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Back to Spring 2006 meeting summary page
Spring 2006 Meeting Presentation
Designing a Web Site for Freelance Indexing Services
Presented by Heather Hedden
Heather Hedden, a freelance indexer who also does some web site design work, gave an informative presentation on how best to design a web site for freelance indexing services. The focus of the presentation was design, rather than the technicalities of HTML and web site creation.
She began with explaining why freelance indexers should have web sites. They greatly facilitate marketing, by allowing it to be passive: new clients call you without asking to see your client list, project list, sample indexes, references, etc., because it is all there on your web site. Clients find your web site from its listing in the ASI Indexer Locator, the member directory of NEASI, ASI special interest groups, other professional association sites and referring indexer sites. You can also make your site known by passing out business cards with your web site URL listed. Even when you initiate the contact with client prospect, a link to your web site from your e-mail may be sufficient, and you don’t need to mail a packet of information.
Heather then led an interactive session, whereby members of the audience suggested what to put on a web site. Suggestions included: contact information, services, index examples, projects indexed, client testimonials, information about indexing, links, and perhaps a photo. Heather discussed what to include, what was optional, and what not to include in an indexing business web site.
Site organization was the next topic. Heather pointed out that some indexers offer several related services, and the site should be structured to reflect the different businesses. To plan the organization of a site, it should be sketched out as a diagram on paper first. Heather presented examples of the titles of pages from the menus of web sites of four well-established professional indexers.
Heather then went into more detail of the desired components of each of several pages or content types: the home page, the page listing projects or books indexed, sample indexes, testimonial client quotes, professional background of education and experience, and contact information.
The presentation then covered more specific design issues: menu placement and design, the use of graphics, text style, the use of color, and types of external links. Heather showed the screenshots of two indexer web site home pages and then the actual complete web sites of two other indexer web sites, pointing out their strengths and weaknesses.
Other issues in web site design include web site accessibility and search engine optimization. Accessibility means making the site more accessible to vision-impaired people and the blind, who use screen-reader software to describe web sites. Search engine optimization means making the site more likely to be picked up by search engines. Some of the techniques involved serve both of these objectives simultaneously
Finally, Heather explained briefly how to get started in creating a web site. She mentioned what is involved with getting a web site hosting service and registering a domain name. She also explained what kind of software is needed, and a handout included a list of software information. To get started in creating a web site you can: use easy templates and tools offered by many web hosting services, hire someone or use a design firm, copy (with permission) and change someone else’s site pages, or take an online course in HTML or site design and do it all yourself. In any case, you should continually update your web site.
Heather Hedden, currently president of NEASI, is a freelance indexer and occasional web designer with her business Hedden Information Management. Until early 2004 she was a senior vocabulary editor with Thomson Gale, a publisher of periodical and reference index databases and was previously a database indexer with Gale's predecessor Information Access Company. Heather combines here interests in indexing and web design by doing web site indexing and currently leads the Web Indexing SIG of ASI. She also provides online training in web site indexing independently and through Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science Continuing Education program.
E-mail: heather@hedden.net