KISS has added a free resource to our site for downloading, a booklet entitled “The Evolution of Writing - a Primer on Web Copy Writing and Search Engine Optimization.”

We’ve helped numerous clients rise in natural rank position on the top Search Engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN, following very basic rules of web site content creation. This Booklet is a solid Primer on those basic rules, and will help you understand what needs to be done to help your site’s rank position.

It’s an easy to follow guide that provides not just the fundamental concepts, but also do this/do that instructions. It also includes a half dozen past columns on the subject of SEO and web copy writing.

You’ll find it on our Marketing page in our Services section. We hope you will find it useful.

KISS has recently developed a strategic alliance with a talented development company with offices in Maine, California and Romania. Clarisoft Technologies is a group of programmers with varied skill sets in the latest technologies of software and web site development, including PHP, AJAX, Java, Visual C++, Visual Basic, MS SQL Server, MySQL, and Macromedia Flash. Their core competencies, though, are in programming and functionality system creation.

KISS’s team of inhouse programmers have served double duty in the past that included both the original development of systems, and their subsequent maintenance and enhancements. Our alliance with Clarisoft Technologies expands our capabilities in the original development of custom software, though, and allows our in-house programming staff to concentrate on maintenance and modular enhancements. It also enables us to concentrate on our own core competencies of design, user interface development, site production, web copy writing/SEO and marketing, and Internet consulting.

Clarisoft has developed a software system of its own and brought to market in August of 2007. The product is iMonitorPC, a wonderful tool allowing businesses to monitor their staff’s productivity. Businesses have the ability to define and implement their own policies for its use, and thus establish how staff may use their company-provided computers while on the clock. Millions of dollars are lost every year as a result of reduced productivity from staff who spend a part of their work day surfing the Internet, emailing friends, online shopping and online chats with friends. iMonitorPC helps companies get a handle on that, curb abuse and cut losses.

iMonitorPC also has a home version that serves as the equivalent of a digitial surveillance system for their family computers. The software monitors children’s’ use of the home computer, and runs behind the curtain to record all online and offline activities to track programs used, web sites visited, social networking site usage, and the entire history of chat room activities and instant messaging conversations. Today’s news is filled with instances of children lured via online chats by dangerous people into sometimes lethal rendezvous, and iMonitorPC can be a valuable tool for parents to know what their children are up to in their online lives.

KISS is so impressed with this software, both for business and home use, and want to recommend it. We are building an affiliate site for its online promotion, and will be assisting in its online marketing. If you are a business wanting to keep your staff on target, or a parent wanting to protect a child, iMonitorPC is the perfect tool.

KISS is pleased to have developed this alliance with Clarisoft, and even in the first two months together are benefitting from the expanded capabilities.

In the same way ignorance of the law is no defense at trial, neither is ignorance of the Internet and Internet technology a defense in one’s business practices. It’s time for businesses to step up to this reality and take responsibility for what is becoming, if it already hasn’t, an integral part of their business practice.

Any business that relies upon the Internet for a part of their existence and daily life, such as online sales or the use of email either to communicate with customers or to market their wares, must have as solid a working knowledge of Internet technology as they have with every other aspect of it. No carpenter uses a table or miter saw without learning how to first; no plumber uses a soldering iron to meld joints without first learning the tool; no heavy equipment operator takes an earth mover to a job without knowing the equipment first. Tools of one’s trade are mastered as an integral part of their craft, and the Internet should be no different for those businesses who rely upon it for any part of their trade, too.

I’ve written about expectations on the Internet in a past column, which you will find here. The launch of a business’s web site is not the end of the project, and frankly, it’s barely the beginning. Web sites need to be worked every bit as much as any other aspect of a business’s operation. The content needs to be measured and refreshed regularly, and should never be allowed to remain static. Content needs to grow, too, whether it be a newsletter archive, a blog and regular post frequency, or new sections. SEO best practices are essential to an e-commerce website’s success, and never should be an afterthought.

I’ve also written about email in several past columns, its use in daily communications with customers, and its use in marketing efforts. With over one billion pieces of spam sent daily around the world today, email practices are changing frequently, and businesses need to keep pace with those changes. For instance, ISPs are changing their mail server practices on a regular basis to confront the spam issue, blocking message delivery for the merest suggestion of impropriety:

- - - Large file attachments to a message, or HTML elements in the body of a message, give that appearance and will likely get your message blocked.

- - - Using Outlook to send email broadcasts to multiple addressees will give the appearance of a spam relay station and likely get your messages blocked, no matter how innocent they otherwise may be.

- - - System infestation is something like carbon monoxide - - colorless and odorless. Every computer owner whose system has been taken over as a spam relay station is unaware of the hijacking and is clueless to the fact their machine is sending out tens of thousands of spam messages.

I’ve a few suggestions for businesses to consider based upon this Internet reality we all live and work in today, and urge all who are reading this to take them to heart.

First, work your web site the same way you work all other aspects of your business. Don’t launch it and leave it alone. An e-commerce web site is a perpetual work in progress, just as your business is, and you need to treat it that way. SEO is an essential component to any business plan today.

Second, find an alternative means of delivering large files other than as email attachments. FTP (file transfer protocol) was developed a long time ago as that means, and should become a tool for every business’s use in transfering files. Your web site hosting company can help you set up the necessary account and system for this. Assured delivery is at stake, and if that is important to your business, you’ll need to learn the technology.

Third, use a service bureau for broadcasting emails. We have used Constant Contact for seven years, and continue to recommend its use to all of our clients. If you use Outlook to send emails to more than a dozen addressees, you’re likely to be viewed as a spammer and your messages will be blocked by ISPs on the other end. Again, assured delivery is at stake, and if that it is important to your business, you should take the advice.

Finally, you need to learn and stay current with Internet technology, no matter the size of your company. If a dedicated IT staff person isn’t in the budget, that responsibility falls on owners. A generation in technology is about 18 months, and major changes are occurring regularly. Businesses that don’t understand that, that don’t stay current, will suffer or worse. It’s that crucial.

Businesses need to step up. It is well beyond the “coolness” of having a web site and seeing your name online.

Folks who still use dial up to connect to the Internet have never known fast. Broadband customers are far more familiar with Internet speed, though. I wonder if they have noticed any diminution in that speed over the last couple of years. The population of Internet users has certainly grown, and continues to grow at a rapid pace, with more markets emerging onto it (China, for instance). In the United States alone, estimates put the number of users in the 225M - 235M range out of a population of 305M, and many believe it is higher. Traffic is estimated to be doubling every year now world-wide. It can’t help but slow things down, especially because of the way data travels over the web.

When a digital photo, live streaming video, or email (large or small, attachments or by themselves) is sent over the Internet, the data is first divided into packets, which are routed to the destination and then reassembled. When there are large amounts of data sent along similar routes or paths, transport of those packets tends to break down. Packets or streams of packets can get hung up, and the result is a web site that crashes.

I’ve written in the past about web sites that have been the target of attacks intending to bring them down - - these are known as DOS, or denial-of-service, attacks. Streams and streams of data packets are directed at the sites and the routes become clogged as a result. The sites end up crashing and going down, as the server is overwhelmed by the data and can not re-assemble the packets. With traffic ever increasing, and as the Internet starts to stagger under the weight of more and more of that data, these problems are increasingly common.

There is an effort underway at the present time to develop a new Internet to address these limitations. Internet2, as it is called, is a group of U.S. universities, companies and scientific and governmental organizations, and it’s already being tested by a limited few on the soon-to-be-operational Large Hadron Collider in Europe, where scientists must share massive amounts of data about the collision of subatomic particles. There were several articles on that very subject last week, and litigation that has been filed by those who do not want that Collider used in planned subatomic particle tests for fear that mini-black holes will be created that would devastate the planet. Putting that aspect aside, the amount of data needing to be shared must be incredibly massive, and I can understand the need for speed in its delivery. Internet2 hopes to complete testing in May 2008 and roll the technology out shortly after.

The speeds being reported as possible are impressive, and fast enough for everyone to take notice. They will not be incremental; they will just be really fast. Some in the field question whether it will be necessary, though, as recent progress in making “packet switching” software more efficient, as well as better optical fiber and faster servers and routers, have suggested what we have could be made to work well enough. Personal Internet use probably doesn’t care so much about speed, except perhaps in getting that movie download in seconds rather than minutes or hours. But, I do understand the benefit of speed where lives are at stake - - medical examinations long-distance, security information needing to be disseminated quickly, and such.

As for me, just the assurance that a web site I want to access will be there, and that the email I am sending or expecting will arrive relatively quickly, would be sufficient. One thing I do know, though: Internet2 and faster speeds will come, whether needed or not. It’s the nature of technology to advance, and it can’t be stopped.

KISS is very pleased to announce the launch of a new web site for the International Inn, a Main Street, Hyannis, MA hotel. The site includes the ability to reserve online, as well as a photo array of the hotel’s major Suites. The International Inn is well known as a wonderful romantic get-a-way spot, and is conveniently located within walking distance of Hyannis beaches, and Hyannis Harbor, where the commercial fishing fleet and ferries to the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard depart. We wish the International Inn great success with its new web site.

KISS is pleased to announce the launch of a new web site for Globalware Corporation, an international company that started in Boston, Massachusetts in 1993, and who has since established GlobalWare Corporation Oy, which has its offices in Tampere, Finland. GlobalWare Corporation supplies source control and software configuration management tools for Intersystem’s Cache and Ensemble developers. Recently introduced GlobalWare products assist with project and issue management, enterprise information management, and through Suvisoft, conference and exhibition management.

We enjoyed very much working with Keith Sisterson, the GlobalWare executive in Massachusetts, and look forward to a productive relationship with GlobalWare in the future.

I was engaged recently in an interesting back-and-forth with a potential client on the subject of pretty vs. purpose and process in a new website design. It gave me very good reason to more thoroughly think through the concepts in order to explain them well and clearly in that conversation. I’m not sure I did so well in that effort, but I’m going to try again here.

Every research study I have read on the subject of Internet attention span tells me that we have about 2/10ths of one second to make a favorable impression on a first time visitor with the design of a website. Thereafter, we have about 2.5 seconds to explain to that first time visitor what they should do on the site, and how to do it, before we’ve lost them to the next search result at Google or Yahoo.

Does that mean that pretty is very important, though? Not necessarily, and in my humble opinion, no. I think the bar is pretty low here, actually. It’s more than saying it can’t be ugly, but not much more. Let me expand upon and explain that, please.

Today’s design standards pay more attention to minimal, with maximum emphasis on purpose and process. Some suggest that function is design today, although I have a better way of portraying the concept . . . . the dancer becomes the dance.

The best example of minimal on the Internet today is Google. Raise your hand if you think the Google home page design is pretty . . . . . not so much, it seems. Purpose and process are all you will find, but for the occasional themed iconography for special days. Yahoo’s home page is a little busy for me, but it is clearly purpose and process oriented. It’s fair to say that pretty does not get in the way of purpose and process here. It is also very fair to say that the “design” matches the business of each site, and this is a crucial element for success.

These are extreme examples, though, and not your everyday e-commerce web site. The company I was having that pretty vs. purpose and process discussion with is in the technology industry. I was suggesting to the company that their “design” should match their industry and their business, and that I would be hard-pressed to find anyone who thought “pretty” when they thought technology. If there is an industry where purpose and process are more important than pretty, it would certainly be technology.

Let’s look at a couple of examples to illustrate the point. There’s Network Solutions, the first of the big domain name registration companies in the technology industry. Some color, some non-descriptive figures, and the rest of the home page is pure process. Same with Register.com, one of the next domain name registration companies to follow Network Solutions - - a guy on the phone in front of a laptop, and then pure process.

There is our managed hosting company, Inetu, as technology-ish a company as you will find. It offers Windows hosting and Linux hosting, and will be happy to provide a quote. Look at the left sidebar - - Windows hosting, Linux hosting and Quotes. Pure process. Sure, there’s a guy standing in front of racks, but this site design is all about purpose and process.

You aren’t looking at fashion, flowers or flash at these sites. The website design matches their business purpose and process, and stays within what they are and what they do. The dancer certainly has become the dance for them. Contrast those with some of our work here at KISS: Nauset Lantern Shop, or Puritan Cape Cod, or Terrapin Logo, or Massachusetts Cultural Coast. These sites sell early colonial copper, brass and pewter lanterns, high fashion clothing, children’s educational software, and culture along the Massachusetts coast, respectively. The purpose and process are clearly defined on each of those websites, but the design matches the products and services each offers. Each design is within the character of the company or organization, and is consistent with their identity. The sites have not tried to make them into something they are not.

What does all this mean? How is it one should approach website design for their business? Be yourself, stay within who and what you are, and stay out of your customer’s way when it comes to design. That’s good website design. Pretty should never get in the way of purpose or process - - that’s the rule to follow.

KISS and Nauset Lantern Shop have been together now since late in 2002. We designed and developed Michael Joly’s site over that winter, including a custom-built shopping cart, and have been managing his Internet marketing since. Michael has just re-upped with KISS for a sixth year of managed marketing, and KISS will also be building a new shopping cart functionality system for the site, incorporating a host of new features for it. We’re very pleased to have Michael with us again for another year, and look forward to helping him increase his sales again.

KISS is very pleased to announce it has been chosen by the Metro North Regional Employment Board to develop a new web site to promote its activities and serve as a resource for news in the region. The MNREB is headquarted in Cambridge, MA, and serves 20 communities north of Boston, an area well known in the bio-tech, health care and higher education fields. Work has already begun on the project, and a March launch is anticipated.