Several months ago, a friend and I built a site based around a very nerdy inside joke we had at work. A code issue that web designers often face is making a layout work in all browsers using only CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Using CSS is the standard, proper, acceptable way to create a website’s layout. An out-dated method of creating websites’ layouts involves a bit of HTML called a table. Tables, for all their clumsiness, tend to work more consistently across browsers than CSS. Tables also do things like vertically align content to the bottom of a cell while CSS will only do this in conjunction with JavaScript.

Of course, there’s a huge logical problem with using tables for layout: the layout of a site is not actually tabular data. And we coders don’t like that bit of bad logic. Also, while tables solve the initial layout problem, they are significantly harder to update.

That said, there often comes a time while coding a site when a designer might entertain the wish to give up and use tables. So we made a site based around that frustration we felt when browsers wouldn’t obey our CSS. Brian created a flash widget that gives a designer 47 minutes to wrestle with CSS. After that time, the widget buzzes and provides the table code for the designer to use.

The whole thing was a joke that we just got bored enough to execute. But here’s where the story gets interesting… After sitting dormant for 9 months, suddenly someone found the site. And not just someone but a very popular code blog called Ajaxian. In one day the site’s visitors leapt from 0 to 400. The next day the site was picked up by a reddit user. At the end of the day, we had about 35,000 visitors.

The Google Analytics graph tells the story:

Impressive, huh?

More impressive is that within one day my Google Page Rank shot up to a 5. And while the instant popularity of the site caused envy in my friends who wished their sites could get 35,000 visitors in one day, I knew it wouldn’t last. Friends encouraged me to put Google Ads on the site, make t-shirts, anything. “This could be another dramatic hamster, Todd!”

But I declined. Give Up and Use Tables is a pretty pure form of internet meme. It’s a site that does one thing — execute a really nerdy joke. We had our day — literally one day — and that was it.

Or to put it another way:

The long graph shows the decline and fall:

It was a fun 24 hours. Golden State even received several referrals from the wave of traffic that hit the site. There are some lessons to draw from this on internet trends, viral marketing, and link-sharing. But I’m still basking in the fun of our joke entertaining so many people (and even inciting real argument). And while Brian and I might have let the domain lapse and the site disappear, Golden State has taken over hosting and will keep it as a geeky museum piece.

So if you’ve ever felt cross-browser frustration with CSS, feel free to succumb to your urge and Give Up and Use Tables.

Steve Churm and crew put on a great event at The Island Hotel in Irvine on Wednesday night for Churm Media’s annual “HOT 25″ event.  Churm Media is one of GSC’s favorite clients and we have been working with them for the last two years.  Currently, GSC helps Churm Media with seven web properties, OCmetro.com, OCfamily.com, inlandempirefamily.com, SouthlandGolfMagazine.com, OCMenus.com, BodyBeautifulMagazine.com and ChurmMedia.com.

Way to go Churm Media… LOVE the energy that you bring to Orange County Business!

Google’s new browser, Google Chrome, launched this week.  Is your website compatible?  Our storefronts, powered by AspDotNetStorefront, are not only compatible, they are blazing fast.

It was awesome to be around some of the most gifted Pilates instructors on the world at the Body Arts and Sciences, International (BASI) Pilates’ annual faculty and host studio conference. 

Rael Isacowitz (founder, BASIpilates.com) gave a nice introduction to me as we gave the instructors a preview of a Pilates OnDemand Software Program that we think will forever change the way people practice and document Pilates exercises.  Check out the video here.

Being in the field of ecommerce web development, many people come to us with their website’s problems. 

MISTAKE #1 - Developing a website first, THEN bring in the SEO team. 

Many people call us and want us to market their existing website using SEO techniques.  MOST web designers have absolutely no knowledge of SEO and how it works.  The files should have the keywords in it. 

Example #1: http://URL.com/ecommerce-web-design

Example #2: http://URL.com/current/index.php#2

So when a search engine’s spider searches the web, it will choose example #1 because it knows what the webpage is about.  In addition, your keywords should be in the content of your web page. For instance, if the theme of your  website is about apparel, one of your webpages should be T-shirts. Another webpage should be pants.  FYI Google indexes individual web pages, not websites.

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10 ADWORDS TIPS!

#1) Split Testing:
The benefits of split testing are great. I love split testing my ‘Ecommerce Web Design’ ads.  I rotate my ads to show evenly throughout the day. Over time I can identify the winner and get rid of the loser.  Once I get rid of the loser ad, I write a competitor ad to see if I can get a higher CTR.  To add this feature go to ‘Campaign Settings’ and click ‘Rotate’ under Ad Serving.

#2) Knowing your keywords:

Everybody wants to be right.  Even I thought our #1 keyword would be ‘Custom Ecommerce’ or some variation of it.  Let the numbers do the work.  Our keyword ‘Ecommerce Web Design’ brings us 5 times the traffic in comparison to the 20 other keywords combined! So I began to not only optimize the landing page for that particular keyword to increase relevancy for SEM, but I also did it to optimize the page for SEO.

#3) Keyword matching type: Broad, Phrase, and Exact match types.

Keyword matching allows you to control how precise a user’s search must be to trigger your ad on Google search pages. Defining how broadly or narrowly your keywords are targeted helps you reach the audience you want. In general, the more targeted your keywords and ads are, the more likely you are to reach potential customers. -Google-   Please visit http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/text/19135.html to get an in depth view of this subject.

#4) Keyword in header
Try this: Write one ad with your keyword in the header and one without the keyword in the header.  Do it for about 1-2 weeks and look at your numbers.  You’ll be surprised.  Most competitors have not figured this one out yet!

#5) Keyword in Subdomain
For this to work, you have to create a subdomain through your back admin office.  Put the keyword in front of the subdomain like this:  EcommerceWebDesign.goldencomm.com    Here’s another example with a different keyword of ours:  StrategicEcommerce.goldencomm.com

#6) Dynamic Keyword insertions
Do you ever wonder how Amazon.com and Best Buy have all these ads written for every keyword you enter?  They don’t have a department filled with hundreds of people typing up individual ads.  They use dynamic keyword insertion.  We use this too, especially for the local search results.  Write this in the headline when you are creating the ad.
{KeyWord} in OC
If the keyword makes the headline more than 25 characters (including spaces), it will only show “in OC”.  So make sure you know how this works.  Or you can leave {KeyWord} all by itself in the headline. The keyword which the user typed in will always come up.  If you don’t capitalize the W in keyword, the second word will be lower case instead of uppercase.

#7) Write Winning Ads
This one combines #4 & #5 into the ad.  Your ad should do two things.
1)    Attract quality traffic AND 2) Repel unqualified traffic.

Follow this Format:
Your #1 Keyword in header
What you do better than competition
Weed out unqualified people here.
AnotherKeyWordInSubdomain

This is our ad:
Ecommerce Web Design
Fully integrated eCommerce sites!
Customized sites starting at $12K
StrategicEcommerce.GoldenComm.com

In this example I try to weed all the small timers out.  I actually try to scare them away!  By the way, our eCommerce sites do start around $12K anyway.

#8) Conversion Goals & Google Analytics
Without conversion goals or Analytics, your advertising campaigns are just a shot in the dark.  A website should be a tool to grab contact info for a newsletter, a “Contact Us’ form, or to sell something (eCommerce) through the internet.  Usually an eCommerce website will have the conversion goal set to the ‘Thank You for your Purchase’ page.
The new Google Analytics makes it easy to improve your results online. Write better ads, strengthen your marketing initiatives, and create higher-converting websites. Google Analytics is free to all advertisers, publishers, and site owners. -Google- http://www.google.com/analytics/
Google Analytics can show which keywords are generating a positive or negative ROI.  This program can be tied into Google Adwords.

#9) Poor/Ok/Great quality score
Use keywords in the content.  This will help raise your quality score.  The more relevant your landing page is to the keyword, the lower your CPC will be.  We are in a higher position than our competitors and pay less per Click than they do.  You should always strive for a quality score of “GREAT”.  Sometime when you have dozens of keywords this becomes difficult.  Not only will you achieve higher relevancy by using the keywords in the content, but you will also optimize the webpage for SEO.

#10) Using your Competitor’s Keywords:
I saved the best for last….  Some people think this is unethical, but their eyes open wide with dollar signs.  My philosophy is this: “If my #1 competitor made it to the top, what can I learn from them so I can get there myself?  Why should I do all this hard work if they have already done it. “
Here’s how to rip the keywords off your competitors website:
Login to Adwords> Tools> Keyword Tool> select Website Content
This will generate relevant keywords based on the text found on your webpage.  Enter in your competitor’s website instead.  This will not only give their keywords, but similar keywords as well.  I don’t think Google has caught on to this, but let’s enjoy this while it lasts.  Google even organizes all the keywords for you!
Please reply to this post and let me know if you found any of this information helpful.  I would greatly appreciate it.

The Excel-Your-Business.com seminar is about to begin in Fullerton, CA.

Jason Lavin, CEO of Golden State Communications prepares to present to 100 people (small to medium sized businesses) at the Marriott Hotel in Fullerton at California State University.

Audra (Project Manager) is happy to be there!

Stela (Developer) is there too!

Jason Lavin, CEO of Golden State Communications, presenting to 60 people (small to medium sized businesses) at the Long Beach Renaissance Hotel.

The July 15th, Excel-Your-Business.com website optimization seminar is underway!  Photos provided by Audra Gussin, GSC Client Manger, via her shiny new Iphone 3G.

Couldn’t make it?  The Excel-Your-Business.com Seminar comes to Fullerton, California on July 17th, seats are still available, sign up now!

The IndyMac collapse making national headlines is a bit surreal for the team at Golden State Communication because IndyMac was one of our largest customers about 3 years ago.

I can remember several times heading up to Pasadena to meet with department heads (marketing folks, IT folks) to further enhance our on-line 1003 wizard (a loan application) and backend integration to their LOS (loan origination system).  Boy, have times changed.

We hope the best for the employees let go this week, as well for those left to try to rebound.  I understand the FEDs will be in Monday… it will be interesting to see exactly how this plays out.

As for the GSC front, thank goodness for diversification

We already have 50 people registered at the Excel-Your-Business.com website optimization seminar next week (TUE, 15-July) in Long Beach.  Registration closes today, so make sure you get in now if you want to attend.