web notes - a blog

If content is moved to a different domain, one way to create a sitemap for old content is to use a database query.

First, find out the blog id:

select * from evo_categories;

Next, use this query to extract all posts in the categories that are part of that blog:

select concat(’http://domain.com/’,date_format(post_datecreated,’%Y/%m/%d/’),post_urltitle) from evo_items__item join evo_categories on (evo_items__item.post_main_cat_ID=evo_categories.cat_ID) where evo_categories.cat_blog_ID=target_blog_id into outfile ’sitemap.txt’;

If you don’t have permissions to export into an outfile (.CSV file), you can just cut and pasted out of puTTY into NotePad or vi and then change the file to be a sitemap. Another option would be to pipe the MySQL output into a file and edit it.

The simplest sitemap is a list of URLs, with a different URL on each line. Remove any surrounding text or characters and then submit the sitemap to Google.

Many open source companies have partner programs. Companies that become partners demonstrate a commitment to the open source software.

Partnership does not guarentee qualification or competency. Before allowing partnership to influence your selection of a company, the following factors should be considered.

In most cases, companies purchase partnerships in an attempt to gain referrals and to access support resources. One may assume that purchasing a partnership to gain referrals indicates marketing difficulties or sales problems. Access to support resources is more difficult to assess, because companies that are pushing the envelope definitely need support occassionally, but support may also mean inexperience.

Companies that claim to be active participants in an open source community should provide links to their contributions. Contributions may range from bug fixes, extensions, themes, sample code, documentation, forum support, and donations. If a company can’t quickly show how they have contributed, their claim may not be honest.

The number of sites developed with an open source application can be a good indicator of experience level, assuming the team has the maturity to strive to improve their skills on every project. Any company that claims to be an expert with a product should have at least ten sites using the application. No two projects are the same. No two clients are the same. An expert company should have experience with enough different projects that they should have learned how to best resolve the most common issues.

A company should also state clearly what their specialty is with the application. No web company is good at everything. Some are stronger in design, some are better at integrating applications, some build excellent custom applications. Any company that doesn’t clearly state what they do best, and who can benefit most from their services may not have a real strength. They may be competent in many areas, but their solutions may not be as good as other companies.

Open source service providers may only work with one application. In that case, if you have already chosen the application, and you are sure that you want to use it, the company may be a good fit. However, if you don’t have a clear understanding of the available options, selecting a company that really only works with one application is likely to force your decision to fit their skill set. For a very large project, it may be better to invest some time in researching the requirements and the best path toward meeting them, prior to choosing a provider. Single product providers may also have a more limited skillset, due to the reduced exposure. The more applications you work with, the more you learn.

Never forget that open source applications are available for everyone. Check the resumes of the people who will be working on your project. Consider the level of education and the years of experience. Ensure they are inline with your expectations. Do the engineers have Computer Science degrees? Do the designers have Graphic Design or Art degrees? How many years of experience do they have? Do their titles match their education and experience?

Remember that a company that is very comfortable with a product, has a strong team that needs little support, and delivers quality work on time and under budget has little need for partnership agreements. They can stand on their own.

1. Check all email addresses and ensure they are valid and current. If there is a private registration, you will have to change it to public.
2. Unlock the domain(s).
3. Request an authorization code. You should receive an email with the domain name and code.
4. Go to the new registrar and initiate a transfer, using the domain name and corresponding authorization code.
5. In a few days, you should receive an email with a confirmation link.
6. After you click the confirmation link, the transfer should be completed in a day or so.
7. Check the DNS settings to ensure everything still works.

Concrete5 (http://www.concrete5.org/) offers a great way to create a site quickly, and be able to customize it later.

This is a valuable service, because many people start with a simple site, and then want to extend it. Concrete5 gives you all the access you need, so that when you are ready to extend the site, in any way, you are ready. This also means you can start with their hosted solution, then move gracefully to your own server.

They have a great collection of themes/skins/designs to choose from: http://www.concrete5.org/index.php?cID=614

This solution allows you to run a very powerful system without the help of an expensive web development firm. They handle the hosting, application upgrades, and security.

You may need help setting up email, but you can contact them or a hosting company. The prices are excellent.

Check it out.

Many web companies focus on SEO to generate traffic for sites. One may argue that SEO is used to define the contents of the content with an objective of enhancing the position of the page or site within the result sets of search engines.

Using a list of keywords expected to deliver valid site visitors, then building the content around them, is reversing the priorities.

If site visitors arrive at the site, the content is what they will see. The strategy that brought them there is transparent. Poor content won’t compensate for high traffic.

A site’s content should be carefully chosen to reflect the company’s mission, the site’s mission, the products and services, information available. Although the technical aspects of page construction should be in compliance with the recommendations of the search engines (for example, the use of title tags on links and images), link based navigation in addition to javascript controls, proper use of title and header tags), the focus should be on welcoming the visitor with a professional, informative page - regardless of entry point.

The layout of the page should support the content by offering an attractive page. It must consider the types of devices it will be displayed on.

Recommendations

Have the entire marketing team learn about SEO. It is vital that they understand SEO so that they can avoid any pitfalls, before developing content.

Answer the following questions, provide the indicated information:

• What is the mission of the company?
• Are there special characteristics or qualities of the company that make it different from others?
• What does the company do?
• What are the products and services? Include alternatives, to help site visitors understand what the company offers, what the other options are, and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
• Approximate pricing data. Site visitors should have a ‘ballpark’ figure of what things cost.
• What is the objective of the site? A web site can’t be everything to everyone. A good start is a clear collection of information to help a site visitor decide if they would like to contact the company. Chasing complex applications like social networks may not have any advantage.
• What is the target market?
• Are there situations the company would like to avoid? For example, a company with very talented engineers may want to avoid small projects because the overhead makes profit difficult. Although this information probably won’t be on the site, understanding it will help tailor the content.
• What do the competitors’ sites look like? Understand what people will see as they search for businesses like yours. Learn from them, features that look valuable, issues that should be avoided, etc.
• Examine the current site statistics and SEO metrics to see what pages people are viewing. Save this data and use it as a benchmark. This allows the effect of content updates to be quantitatively analyzed.

Most people will not watch complex Flash videos, it may be better to rotate a series of simple images or use a simple Flash video to bring the page to life.

When people arrive at a site, they are interested in what you can do for them. They are less interested in what you have done for others.

Be honest in the list of skills, products, and services in your arsenal. A huge list of skills and experience implies either that the company has many employees, very high turnover, an inflated opinion of itself, or considers exposure the same as experience. The web is fairly specialized, it is better to be able to do a few things well, than many things poorly. Be specific, ensure the site visitor understands what you are good at and why it makes your company a good choice. Clients do not want to fund training, education, or learning curves unnecessarily. Don’t imply that your company loves a challenge. Every project should be a challenge to excel, but it should be to advance existing skills, not start from scratch.

List active and direct clients only. If you were a subcontractor on a project, it is unfair to claim the end-client as a client, unless the end-client is fully aware of your company’s involvement and contribution. Inflating your credentials with the prestige of others is wrong and unethical. State only the work your company performed, it is also immoral to claim performance of work your company didn’t do.

Provide an integrated search so people can quickly find information.

Make it easy to contact the company. The contact link should be easy to find, and if there is a form, it should be easy to use. If the volume of contact traffic is significant, offer FAQs and integrate knowledgebases to allow site visitors to get answers immediately. Consider online help or chat features.

Tell about all the people in the company, not just the CEO. It can generalized, listing the technical teams and skills, or personalized with names, images, and brief biographies. This helps site visitors see who you are, and transforms the impersonal text on the screen into a visual impression of your people.

Testimonials and references have limited value. No one is going to post a negative reaction to their work.

Be sure the page loads quickly enough for the majority of the target audience. People abandon slow pages very quickly.

Make it easy for potential candidates to find employment opportunties, but don’t place career opportunities on the home page. It may be interpreted as an indication of growth, but it can also represent staffing shortages or high turnover.

The tone of the site content must be established. If it is a professional organization, the tone should remain professional through all content. Attendance at conferences should be presented in terms of what the company contributed and gained. It shouldn’t look like a vacation post or an adventure. Informal content in blogs or other posts should be avoided entirely. It is too difficult to predict how people will interpret or perceive the authors based on simple text posts.

If the site is extremely large, use subdomains to break content and features into logical areas.

Support resources should be easy to find and navigate through.

Viral marketing, the use of interesting, interactive content which can be shared with others through links may soon be relegated to the same status as forwarded joke emails - where many people disregard them entirely. Although many people consider the web a place to have fun, a business site striving to attract clients should avoid attempting to entertain people, and focus on informing those that are likely to become customers.

Demonstrations and sample services are extremely valuable, especially for software. Site visitors should be able to login, push some buttons, edit some settings or material, change colors, see the features, to understand the products better. Even if you must purchase additional licenses for software to support this, or develop a small amount of supporting code, the investment will probably be extremely cost-effective.

If you choose to avoid technologies, post them on the site with a discussion of why your company is not using them. This will serve to educate the site visitor, and may reduce calls from people who would be better suited for other companies.

Make it clear that the company is selective about its clients. This creates an elitist attitude, people may perceive the company as more valuable because it is not willing to work with anybody, only those which meet certain criteria. If they don’t meet the criteria, they may not be well suited as clients anyway.

Instead of distributing content in informal formats or places such as Facebook, MySpace, it may be better to focus on the site itself. If Facebook and MySpace are used, the content should be synchronized, both in quality and chronology, with the site.