Nate Covington

When it comes to building your company's web site, there are two basic ways to build it.  The first method is to use a program like Dreamweaver to build the template, menu, and pages using HTML.  Each page becomes a separate HTML file, and all of the HTML files are interconnected.  For basic sites, this method is fine.

Update August 18, 2022: Editing a site by hand in HTML is no longer acceptable!

In an article released earlier this month, the French Police reported saving millions of euros by adopting Ubuntu, an open-source alternative to Microsoft Windows.  This is because open-source software is free to use.  It is developed by thousands of like-minded computer nerds (like me) who collaborate to build powerful, effective software.

Open source content management system software is a great way to take control of your web site, and unlike 10 years ago, it won't cost you $20,000 to hire a developer to build it from scratch.  Contact us to learn how open source software can help make your web site work for you!

Facebook has recently launched a new application that allows people to post comments using their Facebook accounts to 3rd-party sites.

This means two things:

1. People that leave comments with their account are more likely to leave honest, legitimate comments on your site, as it will be linked directly to their Facebook profile.
2. During periods of heavy traffic, your own web server is not handling all of the traffic, as all of the comments and user logins will run from Facebook's server instead.

Please contact us if you are interested in adding this functionality to your site!

Covington Creations is featured in the upcoming CBCC W4 Magazine! Click here to see the article. (pdf)

(Yes, this is the same testimonial that I featured in this case study)

As a business owner, it is frustrating to think that there are potential clients browsing my web site that I may never know about or meet. These people may have found my site by accident, and they might have received my direct mail piece which has motivated them to log onto your site.

What can we find out about these people? Our first stop is Google Analytics, which is a free visitor tracking tool. You could literally spend all day going through the data that Google gives you. My favorite place to "snipe for sales leads" is the Google Analytics "Network Location" report. For starters, this is how we access this data:

1. Log into Google Analytics here:
   http://www.google.com/analytics/
   (If you don't have an Analytics account, it's free. You should.)
2. Click "view reports" on the opening screen to access your reports.
3. In the menu of the left side of the page, navigate here:
   Visitors -> Network Properties -> Network Location

Note: The software demonstrated below can be adapted to power any existing Web site or customized to specification. For more information, contact us.

I just made a bunch of these nifty tutorial videos to show how easy it can be to update your own web site without any programming skills.  

Schlosser Steel Buildings came to us with an existing web site and wanted to know about making updates, sprucing it up, and reorganizing the content. We started by converting the site from a standard HTML site to a content management system. We proceeded to fine-tune and build content. Then, we made the overall page wider to better fit today's larger wide-screens.

a.  Case Studies, not Projects
Originally, all of the featured projects were contained under "Projects."  Each project had a few pictures, and you would need to visit 5 or 6 different pages just to see all of the projects.  During the site renovation, we changed "Projects" to "Case Studies."  A slight tweak in the menu makes a big change in overall perception.

b.  Tabbed Content
For the "Case Studies" and "Products" sections, we added a nifty feature called "AJAX Tabs" to help organize and present the content.  These tabs allowed us to add lots of content without making you scroll 3 or 4 miles down the page to see it all.  Nice!

c.  Search & Site Map
Let's make it as easy as possible for people to navigate the site.  For those who can't manage the newly simplified navigation menu, let's add a quick and easy site search function.  Studies show that half of all web surfers use Search instead of menus - is your site this easy to navigate?

d.  Client Login
We also added a "Client Login" capability to the site.  For starters, having a client login on your site will impress people.  Even if it's not functional.  However, the SS Buildings client login IS functional, and it's a great tool for collaborating with clients and partners - sharing files, information, and more.   A small investment in your company's technology can improve productivity and deliver a great ROI.

View Site:

www.ssbuildings.com

Google has released a video explaining the logic behind bidding on keywords using Adwords:

"Our Chief Economist, Hal Varian, explains the AdWords Ad Auction and how your max CPC bid and quality score determine how much you pay for a click on Google.com."

Disclaimer:  Whenever he says, "Google wants to make a good experience for both the advertiser and the user so that they come back and use our services in the future" - he really means, "Google wants to keep advertisers and users connected through their revenue machine."

1. Which pages does Google have indexed from my site?
   This is a great way to see if any pages are listed in Google that you don't want the general public to see!  If you recently launched your site, this technique will tell you if Google has you in their system yet or not.  View a listing of all pages that Google has indexed from your site by searching for "site:www.yourcompany.com"
   
2. What other pages link to my site?
   This is a great way to see how popular your site is (in Google's eyes) which is one of the greatest contributors to SEO / organic listing rank. View a listing of all pages that Google records (generally only of PageRank4 or higher) by searching for "link:www.yourcompany.com"
   Bonus hint: If you want to receive notifications any time someone mentions your company or brand on Google, sign up for Google Alerts.
3. I just lost a page or graphic from my web site - how can I recover it?
   Option 1: Use Google's Cache
   Bonus hint (Option 2): Use Archive.org's Way Back Machine

Last week's post about using Google Alerts was a great lead-in for today's post: A real-life example of how using Google Alerts can keep you ahead of the curve: