Just who IS this guy, Reg Charie? And why should I listen to him? A couple of good questions that deserve an answer. I am a 65 year old Web Master, a total internet nerd that has been using computers for business and pleasure since the early '80s. When I first got online in early '94 I immediately saw the potential for commercial use and jumped headlong into the fray. My background is in the Graphic Arts, in a technical role, not as an artist. I have probably looked at more ads and page layouts than any 25 of my readers combined.

I also have a background in corporate management, teaching, sales, customer management, and small business. Besides working in a corporate environment I have been a Sole Proprietor of many "sideline" businesses.
I left the corporate world in '90 to become self employed.
As you see, I still am and would not trade it for the world.

I started my web design career in '96 and bootstrapped my business to where it is today, a small but thriving agency catering to other small business operators.

My agency is small by design.
I have no interest in managing employees or turning out cookie cutter websites. My satisfaction comes from helping others and seeing a business improve with my help. I hold that there is a large difference between a "Web Master" and a "Web Designer". The Web Master designs sites based on what works, the Designer on what the client wants, even to adding the mistakes that will cost the client dearly, on down the road.
If this sounds harsh, so be it, but I am not interested in working with clients that want to do it all "their way" when it comes to integral parts of the website design that have to do with internet marketing.
In almost all instances the client does not have the background knowledge to support their choices. Usually the choices are based on their "feeling" of how something should be presented or integrated than how it will effect teh performance of the site, from a user's viewpoints.
A lot of times this surfaces as usually the client is so well versed in their business that they do not see how less "understanding" visitors would view the promotion.

To boil this down to its essence, "Design for the visitors, not for the client."

If I have not chased you away, keep reading.

I have been working online since '94 and even conservatively estimated my online time is well over 43,000 hours.
If it is out there, I probably have tried it. I have been down many blind alleys, dead end streets, good neighborhoods and bad.

All in all, I have found what works and can be applied to others so that they too may profit.
It is a VAST space out there in the virtual world, there is room for everyone to make a profit.

The heart of the system, (Did I tell you I have a love of systems that stems from my youth?), is to appeal to you visitor enough in the first several seconds, that they continue reading, and by continuing they become a customer.

This is done by using Search Engine Optimization, (SEO), something that I have been studying and practicing since my early days online.

SEO is not the manipulation of search engine ranking algorithms as most believe, but one of human interaction.
Search engines are constantly working towards ranking sites to the same standards as they would be if each page was reviewed by a human.
If your goal is to provide relevant information in regards to the search phrase your visitor used to find your site, then the search engines will rank you well.

Using SEO is something I have been doing with excellent results for several years. Kids Culinary Adventures search results, and several more examples of SEO results I have achieved. All results are as of publication dates and subject to change.

Paul Bruemmer (Another SEO proponent), writes in Cracking the SEO Mystique:
"Organic SEO takes a lot of expertise, and it also takes cooperation by the client in executing the recommended site changes that allow a site to rank well in the major search engines."
I also find this. The site MUST satisfy the "what is in this for me?" syndrome before going into anything else.
He also goes on to say: "A recent JupiterResearch study states there are numerous obstacles to achieving necessary site changes when search marketers outsource SEO to vendors. In fact, 64 percent of the marketers and agencies surveyed said they did not implement their SEO vendor's recommendations."
IMO the principal obstacles is the resistance of the client to understand the necessity of the changes. All too often they go into what THEY do, (A feature or features), before telling the visitor the benefits.
I have heard reasons ranging from "all the other sites do it his way", (So you want to be "another" site instead of leading the pack?), to "my target market, (usually local), EXPECTS the site to look this way", (Wrong, as long as the site is professional in appearance and execution your "target market" is only interested in what they can get out of it. Stop thinking local, think global.)

In the end, it all comes down to what the client thinks.
Client comments:
Kenny Shaw
Barbara Maroney
Joel Morrison
Barb Desmarais
Althea Garner
GiGI Gaggero
Lama Kala

Other thanks form my old site.

If you are looking for more information, or wish to participate in a super social network of business owners, check www.Ryze.com and my network Telling It Straight.

To your success,
Reg