September 2006

Monthly Archive

Sat 30 Sep 2006

Local Search Continues To Grow

Posted by Texx Smith under Uncategorized
No Comments 

More data pulled from the latest comScore Search Engine Report shows everyone the secret I learned when I worked at Verizon superpages.com. More people are using local search instead of a telephone book to find goods and services.

63 percent of U.S. Internet users (or approximately 109 million people) performed a local search online in July, a 43-percent increase versus July of 2005.

After all, compare the amount of info you would get if you looked up autos for sale on local.google.com or in the phone book. The phone book would just show some ads with general statements like “We sell the best cars!” local.google.com will provide links to local car dealers web sites where some one can view a map and directions to thier location(s), and perhaps even see some or all of the autos that are actually in stock!

What were they looking for?
59% were searching for a restaurant or other entainment venues
52% were searching for business phone numbers

What did they do after the search?
47% visited a local merchant after searching
41% made contact offline
37% made contact online

How many searches were made in last month alone in America?
More than 849 million local searches conducted in the US in July.

that’s why my Search Engine Optimization almost always starts with those tedious manual submissions to all the local search engines that other Search engine marketers won’t do!
 

Sat 30 Sep 2006

Local Search Led By Google, Yahoo

Posted by Texx Smith under Search Engines
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We shouldn’t be surprised that local search shares by Search Engine mirror the shares of all searches on all Search Engines. Google and Yahoo being almost neck and neck, which is a little different that general search. Still Google and Yahoo are the two most popular Search Engines, both in general search and local search.
Those two Internet players own nearly 60 percent of the local search market, which continues to grow at a strong pace. ComScore networks said 63 percent of US online users, numbering around 109 million people, conducted some type of local search online in July 2006. Their report cited that as a 43 percent increase year over year from July 2005.

Share of Local Searches by Site
July 2006
Total U.S. Home, Work and University Locations
Source: comScore qSearch

Total Internet
Population Total Local Searches:
100%
Google Sites          29.8%
Yahoo! Sites          29.2%
Microsoft Sites          12.3%
Time Warner Network    7.1%
Verizon Communications    6.6%
YellowPages.com          3.9%
Ask Network          2.7%
Local.com                1.9%
InfoSpace Network    1.9%
DexOnline.com          1.4%
All Other                3.2%

Why is local search so important to web site owners? Local search online has started becoming a factor in offline activity. The comScore study said that during the second quarter of 2006, 47 percent of local searchers visited a local merchant as a result of their search behavior, while 41 percent made contact offline. More than one-third (37 percent) made contact online as a result of conducting a local area search.

Read the Quoted Story

 

Sat 30 Sep 2006

The Ten Commandments of Web Design

Posted by Texx Smith under Web Design
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Persoanly I feel like a pirate from “Pirates of the Caribean” when it comes to web design rules. ie; “They’re more like guidelines, actually). Each web site is different, with a different message, goal and auideince. Therefore different approachs , techniques, technologies and guidelines should be used.

But If there were to be 10 commandments of Web Design, the ones written by 33rockers may be the perfect ones.

I don’t want to repreintthe whole article (that would just be rude!) so check out the links above and below. In the mean time here’s highlights to get you interested:

Thou Shalt Respect the Search Engines:

If you want search engine traffic use whole web pages that don’t incorporate frames or large amounts of code unrelated to your content. Also, if you want search traffic, actively cultivate linking relationships with related sites and operate a blog.

Love Thy Surfers and Visitors:

Design for “last year’s” technology so surfers using older computers and slower connections can download your content and use your site quickly and easily. Designing for the “bleeding edge” will only cut into your own profits.

Thou Shalt Not Annoy:

Use only stationary text and graphical layout elements. No Scrolling text, marquees, or large Flash animations of any kind, including those annoying, full-page Flash home pages that say “Skip Intro.” This “eye candy” rarely adds to a site’s main purpose and often causes your visitors to miss something or leave in frustration.

Thou Shalt Not Scroll Sideways:

Design your pages so they never force a visitor to scroll left or right no matter what the resolution settings on their monitor. Sites that read “best viewed at 1024 x 768? really say “look at it my way because I don’t care about your preferences or limitations.”


View thie full article

 

Thu 21 Sep 2006

Anniversery special continues!

Posted by Texx Smith under Web Design
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We’re still celebrating ten years in business by rolling back our price to what they were the first year Dream Designs by Texx Smith opened shop!

For a limited time, here’s the 10th anniversary Celebration prices:

  • 2 Page Brochure site $200
  • Premium 5 page web site design - $400
  • Premium Plus Flash 5 page web site design - $500
  • Premium 12 page web site design - $600
  • Premium Plus Flash 12 page web site design - $750
  • One years “Bare Bones” web hosting package - $125

I’m sorry but SEO packages aren’t discounted currently because, The directories I have to pay to include your site, the text links I have to purchase, etc, are not rolling back their prices!

 

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