Getting on the web - the big footprint factor

I haven't posted much about web design lately. The fact is that it's easier than ever to get a site up and running on the web. The tools have evolved nicely and anyone with a few hours to spare can get a decent working website up and running without knowing much more than the FTP information - if that much. It's completely possible to design a website using a weblog these days. Most of them have page functions as well as post functions.

The thing is - is just having a single site enough? Is a single site dynamic enough? One thing search engines like is change. When a site changes search engines have something new to index. A static site can get boring real fast - unless your plan is to have a "calling card" site. The thing is that it can be time consuming to change the content on a regular basis on a static site. A single domain name may not be enough to attract attention these days.

You catch more fish with a net, not a single hook.

I have four domain names and four sites. Each site has a slightly different purpose but the rationale was to increase my "footprint" on the web. All sites link to each other and share content. If I were to combine the four sites into one site it would be a big, noisy, somewhat muddled thing. Updating would be time consuming and complicated. The main site is designed with RapidWeaver, an excellent and fast authoring tool. The others (such as this one) are designed with Google's Blogger, also excellent and fast. The Blogger sites are more text oriented and more "current events" oriented. The main site is updated biweekly since it's a gallery site. There's not much text there.

Since weblogs have RSS feeds they syndicate easily and quickly. I use Google's Feedburner for this. I could easily have the posts jump over to Twitter - if I wanted to - to further increase the footprint.

Personally, I haven't warmed up to Twitter. I may experiment with it at some point. I just haven't found a good enough reason. People keep telling me "it's cool!" but can't exactly explain why.

As the web continues to grow that one site may get lost in the digital cloud. It's time to think about increasing your web footprint. Adding a weblog is easy enough and it's a simple thing to make entries. Instead of a static "about" page, how about a weblog? A weblog makes sense for a "news page", too.

Give readers a reason to revisit your sites with current content. If you have a site, add a weblog. If you have one weblog, why not have a second or third?