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Net Results
Helping your business succeed online.
Published by nrichmedia (www.nrichmedia.com)
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Volume 1, Issue 2 – Summer, 2005
In This Issue
Welcome
Summer always seems to come and go too quickly. It’s been a good
one so far, at least out here on Vancouver Island. After a slow start,
we’ve been enjoying lots of sunshine – great for the garden
and the soul! Hope yours has been enjoyable and productive too.
Web Site Design and Promotion Blog
This isn’t really “new” news any more, but it may
be to you. In June, I, along with the very talented marketing coach
and consultant, Juliet
Austin, started up a weblog, titled “Web Site Design and Promotion.”
I think its purpose is pretty self-evident! Topics range from various
tips on designing a web site to help in succeeding with search engine
results and general marketing ideas. Check it out at www.websitedesignandpromotion.com.
We welcome any comments you’d like to make on any of the posts.
Incidentally, posting comments on blogs is a great way to get back links
to your own web site (which can increase its Google ranking)!
Coming Soon… Chance to Win a Free Web
Site Critique
Juliet and I will be conducting a draw to win a free professional critique
of your web site. Details will be emailed out soon and posted on our
blog.
Send me your FAQs
If there’s something you’d like to ask about creating or
improving your web presence, feel free to send me an email (). It’s quite likely to be a question that someone else has been
wondering about and chances are you won’t be the only one who
finds the answer useful.
So, I’ll gladly post FAQs, with a reasonable facsimile of an
answer. Or, it might even inspire me to write a featured article or
blog post on the topic.
Featured Article: In Search of the Perfect
Domain Name
I've got clients who, literally, spend weeks or months trying to come
up with the perfect domain name for their new web site. They probably
lose sleep over it. I always say, yes, try to come up with a good (or
great) domain name, but don't stress yourself out over it!
Occasionally, I'll help a client come up with a name. One of the best,
in my opinion, was www.locktheknee.com. That was for a yoga studio,
in which the owner/teacher would, during a particular pose, always say,
"Lock the knee!" So, I thought, what a great name for her
web site. And she and all her students loved it! Very catchy and memorable.
Of course, it doesn't mean much to non-students of that studio, so we
also came up with a second name (www.bikramyoganewwest.com), which makes
sense for others and gets automatically forwarded to the site.
There's a mindset that having keywords (i.e., words that you want your
site found for in a search) in your domain name is very important in
getting your site picked up by Google. Jill Whelan – the SEO guru,
in my opinion, of www.HighRankings.com – consistently says she's
seen no evidence that this is true. And I agree; I have seen none either.
I did a test search for "chiropractors" on Google. The #1
result didn't have the word in its domain name. In fact, I counted only
two out of the top 20 that did! (There were a couple "chiro's"
in there.) That says something to me.
Here are some tips for coming up with a good domain name:
- The shorter the better. Try to keep it
to a maximum of 4 words.
- Make sure people can spell it easily,
otherwise they might end up at your competition's web site. If your
name is difficult to spell or there are multiple spellings (e.g.,
Brian/Bryan) use something else.
- If it works, go for a name about the
business you’re in, in general. For example., if you're a plumber,
rather than mcneilsplumbingservices.com, how about something like
thegreatplumber.com?
- Better yet, if you can come up with something
cute and catchy, people will remember it – e.g., nomoredrips.com.
- Remember, you can always get a second
domain name (cheap!) and have it forward (or mask) to your original
name.
- Stay away from -'s if possible. People
want easy!
- If at all possible, get a .com, rather
than .ca, .net, .biz, or whatever. I still find that people think
.com no matter what you tell them your domain name is. Having said
that though, if you've got a great name and it's not available as
a .com, you might consider one of the alternatives.
As with many things, coming up with a good/great domain name is a balancing
act between thinking up something unique and memorable and one that
is easy for people to spell. Use your imagination and inspiration and
you’re bound to come up with a good one. But don’t lose
sleep agonizing over it!
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 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.
"I would highly recommend nrichmedia as a web design company.
I think Nathaniel brilliantly turned our ideas into a fun and professional
looking website. He got the job done fast and on budget... thanks!"
- Diana Brown, Co-Owner, Shasta Glass (www.shastaglass.com)
To learn more about nrichmedia’s services, view
our online portfolio, and read glowing
testimonials from many satisfied clients, please visit www.nrichmedia.com.
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: Treehugger
Since getting into the blogging scene myself, I’ve been reading
several other blogs on a regular basis. One of my favourites is Treehugger.
It’s very well put-together, considering the vast amount of information
it contains.
Treehugger contains up-to-the-minute reports on the latest eco-friendly
products and social responsibility issues. I find it very inspiring
to see all the new environmentally friendly product coming out all over
the world. The posts are well written, interesting, and often quite
entertaining.
Pass it on and Enjoy
Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to anyone you feel may
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.
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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 250.898.8795.
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