Do You Own Your Website?

Hello, all!

I know I've been away for a bit. Details on that in an upcoming post. For now, I just wanted to let you know that the most recent issue of my e-zine has been sent out. This is the second part of my series on owning your website (and the dangers if you don't). This time we're talking about the questions you should be able to answer. Here's a short excerpt.

1. Are you paying for the site?

Very few things in life are free. Unless you have your site on
one of several advertising-supported systems, *someone* must pay
for it. Usually whoever is paying for it has the ultimate
control over it. Check your financial statements for a monthly,
quarterly, or annual payment for your hosting services. If you
can't find anything, then you might want to start to worry.

2. Who hosts the website?

more...

If you'd be interested in receiving my e-zine, you can subscribe on the ezine page of the Cyber Data Solutions website.

So, do you own your website? Are you sure?

Silly, But Fun

I saw my buddy Al Bogdan had taken this test, so I thought I would give it a go. I beat him by 3%! I think if I do some studying, I can do better.

87% Geek

So, how much of a geek are you?

Implying Expectations

Thursday night Lisa and I went out for dinner to celebrate our fourth anniversary - a big step for new parents! Our friends, Kim and Tim Householder (the Ims) were kind enough to come over to babysit our little bundle of joy. Thank you Ims!!

Anyway, Lisa and I decided to go out to Gratzi, one of our favorite restaurants in downtown Ann Arbor. Yummy Italian food, and willing to accommodate a vegetarian like me. As always, they did a pretty darn good job. The food was delicious and the service unobtrusive (though, admittedly, just a hint slower than I would have liked). There was just one little tiny thing, which felt like a failure. Nothing big, but it would have made the difference between a good evening and a great evening for me.

This is what happened. Knowing that it was a popular restaurant, I was the good husband and called their reservation line to make sure that we had a table that evening. No problem there. They were able to fit us in at the day and time we wanted. Then the operator on the other end asked if this was for a special occasion. Quite pleased, I told her that it was, indeed, our anniversary.

Despite me giving her this information, though, Gratzi's staff didn't do anything out of the ordinary beyond just serving dinner. I didn't need a free dessert or anything. Heck, if the manager had just come over and wished us a happy anniversary, I would have been thrilled.

But we got nothing.

Now, I know the reason they ask is that Main Street Ventures (the parent company for Gratzi and several other downtown Ann Arbor eateries) gives you a free meal on your birthday (just remember to bring your driver's license). As far as I knew, they didn't do anything for any other events. The problem was, the operator asking that question. It put the anticipation of something special in my head. When nothing happened, it left me feeling a bit disappointed.

Since their reservation listings are undoubtedly generated from a computerized system, how difficult would it have been to make a small notation on our listing so the staff would know why we were there and to make our visit more than just a trip out to the restaurant?

More and more, all establishments, from restaurants, to hair salons, to web development companies, have to do everything they can to be remarkable. Making such a small change in an existing system would do an awful lot to make us even more loyal customers and to do what every establishment wants us to do:

Talk about them.

So what do you do to make yourself remarkable?

Working for Writing

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that I took part in the Leadership Ann Arbor program. This was a year-long monthly gathering of a group of 50+ people to learn more about the city we live in and to discover how we can act as leaders in our community. Our class graduated back in June of last year, but many of us have chosen to continue to meet to share the ups and downs of our lives and to find ways to help each other out.

My good friend, Angela De Smet, is one of many cool people whom I met through Leadership. She really took the idea of leadership to heart. She serves as the Treasurer for 826michigan, an organization dedicated to supporting kids in developing their writing skills. As a writer myself, I applaud their efforts. After all, writing is the basis of all wealth.

Right now, 826michigan is working on a couple of fund-raising efforts. The first is an online auction. It's pretty straight-forward. They are asking members of the community to donate items which will be auctioned off. They will be accepting donations through May 20 with the auction closing down on May 28. Their site has more details.

The other event is kind of odd, fun, and intriguing. They are having a Mustache-A-Thon. They are looking for people who are willing to be a mustache farmer from March 24 through April 28. They'll take pictures each week and folks are supposed to donate to support their favorite 'stache. It will be interesting to see how this one goes. If you are interested in joining in the fun, be sure to check out the details over at 826michigan. They even mentioned something about "free beer".

So, what's the oddest thing you've done for charity?

One Step at a Time

My daughter, Kaylie, taught me a lesson this morning about creating my web presence.

Yep, she's a child prodigy even before she's spoken her first word.

She was with me in my office while I was working. I had her on her lily pad blanket and she was working on running. No, she wasn't actually getting up and running around my office. She was lying on her back, lifting her legs and rolling onto her side. That's it. She's working on the next step of rolling all the way over. It's hard, but she's not letting that slow her down.

So, what does that have to do with creating a web presence?

Most people -- myself included -- won't do anything on the web until we've got the whole thing figured out. We've got to have the perfect website with the perfect layout and design, the perfect content, the perfect e-newsletter, the perfect search engine optimization which places us at the top of any search rankings, etc, etc, etc.

The end result of this, of course, is that we do nothing.

I think Kaylie has the right plan: Just start. Don't have a website? Hire someone to build one. Can't afford a high-end web design company? Hire your nephew. Can't afford him? Spend ten minutes a day using one of the various online tools at your disposal, such as Google's Page Creator.

Oh, and your site doesn't have to start out with every single piece of potentially interesting information under the sun. Try starting by answering the questions: Who are you? What do you do? How can you help me? How can I contact you? Later on you can create a page with the details of your state-of-the-art, factory-certified, award-winning framenjammer processes, one with the list of your press releases, and the calendar of events that you will be attending.

So what if you don't have perfect content? Something is better than nothing. Write anything, because, as my buddy Scott Ginsberg says, writing is the basis of all wealth.

A Web presence can be (and really must be) built over time, step by step. It's a slow process, but a necessary one, because if you (or your company) don't exist on the Web, then you don't exist.

So, what steps are you taking to increase your Web presence?