Pro Search: Jobs in Maine

Yesterday flyte launched a redesigned Web site for Pro Search, a Portland, Maine-based job recruiting firm.

Whether you're an IT professional, into accounting and finance, sales & marketing, office support, or you want to search all open positions, Pro Search is the place to start.

Prospective employees can simply apply online to the Pro Search recruiter. Tired of retyping the same information into dozens of job search Web sites? You can click a button to have your information automatically extracted from your resume! (Now, that's cool.)

So, if you've been thinking about relocating to Maine, but you wanted to land a job first, be sure to check out Pro Search today. And after you land that job, be sure to swing by flyte and we'll go grab a celebratory beer (or coffee, if it's before 9:15 am.)

Rich Brooks
Maine Web Design

Tags: Job Search | Jobs In Maine | Maine Web Design

Create a Watchlist at Technorati

Setting up a Watchlist at Technorati is easy, especially when someone shows you how. That's why I put together this short video tutorial on how to set up a watchlist at Technorati. (QuickTime, 3MB).

Before you start you'll need a free Technorati account. Once you've got that taken care of, log into your account and set up your Watchlists.

What is a Technorati Watchlist?
It's basically a saved search. Unlike a traditional search engine, you'll probably be searching for the same topics again and again..."email marketing," "Web marketing," "Rich Brooks", "rich brooks", "brooks, rich." You get the idea.

By creating a Watchlist you'll be able to find the newest posts on your areas of interest with the click of a mouse. Keep tabs on what people are saying about you, your competition, your industry, or free agency rumors on Adam Vinatieri.

Once your Watchlist is set up you can find it on your Technorati home page or subscribe to the RSS feed.

I've found that Watchlists on subjects like "email-marketing," "business-blogs," or "web-marketing" often lead me to great ideas from others that I then steal integrate into my own blog posts. Also, it often uncovers great new blogs that I would have otherwise never found, and can often lead to new connections (and new places to leave comments and trackbacks.)

Why the hyphens in the Watchlists above? They seem to pull better results as the words are connected. Without the hyphen Technorati doesn't seem to care if the words appear anywhere near each other.

How do I set up a Technorati Watchlist?
Watch the movie!

What are some alternatives to Technorati Watchlist?
There are dozens of ways to stay abreast of topics in your industry. Two that I've used in the past are Google Alerts and PubSub. Google Alerts tends to send you news and press releases about a given topic, while PubSub tracks blogs and Web sites.

Rich Brooks
Watchlist Me

Tags: Technorati | Watchlist | Business Blogging | Google Alerts | PubSub

Blogs vs. Web Sites: Is There a Difference?

Rich Ord, from WebProBlog, proffers that Blogs Are Just Websites, Stupid.

To paraphrase the comment I left on his blog, he brings up some interesting points, but I'm going to have to disagree.

Yes, there are a lot of similarities between blogs and Web sites; in fact, Web sites or pages are one iteration of blogging. But the URL of a blog is just one of its faces.

Many people have visited a blog without knowing it, and still don't know what a "blog" is.

I completely agree with his belief that there will be a (further) blurring between blogs and Web sites; soon the word "blog" may become obsolete and blogging technology will integrated w/in most Web site software packages.

And yes, there's too much buzz about blogs changing the world.

However, blogs are different than Web sites. If they weren't, I wouldn't be able to leave a comment on his blog. If he had trackbacks enabled, I could have created a post on my blog and seen it there...and others could have followed the conversation from one blog to another.

While I'm sure that there are technologies out there that allow all of these items on a Web site, the fact is that a good browser blogging platform allows all of this to happen easily. It creates a community of users, which has unfortunately been dubbed the blogosphere.

Also, although you can add RSS to any Web site, it's really blogging and podcasting that have made the technology so usable for the vast majority of people. RSS, in my mind, is the biggest difference between Web sites and blogs. Without RSS, podcasts would just be downloadable audio, and that's been around since almost the beginning of the Web.

When I talk to my clients I often bring up blogs and just as often hear, "what's the difference between a blog and a Web site?"

My answer is evolving, but in general I say that your Web site is your portfolio; it's the best of what you have to offer and displays your business as you want the world to see it. A blog, on the other hand, is more an ongoing conversation you have with prospects and clients. It can help you establish yourself as an expert, post information quickly, and differentiate yourself from the competition...at least right now.

So, yes, there are a lot of overlaps in what a Web site can do and what a blog can do; however, blogs are definitely not JUST Web sites.

What do you think?

Rich Brooks
Web Designer, Business Blogger

Tags: Blogs | Web Sites

Web Marketing for Small Business - Free Teleseminar

When I first started this whole blogging thing I used to listen to the Conversations with Experts; interviews with well-known business bloggers by Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff who run a few different blogs, including Build a Better Blog.

Imagine my surprise when Denise emailed me after my recent newsletter asking if I'd like to be part of their ongoing teleseminar series. (Go ahead, imagine. I can wait.)

The topic will be Web Marketing Strategies for Small Business (hey! that's the name of this blog!) and it will be March 8th at 8:30pm EST.

You can learn more about the teleseminar and/or register online. There's no cost for the seminar, outside of long distance charges you may incur. The recording will also be available afterwards, for $4.95 or $9.95, depending on when you act.

The format is interview style, and they open it up to general Q&A afterwards. So, if you have a question on Web marketing, especially if you're a small business owner or entrepreneur, give a call.

Questions on search engine optimization, email marketing, business blogs, podcasts, article marketing, link building, calls-to-action, whatever! Fire away.

Rich Brooks
"Expert" May Be a Euphemism

Tags: Web Marketing | Online Marketing | Small Business | Entrepreneur | Conversations with Experts | Denise Wakeman | Patsi Krakoff

Affordable Web Site Design

Introducing ProSites 2.0.

Good. Quick. Cheap. Pick Three.

If you're looking for an affordable Web site with a quick turnaround check out flyte's new ProSites 2.0.

We recently retired our first series of ProSites -- our pre-designed Web sites -- for the new ProSites 2.0. There are three different designs, each with three color schemes.

Prices start at $499 and they can be launched in as little as 5 business days. (Be sure to check out the fine print, though!)

These are not Do-It-Yourself Web packages! If you're a DIY'er you can find cheaper solutions elsewhere. However, if you want an inexpensive Web site that will help you grow your business, and want help and advice from a Web marketing firm, ProSites could be the right solution for you.

You won't be thrown into a admin area where you have to build a Web site with no support. You'll be working with real, live people (the flyte crew), who want to help you build a Web site that builds your business.

It's easy enough to add on a contact form, share this page feature, even a site search to help visitors navigate your site. You can also add an HTML email newsletter for $500. We'll create a complementary design for your e-newsletter so that your subscribers will immediately recognize it as yours. (I've found that a compelling email newsletter offers some of the best return on investment out there.)

You'll get detailed traffic reports updated daily to tell you who's visiting your site, what pages they're going to, how long they're staying, how they found you and more.

We'll submit you to the most important search engines and directories upon the launch of your site. We'll be around after your site launches to provide advice, help you with Web marketing, and update your site. (Or, you can update your site yourself.)

Oh! Almost forgot. You'll get a free copy of 7 Days to Search Engine Success, normally $19.99.

Now, of course we continue to design custom Web sites for most of our clients, but if you're looking to get your business up and running on the Web quickly, inexpensively, and professionally, please contact us about our ProSites today.

Rich Brooks
Good. Quick. Cheap(skate).

Tags: Affordable Web Site Design | Web Site Design | Email Marketing | Web Site Marketing

Technorati's Celebrity Faves: Is This What the World Needs?

This morning I noticed that Technorati has a new feature: Celebrities' Favorite Blogs.

Now, of course you can roll your own favorites list, or "blogroll", as some of us in the industry call it, but Technorati's promoting it by using some familiar names, such as Arianna Huffington, David Sifry and Doc Searls.

So, although the blogosphere is a place where anyone can have a soapbox, we're still victim to the fact that we live in a celebrity culture. (I know some people would argue that these aren't necessarily household names, but these people are well-known in the blogosphere.)

The bottom line is that due to the promotion, sites that are favored by these people will continue to grow in popularity, perhaps at the expense of other blogs. A different argument would be that all boats rise with the tide. And it is possible that these people will turn many of us on to great, undiscovered blogs.

Is this a good idea, to promote the favorites of just a few? Well, the site is called Technorati.

So, what to do? Start kissing Arianna's ass, I guess.

Rich Brooks
Arianna, David, Doc...I Love You, Man!

Tags: Technorati | Technorati Favorites | Celebrity Culture | David Sifry | Doc Searls | Arianna Huffington | Christopher Michel

Wright-Ryan Launches Maine Construction Blog

Wright-Ryan Construction has launched their new Maine Construction Blog, designed and developed by flyte new media.

Besides talking about current and upcoming projects (including photos from the field), Allison Stoddard, WR's inhouse blogger will be tackling such topics as affordable housing, green construction, and sustainability.

Future plans include adding webcams to show current work and password-protected blogs for clients to log into so that they can get regular updates from the field supervisors that will include photos, webcams and journal entries.

Rich Brooks
Sustainable Web Design

Tags: Business Blogs | Construction Blogs | Maine Blogs | Green Construction | Sustainability

USA Today Doesn't Know SEO

Lee Odden takes USAToday.com to task for a search engine optimization article they ran.

He calls it "baloney." Ouch!

Lee does a great job explaining and debunking some common myths about search engine optimization that our nation's most popular and unread newspaper chooses to further.

But Lee! When you say:

Web designers are not search engine optimization experts. In fact, it's web designers that keep most of us SEO practitioners so busy.

well, I gotta take exception, man! Some of us know our stuff. ;^)

Rich Brooks
Web Designer AND Search Engine Marketer

Tags: Lee Odden | USA Today | Search Engine Optimization | SEO

Paid Podcasts Have Arrived

Air. Water. Television. Things that were free, and now are not. Add podcasting to the list.

ZDNet reports that the Ricky Gervais podcast, one of the most popular shows at Apple's iTunes, will be moving to a paid-only version at Audible.

Gervais is probably best well-known for the wincingly-funny, British (and original) version of The Office.

While it's still untested whether people will be willing to pay for something that had been free, it was only a matter of time before someone started charging. The bottom line is that when people create art or content, they generally need to be compensated for their work. Whether paid podcasts becomes a viable business model only time will tell.

Rich Brooks
My Podcasts Are Still Free!

Tags: Ricky Gervais | Audible | Podcasting

Broken Windows, Broken Web Sites

Today's issue of flyte log, our free email newsletter, is titled Broken Windows, Broken Web Sites: Why Your Web Site is Underperforming. The title came from Michael Levine's Broken Windows, Broken Business, an audiobook I reviewed a while back, (which in turn came from the broken windows theory on urban crime.)

The basic premise of the article is that so many business Web sites fail visitors by making small, easily-rectified mistakes, causing us lost business and lost opportunities. In the retail business peeling paint or a dirty floor might turn customers off; on the Web site it's broken links, bad spelling and grammar, confusing navigation and similar problems. (The article details some of the most infuriating problems common to business Web sites.)

Too many site owners are overly-focused on driving more traffic to their site, but not in making it a pleasant experience for their visitors once they get there.

To illustrate this point, let me tell you a little story.

(Did I just hear some groans? You there! Did you just roll your eyes?)

Here at flyte we sometimes break out a record player on Fridays and bust out some gems from our collective LP collection. (Thanks, Robin!) In MacWorld or MacAddict last month I saw this USB powered turntable by a company called Ion Audio. The URL was http://www.ion-audio.com.

As I often do, I typed "ion-audio" into my address bar in Firefox. 95% of the time this will bring me to the correct URL; it's the same thing as typing in a Google search and hitting the "I feel lucky" button. When the site came up I noticed that I was at http://www.ionaudio.com. Seeing the turntable on the front page, I assumed that Ion Audio owned both of these domains. However, upon further searching, it appears they don't.

That's the first strike. Now I don't know that everyone would agree that not coming up first for your domain name is a broken window, especially when the first result is a company that appears to sell nothing but your products. However, what if you have a falling out with a vendor? Shouldn't you control your own destiny? I consider it to be a broken window when you don't take the necessary steps to be easily found for your company name, and even more so when typing in your domain name into a search box brings up someone else's site.

When I typed in the full URL I got to the Ion Audio Web site. I can see why they didn't come up number one: their home page title is "Ion Home Page." Not even their full company name. That also happens to be the page title of all of the Web pages on their site. The PageRank of their home page was a lowly 2, and the other pages in the site were big goose eggs.

Being the buttinsky that I am, I went to their contact page (titled "Ion Home Page") to make some helpful recommendations. Their contact page doubles as a product registration page. Amazingly, there's no field to enter in comments or questions! Unless you're registering a product, the contact form is completely useless.

I still tried to contact them through the form, putting some short questions in fields like "Date of Purchase" and "Place of Purchase". Sure, I could have viewed the source code and sent the email direct to their submit@ address, but is that really what most site visitors will do?

When I clicked on the submit form I got a 404 Page Not Found error. Nor did I ever hear back from this company. Did my email go through? Who knows?

Needless to say we didn't get the turntable.

Later I did find their email address on their support page; however, their other contact info (phone, street address,) appear nowhere on the site as far as I can tell. The site seems set up to turn away prospects, not convert them into customers or clients.

For a very small investment they could develop their site into a much better tool for growing their business. The whole approach seems very head-in-the-sand to me.

So, take a look at your own Web site (after you've read the article on common Web site mistakes and how to fix them,) and see if it's helping you grow your business, or your competitors'.

Rich Brooks
Broken Hearted Web Designer

Tags: Web Design | Web Development | Web Site Usability | Broken Windows