| LED Digest 1501: Turn Dead Pages into Live Prospects |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest ................................................. January 22, 2003 Issue #1501 ................................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= <Moderator Comment> ~ Lots of posts -=Cached Pages and Google=- ~ Philip Chave ~ Steven Rothberg -=Froogle=- ~ Wanda Husick -=Search Engine Optimization (SEO)=- ~ Paul Vizard ~ Shari Thurow -=Do's and Don'ts for Catalogs?=- ~ Tom Anson ~ Lance Brown ===== GEEK TIPS ================== -=Email Web Page Code=- ~ Charles Oertel ~ Willie Crawford ==== BILLBOARD =================== -=Web Viability for Wholesale Suppliers?=- ~ Gonzo Ryder ===== CONTINUING ================================= <Moderator Comment> I am seeing a huge influx of posts this week -- please give me a few days if you haven't seen your post yet. I'll get to each one, in due time... :-) Have a great Wednesday, Adam ------------------- From: Philip Chave Subject: Google cache > I am receiving phone calls from customers > referring to outdated pages... Pages that were > deleted as much as a year ago are still > appearing somewhere on the Internet. - George Forder, LED 1500 Hi George, This 'old page' scenario can be a problem with rapidly changing price lists, and I've particularly noticed it in the AOL browser (but maybe that's just me). You could try this META expire value fix. The expire value works by setting a time after which a page is considered expired. If the browser accesses a page after its "expires" date, it requests a new version. If you set an expire date of '0', the browser interprets that page as expired immediately. Times are in the GMT format. Remove * from the code. .META http-equiv="expires" content="Mon, 20 January 2003 08:00:00 GMT" 'Pragma' prevents the browser from caching the page in the first place. .META http-equiv="pragma" content="no-cache" These alternatives should go a long way toward solving your problem. Philip Chave Antique Collector http://www.antiquecollector.uk.com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Steven Rothberg Subject: Google cache George Forder posted a comment saying he's receiving calls every week from customers referring to outdated pages they are seeing on the web. He wanted to know if it is an ISP caching problem. Perhaps in some cases, but my guess is that his customers are using one of Google's best and worst features: the Google-cache option. When you run a search at Google and click on the link to the page, it usually appears. Sometimes, due to a page being removed or the web site's server being down, the page is unavailable. When that happens, I'll usually click on the link to "cached" after the description to see a copy of the page as it appeared when it was indexed by Google. George could probably minimize these problems by updating the pages on his site rather than deleting them. If he is selling products that no longer exist, replace the description of those products with some text that says that they're sold out but here are some new products that the customer may be interested in, or just set up a redirect from that page to another page on your site. Rather than having a customer find a dead page, now you've got a live prospect! Steven Rothberg http://www.collegerecruiter.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Wanda Husick Subject: Froogle > Froogle will automatically index sites it > comes across. - Ivan Jimenez, LED 1499 Hi Ivan, I would have thought Froogle would index any site that was a retail site, but it is not doing so. I have been on Google for years and they did NOT pick me up automatically. My first thought was that in spite of my prices, the word "retail" in my meta tags and my order form, something about my site did not tip them off that I was a retail site. I emailed them to request I be added to their list to be indexed. My request was replied to with "we might get to you, so DO A FEED" I think part of the problem is that the index does not have the ability to recognize all the retail sites. Those sites that were picked up automatically must have had something that the spider was programmed to look for to differentiate the retail sites from other type sites. Probably any site failing the "retail test" of the spider has to be scrutinized by a person before it is included in Froogle's retail site list... ergo, they might get to my site. By the way, not even Google picks sites up to index as I would have thought they would. I deliberately placed the local High School's swim team's site on my links page because I thought Google would then index it. It has been over a month and they are still not showing up in a Google search for them (my links page does though). Thanks for all the input on this question. Wanda Husick ------- new post - new topic ------- From: Paul Vizard Subject: SEO > ... adding keywords to metatags and coming up > with a title for your site should be taken care of by > the web site designer. This is not something you > should be wasting too much additional money on. - Joe Lachiana, LED 1499 Jeepers Joe, I've seen some meta tags and titles by some web designers that would make your hair stand on end. Finding a firm that can supply a great design, and search engine optimization is somewhat rare. And, once the designers job is complete, the promotion certainly isn't. By all means have something entered upon site launch, but edit and change to adapt with the sites content update continues the flow into and up the rankings. Of course, if you do a one word search then a huge listing response will be returned. But, most users don't search for one word. They soon figure out a phrase is needed to be more precise. There is the opportunity to shine. Combine good content, regular updates, relevant meta tags, and a growing email newsletter of interest to readers, and you will stay ahead in the long run. Paul Vizard www.marathoncomputers.com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Shari Thurow Subject: SEO Hi all-- First, I would like to congratulate Adam Audette and the LED audience for making issue #1500. Very impressive. It takes a lot of time to create and maintain a moderated discussion list, especially one that goes out 5 days a week for most of the year. And the information of the list has always been of the highest quality. Kudos to you Adam and all LEDers. Now, back to business. This is in response to Sara Griffith's post in LED #1500. In it she stated: > A diverse company... has good reason to have > separate sites that have absolutely nothing to do > with search engine visibility and those doing SEO... > should know this, but apparently haven't got a clue. Well, I assume I was being insulted. But I can take it. Reason? The search engines want people to design and write for end users, not purely for the search engines. The search engine representatives have stated this for many, many years at search engine conferences worldwide and in various online and offline publications. The definition of a search-engine friendly web site is "a user-friendly web site that can be easily found in the search engines." The primary group you must satisfy is your target audience and end users. If you plan on using the search engines as an online marketing strategy, then you must satisfy their requirements. Even the pay-per-click programs, such as those offered on Overture and Google, have requirements. If you want to build multiple sites because you honestly believe it will benefit your end users, then do it. But if you do it in a way that the search engines do not approve of, then don't use the search engines as part of your online marketing campaign. This is just pure common sense. The decisions you make about your web site can both positively and negatively affect your site's search engine visibility. Don't complain about advertising costs if you suddenly decide to promote your site(s) on the search engines, and you didn't think about the consequences of your design decisions during development. I've watched way too many businesses make that costly mistake. For the record, I never claimed that having separate sites was 100% bad. I know that it is a "red flag" that you might be dealing with an unethical search engine marketing firm. I wanted to warn LEDers about it. I've seen what happens when a site is blacklisted and how difficult it is to get "unblacklisted." And I've seen sites that build link farms get banned or penalized. You don't want to be in that group. Congrats again, Adam! Take care, Shari Thurow, Webmaster/Marketing Director ~ Search Engine Visibility book now available http://www.searchenginesbook.com/ ------- new post - new topic ------- From: Tom Anson Subject: Catalogs - Voice Mail Orders > Has anyone experimented with having clients > call in their orders using a voice mail system? - Yuwanda Black, LED 1500 In response to Yuwanda's question about using voice mail to take orders, I would have to say this is not the best idea, if it can be avoided. Her clarification, that there would be a call-back to get the credit card information, may help some; but I think over-all, it is not the best idea. In my experience, there are more people reluctant to talk to a machine than there are who are reluctant to order on-line. I've done off-line advertising, including my toll free number. Many calls came when I was not available to take them, and the number of calls coming in greatly outnumbered the messages left. If you make it very clear that orders called in would be handled with a call-back, it might limit the number of hang-ups, but it might limit the number of those who call at all, as well. In my experience as a customer, the places that have used voice mail for re-orders (credit card number on file) are a pain. I avoid them whenever possible. I tend to forget something I was supposed to leave in the message, and call-backs never seem to come at a good time. Tag was great as a kid, but... Tom Anson Anson Aromatic Essentials http://www.therapeutic-grade.com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Lance Brown Subject: Catalogs We often get asked for our catalog (B2B) but so far we have not printed one. I refer everyone to our web site. We have put in a lot of effort to list lots of product information there. However, I do do one thing that I used to do during my early days running a mail-order business (B2C). I always include a mini-catalog (known as a "Bounceback") in all correspondence. It's a simple 4 page black and white sheet that lists all our products in briefly with web site links printed for more information. I think that's useful and not too costly. Kind regards, Lance Brown, Manager Lance Brown Import-Export (Australia) www.lbie.com ===== GEEK TIPS =================================== From: Charles Oertel Subject: Email to a Friend > As a means of site promotion, I would like to include > an "E-mail this page to a friend" link on my pages... - Tom Anson, LED 1500 I found a very elegant solution to this problem for a client of mine. It is a Perl CGI script for free download from BigNoseBird.com However, I improved its security and validation and customised it. You can see it in action at http://PresentPerfect.co.za (click on the 'Tell a Friend' icon at the bottom left). I can send the script to anybody who is interested, but you will need to do some work to make it fit into your environment. I can do the work for you if you give me more details (shameless plug - I need some programming work ;-). regards Charles Oertel FineBushPeople.net charles[AT]finebushpeople[DOT]co.za ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Willie Crawford Subject: Email page Hi All, Regarding mailing a webpage to a friend scripts -- Will Bontrager has a wonderful free script that will do just what you are looking for. You can get it at: http://willmaster.com/master/webpagemailer/index.shtml It's extremely easy to install and very versatile. Willie Crawford Is There A Workshop Or Seminar In Your Hometown? InternetMarketingSeminarSchedule.Com ==== BILLBOARD ==================================== From: Gonzo Ryder Subject: Wholesale > ... I have wondered for some time if a web wholesale > site is effective to gain new business. Does anyone > have practical experience in this area? - Rusty Park, LED 1500 If you want to keep your dealers happy show suggested retail price (MSRP) only and, in several areas Dealer Inquiries Invited... I am in the motorcycle aftermarket industry and the smaller retailers are going under due to distributors (wholesalers) opening retail outlets (and claiming they aren't involved) with pricing at, and often below, dealer costs. The consumer is getting a real deal... until they need the part installed or serviced... If you want to build a solid dealer network protect them and build customer loyalty. Gonzo Ryder sandlots[AT]bellsouth[DOT]net ------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1995-2003 Adam Audette. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anais Nin |
