That Safe and Restful Sleep, Sleep, Sleep…

In the 90’s, I had clients who taught me a thing or two about the importance of spending the time on researching what was needed to attract visitors to websites.

At the time, I was mostly struggling with getting web pages to look just right in those prehistoric days of web design!

I’ve had clients hire (and fire) so-called search engine gurus who would claim to know all the tricks for getting their site on the fabled “First Page of Google Search!”

Sad to say, the techniques they used were often based on some defect in search engines’ algorithms that eventually were corrected.

For the clients who are successful, I’ve learned there are really only 5 tasks that worked then, and work now.

Success Defined

Success is mostly about staying with a schedule of tasks and being ready for the fruits when they come.

It’s about not getting hung up on aspects that don’t translate to increased visitors.

For one client, success is an ecommerce site with modest sales for many years, until a better payment method, tutorials with yours truly, and isolating in place came along.

For another client, it was years spent tweaking  content on their site as they gradually shifted their focus to a career that became their main source of income.

Other clients became Influencers (before the term was actually coined). They posted daily on topics they were interested it. They were not out to sell anything directly, but by becoming well-known in their particular niches, opportunities emerged. Opportunities such as collaborations, public speaking events.

You’ll see that these success stories share the word years. It’s a hard sell for someone in a hurry!

The 5 Tasks

1. Optimize the website for Google and for visitors
2. Add new content to the site on some regular basis
3. Use social media to bring traffic to the site
4. Monitor visitor stats
5. Offline advertising and activity

In spite of Google’s indifference, I do great design!

A Stunning Design

You’ll notice that the list does not include “Have a stunning website design.”

Being a ‘web designer’, and having that be the search term people find me on, it does stick a bit in the craw.

The number one priority for people and bots visiting your website is to find what they want as fast as possible.

They appreciate a clean, intuitive presentation. After that, they will stay if there is more of what they like.

Boxes flying in from the left, boxes flying in from the right, a movie playing in the background, 10 slideshows, they are outta there!

In my next article I’ll be going into more depth on each of The 5 Tasks For A Website That Works For You, and expanding on what each task entails.

The post Intro: 5 Tasks For A Website That Works For You appeared first on Tom Stier-Promote Globally.

A Responsive Redo

More and more visitors to your website are viewing the site on a phone or iPad sized screen.

While this can be an acceptable way to view older websites, and all the viewer needs to do is ‘squinch’ in or ‘swipe’ across to see all the text and images, Google is seeing a site that is NOT ‘ Responsive design.’

And Google has decided to actively punish non-responsive websites by downgrading them in their search listings. They offer a handy test so you can check your site out.

Google wants to list sites that are legible with no squinching and swiping!

Fortunately, you already have a WordPress site, and since the content and display are separate in WordPress, all you need to do to make your site responsive (and Google happy) is to switch to a Responsive Theme!

A new Responsive Theme for your website could be done in three different ways.

1. WordPress Themes have become such complex software that there is now a whole world of Responsive Premium Themes with great design & typography PLUS many options for personalizing a site as your own. I have a service called Premium Theme Support & Setup to help my clients discover, install & personalize these Themes. Premium Themes have a small (under $100) license cost & more importantly, a dedicated developer supporting the product. I now recommend this route.

2. Find a Free Responsive Theme and APPROXIMATE the design of the current site or switch to some new design you’d like to implement, using a free Theme’s more limited (compared to a Premium Theme) options & style settings palette.

3. Switch the site to an “off the shelf” Free Responsive Theme with even less options & style settings changes. (NOT RECOMMENDED – BRANDING DISASTER!)

Many sites may be using a completely custom designed WordPress Theme, built from scratch way, way back when a WordPress Theme consisted of maybe 12 files total. Now Themes can have hundreds of files powering all those cool functions.

These custom Themes, while they may be durable, have limited options for updating the code to keep up with the constant changes in hosting software, security, compatibility, or changes like responsiveness.

Bottom line is Google says to cut out all the squinching and swiping. And we must be responsive.

The post Google Says “No More Squinching & Swiping!” appeared first on Tom Stier-Promote Globally.

we provide webmaster services for wholesale jewelry importers

This whole do-it-all-for-me package typically has a cost range in the thousands of dollars.

But, wait!

Alternately, we can work with you on an a la cart basis. We’ll set you up with an attractive basic site structure & clean front end display. You can then transfer your existing site content, and  add new site text and image content to the new WordPress site. You have the option of  having us do this for you or teaching you how to do it yourself.

Then as time goes on, and budget permits, you can add new design elements, ecommerce or other function. You’ll be able to update the site yourself using the WordPress built-in posting function.

With either method you will have a site built on the famously easy to use WordPress Dashboard, a site that can be maintained and added to easily with just a little guidance from us. All web content management systems, of which WordPress is a premier choice, use this method.

On this website we give information about a la cart costs for initial setup.

An install and basic setup of WordPress onto your hosting account is very affordable. We may be able to include setup your current site page structure and some existing content as part of this phase. This gives you a site with a unified site navigation and structure.

For the design aspect, creating your site layouts for WordPress start with a basic Theme. We can add an existing logo to a basic site Theme (header, navigation, content area, sidebar, footer) that will look good on any device.

So, for under $1000 you can have a site that has your unique identity and good structure, and is ready for addition of new content on a continual basis – something that Google demands for best search ranking.

From that point, we can add features such as calendars, slide shows, newsletter signup, galleries, the cost of which can vary considerably. We always try to work with your budget and offer low cost alternatives.

The post How Much Is That Website In The Window? appeared first on Tom Stier-Promote Globally.

Recently, a friend wrote to ask me what she should do with her old record collection. Since it’s OK with the management if this blog is used to discuss topics that might only be tangentially related to web design, promotion or hosting, I have decided to share. Here is my slightly abridged answer:

First, we really should discuss this somewhere privately, like on Facebook or Google+/-

The RIAA actively seeks out people who engage in the HIGHLY illegal act of selling or, heaven forbid, SHARING, of purchased LPs with friends or STRANGERS. Allowing your LPs to circulate means one more person might not purchase that LP or 8Track and, it is KILLING MUSIC.

Look at what NAPSTER did to sales of Compact Cassettes! Perfect Sound FOREVER, wiped out completely!

Still, the practice is becoming popular among many folks nearing retirement age that have been fired after their 30 or 40 years at the company. They set up a little blog where they post their Loverboy or Metallica LPs for $10 or $20. Whoops did I say METALLICA! Watch out, they filed a lawsuit against sharing of their demos! OOPs too late, here comes that RIAA demand for $3500 to avoid litigation! Best to sell those puppies in a dark alley, somewhere in South America.

Seriously though, as someone who has a barn-full of legally purchased LPs, who innocently tried to sell used LPs by mail order in the 80’s, I have been meaning to look into this.

My best guess is most LPs are so worthless, it is not even worth the effort to look at them, except:

To hoarders, and young folk who are going retro phase and have a Minny Mouse Record Player and some Go-Go boots.

Some LPs are rare because, perhaps 100 copies used a rejected cover photo of the drummer beginning to explode.

Some nuts like looking at a decent sized image of the recording artist and reading text that is not 2pt sized. What nuts!

Salvation Army, Hadassah and Goodwill stores are almost completely staffed with undercover RIAA agents, so that is OUT.

I’m also pretty sure that researching, googling, Goldmine Magazining, music blogs, forums etc for each disc and then looking into the sales channels, and then grading, organizing the stock and then packing and taking those rare trips to the Post Office….. WHOOPS where did my Post Office go, it was here yesterday!...and then avoiding the wrath of the RIAA……… it’s probably safest……easiest……and bestest to just………

keep them forever!

Note: Since I have a lot of old records, I certainly don’t consider them worthless! This post is meant to be totally tongue-in-cheek! I take certain liberties in describing events in piracy issues also!

The post What Should I Do With My Old Record Albums? appeared first on Tom Stier-Promote Globally.

We told our caller the facts of life in this hyper-connected world. Without access to the site folder and files of this other website, it was not possible to remove the offending material. It is possible to request Google remove items from their search results, but it  can be a continuing process and take some time.

New design for Editorial Service Site

The best thing for him to do, we said, is to take charge of his online presence by reinvigorating his own website, adding positive material on a regular basis to his site, and participating on professional social media sites. Accentuate the positive.

By doing this, internet searches on his name will lead to more outside references verifying his good qualities. The unhelpful mentions will be competing with this more positive material, and gradually will fade down from the search results on his name.

Unfortunately, this all seemed overwhelming to our potential client. He thanked us for our time, restated again that he just wanted the other mentions removed, and that he was mostly concerned with this intrusion into his privacy.

Presumably, he called the next name on his list until he found the ‘web guy’ who would take his money and remove all mention of him from the web, possibly using a magic spell.

This made me think about how the web has changed our concept of privacy in many ways.

People need privacy. They really do not want government or corporations knowing too much about their private lives. On the other hand, the upcoming generation seems comfortable revealing intimate details of their lives on Facebook or other networks that are easily monitored by complete strangers.

After all, by participating in FaceBook or LinkedIn even in a limited manner, people reveal personal information that is sold. That’s the business model.

This brought to mind how my parent’s generation would have looked askance at this. In the culture I grew up in, talking about one’s work was simply not done. You shared private issues or opinions only with close, personal friends. And it was definitely not considered good form to toot one’s own horn.

But nowadays, as the concept of work continues to tilt more and more toward entrepreneurship and creating one’s own business, tooting one’s own horn – or ‘accentuating the positive,’ as I call it – is an essential. Thankfully we have many opportunities to do this via the internet. This idea made our caller uncomfortable, and I don’t blame him. But if you have a web presence at all, it’s an essential practice.

You don’t have to let anyone else control the way you are perceived, no matter what shows up when you google your name. By creating your own web presence, you can control your privacy, and encourage people to see only what you want them to see about you.

The post Privacy on the Web appeared first on Tom Stier-Promote Globally.

As the coders (or code manager), we care about every promised function of the site working correctly.

And as the search engine optimizer, we mostly care about the site copy that clients might (or might not!) provide.

Site copy can be a neglected aspect of the process. Sometimes, potential clients tell us that they do not want too much text on their site because they ‘hear that it’s bad for Google’ or simply because they don’t want ‘too much scrolling.’ Some clients want ‘lots of keyword meta-tags,’ or insist on only having pictures on their home page.

We also notice a phenomena, especially for a regional business, where the owner’s conception of  how their business should be presented on the web is only from the viewpoint of how they, family, friends and associates will view it. A sort of “You already know me, come on by, so I can tell you more in person” view.

That’s a tough one when your business is in Massachusetts and a potential target contact is in Hawai’i!

This mindset can lead to a site that lacks focus, confuses the visitor and fails to answer the essential “who, what, why, and where” questions that the vast majority of visitors demand when they encounter an interior page of your site through a search.

On our business website projects we encourage clients to organize, re-purpose or produce as much text content about their business as possible .

We have in-house expert web copy writing services available for clients who might want their existing copy edited or if they prefer, we can provide all the copy for their site, researched and produced ‘from scratch.’

The post You know my name…look up my website appeared first on Tom Stier-Promote Globally.