If you are interested in optimizing your site for the search engines, one of the best tools around is WordTracker. You can sign up for a series of article on search. While their focus is, of course, on how you can use their tool most effectively, they have a lot of good general advice, including this tidbit, which seems obvious but I'd never thought of it before:
"Most external links will use your domain to link to you, but if you can
persuade them to link to you using keyword rich linking text (sometimes
called anchor text), then you’ll get a significant search engine boost.
So while AbeBooks.com would be pleased with a link like
http://www.abebooks.com, they would be even more pleased with a link
like used books from AbeBooks because the linking text contains one of
their important keywords, ‘used books’. "
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Electronic recores management - continued
Services for professionals Advice & guidance is another good source, including checklists and tools.
Records management guidance: standard naming conventions for electronic records
Records management guidance: standard naming conventions for electronic records is an excellent document from the University of Edinburgh suggesting, in clear language, good ideas for naming documents that will be stored in electronic format. (Actually, they are good rules for naming paper-based documents too.) Clicking the hyperlinks take you to further explanations of each rule, with examples.
Standard Naming Conventions For Electronic Records: The Rules
The conventions comprise the following 13 rules. Follow the links for examples and explanations of the rules.
Keep file names short, but meaningful.
Avoid unnecessary repetition and redundancy in file names and file paths.
Use capital letters to delimit words, not spaces or underscores.
When including a number in a file name always give it as a two-digit number, i.e. 01-99, unless it is a year or another number with more than two digits.
If using a date in the file name always state the date ‘back to front’, and use four digit years, two digit months and two digit days: YYYYMMDD or YYYYMM or YYYY or YYYY-YYYY.
When including a personal name in a file name give the family name first followed by the initials.
Avoid using common words such as ‘draft’ or ‘letter’ at the start of file names, unless doing so will make it easier to retrieve the record.
Order the elements in a file name in the most appropriate way to retrieve the record.
The file names of records relating to recurring events should include the date and a description of the event, except where the inclusion of any of either of these elements would be incompatible with rule 2.
The file names of correspondence should include the name of the correspondent, an indication of the subject, the date of the correspondence and whether it is incoming or outgoing correspondence, except where the inclusion of any of these elements would be incompatible with rule 2.
The file name of an email attachment should include the name of the correspondent, an indication of the subject, the date of the correspondence, ‘attch’, and an indication of the number of attachments sent with the covering email, except where the inclusion of any of these elements would be incompatible with rule 2.
The version number of a record should be indicated in its file name by the inclusion of ‘V’ followed by the version number and, where applicable, ‘Draft’.
Avoid using non-alphanumeric characters in file names.
Author: Anne ThompsonVersion 10, July 2007
Standard Naming Conventions For Electronic Records: The Rules
The conventions comprise the following 13 rules. Follow the links for examples and explanations of the rules.
Keep file names short, but meaningful.
Avoid unnecessary repetition and redundancy in file names and file paths.
Use capital letters to delimit words, not spaces or underscores.
When including a number in a file name always give it as a two-digit number, i.e. 01-99, unless it is a year or another number with more than two digits.
If using a date in the file name always state the date ‘back to front’, and use four digit years, two digit months and two digit days: YYYYMMDD or YYYYMM or YYYY or YYYY-YYYY.
When including a personal name in a file name give the family name first followed by the initials.
Avoid using common words such as ‘draft’ or ‘letter’ at the start of file names, unless doing so will make it easier to retrieve the record.
Order the elements in a file name in the most appropriate way to retrieve the record.
The file names of records relating to recurring events should include the date and a description of the event, except where the inclusion of any of either of these elements would be incompatible with rule 2.
The file names of correspondence should include the name of the correspondent, an indication of the subject, the date of the correspondence and whether it is incoming or outgoing correspondence, except where the inclusion of any of these elements would be incompatible with rule 2.
The file name of an email attachment should include the name of the correspondent, an indication of the subject, the date of the correspondence, ‘attch’, and an indication of the number of attachments sent with the covering email, except where the inclusion of any of these elements would be incompatible with rule 2.
The version number of a record should be indicated in its file name by the inclusion of ‘V’ followed by the version number and, where applicable, ‘Draft’.
Avoid using non-alphanumeric characters in file names.
Author: Anne ThompsonVersion 10, July 2007
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Tips for optimizing web-packaged pieces for low-bandwidth (28.8 Kbps) delivery
Tips for optimizing web-packaged pieces for low-bandwidth (28.8 Kbps) delivery
Pretty well anyone designing websites these days has a high-speed connection. That's why it is so easy to forget that not everybody does. But there is still a pretty substantial portion of the public who have slow, modem-based connections, and for them it is incredibly frustrating to try to use most of today's websites.
Now if your target market is only upscale urban dwellers, you might not have to worry about this. (Mind you, a lot of them live in quasi-rural areas on the edges of cities, and may not have high-speed access either.) But according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, as of December 2007, only 55% of Americans have access to high-speed connections at home. (13% say they have dial-up at home; the rest either have no access or have access at work). In Canada it is about 85% (per Canada - Broadband Market - Overview, Statistics & Forecasts) although there are wide regional variations. In a recent study done by Web Mystery Shoppers, only about 1/3 of Albertan testers were accessing the Internet using high-speed connections, even though people who sign up to be Web Mystery Shoppers are more likely to be active Internet users than most.
Low bandwidth websites are also better for people making mobile connections; a growing segment. And they are typically easier for people with visual impariments to handle.
Another site with web design guidelines for low bandwith development: http://www.aptivate.org/webguidelines/Guidelines.html
Pretty well anyone designing websites these days has a high-speed connection. That's why it is so easy to forget that not everybody does. But there is still a pretty substantial portion of the public who have slow, modem-based connections, and for them it is incredibly frustrating to try to use most of today's websites.
Now if your target market is only upscale urban dwellers, you might not have to worry about this. (Mind you, a lot of them live in quasi-rural areas on the edges of cities, and may not have high-speed access either.) But according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, as of December 2007, only 55% of Americans have access to high-speed connections at home. (13% say they have dial-up at home; the rest either have no access or have access at work). In Canada it is about 85% (per Canada - Broadband Market - Overview, Statistics & Forecasts) although there are wide regional variations. In a recent study done by Web Mystery Shoppers, only about 1/3 of Albertan testers were accessing the Internet using high-speed connections, even though people who sign up to be Web Mystery Shoppers are more likely to be active Internet users than most.
Low bandwidth websites are also better for people making mobile connections; a growing segment. And they are typically easier for people with visual impariments to handle.
Another site with web design guidelines for low bandwith development: http://www.aptivate.org/webguidelines/Guidelines.html
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
New word: “philfing”
Philfing = purposely hiding what I'm looking for.
Helen Leggat, in an article in BizReport, explains "Examples of philfing include budget travel sites that charge extra for insurance, booking fees left unmentioned until the last minute and sites that claim “free delivery” and then charge for “postage and packaging”. "
The article, reporting on a survey of UK shoppers, also noted that one of the top gripes we hear from our Web Mystery Shoppers, being forced to register before making a purchase, would deter 57% of those surveyd from completing the purchase.
Helen Leggat, in an article in BizReport, explains "Examples of philfing include budget travel sites that charge extra for insurance, booking fees left unmentioned until the last minute and sites that claim “free delivery” and then charge for “postage and packaging”. "
The article, reporting on a survey of UK shoppers, also noted that one of the top gripes we hear from our Web Mystery Shoppers, being forced to register before making a purchase, would deter 57% of those surveyd from completing the purchase.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Analytics Basics: Unofficial Google Analytics Blog
This looks like it may be a useful website about improving usability through a better understanding of Google Analytics.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Tagging
I wondered the other day how many people are actually using new social technologies, such as tagging. Just found this stat:
Pew Internet: Tagging: "A December 2006 survey has found that 28% of internet users have tagged or categorized content online such as photos, news stories or blog posts."
Pew Internet: Tagging: "A December 2006 survey has found that 28% of internet users have tagged or categorized content online such as photos, news stories or blog posts."
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Online PR
Article stressing the growing importance of social media in PR. The thing I wonder about though, is what percentage of Internet users actually understand how things like Twitter and Digg work? My hunch is that it is actually a fairly small proportion.
8 PR Strategies for 2008 - Trends for 2008
1. Google Analytics: Public relations has never been more measurable with analytics programs that tell where your visitors come from and how they interact with your site.
2. Bloggers: Don't underestimate the power of blogs and pay attention to the influential blogger; 85 percent of journalists monitor blogs for story ideas and sources.
3. Local Search: Hone in on the local market and get better results in a more efficient manner with avenues like Google Local Search and Local.com.
4. Content is King: Adding new content weekly to a Web site via press releases, articles and blogs is one that will get your site found in search results and in turn, drive qualified traffic and generate leads.
5. Optimized Web sites: Aim for 250 words and two keyword phrases per Web page.
6. Online WOMM: 15-20 percent of all Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) is happening online via social networking and online reviews creating more influencers to spread the word.
7. Social Media: It's matchmaking for business. Targeting and connecting to your target market is becoming easier as networks such as Facebook add millions of new users each week. If you're not on it, join it.
8. Online Reputations: Monitoring and interacting with reviews on sites like Yelp can drive traffic to your Web site and generate sales - pay attention to online conversations.
8 PR Strategies for 2008 - Trends for 2008
1. Google Analytics: Public relations has never been more measurable with analytics programs that tell where your visitors come from and how they interact with your site.
2. Bloggers: Don't underestimate the power of blogs and pay attention to the influential blogger; 85 percent of journalists monitor blogs for story ideas and sources.
3. Local Search: Hone in on the local market and get better results in a more efficient manner with avenues like Google Local Search and Local.com.
4. Content is King: Adding new content weekly to a Web site via press releases, articles and blogs is one that will get your site found in search results and in turn, drive qualified traffic and generate leads.
5. Optimized Web sites: Aim for 250 words and two keyword phrases per Web page.
6. Online WOMM: 15-20 percent of all Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) is happening online via social networking and online reviews creating more influencers to spread the word.
7. Social Media: It's matchmaking for business. Targeting and connecting to your target market is becoming easier as networks such as Facebook add millions of new users each week. If you're not on it, join it.
8. Online Reputations: Monitoring and interacting with reviews on sites like Yelp can drive traffic to your Web site and generate sales - pay attention to online conversations.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
24 Hour Indexing of New Site Works again | SoloSEO Blog
Interesting article about strategies for getting indexed quickly in Google. Read the comments too. Clearly people have variable success getting indexed, and the SEO experts don't always know the answers. Generally speaking, getting indexed is not the hard part; getting a high ranking is.
One of the comments, from Russell Rockefeller:
"Digging and Stumbling is 99.9% in all probability the reason you are being indexed this rapidly. The days of waiting 6 months for a search spider to visit you are long long gone. You want to see fast? Try uploading a video to YouTube. "
Hmm... maybe I should post the Homebiz TV program about Web Mystery Shoppers (scroll down) on YouTube.
John Reynolds writes:
"I seem to always get listed in Google within 24 hours.. Sorry but i’ve never understood why some don’t. I don’t do much of what was said. I wouldn’t know how to do half of it.This is ALL I do.. I mean ALL.. No conyent analysis or anything I create a few simple pages and then go to Google webmaster and ‘validate’ your url.. You can do this 2 ways.. ‘a html page or Meta code’ Add it to your index page, verify site (All this takes about 10 minutes) and then…. nothing! That’s it! In 24 hours, I’m in!"
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Top 3 Problems of Social Media
Now that social media is all the rage, the spiralling information overload problems are multiplying exponentially. As if it weren't bad enough trying to keep up with all the e-mail newsletters out there, now we've got millions of blogs, which reference other blogs, and so on, and so on.
Bryan Eisenberg discusses one aspect of this problem in this column, where he notes that a lot of the blog bloat is from fake blogs set up merely to play the search engine game.
The next big challenge for software developers is to find much better ways than we currently have to sift through information quickly and effectively.
Bryan Eisenberg discusses one aspect of this problem in this column, where he notes that a lot of the blog bloat is from fake blogs set up merely to play the search engine game.
The next big challenge for software developers is to find much better ways than we currently have to sift through information quickly and effectively.
Secrets to E-Commerce Excellence
Yet another article about the importance of consumer views in developing good, effective websites.
"Customer reviews and ratings can be very powerful influences in a user's buying decision. While the potential buyer expects the company to provide biased information, the reviews and ratings of other consumers are seen as much more informative, and they weigh heavier in a purchase decision."
"Customer reviews and ratings can be very powerful influences in a user's buying decision. While the potential buyer expects the company to provide biased information, the reviews and ratings of other consumers are seen as much more informative, and they weigh heavier in a purchase decision."
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