Where On Earth Is Your Websitee?
|
|
You've just finished congratulating your marketing team. After six months of concentrated effort you can now actually find your own company web site within the search engines. Everyone is busy handshaking and back patting when a voice from the back of the room rises above the din. "Yeah this is great! Can't wait until we can find ourselves on wireless devices."
All conversation comes to an abrupt halt. Eyes widen. Everyone turns to the fresh-faced intern standing in the corner with a can of V8 juice in one hand and a PALM device in the other. You, being the Department Manager, barely managing to control your voice not to mention your temper, ask the now nearly frozen with panic intern, "What do you mean find ourselves on wireless? We just spent thousands on our web site visibility campaign!" "Well... Explains the sheepish intern, "There is no GPS or GIS locational data within our source code. Without it, most wireless appliances won't be able to access our site."
Guess what? The intern is absolutely correct. Anyone interested in selling goods and services via the Internet will soon be required to have some form Geographic Location data coded into your web pages. There are approximately 200 satellites currently orbiting the Earth. (even Nasa won't confirm the exact number) Some are in geosynchronous or geostationary orbit 27,000 miles above your head. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is the name given to the mechanism of providing satellite ephemerides ("orbits") data to the general public, under the auspices of the International Earth Rotation Service Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF). Sounds like Star Wars doesn't it? It's pretty close. The NAVSTAR GPS system is a satellite-based radio-navigation system developed and operated by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).
The NAVSTAR system permits land, sea, and airborne users to determine their three-dimensional position, velocity, 24 hours a day, in all weather, anywhere in the world, with amazing precision. http://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/
Wireless devices, WAP, Cellular, SATphones and a whole host of newly emerging appliances and indeed, new software applications, will all utilize some form of GPS or more likely GIS data retrieval. GIS stand for Geographic Information System and relies on exact Latitude and Longitude coordinates for location purposes.
Several car manufacturers currently utilize GPS for on-board driver assistance and the Marine and Trucking Industries have been using it for years. Obviously your web site is a stable beast. It sits on a server somewhere and doesn't move much, so at first glance it seems quite unplausible you'll need GIS Locational Data within your source code. On the contrary. One aspect your web site represents is your business's physical location(s) and if people are going to try to find your services and products, shouldn't you at the very least, tell them where it is and how to get there?
Let's look at it from the other end of the spectrum. The end user approach. Let's say you're vacationing in a new city for the first time. Once you get settled into your Hotel room, what's the first thing you want to find? Restaurants? Bank machines? Stores? So you pull out your hand-held, wireless, device, log onto the web and search for "Italian Food in San Francisco." Five Hundred results come back so you click the new "location" feature on your hand-held (which knows exactly where you are) and ten Italian restaurants, who were smart enough to code their web sites with GIS data, light up on the screen. Guess which restaurants didn't get selected? The other four hundred and ninety. Starting to get the picture?
How does this affect you and your web site marketing? GIS Latitude and Longitude co-ordinates will soon be a must have on every web site operators and web developer's list and an absolute necessity for anyone wishing to trade good and services via the Internet. This data may relate to the physical location of the web site or where the site is being served from (if applicable) or where the actual business represented by the site is physically located. There may be multiple web site locations and coding involved, if for example, you have a franchise with multiple locations, each location will probably need a page of it's own with the correct corresponding location data.
If you run a home-based business, I doubt if the co-ordinates to your living room are going to be necessary, but you should provide the latitude and longitude of the closest city or town. Large corporations such as banks may want to code the exact location of every automated teller machine across the country.
Industry standards and the methods of serving out this data are still in the development phases but it's a safe bet to assume there are plenty of people working on the solutions right now and given the speed of technology, implementation will probably be much sooner than later. Give yourself an edge. Find out where in the world your web site is...before your web site is nowhere to be found.
About The Author
Robert McCourty is a founding partner and the Marketing Director of Metamend Software and Design Ltd., a cutting edge search engine optimization (SEO) and web site promotion and marketing company. Scores of Metamend Client web sites rank near or on top of the search engines for their respective search terms.
|
|
|
Created & Maintained by Empower! CMS Web Sites
Host2Sell Web Hosting | Emarketing Workshops | Site SEO Review | FREE Newsletter5 Tips For A Better Website
Having an eye catching website is great, but are you optimizing your website to allow the best performance possible? I receive several emails a day from clients asking how they can get more hits to their websites, what can be done to increase sales, and how to prepare their sites for search engines. There are very simple things that can be done to help your website perform its best.First of all, a websites load time is important for many reasons. No one wants to site and wait a minute for a page to show up. Slow loading websites can attribute to ...(related: Web Development)
Wysiwyg Versus Coding: Html With A Purpose
After years of working with entrepreneurs who developed their first web site using an image-based editor, the new world of internet marketing has placed a stronger emphasis on web development that conforms to technical concerns such as search...(related: Web Development)
Entangled In The World Wide Web
I am just a learner who likes to delve in websites as a hobby. Hobbies are what make life so enjoyable for me. I have tried many other things - watercolor and pastel painting, orga...(related: Web Development)
Trinkets, Lockets And Empty Pockets
It never ceases to amaze me how many people set-up a website, without any type of plan or clue about how to promote it, how to write a sales letter, how to write an ad-- nothing!Even more amazing is how many people try to conduct business online without any money.The other day, I received an e-mail from a woman named Nadia inquiring about my E-mail Consultation Service.In her e-mail, she explained ...(related: Web Development)
Website Content & Usability
Writing for the web is totally different to writing for printed matter. We tend to scan content on the web hunting for the information we're after, as opposed to reading word-for-word. As a result of this, there are certain guidelines you should be sure to follow when writing copy for your website:1. Use clear and simple languageReading from computer screens is tiring for the eyes and about 25% slower than reading from printed matter. As such, the easier the st...(related: Web Development)
But My Business Doesnt Need A Website!
Revenues are often lost because many business owners don't see the value in having a website. They claim their products can't be sold online and technology is overwhelming. The fact is without a web presence they may be losing incredible opportunity. A well-planned, professional website can:Expand Your Business:Utilizing the Internet is a cost-effective ap...(related: Web Development)
Your Website Reflects Your Business
Some left shoes are in isle 5, while the right shoes are in isle 3. Shoe hills are in random places. You can barely walk through the store without stumbling over a shoe.No employees are in sight. As you are desperate for help, you finally make it past the heaping hill of shoes to the back of the store and find a button that says "Page for Help". You press the button and out comes a card that says "please leave your mailing address, we'll send you a letter". Frustrated, you leave the store, and finally realize there is a Footlocker across the street.We all know how first impressions can make or break a potent...(related: Web Development)
Web Coach Tip: What You Should Know About Diy Web Sites
Recently, a friend asked "What's the deal with those DIY companies that advertise "How to get a website with everything your business needs for under $20 bucks a month?". "How can they do that?" she said."First impressions are very deceiving!" I told her...let me share my past experience with you!First of all... folks get excited by the low price-don't do their due dilligence and end up with buyers remorse when they get their credit card statement.And for many reasons.One, all that company is doing is creating cookie-cutter websites to niave, misguided folks who are impr...(related: Web Development)
Kiss Your Website!
Many web developers today are starting to KISS their website, and it shows!No, I don't mean they get hot and heavy with the monitor, I mean they apply the basic values of Keep It Simple Stupd! (KISS)Many sites today are focusing on high end graphics, advanced java scripts, catchy logos, and other trivial factors...(related: Web Development)
Internet Marketing Website Promotion -the 7 Biggest Mistakes I See People Make With Websites!
1. Many people are not getting good or complete advice. Often for example people don't understand all the concepts of Internet Marketing and having a website so they simply pay to have a website developed. Often this website may look good but...(related: Web Development)
You Need A Website!
No matter the size of your business, having a web site is a low cost way to market your services and products twenty-four hours a day. Web sites are a constant advertisement for your business and will help you reach your targeted customers effectively. Your business will not be able to compete without a well-designed web site. There are several key elements to consider when you make the decision to start a new web site:First, you must choose a web site design that is appealing to the eye and gives a unique perspective of your business to your web site visitors. You must include useful content on your web site that will capture the attention of the reader, but that will also increase and help ...(related: Web Development)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 Empower! Web Design | All Rights Reserved. | Web Development