Microsoft Delays IE’s ActiveX D-Day

As if people don’t need another reason to switch to Open Source software solutions- Microsoft is now making their new browser require custom authoring so that it can run their own custom Active X controls. Internet Explorer is already known as “Microsoft Exploder” by coders who care to adhere to W3C standards- and now it may be even worse- not working with it’s own proprietary standard.
While it may be cheaper for Microsoft not to settle the lawsuit- for all the companies that trusted Microsoft to provide a platform for their business model- that now have to pay their developers to re-vamp existing work- this is an expensive proposition.

Having data standards that work on all platforms (Mac, Linux and Windows) is critical- why does Microsoft keep marching to their own drummer? Because they can. We test all sites on multiple operating systems- with multiple browsers- if they are W3C compliant- then they are good to go.

It’s time for a mass revolt against IE. Download Firefox today- and tell your friends. Friends don’t let friends use Microsoft Explorer.

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.

Of course, I’m going to remind you that I’m holding another fabulous Blogosopher Seminar this Saturday, Mar 11 2006 from 9am to 12:30 pm.
Come to the seminar and learn how to get to the top of Google for free, how to stop paying a web geek to update your site every time you need to make a change and how this amazing new technology can help you build your business- and relationships around the globe- all for the paltry sum of $99 ($79 for the second person from the same company- or for Next Wave clients). Sign up on-line in advance because it’ll cost you more if you just show up.

So- I’ve heard from a lot of you that you went to www.esrati.com and read some of my “big ideas” for Dayton. Instead of sending e-mails, you should try adding comments- it’s one way to build links back to your sites (which is one way to help you get to the top of Google).

This week- I thought I’d point our some things you will need to know about the future of marketing and advertising and communicating with your clients. This is just a small part of what we cover in the seminar.

1. WAP- or Wireless Application Protocol. Most web sites aren’t ready to be read on a tiny mobile screen, but if you are building your site using an active backend content management system (like WordPress) it’s easy to add WAP access. Intel and Microsoft just introduced the origamiproject– and that’s just going to be the beginning.
2. Digital paper/e-books are coming. As wireless becomes pervasive, it becomes easy to whip out a tablet that displays data. Think a thin laptop screen about the size of a paperback- with simple controls. Sony has one that will run 20 books (not hours) on one battery charge, and display text as clear as print in any lighting conditions.  Soon, people will no longer no what to do with texts that they can’t change the size of- or click on for a definition.
3. Technical support will be provided by Google. No matter what your problem, you will go to Google and type in the error code and find the answer. No more jobs to talk on the phone and walk through your computer problem- and of course- all of us will have multiple devices able to access the web (see 1 and 2 above).
4. Customers will no longer believe what you say on your site- unless all your other customers say you are telling the truth. Predicted in the Cluetrain Manifesto, this is the reality you will be facing- so making customers  happy should be number one on every ones job description.
5. Customers will be offended if you send them an e-mail like this. If they want to know what you know- they’ll expect to find it on your site- not have an e-mail sent to them. They will insist on being in control of their media- if you thought TiVo was big, wait till you see what’s next.
6. If they are under 30 they don’t look at phone books. And in 5 years- they won’t be printing them anymore- if they are, they will be a novelty to all except luddites. Kiss your big Yellow Page advertising budget bye-bye.

I update 3 blogs/sites pretty frequently- and post some interesting stuff. The Next Wave website had over 2000 unique visitors in the short month of February- and has over 860 in the first 8 days of March. That’s 2000 people my site made a sales call on without me having to put on a suit or travel to far away places.
That’s the power of blogs.
Now, does that $99 investment sound good to you?