Your site is outdated!
I don’t
care if you changed it yesterday, I am on it today and I have
already seen that. Many servers out there have the ability to
allow you to randomly rotate page parts like backgrounds, headers
and footers, graphics, etc. Try http://ihomedecor.com
and hit the refresh button a few times. Let your visitors see a
whole new site each time they stop by to visit. I am not telling
you to change your entire navigation. In fact, that is something
that should remain fairly static, only changing to add new
features. I have been observing our sales numbers each day and
sales always go up when we change our front page.
Important stuff up top
Make sure the
important information on your page fits on a 640x480 screen
without scrolling down. People don’t scroll down. If the
Iraqi’s would have hidden on the bottom of our web pages we
would have lost the war. Whatever you put on the bottom of the
page should be highlighted at the top of the page to encourage
folks to scroll down. Or use the anchor command and let them jump
to it. Alway put your best items or information at the top of the
page (works for print too!).
More Tricks! This Month’s Sleeper Tip:
So many places
offer free pages now. Try http://home.netscape.com/sitecentral/index.html?cp=situsrrec
http://freehomepages.com/
http://hometown.aol.com/hmtwnpromo/build/index.htm
Set up an ad for your web site using the free pages. Use plenty of
your best content and graphics. Include links to your
enewsletters, coupons, or whatever other traffic builders you have
on your site. A site index page might make a good starting point
for a page like this. Remember, this is an ad; make it short and
sweet. Include your best META Tags and include keywords in your
page title. The sequence of keywords, and descriptions of your
alternate pages should vary from your main site. Make sure the
page stands on its own and has some significant content all its
own if you can. Then go list this page with all the search engines
(http://headgap.com/addurl/).
By varying the elements of the page, it is less likely the human
search engine editors will reject the submission as a duplication.
I have an example at: http://telefinder.freehomepages.com/
and http://headgap.com/~ihomedecor.com/
Looking for a domain name?
http://www.nameboy.com
allows you to add a word or two and get back a list of what is
available and what is taken. You can register domain names for as
little as a year now and there are sites that discount
registration. You may want to try http://www.domainmonger.com/
They charge $17 a year and you can change the settings online
through the web. I haven’t used them yet but plan to when the
need arises.
NOTE: Since writing the original article I found http://www.dotster.com
which is as good and only $15!!
Did you know
that your ISP can point multiple domain names to one IP address?
They may want to charge you; check first. For example,
ihomedecor.com is also ihomedecor.org and it could have easily
been any other domain name pointed at the same place. This means
there are more ways for folks to find you if you list the
additional addresses with the search engines!
Use ALT Tags for Graphics!
An example image
link:
<IMG SRC="grafx/portalmem2.jpg" ALT="PortalMemphis.com -
Memphis Best Web Sites" WIDTH=480 HEIGHT=70 BORDER=0
ALIGN=bottom>
Notice the ALT tag includes my domain name and a keyword or two
that I want the robots to pick up to give me higher rankings in
the search engines. ALT tags on graphics are simply polite in net
etiquette. Believe it or not, some folks still run their browsers
with the graphics turned off and these little pocket things that
people are carrying don’t see graphics either. Use the ALT
tag to your advantage. This is a must on images at the top of all
your pages, but should be continued throughout your site.
Add More Content!
http://headgap.com/webcontent.spml
is my weblog page for great content links. Some new and exciting
links:
http://www.spinwave.com/
- image crusher helps you optimize your graphics for free!
http://dynamicdrive.com/
- dancing web cursors and a lot more! TOO COOL!
http://www.flamingtext.com/
- add flaming logo’s! This one actually builds logo’s
using the text and graphics of your choice while you wait and you
simply download the results.
http://www.xdrive.com/
- 25 meg of free storage space that you can share.
Fun Stuff
I added a few
more fun links to my fun page. Try it at http://headgap.com/fortune.spml
and get your online FBI records (http://thecenter2000.com/access_public_records.htm)
or get an online sketch (http://passthison.com/sketch/?exit=no)
of amazing accuracy.
Remember Why Your Customers Are Online
77% browsing
64% entertainment
53% education
51% work
19% shopping
Does your website offer something for each of these customers?
How often are people buying online?
Never: 10%
Less than once a month: 45%
Once a month: 28%
Once a week: 4%
Check out http://www.marketingtips.com/profileo.html
for this and other useful information. In fact http://www.marketingtips.com/home.html
is a pretty nice site overall and I check it on occasion to see if
I missed anything on my web sites. (and that url gets you past the
goofy flash intro.) Someone should really do something about those
annoying popups as well but the site does have some good
content.
Bob Nunn is
owner, Operator Headgap Systems, http://headgap.com,
http://tfbbs.com
Board Member, AppleCore of Memphis, Inc., http://memphisapplecore.com
Email: headgap@headgap.com
