Internet Blacklist Legislation – Stop it in it’s tracks
If you haven’t been reading the news of late you probably haven’t heard about the proposed bill that Congress is working on. Called SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and the Protect IP Act. These bills, if passed, would the threaten the security, sanctity, and privacy of the Internet as we know it.
Although reaction on the internet has been somewhat slow, it appears that resistance is picking up steam as evidenced by posts on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Well-known web companies have banded together and drafted a letter to Congress in response to SOPA. The letter signed by these companies states in part, “Unfortunately, the bills as drafted would expose law-abiding U.S. Internet and technology companies to new uncertain liabilities, private rights of action, and technology mandates that would require monitoring of web sites.“ (more…)
Move Over SiteBuilder Here comes Plus
Change is something that either makes us giddy with anticipation or sends us off screaming and pulling out our hair. It’s also the one constant in life … the one thing we can count on to happen. And so it seems that change is looming on the horizon in regards to the desktop SiteBuilder from Homestead/Intuit.
In recent conversations with various Tech Support staff and responses to Help Tickets it has become clear that Intuit is transitioning away from the (beloved) desktop version of SiteBuilder. Many of you are already familiar with SiteBuilder Lite, the rather watered down version of SB that allows limited online editing – SiteBuilder Plus, the replacement for the (did I mention beloved?) desktop version will operate much the same as Lite, only it will be a full-blown editor.
5 Ways to Lose Visitors
We all have a mental list of things that bother us about websites; things that send us scrambling to another site. The web is huge, competition is fierce and the best thing a webmaster 
can do is to adhere to the KISS principle. (KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID). Users of the Intuit-Homestead SiteBuilder program to design sites need an awareness of what does and doesn’t work on the web. (more…)
Website Maintenance – Keep It In Good Shape
Spring is here! It’s a good time to get your Homestead-Intuit website in tip-top condition.
When was the last time you took a good close look at your website? We make quick changes now and then, but don’t usually pay attention to the big picture. A website can always use a bit of maintenance because errors tend to happen. A website that is error free is not only important for visitor retention, but is part of good search engine optimization as well.
Common Errors:
- Spelling errors – spell check is great but won’t pick up homonyms (two words pronounced the same, with different meanings); weather/whether, break/brake for example.
- Alignment errors – a misaligned list can make a site look sloppy and unprofessional
- Overlaps – the border and bullet elements in SiteBuilder add padding and can throw off the placement of elements. Finding these requires checking the site in different browsers as each browser handles coding a bit differently.
- Grammatical errors – Poor grammar can reflect negatively on your service or product.
- Outdated information or events that have passed scream site neglect.
- Broken links – they happen to the most diligent of webmasters.
- The dreaded red X – this happens too. An image name is changed or it’s moved from the original location breaking the link to the image/graphic.
- Stray element boxes should be eliminated. It’s easy to create a text box, get distracted and forget you made one. Using the Select All option will show all the elements on a page – including ones that shouldn’t be there.
- Check the spelling in your Meta Tags. Page titles, descriptions, and key words often contain errors. Copy and paste them either to Notepad or directly onto the page to check them.
We tend to see what we know/think should be there rather than what actually IS there. If you have a really good friend, willing family member or co-worker who has time on their hands, enlist them to help proof your site. A fresh pair of eyes can help pick out those errors that you might be overlooking. If you don’t have someone who can assist then look at your website in a different way when you proof it.
Proofing Your Site:
- Start at the back (last page) and work forward.
- Read from bottom to top.
- Copy the page content and paste it into notepad or Word and increase the font size.
Keeping your website in good shape will show visitors and the Search Engines that there is webmaster activity on the site making it more credible to both.
Download the free Website Design Guide to refresh your memory on the do’s and don’ts for websites and incorporate necessary changes when you are tuning up your site.
Website navigation – Is yours friendly?
Is your Homestead site chasing visitors away?
If your navigation isn’t simple and straightforward you could be losing customers. One stat claims that 1/2 of online sales are lost due to the result of a navigation that is poorly designed. That’s a pretty big number!
Your Home page is THE most important page of your site and it should be listed first in your navigation menu. Visitors look for the Home page link in the regular navigation so placing it elsewhere is a stopper for your potential customer. Every time you interrupt the flow of the visit you distract the visitor from their intended mission and make them focus on something other than finding/buying what they came for.
Can your visitor easily discern where each link in the navigation will take them or did you go with cute and clever link names that make the visitor stop and think about what that link refers to and where it may take them or what information it will yield?
Web users have two things in common:
- They are totally focused
- They are impatient
Using what you perceive as clever page names or icons without text in the menu can be another stopper for the visitor that sends them elsewhere.
Consistency counts. Is your navigation the same throughout your site? It should be in the same location on every page, maintain the same structure, look and feel. Again, you need to make this a smooth, effortless journey, not an Easter egg hunt.
Location, location, location. Where is your navigation? Ideally it should be directly below your Logo/Header or on the left hand side at the top. Placing it anywhere else is going to be a stop and think for your visitor. Don’t neglect your site visitor in the (perceived) interest of aesthetics.
Have they been there, done that? It is easy for visitors to a site to get confused as to whether or not they’ve already visited a page, this is especially true on larger sites. Using a regular link color and a visited link color, viewers can tell at a glance by the color change if they have seen a particular page.
How many times have you visited a site and had to get out the magnifying glass to read the menu? That menu is the life’s blood of a website yet designers/webmasters often use a tiny font and a light color for the navigation. This doesn’t mean you need to use a size 14 font in bold, black, but it does mean you should be sure the menu is easily read. Not everyone has 20/20 vision.
The success of a website involves many things, some big, some small, but navigation is VERY BIG. The webmaster who doesn’t follow some basic principles of good design could be chasing customers away.
Happy webbing!
Lots of Website Visitors – Few Results
This is something we hear often. I get all these visitors to my site, but they don’t buy or they don’t fill out a form or they don’t do whatever it is that I am hoping they will do when they visit my site. These webmasters have well-optimized sites, all the t’s are crossed and I’s are dotted, they show up well in searches, but still the number of visitors far outweighs the resulting purchases or form filing or whatever action is hoped for.
Granted there can be mechanical or design flaws that might be preventing a visitor from becoming a customer/client, but that would be very obvious when some sales turned to no sales.
So how can it be that so many visit and only a few give us the results we had hoped for? Converting visitors to clients…
Tags can still be considered keyword stuffing
I’ve been watching with interest the number of SiteBuilder webmasters who are using tag clouds or so-called tag lists on their sites. This started in blogs, you can choose to use a tag cloud that shows up in the sidebar on blogs. Each time you write a post you add tags and the tags then show up in either the list or the cloud. The more often a word is used the bigger the font gets. All of these words in the cloud or list are active links. Click on one and any post that used that particular word or phrase in the tags will be shown. Interesting concept, but unfortunately the search engines don’t necessarily see it that way. Consider that Google’s blogging platform, E-blogger, doesn’t employ this technique. That should be an immediate heads up for any webmaster or blogger. 
What do the search engines see? A conglomeration of words and links that may or may not have anything to do with each other, In ‘the old days’ this was called keyword stuffing and today, while they may be called tags, the search engines can still view the practice as keyword stuffing.
Webmasters need to employ the same good SEO practices with tags and tag clouds as they do with key words in order to stay in the good graces of the Search Engines.
Google’s guru, Matt Cutts, has a short video about tag clouds that will shed further light on Google’s view of tag clouds.
Does Privacy Matter to You?
If you are uncomfortable having your name, address, phone number and even a map to your home accessible to any and all you need to take a look at Spokeo because chances are you’ll find yourself listed.
Their claim of just being a user-friendly search that will allow users to find and keep up with friends, makes my jaw clench. It clenches even more because this is not an opt-in site. They collect data from all types of sources and put it together on a profile page. You aren’t asked if you want to participate. Nor is there any assurance of accuracy of the data they present. It could be very old or may no longer pertain to your current situation. I have two listings – I use Susan and Sue and they managed to find and list both as separate profiles. Unfortunately one of them is ancient and other than the name, none of the information is accurate.
Laughingly I read that their site had received over 9 million visitors in January. I just bet they did – would love to know how many of those were opting out of the program! Yes, you can opt out. Go to their site, enter your name in the search box, scroll through the results and find your personal profile. In the browser will be a long address (URL). Copy that and then go to their Privacy page and complete the required information. Sadly there is no guarantee that your information won’t be added again; a month or so from now you may end up back in their clutches. Clever of them, deceptively so. They can claim to advertisers they get millions of hits even though a lot of those will be people opting out and then having to check back frequently to be sure they haven’t been added again.
It remains to be seen if there will be enough of an uproar from people about this invasion of privacy to get the FTC involved. Personally I take issue with someone else adding my personal information for all the world to see.
What is your opinion about what Spokeo is doing?
Form 1099-Misc and Website Designers
The controversial Health Care Reform Bill that was passed last year came loaded with all sorts of new laws hidden within its 2400+ pages. Many of you who use Homestead’s SiteBuilder program are designing sites as a business and that means these new laws apply to you.
Form 1099-Misc has been a requirement for a number of years for services rendered by an independent contractor in a business to business situation. When you design a site or do maintenance on a site for another business THEY should issue you a Form 1099-Misc if you receive $599 or more from them in a given year for your services.
The reverse is also true. If you pay another business over $599 for services that relate to your website design business you need to issue them a form W-9 to get their Tax ID number, etc. and provide them with a copy of a completed 1099-Misc form.
Beginning December 31, 2012, thanks to even more sneaky tactics when the bill was drafted, businesses will be required to obtain W-9 information and file 1099s for not only services but GOODS as well. That means you will need to issue a W-9 for the 1099 form anytime you purchase a product related to your business that is over the established limit. New computer from Best Buy? You’ll need to ask for their information. If your office supply purchases are in excess of the $599 threshold from any one business – 1099, if you claim a portion of your utilities phone, internet, etc. for your business and the amount exceeds the limit – 1099s will need to be issued. And on and on …… Try to get in the habit of issuing a W-9 prior to paying for goods or services.
The whole point of this is so the IRS can compare reported income against issued W-9s in the hopes of collecting unreported income. And as is usual, the wording is ambiguous and about as clear as mud. There are of course penalties if you don’t comply.
The good news is that some lawmakers in Congress are currently making attempts to repeal and or modify the new laws attached to Form 1099-Misc.
Senate passes amendment to repeal 1099
As a web site designer you need to be heads up and make sure you are in compliance with the laws that are currently in effect for tax year 2011. Consult with an accountant or tax attorney for assistance in what information you need to be collecting, receiving and reporting.
Google shaking up search results
Besides the school-yard spitting match going on between Google and Bing (For more on the spitting match just do a search for Google and Bing click fraud – everyone has jumped on that posting bandwagon.), the latest news concerning Google is that they are about to shake up search results in an effort to reduce the incidence of spammy sites coming up prominently in those search results.
Beware! If your Homestead – Intuit site or article or post is essentially duplicate content, either something ‘borrowed’ from another site, or an article you’ve written and submitted on multiple sites you could well wake up to find it non-existent in searches. Sites that are predominantly links with little original or useful content are also apparently on the hit list – FINALLY
I’ve longed for the day when sites that offer visitors little in the way of original content and consist of nothing but links and clickable ads that will bring the site owner in $$$ and webmasters who copy and use other’s work, would end up in the nether-world of the www. Perhaps that day is coming.
Google’s Matt Cutts quoted on his blog, “The net effect is that searchers are more likely to see the sites that wrote the original content rather than a site that scraped or copied the original site’s content.”
It’s time to take a good, hard look at your Site Builder website to be sure it is going to stand up to the new search standards.
- Does the site have informative content? A bunch of links and ads are not informative content.
- Is it original content? Have you duplicated that content elsewhere? On a blog or in articles posted to different sites? Or perhaps it is content taken from another site?
- Does the site employ black hat techniques?
- Has the content been written for the human reader or the search engines? Sites written for search engines tend to lean toward keyword stuffing
Keep an eye on your site placement over the next several weeks. There are no absolutes and nothing to say that the new algorithm won’t make mistakes and drop a good site. How to request reconsideration of your site.
