Affordable Small Business Web Site Design

noreply@blogger.com (Sean Sloan) — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 03:32:00 +0000

Web Advertisement = Your Web Site -

The fact of the matter is that as advertising money normally allocated for print and even television advertisement moves to the Internet a stale or static website is no longer going to cut it. The time has come to realize that the place for your monthly advertising is on your web site, generating fresh, relevant content that will only add to your ability to be found using search engines. No longer should it be thought of as Search Engine Optimization, it should be thought of as Search Engine Engine Marketing.

As an example optimization can only happen when there is good, clearly written content to be opitmized. Think of as optimization as gravy to steak of the content. Here in lies the problem: many, many businesses seem to the hardest time writing about themselves. We have the solution in the form of a quick tutorial.

First of all, don't freak out, this is totally do-able. If you can talk about your business, and I have the feeling you can, you can write about it. Here are the steps:

1. Grab a pad and pen and push off from your computer. Find a quiet spot next to a cool stream... oof, sorry, back to reality...Do what you can to minimize distractions then quickly jot down everything about your company and products that you think make you better than your competitors. Crumple this up and throw it away, the first few thousand words that you usually write are no good anyway! (kidding!) This can be as simple as a bulleted list or stream of conscioussness/free association, the point is to get the ball rolling.

2. Now flesh out your headings/topics/bullet points with 2 solid paragraphs, about 150-250 words per product, service or topic item as a baseline minimum word count. Different search engines have different preferences here by making some of your articles 500 or more words long you'll cover the spectrum.

3. Look back a what you've written: does it take in to consideration an uninformed, first time web visitor by not using industry jargon or acronyms? Assume that you're aiming to the lowest common denominator in terms of visitors. If you're worried of how you appear then of course include some additional content for the more informed. There is no such thing as too much content but there are ways that it should be broken up in to logical and well titled parts.

4. Now the time has some to separate your from you competitors: keyword research so that you know exactly the terms that people are using to find businesses just like yours. There are several online tools: Overture (now Yahoo!), Google Keyword Tool, Wordtracker and others. These are the big 3. They will help you find the more obscure, tangentially related terms that still bring in a significant amount of visitors.

5. Publish and Submit: none of your material does anyone any good until is posted to your site, you sites new pages are submitted to the search engines and your new material is showing up in search engine results.

We have degreed and professional writers available to help you with an ongoing, monthly program of content updates. Even if we write it you will retain full editorial control. Give us a call at 949-722-6119 or www.seansloan.com.

noreply@blogger.com (Sean Sloan) — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:51:00 +0000

I have been getting a lot of requests for quotes on the "updating" of peoples web sites. What I have been telling them is that what they really need is an entirely new web site and if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense.

The web has changed so much, so fast that many, many people who put up sites in the initial burst of web activity (think late '90's, early 2000's) have sites that have NOT been updated since then, and it shows...

Inaccurate, out of date websites that don't reflect the latest Search Engine Optimization techniques and design principles ( CSS, standards compliance) portray your company in a not so positive light.

The issue of "updating" becomes a case of "new wine in old bottles" and that is why I counsel against it. In the vast majority of cases taking the time to modernize easily pays for itself with increased Search Engine traffic and web visibility.

If you're site is getting "long in the tooth" maybe its time to think about putting a fresh face forward with a completely new, content rich, modern design site.

noreply@blogger.com (Sean Sloan) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 03:40:00 +0000

All I can say is "Whoa!, have we been busy!".

Lot's of great things happening around here, lots of new learning, especially about some very interesting, future oriented subjects: forums and online community software, specifically vBulletin and all of its attendant software cousins: vBSEO, PhotoPost, vBPortal and Zoints.

Developing an honest to god online community is akin to the "Holy Grail" of web development for one main reason: your website builds itself! With a lot of hard work and a genuine love for your subject matter its possible to build and cultivate a vibrant community of like-minded individuals who look to your site as source of information and enjoyment.

Here's how it works:
1. Purchase and install the Forum software and additional feature that are right for you.
2. Seed the initial site with as much useful and interesting content as you can muster.
3. Invite friends, visit discussion groups, blog about your new community to get new members.
4. Tend your community with care by providing active involvement and administrative direction.
5. Actually leave your house and see that there is still earth, sky, grass and other human beings on this planet.

OK, that last one is a joke, kind of... more like a warning there IS a learning curve involved with these packages, to be certain but the thing is this: there are online communities ABOUT online communities, seriously, forums about forums, where you can talk with other folks about seriously geeky stuff.

We'll keep you updated as we learn more about the topic of online community, user generated content, forum software and related topics. If, perhaps, we can be of service to you feel free to visit our website www.seansloan.com

noreply@blogger.com (Sean Sloan) — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 02:50:00 +0000

Take Control of Your Business' Future:
Search Engine Optimization
In an ideal world your company's site would have been created with a Search Engine Optimized way from its inception. This means that it was designed with the intent that it be maximally "findable" when people search for it using search engines. More than likely, your web designer did exactly that, using their "best practices" and all the the tools and knowledge that they had at the time.

The problem is that over time the goal posts have been moved, the Search Engines (and here I'm talking about the big 3: Google, Yahoo! and MSN) have changed the way their Search Engines derive their search results, known as SERP's (search engine result pages). In fact these algorithms will continue to change over time, to be refined so that the search engines continue to produce ever more useful results for the web searcher. Does this consign you to an ongoing and expensive campaign of constant Search Engine Optimization? The answer, as usual, depends on a number of things, questions that only YOU can answer for your company.

Are you in a super-competitive industry that derives a majority of its actual sales or at least business leads from the web? Then the answer is probably Yes, you will need the services of a Search Engine Optimization/Search Engine Marketing expert. If, on the other hand, you don't yet derive a significant portion of your company's business from the web but you intend to increase that business then there's a lot of good news for you: There are affordable, "one time expense" type approaches that you can take to start your company on a sustainable, long-term program for a healthy "web future" for your company.

Here is the short list of Things to Do:
1. Have your site analyzed for its Search Engine Optimization, then fix it up.

Is your site a few years old? A lot has happened in terms of "web years", if your site is a few years old and hasn't been updated in the interim you may be better off starting fresh, keeping your existing URL (it has value called "aging") and creating a new, SEO-friendly design and a bunch of fresh content for the Search Engine Spiders to feed on.

2. Integrate an RSS Blog feed in to your existing site.

Its like having a mini-Content Management System integrated in to your site and its really easy and affordable to do. Of course first you'll need a blog, so get yourself over to www.blogger.com and sign up. Take the time to get a Google account first, it makes the whole experience better and actually more beneficial to you. Then get over to www.feedburner.com and set up a feed. Then all you have to do is integrate the Javascript code into your sites' HTML and away you go! Head hurt yet? Give us a call at 949-722-6119 and we'll help you set it all up.

3. Make sure you're listed in Google Maps, Yahoo! Maps and Superpages free listing

I will publish a future blog detailing this process, its fairly detailed but totally do-able, yes, by you (well, we can help...)

4. Link to other websites with whom you share overlapping interests.

Quality inbound links from "authoritative" web sites will grow in importance while a large number of meaningless, out of context links will actually diminish in importance. Simply put, go for Quality backlinks, not Quantity.

5. Publish articles in authoritative places on the web.

This is a big part of your new ethos, not "Publish or Perish" but "Publish and Flourish!". There is NO WAY I can overstate the importance of this one, your future literally awaits, to be written by you! Everyone has a story to tell about their business, reports from the trenches, success stories, obstacles overcome, people you've helped in unique ways, its all grist for your writing mill! The first place to publish is of course within your company's site. Your company related blog, with an RSS feed to your site, is second. Once you've got in the rhythm and feel ready for a wider readership contact your industry's leading xxxxx and offer to provide your articles to them. Publications have an undying need for fresh voices and fresh content. There is a place for you!

6. Make sure you have a sitemap.xml and urllist.txt installed in your site.

This is pretty technical, better let us handle this one for you. I will, however, go in to this in more detail in an upcoming post

7. Get a Content Management System for your site.

This is the way things are going and in a few years there will literally be NO standard HTML websites being created. In fact the website you're reading right now is a Content Management System of sorts.

8. Educate yourself about the Internet and how business such as your fare there.

Well, this one seems obvious but bears repeating. We've all seen the incredible, amazing growth of the Internet and the growing part it plays in nearly all of our lives. It's safe to say that its not going away, ever.

Seems like a lot, doesn't it? Well, not to worry, there are people known as "web professionals" who are willing to help! We are exactly such people and can be reached at www.seansloan.com. Love to hear from you!

noreply@blogger.com (Sean Sloan) — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 23:14:00 +0000

“When it comes to the success of any new business, you -- the business owner -- are ultimately the “secret” to your success. For many successful business owners, failure was never an option. Armed with drive, determination, and a positive mind set, these individuals view any setback as only an opportunity to learn and grow. Most self-made millionaires possess average intelligence. What sets them apart is their openness to new knowledge and their willingness to learn whatever it takes to succeed.

”We’re here to give you an insight into what you need know!

We have a new site and its on the first page in Google for “web site design, Costa Mesa”

1. You still need a traditional website and the reason is CONTROL. Original content is King and will be even MORE rewarded in the future as Search Engines improve.

Think of it as the most amazing, ever changing advertisement that you can add to in order to be found easier. YOU can write your own future success. The older a website is the more value it can have so don’t wait, now’s the time.

2. Concentrate on just one site, make it as deep and as useful to the visitor as humanly possible and you will be rewarded by the search engines. The goal is 100 pages of content. Start with simple articles/pages of 150-200 words and then expand from there, up to 1000 words, ideally. Consider adding content once a month at a minimum.

3. Create a Blog, yes, even you have something to talk about! Tell the story of your business and link back to your standard site for reference. Integrate your blog with RSS (Really Simple Syndication) so that you have fresh content there. Talk about the jobs you got, the jobs you didn’t get, trends, experiences, problems overcome, your past history in the business, YOUR life and job experience are a rich source of content,

ever fresh. Consider adding content once a week if you are catering to a regular readership.

4. Take advantage of the LeTip WOC site: make sure we have your Business Profile, as soon as you get a website make sure we add it to the Links page (a mini-directory) on the LeTip WOC site, make sure we have your Members contact information right, make sure we have your picture for the Featured Member area, have us place the LeTips links page on YOUR website.

5. Take advantage of every free listing that you can: SuperPages, Yahoo! Maps, Google Maps, review each other’s businesses online, it all adds up!

6. Seriously consider creating an online community: if you have it in you, sincerely, to start an online community hosting a discussion board can be a great benefit

to your site and your business and your professional reputation. There is a hunger for community and leadership, it is a natural, normal human inclination and online is no different.

7. Exchange links with legitimate, related businesses: while incoming links are valuable think quality, not quantity. You can be punished by having links in from Link Farms or Search Engine Spammers.

8. Web page design itself is changing: web pages are evolving away from simple HTML code designs and into Cascading Style Sheet controlled designs that separate the styling from the content to improve Search Engine Optimization. Content Management Systems (CMS) are database driven sites that can be self-edited through a web-based interface. Though more expensive to design and build they give you and excellent long term return on investment as site updating can be done in-house.

Time’s Person of the Year 2006: You

Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2006 By LEV GROSSMAN

“It’s a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It’s about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people’s network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It’s about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.”

“The tool that makes this possible is the World Wide Web. Not the Web that Tim Berners-Lee hacked together (15 years ago, according to Wikipedia) as a way for scientists to share research. It’s not even the over hyped dotcom Web of the late 1990s. The new Web is a very different thing. It’s a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter. Silicon Valley consultants call it Web 2.0, as if it were a new version of some old software. But it’s really a revolution.”

There is a ton to digest here, we understand, just know that we are here to help you navigate this complex and changing landscape. Feel free to call us regarding any questions that you have regarding the web and we will do our best to answer them. We look forward to serving you in 2007 and beyond.

noreply@blogger.com (Sean Sloan) — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 18:14:00 +0000

The challenges of running a business today are compounded by the necessity of having an up to date, dynamic web site. What this means is having the appropriate, constantly refreshed content that search engines prefer to find at your site. Blogging and RSS feeds of your blog are one way to do this.

Today's market demands a site that not only reflects your business today but can grow and change WITH you as your needs change.

We have updated our website to help you reach these goals, please come over and check it out at www.seansloan.com.

Feel free to contact us if there are any topics that you'd like to see addressed there.