Net Results
Helping your business succeed online.
Published by nrichmedia (www.nrichmedia.com)
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Volume 2, Issue 3 – Fall 2006
In This Issue
Welcome
Well, after a long, extended summer – or just a really nice
early autumn, the real fall seems to have finally set in for good here
on Vancouver Island. Of course, without all of this rain, it wouldn’t
be so green, so as long as we keep getting peeks of sunshine, no complaining
from me!
FAQ: What are “Black Hat” and “White
Hat” SEO?
“Black hat” SEO (search engine optimization) generally
refers to unethical tactics used to gain high rankings in the search
engine results (e.g., Google’s) pages. These tricks include:
hiding keywords by having their font in the same or similar color as
the background so that the human eye can’t see them, but the
search engines pick them up; keyword stuffing, meaning writing the
page text with a ridiculously high density of keywords (making the
reading of the page often painful); and having “doorway” pages,
which do nothing but provide links to a web site. An “expert” black
hat SEO trickster was even somehow able to insert links to his site
on highly reputable sites, thus increasing his site’s page rank.
Google is very aware of the use of these tactics and, once it finds
out you’ve been using any of these or similar ones, will blacklist
your web site – not a good thing. It takes a lot of begging to
get re-indexed with them!
“White hat” SEO is, of course, the ethical way to get
good search engine results. This is accomplished by writing good, readable
copy, which serves your site visitors and also has a reasonable number
of keywords naturally included. Also, having reputable, quality web
sites link to your site is a good method for improving your ranking
in Google, et al. Basically, having a well-designed, easy to navigate
site that doesn’t use any methods of deception is considered
ethical by search engines and should result in good long-term search
engine placement.
Bottom line: if it feels like you’re cheating, you probably
are and you’re going to pay for it sooner or later. Stick with “white
hat” SEO techniques and you’ll be fine.
Featured Article: The Power of
Testimonials - Getting Your Customers to Sell for You
It’s pretty common knowledge that word of mouth is one of – if
not, the – best ways to sell your products/services. In his book,
Unleashing the Ideavirus, Seth Godin talks about the power of other
people – particularly, reputable people – praising you,
rather than you doing it yourself. Sure, you can tell potential customers
that you’re great, but that hardly holds any weight compared
to someone else, especially if that someone else is considered trustworthy,
saying the same thing.
No matter what the product or service that you’re promoting
on your web site, you need (if this editor allowed bold, I’d
bold the word “need”) testimonials. If you can present
your case – i.e., speak about what your products/services are
and how they can benefit your clients – and then have others
confirm your worth, in their words, you’ll have a much better
way of convincing your web site visitors to hire you or buy your products.
Potential clients want to hear what you’ve done for your previous
clients. They want to hear the success stories. These potential customers
want to hear how your product/service helped others who were in a similar
position to where they are now. If they can do this, without needing
to phone each previous client for a reference, it’ll be much
easier for them to be convinced that they should hire you or buy your
products.
Testimonials work well if they are interspersed within your web site’s
main content and/or in a side panel, and/or on a separate testimonials
(or, “What Our Customers Have to Say”) page. I recommend
placing them in as many spots as possible, even if you need to repeat
a few of them. The longer you’re in business, the more testimonials
you’ll have, so needing to duplicate a few shouldn’t be
a problem for long.
Some of you may be in certain types of businesses where posting your
clients’ names on your web site is a delicate issue (or unethical).
Naturally, most people seeing a therapist, for example, don’t
want the world to know that they’ve been seeking professional
counselling. In this case, either use their initials (with permission),
a pseudonym, or leave out the name and initials altogether. Your site
visitors will understand and, unless your whole web site looks like
one giant scam, there’s no reason for them to doubt that your
testimonials are legitimate.
So, don’t be afraid to harness the power of testimonials. Let
your successes with previous clients work for you to bring in more
of the ideal clients you’re looking for.
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 green web hosting, 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 industry.
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 have received many compliments on my website: “great
look,” “easy to navigate,” “professional”, “Wow!,
and “It’s hot!,” to name a few, from clients, therapists
and other website designer friends. I am very, very pleased with the
product.
I highly recommend Nathaniel and nrichmedia. You will get a great
website designed for your business—and you’ll enjoy working
with Nathaniel—no doubt about it!"
- Diane Anderson, Registered Clinical Counsellor, Diane Anderson & Associates
(www.DianeAndersonCounselling.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.
Web Site Design and Promotion Blog
For plenty of tips and tricks on designing, marketing, and promoting
your web site, have a look at www.websitedesignandpromotion.com,
a blog co-authored by nrichmedia and Juliet
Austin.
Recent postings include:
Green
Cars on Yahoo!
Google's
Website Optimizer
Podcasting
for Beginners
Greenpeace
Puts the Pressure on Apple
Feel free to place a comment on any of the posts there. It’s
an easy way to get a link to your site, which can increase your exposure
and help your site’s search engine rankings.
Charitable Causes
nrichmedia donates 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:
Fivelimes
Billing itself as "a place to make a difference," www.fivelimes.com "allows
you to find, review and share eco-friendly and socially responsible
products and services that are making this world a better place." What
a great resource for finding just about anything from organic beer
to socially responsible investing.
Archives
To view previous editions of Net Results, visit www.nrichmedia.com/archives.htm.
Pass it on and Enjoy
Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to anyone who might 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 250.871.7424.
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