WebCubic ... where customer success is our only job

Wiki

2009-10-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

Wiki means "hurry" or "fast" in Hawaiian. In Internet terms, a wiki is a collection of pages residing on the Internet grouped by a common subject. The content for the wiki is written by individual contributors who are, hopefully, subject matter experts. Over time the wiki becomes a comprehensive collection of information on the chosen topic.

The best known wiki is Wikipedia.

Can you start a wiki? Absolutely. There are a number of wiki software products available, many of them are free.

What can you create a wiki about?

- companies can use a wiki to provide information about the company itself. Visitors can find out about the history of the company, its employees, its products, culture, and much more.

- a group can create a wiki about its individual members. All relelvent references about the members are available in one place. What they bring to the group, contact information, photos, and more.

- an MLS can create a wiki about the individual properties within its area. Imagine details about the homes (square feet, bedrooms, parcel information), its history, the property itself, and episodes in its history (survived the earthquake of 1989, etc).

- a history of each vehicle. In addition to DMV records, the wiki can provide information about its prior owners, accidents, maintenance history, and usage.

Once a wiki is created, you can provide a link to that wiki from your website.

Adding HTML to template sites

2009-09-30T08:55:00.001-07:00

For those of you who use one of our template websites, you have been aware that you can insert HTML code to customize your website. However, we realize that most of our clients are not familiar with HTML.

We found a site with a posting of simple HTML commands. It is far from complete, but it will help you with some basic formatting commands.

Visit The Only HTML Guide That You'll Ever Need http://om.ly/JAZT and you'll soon be bolding and italicizing everything. Just don't over-do it.

Use Twitter and Facebook easily

2009-09-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

If you're like most people, you probably find it difficult to stay active on social media sites, especially when you need to post new items to Twitter and Facebook. But there is a solution!

From your Facebook business page (you have one, don't you), you can automatically post to Twitter. By doing this you can post in only one place and yet be posting to both. How's that for simplification?

You can login to either one to see what others are saying. But the more laborious task of posting is done only once. We should also tell you that your Facebook entries may be longer than 160 characters - that's OK. The tweets appear with the additional characters as a "tinyurl".

Ideas to generate traffic

2009-09-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

Most website owners are very interested in generating traffic - understandably so. This is the very reason that you have the website to begin with.

We encountered an interesting article about this very subject. You can read the article at http://tinyurl.com/q37nj9

There you will find 21 ideas for getting additional traffic to your website. We are not endorsing any of the ideas, so please read the article and do research on the ones that you like.

Why upgrade your website?

2009-09-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

Almost everyone will agree that their website is the most important marketing tool that they have. We find that many are in need of an upgrade - although not for the obvious reasons.

We emphasize that there may be a business justification for upgrading their websites, but they to be the right justifications. Which may be the right reasons for upgrading their websites?

"The website is old and worn. We want something that looks sharp."
"We need more people to visit our website."
"We have a new corporate image and the website needs to reflect that."
"We need to convert more visitors into leads and customers."

Which of these may be good reasons and which may be wrong reasons for upgrading a website?

We'll discuss this in another post.

Updated version of Animoto

2009-08-26T20:36:00.001-07:00

We've mentioned Animoto previously. This is one of those products that we really like. They just announced that their presentations can include short video segments as well as still photos.

Our favorite blogs

2009-08-18T21:17:00.000-07:00

UPDATED. We would like to share with you some of our favorite blogs (as of today). We'll also mention why they are noteworthy to us. Therefore they may influence the way you create your blog in the future.

NON-WEBCUBIC CUSTOMER BLOGS

http://blog.guykawasaki.com This is a blog about good business ideas. Everytime we read it we learn something. It's a blog that we want to go back to. We don't do that everyday, but it is always on our "to do" list.

http://diandraann.blogspot.com The writer is a great photographer and spins a good story.

http://coastroad.wordpress.com Contains interesting photographs and text about a subject close to our hearts. We love the Pacific coast so we like this blog, too.

http://gizmodo.com This is a technology blog with all kinds of new doo-dads. Every techno geek should find this blog highly interesting. We like it because it helps stimulate our imagination.

http://anitaclaykornfeld.blogspot.com/ This is a blog with only one posting currently. The author is a writer that has created several blogs. She has a very captivating style. The purpose of this blog capured our interested immediately.

OUR CUSTOMER BLOGS

http://www.discoversealbeach.com/ This is written by a REALTOR and focused on the community where she does her business. It tells us about the lifestyle of this charming community that keeps us going back to the blog. It creates a strong sense of community as well as a desire to live there.

http://helpfulweddingideas.wordpress.com/ This blog is novel in the subject as well as the enterprise that it represents. It provides information for brides and others in the bridal party. So does her website. Packaged together it is amazingly effective.

http://mylifeslessons.wordpress.com/ This is a blog written by one of our staff members. It was created as a demonstration blog to show our customers about how blogs should be published. It has interesting articles and causes us to return for another posting. It has links to other websites and blogs. It has a search capability and organizes the archive easily.

COMMON CHARACTERISTICS

You will notice that we like these blogs because they focus on topics of interest to us. More than that, they do so in a way that creates a desire to return. They leave us with a desire for more. Common characteristics are a subject of interest to us and well written content.

The exception is the gizmodo blog because it is poorly written but the subject draws us back to the blog. When you write your blog, make sure it is well written. Use good grammar and use a variety of expressions. Communicate clearly.

Please understand that not everyone will like your blog - not necessarily because the blog is poor - but because they are not interested in the subject.

Creative keyword usage

2009-07-31T14:56:00.000-07:00

One of the objectives for optimizing websites for search engines is to use a desired keyword phrase in a natural. We've always suggested using the phrase in the desired order naturally in the text.

We found an article recently where it suggested that since search engines ignore normal common punctuation, that the keyword phrase could have a punctuation mark in it. Here's what it said:

Break up phrases using punctuation

For example, if the search term is "real estate Hawai" then you could write "there is an impressive selection of available real estate. Hawaii listings can be..."

In this case "real estate" is at the end of the first sentence and "Hawaii" is at the beginning of the second sentence. The engines ignore the period so everything should work.

Twitter followers counts

2009-07-26T07:38:00.000-07:00

Twitter announced that it corrected the number of followers and followings.

The information from http://status.twitter.com:

"For some time, the follower and following counts we display have been incorrect for some folks. We’re soon to push a change that will address this issue.

This means that the count you see in your sidebar should match what you see on your follower and following pages . . . A consequence of this change is that follower counts will drop for some people . . . Those with large followings may see significant changes as we correct for spam accounts and data inconsistencies."

Word of mouth

2009-07-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

One of many ways to increase business is "word of mouth". REALTORS like to call this "referrals". That's what it is.

Here's an interesting article that we found that will help all of us to improve our ability to generate leads via "word of mouth".

http://bit.ly/FPukf

We've found that referrals are a fantastic way to grow our business.

Key SEO factors

2009-07-14T21:41:00.000-07:00

There are more than 200 individual factors involved in search engine optimization. Rather than be concerned about each of these items, it will be easier to think in terms of three major items.

Search friendly pages
Use well constructed code that is visible to search engine "crawlers". A couple of things that crawlers have difficult with are (1) Flash, (2) images, and (3) web pages that load slowly.

Meaningful content
Write content that describes what your website is about. Resist the urge to stuff your keywords into this content. Just use well written and natural content.

Trusted website
It is important to have quality inbound links. Website age is important - if the domain name is not new, then that is beneficial.

Don't fall for promises of large numbers of links. It may involve a "link farm", which is not a good thing.

These are principles that we've recommended for some time.

A few of our favorite blogs

2009-06-24T17:20:00.000-07:00

We would like to share with you some of our favorite blogs (as of today). We'll also mention why they are noteworthy to us. Therefore they may influence the way you create your blog in the future.

NON-WEBCUBIC CUSTOMER BLOGS

http://blog.guykawasaki.com This is a blog containing good business ideas. Everytime we read it we learn something. It's a blog that we want to go back to. We don't do that everyday, but it is always on our "to do" list.

http://coastroad.wordpress.com Contains interesting photographs and text about a subject close to our hearts. We love the Pacific coast so we like this blog, too.

http://diandraann.blogspot.com The writer is a great photographer and spins a good story.

http://gizmodo.com This is a technology blog with all kinds of new doo-dads. Every techno geek should find this blog highly interesting. We like it because it helps stimulate our imagination.

http://www.brookeparkhurst.com This was a great blog when the writer started. The blog is an older one now, the newness of living in Manhattan seems to have worn off, and the writer is now married and with a new infant. The storyline has evolved. She is an excellent writer which retains our interest but not as much as before.

OUR CUSTOMER BLOGS

http://www.discoversealbeach.com/ This is written by a REALTOR and focused on the community where she does her business. It tells us about the lifestyle of this charming community that keeps us going back to the blog. It creates a strong sense of community as well as a desire to live there.

http://helpfulweddingideas.wordpress.com/ This blog is novel in the subject as well as the enterprise that it represents. It provides information for brides and others in the bridal party. So does her website. Packaged together it is amazingly effective.

COMMON CHARACTERISTICS

You will notice that we like these blogs because they focus on things that we're interested in. More than that, they do so in a way that creates a desire to return. Common characteristics are a subject of interest to us and well written content. The exception is the gizmodo blog because it is not well written but the subject draws us back to the blog.

When you write your blog, make sure it is well written. Use good grammar and use a variety of expressions. Communicate clearly. Please understand that not everyone will like your blog - not because the blog is poor - but because they are not interested in the subject.

How high is your bounce rate?

2009-06-23T11:39:00.000-07:00

Bounce rate measures the percentage of people who leave your website from the same page they entered onto your site without visiting any other page.

Why would people exit so quickly?

1. General website usability. If information, including navigation links, is not where visitors expect to find them, then they may leave immediately. If anything impairs usability - for example if it is too cluttered, has a bad color combination, or is hard to read, then visitors will leave.

2. Content. If the content is too generic (out of the box for template users) or does not add value, then visitors will leave. If the content is incorrect - that is, visitors were looking for something else - then they will leave. This may indicate a problem with your search engine optimization.

There are other reasons. We'll discuss that another time.

Reinventing for real estate brokers

2009-06-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

Most real estate brokers see the need to adapt to a new generation of buyers and the changes needed to employ selective new technologies.

Previously, networking was always physical. Now networking is supplemented by social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Previously, larges facilities were needed for agents and equipment. Now mobile devices such as iPhones allow for a smaller physical footprint.

Previously, consumers were found through local activites such as open houses. Now, consumers can be found through social media sites. Using Skype, enhanced search features, and YouTube, consumers can locate realtors.

To enable all of this, you need:

- robust web platforms. It is not enough to merely have a website, but the web developers, hosting platforms, and web companies must be able to support current technologies.

- lead generation to get listings and buyers. You need web companies that can do this for you and you must be willing to commit to such a program. This includes traffic to get leads.

- resources to assist / coach you to do this.

Display your website logo

2009-06-08T18:59:00.000-07:00

Go to www.webcubic.com. Once our website is displayed, take a look at the address bar. You will see our address there - http://www.webcubic.com. In front of that you will see the red "swoosh" that we use for the "C" in our company name. That is our website logo.

You can do the same. Create a small 16x16 pixel .ico file. Then email it to us so that we can upload to your website home directory. Jason will do that since he is about the only person that has access to that directory.

If you are not sure how to do this, you can enter "icon browser address bar" into Google and find a website that has instructions on how to do this. This is not something that we can do for you.

It takes a couple of days - three in our case - for that website logo to display.

You'll see that many websites display a logo there to replace the standard browser logo.

Update your website

2009-05-30T14:12:00.001-07:00

We've published information previously about updating your websites. The basic objective in updating it periodically (a couple times every week) is to (1) appease Google and (2) to give the give the website the appearance of being active.

At times, though, it is a good idea to do a more thorough clean-up of the website - somewhat like an annual "spring cleaning". Freshen up the content, remove inactive content, add new capabilities, and make sure it does the things that are being recommended.

To help you plan a "spring housecleaning" on your website, here is what we recommend.

1) Make sure you have "calls to action" including the capture of leads.

2) Make sure that visitors can contact you - not just through the "calls to action" - but other ways, too. Make sure your email address is correct and can be located. Your telephone number should be easily found.

2) Add links TO your social media sites. At the same time, make sure your social media sites have links to the website.

3) Remove audio / sound that plays automatically. This also includes any videos that start automatically. Surprise noises are one of the leading reasons visitors exit a website.

4) Make sure the fonts are easy to read. We suggest using Arial, Tahoma, or Verdana.

Comments about fonts

2009-05-30T13:59:00.000-07:00

We've discussed fonts before but we often have discussions with our customers about fonts. So it probably wouldn't hurt to have another one here.

The basic chats about fonts comes from us. A basic improvement to a WebCubic website is to (1) standardize the use of fonts on the website - in other words, make them the same; and (2) use font styles Arial, Tahoma, or Verdana for best results.

The more advanced discussion is about font colors.

Most of our real estate template websites have a while background area where the text is placed. Out of the box we use a "black" font color. We'd like to introduce the idea of minimizing the font [what we call] contrast. In other words black on white (or white on black) are at the extreme ends of contrast - while is the inclusion of all color whereas black is the absence of colors.

This dramatic contrast is often harsh on the reader. We find that it is actually easier to read when the contrast is reduced. For example, gray on while is easier to read because there is less contrast. When there are colors in the background (as in headers) less contrast is better, too.

Experiment with font colors to find more appealing and less contrast combinations.

SEO mistake

2009-05-28T11:21:00.000-07:00

One thing that people want for their websites is a nice introduction page (also called a splash page or welcome page). There will be photos or other graphical images that look pleasing, elegant, or fun. You may want this, too.

Be careful how the transition is made from the splash page to the website.

If the "click here to enter site" or "skip intro" link is part of the flash presentation, then the search engine may not be able to follow the link. If that is the case, then none of your website will be crawled by the search engine.

This is probably the single largest mistake made by web developers. Whenever WebCubic has created flash introduction pages, we have created those links apart from the flash presentation.

Get a briefing on social media

2009-05-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

We want to help our clients with expanding their efforts to attract traffic to their websites. We have been trying to inform our clients about the advantages of social media marketing for 18 months realize there is still much more to do. Even our efforts through local real estate associations has not been entirely successful.

We are offering for a limited time two ways to learn social media.

Social media mini-briefing. This 10 minute briefing will help you quickly understand what is meant by social media, how it relates to your website, and where to start. This mini-briefing is free but you must call us to make an appointment for one of these briefings.

Using social media. This one hour briefing will help you to understand social media and how it relates to your website. We will then help you to begin using one social media tool. We will charge for this briefing and you must call us to make an appointment. We will charge your credit card before the appointment.

Learn social media marketing from people who know the subject (that's us!).

What are you doing?

2009-05-22T08:54:00.001-07:00

Many of you have signed up to use Twitter, and you are "following" us at www.twitter.com/webcubic. However we notice that very few of you are posting any "tweets". This indicates that you are probably not even logging into Twitter to get the advantage of following us.

You should login into to Twitter and do two things: (1) find out what's happening at WebCubic, and (2) start posting "tweets" to tell everyone else what you are doing. Your "tweets" can be a great promotion tool for your business.

Why not start now?

For those of you who have not yet signed up to use Twitter, we recommend that you do that.

Blogs must be unique

2009-05-21T15:03:00.000-07:00

Updated May 22

WebCubic has long recommended using blogs as a means of driving traffic to websites. However, in order for this to work properly you need a unique blog. Typical blogs about typical postings with typical irrelevance will not help. The ability to do something special has to do with originality of the writer and the theme of the blog.

For example, a plumbing contractor is going to have difficulty in creating an original and exciting blog. Subjects like "proper maintenance of plumbing fixtures", "20 ways to flush a toilet ", or "create a romantic setting with copper pipes" probably won't be popular. But with a little imagination there are handyman tips and tricks, including plumbing fixtures, that will appeal to do-it-yourself people.

Here are a couple of blogs and website pairs that are being done by our customers that you can use as a model for what you will do. The fact is, you need to do it.

From a custom bridal apparel website:

http://helpfulweddingideas.wordpress.com/ working with www.bridalpartee.com

This is a natural because of the high general interest in this topic. The blog is uniquely interesting and is designed so appealingly. The message is "congratulations on getting engaged, enjoy your wedding, now let's make it special". It's a wonderful model for you to follow.

Here's an idea from an IT consultant:

http://belltechrepair.wordpress.com/ working with www.belltechrepair.com

The objective was to create tips that would get visitors to come back periodically. Regardless of the level of interest, its value (the tips) should cause people to return. The intent is not just "how to install SP3" but "why install SP3".

This is something that one of our REALTOR clients does because she operates along a piece of the California coast.

http://www.discoversealbeach.com/ is the blog and http://www.pathaleonline.com/ is the website.

Seal Beach is a cute small coastal town. It attracts a number of tourists and the website owner features this community. Not every article is about real estate, but more about the community. This blog features the lifestyle along this charming coast.

We have multiple REALTOR clients who work in the downtown Los Angeles market.

http://downtownlofts.blogspot.com/ is the blog and http://www.downtownjustlisted.com is the website.

The downtown Los Angeles real estate market is dominated with condos and lofts. But there is diversity in that area as explained in both the blog and website.

Some of our customers are only now getting started with their blogs to tie in with their websites in the future. WebCubic is helping these customers get started with blogs.

http://discoversunsetbeach.wordpress.com/ Here you can learn about Sunset Beach, CA.

http://discoverdowntownla.wordpress.com/ This blog features the unique lifestyle of down town Los Angeles and loft living.

What should I work on first?

2009-05-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

That is a question that we often get from new customers as they begin to work on their websites - this would primarily be for template sites. It is also a question we receive from customers who have let their websites "waste away" by not maintaining it.

Let's answer this in some general ways.

First of all, the most important thing is content. This means that template website owners should go to their administration control panel and "edit personal information."

The reason to do this is (1) for improving search engine performance by improving the natural content of the site, and (2) for grabbing the attention of the visitor to the site.

The second this is to choose a design for the many templates that WebCubic makes available. From the administration control panel choose "change design style".

The third thing is to update the "title" from the "edit personal information". Before actually doing, you should speak with WebCubic to make sure you update this information properly.

Be careful of email addresses in Twitter

2009-05-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

The article at http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/05/11/spammers-may-have-another-trick-in-twitter is a helpful warning about ever using our email addresses in Twitter. In one word - don't!

The reason to avoid doing so is that spammers use Twitter to pick up these email addresses.

How often should websites be updated?

2009-05-11T22:07:00.000-07:00

We, for a long time, have recommended that our website owners update their websites. If for no other reason, it is important to provide a sense that the website owner and the enterprise it represents is still alive.

An updated website will do that. But there are other important reasons.

Search engines crawl periodically through websites. Sites that are updated provide new content for search engines to return and crawl the site again. Google, in their patent document, stated the importance of updated websites.

How often should a website be updated? We cannot say that it should be done weekly or several times a week. But we recommend that the website owner find reasons to update the site no less frequently than weekly.

Repeat visitors will continue to return to websites where content is updated. Visitors enjoy new content.