Untangling The Web » upload

WordPress 2.7

Conrad Walton — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:05:24 +0000

Argh! Of course, after I’ve written the directions on how to use WordPress, they come out with a new version, version 2.7, and changed the entire interface, so I have to rewrite the “how to” sections, with new screenshots, so they actually match what it really is like now.

More work for me. Better book for you. The book should be available to buy in the next few days also. I still need to run it through some reviews to make sure it’ll be as good as I think it should be.

The new admin interface is much better and easier to use. I like it a lot and I’m glad it happened now and not after I started to sell Web Site Starter Kit. I’d hate to have angry customers.

If you sign up for a free account at WordPress.com today, you’ll get to use the latest version. If you download it to use on your own “cheap” web host, then you’ll get the old version. Version 2.7 for download should be updated in the next few days.

Web Site Starter Kit First Draft is done!

Conrad Walton — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 18:54:03 +0000

Web Site Starter Kit First Draft is done!

I need to go back through it all and review it, but the basic idea of using WordPress.com to set up a free web site is a good one. I have all kinds of tips and tricks to make that the best possible web site you can get, including SEO and promotion of the site.

As an example, I created a free site aimed at 3 keywords. Within 3 weeks of creating it, it was number 3 in the search results for those keywords in Google. That shocked even me. This SEO stuff really works.

Of course, now that I’ve written it all out, WordPress is releasing a new version and the admin interface is very different. It’s in production on wordpress.com, but the downloadable version is not available yet. It should be any day now.

When it is available, I’ll go do screenshots and the book will be ready to sell. It will be aimed at small businesses, really small ones, and in addition to background on general good web site ideas, it will have a “free” and a “cheap” method for creating web sites.

It should be all done and ready to go by next week.

Get The Right Email Address

Conrad Walton — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:50:56 +0000

Many small business owners will use their old generic email address when doing business, even after they’ve spent money to buy a domain name. Sending an email to someone with a HotMail, Yahoo, or Gmail domain name is a sure sign that you don’t know what you are doing, that you are second rate, that you are not professional.

You should set up addresses like support@ and sales@ and information@, just to look professional.

Make sure that the web host that is hosting your web site can do email also. All of them should be able to. It’s not that hard. Take the time to go in a get it set up. Find out what the host name is there and set up the account.

Set up your email application to log into that account, then use it to send and receive email.

You should also have a “catch all” account that will probably get filled with spam, but you’ll also get those emails with misspelled email addresses that you might otherwise miss.

You should set up addresses like “support@” and “sales@” and “information@”, just to look professional. You, or someone, should be able to log in and send and receive email at each of your custom addresses.

Also, don’t let any address lay dormant. Make sure that someone is logging into every account, every 10 minutes. “I sent you an email last week. Did you get it?” is not the question you want to hear.

Google Search Tricks for Your Web Site

Conrad Walton — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:30:41 +0000

You should be aware of how your web site is doing out there in the real world. Google published a page with search tricks on it. It can do magic tricks. Very useful stuff out there. The whole page is located at:

http://www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference.html

The two that I want to point out are:

link: Find linked pages, i.e., show pages that point to the URL.

site: Search only one website or domain.

link:websitestarterkit.com

If you want to know who’s pointing at your site, where your incoming links are coming in from, search for “link:www.yourdomain.com”, without the quotes, of course. This will return all of the pages on all of the sites that have a link to your site.

If you want to know who's pointing at your site, where your incoming links are coming in from

You should go look at them and check what exactly they are using for the “link text”. That’s the actual text that a user will click to follow the link. You will be rated higher for the keywords in that link text.

You can ask the owners of those sites to change the text and maybe they will, if that will help you out for specific keywords. As much as you get good points for them using keywords, you also get bad points if all of the link text is identical. That make you look like you’ve automated it. There needs to be a certain organic-ness to the text so Google knows that there are real people putting them in.

site:websitestarterkit.com

The next good search is “site:” followed by your domain name. (No space after the colon, by the way.) This search will list all of the pages that Google has indexed from your site. Any URL for a page that starts with your domain name.

This is how you can be sure that Google has indexed all of the pages in your site. Check the “cache date” if they list that. You might be able to tell how often they spider your site. If you are a good blogger and post something new every day and you publish an XML site map for them, which is easy to do in WordPress, then they will probably be looking at your site often.

Stores seeking sales on Web :: PostStar.com

Conrad Walton — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:55:13 +0000

Stores seeking sales on Web :: PostStar.com

Locally, Paul O’Donnell, owner of Celtic Treasures in Saratoga Springs, saw an influx of orders Monday thanks to a free shipping offer.

“UPS came in with a big hand truck to carry it all out,” he said.

Online since 1996, Celtic Treasures has established an online presence and customer database that would make many small businesses drool. O’Donnell’s store appears on the first page of a Google search for “Irish gifts,” which he called “priceless” and chalked up to longevity.

Celtic Treasures in Saratoga Springs

While the Cyber Monday phenomenon is largely absent from Main Street, online stores are becoming a popular way for local merchants to reach out to their existing customer base, and sometimes beyond.

In Glens Falls, SensibiliTeas owner Donnalynn Milford said a Web site has allowed her to send teas, herbs and spices all over the world. And when gas prices exceeded $4 per gallon, she noticed that customers from Chestertown and North Creek were ordering online, too.

“It was cheaper for me to send it to them, than (for them) to drive down and get it,” Milford said.

For most small businesses, a functional Web site is as good as a second storefront, said Todd Shimkus, president and CEO of the Adirondack Regional Chambers of Commerce.

“The primary benefit for a local small business, irregardless of where you are, is it gives you a chance to compete with those larger operations who are trying to draw business away,” Shimkus said.

Merchants with a unique, specialized product often have an easier time attracting an online audience.

Read the entire article at Stores seeking sales on Web :: PostStar.com

Technology is cheap – Labor is expensive

Conrad Walton — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:56:52 +0000

Here is the web guy at the NYT saying that their main costs for their web site is the manpower to build it. The software is cheap. The hardware is cheap. That’s basically the approach I take in the Website Starter Kit. Use WordPress, which is free, and buy space on a cheap web host. Use their hardware for less than $10 a month.

The main cost to build a web site is the manpower to build it.

You be the labor. You do it yourself and save a ton of money. Using these tools, it won’t be that hard to do.

In my experience, even the building of the site is easy. The real time suck is politics. The meetings between marketing and well, marketing, seemed to drag out every decision. They needed to be sure everything was just right before we could move ahead. When you can tell a developer to “do it this way”, they can knock it out quickly. When you ask a marketing person which way they want it, have a seat and wait.

Don’t fall into this same trap. Just get the site up and out the door. When you build custom stuff, it will take a bit to make changes, but using WordPress, it’s easy. Make all of the changes you want.

Make a decision. Make it happen. Bam. You’re done.

Old Media Interview: Aron Pilhofer, interactive guru, editor at The New York Times | Old Media, New Tricks

Everything we use is free and open-source… The cost here isn’t software, or even hardware, which is relatively cheap these days… The price most … organizations (and it’s not just small ones) seem reluctant to pay is for people…

Read the entire article at Old Media Interview: Aron Pilhofer, interactive guru, editor at The New York Times | Old Media, New Tricks

4 Things a Local Business Should Have On Every Page

Conrad Walton — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:19:34 +0000

All local business should have these 4 things on every page for people and search engines to read. Most sites these days are built on templates, so it’s easy to put in a footer or side bar containing all of these essential elements. All of these should be in text so that search engines can easily read them.

Your business name, a description of what you do, where you do it, who you do it for.

1. Your business name, a description of what you do, where you do it, who you do it for. Be short and to the point. They have other pages on the site for in depth information if they want more detailed information. This is for people to know at a glance what they are looking at.

2. Your address, phone number and email address. Be sure to put all of this information in full, including the street address, city, state and zip code. Put the area code with the phone number.

3. Hours that your business is open.

4. A list of cities you serve. If someone searches for the type of business that you have plus the city name, they can find it in the search engines.

Startup company's website-The Economic Times

Conrad Walton — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 22:00:55 +0000

One reason that I want the primary focus of my business to be helping people build their own web sites instead of building sites for them is that everyone needs to embrace their own web site. We should know what is the content and update it regularly.

Embrace your site!

I can’t stress enough that you should be personally involved in your web site. You would always keep a copy of the keys to your front door. You would always have access to your bank account. You should always be involved with, control, and manage your own web site.

Don’t pay people like me to build you a site so that you can forget it and get on with the important parts of your business. The web site IS an important part of your business and you need to treat it that way if you are going to be successful.

Web wise: Startup company’s website- Internet -Infotech-The Economic Times

So whether it is a small-time business setup or a larger brick and mortar entity you are launching, a website is like the screwdriver in a toolbox that you really can’t do without. Says Rajeev Karwal, CEO and founder of Milagrow Business and Knowledge Solutions, “Internet domains are the most cost-effective method of getting your message across to a huge audience.

In fact, it is a very personal way of connecting with them. Unfortunately, only one or two percent of small companies use their websites effectively today.” There are quite a few reasons: low connectivity, low awareness and a tendency to “outsource and forget” what is treated as a necessary evil. Also, a website is not just a one-time investment of time or money—it demands constant attention and upgradation. But as these entrepreneurs prove, an attractive and well-tended website can be a key pillar of success and growth.

Read the entire article at Web wise: Startup company’s website- Internet -Infotech-The Economic Times

13 Places To List Your Small Business For Local Search Traffic

Conrad Walton — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:24:00 +0000

Local search is getting huge. These are places that you can get listed to help establish you local listing on-line presence.

Each of these listings will bring you traffic.

Each of these listings will bring you traffic, since no one uses the phone book any more. Each should be pretty self explanatory. Some offer paid features as well as free listings.

www.dmoz.org
local.botw.org
advertise.local.com/
listings.yellowpages.com/
selfenroll.citysearch.com/
www.google.com/local/add
www.localeze.com/manage/
list.infousa.com/dbupdate.htm
www.dexsearchmarketing.com/
botw.org/top/Regional/United_States/
searchmarketing.yahoo.com/local/business.php
my.superpages.com/spweb/products/business-listing
Friends, Family, Partnerships with websites. Ask if they would be willing to swap links with your website to help promote both of your businesses.

Four Things You Should Know as a Small Business Owner

Conrad Walton — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:23:23 +0000

#1: Your Small Business Needs a Website – This may sound obvious, but I am still quite amazed at the amount of small businesses that don’t have even a basic website. More people use the Internet to look up information about local information and that includes your business. When your mother doesn’t use the phone book any more, you know it’s time for a web site. Follow the Free Small Business Web Site guide to create a good one for free.

When your mother doesn't use the phone book any more, you know it's time for a web site.

#2: Your Website Needs a Blog – This should be obvious, but given the fact that a large percentage of small businesses don’t have websites, an even larger percent don’t have blogs. I know you don’t want to write something every day, that you’re a horrible writer, and no one cares anyway. The search engines care. They rank web sites that are updated regularly higher than static ones.

People do care and they do read your stuff. They want to get an idea of who you are, what your values are, and if you can be trusted or not. Write a little bit often and you’ll make everyone happy.

#3 Make It EASY to Contact Your Business – If people aren’t using the phonebook any more, then they are coming to your website to find out where you are, what time you’re open and what your phone number is. Put this information on every page in a sidebar or at least the footer. If people try to contact you by going to your website and can’t find that information, you have just lost a customer. I can hear the money falling out of your pockets right now.

#4 Claim and Update Your Google Local Listing – Google gathers information about your business and puts it in the local listings. It might be, and probably is, wrong or outdated. Go to http://www.google.com/local/add and add your company information if it’s not there or correct it if it is. People looking for local businesses based on location will go to your competition if you are not there.

I’ve also heard of people changing the information on their competition (you) to their contact info. You look for Jack’s Plumbing, but Joes’s plumbing has changed the phone number for Jack’s to his own phone number at Joe’s. You want Jack, but Joe gets the call and you don’t know Jack.