Learn To Build Your Own Website For Free

18. February 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: Mindset

“How Hard Can It Be?”

I mean really! Kids make websites.

Here are a few ideas and resources for “free or really inexpensive” web site development. Save a bundle while you learn new skills in your spare time.

Free Space and Software

These tools and services can help you get your web presence up and you will have a unique link to your content.

  • Google gives you a free email account and web space with Page Creator abilities. Google also owns Blogger: a very easy to use blog tool.
  • Wix offers a good selection of flash based templates that you can “drag and drop” design. They will host you for free, but if you want to use your own domain it will cost something. Tons of templates with very cool “flash” effects.
  • Weebly is a website development tool recommended by Tim Ferriss (author of The 4 Hour Workweek). Free!

Spend Just a Little

Purchase Domain and Hosting Then Use Free Software

  • Purchase hosting
    and your own domain name at a low cost but reliable host. We’re using GoDaddy.comThey offer a Website Tonite tool that might work for you.

    • WordPress is a popular and free open source content management tool for all kinds of websites and blogs. This is a great community and you will probably have years of support with this tool because it is so popular.
    • Joomla is a free powerful open source site development tool that some professional site developers use when they know their clients will want to manage the site themselves. You can use Joomla on GoDaddy. This software has a very user friendly interface, but you may end up coming to the end of it’s usefulness if your site will be more complex than a few pages along with some buttons. If you need any complex coding, don’t select this.
    • Drupal is another open source site development tool that offers a robust development and maintenance environment. A little more difficult for the non-tech to learn, but if you are going to integrate with other applications you should probably go this way, just be prepared to learn.
    • You’ll need something for photos and something for vector images. Try Gimp and Inkscape.
    • You also could use a color picker. Let’s say you have a logo, and you want the background to match your main logo color. Click over the color on the logo and this tool shows you what that color’s “code” is. Investigate color themes at kuler.

Do You Think You Need A Little Help?

Some people do. If you come to the end of your patience or time, just give us a call and we’ll take your site to a whole new level quickly and professionally.

Flavor Your Day with Steak Sauce

17. February 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: Mindset, Productivity

I’ve been reading Dave Ramsey’s book EntreLeadership.

One of the many things I’ve put into practice is the “Flavor Your Day with Steak Sauce” concept. I’ve been using the GTD idea of getting everything you have to do into one place (I use my Outlook Tasks). Then I have been marking each item with it’s urgency rating of A (very urgent) to E (not at all urgent). Then in each group of A’s I mark it’s priority rating of 1 (high priority) to 9 (low priority). I group my tasks by these two fields and start populating my calendar with the A-1s and I go one by one completing each A1 in order. The next day I look over my list to see what remaining items need to be bumped up to A1 status.

I then know for sure that I am completing my tasks in the order of most urgently important. I evaluate incoming tasks and mark them with the urgency/priority codes.

I have had a much better sense of accomplishment and control over my schedule when I stick with this concept.

Check out this preview of the book which includes the chapter I am talking about.

I “Heart” Contigo

08. November 2011 · Comments Off · Categories: My Favorite Things

Contigo: the perfect travel (and on my desk in case it falls over) mug. We use ours for water and I’ll tell ya, these mugs work for us.

Why Am I Building Mobile Versions of Every Site We Create?

01. November 2011 · Comments Off · Categories: Website Tips, Why I Do What I Do (For My Clients)

This month I am creating mobile websites.

For free.

I feel this is such an important and integral step for my clients that each  active client is getting a basic coordinated mobile site for no charge.

The big motivator for me is that “everyone” has mobile internet access now. Google recently announced that they will be placing mobile optimized websites in better positions on AdWords. When Google does this for paid search, my instincts tell me that unpaid search will follow suit in short order.

Mobile is here to stay and will grow. My clients will be serving information mobile users need, in the way they need to see it.

If you are looking for a website developer to help you get your site up to speed and mobile-ready, please contact me. I can show you a comprehensive plan that will make your website work on desktops and mobile devices.

Content Content Content

27. October 2011 · Comments Off · Categories: Search Engine Optimization, Startups, Website Tips

Brafton brings the point home in their infographic on “Why Content for SEO?” that Search Engines are working hard to become as human as possible. This means that we keep developing content aimed at human readers. So simply focus on delivering the best, freshest, most valuable content possible. Keep it real and keep it valuable.

Does your site need a fresh approach to it’s content? Contact me for a quote.

Conversions or Balance Search Engine Optimizing with Website Content

25. October 2011 · Comments Off · Categories: Search Engine Optimization, Website Tips

I spend significant time with search engine optimization. However, I also spend a LOT of time on the site design so once the visitor finds our site, they find exactly what they want in a short amount of time.

I listen to The Smart Passive Income Podcast regularly. Pat gives out a lot of solid information and his tone is motivational, so give it a try. Recently he produced an informative video that I think everyone should watch. It covers some really good points about features I like to add to sites to guide visitors to get the most out of our content as well as be clear about the hoped-for results from each visit.

It’s Broken or How to Tell Clients Bad News

20. October 2011 · Comments Off · Categories: Website Tips

The day began just like any other day. I browsed to the MCBA site, clicked through to an events page and there it was:

my Facebook Fan Box was not delivering the wall posts to the feed.

No posts.

Just three check ins.

Which meant the content on the EVENTS page was not EVENTS.

HORRORS!

Ok, stay calm.

I emailed Nancy right away, “something was wrong and I’m right on it”.

Then I searched the Facebook Developers Bug Page for similar reports. Yep! Bingo. “Like Box Stream not updating correctly“. Ok excellent I am not alone here. Bad news:

  • Status: New
  • Priority: None

That does not bode well for fast fixes.

I continued on the search for a solution and found an item on the documentation:

force_wall – for Places, specifies whether the stream contains posts from the Place’s wall or just checkins from friends. Default value: false.

I placed a force_wall=true&stream=true& in the code and fixed it.

Interestingly, I have the same type of box on another site for another client. No force wall code, and it’s showing the wall posts. How funny.

I love code.

So I emailed Nancy and told her it was now fixed. Moral of the story:

When I see something wrong, I let my client know there is an issue and that I’m working on it. Then I keep everyone up to date with my progress (not very detailed, just enough so the person knows it’s being worked on) and finally with the resolution. Things go wrong once in a while. Develop a healthy attitude and process on fixing the problems and keep your client informed.

Keep Your Eye On the Context

18. October 2011 · Comments Off · Categories: Mindset

Next Wave with Gary Vaynerchuk: Context is king

Gary V. has his index on the pulse of marketing today. Watch this as he explains how Facebook and Google+ interactions are going to influence the buying habits of America.

Scaleability

13. October 2011 · Comments Off · Categories: Website Tips

One of the great parts of website development and design is the ease of scale. My initial client interview determines the size of our team and it can range from one to “as many as we need”. This flexible model serves our clients well by not only tailoring the service to the clients’ needs but also conserving valuable budget funds.

I have a network of people I can call on to fill all the roles required in a project so that our web designs are beautiful and functional as soon as possible.

If you are just starting in website design or have worked alone for a long time, try out several working arrangements in your next project with the client’s best interest in mind.

What Happened to Our Web Designer or The Art of Being There

12. October 2011 · Comments Off · Categories: Website Tips

“We had a designer, but we can’t find him.”

I don’t know what it is about website people, but I sure hear that A LOT. I suppose the work allows for flexibility and it’s true that with today’s technology, website development can happen virtually anywhere. But just completely disappearing? I don’t understand it.

Our clients can count on prompt replies via email, phone, or skype. We participate in the Bloomington community and are very accessible.

So don’t lose touch with your clients. No matter the phase of development there is always something that you can communicate to each client on a regular basis.

If you’re looking for someone to work with your company website and internet reputation, please consider contacting me this week.

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