googlebot (the little spider’s name) trudges over to check out the new content that you wrote the night before. Googlebot goes off and finds similar useful tid-bits like yours. He collates them, but he is impressed mostly because you have written great and useful article without a single thought for search engine spiders like himself.

After a few weeks, you’ll find yourself looking forward to your writing session.

People may not want to buy your product right now, but they are keen and subscribe to your site and link to it from their own.

The pen is mightier than the sword

Multimedia caters for different learners

People absorb information in different ways. Some like to watch. Others like to listen. Reading is the obvious way, but a combination of all 3 learning styles is often best.

You try to take your ego out of the equation.

This proves difficult, because more and more people are subscribing to your website. You want to make the world a better place and, even though you could move a few more widgets off that back shelf, for now you genuinely want to help people.

Your aim is true.

Reaping what you sow

300 complementary industry websites now point to your article because what you are saying needed to be said. You filled a communication gap between your industry and potential buyers. Your industry brothers and sisters are now familiar with your regular website updates and look forward to reading them nearly as much as you now look forward to writing them.

Competitors are your peers whether you like it or not. You’re in this together. Why not help each other out?

Industry competitors are often seen as rivals. But what would happen if you saw them as possible business partners? After all, because of your regular updates, your peers already regard you with respect – as a leader in the field. Some even take your sage advice and consider you a great teacher.

You haven’t even thought about putting your product page up there yet (although it’s tempting). You hold off on selling for a couple more weeks. “Let’s see how this goes,” you say to yourself.

Strangers are friends in disguise

While many people are nosey and will check you out on the web, not many people will let you know that they read your stuff. Perhaps they are shy, or like you, a little ginger about revealing their poor grammar and spelling. They don’t have your (growing) confidence.

For every one person who leaves a comment, there are 25 who would have said the same thing.

Your website future is bright

Yours is now close to being the perfect website.

Sure you sell widgets and you need to move widgets, but your regular visitors enjoy reading your thoughts every Monday. You now have their undivided attention for at least ten minutes every week.

Go forth and build the perfect website

In fact, if your product is the perfect product, then you are probably already building the perfect website – because it’s in your nature.

• Slick Design (dark background)
• Ability to up-date in-house
• Customer testimonials
• Lifetime support

Visit Wayne at : www.faranda-solar-electrical.com

On April 17th 2012, Chris Hilder of InPicture Productions and Edwin Lynch hosted an evening for the Shire of Swan business community. Their talk was about video and website technology.

Chris and Edwin met at the Ellenbrook business networking function. As it turns out, the work they do is different but there is a lot of overlap. Chris works with digital video, editing and post production special effects (for ads and corporate videos and presentations) while Edwin build websites that incorporate video and animation.

What Constitutes a Successful Business Website in 2012?

Additional website tips

It’s okay to rank #1 in a Google search, but your website MUST be worth visiting in the first place.

Employ SEO in moderation

It may not even be necessary. There’s a current fixation with being in the number one top spot. It can be done but it will cost you thousands and it’s actually the lazy way to get inbound, regular traffic. I actually offer SEO services for my clients, but try to analyse the underlying issue of website “stickiness” and conversion rates rather than patch up the problem. I once had a client who was making thousands from only 30 regular monthly visitors. All of this has to do with your approach to having a website. Many people think that paying for a website means that’s one less thing they have to do.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. A website is the beginning of a long process and in theory, your site should be in a constant state of change – evolving with both the available technology (such as the presentations above) and the needs of your business.

How to make your business website sticky

Google’s latest (Panda) update has turned SEO back to on-page factors rather than in-bound links.

Spending thousands to be at the top is unnecessary. Put your “I’m Number One” ego on the back-burner and ask yourself the hard question : Why anyone would want to come and visit my website in the first place? A good website has great content which is updated regularly. Not many people can write good copy, but the ones that do are being rewarded daily by Google. Google rewards people who are contributing something to their industry on a regular basis. This is than ever the case since Google’s recent Panda update. Google rewards leaders in their field. You are more likely to get a higher ranking if Google sees one big websites with authority linking to you than a thousand SEO Company link farms.

What’s a brochure website?

A brochure website is one that sits there, promoting itself with the usual adverteeze (typical advertising language) and tired stock graphics. Like a brochure. Rarely changing. In my industry we call such sites “expensive business cards.”

The days of the brochure web site are done and dusted. A site has to be dynamic and changing. Check your statistics to see how many visitors are return visitors. People will only return to your site if there’s something to come back to. I’m talking about timely and informative new industry information, weekly competitions, freebies, sweepstakes or give-aways and monthly specials. Warnings about unfair practices in your industry. The aim of your site is to promote trust.

People who, over time, learn to trust you, will freely tout your wares to friends and relatives. All you have to is help them by giving them something useful on a regular basis.

InPicture Productions Slideshow

InPicture Productions Showreel

Transcription of Swan Valley business talks

Transcription services kindly provided by Speed & Accuracy.

Where this website talk was held

Simply being aware of what’s available in terms of web technology sets your business mind racing and opens you up to new opportunities.

The talk was held
• Where: The Brook Bar & Bistro
• When: Tuesday 17 April
• 5.30pm – 7.00pm

Lucky Door Prizes – drawn by Chris Hilder. Winners were ;

• Dominic Smith from Pristine Window Tinting (logo design and makeover)
• Glenn Yabula from Sign-a-Rama Midland (consultation and website appraisal)

Both talks were recorded with an H4 and can be heard above while watching the accompanying slide-shows.

References used in these talks

• Online education www.lynda.com for $250 per year
• “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug (book)
• LinkedIn social network (Edwin on LInkedIn)

My knee-jerk reaction is to say “No”, but there’s probably a bit of designer’s ego in that. Web designers are effectively modern vanity publishers and people like seeing their name (or logo) in all its glory. One can’t be too rude when it comes to client vanity.

The reasons why I don’t encourage a really big logo are pretty simple.

A bigger logo will push content down.

When you ask your web designer to make your logo bigger, also ask yourself – Is this the best possible thing for the website?

Great content is the sole reason why visitors come to your website. If you aren’t keeping your site refreshed every week with new and industry related content, you’re not really playing the game. It’s the main reason why people will return to your site.

Your logo doesn’t really play a big part of your site’s navigational hierarchy.

By making your website logo bigger, headings, sub-headings, some associated graphics and page text will also have to be adjusted. Minor site changes affect other items on the page. As a web designer, I’m trying to cram as many things as possible into just 900 x 700 pixels (roughly the size of your site when viewed on a small monitor such as a tablet).

Check out this fun ad for “Make My Logo Bigger Cream”

Nobody cares about your logo.

Sad, but true. Nobody cares about small men who drive big cars. The bigger your logo, the more insecure your company looks – especially if the logo is interfereing (or even dictating) the design of your web site.

It’s always refreshing when clients tell you that their logo is too big.

Potential clients don’t really care about your logo. If it affects the position of important content, pushing news items below the fold (the bottom of the monitor) they may not see some important parts of the site. Making you logo smaller will give you more page real estate.

When one considers that the average time spent on your home page is about three seconds, can you really afford to have that third news item or product special drop off the bottom of a laptop or tablet screen?

It’s not your logo size that matters. It’s how it affects your pixels.

Having some technological awareness gives you an edge. We’re in the cool school if we have a tablet or we actually know how to use our smart phone. A professional web site design or layout can cost between three thousand and three million dollars (the website owner makes it really great – not the designer). You can pay as little as $500 if you want. Like with most things, you usually get what you pay for.

Technological illiteracy is very profitable. If a client doesn’t know where a button is, a company will happily invoice you for every press.

Technology has enabled charlatans, sharks and cowboys to find new and exciting ways to prise money out of your wallet.

Development “teams”

Sometimes it does takes a team of people to develop a website. Other times it can be done by just one web designer with a bit of computer knowledge and some creative flair. Making web sites is considered by most non-tech people to be a black art. But it’s not.

Let me demystify . . .

Here is the basic code for every website on the planet (shh!)

<html>
<head><title>Lawnmowing Perth</title></head>
<body>Lawn and edge mowing services in Perth, Western Australia</body>
</html>

Yup! That’s it. Class dismissed.

The above example has been (mildly) optimised for search engines for a Perth-based Lawnmower service.

Of course, it gets trickier than this example, but the basics are the same – a header, title and body.

Web designing in 2012

In 2012, anyone can turn a life hobby into a thriving business. All you need is a web site. While on the plus side we are seeing a massive resurgence in The Great Cottage Industry, not everybody in business knows exactly how to do business. In my experience, some web design companies (and individuals) act like very insecure sharks during a feeding frenzy.

There’s a big demand for web sites and website makeovers. And where there’s a big demand, people get ripped off left right and centre.

Even reputable web companies have bills to pay.

Ruthless Web Design Companies

Doing as little as humanly possible for as much money as one can get should not be the aim of your web design firm (or freelancer – read about me and why I love making websites) but more often than not, it is.

Oh, heck. That’s not new, that’s Capitalism! …

When people are happily paying $50,000 for websites which are only worth $10,000 – someone’s eventually going to find out. My bet is that even genuine, medium-sized web design firms won’t be around for much longer. They have to turn a profit, pay wages, maternity leave and huge rents. That’s why they sell $3,000 websites for $20,000. You are paying for overheads.

In my opinion, buying cheap is not necessarily the best way to approach your website. Get 6 quotes (not three) and read the paperwork. It’s definitely worth your while.

More often then not the same job can be done by one person (or at least one designer and one programmer). Really big companies survive by competing on price. There’s always someone looking for a bargain.

A Website for Under $2,000?

If you go with a large company OR you are buying a site for under $2,000 – DO your homework and at least be marginally aware of the issues.

Some questions you might like to ask

• Ask for FTP access (Most companies won’t give you this readily).
• Insist on your own or an independently hosted server (not theirs).
• Ask them to list exactly what they will do for the money.
• Make sure you can update pages yourself.
• Make sure you can add news items yourself.
• Make sure you can upload images to your news posts and pages.
• Read the fine print before signing a contract.

Cheap companies are like cheap printers. Bought a printer cartridge recently?

In my opinion, you’re probably not getting a good deal if the site is less than $2,000 and you can do all the things listed above. If you are not being sold a dud, the independent designer / web developer might be new to the business and has probably under-quoted. He / she will find that out the hard way during the cold months. Under-quoted jobs eventually go to the bottom of the pile. We all know Hungry Jacks pays $15/hr, so if you’re web designer is building sites for less than that, it gives you an idea of the experience and may reflect on the quality.

Is less than $2,000 really less than $2,000

I know more than a few people who have paid $5,000+ for what was originally supposed to be an $1,800 web site. Sometimes you get what you pay for. More often than not you get a lot less. What you don’t get is usually not listed in the job sheet, so save that above shopping list.

Ignorance is Bliss

Most (ruthless) companies are run by bosses who have no idea what their just-out-of-uni workforce is doing for their clients. And when the 20-something whiz-kid who actually coded your site leaves their company it’s up to the next new kid to de-cypher his code. Guess who pays for that de-cyphering time?

Non-ruthless companies write good, clean standards-compliant code that everyone can read. You only have to right-click a website to see the code. As a general rule, if it’s easy to read, search engines will probably also find it easy to read.

Many companies are still using Flash or coding with HTML Tables! (CSS layout replaced tables in 1999).

As long as we pay the kids $25 per hour and we charge ‘em out at $180+ per hour, who cares, right?

Well I actually care for one. Your overpricing practice is damaging my industry. People are buying pig’s ears for gold bars.

A lot of clients leaving big companies treat me with suspicion. Are you one of them? Will you also rip me off? I can literally see prospective clients thinking that. If you are paying $200 per hour for a website build and the boss is paying the only person working on your website $25/hr, then you’re not getting what you’re paying for. Simple maths. Sure there are ongoing costs. Rent, electricity, software. But really – are you happy with a 10,000% mark-up?

If you’re paying $15,000 for a basic website with text and a gallery (i.e. “too much”) I guarantee you that someone fresh out of school will be the sole worker on your site.

The Rise and Rise of the under-cutting web developer

Independent web designers (like me) can undercut any reputable (or otherwise) web firm easily. I have (almost) no cost when I build a web site because I work from home and code using the free Notepad++. All I need is a computer, a brain and notepad. It’s my skill and problem-solving ability that you pay for. Why give most of your budget to a big boss when you can pay the guy who actually builds your site?

Deal direct and save.

The Lure of Big Business

Many moons ago, I was asked if I wanted to be a partner in a company. It was a great bunch of guys and we’d all worked with each other. Everyone was “good with money” and a company structure was a natural idea as we all got on really well. Unfortunately, I’m happy designing and building web sites all by myself. The guys went on to build a reputable company with offices all around the world. But that’s not my bag.

I attract clients in my own way (mostly by word of mouth or via social media). The idea of running a company bores me. It feels like turning a fun paying hobby (my current job) into a nine-to-five “going concern.” I have worked for a lot of businessmen and entrepreneurs and really don’t see myself as the “hiring and firing, boardroom-meeting, home-by-6pm” type.

I’ve seen terrible websites and I’ve dealt with crying clients who have come to me after paying tens of thousands for a really basic website built by a larger company. In some cases, they haven’t been ripped off, they’ve just bought a website from a company that needs to turn over product and pay staff. Or one that is run inefficiently from the top down.

And that’s the problem.

Open Source CMS Software

Get in touch. I’ll have a long mac with one sugar, thanks!

If Fortune 500 web sites are all running simple WordPress installs (which is the majority of sites I build) I can’t see why anyone needs to pay too much for a basic web site. And more for administrative access. Thanks to Open Source CMS technologies like Drupal, Joomla and WordPress, massive websites can be built by just a few people. Or more often than not in my case, just me. All you pay for is my time – and the coffee.

Sometimes it is.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a very misunderstood term. In the web design industry, the term is oft met with scorn and sidelong glances. Even Google Webmaster Central warns about dubious SEO operatives.

If an SEO firm says they can get you to the top of page 1 in a search, they’re more interested in taking your money than telling you the facts.

Nobody knows how Google’s algorithm works. It’s a closely guarded secret because billions of dollars are at stake.

Google have been accused of anti-competitive business practices because that very algorithm often determines who gets the business. Add this to the fact that many of your competitors are also employing SEO experts and it’s easy to see why SEO is often referred to as “The Google Dance.”

With too many people on the SEO dance floor, your toes will get crushed. So why dance in the first place? Why not simply build a better website?

Black & White Hat SEO Marketing

I’ve had sites banned from search results because I unwittingly employed Black Hat SEO techniques.

Doing things such as;

• innocently using the same phrase too many times on a home page
• using invisible writing (white text on white background)
• using 0 size (zero pixel) keyphrases

will get you banned by Google. Search engines consider Black Hat SEO techniques “spamming.” They send spiders (little programs) to crawl the web looking for genuine and viable sites. If you are caught “cheating” the natural flow, they see you as a spammer. It’s completely understandable and you know what? As a reformed web developer, I’m with them.

More blatant techniques such as building doorway websites with the aim of funnelling customers to your main website or flooding search engine results with your results are also considered “Black Hat” or “unfair” by search engines. If caught using these techniques, you’ll find yourself mysteriously omitted from the search results.

In my case, I was banned for a month and my client lost a LOT of business (we’re friends again, now). I’m currently doing an SEO audit as many clients have asked for Search Optimisation services.

The best thing you can do is build a great website. Google always finds me (and my client sites) and ranks me highly in search. I don’t really care about being number one as I have enough work. It’s hard to accept praise for getting a client to number one in their industry when all that may have happened is that other SEO operatives might have been having a sandwich at the time.

Search engines want to give humans genuine results, not manipulated responses to a search query.

SPAM is bad, mmm’kay?

I’m forever deleting spam from my inbox, sent to me by self-proclaimed SEO experts promising higher rankings in search results and thousands of new customers. I get emails from clients asking if they need to “do anything” about seemingly important SEO emails.

My advice?

Write a blog.

Writing might actually be the hardest thing to do on Earth, but by jove, the pen is still far mightier than the sword.

Q : What do search engines do? (Click here)

While there are many things you can do to improve your web site ranking, you really need to keep your eye on the ball. That ball is NOT SEOnecessarily. Before obsessively monitoring your position on the Google search page like it’s a stock market, ask yourself a very simple question. Is your site worth visiting? There’s no point in ranking number one in a search for “hardware stores melville” if your site is impossible to navigate and you’ve forgotten to add a contact form. You have to be worth it.

Client : Why doesn’t anyone share my enthusiasm?

Stop promoting your services

One thing I’ve learnt in my 16 years as a webmaster, is that the web turns everything upside down. Literally. If your site is about promoting your services, increasing brand exposure, building a customer database and showcasing your awards … you’ve got it all wrong. That’s “old school” thinking. Your website isn’t for you. It’s for your customers. Sure. You’ll check your new web layout on your friend’s iPad, set it as your office homepage and gloat over your company history and embedded YouTube ad for hours. After all, you’ve come a long way. Plus, your logo looks great (although it could be bigger) and your company name ranks #1 in a Google search for “Homocentric Slippers.” You’ve made it!

Client : But where are the customers? This is the 24hr web. New customers should be pounding my door and I should be collecting untapped leads and making sales while I sleep. Something’s wrong.

Nothing is wrong.

Don’t subscribe to “if you build it they will come.” They will – for about 3.5 seconds on average – but if you’re boring or banging on about your company and your awards, they’ll quickly go find someone who can give them something worthwhile. There are plenty of other places to go.

You are enthusiastic about your new company website because it’s really a substitute for YOU. Nobody cares about your company unless they find something of value in it for themselves. Your employees will be loyal if you respect them, give them a pay rise, a bonus, or let them take the afternoon off. Customers will care if you include a few useful freebies with their swiftly delivered product.

Is there some way to offer an upgrade path on your physical item or service? Think outside the box?

If I’m going to buy a product, I’ll research it … to death. I’ll ask questions on Whirlpool Forums. Attending such forums and answering other people’s questions not only is good for business, but it’s good for SEO because it creates in-bound links. Sometimes price isn’t the only factor. Shipping, delivery details and speed of service might be important. I’m often interested in an “upgrade path.” It’s all the rage with software. Buy it today for $50 and when a new one comes out get 25% off!

The key to a successful website is to find an obvious (or overlooked) weakness in your market, and deal it properly on your website.

Find the weakness

It’s kind of why I’m writing this blog entry. SEO is such a minefield, that I really needed to get this off my chest. Also, to be honest, the web industry is full of sharks and charlatans, feeding off the technologically illiterate. I may get picked up by the Google search robot writing this article and (possibly) rank slightly highter on subjects like SEO, web development and web design in Perth, Western Australia, (there I go – seeding those crawlers, again) but my real volition here is to help wean small businesses (and people in general) off an unhealthy obsession with Search Engine Optimisation. Why rank highly if your site is nothing more than an egocentric business card floating in cyberspace? Why even have a website in that instance.

If you don’t want to put the effort in, it’s better to spend your money on a strategic letterdrop than build a website. I encouraged one client to do just that and he got lots of work. He came back two years later for a website.

I don’t know about you, but I want to visit a great website that is updated frequently with lots of information and customer feedback and reviews or the service etc. I want to go where other people go and I want to read about what they say about the company. Good and bad.

Blog about it …

Search engines read. In fact, until they come up with a better image recognition software, that’s all they do presently. So if you have something to say, write about it. And let others respond to your writing. Be brave. Go with the good and improve the bad.

If you take a look at all the great professional websites in the web design industry and you’ll notice something in common.

• www.sitepoint.com
• www.alistapart.com
• www.sixrevisions.com
• www.designfestival.com

All these web industry sites revolve around a blog structure for a reason.

My Company Name?

Nobody will search for your company name besides you. They might search for “comfortable slippers queensland” but they won’t tap in “homocentric slippers”. They’d be nuts, wouldn’t they? So why obsess about your company name – up there in lit pixels?

What do I do?

List 5 reasons why you visit 5 of your favourite websites and the answer will be staring right back at you.

You’ll probably find they are doing one or more of the following things.

• Giving users a voice.
• Answering questions publicly.
• Providing good service.
• Posting the good and the bad.
• Encouraging discussion.

They certainly won’t be obsessing about their company name or the size of their logo.

SEO Experts

Yes. There is such a thing as an SEO expert, but the only one I regularly read (and therefore trust) is Ian Lurie at Conversation Marketing. I read this marketing blog daily. He’s a sensible man who doesn’t do the hard sell and speaks plain English about search engines and what you can do to rank higher. Here’s a link to Ian’s site.

Interestingly enough, like the web professional sites listed above, Ian also presents information using a traditional blog format. He knows. The most important page on your site is your home page. And getting new content to the top of that page is best. If you are refreshing your website daily with regularly updated content (weekly is a close second), in the absense of a decent SEO budget, that should be all you need to worry about. That is, Providing you’ve had someone like me coding your site from the ground up – and with the Google search engines in mind.

I’ll leave you with one last question, because there’s another well-established industry that operates a lot like SEO …

Q : Would you pay for weather updates? (Click here)