It’s always nice when a conference is in our backyard.  On December 8-12 2008, we will be attending Search Engine Strategies Chicago at the Chicago Hilton on Michigan Ave.  This will be our first year attending this event that is now in it’s 10th year in Chicago.  Hosted by an industry seasoned veteran, Kevin Ryan, the conference is geared towards both website owners and search engine consultants.  As of now, they have not listed the speakers. However, looking throught the agenda on their website it looks as if they have some very interesting topics.  The topics consist of basic search engine optimization techniques, as well as discussions on some of the latest trends in search engine marketing.

We are currently working on a project for an agency of the State of Illinois. This is the first project where the client specifically required that the site be accessible to people with disabilities. In looking at the State of Illinois requirements for accessibility, I realized that it’s not much more than building an XHTML compliant web site. Search engines love XHTML compliant web sites. Then I realized that search engines robots are the most disabled visitors to your web site. They cannot see or hear. Just like the sight disabled, they can only follow the content as it is structured on each page throughout the site as browsed with a screen reader. Just another benefit to following web standards in web development.

Pick One Thing to Say

Write down one sentence that defines the one thing you want to accomplish on the page and write to that goal. If you have more than one goal, you have two pages.

Be Authentic

Readers know when you’re lying. Be a voice that either gives back or gets out of the way. Both are equally valid. If you’ve got something your readers would find useful, share it. When you’ve run out of useful stuff to say, stop talking.

Know Who You’re Talking To

Think carefully about who you want to listen to your message and write to that person. No matter who that person is, you can assume it’s one person sitting in front of a computer. They’re not an audience. They’re not captive.

Make Everything Simple

• Use simple words and sentences.
• Be careful with acronyms and adjectives.
• Being cute is a plague.

Repeat all these rules in your head, then let them go and start talking. You can always clean up your content later. If you try to have each sentence come out simple right away, you’ll sound like a robot.

Make Your Point in 3 Seconds

Your reader will decide in 3 seconds or less if they want to keep reading. You should have page titles and paragraph headings that are concise summaries of what you’re saying. These titles and headings are the most important thing you can write. It may help to write out all your paragraphs first. Now summarize each paragraph then summarize the page as a whole. If you have paragraphs with a redundant summary, maybe the whole paragraph should go.