February 8, 2010

Setting Basic Web Site Development Objectives

Posted by Heidi under General, Web Development
1 Comment 

Professional Website Design and HostingLately we’ve seen a troubling trend – businesses who are extremely unhappy with their web developers for various reasons. Usually, most of the problems stem from a mismatch between developer and web site owner. Granted, it can be quite difficult for a business owner to fully understand all the nuance of web development and even more difficult to know if each web developer interviewed is the best fit for their business.

So how is the business owner who isn’t a tech geek supposed to evaluate web development companies fairly and find the right match? The process should begin with a fair and impartial assessment of business needs, employee skills, budget, desired site deployment date and internal work loads. Businesses should be ruthless in their self-examination – since unfair or inaccurate assessments will only hurt the business by wasting time and money. Once needs are clearly defined, the business is ready to interview web developers.

These are some basic questions that the business owner (or business stakeholders) should ask themselves to develop a clear set of web site development objectives.

  1. What should our web site accomplish?

    Are you trying to build your brand, provide detailed information about your products and services, sell your products online – or some combination of these? The answer to this question will influence the answers to other questions because different web site objectives will drive discussions of budget, project timeline, employee needs, and so on. Web sites may be as simple as a “brochure” style site that showcases your business product or service or a complete on-line storefront.

  2. What other web sites do we find attractive?

    When you finally choose a developer, this will be one of the first questions they may ask to gain a better understanding of your vision. Look at other web sites to spark ideas before you talk to developers – develop a clear vision at the outset so that you approach prospective developers with finite objectives. You may want items included in your site that require a specific skill-set, and developers who use that skill-set regularly may be more reasonably priced than a developer who will have to outsource that work to someone else.

  3. How often do I plan to make changes or additions to our site?

    This begins the questions about a content management system (CMS). Developers love CMS systems because it allows them to disconnect from the client and move on to their next project.

    • Some developers have developed their own proprietary CMS systems that allow them to merely put together various modules and “skin” them for the client. This is very cost effective for the developers, but not always the best solution for their client.
    • Other developers use purchased CMS systems that are regularly updated and maintained by the software company. These systems are usually a much better choice for the client, but more expensive for the developer.
    • There are also open source CMS systems that are widely used by developers. These systems are cheap for the developer, but not very intuitive for the client and are sometimes the target of hackers intent on defacing web sites.

    Be sure you understand the benefits as well as the limitations of the CMS your developer proposes to use for your web site.

  4. Who (internally) has responsibility for updating and/or reviewing our site?

    We recommend clients update their web site monthly, but you must update your site sooner or later. It is important to identify who in your organization is responsible to periodically review and update your web site. This should be part of someone’s  job description and performance evaluation to be sure that this task is not forgotten!

  5. Do my employees have the skills necessary to perform their web related tasks?

    Once you have decided who in your organization is responsible for web site updates, you should evaluate their web related skills. Sooner or later you will discuss providing material for your web site and updating procedures with your developer – it’s good to know how much training your employees will need before you sign a contract.

  6. Is it more cost effective or efficient to pay a web professional to make periodic web site updates?

    If you plan to make only periodic updates to your site, it may be more cost effective to offer your developer a small monthly retainer to perform your updates. Not all developers will offer this service, as most don’t provide ongoing client service. However, paying for an hour of developer time once a month or once a quarter may cost significantly less over the long run than paying to implement an extensive content management system that you may or may not ever use. Although you don’t get the immediate gratification of a CMS, you keep your employees on task doing what they do best and allow your web developer to do what they do best.

  7. How will we market our web site?

    This is a loaded question that will drive some of your web development decisions.

    • If you plan to market your site through paid advertising either in print or online through pay per click (PPC) advertising, you can develop any type of web site using whatever you wish.
    • However, if you want your web site to appear in “organic” web searches your web site should be “search engine friendly.”
    • If you already have a web site, you can contact a search engine optimization (SEO) firm to evaluate your site for friendliness.
    • If you are interviewing web developers, be sure to ask how they insure their sites are search engine friendly. If they use a CMS be sure that the CMS uses search engine friendly URLs and allows the addition of standard search engine optimization tags.
    • If you’re buying a Flash web site, understand that they are not yet fully search engine friendly and you should budget for advertising.
    • Also ask if the developer adheres to the W3C standards for web development – it will make a positive difference in your search engine rankings.

Having a clear set of objectives before you interview web developers will help you make an informed decision. If you’re calling references or asking around about a developer, be sure you speak with someone who has had a similar type web site developed. If you are developing an extensive web site, you may wish to retain a consultant to help you evaluate developers and their proposals. And, if you feel at all hesitant about a developer – get another opinion. Don’t settle for a hit-and-run developer, find a firm who will be your web site adviser.

 

August 6, 2009

Filter employees’ visits for more accurate analytics data

Posted by Heidi under Analytics, Uncategorized
Leave a Comment 

This week I learned that some folks believe (and have been told) that if they set the home page of their computer to their company’s home page they will help the search engine rankings of their company website.

To be clear – visiting your company’s home page many times each day will NOT affect your search engine rankings. You may, however, artificially inflate your analytics results. So if you’re monitoring your site analytics (and you should!) you’ll see “return” visits from each of your employees each time they fire up their web browsers that are defaulted to display your company web site.

So, how can you ensure accurate web traffic analytic information? No, you don’t have to stop viewing your company web site. If you’re using an analytics tool like Google Analytics, you can filter out the results from your company’s internet connection. It’s as simple as finding out the IP address or IP range that identifies your company’s network (you probably have multiple ranges if you have multiple locations), then creating an analytics filter to filter those addresses from your results! In Google Analytics, create an exclusion filter (one of GA’s “premade” filters). Log on to GA using your administrator login, then choose “Filter Manager”. In the top right, you’ll see “Add filter” – click there. Choose “Exclude all traffic from an IP address” and select the profile you want to use. You’ll need to use regular expressions, so don’t forget the \ (escape) in front of the dots in your IP address. You may also wish to add anchors at the beginning and end of your IP if the first or last groups of numbers (octets) don’t contain three digits.

If your office has a dynamic IP address instead of a static IP or static IP range, you’ll have to do a little more work. First, create a web page that is only accessible by internal addresses. Embed a trackable cookie on that web page and have each internal user visit that page and allow the cookie. Now that each web browser in your office has the same cookie, create a filter that excludes visitors who have that “internal marker” cookie. Not as easy as simply blocking an IP range, but worth doing if you’re getting lots of web site traffic from employees. If you’re using Google Analytics, check their help section for detailed instructions on how to set the cookie.

Remember, once data is filtered, there’s no way to get back the original data – so you may wish to create a new profile that contains your location filtered data. But, filtering your site visits will provide a more accurate picture of your web traffic – and that will allow you to make better decisions about your web site and about your business.

 

July 17, 2009

A new look!

Posted by Heidi under General
Leave a Comment 

Yep, we put up a new look for our internet marketing and seo web site (http://www.morrilltech.com) a little more than a week ago. So far we’ve gotten some good comments – but please let us know if there’s more info you’d like to see there. We’re putting up more educational material to help smaller business owners who may need a little help with SEO or PPC but aren’t ready or able to hire someone yet.

If you have any material or advice you’d like to see in our resources section, please let us know! Now if we can only find the time to refresh our blog look….

 

November 6, 2008

Got analytics – now what?

Posted by Heidi under Analytics | Tags: , |
Leave a Comment 

Ok – now you’ve gotten your web site analytics. What’s next? Next is taking the information you have and making some sense of it. You now have at your disposal some insight into your clients – where they’re from, what parts of your site they find interesting, how they find your site, and if your site is really what they were searching for in the first place – just to name a few. Some folks make the mistake of only looking at the number of visitors, or the length of time someone spends on their site. A holistic view of your analytics is the best approach.

Let’s start with the simplest information first. When you log in to your Google Analytics account, choose your report and you will go directly to that report’s dashboard. The default graph shown on your dashboard is visits vs. dates for the past month. If you click the small arrow beside “visits” you may choose to graph a different parameter. You also have the option to compare two metrics. You may choose to graph results by day, week or month. You may also choose the time period over which you wish to graph and may compare results to another period (for instance Oct 2008 vs. Oct 2007) by selecting the arrow beside the date range shown above your graph. You can’t break it, so just play around and look at your data in a number of different ways. For instance, if you want to look at some general visit trending, choose a long time period to review (say, 6-12 months) and then choose to look at the data by months. You’ll filter out the noise and see a general trend for your site.

You may export the data from your report by clicking the export button at the top of the graph. You may also choose to email the report data to yourself or anyone else you choose by clicking the email button. Emailing will also give you the choice to schedule emails, so if you’d like to see your report in email every Monday, this is the place to set it up!

You’re mom probably taught you not to play with your food…data is food for your mind and it’s ok to play all you want – that’s how you learn and get a feel for your visitors.

More about visitors later…

 

October 28, 2008

Get a clue!

Posted by Heidi under Analytics | Tags: , |
[2] Comments 

Web site owners take note – if you’re not checking your site analytics you’re probably losing opportunities!

That’s right, you’re not paying attention to your customers. Web site analytics can tell you quite a lot about your site’s visitors. Do you check your analytics? Do you even know what they are? First some explanation about analytics, then a bit about how to use the information they contain to your advantage. Let us know how you’re driving your traffic!!

As a web site owner, you should have access to your web site analytics from your web hosting company. If your hosting company doesn’t offer a package such as AWStats or something similar, you should have your developer integrate Google Analytics into your site. Google Analytics is available from Google for free and you may email yourself the stats weekly in case you’re the forgetful type. You may notice discrepancies between the results you receive from Google Analytics and those from a logfile analytics package such as AWStats – and that difference is due to how the data is gathered. I can explain more of that later if anyone is interested, but suffice to say – some info is always better than no info!

Now that you’re got some sort of web site statistics available to you – what do the data mean and how can you use your new found knowledge? First, analytics gives you the chance to look at your site through the eyes of your prospective customer.

Let’s take this one step at a time. First you’ll need a free Google Analytics account. Create a new profile by inputting your web site address (for this site it would be www.lostinclover.com). Google will provide a “tracking code” that you will copy to each of your site web pages. You just cut and paste the code on your page directly above the </body> tag. Use the new tracking code unless your web developer tell you they need the old tracking code. Once you’ve copied the code, press finish and you’ll see the web site profiles you have set up. You’ll notice that your new site will say “Tracking not installed” and there will be a link below that says “check status.” If you click the link, you’ll be redirected to the page listing your tracking codes again. Once you’ve properly installed your code, the status will change to “waiting for data.” This means that Google has found your tracking code and is monitoring your web site. It should take about a day for you to receive your first report. Remember, Google data is not real time – you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for today’s data. If that’s not acceptable, you’ll need to invest in real-time tracking software for your web site.

Next time, we’ll start looking at your new data and make sense of what you see!

 

October 12, 2008

It’s a great day to start the week!

Posted by Heidi under Musings | Tags: |
Leave a Comment 

Sunday is one of my favorite days. It’s the start of a new week – the day of my week when the tenor for the remainder of the week is set. It’s my day of rest – sort of. :-) Sunday is usually family day and planning day. I find that I can relax the most on Sunday, and many times Sunday is when I have my best thoughts and ideas. I push less on Sunday than I do on other days of the week. I plan more on Sunday.  I’ve heard over and over that the most successful business people take time every day to plan for the following day. I’m not quite that disciplined, but I take time every Sunday to reflect and plan for the upcoming week. Generally, I take time to be thankful on Sunday.

Yes, I try to be thankful every day. The world in which we live is not perfect – I’m certainly not perfect either. Can each of us make ourselves better people? Of course! Can each of us affect our world and those around us? Sure! Can we change someone else? Not really. Can we influence someone else? Perhaps.

I’m always trying to better myself, contribute more to society, and teach my children to be responsible citizens. Sometimes I get frustrated and wish for more, wish things would happen faster, wish I could anticipate change a little better. But then, there’s Sunday. It’s a gorgeous October day (granted a bit warm), the sky is a muted and cloudless blue, the breeze is cool in contrast to the warming sunshine, and for the moment – all is right in my world.  Try taking some time to be thankful today for what you have, give back a little of yourself - then make plans for the dreams you’re pursuing.

 

October 9, 2008

searching for success

Posted by Heidi under SEO | Tags: , , , |
Leave a Comment 

Search is something of a game. It’s a game that most want to win. There are as many theories and strategies on how to “win” the search game as there are players in that same game.

The first item of business should always be: define expectations! Put everything on the table upfront. I know, sometimes easier said than done. One of my clients initially told me that his goal for an SEO engagement was to “slowly increase traffic to my website.” Well, it has been four months and we’ve doubled his web site traffic. When I spoke with him last week, he wants more online sales. Did he want more sales in the first place? Of course! But he naturally assumed that more visits would equal more sales. He’s getting more traffic, and from the site statistics, I’d estimate that he’s getting very relevant interested traffic – but his industry is very affected by the economic climate. So, it’s important to find out your client’s expectations, ask some open ended questions to determine the unspoken expectations (this may not be an issue to those practicing north of the Mason-Dixon), uncover expectations that the client didn’t realize they had or those they didn’t know how to express and be prepared to offer your professional opinions and experience. Help the client get out of his or her own way.

Being realistic and understanding your client’s needs, fears, expectations, and business model will help build trust. Most clients will trust a calm, professional, in-charge demeanor as long as you can avoid sounding condescending.

So how does all this tie into your search? Search engine optimization is more than just a “follow the rules and you can’t lose” sort of business. Sure, following the rules and using best practices will improve your search engine rankings. In fact, there are some SEO Rules of Engagement on our web site. These are basics that many folks miss. Earlier in my career, I was a practicing chemical engineer working in a manufacturing facility’s waste treatment area. It was interesting and challenging work – always lots of problems to solve and processes to improve. My mentor was also my boss and any time I brought him a problem that was stumping me, he helped me solve it myself. Drew always told me to “go back to first principles”…so, start with the basics. If the foundation of your work isn’t sound, you’ll just have to start over when things crumble.

Thought for today: start simply…build things from there!

 

October 1, 2008

obstacles or opportunities?

Posted by Heidi under General | Tags: , , |
1 Comment 

The day I started this post it was raining – I’m not complaining, as we’re suffering from a dought and way below our normal rainfall. As I was watching the rain fall softly, I noticed something moving in our birdfeeder. We have a birdfeeder that is designed to allow small birds to enter and eat seeds while keeping out squirrels and large birds. It uses a wire mesh that surrounds the feed tube and seems to work quite well. The squirrels are able to hang on the wire upside down and scoop seeds out of the overflow tray with their paws, but not empty the feeder completely.

The designer of this particular feeder put up obstacles to the larger animals and birds, but has created opportunities for other enterprising individuals. One person’s (or animal’s) obstacle is another’s opportunity! A certain enterprising chipmunk has learned that if the larger feeders have been emptied by the squirrels, he can climb through the mesh of the small birdfeeder, sit in the tray and eat until he’s full. In fact, he’s also discovered that he can dislodge a loose metal perch and give himself just enough room to wiggle INTO the feeder tube and eat to his little heart’s content. (Personally I’m waiting for him to overindulge and get stuck inside the tube.)

Small businesses are often presented with similar situations. Small business can thrive by recognizing spots where they can out-perform their larger competitors. How can you find your opportunity? Get to know other businesses in your community, talk to your customers – where do you excel? How are you different? Find a focus, find a passion, be the best at something and let others know through networking. Small business is the heartbeat of our economy – we must succeed and we will succeed! Stay positive, stay focused, stay on track and keep being successful!! (BE the chipmunk!)

 

September 30, 2008

what do we hope to accomplish?

Posted by Heidi under General | Tags: , |
Leave a Comment 

When I’m not here, I’m helping clients market their websites. What is so interesting about that? Everything!

If I can help others focus on what they do best and help them be successful, then I’ve achieved my goal. I’m an engineer by training and focused many years on technology and its application to make life better for everyone. I worked in environmental engineering  for twelve years to help reduce pollution because I love science and wanted to make a positive contribution to the world we share. I loved both the science and the challenge. Life intervened and my focus changed from practical engineering and research to internet based programming and multimedia programming.

I wrote my first HTML code in 1995 as the co-owner of a new web development firm. I also wrote server side CGI code and client side javascript then multimedia code (lingo). We helped clients in a new environment. At first it was difficult to get across the point that their web address should be included in all their printed collateral. We had to educate our clients on Internet technology and how we thought it would impact business. As time went on businesses accepted web sites as a necessary part of business and it was easier to move beyond brochureware.

Since we were convincing clients that the Internet was a necessary part of business, we spent time optimizing their sites for search engines and closely tracking their traffic. Businesses were pleased they could see concrete data to support their marketing efforts and shore up their marketing funding requests, and end users began to be concerned about what data was collected by these same web sites.

Since we ran our own business and I had worked for large corporations we understood the need to provide feedback to our clients. Web site analytics was an extremely powerful tool that allowed us to show our clients how their site performed and gave us the information we needed to make realistic recommendations about the types of data presented on the site. Search engine optimization paired with accurate web analytics was (and still is) an extremely powerful combination.

Our current business offers internet marketing services to businesses as well as to web developers who are already overworked keeping up with the changing Internet technologies. We’re specializing in what I always found to be the most fulfilling part of development – helping companies make the most of their investment in technology. Our background with corporate entities and educational institutions as well as with web and multimedia design and programming makes us uniquely tuned to our clients’ needs. Technology in business is our focus as well as our passion!

 

September 23, 2008

why are we here?

Posted by Heidi under General | Tags: |
Leave a Comment 

The most difficult part of most projects is getting started. We’ve needed to be here for a long time, but have put off and put off adding to the plethora of blogs available. That being said, why are we here?

First, what *is* lost in clover? You have to notice a few things about clover – it’s just about everywhere, it multiplies, and most of it looks the same! Then, you find that rare four leaf (or five leaf) clover. But, how exactly is the four leaf clover different from its three leaf bretheren? Apart from the obvious extra leaf, its overall shape is unique. Run of the mill clover is reminiscent of a triangle, it has an unmistakable shape and color in the carpet it lays across the fields. It’s different from the surrounding grass – its shape, color and texture are unique – and from it springs blossoms of purple or white.

It’s easy to get lost in a profusion of clover – one stalk resembling its neighbor. But when you pay close attention, you can occasionally see a difference in the pattern – a square rather than a triangle – and you’ve found the elusive four leaf clover! Some will go their entire life without finding a single four leaf clover. I don’t know if it’s because they don’t look or because they can’t see the differences nestled in the green carpet of clover. First, you must look – you must have faith that you will find the lucky clover – and you must be ready to recognize it when you see it nestled among its more common neighbors. Only its shape gives it away and in a profusion of clover, it can be difficult to pick out the true four leaf clovers.

What does clover have to do with anything anyway? Too often we get caught up in what we’ve always done – we see what we’ve always seen in the way we’ve always seen it. We’re not open to the beautiful differences that present themselves to us every single day. We don’t look with the eyes of a child, we look with the eyes of jaded adults – not looking for wonder in life and certainly not seeing it when it’s there.

Pause for a moment and look at a patch of clover – although it all may look the same, there are wonders to be found if you have an open heart and an open mind.