Bob Nicholson on mon 7 jul 03
I've recently been looking at a number of websites
for art groups, and I've noticed that many groups
overlook what I consider to be "basic information."
For those of you that operate websites for galleries,
studios, or guilds, here's a checklist of some things
to include:
1) Include your group name, type of group, and
geographical location on your home page as TEXT
(not just in an image). Search enginess will
index this information so that people can find
your group. (For the webmaster / techies among
you, this info should obviously be in the KEYWORDS
and DESCRIPTION tags as well.)
2) Include a short description of your organization
and what it does. (2-3 sentences) Put this near
the top of your page, and search engines will typically
show it in the search results.
3) If you have a physical location (gallerie, studio,
meeting place), include the complete address of
the location, plus directions or a link to one of
the online mapping services like Expedia or Yahoo
Maps.
4) Include a complete mailing address with ZIP / Postal
Code! People still use snail-mail!
5) Include a contact phone number, if possible. Our
Guild uses a messaging service called onebox.com;
it consts us less than $10 per month.
6) Include a contact e-mail address. If you don't want
to list an e-mail address (which can be "harvested"
by spammers), provide a contact "form" that will generate
an e-mail message. Your webmaster or hosting provider
can advise you on how to set this up.
7, 8, and 9) NOW, MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THIS INFO UP TO DATE!!!
I can't emphasize this enough. About a third of the sites
I've visited recentl are out of date.
10) Submit your site to search engines and various listing
services. Ask other groups if they will link to you.
My new company, at www.artchain.com, provides free links
for art groups, galleries, etc.
Hope people find this useful. And by the way, I'm always
looking for ways to improve my own web sites, so suggestions
are welcome.
Russel Fouts on wed 9 jul 03
Many Guilds, clubs, associations are looking for new members. It would
be of great assistance if the site listed benefits, obligations and
requirements for membership.
Russel
-----------------------------
Russel Fouts
Mes Potes & Mes Pots
Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 2 223 02 75
Mobile: +32 476 55 38 75
Http://www.mypots.com
Home of "The Potters Portal"
Over 2300 Pottery Related Links!
Updated frequently
My work can also be seen on:
The World Crafts Council International Site: http://www.wccwis.gr
The World Crafts Council Belgium Site: http://wcc-bf.org (English
Pages)
EasyCraft: http://www.easycraft.org
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that
we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only
unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American
public." --U.S. President (and Nobel Peace Prize winner) Theodore
Roosevelt.
Janet Kaiser on wed 9 jul 03
In addition to all the excellent guidance points Bob Nicholson makes for
building, editing, updating and making web sites visible on the Internet...
PLEASE put in which COUNTRY it is in on the home page at the very least!
Preferably a full name and address (including country) on ALL pages because
googling does not always take you to a home page...
Don't forget a lot of foreign language web sites are produced in English as
the second language too, to improve Internet visibility and accessibility
for the content... It can become extremely confusing to the casual googler
and browser.
It is not really amazing that individuals, groups, guilds, etc. do not
include a "country of origin" for their sites, because even huge companies,
institutions and even public bodies don't bother a lot of the time. But it
is sometimes infuriating to have to search around for clues and can
sometimes be downright misleading...
"Georgia Artists": is that the state of Georgia USA or the country formerly
a part of the UdSSR? I bet there are a town/village or two called Georgia
elsewhere around the globe too... Probably in Australia or Canada.
No, the URL is not always helpful... All those dot.com, .net, .org and the
new tags such as .law etc make it next to impossible to know where the site
is geographically based.
Sincerely
Janet Kaiser - shivering in a sea fret which crept up on us this
afternoon...
*** IN REPLY TO THE FOLLOWING MAIL:
>I've recently been looking at a number of websites
>for art groups, and I've noticed that many groups
>overlook what I consider to be "basic information."
*** THE MAIL FROM Bob Nicholson ENDS HERE ***
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TRUTH is too precious to tell every fool who asks for it...
****** This post was sent to you today by Janet Kaiser *******
The Chapel of Art / Capel Celfyddyd
8 Marine Crescent, Criccieth LL52 0EA, Wales, UK
Tel: ++44 (01766) 523570 URL: http://www.the-coa.org.uk
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