RSS Feeds: What are they and how do I use them?

RSS feeds have been around since 1999! However, don’t feel like you have been “out of the loop” too badly. RSS feeds became popular in 2006. If you are not familiar with RSS feeds, then this will open up a whole new side of the web!

Why Should You Use RSS feeds?

Good, informational websites are updated often. When a website updates or adds new information, you often have to hunt for the information. Why not have that information delivered to you the moment it is posted? Enter RSS feeds.

You can set up multiple RSS feeds and view them all. All of the current, updated information is sent to you automatically. Simply scroll down your RSS reader and click on articles that interest you. When you click on an article, you are sent to that website to the exact article.

How Do You View RSS Feeds?

Not every website has RSS feeds. This website has one. If you are using Internet Explorer 7, you will notice the orange button is lit up. If you use FireFox, the icon is at the end of the field where you type in web addresses.

So, how do you use RSS Feeds?

1) If you have Outlook 2007. The latest version of Outlook is set up with a RSS feed folder where you can set up a feed in the same way you set up an email folder.
2) Google Reader. If you use iGoogle for your homepage, you can include a list of your favorite RSS feeds on your homepage.
3) For more information on setting up a RSS feed, see this article.

Drop down the “Tools” menu

Select “Account Settings”

Add “New” under the Email tab.

The next screen defaults with the radio button on “Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP. Select Next >

Complete the fields below and SELECT “Manually configure server settings…”

Complete the form below replacing “yourwebsite” with your website address.

After completing the fields above, click More Settings…

Replace the number “25″ with “26″ in the Outgoing Server field.

Click on “OK” and follow the prompts to finish the email setup.

My Favorite Free Graphics Design Tools

Everyone likes the word “free.” However, the word “free” often means you “get what you pay for.” In the case of the following tools, you have found a gold mine. If you are a client of mine, you will know that I am all for teaching you how to edit and maintain your website. Not all things can be done simply with a website editing tool. Sometimes you need a program to create a graphic or just resize a graphic.

If you are serious about graphic design, you should get industry standard tools like CorelDraw, PhotoShop and Illustrator. They are definitely not free. However, the following tools complement these high-end programs.

Free Tools for Creating Website Backgrounds

Stripe Generator: Renders stripes (like the background on this site) with Web 2.0 styling.

Stripe Designer: Another great background image generator.

The tools above are useful for creating patterns within PhotoShop.

Choosing Colors

Colr.Org: Color pallet. Users create pallets of colors and use tags to describe them. Type in “orange” and you will get multiple results of “orange-based” colors.

Colour Lovers:

Color Picker: Ever have difficulty matching font colors with a picture? This small application allows you to choose a color from anything on your screen and match the color exactly. Use this tool to choose colors and create backgrounds that match exactly. My favorite feature of this tool is that you can save your own pallets.

Graphics Editing/Manipulation

GetPaint: This is a step up from the standard paint program in Windows. It allows you to edit images using “Layers.” It is not compatible with PhotoShop.

Windows Vista Snipping Tool: Under “Accessories” in Window’s Vista is a great new tool called the “Snipping Tool.” It allows you to capture images on your screen. If you do not have Windows Vista, you can still use the PrtSc (Print Screen) function to copy your screen to the clipboard.

So, you own a PC, a generic computer saving you hundreds of dollars over the Apple Macintosh. This post is not about bashing Macs, I like them, but it is about demonstrating a new development in the world of website editing that makes my life a whole lot easier (and of some of my clients).

Until early this year, I have hand-coded websites and used DreamWeaver entirely to build my sites. When my clients wanted to edit their own sites, I would set them up with a $150 companion program to DreamWeaver. This is no longer necessary. A product just came out of Beta and it is a perfect tool for editing websites (provided they are based on WordPress, SharePoint or other blogging/cms platforms). The product is called Live Writer. This post is intended to give the location for downloading the software and an overview of its abilities.

Get LiveWriter by clicking here.

Overview of the Software:

1. It is free.
2. It is WYSYWYG (What you see is what you get)
3. LiveWriter enables you to publish/edit Web Pages. You are able to insert Pictures, hyperlinks, tables and maps with ease. Also, you can arrange your pages so that they appear correctly in your menu system. Mac users have a program called MarsEdit. It does not allow you to publish/edit pages.
4. LiveWriter enables you to publish/edit blog entries. You have all of the same features you do for creating pages. You can create categories “on-the-fly.”
5. If you use MicrosoftWord, you can copy and paste your material into LiveWriter and it will clean up the code. It preserves and hyperlinks footnotes.

Instructional Video to Install LiveWriter

Basic Authoring with LiveWriter

Understanding Your Google Analytics Report

We offer two types of services: consulting and full service.

Consulting Services:
If you are web savy and like to develop your own website, then we have the perfect solution for you. We will walk you through the process of Search Engine Optimization, help you refine your site and give you the tools/knowledge you need. We will perform the more difficult tasks. Our goal is to train you to know how the search engines work and how to get your website optimized.

Full Services:
If you want us to do all the work, you will find that we offer some of the most reasonable search engine optimization services around. We will thoroughly explain the process of search engine optimization. At that point, we will develop a strategy and keep you informed of the progress. You pay a portion to begin, then when we achieve results!

I recently conversed with a person who asked the following about their website:

“Is it legal if say I had a website to do with Cars for sale, and I used keywords like cars, cheap cars, transport etc. I also want to use keywords with nothing to do with cars for sale like these keywords: “YouTube” and ”Pamela Anderson” Is it legal to do? Will I get banned from Google?

The answer to the above, generally speaking is “No.” YouTube may have some trademark issues with you, but generally there is nothing illegal about optimizing your website for the terms above. Google will not ban a website for the above. Google has been known to take over websites that infringe on their trademarks (e.g., www.gooogle.com).

This question reveals a misconception: Is Search Engine Optimization more important for traffic or for sales?

We believe that Search Engine Optimization’s goal is a Return on Investment and strong profits. It is all about sales. In marketing, the above scenario is called “bait and switch.” If you could rank high for the above terms, you will receive alot of traffic, but it is doubtful any of it would convert into car sales (unless you have a car Pamela Anderson previously owned which has a dash mounted device to view YouTubes:-)

Perhaps one of the most fulfilling aspects of our business is tracking the progress of our client’s positions in the search engines. Our main emphasis is getting websites to the top organic position of search engines.

Last week, while tracking the position of a website, I noticed a competitor had purchased a paid advertisement on Google. The ad sat right on top of my client’s #1 position in Google. That ad no longer exists. My client’s position still remains in the top position and did not cost him anything.

We do not suggest that paid advertisements do not help or are never to be used. We simply say that organic search engine optimization is more valuable for the following reasons:

1. Organic search engine placement is long term. It takes time to reach top placement, but once you are there, it is difficult to knock you off.
2. Organic search engine placement is cost effective. You already paid for your website, you don’t want to continually purchase advertisements.
3. Organic search engine placement lends credibility to your site. People use search engines to find the most relevant websites. They expect the #1 and #2 positioned websites to have the information/service/product for which they are searching. Studies show that most people click through the organic placements.
4. The techniques used to gain organic search engine optimization will result in more traffic than you expect. You may aim for one or two keyphrases, but your website will rank in many keywords/phrases. Paid ads are based on single keywords/phrases.

The final post of my Web Accessibility series for now will focus on making your website friendly for those who are color blind.

Most color blind people have red/green deficits. Some have the more rare form (tritanope) which is a blue/yellow deficit. This makes for an interesting challenge given that computer monitors are based on three colors – Red, Green, Blue (RGB).

It almost sounds as if it is impossible to design a website that is accessible for all. That really is not the case. Our graphics design side informs us that high contrast with the right color combinations is very important.

If you are interested in seeing how your website looks to the color blind, visit: www.vischeck.com.

For the most part, the deaf/hard of hearing do not have difficulties with website browsing. Yet, there are things many do with their websites that prevent the deaf/hard of hearing from benefitting.

YouTube is an excellent illustration of popular content that has low accessibility for the deaf. A new search engine www.harkle.com provides the deaf/hard of hearing closed captioned content.

Why is this important for websites? When you plan to embed video/audio on your website, also include all of the text or a synopsis that allows the deaf/hard of hearing to gain from the content as well. This practice will make your website more accessible and provide the following benefits:

• Content is “king” on search engines and your visitors. The more content you have, the more keywords/phrases you will rank well for on the search engines.
• Not everyone wants to listen to audio. If you provide content, that gives all of your visitors an option to glean from your website.