Search Network and Networking for Search

Many people think that by simply having a website will make their site immediately searchable and prominent. This is, unfortunately, not the case. Although the web community is evolving in allowing the layman user to create a website that is at least somewhat search-engine friendly, this is not always the case, nor is it often a very good effort to that end. As I'm learning more and more about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), I'm finding that this can be a rather full-time project.

One thing to understand is the hierarchy of search engines. During recent years, Google has led the search engine industry, with Yahoo! and then Microsoft following, respectively. Search engines use many variables in how they rank a webpage or website. I think it is imperative to explain what elements are critical.

Meta tags are part of a webpage's code that don't get shown to a visitor, but are generally a key factor to ensuring that a search engine can find and understand a page and its purpose. For many years, all search engines looked for meta tags to show keywords, descriptions, and other information for a quick way to gather this data. How often those keywords appear in the content of a page give it greater worth or rank on a search engine, as well as other factors, such as internal and external links pointing to that page, visitor traffic, and more.

The number of internal links (pages that link to other pages within the same website) count for something. More importantly, the number of external links also weigh heavily. External links are those that come from other websites to yours. There can be many external links to a page, but the quality of those links also matter. For example, if you have 25 external links from low-ranking sites pointing to yours, it might not matter as much as 5 high-ranking sites pointing to that same page.

Google does not use meta tags and descriptions in search rankings anymore. They are used as text that displays next a site when it comes up in a search engine. Google looks at the title of a page, content, frequency of search words within the content, and other factors. These are things most people and businesses who are new to the online community may not realize. Imagine using a web host who has automated site creation capabilities, where you have easily created a website with a search engine and used titles, like "Home," "About," "News," and so on. How many sites have those titles in their pages, would you say? Quite a few.

Therefore, it is crucial to use descriptive titles for your pages. These should include a site name and an appropriate short description of the page's purpose. This gives immediate attention to both Google and other search engines to what the site is about. Google and others then look for words within the content to see if the title matches up with the page and how well (number of relevant words).

Meta tags and descriptions are still worth putting into a page, due to the fact that most other search engines still use them for ranking purposes. If you are using a host provider with an automated page creation tool, then be sure that it allows you to enter these in. There are many resources on the web that can help you figure out the code to use. Of course, Guardpost Online is always there to assist, should you need it. We often give free advice.

Another thing to consider in getting your site ranked higher by a search engine is to market your site. Consider linking to high-ranking sites and pursuing having them link back to yours. Their traffic may become your traffic. Meanwhile, ad campaigns either online or off are very useful in driving visitors to your site and can often lead to conversions (not just drive by visitors, but actual customers). If you are a business, look to your local business exchanges, conducting regular business meetings with external organizations, and blasting your promotional products to the community. We can also help with those at Guardpost Online, also (pens, hats, T-shirts, business cards, and more).

Time is a big factor in getting a site ranked. You shouldn't expect that if you submit your site to a search engine, directory, or link exchange that you will be found. If you run a business, for example, that offers services in a geographical area that is laden with the same service offerings from other businesses, you've got your work cut out for you. After all, not everyone can fit on the first page results from a search. It can take months to a year or two to get your site to frequently come up within even the first three pages of search results.

Speaking of submissions to search engines, you need to ensure that you make an effort to get your site onto the list of indexed sites for each. Google has a site submission form (http://www.google.com/addurl). Meanwhile, you can cover most other search engine submissions using the Open Directory Project (ODP). The ODP can be found at (www.dmoz.org) Yahoo!, MSN, Ask.com and many other search engines look to that directory for new submissions. You can pay for SEO services from many companies, but this can run you a cool $300-$500 a month on average. At Guardpost Online, we do basic SEO services for a one-time and extremely low-priced $30 fee.

Another factor in getting a site to be search-engine friendly is to make sure that any images are using a descriptive 'alt' tag. The 'alt' tag is code that gives a text representation of an image while it's loading, but also serves to help search engines know what the images are showing the visitor. In addition, they also help to make a site easier to understand by people with disabilities, as they may be reading a browser using a program that analyzes the text and converts it to speach.

As if all of that wasn't enough, you should provide two files with your site. One of these is robots.txt and should conform to the appopriate standard (www.robotstxt.org). This file should be placed in your root directory and tells search engines and other "bot" programs which directories they are NOT allowed to look in. The other file that should be placed in the root directory is your sitemap. This is a file that gives the search engine or "bot" programs a kind of directory of your site. The sitemap should be in txt or xml format, meeting the appropriate standards for sitemaps (http://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.php). Once the files are loaded, you should tell the search engines that these exist and to look at them. They should do this automatically, but can take a while to get around to it, otherwise. Again, Guardpost Online does this for you along with site submissions to search engines, content keywords, meta tags and descriptions and more for the low $30.

So that was a mouthful and doesn't cover everything SEO. Guardpost Online offers basic SEO services, but gives you such a great value at $30, it provides an awesome set of services and value for your money. I hope you have enjoyed this relatively quick read. Considering how much there is to learn about SEO, save yourself some time and let us help you.

Think your site is good?...Think again.

I spent many hours challenging the layout and content of Guardpost Online to ensure that it was a good product. Yet, no matter how finalized I think it gets, I find there is more to be done. One of the hardest issues to identify is where the pricing appears on the site, and another is the verbiage on the site, and lastly, I felt the pricing model could be even more simplified.

I posted on several web forums and learned some things about the site, that wouldn't have stood out to me, otherwise. The pricing was "hidden" at the bottom of the first page or past one to two clicks. It needed to be highlighted better. Some users also felt the site was too business-like and professional to be inexpensive, so that I likely lost some possible customers to it. Changing something as small as the opening text can make all the difference. Meanwhile, the pricing model was fairly simple with only two packages, but I narrowed it down to one. The pricing is more than aggressive and the cost for the other services easily beats most, if not all, the competition. The trick is getting people to realize this.

I'm working on a comparison sheet between Guardpost Online and some other vendors that should highlight that although they'll state "$4.95/Mo" web hosting, there are other costs associated with the hosting that are easy to find. In some cases, there are setup or cancellation fees. In fact, one company I contacted about their cancellation fees never actually answered the question of what the cancellation fee was. They simply stated that the cancellation fee was prorated after the first 30 days of service to the point of cancellation. When asked to define the rate of proration, they danced around the answer and never expressly stated it. I spoke with two people at that company and got nothing.

This is bad business, in my opinion. Guardpost Online will not do that to a customer. You should know what you're getting before you pay. It's that simple. We have no setup or cancellation fees and our site development and design services, etc. are not billed at hourly rates. We charge a flat fee. You don't want this to be difficult or painful, nor do we.

I hope our customers are happy with our services, as it is a reflection on who we are as a company. As stated earlier, even my own impression of our site needed to change in order to improve it.

Have large files to pass?

For many years I have witnessed people struggling over getting their large files to and from others. I have had to be creative in my suggestions for them, depending on their resources. Now, there are many companies working on cloud computing to make this type of interaction, among others, easier.

For those that don't know what cloud computing is, it basically means that you will use your internet browser as your operating system (like Windows, Linux, or the Mac OS). This way, any physical computer problems you have along the way shouldn't affect your files (as they will be stored elsewhere). Those files will be accessible to you and to whomever and however you wish. Your applications will also operate from that environment. In fact, I'm beta testing one such system now, about which I cannot speak (I'm bound by terms of agreement). All I can say is that you can expect great things from the many companies working on projects like this, in the coming years.

Now to my point. The biggest payoff is the sharing of large files and information. Information is becoming easier these days (take this blog, for instance). Files are another story. This is where I introduce two services I just learned about. One is Box.net. The other is Huddle.net. Both allow users to create a low-end free user account to pass files back and forth or to store them for access from any browser. Huddle takes this approach a step further by adding collaboration tools for project management and more. This isn't exactly new (E.g. Microsoft Sharepoint, Joomla, Mambo, Blackboard, and countless others).

Box.net offers accounts that add more space and better features, for a price, but the price is minimal for what you get. The interesting thing to know is that most business products that are geared toward one type of service, and are good at it, are usually considered best of breed. This means the product is focused, specialized, and tends to get much better, more quickly.

Huddle.net is more expansive in it's offerings, and also offers enhanced accounts for a price. The prices are a good bit higher than Box.net, but you get more. That said, it's hard to say, at this point, which is better for file sharing. I learned about both through my LinkedIn profile, because both offer a LinkedIn-specific application module for their services.

I am testing Box.net right now with a client of mine and we'll see how well it works for us. I'll post more on this later, when I have some type of assessment.

Take care for now.

Why Should My Business Have a Website?

Funny you should ask :)

It is imperative that today's businesses, no matter the size, have an online presence. Think of a having your own website as inexpensive advertising that allows you the highest level of control. Your business can easily dictate what is displayed and how, through a multitude of media, including audio, video, or print. This information is extended into an interactive experience for your customers and gives them control over what they receive.

No one likes a pushy salesman. An online presence makes the customer feel as though they can take what they need, at their pace, while giving your business the opportunity to non-intrusively enter the home and to utilize world-wide marketing of your services and products.

Take a look at some of the uses for a business site:

• E-commerce
• Newsletters
• Product Announcements
• Online Business Cards
• Calendars & Events
• Directories
• Training
• Photo Galleries
• Outreach Services

Small businesses, particularly, benefit from having an online presence. They tend to struggle against established organizations and companies that compete with a greater availability of resources.

By now, you may be thinking, "But wouldn't I just be buried among millions of other websites and businesses like mine?" Possibly, but this is where you have a chance to make a statement that may otherwise be too costly to even try. You can think of it another way. A website also puts you on a level playing field with your competitors. The way you excel past them is in your products and services, marketing, and customer approach.

OK, so now the sales pitch:
If you're ready, simply choose the right hosting package for your needs.

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Having More Than One Host Is Worth It

In my news section at Guardpost Online, I linked to an article about Exodus Communications, Inc., a web hosting company that went bankrupt some time ago. There was a happy ending, in that most, if not all the customers continued to be supported by another company. Yet, it speaks to the dire need of redundancy.

Having been an IT professional for 11 years means that some of the most common words of advice from someone like me is that you should be able to stay online, all the time, by planning ahead. This is where having more than one host for your website is critical. Yes, this sounds like a sales pitch, coming from a host provider, but it is still good advice, nonetheless. Let's think about it a second. On average, you can pay anywhere from $4 (USD) to $500 per month on hosting. If you're paying anywhere over $20, you're likely a business and the funding of another host may not be as much of an issue. Even if you're an individual, the $4 per month, turn $8 per month (for two hosts), may be worth it to keep your site alive.

Don't end up like Exodus and consider what it will cost you, if customers or visitors cannot get to your site. In my experience, no network is 100% secure, or reliable.

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Work Hard, Be Patient

Simply put, I’ve been busy. Due to a rather dry summer and water restrictions, my lawn has become wrought with dead patches. So, I recently aerated my lawn and spread grass seeds all over. After a couple of weeks, I fully expected grass to start popping up. No such luck. I was getting rather disappointed, but I left for a trip for about week and came back to some actual growth. Nature has a way of reminding you that hard work and patience pays off.

This brings me to today’s topic of having a proper work ethic and giving not only those you work with some wiggle room, but also yourself. This is probably less of an IT-focussed area of discussion, but it is certainly applicable. I’ve always had a strong work ethic and I don’t settle for half-done. This can sometimes be a problem for me when I can’t or don’t finish something. I’m a perfectionist, which can make things take a while, but I also don’t like spending a lot of time on any particular project.

The reality is that to priorities change. Along with other factors, it’s virtually impossible to complete everything you want and need to do. My suggestion is to work very hard at what you do...you get paid for that. It also makes a statement about who you are. Without patience, however, things aren’t going to go well for you. Not everything works on your timeline. I plan well, I organize well, but I don’t have control over all the factors that impact my work.

Much like my lawn, the efforts I put into my work today, will pay dividends tomorrow. You will find that taking that notion into your own, especially if you manage people, this will also pay off. Stick to the plan, as best you can. Be patient with yourself and the people you work with. You, and they, will be more productive and find the fruits of your labor will flourish.

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There’s No Place Like Home

For what it’s worth, it can be difficult to work from home, especially if you have kids. I don’t do it often, and will only do it if I have to. Sometimes, in order for me to leave work early enough and to get that family time in, I do decide to finish up projects from home after work that I didn’t have time for in the day. That said, with today’s cost of gas on the rise and other factors (less manpower, more work, limited budgets, etc.), it is becoming more attractive to work from home.

This brings me to my main concern. How much are we willing to sacrifice to get to work? The minimum wage barely covers the price of gas, let alone rent and food. Another question is how much are we willing to sacrifice at home? You already sacrifice time with the family when you are at work, but then you give up time with the family if you are bringing work home.

Working from home can be extremely advantageous for both the employer and employee. It reduces the cost of doing business on many levels. Some businesses do this already and have even gone so far as to purchase equipment for the employee to use at home for both work and personal use. This is a can of worms that I, as an IT professional, would not want to open.

It’s harder to control who sees the content on the screen, to manage what the asset is used for, to ensure that it stays operational, etc. Thus, there needs to be an agreement setup between employer and employee that clearly delineates responsibilities on both ends.

Yet, for all the bad, there is much more good to be had here. The way the economy is going, and with the IT industry making huge strides in “cloud computing” this year and in the coming years, working from home is starting to make more sense. Let’s tip the scale a bit, shall we?

If I sacrifice time with the family, while I’m at home, I can at least say that I’m there and perhaps get to see them more often, even if only for a few minutes during a normal work day. I can also save money on gas, maintenance cost on my car, time getting to work and back, etc. I’ll be more productive, as long as I can establish rules in the house. I also need to ensure security of information owned by the company, such that prying eyes are kept at bay. For this, establish rules with your company and abide by them religiously.

Yes, there are huge drawbacks involved with working from home. Probably the most important drawback and likely the one most apt to make you stay on your commute, is the need for face-to-face customer interaction and team collaboration. Consider setting up a video conferencing terminal (a simple system with a camera and microphone on either end, with some type of conferencing service or software in place). It’s not the best approach from a personal standpoint, but you may find that as time goes on, you’ll be ahead of what is fast becoming the new trend, both for home and work use. This trend is collaboration through web-based multimedia.

I don’t want to belabor this any further, but what I’m asking everyone to consider is taking a leap of faith. Perhaps the ones with the hardest challenge here are not the users, but the IT professionals like myself. In the great words of Nike (you know, that shoe manufacturer that overcharges for their products, based on brand name), “JUST DO IT!”

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An Apple a Day...

What kind of news shall I talk about first? How about the iPhone and Apple’s hard lean into the ubiquitous communications market? I’m no MacHead, believe me. I’ve been using computers for almost 30 years, but I spent most of them using just about everything Microsoft.

OK, some people are hard-headed. I actually hate Microsoft and have for quite some time. Don’t get me wrong...they are certainly masterful at business. Yet, there has been such an attitude at Microsoft that permeates the market with great arrogance and lack of respect. Just about every time I bought a Windows-based product, I felt as if I just left the car dealer, wondering if I made the right decision.

Now that I have a Mac, I’m less concerned, as I can run most of my old and new apps, with relative ease. I use VMWare Fusion and/or Boot Camp to do what I need to. Granted the wonderful and ever-present activation loop that using a Microsoft operating system with Fusion and Boot Camp lays before each user is still a huge obstacle. I’m not even sure who to blame for such folly, VMWare or Microsoft.

All I know is that I’ve been in a very similar endless loop with Microsoft support, for the past few days. I finally stumbled on qualified help, so I thought I would share it. If you are going through this now or plan to have a Windows install on an Intel-based Mac, then please save yourself a lot of pain:

Use Boot Camp Assistant to partition your drive for the Windows install (I recommend more than the default 20Gb, as this may not leave enough room for your other Windows apps).

1. Use Boot Camp Assistant to partition your drive for the Windows install (I recommend more than the default 20Gb, as this may not leave enough room for your other Windows apps).
   
   
2. After the computer restarts, install Windows (I used XP Home Edition).
   
   NOTE: You need a full-install version (otherwise you cannot eject the disc for upgrade installs). There is a way to work around the upgrade using an external CD/DVD player attached and both discs on the same system at the same time, but I recommend against this.
   
   
3. Once installed, you won’t have internet access, etc., to activate. Insert the Apple Leopard disc and it should auto-install the proper drivers for pretty much everything you need.
   
   
4. At this point, PLEASE DON’T ACTIVATE! Restart the system, but after the initial boot sound, press and hold the option key, until you see the option to boot either into Mac or Windows OS. Choose Mac using the arrow keys and hit ‘Enter.’
   
   
5. Once the Mac OS has loaded, load Fusion and you’ll see the Boot Camp partition listed in the virtual machines list. Load it and STILL DO NOT ACTIVATE WINDOWS.
   
   
6. Once loaded, install the VMWare Tools by going into ‘Virtual Machine’ option on the menu at the top of your desktop and select ‘Install VMWare Tools.’
   
   
7. Upon completion, reboot the computer again, but this time let it boot into the Boot Camp partition. Activate Windows by phone and be honest, but understand that when it asks you how many computers you have Windows installed on, you state “one.”
   
   NOTE: This is legal, as I called Microsoft myself and found out that running one instance of the OS at a time on the same physical machine is OK (the software is just not smart enough to realized the virtual machine and the Boot Camp partition are the same). Keep in mind that if you do anything to alter the configuration of the virtual machine, Windows sees this as a different machine altogether and, thus, you’ll get the activation loop.
   
   
8. Once activated, reboot back into the Mac OS. Load Fusion and the windows VM and then activate one more time. You may also have to activate MS Office, if you installed it also. At this point, it is my understanding that you’ll be fine.
   
   NOTE: I have tested this and it works. If you run into activation problems for some odd reason, start again and ensure that you paid attention at each step. It worked for me.
   

OK, so like I said, I’m not a MacHead. I don’t think that Mac’s are the best product out there, but certainly for the few faults I’ve run into, I’m loving having one over my PC by leaps and bounds. Owning and using an Apple is like using your game console after troubleshooting your PC for the last few days. It just works. ‘Nuf said.

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