Greetings, readers! Welcome to the January 2009 issue of ZooNews, from professional Web site design company Zoonini Web Services. Don't hesitate to let me know what you think about this issue, or share ideas for future topics.

A new year seems to have motivated many folks to get their first Web site up. Whether it's a business site or a personal one, the single best piece of advice I can offer is probably: Don't forget the obvious!

Think about the top five things a visitor to your site will want to know or do – and make sure people can find that information or accomplish those things simply and quickly.

For example, if you've just opened a café – before you get fancy and start a blog, a Faceboook "fan page," or add a funky animated Flash opening to your site, make sure visitors can, at minimum, easily access:

• Your address, city & directions, or link to an interactive map like a Google Map
• Your phone number, with area code
• Opening hours, including any upcoming holiday closures
• A menu and product list, preferably with prices
• Any other special features to tempt potential customers and distinguish you from your competitors. Does your café offer free WiFi? Shout it from the rooftops!

Before launching, show your site to a few people who know as little as possible about your endeavour and ask them if it's easy to find key information. If you're on Twitter, ask your followers to preview your site and give you feedback before it opens to the public. You may be too close to your site to see it objectively, and a group of "outsiders" can be uber-helpful in looking at your site from a first-time visitor's point of view. Take advantage!

I've been hearing the question "What's a widget?" fairly often recently, so I thought we'd delve into the wonderful world of widgets this issue.

Two popular types are Web widgets and desktop widgets. Web widgets consist of a little chunk of code that can be added to a Web page to do something clever or silly or cool. For example, a widget can count the number of page visits, display a Twitter or Webcam feed, a to-do list, or just a game of tic-tac-toe. In the WordPress blog context, "A Widget is a fancy word for tools or content that you can add, arrange, and remove from the sidebars of your blog." iGoogle offers many widgets that can be used to customize your screen, as do many social media platforms, like Facebook and MySpace.

Mac users running OS 10.4 and up are probably already familiar with desktop widgets that can provide weather forecasts, a hit of daily trivia, or sports scores. Yahoo! offers a huge array of free desktop widgets for both Mac and Windows.

To make matters slightly confusing, iGoogle and Windows Vista/Windows Live both call their take on widgets "gadgets," but the principle is the same.

By now, you can probably guess that mobile devices such as cellphones and BlackBerrys have their very own widgets, sensibly called... mobile widgets.

Happy widget hunting!

Got a technology term you'd like demystified in ZooNews? Send it to questions@zoonini.com.

Our new site for certified professional coach Ian Solomon clearly targets our client's two primary markets: lawyers considering a career transition and entrepreneurs in growing companies. Featuring rich jewel tones to convey an elegant feel, the site makes it easy for potential clients to get in touch. Optimized copy crafted by our partner A.C. Riley Communications is already helping Ian Solomon's site achieve impressive search engine rankings and attract suitable clients to his coaching practice. Only a few weeks after launch, IanSolomon.ca is already ranked second in Google.ca search results for the phrase "coaching for lawyers" and third for "coaching entrepreneurs."

Over the holidays, I read a blog piece which suggested that if you're someone who likes to do professional speaking, you should add some details to that effect to your Web site. A lightbulb promptly went on in my head! I love speaking to groups of entrepreneurs and others about what makes a good Web site, yet I hadn't mentioned that fact anywhere on my site. Duh! Which just goes to show you that if you're too close to your own site, sometimes you don't see the obvious.

So behold: the new Professional Speaking section on my About Us page is born. If you belong to or know of any group that you think might like me to come and speak, don't hesitate to give me a shout!

À la prochaine,

kp
aka Kathryn Presner