John Quarto-von Tivador seizes upon successful agriculture culture as a metaphor for good website promotion (are you from Calif. John?).

He says that it's the toughest kind of farming, like lettuce growing and not at all a cherry picking operation. Successful sites, like successful lettuce fields, require constant tending.

Too many people still look upon websites like print publications. Once they are "launched," they're done. In fact, the launch is just the beginning. Success lies in many hours of careful tending.

There is always a bunch of stuff to do when you optimize a site. You've got to make a list.

When I optimize a site for local search, I begin with this local seo list.

According to Google's chief economist, the expert who may be in greatest demand over the next ten years might be the statistician.

What?

What is so powerful about email marketing¹? Opt in. That's right. Opt in. Opt in email makes for laser like precision narrowcasting. Your prospects opt in to your email because they are interested in what you have to offer. Therefore you are marketing to prospects and not to broadcasting¹ to everyone in Florida.

A content management¹ system allows just about anyone in your business to easily make changes to and add to the content of your website.

A website is like a hungry beast. It always needs new content. It pleases search engines to see that your site is being updated. More important, it pleases your readers to have access to new information valuable to them.

Without new content websites die.

Here are 8 reasons to use a content management system and keep the hungry beast healthy and working for you.

Water, water all around
And all the boards did shrink.
Water water everywhere
And not a drop to drink.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner

"I'd give up all my traffic for one good lead a month," lamented a Tampa Bay businessman whose aging site gets lots of traffic but few prospects.

That's the irony of traffic. No matter how many visitors your website is getting, it makes no difference if you aren't getting visitors whom you can turn into clients. Internet jargon has named that happy condition, "conversion¹."

Instead of testing keyword combinations until your fingers are bleeding, why not ask your visitors what keywords they are using to find what they want?

"How?" you say. "I don't know my visitors. How can I ask them anything?"

Well, you don't even have to ask them. Just check and see what they are searching for when they get to your site. Use your analytics software to see what keywords they enter into your site search¹ box. What better way to find out what your visitors want?

It seems like people are confronted weekly with new things to learn involving technology. What is more frustrating than a new set of confusing instructions for a new gadget?

It's the same with websites. When we are looking for something, we want to find it as quickly as possible. When confronted with a maze of website "noise," most of us throw up our hands and move on to the next site. After all, there are many to choose from.

Website experience experts call this phenomenon learnability¹. How long does it take for visitors to learn how to find what they want?

Websites are websites. Brochures are brochures. Never the twain shall meet.

Not never. At one time both were deemed to be the same thing. Designers designed websites like they did brochures. In some circles websites that resemble brochures are called brochureware¹.

Over time the twain have grown further and further apart. They will never meet again with a few exceptions. Some people, like attorneys in many cases, get along just fine with a site that resembles an online brochure. But the vast majority of us need a real website, not a brochure site.

Website success requires compatibility¹. Before any kind of a deal is struck, the interests of the visitor must perfectly match the interests of the business of the site.

Moreover, compatibility must be present along every step of the way. Let me show you by way of example. In my example, the visitor comes to the site because he is interested in purchasing a microwidget.