If you have a blog or website that you can manage yourself, like a Joomla website for example, a great way to communicate and entertain your visitors is by adding video content. 

It is easy to do, effective and does not use large amounts of your own bandwidth by serving your own video, as it is an embedded movie that is streamed directly from YouTube/Google Video/iFilm etc themselves.

This means that, if you have made your own video that you want on your site, it is much better to upload it to YouTube and just embed it in your page. Setting up a streaming server that can achieve this sort of performance could cost thousands, and here it is for you to use for free. It's so cool.

Ok, so let's get started. First you need to find a video that you would like to include in your web page...

Strangely - I thought I had already written this posting - but apparently not.

It only recently occurred to me that even most web professionals are not quite 'getting' the difference of writing for print and brochures and actually writing searchable, indexed content for the web.

There are no hard and fast rules, and it is something that you pick up along the way, but a few tips will give you a head start. To get you going you may like to download my website content notes, which gives an overview of web content and the role it plays in presenting and promoting your business.

There are plenty of different types of writing, but mostly I deal with brochure site copy, which is similar to writing for print but cleaner and more concise. There is no need to dumb down the core information, but try and communicate it in the simplest terms possible in order to reach the widest audience. You can do this by writing conversationally, like this, rather than like a lecture. It makes it easier to read, and also easier to understand.

It is important to keep a clear image in your head of why you are writing this copy and of your market, using phrases and terminology that they would use themselves. If you are writing for a specialist market, feel free to use specialist terms but also the terms that people use everyday, even if they aren't in the Oxford English Dictionary, as these are the terms your visitors will use to find you. The more specific you are, the more useful this is to the visitor.

These key phrases are the terms that Google can latch onto, it sorts through your text (and images) and analyses how well each page applies to certain search terms. This is not to make it more difficult for you, but to make the search engine more effective. So when somebody types in 'scuba diving in mayo' they get a list of results that relate to the subject, rather than a forced result created by a web designer trying to fool the search engine into giving them more traffic. It's all very clever.

Remember, Google indexes pages not sites, so it is possible for you to cover a broad range of key phrases with a big enough site, so whichever route users travel to your site, you are still visible on the web.

I have a saying (one of many), that 'chip shops don't need websites'...

Not every business will benefit from investing in a website, and you need to consider if having a presence on the web will benefit your business, or if that money would be spent better elsewhere; like new signage, cool vehicle graphics or even flyers.

I have found, in the west of Ireland, the standard of web design services can be pretty poor, both visually and technically, but still charged to the client at a premium rate.

Some developer's attitudes seem to take advantage of a client's lack of knowledge to sell them a service or product that doesn't meet their needs, or even just 'chancing' the fact that their own knowledge is not exceeded in creating the most basic of web pages.

A basic awareness or consideration, without being technical, of what you need from your website will help you massively with selecting a good web design service. 

Ok, so now we 'understand' Web 2.0... Wait, no... it's gone again.

Here are some more videos to entertain and inform - but I must warn you that there is a higher level of geek speak in the content, and surely it's simpler just to say 'It's all about the users, man...'

Short and sweet and to the point:-

As well as encouraging potential web entrepreneurs to learn about Web 2.0 and it's efficacy, I have had a root around YouTube to find some videos that simply outline the marketing, business aspects and benefits of Web 2.0, rather than just all the buzzwords and technical terminology.

To their credit, these videos have been created by David C Skul of Relativity Business Technology Solutions http://www.relativitycorp.com, and despite their own site lacking in design finesse, the concepts and content are rock solid.

That's it. I am drawing a line (throws down hat, draws line), no more eCommerce sites.

Aha! I hear you say, but you have just launched Roadkilltoys.com and that is an eCommerce website... Well, yes...and no.

We shaped Roadkilltoys.com into being a lot more than that. It is a brochure site and blog site with lots of lovely keyword rich content - and you can also buy the products from the site. It is not just an online shop with hundreds of products and a complicated 'automated' eCommerce workflow behind it. The power is still there, but it is more 'plugged-in' and modular, than custom built.

I get the impression that non-web savvy people think that online sales are the soft option, that it is an easier and more automated approach than selling in a real world shop or by mail order. In fact, quite the opposite is true, and requires far more work and systems preparation on the back end to make it easy for the user on the front end, as a website can't think for itself or call the manager when it is not sure...

The result of this, is that 60-70% of all carts/orders are abandoned before the sale is complete. Selling on the internet is a highly competitive area and the next shop is only a back button click away. You may increasing your target audience by selling on the web, but you are also multiplying your competition as well.