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Thursday, April 21, 2005
Clear Directions Save Time and Make Money

I just got my smog check done on my car today (it passed) and now it’s time to pay my car registration. The DMV has got it setup so you can pay your renewal online. Pretty convenient – for them and me.

Okay, so what, right? Well, I wanted to point out the clear directions they had. Check it out.

Notice how they inform you about everything you need to complete the registration process. This is very impressive. There are a lot of websites that don’t even come close to understanding this concept or providing it.

Before You Begin

I really like how they explain the 3 steps BEFORE you even begin. Just like public speaking - When you begin your speech it’s always a good idea to tell your audience what you’re going to talk about.

Well, I zipped through the 3 steps, just like they said, and I’m done. Pretty slick.

When developing a process that you need your visitors to follow, explain what the process is, what it entails, and what the outcome will be. Just like a speech – tell them what you’re going to talk about, tell them, and tell them what you just told them.

Posted by: Michael Swartz at 12:51 am

Comments: None | Filed under: Web Design


Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Effective Use of Email

I subscribe to Baseline magazine and once in a while an article will jump out at me that I think is worth reading. Baseline interviewed Mark Cuban, billionaire, and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. Cuban says he manages his businesses, his social relationships and even his press interviews by e-mail.

Intriguing I thought. He mentions a few ways of how he effectively uses email. When a billionaire speaks, I listen. ;-)

  1. “Keep your email messages short and to the point”. I completely agree. Sometimes I do not receive all the answers when I ask too many questions in an email.
  2. “Respond first to those who want to spend money with your company”. Pretty obvious. Also don’t forget to treat your existing customers with this same respect.
  3. “Email serves as a tickler file and relationship history”. If we need approval on a new design, we will always ask via an email to keep it on record. I will sometimes change the Subject line when I reply to help with retrieving archived emails.
Even with all the spam and viruses plaguing our email systems, email is still one of the most effective communication tools.

Read the full interview with Mark Cuban at Baseline magazine.

Mike Swartz says, “Check it out”.

Posted by: Michael Swartz at 2:02 am

Comments: None | Filed under: Web General


Tuesday, April 19, 2005
The Big Little Guy

I’m a big music fan and I’m always looking for new good music. Radio is usually how I learn about new music, but I have to sit through a lot of junk (including commercials) to get to the good stuff. So I turn to the internet mostly to get my fix for new music.

After reading a story about micropayments in Information Week, I came across a company called BitPass. BitPass, and others, make it easier for organizations to process smaller eCommerce transactions without the high fees charged by credit-card companies. The intriguing thing about BitPass, and others, is that most of the proceeds of the transaction go directly to the artist or creator, not the big corporations. This is why I love the internet so much. It gives the little guy the opportunity to compete with the big boys (and sometimes win).

From Bitpass I was linked up to Loudburst, an online music store “offering independent artists multiple methods of distributing their music”. I was looking to find out how the transactions were processed and ended up spending more time listening to all the new music.

The Power of the Internet

Where else could I have gone from a story I saw in Information Week, a BitPass search on Google and then a link to Loudburst for some new music? Only on the internet.

Speaking of the little guy competing with the big boys, check out how boutique agencies are winning big clients. Woohoo! This is definitely some good positive reinforcement. ;-)

Don’t ever underestimate the little guy.

Enjoy your week.

Posted by: Michael Swartz at 1:40 am

Comments: None | Filed under: Web General


Friday, April 15, 2005
Mo Better Backlinks

I wanted to follow up on my previous post about the necessity of getting backlinks in order to get listed in the search engines. Below are a few suggestions on how to get these backlinks.

  1. Submit to online directories that are associated with your organization. If you are an accountant, search Google for “accountant CPA directory”.
  2. Ask people you know - friends, colleagues, business associates, etc. for links. You may also want to do reciprocal linking whereby you exchange links from each other’s websites.
  3. If you belong to any non-profit groups, associations, etc. that have websites, ask if you could get your site listed on their’s.
  4. Visit online forums or blogs and post comments and your opinions that are relevant to your organization. And don’t forget to include a backlink to your website.
These are just a few ways to help get your site visited by the search engines - and as an added bonus - a higher ranking in the search engines.

Good luck.

Posted by: Michael Swartz at 8:38 pm

Comments: None | Filed under: SEO


Wednesday, April 13, 2005
You Don’t Have to Pay

Hello.

It was great to see everyone at the Alameda Chamber mixer tonight. Good people here in Alameda. I was asked by a regular visitor to my blog that I must be busy since I haven’t posted in awhile. (Check out all the other people who “haven’t written in awhile” - 1.15 million) Well, I thought I better post or I may start to loose my audience.

While at tonight’s Alameda Chamber mixer, a fellow member mentioned to me that her brother (I believe) created a new website for her company and wanted to know how to get it listed with the search engines. She specifically asked, “Do I have to pay to get listed?” I told her no, you don’t have to pay, just make sure at least one website links to yours, otherwise the search engines won’t be able to find your website. And I quote Google:

“The best way to ensure Google finds your site is for your page to be linked from lots of pages on other sites.”
Google and other search engines search the web, going from link to link - just like us humans - to find your website. So the more links you have to your site, the more likely your website will be found.

I also told her to start with the Open Directory. Here you’ll get at least one link back to your website.

On a footnote (if you want to read more)

I get asked a lot about submitting your website to the search engines. There really isn’t a need to submit your website if you have other websites linking to yours, but it can’t hurt. Here are the most popular to submit to:

Submit your website to Google
Yahoo Submission
MSN Submission

Mike Swartz says, “Check it out.”

Posted by: Michael Swartz at 10:15 pm

Comments: None | Filed under: SEO, Web Marketing


Tuesday, April 5, 2005
News Is Good News

Hello.

Wow! What an interesting news day it was yesterday. Speaking of news, did you notice our new homepage and services page layouts? We also, added a new tagline: Building Websites That Can Actually Be Found. I think that about sums up our motto here. A website isn’t any good if no one can find it. Please send me your comments and let me know what you think of the new design and our new company direction. I love feedback. ;-)

On with the news…

GooglePreview Streamlines Searches
GooglePreview shows users the web pages linked to their search results. (Alexa does this. In fact this is where the results come from.) All the more reason to pay attention to the look and feel when developing a website. Interesting. I wonder if it’ll catch on. An image is worth a thousand words right?

Net Attacks Unabated
The amount of malware plaguing the internet shows no signs of tapering off. Trend Micro said 3 of 7 outbreaks were from worms on Instant Messaging. And viruses affecting mobile devices. This leaves me in the clear – I don’t use Instant Messaging and I don’t own a cell phone. That’s the best protection.

Software Detects Unhappy Callers
I had to add this one in. It was just too ridiculous to avoid. The software “helps improve customer service by identifying callers who are upset”. Wha? People can’t detect this on their own? Do we really need machines to recognize that we’re pissed off? Oh Good Grief!

Have a great week.

Posted by: Michael Swartz at 12:41 am

Comments: None | Filed under: Uncategorized


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