Other than search engines, social media sites are the 2nd most popular source of information. People will trust each other comments over your marketing slick. There a multitude of sites that will allow you to share your world with the public, but be aware, this arena is a two way street. Search engines love social media sites purely because they're constantly updated through these feedback mechanisms. Here's the run down:

1. If you have videos (no not your boring marketing tape) upload them to Youtube and watch the masses tear it up.
2. Got tons of photos from your last company party? Or organize your product images or portfolio by posting them to Flckr (Yahoo!) or Picasa (Google), or Natuba.com, and feed them back as links to your website.
   
3. Want to instantly broadcast your event? Try Qik (video phone required) or UStream
4. If you've got a event or seminar open to the public, let people join in at Meetup.com (Yahoo!)
5. A FaceBook company page lets people become fans of your company and stay up-to-date with your company's news and announcements.
6. A Twitter account can be used to have people follow your announcements and keep up with your blog. Set up an RSS feed to Twitter using Twitterfeed.com
7. MySpace pages are great ways for musicians to upload sample tracks, sell their music via digital download and start a fan base.
8. Participate in forums and contribute to knowledge bases like Wikipedia, Yahoo! Answers, or Google Base. If you're a noteworthy company, check to see if you already have a Wikipedia page. Sign your posts with a link back to your company.

The beauty of all things Web 2.0 is feedback from your audience and it keeps you and your marketing department honest by exposing yourself to people who haven't drank the Kool-Aid. Fortunately, many of these services also allow you to moderate comments. All in all, it helps to get out there and contribute to the collective knowledge base that is the internet - whether you're looking to sell something, inform, or just trying to get noticed, try these techniques, and be patient.

Labels: SEO, tricks of the trade

Google Webmaster Tools is probably the first stop in any SEO DIY project. We're sure there are many different services from all the other major search engines, but we're most familiar with Google, so it may sound a bit biased.

1. Submitting your site for indexing is pretty simple.
Google Submit URL

2. Verifying ownership of your site will require you to add a meta tag to a page on your site, or you can FTP a specifically named HTML page to your site that Google checks.

3. Submit a site map. Creating a site map for a non-dynamic site is fairly simple with XML-Sitemaps.

4. Set up Google Analytics. You'll need your webmaster to add a javascript to all the pages that you want to monitor.

5. Set up Google Adwords or Yahoo based on your keywords. Make sure to narrow your geographic search regions so you're not paying for clicks from Timbuktu. This is a fairly simple method of

6. Set up Google Maps for your location(s). Search for your business name after Google has acquired your information, or click on the link that says "Put your business on Google maps" and go in there and customize your business listing. Post coupons, hours of operations, etc. They'll actually call your business phone listing or send you a postcard to verify your business.

7. Set up a blog with Blogger. Why not post your news and press releases on Google's own servers? You can have Blogger host your blog or you can host it on your own FTP server, regardless, Google knows about it. This very page you're reading is a customized template that is driven by Blogger. You can also set one up on WordPress, Tumblr or any other blogging tool.

That should about handle it for search engine based tools. Again, if I've missed anything, let me know!

Part 3: Social Media - Silly rabbit, it's not just for kids!

Labels: Google, SEO, tricks of the trade

Tools of the trade that I've found:

Making CSS faster and better:
CSS Sprite Creator
CSS Optimizer

Page running slow? Yahoo's YSlow integrates into Firebug's Firefox Plugin
Firebug
YSlow
Web Developer's Plugin

Create a sitemap for Google's sitemap submission
XML Sitemaps

This one you have to pay for
Power Mapper

Create a favicon online
Dynamic Drive's Favicon Generator

Post any RSS feed to Twitter
Twitter Feed

Cool Toys from Adobe
Adobe SPRY
Adobe Kuler

Validate your Site for Compliance
W3C
W3C CSS Validator
LitmusApp.com (Premium Services Available)

Labels: SEO, tricks of the trade

Best practices require that a website goes beyond just the pretty veneer and the flashy bells and whistles. Careful consideration of analytics, information architecture, wire-framing, task or functional diagramming, QA, and proper optimization are all required to develop a truly successful site. Beyond that, usability testing (UAT), clear documentation and accessibility concerns creep into the mix with larger portal and government sites. Did someone say Section 508?

Let's assume everything is done correctly the first time around and the site is up and running. Now what? The client calls and says, "My site is not listed on Google." or "I want to be on the first page of Google." Typically, it's time to hire an SEO or search engine optimization expert. It's a bit of a misnomer, SEO experts, don't just optimize websites, they scour the web for sites, discussion threads, directories, and search engines that allow back-linking to the client's website, creating more roads to Rome. Your web design company should be charged with creating a site that is as optimized as possible. Which includes your basics, such as:

• Descriptive page titles
• Alternative text-based navigation for graphical links
• Alt-text for images
• Meta Tag Description
• Meta Tag Keywords
• A site map page
• Dynamic Google maps
  

SEO work, as I explain to our clients is a "Voodoo Art". There's no guarantee of your site being listed as #1 on anything. If this were true, do a search for "SEO" on Google, and Wikipedia is number #1, ironic. An honest SEO person will be the first to admit there's no guarantee, and believe me, it's in the fine print. Honest SEO's use proven, and legal methods to get your site listed higher on search engines, and it costs a lot of time, persistence, patience, and money. There's no magic bullet, and there are many dubious techniques as well, but I can't say whether they're legal or not.

Here are Google's own rules on the matter:

Google Webmaster Tools


In part 2, I'll list out some tricks of the trade that I'm aware of. I'll discuss the use of online tools, social media sites, online marketing/adwords, and such. Stay tuned. If you're an SEO expert or company, please feel free to add to the discussion. We're all still learning here.

Labels: Best Practices, Google, SEO, web design