Map Builder::Rapid mashup development tool for Google and Yahoo maps!

There are a few sites we did maps for the old school way- hand coding.

Not any more. Between Map Builder and Google Maps Mania– you should find out everything you need to know to map any location on your site.

Thanks to Blogosopher Charles Halton for these links.

Note: it’s still in Beta- but one of our Next Wave protege’s found this WordPress map plug in- :ditu mark your places. Thanks Alan Dickinson.

Another map plug in for WordPress: Geo Mashup is currently .4 version – seems a little easier to follow than ditu

A lot of people still don’t know what a blog is- or why they should care.
The word comes from weB LOG, and was originally a way to chronologically publish your thoughts online. But that was so, like 2004. The technology has advanced at break neck speed, and now, the Blog software (which sits on your web server- not on your desktop) has evolved into an actively managed content management system. We prefer the Word Press engine- as do hundreds of thousands other people.
What does that mean?
It means that your entire web site is just a bunch of entries into a database- that are then manipulated by the software to do a bunch of really cool things:

• Allows your visitor to instantly search your entire site.
• Makes it easy for you to add content, edit content, delete content (manage your site)
• Automatically optimizes your content for search engines- and even tells them about every change you make.
• Your site will be 100% ADA compliant- so blind people (and search engines can see everything on your site)
• Gives your visitors the option to control the size of the font that they are reading
• Creates an RSS feed so your readers can “subscribe” to your content- automatically being notified every time you change your site.
• Invites interactivity – allowing people to comment and discuss your content- thus building community.
• If all that isn’t enough, since the whole site is generated on the fly from a database (just like CNN, Amazon.com etc) you can change the whole look and feel with one click of a button- no long redesign.

The fact is- the word “blog” really needs to go away– and people need to just adjust to the idea of this is the new fangled way to produce and manage web sites.
These types of sites, when used by people who have just a basic understanding of web stats and how to use this software (like a blogosopher graduate) can be on the front page of Google- without having to pay for keywords or preferred position.

Google is a lot like a blind person reading a website: if your site isn’t readable by a screen reader (a piece of adaptive software that enables blind people to navigate the web) Google won’t find it either. While Flash sites look great- they are self-contained files that don’t have searchable content.
To find out what Google has indexed on your site- go to Google, type in “site:yourURL.com” (or .org, .biz etc) and you will be presented with a list of pages with details about each page- this is what Google knows of your site.

Because Search engines can easily return a million hits, getting your site to the front page isn’t something that happens by accident. But search engines evolve constantly- and that means that your site has to as well. Because the amount of information being added to the Internet daily is huge (I’ve heard over a terabyte a day) search engines are quite busy indexing new information as it is added. So- if you want results, adding content daily will help your site keep the search bots coming back.

How much is that top of search results worth? This is where web stats packages can really help you put things into perspective. If you aren’t looking at your webstats at least once a week, you are missing some of your most valuable business intelligence data available. How many unique visitors did your site have this month? How long did people stay on your site? What keywords or keyphrases did they use to find you? What websites were they referred from? All of these pieces of data can help you make your marketing better- and your site get you a higher return for your investment.

What can, or should a web site do for you? I had a client in my office yesterday, we are about the same age- and we couldn’t remember how to spell the name of a local bar- she went looking for a local free weekly paper because they advertise there, I went to the web. I found the answer faster- and it cost the bar less to reach a much larger audience than that ad did. So- if you are looking at your ad budget- and especially the Yellow Pages advertising expense- and compare that to the costs of having just an informational site up- you start to see the price/value equation. If you don’t have a site that allows people to find you quickly- and have current info on the site- you are missing a huge opportunity.

So, what is the most important secret of building a website that works? You have to be able to edit, update and control it yourself- no farming it out to some web geek. The beauty of WordPress is it is as simple as Microsoft Word- to publish instantly to the web. WordPress allows you to publish, edit, manage a web site that is totally search engine and screen reader compatible, and that gives you features like RSS and interaction as part of a simple package. Your site will rise to the top of Google based upon the content of your site, not upon your budget for design.