Yesterday we answered a question posed by one of our readers. She wanted to know the disadvantages or drawbacks of replacing her current jewelry website with a brand new one. We couldn't quite think of specific disadvantages so instead we wrote out 3 hurdles in the website redesign and programming process.
Today we'd like to give you 3 specific advantages to having your jewelry website redesigned and replaced. We could probably list 100 reasons, but we're simply going to pick the top 3 we feel are important today.
1. With a new website comes a new design; at least we hope you will get a new design!
In the real world, we can each identify building architecture from different periods. Many of us can easily identify building and interior decorating styles from our own lifetime. Can you remember the late 1960's? ... VIEW FULL GOLD NUGGET
The bottom line of today's Golden Nugget is: Don't require JavaScript or Flash or Java to make your Contact Us form work. You are potentially missing out on a lot of visitors who may have tried to reach you, but couldn't because of technology limitations.
Why did we start this Nugget with the "bottom line?" Because the explanation is a little history lesson that might not interest you. Keep reading if you would like to have a well rounded understanding of why JavaScript/Flash/Java are all bad for your Contact Us form.
Every few days a new computerized device is released; new computers, new cell phones, new GPS, new portable gizmos of some type that can connect to the internet.
Even though the hardware changes, the underlying programming languages of the internet haven't changed much in several years.
Competition is good; well, at least that's what some businessmen will say. Competition keeps companies honest because it prevents monopolies, and it also spurs innovation.
In June 2009, Microsoft re-branded its MSN search engine into the Bing search engine. This engine has some very nice features, but according to our tracking of jewelry websites, only 7.63% of search traffic comes from Bing, so we don't pay attention to it much.
Although, Facebook is inching closer to becoming a full-fledged search engine using Bing, so that minuscule 7.63 might increase. Again, we'll let you know if it does.
Bing has one really good SEO feature for reverse engineering your competition's website, and that's the IP Address lookup. You can put the IP address of any website into the Bing engine and find out all the other websites ho... VIEW FULL GOLD NUGGET
Every new web search starts with a question. Someone wants to know something and they type in a few choice keywords into Google and *poof* there's an answer.
It is very easy to search, but not so easy to find the exact answer to what is being asked. Microsoft is trying to capitalize on this idea by promoting their search engine as a "decision engine" that helps you find answers faster.
Google, on the other hand, has exploded their Universal Search results to include content from all forms of media. They also track what people clicked on in the past when searching similar keywords. They use the previous search history to help guesstimate answers for new searches.
All that said, sometimes someone does not know their next question until they are in the middle of reading about something else.
Doing some research over the last few days we discovered something that we admit we should have known about. We're willing to admit when we make mistakes so we're openly publishing it since it's big enough news.
There's a continual argument regarding the support of Flash on website. Some web programmers love Flash, others hate it. To use Flash, or not to use Flash on your website? It's a heated debate akin to the typical arguments between the Republican and Democratic political parties in the United States.
Web programmers waited many years for Apple to come to an agreement with Adobe so the iPhone could display Flash sites. But we were all crushed on April 29, 2010 when Apple announced it would never support Flash, but that's old news and not what today's Nugget is about.
"...articles are easy to follow and seem to have information one can use right away." -Ann, Gallery 4, Hamden CT
"...serious kudos to you. We love your straight talk, pertinent information and plain language. I don't know how many industries have something of jWAG's caliber available, but I learn from the emails every day. Really, really nice work, and very appreciated." -Cheryl Herrick, Global Pathways Jewelry
