Warmest Greetings,

:: Tuesday, November 18, 2003 ::

First off, I'd like to send Robert Clough public kudos for his family's loving care of a "dog in need" they took into their home. He gives details here in Monday's Daily Search Engine News

I live with "fart dog". It seems as though Dakota, my Golden Retriever 6 month old puppy, likes to let us know when he's around in ways humans find hard to tolerate. The Vet said "Change to a more expensive dog food." What do you think? Who has a cure for farting dogs?

Back on topic. (As if this blog ever stays focused...)

Word from Daniel Bazac of Web Design in New York is that he has joined Blog-Town and started his own SEO oriented blog called Bazac Weblog, Blog about the Search Engines and Search Engine Marketing News and Articles. I visited and found that the SEO side of Blog-Town is getting crowded with more and more interesting folks. The majority of the sites he points out are on my "Daily Travels" list, but he found more such as:

SuccessWorks by Detlev Johnson & Heather Lloyd-Martin

SageRock Web Marketing Weblog (Aren't these the folks who wrote the hilarious SEO song last Christmas season?)

and

Search Ethos Best Practices for Search Usability and SEO

Check out Danial Bazac's blog to find much more. Where in the heck he finds time to read all this stuff, I couldn't begin to guess, but he's certainly got the spirit of blogging in his soul.

Speaking of searching and linking, this is even funnier than people thinking I'm a Sex Goddess. I received an email that says "Dear Sir, We have surveyed your web site and pleased to know your company has been engaged in producing advanced-level nitrogen generator." First of all, last time I looked down, "sir"- parts weren't part of the picture.

What do "florida" and "February" have in common? How about Google? In Cre8asiteForums and other forums, people are noticing all kinds of weird things about a possible dance and time warp back to days gone by. Google does this on purpose. Haven't you figured it out yet? If we always knew what was happening over there, we'd have nothing to talk about. I mean, like, where are the furious debates about FAST and Teoma?

I'm like a lot of you in that I'm desperately trying to keep up with everything related to my work and career. Sometimes tips and reminders are found in places you'd least expect, such as this UIE seminar information page. Called Information Architecture Design Made Simple: How to Design a Simple, Yet Robust Web Site the page is about Gerry McGovern's seminar event, but it also contains great information such as

"Information architecture is not a technology issue. It is a publishing issue. Many websites have been held back because there has been too much focus on technology and fancy software. Simplicity is the key to designing a quality web site. People aren't at your site to 'enjoy' themselves. They're there to get some work done--to find some information. Customers are most happy when they get their content quickly."

All in a day's romp:

Hey Ya! Microsoft to Sell Web Music


When you want it to rain on your parade, read The Pay or Not-to-Pay Conundrum by Kevin Ryan

"I’d like to end the debate on which form of search is best, paid or unpaid, with some common sense: Nothing in life is free and all search is paid. One pays a search engine optimization firm, specialist staffer, or analytics provider. One might also pay for URLs to be fed to a search site, or pay to bid for listing positions in direct proximity to one’s competitor’s listings. All search is paid, and all search traffic can be boiled down to a click cost.

After attending (and participating in) the recent Ad:Tech New York panels on search, it is abundantly clear to me the paid and natural search worlds are still not communicating in harmony. I overheard at least one senior online marketing executive saying, “Search is promising the world right now and that will be its undoing.” Last week’s IAB/Pricewaterhouse Coopers 2003 to-date advertising revenue report confirmed the explosive growth of search citing a 22% increase in format spending since last year. Search advertisers are becoming pill-popping junkies hooked on the immediate gratification fix."

Redesign or tortured to submission? Tackling Usability Gotchas in Large-scale Site Redesigns by Jeffrey Zeldman

"We had no intention of breaking our old URLs. Yet, midway through the redesign, it looked as if we might have to."

KeywordRanking.com's Andy Beal found this meaty article called Coming soon: Market-share wars by Bambi Francisco. It's loaded with crystal ball stuff on search engine companies, and more, like

"In Smith Barney's November Internet analysis, Lanny Baker told his clients that "product development cost, marketing expenses, and stock options all appear to be on the rise next year as Internet companies appear to be bracing for increased competition, users, customers and employers."

Um. She said "users". Is your website ready for them?

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 11/18/2003 03:04:45 PM

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