| LED Digest 2371: When Clients Don't Pay |
|
|
|
================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom www.GetWebContent.com/LED : the LED's Key Sponsor The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. March 20, 2007 Issue no. 2371 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ======= NEW ==================== <Moderator Comment> ~ When Clients Don't Pay ~ The kuler --== HTML Standards and Search Rankings ==-- ~ Tom Anson "...I had used three h3 tags in the left-side navigation." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Marketing with Press Releases ==-- ~ Eric Ward "I've embedded keyword links in URLwire for clients for 10 years..." --== Design Change Shortcuts ==-- ~ Thomas M. Schmitz "...Microsoft stopped supporting FrontPage extensions for non-Windows servers." ~ Cheryl Berry "Here's a FrontPage tip. Skip the shared borders function..." --== The Big Picture in SEO ==-- ~ Anonymous "I think you've got too many ideas here, seems convoluted." ========== NEW =================================== <Moderator Comment> A pretty slow day today, just a handful of posts. Probably a good time to shift gears here and start discussing new topics. Some talking points... 1. WHEN CLIENTS DON'T PAY Much of the work I do requires outsourcing or subcontracting with designers and programmers. One of my trusty, honest and very talented regulars, a designer from Florida, was bamboozled by a large company last week. In typical fashion, the company who hired Frank (not his real name, but we'll call him that) told him they'd like net 30 terms and needed final work for the project ASAP, including multiple versions of graphics and Web pages. There was a sense of urgency that made Frank put them on the top of his list. He trusted the company because of its reputation, probably a mistake at the outset, but he can't really be blamed judging by their reputation online. This company has received the promised deliveries from Frank and he's getting stonewalled. No answers to voicemails or emails. Nothing. He hasn't been paid. I'm not sure what kind of contract he signed, and he's already making plans to re-purpose the work for other clients. Has this happened to you? It doesn't have to be in design - what about consulting, SEO, etc? (I really wanted to use the word "bamboozle") 2. THE KULER IS COOL Just a cool tool -- A friend of mine who does graphic and Web design here in Bend (www.donnelldesign.com) turned me on to this fantastic tool from Adobe: http://kuler.adobe.com/ It allows you to create and share color themes. The site is quite elegant and works well with its Flash functionality. If you're stumped on a color scheme for that new project, this may be the resource you need. My favorite is probably the Granny Smith Apple combo, really vivid colors that work nicely with the dark brown. Have a great week, Adam ------------------- From: Tom Anson Subject: HTML standards and search results ranking Hi fellow LEDers, I posted a question about getting a page ranked in Google a while back [ http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1769/55/ ] and received a few interesting responses -- on and off list. I thank you, one and all. One person who responded to my post actually called me and talked for a fair length of time. One of the things he mentioned to me, as to why my page might not be ranking, is that I had used three h3 tags in the left-side navigation. Especially since these were links, he said, it could account for my problems. Well, if multiple h3 tags as links is a problem, I'm in big trouble with most of my product index pages. I've used an h3 tag for every item (see www.therapeutic-grade.com/products/blends/index.html as an example). I'm not an expert on this -- so I'm asking you -- but I don't recall ever seeing anything, anywhere that suggested that hx tags could not be used as links (I've actually seen where they are recommended, since they would carry more weight with the search engines), or that they could not be used multiple times on a page. I've checked the W3C site, but can't find anything about this, one way or the other. Any educated thoughts on this? Thanks. Tom Anson Anson Aromatic Essentials http://www.therapeutic-grade.com <Moderator Comment> Interesting question. I'm not sure why those h3 links would be problematic, but I'd love to hear from someone with ideas on this. Incidentally, this isn't directly pertinent to your question, Tom, but there's an interesting article and follow-up discussion about Web standards here: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/whereourstandardswentwrong -adam ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Eric Ward Subject: PR services Sorry for the slow reply. We are weeks away from baby #2 and I'm in "prepare the nest" mode :) A couple quick clarifications about URLwire. > We use PRWeb exclusively as they allow > embedding keyword links and the other > online newswire services do not... - Andy Benkert, LED Digest 2368 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1769/55/ I've embedded keyword links in URLwire for clients for 10 years. :) > Keep it short - 1-2 pages is probably sufficient. > Remember, journalists are lazy creatures wanting > to do no extra work. Write it for 'em! - Nathan Holley, LED Digest 2368 Shorter is better. I cannot say this strongly enough. Shorter is better. A formal press release isn't even necessary for URLwire. Informal plays better, like these. NBA Star LeBron James Launches Site With MSN http://www.urlwire.com/news/021907.html DQ Launches a Create Your Own Valentine's Day Slow Jam http://www.urlwire.com/news/020907.html These two clients had existing press releases in the usual format, way too long and full of jargon and fluff. They give them to me to adapt / shorten for URLwire's core readership. URLwire is about URLs. The goal is to get people to those URLs. A long press release gets in the way of that goal. I don't want people staying on my URLwire.com site, I want them getting enough info so they then want to leave my site and go to the client's site. Lastly, just want to clarify that URLwire is not designed in any way to compete with prweb, prnewswire.com, businesswire, or any other wire. Those guys put out thousands of press releases a week and are fantastic at what they do. I purposely limit URLwire to just a few new sites announcements per week, all sent one by one by me to people who know me. Lastly, just a general word of advice. People all have their own preferred method for consuming news, and while many folks do prefer a shorter blog ready format or abstract, that does not mean the press release is dead. Far from it. It just means recognizing how your particular news should be distributed / shared and why. I turn away about 100 announcements every week because they just are not a good fit for URLwire. I refer hundreds of people to the above wire services every month. I advise clients as to which service to use and why, based on what they are announcing to to whom they want to reach. The challenge is not finding methods for distribution. Lordy, there are many of those. The challenge is finding the distribution method and mix for your particular announcement that will get you what you want, whatever that is. Eric Ward URLwire.com ============ Sponsor Message =========== Would you write your own Super Bowl commercial? Or would you hire a professional ad copywriter? Guess what? Your website copy is your Super Bowl spot, your best shot at winning new business. GetWebContent.com is the web's premier provider of "Super Bowl-winning" web copy. When words are king, visit GetWebContent.com, the King of Words. http://GetWebContent.com/LED ============ Sponsor Message =========== -------- new post - new topic --------- From: Thomas M. Schmitz Subject: Frontpage Extensions > I'd strongly advise against FP extensions or > Dreamweaver library items. For one thing, they > tie you to proprietary software for updating. - Veronica Yuill, LED Digest 2370 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1771/55/ FrontPage users who have Unix hosting and not Windows hosting should note that Microsoft stopped supporting FrontPage extensions for non-Windows servers. This is because Microsoft discontinued FrontPage and replaced it with Expression Web Designer. Hosting providers have already begun to uninstall FrontPage extentions suppport on Unix servers (http://www.pdxtc.com/wpblog/archives/285). A source inside Microsoft says that the company will provide legacy support for Front Page extensions on Windows Servers. This means that people and businesses with FrontPage websites on Unix hosting should either redesign their web sites without FrontPage extensions or be prepared to migrate their web sites to Windows hosting. My recommendation is to: 1) Don't Panic. 2) Be prepared to migrate your existing website to a Windows server when your time comes. Most hosting providers offer both Unix and Windows servers so making the switch should be painless. 3) Redesign your website without FrontPage extensions. The FrontPage program itself is defunct. At some point Microsoft is certain to stop FrontPage extension support on Windows servers too. Better yet, use this as an opportunity to thoughtfully plan a whole new improved and better website design. You can safely continue to use FrontPage as a design tool as long as you do not use of its extensions, however, I do not recomend this because the program is also crippled by issues like limited CSS support. If you plan to switch from FrontPage to Expression Web Designer, then it may become worth your while to learn PHP too. PHP support is on the docket for the next version of Expression Web Designer. You can download a fully functional 60 day trial of Expression Web Designer at: http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression... Thomas M. Schmitz, President SEOcritique.com http://www.seocritique.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Cheryl Berry Subject: Design Here's a FrontPage tip. Skip the shared borders function - it's too limiting. Instead, create custom include pages and use them virtually anywhere in your site, even multiple files in one web page. They do not have to be stored in the default 'borders' folder, and can be saved in the root or a specifically created directory (Includes). Unless you're adding a NEW include to a web page, you DO NOT have to resave and upload pages that reference an existing include file when it has been edited. Create an include page and save it. Using FP menu, select Insert, Web Component, Included Content, Page, pagename.htm or simply edit directly into your html code <!--webbot bot="Include" U-Include="yourpage.htm" TAG="BODY" -->. or deeper reference, ../ in the path to the include page, (i.e. <!--webbot bot="Include" U-Include="../yourpage.htm" TAG="BODY" -->). Don't waste time writing header meta tags, they will not be read in this type of include page. If you use image alts - they will be evident in your readable code, so go ahead and use them. Organization is key to quick access if developing multiple include files or if the site is large. By placing the number (1) one in front of every include file name, they all rise to the top of the directory (EX: 1as.htm, 1bp.htm, 1cd.htm, etc) and just like any other page in a site, should be named something that makes sense to you and the pages it will reference. > ... my 2 secure order pages where I collect credit > card information, need to have the borders disabled, > otherwise the SSL throws up a security warning > that the page contains insecure as well as secure data. - Karl Baldwin, LED Digest 2370 By the way Karl, this issue can be corrected using includes as described above. Last note: be sure to EXCLUDE include page file names from your xml site map! Best to LEDers and Adam... Cheryl Berry -------- new post - same topic -------- [this response was posted to the site: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1772/172/ ] --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: SEO Big Picture... or Convoluted ramblings > These Search Promotion Professionals (the new acronym > I'm coining) are churning out a remarkable amount of ink > talking about minutia and very little of value for the average > Web business. They want to retain an air of exclusivity about > their approaches and a proventialism about the industry that > they are helping to shape. It's driven by vanity, ambition, and > greed, not by a desire to really get to know search algorithms. - Nathan Holley, LED Digest 2370 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1771/55/ I think you've got too many ideas here, seems convoluted. Yes, the SEO industry regulars can get annoying like fingernails on chalkboards. But it shouldn't be a revelation that they're looking out for numero uno - the whole point of the conference circuit and the SE industry is to make money. Business. It's not about passion for algorithms, it's about passion for dollars. As for Shari's article, she's sometimes interesting because of her hunger for controversy, but seldom noteworthy. Her ideas are very blaise in my opinion, she's stuck in outdated methods and a super conservative approach. Anonymous ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by GetWebContent.com The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. Free no-obligation proposal: http://GetWebContent.com/LED The Archives: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/126/120/ Subscribe: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/52/77/ Unsubscribe, Change Email, or Hold / Resume Delivery: http://www.led-digest.com/content/category/4/17/86/ (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers." - Carl Sagan |
