I’ve been mulling this over for a while and after a meeting yesterday with a client I figured that I’d write about this topic. I’ve been building and operating websites since 1996. I’ve seen just about everything from shoddy code, bad implementations, oversold capabilities and more. I’ve also seen a lot of great work from my peers.

But, there is one thing out there that I really feel is unethical and that is when web designers subscribe their clients to services and don’t give the clients access to them. Another thing I loathe is when a web design firm does domain registration for a client and “takes care of it” for them - more on that in a minute.

I’m seeing more and more situations where someone will sign up for some kind of a Google account - like Analytics - and not give the client access. Note to those out there - make sure you do this yourself and give the web designer the code and/or access to the account. Even better, in cases where an employee who is managing your site may leave - have them sign up under a generic account and get the username/password.

The other one that really gets me is this domain thing. I have see clients held hostage because when they decide they want to leave a web design firm for another - the former will hold their domain hostage as leverage. Note to self - always buy your own domain names. If a web firm buys a domain on your behalf - there’s a very good chance that you don’t really own it. And, that can be bad if the relationship sours - especially if it’s yourcompanyname.com.

Everyone out there please do me a favor. Please, stop saying “www” when you’re spelling your domain name. Remember back to elementary grammar when you were taught about “you” understood? Please invoke that rule when spelling or saying your domain name.

I loathe it when, especially on the radio, I hear someone say their domain name. How many times do you hear that and they don’t even say “dot” between the “w-w-w” and the domain name? It drives me nuts. So, let’s all just make a deal and drop it. When was the last time you didn’t enter “www” when you navigated to a website anyway? The the “www” go the way of the pronoun “you” and let it be understood.

I can’t believe how many website operators out there still do not own their own domain names. If you are not sure go to one of the WHOIS directories: http://www.whois.net/ and look up your domain name. If you are NOT the “administrative contact” you do not currently “own” your domain. I would advise you to remedy this immediately. One of the best ways to to this is to call whom ever is the administrative contact (usually our ISP or web host) and tell them that your lawyer is performing a copyright check and that they noticed that you were not the administrative contact for your domain. Then tell them that it needs to change ASAP.

Over 75% of the time, Internet users type two or more words into their search phrases to find their desired information.

A recent study by OneStat.com revealed that Internet users are getting more experienced at finding the information they want through search engines. This trend shows that key-phrases, not keywords, are vastly more important in today?s search engine optimization strategies.

Too many times I see websites with no defined key-phrases, just clusters of keywords. And, for the most part, competing websites are doing the same. For example, don’t use “lawyer” as a single keyword imbedded into your website. Instead, use “Nashville criminal defense lawyer” as one of your key-phrases to more accurately connect with those looking for you through a search engine.

Building your key-phrases is much like defining your target audience. The more accurate and specific each is, the easier they are to target and get a coveted top 10 ranking. Therefore we present the following theory: The more precise your key-phrases match your user’s search phrases, the greater the likelihood your website will be at the top of the delivered search results.

Once you decide to make the switch to key-phrases over keywords, you must optimize your website in specific ways to affect your search engine rankings. And, forget about meta-tags - they are history.