------- Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine -------
Vol 1, Issue 5

Springtime finally arrived!  I don't know about you, but I'm a
bit of a gardener.  My wife and I have numerous perennial beds
around the house, and I have a fairly large vegetable garden in a
corner of the back yard.  Today's article isn't about growing
plants, though, but it is about growing something that proceeds
at about the same pace (and takes about the same amount of time
and attention: Growing a web presence.


In This Issue...

1. Article: Gardening on the Web
2. Blog Posts
3. Shameless Self-Promotion
4. The Fine Print

1. Article: Gardening on the Web

So, your organization, whether it's a small company, charity, or
professional association, finally has their website up and
running.  It's a thing of beauty.  You (or your webmaster) have
provided information on who you are, what you do, where you are
located, when you are open (or when you meet), and how you can be
contacted.  The site has a well thought out structure and the
graphical elements draw the user in to the whole experience.  You
are open for business!

So, why isn't it working?

Well, to put it in a gardening sense, all you've done is prepare
the soil.  You've still got a long way to go before you get to
the harvest.  Back when the web was young, all you needed was a
website.  Now you need a web *presence*.  Your site is only the
first (and most necessary) step.

So, let's start with the site itself.  It looks gorgeous.
Unfortunately, no one reads even the best-looking brochure more
than once or twice.  What will make them come back?  Content.
The content of your website has to change on a regular basis.  Do
you have events associated with your organization?  Make that
information available.  Do you have press releases?  Get that up
there, too.  In fact, if you send out a piece of paper to market
some aspect of your business, that same information had better
appear on your site.

Create more content.  Start a blog.  Write about topics which are
related to your business or organization.  Start an e-zine.  Ask
permission first, but send it out to anyone who might be
interested.  Both blogs and e-zines accomplish the purpose of
making you an expert.  They also provide fresh content for your
website.

Write.  In whatever venue you have available to you.  Write.
Once you have that e-zine started, you can take some of the
articles and post them on ezinearticles.com (or one of its
siblings).  Write.  You can gather the best of your blog posts
into an e-book -- which you give away.  Write.  Does your local
business newspaper take submissions for guest columns?  Write.
Do you have friends or colleagues who could use content for their
newsletter?  Write.

And here is the biggest point of them all: It takes time.  It
also takes consistency.  You will not be top of mind after one
blog post.  You won't be on the tips of peoples tongues after a
week and probably not even after several months.  Just like
gardening, you have to do the work consistently.  You've got to
cultivate the contacts and the online communities.  Sure, it's a
lot of work, but that first time you see that someone found your
site by searching for "needlepoint landscapes" (about which
you've blogged extensively), you will understand that harvesttime
has arrived.


Copyright 2007, Greg Peters

2. Blog Posts
Links to posts on the "Clearing Up the Confusion" Blog from the last year:

Tuesday, April 10, 2007 -- (Don't) Sign Me Up! 
http://clearing-confusion.blogspot.com/2007/04/dont-sign-me-up.html

Friday, March 30, 2007 -- That Olde Tyme Radio, Gone? 
http://clearing-confusion.blogspot.com/2007/03/that-olde-tyme-radio-gone.html


3. Shameless Self-Promotion

The "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-Zine is a production of Greg Peters,
owner, chief cook, and bottlewasher of Cyber Data Solutions.  CDS has
been helping nonprofit and charitable organizations develop their web
presence for more than a decade.  Visit us on the Web at
www.cyberdatasolns.com to see how we can help your organization.


4. The Fine Print

Questions:
If you have any questions, concerns or comments regarding the Clearing
Up the Confusion E-zine, please email Greg Peters at:
gpeters@cyberdatasolns.com

This content may be forwarded in full, with copyright and contact
information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a
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writing from Greg Peters is required, with notification to the
original author.

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