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Monday, December 18, 2006
Monitoring Your Website Traffic
A client has asked me to monitor their website traffic, so I have to provide a list of each item we will be monitoring and why.
There are 3 main questions I have to ask before I begin monitoring random stats. I figure I have to know the following:
- How they found the website?
- Who are they? What do they want?
- Why they stay or make contact?
Then I should monitor
- Click-through path
- Time on website
- Referrers
- Keywords
There are plenty of website monitoring tools providing tons of data. Knowing what data you need first will be the pay off.
Cheers.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 8:05 pm
Comments: None | Filed under: Uncategorized
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Google Interprets Your Search
 Hello and Happy Thanksgiving.
If anybody is reading this, I’m surprised. Right now just about everyone is preparing for Thanksgiving and probably reading blogs about how to cook a turkey. Anyhoo, if you are reading this, thank you. 
I was checking up on a client’s website positioning in Google for a very popular keyphrase and noticed Google puts a very different distinction or interpretation on the words: “woman” and “women”. My client’s website appears #4 when using “woman” in the keyword phrase, but if I replace it with “women” – which is the word I want to optimize for – her website doesn’t even appear on the first page of results. Hmmm?
My client wants more women, not just one woman to find her site, if you know what I mean. What’s crazy is that the word “woman” doesn’t appear anywhere on my client’s website. What is Google indexing? Nothing, it’s interpreting, which is a very big distinction.
My lesson for the day
I didn’t realize Google put so much emphasis on these two words or the differences between them. I guess you learn something new everyday, especially learning Google not only indexes the words on websites, but tries to interpret those words with your search. I guess this is what you call relevancy.
I hope everyone has a great Turkey Day.
My thanks to everyone who has supported, supports and will support MJS Web Solutions. Our success wouldn’t be possible without yours. Thank you.
Cheers!
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 11:26 pm
Comments: None | Filed under: SEO
Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Firefox 2.0 Browser Checks Misspellings in Forms
On the heels of Microsoft’s release of IE 7.0, Firefox releases 2.0.
I personally prefer Firefox over Microsoft’s browser….and this is one more reason.
I noticed while filling out an online form (and writing this blog) a dotted red line appeared under a word I misspelled. I right-clicked on the word and it gave me a list of correct spellings. Just like MS Word. Genius.
This is great for us bloggers who can’t spell.
One more reason to switch.
Mike Swartz says, “Check it out!”
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 10:45 pm
Comments: 1 Comment | Filed under: Web Design, Web General
Monday, October 23, 2006
Internet Explorer 7 Is Here
Update (Oct 26, 2006): IE7 off to a fast start.
It’s official…Internet Explorer 7 is here and available for download.
IE 7 will also be included in an upcoming Automatic Update as well.
IE 7 boasts many new features, including:
- RSS Feeds
- Tabbed Browsing
- Higher security, including a phishing filter
These enhancements are great, but they really come because the Firefox web browser has slowly become the default browser for many PC users. IE was losing market share and Microsoft had to do something to improve upon their browser that was over 5 years old.
Check Your Website With Microsoft’s New Browser
Another important point I wanted to mention regarding the release of IE 7, is to make sure you visit your existing website using the new IE browser. Many changes in the browser have occurred “underneath the hood”, so to speak, and your website may look and act a lot differently in this new release from previous versions. So PLEASE check that out.
If your website does look different in Microsoft’s new browser, contact your webmaster immediately to test and fix any errors that are occurring. This is critical because (as I mentioned above) the new browser is going to be loaded onto everyone’s PC automatically from Microsoft’s Automatic Update. Meaning everyone will eventually be using it.
Mike Swartz says, “Check it out.”
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 6:48 am
Comments: None | Filed under: Web Design, Web General
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Stocks and SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
I just came back from the library with two new books to read: “The Successful Investor “, by William J. O’Neil and “How to Trade in Stocks” by Jesse Livermore. The Successful Investor was written in 2004. Mr. Livermore’s book was written in 1940…yes 1940.
It’s amazing. The principals of trading stock in Jesse’s book, written in 1940, still apply today. It’s the technologies (i.e. internet) to trade those stocks that have changed.
The same can be said about marketing and SEO. Marketing principals have remained the same throughout history, but technologies to implement those marketing principals keep evolving (i.e. the internet and search engine optimization).
The goal of marketing is to attract your customer and convert them, right? Well SEO is just a new way of attracting that customer.
P.S. Another book I picked up was Winning Results with Google Adwords.
Have a great day.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 10:43 pm
Comments: None | Filed under: SEO
Monday, October 16, 2006
Score for Microsoft Media Player
Score for Microsoft.
I inserted a CD into my CD ROM drive and wanted to ripped it onto my hard drive. (Note: I’m converting all my music (CD’s, tapes, LP’s) to digital – my hard drive.)
Microsoft Media Player opened up and it didn’t immediately display the tracks (Media Player by default will retrieve CD tracks from the internet). I tried Apple, iTunes. It didn’t recognize the CD tracks either. I went back to Windows Media Player and clicked “Find Album Info”. MS Media Player found the CD and all of its contents. I clicked finished and I could satisfactorily rip my CD with all tracks accounted for.
Well done Microsoft. 
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 10:17 pm
Comments: None | Filed under: Computer
Monday, October 2, 2006
Website Visitors Take Action After Performing Local Search
Hello.
I hope you had a great weekend.
(NOTE: Regarding my last post, I still haven’t fixed the iTunes fiasco. I’ll give an update when that’s complete (or not)).
In our last email newsletter, I spoke about the importance of local search and optimizing your website for local search visitors. Turns out there is more research to back up this importance.
I have seen more traffic and conversions from our own site and many of our clients websites from locally based search results. Comscore has released new data that supports this fact.
Local Searchers Take Action
Some facts I found most interesting were:
- Local searches were up 43% from a year ago
- Most people searching used either Google or Yahoo
- About 52% said they were searching specifically for a business phone number or address.
- 41% were looking for information on a local service in their home area, including car rental office, dry cleaner or lawyer.
These are incredible findings.
The most impressive finding was “The comScore study also found that performing a local search drives consumers to take action. More than one-third (37 percent) made contact online as a result of conducting a local area search.”
Isn’t this the main goal of any website – to get people to take action? Are you seeing these results from your website? If not, it’s time to optimize your site to take advantage of your local customers. They’re out there searching.
If your business relies on local customers, it’s now more important than ever to get your site optimized for your local customer base!
Read our latest newsletter to find out more on how you can get your website found by local visitors. Or if you don’t like reading, contact us to find out how we’ve helped other organizations reach the top of the local search results.
Mike Swartz says, “Check it out”
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 11:44 am
Comments: None | Filed under: SEO, Web Marketing
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Apple’s Poor Release of iTunes 7
Hello.
I hope you had a great weekend.
Over the weekend (or Friday) I downloaded the new iTunes 7. Immediately afterwards I began to have problems.
I uninstalled iTunes 7 completely and reinstalled 6.X. Unfortunately I kept getting an error saying that it couldn’t find my Library file. I am checking the Apple forums to figure out how I can revert back to 6.X. I will let you know what I find.
Perception of Apple
I think it’s interesting that a lot of people (even Apple) perceive Apple as being so much more reliable than Microsoft. Believe me, Apple has just as many problems. And this release of iTunes from Apple didn’t even qualify as a beta release. Sheesh…get with it Apple.
I’m actually debating on purchasing a competitor. It’s really irritating that I have to use iTunes exclusively with an iPod. I don’t know why I’m so surprised; you have to do that will all Apple products.
Thanks for letting me vent.
Cheers.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 10:50 pm
Comments: 2 Comments | Filed under: Uncategorized
Friday, September 15, 2006
Wireless Security Virus
Logging onto my wireless network today I noticed one particular connection. Check out the last one.
This cracked me up. This is one way to get people not to join your wireless network.
Notice the network is unsecured. Why threaten us with a virus? Just secure your network. That’s dumb and scary.
Have a great weekend.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 9:18 am
Comments: None | Filed under: Uncategorized
Wednesday, September 6, 2006
Plan Ahead and Always Have a Backup
I am writing to you from a dial-up connection. Oh boy!
It’s been a painful day without my high-speed cable connection. Apparently a network server went down.
Even though I love my broadband connection, I’m thankful for my dial-up connection. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to get my work done (or write this post).
Lesson Learned/Remembered
A lesson I learned here is to have a backup, a plan B, or C. I woke up early this morning to find out I didn’t have access to the internet – my job. I had a dial-up backup connection for just such emergencies. Unfortunately my broadband service provider didn’t have a backup.
Plan ahead and always have a backup.
Cheers.
Posted by: Michael Swartz at 7:42 pm
Comments: None | Filed under: Web General
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