ATILUS - Web Design | Internet Marketing

Haiti Earthquake a Call to Duty

Rele Anmwe - Call For Help - Appeler à L’aide

If you’re looking at our blog, or have read our newsletters chances are you and I have had a conversation on the phone or in person.

AND, if that is the case you probably inquired about my accent.

I am from Haiti.

I was born and raised in Port-de-Paix, Haiti, 100 miles north of the epicenter of the earthquake that hit in January. I learned of the news much like the rest of the country, online, on television, on the radio. I had many friends and family in the center of quake. And much like you, I’ve seen the pictures from volunteers, news organizations, even friends. They are devastating.

But, this event wasn’t entirely tragic.

The Quake has been a wake up call for many to volunteer and help out in whatever way they can. And not just in Haiti, but around the world. Everyone I know has helped out and done what they can, from donating money, to providing blankets, food, and supplies, for those on the ground. In general many of us seem to have a renewed sense of compassion for our fellow man.

Thank you.

For nearly a year I had been working on a project in Haiti centered around telecommunication. The quake and devastation hit, friends, and partners were lost, and we had to scrap the project. 

But, from the wake of the initial idea and the course of events over the last 2 months, the project has been renewed - with a new purpose. I have teamed up with new friends and partners to develop an automated phone line that provides free information for those in Haiti.

Only about half of the Haitian population has access to telecommunications devices (phone line, cell phone, computer or VOIP).

This was always a challenge for those wishing to communicate in Haiti, but in the days since the quake has proven even more problematic. People need to find information and resources in order to survive. They need information immediately. They need it at no cost.

With this system those on the ground can locate basic services such as food, hospitals, shelters, distribution centers, and more…

If you have any friends or loved ones in Haiti, or simply wish to spread the word about this service, please do so.

To learn more about Rele Anmwe please visit the site www.releanmwe.org

Thank You

Web Directories Your Website Should Be In

We always get this question here at Atilus, “are directories still helpful for SEO (Search Engine Optimization)? And if so, which ones are the best to submit to”. The answer is always the same: “it depends. If you’re talking about low-quality directories (a.k.a. link farms), don’t waste your time with them. But there are still some very good directories out there.”

Below is a list of the few good web directories left we have compiled, but they aren’t free. And that’s the reason most webmasters stay away from them. That makes these directories a lot more exclusive and links from these sites a lot more valuable to your website.

Another reason these directories are so good is that actual humans review the submissions they get and approve/decline requests manually; based on the quality of the sites they review. Because they only add quality sites to their indexes, links from these directories are worth A LOT more than links from spam directories.  These directories are good for SEO and they can also drive very qualified traffic to your site.

Here is the list:

• Business.com ( http://www.business.com/ ) - $299/year
• Best of the Web Blogs ( http://blogs.botw.org/ ) - $75/year
• Yahoo! Directory ( http://dir.yahoo.com/ ) - $299/year
• Web Beacon ( http://www.web-beacon.com/ ) - $39.99, one-time fee
• DMOZ ( http://www.dmoz.org/ ) - This is the only free directory on the list. Submit your site to it and move on. They can take months (if ever) to approve your listing.
• Best of the Web ( http://botw.org/ ) - $149.95/year
• Gimpsy ( http://www.gimpsy.com/ ) - $49, one-time fee
• Skaffe ( http://www.skaffe.com/ ) - $44.99, one-time fee
• WOW Directory ( http://www.wowdirectory.com/ ) - $43, one-time fee
• Aviva ( http://www.avivadirectory.com/ ) - $49.95/year
• GoGuides ( http://www.goguides.org/ ) - $69.95, one-time fee
• Starting Point ( http://www.stpt.com/ ) - $99/year
• JoeAnt ( http://www.joeant.com/ ) - $39.99, one-time fee

Happy hunting…

Image Replacement Technique

Image replacement is being used all over the web today. It is used anytime designers want to place images where text would normally be, hence the name “image replacement”.  The most common uses are logos and buttons. This is a time honored tradition among developers that has evolved over time for purposes of bettering the web and how we code it.

There are many ways to do an image replacement but I would like to show you my two favorite ones to use.

The first one is the one I use on a normal basis. I have picked it up from various developers and not sure who to give credit to.

First Technique

<h1>
	<span></span>
    My Logo
</h1>

h1{
    width: 300px;
    height:30px;
    position:relative;
    overflow:hidden;
}
h1 span{
    position:absolute;
    width:100%;
    height:100%;
    background: url("images/logo.gif") no-repeat;
}

For this technique we are turning the span tag into a block element, placing a background image in it, and placing it over the text inside the h1. What is great about this technique is that it leaves the text right where it should be on the page. You can also go as far as styling the text that would be there just in case the image doesn’t show up or the user has images turned OFF.

The only drawback to this technique is the use of PNG images. Obviously if you were to use a PNG image the text underneath would show through…and this is where the other technique steps in.

Alternate/ Second Technique

This replacement technique is courtesy of Seamus Leahy and Stuart Langridge.

<h1>
    My Logo
</h1>

h1 {
    width: 300px;
    padding: 30px 0 0 0;
    height: 0px;
    background: url("images/logo.png") no-repeat;
    overflow: hidden;
}

With this technique we are pushing the text out of view by making the height: 0px and the overlay:hidden the “height” of the h1 is then replaced with padding. This leaves you with a blank box to add a background image to.

Like I said I only use the second technique when dealing with PNG images that allow the text to show through which really isn’t that often.

Both of these techniques are built around useability. The text is still on the page for screen readers and search engines which is what every good developer should be practicing.

Do you have a favorite technique to share? Let us know about it.

Google Local Search

Google Local Search is one of the fastest growing segments of search. Have you heard of it? No?! Well, that’s okay. But you’ve absolutely already used it and by properly harnessing Google Local Search for your business you can grow your traffic, sales and business, like never before. Read on…

I spent much of last week diving into Google Local Search. We’ve had experience with it, but honestly, it used to be as simple as, verify your business address, and come up on the first page for related results. But, things have changed. And, you really do need to strategize if you have a lot of competition. But, before we get to the meat of how to rank for Google Local Search. Let’s take a look at what it really is:

Google Local Search

You are familiar with Google Local Search. Trust me. Even if you have no idea what I’m talking about, you’ve seen and used Google Local Search. Odds are you’ve seen these listings, clicked on them, even purchased products or services through companies you discovered via Google Local Search.

Google Local Search is simply Google’s way of showing you more targeted local results.

Many times these results are listed beside a big map when you do a search. Take a look; go do a local search for car insurance. In my area I typed: “Naples Car Insurance.”

If you’re in the Naples area, you’ll see a map of Southwest Florida with points plotted, along with a list of A through G of companies that fit your search. Company G is Naples Car Insurance company, Pro America Insurance.

As a side note, if you’re not in the area you may not see the local listings. You can try your own local search to see a similar layout.

How Does Google Local Search Work?

Google local search works through location. Location is determined in two ways, your location (as the person doing the search) and the businesses locations (the results google shows you). Based on these two factors, as well as many other smaller factors, a list is shown. Your location is determined by your IP address (your physical address on the web) so Google can pretty accurately determine what City you are in. The business address is determined in a number of different ways (business website, outside local websites, business owner) - we’ll come back to this in a minute.

Why Local Search?

Why local search? There are two ways to look at this, why would Google do this and why do we want local search? Google wants to do this because it’s inline with their mission to index the world’s data, and provide the best search experience to users. Companies have been trying to do this for years. I remember attending a meeting with a new upstart company, funded by a pair of smarmy millionaires who wanted to do local search. They had this nifty idea on how to get all of the data in - paying stay at home mothers. It was kind of crazy, but possibly lucrative. It failed. Other comapnies have tried - yelp.com, citrysearch.com, among others. The truth is search has been good when it came to general information, but not location. Google came up with a simple idea to:

a) spider through all of the websites/companies out there and try to determine their address and

b) allow business owners to claim or post their own listings

As users we want this because it provides us with even more data on local companies/businesses, and for the first time it really puts the onus of what is revealed to searchers on the business owners. Local seasrch - in part - relies on businesses creating their own account, page, adding descriptions, selecting relevant categories, and physically providing Google with the correct info.

Why Your Business Needs to be on Google Local Search

Because of greater exposure. More views, more business, more sales. Google’s had local search setup for years. But, it wasn’t until very recently that google started displaying local search results (remember the map and A-G listings) alongside normal search results. And they do look good and bring in business! First of all they pop, they are totally differentiated from the other listings (either paid, or organic) and they look much more professional with an accompanying map. Finally, they bring in tremendous results. A local listing not only shows (hopefully) for popular search results in Google.com, but it will also appear when a person is doing searches specifically at http://local.google.com. To give you an idea of just how often people are using this kind of technology, a client of ours was at the back of the list of 1600 businesses in their same genre/area, but they still received nearly 1000 impressions (people seeing their local listing) in one month.

Naples Florida Car Insurance

Atilus is proud to announce Naples Florida Car Insurance, Pro America Insurance, Inc. as our latest client. We are providing a lot of ongoing services for the Insurance Firm, based in Naples Florida including:

• ongoing search engine optimization
• code and website updates
• pay per click marketing

Since starting the relationship just two months ago, we’ve already made a number of enhancements and look forward to many more in the future. The website has already begun to rank nicely, in the top 10, on Google for searches like “Naples Florida Car Insurance.” On a personal note we highly recommend in these troubling economic times to check out their services (they provide both car, home/house, life, and health insurance services). Pro America has a top notch team that provides their clients excellent service and we look forward to providing the same to them.

Welcome Pro America Insurance, Inc.!