Posts

Navigating Social Media in 2014

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10 Social Media Practices to Focus On in 2014 My top ten list of social media practices to utilize in the upcoming year. Publish often - Daily or weekly if possible Listen and respond - Let your customers know that you care Don't talk down to your audience - Be clear and succinct Integrate with your core website - Hook into existing streams and feeds Experiment -  Try social networks you have not yet used (Tumblr, Instagram, etc.) Hash it out - Use hash tags to help people find your content #ilovehashtags #organizeandtag Comment and reply -  Converse about things you are passionate about Be generous - Share your knowledge Establish authority - Own your niche Be thoughtful  - Humility and kindness go a long way Happy and prosperous 2014 to all! Patrick LaJuett manages a website design agency : + LaJuett.com , where he supports clients as a Web technology consultant and search marketing strategy adviser.

Google Maps Engine Pro - Test Drive

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Google Maps Engine Lite/Pro Demo Google Maps Engine allows you to layer your data on top of Google’s base map and create your own maps. Google Maps Engine Lite and Pro help you create interactive custom maps to share and publish to the web. You can map data such as store locations, to showcase and advertise your business. Import location data from a spreadsheet, add layers to visualize different types of content, or add places, lines, and shapes. Key Features Draw - Add lines, shapes, or place marks on the map. Import - Add a CSV file, XLSX file or spreadsheet from Google Drive with geographically-specific data including addresses, place names, or lat/longs. Layer - Hide or show different content to better understand your map. Style - Make your point visually with different colors, place-mark icons, and line widths. Going Pro For commercial purposes, I upgraded to Maps Engine Pro.  This allows me to embed the interactive maps on my client websites. Demonstration T

New WordPress 3.8 UI Design

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Customize Your WordPress 3.8 Admin Screens WordPress has gotten an overhaul. WP 3.8 brings a modern new look to the admin dashboard. New WordPress 3.8 features: Updated UI design Open Sans font for better readability Responsive for viewing on mobile devices Faster load times Customizable admin themes Learn more about WordPress 3.8: http://wordpress.org/news/2013/12/parker/ Patrick LaJuett manages a website design agency : + LaJuett.com , where he supports clients as a Web technology consultant and search marketing strategy advisor.

Season's Greetings!

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 1959 Jeep FC-150 rendering done in Google Drawing. GooglePlus auto-awesome snow effect applied. One of the real joys of the Holiday Season is the opportunity to say Thank You for our acquaintance and to wish you the very best for the New Year! Patrick LaJuett manages a website design agency : + LaJuett.com , where he supports clients as a Web technology consultant and search marketing strategy advisor.

Google Snippets in Search Results

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Google Snippets in Search Results Snippet Discovery I recently discovered a unique occurrence of Google snippets that appeared in a Google search engine results page (SERP).  It happens to be one of my portfolio pages, so naturally, it peaked my interest. A Google snippet is a description of or an excerpt from the webpage.  A snippet refers to the description portion of a Google search listing. Take a look at the SERP snippet below: Note, the snippet is made up of an element count (40+ items), the meta description, and four excerpts from the page. Page Rendering in Browser Here's what the portfolio page looks like when rendered in the browser: Underlying Page Code In this case, it appears as though the Google bot has gone into the page code, and parsed out the top four image descriptions.  What's interesting is that the page contains an html table with alternating rows.  Images, followed by the company name and location. Consistency and Stabilit

Social Media for Small Business

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Social Media for Small Business - Don't Over Complicate Things! I get a lot of questions from customers regarding social networking. The majority of them feel it is something they should be doing.  But many have a fear of taking the plunge... due in part to concerns with not having enough time. Being active on social media doesn't have to be overly complex.  A few minutes a day can get the job done for 99% of the small businesses out there.  Here are some thoughts on how a small business can benefit from being "social". What Is Social Media? According to Wikipedia, "social media refers to interaction among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. It introduces substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities, and individuals." Why Small Business Should Incorporate Social Into their Marketing Efforts Audience Reach + Relationship

Google Sites Not Indexing? Try This SEO Fix

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I recently received this question from a client needing SEO help: "I have a website for my company XYZ...the site is a Google Site. For some reason, my site is not indexed at all. Can you help?" Diagnosing the Problem Using Google Webmaster Tools, it became quickly apparent that Google was aware of the website (site was verified and an XML sitemap was uploaded).  But for some reason the search engine was not indexing it. The first thing I looked at was the robots.txt file to make sure no-follow wasn't blocking the Google bot.  Seemed OK.  Next I took a look at the page's source code...here's what I found: Page Source (Before):   HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 X-Robots-Tag: noindex, nofollow, nosnippet Last-Modified: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 19:27:23 GMT ... This is a problem!  Digging deeper...when I looked at the Google Sites Sharing and Permissions settings, it was set to " Anyone who has link can view ". This was

Google Web Designer Review

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Quick Review of Google's New Web Designer Google Web Designer user interface Yesterday, Google announced the launch of Web Designer, a new tool for building interactive HTML5 sites and ads.  The beta version is available for download here . I have kicked the tires a bit.  Overall, I am excited with Google's foray into the world of HTML5 editors. Here are my initial thoughts: The Good: Cost:  It's free to download, at least the Beta version is. Animation Timeline : Keyframes are used to "tween" animation points on the timeline. (Size, rotation, XYZ coordinates, etc.). It reminds me of an old Flash animation app called  Swish .  Hooks:  Using the Components menu, you can link to external iframes, galleries, maps, tap areas, and videos. Preview : Ability to preview the ads directly within the UI.  You can also preview in local browsers. Publishing : Quick process with "zip" option (contains all related files for easy upload). The Bad:

CMS Site Launch: Advanced Technical Solutions - DNN 7

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NEW WEBSITE POWERED BY DNN 7 ATS The Brief (i.e., Requirements): Internet showcase for local IT services Reach new customers via Web search Define Online brand identity Establish credibility and authority and in IT space The Method: Design: Modified skin with custom graphics and CSS tweaks Platform: DNN 7 with add-on extensions (Blog, JotForm, Nivo Slider, JQuery) SEO: Author unique page titles/descriptions, XML sitemap, Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics Social: Integrate blog, add hooks to Twitter, add links to Google+, Facebook and RSS The Result: Marketing vehicle will reach potential clients in local area Clean UX parallels the feel of client's print collateral Content is managed via DNN 7 cloud hosted CMS Visit the ATS Website Patrick LaJuett manages a website design agency : + LaJuett.com , where he supports clients as a Web technology consultant and search marketing strategy advisor.

Summary of Webmaster Tools Search Appearance Overview pop-up

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A look at the new "Search Appearance Overview" pop-up window that appears in the updated Webmaster Tools UI. I didn't catch this until recently, but Google has added a nifty little tool to help explain search results elements, and how we can influence the data they contain. Next time you login to Webmaster Tools , look for the Search Appearance interactive pop-up tool. It's accessed via the information (i) icon located in the left-hand menu: Webmaster Tools Search Appearance Overview When you hover over and click specific elements, a bubble will reveal helper text along with clickable links over to Google's Webmaster Tools help screens. Source: Google Webmaster Tools Title Element Write informative, relevant descriptions in the HTML title tag for each webpage. In Webmaster Tools use the HTML Improvements feature to help optimize the title tags on your site. Snippet  Element Provide an accurate, succinct summary of the page’s content in its m