Question

Topic: Website Critique

Web Legal Experts/design Pros Pls Advise On Portal

Posted by Corpcommer on 3/27/2006 at 2:47 PM ET 1000 Points
Thanks in advance to internet legal experts & design pros (as well as others who can answer) for comments on a resource portal I made.

Background: During a marketing consultation, a client asked a lot about researching and gathering resources, and I advised on specific web links. That mtg. got me thinking and subsequently, I created a directory of links so I'd have handy portal to use as well as share with others. Note that I was not paid to create the directory and I believe these are very good sources of information for practically anyone.

Page objective: Free knowledge-sharing service to access business and consumer resources from one page.

Other info: Since Tripod/Lycos doesn't charge me to use their webpspace, they put some ads on it. I'm sending link to people I know will find it useful: https://goodsource.tripod.com

Legal Questions: Do you have to get permission to include someone's url on your webpage directory?

Since there's no control over what visitors will get/see, etc. when they access an internet link, do you advise including a "Terms of Service" along the lines of "visitors use this content at their option/risk; no one affiliated with web page guarantees or endorses information?" (I'm thinking of cases when people's browsers are hijacked, or companies have problems with their sites, dead pages, etc.)

Design Questions: I used Site Builder for this, put in a lot of time on it and want to keep a plain, simple look. Do you have any suggestions to improve the page without making it look formal/businesslike?

Thanks agains for your time.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Corpcommer on 3/27/2006 at 2:51 PM Author
    Also, do you have any legal or marketing opinions on current directory name, "Best Top Business Resources and Consumer Information?" Thank you.
  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 3/27/2006 at 6:43 PM Accepted
    The content of your link collection is very powerful. I know there are many people who would benefit from it. As a matter of fact I have already "borrowed" a couple of your links.
    Is it legal and ethical to provide links... The answer is not only yes, but heck yes. People pay money to websites for sending them traffic.
    Now the negative. Is there some reason why you decided to have your collection of links hosted by tripod? The cost of having a website is now minimal. Then you could establish your own identity and control the ad content that runs accross the top of your site.
    I believe the bar has been raised to the point where such a web site would be a liability rather than an asset in business.
    If you are adverse to setting up a web site, why not put the links into a very nicely done HTML format email? You could use MS Publisher or Word or a couple of other programs to configure it... Make it look nice... then email it out to customers. They would no doubt keep the email so they could reference your links. That way the ad content could be yours. All this is a 30 minute project... and very professional.

    Good Luck
    Frank Hurte
  • Posted by darcy.moen on 3/27/2006 at 7:47 PM Accepted
    I think you might have some fun with a content management system and adding some comments or reviews for the websites you are linking to. Add in your own google ads, or yahoo ads and you may very well break even. Right now, I'm generating 15.00 a month from google ads from one website I have for dry cleaners, and I don't work too hard at administering the site. I link to a few resources fro dry cleaners...you could do the same thing. Have some fun with it.

    Craigslist makes a healthy cash flow with his site. Perhaps you could too.

    Darcy Moen
    Customer Loyalty Network
  • Posted by Corpcommer on 3/27/2006 at 9:25 PM Author
    Natalia -- Thanks for your comments and design suggestions. My knowledge of HTML is limited, hence my use of Tripod's Site Builder. Not being a graphics designer, I do appreciate your tips and the codes that you included in your reply.

    Frank -- I'm glad you agree that I put together a "powerful link collection" and happy you find my portal helpful. Re your hosting question, I haven't gotten around to getting a business website yet. My intention wasn't to make my directory a webpage for my business (I'm a mktg. and communs. professional) -- I made the page just as a free service for anyone I know, friends & others who ask for research help. So I liked the idea of free webspace. I wanted to put together something fairly quickly that wouldn't be too complicated or cost money. It's funny you mentioned MS Publisher; I have it and didn't even think to use it. Now that you reminded me, I will!

    Kathleen - Thanks for all your comments and advice on a disclaimer, page name, enhancing its look and suggesting GoDaddy. Sounds like you and Darcy think I could turn that page into a business venture, which is interesting. I appreciate your time and suggestions.

    Darcy - Thank you for your input. I hadn't really thought about attempting to turn my information portal into a "business". Truthfully, I'm not exactly sure how to approach it or how much time I'd have to devote to doing that. If you can recommend a good source/web page that summarizes the topic (steps involved), please e-mail me. Thanks.

    Anyone else want to comment? Thanks.
  • Posted by ReadCopy on 3/28/2006 at 1:15 AM Accepted
    OK, if you want more visitors, you need some optimisation, here is some basic stuff for you to look at:

    1. Make the [TITLE] Tag the first one after your heading

    2. You need to place your keywords and phrases on your page, and make them near the top of the page, as close to the [/HEAD] tag as possible.

    3. Use the [h1] and [h2] tags

    4. Use the ALT tags to put your keywords in

    5. Get your site on DMOZ and Yahoo

    6. Get more none reciprocal pages to link to you

    7. Because you don't really use [TITLE] or [META] or [BODY] to place your keywords, Google will probably not pick up a theme for your site, without a theme it will be difficult to rank high.

    Good Luck
  • Posted by Corpcommer on 3/28/2006 at 7:05 PM Author
    Top of the morning, Marcus! Thanks for your response. FYI, recently I saw a product website (don't recall what they sell) warning visitors to get permission before linking to them. Hence the reason I posed that link question. You & I are on the same wavelength re using a short & sweet disclaimer, and you provided a smashing example.

    Andrew, your expert advice re basic stuff to look at for optimization is most welcome! Many thanks.

    Thanks much for sharing your thoughts, colleagues. You've given me quite a few points to think about and digest. I'd like to keep the thread open for another day or two to see what other good ideas might surface.

    Michele C


  • Posted by Corpcommer on 4/3/2006 at 5:51 PM Author
    Thanks for all the valuable comments I received here and off-board about my nonbusiness,nonincome-producing web page with its fun, informal style. I can’t believe all the replies and e-mails I received – more than any of my other queries. E-mails came in faster than I could get to them.

    For years I’ve advised clients about how important branding is for their business communications. Now you’ve confirmed my thoughts re design and branding for this type of a web page. The Forum’s consensus seems to be that even when you have a noncommercial web page that isn’t linked to and isn’t part of a marketeer’s business website, that informational page should still have the same branding as the author’s business site.

    Re next steps, you’ve given me quite a mix of ideas to consider. I appreciate your useful insights and helpful suggestions, group!

    Incidentally, I haven’t given my information page link to any clients yet. (I give them pertinent web resources as needed, but not my page link. Not yet!)

    To those of you who found professional and medical information as a result of using research resources on my web page, thanks for your e-mails. I’m glad you quickly found what you need to help address your issues.


    Marcus – Many thanks for the additional info and suggestion about link issues and increased volumes. Makes sense.

    ozdesign - Thanks for your comments. I agree with you on branding’s significance & would like to see your site. Would you pls send me your url.

    John – Thanks for sharing your experience re site linking. I understand your point about more 'traditional' companies.

    Panfred – Thank you for offering to help me and for sending me the url. I appreciate your kindness.

    Forum Members, to your success,

    Michele C
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