Information Week

The latest data shows that Microsoft's new browser lost market share over the weekend.

By Paul McDougall

InformationWeek
March 23, 2009 11:00 AM

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s Internet Explorer 8 appears to be losing market share, even though the browser has been on the market for less than a week.

As of 8:00 am Monday, IE8 -- released Thursday -- held 1.86% of the browser market, down from a high of 2.59% on Sunday, according to market watcher Net Applications. The most likely reason for the decline is that early adopters of IE8 are switching back to the more familiar, and --at this point -- reliable Explorer 7 browser.

Explorer 8 includes a number of new tools, like a feature called Web Slices that lets users grab dynamic content such as stock quotes or auction results from third-party sites, that, while potentially useful, may take some time getting used to.

Additionally, Explorer 8 uses default support for some new Web publishing standards that aren't supported by a number of major Web publishers. As a result, some IE8 users have reported problems viewing some sites. "After downloading IE8 I cannot print any card from American Greetings. The message I get is, 'An error occurred during the operation,'" a user named Bob complained last week on Microsoft's IE8 forum.

Some IE8 adopters reported that even pages built with Microsoft's own Web publishing software, Microsoft Publisher, failed to render properly in the new browser. "I created my company's Web Site using the MS Publisher 2007 template. After upgrading IE7 to IE8 my menu tabs and many important images no longer show," wrote a user named Phil Wheeler.

The news wasn't all bad for Microsoft, as some IE8 users said they were more than happy with the product.

Microsoft needs Explorer 8 to be a hit, as the company's Internet Explorer franchise has been losing ground to competitors. Explorer's overall share of the market has fallen from 75% to 67% in just the past 12 months, according to Net Applications, while competitors such as Apple's Safari and Mozilla's Firefox have gained ground.

If you have been following along on my adventures of Search Engine Optimization then you have probably figured out that an Analytics tool is a must.  Personally, I like the free one from Google.  (That FREE thing gets me everytime.)  Unfortunately, one of the limitations that most of the analytics programs have is that you cannot discern exactly who is visiting your website.  Search Engine Watch blogged about a new tool called Demandbase Stream that claims to return data about your website visitors.  If you have used it let me know.  I am going to do a little bit more research on the product and will let you know the results in a couple of days.

Libby Lucas
Carolina Computer Partners
Website Design
llucas@ccpteam

704-549-0125

Sandy Mullis - CCP Lead Web Designer found a great little tip in one of our design magazines that I feel compelled to share with you this morning.  This tool gives you a quick way to add share buttons to your content on LinkIn, Facebook, Twitter and your own website.  It's easy .... go to addthis.com and click on "Get Your Button", follow the instructions for adding the generated code to your html.  See.... I tried it right below my phone number.  It only took a matter of seconds!  Great tool!  Easy and best of all FREE!

Libby Lucas
Carolina Computer Partners
llucas@ccpteam.com

704-549-0125

I am advised by the SEO Experts that to keep up with my Search Engine Optimization and to keep my readers (if there are any) informed I need to blog everyday.  I, like most of you, am extremely busy!  I was complaining about this to my kids and my son volunteered to help me out.  I am uploading 5 entries that were written by my son Alec.  Let me know what you think!  Libby Lucas --- Carolina Computer Partners

Blogging Is So Easy!
By:  Alec Lucas

Blogging is so easy. All you have to do is give your opinion on a subject after doing a little research.

This can be very helpful to a company’s website. What it does is places you higher on Google so you earn more money. It takes barely any of your time.

Next you just have to link your blog to your website and bam you may be able to gather more hits on the internet, which is definitely what everyone is using right now.

You will also need a website before you blog for your business. If it is that easy why not take the time to create a lot of blogs!

E-commerce vendors could be missing out on Shopping Bonanza

Written by Phil Muncaster
vnunet.com 18 Dec 2008
Edited by Libby Lucas
Carolina Computer Partners
CCPTeam.com

Research carried out earlier this year by e-Digital Research for industry body IMRG found that 68 percent of shoppers would be more likely to shop online for Christmas presents this year, and more than three-quarters plan to carry out about half or more of their Christmas shopping online.

But e-retailers could be missing out by failing to optimize the customer experience, according to web analytics firm Web Trends.

Conrad Bennett, senior technical director at Web Trends, argued that traders need to make sure that visitors to their sites can find what they're looking for easily, and understand clearly at all times where they are in the buying process.

"So if you offer a search function on your web site, which is highly advisable, good indexing is crucial, and don't make it necessary to have a log-in to use the search function," he said.

"The buying process should be kept brief and to the point, and there should be complete clarity about the final cost from the outset.  Customers hate nasty surprises at the end of the purchasing process and will often simply break off the procedure, never to return."

Web site owners should also avoid "excessively data-rich applications" because they may affect the performance of the site, and be unsuitable for the products advertised, advised Bennett.

"While online videos, animations, blogs, etc are right for some online retailers, they are completely wrong for others, " he added.

"In fact, when in doubt don't even think about Flash.  It slows the process and, unless it really does add value, you will be losing users every second it takes to load."

Many of my customers are turning to their websites to bring in sales leads in this challenging economy.  Of course, they do not want to pay for traffic building so they are looking for "do it yourself" traffic building tips.  So here's the freebie that we are handing out .... Build links to your website from other credible websites.  Links from sites that are in your industry, or similar industries will increase your ranking in Google, Yahoo and MSN.  DO NOT spend a money on artificial link builders or be lured into link building programs.  Links that are from unrelated sites are useless.

Here's an article from SEO consultant Shawn Campbell in Canada that I thought summed this process up rather well.

Happy Link Hunting!!! ...  Libby Lucas, Carolina Computer Partners  www.ccpteam.com llucas@ccpteam.com  704-549-0125

If content is king, then linking is the queen that shares his throne. We have all heard about adding content to your site to give the search engines fodder to consume. But the secret to luring the search engines is the links to your site. Today's search engines look very carefully and critically at who is linking to you, and what it is that they are saying about you. A link from a leader in your industry carries a lot of weight and means that your site is important. Two links from industry leaders means your site is even more important. 100 links from random web sites, from industries you are not even related with, means almost nothing. Thus, getting links is only the start; the important thing is getting good links from quality web sites.

Why do links matter?
Since the arrival of Google and their PageRank, search engines have put a lot of weight on links to a site. There used to be simple ways to get good rankings: Meta tags, titles, keyword density, etc… Today, things have become more complex, with search engines now using a very complicated algorithm that involves:

• links to your site,
• what is written in those links,
• who is linking to the site that links to yours,
• what are the keyphrases used in those links,
• what is the quality of the site that is linking to yours,
• how many other links does that site have,
• how many links out (and to what sites) does your site have, and other such criteria.

To use a rather appetizing analogy, these new criteria are added to the stew that is your site, along with the quality and quantity of the content. Left to simmer on the worldwide web, this stew is then eaten up by the search engines depending on how well your site matches the aforementioned criteria. Put differently, the king and queen must join together to turn your site into a number one result.

How do we get links?
It all starts with content. No one will link to you unless you offer quality information about a particular subject. If you are in real estate, you must offer information about the area you sell. If someone wants to buy in your area, first s/he will want to learn about it, so you will need to have good resources about that area. The next step is to find new sites that would benefit from your site's information; new sites whose clients would potentially buy your real estate. For example, one of our clients (http://www.monlac.com) sells real estate in the Laurentians area of Quebec. Their site has content on activities in Quebec and the nearby Laurentian mountains. Thus, we will be soliciting links from web sites such as the nearby water parks and ski hills, nearby towns, lake and boating associations, and local construction web sites to name just a few. To these web sites, not only will linking to http://www.monlac.com make their customers happier, but it is in their best interest that the site sells real estate since it brings in more business for them.

How do you solicit links?
To solicit sites you have to use a lot of elbow grease. Send out personalized emails to these sites. Don't send out mass emails or spam. Be friendly, and point out the benefits of linking to your site. If you are lucky, maybe 1 in 3 emails will get a response. It is frustrating and discouraging, but keep your spirits up. Many times a site is perfect but they don't ever update it, so your site won't get the link in because nothing ever changes on the solicited site. Don't waste too much time on sites that haven't been updated in years. It is also important to follow up. Until you get a flat out denial, keep saying "Hi", and keep it personal. Keep track of who you have contacted and what you have written or said because you have to make it seem like they are the only person you are contacting. As soon as they get a sniff that you are sending out a mass email, or that you are using the exact same approach with other sites, you will probably lose their respect - and their business!

Do not forget to submit to the directories such as the Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.org), because getting listed here counts for a lot in all the big search engines. Take your time and choose the right category to submit to. Also, read about how they want their descriptions and titles written, and write them that way. These are the keys to getting into the directories.

Soliciting links is a very time-consuming (and frustrating) venture, but it is essential to getting good rankings in the search engines. It takes a lot of patience and a lot of time. Getting your first link is like getting your first sale. It is just as hard - and just as satisfying.

I am absolutely consumed with finding the perfect combination of factors to achieve perfect SEO on the major search engines.  The problem that I am having is the definition of perfect SEO.   My original goal was to propel my site, and those of my customers, to their rightful place in the cyber space pecking order. 

I assumed the ultimate goal for Google, Yahoo and MSN was to match relevant, authentic material to search queries.  At this writing, I am uncertain as to what the goal of the major search engines are but I am guessing it has a lot more to do with money than it does with authenticity.  I almost wish I didn't know the seedy underside of this marketing phenomenon but here is the ugly truth as I see it. 

To get into the SEO game your site must have the following....

Keyword research - Find out what your customers are typing in the search boxes.
Keyword rich content - Put those keywords in the body of your web pages.
Keyword rich titles - Put the keywords into your page titles.
Keyword rich descriptions - Put the keywords into your meta descriptions.
Register, Register, Register! - Tell the search engines that you have joined the WWW!  Send in your submissions to all of the engines. 

Now in a fair and "perfect" internet world that should be enough right?  If you list your services and keywords correctly the search engines should return your site to users.  BUT the playing field is truly not level.  If you want to show up on the first page here's the list that you have to either do yourself or pay someone to do for you. 

Link in to your site - Links need to come from other "important and relevant" sites to your site.  Now you can do this yourself but it takes a lot of time.  There are SEO consultants and link building companies out there but beware ... the links must be legitimate. 

Write a Blog - The search bots apparently love Blogs.  Blogging gets those products and ideas out there but, again, it takes a lot of time.  If you have some cash there many good content writers that can assist you with this task.  There is a catch here though.  The blog needs to be associated with your URL.  You can’t use Blogger or WordPress.  You must pay someone to create a blog that specifically goes back to your website. 

Videos - Put a video on your site and link it to Utube.  Honestly, I have no idea why this is such a big deal but I've tried it and it works.   I am certain that for the right amount of cash there is some SEO geek out there that can provide you with the reason. 

Buy Google Adwords - Yeah, I know what you're thinking... If I truly have the best service then why do I have to pay to be seen?  Well you just do.  40% of people really do click on that paid advertising.   I don't want to miss 40% of my prospects, do you?

Want to talk more about this... I would love to hear your opinions...  Give me a call 704-549-0125 or email me at llucas@ccpteam.com.