| LED Digest 1776: Beware the Search Engine Marketing Trap |
|
|
|
================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Reg. from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam,led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com ................................................ April 6, 2004 Issue #1776 ................................................ .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Choosing an SEO ==-- ~ Tom Anson "I would add just one word of caution about checking with a list of client references." --== Did Google Get Smarter? ==-- ~ Derek Andrews "...I wouldn't like to guess without much more research." --== HTML Editors? ==-- ~ Bob Parliament "My recommendation is HomeSite available from Macromedia." ~ Phil Chave "It's like coding by hand, but CuteHTML pre-empts you by offering suggestions..." ~ Kurt T. Francis "Despite the points I've discussed, I still recommend Frontpage." --== The Local Search Buzz ==-- ~ David Yancey "...businesses spent over US$20 *billion* in 2003 to try and reach local prospects." ~ CB Malley "Why hasn't someone just 'cut the internet up' into smaller sections for the locals?" ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== UK Site Libraries? ==-- ~ Malcolm Bailey ===== CONTINUING ================================= From: Tom Anson Subject: SEOs > ... anyone considering hiring an SEO company... should > ask for a list of client references along with contact details. - Mark Scriven, LED 1773 With reference to Mark Scriven's post, I would add just one word of caution about checking with a list of client references. I made the mistake of doing business with a company that promised top-10 listings. Directory Information Pages and placement in five identical-looking online malls were two of the techniques offered. My brief association with this company nearly ruined my business. The strange thing is, as I was seeking a refund on my investment, I was given a list of happy clients to contact. Most wouldn't reply to my emails; but the two that did were delighted with the service -- despite the fact that their businesses were losing effectiveness. They never connected the slump in traffic or sales as being related to the SEO efforts of this company. Once I pointed out my experience, they did some reconsidering. I received emails from the one for almost a year (it seems), asking how I managed to get my money back. So, if you contact satisfied clients, be sure to ask for the results they have seen. If it's just rankings on a few terms -- without an increase in business -- question their satisfaction level. Tom Anson Anson Aromatic Essentials http://www.therapeutic-grade.com ------- new post - new topic ------- From: Derek Andrews Subject: Smarter Google > ... I was kindly told here at LED that Google, while placing > less emphasis on keywords these days, does look at the > content. [At Style.com and Elle.com]... I find mostly images > with practically no ALT tags to suggest that the pages signify > fashion or a magazine. - Jack Yan, LED 1775 Jack Yan asks how elle.com and style.com achieve ranking for the search term 'fashion magazine' when they apparently have no content to suggest this on their home page. The most likely explanation I can suggest is its listing in appropriate web directory categories, such as Google's Arts > Design > Fashion > Magazines and E-zines > Women. No doubt they are listed in Yahoo and many other directories. They do of course have very good Page Rank, and no doubt lots of links from fashion related sites. Whether this is evidence of Topic Sensitive Page Rank, or just good old Google bombing from relevant anchor text, I wouldn't like to guess without much more research. Derek Andrews, woodturner Wedding favors and other great gift ideas. http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com ------- new post - new topic ------- From: Bob Parliament Subject: HTML editors > I'd like some opinions on HTML editors... Dreamweaver, > Frontpage (2000 or newer), others? What can you recommend > for a "skilled amateur" (not a pro)? - Carol O'Leary, LED 1771 My recommendation is HomeSite available from Macromedia. It facilitates hand coding and has a number of features to speed up editing. HomeSite 5.5 description at: http://www.macromedia.com/software/homesite/ Bob Parliament, Editor Fraser Valley Guide http://www.fraservalleyguide.com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Phil Chave Subject: HTML editors I agree with Maureen, Led Digest 1773 - 'Once you learn to handcode you will never do anything else.' I use CuteHTML and have created several sites of over 100 pages. It's like coding by hand, but Cute pre-empts you by offering suggestions once you start the code sequence and flavours code with colour. This at least makes it quicker. I've used Dreamweaver, Hot dog, Frontpage and several others. In the end I come back to doing it by hand. Glutton for punishment, I guess, but very satisfying. regards Phil Chave. UK ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Kurt T. Francis Subject: HTML editors Carol O'Leary inquired in LED 1771 about HTML editing programs. While I'm far from expert on such programs and have used only 2 with my own website, I can give a few cautionary comments about Frontpage in particular. I have used Frontpage for several years, and continue to do so. There is much that I like about it, which is why I stay with it despite having run into some difficulties with it. There are also some irritations I experience in using it. I have been unable for quite some time to publish to the web from within Frontpage, so I have been using the work-around of using the LeechFTP program to upload files as I add them (and to delete files from my server when appropriate). That works fine, but it would be nice not to have to open another program to do these tasks. What Frontpage calls "master borders" are no longer dependable on my site. For reasons beyond me, the top border -- a border common to all pages on my site -- often fails to display my site banner. Yet other pages display it just fine. Given that it is a single border called up by all the pages, I haven't a clue why the banner fails to appear in some cases. In fairness, I've experienced no trouble with the other 2 borders I use, i.e., a left border and a bottom one. Still related to borders, Frontpage takes FOREVER to save changes to any of the borders for my site, even on a very fast computer with plenty of RAM memory. I'm talking hours, and many of them. When someone makes a suggestion I make some change or the other to one or more of the borders and convinces me to do so is a good idea, I do it -- but I sure dread doing it. Frontpage also offers handy canned themes (which can include master borders, if one likes), with considerable ability to alter colors, text appearance, etc. However, I have found right from the beginning that getting navigation buttons to "take" is a rather hit-and-miss affair; when I've built small sites for friends, I have often had to start over from scratch several times before the navigation buttons appeared properly (and worked). Related to control of appearance is an issue that applies even if one doesn't use a theme, which I don't for my own site. I long ago gave up setting a stock newpage.htm with the settings I want, as neither the background nor the text colors I've chosen have *ever* stuck. Ditto the appearance of links, in terms of colors. The borders show, and the font works, but not the rest. Now I just open an existing page, save it with the name I want to give the new page I'm about to work on, delete everything in the text area, then go to work. I've consulted people with vast expertise, including in Frontpage specifically, going to the point of having them try out one of my computers. One friend who is a leading expert of computers who has done consulting work for Microsoft for years took the trouble to download my entire site into his own computer and to work on creating some mock pages -- and he experienced the same problems. He says he chatted with contacts in Redmond, and sent my site to them, but they, too, couldn't figure out a solution. And if they can't, I don't know anyone who can. Now for some caveats that may be factors. For one thing, my site is large, for a hobby site, weighing in at hundreds of megabytes -- about half a gigabyte last time I checked a couple of weeks ago -- and has a fairly large number of viewable pages, pages which each call up a varying number of other files. I and some of the people with whom I've spoken speculate that perhaps the sheer size of the site may be a factor, perhaps the determining one, given that when the site was much smaller I had none of these problems. Another possible factor is that I'm uploading from Thailand over a dial-up modem (high-speed options remain ludicrously expensive here), and am doing so to a server in the United States -- which I realize shouldn't be an issue, but I'm not entirely convinced it might be. All of that said, and despite the controversies that sometimes arise right here in LED about on-the-fly programs such as Frontpage and Dreamweaver, for someone like me, a complete ignoramus when it comes to hand-coding, such programs are a godsend. I started out with WinWord, and that worked well enough at first, but my needs quickly outgrew it. I leave to hand-coders the wish for coding purity; as the web master of a non-commercial site, I simply can't justify the time and expense of learning how to do it myself. On the rare occasion I run into something that I have to have hand-coded, I call a friend and pay him to do it for me. Despite the points I've discussed, I still recommend Frontpage. A good friend of mine uses Dreamweaver, and swears its far better than Frontpage, though he likes the latter well enough. Hope these comments are useful. And, as always, Adam, thanks for this great resource! Sincerely, Kurt T. Francis, Web Master Bangkok's Voice On The Web http://bangkokatoz.com ------- new post - new topic ------- From: David Yancey Subject: Local search In LED #1775, John Barendrecht says he has zero interest in having a local listing, but he is the (still) rare exception of a business that has no need for a physical presence. 80% or more of sales are made to customers within an hour's driving distance, John, so the vast majority of these need to reach prospects through *all* media that can do the job, including radio, newspapers, yellow pages, and online search. John says that "local search" is not going to be the next big thing, in part because "90% of local businesses don't have a web site", and cannot be expected to cope with all the complexities of selling online. John, FYI, Kelsey Group and others report that from 40% to 55% of locally-based businesses *do* have a website, already. Most of the rest can be expected to have at least a simple one within 3-5 years. Is building and maintaining an e-commerce site difficult and costly, as John says? Yes, but that is not the point, here, since probably 90% of these local-centric sites will *not* be used for selling online. Their purpose, much like a Yellow Pages listing, is primarily to draw prospects into the physical store, restaurant or whatever. OK, then why not simply list in the local Yellow Pages sites? Well, hundreds of thousands of businesses do, of course. But the fact is that more and more people are searching for local businesses *online*, and want to find them in the same search sites they use for any other online searching. And John, anyone who is worrying about being part of the "next big thing" is silly. Local search certainly won't be it, because it *already is a big thing*, with businesses spending over US$20 *billion* in 2003 to try and reach local prospects. "Local search", when one looks at the real numbers, is ten times bigger in economic terms than Google and Yahoo/Overture *combined*! John also goes on to take Vivante.com to task. Thanks, John! We've only been operational a few months and can use all the criticism we can get, no matter how casual. I hope you will return to Vivante every 6 months and see all the novel features we have and and are adding to give local merchants more messaging options, and to make it easier for people to find what they want, be it on the local, national, or global level. David Yancey http://www.vivante.com "Web searching *your* way" ------- new post - same topic ------- From: CB Malley Subject: Local search LEDer's, I'm a bit of a newbie of your digest (well, actually an 'oldie' that fell by the wayside along about 2000 :-) Needless to say, in reading through the latest 1768, I felt the need to respond to your request for "ideas or suggestions" on Local Search. My question (is that an 'idea or suggestion'? ;-) is this: WHY hasn't someone just 'cut the internet up' into smaller sections for the locals? I mean, I realize a uniform website name would be hard to come by for every area, but wouldn't something like "getitcalifornia" or "getitlasvegas" or "getitwhatevercityorstate" be better for the 'local search'? Then each area could run their own Google or Yahoo type search engine for THAT area. Everyone would know the name (well, after some national branding is done) and know to 'get it" they would just go to the 'get it' area they wanted to search in. Just seemed a good idea to me rather than trying to mix and match and decide what to pull from where and seek on which for this or that location!! ;-) Any comments?? or am I just out in left field here and keeping it too simple? Lord only knows the biggies could afford the expense of the domains each year. Hey, maybe they could even franchise it to make even more big bucks too! (Actually, I know someone that put somethng like this together 'back when' (bb - before the bust) were they way ahead of their time? C. B. Malley, been watching all this stuff for a long time now and STILL have good ideas! ;-) ==== BILLBOARD ==================================== From: Malcolm Bailey Subject: Libraries of sites Hi all, From: http://www.faegre.co.uk/articles/article_1254.aspx ------------------ "The time when all internet web sites "published in the UK" will have to be deposited with the six legal deposit libraries in the United Kingdom has arrived." ------------------ Not being a legal expert - what does this article / legislation mean to the average web developer? Cheers, Malcolm Bailey ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains Copyright 1995-2004 Adam Audette. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "The fearless are merely fearless. People who act in spite of their fear are truly brave." - James A. LaFond-Lewis |
