Monthly Archives: March 2009

SEO Tips

Twitter and Facebook Little Business Power In Google

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (16 Mar 2009)  |  Leave a comment

Digging deeper into this concept of social media, I read some interesting articles the weekend.  Apparently anyone thinking their business is going to reap great benefits from putting links in Facebook and Twitter are just fooling themselves.

Both services use a “nofollow” attribute on their links to your site.  There are some ways around this, but for the novice or casual business owner who isn’t getting guidance from an SEO professional or web developer in the know are most likely wasting their time putting links in these two mediums.

Apparently Google developed the “nofollow” attribute to fight spam.  Years later, many business people don’t realize that Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia have all agreed to use this tag to stop spiders from reaching through your posts to find your web site.

So in the end, it seems Google has chosen the Blog as the preferred medium for delivery of timely content.

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Website Strategies

Who Still Uses Internet Explorer 6?

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (13 Mar 2009)  |  Leave a comment

On the verge of moving into the next decade with a state-of-the-art browser (Internet Explorer 8), web developers like me wonder, who still uses Internet Exploder, er…sorry Explorer 6 any longer?

Sadly, many do.

Checking out my Google Analytics report for the last 6 months, 19% of our viewers still used the crabby old browser as compared to 41% for Internet Explorer 7 and 29% for Firefox.

Why aren’t people leaving this browser that has been around since August of 2001?  Unfortunately there are many reasons.

First, if you own a PC that doesn’t have at least Windows XP Service Pack 2, IE7 is not available for you to install.

Second, many applications developed over the years are built with IE6 as the delivery mechanism.  Remember at one time, Internet Explorer held 95% of the browser market and this was during the hayday of IE6.

Third, people don’t like change.  For years, I have been wondering why my wife won’t turn off the “Classic Windows” look on her computer…we tried an upgrade to Internet Explorer 7 and she didn’t like it.

Fourth, and most importantly, Internet Explorer 7 was buggy at best and quite annoying.  One of Microsoft’s attempts to be cutting edge, moving the refresh button to an unknown land and moving things like bookmarks and the file menu.  Plus, IE7 did its best to act like Windows ME. While it didn’t bring back the beloved blue screen (usually), it would just disappear in the middle of loading a page, or it would lock up on the dumbest things.

And finally, it was not standards compliant, so many developers chose to start using Firefox exclusively and only kept IE7 on a single computer for testing and worked with IE6 because it was the most touchy in terms of coding for new CSS standards.

Will the soon to be released Internet Explorer 8 change that trend and finally kill IE6?  Most likely not.  The biggest reason is the economy.  Companies don’t have the funds to re-engineer old software tied to IE6.  Computer owners are probably going to be slower to migrate away to new computers due to tight budgets and the fear tactics of Vista’s quality (which is nowhere near as bad as some people will have you think…Apple are you listening).  And, overall, people don’t like change.

I hope I am wrong, but look for Internet Explorer 6 to hold on to at least 10% market share (which means it will still be leading Safari and Chrome combined) into 2010.  Many IE7 users will upgrade, but IE6 will be a tougher nut to crack.

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Of Interest

Facebook Fighting Off Twitter

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (13 Mar 2009)  |  Leave a comment

Knowing that Twitter is taking a bite out of their business, Facebook is revamping their home page to make it have a Twitter flair, more focused on conversation with a bit more organization.

In addition, they are planning on removing the limit of friends to an account.  The idea is to get large companies on board with Facebook (something Twitter has seen an advantage from since it has caught fire).

Also they are moving toward more real-time updates of news and comments, something Twitter has had for a while.

I am hearing mixed reviews on it.  I haven’t seen it yet as I am still fairly new to Facebook, but I have heard some comments along the way.  As I understand it, full deployment of it should happen over the next couple of days.

Prepare…especially those of you who sleep with a copy of “Who Moved My Cheese” under their pillow.

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Of Interest

Microsoft Takes Their Medicine

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (12 Mar 2009)  |  Leave a comment

No, the tail kicking didn’t come from Apple (you’re kidding, right?), no…Google strikes again.  The ongoing thorn in Bill Gates side continues to knock the ego of the other super-giant.

It was announced today that Microsoft was doing away with their Beta of adCenter, their foray into the analytics market.  If you read their post, you can see the master marketers at work.  The spin in this post would make any tiddlywinks champion envious.

It seems that in the early days, Microsoft was better at responding quickly to new technologies, but lately they have seemed more like a 10,000 lb guerilla.  If they aren’t overbloating programs like Office, they are missing out on trends like YouTube and social media.

So the fact they are throwing in the towel with analytics comes as no surprise, especially since it is tied to the third best pay-per-click program available.

When will leadership at Microsoft stop trying to buy used up ideas like Yahoo! and get cutting edge again?

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Website Strategies

When Hiring a Web Developer, Ask for References

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (12 Mar 2009)  |  Leave a comment

It amazes me how many horror stories I hear from potential customers about how they have been taken or abused by other web development companies.  I have seen actual cases of what equates to shellshock in clients who have stopped trusting anyone to actually communicate with them or help them complete their websites.  It is very hard to win these normally calm, confident business people back over into a trusting relationship with their web developer.

Sadly, there are a lot of good coders and programmers out there that get into business, but don’t have any business sense.  They come up with some buzz words, read a ton of articles, but they miss the larger point…satisfying the customer.

With the web design industry one of the most accessible to anyone with a computer, an HTML or PHP book, and a website, its no wonder these horror stories occur.

But there is a way for the average web services client to fight back.  And it is a very easy and time tested one…but one that amazingly not a lot of people try.

Ask for references.

That’s right, just like a job interview, your potential web developers should provide a list of a few websites they have delivered. In addition, you should call these previous customers and ask them the following:

  • how they were treated
  • were deadlines made and adequately met
  • did the developer communicate during all phases of the project – especially when delays might have occur
  • did they provide a contract
  • were their payment terms agreeable
  • did they answer all of your questions and were they clear or did they use a lot of jargon and talk over your head?

Its amazing how many people are glad to provide these comments.  And if they aren’t happy, then you will get your answer quite clearly.

Then before hiring your programmer, make sure you are comfortable talking with them.  You are going to spend the next month or more…and then into the future with maintenance, talking with this person.  You need to feel at ease and you need to feel they are answering your questions and focusing on your business more than their skills.

A website can range from $1000 to $100,000 investment.  The web developer is going to be a leader in getting your business marketing online.  Would you trust this to just anyone?

Then think of them as if they were going to be working for you side by side.  Would they be a good fit for your team?

With a little bit of due diligence, you can avoid the painful heartache that is attributed to many who have enlisted the help of the wet behind the ears web programmer/business person.

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SEO Tips

The Old Days of Misspellings

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (12 Mar 2009)  |  Leave a comment

I was reminded last night, after misspelling a name in a post (which Google apparently caches your mistake forever!) of those old days when we web developers were charged with the task of misspelling every word on the planet.

Ahhh yes, the good old days of meta tags, when a client would say, I need you to fill those up so I can be found under kat, cat, khat, khatuh, kitty, pussycat, kittycat, Cat, cAt, caT, CaT, Catt, KaT…and so on.

Luckily, a little enjoyed potted meat gave its name up for just such annoyances and that put the search kings at Yahoo and Google on the case.  With the death of the “keyword” meta tag and algorythmns that understand how to translate a misspelling into the correct search term, web developers no longer have to drop their IQ a few points by getting confused over what the correct spelling of a word really is.

My mistake will probably live in cyberspace until I die, but at least it was just a mistake and not a career!

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Of Interest

More of the 500 Best City Names for Your AdWords Campaign

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (11 Mar 2009)  |  Leave a comment

Well, if you didn’t see my article yesterday on the best city names for a Google AdWords campaign, shame on you!  Where were you?  Were you washing to dog?  Were you eating rice cakes?  C’mon.

Okay, not that I’m over that stunning disappointment, read back to the previous post of the 500 Best Cities to use  in an AdWords Campaign if you haven’t already and then see this one which concludes the list…

Kahului     ,
Kalamazoo     ,
Kalispell     ,
Kankakee     ,
Kansas City     ,
Kapaa     ,
Keene     ,
Kendallville     ,
Keokuk     ,
Ketchikan     ,
Key West     ,
Kill Devil Hills     ,
Kingston     ,
Knoxville     ,
Kodiak     ,
Kokomo     ,
La Crosse     ,
Laconia     ,
Lafayette     ,
Lancaster     ,
Lansing     ,
Las Vegas     ,
Lawrence     ,
Lebanon     ,
Lebanon     ,
Lewisburg     ,
Lewiston     ,
Lewistown     ,
Lexington     ,
Fayette     ,
Lima     ,
Lincoln     ,
Lincolnton     ,
Logan     ,
Logansport     ,
Longview     ,
Los Alamos     ,
Louisville     ,
Lynchburg     ,
Madison     ,
Manchester     ,
Manitowoc     ,
Mankato     ,
Mansfield     ,
Marinette     ,
Marion     ,
Marquette     ,
Marshall     ,
Marshalltown     ,
Mason City     ,
McPherson     ,
Meadville     ,
Medford     ,
Melbourne     ,
Menomonie     ,
Merrill     ,
Michigan City     ,
Midland     ,
Minneapolis     ,
Minot     ,
Monroe     ,
Montrose     ,
Morehead City     ,
Mount Vernon     ,
Muncie     ,
Muscatine     ,
Muskegon     ,
Myrtle Beach     ,
Napa     ,
Naples     ,
Nashville     ,
New Castle     ,
New Castle     ,
New Haven     ,
Dover     ,
New Ulm     ,
Newton     ,
North Vernon     ,
Norwalk     ,
Norwich     ,
Oak Harbor     ,
Ocala     ,
Ocean City     ,
Ocean Pines     ,
Ogden     ,
Oil City     ,
Olean     ,
Olympia     ,
Omaha     ,
Oneonta     ,
Orlando     ,
Oshkosh     ,
Oskaloosa     ,
Ottawa     ,
Ottumwa     ,
Owatonna     ,
Owensboro     ,
Owosso     ,
Oxnard     ,
Paducah     ,
Pahrump     ,
Palm Coast     ,
Parkersburg     ,
Pella     ,
Pendleton     ,
Pensacola     ,
Peoria     ,
Peru     ,
Cedar Ridge     ,
Scottsdale     ,
Pierre     ,
Pittsburgh     ,
Pittsfield     ,
Platteville     ,
Plattsburgh     ,
Plymouth     ,
Pocatello     ,
Pontiac     ,
Port Angeles     ,
Portland     ,
Vancouver     ,
Pottsville     ,
Poughkeepsie     ,
Prescott     ,
Prineville     ,
Providence     ,
Provo     ,
Punta Gorda     ,
Quincy     ,
Racine     ,
Raleigh     ,
Rapid City     ,
Reading     ,
Red Wing     ,
Reno     ,
Richland     ,
Richmond     ,
Riverside     ,
Roanoke     ,
Rochelle     ,
Rochester     ,
Rock Springs     ,
Rockford     ,
Rockland     ,
Roseburg     ,
Rutland     ,
Sacramento     ,
Saginaw     ,
Salem     ,
Salina     ,
Salinas     ,
Salisbury     ,
San Luis Obispo     ,
Sandusky     ,
Sanford     ,
Santa Barbara     ,
Santa Cruz     ,
Santa Fe     ,
Santa Rosa     ,
Sarasota     ,
Sault Ste Marie     ,
Sayre     ,
Scottsburg     ,
Scranton     ,
Seaford     ,
Sedalia     ,
Selinsgrove     ,
Seneca     ,
Seneca Falls     ,
Seymour     ,
Sheboygan     ,
Shelton     ,
Sheridan     ,
Sidney     ,
Silverthorne     ,
Sioux City     ,
Sioux Falls     ,
Somerset     ,
South Bend     ,
Southern Pines     ,
Spartanburg     ,
Spencer     ,
Spirit Lake     ,
Spokane     ,
Springfield     ,
St Cloud     ,
St George     ,
St Joseph     ,
St Marys     ,
Statesville     ,
Staunton     ,
Sterling     ,
Stevens Point     ,
Storm Lake     ,
Sturgis     ,
Sunbury     ,
Syracuse     ,
Tampa     ,
Terre Haute     ,
Thomasville     ,
Tiffin     ,
Toledo     ,
Topeka     ,
Torrington     ,
Traverse City     ,
Trenton     ,
Truckee     ,
Tucson     ,
Urbana     ,
Vallejo     ,
Van Wert     ,
Vero Beach     ,
Vineland     ,
Norfolk     ,
Wabash     ,
Wahpeton     ,
Walla Walla     ,
Wapakoneta     ,
Warner Robins     ,
Warren     ,
Warsaw     ,
Alexandria     ,
Waterloo     ,
Watertown     ,
Wausau     ,
Wenatchee     ,
Whitewater     ,
Wichita     ,
Williamsport     ,
Willimantic     ,
Willmar     ,
Wilmington     ,
Winchester     ,
Winfield     ,
Winona     ,
Winston-Salem     ,
Wisconsin Rapids     ,
Wooster     ,
Worcester     ,
Worthington     ,
Yankton     ,
York     ,
Youngstown     ,
Zanesville

Whew, that’s it.  Happy AdWording it.

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