My Web Site Doesn’t Work!!!!!

In keeping with the tradition of the shoemaker’s children having no shoes, I have been so busy designing web sites in the last couple of years that I have neglected my own web site and am trying to find time, in between all my other projects, to do something about that. I can always tell when there is a slump in the economy because I start getting calls from clients saying ”my web site isn’t working, I’m not getting any calls.” Sigh.
One thing I have learned over the last several years of designing web sites for people is that the web is a vast and mysterious place in which you are competing with many, many, many (add as many “manys” as you can) other folks and everybody wants to be first. Can you blame them? Originally my business was design — making attractive, fast-loading web sites that both reflected their owners’ purpose and which were affordable for writers, artists and small business owners. However, along the way I’ve learned a lot about other things — mostly Search Engine Optimization, a technology that is utterly mysterious but which has tricks that can be implemented.

Just about every client I have done a site for has received the usual generic emails when their site goes up: Your site has great marketing potential and we can make you Number 1. Everybody gets that — including the top twenty people who are your competitors. If all of you subscribe to the service will you all be Number 1? You know the answer.

So I have been learning more and more tricks that I can offer to my clients for their sites and that has now become a standard part of my service. I’m trying to encourage people to think about who their customers are, who do you want to appeal to? Once you know that then the next step is to try to think like they do —what will they be searching for when the go to Google or Yahoo or whichever search engine they use (Google and Yahoo searches comprise about 95% of all searches.)

Once you have a feel for who is looking for you and, more importantly, HOW they are looking for you things get easier. Now it is a matter of making your site more available for those searchers. That’s where Search Engine Optimization strategies can improve your marketing goals.

For a long time artists told me that they never sold anything over the web but lately that is changing. I’ve had a couple of my artists call to tell me they sold paintings to people in other parts of the country who saw them on their web site. I think as people are getting more and more comfortable using the internet to search for the things they are interested in we will see more and more of that.

This is especially true for writers. Both Mark and I have sold books through our web sites and I have even gotten a couple of magazine assignments from people who saw my site and emailed to ask if I was interested in doing an article for them. I thought these were flukes but then last week another client called to say he had received an article request because of his site which has a sports/hobby theme.

So, little by little all of us are getting a handle on this internet thing. As I upgrade my web site I will be adding additional information on marketing and SEO. Take a look and see what you think.

Thanks for reading.