[Hidden-tech] Google search

[Jeff Rutherford]

I definitely agree with what Maria said, especially re: white text on a black background. Don't put up barriers to potential readers/visitors. Personally, if I find websites with black backgrounds and white text, I quickly flee 9 out of 10 times.

And, for a museum with events, you should definitely have a Facebook page so that you can send event notifications quickly and easily to your Facebook fans.

Jeff

Jeff Rutherford
413-475-0087
jeff at jeffrutherford.com


On Jul 20, 2010, at 6:28 PM, Maria Korolov (Trombly) wrote:

> Eugene --
> 
> Another question to think about is how active your organization is on the Internet. Are you using social media to create awareness of your events? Do you answer relevant questions that are raised on related blogs? Do you post your events on Facebook? Do you have an interesting Twitter feed? 
> 
> All these things help create interest in your site. And, since you can also feed your Twitter posts into your website, make your site feel more alive and relevant.
> 
> A few other comments:
> 
> * The site's design looks dated. Looking at the source code, it looks like you're using straight HTML. That will make it difficult for you to update your site and to add interactive content. If you want something more robust, switch to a content management system. WordPress is free, easy to use, and has more than enough functionality for everything that you need. Some nice magazine-style templates are here:
> http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/search.php?q=magazine
> 
> With WordPress, you don't need a Web manager to manage your site -- anyone can add news articles, events, blog posts, announcements, interesting tidbits of information -- all the things that bring in traffic *and* bring in the search engines. Plus, WordPress has a built-in tagging system that makes it easy for search engines to browse the site and figure out what's important.
> 
> As more and more sites switch to WordPress and other content management systems and incorporate blogs, social media, and other live content, your site will be pushed down in the rankings. Standing still, in this respect, is moving backwards.
> 
> * This has nothing to do with search engines, but white text on a black background is really hard to read. In your redesign, seriously consider using black text on a white background, and add more design elements to the pages -- this is, after all, a museum site. I'd love to see some photographs of actual exhibits. 
> 
> * This can get you some publicity: some nonprofits are experimenting with creating virtual museums. One of the best known is Heritage Key, based in the U.K.  -- http://heritage-key.com/  They have a web-based platform with plenty of material -- articles, videos, games, quizzes, contests. But they also have a virtual world where people can create an avatar and explore 3D recreations of virtual environments right from their computers.
> 
> If you're interested in doing something like that, get in touch. I can probably get you some free -- or low-cost -- virtual land and some volunteer designers who can help you create a small virtual museum based on your existing collection.  A number of schools have begun using virtual environments for simulations and immersive learning in the past year, based on the OpenSim platform. By creating a virtual museum, their teachers can bring their classes over for a virtual field trip. Let me know if you're interested, and I can put you in touch with the guys who run the virtual worlds for these schools.
> 
> Yes, virtual environment are my passion. And just like everything looks like a nail to someone with a hammer, so I see all problems as being solvable with virtual worlds. :-)
> 
> -- Maria Korolov
> 
> 
> Maria Korolov (Trombly)  508-443-1130 | maria at trombly.com
> Editor & publisher, Hypergrid Business (http://www.hypergridbusiness.com)
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 3:28 PM, Jeff Rutherford <jeff at jeffrutherford.com> wrote:
>   ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
>   ** If you did, we all thank you.
> 
> 
> 
> Eugene:
> 
> Unfortunately, there's lots of answers to your question.
> 
> 1. Have you updated your website with fresh content in the past year? Google's algorithm is heavily weighted towards fresh-new content. That's one reason many companies launch a corporate blog. If the blog is located on their website, and they're writing regular blog posts about industry-specific topics, that is usually keyword-dense content that helps in your rankings. FYI - I never recommend that people write keyword-specific blog posts. Write content that you're passionate about and that relates to the Museum, and the keywords will take care of themselves.
> 
> 2. Inbound links - how many other sites are linking to your museum? Inbound links are still very much a gold standard for ranking high in Google. You should contact every organization that you're affiliated with - local chamber of commerce, museum organizations, etc. - and figure out if they will link to your website from theirs. 
> 
> Ask for links - are you email marketing to your donors and attendees? If so, explain the importance of inbound links, let them know that you want people to be able to find the Museum in Google, and ask them, if they're so inclined, to add a link from their personal blogs, websites, etc.
> 
> You can find out how many inbound links your site currently has by using Yahoo's site explorer - siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/  Also Google Webmaster Tools (free) has inbound link reports. The same with Bing's webmaster tools (free).
> 
> 3. Local listings - is the museum listed as a local business in Google, Yahoo, Bing? Local listings are the local businesses that appear w/ a map when you do a search for "museum, Berkshires" etc. If not, you should do that too. 
> 
> http://www.google.com/local/add/businessCenter
> 
> http://listings.local.yahoo.com/
> 
> https://ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx
> 
> 4. Title tags - The title tag is weighted very heavily in Google's algorithm. Currently, your title tag on your main page is "Animagic-museum". 
> 
> You should consider rewriting your title tag to include specific, keywords that people may use in searching for the Museum. But, again, write in specific, coherent phrases and sentences NOT a list of your keywords. 
> 
> Off the top of my head something like "Berkshires - Western Massachusetts - museum of special effects and animation - Animagic"
> 
> Good luck. If you're interested in learning more about search engine optimization, I recommend a few blogs:
> 
> http://www.seomoz.org/blog
> 
> http://www.conversationmarketing.com/
> 
> http://www.wolf-howl.com/
> 
> Finally, if you want to read an exhaustive article about local search marketing, you should check out - http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml
> 
> Believe me, the article is exhaustive. The writer interviewed top experts on local search marketing. A lot of what they're talking about may fly over your head. I've read the article several times and it still makes my head hurt. Lots and lots of info to digest. 
> 
> Jeff Rutherford
> 413-475-0087
> jeff at jeffrutherford.com
> 
> 
> On Jul 20, 2010, at 10:07 AM, eugene mamut wrote:
> 
>>   ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
>>   ** If you did, we all thank you.
>> 
>> 
>> Hello HTers
>> 
>> We have Museum of Animation, Special Effects and Art in Lee. Last year we put keywords on main page of our website. Google search engine pickup this words, and we had a lot of hits to our website. This year we have much less hits. Yesterday I went to Google search and typed keywords : "Berkshire children activity, kids' fun, galleries, museum, family fun". Result : Our website did not appear.
>> Question - Why keywords do not work anymore, and what we can do ?
>> 
>> Thank you
>> Eugene
>> Museum of Animation, Special effects and Art.
>> 77 Main St. Lee, MA, Tel. 413-243-8095
>> http://www.mambor.com/animagic/
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