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Archive for January, 2009

Second hand pickle juice

January 20th, 2009

pickle Most of us are well aware of the dangers associated with second hand smoke, but I would like to “rant” for a moment about another second hand contaminant that is just as insidious, but less spoken of. Second hand pickle juice.

I hate pickles. HATE them. They give me shivers. I hate the way they smell and I hate the way they taste. And you know what? I am not alone. There are millions of people out there that do not like pickles either.

A pickle is not an innocuous food like, say, a potato chip. A potato chip has a mild taste and when laid beside a sandwich can simply be brushed aside if not wanted. Not so with a pickle! Not only does a pickle have an extremely strong (nasty) taste, when placed beside a sandwich its juice spreads over the entire plate contaminating everything it touches and soaks into the bottom of the bread.

Why then do restaurants feel that it is ok to slap a pickle next to your $8.00 sandwich without asking permission?

I have made it a habit over the years to look at a menu carefully before ordering a sandwich to make sure a pickle isn’t included in the description. If it is, I simply beg, “For the love of God, please do not put a pickle on my plate”! Four out of five times my plate arrives with a pickle anyway. After handing the plate back to my waitress, she returns a few minutes later with the sandwich, sans pickle, however the fact that the sandwich still tastes like pickle juice just proves the fact that after spitting on my sandwich the pickle is simply tossed in the trash (or possibly recycled) and the plate returned.

Worse, though, are restaurants that don’t even mention the pickle and simply assume that everyone is a “pickle person”. How arrogant! Would they assume that everyone is an escargot person? I think not! Would a restaurant warn you ahead of time if they planned to pour Dr. Pepper all over your plate? Raspberry sauce? Ketchup? Of course they would.

Now is the time for pickle haters across the nation to rise up and demand our rights! We say NO to drugs, NO to second hand smoke, and NO to second hand pickle juice!

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Posted in Rants

Tags: hate pickles pickle juice pickles

5 big no, no’s when shopping for a web designer

January 19th, 2009

While not an exhaustive list (I could definitely come up with more!) here are some major things to avoid when hiring a web designer:

1. Don’t let your web designer purchase your domain name for you. Suppose down the road you end your business relationship with your designer OR the designer closes up shop OR moves to another company. Not only is the owner of your domain name MIA, most of the time he has taken the login & password for your registrar with him! If your designer uses his personal name and email address as the administrative contact not only will he receive all notices regarding domain expiration (you’ll be unaware), all changes in ownership will have to be validated through that email address. If the email address no longer exists it gets even more complicated. Bottom line… Make sure you own your domain name!

2. All in one packages purchased from web hosting companies that include hosting, web design and web design maintenance are not always a good deal. Some of the pitfalls can include:

- Paying a monthly maintenance fee even when no updates are required for the month.

- In some cases the web host may retain ownership of the site, so if you change web hosts in the future you will not be able to take your site with you.

- Some web hosts require that updates be made through their company, leaving you subject to the company’s (some time excessive) time frame.

- Most “all in one” companies use template systems so your choice of design may be limited.

- You may pay extra for features that you never use.

Many times it is more economic to find an affordable web host and hire a web designer that charges for updates only when updates are required. You will generally have more flexibility with your site’s design and you can request only the features that you intend to use.

3. Don’t use a web designer that insists on his own design. It is one thing for a web designer to advise you regarding site structure, accessibility, color theory and organic search engine optimization - that is their obligation as a professional and what you are paying them for. It is another for the designer to insist on a web site “look” based solely on their personal taste. It is not unheard of for a web designer to provide a draft to their client and if the client expresses unhappiness with any aspect of the draft for the designer to become offended. This is a sign of immaturity and unhealthy pride. A good web designer should always take your vision and likes/dislikes into account. The perfect website should be healthy, perform well, attract the appropriate customers, AND make you proud.

4. Remember that a web designer is not necessarily a search engine optimization specialist. While a good web designer should be educated and incorporate healthy organic SEO techniques into their design, a web designer cannot be held responsible for the ongoing performance of your site (especially in a competitive market) unless you have specifically contracted for those services. Web design and SEO are two distinct industries that compliment and build upon each other.

5. If you already have a website and are looking for a redesign you do not have to move your site to your designer’s recommended web host. Many times web designer’s resell web hosting and are looking to make a little side money. Though it sounds easy enough, moving a web site is more complicated then you think. First you need to take the “if something can go wrong it probably will” law into consideration. There will be at least 48 hours of downtime, and forms and email links have to be reconfigured and retested. Unless you are using an exchange server, there is a chance you will loose all emails sent during the transition time. It gets even more complicated if a site is running an online store. In that case, configuration files have to be edited at the server and gateway levels, the database reinstalled, and the store retested. You should only switch web hosts if you are unhappy with your current host.

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Posted in Web Design Tips

Tags: web design advice web design solutions

How does your SEO rank loyalty?

January 10th, 2009

How does your SEO rank loyalty?

Before hiring a professional SEO (search engine optimization) company, there is a critical question that should be asked, but is often overlooked. The question is: “Are you already working for a business in my industry?” If the answer is “yes”, you should request and carefully consider the company’s plan for promoting the best interests and search engine ranking of multiple clients in the same competitive industry.

Here is a GREAT example of a BAD deal!

The company that designed my orthodontist’s website – officite.com – promotes their services as follows:

Strategic search puts your practice first.

Just as you may have found Officite today by searching the terms “dental marketing” or “dental Web site design” on a search engine like Google®, so, too, will your patients and prospective clients search for you with words associated to their needs.

By creating customized keyword lists that include localities, ailments and treatments, and properly registering every Web site we build with the network of major search engines, you know you will be front-and-center when someone searches for you.

But guess what? My orthodontist is nowhere to be found on Google for “cosmetic dentists” or “orthodontists” in Colorado Springs. Why? Well, just try plugging this section of their home page text into Google (with quotes for an exact match):

“doctor and patient become a team for treating an individual’s dental needs”

You will find about 290 listings using the exact same text. What’s more, if you begin going through the sites you will find that all of the patient education information on the sites has been duplicated as well.

It’s common knowledge that in the case of duplicate content Google chooses the ONE site that they believe is the original owner of the text and filters all of the other pages out of their search engine results. Since Google assigns the highest rank to sites with unique and relevant information, no SEO company can guarantee better rankings by using duplicate content.

So is it possible for an SEO company to have more then one client in the same industry? We discussed this challenge in a thread at The Small Business Forum, [see SEO loyalty in the face of competition] and the general consensus was that though it is possible, an ethical SEO would know full well that the scenario is complicated and have a plan in place.

Some of the valid ways in which an SEO can address competition among clients are:

1. Limit clients to certain geo-locations. An orthodontist in Colorado Springs would not be affected by ongoing SEO work for an orthodontist in Denver.

2. Explain the conflict of interest and refer the new client to another trusted

3. Structure the contract based on achieving first page rankings. In that scenario, theoretically an SEO could serve up to 10 different companies. Ever changing rankings could make this idea unrealistic, however.

4. Provide services based on specific keywords that do not overlap between clients.

5. Hire writers (in house or outsourced) to ensure that unique content is written for all clients.

6. Offer two separate contracts, one that guarantees exclusive rights within a certain mail radius and one that has no such guarantee. Charges would be based on which contract the client chooses.

In the end, all of the SEO’s I discussed the issue with agreed that it is a matter of company ethics.

So ask the question. If the SEO company has a plan in place at least it means they have thought through the complications and made a decision to look out for their clients’ best interests. If there is no plan, you could be hiring the company that is promoting your competition!