The Client’s Finished Product
Posted by Mitch on Jun 25, 2008
So, here’s the follow up to my post on having to try to fix a client’s website when he created it from Microsoft Publisher.
I did indeed have the beginnings of a workable template. However, the menu was problematic. MS Publisher had created the menu as an image also, and the client had put both a heading at the top of the menu, then this little picture under that, followed by the menu. He had told me he wasn’t crazy about the menu because he’d wanted this blend of colors, but the menu broke them all out so that everything looked choppy, plus he couldn’t get the same size and effect on every page.
The first thing I tried was just cropping the picture out of there, then typing his heading and adding the picture, then the menu. It looked okay, but all the links suddenly wouldn’t work. That wasn’t going to do, so I decided to eliminate the menu he had and fill each area with a color that was in the middle of all the colors he’d chosen, and then darken the menu headings so that he’d have all his menu items and all would be great with the world once again. That way, I could make everything uniform, which would look smoother, and it’s what he really wanted in the end.
After that, I tried typing in his little heading and adding his image, but for some reason everything wouldn’t stay aligned the way it was before. The image kept wanting to go to the top; that wasn’t going to do. I’d tried to separate the heading and the picture by using the < tr> and < td > tags, but instead I decided to put them in the same tag, and use < br > to drop the picture lower. That worked perfectly; whew!
The final big piece was that he’d created all his pages with generic names; well, he didn’t, Publisher did. So, after the index page it was page2.html, page3.html, etc. I changed all the page titles to what each page was supposed to be about, within reason of course, so that it would at least give me a change to optimize the pages. So, each page has its own wording in the links that comes close to matching the title; that was good stuff, but I have to admit that I thought about it last minute. I was looking to just get done after all the trouble with the first page, then realized that wouldn’t help me any.
After that, I went back to each page, changed the title headings, put in a different description and meta tags, then formatted his bottom menu so it was centered, and decided to make his email address a link that will open up a person’s email client; hey, that’s not a bad way to go. The only minor problem I felt I had was that, since he’d written all the copy and wanted it that way, I found it hard to optimize so that it would help him in the search engines. It’s not a traditional business model, but I did what I could with it. He had already bolded certain phrases, so I went with those.
At this point, the job is done; the only thing left is for him to tell me which hosting package he’s purchased and where I can upload it so that he’ll be good to go. For testing, I uploaded it all onto one of my sites, obviously having to change the link for his index page because I have my own index page on that site, but it was only for testing anyway. If you’re interested in checking out the finished product, click on this link, but remember, after being on this page you can’t click home, otherwise you’ll go to my original site instead of his home page again.
I’m proud of myself for figuring it all out, and keeping it at 10 hours, which was my goal. He’s happy also; whew! There is one page where I didn’t change any of the coding, because he wanted everything in a particular format, and I just wasn’t interested in trying to figure out how to change it all; plus, it was only text, so it was smarter to leave it alone. It’s ugly, but it works just fine.
As a plug, the work was done under one of my other business names, SEO Xcellence; just thought I deserved to give myself a little love. 
MS Publisher Is A Terrible Web Tool
Posted by Mitch on Jun 8, 2008
I have a new web client whose webpage I was hired to optimize. In essence, he built the site using Microsoft Publisher, which I knew could do the job, but he wasn’t overly happy with what he’d done, and I had offered to take a look at it for him at some point, so he sent me the file to take a look at.
That’s when I noticed the first thing. He actually sent me a Publisher file, and I wasn’t expecting that. It was easy enough to open, and then I figured out how to save it as HTML files so I could use my Top Style program to look at the pages.
I knew Microsoft Publisher could be used to create webpages, and it’s relatively simple for users who don’t know HTML, but I never realized just how much work it was going to create for me on the back end. Forget about trying to optmize the page; I’m fighting to try to standardize all the pages. For some reason, there’s a lot of text that Publisher created as images; what’s that about? Also, there’s a lot of extra code, ugly code, that’s getting in the way of trying to determine what I can do to get things on the up and up again. Finally, Publisher helps people create menus, but it doesn’t keep the formatting from page to page, so all 10 of his pages have the same menu, but the images are all different sizes. I’m still trying to figure out how that was accomplished because, oddly enough, when the pages were downloaded all the menus turned into images; what the hey?
After spending the first 90 minutes trying to work around all that extraneous code, with very little success, I decided I had to go a different route. I didn’t start with the index page, but a different page where the formatting was totally out of whack, and all the text was merged with a picture of my client into one much larger image. I opened Publisher back up, went to that page, and learned that I could copy the text in the program to Word; that was a life saver, because it made what I needed to do next easy. I cropped his picture out of the bigger picture, because I wasn’t going to need the rest of it.
Then I eliminated all the code I could, all those extra < td > and < tr > tags that made no sense whatsoever so I could widen the page, which was at 43% for some unknown reason, to 85%. For now I’m stuck with using a menu image, which I’ll probably go back and eliminate since he said it didn’t quite turn out how he’d wanted, but I was more interested in getting the formatting of everything else down first.
I then created a table to encase his picture in so I could merge it in with the text that I was adding back in, and because most of his pages were using Verdana as the font (there were at least 3 different fonts that came up, though the client said he had thought he was only using one) I decided to go with that across the board.
When all was said and done, I had established at least a workable template that I can use for all the other pages, except for that menu that I’ll probably go back and change up before I save the template for good. It took me 2 1/2 hours of work just to get it presentable, and though it was time well spent, the lesson seems to be that it doesn’t do much good to try to work around bad coding just to make something look passable. I wish someone could tell me why these Microsoft programs that can make webpages seem to add so much extraneous, and bad, code. Word does the same thing, and Front Page also adds extra code, which makes no sense as it’s specifically for making webpages.
It’s a lucky thing for me that I’m working on an hourly basis, but I hate wasting client’s money, even when they’re the ones who created the mess. I have two other possibly clients whose sites I might be fixing up also, and one of them also used Publisher. Someone please help stop the “messes”!
Reviews Of Everything
Posted by Mitch on Apr 12, 2008
I have another site that I’d like to introduce you to. It’s called Reviews Of Everything, and it’s a site I set up where I review almost anything that hits my fancy. Thus far I’ve got about 75 or so reviews on the page, and I’ll be adding more as time goes on.
There are probably two questions about the site. The first is why have a site that reviews things in the first place. After all, isn’t that what a blog is for? Well, there are a few short answers to this one. First, I can write longer pieces on things than I would want to write here. It’s not really the purpose of a blog for long, drawn out comments, though some people do it that way. The reviews on my other site can run anywhere from 300 to 1,000 words; who’d stick around if I continually wrote 1,000 words here? The second is that it offers another marketing opportunity because, unlike a blog, those posts are always only two clicks away from being seen at the most, where as a post I write on a blog may be pages away in less than a month if I’m very active. Third, because I had someone say to me that I should start a site where I give my opinion on things, and I might make some money off it; good enough for me.
The second question is why is it a .info instead of a .com. That’s not my fault. The person who owns the .com has been squatting on it (so I say) for a long while now, because there’s nothing up on the site. It was supposed to expire in February, and I had high hopes that it wouldn’t be renewed, but it was. The owner always has first right to renewal. I hope this person puts something up one day, because it’s really disconcerting that he or she is wasting away my opportunity.
Enough said. Why not stop by and take a look around. I have lots to say.
Natural Search Works
Posted by Mitch on Dec 14, 2007
There’s been this debate in the SEO community, of which I’m a minor member, as to whether it’s better to submit your website to all the search engines to help them find you, or just to wait and let it happen naturally. In the past, whenever I’ve created a website, I’ve always submitted it, just to make certain, but this was before the debates came up. I decided not to with this site, just to see what might happen.
Well, I’m happy to say that, in just a few days, Google has found me. And, if I put the name of my blog in, it comes up in the 3rd position; that’s kind of neat. Now, that is only Google, because it still hasn’t shown up on Yahoo, MSN, or Ask, but Google’s the big dog, which this kind of proves.
Of course, the thing about a blog is that it’s not only always new content, but it also isn’t easy to optimize when you’re kind of all over the place. Still, it’s nice to know that I do hae a chance to compete, since they’ve also indexed my first few pages.
I'm Just Sharing is a blog about sharing my thoughts about internet marketing and other things. Read, enjoy, and buy! :-)
