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Showing posts from 2012

Wishing You a Healthy and Prosperous 2013

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My top Web design tools and innovations from year 2012. 2012 has certainly been an eventful year. Some good, some bad, and some outright ugly. Web design technology, internet marketing and social media have continued to evolve at a rapid pace. Staying current with the changing tide of SEO has been challenging. Reflecting back, I definitely saw my daily SEO routine change. I spent much more time doing "research". Keeping up on keeping up...my kids always tease me about that one. I am thankful for the generosity of the web development community, especially the "knowledge sharers". Reading their tech blogs and forums sure made my life easier when racing to meet another crazy deadline. For those of you out there...thanks for caring and sharing! My 2012 list of most useful web technologies & innovations OK, yes...a lot of Google mentions. And I know some of these technologies were around in 2011. But I have leaned on them a bit more than in previous yea

Google Sites - A Viable Web CMS Platform

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If you need to author, develop, and launch a website quickly, consider using Google Sites. I'm all about efficiency...like most small business owners I am always on the lookout for new tools to help improve productivity. My preferred method of Website development is either hand-coding HTML, or using a Web content management system such as DotNetNuke or Wordpress.  Customer requirements such as budget, time frame and functionality is the major "driver" on which path I choose to take. The Google Sites platform has become be a good option because it allows me to deploy rapid website development solutions for my cost conscious customers. Below, I will summarize the pro's and con's of using Google Sites.   What is Google Sites: Similar to other website builders such as Wix, Yola or Weebly...Google Sites is a free Website CMS hosted in the Google Apps cloud. Benefits of Google Sites: Cost - Google Sites (as of now) is a free service*. Speed - Rapid development

Google+ Communities

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OK, I couldn't resist.  I jumped on the early bandwagon and put together my first G+ Community page . Check it out here:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/102545819347311378712 So far I like it.  Although I do see a need for some usability enhancements.  Would love to be able to "pin" a post to the top of a category.  The ability to toggle post content visibility (under the titles) would be nice too.  Lots of vertical scrolling as the community post timeline grows. I have yet to use the hangout feature, but will do so as the need arises.  I do believe this is a great feature, and will become more widely used as people begin to understand how it works. People have asked me what Google+ is.  My simplified explanation is that it's like a hybrid social network.  A cross between Facebook, Twitter and email. Here's the real question...will Facebook and Twitter loyalists give it a try?  With the number of Android based phones out there, my guess is yes.

DotNetNuke 7.0

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DotNetNuke 7.0 Web CMS My very early take on DNN 7 is that it looks SOLID.  The admin UI is updated, with some nice new features. Including: Customizable control panel with bookmarks to common functions Ability to drag & drop module containers (in page edit mode) Auto save built-in to the HTML editor Overall improved performance Mobile device redirection (responsive)   DNN 7.0 Control Panel Things I'd still like to see: Waiting for better URL rewriting -- without installing third party extensions.  Out-of-the-box page names are better than they used to be, but still room for optimization. I'd also like to be able to search and install free extensions without leaving the UI (a la WordPress as an example). Also, the Blog module (V5), is a bit erratic, this needs some fine-tuning to be a viable option.  It's close, but not quite there yet. In Summary When I have a tight deadline and need to turn up a Website ASAP, DNN is my "go to"

Journey Back In Time - Web Design 0.0

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Just for kicks, I wanted to see if Wayback Machine had a snapshot of the first Website I worked on (Dec 1996).  Turns out they do, although the secondary pages aren't indexed. Here's what it looked like.  Got to love the background pattern.  Note the "Made with Macromedia" badge.  Memories... http://web.archive.org/web/19961221025353/http://www.corporatecomm.com/

Updated Guidelines for Link Schemes

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An updated warning and explanation from the Google Content Guidelines. My take away...play by the rules or be penalized. In summary: "The best way to get other sites to create relevant links to yours is to create unique, relevant content that can quickly gain popularity in the Internet community. The more useful content you have, the greater the chances someone else will find that content valuable to their readers and link to it." Read full article: Updated 10/02/2012   http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66356
Over 900K Android Devices Activated Daily | PCWorld http://ping.fm/aUT3m

Official Google Blog: Introducing the Knowledge Graph: things, not strings

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Official Google Blog: Introducing the Knowledge Graph: things, not strings

Web Site's Launched for Area Businesses

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We recently launched two new web sites for local companies.  Here is a summary of the projects and links to completed work: Lozier Environmental Lozier had an existing web site but wanted to update the look and feel to integrate the new branding (logos, colors, images) we designed a while back. Here's a "before" shot: Here's an "after" shot: Note, we incorporated SEO friendly navigation as well as clean XHTML code with CSS3. Visit Lozier's new web site

Lessons From Penguin Update - Follow The Rules

From Danny Sullivan over at http://searchengineland.com "The Penguin Update launched on April 24. It was a change to Google’s search results that was designed to punish pages that have been spamming Google. If you’re not familiar with spam, it’s when people do things like “keyword stuffing” or “cloaking” that violate Google’s guidelines." Bottom line, follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines .  In other words, don't bite the hand that feeds you.

New Web Site Launch: Priority Thinking

New web site launch: Priority Thinking

Valle Training Gloves on Facebook:

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  http://www.facebook.com/ValleTrainingGloves

How to Avoid an Unnatural Links Penalty SEO

  http://ping.fm/95Bvh

Project Milestone Reached

Took us over 10 years, but we have finally hit the 1,000 project mark.  Many thanks to all who have helped us along the way — family, friends, past and present customers and the generous Web community. Now it's back to work!

New Foxy's Amateur Sports Website

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New wiffle ball league forming over at Foxy's Amateur Sports. Check out their new Website developed  by team LaJuett. Foxy's Web project included custom logo design, customized DotNetNuke skinning, and cloud hosting.

Inside Search - Quality Highlights

Search quality highlights: 40 changes for February - Inside Search http://ping.fm/DNnEK

Windows 8

Microsoft unveils Windows 8 for public test http://ping.fm/QHDHa

Our New Help Desk Is Up & Running

In effort to provide our Web marketing and design customers with a comprehensive support system, we have rolled out a new Online help and support portal. Please SUBMIT A SUPPORT TICKET for all issues related to your Website. Including: design modifications and content updates. Please be a detailed as possible so we can assist you in a prompt manor.

E-Commerce SEO Tips

SEO Tips for Ecommerce Sites - AboutUs Wiki Page http://ping.fm/1HBOL

Jotform Domain Suspension

Jotform's Domain Suspended by the US Secret Service http://ping.fm/FYFuT

SEO Title Tags Do's & Dont's

9 Common Title Tag Mistakes and How To Avoid Them SEO http://ping.fm/12yD1

Custom Twitter Page Design

Awe-inspiring Twitter Brand Page Designs and Tips - Daily 'Net Features - Website Magazine http://ping.fm/gH7rb

Great summary of SEO

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 I go through a similar explanation almost every time I pitch a new customer. Very well done and easy to understand.

SEO Pricing Models

SEO Pricing: 600+ Agencies Share Costs of Services & Pricing Models | SEOmoz http://ping.fm/awoFG