July, 2008

In my line of work, you can imagine, I spend a lot of time working with clients on websites. We build websites for clients and want to make sure they go live the right way. I get questions all the time about how to understand how the internet works.

What is DNS?

DNS stands for the Domain Name System. The DNS records tell the internet where to send your internet traffic. The most common (that I will discuss later) are address (A) records, CNAME records, name server (NS) records and mail exchange (MX) records.

Many web developers simply tell their clients to point the Name Server Record to the new host and you let the web developer manage that for you. The problem you face is that you lose control of your website. If something happens to your developer or you have a falling out, your website and email can stop working... in a heart beat.

So, what does this mean for you? How do you know what you should do to maintain functionality of your site and your email? Bear in mind that my descriptions below are what I tell my my clients, but I think everyone should follow these rules.

CopierCatalog.com, a service of Dealer Marketing Systems is happy to announce the addition of its new service module. In addition to providing continually-updated product catalogs for copier dealer and printer reseller sites, the new service module includes a database of print drivers and manuals.

“We want to make sure that our dealers’ websites have everything their clients need in one place,” says Darrell Amy, President. “In today’s era of manufacturer-direct distribution, it is important for independent dealers to keep clients on their websites instead of going to the manufacturer’s site.”

The new service adds a database of user manuals and print drivers that can be searched. The content is continually updated, allowing dealers to offer an enhanced customer service experience.

The enhancements are part of version 2.5 of CopierCatalog.com. With this new version, dealers can now create customized catalogs for their site. For example, a dealer with multiple lines might create a “Production Systems” catalog that includes high volume black & white, color, wide format and digital duplicator units from multiple manufacturers. Or a dealer could create a “Workgroup Color” catalog that includes mid-range MFP’s and printers from multiple vendors.

SEO, or search engine optimization, may not be rocket science, but there are many things that you can do to make your website more findable on the web. There are a number of things that I do when I build my client sites that make a big difference in how they are found on the web. I won't share all of them (don't want to give away trade secrets), but there are some key things you should do.

I bring this up because I am amazed how few websites I see actually implement these items. These are reasonable simple things that you can do to improve your search rankings. Yet, for some reason, the majority of web developers don't even try to implement them.

Bear in mind, if you need help with this on your site or want an analysis of how you are doing, you can just contact us.

I have mentioned some of these before, but some of them are so important, they deserve another mention.

There is a lot of information that we are expected to digest on a regular basis. Sometimes, it can be daunting to consume so much in such a short period of time.

We have email, web pages, radio, TV, telephone and any number of other sources of information.

Personally, I want my information aggregated into one place so that I can skim through it all and decide in a few seconds if it is worth reading.

I don't like newspapers because I get one set of information and lot of ads that I have to read through.

I don't like news via email because sometimes it can be a pain to sort through... and email is slow.

I don't like going to a web page until I know that the information there is what I want to read.

Enter RSS.

But, what is RSS and why in the world should I care about it on my site?

Although, with the way some people talk, you'd think that it was. True, there are some components that make it a little more complicated to understand... after all, that is why SEOs make $15,000 or more per site just to optimize website content... once. Then, usually they'll charge a hefty fee monthly to make sure that the site stays optimized... after all, SEO is not a one time event.

SEO is something that needs to be continually addressed. Not only does a site need to have new content added all the time, but the existing, static content, needs to be adjusted, changed and modified. If your site isn't evolving, then why in the world would someone ever come back?

If your customers have already seen your brochure, do they go back to it very often to try and glean new information? Then why do we seem to think that people will do that with our static and never changing sites?

So, if Search Engine Optimization isn't Rocket Science, then what is it?

It is time consuming and requires effort. It requires patience and practice. But, given the right knowledge, you can understand the basics. Here are the five elements of content that you should consider for your site.

When designing and managing your website, one of the hardest things to remember is who your audience is.

But, why is this hard?

I tend to think that it is hard because we want to write to people that are just like us. We tend to think of ourselves as our audience. We think that we know what our customers want to hear because we have worked with them so long that we just naturally know what they are looking for.

We are convinced that we know best.

Let me be blunt. You probably don't know what your clients want to read. You probably don't know what your clients want to hear.

How rude, why would I say that about you? After all, we just met.

Well, it, in my mind, is simply because you are so focused on running your business that you have become disconnected from what your clients need. You are focused on selling your hardware and software and therefore forget to learn about their business.

Don't get mad at me... read on...

I talk with clients all the time about ways to optimize their websites for increasing traffic. We provide search engine optimization services for our clients so that they can better be found on the web.

Often, I get the question, "Well, can I just have you optimize my site now and then, in a year, optimize it again?"

The short answer is, "No."

SEO, or search engine optimization, isn't a one time event. It isn't something that you do one time and then never look back on. In my last post titled, What makes a great website? Top Ten List, the second item on the list is evolving content.

This evolving content provides the search engines with new pages and new content to index on your site. It provides your site visitors options to search for.

As you think about the website that you develop, there are some key considerations for your online presence. You want to make sure that you design it right. If you don't, you might just be wasting your time and money.

But, what are the key things that you should consider?

I am very excited about the launch of this site. We have been working hard for six months to build the right solution for copier, printer and mfp dealers. We wanted to make sure that we provided the best product catalogs with the right information.

We're not anywhere near being done yet. We are in version 2.0 right now. We know that this will be an ever evolving project. In fact, we are already in development of versions 3 and 4 of the site so that our clients can have the best possible products availble for you.