Now, let the sun shine in!

If you’ve been following this series on Successful Web Site Design, you now have a site that is in tune with your audience, has clear navigation, and the content of each page is optimised to engage your readers both visually and informationally. Great. But what are the chances of its being discovered by your target audience?

Source: flickr.com via Kristen on Pinterest

 

 

Yes, this is where ‘traditional marketing’ strategies can help, in the advertising of your website’s existence. But what can you do in the online world to assist? The answer – links, links, and more links.

The developer of GoodOldTalk once explained links to me this way. “Think of a bucket,” he said. “Your website is a bucket, and every link is like hole in that bucket. The more holes, the more chances that traffic will leave your site and go elsewhere. So the idea is – to have more incoming links (as in, holes in other people’s websites that link to your site) than outgoing links.” These inching links are also known as backlinks, inbound links, or inlinks. I don’t know about you, but that makes a lot of sense to me. Why else would Wikipedia articles only link to Wikipedia articles?!!

So,  backlinks are good. But how do you generate them? In my experience, there are two main ways.

1. Reciprocal links. This is where you promote another site (by adding their link on your site – ie. putting a hole in your bucket, to them) and request a reciprocal link to your site (i.e. they put a hole in their site, back to you). This may work well with your business partners.

2. Online advertising. The aim is to get links to your website in as many places as possible out there on the web. Yes, you could pay for these ads (use Google AdWords or AdSense, Facebook ads etc) or you can use the power of the digital realm itself to aid in your site’s discoverability. Add a photo and / or review of your business at your location on Google Maps. Create a Wikipedia page. Use social media in your own business’ name. Leverage Facebook and twitter – or even YouTube, flickr, and the like – to get the word out, and link your updates to a variety of interesting content on your site. On social media, there is a chance that your tweet or Facebook update may be shared by your followers, thus increasing your potential audience.

There are other ways to generate back links – purchasing, going with backlink directories, and so on. If this is your style, then great. Personally, I prefer to not use these, but rather to form ‘genuine’ relationships, through your business partners, social media. and the like.

Finally, think about how to optimise your use of links-within-your-website. Obviously every page that has a call to action, whether it be sign up for a webinar, place an order for a free eBook or actual online purchase, submit an online enrolment form or even just an email subscription or RSS feed for your site, should have multiple links pointing at it. On the other hand, don’t overwhelm your site with these links. This not only is visually distracting, but could make you seem overly-needy. And the same holds true if you have a blog either on, or pointing to, your site. Putting a link on every second word is like hashtagging every second word in a tweet. You can do it, but it’s not particularly good netiquette.

So – that was Hint #4 in this series on ‘Successful Website Design’. Use links to ‘let in the light’, as it were. Have you seen examples of websites which use links well? Or ones which do this badly? Please feel free to share in the comments!

Weekly Review

This week saw the commencement of the new St Paul’s ‘Welcome’ campaign. This meant a very intense (time-pressure-wise) Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. And unfortunately, the constant rain still held up the painting of the St Paul’s wall – which in turn held up the installation of the 3D lettering and sign. Rather annoying.

Online, I continued the series on ifttt.com – and they added two more channels this week, too! – and then made suggestions to enhance the reputation of the School Library. Using RSS feeds, the teaching of copyright issues, and using a wiki or two – just some ideas that could help the Library to again become the “Learning Hub” of the school.

All in all, a huge week. And just an interesting thought to leave you with – a new development in the world of books. Forget e-books; let’s go with virtual ones!

(I think this is pretty cool! Unfortunately, I also think that it’s rather impractical.)

Improve your Library’s reputation: use RSS feeds

How did you view your High School Library? If you’re among the majority, you saw it as a repository of books and ‘some other stuff’; dry words on dry paper; a place that you would voluntarily enter only if you were in Lower Primary, or one of the few Seniors in the Debating Team. How sad. How can this reputation be changed?

One solution is to enlist the help of RSS. Below is a 4 step plan; implementing it should enhance the profile of the Library.

1. Subscribe to RSS feeds from websites which students are interested in.

By subscribing to feeds from sites that are popular with kids, internet terminals within the four walls of the Library become places where students want to be, so they can keep up with the latest information. They can then be ‘the first of their friends to share’ this information. What prestige! (Talking about their discovery with their classmates, also helps to increase their sense of importance – and get the message out there that these RSS are now available in the Library.) Unfortunately, the interest in the Library will probably begin and end here, unless the students are shown, and encouraged to use, the Library for other information-gathering purposes. How then to channel this enthusiasm into more scholarly pursuits?

2. Enlist the help of the teaching staff.

The Teacher Librarian needs to work closely with the teaching staff, informing them of the most current websites and blogs available, on the topics staff are covering, so that RSS subscriptions can be made to these sites as well. Once the teachers are aware of the availability of this wealth of resources, they are more than likely to use these, or at least refer to them, in their classes. And if assessment pieces require student research, it is to these same RSS feeds which students could turn.

3. Keep it current.

Teenagers interests change. Teaching topics change. Therefore, the RSS subscriptions should also change, to reflect currency. Otherwise, the Library quickly becomes irrelevant, and vacant, again. Keeping current with teaching topics is fairly easy, with regularly maintained Work Programs. Keeping current with teenagers is more difficult. One option is to use RSS again – in reverse. Set up a Library blog with an RSS feed, and encourage your customer base to subscribe. Not only can you receive immediacy in feedback to your posts, but you can also seek advice, obtaining valuable information about the opinions of your customers in the process.

4. Inform, inform, inform!

The task then becomes one of exposition – showing, regularly and effectively, the continually updated benefits that the Library has to offer those who are interested. And not just through the blog, and through the teaching staff, but through other channels as well. Noticeboards, newsletters, announcements at Assemblies, etc., all help to get the message ‘out there’ that the High School library is now a place of relevance and interest.

By implementing these 4 steps, the student body and teaching staff alike,  will probably place their faith in the Library as being no longer just a place for ‘old school technology’ and out-dated ideas. Instead, they will believe that it is a place where current information can be found, on sites of interest to them. Mission accomplished!

Image courtesy Allie Des Meules at http://pinterest.com/pin/11188699043725379/