It’s been a dynamic year - in both positive and negative ways - for many businesses. Not only have we faced a turbulent economy, we’ve also faced the most turbulent year ever in Internet technology. Many of these changes will affect your business - whether you like it or not.

To give you an idea of where we’re heading with on-line technology, here’s my list of Top Ten on-line trends for 2010, especially as they relate to a training or consulting business.

1. Internet access on mobile devices
More people - including your clients and audiences - will be looking at your Web site using an iPhone, Blackberry, Android phone or other mobile device. How does your Web site stack up? Does it load quickly? Does it even display at all? (For example, if it’s a Flash Web site, they won’t even be able to see it on an iPhone)

2. Twitter
If you’ve been resisting Twitter, get over yourself! It’s soon going to be as important to have a Twitter address as an e-mail address.

This doesn’t mean you have to spend all day on Twitter. But at least get an account, follow other people who send interesting stuff, and send regular tweets of articles and blog posts that you read (and write).

3. Blogging
It’s true that 140-character tweets have been insanely popular over the last 18 months, but despite this - or perhaps because of it - blogging is making a comeback. People do want the tweets, Facebook status updates, and LinkedIn connections; but they also want you to provide more in-depth insights and ideas.

Blogging is the easiest way to prove your expertise on-line. Even if you’re publishing articles in an e-mail newsletter or on your Web site, post them to your blog as well.

4. Video
On-line video is hot right now (YouTube is the fourth-most popular site on the Internet). Clients, bureaus and meeting planners expect to see you in action on your Web site, so you need high-quality video production in any demo videos on your Web site.

And audiences value seeing your content on video (and other video-like tools, like SlideShare.net for your PowerPoint presentations). They’ll look you up before your presentation, and follow up later after you’re done.

5. Freemiums and other low-cost business models
What you teach is no longer valuable purely because it’s rare or unique. Somebody else somewhere else is teaching the same thing, for a lower fee and possibly even doing it better than you.

You’re not going to win by hoarding, protecting or tightly holding on to your intellectual property. Next year, give away more than you’ve ever given away before. Make money from the experiences you provide - experiences that can’t be duplicated or found on Google.

6. New delivery models
Your clients and audiences learn at their desks (using webinars), at the gym (listening to podcasts on their iPods and iPhones) and cafes (working on laptops). Are you catering for these new learning environments, or are you still stuck in the old mindset that you can only deliver your stuff in a training room or conference hotel?

7. New presentation technology
What’s more, even the traditional learning environments are changing. Your audiences aren’t going to just sit still and listen, or engage only with others in the room. They’re tweeting about your presentation, Googling the statistics you’re quoting, and even engaging in other stuff unrelated to your presentation. How are you coping? Or, even better, what are you doing to take advantage of this?

8. Presentations as processes, not events
A one-off presentation is rarely enough to truly make a difference. In the old days, you could get away with that, because it was cost-prohibitive to do anything else.

We used to talk about “take-home value”, but taking it home is no longer enough for your audiences and clients. How are you using Internet technology to prepare them for your presentation before you arrive; and what are you doing to support them after you leave?

9. Workshifting
More people are living a blended lifestyle, with a blurry line between home and work. The people who waste time checking Facebook during business hours might be the same people who check their work e-mail after hours.

How are you managing this “always on” lifestyle? People who live this lifestyle expect you to do the same. That doesn’t mean you have to; just be aware that other people might be expecting it. So use technology to create systems to make this easier for you.

For example, if a client wants a high-quality photo of you for their conference brochure, and they call you while you’re on holiday, are you able to take the call on your Blackberry and e-mail the photo immediately? Even better, have you anticipated and prevented this problem by having the photo available on your Web site?

10. Strong and weak connections
Until recently, you could survive in business by nurturing only the “strong” connections in your network: Your clients, key suppliers, joint venture partners and close colleagues.

That’s no longer good enough in a highly-connected world. Now, “weaker” connections matter as well - such as the Twitter follower who re-tweets your message to her network, the blog reader who posts a comment on your blog post, the listener who posts a positive review of your podcast on iTunes, the friend of a friend who sees you in a photo on Facebook, or the Flickr user who shares your passion for deep-sea diving.

In this context, small business people are exploring what Google Adwords and SEO operators have to offer.

The web used to be a far more democratic place: if I wrote valid HTML, focused on and reused carefully selected keywords, I could get a small B&B site up beside a major chain hotel in the search engine result pages (SERPs). Those days are long gone. Google Adwords put them behind use (so much for “do no evil”).

So we are no longer on a level playing field, and to mix metaphors, what is the game now?

What follows is a discussion of the most widespread means of web marketing… as it is today - it is a moving target and will change probably in less than 12 months. This isn’t a shopping list. Don’t cherry pick from it: do it all.

1. Search engine submission. This is simply telling search engines that you have published a site and what the address is, and in some cases offers the search engines some meta information about your site. It doesn’t guarantee that your site will be indexed (visited), or in a time frame that suits you or that you will come up on the SERPs pages where you want. There is some discussion surrounding the value of search engine submission, but on balance I believe it has a place, certainly in the first year of a web site going live. Another trend to note is that CMS packages (Wordpress, Joomla and Drupal) upon which increasing numbers of web sites are based, have a built in update service that alerts search engines to changes in a page, article or blog area of a site. See item 9. here >>
2. Google Adwords campaign. Google Adwords are all over the web. You don’t have to go far to see them (they are even on this page!). You use Goolge Adwords to place an ad with your web address close to search results related to your chosen keywords. Obviously, if you are already in the free results, you needn’t pay for an ad. But if you are out on page 3, 4 or 5 of the SERPs or worse, you may consider Adwords. More about Google Adwords on this site >>
   Adwords however do not come cheaply. Allow up to $275-$300 per month. The final cost is determined by the amount of competition for the keyword phrase(s) you are chasing. You have to bid for these in an auction environment. The good news is you can cap your monthly budget. Once your spend is exhausted, you ad is removed from rotation.
3. Inbound, unreciprocated links. The objective here is to create “link popularity” for your site. Allow $7.50 US per link. You need up to 150 links or more than your nearest competitor to head toward that number one spot in the SERPs. There are other articles on this blog that discuss how you can find out who is presently linking to you so you can determine the size of the task ahead. You can do some of this work yourself at no cost. Start with directory sites. More about links on this site >>
4. Social Networking. Activity on Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook (in that order) is fast becoming the next big trend in web marketing. Books and blog articles are emerging explaining how these media can be harnessed for marketing and sales purposes… even though that may run contrary to the use policies of the sites. The objective is to create an audience interested in your product i.e. be “followed” on Twitter, have “friends” on Facebook, build a network on Linkedin. There is time involved in social networking, but no dollars. Be careful. You need to read the terms of use policies to avoid having your account closed for misuse. More about social networking on this site >>
5. Newsletter. Like Google Adwords, there are newsletter subscription boxes on every second web site. The ones that work offer a real incentive to hand over your email address, say a pdf of an ebook, or exclusive information only available via newsletter. Only do this if you have something NEW you want to tell or offer people weekly or monthly. Just telling who you are and what you do wont lead to many more sales.
6. Blogging.  Blogging (or writing articles) has also become widespread on the web - the so called “self-publishing” phenomena. If you write well, this may be a web markleting option for you. Blogging demonstrates the breadth of your knowledge and builds credibility with your readers. From a search engine perspective, it shows you are investing in content - watering the garden so to speak. Search engines love to see new or changed, keyword rich content. If your site has more information on it that a competitor site, search engines will reward you with higher rankings. Blogging is time expensive, but no cash is required. It is possible to employ writers, but this becomes costly. You can download articles from free article libaries, but these are sometime poorly written and not always precisely on topic.

Having said all the above, I must stress, there is no substitute for compelling content, and content that is update and refreshed. Content is king. What is the point of link popularity, if when people arrive at your site it isn’t saying much and offers little value to the visitor. Ditto a Goolge ads.

Much is now being written on how these sites and trends can be used to promote commercial interests on the web, focusing mostly on adding value through blogs and newsletters.

In some ways the social networking phenomenon is not that new. Very earlier services on the Internet such as bulletin boards and newsgroups created similar communities.

But it is not all good. There have been concerns about privacy and the ownership of images and materials uploaded to these sites. Facebook particularly coming in for close criticism and a vitriol. Bottom line is common sense (as it is in the offline world)… if you do not want some corporation to claim copyright on your photo, don’t upload it. Don’t make anyone a “friend” who simply isn’t.

One thing is certain, we are going to be doing more social networking as people’s physical location becomes less relevant and work practices more flexible. Wikipedia’s outline on social networking is here >>

Tip No. 2 - Avoid a content dump
It is tempting to fill your website with all sorts of information that you think is important. The risk is that you will create clutter that gets in the way. Here are just two reasons why that matters:

1. Website visitors are impatient. If you make them work to find what they want, they will leave.
2. Many people have difficulty understanding written communication. Websites are harder to read than printed material. Unnecessary content just makes the problem worse.

Identify what is relevant for the people who will visit your site. Omit the rest.

Tip No. 3 - Maintain your content
A sure way to lose credibility is to have outdated or inaccurate information on your website.
A good practice is to schedule regular content reviews. Of course, if you know something needs replacing, don’t wait for the next review. Fix it now before a potential customer sees it.
As your business grows and changes, so should your website content. The best sites are always works in progress.

Tip No. 4- Give every page a purpose
People often write website content that has no clear objectives. Your site will be more effective when every page exists for a purpose.
Use the answers to these three questions to help you draft and review your content.

1. What are our business goals for this page?
2. Who will read this page?
3. How will this page help people who read it?

Aim to strike a balance between the communication needs of your organisation and the needs of people who visit your website.

Tip No 5- Use simple words and plain English
Your potential customers may be unfamiliar with words that you frequently use in your organisation.
Avoid the following, unless you know that everybody in your target audience will understand them.

• industry jargon
• technical terms
• long words that sound impressive

People will stay on your website longer if you use simple everyday words that they understand.

 
Tip No 6- Check your spelling
Spelling is important. When people visit your website, they judge your entire organisation. One small mistake might undermine your credibility and cost you a valuable sale.
Although spell-checker tools (such as in Microsoft Word) are very useful, never rely solely on them.
The best practice is to have someone else proof read your work. If that is not possible, try to put it aside for a while so you can read it with fresh eyes.
A useful technique when checking your own work is to read it backwards, because that makes you look more closely at each word. 

Tip No 7 - Write as if only one person reads your site
Using the web is a personal experience. Your website might reach thousands of people, but each of them interacts with it as an individual. This means you are really writing for an audience of one.
Think of the words on your website as a substitute for talking to someone face to face or over the telephone. It’s like having a one-sided conversation with a person you cannot see.
This tip can also help you overcome “writer’s block”. If you are trying to write and your mind goes blank, imagine that you are talking to someone. Write down what you would say. It’s a great way to get started, although of course you will need to tidy it up later.

Tip No 8 - use “you”, “us” and “we”
Following on from the tip above, you will connect better with your reader if you use “you”, “us” and “we” instead of a formal, corporate style.If you were explaining your services to a potential customer, you would say what “we” could do for “you”. Because your website replaces that conversation, it should use those words too.
As another example, compare these two statements:

1.  This company welcomes enquiries from interested job seekers.
2. If you would like to work for us, please send us your details.

Notice how the second version is much friendlier.

Tip No 9 - Write in the active voice
As you might remember from primary school, when you use a “subject - verb - object” sentence structure you are writing in the active voice. The subject performs the action (the verb) on the object.  The active voice creates sentences that are shorter, snappier and livelier. The alternative, the passive voice, generally results in sentences that are more cumbersome. Although there are uses for the passive voice, the active voice is usually preferable
Consider these examples

Your order will be shipped by us within 24 hours. (passive voice)
We will ship your order within 24 hours. (active voice)

Our products are only installed by qualified technicians. (passive voice)
Only qualified technicians install our products. (active voice)

Master the art of the active voice and see your web content become stronger and more direct.

Tip No. 10- Break up long sections of text

When people use your website, they want to find things quickly. Don’t expect them to read every line word for word.
If you use long blocks of text, there is a good chance that what you are saying will not register with many people.
These techniques help them find information quickly

• Bullet point lists, like this one
• Short sentences, with an average length of about 20 words.
• Short paragraphs, about 40 words or less. One-sentence paragraphs are OK.
• Bolding of important words or phrases, in moderation
• Subheadings

The easier it is for your audience to spot the key points, the more effective your website.

Tip No. 11- One main topic per page

Following on from the tip above, another way to make web content easier to understand is to focus on one main topic or idea per page.
There are additional benefits in doing this

• It becomes easier to create a logical, customer-friendly site structure.
• Search engines can more easily identify what the page is about.

Think of your website as a series of topics through which people move. People move from one idea to the next and different people will take different paths.
Better to have short pages and link them, than to try covering a range of subjects on one long page.

Tip No. 12- Make the important stuff obvious

Do you want your readers to see important information first? Of course. Then forget what you were taught at school about writing essays with an introduction first and a conclusion at the end.
Writing for the web is different to writing an essay. Tell people what you want them to know quickly, before they get bored and go elsewhere.
For example

• Write a headline that actually says what the page is about.
• Include the main point in the first sentence.
• Make special offers or calls to action stand out.
• The golden rule is that the more important it is, the more prominent it should be.

Eg. Cut and paste this to the search box $500 USD in AUD or 150 calories in kilojoules, or 15 feet in meters

There is a lot of buzz around Wolfram - a semantic search engine. That is search engine you can ask a plain language question of and it gets what you mean. This site is in beta, and frankly doesn’t have enough data yet to be useful.

Ask , formerly AskJeeves was also suppose to work like this - ask a plain language question and get the answer. Ask can be quite good, but no where near this information nirvana.

First up, the so called “Google Sandbox Effect” is only a theory, and has in no way been confirmed by Google. Secondly, even the developer community are in two minds about it - some assume it is a purposeful action on behalf of Google (the conspiracy theorists), others say it is just an aberration of the ranking algorithm (the mathematicians).

So what is it? Being “sandboxed” in Google means your site can’t be found. When I say “can’t be found” I don’t mean that it is 10th on the 100th page, I mean it is no where. Obviously if you have just paid for a web site, that is a problem for you.

Why would Google do this? Maybe to undermine the attempts of search engine optimisers and take some of the teeth out of their activities.

I have experienced the sandbox a couple of times - but that is only two times, and I make about 35 web sites a year. So if some unconfirmed phenomena like the “sandbox” does occur, it is rare.

And, after all, so what?

There are other search engines to get a position on. There are other web sites to get links from. There are other ways to get traffic to your web site eg. write a blog article or a review. In other words, don’t freeze in the headlights. Get cracking on non-Google web marketing. 

If you had to choose just one thing to over come the so-called “sandbox”, get inbound links. Not 2, not 6, but 50 plus. Make them relevant to your site - not just found anywhere. Start with directory sites and work outwards. Think about suppliers and customers. Do they have web sites you can get a link from?

Only time will tell us if Google created a sandbox. In the mean time, get busy with links.

NO, you shouldn’t buy Google ads if…

1. your site is being found in the “natural find” areas of the search engine (left hand side, un-”sponsored” area). This is obvious, but I thought I better say it.
2. you have the time to locate your own back links, that is, you can identify sites that would be good places to have incoming links from and you have the time to negotiate for them. This is boring and arduous work, and that is why SEO companies charge between $1000 and $2000 per annum to do it.
3. you are able to support your URL (web address) with advertising you are already doing, say on your car, on a classified ad, direct maketing or email marketing.

YES, you should buy Google as if….

1. you are busy doing your job and don’t have time to be updating your web site,  getting it listed on directory sites far and wide and negotiating back links.
2. you feel confident negotiating the AdSense web site. It is a little confusing for the first time user.
3. you can afford 30c to $5 per click depending on how competitive your selected keywords are
4. you don’t care that any one (like a competitor) can click your ads and exhaust your marketing budget without Google being able to do too much about that or prove to you it didn’t happen.

So it comes down to the same old dilema: time versus money. I suggest you have a go at building links to your site before you pay up at Google. If you understand reverse linking (with the help of this blog), and get some results, you may wish to continue. Otherwise, pay the money and get on with what you do best.

Flash is a Macromedia technology used for animation. It was not necessarily conceived for the web (originally it was aimed at multimedia CD presentations) and it has a number of problems that makes it a poor solution for a web site. In my view, you can’t really call a Flash web site, a web site: it is more a presentation in a web browser.

Drawbacks to Flash

1. A browser plugin is required to play the animation. The plugin is called Shockwave and about 5% of people do not have it installed and available to their browser. These people get a grey hole in their screen instead of your flash presentation.
2. Search engines are blind to Flash. They can not read or infer anything about a flash web site. There is a program that can turn a Flash presentation into an HTML web site so it can be indexed by search engines, but you will be punished if you forward one audience (human) to the flash, the the other audience (machine) to the HTML. This is called “cloaking”, and will earn you much more than 10 minutes in the search engine sin bin.
3. How strange is that “enter” or “skip intro” button. Weird huh? Just let me into the site, I want to get on with what I came here for! How many human hours are lost to making people click that button before they get anything useful.
4. Companies tend to use Flash to present their brand ahead of the content on their site. While this may stroke their ego it does nothing for the casual visitor. Ask yourself the last time you really wanted to take a close look at a company logo rather than find out what they had on offer. Never right? Content always wins over eye candy.
5. Flash can not easily be changed. You will have to return to the source to get text and images changed. Also, special tools are required. You can edit an HTML document in Notepad, the most basic text editor on your computer, but to change a Flash presentation you need a $700 program and many, many more hours. If you had some 20 something make your Flash web site, chances are they will have moved on by the time you need to return to them for changes.
6. Finally Flash is an oxymoron. There is nothing flash about Flash. Most Flash web sites are very slow to load. They are useless to modem users.

Usability expert Jakob Nielsen has more to add in this article: Flash: 99% Bad

So What’s Good About It? People Use it, there must be Advantages?

Young designers (25 yrs and under) love Flash. It moves and makes sounds. As an experience it is closer to Television and beats boring old static web pages hands down, besides all you can do with a web page is read it and look at pictures right?

The best use I have seen of Flash is image viewing, like Simple Viewer and product display animations that allow the user to rotate the product, open or disassemble the pieces etc. In other words, the Flash is doing a specific function within a wider framework.

So is Flash ever any good?
Well, yes. If used judiciously, so as not to create a download burden and hide the site from search engines. Maybe to animate a logo or banner area, but not the whole page, and definitely no “enter” button.

Summary
As a web site owners you have to ask yourself is my web cool or tool. Should it entertain, or is there a serious function to perform. If you want to be taken seriously by humans and search engines, stay away from Flash. The Flash presentation as a web site will be more costly to maintain.

On the 30 April 09 the Australian Domain Name Administrator said “auDA is aware that at least two companies apparently based in China and Hong Kong have been sending unsolicited emails to people with .au domain names, attempting to mislead them into registering their name in a number of Asian domain spaces.”

And added “In auDA’s view the claims made in these emails are most likely false and misleading, and we advise people to disregard them.”

So there we have it from the horse’s mouth.

1. How to Find the Best Keywords or Search Terms

Firstly, find out what your competitors think are good keywords for your industry class or product type. They may be completely wrong, but it is worth checking and it only takes a few moments. Here’s how…

1. Go to three of your closest competitor sites
2. On the homepage go View > Source
3. Look for two lines of code at the top of the page that look like <meta name=”description”… and <meta name=”keywords”…
4. Make a short list of search terms you think are worthwhile

Now, go and test your short list of these keywords on www.keyworddiscovery.com. You will need an account to get basic results.

The example below is for the keywords “real estate”. Note how “las vegas real estate” is the second most searched on term with “real estate” in it. Who would have guessed?

Recap: looking at your competitor’s web sites and using a keyword discovery tool has a single purpose: to get real about what people are actually searching on. NOT what you think they are searching on, but what they are actually searching on. It is a litmus test. You are looking for synonyms to your search phrases.

Tip: the keywords you choose are not in fact words, but phrases. There are too many web pages that conform to a single word so people search using phrases.

 2. How do I Add my Killer Keywords to My Web Site?

Much has been written on this topic, so what follows are broad principles and not specific instructions.

So, you have your shortlist of keyword phrases and you now need to work them into your web site in such a way as to make it 200% clear to search engines what your site is all about.

The thumbnail above expands to a full size screenshot. Note the the little flame icons. They show that:

1. The <title> tag is glowing white hot. If you only do one thing, make sure each page of your web site has keywords in the title tag specific to that page. Many webpages are listed as “Untitled” in search engine results. These sites are missing the single biggest opportunity they have to present keywords phrases.
2. The first link on your homepage is also burning hot for search engines. Try to include at least one keyword in it.
3. The first main heading on your page (H1 or H2 tags) is burning hot. Tell those search engines what the page is about.
4. The first para on the page is the one that introduces the subject of the page. It is cooler, but still very important. Add your keywords to it.
5. Likewise, the closing para sums up the page. Put your keywords in it.

Recap: What does all this mean? It means that there are some parts of your page that are scrutinised more closely than others. Use this logic to present your keywords to search engines.

Tip:you are looking for 5% (not more) keyword density on your chosen phrase(s). Use www.keyworddensity.com to calculate your keyword density in relation to your competitor’s sites.
Tip 2: make sure your page is comprised of valid hypertext mark up. Go to http://validator.w3.org to make sure.
Tips 3:if your site is made with frames, get a web designer to rewrite it with tables or divs and css. Frames are old and out moded.

3. Evaluation: well, did it work?

To evaluate the success of the work above you need a ranking report. A ranking report takes your web address and chosen keyword phrase(s) and looks for your position or “ranking” on search engines.

There are free tools that do this like http://www.selfseo.com/serp_check.php but they tend to be blunt and not very helpful. If Dynamic Web Solutions made your web site, it is likely that we are submitting it to search engines and can give you a free emailed report of your search engine ranking on the leading search engines.

See a sample below (click to enlarge).

Summary:

1. Compile a short list of keyword phrases you are going to target after researching competitor sites and using reverse look up tools like Keyword Discovery
2. Work these keyword phrases into strategic parts of your web pages
3. Review with ranking reports at 12 week intervals

If you have done the above, you will be clear what your objective is and you will have a subjective means of evaluating your progress.

This article was written by Peter Mitchell of Dynamic Web Solutions Pty Ltd
Copyright 2008