New on WebMarketCentral.com is a page on Search Engine Optimization Basics, a how-to guide to getting at least decent placement for your site on the major search engines. While expert search engine position services offer more sophisticated techniques, this guide covers the basics of text optimization, meta tagging, alt-text for images, page naming, links and code tweaking for those without a big search budget.
Having exposed my knowledge and experience on improving one's search position, it's embarassing that the WMC site isn't showing up more respectably on the search engines yet. Through yesterday, a Google search for own press release brought up a number of sites where the release had been posted -- but missed the press release on my site! (Google is finding it today.) Also up until yesterday, Google couldn't find the name "Jay Lipe" on my site, even though it's in both the text and meta tags for my marketing-related blogs page. Again, that's working today. The Web's most popular search engine still won't find all of the words "Bronto Topica Silverpop" on WebMarketCentral, even though they are all listed on the Hosted Email Marketing Services page.
The bottom line on all of this seems to be that the final paragraph of my SEO basics page is spot-on: "The final step in improving your search engine positioning involves the least effort, and yet is the hardest -- waiting...It can take several weeks for Google to find your site, and about the only thing you can do to speed this up at all is to try getting your site linked from more sites so you are easier to find." Hopefully, within a few weeks, I'll be able to report much improved results -- and validate my own advice.
Gratuitous key phrase of the week: WebMarketCentral, the Portal for Web Marketers, Officially Launched (my press release -- we'll see if/when the search engines find this)
vendredi 29 juillet 2005
mercredi 20 juillet 2005
WebMarketCentral Gets Official
After several weeks live, WebMarketCentral.com has now been officially launched with this press release. Most of the world won't see the release until PRWeb releases it tomorrow, but you can see it on the WMC site today.
Our goal, as always, is to help Web marketing and e-commerce professionals to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently by showcasing the top marketing books, providing useful advice, and providing an extensive directory of helpful online marketing resources.
To that end, we've also recently added to the site a directory of Marketing and Operations Consulting firms, including some of those whom we have found to truly outstanding such as Kelly Allan Associates and Green Point Partners.
Nest week, we'll post our first interview with a key player in the online marketing space. Until then, best of luck to you, and stay tuned.
Our goal, as always, is to help Web marketing and e-commerce professionals to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently by showcasing the top marketing books, providing useful advice, and providing an extensive directory of helpful online marketing resources.
To that end, we've also recently added to the site a directory of Marketing and Operations Consulting firms, including some of those whom we have found to truly outstanding such as Kelly Allan Associates and Green Point Partners.
Nest week, we'll post our first interview with a key player in the online marketing space. Until then, best of luck to you, and stay tuned.
mercredi 13 juillet 2005
The Hydra of Web Site Development
Like the Hydra of Greek mythology, though much more benign (and not to confused with the 1990 Toto album, one of their weaker efforts), effective Web site development requires many heads. Perhaps not nine like the Hydra, but at least four: a technologist, a graphic designer, a writer, and a Web strategist. Finding all four skill sets in one individual is as rare as finding the next Michael Jordan in basketball, though finding two may be possible.
Many companies -- and not just small ones -- make the mistake when looking for Web development talent of focusing on the technology side: "knowledge of HTML, Java, Flash" etc. is among the absolute requirements in their want ad. While technology skills are important, they are not necessarily key, any longer, to the development of a truly effective online presence.
Take this law firm site for example: the graphic design is simple yet elegant, and technologically it works fine; but the navigation could be improved (Who are they targeting? What exactly do they want me to look at first on this site?) and much of the content has been written by lawyers (and reads like it). Yes, particularly in a larger company, it is important to enable multiple individuals to contribute content to the company Web site in their area of subject matter expertise, but as the brilliant Anne Holland of Marketing Sherpa pointed out in this column, it is also important to have a "keeper of the words" in order to maintain consistency and ensure the maximum impact from your Web communications.
So, for smaller firms who can't afford to hire a Web team, the question becomes: what talent do we hire and what do we outsource? Actually, the technology and graphic design aspects are the easiest to outsource. Virtually every Web hosting company now offers easy-to-use content management tools from entry-level (e.g. GoDaddy's WebSite Tonight) to professional-grade (such as the Neuance tool from Neulogic), taking the technical burden off the business. Graphic artists are generally not hard to find locally, and since complete site redesign is something most companies only undertake once every two to three years, it makes little sense to hire one full-time (unless you have a lot of other needs in this area). If you're not sure where to look, there are national marketing temp firms such as The Creative Group and Aquent who can connect you with professional graphic artists on a project basis. If you don't have the budget to hire a graphic artist, Web site templates for a variety of popular site-building and content management programs are available for prices ranging from free to about $100.
Writing is a talent you should have in-house. Although this individual does not need to be dedicated solely to Web writing (unless you have a very large and dynamic Web site), this individual should have knowledge of how to write for the Web: in other words, the "4-C" ability to write content that is compelling, clear, concise and consistent.
Most important is the Web strategist. This is the person who can answer the basic questions such as "Who exactly are we targeting with our Web site?" and "What are the key messages we want to communicate?" as well as determining what content should be on the site, how the navigation should flow, and what special features/capabilities should be incorporated (e.g. news feeds, stock feeds, links and resources, events, Webcasts, white papers / expert knowledge, online support, e-commerce, online chat etc.). This individual will be key to the success of your online marketing efforts; he or she won't be an entry-level marketer and won't come cheap, but will be critical. The Web strategist doesn't necessarily have to be an expert in technology or graphic design, but if you can find one who can also write, that's a bonus worth paying for.
Many companies -- and not just small ones -- make the mistake when looking for Web development talent of focusing on the technology side: "knowledge of HTML, Java, Flash" etc. is among the absolute requirements in their want ad. While technology skills are important, they are not necessarily key, any longer, to the development of a truly effective online presence.
Take this law firm site for example: the graphic design is simple yet elegant, and technologically it works fine; but the navigation could be improved (Who are they targeting? What exactly do they want me to look at first on this site?) and much of the content has been written by lawyers (and reads like it). Yes, particularly in a larger company, it is important to enable multiple individuals to contribute content to the company Web site in their area of subject matter expertise, but as the brilliant Anne Holland of Marketing Sherpa pointed out in this column, it is also important to have a "keeper of the words" in order to maintain consistency and ensure the maximum impact from your Web communications.
So, for smaller firms who can't afford to hire a Web team, the question becomes: what talent do we hire and what do we outsource? Actually, the technology and graphic design aspects are the easiest to outsource. Virtually every Web hosting company now offers easy-to-use content management tools from entry-level (e.g. GoDaddy's WebSite Tonight) to professional-grade (such as the Neuance tool from Neulogic), taking the technical burden off the business. Graphic artists are generally not hard to find locally, and since complete site redesign is something most companies only undertake once every two to three years, it makes little sense to hire one full-time (unless you have a lot of other needs in this area). If you're not sure where to look, there are national marketing temp firms such as The Creative Group and Aquent who can connect you with professional graphic artists on a project basis. If you don't have the budget to hire a graphic artist, Web site templates for a variety of popular site-building and content management programs are available for prices ranging from free to about $100.
Writing is a talent you should have in-house. Although this individual does not need to be dedicated solely to Web writing (unless you have a very large and dynamic Web site), this individual should have knowledge of how to write for the Web: in other words, the "4-C" ability to write content that is compelling, clear, concise and consistent.
Most important is the Web strategist. This is the person who can answer the basic questions such as "Who exactly are we targeting with our Web site?" and "What are the key messages we want to communicate?" as well as determining what content should be on the site, how the navigation should flow, and what special features/capabilities should be incorporated (e.g. news feeds, stock feeds, links and resources, events, Webcasts, white papers / expert knowledge, online support, e-commerce, online chat etc.). This individual will be key to the success of your online marketing efforts; he or she won't be an entry-level marketer and won't come cheap, but will be critical. The Web strategist doesn't necessarily have to be an expert in technology or graphic design, but if you can find one who can also write, that's a bonus worth paying for.
mercredi 6 juillet 2005
Cars and Viruses (Real Ones) Online
Less than ten years ago, selling a car meant calling your local paper to place a classified ad, and getting sick meant a call to your doctor. Today, these are two of the many things we do differently in an online world.
I had both situations last week. To sell my car, I went to CarSoup.com. This site has a great interface; buyers can search and sort by year, make, model, body style, mileage, location, price and color -- in short, drilling down from thousands of vehicles to just the right one. So skipped the local paper and listed my 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible here.
Feeling a bit under the weather, and hoping to avoid a doctor visit (or at least have some indication of what was wrong with me), I checked out the leading medical Web sites: WebMD, DrKook, er, I mean, DrKoop, HealthCentral, and several others. I was hoping to find the medical version of something like the CarSoup interface -- let me enter or select from a list of symptoms and then tell me what I've got.
Unfortunately, while there is a great deal of health information now available online, none of these sites offered this type of drill-down capability. I was able to narrow down my malaise to one of four conditions, ranging from minor to life-threatening(!). I was left slightly more informed but a lot more nervous.
So, I reverted to pre-internet mode and went to the doctor. He didn't run any of the expensive tests that the health sites had indicated might be necessary (thank goodness). He simply asked me a couple of questions, checked me over briefly, told me what was wrong with me (nothing too serious, thankfully) and wrote me a prescription.
In short, while the Web has become a helpful resource for obtaining health-related information, the usability and value of even the leading sites has a long way to go. My prescription for the health-related Web sites? Check out CarSoup -- provide visitors with a clean and easy drill-down from their symptoms to the most likely diagnosis, preferably without unnecessarilly scaring them.
I had both situations last week. To sell my car, I went to CarSoup.com. This site has a great interface; buyers can search and sort by year, make, model, body style, mileage, location, price and color -- in short, drilling down from thousands of vehicles to just the right one. So skipped the local paper and listed my 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible here.
Feeling a bit under the weather, and hoping to avoid a doctor visit (or at least have some indication of what was wrong with me), I checked out the leading medical Web sites: WebMD, DrKook, er, I mean, DrKoop, HealthCentral, and several others. I was hoping to find the medical version of something like the CarSoup interface -- let me enter or select from a list of symptoms and then tell me what I've got.
Unfortunately, while there is a great deal of health information now available online, none of these sites offered this type of drill-down capability. I was able to narrow down my malaise to one of four conditions, ranging from minor to life-threatening(!). I was left slightly more informed but a lot more nervous.
So, I reverted to pre-internet mode and went to the doctor. He didn't run any of the expensive tests that the health sites had indicated might be necessary (thank goodness). He simply asked me a couple of questions, checked me over briefly, told me what was wrong with me (nothing too serious, thankfully) and wrote me a prescription.
In short, while the Web has become a helpful resource for obtaining health-related information, the usability and value of even the leading sites has a long way to go. My prescription for the health-related Web sites? Check out CarSoup -- provide visitors with a clean and easy drill-down from their symptoms to the most likely diagnosis, preferably without unnecessarilly scaring them.
mercredi 29 juin 2005
Backflip: A Dot-Com Survivor Story
Hundreds (at least) of Web-based businesses were launched in the late 90's with a business model of giving away a cool tool or service while earning revenue through advertising. While a few of these have survived intact -- and a few more survived by radically changing their business models -- most have disappeared.
One interesting survivor is Backflip.com. This is an online bookmark service, which I have found very useful in doing research, particularly for collaborative research projects. Like the Bookmarks or Favorites feature in your browser, Backflip lets you note Web pages for later revisiting and categorize them into folders and subfolders. Beyond what your browser can do, however, Backflip lets you 1) access your bookmarks from any computer, 2) keep your bookmarks (selectively) private, make them public, or share them with a defined group, and 3) search within your Backflipped pages. Here is the company's story.
Backflip was started in 1999 by Netscape veterans Tim Hickman and Chris Misner. The company’s original board and investors included Jennifer Bailey, a former VP at Netscape; Ron Conway, general partner at Angel Investors; J. Neil Weintraut, a general partner at 21st Century Internet Venture Partners; and Robert Keller, general partner at Rosewood Venture Group. The basics of the founding and ownership were included in all of the company’s press releases, such as this one from May 2000 announcing the expansion of their service to wireless devices.
The company raised a bunch of money (including $4 million of start-up funding and $14 million in second-round funding in July 2000 as reported here and here) that it used to build up its staff and make acquisitions such as that of smaller competitor MyBookmarks in April 2000.
There’s a basic profile of Backflip here; the email address is, I believe, still current, but the phone number is no longer in service. Forbes did a profile article on the company in December 1999; the company also received press coverage from Salon explaining their product and business model in March 2000 and an interesting perspective on the company was presented in this Kaiser newsletter.
In November 2000, however, the company collapsed – part of the dot-com meltdown, as Weintraut ousted Hickman from the CEO slot; Misner was kept on to run day-to-day operations, but it isn’t clear whether he is still involved with the company or not. Weintraut had his own public folder on Backflip for several months covering – what else – venture capital. The folder has since been taken down, but the cached version was still available on Google until very recently -- at least through January 2005 (Google's cache doesn't seem to be what it used to be); Weintraut’s last entry was from August 2000. Here’s a brief bio of Weintraut:
Neil Weintraut
Partner
21st Century Internet Venture Partners
"Neil Weintraut is a Silicon Valley VC specializing in New Economy companies, and frequent author and commentator about Internet business. Neil is a partner at 21st Century Internet Venture Partners (21VC), which has backed Internet startups, such as AdForce, CareerBuilder, and When.com. Other companies in the 21VC family include BigWords, AvantGo, and Backflip. Prior to 21VC, Neil built and lead the Internet practice at Hambrecht & Quist, underwriting Internet pioneers such as Netscape, UUNET, Lycos, cnet, E*Trade, and VocalTec. "
I wasn’t able to find much about the other principals in the company, but Ron Conway is a very interesting guy, the subject of book titled “The Godfather of Silicon Valley: Ron Conway and the Fall of the Dot-coms,” a fascinating excerpt of which can be found here. Conway threw elaborate parties with rock bands and guests like Warren Buffet, Ben Affleck and Goldie Hawn.
Conway and partner Bob Bozeman invested in a wide range of dot-coms, at least half of which are no longer active. The Angel Investors Web site informs visitors that it is “no longer making new investments.”
As a research tool, Backflip is clearly of value to the education community, and that community (or at least certain segments) has certainly embraced Backflip. A Google search of sites that contain the term “Backflip.com” results in numerous education-related links, including Teacher Tools, in several links on this educational subject-related site, as a favorite site for educators here, and even as part of an assignment on this Internet in the Classroom site.
As for the business model, it appears that Backflip’s current free-service-supported-by-advertising model is generating enough cash to keep the servers running, though probably not much more than that. The existing free service model is great for generating traffic, if not income; it appears there would be potential for a "premium" service offering features such as the ability to search within folders, ad-free and corporate-branded options, RSS feed creation ability, etc. But for now, the small group that saved Backflip seems content to leave it as is - simple, useful, and free.
One interesting survivor is Backflip.com. This is an online bookmark service, which I have found very useful in doing research, particularly for collaborative research projects. Like the Bookmarks or Favorites feature in your browser, Backflip lets you note Web pages for later revisiting and categorize them into folders and subfolders. Beyond what your browser can do, however, Backflip lets you 1) access your bookmarks from any computer, 2) keep your bookmarks (selectively) private, make them public, or share them with a defined group, and 3) search within your Backflipped pages. Here is the company's story.
Backflip was started in 1999 by Netscape veterans Tim Hickman and Chris Misner. The company’s original board and investors included Jennifer Bailey, a former VP at Netscape; Ron Conway, general partner at Angel Investors; J. Neil Weintraut, a general partner at 21st Century Internet Venture Partners; and Robert Keller, general partner at Rosewood Venture Group. The basics of the founding and ownership were included in all of the company’s press releases, such as this one from May 2000 announcing the expansion of their service to wireless devices.
The company raised a bunch of money (including $4 million of start-up funding and $14 million in second-round funding in July 2000 as reported here and here) that it used to build up its staff and make acquisitions such as that of smaller competitor MyBookmarks in April 2000.
There’s a basic profile of Backflip here; the email address is, I believe, still current, but the phone number is no longer in service. Forbes did a profile article on the company in December 1999; the company also received press coverage from Salon explaining their product and business model in March 2000 and an interesting perspective on the company was presented in this Kaiser newsletter.
In November 2000, however, the company collapsed – part of the dot-com meltdown, as Weintraut ousted Hickman from the CEO slot; Misner was kept on to run day-to-day operations, but it isn’t clear whether he is still involved with the company or not. Weintraut had his own public folder on Backflip for several months covering – what else – venture capital. The folder has since been taken down, but the cached version was still available on Google until very recently -- at least through January 2005 (Google's cache doesn't seem to be what it used to be); Weintraut’s last entry was from August 2000. Here’s a brief bio of Weintraut:
Neil Weintraut
Partner
21st Century Internet Venture Partners
"Neil Weintraut is a Silicon Valley VC specializing in New Economy companies, and frequent author and commentator about Internet business. Neil is a partner at 21st Century Internet Venture Partners (21VC), which has backed Internet startups, such as AdForce, CareerBuilder, and When.com. Other companies in the 21VC family include BigWords, AvantGo, and Backflip. Prior to 21VC, Neil built and lead the Internet practice at Hambrecht & Quist, underwriting Internet pioneers such as Netscape, UUNET, Lycos, cnet, E*Trade, and VocalTec. "
I wasn’t able to find much about the other principals in the company, but Ron Conway is a very interesting guy, the subject of book titled “The Godfather of Silicon Valley: Ron Conway and the Fall of the Dot-coms,” a fascinating excerpt of which can be found here. Conway threw elaborate parties with rock bands and guests like Warren Buffet, Ben Affleck and Goldie Hawn.
Conway and partner Bob Bozeman invested in a wide range of dot-coms, at least half of which are no longer active. The Angel Investors Web site informs visitors that it is “no longer making new investments.”
As a research tool, Backflip is clearly of value to the education community, and that community (or at least certain segments) has certainly embraced Backflip. A Google search of sites that contain the term “Backflip.com” results in numerous education-related links, including Teacher Tools, in several links on this educational subject-related site, as a favorite site for educators here, and even as part of an assignment on this Internet in the Classroom site.
As for the business model, it appears that Backflip’s current free-service-supported-by-advertising model is generating enough cash to keep the servers running, though probably not much more than that. The existing free service model is great for generating traffic, if not income; it appears there would be potential for a "premium" service offering features such as the ability to search within folders, ad-free and corporate-branded options, RSS feed creation ability, etc. But for now, the small group that saved Backflip seems content to leave it as is - simple, useful, and free.
mercredi 22 juin 2005
Briefly: The MIT Blogging Survey, Blog Submission
A group at MIT is conducting a survey of bloggers. I just completed it, takes about 10 minutes. It's an intriguing set of questions, and it will be interesting to see the results when posted in early July. The larger the sample they receive, the better their results will be, so if you've got a few minutes to devote to the study of blogging, click the image.
I also submitted this blog to Popdex, the Web site popularity index (probably dangerous in my case), as well as to Bloguniverse and Blogarama. I hope to make the Top 1 Billion list someday.
I also submitted this blog to Popdex, the Web site popularity index (probably dangerous in my case), as well as to Bloguniverse and Blogarama. I hope to make the Top 1 Billion list someday.
mardi 21 juin 2005
What Tone Does Your Web Site Set?
Your Web site is often one of the first places where your prospects will form an impression of your company. What you say on your home page is critical, but how you say it is equally important. Your home page should clearly communicate three things:
- What your company does
- Why you’re the best (i.e. why I should want to do business with you)
- What you’d like me – a visitor to your site – to do next (e.g. call you, email you, read something, buy something, search for something, download something, etc.)
Your home page, and your site, also set a tone. Is it friendly and inviting, making me want to take the next step? Or is it in some way off-putting, giving me a less than ideal impression of your company?
We’ve all seen examples of sites that set a poor tone; cheesy, pompous, confusing, or just plain bland. Setting just the right tone to reflect the personality for your company that you’d like to convey (for example, professional yet pleasant) is challenging – but valuable, if done well.
I recently did some consulting work in the reinsurance sector (companies that sell insurance to insurance companies). There are few businesses more arcane or self-important, and predictably, many reinsurance Web sites are technically proficient but very dry. Yet even in this segment, I found two sites that managed to stand out, by conveying a tone that is fun and friendly without being inappropriate or unprofessional.
Alea Group uses hand-written notes on the home page and here to create a distinctively different, yet still professional tone (although there used to be more of this on the site; it appears that they have “dulled it down” recently, which is unfortunate).
The Watkins Syndicate site really stands out in this sector. It is effective, creative, and clever (click on “Arcade” or “Insert Coin” on the Home menu to play “Catasteriods”, an online version of the old, similarly-named arcade game).
For more on how to craft content that is both effective and inviting, I recommend
The Web Content Style Guide: An Essential Reference for Online Writers, Editors and Managers
and Content Critical: Gaining Competitive Advantage through High-Quality Web Content, both by Gerry McGovern and Rob Norton, as useful references.
- What your company does
- Why you’re the best (i.e. why I should want to do business with you)
- What you’d like me – a visitor to your site – to do next (e.g. call you, email you, read something, buy something, search for something, download something, etc.)
Your home page, and your site, also set a tone. Is it friendly and inviting, making me want to take the next step? Or is it in some way off-putting, giving me a less than ideal impression of your company?
We’ve all seen examples of sites that set a poor tone; cheesy, pompous, confusing, or just plain bland. Setting just the right tone to reflect the personality for your company that you’d like to convey (for example, professional yet pleasant) is challenging – but valuable, if done well.
I recently did some consulting work in the reinsurance sector (companies that sell insurance to insurance companies). There are few businesses more arcane or self-important, and predictably, many reinsurance Web sites are technically proficient but very dry. Yet even in this segment, I found two sites that managed to stand out, by conveying a tone that is fun and friendly without being inappropriate or unprofessional.
Alea Group uses hand-written notes on the home page and here to create a distinctively different, yet still professional tone (although there used to be more of this on the site; it appears that they have “dulled it down” recently, which is unfortunate).
The Watkins Syndicate site really stands out in this sector. It is effective, creative, and clever (click on “Arcade” or “Insert Coin” on the Home menu to play “Catasteriods”, an online version of the old, similarly-named arcade game).
For more on how to craft content that is both effective and inviting, I recommend
The Web Content Style Guide: An Essential Reference for Online Writers, Editors and Managers
and Content Critical: Gaining Competitive Advantage through High-Quality Web Content, both by Gerry McGovern and Rob Norton, as useful references.
Inscription à :
Articles (Atom)