CompanyWebsite is a great content management system because it gives site managers full control over their website and also gives them the ability to create hundreds of pages of content quickly and easily.  Most often, these pages are created to populate a Products/Services section or to simply maximize search engine optimization, also known as SEO. However, since most CompanyWebsite templates are designed specificpally to keep a clean, consistent look across all franchisee websites, site managers are limited with what they can place in the normal website navigation area.

But thanks to the flexibility of HTML Content Items, site managers can easily create sub-navigation areas with unique links to any page created within CompanyWebsite.  Simply Add the HTML Content Item to a designated content area and create links to pages as shown below:

STEP 1:  Using the HTML Editor, enter the text how you would like it to appear in the selected content area.  In this example, we've chosen to enter the text using standard paragraph breaks. Another common display option to accentuate links are bulleted lists, which can be easily created using the HTML Editor.

As shown, the word Services is highlighted because we want to link it to the Services page which was created earlier by the site manager.  

STEP 2:  In Step 2, we have clicked the Custom Links drop-down menu to display the list of pages created in the CompanyWebsite service.

STEP 3:  As shown, the site manager chooses the Services pages to create the active link in the list.

Once all 3 steps have been completed, be sure to click Save to apply the changes to the HTML Content Item and update the selected content area.

Reusable Content Items:
Load.com recommends using Reusable Content Items if/when you want to create a secondary navigation in a selected content area.  The main reason for this is to make sure you do NOT have to duplicate your work.  If you plan on using the links as a way to quickly and easily move between products or sections on your site, you'll absolutely want to make your HTML Content Item re-usable.  This is most notably needed when placing links in a content area that is located in the right-hand or left-hand margin area on your site, as shown below.

If you have any questions about CompanyWebsite, or how to use specific functions in the service, be sure to view the Guides and Tutorials in the CompanyWebsite service.

If you're relatively new to the Web as a webmaster or website manager, you're probably wondering, "What the heck is a Direct Search Domain?"  Good question.  A Direct Search Domain is a domain name (web address) that a user types directly into the Web Address Bar (shown at right) in hopes of finding some relevant information relating to the word(s) that make up the domain name. 

For example, if a user was seeking information about e-commerce statistics, they might type in the Web Address www.ecommercestats.com in hopes of finding relevant information.  For most, this is an older Web technique that was used heavily in late '90s, but has gained much more popularity in the past 3-4 years.  You may have stumbled upon Direct Search Domain landing pages created by domain name squatters in hopes of driving users to paid-advertising links and/or Web pages.

For most, Direct Search Domains represent an opportunity to drive targeted users to your website or promotional Web pages.  This is a VERY effective and strategic way to target qualified customers AND will help in your attempts to increase your Site Rank with various search engines.  As long as your content is relevant to your Direct Search Domain, you will see an increase in traffic and search listings.

The good news is as a subscriber to the CompanyWebsite content management service, Direct Search Domains are perfect for your business, and here's why:

1. Easy to Set-Up - creating new Web pages is simple and all CompanyWebsite templates come pre-optimized for search engines.
2. Low Cost of Ownership (Most of the time) - domain names are relatively inexpensive ($9.95/yr); however, the perfect domain name that could really help your business may require third-party acquisition and it's an investment for the long-term because yearly renewals are only $9.95.
3. Easy to Manage with Load - our DNS service comes standard with domain name purchases and you'll want the ability to individually control your domain names.  LoadDNS is one of the premier hosted dns services on the Web.

Direct Search Domains as an Alternative to Paid Search Advertising
If you're currently using Paid Search (Google Adwords) as your primary means of Web advertising, you might want to consider Direct Search Domains.  There's a good chance you will generate high-quality leads simply by purchasing relevant keyword-rich domain names and creating landing pages for them. According columnist Anthony Mitchell in an article for TechNewsWorld, "Direct search is responsible for less than 20 percent of the online connections between potential customers and businesses (yet) is correlated with stronger customer purchasing behavior than traditional search engine referrals by at least a factor of two."

Some of the more useful suggestions for Direct Search Domains according to Mitchell are...

• Emphasize relevance - Pick domain names that represent the types of services your firm provides now or is considering in the future. Try commonly- understood words that potential clients are likely to enter into their browsers. Experiment with misspellings of your own service's offerings and brands.  For Example:  Load.com has captured domain names like LargeFileDelivery.com for the YouLoad service.
• Prioritize .COMs - While it might be tougher to find available .com's for your business products and services, it's less likely the average person will use other TLD's in trying to find a relevant site through direct search.
• Combine locations and service offerings - Like country-based affinity, those looking for local companies might type in their state or city and the service they seek like SignsReno.com or Edmonton-signs.com.

Since forwarded domain names are typically not indexed by Search Engines (Google actually prefers 301 Redirects at the DNS level), you're going to be best served by creating dedicated landing pages that contain content specifically targeting the search phrase/keywords contained in the Direct Search Domain.

In the example used above, one aspect of your business might be selling e-commerce statistics. By creating a dedicated landing page with content specifically about e-commerce stats at ecommercestats.com, you have a better chance of generating organic search traffic for the search term and driving more qualified leads to your business.

We've recently had a handful of questions from various website managers utilizing the CW Form Builder centering around the way web form results display in Microsoft Outlook®.  The primary issue is that the form results are sometimes displaying as a one (1) long line of information instead of separate lines of content submitted by the user.  The interesting thing, is this really has nothing to do with CompanyWebsite or how the forms are submitted.  Rather, Outlook removes line breaks in the formatted message.  Fortunately for everyone, there is a simple way to fix the way incoming form data is displayed.  Please see the screenshots below for an easy explanation.

Screenshot #1:
The original message is delivered to the user's e-mail account and Microsoft Outlook automatically formats the message by removing the line breaks.  You are notified of this change to the formatted message by the comment highlighted in RED which states, "Extra line breaks in this message were removed."  This formatting change causes the data in the form submission to run together.

Screenshot #2:
However, there is good news.  As shown below, the original formatting of the message can easily be restored.  By clicking on the area outlined in RED above, a secondary dialogue window automatically appears giving the user the option to "Restore line breaks".

Screenshot #3:
Once the line breaks are restored, the content of the message will display correctly and unique line data will appear correctly in the body of the e-mail message.

SUMMARY:
This is a simple fix to a perplexing problem, especially for site managers and project managers that are in a hurry and often overlook this feature (bug).  Fortunately, we (LOAD) have the opportunity to use Load.net to reach out and help our users better understand how technology works, even when the problem has NOTHING to do with CompanyWebsite.  Hope this article helps you and makes things a little less confusing.

We've been getting a lot of requests from franchisees asking, "How can I make my site pull up #1 in Google?"  Well, that's a pretty loaded question, but we'll attempt to give you some pointers in our series of SEO Techniques.

The best and most proven way to succeed on the Web is to write content specific to your store/location and make sure your content is unique.  For example, your homepage should include content that is very specific to your store and what you do for business.  You'll want to be sure to include common search phrases in your unique content that may be used by prospective customers when searching for your site.  In the paragraph below, please notice how we include phrases that may be used at sites like Google, Yahoo! or MSN:

Welcome to Sign*A*Rama Henderson, the premier source for signs and banners in Henderson and Las Vegas.  We use the latest technology and quality products to develop the best signs on the market.  You can be sure that our custom signs will help you put your best foot forward and give your brand the recognition it needs...

As you can see from the bolded text above, we included phrases that may be used at a search engines to find a sign franchise located in Henderson.  This is a strong technique that most search engines, such as Google, find valuable and legitimate.  Better yet, you can control what is said on your site and make sure that you're including the phrases that matter to your business.

So, how much content do I need to write?
Google values content that is at least 250 words and specific to certain topics, so be sure to write relevant content to the topic and page. As a CompanyWebsite subscriber, you can use the HTML Content control to include as much content on your Web pages as you deem necessary.

Change the Headers on each of your pages!
One of the great benefits of CompanyWebsite is that all headers residing on the site display as nice graphics, but also automatically include "ALT" Tags and are embedded as H1 header tags.  This allows your page to be spidered by search engines with greater efficiency and higher relevancy.

A franchisee doing a wonderful job of customizing the content and headers on their site is http://www.signsgso.com/.

WARNING:  DO NOT copy any content directly from another website.  Search engines now use content tracking methods that allow them to give credit to the originator of the copied content and may blacklist your site if you plagiarize.

It's almost here and we're ready for another rockin' IFA conference in our hometown, Las Vegas, NV. Some of you may recall LOAD.COM's first appearance at the 2006 IFA Conference in Palm Springs. Last year was an exciting year and business has been booming ever since.

Be sure to stop by our booth (#815 & #817) and find out how LOAD.COM can take your technology to the next level.