I'm going to keep this post simple.

Powerful content writing (i.e. writing for the web) generally requires a degree of simplicity. So this is going to be Zen-like in it's minimalism. This will be a post of few words. More like a meditation. A web writing meditation. Okay, I'll shut up now. On with the post…

I should mention that I've already written about keywords for web writing: Using keywords for SEO and other alien adventures. But this post is about writing style.

Below are four tips only, like the four seasons of nature.

(gong sound) 

Spring

Smell the cherry blossom? It's spring. The beginning of things. What do you do when a nice stranger comes to visit asking for help?

The important thing is to be helpful. Which means being nice back and trying not to talk too much. Your home page, and your next tier of pages, must be friendly, succinct and show that you are ready to assist. If they want more information, you will give them the hyperlink to it, won't you? It's only polite.

(another gong sound) 

Summer 

It's hot, damned hot. But for some reason we generally feel more active in the summertime. We jump from spot to spot like a frog in a lotus pond.

Your visitor will tend to scan your website text, rather than read it. So use headings, sub‐headings, and bulleted lists as lily pads for your visitor to land on – and to convey important messages quickly. Remember to keep your bullets (and the words in your bulleted lists) short but sweet.

(two gong sounds)  

Autumn 

Walk through the golden leaves in your visitor’s shoes. 

Your words need to be written from your visitor's perspective. So have text that speaks from their point of view. For example: 'Your family…./'If you would like…./If you are looking for…./Having…..feels good, right?'.

This is much more effective than speaking from your (or your company’s) point of view. For example: ‘We are…/We believe…/We recognise…’.

(a gong sound with haunting Japanese flute) 

Winter

It's cold out there. So invite your visitor in to stay awhile, and to wander around at leisure. Every room is heated. 

Use your text to lure the visitor from page to page via enticement lines and hyperlinks. The longer the visitor spends wandering about your site the more of a relationship develops and the likelihood of them contacting you.

Which means it's not a bad idea to end every page with a recommendation to contact you (with a hyperlink to your contact page).

(haunting flute starts up then fades…)

End of post. Thank you.

This post was written by Megan Hills-san.  Megan is a writer, cartoonist, marketing consultant who has nothing else to say right now. Find out more about Megan.

Have you heard people jabbering on about 'Adwords' and  'PPC' as if you should:

(a) know what they're saying, and
(b) care?

I know. 'Adwords' sounds like an uncreative copywriting agency. And 'PPC' sounds like an uncreative insurance company. But, surprisingly, they are neither of these things.

When the used-car salesmen of the internet holler 'Be on the first page of Google!', they are often referring to Google Adwords campaigns.

Google Adwords is one form of pay-per-click advertising (otherwise known as PPC).

What is pay-per-click advertising?

Unlike PPC, pay-per-click is exactly how it sounds. If someone sees your ad and clicks on it, you pay.

AdWords is a rather popular form of pay-per-clicking. Apparently Google made $20 billion from AdWords in 2008. What the advertisers made is another story…

What is Google Adwords exactly?

The Google Adwords ads are the sponsored link areas of a search results page (see the red circled areas below):

Adwords positioning

When talking about Adwords, people generally mean the ads on the right hand side column. So much of the AdWord ranking rant by search engine specialists is about being at the top of that column. King of the hill, top of the heap.

It's as if they don't want to be so bold as to mention 'the other place': directly above the search results (see the other red circled area at the top of the diagram). This spot is Google's royalty box.

Getting into Google's royalty box

Having your Adwords ad at the top of the search listings means you are smack-dab in Google's premium real estate. Ads go to this red-roped area when they have met an additional performance standard.

Like much with Google, this additional performance standard is shrouded in mystery. We do know, however, that it's something to do with the relevance of the ad to the visitor. This seems to be strongly determined by the click-through-rate (CTR) of your ad while it's sitting on the right hand side, waiting to be selected by the Google prince for a watlz.

How do you start this Adwords thing?

1. Go to Google AdWords
2. Set up an account
3. Pay the $5 account set-up fee
4. Create your ad
5. Sit and watch your money flow out

Giving Google even more of your money

Google allows you to bid on keywords that you want to activate your ad. It's kind of like EBay, but without getting anything tangible.

The higher you bid (i.e. more money you spend on a particular group of keywords) the more likely you will be placed at the top of the sponsored links column on the right hand side.

Some royal gossip

A good number of Google ranking specialists are now saying 'Beware of AdWords'. Why? Because Adwords is fast becoming the domain of large organisations with big Adwords budgets. It doesn’t take much to use up a more modest Adwords budget – which, of course, then makes it to harder to spin your ad budget into gold. 

How high up you appear on the sponsored links list depends, in part, on how much you’re willing to spend on your campaign.

Why AdWords might NOT be worth trialling

If you are a small business and have only recently launched your site, try other ways to raise your ranking before launching into AdWords.

Even if you have been around for a bit (online) but still have low visitor numbers, be careful. Try getting your numbers up before going down the Adwords track.

Other ways to raise visitor numbers before launching an Adwords campaign

Read the previous My Marketing Thing posts on search engine optimisation:

• SEO: true meanings and confessions
• SEO and keyword research: Goldilocks meets the devil
• Using keywords and other alien adventures
• Courting Google to raise your SEO
  

If you choose to go ahead with this AdWords caper…

A successful AdWords campaign hinges on choosing the right keywords to put in you ad.

To choose the right keywords, it's best to embrace the‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ formula: not too broad (too expensive), not too niche (no one will search for it), just right.

Sound familiar? Yes I wrote about my Goldilocks keyword theory in SEO & Keyword research: Goldilocks meets the devil.  

How much does AdWords cost?

You can set a price limit per day, but have a popular keyword and your campaign can get very expensive very quickly. 

For more information: Visit Google's pricing information here.

3 key tips to making AdWords work for you 

1. If you are wanting to attract customers from a particular geographic area 
   incorporate the name of the suburb or city as a keyword to niche your campaign.
    
2. Niche by having an exact phrase only
   Use brackets or quotes at either end of the phrase to let Google know that you are promoting a phrase (not a collection of single keywords). 
    
3. To inspire the searcher to click on your ad 
   Offer a free e-book or free mini-online course – i.e. offer something attractive to your target audience that is free if they visit your site (by clicking on your ad).

Something many forget about AdWords campaigns

The Adwords campaign is designed to send visitors to your website. So having a great click-through stat is fine. But what happens when the visitor arrives to your site?

Do everything it can to make that AdWords visitor welcome. Tea, coffee, cake?

Make the most of their visit. Encourage them to contact you directly, subscribe to your e-news or buy something on your online store. 

Once started on AdWords, then what? 

This post was written by Megan Hills.  Megan is a writer, cartoonist, marketing consultant who is wondering how to organise a coup d'etat against the leader of the free world: Google. Find out more about Megan.

As promised in my last post Using keywords for SEO and other alien adventures, here's a bigger picture (beyond keywords) on SEO.

In other words, here are some dating tips when seducing Google into giving you a higher ranking. It's sort of like the Bachelorette of the Internet. 

• a high number of visitors,
  but it's even better if you have…
   
• a high number of 'unique visitors' (i.e. first-timers – Google likes it if you make a good first impression) 
  but it's even better if you have…
   
• a high number of unique visitors who then return a lot and wander around your site for ages in wonderment
  but it's even better if you have…
   
• a high number of unique visitors who then return a lot and wander around your site for ages in wonderment and subscribe to your newsletter and/or your RSS feed and/or buy stuff and/or leave a comment and/or email you directly, and/or engage in your visitor poll (quick online survey), etc.

In summary: Have a cool group of friends – that just keeps getting bigger and bigger – who like to do stuff with you.

How do you do this? By being attractive, interesting and interested in those who come to visit you.

2. Are you, like, into talking about stuff?

Google isn't into the smouldering silent type. She hangs with chatty, social personalities. 

Constantly changing content, particularly on your home page, is a good thing. Constantly changing content that have great keywords (relevant to your site) is even better.

This is why blog sites are so popular with Google. The format of blogs is inspire new articles, regularly posted, right there on the home page. And they are also strongly designed to inspire visitor comments (remember that visitor interaction thing in dating tip #1). 

However, if you have a website instead, your Google cred can still be intact. You can still have changing news on your home page with an opportunity for people to comment. Everything is possible. Just make sure you have a CMS (content management) website so you can go in and change anything at any time.

3. Are, like, other cool people talking about you?

4. Do you want to, like, get married? 

Google doesn't want a fly-by-nighter. She likes the solid ones who have been around awhile.

The longer your site has been online, the higher your ranking is likely to be. It's just one of those things.

Final episode

Just because Google is partial to polyandry doesn't mean she won't give you the affection you want. You just need to play by her rules, whatever they are. Women really never tell you, do they?

So the above is advice given by SEO experts around the place who have tested their theories by taking Google on different kinds of dates to see what makes this mysterious woman smile.

But, the problem is, she's a fickle individual who will never kiss and tell. So we just keep buying those flowers and chocolates and calling her number again…and again…

What's next in the Google dating game?

Prostitution. When people say, 'We can get you on the first page of Google' they are generally pimps, touting pay-per-chick advertising services. We're talking AdWords campaigns.

Stay tuned to find out how to get to home base with Google.

To re-cap this SEO series: 

If you want to know what SEO (search engine optimisation) really means: 
SEO: True meanings and confessions

To find the best keywords for you: 
SEO and keyword research: Goldilocks meets the devil

To work out how to apply those keywords:
Using keywords for SEO and other alien adventures

This post was written by Megan Hills.  Megan is a writer, cartoonist, marketing consultant who is looking forward to writing about making a meaningful connection with real people – rather than these superficial, popularity-seeking search engine spiders. Find out more about Megan.

If you've just started visiting, this is the third post about that crazy thing called 'SEO'. For many of us, it's much like the acronym 'UFO'.

Admission: I know quite a bit about SEO, but it still makes me feel like an alien. 

Here is what this particular marketing therapy group has chatted about so far:

If you want to know what SEO (search engine optimisation) really means:
SEO: True meanings and confessions

To find the best keywords for you:
SEO and keyword research: Goldilocks meets the devil

Keyword definition re-cap:

Keywords are those niche words and phrases your target market is likely to type into Google's search box. This involves a combination of research and ESP (interestingly, this is just what aliens are renowned for). 

So, now that you know what your best keywords are…  

What is next? Knowing the best way to insert these little bundles of joy into your site. Take my hand and I'll show you around Planet Keyword…. 

On your actual web (or blog) page

It's a good idea to use keywords in your page content in the following ways:

• in your tag line (otherwise known as a slogan)
  
• in the titles of your pages
• throughout your content text, home page particularly (but don't over-do it, good communication comes first)
• in the titles of any news articles
  
• in sub-headings
• in bold words
  
• in hyperlinks
  

All of these have been suggested by SEO experts. But it's not a perfect science because Google refuses to tell anyone their secret recipe.

What happens keyword-wise on your web or blog page is only the beginning. There is a host of 'back end' tricks that you can make yourself available to. And it is not as painful as it sounds. 

Your domain name

'Marketing' is a keyword for this site. And it's is in my URL: www.mymarketingthing.com. With that said, 'marketing' is an insanely broad (competitive) keyword so I'm not going to get much SEO mileage out of having this in my blog address. Never mind. I'll be moving to Mars soon anyway.

It might not be too late for you though – if you're wanting to stay here on Earth, that is. So if you're still deciding on your domain name then consider inserting a keyword there.

Title tags

If you visit the home page of this blog site www.mymarketingthing.com, you will notice some words on the bar at the very top of the page: marketing plans media public relations…etc. etc. This is my home page title tag.

Title tags work best when you have key phrases and perhaps your business name. If your business needs to attract clients from your physical location, a geographic reference like 'Brisbane' is worth putting in.

Some say 65ish character limit ballpark for title tags, but other say around 10ish words. Can’t find a definitive answer on this. 

Alt tags

Keywords can be very important when it comes to ‘Alt tags’. Alt tags mean ‘alternative text’ and this field comes up when you are inserting an image on a web page.

Keywords in alt tags are generally good for ranking. When people (and search engine tracking spiders) look via keywords on Google images, your photos and graphics can appear. So this is another way powerful way potential clients can stumble across your site.

Apparently alt tags shouldn't have more than 5 words in each. And be aware that your visitors might be able to see them if they run their mouse over the image. So alt tags need to say something that makes sense. 

Title of your image with a keyword(s) example: alien.jpg 

I read on Splash.net.au that a maximum of 78 words is allowed for all alt tags on one web page.

This article has post tag words like: 'keywords', 'search engine optimisation', 'SEO' and 'title tags'.

A note about article directories

If you ever find the time, you can also submit your keyword-savvy articles to online article directories to raise your online presence – therefore, your ranking. This can be done for free and each article generally has a tag section where you can type relevant keywords.

The article generally ends with your website link, acting as an 'inbound link' (a link on another website pointing to your website, or blog site). Great for SEO. More about inbound links in the next post.

Category titles

Keyword tricks you can get into trouble for

Avoid hidden text or hidden links, and don't load pages with irrelevant words. If you do, Google will send you to the back of the class. And you don't want to go there.

SEO is not all about keywords, by the way.

Nooooo….. There is a much bigger, even more exciting picture afoot. I'll be back soon to take you to the Mothership of SEO.

Search engine optimisation (SEO). Everyone wants to know about it. Even if they really don't.

Because, surely, there are more interesting things we can do with our time. But I guess (she says begrudgingly) if you want to be found easily on Google (or other popular search engines) it's probably not a bad idea to know the lay of the land.

Then, if you wish, you can reject all these SEO tips outright and focus on being more interesting.

Note: Being interesting online is good for your SEO. 

Second note: If you're unsure what search optimisation means, read my previous post, SEO: True Meanings and Confessions

Let's start with what I call 'The Devil'

Another word for The Devil: the keyword. And to confuse things, key phrases (i.e. more than one word) are also called keywords. 

Keywords are what other people will type in the Google search box to find websites that cover a particular criteria. Ideally, you want these words to appear on your site so they match with the kinds of searches your target market is likely to make…all to find someone special like you.

It's supposed to work like this: Your potential customer taps in a word or two, clicks on 'search' and voila! There you are, on the very first page (ideally), waiting to greet them.

An aside: Why my bad press on keywords?

My personal distaste for keywords stems from the bizarre communication contortion that people embrace for the sake of good ranking. They can spoil creative communication, and even straight-up clear writing. Keywords can be party-poopers in the fun park of message giving.

Admittedly, people are starting to find ways to use them for good and not evil. 

My distaste also stems from that fact that I am number phobic. Ascertaining the right keywords is a numbers game. As you are about to find out…

What keywords are best for you?

Let's use an example. Say you want to set up a website that sells meditation books and CDs via your site's online store. This means you are creating an online business, so ranking will be rather important for moving your merchandise as well as your chi.

‘Meditation’ is an obvious keyword to focus on – or so you would think. Of course, 'meditation' will appear on your site, but the term is very general. And so it attracts a massive number of sites on Google. In fact, 27,400,000 searches came up for that word when I last looked.

How do I know? Because at the top right hand side of the Google results page (under the Google logo and search box) is a light blue bar that gives you these results.

27,400,00 search results is called 'insanely large competition'. The enlightenment industry is humming like a plague of bumblebees on heat. In other words, be prepared to get buried somewhere on page 37 (i.e. the outer reaches of the Google universe).

So what's the answer?

The Goldilocks theory 

This is where having a ‘niche’ is handy. What you want are keywords that are not too big (because of that 'insane competition' problem) but also not too small (i.e. no one would dream of typing it in to search for it). So we are shooting for: not too big, not too small, just right.

‘Home meditation’ is getting better niche-wise but still pretty competitive (20,100,000 searches came up), perhaps also ‘DIY meditation’ (1,010,000 comes up for this term). ‘Guided mediation’ brings 734,000 searches.

'Guided meditation cd' is better at 192,000. ‘Guided meditation audio’ is also smaller at 168,000 searches. So these two are much better than just silly old 'meditation'.

Getting the picture?

Proper keyword finding tools

Looking at the numbers on the results bar after a Google search is one way to get a rough gist. To get a better gist you can use Google's Adwords Keyword Tool and click here for Google's new Beta version.

AdWords is Google's pay-per-click advertising service. But you don't have to be an AdWords customer to use their Keyword Tool. And it's free. Aren't they generous?

The Keyword Tool shows you how many people are searching for what words (related to whatever you type in the search box). It also shows you how strong the competition is for particularly words and phrases. Very handy.

So type in the words that relate best to your core products or services and research away.

Spy on your competition

The box where you can type in a website address offers a great opportunity to see what keywords your competitors use (competitors being those that offer the same kinds of products and or services to the same kind of target market).

Looking at the keywords of websites by those competitors who are already highly ranked can give some useful clues.

Spiffy keyword finding tools

If you don't mind spending some money to get a closer look at what might work best for you, Wordtracker is one of the best known keyword research tools.

Note: You will find that keyword research software companies generally offer a free trial. Plunder at your leisure.

But according to Top Ten Reviews, the best keyword analysis software is:

1. Web CEO (over over 707,000 businesses currently rely on it…Lordy)
2. Advanced Web Ranking (the company who made ABR is from Romania, which must be embarrassing because heaps of people are using this software but don't like to admit it)
3. iBusiness promoter (from the more respectable country of Germany, these people say that you will be in the top 10 of Google or get your money back – except that their clients might be too afraid to ask for their money back because the company is German)

Well, that's the first three. Check out the rest here. 

Other popular packages include:

• Market Samurai
• SEO Elite 
• Good Keywords
• Keyword Spy
• Keyword Discovery

Trawl through at will.

How do I use keywords on my site?

My God, are you still awake? My hat off to you. As a reward for your persistence, we are going to 'hold that thought'. You can go and have a nap now. 

But I'll be back next post to answer your sage question. If you don't apply this keyword caper correctly search engines can penalise you in ways you haven't even imagined.

Google might be a cute name but do the wrong thing and, man, they can get ugly. 

Stay close.

This post was written by Megan Hills.  Megan is a writer, cartoonist, marketing consultant who wonders whether Goldilocks was ever the butt of a blonde joke. Find out more about Megan.

Let's start from the beginning. What does SEO really mean? 

• I originally thought it represented the names of the cars I have owned: 
  Sam, Eric and Owen
   
• Certain people lacking social skills think it means: 
  Starship Enterprise's Oscillator

• A small town in Croatia known for their philosophical bent believe it means: 
  some endless osmosis…
   
• It's the acronym for the name of an unusual environmental group – who deny climate change – called:  
  Sun Earth Ostrich
   
• The French insist that it means:  
  séance en oeufs (seance in eggs)  

But today we are in the marketing zone. So here SEO means…..

…drumroll…

Search engine optimisation!

How exciting. All clear, then? No? Okay…

It's not a particularly warm and fuzzy term, I'll grant you that. But if you say 'I want to be on the first page of Google', you will be yelling the same SEO mantra as 99% of the people out there.

Where you appear on a certain Google page determines how many people will find you online. That's why being on the first page of Google is the prayer of the twenty-first century.

The big question people forget to ask…

Being on the first page of Google is all very well. But the thing people often forget to ask is this: the first page by what search words?

Type in 'My Marketing Thing' and I'm top of the page. Yay! But that doesn't help me if I'm trying to reach people who don't know about My Marketing Thing yet.

Type in 'marketing and Blink' ('Blink' is a book by Malcolm Gladwell talked about in an earlier post) and I don't have a hope in hell of being on the first page of Google. Why? Because the big publishers and distributors involved in selling 'Blink' have taken up that first page. And they will probably continue to for awhile yet.

Why do the big guys get the ranking?

The longer you have been around online, the higher your ranking is likely to be. The bigger you are (i.e. lots of traffic on your site and other people listing your web address on their site), the higher your ranking is also likely to be. 

My Marketing Thing is relatively new and relatively small. So my ranking isn't hey-wow fabulous right now.  Well, that's one excuse. There is another big reason why my ranking isn't so hot…yet. And I unveil it very soon – read on!

Happy news for My Marketing Thing

'Marketing coke cartoon' (an image related to my chat about Blink) got me on the first page. Yay! Okay, the likelihood of someone typing in 'Marketing coke cartoon' is much smaller than 'marketing and Blink'. But you do what you can.

One key SEO rule is: try to find niche areas, not highly competitively broad areas.

But we need to stop here for a moment. There's a confession I have to make…

My SEO confession

I would rather have interesting and creative un-search-friendly words than boring and predictable search-friendly words. Search-friendly words are known as 'key words' or 'key phrases'.

I really should have titled my 'Briefing your web dude' series as 'How to brief a web builder'. Why? Because who is going to type into Google 'Briefing your web dude'? No one. Zip-a-dee-doo-dah.

But I wanted the word 'Dude'. And Goddamnit, I was going to have it.  

My stubborn creative soul does tend to fight this SEO business. But I do have some other strategies that might bring me that ranking without losing the fun bit.

Some shocking news about SEO

There are all manner of things that can apparently raise your page ranking, but….regardless of what SEO experts tell you…nothing has been actually proven.

Note: Apart from getting on the first page of Google via Adwords (pay-per-click advertising). But we will get to that in due course.

What's next?

The next post will give you (in a happy-go-lucky nutshell) the stuff that SEO experts suggest as 'the thing to do' to nab your position on The First Page.

Hey, it's good to know your options and play around with them. I've already used a good many of these babies.

Later I'll also share with you my secret strategy on how to avoid looking like a tedious key-word contortionist – and still get a place in Google's good books.  

This post was written by Megan Hills.  Megan is a writer, cartoonist, marketing consultant who begrudgingly admits that SEO is the devil we need to get to know (buy him a drink, ask about his weekend, that kind of thing). Find out more about Megan.

As you may have guessed from the title, this post is the third in a series about briefing your web dude. This makes up the holy trinity of web briefing. Find the father and son here: Part 1 and Part 2.

Okay, you've had a gander at other people's websites. From this meandering, perhaps you now have some ideas of what would work for your site.

If you already have a site but are ready to attack it with a blow torch, you probably already have some ideas of what isn't working right now.

It is quite possible, after answering the questionnaire in Part 1 of Briefing a web dude that you also know what technical gizmos you would ideally like on your site.

Of course, you may not be able to afford all the gizmos that you want. But the quoting process will help you determine this. Also, the web builder may be able to guide you on what gizmos will work best for your particular business and target market.

So why go to all this effort briefing the web dude if you could be up the wrong alley?

The more thinking you put into the briefing process, the faster the web builder will be able to help you get where you really want to go – within a doable budget.

Believe me, it's easier to start from somewhere that's a bit off-kilter than in the middle of the Sahara.

Back to the layout thing

Not a lot of people think to give a rough layout to sum up ideas as pat of their web brief.  

The keyword here is 'rough'. Because, of course, the web dude might have other ideas beyond your own that could you end up preferring. But, as mentioned before, get your ideas down so you've all got something to play with.  

For this rough layout you might want to give what's officially called a 'wireframe'.

What is a wireframe?

Wireframes are basic 'page layouts' of the main pages of your website. This is not so much how the page will be designed (i.e. look aesthetically), it's more what goes where.

The wireframe will assist the web designer when it comes to 'prettying up' the site (adding colours, tones, images, graphics, etc.). Think of it like an x-ray of the page.

Here's a generic example of a wireframe:

I just popped in some Latin to suggest text. So if you are creating your rough on a computer then you can copy and paste the Latin from the site Lorem Ipsum.

But you don't have to design the rough wireframe on your computer. Instead you could:

• grab a pencil and a piece of paper
• scribble out a rough 
• scan that baby
• email it as part of the brief, explaining that it represents initial rough ideas

What is the best layout for your site?

The wireframe above indicates a pretty standard layout. For instance, the menu bar is a bit of a knee-jerk design element.

Important point: When it comes to core layout elements, knee-jerk isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Visitors already know how a horizontal menu bar works. They can orientate themselves quickly and get to the meat of your message faster.

However, you will also find some super creative sites by-pass the horizontal menu bar in the most delightful of ways. See Planet SARK and Artella Land.

Your layout depends on what will be most important to your visitor. Will it be a creative experience?  Or a fast information gathering experience? Is it important that you appear cutting edge or reliable and direct? Or a bit of both?

Tip: If you do have a horizontal menu bar always have 'contact' or 'contact us' at the very end i.e. at the far right. This is your most important page. After all, the purpose of your website is to inspire people to contact you, right? So make it easy for your visitor to find your contact page – don't bury it in the middle of the menu bar somewhere. Most irritating.  

The power of the right hand side

it is highly recommended to have 'visitor opt-in' elements down the right hand side of your page. 'Visitor opt-in' means things that lead them to directly interact with you. These include:

• 'subscribe to our e-news' 
• 'get a free quote'
• 'download our free report on…'
• 'buy my latest book here'
• 'take our survey'

Affiliate advertisers know the power of the right hand side. So if they aren't going to muscle into your banner space at the top, they will want to be here. Your hot spot.

Why is the right hand side the hot spot for interaction?

I can't say for sure, but I do know that it's a marketing psychology that has been working since the dark ages – i.e. pre-internet.

When you buy newspaper or magazine ads, securing a position on the right hand side of the right hand page often costs more. It's where the reader's eye defaults to.

The mystery of this right hand thing is up there with the pyramids – but it has a similar 'growth power'.

Other layout tips

• Keep the layout as simple as possible so the visitor doesn't feel overwhelmed.
• Keep the layout tight to reduce the amount of scrolling.
• Like magazines and newspaper articles, people don't tend to read website content, they scan it. So, like magazines and newspapers, don't have text that runs right across the page – have columns, it's easier to read that way.
• Make it easy for the visitor to contact you
• Have changing content on your home page to keep visitors coming back (also good for Google ranking/SEO)

Talking of SEO (search engine optimisation)…well, isn't everybody? I know that deep down you want to talk SEO.

So I promise I'll grab SEO by the horns and tackle it to the ground for you in the next post. How does that sound? Exciting? You bet.

This post was written by Megan Hills.  Megan is a writer, cartoonist, marketing consultant who has no training in Latin but likes the look of them in wireframes. Find out more about Megan.

(OOOPS! published this post when it was still in the mixing bowl…apologies! Here's the whole article. I've been told that even internet marketing demi-god Seth Godin sometimes makes email marketing mistakes.)

This post follows on – obviously – from 'Briefing a web dude, Part 1'. 

Note: This is the kind of post that inspires comments from people telling me all the things I've forgotten to advise…but were actually already mentioned in the previous post. It's amazing how often this happens. 

Do you remember how, in the previous post, you asked me a question?  

The question was: 'What's a site map?' 

Not the fancy techo XML one that appears on your site at launch time. We are talking about the site map that you give the web dude as part of your website brief.  

That is: a diagram showing what pages are to appear on your site and where each page flows from.

In the beginning…I was naive about the site map diagram

I thought the web dude discusses with you what you want then he/she draws up the site map diagram, then shows it to you at the next meeting. But increasingly this job is being palmed off to the client to do this. So it's worth drawing up a site map diagram at quoting stage to help the whole process along.

The diagram can be quite simple if your site is relatively small.

An example of a site map diagram:

- Home

       –  About
               – About Megan
                             – About her madcap ways
                             – About why she smells weird
               – About My Marketing Thing

       –  Services
                - Marketing plans
                - Website strategies

      -  Articles
                - article 1
                - article 2

     – Contact us

    - Privacy

    - Site Map

So the first tier of information on your site diagram is 'Home'. The second tier are the pages like 'About' and 'Services'. The third tier are the pages like 'About Megan'. The fourth tier is 'About her madcap ways' and 'About why she smells weird'. 

It's usually advisable to stick to three tiers if you can. It makes for easier visitor navigation. Plus the search engine spiders (who track you for ranking purposes) apparently don't go beyond three tiers.

The 'Privacy' page and 'Site Map' page are generally found at the bottom bar of your site – but that positioning need not be indicated on the site map diagram.

Your site map diagram should be used as a document for discussion during initial meetings with your web dude. From this point, your web dude might have some ideas on how you might like to improve the structure of your site and/or what to title your pages.

So, be prepared for your site map diagram to evolve.

A note about the Privacy Page

This page is generally about how the website handles the visitor's information – particularly if they choose to subscribe to your e-news. As one example, here is the Privacy Page on my wordmix website.

About placeholders

While your website is being built you may want a placeholder page. That is, a page that has your logo, contact details, and says something like 'this site is under construction'.

If you are interested in having a placeholder, it is worth asking – during the quoting process – what the web dude would charge for a placeholder.

Note: When I've referred to a pageholder a web builder has corrected me with 'splash page'.  In other meetings, when I've called it a splash page, the web builder corrects me with 'placeholder'.  From my experience, this is correction confusion amongst web builders is pretty much guaranteed.

Ask a cartoonist what a splash page is and they'll tell you it's a full page dedicated to one drawing in a comic book. They are very clear on this.

About splash screens or splash pages

A splash page (otherwise known as a 'splash screen') is a general introduction page before entering the actual website. Thankfully, they are used less and less because web builders are waking up the the fact that splash pages are annoying.

Talk about a dampener.

The splash screens that do hang in there – the splish with purpose – are the ones you see while the website is still loading. Sometimes a progress bar appears on the screen, letting you know how much time you have to go and make a cup of coffee or run to the toilet before the curtain goes up and website appears.

So it might be worth mentioning a splash screen to your web dude, even at quoting stage, if you think that your whole website is going to take awhile to download.

Part III of the 'Briefing a Web Dude' series is next….

This is a bit like the Rocky movies, I know. But, as promised, next post I'm going to give you a few key tips to website design that will also make life easier for web dudes. Well, those web dudes without control issues.

This post was written by Megan Hills.  Megan is a writer, cartoonist, marketing consultant and sometimes a little trigger-happy when it comes to the 'Publish' button on her blog post dashboard.  Find out more about Megan.

Warning: I'm partial to calling website builders, website developers and website designers 'web dudes' (or 'web dudettes'). I know they are different from each other…maybe it's the hair? 

Apologies to any web specialists who happen to be reading this and find the term 'web dude' offensive. It is important to acknowledge that some web specialists have a very different sense of humour from normal people.

Why brief a web dude?

It's the first step to getting a decent quote for a new website. The more information you give them, the less ambiguity the web dude suffers, the greater chance that the sun will shine, the birds will sing, and you'll get the website you expect within the quoted amount and agreed timeframe.

You are also likely to receive better web support after the new site is launched – principally, because you'll be one of the few clients who don't have their photo displayed on the staff room dart board during the web building process. 

Being half-baked means a sticky start

Too many people go to a web dude with a half-baked idea of what their business is. I'm not even talking about the website. I'm talking about what the website is supposed to be promoting.

You might have a name and an idea of a topic. Great. Do you have a logo? Do you have a tagline? Do you know who you want to reach? Do you know what you are actually selling????

And about that business name…are you sure about it? Have you tested it on those you want to reach?

Warning: A web dude doesn't always make a good logo designer.
Also many web dudes are unlikely to grill you about the marketplace effectiveness of your core branding and product ideas.

If you need some extra info about core branding:

• Business names and taglines: 3 things people forget about business names, market testing
• Logos: Logo basics and Briefing your logo designer

If you're in the half-baked zone, consider first writing a marketing plan (I'll be posting about that soon – so subscribe to 'My Marketing Thing' if you haven't already and you'll be in the loop!).

Then look at briefing a graphic designer to create your branding (someone who specialises in these things).

Then, by all means, trot off to the web dudes.

With all this said, some web dudes do have experienced logo/graphic designers on their team. Make sure you check out their logo portfolio before launching in, however. 

Note: when wanting a quote for a new website, approach a few web dudes and compare quote results.

Okay, below are some lists of questions.

No, not just one list but…err…10 lists.

They are small lists. And each has a word like 'stuff' and 'thingys' in the sub-heading so they look less daunting (actually, you will find most of it pretty straightforward). 

If you have a friend who is also looking to brief a web dude you can have a race to see who finishes the 10 lists of questions first. The person who comes second buys the winner a free ice cream. Scandinavian ice cream. No messing about here, the stakes are high. 

1. About your business stuff

1. What is your business name, tagline/slogan (if you have one) and logo (if you haven't sorted this, stop and read the first part of this post again…off you go…)
2. Where does your business operate from? (i.e. location of business, not surgical procedures)
3. What products/services do you sell from this business? (serious tail between legs if you don't know the answer to this one)
4. How long has this business been in operation?
5. What is the business structure (company, sole trader, how many employees, etc.)?
6.  What is the vision for the future regarding this business (2/5/10 years)?
7. Any significant affiliations / alliances with other businesses / associations / etc.?

2. About your target market thingys

1. Who is your existing target market? (i.e. the people you want to reach regarding your services/products)
2. Where are they (local, national, global – any particular geographic areas)?
3. Do you want to change/add to your target market? If so, give details.

3. About your competition thingos

1. Who are your competitors?
2. What do you like about their websites?
3. What don't you like about their websites?

And don't tell me you don't 'believe' in competition – it's just a word, not a negative fear-based state of mind. Knowing your competition is about finding out what other people in your field are up to so you can be clear that you WILL look as different and special as you are.

What's the point in looking the same if you do different things?

You don't have to be against your competition. You can even refer some of your business their way. You will be able to do this because you will KNOW what makes you different to them. Why? Because you've done a competition analysis as part of your marketing plan (yes, I'll write a post about that soon!).

Contrary to popular opinion: knowing your competition can be a real love-in.

4. Your current website status hoopla

1. Is this the first website for this business or a re-vamp? 
2. If a re-vamp – what's right/wrong with the current site?

5. Content thing-a-me-jigs

1. Do you want the web dude to also write content for you? (i.e. the text that appears on the pages on your site)
2. Do you have any images that you think would work on the site? (if so, give details and the images)
3. Do you want your web dude to find images/graphics for you via a photo library? (if so, give details)
4. Do you have a business brochure (or any other existing promotional material) that you would like to work in sync with the website?
5. What key descriptive words best describe your business (you might remember this from the post: Briefing your graphic designer) – e.g.: nurturing, secure, reliable, feminine, lush, hygienic, fun, creative, practical, resourceful, friendly, etc.
6. What are the key messages of your business? (i.e. what do you do differently from your competition – there's that word again – that will benefit the website visitor? How do they benefit?)

6. Some basic technical guff

1. Do you want the ability to change your website content anytime? (of course you do – say 'yes'! You'll be saying yes to what is called a 'CMS site' – that means 'content management system')
2. Do you want a XML sitemap? (say 'yes'! – good for SEO/Google ranking – this is a page that shows the structure of the site and has each page heading as a hyperlink to the actual page, usually the link to 'site map' is found on the bar at the bottom of the home page)
3. Do you want a contact form on your 'contact page' (say 'yes'! – best not to have your email address on the site as it tends to attract spam), and request to have a spam code to go with the form
4. Do you want Google Maps on your contact page (showing where you are located via Google Maps, helpful to visitor if you want them to visit you – and good for SEO to be on Google Maps, even if it doesn't appear on your site)
5. Do you want a video or audio introduction on your home page?
6. Do you want to sell online? (if so give some details about what you want to sell), request a secure system 
7. Do you want a search facility? (visitor can type in a key word and the site will search for matches) 
8. Do you want drop down menus?
9. Do you want a 'hover state' for for links, buttons, menu items (this is when your mouse is over a particular section, the section changes colour to indicate a hyperlink)
10. Do you want the ability to add downloadable PDF documents to your pages? (I would say a 'yes' to this one)

7. Advertising hoo-haa

1. Do you want to have a banner advertisements facility (put ads up on your site in header/down the right hand side, etc.)
2. Do you want Google Adsense ad lists and/or Google Search Bar on your site? (income generation opportunity c/o Google) 

8. Visitor subscription & membership low-down

1. Do you want an e-newsletter subscription opt-in (where visitors can give their name, email address to subscribe to your e-newsletter)
2. Do you want an RSS feed subscription button? (here is an explanation of RSS from About.com)
3. Do you want membership creation and log-in option? (i.e. do you want members as part of your business?)

Note: Having technical gizmos like showing current date and time are usually reserved for large public sites. And visitor counters seem to be a thing of the past (though an auto-count for RSS subscription numbers are very, very 'in').

9. Visitor interaction hob-nob tools

1. Do you want your site visitors to be able to comment on the content? (your 'content' meaning the images, text, videos, etc. that appear on your pages)
2. Do you want a blog as part of your website?
3. Do you want to create a forum on the site?
4. Do you want a chat facility on the site?
5. Do you want a visitor poll facility (voting)?

10. Some spiffy technical doo-wackies

The gizmos below might be of interest to you. You can ask for your web dude to quote them separately if you wish.

1. Do you want a 'print this page' option for your site's pages?
2. Do you want an 'Email this page' option for your site's pages?
3. Do you want an option for the visitor to increase/decrease size of text on page?
4. Do you want a favicon? (a tiny round icon – generally inspired by your logo – that appears next to your domain name in the browser bar)
5. Do you want error handling? (an extra program that anticipates and/or codes technical errors when they happen – ask your web dude about how she/he approaches this)
6. Do you want a breadcrumb trail (i.e. showing the path the visitor has gone through your site, found at the top of the page – e.g: home / about / about Megan – useful for larger sites)

About search engine optimisation (SEO) services 

Ask the web dude – nicely – if he/she could possibly:

• pop into your site a XML site map (as mentioned in #6.2)
• add Google Analytics Statistical Reporting (so you know who's visiting your site and when)
• submit your site (once done) to the key search engines, like Google and Yahoo, etc.

Additional services web dudes tend to offer:

1. Domain name registration
   That's your actual website address – e.g. www.mymarketingthing.com. No one can 'buy' a domain name. We can only rent them, so to speak. You can rent your domain name from plenty of people out there, not just your web dude. Do some window shopping first.
    
2. Website hosting
   That's the thing that keeps your website 'live' – usually a monthly fee, some have yearly packages. Speed, size and security are all important in the hosting game. Reliability is vital – ensure your host has a multiple back-up service in case anything goes wrong with the main servers. Downtime should be kept to a minimum.
    

The web dude will give you a quote for building the site, but it's handy to also know the standard hourly rate if you need any extras done afterwards.

Also ask if they have any technical support packages (usually an amount charged per month or year covering a standard amount of hours).

When do you want the site?

Of course it's important to also indicate to your web dude the preferred launch date of your new site.

Give your web dude your site map

In order to clarify and speed up the quoting/building process, you will also want to offer your web dude a site map of your proposed site.

'What's a site map?' you ask.

I've already mentioned site map above in #6.2. Don't you remember??? Actually, what I'm suggesting here is slightly different.

'How different?' you ask. 

Well, to find out, you're just going to have 'tune in' to the next post!

Oh, and I'll tell you about placeholders ('we are under construction' pages) and why a 'splash' page is making less of a splash these days. 

And later, I'm going to give you a few key tips to website design that will also make life easier for web dudes – well, ones that are worth their salt.

And some more simple SEO bibs and bobs.

So many fabulous tips to come…your new site is going to be soooo great!

This post was written by Megan Hills.  Megan is a writer, cartoonist, marketing consultant and website dude Tinkerbell.  Find out more about Megan.

I'm going to tell you a dark tale. Come closer to the fire, hold you cocoa firmly to your chest, and be prepared to be afraid. Very afraid.

It is a tale of woe. It is a tale with a warning… It is a tale of a client who had chosen a website builder before hiring me to write her web copy. This happens a lot. But that's not the warning.

The first thing I learned after being hired was that the web builder had organised a photo shoot where the images showed only women and the business was now strongly targeting men. Ahhhhh!!!!

But that's not the scary thing I want to warn you about.

Back to the story… The web builder's boardroom was very contemporary. White walls, white carpet, white chairs, white table. This was no place for spillage. On the walls hung an example of close-range nature photography, possibly of a prying mantis that was larger than me. Hard to tell.  

An elegant white dish filled with multi-coloured M&Ms sat at the centre of the table. A clever distraction? Maybe. I couldn't look at anything else.

The two web builders, dressed in fine designer garb, swished into the room and sat were they felt most comfortable. My client and I hadn't worked out where we would be most comfortable. It was unlikely we ever would.

Turns out one of the people wasn't a web builder. She was a 'digital consultant'. I wondered if her role was to act as a translator for the web builder who had spoken only tech jargon since he was in nappies.

Very white nappies.

I actually had trouble understanding either of them. And I couldn't help but notice my client's eyes glaze over after the first couple of minutes. Somewhere early in the meeting I uttered the phrase 'main menu'. The digital consultant corrected me with 'navigation bar'. How blood wasn't spilled by the end of that meeting, I can't tell you. Maybe it was the M&Ms.

But that's not the thing I want to warn you about either. 

Despite various communication challenges (and, at times, white noise from the web company) we managed to get the content in and site up.

Then my client called me. It was hard to make out what she was saying at first. Her tone was was shifting from wailing with despair to screaming in fury. Apparently the web company was billing her ginormous sums for 'extra work' that she thought was part of the process – just a part of getting the site looking how they had all agreed. And she had seven days to pay.

This kind of thing happens, but that's not what I want to warn you about. 

My client would find a way to pay…somehow. She asked me if McDonald's hires 45 year olds for night shift. I told her I didn't know (not having the heart to tell her the truth).

It soon became clear that this company billed like lawyers on heat. Every question, every small request, required an appendage in return. So, unsurprisingly, my client decided that she wanted to change web builders.

Problem was, the client was locked into a contract as thick as the Bible with print the size of amoeba. Once we worked our way through the document, then got another web builder to translate it for us, we realised that she might as well have been married to the web company. Turned out, extracting herself from them was going to take an expensive and heart-breaking divorce.

A lot of the problem had to do with the fact that the web company have their own customised platform – i.e. their own web software. 

What I want to warn you about

There are many wonderful web builders with customised (home-spun) web packages. The problem with this scenario is when you decide to move on from that particular builder to another….it can get sticky.

It may even mean building your website again with someone else. That's a big hassle.

The alternative?

I talked a bit about open source platforms in my previous post - namely Drupal and Wordpress. 'Open source' means anyone can use the platform for free. That means there's quite a number of folks out there who work with Drupal and Wordpress.

Drupal is known for websites and Wordpress is known for blog sites. 

So I often source for my clients builders who work with these because – on a technical level – once your site is up, you have the option to change from one builder to another without too much fuss.

Note: It's still important to check the details of your client agreement.

The customised path

However, if you choose to go down the customised web package path, talk openly at the very beginning with your builder about what happens if the web company decides to close up shop (this is a nice way to find out what would be required if you want to move onto another web company for some unforeseeable reason). Press them on a real answer before you sign anything.

No matter who you hire, be very sure – from the very start – how they charge. And that includes requested changes down the track.

One more scary story… 

This one involved a client who's web builder took their online business off-line because of a dispute over an invoice. Don't let this happen to you. 

And watch out for M&Ms in meetings. They can be dangerous.

This post was written by Megan Hills.  Megan is a writer, cartoonist, marketing consultant and website builder sympathiser…sometimes.  Find out more about Megan.