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GD, in appreciation of your help thus far on the topic...
I've assembled the below, hope it saves you some time in writing your future post on the subject, which I'm sure will be of help to myself and others. Best Regards - AP
Some Important Considerations for Custom Website Development
(Excerpts from GD’s guidance on the subject to Ash)
1. There are better ways to get to a feature rich web presence than hand building static web pages. If you are the primary administrator and are also taking care of all site building and content publishing, you should be looking at a content management system (CMS), a platform to handle search engine optimization, promotion, content organizing (including archiving) and publishing.
2. A website is not optimized for Google simply because it shows up at some point in search results for its own name. It can be considered as such when all of the basic site construction tasks relevant to optimization are completed, targetted keywords have been researched and added to the meta tags and the site content reflects those keywords with appropriate keyword density. The proof in the pudding is when the website is returned in search results for the targetted keywords.
3. Utilizing social media sites is the best way to round up a large potential audience in a short period of time.
4. Create a checklist of features and capabilities you would like to incorporate.
5. Considering future extensibility is vital.
6. A self publishing platform plugged into various social media sites with an interactive component and multiple, interest propagating calls to action for site visitors is the most likely avenue for success.
posted by
ash_pradhan
on March 25, 2012 at 3:28 PM
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Re: ash_pradhan - This brings the original question back to the surface
I think I understand what you mean by that last statement.
So, to summarize from my entrepreneurial viewpoint:
Goal - Substantially increase global exposure, marketability and revenue of / from my poetry work.
Current Status - Both personal and publisher websites with limited capability.
Next steps towards trhe above goal:
1. Leverage current work / investment to the extent feasible / practical / beneficial.
2. Clearly outline a social media based marketing strategy going forward.
3. Clearly specify specific development / customization next steps.
4. Provide cost / time estimates for each of #3.
5. Suggest revenue-sharing possibilities / options.
6. Of the above, launch by Oct 2012 whatever is feasible & affordable.
Please feel free to comment / guide on the above at your convenience in whatever form you see fit. Thank you for your time & interest.
posted by
ash_pradhan
on March 25, 2012 at 1:45 PM
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ash_pradhan - This brings the original question back to the surface
What do you want your web site to do for you?
The Xlibris online bookstore would eliminate the need for a shopping cart utility on your website if you are only providing a means of purchasing your own works exclusively. If you continue to use static web pages, Xlibris likely has linking code that could be incorporated into your web design.
But sometimes that approach is limiting, potentially excluding willing contributors to site content and its promotion. I cannot help but think that a self publishing platform plugged into various social media sites with an interactive component and multiple, interest propagating calls to action for site visitors is the most likely avenue for success in your niche.
posted by
gomedome
on March 25, 2012 at 1:17 PM
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Re: ash_pradhan - that's good, now we are both thinking the same . . .
Actually, as a part of the publishing contract, the publisher has their own web-page for each of my books with most of the features you mention http://www.xlibris.com . I just haven't had the time to do much with it vis a vis expansion / extension / marketing. Any thoughts / suggestions along those lines are welcome as well.
posted by
ash_pradhan
on March 25, 2012 at 11:57 AM
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ash_pradhan - that's good, now we are both thinking the same . . .
. . . in terms of the current stage of development of your website. I would suggest your website is at the point of taking the time to create a checklist of features and capabilities you would like to incorporate into it. For example: do you want an interactive capability such as comments or user reviews? .....a shopping cart utility? . . . membership? . . . .site user contributions? . . . all or most of these things, or other features?
Keep in mind that a site owner's needs quite often develop with the site itself. Considering future extensibility is vital both in practical terms and also in determining which platform to use at the outset.
posted by
gomedome
on March 25, 2012 at 11:33 AM
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Re: ash_pradhan - my first questiion would be this
"Optimized" is the wrong term to use for the present version. So, it seems to me that at this juncture I've one or both of two choices to proceed towards my goal:
1. Optimize the current site per your suggestions here.
2. Creatively & effectively utilize latest social media.
I shall look forward to further guidance from you, which is much appreciated.
posted by
ash_pradhan
on March 25, 2012 at 10:00 AM
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ash_pradhan - my first questiion would be this
If your website is optimized for Google search, what search terms have they targetted? The website is easily found through Google by searching your name but this is a result of what I spoke of in this post, your name is in the domain name. It usually takes about a week after publishing for a website using a top level domain name containing a keyword to show up on Google search for that keyword. Your LinkedIn profile and a few other sites online where your name appears are acting as a basic linking strategy providing the Google bots with avenues to your site. . . . all of this has happened naturally and should not be referred to as optimization.
When I look at the source code for the home page, I do not see optimization efforts in the site construction. There are no meta tags, H1 title tags are displaying images instead of text and with no image alt tags to boot. (search engine robots cannot read images and rely on the image alternate text or "alt" tag to determine what the image is displaying). Not being able to see what has been done on the web server I must assume that important tasks that need to be completed there are not done either.
A website is not optimized for Google simply because it shows up at some point in search results for its own name. It can be considered as such when all of the basic site construction tasks relevant to optimization are completed, targetted keywords have been researched and added to the meta tags and the site content reflects those keywords with appropriate keyword density. The proof in the pudding is when the website is returned in search results for the targetted keywords.
Utilizing social media sites is the best way to round up a large potential audience in a short period of time. I'll get to that in a future post.
posted by
gomedome
on March 25, 2012 at 9:36 AM
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Re: ash_pradhan -Re: Thanks GD, I can see I need to do some reverse engineering
Thanks GD, I appreciate all of your constructive comments. A little background on this part of my ventures (and I've a few):
Driven by the desire to focus on writing & publishing, early on I decided to contract my publisher Xlibris to both publish & market my books. My website is their current baseline version, which is supposedly "optimized" by them for google search..you can check that by googling it.
My next (3rd) book is targeted for publication this Fall. Concurrently, I'm in dicussions with them for the next steps of the marketing strategy to be initiated by Fall, the goal always being to increase exposure for my work worldwide and generate increasing revenue. They are supposed to be looking at all latest Social Networking media (eg, Facebook, Twitter) as a part of a comprehensive marketing strategy, and they are supposed to do this creatively on a low budget. So far I'm ok with their work, but if any of this interests you in any way to help me towards the above objective, on a voluntary or paid basis, I'm open to suggestions.
It might be worth mentioning that this part of my ventures is non-profit and any profits get donated to global humanitarian causes, education being of primary importance to me, in the form of small scholarships, perhaps something you yourself might relate to (see my last comment on your other blog about science education in NA).
I'm also hoping that our "intellectual dialogues between equals" will be mutually beneficial, as well as of benefit to most readers here, something I suspect would be dear to and challenging to both of us.
Very Best Regards,
Ash Pradhan
CEO, Ash Pradhan Ventures
posted by
ash_pradhan
on March 25, 2012 at 8:31 AM
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ash_pradhan -Re: Thanks GD, I can see I need to do some reverse engineering
I am going to have a few suggestions for you which should translate into some huge time savings. You mentioned adding features earlier. There are better ways to get to a feature rich web presence than hand building static web pages. I am trying not to be critical of your web site but I did come across a few things that are in need of attention. It is heavily scripted and does not render perfectly when viewed in other web browsers. Would I be correct in saying that it has not been cross browser tested?
I would suggest taking a few minutes to think about what you want the website to do for you. If you are the primary administrator and are also taking care of all site building and content publishing, you should be looking at a content management system (CMS). A platform to handle search engine optimization, promotion, content organizing (including archiving) and publishing.
posted by
gomedome
on March 24, 2012 at 8:33 PM
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Thanks GD, I can see I need to do some reverse engineering on my website :)
posted by
ash_pradhan
on March 24, 2012 at 8:17 PM
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Hi .. I'll keep reading with the hope that you make a breakthrough into my mind. 
posted by
BrightIrish
on March 24, 2012 at 1:38 PM
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BrightIrish- I am going to attempt sticking to layman's terms going forward
posted by
gomedome
on March 24, 2012 at 1:26 PM
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TAPS. - I can see where this post might be a bit overwhelming
But the next installment is going address the fact that most people are not webmasters but can still establish a viable web presence.
posted by
gomedome
on March 24, 2012 at 1:24 PM
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I doubt that my technicallly challenged self could complete this action but it surely will be a help to others.
posted by
BrightIrish
on March 24, 2012 at 1:18 PM
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When I read your technical stuff, it makes me feel so hopelessly helpless. LOL
posted by
TAPS.
on March 24, 2012 at 1:14 PM
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