Is
this who I am? That is the deepest of questions on
the spiritual level. On the more mundane level we run
around telling each other "THIS is who I am".
Websites do this well. Websites are not about mass
marketing, however, they are about being available.
Super or hyper available. This requires positioning your site
to be easily found and once found the viewer is made
welcome to stay with pertinent content easily assimilated.
Being found is not rocket science but
it takes patience and persistence - something in in
very short supply today. All sites are a constant work
in progress. As soon as you rest because you believe
your goal is achieved you will begin to fall behind
as internet change overtakes you. There is no stasis
on the web.
Is this who I am? NOT.......
I am moving on and am not accepting any new outside website work. I am leaving this page up as a reference for those that enquire and want a little advice. Thanks -
Stephen |
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What Stephen Does with a Website
An outline of my website efforts follows
in seven phases.
Phase One - Complete design or redesign
for visuals, structure & usability
Phase Two - Add quality relevant content
Phase Three - Optimisation for key words and phrases
Phase Four - Polish and integrate usability, feel and
look of site
Phase Five - Create outbound links to other
relevant sites
Phase Six - Continually revisit
phases two to five
Phase Seven - Start over again at Phase One when site
is losing currency
Phase One is usually done by a website
designer. Phase Two by a web copywriter. Three and
Four by a search engine optimiser [SEO]. Phase Five
usually by the website owner in conjunction with the website designer or by a search engine marketer [SEM]. AND Phase Six usually
ends up being overlooked
There is a lot of confusion extant as to what gets good search engine placement for websites. Good placement really boils down to three things - high quality/unique content, an easy/intuitive onsite user experience and trusting the user with full information so they may make an informed decision. Creating truly informed users builds their trust naturally, they will link to you naturally and your site placement will grow over time.
Patience is always the missing ingredient in making websites. Substituting SEO tricks for patience is not what Stephen is about. Stephen builds sites that perform consistently and naturally over time rather sites that have meteoric rises and falls in the search engines. There will be no reciprical linking strategies nor will there be any buying or selling of links. Pay Per Click Marketing [PPM] will solely be in the province of the website owner.
For my own sites, I tend to do a Phase
One about every 2-3 years as our business/life changes.
The rest of the phases are ongoing with serious updates
yearly. It can take a good 3 years of repeating the first 6 phases before a website gets enough "trust" in the search engine algorithms to rank well for any competitive search term.
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My Current Crop - Farmer
Stephen
AlisonVardy.com
This is our bread and butter site.
Constantly Phase One to Six
www.alisonvardy.com
West Coast Harps
Our new financial whirl.
Constantly Phase One to Six
www.westcoastharps.com
Used Harp Mart.ca
Our new harping community site.
Constantly Phase One to Six
www.usedharpmart.ca
Celtic Harp Sheet Music
Our newest [ad]venture
This is Phase One as at 2007.05.22
www.celticharpsheetmusic.com
StephenVardy.ca
Constantly Phase One to Six
www.stephenvardy.ca
Celticharp.ca
Constantly Phase One to Six
www.celticharp.ca
m.celticharp.ca
Constantly Phase One to Six
www.vardy.mobi
LoriLewis.com
Constantly Phase One to Six
www.lorilewis.com
KidzCraftz.ca
Constantly Phase One to Six
www.kidzcraftz.ca
Among-Friends.ca
Constantly Phase One to Six
www.among-friends.ca
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Renumeration
If you are interested in my assistance
I can help revise your existing site and take you through
the first six phases. It takes about two or three years to get
through all the steps the first time and get valid
search engine results [this is not about being first
- it is about being found by people who are willing
to give you custom].
The process is collaborative with the
site owner providing a lot of the first draft written
content plus a lot of the link research and handling
external email correspondence. I will advise, assist,
educate and resource as required.
Payment is aproximately 50% up front upon your approval
of my new design [Phase One] with the remainder of the initial upgrade costs due during Phase Four. The final optimisation and tweaking phases are ongoing and are covered with an annual administration retainer in
12 equal monthly installments. My service best supports
those who have already had a website failure. Such
experiences create an understanding that what is involved
is much more than simply hanging out a shingle and
have the world beat a path to your door nor taking shortcuts like link swapping and other black arts.
My total fee is usually between USD$2000
and $3000 for Phase One to Six and is usually completed
within 18 months. Website hosting costs will run an
additional minimum USD$200 per year including domain
costs. I will spend about 75-100 hours on this process over the 18 months.
A monthly retainer in the following years will
keep the site ticking over with minor adjustments to
keep the site current with new search engine practises pending a development of a website algorithm trust factor which improves rank and offers more competitive placement.
Contact me
if you are still curious.
Namasté
Stephen
Vardy
Victoria BC Canada
+250.598.6679
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