As any parent knows, it takes more than good looks to make good grades. And good grades have proven to be critical indicators of future success.
School is now in session for your website. Website Grader is a tool that helps measure the effectiveness of your website from a marketing perspective. The resulting score is based on a variety of data points about a website including the structure of the site, popularity, traffic, search engine optimization, marketing features and a slew of other things.
Does this EasyStreet Business Blog make the grade? Well, everything’s relative. Here’s our grade as of today:
- Website Grade: 71 (70% of websites scored lower)
- Google Indexed Pages: 240
- Readability Level: 7th Grade
Putting ego on the line, I compared this blog to a couple of larger efforts:
- The New York Times website
Website Grade: 99 (highest possible)
Google Indexed Pages: 1,360,000
Readability Level: 7th Grade (ideal)
- The Oregonian website
Website Grade: 81
Google Indexed Pages: 565,000
Readability Level: 9th Grade
The reports include analysis and suggestions for improvement. You can try it for free (for now). It just takes a couple of minutes. Go to WebsiteGrader.com and see if your website makes the grade.
October 5th, 2007 by Day Tooley
Posted in Websites, Search Engines | Enter a comment »
Too often, smart progressive businesses miss the obvious opportunity to empower a prospecting salesperson already employed at your company. I refer to the mandatory-shingle-company-website every business hangs on the Internet.
At the March SEMpdx SearchFest 07 event in Portland, a number of excellent presentations were made. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a hot topic. The presentation by Tom Bennett, Client Strategist with The New Group, on How To Build A Conversion From A Website Visitor was the best for me.
When seeking information using Google, visitors may enter a website on any page. Rarely do they come in the front door. In preparation for the visit, Tom defines the conversation with something he calls a “message map.” Vertical categories such as:
- What is the need?
- What is the solution?
- Why would I choose you?
Discrete messaging units fall under these columns and messages are inserted into what Tom calls “conversion points” where additional information is offered to move the visitor toward “engagement”. Engagement is the holy grail of website success.
Does your website developer understand your business enough to think like a prospecting salesperson? If so, you too may get an intelligent website design.
May 3rd, 2007 by Day Tooley
Posted in Websites, Search Engines | Enter a comment »
A couple of inches of snow in Portland stops all movement. Even my best macho couldn't coax my Honda up the hill early this morning.
When grounded, it always seems like a good time to get organized. One popular way to organize data is by adding tags. We all wish we had done that from the beginning when we took the first of thousands of digital photographs (Where is that picture of Uncle Bob we took a couple of years ago?).
Technorati and flickr have built significant businesses accumulating tags from millions of blog posts and photographs.
Google Mail lets you "Label" your email messages to make them findable later in a virtual folder.
And now, the EasyStreet Business Blog compiles all the tags from each post so you can have a better idea what this blog is talking about. Scroll down this page and you will see the new "Tag Cloud" addition in the right column. Bigger means more.
It's another way to help you find what you're looking for. Click on one.
Let me know what you think. If you didn't find what you were looking for, maybe we need to talk about it.
January 16th, 2007 by Day Tooley
Posted in Search Engines, Blogs | Enter a comment »
As the new generation of browsers are rolled out (Opera 9, Firefox 2 and IE7), all include methods to customize and add functionality with widgets and plugins.
One of the nice features I have used for the past year is Rollyo which allows creating a custom search engine within the Firefox browser. These accounts can be shared. For example, mine is http://rollyo.com/daytooley/easystreetsites/ which searches the public websites of EasyStreet. Rollyo uses Yahoo's search database.
Now, Google has stepped up with their version. Here is an example you can try which also searches the four EasyStreet websites (main website, support, Rich Bader's blog, and this business blog).
For those businesses who have a website, it is an easy way to add search capabilities to your site without having to program custom code. Notice the Google Custom Search box added at the very bottom of this page.
Want to roll your own custom search engine?
Go to http://google.com/coop/cse. It takes just a minute.
Technorati Tags: Google, web 2.0, Rollyo, widgets
October 26th, 2006 by Day Tooley
Posted in Web 2.0, Search Engines | Enter a comment »
Search the world and find what you're looking for just across the street. The big news on the World Wide Web (WWW) seems to be local.
Search engine companies, led by Google, have turned the Internet search telescopes into search microscopes. Remember telephone books? Not used so much now when you can type a name and city or zip code into Google and there you are. Try it.
Local businesses stand to gain the most from this trend. You can see how customers might find you (or your competitor) by using some of these new resources:
Local Google: On the first visit, enter your zip code. From then on, searches are focused on your city. Feel like some Chinese food? Just type 'Chinese food' and listings and map instantly appears. Want to see the movie 'Capote'? Local theaters complete with show times are presented.
Local Google for Mobile: Do you have a Java-enabled cell phone?
Local Yahoo: For those who like the Yahoo touch, this might suit you. However, you must use Internet Explorer as the preferred browser. Firefox users (like me) get empty maps.
Local MSN: In beta now, we all know that Microsoft eventually becomes a player in areas of interest. To their credit and unlike Yahoo, you can use browsers other than Internet Explorer.
Local Oodle: Looking for housing, cars, jobs, services, or things for sale generally? Then the new Oodle service is for you. It will even show the eBay items from local sellers only.
Craig's List: The ultimate bulletin board and nemesis to newspaper advertising. If you're under 30, you probably already use this resource. Portland is one of more than 200 cities with locally indexed resources.
Bottom line: Local businesses who have a thoughtful Internet presence will be the winners in this new economy.
November 8th, 2005 by Day Tooley
Posted in Websites, Search Engines | 2 Comments »
