Over the years I have worked with thousands of clients (in all different levels of business).  Some have been in business (offline) for years and some are just getting into it.  Whatever level you are at I eventually get to the same point with everyone of them when it comes to website design.  YOU NEED TO OUTSOURCE IT!

Here is my list of “Top 5 reasons to outsource your website design”.

1. Time - is MONEY.  You get to a point where you have to ask yourself; “How long is this site going to take me (at my skill level to create”?  Lets just put it this way:  You don’t want to pay someone to build the website for you cause its going to cost $2000.00 and you don’t want to spend that money.  What if,  it takes you 4-5 months to learn and build the site yourself, when you could have paid someone to get it all done in two weeks or less?  That is 3-4 months of marketing and potential money making the site could have been doing.  My guess is you could have made back your 2 g’s much quicker having the site done by a professional.  And that brings me to my last point:  You spend 4-5 months doing the site design yourself and you end up with an “average” looking design.  Would you buy from your site?  So then you may be back to the drawing board before you even get to start marketing the site.  Again,  TIME IS MONEY!
2. Are you a website designer or a business owner?  This one is very simple to understand.  You are a business owner.  You do not need to be wasting your time learning to program or design sites.  (this one kind of ties into the first one, but you get the point)
3. Professionalism.  Do you have the “branding” skills needed to create a professional looking logo for your site?  Think about Coke, Pepsi, or UPS.  You can instantly think of the colors they use and what thier logo looks like.  Can you do this for your site?  Bottom line, to compete you want to get it done right.  And get it done right the first time!
4. Branding.  I know I just talked about “branding” in the previous one, but its one all in itself if you ask me.  Do you know what colors to use?  What font styles to use?  Why does McDonalds use Red and Orange for thier colors?  Do you have the ability to make everything look consistant?  From online to offline printed material, even down to the logo that will appear on the business card.
5. You got better things to be doing when setting up a business.  Lets face it, when setting up a business there is more to it then just designing a site.  You have to think of stuff like … joint ventures, online marketing, offline marketing, business set up (tax number, business name, and accountants … maybe even setting up a legal team) to think about (even much more then that)!  Do you really want to be learning PHP and HTML when you got all these other things to be doing?

Something I know is a fear in regards to all this is your ability to be in control of the site.  You need to make sure you are using a reputable web design firm that will teach you everything you need to know about running and maintaining the site yourself.  Before you ever sign on the dotted line, make this point clear to them!

I have had really great success with a really good Utah Web Design Firm that I can recommend to anyone who wants to make the decision to step out of the web designer role, and step into the business owner (and runner) role:   http://www.97thfloor.com/proposal.html

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!

OK,  here I go again.  I will try to provide some good information in this though so take it for what its worth!

I was reading an article today in the latest edition of FORTUNE magazine on PPC Fraud (Pay Per Click Fraud) and was just laughing; thinking to myself that Google has no one to blame for PPC Fraud, but themselves.  (Yahoo! as well).

The article was talking about how when a click is a “legit click” or a fraud “click”.  Did the click come from a bot, or a program, or a human paid to go and click on ads?  Is the competition going and driving up your advertising costs by clicking on your ads?  (Personaly I hate PPC Ads and thats why I do very little - again - look at the title of the blog)  I am not trying to be snotty, but here’s my rant.

When Google implemented its Adsense program and started to pay people good money for getting clicks on crappy sites thats where the downfall began.  Have you ever heard of any sites refered to as “spamsense”?  This is where the name comes from.  Sites designed specifically for people to click on ads.  I admit, I use to be a part of the problem and had some sites like these I am talking about (the money was to tempting) but after getting banned, and re-thinking what I was doing its much easier on my Conscience to make money from people clicking on ads legitimately.  And I don’t have to worry about getting banned. 

The solution?

Google is probably doing this already, but there needs to be a team of people just dedicated to creating some BOTS that will sniff out sites that have no external links (so you can only exit by clicking on an ad-not worth it to me to pay for a click like that) NO CONTENT, just images of naked ladies or porn with about a million ads to click on.  Would you feel comfortable paying for ads like this?  Its all garbage and needs to be regulated.

One other thing this team can work on is identifying all of the CRAPPY Tier 2 and 3 (and below) so called PPC Search Engines and the network of sites they use for giving traffic, and putting an end to anyone having to pay for clicks generated through these kind of places.  Now, I am not saying all Tier 2 Search Engines are crappy, but most of the lower level PPC Search Engines are Crappy, and I think were designed specifically for people to get cheap ads, and send the ads to people that don’t even speak english (and are just looking for PORN) to click on ads which contributes to the PPC Fraud of which I am speaking.

I will not name names (at this point) of these crappy TIER 2 PPC Search Engines,  they know who they are.  But I do think Google needs to stay on top of these kind of things better by evaluating the kind of people they let in the program.  Sure you may get accepted into one of the Adsense programs for a legit site, but then you can ad as many as you want without having to get them approved?  Most of the PPC Fraud is coming from sites like these!!

I am not saying I have all the solutions, this post was mainly a rant on my part, but something I know will be hard for Google, Yahoo! and MSN to combat will the competitors clicking on your ads, driving up your advertising costs.  My solution?  I say focus on natural search engine optimization and get your traffic for free!  Not sure how?  Send me an email or fill out my proposal form!  You will save money in the long run!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!

Alot of talk and speculation about why Danny Sullivan has decided to leave SEW and SES going around in the SEO Community.  So many people have been asking me my thoughts and why I think. 

I honestly do not have any solid concrete ideas nor am I qualified to make judgements, but after attending some of the SES and most recently the SES NYC 2006 I do have some opinions, but thats all they are…..just opinions.

I was not impressed with the content that was presented at the SES NYC 2006 (besides a few such as Eric Ward) and especially was not impressed with “guest speakers” etc. (and keynotes)  I almost fell through my chair (cause I was nodding off) during the Ask.com info-mercial.  I am not kidding thats what it felt like.  I go to keynotes to get inspired not to listen to commercials for Ask.com (I don’t care that they changed from AskJeeves.com to Ask.com) Its not worth sitting over an hour to tell me why.  I could’nt even get away from OFFLINE SPAM at a SES!  

Maybe this is why Danny has decided to leave.  He’s getting bored with what the “hire ups” are making him do.  Its rumored hes doing it for the money.  Maybe, but I think something happened.  We may never know.  But when you are “Danny Sullivan” and you are no longer happy at a SES (the biggest thing since sliced bread for SEO’s) then you know there is a problem!

Maybe hes tired of Corp. America….I know I AM!  But whatever, its his life and he needs to live it, but it will be interesting to see what comes of this.

This is what Danny says about it:  (I still think it goes deeper then this)

I was concerned about moving forward with Incisive, however. I’m far from the only reason behind the success of SEW and SES, but I’ve played a major role. I helped build both of those assets. Then I watched one company sell them to another without me having any formal capital stake in the sale. That left me wary of history repeating itself. I wasn’t going to help this new company grow the business out of the sheer kindness of my heart.

I explained these reservations at the very beginning of my relationship with Incisive, that I needed some long-term incentive for helping them continue to grow and strengthen the site and conferences. After over a year of talks, that’s failed to materialize. As a result, I’m departing.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!

Campaign Monitor - a great new autoresponder I found.

Just wanted to share a great autoresponder with everyone that I have been testing out for a while now and really like. It is called Campaign Monitor. You can easily export your lists, and create custom forms and everything! It is not a free autoresponder, but unlike heavy upfront costs, with Campaign Monitor, you only pay for what you send out.

This is taken right from the Campaign Monitor site in regards to thier pricing:

For each campaign you send with more than 5 recipients, you pay a flat delivery fee of $5 plus 1 cent/recipient. Any campaigns you send to 5 or less people are free of charge.

You can find more information about this autoresponder here at Campaign Monitor

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!

I have recently been converting (re-designing) one of my sites and was having a good conversation with my programmer about the Navigation of the site.  Because of that conversation I thought it would be a good time to remind everyone about some of the basics when it comes to the navigation of your site.

Make sure your site has “breadcrumbs”.  If you are not familiar with this term think back to the tale of Hansel and Grettle and them leaving breadcrumbs to find thier way back.  The people visiting your site need to know where they have been and are going and be able to get back quickly (without getting lost along the way).  Besides for user-friendliness you need to do this for the search engine crawlers, (breadcrumbs are good for SEO) so they can easily crawl your site and index the correct pages.  Spiders (especially Googlebot) does not like “orphan pages” or pages that exist with no navigation or any links on them.  The most common reason for this could be for spam-sense (spammy adsense sites) to trick people to only click on ads cause there is no navigation.

Making it easier to navigate will not confuse potential customers and could increase sales.  More exposure on the search engines could turn into more traffic, which you know can turn into more sales and more money for you!

 If you want a great example of breadcrumbs on a site check out the site http://www.rockymountainmattress.com/shop/ (This is one of mine that sells the memory foam mattress.)  Check out the top navigation and see how no pages are left “orphaned” as well as the breadcrumb navigation in the top left of the shopping cart.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!

An annoying link building strategy used by black hat SEO’s alike, but there are ways to combat it.

I use software from a website http://www.akismet.com for all my Word Press Blogs and I would say its reduced the spam I get by 95 percent and any that slips through it learns from its mistakes and I never have problems again.

Moving on……….

I do not care if people leave comments on this blog that are worth reading. Even if you leave them for a link back and thats your sole purpose I don’t care, but COME ON …. Leave some worth while comments that people would get something from and get a little more creative then leaving the exact same comment on the same blog with an anchor text that is different.

For example - never spam blogs with comments like this:

” I really like your article and I am in the same industry to learn more click here” (and after the click here is a anchor text link - and each comment that is left is the EXACT SAME ONE) DONT BE STUPID!!!! I will never approve a comment like this.

You have a better chance emailing me saying I want a link (which I don’t do) so that should tell you something!! If you want a link so bad I got a $9.95 text link submission (for one link) and a $29.95 submission for 6 text links.  Atleast those links will be on a higher PR page rather then just a sub-comment on a non PR page… (See the difference??)
This is just a simple reminder to not try to build links by spamming blogs. Make sure and find blogs related to your industry that you like and agree with so you can start leaving comments that are worth reading. I have found that 100% of the comments I have left on blogs (and its been alot) have been approved. You will have much better success getting links on blogs by following these rules I have layed out.

You will appreciate this post more when/if you ever get into blogging and have to fight off spammers.

Remember I love hearing all kind of comments from people. Even those who do not agree with me. I learn from everyone! I have never professed to know everything, but I just hate dealing with spammers….

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!

Yea I know, I once used the phrase; “when hell freezes over” in conjuction with Metallica allowing any type of music downloading site to offer thier music. (even at a cost) Well why now are they allowing? And why I-tues?

For me its easy to understand. If Metallica wants to keep making money selling records they need to allow it to be done one song at a time. I have found myself going back to I-tunes and purchasing individual songs that no longer work on 10 year old scratched CD’s …. plus as I get older (and hopefully wiser) I have gone back and purchased the music I once freely downloaded on places such as Napster when it was first launched. I do not think I am alone and if these major artists want to compete, and like I said sell records they need to get with the times.

Recently when I was on I-tunes downloading music I did look for a Metallica song and it was not there and it was annoying. I had just forgot they were not on at the time because it seems that EVERYTHING is on I-tunes. Now, it really seems to be true since Metallica has allowed thier songs to be downloaded. Perhaps, Metallica will get some fans back they lost during the whole “Napster” ordeal. And Perhaps there is other people out there like me who will go back and purchase the music they once so freely and carelessly downloaded in college.

Anyway you look at it I think its a good move on the part of Metallica. No doubt they are the pioneers of rock and one of the most famous bands out there, but this move could actually get them a bigger fan base (if thats possible) I am just glad I can download Metallica songs (legally) again…..

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!

When submitting a press release online we often go to the main PR sites such as PRWeb.com. When only doing this we are missing an opportunity I want to tell you to be taking advantage of.

Everyone is looking for an easy way into Google News, and why not with the potential for millions of views a day. Why not go straight to the source (Google News) and find some nice PR sites to submit to?

If you go to Google News and type in a keyword that would bring the kind of releases you would be doing up pay close attention to where those stories are coming from. It tells you right on the results who submitted it. If you can find a PR site that is already in Google News then it makes it that much easier to get your story in. Go to that site and find the submit release, or submit article button (or link) and try including your PR right there. Its worth a shot and these places are normally free to submit to.

I am not saying to avoid places like PRWeb.com, but just remember that they are not the end all solution when it comes to submitting press! Good luck with this new idea!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!

I am not telling you to stop using the search engine Google anymore, but I am trying to help you understand what Google wants to happen with the use of thier name.

They want media companies/orginizations to stop referring to searching the web as “googling” or “go google it”. (They have legal documents to back it up as well) I have just one thing to say about this; WHY?

I have been on about 10 forums today talking about this, and read a number of comments (pro and con) about Google doing this. I am still trying to figure out how this could ever be bad PR? I have seen the examples of Xerox and people “making a Xerox on thier HP Printer” but even so … has that ever hurt Xerox?

The real problem is Google is starting to become as big as Microsoft and turning into them when they say they live by the “do no evil” motto.

What I think should happen is this; Google should spend more time and PR energy fixing Pay Per Click Fraud with thier Adsense/Adwords programs. I said this before but I don’t think Yahoo would ever mind someone “Yahooing” Do you? I would love to hear your comments!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!

Google, (the search engine powerhouse) known for its “don’t be evil” motto, has sent out a series of legal letters to media organisations, warning them against using its name as a verb. I personally feel this is ridiculas but would love to hear what others are thinking about this?

If you truly do try to live by a motto of “dont be evil” how come most webmaster and seo forums dub them as evil?  Could it be that they have become what they set out to not become?  The closer they get to being as big as Microsoft the more they are going to have to deal with stuff like this, but trying to ban good PR???  What flattery…you are using Yahoo but Googling it at the same time???  How can that EVER be BAD PR? 

I think Google should invest more time in figuring out a way to prevent PPC Fraud with Adsense and Adwords rather then wasting time worrying about media companies using Google in a verb form….They keep this up they will dig thier own grave with users…

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!