How to Implement a Site Search

Wouldn't it be nice for people to search your entire site with minimal effort on your end? You might be thinking this would require a substantial amount of time or money, or maybe even both. I assure you this is not the case. Maybe you already have a search feature for your site, but you are unhappy with the results that come up. Whatever the case may be, if you are looking for a reliable search tool I would suggest you check out Google Custom Search.

Google Custom Search is...

1. Easy to add to your site
2. Customizable for advanced users
3. Free

Rather than me boring you by telling you how it works, try it out for yourself by using this blog's custom search feature (in the right column towards top).



You can implement a search tool just like this on your own site without writing a single line of code. Google will generate it all for you, and you can get set up in just a couple of minutes. If you need help adding search or other tools to your site, just drop us a line at support (at) cws (dot) net.

WalkAmerica is now March for Babies

As you may recall, my wife and I had a son born 15 weeks premature in June of 2006. I'm happy to report that he is doing great, walking and even starting to talk. However, every year thousands of babies are born premature and they do not achieve such a positive outcome. Our son, Carson, spent several months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Mayo Clinic and we had the chance to meet other families dealing with prematurity.

Last year, my wife and I agreed to be the "Ambassador Family" for the 2007 WalkAmerica Walk for the March of Dimes. This year, they have renamed the walk to "March For Babies" and we're proud to be there again as a symbol for the advancements made by the March of Dimes. Without their research, many of the lifesaving technologies used on Carson would not have been available.

We have been blessed with a healthy child and want to give back both emotionally and financially. We have set a goal to raise $2000 this year as "Team Carson" and would love for you to join us. We would like for you to either walk with us or make a donation towards this great cause. If you're a customer of CWS, this year we'll again provide a credit to your account for 50% of your tax-deductible donation (up to $500 maximum per client). For example, if you donate $100 to the March of Dimes through the link above, we'll issue a $50 credit to your account.

Please join us Thursday, February 28th at 6PM for the official Rochester March for Babies 2008 Kick-Off! It will be held at the Best Western Soldiers Field. Food will be provided and there will be music by classic hits 107.7 KLCX thanks to generous sponsors.

Thank you for supporting the mission of the March of Dimes and we look forward to seeing you on Feb 29 (yes, Carson will be there) and walking with you on April 26th!

Walking a Mile in Someone Else's Shoes

One of the values we try to live by at CWS is user-centric design. That is, we believe that websites and Web-based applications are most effective when they're designed to make the tasks performed by end users as easy as possible. This may sound obvious, but in reality it's much easier said than done.

People tend to assume that others basically think like themselves, and it's very difficult to overcome that feeling. In the same way that a filmmaker might have a hard time watching a movie without analyzing the lighting and camera angles that the rest of us take for granted, the different groups of people using a site will come with different sets of assumptions.

This can be a trap both for the people who create websites and those who own the content. Programmers can think of a site in terms of infrastructure, or let technology drive design in place of experience. Business owners or other stakeholders may be more concerned about what they want to say than what the end user wants to know. Thinking about a site solely from our own perspective can handicap a great idea.

This principle applies both to design in general, content writing (the most overlooked component of good design) and to search engine optimization. There may be a big difference between the search terms that a business owner thinks are applicable to his website and those that his customers actually use. It doesn't do any good if a site performs well for searches on "mechanical contractor" but consumers are only looking for "heating repair." In the same way, a site that gives a passionate description of product benefits but never answers questions about price may drive away people who are doing research to build a shortlist of potential vendors.

There are many formal processes and tools to help you put yourself in a user's shoes (personas and use cases, for example), and we can help you walk through these, but the best way to start is simply talking to the people who will use the site or application being designed. Find out what people love and hate about the tools they use now.

Customer loyalty comes from giving people what they want. As Zig Ziglar has famously said, "You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want."

On the Importance of Backups

We often assume bad things mostly happen to other people -- that is, until they happen to us. But a more realistic approach to risk has immense practical benefits. Consider, as a completely hypothetical example, the data on your personal computer. We all know in theory that hard drives fail. But they mostly belong to other people, so we don't worry too much about our own, even if it has 5 years of digital photos and 90% of the next Pulitzer-winning novel on it.

Last week, the drive in my laptop failed completely with no warning at all. Since I carefully maintained regular backups on an external, bootable FireWire drive, I was able to install a new drive and recover all my data with minimal difficulty.

We've mentioned the importance of data backup before, because you just never know when disaster will strike. And as more and more elements of our lives are stored digitally, the failure of a 2.5-inch hard drive can seem nearly as catastrophic as a house fire. Without a good backup, I could have lost this photo taken from the Mont Blanc, and since I don't go to 12,000 feet every day, it might have taken a while to replace.

However, the backup was a week old -- and for a Web developer, a week of code is not something you want to lose. Happily, all the projects I work with on the laptop are also under version control with Subversion, so that missing code was easily restored in about 30 seconds.

What could have been an absolute catastrophe was averted by just a little bit of risk management. If you aren't making regular backups, start now. You never know how glad you'll be to have them until your drive starts making that little clicking sound that means it's now an expensive paperweight.

When was the last time Google visited you?

You probably visit Google several times a day, but do you know how often Google visits you? There are ways to find out. Google offers a free tool that will not only tell you when it last "crawled" your website, but what pages it looked at and any errors that were found along the way. Google Webmaster Tools are a great way to find out what your site looks like to a search engine. They can help identify problems, learn what search phrases are being used to find your site and which ones actually result in clicks from the results page.

This valuable information can help you adjust the wording of text on your site and fix errors that could prevent search engines from indexing your content and giving your site a better ranking. Webmaster Tools can also show what sites are linking to and from your own. Google considers the value of a site that links to yours when it's determining the value of your content, so it is important to monitor those and try to collect links from valuable sites. These considerations are some of the basic elements of search engine optimization.

Another great feature of Google Webmaster Tools is Sitemap creation and submission. Not to be confused with the "site maps" you view in a Web browser, Google Sitemaps are special XML files that describe your site to search engines. Essentially, they allow you to give advice to Google about how your content should be treated. You can say how often a particular page changes (daily, weekly, monthly) and describe the relative importance of different pages. For example, you might prefer that someone searching for the name of your CEO should land on his official biography in your "About Us" section rather than a press release from three years ago, even if the press release mentions his name more often. Google Sitemaps allow you to give such instructions. They also allow you to specifically list pages on your site that might be hard for Gooogle to find by looking at links.

Webmaster Tools also allow you to verify the structure of your robots.txt file, which is another specially-formatted file giving instructions to search engines. This file has the opposite purpose of a Sitemap -- it exists to tell the spider what parts of your site should not be indexed. Google Webmaster Tools can make sure your robots.txt file properly follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol.

See the quick start guide that Google provides for more in-depth coverage of the available tools. If you find that your site needs some changes to be more accessible to search engines, drop us a line at support (at) cws (dot) net.

Site Launch: KASInvestment.com

CWS is pleased to announce the launch of kasinvestment.com, a Rochester, MN company established to operate three glass and glazing subsidiary companies: Ford Metro Inc., Architectural Contract Glass Inc., and Swanson Glass Inc.

There is a definite art in designing glass, and we wanted to emphasize this by developing a unique site that reflect the architectural splendor and talent that goes into creating residential and commercial glass projects, while maintaining the quality and ease of use you expect from CWS websites.

Throughout the site you will find information on doors and hardware, retail glass, commercial glass, and much more. There's an extensive photo gallery showcasing the work and craftsmanship of FMI, ACG, and SGI.

It was a pleasure working with Mitch and Kevin of KAS Investment Co., and we look forward to our continued relationship as we further expand their web presence with our search engine optimization services.

Site Launch: premierbuildersmn.com

Premier Builders of Rochester, Inc. is a residential home builder focused on customer satisfaction and streamlining the often stressful home building process.

To help alleviate some of the stress, Premier Builders approached CWS to develop an attractive, user friendly website to showcase projects and to give potential customers an idea of what they can expect when they build with Premier. The site includes project photos, multiple floor plans, a list of frequently asked questions, and an extensive list of the highest quality vendors handpicked by Premier Builders.

We've enjoyed working with Jamie at Premier Builders of Rochester, and look forward to helping him further decrease the stress of the home building process through inspired ideas and innovative web applications.

Site Launch: semnrealtors.com

CWS is proud to present the redesigned Southeast Minnesota Association of REALTORS public website. This newly renovated site offers unlimited property and open house searches -- without the need to log in or register!

The ever-changing demographics of southeast Minnesota mean that there will be a variety of users in this real estate market with just as many varied needs. With that in mind, CWS set out to make SEMAR's site as accessible as possible for every user. What does this mean for you?

• To allow those with poor vision or other visual impairments to navigate the site freely, we minimized the use of images to allow screen reading applications to function properly. We've also added controls for users to increase or decrease text size on the page they are viewing.
  
• Because of the minimalist approach to graphics, the site will load faster for everybody -- helping you more efficiently find that dream home or business.
  
• The simple architecture of navigation makes it easy for anyone to find the information they need without searching.

We're also here to help any member REALTOR whose website may have been affected by the recent MLS conversion at SEMAR. We know your business is important, and we also know how important it is to receive up-to-date data when potential clients are searching for a home on your website. As a full service web provider, CWS is capable of making the transition for you quickly and seamlessly, and we can help you every step of the way.

If you have any questions or concerns about your website's property search, please give us a call at 507-289-2229, or e-mail us at sales@cws.net -- we're here to help.