Is this for you or your business?

It’s great hooking up with old friends from years past and keeping up with your current friends, after all they call it social media don’t they? They don’t call it business media. So if you take your business seriously, and I’m sure that you do, you need to identify business forums where your offering is looked at for evaluation not as just spam.

It is SPAM.

Just when you thought you had your email humming perfectly, now all of the sudden you are deluged with friend requests and invites to things you are not interested in. By joining all these social outlets you have just pierced your corporate email veil. Now the marketers parade right into your inbox. Actually they are more like multi-level marketers. Annoying isn’t it?

Sure, you can adjust your notification settings if you enjoy micro managing every little thing that comes across your desk. Now is the time to re-evaluate social media. Remember who is pushing this stuff on you, they are pseudo marketers. I call them pseudo because they are hunting for your money and confusing you with a bunch of nonsense. Yes this is the new snake oil of the 21st century.

Don’t Drink It!

It is also the new Koolaid, because everyone is forcing this down your throat. Why do they do this? Because nobody wants to be left out of the group. Notice how the tv and radio news try to validate themselves by mentioning that you can follow them on Twitter and Facebook. Really? You have that much time on your hands. These talking heads are really that interesting? That is the Koolaid I am talking about. It’s a weak ploy to be in the “IN” crowd. Of course everyone is doing it…

We are constantly selling things that have absolutely no value. The time to jump off this train is now before it consumes you to the bone. Be unique. Be anti-social.

Brand Association

Your associations do count. If you feel that you need credibility by twittering and face-booking, all you are doing is jumping on the same bandwagon as everyone else. Where is your uniqueness? What about an association that means something, like a business chamber or charity?

Blog My Brother!

And here is the biggest tragedy of them all, the time and money that is wasted on social media would be much better spent on adding new content to the company blog or web pages. The action is the same, but companies are wasting it on the social media noise box. The best way to use social media is to pull people away from it and bring them closer to your company and brand. Let us not forget that Google is where everyone still goes first for information.

Google should not have included Facebook and Twitter on the search algorithm. All it did was kludge up the search results with more garbage.

Join the revolt and unplug from social. Take back control of your life, your time and your money. Don’t let them fool you. These pseudo marketers are looking for idiots.

However, no company can be good at everything. So, while they are a great digital partner for your domain name needs, they lack proficiency with other common web services.

Web Hosting at GoDaddy

For many years most businesses had only needed simple websites based on static html web pages. GoDaddy provides very inexpensive web hosting with lots of bells and whistles. This is great for the bottom line for the small business.

These days even small business are requiring web sites that run with content stored on a database. This is due to the emergence of Content Management Systems that allow the web site owner to interact with their website to edit and add page content. Wordpress and Joomla are both very popular systems to base your database driven website.

Unfortunately, database driven web sites put a lot of demand on servers. With so many thousands of web sites being upgraded from static pages to dynamic systems with blogs, forums and photo galleries, the load drives down performance. This means that pages load slower on the browser and editing content becomes very frustrating when have to wait for the server.

We are not bashing GoDaddy here. We love the company and we are quite aware of all the negative posts all across the web about service and performance. Most are unfounded. Our point is that business is business. As a business owner, knowing where and why to spend dollars is crucial to your web site expectancy.

Unfortunately there is too much server load on the GoDaddy servers for database driven sites. I invite anyone to prove me wrong because as a veteran web developer for over 12 years, I publish sites on a variety of web hosting servers and the difference is very apparent.

Google will also penalize you if your pages load slowly. So, if search engine traffic matters to you then you might want to consider using GoDaddy for domain registration (which they are very good at) and using a different web host for your web site that is not overloaded and can render your web pages quickly. You can easily point your domains to serve up pages on a different server. In this way you have the best of both worlds.

Email on GoDaddy

When you host a web site on a server and you want to use domain oriented emails, these are emails like this: bob@mydomainname.com, the hosting server also hosts the email account.

This can be changed via MX records. This is short for Mail Exchange. Here is an example: When you have your domain registered at GoDaddy and you have your web site hosted on a server outside of GoDaddy, but you want to have GoDaddy host the email account, you can point to the mail server on GoDaddy via MX from your web host server.

GoDaddy email is wonderful and can be combined with file storage and online fax services with little cost. However, I get a lot of calls from my clients saying their email is down and that they can’t get their email. There maybe other 3rd parties involved which could be contributing to the problem. For example: an Internet Service Provider like Cox.

Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about that. We build web sites, we do not control the flow of email. A good rule of thumb is this: if your email worked yesterday and you have made no changes to your email account or your computer, all things being equal, it is probably a temporary situation.

From my experiences, email services at GoDaddy are down quite often. There are many factors involved, but my experience as been much better with other web host servers. Which is too bad because GoDaddy does have a great web mail product.

This is another reason why many people prefer to use 3rd party email programs like AOL, Yahoo, and Gmail.

Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Use a variety of internet venders for precisely what they do best.

The difference is that you are not going back to scratch. Web design also includes layout where “tuning” does not. With tuning you are only updating color and images.

In the case of CMS (Content Management Systems) you want to first pick a template. There are templates are specific to CMS systems like Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla and others.

When you find a template you like, you picked it because it had the desired layout and maybe color scheme that is closest to what you had in mind. A template tuner will modify the colors and images to better match your company’s brand.

For non-CMS web sites, these are static websites without a back end management system, the existing design can be tweeked or in some cases overhauled to be more streamlined.

Don’t think of templates as cheap. They are part of the process of website development and cut development time considerably. There are many places to get premium templates that are very nice. A web graphics specialist can “tune” the template to make it even better.

Also, there are templates that are meant for regular websites. However, be careful! Many web site owners think that the template they want to purchase has special features like “search” or “login”. They think wow for only $80 bucks that is a bargain! What they don’t realize is that the templates are displayed as mock ups. Just like fake TV sets in a model home, they are not real. It is just to show you how the feature would look and where the features are placed. Yes, disappointing, I know.

So if you are thinking of putting up a brand new web site, do some shopping and see if there is a template that represents what you are envisioning. To be safe, ask your web person if the template you want to purchase is a good one. They may be able to use it with modifications and “tune” it for you better.

Is Bigger Better?

Fast forward to the present and big screens and high resolution is the order of the day. So how do we determine what size to make our web pages? It depends on your target client. If your target client is high tech then you can design your site large. In other words, you want to make use of the technology and you have decided that if the user can’t deal with it, they are not really your target client.

If your target client is elderly they may not see items on the right that go beyond their monitor resolution. Chances are they have an old computer. There will be other issues like font size and color that you need to think about because this type of client does see to well.

Common Ground

Being a web designer, I see more websites than the average surfer plus I have a trained eye. Over the years I have witness subtle shifts in design trends. Many new sites are quite large especially online magazines and news sites. For now, I believe the common trend is about 960 pixels for the average website. It accommodates both the new and old monitors resolutions.

It is also best to center your page to “float” on an expansive background. This way you may have some color or pattern left and right of your page. Any time I see a page aligned to the left I immediately think “amateur”. Left alignment is very 90s and is almost never done these days.

Still Wondering what a Pixel Is?

For web graphics a pixel is a unit, but its size is relative to how it is displayed. For example a low resolution monitor shows jagged edges because you are actually seeing the pixels. Think back to the 80s with video games they were very pixelly. Now with high resolution monitors edges look clean. That is because the pixels are very small. For that matter we need to make larger graphics for larger pages.

In terms of print, about 300 pixels makes a good clean inch. The more pixels per inch the sharper that image will be. For example 600 pixels per inch. Depending on the application the human eye won’t notice any difference with higher pixel-per-inch values. It just becomes unnecessarily wasted bytes.

If you are still confused about pixels I invite you to see this old article I wrote about Pixel size.

Smart social media users will use avatars that are interesting. Interesting enough to click on. It could be art or something sexy. Don’t be surprised if the sexy female avatar is really a dude trying to get traffic to his web site.

Many of you are used to using avatars on Facebook or Twitter and you probably uploaded an image in your profile which in turn was used as your avatar. If you haven’t yet, shame on you. These are closed proprietary systems that use your profile image as an avatar, but what about the open web?

Introducing Gravatar.com! Now you can manage an avatar that can be associated with an email address. You can change the image anytime you want. Any where you make a comment, forum post or blog entry your avatar shows up along with it. This is a free service and may be a great addition to your online branding.

Signing up is easy and painless. Simple put in an email and verify it. Then upload an image. They even have online cropping tools so that you can make fine adjustments.

Many blogs and forums are Gravatar enabled and if they are not you can subscribe to a similar service. Gravatar is probably the most recognized global avatar system.

To see it in action go take a look at this post, scoll to the bottom and look at the comments section:
Many Webs Make Up Your Web Presence

Do you see who is using Gravatar and who isn’t?

Let me know if this was helpful to you.

It happens every now and then that a web site owner loses their web site only because they forgot their web hosting or domain registration account. More online services rely on email to communicate with you to save on printing and mailing costs. So it is important that you keep track of login data.

It seems unfair that the world is moving faster and the burden of remembering is getting worse. Plus we want to keep our digital assets secure. I am referring to domain names and web hosting, but this would apply to any online accounts like your bank account.

One way to do this is to visit your accounts on a monthly basis whether you need to maintain them or not. This way you can test if that login still works. Once in, it is typical to find administrative messages that might inform you of changes. Sound like a lot of extra busy work? Well, perhaps you need only do this with your most important online accounts.

I admit, I am spreading myself thin on the internet and I have a lot of personal digital assets to keep up with. I suspect many are not far behind me either with all the social media they have to sign up for. I keep detailed notes on every project and keep it in a folder and I date any changes.

Make sure that you keep your account information in a safe place. Use strong passwords with letters and numbers. Avoid using words in your passwords.

Your email may be the weakest link because important account information is sent to you through it. While every website handles the account information differently. Your email account is an important link. Make sure that you have proper anti virus software. Transfer important information off of your computer to paper or somewhere else for safety. Have you ever had to search old emails for important login information?

The problem with email is that some people start a new account and stop using the old one. When this happens, important renewal information gets missed if the old email account is not being monitored. You can do all sorts of things to solve this. Simply forward the old email to your new account. Or better yet, go to the account and update the email address so that you won’t miss important messages.

This is why visiting your online accounts once a month is a good practice. It is a different kind of ownership than many are used to. You can’t always touch your digital assets. Visiting your online accounts often gives you the opportunity to update credit card information, change passwords and to stay up to date with upgrades and policy changes.

It is a big responsibility and it usually isn’t appreciated until something gets lost. What do you think?

Every CMS has a set of features like Photo Galleries or eCommerce. The problem is that these are broad terms. Once you have installed and trained on a CMS that features an online store, you may come to realize that the “store” feature was a little lack luster.

My point here is that feature sets are not everything. Just because it says “eCommerce” doesn’t mean that you have a solution for an online shopping cart. However, it depends on what you are trying to achieve.

Wordpress as a website makes a great CMS for your business website and there are many plugins, one of which will turn your Wordpress installation into an online store. While I haven’t tried it yet, when it comes time to start one up I will spend some time on their user forum to see what kind of issues people are running into. Do the gateways work? Does it complete shipping costs correctly? Does data get lost?

For very simple eCommerce, Wordpress is a fine platform. For example: let us say that I have one widget to sell like the “Cigarette Spy Camera”. I can start up a free Paypal account and get the buy button code to paste into a product page on my Wordpress site. It is easy.

I didn’t need a shopping cart. I just needed a way for customers to buy the one item. Because it is a Wordpress web site I can blog and talk about the Cigarette Spy Camera ad nauseum.

If your business plan includes selling many products and it is important that your customers have an excellent online shopping experience, you may want to go to the experts that provide you with a 3rd party shopping cart solution.

While many 3rd party shopping carts may not have the ability to add pages or blog (that is changing) they are very good at the “online shopping experience”. Also, there is great security knowing that the 3rd party cart vender specializes in eCommerce solely and if other major companies use them they are not going to be going away any time soon. The chances of down time is minimal if  at all.

When shopping for the ultimate 3rd party cart system, compare prices and features as well as ease of use. This is important because you are wearing many hats and can’t be bogged down with web stuff when you need to be marketing and making sales.

Don’t worry if the cart system you choose doesn’t have the ability to add pages or blog because you can accomplish that with Wordpress or any other type of CMS web site.

In that case the blog site or content site talks about all the benefits of the products you are selling and is always linking back directly to product pages of the cart site.

Don’t try to get everything under the sun on one web site. It leads to custome development and a huge expense.

Trying to get all the features in one web site is the stuff of enterprise level development and that can be really expensive. If you are a small (very small) business, you may need to look at your web presence in parts.

Many of you have starting using Twitter, Facebook, Blogger and perhaps YouTube as well. You did it because someone told you that you had to Get Social. Not bad advise if these things are part of your business plan and have a special purpose. Each of these social outlets give you the option to customize the “look”, well except for Facebook. If you haven’t done so already, you need to project your brand on all these profile accounts.

I have seen MySpace, YouTube and Blogger used as stand alone web sites. They are however, web sites with a special purpose. Most of this stuff is free. Just look for the customize tab and start experimenting.

Once you have your company logo and colors implemented, look for ways to link them together.

Blogs act as a good hub for all your social web activity because they usually have sidebars that contain special areas to add links. Plus a blog is the closest thing to a regular web site. Here you would link to your Twitter profile, Facebook Profile or Fan Page, YouTube Channel and maybe a MySpace page. Many profile accounts from various social platforms also allow you to create links to other sites, so make sure you have links coming from those places as well.

Since many of these online social accounts are free, don’t limit yourself to just one of each. You might post a couple of more blogs and maybe another YouTube Channel. Just make sure there is a specific purpose for each. For example a YouTube Channel dedicated to “Video Customer Testimonials” and another for “Product Demonstrations”.

Are you selling something? Don’t forget to link to your web store. Your web store may also be a different web site because while your blog doesn’t have the capability of adding items to a cart and online checkout, your web store doesn’t have the blog capability. All we need to do is link everything together and use 3rd party applications to their best benefit.

Since it is too expensive to have video serving, photo galleries, web stores, blogs and tweets all in one web site, it is better to just set up free or low cost sites all around the web. Use 3rd party applications and experiment with them.

Add payroll fees, taxes and unemployment insurance and the possibility of government mandated health insurance and for the very small business, hiring help is virtually impossible.

Some of you might be saying, well this a management issue and that you need to make employees work in order for the business to be profitable. To a degree this is true, but I don’t think any business no matter what size can afford to shadow every employee to get the return on investment. I think the attitude of the job seeker needs to change to be inline with the small business. It is not enough to just show up at a job, you need to work.

Everyone I speak to says virtually the same thing. They post a job offering and get flooded with bogus resumes and inquires. Even the best candidates are a considerable risk. So what can we do?

For the job seeker, I suggest that you target a business that you truly want to work for and do your homework. Study the history of the business, their products and services. Talk to the employees and managers if possible and get familiar with who is who.

Pretend that you already have the job. What can you do to help the company be more profitable? By all means do not tell them how to run their business. Remember, this is about how you can add value. Be a team player not a bench warmer.

For the business owner looking to hire, don’t bother looking at resumes, remember they are bogus anyways. Consider designing a test to reveal who the job candidates are, their work ethic and character. This will really help you weed out riffraff. Most companies have a 6 month probation period before committing permanent employment.

We have had decades of wasteful employment practices from large companies and the small business job market has to deal with this fallout.

Am I being to harsh?

I spend half my time replying to emails with “Could you be more specific”. No one can perform a task or answer a question for you without specifics. Think before you type. That is the Key. Same goes for voice mail. Have you ever gotten a message from someone who didn’t bother to leave their number? Or their name? Not much you can do with that is there.

Time is a commodity. Whether you hire a lawyer or a web designer, the better you are at communicating what you want the quicker things get done. There are exceptions of course, but I find that most projects stall because of communication problems.

• First, don’t assume that the person you are communicating with knows what you are talking about.
• Second, don’t leave out important details like “What”, “Who”, “Where”, or “When”. Sometimes you might need to throw in a “Why”.
• Third, re-read your statements to see if they make sense.

This applies to both email and voice mail. The written and the audible pieces of communication that you send out. In most cases you may not be able to review a voice mail message, but if you keep you message clear and concise with only the important information chances are you will get a response.

Communication is vitally important in business and unfortunately I find that many small business entrepreneurs lack this ability. If lawyers charge by the minute don’t you think it would make sense to be understood in the least amount of time possible?

Just take the time to be clear.