yes, today is Shannon Noack’s birthday. If you have worked with Shannon on any of your projects, you need to wish her a happy birthday!
or I think she said she wants this classic shirt from veer.
I draw pictures all day
Also noteworthy today, Shannon has been on staff with Factor1 for 2 years now. She has put up with all kinds of projects, shenanigans and sometimes chaos for 2 years. That deserves some sort of merit badge!
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
— Thomas Edison
Not everyone can come up with killer ideas, and execute. We are all different. Some people love the ideas, but fail to follow through. Others stink at being creative, but are great at getting it done. Weekly, we will share great ideas for marketing, business, creativity, strategy, and maybe some other random ideas that will help you in your organization. All you have to do is Just Add Hard Work
So last week we announced that we were moving our blog. From blog.factor1studios.com to www.factor1ideas.com. Some of you asked why.
We feel that our ideas are the bread and butter, that separate factor1 for the pack. Since we have been sharing killer ideas with you on our blog for some time now, we thought the name change seemed appropriate, and we chose factor1ideas.com very specifically. This blog will share ideas revolving around factor1.
We will still talk about all things factor1 here. Site launches, Case studies, Testimonials, geeky stuff like how we did something, and design related stuff. We hope to continue to share great info with you.
That said, there is a new blog in the works. A bigger blog. More on that in a few days when its all ready to share with you.
There are a lot of things that we never try for lack of courage, extra finances or motivation. However, we all know that some of the best discoveries are made through relentless trials and successive errors. Our businesses and organizations are very much our labs for experimentation. Don’t let our slick websites fool you… we are still learning a lot and trying a lot. We have so much more to learn even though there are a few things we do very well.
But how about you? What are you experimenting with? What new idea do you need to just try? What service have you been afraid to implement or eliminate?
Keep experimenting. Keep trying. Keep enjoying what you have begun.
As part of our on going series, The Web Manual, we continue with Search Engines part 2. Last week, in part 1, we talked about content, content, and more content.
So content is important. Some say the most important. Now lets say you do have great content. but so does your competitor. Uhh ohh, now what? Lets talk about other proactive measures you can take to help your search rankings.
Image alternate content tags.
When inserting your image to a page, most CMS tools will give you the option for an image title. A good and relevant image title can often be the doorway a user takes to your site. What does this look like you ask?
<img src="images/mypageimage.jpg" alt="This is all about the image" />
Links. This one is two parts.
So you have links to all of your pages, and your content is cross linked. Add some relevant content to those links.
-part a, the title.
<a href="mylink.html" title="link title goes here" />
The title helps to identify the link content
-part b, the link content.
<a href="mylink.html" title="link title goes here" />my link content</a/>
Notice the words used for the link. This can also be descriptive, or a keyword.
Being specific here can lead to great search results. Assuming the terms you use for the title and the link content are relevant to the destination pages content.
Site maps
A site map is a simple file that identifies all content in your site, and its hierarchy. A good CMS driven site will be able to auto generate this for you, but you may want to do it manually for ultimate control. Once you have your sitemap, you should also submit the sitemap to google webmaster tools.Yes, any great factor1 site with a CMS can auto generate this sitemap for you. Just ask us how if its not already part of your site.
Incoming links.
This is one of the larger factors that will help your site. An incoming link is anyone that links to you. This can be even better if they follow our notes about link titles and content.
Acquiring incoming links is an entire new post, but the more places linking to your site, the better chances of a good ranking you have. Especially if they are referencing relevant content, providing titles, and so on. Purchasing links is frowned upon by the SEO powers that be, but earning them is okay. I will share more on getting incoming links in the next few weeks.
Have website questions you want addressed? comment here and we’ll add it to the list.
Grumpy, scared people miss out on the best marketing opportunities.
Down the street from my house is a delicious little bakery; fresh doughnuts, pastries and breads every morning. Across the street from this bustling little place are two nameless businesses and a therapeutic massage clinic. During the busy mornings you can’t find parking in front of the bakery. The clinic and nameless business are not yet hitting their stride so they have ample parking. BUT these 3 businesses have a huge NO PARKING sign in their lot for any patrons of businesses other than theirs. If you dare park there as I do, you risk a tongue lashing and a possible tow. The only thing I every remember about their businesses is their hostility towards the parking space thieves. If I needed the service I would easily drive 30 minutes or more before getting my clinical massages at that business. We have all experienced this before. Hopefully, we are not those kinds of organizational leaders.
Think creatively with me for a moment —
What if those 3 businesses saw their parking spaces as a potential audience?
What if they put kind notes on my car? Placed a coupon my windshield? (I can’t prevent them, I am in their spaces after all.) What if they invited me in to look around as part of a parking space trade? What if they had a doughnut morning in their lot in cooperation with the bakery? What if they did advertising over at the bakery in cooperation for opening up morning parking spaces? The ideas could just keep flowing but you get the point. The 3 grumpy businesses are missing a positive marketing opportunity.
Unfortunately, we may also be missing these same kinds of opportunities. So, who is around you that is successful? How can you intertwine their success with yours? What positive marketing opportunities exist for you that you are missing out on that may very well be right in front of your face? Who is coming by your business but leaving with a sour impression before they even purchase? How do you reach them?
Creative questions and identifying opportunities make for thriving businesses.