Over the past few years, I’ve built a bunch of WordPress websites for clients, and honestly, I think I’m pretty good at it. Find a good domain, host it, find a good wordpress theme, add some plugins, and start creating some good content. Seems simple, right?
Well, it’s not THAT simple. Three months ago, I decided to re-vamp my website, and this time I asked my friend, Jim Spencer from JBS Partners, to run one of his reports on my website. I used the “Web Page Advisor” product from him, and boy, my website (this website) scored pretty low.
Here’s what Jim taught me along the way, and I thought I’d share with you. You’ll find his basic teachings below with my comments in orange
DUH, this one is a no-brainer but worth pointing out and noting that new search algorithms and products, Like “Google’s +1″ are placing more and more emphasis on user-generated content. You can’t trick Google with loads of tags, and keywords. They want to know what’s verified and liked by us humans.
Here is where I scored the lowest. I took the cheap route and decided to host with godaddy. Sure, it works, but you get what you pay for. New wordpress themes are now really “heavy” and take FOREVER to load using a cheap, Wal-mart-esque hosting service. Do yourself a favor, and pay more for a dedicated server. (Disclosure- I went ahead and did some private hosting with JBS Partners- load time of my site is dramatically faster.
Keep it simple, and easy to navigate. For example, I like the layout of Jim’s page www.webpageadvisor.com. It’s clear, simple and to the point. Not sure I need to keep coming back to THIS site, but I feel comfortable, and that’s half the battle.
Goes without saying. There are all sorts of widgets out there that keep your website socially optimized. For now, just stick with basics, Linkedin, Facebook,
and Twitter.
Ok, I won’t tell you how low I scored here….. :-) But there are lots of basics that you need to remember. It gets pretty technical, so I’ll simply refer you back to Jim
More Suggestions
- Lose the Flash- Can’t underscore this enough. It’s an ongoing joke how bad restaurant’s websites are- the reason? Most of them use flash. Click over here to see a very funny cartoon from the oatmeal on why restaurant websites are so bad… It’s another “heavy” app. and well, HTLM5 will take it’s place..
- Mobile, Mobile, Mobile- Test your website out on a bunch of different mobile devices. Chances are it looks bad.
- Think Tablet. I came across OnSwipe 2 days ago. This comes complimentary with any wordpress.com hosted website. It makes your website “tablet-friendly”. Right now, it’s only available to use with the iPad, but a year from now, assume that technologies like this will be out there for all kinds of tablets. So, as time goes on, more and more people will be looking at your website through a tablet. Are you ready yet?
Just got back from SXSW. This is part 1 of a 5 part series of recaps I’m going to post about the 2011 SXSW Conference in Austin, TX. I’ll cover brands, products, technologies and overall experience over the next week or so. So, here goes.
Steve Jobs you’ve done it again. Your launch of the iPad2 during the conference was absolutely genius. But let’s not stop there. Apple was everywhere. Let’s dive in and talk about it.
Success of Pop Up Store.
As you’ve probably heard, Apple did a “pop up” store in Austin, TX to sell the iPad2. Incredibly successful…I talked to one of the retail guys as he stood outside the store managing the line. As he told me. Apple did the following:
- Rented an unused retail space for 5 days during the conference, and literally popped-it up a day or two before the event
- Apple NEVER does “pop up” stores. And, this secret was very well hidden within Apple
- Quick mobilization of staff. Even employees didn’t know about it. They were told to simply show up at the store and get ready to work.
- The line was never really that long. I heard from one person who waited two hours, and a friend of mine actually got in there in 2 minutes on Friday night around 10:30
iPad2, SchmiPad2,
You know what? As successful as the iPad2 launch was, there were still plenty of original iPads around. And, I had to look pretty hard to find someone using another tablet. Samsung did a smart thing and put 5 or 6 of their new tablets on a side table in the “Samsung Blogger Lounge” where lots of smart people spend their time, and I never once some someone playing with it. Sign of the times?
Bottom line here was that a good chunk of people were using the iPad- either original or iPad2. It’s the perfect device for a conference like this. Not the bulk and heft of a laptop to carry around for five straight days, but small enough to quickly bang out some notes from a keynote speaker or panelist. (Still don’t believe it? I took a walk down the aisle as a keynote presentation started- here’s what I saw….)
Don’t forget the iPhone
Over the course of 5 days, you meet a lot of people from different backgrounds, businesses, and geographical locations, but one thing still seemed constant- everyone seemed to have an iPhone3 or iPhone4. I know Apple is losing it’s grip on the smartphone category, but you’d never guess it here.
Final Thoughts
SXSW is traditionally a place where brands and agencies spend a lot of money to get noticed. Big sponsors like Chevy, AOL, AT&T, and SAMSUNG probably spent a good chunk of money for signage, events, people, parties and more. All Apple did was rent a store, sell a few million dollars worth of iPads, and let their product do the talking.
Nice work Apple.
So, it’s been about a week since the launch of Murdoch’s Daily- an iPad-only (for now) paid application for news and original content. In their words, “Daily is a category first: a tablet-native national news brand built from the ground up to publish original content exclusively for the iPad.”
It follows on the footsteps, and some success, of Flipboard- another iPad application built for consuming content. FlipBoard and the Daily both use the iPad to present content in a visually stunning way. But FlipBoard simply repurposes the content, the Daily creates it’s OWN content – a risky step for the publishing industry, already on shaky ground. We’ve all heard about declining circulations in newspapers, and publishers trying to figure out how to make money as more content moves online.
Well, here’s why I like it.
- Someone has to have the guts to try something new in the fast- changing publishing environment. The world is being turned upside down by this new media thing, and if anyone is gonna make a run at it, it should be a guy with deep pockets and plenty of resources. If he screws up, so what? We’ll learn what worked, make tweaks and move on.
- It’s fresh, but polished and credible. It’s sort of a cross between Twitter and the NYTimes. If breaking news happens- we’ll get the fresh news online somewhere (Twitter?) then read an in-depth article about it the following day. Twitter=fresh but not necessarily accurate. NYT- still have to go through the long editorial/publishing process. The Daily is somewhere in between. The recent breaking news in Egypt is a perfect example of how The Daily was able to quickly adapt to changing stories…
- Interactive. This is an obvious one. (check out the video below to see it in action). You get everything in a nice tidy package. Well written articles, video, polls, social sharing, ability to leave “voice” comments and more. And, the ads didn’t feel like ads. If I liked them I clicked on them (some with video). If not, just a swipe to ignore and keep reading.
- Local customization: It obviously knows that I’m from Boston, and naturally picked my weather forecast and sports teams so I could get custom news (and tweets) which mattered to me. Too bad I’m not a Boston-sports fan… :-)
- It’s short and sweet. Let’s face it, our attention spans continue to decline. This content is written for that commute on the train, something to quickly read on the couch, or, my favorite, something to read before I go to bed.
Video below will give you a feel for what I’m talking about. What do you think? Have you tried it? Would you try it?Worth it?
