Why does Search Engine Optimization Cost so much?

Hi M,

Search engine optimization is a huge and complex process. (Oh, if it were only as simple as putting in the keywords where FrontPage asks for them!)It's goal is to get your site ranked on the first page of as many search engines as possible, on the theory that 80% of traffic to your site comes from search engines (which personally I don't think applies to coaches, but hey...I don't have stats on that).

Getting ranked highly requires:
1. well selected keywords and high keyword frequency and knowing where to place those keywords in your website (not just your metatags)
2. Links back to your site from related businesses
3. Relevant and interesting content that changes at least once a month.

I bid 3 hours just to do the keyword selection. There's an article on my website that explains what I do, or how you could do it yourself. http://www.girlgeekwebdesigns.com/Newsletter15.htm

Most coaches don't have the time or the budget to do a full-search engine optimization, but they need well selected keywords for the Pay Per Click programs too. So I suggest doing at least that much. Last time I got a bid for search engine optimization from a company who does nothing but that (and this was with my web designer's discount) it was $1200 for only 3 months!

Thanks for asking!
Annette

Ask Girl Geek: Fix old site or scrap it and start over?

Hi Annette,

My name is D. I've been taking classes at MC for awhile and have a coaching practice. I have a website that isn't any good...pretty maybe but not effective. I think I'd like to have some feedback about changing. I see that you have an offer for free new website consideration. Would this apply here? I might want to go ahead with changes since I'm not happy with this one....I also spent way too much money and would like not to do that again....looking for a streamlined site and maybe new hosting. I think it's wrong...maybe not coachie enough...maybe not clear. I'd really like to know what you think is wrong...or right...by the way...I am not attached to it as "precious." I appreciate direct communication...I hope to hear from you.

I think I would like it if you could give me an estimate of the time it would take to fix it. I need to do this as inexpensively as possible, and if you could give me a ballpark idea it would help me make a decision.
Bests,
D

Hi D,

To scrap the whole thing and start anew, I would refer you to my fee structure on http://www.girlgeekwebdesigns.com/fees2.htm To"fix" what you have is hard to estimate, as I threw out alot of ideas and would have to have you select what you wanted done so I could estimate the time needed.

My experience has been that redesigns of an existing site are almost as expensive or sometimes more expensive than a new site. Most people don't seem to want to spend the money to get the site working properly, much less factor in the cost of promoting it properly. They're just discouraged with the lack of resulting sales and throw money at redesign without developing a website promotion strategy, hoping that making the site look or sound better will help.

One thing I've gleaned from building lots of sites for coaches is that coaches seem to expect the website to do all the marketing work for them and that the site alone wilI bring prospective clients. All they have to do is sit by the phone and wait for it to ring. Few coaches know how to do website promotion or understand that marketing individualized services online has more to do with relationship building (which can be done via the website).

A coaching website does NOT sell coaching services, as people in search of coaching services are not impulse buyers. Prospective clients need to get to know you in some fashion, either from your writing (newsletters/articles) or your speaking (free teleclasses, presentations, audiopodiums, streaming audio, etc.) Coaches tend to put a basic, very general brochure-type site online, never do anything to promote it, never write a newsletter and then get discouraged when no one comes to the site or calls them. Often their site and their coaching practice reflects a lack of focus and little knowledge of their niche's needs. The trick to marketing any business is to find a burning problem and offer a great or new way to solve it. Alot of coaches seem to offer a service they know or are comfortable with providing and hope that someone wants it.

I don't think you told me what your performance was on the site...in terms of how you're promoting it and how many visitors you're getting to it. That may be the problem rather than the overall design of the site (although I did note where design problems with the site may be losing people). I would rather look at the whole picture of what your needs are relative to the site than redesign your site and you still not get the results you want or expected.

Thanks for asking!
Annette

Ask Girl Geek: Creating PDF files

Annette,
I have no idea how to get my word document into a pdf file. Should I ask my webmaster to do that? Maybe he will know. Or is that something clickbank converts to when they do what they need to do? I guess I am just clueless on this matter. What do I need to know to get it into the most effective form?I would be happy to share anything I know (which is little) about e-books.
Rita

Hi Rita,
You can download a FREE pdf converter called PDF 995 Print Driver....lemme see where that's at....

http://www.pdf995.com/download.html

When you write your ebook in any other document form, all you do is go to "Print" (oddly enough) and instead of your usual printer, select PDF995 and it will save it as a PDF document! Ta da!

Thanks for asking!
Annette

Ask Girl Geek: Marketing an ebook?

Hi All,

I found this on IdeaMarketers' Newsletter. For those of you who have ebooks or are thinking of them, check this out.
http://www.1chapterfree.com/

"Authors: Showcase your books to an audience who enjoys reading! When you join our network, you may upload one chapter of as many of your books as you wish. Within our site you'll have an author profile and a page on each of your books which will link over to where people may purchase your book.
Not only are you featured here, but also a text link enabling people to download a chapter of one of your books will rotate on the top of the following sites in our network:
1ChapterFree.com
BuildEbooks.com
IdeaMarketers.com
LocateACoach.com
SheLovesGod.com
You might expect to pay up to $100/month for this type of advertising exposure on a high traffic network like this, but with 1ChapterFree, you get all this exposure for only $9.95/month! And you're not locked in for any amount of time. You may quit whenever you like!"

FYI,
Annette

Ask Girl Geek: What are the advantages of a website over a print brochure

Hi Annette,
I am working on my brochure editing today...so nervous about making sure I have the "right" words for the brochure and web site...will review contract later today.
Debora

Hi Debora,

The good thing about a website is if the words aren't exactly "right" you can change them immediately with lower cost than a brochure. Writing for the web is a tad bit different than writing for print media: more bullet points, shorter paragraphs, skimmable stuff.

What I've done in the past with brochures is develop them using a text editor, then printed as many as I needed for an event or mailing, instead of going to a commercial printer and paying big bucks for 1000 only to find I have things I wanted to change later.

Best of luck on your tasks!
Annette

Ask Girl Geek: How to I get more traffic to my site?

Hello Annette

I wanted to touch base with you about the possibility to doing a bit of work with you on my website. I'm happy with how it looks and functions (though need to update content a bit),but have not done the legwork to figure out how to make the most of it in terms of generating traffic. I keep telling myself I shouldn't need to hire someone to do this, but then I don't find time to do it. Hence the inquiry.

Sarah

Hi Sarah,

Do you have your webhosting username and password so that I could go look to see if you have site statistics that tell me how much traffic you're getting and from where? I'd also need the web address of your webhosting company. That's where I would start. Then I would look at what other website promotion strategies you are using. Most coaches don't have the time, much less the knowledge of successful internet marketing. Please call me and we'll talk in more depth about your needs.
Thanks for asking!
Annette

Ask Girl Geek: How do I reduce image file size so my pages will load faster?

Hi Annette,
Infranview is quite good. However would you kindly tell me how to reduce the file or kb size of a picture. I see how to reduce or increase image size. I would be forever in your debt. Or something like that. If you can spare the time.
Oh yes, here's my newsletter.
Warm regards,
Fred

Hi Fred,

http://netmechanic.com/GIFBot/optimize-graphic.htm

This will compress image file size and show you results before you decide which to use.
Thanks for asking!
Annette

Ask Girl Geek: How do you work with your clients?

Hi,
I would like to know how you work with your clients and perhaps some examples of websites you've done.
Debora

Hi Debora,

How I work with my clients consists of approximately a one hour FREE consult to determine your needs, after which I send you a no obligation bid which is good for 30 days. The price is quote you is the price you pay for the web design. There's no cost overruns. See http://www.girlgeekwebdesigns.com/Newsletter13.htm for the 10 questions you need to answer before hiring a web designer. I may ask you to send me links to other sites you like and tell me what you like about them, so I can incorporate those ideas into your site.

Then when we sign a contract I require a deposit of half of the bid up front to start working on your site. I start by designing the look, layout, and navigation of your site. I post that to the web on my server so you can look at it and give me feedback to get it just the way you want it. Your job is to provide me with the text for the site and any images, such as personal photos, logos or original artwork you want on the site. I will provide editorial feedback about your text as writing for the web is different than writing for print. In fact, check out my newsletter at http://www.girlgeekwebdesigns.com/Web_Design_Newsletter14.htm for "Writing Well for the Web." We may touch base on the phone a few times to clarification or questions or to set up things like ezines and hosting and PayPal, if you want that on your site.

Then we'll do site testing to make sure it all looks and works the way it's supposed to. When that's done, you make your final payment. I'll have you purchase hosting and I'll upload your site to the hosting company's server after that. Voila! You're online. Then you get 3 months of FREE minor corrections following the publication of your site.

You can see all my completed sites and some that are in progress by going to my website a clicking on portfolio. I also encourage you to read the testimonials there.

Thanks for asking!
Annette

Ask Girl Geek: How can I put audio files on my website?

If I have a voice download for a class that one can access on my website, will the dsl vs dial up take different amounts of times. If so, how do I check this out so I can warn the ones who might have to wait for the download to happen? Thanks! Rita

Girl Geek's Response
Hi Rita,
Sound files, like image files, are very large usually. I would put a note to people using dial up about the amount of time to download would be ___ number of minutes. You can tell how large the file is by looking at it on your computer or the server where you site is hosted (if you've uploaded it). If the file is longer than 3 minutes in listening length, you might want to look at streaming audio, rather than just having it as a file people can download from your site.

Another thing to think about is what kind of software your site visitors will need in order to listen to your audio file. Some audio players are free or already installed on most new computers, but others will have to be downloaded from the internet. Also, the file type would need to be compatible with what software the site visitors have on their computers.

A final thought is if you have a lengthy audio file, why not consider an audiopodium, where people can call in and listen to your class. Then you just list the phone number on the site for them to call in 24/7 to listen. You can get an audiopodium from MCPer Ed Shea in Chicago.

Hope this helps!
Annette

Ask Girl Geek: How Can I resize photos to send by email

Hi,

It's easiest to send image files that are 10k (kilobites) or less as email attachments. You can resize your photos, gifs or jpeg image files using almost any graphic editor.

A nice one that's available online for FREE is at www.irfanview.com. It also compresses image files, which will help your webpages load faster. The chief thing that slows down the loading of webpages is bloated image files.

Thanks for asking!
Annette

Ask Girl Geek: What about using Web Easy 5.0?

Hi,
thank you for the search engine info. I would be interested in a future
conference call regarding websites/engines etc. I know that you do website design, I was wondering how it would work if I used a product to type in all my text etc and worked with you to add the spunk to the design. I purchsed web easy 5 and have not opened it yet, have you heard of it?
I registered a
domain with Open Door Coaching and am feeling the need to get the site up
and going. Others have said they've used "good daddy" or something like
that, what comments do you have?
Thanks for any input
Deborah

Ask Girl Geek: Help! Mac Graphic Artist vs. PC Web Designer

Hi Annette,
I have a graphic designer who has designed several things for me, the latest being my website (which is not up yet). He does not actually post things to the web, however. Herein lies the problem. He works on a Mac (like many graphic designers), and he used Quark X-Press and Adobe Illustrator for the most part. I like what he has done.

I also have a Website designer who adapts and posts designs to the web. He works on a PC and uses Adobe Photoshop among other things (I'm not sure what else).

The Webpage designer cannot read the graphic designer's files in their original program form, and the various outputs that the graphic designer has been able to make available join all of the layers together, making it very difficult to manipulate anything. I want to avoid having the website designer (who is not a polished graphic designer) try to reconstitute everything "more or less" because I think that it will result in a lot of work for him as well as in a less polished product.

Do you know a way around this Mac-PC-Quark conundrum? Can Mac-Quark files be saved in a PC format, for example? Etc, etc.

Any words of wisdom would help. I'm too far down the track here to change the fundamental parameters or players.

Dear Help,
I edited out the rant my programmer gave about never using graphic designers who don't do web work. You're learning that the hard way.

Here's his suggestions. I'll forward more from the others as I get them.
-------------------------------------------------------------
It doesn't matter if it is on a Mac or not, Quark is an impossible
program to deal with in most of my experience.
It was not designed for web development, it was designed for print
publications, and is not easily portable.

The only thing I could suggest is that all files be converted to
Illustrator if possible.
It shouldn't matter at all if it is Mac or PC Illustrator... just as
long as in the Mac you click the box to save with "PC Friendly
Extensions".
From there you should be able to find a way to save with all layers
intact.
If you can save with all layers intact, A newer version of Photoshop
should be able to read the Illustrator file and layers.

Other than that I am afraid that you are left with taking actual
screenshots of the Quark files and just splicing them in Photoshop to
create the cuts that you need.

Thanks.

If needed and you can provide all of the Quark files I might be able to
find an copy and covert them somehow to a useable format for the web
guy.

Second Opinion:

I talked to another graphic designer with 20 years+ experience.

He echos some of what the other email said. Quark and Illustrator are software programs which do not save files that can be used on the web. They are the best program to use for PRINT design, but not website.

There may be some add-ins available for Quark to make the images web ready, but you'd have to find those on the web and there would be an expense to purchase those.

What your web designer is trying to do, to replicate the graphic as close as possible to what the graphic artist is doing, is the best solution.

Who's linking to your website and where do you rank in search engines

Hi All,

You hear all the time...well, maybe YOU don't, but I do as a web designer, that link popularity and link relevancy help increase targeted traffic to your website and increase your ranking in search engines.

If you want to know how many other sites are linking to yours and in what search engines, here's a handy little tool.
http://www.freewebsubmission.com/link-popularity.html
Check out your site and that of you main competitors. Then talk to your web designer about optimizing your site for search engines.

Also, if you want to know if and where you're ranking in the search engines, go to
http://www.freewebsubmission.com/site-ranking.html
and enter your website name and the main keywords used on your site.

If all of this is gibberish to you and you want to learn more about optimizing your website for higher rankings in search engines, send me an email and I will notify you of my next Q & A conference call coming soon.

Or for a thorough analysis of why your site isn't performing as well as expected, sign up for my Well Website Check-Up service. You can learn more about that by sending a blank email to WellWebsite@girlgeekwebdesigns.com and you will get a list of all that's part of this service.

Annette Vaillancourt
Girl Geek Web Designs
Custom Websites for Small Businesses on a Budget
http://www.GirlGeekWebDesigns.com
(618) 529-5886