What You don’t Know – Can Hurt You, Or Why You Too Need a Site Map.

In the past when I was first starting out in the web designing business. I would build a small website and I really believe a sitemap was not all that important. After all I made sure the navigation was very clear and visitors never had to go deeper than 3 clicks to get to the pages they wanted. It is a really important step to have clear navigation – and the minimal clicks are key as well, but a site map well that was for the bigger more developed websites –those that really needed a lot of structure right? Wrong!!

I hate to admit it but boy was I wrong!

Always wanting (and needing) to learn more, a client and I had a consultation with a major SEO (Search Engine Optimization) consulting firm. I believed we had done everything right but it is always a good idea to double check – then triple check.

SEO (search engine optimization) rules do change from time to time. Usually subtly but these small changes are important. It is actually good to check each year to see what the difference in the SEO rules (algorithms’) are so you can tweak your website accordingly. Once we were in this consultation – and started to converse he asked “I see you don’t have a site map, why not”? I explained to him that I was unaware that a site map was of much importance for a smaller website.

He quickly – told me no it is really an important step in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and all websites should have a xml site map before they start submitting to search engines. I believe those of use who do develop and maintain websites need to learn constantly – and so I took his advice to heart.

I developed a site map for my client a few days after having this discussion and it wasn’t more than a week or so later when I searched Google – the website had been re-indexed and to my surprise we also had the sub-links under it!

When I put my clients website URL into Google they it popped right up on top and underneath had an index – 7 pages listed as sub-links right on Google’s search engine. Seeing the proof such a short time later really did prove that I had been wrong on this issue. Never again – you only have to show me once I have learned.

Seeing the improvement in the Google listing made I wanted to tell you how important a site map is to every website.

It is not just about the .html site map that your web visitors will see but a site map that is developed in xml (that only the search engines see) that can make a difference in your indexing on Google as well as other search engines.

Do you have a site map for your website? Is it built correctly?

It is important to have both an xml site map and an .xhtml site map… Not only is it important – It is Priceless...

Pamela Jacob - Artista Design

If you need a Site Map built email me I can help pamela@artistadesign.com

Your Secret to Online Success – Keeping Your Visitors Informed…

You’ve probably heard it said, and it is very true, that it is cheaper to keep a customer than to get a new one. But have you considered how that saying still holds water when you’re talking about traffic to your site?

Once you get someone to visit your site, the expensive part of the transaction is over.

But what is next?

Once they’ve visited, how do you keep your visitors coming back?

Once they’ve made a purchase, how do you keep them as regular customers?

If you want your visitors to come back, take a minute to consider why they came to you in the first place.

Was it for your great content? Was it for technical help or some other service? Was it to get something for free?

Whatever reason brought your visitor the first time could be the key to getting that all-important repeat visit.

But how will your visitors know they can return and get more of what they want?

You’re going to capture their email addresses so you can tell them so, and you’re going to tell them over and over again.

Maintaining an email list of previous site visitors and customers is an integral part of building your online business. Through your email list you can keep these clients informed about new and exciting offers, information and freebies you’ve placed on your web site since their last visit.

Your email list will be the tool you use to keep your site in the forefront of your clients’ minds.

There are two basic types of tools internet marketers use to manage an email list, an autoresponder or a broadcast script.

An autoresponder is just like the name sounds, it automatically sends responses to someone who has subscribed. You can have these responses timed to just about any interval and you can set them up in advance to send out messages for days, weeks, months or years to come.

A broadcast script is used to send out emails to your list as you write them; you could use this to send out announcements on a sporadic basis, or you could publish a regular newsletter.

Some online auto response scripts allow you to perform a combination of these tasks, sending out regular pre-written emails through the autoresponder and adding occasional broadcasts whenever you want.

Most internet marketing gurus recommend using a hosted service like a hosted solution with its own mail servers, my recommendations would be using Aweber (http://www.aweber.com/) or GetResponse (http://www.getresponse.com/) because these services have an excellent track record of actually delivering emails.

With the proliferation of spam filters, it can be difficult to get emails through, even to those who actually want to hear from you.

A free option would be to send out broadcast emails by starting a private Yahoo Group (http://groups.yahoo.com/) or Google Group (http://groups.google.com/).

No matter what avenue you decide to take – remember that your data-base is gold and you want to keep and maintain your clients. That is one of the secrets of a highly successful business..

For Help with All Aspects Of Your Business Go To Artista Design