The cheer I’m speaking of is that of Google Local.  For those that have yet to partake, it’s worth a look, and more. 

In a nutshell, or roasted chestnut, it’s a tool that Google offers to anyone with a Google account.  It helps if you have a website that you want to promote: Even more helpful if you’re a business with multiple locations in a specific region.  For example, do a search on Google for ‘Starbucks Toronto’. 

Such is the gift that keeps on Googling.

Tired of the puns?  Want to get listed in Google Local and Optimize your site for local search?  If so, read on…

Ray Litvak
www.writingwebwords.com
Online CopyWriter Toronto Ontario Canada
 

As the title implies, it’s SEO 101 for Google Website Optimization; but many of their recommendations should translate into positive results for other Search Engines: There are other search engines after all, right?

Some suggestions are just common sense, while others are excellent reminders for those familiar with and new to SEO; for example:

• Creating unique and accurate ‘page titles’ for every page on your site
• Making proper use of your ‘meta description tags’
• Structuring and optimizing URLs
• Navigation and usability guidelines 
• Website Writing tips 
• And More…

It’s curious to note that there is no mention of ‘meta keywords tags’, which would lead one to conclude that Google pays them no attention at all. 

And for those more experienced SEOs interested in Optimizing Flash for Organic Search Results, check out Dan Morris’ article on Search Engine Land.

Ray Litvak
www.writingwebwords.com
Website Writer Toronto Ontario Canada
 

For example, if your website is about promoting music, and/or if you are The Apple iTunes store, it’s a safe bet that people are going to your site to listen to and download music.  If you are a plastic surgeon and your site is about attracting new patients, music may not be welcome or appropriate.

In many cases, music on websites results in high use of the ‘back button’.

Still thinking about music for your non-music based website?  Consider the following scenarios:

1. Office Surfing: in other words, surfing while working.  With ‘Born To Be Wild’ blaring in the background of the latest site you visit, the boss may catch on that you’re not really working; unless you work for Harley Davidson.  

2. Shock and Awe: it’s a fact; innocent web surfers love nothing better than to unsuspectingly stumble upon these ’sound mines’, especially with their computer volume turned on.

3. The Law: besides annoying innocents, as a website owner, your selection of website music may put you at risk of ‘Copyright Infringement’.

4. The Cheese Factor: as a website owner, you may be trying to set a mood with your music, similar to that found in elevators, shopping malls, department stores and finer public toilets.

Speaking of cheese and an annoying use of website music, give a listen to http://www.milagrorestaurant.com/.  Tylenol not included.

Ray Litvak

www.writingwebwords.com

WebSite Content Writer & Developer - Toronto

Is the content yours exclusively?

This is only the case if you have clarified the terms of your agreement.  Often a contract is required to secure exclusive rights to web content provided by a web copy writer.  The terms by which the content was purchased are what need to be questioned in this particular case.

Is the content theirs?

Technically, yes.  Unless you have made an exclusive arrangement using legally binding paperwork, chances are the content and its rights have been reserved by the writer of the content.  Again, contracts and terms of use need to be fully explored when purchasing web content from a web copywriter.

Do they have any claim to the copy since they produced it?

Again, unless terms were agreed upon prior to the exchange of money for services rendered, the point is moot.  Keep in mind that many web copy writers practice their craft regularly and may generate copy that closely resembles what they have produced for you.  This is the nature of developing content for the web.  Things simply get repeated over time.

Non-Disclosure Agreements

The best way to ensure that the content a web copy writer creates for you remains yours exclusively is to have them sign a non-disclosure agreement.  Both parties are protected and the rights are retained by the purchaser of the services, who does not have to disclose where the information was gathered.  Additionally, web copy writers who sign NDA’s are not allowed to discuss the work that they have done for you.

Summing Up

Ultimately, you need to learn about what kind agreement you are getting yourself into before you make it.  Many web copy writers want to retain rights to the copy they have produced; others are willing to sell their work for cold, hard cash.  Find out who and what you’re dealing with before you purchase web content to prevent any issues from arising at a later date.

By-line:
This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of online colleges and universities. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com

The Power of Web Video

According to a leading Australian study, more effective learning occurs when people are engaged.  The study goes on to say that “we learn 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see and 50% of what we see and hear.” 

People are searching online for information; wanting to learn more about a product, service or company. Web Video allows you to inform, educate, and deliver a unique message; one that engages your audience on a multi-sensory level.

When done properly, it adds an entirely new dimension to your offering, differentiating yourself from the competition. A good example is www.u2r1media.com’s use of web video.   

Upon visiting their site, one is greeted by a professional website video of the business owner, informing the visitor – in a one on one presentation - of how they will benefit and what they can expect by doing business with their company.  The message is brief, engaging, inspires a call-to-action and, as their tagline states, truly is a multi-sensory experience: They make excellent use of visual, auditory and textual mediums in their message.

Conversely, web video can work against you.  For an example of engaging content, brief and impactful information, branding, and high production value, do not watch this! Best viewed with pillow in hand – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUeHGloqEyI&feature=related.

 Ray Litvak

www.writingwebwords.com

Website Content Writer - Toronto

Personally, I have nothing against Telemarketers.  In fact, some of my best friends are Telemarketers (well, not really).  I understand that they’re trying to make a living; one that just happens to be incredibly annoying to most Canadians.  Speaking of annoying, don’t get me started on Telemarketing companies that use automatic dialers or have outsourced their Telemarketing to emerging economies.

What does the DNC List mean for career Telemarketers?  It means ‘Rejoice!’ There are still jobs aplenty.

Need evidence?  Well, here it is: Statistics Canada reported that as of 2003 there were “About 161,000 charitable organizations operating across the country”.  Furthermore, there are 308 ridings for federal elections in Canada; 98 general interest paid circulation daily newspapers in Canada; 722 Canadian market research & analysis firms; and over 2,000 Canadian marketing consultant firms, all of which are exempt from the DNC List and which, no doubt, need Telemarketers.

Is it suspicious that some – if not most – of these organizations enjoy strong political ties?  Perhaps.  Could it be that I’ve watched too many X-Files episodes?  Perhaps.

Questions remain regarding its efficacy.  For example, does the DNC List have teeth? Who will enforce it?  Time will tell.  As of today, yours truly sees it as a half-@#$% attempt to satisfy a Canadian public fed up with this invasion of ‘Privacy’.

After all, Telemarketing calls – that coincidentally seem to happen at dinner time – are the equivalent of e-mail spam.  But, unlike spam, telemarketers do not allow us to determine, access or choose when and if we get telemarketed.  Unlike e-mail spam, there are no telemarketing filters. 

As for website owners – if you haven’t already - this should be a wake up call to implement your own Do Not Call List; more often referred to as a ‘Privacy Policy’.  Proper Privacy Policies provide comfort and assurances to visitors that their information will not be distributed to third parties (i.e. Telemarketing Companies).  This is critical for websites that collect personal information such as credit cards and other sensitive details.

Besides being a good online business practice, the presence of a ‘Privacy Policy’ on a website has been shown to increase conversion rates by as much as 15% for E-commerce websites.

Will adding your name to the DNC List make a difference?  Stay Tuned…In the meantime, where do I sign up for the Do Not Spam List?

Ray Litvak

www.writingwebwords.com

Content Development Toronto

The process of hiring/outsourcing a Web Writer is alien to many people, including Website owners.  In many cases, the task of Web Writing and/or content development falls on ‘Marketing’, ‘IT’, or the person managing both, usually the small business owner.  In fact, Web Content Development is usually an after thought during the Web Design process.

To add insult to injury, it’s usually the Web Designer that gets the glory, and the girl - or boy.  The Web Designer rides in on his/her multi-colored stallion; flashing flashy smiles, razzling and dazzling clients with action scripts and impressive sounding TLAs.  Made into a movie of the week, the Web Designer is played by Tom Cruise (hopefully medicated); the Web Writer - getting no respect - played by Rodney Dangerfield (the living version). 

The Web Writer issue may exist, in part, because it’s still a fairly new concept.  Need proof?  Try finding a relevant heading in your local Yellow Pages directory.  To add to the confusion, the service may also be referred to by many different names; for example, ‘Web Writer’, ‘Online Copywriter’, and ‘Content Development Services’, among others. 

Back to the Yellow Pages: The most relevant headings that yours truly is able to find in the directory are ‘Internet-Web Page Design’ and ‘Internet Products & Services’, both a far cry from what your average Web Writer does. 

This is not to say that if a heading hasn’t made it to the Yellow Pages that it has no merit; or that a need for it does not exist:  The fact remains; I get ‘Web Copywriting’ inquiries weekly, just not from Yellow Pages.  Were I a betting man, I would bet there’d be a greater need for ‘Web Writers’ than ‘Worm Hatcheries’ among Canadian Business Owners. Naturally, Yellow Pages and your average worm farmer may disagree.

Ray Litvak
www.writingwebwords.com
Web Writer Toronto Canada

As is the case with many web design projects, my friend had been waiting for the client’s content for weeks.  The design looked great, but with no content, resembled a Lamborghini missing Pirelli’s. If the site was to be launched, it would fall on my web design pal to develop the content; hence, the call.

The web content conundrum
Having worked with a number of web designers, I can comfortably say that many would prefer root canal to web content development, and understandably so. They are graphically inclined; pixel and picture people. 

It is only within the last few years that more stress has been placed on web content development; most likely due to the growing role it plays in Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  I can still recall a former web design colleague telling me that “no one reads online.” That said, he did tend to spend a lot of time on porn sites.

Conversely, the majority of web writers I know avoid web design and graphics; they are word people, mostly concerned with format, context, word count, and other things content and copy related.

Derek Powazek - web designer - wrote a blog a while ago titled, ”Calling All Designers: Learn to Write!”; essentially, a call to action for web designers to be responsible for creating the look and feel of a website - user interface (UI) - in addition to creating engaging web content. 

I enjoyed the blog and agree on his point that content is and should be seen as part of the user interface and overall user experience, but must disagree with Mr. Powazek on another of his points.  Putting personal interest aside, web designers should design, web writers should write.  In a perfect world, both work together to compliment unique and valuable skill sets to the betterment of the project in question.

As for my web designer friend, Ray to the Rescue.

Ray Litvak

www.writingwebwords.com

Professional web content development in Toronto

Part of what we do – aside from online copy writing – is consult on all things textual and contextual, as it relates to websites and web marketing. 

Part of this involves domain name consulting services; or, in layman’s terms, choosing an Internet address.

Although there’s no hard and fast rule as to what makes a great domain name, common sense should rule. And sometimes, it even does.

A few domain name selection rules that will help you in your offline and online marketing efforts are:

1. The standalone rule: if you told someone your domain name, would it be obvious to them what it is you do?  And more importantly, would they be able to type it correctly into a web browser’s address bar?

This brings to mind an individual I met a while ago whose domain name was www.mrindemand.com; not being able to determine what he was ‘in demand for’, I asked: It turns out he is “Canada’s most in demand web guru.”  And if you don’t believe him, just ask him.  Glad I asked.

But Mr. In Demand is in good company.  Take, for instance, one of the larger U.S. Airlines www.united.com: Is it obvious what they do just by their domain name?

2. The Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Rule: Try to keep your domain name short and sweet.  A good rule of thumb is 25 characters or less, including prefix (www.) and suffix (.com).  For an example of what NOT to do, check out http://www.llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch.com:  the self-proclaimed world’s longest domain name.

3. SEOing your domain name: Good SEO (aka Search Engine Optimization) has a lot to do with relevance; more to the point, building relevance into your website.  For instance, if your site is about the mating habits of ‘The Bearded Titmouse’ (and no, I did not just make this up), it would make good SEO sense to use this phrase in your web copy, meta information, links etc… 

Referencing rule #1, it would be ideal to have the actual phrase as your domain name.  For those interested, www.thebeardedtitmouse.com is still available.

4. Geo-target: Who and where your audience is should play into your domain name choice. For example, if you provide a service solely for people in Toronto, Ontario Canada, it would make sense to register a domain name with a Canadian suffix (.ca): this will not only help your search engine efforts (assuming you’re targeting Toronto, Ontario Canada), but will also provide a visual clue to your audience that you’re a Canadian site – great for people that want to shop locally.

Taking it one step further, consider including your targeted city name, for example; [www.torontomyservice.ca]. All things being equal, people will default to the .com, so try to lock that one up as well.  In a perfect world, the .ca and .com domain names would be identical; except for their .ca and .com suffix.

But keep in mind that Geo-targeting can be tricky.  For instance, while working with a Veterinary Clinic in Newmarket, Ontario, the client wanted to target [Newmarket, Ontario] and [Aurora Ontario]:  lo and behold, these 2 local markets ended up having counterparts in other countries: [Newmarket, England] and [Aurora, Colorado] and [Aurora, Illinois].  As a result, someone in Ontario searching for a ‘Newmarket Vet’ may get a Veterinary Clinic in Newmarket, England.

5. Keep to your A, B, and C’s: I recently did some work for a new company whose domain name began with three digits; the digits in question being ‘101’.  In essence, the domain would end up looking something like this [www.101myservice.com]. 

Had you heard about this website, and were not given the proper spelling or alpha-numeric sequence, how would you search it out?  How many times would you try before you just gave up?

6. Don’t become famous for the wrong reasons: People love to make lists on the Web, some are good and others are not so good.  For example, if you have a website, you definitely want to avoid Vincent Flanders’ list of www.webpagesthatsuck.com/. 

Also, try to avoid ‘The top 10 unintentionally worst company URLs’ list, which includes www.speedofart.com (this apparently has something to do with art), and www.ipanywhere.com (which has everything to do with remote access software).

There are a number of considerations when choosing a domain name, and ways around some of the above problems already mentioned.  But at the end of the day, try to keep it simple and be creative; just not too creative.  Your domain name should provide a clue as to what business you’re in.

Ray Litvak
www.writingwebwords.com
Web Content Writing & Online Copy Writer - Toronto
 

More to the point, it has learned to index text – including URL’s – embedded in Flash files.

Google says that it “has been working on a new algorithm for indexing textual content in Flash files of all kinds, from Flash menus, buttons and banners, to self-contained Flash websites.”

Prior to this enhancement, websites developed in Flash, including web content embedded in Flash files, were invisible to Google and other search engines.  As of today, Google’s new Flash algorithm means web designers and SEOs can expect better visibility of published Flash content including better search results and snippets. 

Although Google can now index Content in Flash, it still cannot index images.

What are the implications?

For yours truly, this means that I’m no longer able to tell people that a Flash-heavy site is search engine suicide.  It also means that sites with Flash files now have more SEO opportunities available to them. 

That said, with less than a week since this announcement, it has yet to be determined what – if any – impact this will have on SEO and whether Google’s Flash crawling capabilities will rival those of HTML. 

For instance, will the new Flash algorithm recognize formatting?  How search engine friendly is it? Will this enhance usability?  It’s unlikely that Google will share the nitty-gritty of this new algorithm, especially at this early stage.

Stay tuned…

Ray Litvak
www.writingwebwords.com
Professional Web Content and Copy Writer – Toronto, Canada