When I come back it will probably be with a new design and format.  Until then, my off-line focus will be on developing my desired direction for the site.

First, for those trying to be found, immediacy is good.  However, it requires real-time information going into the system to be seen in the results.  This has the most impact on news and entertainment sites but I see other sites finding use for this as the technology becomes more familiar.  The obvious impacts on website owners are to provide the content to be included in real-time searches.  Designing and creating a site’s architecture will become that much more important, from good markup to designing URL’s to providing notifications or using push technology.

For searchers, it appears all is good news.  More information in your hands immediately.  Finding answers through search engines has already put information to any question at the fingertips of a generation that was not available or even fathomable in the past.  While it increases the knowledge of the citizenry, it also becomes a crutch.  What does anyone know without access to Google?

Plenty has been written about the search engine generation and the affects on our society.  Lately I’ve been thinking about the Google index and position in our world.  Has it become so valuable that is should become the single index for the world?  To me there is no doubt that the engineers working at Google are some of the brightest minds on the planet when it comes to information cataloguing.  Not only is this seen in the quality of their index and infrastructure, but in the ideas they come up with for new things to index, return results or ways to search as in this week’s announcements.

In today’s world, a product developed by a private company could never be turned over to the public.  I wonder about having rival indexes and search engines to compete against each other, especially when one receives 90% of the traffic.  A library does not have two competing indexes, with different features and algorithms, for users to choose.  Multiple white and yellow page listings only confuse customers, especially if they are not equal and complete.

It will be interesting to see if in the future a single index will be established for anyone to search against, and the search engines just being a front end for searches and advertising.  Maintaining the index would be a collaborative effort amongst a consortium of subsidiaries of the search companies.  Right now Google’s index is one of their competitive advantages, so I don’t see them giving that up.  A single index, though, based on Google’s, does make sense in the future when the competition over indexing everything has run its course.

Notice I said get a draft down or outline set before you start worry about your headlines or links.  Focusing too much on the ten tips you read and trying to make sure you follow them right from the start is a recipe for writer’s block.  Get ideas down on paper, in short and point form and work from there.  Once you have your vision forming, worry about the details like headlines and links.  An outline is a good place to start, but don’t think you will get it right in your first draft.  Your initial thoughts may take you somewhere completely different once you see it on paper, requiring major revisions.  It does get you to where you want to go, though.  Now get writing!

I’ve spoken about forgetting about the content in designing a site before, where the focus is on the visual look and splashiness of the site.  Kristina’s number one mistake talks about forgetting about the content after it is created.  She talks about a content life cycle that allows the content to remain it’s freshest.  There are also some great questions to ask when starting a project that will help define what needs to be done.

The second mistake is about the time needed to create the content.  I’ve talked about this before as well.  Good content doesn’t create itself, so get started early and don’t bite off more than you can chew.  Remember, more is not always better.  The third mistake goes with the second.  The project should often be defined by what you want to say, not the other way around.  Establishing the project around your goals and mission helps accomplish that and if you get off track, refer back to those to right yourself.

Unfortunately there was not an attempt to rename the SEO industry during its birth.  It held on to the SEO title first established by the black hat marketers who by now had become an underground, black market industry.  The SEO industry offered a sliver of the knowledge necessary to build a successful website, with most focusing on passing on the few simple rules for content and site design that are unknown to casual site owners and businesses.  To those that make websites, SEO is just a piece of overall site design, creation and management included in any project.

I’ve never like the term SEO.  To me it implies a secret science when I believe all the information is readily available.  It is also common sense while the search engines provide a fair and appropriate way to rank site popularity.  Still, many clients want the “secret” for their newly launched site to rank number one for their industry search terms.  I think it is more of an education issue and clients need education on more than just SEO.  Derek Powazek writes about the evils of SEO and how it contributes to the wealth of spam comments and other zero-value material on the web.  In the comments of his post, many working in the SEO industry object to the classification that SEO is not legitimate.  It seems many are stuck on calling themselves SEO experts or other such titles.  If you are focusing on just SEO, you are limiting yourself.  While SEO may be a well known term that brings customers, it is also an industry with a shady, untrustworthy background that confuses and scares many looking for help.  Increasing your offerings into areas such as usability, content management, website management, etc. you can increase the areas you consult in.  I think by being more than a SEO only company you will gain more respect from clients and gain a greater reputation in the industry.  As Derek says, make great websites for you and your clients, that will bring the best advertising.

Don’t have expertise in design or usability or architecture?  See if you can partner with some other small firms to refer work their way.  By moving away from a SEO firm to a full-services firm you can help correct the problems that SEO causes on the web like comment spam and link selling and grow yourself at the same time.

Making links findable is as simple as making them identifiable on the page.  The web standard is for links to be underlined and a different colour than the surrounding text.  There has been much written regarding link styles on the web, including this article on letting links look like links.  Deviating from this for design or aesthetics purposes is a bad idea.  The medium is still the web and surfers still need to navigate; don’t break that experience for them.

Even though text may be identifiable as a link it still may not be clear to the reader where the link goes or what information they will find at the destination.  As navigation signs to visitors, links should provide some context as to the reason for the link.  It may be referencing supporting material, navigation to a page with more specific or additional material or unrelated sites (such as a blogroll).

A study, as noted in Myth #2 of the Top 10 UX Myths, has indicated that many surfers only scan link text on the page and do not read the surrounding text.

Eye Tracking studies I’ve seen from the Nielsen Norman Group highlight that many web surfers are only reading the links on pages.  So the point is to make sure that linked text actually says something, instead of [click here]. And that text is concise. And readable.

Sure, website owners may prefer that visitors read the whole article or page, but if their behaviour is to scan links, providing context in the link text will help direct visitors to where they want to go, resulting in happier surfers which are more likely to spend time on your site.

Many people have a hard time writing links that are not worded [click here], which is all they have read and written for 10-15 years.  Here are a few examples of re-written links.

1. To read the report, [click here].

   More detail can be found in the [annual report].

2. To contact us, [click here].

   Feel free to [contact us] with questions.

3. [Click here] to read the Frank’s article on the new initiative.

   [Frank's article on the new initiative] deserves a read.

Once you see a few examples, writing link text without reverting to “click here” becomes easy.  Link text that shows some context along with easily findable links will help your visitors navigate the web.  As a benefit, search engines will better be able to determine the focus of a page from the keywords in the link text.  For more information, a quick search on either of these topics will reveal many more articles on these topics.

First, I would like to reference the comments of Jason Calacanis from Episode 56 of the Stack Overflow podcast.  Jason explains (noted at 1:04:39 of the transcription) his guide to search engine optimization, which is look at the top 10 pages that return for a search time and create content that is better than those pages and you should start appearing in the top 10 at least.

Now there will be some different reactions to this: I can’t do that, I don’t know how to do that, or I already have a better page but I don’t rank.  Those that say they can’t, that they don’t have the resources or talent to compete are lost if they are not willing to try.  If they are willing to take on faith that many others, some with writing talent, others with none, are competing in their markets already then with some time and effort invested they will be able to see the results.

For those that say they don’t know how to create a page with better content, they only need to look at what is missing from their competitors.  First, focus on creating something totally different from what exists rather than trying to copy the best parts from the top 10.  Then, as an expert on your subject and with a critical eye towards your competitors as a typical client, define what content people want to find on your site.  Once you have an outline of what content is needed, it can be structured and developed to create your site.

For those that claim they already are better than the top 10 results, evaluate your page from a client’s eyes.  Do you have information on topics they will search for?  Is your content well organized and referenced?  If all of these are true, then do you have the incoming links to deserve your rank?  Are you competing in a market where there are many large, high page-rank competitors?  While it is possible to compete is these markets long-term, it is easier to break into small, niche or regional markets first, especially ones which are not being served by anyone real well.  Then it comes down to the content that matches the terms people search for.

To help developing content, individuals and small teams can benefit from developing content standards for pages.  A recent A List Apart article introduces content templates to do this.  Instead of staring at a blank page when trying to start to write some new content, use the template questions to develop the page.  This provides an easy, quick way to get started while providing a consistent organization to each page.

The Bing webmaster blog has two articles, one on links and another on content architecture, that I wanted to mention.  Both articles have some good, brief points on links and content that non-technical people can understand to help them know what they should be asking for when they get help with their websites.

Finally, the Google Webmaster Central Channel on YouTube has a number of quick (2 minutes or less) answers to common webmaster questions and publish more each week.  These video responses (many by Matt Cutts) are easy to understand and provide helpful advice on where to focus your attention in managing a website.  All of this information is available to the biggest and smallest websites which is what provides the level playing field on the web.

First, thinkvitamin had a post on developing an online store.  The critical piece of advice in this piece for me was create an online business, not a website.  This is beyond avoiding a brochure-ware site, but goes towards making the online purchasing experience as easy and quick as possible.  Rather than looking to copy competitors who have a complex store and shopping cart by choosing a similar product to run your store, try to find a product that provides the ability to keep your store simple.  This will help you focus on your best products and set yourself apart from the competitor with a more enjoyable shopping experience.

Next, the Live Search/Bing Webmaster blogs have a number of articles on search engine aspects of web marketing.  First, understand your audience by looking at who is finding your site and how.  Next, review the keywords used on your site.  Surprisingly, many people never think to use synonyms for words on their site, then wonder why they do not rank for a product synonym they have never used.  After reviewing the keywords in use, understand where to use keywords on the page to be most effective.  I have said it many times, but your content is the most important part of the site and here is another vote for focusing on your content and some advice on adding valuable content.

Finally, the Bing Community Webmaster blog provides two articles on links, explaining the basics of how links are currency on the web and an advanced discussion on how “bad” links are detected and penalized.

Today, another step was taken in transitioning the site as I have moved to a new host.  If you are reading this, everything has worked well.  I have some more work to do on the site and will fit in more changes as I can.  After I get some other projects completed, feddy.ca will receive some of my focus.  As a personal project I will not feel as guilty about letting the site languish without updates as I have in the past.  No one read blogs any more anyway; all the kids are on Twitter now.

Thanks to all my visitors and hopefully searchers continue to find what they are looking for here.