Net Results
Helping your business succeed online.
Published by nrichmedia (www.nrichmedia.com)
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Volume 2, Issue 1 – Spring, 2006
In This Issue
Welcome
I’m feeling a bit guilty calling this the Spring edition as the
weather these past few days has been very summer-like. It’s this
time of year, when all the trees and flowers are blossoming and there’s
green everywhere I look that I feel sure that I was meant to live here
in the Comox Valley, on Vancouver Island.
Spring, of course, is the time of year to think about spring cleaning.
After you’ve finished the basement and cupboards, don’t
forget to clean out your web site as well! Are you still referencing
how great a year 2004 has been? Do you have articles posted on your
site that are no longer relevant? Time to get rid of those (or archive
them) and add some fresh, new content. And, make sure to clean up any
dead links (see featured article). Those aren’t making a good
impression on your visitors.
Coming Up… The Carnival of the Green
On Monday, May 22, Juliet
Austin and I will be hosting The Carnival of the Green on our Web
Site Design and Promotion blog (www.websitedesignandpromotion.com).
What is a Carnival of the Green, you ask? The Carnival of the Green
started in November 2005 and has, since, been “travelling”
to a different blog each week. It bills itself as “a summary of
the green blogosphere.” The host summarizes the previous week’s
posts sent in from green bloggers across the world. For more information,
see http://cityhippy.blogspot.com/2005/10/feature-carnival-of-green.html.
Come visit
the Carnival on our blog on Monday. And, as always, feel free to
leave a comment or two.
FAQ: If I Change Web Hosts, Will Google Still Pick
Up My Site?
The short answer is ‘yes.’
Switching web hosting companies will not affect how Google, or anyone
else, accesses your site. All that Google (and other search engines)
is concerned about is the domain name (yoursite.com). If that hasn’t
changed it’ll still find and rank your site as if nothing had
happened. Kind of like if you moved to a new house/apartment and kept
the same phone number. You wouldn’t have to tell anyone.
The same applies for anyone who has bookmarked your site. You won’t
need to tell them that you’ve switched to a new host.
So, if you are thinking of upgrading your hosting but have been reluctant
because of any repercussions on your Google rankings, no need to worry.
There won’t be any.
If there’s a web-related question that you’ve been wondering
about, feel free to send me an email (). Chances are you won’t be the only person to find the answer
useful in improving your web site.
Featured Article: A Closer Look at Your Links
Page
When most people are putting together the content for their web site,
they usually think about having a Home page, an About page, a Contact
page, and at least a few others, depending on the nature of their business/organization.
Then they often say, “I should probably have a Links page too,
shouldn’t I?” Should you?
Think long and hard about this before answering. Is the reason you’d
include a Links page simply to add another page of content to your site?
Or, maybe because you’ve heard search engines like sites with
lots of links. Or, perhaps you figure that everyone else has one, so
I’d better too.
All of these reasons to include a Links page are rubbish. The only
reason you might consider having a Links page should be that it provides
useful information to your visitors, just like all the other pages on
your site. If it doesn’t do this, then please do not include one.
Why would you want to lead potential customers/clients away from your
site? People’s attention spans on the Web are extremely short
as it is. If you’ve got them on your site, you don’t want
to give them a quick exit.
Search engines love to see lots of good “keyword rich”
content on your site. It tells them what your site is about and the
more pages of quality content you’ve got on it, the more entry
points there are. Say you produce environmentally friendly building
supplies. Instead of linking to an external page (or pages) that you
found about sustainable architecture, why not write an article on sustainable
architecture yourself? Or get an expert to write the article for you
and post it on your web site (giving proper credit, of course).
Naturally, there are occasions when it does make sense to link to external
web sites. For example, on my web site, I link to sites I’ve worked
on, from my portfolio page (www.nrichmedia.com/portfolio.htm). Obviously,
it wouldn’t work for me to include every page of every site I’ve
ever worked on directly on my site, so I link to them. Also, if there
are related businesses/organizations that you support and that complement
your services, go ahead and link to them.
But, what I almost always suggest is to have the external links open
up in a new browser window. That way once the visitor is done looking
at and closes the other site, your site is still there in the background,
so they can say, “Oh yeah, I was looking at this site!”
As for the point about Google and co. liking links: It’s true,
Google does like links – TO your site. It doesn’t give any
weight to links from your site to others (in fact it may even penalize
your site if you link to certain “suspect” sites –
e.g., link farms). What Google does like is when other, relevant sites
link to your site. These incoming links tell Google that your site is
important.
So, to summarize… Don’t include a Links page on your site
just because all the other kids are doing it. Have a good reason for
including one – namely providing a service or valuable information
to your visitors – if you do. If you can write about the information
yourself, try that first. Otherwise, if you do need to link to other
sites, make sure they’re valuable, quality sites (oh yeah, make
sure to check regularly that your external links are still valid!) and,
preferably, open them up in a new browser window.
Want more valuable information like this to help your socially responsible
business become an online success and get the results you've been looking
for? Subscribe to Net Results, our FREE
quarterly newsletter by filling in the form at the top left of this
page.
About nrichmedia
nrichmedia creates innovative and unique web sites and other multimedia
for ethical and socially responsible businesses and organizations.
We also offer green web hosting, web site maintenance, CD-ROM production,
and more.
nrichmedia was founded by Nathaniel Richman in 2000. Nathaniel graduated
from the Vancouver Film School with a Certificate of Recommendation
in Multimedia Studies in 1997 and has been working in the web design
and new media industry ever since. He previously received a Bachelor
of Mathematics degree (Honours Actuarial Science) from the University
of Waterloo and worked in the pension consulting field.
Nathaniel works with several other designers and programmers, according
to the needs of the project, to provide the client with the most professionally
designed web site or presentation possible.
"When I was first advised a web site would be a significant asset
in marketing my private practice, as an internet novice I felt intimidated
by the prospect.
My first step was to look at portfolios of web designers and I was
inspired by the examples on www.nrichmedia.com. Once I turned my text
over to Nathaniel, the remaining steps were seamless. His expertise
and suggestions transformed my ideas into a web site that consistently
receives accolades from potential clients.
Something difficult… made easy… resulting in a beautiful
product… who wouldn’t be happy with that?"
- Michele Crawford, Registered Clinical Counsellor
(www.michelecrawford.ca)
To learn more about nrichmedia’s services, view
our online portfolio, and read glowing
testimonials from many satisfied clients, please visit www.nrichmedia.com.
Web Site Design and Promotion Blog
For plenty of tips and tricks on designing, marketing, and promoting
your web site, have a look at www.websitedesignandpromotion.com,
a blog co-authored by nrichmedia and Juliet
Austin.
Feel free to place a comment on any of the posts there. It’s
an easy way to get a link to your site, which can increase your exposure
and help your site’s search engine rankings.
Charitable Causes
At nrichmedia, we donate 5% of proceeds on all projects of $500 and
above to charitable organizations. We are pleased to have supported
and continue to support several worthy causes. To see a list of the
organizations we support, please visit www.nrichmedia.com/causes.htm.
The Not-to-be Missed Link: The Green
Shopper
Check out www.gliving.tv/green-shopper
- a beautifully designed site, exhibiting the latest in environmentally
friendly products. From green building materials to earth-friendly flip
flops, there are some great gift (and dream-about-getting-as-gift) ideas
here.
Archives
To view previous editions of Net Results, visit www.nrichmedia.com/archives.htm.
Pass it on and Enjoy
Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to anyone who might find
it useful.
Want more valuable information like this to help your socially responsible
business become an online success and get the results you've been looking
for? Subscribe to Net Results, our FREE
quarterly newsletter by filling in the form at the top left of this
page.
Printable
PDF Version
 nrichmedia
is located in Courtenay (in the Comox Valley, on Vancouver Island),
British Columbia, Canada, and thinks and works globally! Thanks
to the Internet, we're able to create web sites and other multimedia
for clients all over the world. You can contact us by
or by telephone, at 250.871.7424.
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