Secrets from the Nerd Forest

I hear all the time from Marketing professionals and Content Managers who complain about feeling lost within Squarespace. The frustration is not the core application so much as it's the customization— the architecture, the look & feel and questions about SEO performance. I don't think these power users want to encamp in the Nerd Forest, but I think they're looking for real A-HA moments. 

As a solution, we've been planning some really exciting things exclusively for Squarespace users.

Trust me when I tell you— you're going to love what we're working on! I'll be announcing several things in the coming weeks, so be sure to sign-up below for our newsletter (working title) "Squarespace Success".

Site Launch: D.A.W.G.S.

I'm happy to announce the launch of dawgsinc.com!

Based in Chicago, DAWGS came to us looking for a re-design of their previous Squarespace site. We were excited to help, and we think they're excited too.

Visit dawgsinc.com and tell them we said hello!

(clicking this image will take you to dawgsinc.com)

D.A.W.G.S. (Door And Window Guard Systems) manufactures, rents and sells attractive steel panels (Door and Window Guards) used to cover door and window openings on vacant buildings, providing security to property owners and neighborhoods from the many problems associated with leaving buildings vacant.

Make free QR codes in 3 easy steps

I mentioned on Twitter today how easy it is to make QR codes, and after a few responses, I thought I would share it here.

What's a QR Code, and why would I want one?

QR (Quick Response) codes are growing in popularity. They are used to take a piece of information from a transitory media and put it in to your cell phone. You've probably seen QR Codes in magazine ads, on billboards, on web pages or even on t-shirts. Once it is "shot" with your mobile, it may give you details about that business, details about the person wearing the t-shirt, show you a URL which you can click to see a trailer for a movie, or it may give you a coupon which you can use in a local outlet.

Here's an example QR code (that I made in 3 easy steps):

My own QR code linked to this blog post. Scan it!

How do you scan a QR code?

If you have a smart phone with a camera, then your app store will most-likely have several free and premium QR apps available. Basically, just point your phone at the QR code, and the app will do the rest. It's that easy.

LET'S MAKE A QR CODE!

1. Create your content

Ok, this probably goes without saying, but in this example, our QR code will link to a web page, so build the thing you want to send people to, or find the YouTube video, etc. etc.

Not so fast there, pardner!

Since your site visitor will only be using their smartphone to scan your code, make sure that when they arrive on your landing page that they can view the content on the page. Flash content, for example, would be a bad thing for iPhone users, as the iPhone doesn't support Flash.

In Squarespace, I would suggest creating a hidden section for your QR landing page, your email campaigns, etc. This way, people can still browse to the page, but it's not visible on the site's main navigation.

2. Copy your URL in your clipboard and Visit bit.ly

Note:

Bit.ly went through a recent re-design. To access the "info page" that contains the QR Code, just add a "+" immediately after the bit.ly URL to access that page. Exmaple: bitly.com/PrxlQa+

Ok, there are a few micro-steps there, but can you believe we're almost finished? 

As you are probably aware, bit.ly is a URL shortening service that does lots more than shorten URLS. They also offer free stats, tracking clicks over time, and a free QR code with each URL. Free is good.

You'll want to create a bit.ly account to track and check your history, so be sure you do that too.

3. Paste your URL at bit.ly and click "INFO PAGE+"

Whoa, that's it? I just created a QR code? Yes, my friend. That's it. Here's a link to my "Info Page+", if you want to see what's there.

Now copy and paste that image, run to Kinko's and print-out a QR code as big as a bus. The world will scan it.

(clicking this image will take you the the "Info Page+")

TIP: Adding a "+" (plus sign) to the end of any bit.ly short URL will link you to the info/stats page.

ANOTHER TIP: You'll see a URL under your QR code that looks like this: http://bit.ly/gqtY35.qrcode it's a link directly to a larger version of your QR code.

Adding Robots.txt and Sitemap.xml to a Squarespace site

I work with a few clients who use my services to design and build their squarespace sites while also contracting with "traditional SEO experts". Calling themselves "traditional" sort-of makes me laugh, because the business of SEO is relatively new. Is Search Engine Optimization art, science or smoke & mirrors? I will cover REAL SEO some time in the near future, and will call-upon an expert to interject. But I digress...

THE BACKSTORY

As one particular SEO professional was quite used to working on WordPress sites, she knew the steps to modify the Robots.txt and Sitemap.xml files. The site in question was (allegedly) juiced-up using "black-ops SEO tactics" which completely blocked the site from indexing on Google. Yes, Google blacklisted them— a bad thing to have happen to any site. 

The up-standing expert convinced me that— even though Squarespace says it isn't necessary— we needed to provide what Google was asking for to rectify the situation.

SO WHAT ARE THESE FILES?

Robots.txt tells which search bots are allowed in the site.

Web Robots (also known as Web Wanderers, Crawlers, or Spiders), are programs that traverse the Web automatically. Search engines such as Google use them to index the web content, spammers use them to scan for email addresses, and they have many other uses. — robotstxt.org

Sitemap.xml is basically an index of the site's URLs.

The Sitemaps protocol allows a webmaster to inform search engines about URLs on a website that are available for crawling. —wikipedia.org/wiki/sitemaps

YOUR CONTENT
IS WHAT MATTERS MOST!

Let me take another moment to clear my throat and tell it like it is...

It's my personal opinion that adding a sitemap file may certainly help your site today (when the file is installed), or over the course of the next few weeks (when you will see results in Google), but if you're constantly updating your site (as you very-well should be), the sitemap file will also need continual updating. 

This is why— when consulting on the phone with a client— I will always recommend that they add a blog or a journal to their site. Those bots want to see fresh, active content and there's no better way to serve-up a plate of hot-steaming content than by using a blog.

Be sure to read the FAQ's at sitemaps.org for more information.

OK, LET'S DO THIS

All of that aside, let's completely blow the mystery away by adding these files to your site. Simply do the following...

1. Log-into the site admin area of your Squarespace site.
2. Browse to FILE STORAGE under the Data & Media heading.
3. Upload your Sitemap.xml file— you can put it anywhere— we're going to map to this file next.

NOTE: This file can be auto-generated from one of hundreds of online resources. Be sure that you trust your auto-generated source and try to read through the file to make sure it's "clean" of errors or spammy links.

Now let's map to our uploaded sitemap.xml file...

NOTE: Bots will want to access this file in the ROOT of your site. In other words, www.domain.com/sitemap.xml. That's why we need to add a 301 redirect to this path.

4. Go to URL SHORTCUTS under the Structure heading.

5. Add "sitemap.xml" to the Shortcut URL field, and "storage/stiemap.xml" to the Existing URL field. So, when the path /sitemap.xml is being requested, we've shown "where to go" to complete that path: /storage/sitemap.xml (the file we uploaded)

6. Test the URL in your browser by going to www.domain.com/sitemap.xml. If your file and redirect is in-place, you should see the XML data in your bowser.

That's all you need to do. For the robots.txt file, you will just take the same steps as above.

If you want to add these files to your site, you are certainly more than welcome to do so, but be sure to seek professional help before re-wiring things. And again, rather than stuffing keywords and hacking your site to have a better ranking, focus on your site's content.

Content is King. I'm out.

Articles from Big Picture Web (Squareflair's marketing partner)

• Squarespace SEO secrets you should know
• How to build a following and trust online

Help articles from help.squarespace.com

• Are spiders ignoring my site because of... 
• How do I increase my site's visibility in search engines?

The Squarespace Hero Document

I'm often contacted by marketing professionals who— knowing of the many benefits of Squarespace— wish to sell the platform to their clients. When one project manager asked for a comparison between WordPress and Squarespace, I presented him with The Squarespace Hero Document.

Use this to sell Squarespace to your boss, your spouse, your clients, your church and your Mom.

ABOUT SQUARESPACE

Squarespace has been a standalone pioneer in the publishing space since early 2004. Squarespace is first and foremost defined by its mission to completely integrate a number of disparate products in the publishing space and to create a simple environment for all sorts of web publishing. It is a beautiful, streamlined platform that doesn't require upgrades, FTP, plugins, security fixes and is quickly editable. Further, it contains all of the modules you need to create a normal website— blog, image gallery, form builder, discussion forum, and many more— and integrates those components into a coherent whole.

To learn more about Squarespace, I encourage you to:

1. Glance at the Squarespace tour, which is a great overview of the platform: http://www.squarespace.com/tour/ (there are also some videos so you can see the product without signing up)
2. If you have a specific question or feature I could answer a question about, I'd be more than happy to help out
3. Actually try out the product and get a feel for it. This is really critical, as most platforms behave very differently than they say they do. Squarespace pays very close attention to user experience, which is something you just have to try for yourself to understand.

If you're still deciding on Squarespace or WordPress as your CMS, be sure to read Josh Braaten's post over at Big Picture Web, "Squarespace vs WordPress: Both Sides of the Story"