Google-powered email

Back when Google first launched its Gmail program, you could only get a gmail account if you had an invitation. It quickly became hip to have a gmail account because only people who were “in” could get one. It also helped that Google incorporated some very cool features in its email service. It wasn’t just another email service — it was an advanced email service.

Nowadays anybody can get a Gmail account, so it is no longer in the exclusive domain of the cool techies. Also, Google has added Gmail to its suite of free business applications, so not only can you get a Gmail account, you can use Gmail to manage the email at your domain.

If you would like to have email with your web site (recommended), we will set you up with Gmail. For more information, visit Gooble Apps.

Getting Google search results

Yesterday I posted “Los Angeles non-techie needs web site” and today, when you do a Google search for “Los Angeles non techie” it comes up in the number two result.

Easy, right? Well, not so fast. While I am a little surprised at the quick results, it is not easy to make that happen. Here are the things that I did to make it happen:

1. “Los Angeles non techie” is not a common or competitive search term. There are not thousands of web sites that are trying to get to the top of that search result, therefore it was relatively easy for me to slip in there.

2. That post was designed to get a Google search result. The key term was right there in the headline, in the url, and in the page title — all places where Google looks for key terms.

3. The post was delivered from a WordPress blog, which is intentionally designed to make it as easy as possible for the search engines.

4. And finally, here is really the only reason that it showed up in Google search results so well and so quickly: I posted a link to it on my other site, West L.A. Online, with the key term in the anchor text (the hyperlinked text).

The reason the link on West L.A. Online was so effective is that it is a web site that I have been working on for over five years. It is well established on the web and in the search engines as a news and information site for West Los Angeles. It takes time and effort to establish that kind of reputation.

The point of this exercise is three-fold. First, it demonstrates that I have some expertise in search engine optimization (SEO). Second, it’s not easy to get get meaningful results from SEO. And third, it’s not too hard to make it look easy. Beware of SEO snake oil.

Los Angeles non-techie needs web site

If the message you are trying to communicate is local, then location needs to be part of your SEO strategy.

Websites for Non-Techies is most valuable when we can meet face-to-face with our clients. That makes us a local business, and in our case, that means Los Angeles.

In recent years, search engines such as Google have been putting a lot of effort into capturing what they call “local search.” If you are looking for a dry cleaner, entering simply “dry cleaner” in a search engine won’t get you very good results, so people have learned that if they want something local, they have to indicate something in their search term about location. The simplest thing to do is include the city in the search term. Search engines are working hard to ensure that they can recognize place names entered as a search term.

If you want your web site to be associated with a particular location, you can help search engines by using your place name on your web site — just like this blog post.

Getting serious about email

When you have your own domain (e.g. yourdomain.com) and your own web site, you also get email at that domain.

Your email address sends a signal. Right or wrong, your email address can indicate how serious you are about your online presence. It may not be a fair assessment, but whenever I see an AOL email address on a business card, it tells me that this person is, shall we say, unsophisticated about the web. The same goes for email addresses that are provided by an internet service provider, like a telephone company or cable company.

If you are serious enough about your online presence to register a domain and get a web site, you must also signal that seriousness by having an email address at that domain.

Having a business email address doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to give up the personal email address you have been using, nor does it mean you have to learn a new email program, or monitor it seperately from your personal email. We can set up your business email address to forward to the email address you actively use, so that nothing has to change in your current email routine.

It is absolutely imperitive, no matter what email address you use, that you read your email on a regular basis. Nothing is worse that allowing email to go unread for more than a long weekend. In the other hand, those who really want to make an impression will monitor and respond to email on an hourly basis at least. You have to decide for yourself what level of responsiveness is right for you.

Informal consultation

Informal consultation refers to “talk time.” Unlike a lawyer, I will not be punching the clock every time we speak or meet. I am happy to discuss your needs and give you free advice. I want you to succeed with your web site, because if you do, you can become a long-term low-maintenance client. I want lots of successful long-term low-maintenance clients.

That being said, we also have to be reasonable about how much time we take with informal consultation. I fully expect to spend more time in the beginning of our relationship, but over time, as you learn more, you will need less consultation. That is a good thing.

If I feel that we are taking too much time with our talks, I reserve the right to put a limit on our informal consultations.

Technical support

Technical support refers to time spent “hands-on” your web site. It’s time spent adding pages, modifying code, or otherwise doing something that changes your web site. Technical support is when my expertise is most utilized, essentially doing something that you cannot do yourself.

Your monthly fee is mostly for technical support (my time and expertise) which is why it is much higher than a simple hosting fee.

Over time, it is my goal to reduce your need for technical support and enable you to become self-sufficient in the operation of your web site. As your needs for technical support changes, we can also change your monthly fee.

Technical support does not include “talk-time.” The time we spend talking about your needs falls under the category of informal consultation.

Two kinds of hosting: website and domain

Sometimes it can be a little confusing when techies talk about hosting. The term simply refers to the location (on what computer) files can be found. It gets confusing because when we are talking about hosting with regard to websites, we could be talking about one of two things: website hosting or domain hosting.

Website site hosting refers to where the files for a website are being hosted. The domain, which is your URL (e.g. www.yourdomain.com) points to your website, but it may not be hosted at the same location as your website. For example, the domain WestLAonline.com is hosted by GoDaddy, but points to the website files that are hosted by Dreamhost.

So if you are every talking to a techie about hosting, you might need to clarify which hosting you are talking about: website hosting or domain hosting.