Webii.net News and Tips

You may have seen small budget providers offer free ‘do-it-yourself’ web site building software, and it looks so easy you don’t know why you should pass it up.  But before you jump into that template software, know what you are actually getting.

When you use templates to design your website, your website is usually not consistent. It can appear in different ways on different computer screens and web browsers. In fact, it often looks completely different in the browser that the visitor is using than inside the template program when you created and previewed it.  If the web site looks terrible in one popular browser (like Internet Explorer) how does that reflect on your company?

Free template-made web sites also lack in their user-friendliness. Often they jumble things up, overlap information and shapes, and display certain sections illegibly. In the website we sampled below, we had a hard time even finding a phone number because content overlapped and blocks of information were garbled. A website is no good if it your clients (or your staff) can’t even read its content.

Beyond user-friendliness, do-it-yourself templates often lack important elements like title tags and meta tags. If they do have them, they are most likely poorly written with default information and not customizable.  You will notice page titles like “Home” or “Contact”.  These titles are the first thing a search engine reads and should be packed with important keywords and specific descriptions.

You might be thinking that using a free template program and doing-it-yourself is your only option, because of a small marketing budget. But just consider how much business you might actually lose from a frustrated visitors leaving your web site, never calling you, and possibly even leaving with a bad impression of your company.  Investing a small budget into a professional web design service can be well worth it.

This quick and easy template did not provide this clinic with all it needed. Content is hard to read because it overlaps with other boxes. This site is lacking because it does not have the professional touch to make it stand out.

Below, you can see that title tags created by the template program are limited to “Home”. This word does not tell the search engine, or a human being, anything about your company or line of business.

Hello. I am a potential customer. I’d love to talk to you about your product. Heck, I’d even like to buy it. But I need one question answered. Can you help me?

Wait, I am on your website. I can just find your contact information and call you myself.

Hold on…… I can’t find out how to contact you. Email? Phone? I’d even fax it to you. But I cannot find it on your website. You left it off. Or I just don’t know how to find it because you buried it way too far below the sand.

Contact information… where are you? I am looking for you…

Oh well, I am leaving now. I don’t want to look any longer. We could have been such great friends. Maybe… there will be a next time…

ahh, forget it, I am gone and I am not coming back.

*********************************************************

Are you at risk of losing potential customers because they can’t find your contact information? It may seem simple, but you’d be surprised at how many people leave it off or hide it so deep in their site that visitors just can’t find it. Your contact information should be where every visitor can find it, and fast.

Put it in plain sight. Potential customers are not going to dig around for it. They are just going to move on to the next site that offers them the same thing(s) you do.

It’s so easy and simple. REMEMBER: Make your contact information visible and easy to find.

Just make sure you don’t forget it so you won’t lose any business over it.

Often customers ask us what the difference is between their web hosting service and their domain name. While these two are closely related, and work hand-in-hand, they are separate entities.

It can be helpful to house all of these services under one roof, so you deal with one company for all your websites needs. For example, you can order your web hosting at WEBii.net, and then register your domain at our sister company, SiteReserve.com.

Keep in mind though that your web hosting services and your domain name are all managed and billed separately. Your web host is not necessarily notified or responsible when your domain expires – even if all are housed through the same company.

So what is the difference between your domain and your web hosting. Registering a domain simply gives you control over that domain name. Only one party (individual or business) can have a specific name. The actual domain does not have anything to do with website content.

Your web hosting is what hosts your site. By hosting your site that means space is allotted on your web hosts’ servers. Web hosting is more than just space. Not only does you web host hold a place on their servers for you, you are also getting bandwidth, and many other features that allow you to manage your web site files online. Once you have established your host, your domain name will point to the specified servers and your site will be running.

Don’t forget though that neither one of these develops or designs your website content, so you will have to either find a designer to help you (custom design & development available at WEBii.net) OR if you are savvy enough, you can do it yourself!

Using css (style sheets) to style the links of your web site menu can be advantageous, both for search-friendliness and for usability. It is easy to set up styles for your links once you become somewhat comfortable with using style sheets. You can even make the links look just like tabs or buttons, with or without graphics.

When planning your menu links, try to incorporate key words into the link names. Instead of just “About Us” and “Services”, try something more descriptive like “California Remodeling Services” and “About The Perkins Law Office”. It’s even better if you can delve into several areas of your services, setting aside a separate link and page for each type.

We have had a growing number of questions lately about these very hasty emails and letters that start with something like “Final Notice of Domain Extension”. They go on to explain how you will lose this opportunity to secure your domain if you don’t act right away - by contacting them and of course paying some money - to register it.

People ask, “Is this a scam?”

Well, not technically. But it sure is easy to be confused, and that is what they are counting on. If you look very closely, somewhere in the middle, you will notice the domain name has an unusual extension. Do you really care about yourdomainname.US?

If not, you can breathe easy and ignore that notice. It may look official, but it really isn’t.

Unfortunately, many people don’t realize the deceptive nature of these kinds of notices. They receive the fax, email, or letter - and they quickly panic and fork over some money to the mysterious company behind it. If this does happen to you, you might still have an opportunity to contact the company back and request a refund and cancel the services. But when possible, it is best to become familiar with the providers that do manage the registration for the domain names that you use. Be aware of your due dates or expiration dates for current domain names and stay on top of renewal invoices.

And if you do ever receive a suspicious looking bill or statement, research it, ask your web site developer, look at your past billing statements, and verify it is legitimate.

Planning to redesign your web site? Always good to hear! Here are a few tips for improving your web site, even on a limited budget.

1. Keep your logo in the top left corner, linked to the main url.

It seems so simple. But there are still many sites that do not practice this. More and more usability and user-preference studies are showing that visitors expect your logo (or company title) to be in the top left hand corner. If your brand is the first thing the visitor sees, they understand where they are from the beginning. The brand then leads the visitor into your core content and coaxes them through the web site in a natural reading flow: top-to-bottom, left-to-right.

2. Develop a clear subheading for the top of your home page.

By subheading, I mean a short, summarized description about your business. Think about your specialty, your industry focus, and state it. I recommend including this in plain text (not a graphic) somewhere in your heading - preferably as the first line of text in your code following your logo. A good placement is in the top right corner or beneath your main navigation menu. What does this do? It tells a human visitor right away what the web site is about - so they know they found the right business for their needs and are interested in reading further; it gives the search engines some strong key phrase food.

Here is an example of a strong subheading:
Custom Window Dressing Services for Hotels and Universities

3. Include geographical words whenever applicable.

If you are focused on serving a specific city, state, country, or any region, you should mention it. This will help fine tune the content in your web site and better feed the right information to search engines. In turn, you will receive more targeted visitors.

Here is an example of a good subheading when location is brought into the picture:
Austin Texas Corporate Litigation Services
Austin Furniture Restoration Services

Location can also be nicely incorporated in contact information. Which brings us to #4…

4. Post your contact info in highly visible spots.

Customers tend to get very frustrated when they can’t find your phone number or email address. They have a question, but they have to dig around for several minutes to ask you? Don’t count on that level of patience. Most visitors leave a site within a few of seconds if they don’t see what they want. Great places to include your key contact info:

• in the top right corner of your web page heading
• in a horizontal divider bar beside your menu links
• repeated within the content of your home page and other pages
• in a colorful, eye-catching box in your content or in a left hand side bar
• repeated in the footer near your copyright statement
  

Be on the look out for that renewal invoice from your domain name registration provider (registrar). Sure, we all miss a bill sometimes, but forgetting about your domain name could end up being more costly than you might realize.
These days, there are a growing number of companies that specialize in buying up domain names. Sometimes they provide a “back ordering” service to consumers, and sometimes they just purchase the domains as a broker and attempt to resell them to their previous owners or other interested parties. The common practice is that an automated program will peruse the Internet’s WHOIS records for soon-to-expire domain names, and as soon as a name is available for registration again, it is snapped up like an unsuspecting fish in a bear-ridden stream.

Remember, only one party in the entire World Wide Web can own a certain domain name. If you lose yours, and someone else gets it, you might be forced to rethink your name and register something completely different. That means changing your web site address, changing your email addresses, and reprinting business cards.

The best way to prevent this is to stay on top of your registration bill and know exactly when your domain name is due for renewal. Pay it up in advance, maybe even for several years at a time.

Also, know your registrar (for example, SiteReserve.com). Some registration providers have some sneaky marketing tactics that confuse domain owners into transferring services to them or signing up for new domains with different extensions. For example, one company sends out “official” looking letters with an urgent message about “securing” a domain that is conveniently similar to one you already own - but with a .us or .biz extension.

If you did forget and suddenly realize that your web site is offline because the domain name recently expired, don’t panic just yet. There is typically a grace period - usually about 20 to 30 days - where the domain is “on hold” for the current owner, giving you a chance to renew it at your usual rate.

But, be quick about that renewal! You really don’t want your domain name to go into the next phase: “redemption period”. This is the stage when your domain name has already been deleted out of your registrar’s database, and now it is out their in limbo-land. While you can still acquire it at this point, it is going to be expensive, often around $100 or more with the included “redemption fees”. This phase is typically about 40 days.

If you find yourself in a real pickle - maybe you went on an African Safari and forgot to come back to work for a few months - and your domain name was indeed snatched by a back ordering robot, there might still be hope.

Did you trademark your name? Is your domain name an obvious representation of your trademarked or copyrighted business? Try contacting the registrar responsible for the latest domain record (do a WHOIS search to find out the sponsoring registrar and their email address), and explain that you need to acquire your trademarked domain name back. Sometimes they are able to release the domain name and you can then register it in your name again. But there are most likely more than one domain brokerage waiting in the wings, so you may need to make 2 or 3 of these requests to different registrars before you have a chance to place the order.

It’s hard to believe another year has passed. Time seems to slip away, leaving us standing at the edge of 2008, thinking about what could have been better, or what could have been worse. It’s a time where everybody makes resolutions to better themselves, and they often neglect their web sites. Your web site is a window to the entire world! Surely it could stand to lose a few pounds, quit smoking, eat healthier, or take up a new hobby?

1. “I will update my web site’s informational content.”

Stop procrastinating and get your web site current! (After you finish reading the post, though) If you have a music related site and your Top of The Radio section includes MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice, your visitor might be inclined to seek information elsewhere. Maybe a visitor reads an old mailing address on your website and decides to make an impromptu visit, only to find an empty lease space.

Updating the information on your website should take a couple of hours on average. Even if it takes a whole day, it’s like cleaning the attic, nobody likes to do it, but it needs to get done. That’s just one day in your 365. If you really don’t have the time or experience to do it yourself - hire a professional to get it done right.

2. “I will include fresh, interesting, and relevant news.”

Many web site owners seek ways to offer “fresh” information on their site. The easiest way to do this, is to include recent news items. This can come in various forms: a What’s New section that includes updates about the company; a Press area that offers press releases about the company’s projects, clients, and endeavors; a helpful Industry News area that provides informative articles about the latest trends and changes; a Blog; a third-party News Feed, which grabs articles related to certain subjects from another source and automatically updates them as links on your website; a copy of your E-mail Newsletter.

Think of your website like a bakery, if you regularly have hot, fresh, and tasty content, your visitors will keep running back for more. If you don’t, then your website will become, well, rather stale.

3. “I will create an email newsletter.”

Here are some ideas to consider:
Are you including content relevant to your industry? Do you give out worthwhile advice? Have you ever offered someone a coupon for your services or a free introduction? Do you ever host special events or workshops? These are all excellent things to include in a regular e-mail newsletter. Cater the timeframe to something you can manage. “Regular” can mean many different things - weekly, monthly, quarterly, or even bi-annually and seasonally.

Some businesses only send out a newsletter “about the company” once a year and then periodically send out a special newsletter for promotions or events. As long as you are communicating with your current customers about your services, you are offering them an easy opportunity to forward your information to a new contact, informing them about your industry, and building your credibility.
These things will help you become more than a store or a faceless company to your visitors. You will become an invaluable source of information, a friend in the industry, and people always have deeper pockets for friends.

There are several great ways to integrate a newsletter with your website, many of which are so hands-off you will be kicking yourself that you didn’t do it sooner. If you need help setting up a custom e-newsletter management program or integrating an email news service, give us a shout.

If you make these 3 New Year’s resolutions (and stick to ‘em!), your web site will be a hit in the new year, whether it’s loyal customers who keep coming back, or visitors who can’t get enough.

Businesses with a tangible product to sell have access to some handy tools on the Internet that can make service industry business owners quite jealous.

Case in point: Froogle.

In case you haven’t heard of it, Froogle is Google’s answer to online bargain searching. If a determined fashionista uses Google’s product search to locate designer sunglasses, suddenly 10 of the best online prices from various sellers appear. The listings are displayed according to certain featured vendors and individuals who are selling that specific product. So how does one get into this amazing database? Just fill out a form. And - drum roll - it’s free!

Branching out: eBay.

Yes, that’s right, I said it - eBay. No, it’s not just a garage sale; it’s a huge community of buyers and sellers. For a quick way to market your store, try listing a couple of items from last season’s inventory at a low price. Take advantage of the ad copy and make sure you brand it with your store name, logo, and information about your store location and main website (be sure to check eBay’s rules so your ad does not appear to be “spam”). If the first sale generates a new loyal customer, you may experience repeat sales from that person to your company website, to other eBay listings, or even to your local storefront.

Feature your featured.

Always remember to really showcase those special products - the ones that you most want to sell right now. Here are several ways that you can push the product into the spotlight:

• Feature a bold photo and description of the product on your homepage with a direct link to the page where it is purchased.
• Add new products to a “Featured” section of your site.
• Send an email newsletter to your subscribers describing these great items.
• Send all of your subscribers a coupon toward that special item, good for a limited time.
• Send out press releases to media websites in your area and in your genre/industry announcing the latest inventory.

Whether you are a clothing salesman or a real estate agent, you can always benefit from the power of the Internet. And you may have noticed a growing trend in web promotion with do-it-yourself tools like blogs and networking web sites. These kinds of tools can greatly benefit your business with minimal investment. In fact, most of them are free to use, so your only investment is a little time.

Quick and easy ways to expand your web presence:

+ Start a blog. (like this one!)

This benefits you by building content for your website, building up your image and showcasing your expertise, and providing an extended presence of your company that links back to your main website.

There are even free tools to help you do this. Try a membership-based blogging community such as Google’s Blogger.com and Wordpress.org, or you can opt to install your own great blog software (Wordpress is also available for download), giving you some more freedom to manage and publish directly to your own website. If you sit down for a few minutes and jot out a brainstorm list, I bet you can come up with quite a few topics to write about. Remember, this is your blog about your business. You can write in any style that you want, about almost any subject matter, as long as it somehow relates to your business and your industry. Here are some examples:

• An event planner writes about the importance of serving appetizers and offers quick and easy recipes that save her customers’ money.
• A building contractor describes two popular types of flooring and their advantages.
• A sports shop describes its latest featured product.
• A real estate agent provides stress reducing tips for a smooth and successful move.

You may choose to keep your blog entirely professional by posting “news of interest” pieces about your business and industry. In fact, it can greatly enhance the value of your web site content to post articles related to your “key phrases”. This can get you noticed by search engines.  Others choose a more personal approach to blogging, feeling that it makes their business seem more human and therefore closer to its customers.

+ Join Networking Web Sites

You may have heard of MySpace.com, Friendster.com, and LinkedIn.com. These are all still popular member-based web sites that are free to join and participate in.

While many of their members might be young people just chatting with friends, all of these sites also have business networking opportunities.

For example, MySpace.com is known for its popularity with musicians and music-lovers. Therefore, a music-related business such as a guitar retail shop or a local night club could benefit from having a presence there.

“One of our photographer customers once told me that he sold a $1000 print solely from a connection he made on MySpace, ” said Kimberly, a customer service representative at Webii.

Remember that your profile is just another quick and easy way to represent yourself on the Internet, in a place where many different people already hang out. And by including a link back to your own web site, you encourage targeted traffic to your business, from people who already know a little about you and are interested to learn more.

+ Link Requests

This practice has been encouraged by search engines for years, and it is still valuable. Find web sites that relate to your business, or that share common interests (like charities in your local city). Find out what it takes to become a recognized partner with a link presence on each site. This can bring more traffic to your web site and will help strengthen your ranking in the eyes of Google and others. This should be an ongoing effort. The more links into your site from relevant resources, the better.