Kimberly Krause Berg

As more and more people jump on the SEO and Usability bandwagon and write about it, a few different arguments are presented. In some, one set of skills is more important than the other, or “first”. For others, one can’t live without the other.

The Internet has made searching for and contacting campgrounds easy, with some campgrounds even experimenting with online booking. The Internet experience for web site users wanting to book a campground is similar to booking hotel rooms. Prospective guests are excited and hoping for a pleasant stay. Any information a web site offers to help them make choices and imagine themselves snuggled in sleeping bags increases the likelihood that they’ll call.

Recently visited a web site that was redesigned. It looked professional and attractive. It was ready for visitors, but perhaps not me. My goal was to find out where the products were and secondly, how to order them. However, the first big whammo! object on the page was a video of a person talking about a product.

If you are in the business of optimizing web pages and promoting web sites in search engines, in all likelihood, you’ve never personally experienced the product or service you’re paid to market.

And yet, your client expects you to make them rich. At the very least, they want their company to rank well in search engine results. They expect you to find the exact keywords their customers are using to find their product or service, but you don’t have access to those customers, do you? You rely on tools and server logs to do your job.

You may be given data to analyze but seriously, if you had the choice, wouldn’t you rather experience the big 10 person party hot tub yourself rather than read dry data on who has purchased it?

The Search Engine College promotes holistic marketing, and it shows in the Jordan's implementation of new plans for their school. As I became aware of some of the changes in store for the coming months, I thought it was time to get the story. If you haven't explored what the Search Engine College has to offer, now is a good time to squeeze a course or two into your education budget or plan on a fresh start for next year.

As fast as technological advances have taken us to a new age of promotion and entertainment, there’s much to be learned from a mysterious, intelligent bowling ball chained around the marketing industry’s ankles. Rather than presenting a heavy burden, this bowling ball is green, enthusiastic and growing larger every day, thanks to companies like digital-telepathy, a digital marketing agency.

If you want to prove you are customer service oriented, there are many ways to do it without losing control of your website property. Online, despite the joys of wrestling with Amazon, most prospective customers want to be able to process your offers without pain.

The role of credibility begins the moment someone arrives to your website. Your homepage, and advertisement landing pages, must provide immediate clues about your company or your staff.

It's easy to overlook important information that your website visitors may need when they first arrive to your homepage. While landing pages are helpful in guiding searchers to your site, eventually even these folks will find themselves on your homepage. Everyone has the same basic questions.

My favorite impression of the November 2005 High Rankings Search Engine Marketing Seminar, in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, came at the end of it. This is when a Question and Answer session with the seminar’s presenters was in progress and I was in the back of the room observing. This is when it hit me. I really like the way these search engine marketing experts teach what they know to attendees.

hate to imagine that in your web development project team meetings, the one thing that will be overlooked is consideration for the end user. Yet, how many white boards have you seen lately that have “ease of use”, or “be polite to customers” scribbled anywhere on them? Rather, the discussion hits on revenue generation, business requirements, colored backgrounds and information architecture. All good things, of course, but I’m quite sure you all want somebody to use it too, correct?

Gone are the days where we could tweak a title tag and see a page’s rank shift up or down a few hours later. While you no longer have to make 50 different versions of a page to meet different search engine algorithms, or submit pages every month, the maintenance required for any search engine marketing program is just as complicated, if not more mysterious, than ever before.

I can’t tell you how glad I am that you found my website. You have no idea the great lengths we’ve gone to get you here, let alone what we’re about to do to keep you here

Adding to the intense thrill of web site ownership are keyword comparisons and bidding for good keyword positions in search engines.

How many times has this scenario happened to you? You've performed a search in a search engine or directory, reviewed the results and found a page description that fits what you were looking for. When you click on the page that looks the most promising, usually you arrive at the web site's home page, where one or more things might happen

Whenever singer John Mayer sings his romantic song, "Your Body is a Wonderland", I can't help but think of web sites and usability. As a usability consultant, I see the devotion to his lover, and the time he spent uncovering every detail of her being, as the way most web site designers think we approach their web sites. When the lyrics arrive at "Take all your big plans; And break 'em; This is bound to be a while", I start giggling. It makes me think of Amazon.com. I'll explain why.

The key to being found by robots if your site is in frames.

Search engines and directories are seeking "quality" pages to present to their users. By consistently using a few simple design techniques, you can reward them by having a site that's easy to scan and effortless to purchase from. If you take the time to i

To build a successful Web site takes more than being a skilled programmer or user interface designer. You may know all there is to know about Dreamweaver, MS FrontPage, PHP, HTML, or Flash and still not construct a Web site that will be found in search en

Before rolling out your website to the public, make sure all clues about finding and using it are directly built in. The search engines will also appreciate it when you stick to the topic at hand, because it helps them determine what your site is all abou