Okay, so you have a WordPress blog / WordPress website and now you’re wondering how to write effective blog articles for your small business right?

As a WordPress web designer and freelance Internet marketing consultant, I have some advice about writing articles for your blog that will show up on search engines and capture your reader’s interest.

First of all, you need a WordPress blog… If you don’t have one I can help with that shameless plug I know!

Secondly, you need to have a topic that you want to write about AND something that will mean something to your reader, add value to your business by offering sage advice or new information for your existing clients AND a topic that you anticipate will be worthy of people using search engines trying to find useful information about what you have on your mind.

This may sound like good old fashioned common sense, but in practice its not that easy. The reason is that as an expert in your field and as a small business owner with a WordPress blog, you may find yourself gurgling with an abundance of information, confusing concepts to the layman or worse yet – wasting your time explaining something in great detail that is totally worthwhile info, yet you can’t wrap it up and present the blog article in such a way that it can be found on a search engine, or that people don’t click on because the blog post title or excerpt is not appealing.

So what’s the secret to writing effective blog articles? Well – Honestly there is no secret to writing effective blog articles. There is only hard work and honing your writing skills, so that the blog articles you write for your small business make sense, are on topic and contain the key phrases you hope to get found on search engines for! Try, try again…

When writing blog articles to attract visitors to your website, you should be thinking of the people you want to find and read your blog article, then hopefully they look over your website and even better yet – they might call you or email you because they need what you offer. Think about their needs and how you can help them with that. Its called SOLUTION SELLING. In other words, your potential customers have a problem and YOU have the solution. Of course, you’ll need to identify what their problem might be and be confident you can help them with their problem once its identified and your potential customer realizes they have a problem which needs to be solved.

For example, in THIS blog post I’m obviously addressing the problem of how to write effective blog articles for your small business. Chances are very good that if you are reading this article, especially if you found it on your favorite search engine, that YOU probably have a small business and your problem is that you have to figure out how to write effective blog articles. Simple enough right?

So ~ If you were captivated, (or at least mildly interested in), by my WordPress Blog Article on “How To Write Effective Blog Articles for Your Small Business”, lets examine why you found my blog article, clicked on my blog article and are now reading my blog article…

1. You had a problem: You were trying to learn how to write blog articles.
2. I had a solution to your problem: I know how to write blog articles.
3. I wanted you to find my blog article.
4. I wanted you to click on my blog article.
5. I wanted to give you free blog writing advice.
6. I wanted to expose you to my blog web design services.
7. I wrote a blog article about how to write a blog article.

Moving right along…

Now that you understand that your need is learning how to write effective blog articles, and you’re aware that I can teach you how to write effective blog articles, lets examine how effective blog articles are composed, structured and authored.

I’ll sort of go through this briefly, so you can see how to write a blog article step by step (the quick version covering just the basic things you need to do to write effective blog articles).

• EDIT POST PAGE: Lets assume you have logged into your WordPress blog, (yoursite.com/wp-admin) and you’re now staring blankly at the New Post page after clicking the “Add New Post” button.
• BLOG POST TITLE: The first field you should be concentrating on is the TITLE, which is the black field below the thumbtack and “Edit Post” verbiage near the top of your screen. Creating a good title for your blog article is super important. Its the first thing a search engine will see, the most weighted textual content that the search engine will consider and it should accurately reflect the blog article, while at the same time acting as a headline to grab attention.
• BLOG POST PERMALINK: Underneath the TITLE, is something called a “Permalink”. This will be the actual URL address of your blog article. You should have your WordPress Permalink Options set so that it displays the post title. If you don’t know how to setup your WordPress Permalink Options, just send me an email. If you’re writing blog articles for a WordPress website I built for you, this option is already setup and you may notice that your “Permalink” contains today’s date, followed by the great Blog Post Title you just created.
• BLOG POST ADD IMAGE: The next thing you want to do is consider adding a photo or image of some sort. C’mon… Everybody loves a picture book more than one with just words. You want a photo or illustration that helps reinforce the topic of your effective blog article. BEFORE you upload and insert the photo, rename it to be more on topic with the blog post as well, because yes… search engines also search pictures, by name “________.jpg”, as well as by ALT TAG which is the alternate verbiae that appears if the picture is unavailable or takes a while to download. The alternate tag is displayed in what is called an image placeholder, (little red box with an X in it), should the photo download fail or delay.

I know you’re anxious to start writing your blog article, especially now that it has that cool picture and has a good title, but whoa there pardner… There’s still a few more fundamental things I need to explain first, so you can learn how to write effective blog articles all by yourself.

• BLOG POST CATEGORIES: Every blog post should be categorized, or associated with related blog categories. You will see the “Categories” towards the right side of the Edit Post page. If I setup your WordPress blog, chances are I have already added some on-topic categories for you to select. Simply check the box next to the categories that relate to this effective blog article. Search engines connect the blog categories to the article and it will give the blog post a boost in search results if they match.
• BLOG POST TAGS: Every blog post needs Post Tags. You’ll see the “Post Tags” underneath the Categories on the right side of the Edit Post page. Think of tags like key words and key phrases. You want them to match your blog post title and also include the major on-topic key phrases that are in the textual content of the blog articles.
• ALL IN ONE SEO PLUGIN: If you’re writing blog articles for a WordPress blog I built for you, it will have the “All In One SEO” Plugin installed and you will notice three or more extra fields towards the bottom of the Edit Post page. In the fields, you will simply repeat your Blog Post Title, add a description of the blog post article and add key words and key phrases that relate to the blog article. If you don’t have All In One SEO Pack Plugin, I recommend installing it.

Woo Hoo ~ So we are finally ready to start writing our effective blog article for our small business! Here is where the fun begins.

Some folks love writing and others do not. As for me, I love writing and I tend to ramble or interject some humor here and there. Other folks just want to write what they have to say and get on with it. Either way is fine. Your blog is YOURS and it should reflect YOUR personality, style, professionalism, expertism, or whatever “ism” you are trying to portray. Just try to be honest. Don’t rant, nobody likes a whiner. Say what you say confidently because you have done your research and your experience and success proves your point.

Since I tortured you already with the rigorous, tedious, yet necessary exercises of creating a Blog Post Title, Blog Post Permalink, Blog Post Categories, Blog Post Tags and then repeated that drudgery with the All in One SEO Title, Description and Key words, you should have a fairly clear idea of “what” exactly your blog post will be about by now.

You might not know exactly what you’re going to say yet, but you know what the topic will be, (that’s your Title and main key phrases), you know basically what the article will be about, (that’s the description and categories). Most importantly you know what WORDS and PHRASES you will be using.

After doing SEO since 2002, this comes naturally to me, but for for beginners here is what I suggest: Copy and paste your Blog Post Title into the area where you will be composing your effective blog article. Paste it a few more times… Paste it in there about 5 times in separate paragraphs. Next, copy and paste or type your Categories and Post Tags. Copy and paste them a few times in a few different paragraphs.

At this point, if you’ve followed my advice your blog post is almost ready to publish. It has a title, permalink, categories, post tags, and the SEO meta tags. It has a cool picture and several paragraphs that contain your title, categories and tags. The only problem now is that its not an EFFECTIVE BLOG ARTICLE yet, because it makes no sense right? Now,  you will need to start weaving all the words together. For a perfect example of what I mean by weaving it together, you can study this blog post “How To Write Effective Blog Articles For Your Small  Business”.

Basically you want to get your main ideas across, while utilizing the key phrases that people would search for the information by. In this instance, I knew I wanted to write a blog article to help my clients with WordPress blogs to better their blog writing skills. In case you were sleeping, I’ll bullet point some of the key phrases I used throughout my blog article:

1. How To Write Effective Blog Articles
2. Effective Blog Articles
3. WordPress Blog Articles
4. WordPress Blogs
5. Writing Blog Article
6. Effective Blog Article

I also included a myriad of combination’s, you can see the syntax and how my key words “effective”, “blog”, “articles”, “wordpress”, etc. are all tied in with natural, organic sentences and paragraphs that make sense.

If your first blog articles are lacking don’t sweat it, because they will still add valuable content to your wordpress website and you need the practice… The important thing is that you keep writing blog articles. With each one try to narrow the focus of your topic and tighten up the Title, Categories and Post Tags.

Happy Writing

Category : Blog

WordPress website for DJ company in Fort Wayne Indiana http://millersmobilemusic.com/

Category : Blog &Web Design

In this article I’ll try to briefly explain website templates in layman’s terms. The reason for the article is two-fold. First I happen to get a lot of visitors to my website who are looking for information or resources that might help them build their own website, so this will help them understand what a website template is, (or is not), and how to use a website template. Second, since I build websites from templates, it helps my clients understand how I use website templates to build a website.

Website Templates

What website templates are: I’m not sure if there is an actual definition for website template. The term website template is used rather loosely in my opinion and to make matters worse, there are definitions for website template, or rather explanations of what a website template  is, which are actually more deceptive than anything else. For example I found  a wikipedia article that attempts to give  a definition for website template:

A web template is a tool used to separate content from presentation in web design, and for mass-production of web documents. It is a basic component of a web template system. Web templates can be used to set up any type of website. In its simplest sense, a web template operates similarly to a form letter for use in setting up a website.

The above definition for website template is inaccurate in my opinion, because while a website template is a tool used for producing web documents, it does not necessarily “separate content from design”, because the design and content of a site are most often integral. Its not limited to mass production of web documents either, because a website template can and should be setup for every website, regardless of the site being two pages or 2 million pages. Really the only thing remotely accurate about this definition is that web templates can be used to setup any type of website. The last part of the definition which would lead someone to believe that a website template operates like a form letter is completely wrong however, because they certainly do not. As a matter of fact, this is most likely the biggest source of confusion for do it yourself website builders.

I will try to explain what a website template is so that my readers can get a better understanding of it:

A website template is actually just a website. Its an electronic document made to be visible on the World Wide Web. Its written in code called “html” which stands for hyper text markup language. A company or designer who produces the website template is producing something which looks and feels just like a website, because it is a website. The only difference between a website template and a website is that the website template it typically populated with generic text that reads something like “Lorem Ispum, blah, blah, blah” and it has stock photography and artwork instead of photos, logos and artwork that are made for a specific company or business. Many of the links on a website template don’t link to anything either. Aside from that, you can upload a website template to a web hosting server and it will look and feel like a website.

How to use a website template

In essence, a website template can be used “as-is”, or only used as the skeleton or layout for a website. This latter method is how I use website templates. Selecting a website template to use for website project is a matter of finding a template that best suits the design goals of the project in terms of the layout and general aesthetics. Other than that, the website template will most likely need to be customized for the web project. Sometimes there is very little customization, other times a great deal of it. From the width of the template to the graphics, photos and color scheme used in it, many aspects of it will most likely be changed. Page names and navigation also obviously change. For example, by the time a web designer gets done with the website template customization, you may not even recognize it as the website template that was originally selected for the design.

Example of Website Template Customization

To provide a better visual idea of how website templates can be customized to suit a particular design goal, look at the following websites which all look markedly different, yet are all based on the same website template, (actually the same template that is shown on the top of this article).

Creating web pages from a website template

Perhaps the most confusing part of all for a non-designer, is figuring out that the template they just downloaded can’t simply be used as the generic definition of website template suggests… Like a form letter or like you just somehow open  some program, fill in fields and then publish the whole thing to the web. There is a whole bunch more to it than that and here is why:

To open and customize a website template, you need software to do it. You’ll need a website design software, which allows you to see both the html code as well as the design view. For example, I use Macromedia Dreamweaver 8.0. With the website design software, you will create editable regions, or designate certain areas of the website as something which can be altered, like a certain area of text or a photo. The web design software will also enable you to convert the template design into an actual template that you can apply to the various pages within a website. In other words, after the template is customized, it has to be “saved as” a template, so that brand new pages can be made based on the template design.

The web design software will most often also have a built in file transfer device so you can connect to your web hosting server and upload the files. The web design software also allows you to make changes and updates to the website and synchronize the local version with the remote version of the website.

Customizing a Website Template Using Graphics, Images and Photographs…

You’ll also need graphics software to work with the artwork, graphics and photos in a website template or on the individual new pages created from the website template design. For example, I use Macromedia Fireworks to produce and modify graphic images. I used my graphics program to create the images you see throughout this website and in this article as well.

Defining a Website As A Website… Directories and Publicly Accessible Pages…

So far, you’ve learned that a website template is actually just a website that someone made which contains generic information. In order to be used, the template must be customized and then saved as a template, allowing the web designer to create new pages built on that template’s design. While this is all necessary, by no means does it result in a website – the way most people envision a website, which is a group of web pages that all share the same design look and feel and link to each other with a “home page”, “about us page”, etc.

In order to create a website, a web designer uses their website editing and designing software to “define” a directory and all the cohesive web pages contained in that directory which make up the “website”. Then, the web pages and all the various image files that make up that website are transferred to a web hosting server where they are publicly accessible and can be visited when someone types in or clicks on the URL or domain name of the website.

Where to find a website template

There are literally 1000′s pf places online to find website templates. The main thing that needs to be considered is what type of website template you’ll need, (For example, in most cases I employ transitional html, CSS based templates). There are also website templates for Flash Websites, Joomla Websites, WordPress Websites, etc. The other thing you’ll have to consider is how much you’re willing to spend on a website template. There are free website templates and premium website templates. The free website templates are – well – FREE. In some cases they are pretty decent and in other cases they are junk. Premium website templates might be great or just as crummy as a free template, the exception is that you are paying for the right to use that template design with what’s referred to as a user license. Premium templates typically come with some level of technical support in case there is something wrong with the template. They won’t tutor you on how to use a website template of course, but they will offer a fresh download or an updated version of the template if something is technically wrong with it. Expect to pay $50 – $150 for a single use license for a premium website template. There are also companies and freelancers who offer templates you can buy the copyright to, (this means that you can literally purchase the template design and they don’t resell it to others). Expect to pay $2000 – $3000 for the copyright. Lastly, there are also designers who will design a website template for you. Expect to pay $2000 – $5000 for a custom designed website template from a freelancer.

Website Template Based Editors and WYSIWYG website builders

As one last note, I’ll mention that this article focuses on website templates as they are most often used; a pre-designed website that can be customized, modified and used to create a website. To add to this dizzying array of choices and information surrounding traditional website templates, its important to note that there are also website template based editors and template based WYSIWYG, (what you see is what you get), web builder softwares. Some examples of this would be Intuit’s homestead websites, GoDaddy Website Tonight websites, Netfusion Websites, Yahoo Websites and there are more… Lots more. There are also “theme” based websites, such as WordPress websites. The template based editors are primarily focused on the do it yourself market and I don’t recommend them for commercial use, although they can be used this way if you’re willing to put up with the pros and cons of template based editors. In the future, perhaps I will dedicate an article to the template based website builders.

I hope that this article on website templates provides you with some answers to questions you may have had.

Category : Blog

Should you use Facebook Marketing and Social Network Marketing?

Okay, lets be honest… Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past two years, you have undoubtedly heard of Facebook and Twitter, two websites that have defined SOCIAL NETWORKING. In this article, I intend to tell YOU my honest opinion about Facebook Marketing and Social Network marketing in general and whether or not its all its cracked up to be!

The term social networking and all that it stands for has been forever emblazoned into our brains. As a marketer… A Web marketer or Internet marketer especially, I have been aware of the concept of social network marketing for quite a while, after all – web marketers live for this sort of stuff right? I do get excited when a new or creative marketing idea comes along, but I tend to be more conservative and get a bit skeptical of anything dubbed latest or greatest including social networking. I like to see results before I make recommendations.

Social networking has its place and has some value I suppose, but in my opinion, (contrary to the current zombie like fascination in social network marketing), I think social network marketing is highly overrated and fails in comparison to the hype surrounding Facebook Marketing, Twitter Marketing and so on.

Your website and consistent efforts to promote your website should be your focus, while social networking is optional and supplemental if you choose to pursue it. By no means am I discounting the possibility that social network marketing might work for some or that some people or companies might experience some good return on their social network marketing efforts, but your energy should be spent on your website and traditional methods of marketing – not social networking.

Here’s my advice about social network marketing based on my experience, with a dash or two of common sense added for flavoring.

First let us examine social networking sites like Facebook:

1. Who uses social networking? Really – Think about this… Almost 500 million people have Facebook accounts so it SEEMS like the perfect opportunity to tap into a giant pool of regular users. Unfortunately I think, (perhaps you’ll agree), that the majority of Facebook users might be pre-teens, teenagers and twenty somethings who are less likely to care about or recommend your “stuff” to their friends unless of course you have the hottest iPhone app on the planet or a pair of tickets to Lady Gaga you’re giving away. The point is, that if you maintain a social networking profile for the purpose of marketing, you’ll need your friends or followers to be people who are potentially interested in your goods or services, (as well as folks you can communicate to effectively), therein lies the conundrum of finding the perfect pool of friends or followers.
2. Why do people use social networking? If you can answer this question, you’re among a small percentile who perceives the value in social networking. Sure, its kind of neat to find old classmates or friends you have lost touch with. Yes its cool to build your clan of family members, (spouse, children, siblings, etc). I’ll admit its easy to post pictures to share. I love that its an instant method of obtaining or sharing late breaking news and events… BUT what is there beyond that? Social networking sucks up a bunch of time and can result in some very real relational issues that probably would never have arisen if you were not “Facebooking” at all.
3. What do people talk about on social networking sites? Hmmm… The field that pops up on Facebook when you log-on invites you to let the world know “What’s On Your Mind”… From what I can tell, most people don’t have much on their minds if anything… They are tired, their feet hurt, they went to see a movie, they went out to dinner… Blah blah, blah so what? If you’re a high-level thinker forget about Facebook because what’s on YOUR mind, is rarely if ever anything that concerns the bulk of the populous that makes up your friends list. Don’t believe me?  Just try talking about anything that truly matters like your product or service, current events, politics, the wars, religion, etc and you will quickly become either frustrated, ridiculed or ignored.
4. How do you make your important message viral using Facebook? The truth is you can’t… Not unless your important message is a funny video, or stupid chain post. Think about your audience. First – they don’t care. Second – Your post is stupid.  Third – You’re embarrassing their cool friends who see their wall. Fourth – Why are they your friend again?
5. How much time does it take to do social networking? Setting up your Facebook profile or similar is easy enough. Its the finding friends, inviting friends, adding friends that can become time consuming. Of course that time is nothing compared to the countless hours you get sucked into it, almost in a trance state, discussing nothing and somehow justifying that its time well spent.

You’re probably thinking that I’m not a big supporter of social networking initiatives. Well ~ Not so much… I admit that, but you’re reading this because you want an honest opinion right?

Facebook, Twitter and Social Networking actually does have some positive points.

I’ll point out the few I know of and you’ll be able to decide for yourself whether or not to incorporate Facebook marketing or social network marketing into your overall web marketing plan.

• Your personal Facebook page can help YOU (your name) get found on search engines. If you’re someone who needs their personal name to show up well, (a Doctor, Lawyer, Music Artist, Actor or Actress, Politician, etc.),  then a Facebook Personal Page might just be the answer. If you are trying to promote a business however, the business pages at Facebook do NOT get crawled and do not show up on search engines. If you must have a Facebook page, make sure its just a personal one not a business one.
• A social networking profile can give you a softer more personal image. This is nice because customers like when they can see that the people who run a company or an organization are real people that have real families and they talk about regular stuff – not just business. If you prefer to maintain a professional image however, social networking is probably not the best idea because it does demystify your brand and expertise.
• Its a Back-Link Paradise. When you place a link to your website or web page in a Twitter post, (or a personal Facebook post), it can certainly help a search engine crawl your website or web page – sometimes your site or page will be crawled within hours thanks to just a single link.
• Its cool to be connected. Having a Facebook, Twitter or other social networking widget on your website can draw site visitors to it like moths to a flame, show them that you are connected and they will sometimes even click through to your social networking profile page – maybe add you as a friend or follow you.

There you have it ~ My honest opinion on Facebook marketing, Twitter marketing and social network marketing!

Category : Blog

One of the more common questions I answer, has to do with how to use WordPress Websites for Business.

A WordPress website can be a powerful tool for web marketing! There are literally thousands of various ways companies and organizations are using WordPress websites and in this article I will provide a brief overview of the typical benefits of a WordPress website. I’ll explain how you can use a WordPress website to increase your exposure online and provide your website visitors with a more interactive experience because WordPress websites have distinct advantages over more traditional websites. There are very few downsides to using a WordPress website, but I will note the few I can think of as well.

1. WordPress websites show up on search engines. While I could probably mention more than a few reasons why WordPress websites show up well on search engines, suffice to say that I will focus on the major reason, which is that WordPress websites are easily updated so your website presents FRESH CONTENT that is recognized by search engines and website visitors. In other words, by utilizing the blog within a WordPress website, a person, business, or non-profit organization can become virtual authorities on various subjects. By composing brief, highly focused articles, (blog posts), on a regular basis, an individual, business or an organization can add textual content to their website. Search engines crawl and index textual content and then regurgitate that information in the form of organic search results. The more textual content your site has, the more search results it might be relevant for – plain and simple.
2. WordPress websites are easy to maintain and update. The main drawback to having a traditional static html website is that it can be challenging and expensive to maintain and update. Anything that is “more challenging”, or “more expensive”, will often get shoved on the back-burner. This is undoubtedly one of the main reasons so many traditional websites have information that has not been updated in a very long time. Its too difficult, too time consuming, or too expensive, so it never gets updated! The main advantage to having a WordPress website therefore,  is that it is easily maintained, making it less expensive in the long run because the website owner does not have to pay for a professional to update the site. The second benefit is that because the site is maintained more often, it will also perform better, both in terms of traffic originating from search engines, as well as website visitor experience, number of page views and more opportunity for generating revenue.
3. WordPress websites have a built-in CMS – Content Management System. This means that the back-end of the WordPress website can be accessed from any computer with Internet access and simply by logging in, the WordPress website can be managed and updated from a simple to use Dashboard / Control Panel. Multiple people can access the site via “User Roles”. In other words, your WordPress website could be  maintained by just one user with full blown administrator privileges, or by as many people as you’d like, all setup with varying degrees of access, or privileges from the most simple “Subscriber” who is only allowed to comment on a post or page, to Contributors and Authors, who can create or edit blog posts and pages they are assigned to, on up to an Editor who can review posts and comments and approve, reject or edit those before final publishing. They can also post blog articles, create pages, etcetera.
4. WordPress websites are modern. A large majority of businesses and organizations hire freelance web designers, or professional web design firms to build, host and maintain their websites. Many of those websites were built before WordPress websites were available. The WordPress technology is relatively new and it is being employed more frequently for new website design. As you surf the web, you’ve probably noticed certain websites and considered them to be “fresh” and “clean” and “modern”, offering high levels of interactivity and features. Those were probably WordPress websites, which instinctively have a very clean style, an abundance of interactivity, yet can have designs ranging from extremely professional and business-like to very casual or fun.
5. WordPress websites are THEME BASED. What that means is the initial WordPress website you may see upon installation is very plain, “Just another WordPress Blog…”, but can be replaced simply by selecting, downloading and activating a new theme all from the comfort of your dashboard. In addition, if you get tired of that WordPress theme and want to give your website an entire face-lift, you can do that simply by choosing a new WordPress theme, downloading it and activating it. You can switch themes whenever you like, yet all the content in the WordPress website remains intact. There are seemingly an endless number of free WordPress themes to choose from, but if your WordPress website is intended for business, I recommend a PREMIUM WORDPRESS THEME. Here’s the deal: WordPress is built on an “open-source” license, which means that PHP developers from around the globe develop themes for it. However, just like most things in life, you get what you pay for and WordPress themes are not any different… I always recommend choosing a premium WordPress theme, because they typically work better, look better and they are backed by the support of the developer or company which produced it. Here are several premium WordPress theme developers which I recommend:

If you need HOSTING for your new WordPress website… That is, a web hosting account where you will put the site, there are plenty of web hosting providers out there, but if you intend on using your WordPress website for business, I recommend a reliable host that offers free technical support 24×7 like GoDaddy.com.

Lastly, I mentioned that despite all its great benefits, WordPress has some downsides when compared with traditional websites… Here are the main disadvantages that might apply to your particular situation:

• WordPress is PHP driven and requires installation of the latest version of PHP to your web hosting account. Some web hosts make this totally easy, or will do it for free, while others present more of  a technical challenge.
• WordPress is an open source project and there are always updates and revisions that you may need. Many of the cool interactive features that make WordPress websites so cool, are called “widgets” and “plugins”. The majority of widget and plugin developers are hobbyists, while some are professional developers or firms. A plugin or widget you may have installed and come to rely on, or need to use, might become inoperable following the update of the WordPress version itself, or when you update another Plugin or Widget. Most of the time widgets and plugins can be updated without a problem, but sometimes it does cause problems, so be prepared that with any update, its possible your site might not work correctly.
• WordPress websites are not ultra customizable like a static html website. With traditional websites, a designer can basically make it look anyway you can think of… WordPress websites are theme based, so even though you can alter the general aesthetics of the website, for the most part the structure is very much the same regardless of which theme is used. There are theme providers who will customize or create new WordPress themes exclusively for you, but it is fairly expensive and again – they are not as flexible as a typical static website.

Category : Blog

I’ve finally gotten around to better defining the freelance web marketing services that I provide for small business and non-profit organizations!

In addition to updating the site to show what I offer more clearly, I have also added an additional payment option which I feel will better serve my clientèle. I’ve introduced a Net 30 “bill me later” option because this is easier for many businesses than using the Google Checkout credit card payment processing, (is still offered and best suited for individuals who wish to prepay for services using a major credit card). You will see both payment options upon checkout in my online store. Listed below are the freelance web marketing services I offer (click on the images for prices and detailed descriptions):

WOW ~ An Almost Free Website! Okay, so I’m a softee for start-ups and small businesses operating on shoe string budget and I love to help, so I actually do offer an almost free website solution… Here’s the deal: I have a particular template I use that is perfect for promoting any business, but is easy enough for me to customize that it takes me hardly any time at all to build it and publish it. The website does a nice job of getting you online and being seen on search engines… As a matter of fact this website has all the features and functions of my other sites, but in return for my generosity you agree to allow me to run some Google Ads on your site. These ads sort of share your online space and I get a little commission when folks click on the ads. Its sort of a you scratch my back I scratch yours deal.

The Affordable Website Project is my typical package that covers most needs. Choose this package if you have no site currently and this will be a brand new site, or if you have a site that is going to be replaced or reworked. This package includes basic s.e.o. (search engine optimization), and search engine submission.

Sell your goods online with an ECommerce Website. Do you have aspirations of being the next big online retailer, or perhaps you have a traditional brick and mortar store and you want to offer your products online as well. Ecommerce solutions are the perfect solution for online marketing when you offer a number of physical products for sale. Whether its a public accessible online store for a retailer or a secure B2B wholesaler portal, I can help by setting up the appropriate ecommerce solution for you and stocking it with your primary products. Sell your products online, take payments with credit cards, offer electronic downloads and more with an ecommerce solution.

Choose Search Engine Optimization when your website requires additional search engine optimization. Perfect for large websites containing multiple pages or products, or if you want to be more competitive for highly sought after and popular key word search phrases. If your website has been online for a while and does not seem to be attracting as many targeted visitors as you would like, additional search engine optimization may improve your traffic and conversion.

I provide Telephone Consulting when you need help, information or advice that simply is too involved to discuss via email. Hey ~ I’ve got over 8 years of experience, so why not call and pick my brain a little or get some professional guidance before embarking on major site changes, SEO work, etc. Or maybe you’re not the type of person who embraces email and you just need to speak to a real person on the phone regarding working on your website or web marketing… Choose this offering, its affordable telephone web marketing and seo consulting services priced in 1/2 hour intervals.

I provide Onsite Consulting when you need help, information or advice that simply is too involved to discuss via email, or telephone and you want someone onsite to discuss your project or work on your website and web marketing, choose this offering. Affordable onsite consulting services priced in 4 hour intervals. * Travel expenses will be required in addition to the consulting fees when providing local onsite consulting within the general Chicago vicinity. * Transportation, lodging and meal expenses will be required in addition to consulting fees for onsite service which is outside my typical local travel area.

My Market Research service provides you with the information you need. What’s the main reason YOUR business is slow, or why are you not as busy as you once were? How do your prices stack up against the competition? What marketing advantages do your competitors have? Should you offer more or less products and services? Is your website easy enough to use, yet convincing enough for customers to purchase online or call you? Are your current Internet marketing tactics sufficient? These questions and others can be researched and compiled into a high level report which outlines your strengths, weaknesses and recommends ways that you can improve your bottom line.

You probably need my Website Conversion Makeover if you already have a site that you are fairly pleased with and it even shows up on searches and gets visitors, but you want it to do a better job of turning those site visitors into potential customers who either contact you or buy something online. I’ll take a good long look at your site and let you know how it can be improved and I will make suggestions for improvement and employ proven conversion techniques, making changes to your existing site.

The start of a beautiful relationship… The big daddy of all my offerings, my Total Web Marketing Solution, combining all of my talents to help your business or non-profit launch a successful website and ongoing marketing plan. Whether you’ve been around a while or you’re a start-up, this solution provides you with a war-chest of marketing tools. This package is primarily designed with the onsite client in mind… In other words, we’ll be seeing a lot of each other and spending a great deal of time working on this together. Typical project duration is 2 – 4 weeks, roughly 80 hours of consulting.

Website Updates for misc labor on your existing website. This is the perfect choice for existing website clients who need alterations and modifications, or extra pages built, images changed or added, hosting company transfers, or other technical / creative needs. I can provide website updates to most websites, whether I have built them or they were built by another designer using Dreamweaver, WordPress, Intuit’s Homestead Sitebuilder, GoDaddy’s Website Tonight, Pro DJ Publishing’s EZ DJ Website Builder and others. I also provide 3rd party software tool integrations like calendars and scheduling software.

The Annual Maintenance Agreement provides the convenience of having a web designer on call and knowing that your request will be placed into priority status and as a preferred customer, in many cases you won’t need to reach for your credit card when you need a simple change made or question answered. Ever have your website go offline? Yup its terrible and usually needs to be looked at right away to get it back online. With the maintenance agreement, you’ll sleep easier knowing that you have priority status including emergency expedited service on weekends, holidays, etc.

I offer Blog Articles and Creative Writing services! You know that sites with fresh content rule right? Continually adding new pages and refreshing current content makes a site more current, so site visitors recognize that and search engines devour it. Maybe you don’t necessarily have the time to update your website or blog, or perhaps you have a general idea of what you want to write about, but you’re not really the type of person who is into creative writing. I can assist by authoring blog posts, articles and creative textual ad copy that search engines will index and site visitors will read. I enjoy writing, so you’ll get a special deal on this offering, so you can afford to regularly keep your site fresh and your visitors interested in your business.

Direct Email Marketing provides you with the enormous potential of reaching out to your website visitors regularly via emailed newsletters and RSS feeds. If you’re not the creative writing type, or simply don’t have the time to conduct this aspect of your overall marketing strategy yourself, outsource it to me. Using Email Newsletters or RSS Feeds you can promote your business, announce special offers, earn revenue from affiliate programs, or simply keep in touch with your clients.

What’s all this Social Networking stuff about? Does it really matter to your business? See if social networking is right for your business. I offer initial social networking account setup on popular social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, Classmates, and photo and video sharing accounts like Flickr and YouTube. I will integrate these social networking elements into your website and teach you how to utilize all of this new reach to your advantage. Social networking is NOT a set it and forget it form of web marketing, so be prepared to roll up your sleeves and start socializing. If you already have one or several social networking accounts that are already established but under utilized, I can help you use them to increase revenue, business and sales.

By providing Training and Seminars, I can help you and your staff better understand the power of the web and how to help your business grow. Whether you have a traditional brick and mortar store, a manufacturing firm, a professional service or a non-profit, I can help your company or organization become better acquainted with emerging trends and technologies as well as build a strong foundation for successful web marketing. I tailor my training seminars to your specific needs and provide a firm grip on the elementary nuts and bolts of establishing or maintaining a strong online presence. Training seminars can be conducted onsite, or offsite for your convenience.

Category : Blog

Gaze at the slowly spiraling image above, relaxing your mind and imagine yourself calm, at ease. While you are gazing at the spiraling image above, picture yourself in a pleasant place, perhaps taking a walk in your favorite place, feeling at ease and at peace and then read on:

For my whole life, I never believed hypnosis was real. As a matter of fact, it was not until recently that I knew that hypnosis works on some people… Lots of people. I’m a critical thinker, logical and pragmatic by nature. Even though I knew of hypnosis and had seen various television programs with snippets of hypnotic stage shows, etc. I honestly did not think that it was really possible for someone to be hypnotized.

Fast forward to this past month, October 2010 and I found myself and a group of 10 tired, over-heated relatives sauntering into a 2:00 pm show at the well known theater “Pictorium” at Six Flags Great America. We simply wanted to find a nice shady and cool place where we could sit for a while and rest before tackling all the fun stuff at the park. We woke up way too early that day, not having enough rest the night before of course and had arrived at the park before it opened. By this time, we were exhausted after walking about the park in the extra warm Indian Summer weather. We had stopped for a while and had a big lunch. No matter what the show was about we were going to go in the dark, cool theater and just relax for a while. The show that day was Susan Rosen Mistress of Mesmerism.

Astounded by what I had witnessed, I starting researching hypnotism and the power of hypnotic suggestion. There are vast amounts of information on the topic online. I even downloaded some audio files and listened to them. The overwhelming majority of information supports hypnosis. There are literally 1,000′s of years of evidence to support the claim, countless books written as well as a seemingly limitless number of videos you can watch on YouTube, providing the visual evidence of hypnosis is action, including hypnotic stage shows like the one we were a part of. For your viewing enjoyment, I have included one such video depicting Susan Rosen performing hypnosis at a similar stage show to the one we attended:

Okay, so Hypnosis is Real… But how can YOU use hypnotic suggestion to market your small business?

I can guarantee that you would not use a gaudy image of a spiral like I did. You would not directly ask people to fall into a hypnotic trance, rather you would suggest it more covertly. I personally am not a hypnotic ad copy writer… At least not yet, or not that I know of – but I would like to learn how to write hypnotic ad copy. There are an abundance of sources online to learn how to write effective ad copy, how to write hypnotic ad copy, how to use hypnotic suggestion in marketing, etc. Without a doubt in my mind, I would venture to say that it is most surely the most influential marketing technique that is employed and no doubt that we all are bombarded with hypnotic suggestions via mass media every single day.

Studies show that it takes approximately 30 seconds for someone to fall into a hypnotic trance from a television. WOW… Maybe that is why for years television marketing is broken up into 30 second and 60 second spots.

When the word hypnosis and trance are used, it is likely that you envision the classic zombie-like hypnotic subject completely under the mesmerizing trance of a mystical hypnotist. Not so… Scientifically – Or at least the scientific theory is that hypnosis is really a form of hyper-focus. Its induced via a trance. So – Being in a trance opens your mind to suggestion. Those suggestions reside temporarily in your subconscious mind, the part of the brain which controls involuntary motor functions, imagination, sleep, etc. The more deeply a person is in a trance, the more apt they are to be open to suggestion. The more often a person is subjected to the hypnotic message, the more firmly it is stored in the subconscious.  When Doctors and counselors use hypnosis for therapy, (appropriately called hypnotherapy), they conduct the hypnotherapy not once, but several times to make sure that it works well to cure the patient of their ills. It stands to reason that marketers will show the exact same commercial over and over again during the course of a television show, a televised football game, or even an entire television or sports series, regardless of the enormous expense. They don’t do it because they think the viewers are knuckle heads, or because they want to make sure that if someone turned the show on late they will still catch the commercial… No – They are counting on repetition to pound their suggestion into your subconscious mind.

Books, Magazines, Movies, TV Shows, Cartoons, Children’s Shows and even Educational Materials are entrenched with hypnotic suggestions to promote all sorts of things from theories and special interest agendas, to lifestyles, fashions, political messages and more.

Hypnotic marketing methods trickle into advertisements as well and unlike many years ago when marketing was driven by facts and logic, features, functions and benefits, today’s marketing is focused on feelings and emotions from sex, to feeling healthier. Clear benefits might be introduced when appropriate, but even a product or service which has a purpose that is difficult for consumers to distinguish, will occasionally forgo any clear explanation of what the product does, in lieu of stunning imagery, a snappy logo, music and some goofy tagline. Amazingly companies pay huge money for what we perceive as the dumbest, most worthless television spots, but maybe… Just maybe they are not so dumb, but instead are using hypnotic marketing techniques. From being sexy and alluring to having a sense of calm and well being… From being adventurous to feeling safety and security… Hypnotic marketing suggests emotions they want you to associate with whether real or false, yet somehow many consumers believe the message in whole or in part. They will recall the product or service, or one like it and spend their money. How is that possible? Hypnotic suggestion. Sometimes its clear and other times its covert.

So how can YOU take advantage of hypnotic marketing? Using hypnotic marketing in print ads, or in web marketing is a different case entirely. Obviously a print or web advertiser does not have a captive audience in a trance like when someone is watching television, a movie, a demonstration, etc. With any form of static advertising, especially that which is passive, (meaning a potential customer actually has to seek it out and physically interact with it), different, more subtle hypnotic suggestions are employed.

Here are three tips on combining search engine optimization and hypnotic marketing into your small business advertising and sales tactics.

1. Your website has to be found easily on search engines. First we need to establish this baseline, because unless you are planning some serious external marketing to drive people to your website, you’ll want to be noticed online in organic search engine results, and that means you NEED TO provide the facts and functional logic about your product or service in layman’s terms. This has to be done in the textual content of course so that search engines can “see it” and therefore it is possible that they will index that information and provide links to it during organic searches for products or services like yours. When done correctly, this information will have a density that indicates it is the focus of your web page and it should also be included in the source code of the page in the form of META TAGS. To write very basic ad copy for your website I recommend doing it in your own voice and speech pattern, explaining it as if you were explaining it to a young child who might ask what you do when you go to work. Apply the K.I.S.S. principle here.
2. Once someone makes it to your web page, you will want them to take action. For web page visitors to actually be converted from someone looking at your web page to someone who does something, like calling you, purchasing something, signing up for your newsletter, etc. You MUST INSTRUCT them on what you want them to do. Even if you have the most gorgeous website on the planet, it means nothing unless you make it clear what you want your website visitor to do. ASK, or better yet TELL them what you want them to do… Click here to contact us? Or Click here to purchase the thing that will make your life heaven on earth. Give them clear direction on what to do and why they should do it.
3. Make your customers feel comfortable. Throughout the selling process, whether its on your web page, in your email, over the telephone or in person, you want to win over the customer’s trust and make them feel relaxed so that they are receptive to your offer. To take advantage of hypnotic suggestion, you will need to think about things from your customer’s perspective and then formulate your ad copy, or sales pitch so that it eases any doubts, turns off their mental defensive logic barrier and engages the visitor’s subconscious in ways that will make it more likely they take action. I recommend speaking calmly and genuinely in your own voice. Address the needs of your customer. What will the product or service do for them? What problems in their life will go away? It makes no sense to talk-up your product or service blah, blah, blah if you don’t get the customer’s interest first.

You can wake up now, feeling relaxed refreshed and better than you have in years. You will not walk around the office clucking like a chicken, nor will you roll about the floor in a fetal position sucking your thumb… You’ll be wide awake, feeling alert and confident ready to sell, sell, sell.

Make YOUR Ad Copy Hypnotic With Joe Vitale’s Hypnotic Writing Wizard Software!

Suggested Reading and Links:

• Hypnotic Writing The Course
• Using Hypnosis as a Marketing Technique
• Increase Sales With Hypnotic Marketing
• Joe Vitale / Advanced Hypnotic Writing
• You Will Read This Article On Hypnotic Writing
• Hypnotic Writing – 10 Laws For Writing Hypnotic Letters
• The Hypnotic Induction – Three Ways Of Creating The Trance State

Category : Blog

I’m always intrigued by the creative approaches to marketing I see and always wonder if they work, and if they do – why do they work? One of these new marketing tactics is dubbed “multimedia marketing”, although honestly as someone who was not real sure what it was called, I would have guessed “text ads” or “text marketing”, because its basic function is collecting cell phone numbers and then blasting text messages, (either auto replies or hand crafted ad campaigns), to those cell numbers.

So, like this post implies – I’d like to pose the question: “Is Multimedia Marketing Text Ads SMS Text Marketing Right For YOUR Small Business?”…

Lets look at this in its fundamental perspective: A person, (lets say a potential consumer or an existing customer), sees a message on a print ad, billboard, sign, vehicle wrap, or whatever that reads something like this:

Text “I love Spam” to 90210, (or some other 5 digit or 6 digit short code).

The person that uses their cell phone to text that message to that short code automatically “opts in” to receive text messages from the business who subscribes to an SMS Multimedia Marketing service. From that point on, the cell phone user who originally texted, will potentially receive future text messages from that business. From a marketing perspective this is pretty cool and the statistics of how effective these text ads can be is staggering. From a client’s perspective, (like someone who has a cell phone), I’m not convinced they would appreciate having SPAM come to their cell phone message InBox, especially considering  that unless someone pays a premium for unlimited text messaging, they may be careful about inbound text messages that cost them about 10 cents or more each.

Aside from my opinion that I think in general consumer’s appreciate LESS SPAM, not MORE SPAM, the fact that your cell phone number is stored in a marketing list owned by a 3rd party is frightening… Who in the World would OPT-IN their private cell phone number for marketing purposes, so they can potentially be bombarded by text messages from people they don’t know at any hour of the night or day?

I would venture to say that MOST people who would pick up their cell phone and TEXT some silly key phrase, (technically that’s what they are referred as), to a strange 5 digit or 6 digit number, (SHORT CODE), really don’t know they are opting in for future marketing messages. As a matter of fact, I have personally seen during a recent visit to Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, IL that Multimedia Marketing Text Ads / SMS Text Marketing can be extremely deceptive and alluring. At that theme park, I saw dozens of such campaigns posted on small sign-boards and via flat screen monitors throughout the park, sponsored by Ask.com which would ask some stupid question like “What are a bunch of snails called? A) herd, or B) walk.” — Text “herd” or “walk” to _ _ _ _ _ < insert short code here.

I would assume that throughout the day Ask.com collected 1,000′s of cell numbers from unsuspecting teens and adults waiting in roller coaster lines who were just having fun, or wanted to try and “win a chance” to jump to the front of the line. (Advancing to the front of the ride’s line or some savings percentage was typically the hook).

Speaking of “hooks”, that is what gets people to text a message to a short code in the first place. At Great America you could “WIN A CHANCE” to jump to the front of the roller coaster ride… A pizza parlor may employ a tactic like “WIN A FREE SLICE OF PIZZA when you text _ _ _ _ _ to _ _ _ _  _”.

Ah ha – I’ll bet if you own a small business, you could think of some great hooks huh? Lets look at the possibilities:

• An oil change place might promote “$10 off your next oil change by texting _ _ _ _ _ to _ _ _ _ _”.
• A barber shop might promote “free hair cut when you text _ _ _ _ _ to _ _ _ _ _ “.
• A golf course might promote “18 rounds free when you text _ _ _ _ _ to _ _ _ _ _ “.

I’m sure the wheels are spinning now… I’ll bet you have something you could give away or take a percentage off of that might be appealing enough to advertise and get some people to text you so you have their cell numbers right? In marketing terms this is called a “loss leader”… It might cost you as a business owner a little now, in exchange for future business.

Loss leaders are FANTASTIC and have been employed for years. For example, “buy three get one free” tire specials, or a really popular one recently from our friends at McDonald’s was the “two for $3 Mcmuffins or Biscuits”. Experts have estimated that it costs a business roughly $300 to attract a new customer via traditional advertising methods, so obviously a loss leader that costs a business only $3 or $15 is a huge bargain.

In addition to, (or instead of), loss leaders a small business could also utilize Multimedia Marketing Text Ads / SMS Text Marketing for creative contests, raffles, sweepstakes and more. The concept of this new marketing platform is virtually as limitless as your imagination and I admit the rewards could be exponential.

SAY WHAT??? Did I concede that Multimedia Marketing Text Ads are a good idea or that SMS Text Marketing is right for small business marketing? Well – Yes and no. This is where I get on the fence with this new technology. I think that if a business uses this ethically and periodically, its probably not a bad deal for the texter or the textee. Case in point, I love Pizza. A local pizza place near me offered special deals if I agreed to have them send automated voice mail marketing messages to my phone. Well, like I said I love pizza and since I ordered from this place anyway and they already had my number stored, I agreed. Over the course of a few months I received a few voicemail messages, recorded in the pizza parlor owner’s voice, which reminded me of the Monday / Tuesday dinner buffet. No big deal. The messages came through during the day, (they did not wake me up by sending it in the middle of the night). I would venture to say I am okay with that as a consumer. But what about the text ads? AS A CONSUMER I HAVE NEVER TEXTED BOP_BOP_BOP_DIDDLY_SQUAT to ANY SHORT CODE! I mean honestly… No way. Why would I want some 3rd party mystery short code organization having MY cell phone number?

Okay, okay… So MAYBE if a local vendor offered me some loss leaders just for letting them text me once in a while, I might go for that. I’m a sucker for a good loss leader and I like to help my local vendors. If its a place I already do business with I would be more inclined to get on board. The messages would have to be worthwhile however, otherwise it would be a nuisance and I would do LESS business with them not more. But ~ That’s just me.

In summary, I totally see the value in Multimedia Marketing Text Ads / SMS Text Marketing for small business. I am a firm believer in trying damn near anything at least once, just to see if it works. I would recommend a really generous loss leader and tread with caution in terms of how often you text message your customers.

The basic functions of all the Is Multimedia Marketing / Text Ads / SMS Text Marketing services I found online work something like this:

1. You create an account online.
2. You pay using a credit card, (typically a recurring monthly charge), for a package containing a certain number of “key phrases” and text messages that you can take advantage of. For example, 2 key phrases and 2000 text messages for around $100 per month seems like the going rate.
3. You login to monitor and manage your “opt-in” subscribers, (people’s cell numbers), track messages, create messages, auto-replies, etc.

Just for reference, I will provide at least a couple of links to follow if you’re interested in SMS Text Marketing…

• SHORT CODES http://www.usshortcodes.com/ This site I believe is where the companies go to register short codes. Think of it like a domain registry.
• SMS TEXT ADS http://www.eztexting.com/ This is a service you can use to try SMS text ads to see if they are right for your small business.

There are gobs of SMS text marketing services on the web you can find by Googling Multimedia Marketing SMS Text Marketing. The least expensive and easiest to get started is EZTEXTING (click the logo below).

There is also a multilevel marketing company named iZigg that is pushing their products via independent agents, perhaps in your area. They have a cool website that really does a good job of using videos to pitch the power of SMS Text Marketing… See http://izigg.com. If you have been approached by an iZigg agent, (touting their “90210″ short code), try checking out some other companies also, so you can make sure you choose a plan that suits your needs and budget.

That’s it then – My less than expert view on Multimedia Marketing via SMS Text Messaging.

Category : Blog

Starting a new small business, or growing your existing small business can be an exciting and sleepless adventure… If its your dream to be your own boss, own your own company or expand your existing business, I wanted to share these small business related websites that can help!

The following is a repost of some valuable small business resources from an article at SiteProNews

With the large amount of information and resources available on the internet it can be quite a challenge for entrepreneurs and small business owners to find the small business help they need. From deciding whether to start a business, setting up or acquiring a business, raising capital, acquiring credit, marketing, social media marketing, working with customers, growing your business, working online, selling online, and much more it’s vital to have access to resources you can depend on.

Below are 25 small business information websites that provide small business owners support, news, information, resources, and tools to succeed in business:

1. AllBusiness.com has a variety of small business resources, advice, and business ideas for entrepreneurs and small businesses to start, manage, finance, and build a business.
2. Bplans.com offers free sample business plans, business plan software, business calculators, and articles on writing a business plan, starting a business, and other small business topics.
3. Business.com provides an extensive and helpful business search engine and business directory designed to help its users find the companies, products, services, and information they need to make the right business decisions.
4. Business.gov helps small businesses understand their legal requirements and locate government services from federal, state, and local agencies.
5. Businesscreditblogger.com has been the go-to source for business credit information, providing expert information about building business credit, business credit scoring, business credit reporting and business credit cards.
6. Copyblogger.com is an invaluable source for business owners wanting to learn more about how to attract more traffic, links, and subscribers for their company website.
7. Credit.com covers all aspects of personal credit and includes free interactive tools and unbiased product comparisons.
8. Entrepreneur.com offers a comprehensive range of practical information for small business owners including articles, videos, tools, newsletters, and message boards.
9. Entreworld.org is a collection of resources for entrepreneurs designed to support and help build entrepreneurial economies. The content on the site focuses on starting, growing, and locating support for your business.
10. Franchise.com serves the franchise community by serving both as a unique search tool for locating the right business for sale and a franchise industry resource that offers franchise information, franchise industry news, and resources.
11. Frannet.com provides an overview of franchising and provides helpful advice and guidance to determine if you are suited to being a franchise owner.
12. Inc.com is the online version of the magazine Inc. It provides information, products, services, and online tools for entrepreneurs.
13. The IRS Small Business Resource site covers a broad range of tax resources for entrepreneurs and small business owners including workshops, forms, and publications.
14. Knowthis.com is a leading information and resource website in marketing, market research, advertising, selling, promotion, and other marketing-related areas.
15. MoreBusiness.com is filled with sample business plans, marketing plans, templates, sample contracts and business agreements to help entrepreneurs start and grow a small business.
16. Mashable.com is the top source for news in social and digital media, technology, and web culture. The business section offers tips, tools, social media resources, and guides you will find extremely helpful.
17. SBA.gov is run by the U.S. government and it is dedicated to helping small business owners by giving a wide range of sources for technical, managerial, and financial help and assistance.
18. Score.org The SCORE Association is a nonprofit and resource partner with the SBA. It offers a wealth of free online and face-to-face business counseling, mentoring, and training for startups or for existing businesses hoping to grow.
19. Smallbiztrends.com is an award-winning online publication for small business owners and entrepreneurs. A great source to track, explore, and learn from trends affecting the small business market.
20. Socialmediatoday.com helps teach business owners how to leverage the power of social media with insightful information, tools, tips, and strategies.
21. Startupnation.com is a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs with easy-to-follow, practical information to start and grow a successful business.
22. Toolkit.com offers more than 5,000 pages of free cost-cutting tips, step-by-step checklists, real-life case studies, startup advice, and business templates to small business owners and entrepreneurs.
23. Vfinance.com is a great site for business owners searching for sources of venture capital. It provides a directory of venture capital firms and angel investor networks as well as sample business plan templates.
24. WelcomeBusinessUSA.com has an alliance with SCORE and is created exclusively for small businesses that are in their initial stages of development. A great resource if you’re thinking about starting a business.
25. Youngentrepreneur.com is one of the largest online forum communities for entrepreneurs worldwide. Learn and network with business professionals including venture capitalists, private investors, industry experts, inventors, and successful entrepreneurs.

Category : Blog

WordPress is a fantastic and powerful way to have a really modern, super functional, highly visible website. Unfortunately like most technology, its usually half-baked when it comes out of the oven.

One of the things that makes WordPress so darn powerful and cool is that it is “open source”, meaning that programmers from around the world tinker with it and create nifty applications called Plugins and Widgets. The same open source that makes it so neat is also it’s Achilles Heal however because the Plugins and Widgets are often created by freelancers and hobbyists who release their work for all the www to enjoy and implement.

The problem is that even if you find a WordPress Plugin or Widget that works well, it most likely won’t work for long. That is because the operating versions of WordPress itself, (the actual PHP script that is the backbone of the WordPress site and resides on your server), changes so frequently that open source developers simply don’t keep up with all the changes.

Case in point, several months ago I had searched for and found a nifty little Plugin named “Support Tickets”. This wonderful little Plugin replaced my contact form and integrated a powerful, yet easy to use Support Ticket system in my back-end “Dashboard”. The feature was so cool and revolutionized the way I could personally handle support inquiries and new contacts. I made sure to let all my existing clients know to use this form for quickest service instead of calling me, texting me or emailing me at any one of half a dozen email addresses. This wonderful Plugin made my life easier and helped my clients by ensuring they had a efficient and thorough way to ask for support.

Along comes a new WordPress Version, (upgrading from version 2.9.2 to 3.0.1)… The new version is installed flawlessly, but now my Plugin Support Tickets does not work correctly. Oh brother!!! So I visit the Plugin support pages, the forum at WordPress.org and try various things that might help get the plugin working again… Nope, it simply is incompatible with WordPress version 3.0.1 as are a slew of other older Plugins, (luckily I am not using).

Just today I finally deactivated the Support Tickets Plugin and replaced it with a simple contact form, (one of the few contact form plugins that still work with WP V3.0.1), named “Clean Contact”. If you need to get a hold of me, use the contact form. Its not as slick as the Support Tickets, but it works at least. Also, if YOU have a WordPress site that uses the Plugin “Support Tickets”, don’t upgrade your WordPress to V 3.0.1.

With regards to WordPress websites the lesson learned is this… Adhere to the old rule of thumb “If its not broke don’t fix it”. Just like we all have learned over and over that newer versions of anything are not always better, (thanks to Microsoft Windows, etc)… My advice is that if you have a WordPress site that you click the “Update” buttons on your dashboard with extreme caution. Not all updates are good…

Category : Blog

A recent question from a client prompted me to write-up a quick blog post, perhaps others have wondered the same thing about whether its best to use a company domain name, or a key phrase domain name or both.

In other words, what is the best domain name style to use and should you use more than just one… Or if you’re trying to save money and cut-back on marketing how many domain names should you keep? Which domains are the most important?

• A) www.YOURCOMPANYDOMAINNAME.com
• B) www.YOURPRODUCTORSERVICE.com

With regards to the question about which domain names to keep or not: Ultimately it is up to you, but the primary reason Internet marketers employ key-phrase specific domain names, (the reason they are so valuable and sought after), is because websites that employ domain names with key phrases will always do better on search engines for topical searches. In other words, there might be a handful of people that know your company name, or would ever search for “your company”. By contrast, it is more likely that your potential customers would be searching for products or services you offer using key phrases.

A domain name and website that targets a topic, (key phrase), is powerful. Here’s why this works so effectively:

1. Its more likely that potential customers search for products or services you offer using key phrases, NOT your company name. Its a very common mistake when small businesses assume that everyone knows they exist and knows what they have to offer. The truth is that is that in the grand scheme of things a business would have to be incredibly popular or have a one of a kind product to survive on brand awareness marketing alone.
2. Search engines “learn” what your site is about in part because of the domain name it has. A key phrase rich domain name quickly describes what the website is about and what a website visitor can expect to find when they visit it.

Imagine for a moment that you get the inclination to look up something online… I’ll use the example of Robotic Kitty Fashion’s website http://cybergothicfashion.com … So, lets say for example that you are someone who just went to a cyber gothic dance club for the very first time and you loved it, so now you’re looking online to see if there is anywhere you can purchase cyber club fashions, or cyber club wear, or cyber dance wear, or cyber dresses, or cyber skirts. Do you see my point? Although Robotic Kitty Fashions is known for their cyber goth clubwear, there is a greater chance that a NEW customer would not know that and would be searching based on topic, or subject which is when domain names rich with key phrase pay off. Although the site would easily be seen when searching for it by company, its more likely the majority of traffic will originate from organic relevancy results based on key phrase searches.

The object of having a business website is always for the purpose of advertising. Secondary reasons might be for repeat clients to say informed, or to have the ease and convenience of online ordering, etc. but the most important reason to have a business website is above and beyond everything else, so that YOU will be found online when people are searching for the goods or services you sell!

The important lesson to learn from all of this is that hardly anyone used a telephone book, or “yellow pages” or phone directory any longer. Nearly anyone in the United States, Europe or any other developed Country now turns to the Internet. When they are looking for something, they intuitively jump online, go to their favorite search engine, (like Google, Yahoo or Bing), and they search using textual key phrases.

A simple example:

Someone looking for a used car would most likely search for “used cars + ____ “, (the blank would usually be something like either their city, or zip code). Rarely, (if ever), would they go to or search for a local car dealer’s website specifically. It is equally or even more important that the car dealer’s website be found during a search for “used cars” as their own dealership company name!

In your case, right now, when people search for what you sell, or even your company name what shows up on Google, or Yahoo or Bing? How are people finding you? Is it through your website or through your Facebook or MySpace? To analyze this, you can either start Googling some search phrases and see what WEBSITE DOMAIN appears in the search results. The website domain is typically near the bottom of the search result and looks like: http://websitenamehere.com/_____.html. DO NOT LOOK AT THE TITLE (the very first line of the search result. The Title is important for SEO, but you must understand that the “Title” does nothing to tell you which website that result is from. You would be surprised at how many people think that because they see a Title Link with their information, that its their website. Not the case at all. There could potentially be 100′s or 1,000′s of websites that are displaying info about your business.

The key to having a business website is to know where the traffic to your business website originates from. Optimally it will have originated at a search engine result at Google or Yahoo or Bing.

When deciding which domain names to keep or get rid of, or trying to decide when launching new websites whether to incorporate your business name or your topical key phrases, its usually better to go with the topical key phrase domain names. The exception to this is if you really never intend on, or need new clients that may find you on a search engine and you primarily depend on external marketing or brand awareness to drive your new sales.

Category : Blog

A client recently asked me whether or not it makes a difference that their website appears on search engines without the “www”… In other words this question has to do with the non www versions of domain names or more specifically what is referred to as a canonical domain and how it effects SEO (search engine optimization).

By default I build sites and submit sites without the “www”, because it looks cleaner, is shorter and easier to tell someone or put on a business card, brochure or tee shirt.

On search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing, (all of which I submit sites to), the domain name displays simply yourwebsite.com

If someone types into their Internet browser address bar any canonical combo i.e.; http://www.yourwebsite.com or yourwebsite.com or http://yourwebsite.com or http://www.yourwebsite.com they are all treated the same and take the visitor to your website.

Inside the control panel of Google webmaster tools they do offer the ability to have Google index the www or non www versions as distinct sites. That is for webmasters who may want use the different versions to point to completely different websites. Personally I have never seen anyone do this, nor do I know what purpose it would serve. The primary reason someone may need to use this feature I think, is if over a long period of time their website domain has become dropped or penalized in search engines as a duplicate site because it is showing up as both www. and the non www. versions. This CAN happen, (although I have never seen it happen), when the domain is submitted or links created with both the http://www. and simply http:// versions of the reference link.

I would recommend that you simply use the non www version of your domain name when submitting links to other sites, submitting the site to search engines, typing the domain name into the address bar in Internet browsers etc.

There is an article regarding this matter at Matt Cutts blog. He is an engineer at Google who has clearance to discuss certain inside information with the public. See:http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-advice-url-canonicalization/

Essentially you should not have to concern yourself with trying to distinguish www and non www domain names. I’ve never seen it cause any issues, but the potential concern is that a search engine may drop the site for appearing to be a duplicate. With that said however I will stress that in the past 8 years I have never seen a site dropped or penalized for appearing as both www and non www versions…

Category : Blog

Finally got set back up, so I am able to get online using my web design PC and get some work done and updates taken care of. The number one issue some of my clients have had is the cancellation of free hosting… Again – I recommend that if you happen to have a domain name, (“www.______.com”), that I registered and a site that I hosted on MY servers, it needs to be moved to YOUR account. IF you do not have a domain registrar account and hosting account, I recommend using GoDaddy.com since its easiest and quickest for me to transfer the domain name and site to a GoDaddy account. I have had clients choose “other” companies instead of GoDaddy and the transfer process is sluggish and more intensive.

The other thing I have had inquiries about is refunds. I normally DO NOT offer refunds of any kind, (this is standard in the industry). In the event that I sold services I could not provide, I am considering refunds as long as they are submitted through this website’s support ticket system. Please note that I’ve had clients contact me wanting refunds for sites that are already built and have been online for months. NO REFUNDS will be provided in those cases. If there happen to be outstanding design issues that are pending I will of course do my best to make those changes ASAP. I’ve also had one client that is trying to obtain a refund, via the local police department instead of through this website’s support ticket system. Even more interesting is that he is trying to get a refund in excess of what he paid for a website… In other words, he wants $500 refund for a $299 website. REFUNDS WILL ONLY BE CONSIDERED IF SUBMITTED THROUGH THE SUPPORT SYSTEM AT http://bestseowebdesign.com (and no… I will not refund retail price for a sale item).

Category : Blog

All free web hosting previously provided by Best SEO Web Design, has been discontinued and officially ended on 08/11/2010. If YOU were benefitting from a free hosting account, please be aware that your website no longer appears online. In order for your website to appear online once again, you will need to supply your own web hosting. I always recommend a high quality web host, such as GoDaddy.com or Bluehost.com. Once you establish your web hosting account, please email me the details so I can upload your website to the new host.

Category : Blog

Its been several weeks since I have been able to attend to my websites or my customer’s websites, due to personal matters that have taken priority. To save time here, I’ll skip all the details, suffice to say that for the time being I am unable to take on new projects, and I am having difficulty working on client sites. I have several websites in process, that I have not been able to work on. I am sorry for the inconvenience. Normally I do not offer refunds, but because I cannot provide a definite date for working on sites, I will as a courtesy provide a refund in the event you cannot wait for me.  Refunds will take approximately 30 – 90 days to process. Again I apologize for the inconvenience. If you need to contact me utilize the support ticket feature on this website, which I will monitor. Do not attempt to reach me by phone, or email because those are not being checked. Thank you for your cooperation and God Bless.

Todd Donald

Category : Blog

I have compiled a list of websites where you can brows and download free templates. This is by no means all of the free website templates available online, but they represent those I feel are good examples and some of which I have even used in past projects successfully.

Free website templates for web design.

Included with my standard designs are free website templates. When I build a website, I spend a ton of time in the beginning browsing through website templates to get ideas for new designs or to modify and use for the site I am about to launch. If you can afford a few extra bucks, I also offer premium templates, but beware that most of the really snazzy designs that people are attracted to are Flash, which is SEO suicide. When choosing a template stick to plain old HTML or better still is XHTML or CSS.

Please feel free to browse through these free templates, (no pun intended), to get ideas for your website, or you can choose some of your favorite designs and then contact me to see if I can modify it for your needs and launch your site for you. To see what I can do with these templates, to customize them for your needs, see my web design portfolio.

The free website templates that are provided at these free template sites are not associated with BEST SEO WEB DESIGN, but only provided for reference if you are trying to find a free website template. If you see a template that you like at one of these sites and want me to build that website for you, please contact me.

• Free Templates Online – Rich selection of carefully selected and properly organized free templates.
• Free Web Templates – Web designers are invited to share their free templates and show their talent to the world.
• Free Dreamweaver Templates – Small selection of free DreamWeaver templates provided by AdesDesign.net.
• Steves Free Web Templates – Free web templates as the name of the website suggests created by Steve.
• Andreas Viklund Free Website Templates – Minimalist style, clean, content-oriented web templates and WordPress themes.
• Free Power Point Templates – Free PowerPoint template kits for your personal use in the presentations.
• Interspire Free Website Templates – Dozens of free web site, newsletter and logo templates.
• Zymic Free Templates – Nice selection of free website templates they’ve also got some webmaster goodies for download.
• Open Source Web Design Free Templates – Popular resource of free templates submitted by web designers.
• Free Web Templates – Free web templates available for immediate download. Daily updates.
• Free Layouts – Free web and free Flash templates along with WordPress themes, MySpace layouts.
• Six Shooter Media Free Templates – Custom web design services and a selection of really nice free web templates.
• Solucija Free Templates – Solucija is devoted to web standards. Free XHTML / CSS website templates available to use.
• Open Web Design Free Website Templates – A place for designers to share their designs.
• Master Templates Free Website Templates – Professionally designed free website layouts and Power Point templates.
• Free Website Templates – Free website templates – some of them really nice.
• Free Photoshop Templates – The place to find free Photoshop Website Templates provided by specialized websites.
• Free Web Layouts – Probably the biggest free template site on the net with over 3666 free layouts within their database.
• Free Web Page Templates – Directory where you can see thumbnails of various free templates from different designers.
• Template Yes Free Website Templates – Free HTML templates that are rather simple in layout.
• Art for the Web Free Web Templates – A selection of free templates, which are rather nice.
• Free Blogger Templates – Free blogger templates for blogspot powered blogs.
• Free Css Templates – First-class css templates plus an imposing collection of premium website templates.
• Get Free CSS Templates – SEO friendly cascading style sheet templates. Designs are flexible and universal.
• Free Css XHTML Templates – Nice selection of website templates that are compliant with modern browsers.
• CM Simple Websites Templates – Hidden treasure of a resource for finding free website templates that are rather nice looking and neutral.
• Stylish Template Premium Free Website Templates – Maybe you can’t say that 10 times fast, but this site has some nice templates available for immediate download, so check it out.
• WebGazzette Free Website Templates – Nice selection of XHTML and CSS website templates available free of charge, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
• Templates 4 Net Free Website Templates – The place where you can find free templates and submit your own template.
• Template Navigator Free Templates – The templates offered by the company’s partners are picked and checked out.
• Template Workz Free Website Templates – Free website templates, plus free logo templates and newsletter templates.

The free website templates that are provided at these free template sites are not associated with BEST SEO WEB DESIGN, but only provided for reference if you are trying to find a free website template. If you see a template that you like at one of these sites and want me to build that website for you, please contact me.

Category : Blog

The question of “How Long Does It Take To Show Up On Search Engines?”, is perhaps one of the most frequent questions that I am asked. The process may seem impossibly long, because once a website goes live, or is launched, a ton of planning, time and perhaps money has been invested in your new website. Waiting to see whether or not your website shows up on search engines, can be an excruciatingly long wait, especially since you’re probably spreading the word about your new site and friends or clients may report that “I cannot find your website”, or “I typed in the URL you gave me and nothing showed up”.

The unfortunate truth is that although waiting is the hardest part, it does take time for a new website or rebuilt website to show up on search engines. Sometimes it takes weeks, sometimes months for a website to be “included” on a search engine and certainly at least several more months for the search engine results for your website to stabilize. For example, if you have a painting company in Dallas, you’ll probably want to be seen for search phrases like “dallas painter”, “dallas painting”, “painting contractors dallas”, etc. In order for this to happen, your site must contain relevant information that pertains to those searches first of all, and then when the search engines display your site for those key phrases, and people click through on your site, then the search engines will start to “learn” that your site is relevant for those terms.

Obviously there is a lot more to it than just that, but be assured that is the very basics and the essence of what you want to happen. Once again though, this takes TIME… Maybe a short time, but more likely a long time. Don’t anticipate launching a website and having it show up on search engines in just a couple of days or weeks, its simply not realistic.

If you absolutely need to drive traffic to your site immediately, (that means getting site visitors – not having your website show up on searches right away),  then you can opt for the sponsored pay per click ads offered by Google, Yahoo, Bing and others. The cost is usually $100 +/- to start an account and the “cost per click” is typically between $1.50 and $15.00, but usually averages out to roughly $5.00 per click-through depending on your particular market. Bidding on search terms for something common and competitive like Dallas Painter will be more expensive than something more obscure like Kokomo Candle Maker.

Over the long haul, you want to establish a solid back-link strategy to build up your website’s “link popularity”, which is term that describes how many websites link to yours. Search engines measure these back-links to establish your “popularity”. A website with 1000 other sites linking to it, will show up better on search engines than the site that has only a few. Keep in mind that the quality of the links matter too. You want links from reputable sites that are similar in content to your own.

Category : Blog

Why some websites show up better on Google than others do!

One of the coolest parts about my job, is that when I am asked a question by a client, I am forced to think about what I naturally take for granted and summarize that into words… Therefore I can make posts like this that other people with websites might find interesting.

This question came from one of my newest clients, his website was launched within the past couple of weeks. First, I will post the question from that client and then my answer, allowing you to enjoy the full breadth of the conversation.

I am still not showing up in google searches until the 3rd or 4th page. What can we do about that?

The following was my answer. Keep in mind that it was specific to his website and application, but the subject material can be related to any search topic, or any geography.

As far as showing up on search engines, that is a really deep subject and this may not be the easy answer you seek, but the process typically takes weeks for the site to be included and begin showing up during searches, months for the search engine to determine what the site and all the pages within are relevant for and years for the site to become firmly established on search engines. Nobody, except the search engines themselves have any control over how sites are included or considered relevant. We’re talking about billions and billions of website domains worldwide, with potentially a seemingly infinite number of electronic documents to compare.

Here is the overview of the process that I provided to the client:

1. Website URL is submitted to search engines, (I submitted yours to Google, Yahoo and Bing).
2. Major search engines process the submission.
3. Search engines “include” the URL in their list of websites to crawl, (for example nobody knows how many websites Google has indexed, but it is believed to be in the order of 10′s of billions).
4. Search engines “crawl” or “spider” the website and catalog it’s content based on URL, Page Titles, Meta Descriptions, Textual Page Content between tags.
5. Search engines begin to display the website and pages of the site, during live searches, in the organic results, for what it considers potential relevant matches.
6. Search engines track the human click factor, to determine if the website and pages within are thought to be relevant by people actually searching for information.
7. Search engines track the quality and quantity of inbound links, (other websites that link to your website).

Ultimately a search engine’s number one goal is to return organic search results that are as accurate as possible, as quickly as it can. Your website and it’s pages are displayed in what the search engine determines to be the correct relevance order for any given key phrase inputted by a search engine user, based on the following factors:

• Person inputs a search query (search phrase or search word).
• The search engine quickly compares that search string to all it’s indexed sites, (this will be billions of sites).
• Search engine compares the URL (does the URL of the page match the person’s search query?)
• Search engine compares the Page Title (does any page within the site have a page title that suggests it matches the search query?)
• Search engine compares the Meta Descriptions (do any pages in the site have a description that matches the search query?)
• Search engine compares the Body Text (does the page contain the search string?)
• If the page is a match, the search engine compares the density combination of URL, Title, Description, Body Text against all other potential matches (millions or 100′s of 1000′s of sites).
• If the page is a match, the search engine compares the quantity and quality of inbound links against all other potential matches (10′s of 1000′s of sites).
• If the page is a match, the search engine compares how many real people have clicked through to the potentially matching sites, based on that search string? (1000′s of sites).

If several pages and / or websites have possible relevant matches, the search engine will also consider factors such as:

• How long has the website been indexed at the search engine? (older sites show up better).
• How long is the domain name registered for? (people that register domains for years at a time, are more likely to be serious and are in it for the long haul).
• Where is the website hosted? (this is especially important for geographic related searches).
• What is the average bounce rate of the site? (pages that nobody wants to look at for very long do worse, pages that people stay to look at perform better).

With that said (and I know that is a whole bunch of information to absorb), the fact that your site is ALREADY showing up on Page 2 at Google for as broad a search (and as valuable), as Fort Myers DJ is amazing. To put that into perspective, that means that Google considers YOUR website to be HIGHLY relevant for that term. So much so that it displays it in the Top 20 results of over 300,000 relevant matches. Imagine all the other web pages you might be competing against that have the words “Fort”, “Myers” and “DJ”.

As time goes by, you will be more an more impressed. Actually, based on my experience I’ll bet even right now I could find your website for a myriad of other RELEVANT key phrases. That is of course the main point… If you are searching for something, is YOUR page relevant for that term? Is it HIGHLY RELEVANT? Keep in mind that search engines ONLY KNOW TEXT. They can only understand words exactly as they are spelled, spaced, abbreviated, punctuated, etc. by the searcher at the end of a keyboard.

What I would suggest, is that if you open up a Google Site Analytics account, I can install the tracking code and you can then begin to see what Google thinks your site is relevant for and analyze your traffic.

If you find that your site is showing up for things it should not show up for, or not showing up when you think its should, there could be a very, very, good reason and we can then look at changing or adding to the site so that it does reflect what you want people to find it for.

Category : Blog

Everyday I learn something new, or perhaps more light is shed on something I already knew, but never really saw the importance of as clearly. Yesterday’s meeting with a website client and their product distributor proved to be just such an epiphany.

My website client owns an HVAC company and his distributor handles air conditioners and furnaces, but the logic in this can be applied to ANY business quite effectively.

The territory manager for the distributor, has an extensive background and has become and expert salesman. With relation to the heating and air, he had actually started his own HVAC company that he grew from one guy and a van, to a huge multi-million per year company that was purchased by a major utility company in the Chicago area. He also ran that division for several years for that company.

He mentioned that when he first started his company, he spent $0 (zero dollars), on marketing or advertising and yet during the first three years his company grew exponentially. That was back in the hey-day of the “Yellow Pages”, so the Internet was not around and things were slightly different in that people were not so quick to find things they needed at that moment, like today. Unlike today’s business person he was not able to advertise his business in an affordable manner like we can today via the web, however the cost of phone book advertising was so staggering he knew he would have to market his company some other way. This is truly where his marketing lesson begins… Born of necessity and PROVEN to be effective if diligently employed as he did.

1. When you start a business, your identity must become that business. YOU are your business. Your business is you. There is no longer a separation between your job and your personal life, or your company and your career. It is virtually impossible to look at things as if you were an employee, or even a manager or executive of the company any longer… No – You must eat, breathe and sleep your industry. When people think of you, they must think of what you do.
2. Meeting new people and letting them know what you do, (i.e.; who you are / your business / your identity), is no longer an option. Being shy will not work. If you have a shell, you MUST break out of it. The reason for this, is that beyond any other form of advertising or marketing, relational business is the absolute best kind, most effective and best of all FREE. We’ve all heard someone refer someone they know or trust “… I know a guy who…”, but this takes that mentality a step further. The person you meet RIGHT NOW, (at the car wash, at the grocery store, at a picnic, at a party, at a ball game, at a wedding, etc), MIGHT be YOUR NEXT CUSTOMER!
3. Lastly, a business card and pen on hand at all times is imperative. The reason is simple and your business card needs to be too and here is why: In order to gain immediate trust, you have to make this person you just met feel immediately important and special. A very simple business card with your logo, your name, a bullet point or two about what you do, your website and an OFFICE number only is what you want.  WHY you ask? Simple: Because you’re going to physically write your CELL number on that card along with a quick 10% off or other freebie that makes that person feel like they are the only one in the world that you’d do that for. Your personal cell number? Wow – I’m special! It must be written in front of the potential client however. If the cell number, (or even email address), is already on the card when you hand it to them , it means nothing.

There was a whole lot more we learned from this seasoned expert that perhaps I will share very soon, so make sure that you are subscribed to my site update feed CLICK HERE and keep up to speed with site updates and valuable posts like this one.

Category : Blog

Having your website appear in the Top 10 organic results at major search engines like Google, is NOT just simply a matter of having a well designed, search engine optimized website! In order for YOUR website to show up as relevant for your most desired and valuable key phrases, you need to have PAGE RANK.

If you don’t want to read this whole article, that’s okay… I am making my personal recommendation to implement a solid back link strategy to help your website show up better on search engines… Its called LINKS MANAGER and its an ethical back link service that meets all the search engine’s guidelines so you won’t get banned for using it.

Page Rank, is what Google calls the rating they provide to any given website for its perceived popularity. That popularity comes in the form of BACK LINKS.

What this means is that when another website links to your website, that’s considered a vote of popularity. That website is essentially “recommending” your website to it’s visitors, thereby proclaiming to the world that your site is an authority or another resource for the visitor to find relevant information on topic with the website that they are currently visiting.

If that sounds confusing, it really is not.  Let me clarify and put this in terms you will better relate to:

Imagine that your neighbor is at your house admiring your freshly cut lawn and complimenting you on how lush and green it is. So, the two of you are chatting about the lawn and you get on the topic of conversation about various weed killers, fertilizers, patterns of mowing, etc. Now imagine during that conversation that you mention to your neighbor that you personally recommend a particular brand of lawn fertilizer which you found at your local lawn and garden center.

While that personal recommendation is good for the local lawn and garden center, its not necessarily going to make your neighbor think that you are a horticultural expert. As a matter of fact, even if they visit the lawn and garden store that you recommended, they may not necessarily consider the 18 year old clerk an expert on botanical science.

However, imagine that while at that store you meet the District manager, (who just happened to be visiting that day), and he mentions that the brand of lawn fertilizer that came so highly recommended was actually the result of their corporate decision to carry only the best brand, as a result of enormous studies and sampling by their top decision makers… Now THAT IS A STRONG RECOMMENDATION, from a reputable source.

So, putting this back into perspective from the point of website design and web marketing, (for our purpose lets pretend that our neighbor and the store and the corporation are websites), it plays out something like this:

1. Neighbor’s Personal Home Page > recommends a local store and brand. (small popularity vote – a little credit)
2. Local Store Website > recommends a particular product brand. (better popularity vote – more credit)
3. Product Corporate Website > is the recommended authority on the subject. (most popular – most credit)

For the sake of argument, a search engine may give the neighbor’s website a little bit of credit for knowing something about lawn care, but its insignificant because the neighbor and the product are so far detached and not on topic. The search engine would give the store’s website kudos for recommending the brand because since they carry a lot of lawn and garden stuff, they must know what they are talking about. Lastly, the search engine would give the biggest vote to the brand’s website because the store recommended them and they are obviously an expert on the subject.

So, the lessons here are:

• You NEED back links to make your site seem popular for a given topic.
• The sites that link to yours need to be ON TOPIC and related in some way.
• The sites that link to yours need to be HIGH QUALITY and experts on the topic.
• The sites that YOU link to should be related to the topic of your website.
• LINKS MANAGER can help you create a long term and lasting page rank building program.

To see the links manager solution in action at this website, visit my LINKS PAGE.

Category : Blog

Just a quick update to let my clients and website visitors know that I implemented a help desk style support ticket feature to the website. Now whenever you use the “contact” feature at Bestseowebdesign.com, it generates a support ticket that you can track via a special URL that gets emailed to you. I can manage these support tickets much easier than the way I’ve been doing it via email and telephone.

Category : Blog

Finally added an easy way for my clients to make a purchase! Whew… Its been a long time coming. Checkout the Best SEO Web Design STORE.

Category : Blog

Hi, Just a quick note to some of my clients, (existing and a few that I worked with in the past), as well as a few industry colleagues who’ve been such a tremendous support throughout all my Internet marketing and website building endeavors.

I recently updated my primary site and it now includes testimonies.

It would thrill me if you could take a few moments to submit a comment at: http://bestseowebdesign.com/testimonials/

Additionally, on the home page of http://bestseowebdesign.com there is a spot to fill in your email address to receive updates emailed to you. As a website client I recommend it, because as I update my site with articles about promoting your website, the latest marketing buzz, or even notices about critical things like the recent malware attack on my GoDaddy server that had dozens of website offline for the past week in some cases, I can warn you of that too and update you on how to resolve issues. The emails you get will be RSS feeds from my website whenever it is updated and you can unsubscribe whenever you want. There won’t be gobs of emails, just highlights of what got updated at the site, when its updated. I also do not share or sell your email address.

So once again, please leave a comment at: http://bestseowebdesign.com/testimonials/

And please subscribe to my site at the home page (lower middle) of http://bestseowebdesign.com

Additionally, as a post script, some of you were aware that I was renting an office in Naperville, which had a short lease and I did not renew. Truth be told it was GREAT having an office, unfortunately it was just not fiscally responsible for me to keep it beyond my lease because my wife recently went off work with carpal tunnel, so for the time being, (at least several months), I’ll be working from home again, so please make note of my home office address and my cell phone number below:

Todd Donald
15216 S Dillman St
Plainfield, IL 60544
Cell: 815-582-0562
http://bestseowebdesign.com
http://djwebsitedesigner.com

Category : Blog

Uploaded the majority of my most recent sites to the portfolio for viewing. I’ve left some out, and of course there are tons of older sites I did not include, but these represent a nice sampling of my more recent work with WordPress, Dreamweaver, GoDaddy and Homestead. Click Here For Portfolio

Category : Blog

All my client’s websites are back up and running as far as I know.  It took a while to get everything straightened out after the malware / hacker issue, but I am finally able to start making some forward progress.

Category : Blog

Just a quick note to let my visitors know I am adding content to my new Best SEO Web Design site, so pardon the way it looks right now. Should be done fairly soon.

Category : Blog

Finally websites are going back up and I have been able to attend to some client updates.

Have to build a DJ website that I had gotten delayed on.

Recovery from the Malware is going well.

If you are a client that still has a site that is not working, please read earlier posts.

Category : Blog

Just a quick update, to let my clients and website visitors know that progress is being made.

Full scans have been done on my local versions of websites and they are clean.

Several clients have their new hosting accounts setup and site uploads in progress.

Category : Blog

If your website is not working, please see the previous post about my hosting server being hacked and the malware that was infecting the sites that resided on my server.

If you have support questions, please be patient.

You are welcome to post a comment here, or send me an email or go to my Facebook.

In the meanwhile, I’ll try to address the most common problems you might be encountering with your website:

• When someone visits my site they are directed to Best SEO Web Design: This is because your domain registration and hosting were being provided as a courtesy. If your domain now points to Best SEO Web Design, it means that your URL “www” is in my domain registrar and hosted on my hosting server, which recently was hacked (see previous post). To rectify the issue, I recommend that you acquire your own domain registrar and hosting account, (I recommend GoDaddy), then email me the login so that I can transfer your domain name and upload your website to your server.
• When someone visits my website there is an Apache error or 403 forbidden error, or another error that results in no website at all: This is most likely because your website was hosted on my server, but you have the domain registered at your own domain registrar account. In order to rectify the situation, you will need to acquire a hosting plan and email me the login so that I can upload the site to your server and redirect the DNS.
• You are supposed to be building a website for me, but I have not received a status update in a while, so I am getting concerned. No worries my valued client. Rest assured that I’ve not forgotten about you and you will soon have your new website up and running. Unfortunately in recent days my hosting server was hacked and its causing me a bunch of extra work I had not anticipated on. Iam trying to first serve my clients who already had functioning sites that were effected, so I’m sure you will understand and I appreciate your patience. I will send an emailed status update when I have some progress to report.

Thanks Again! Please feel free to comment below, I will be checking these periodically.

Category : Blog

A note to my valued clients and website visitors: Recently, the Best SEO Web Design hosting server was hacked and a malicious malware script infected literally dozens of my websites, as well as several of my client’s sites that I was hosting on that server.

The malware was discovered when a client contacted me through my Facebook account, to let me know that their AVG software was flagging the site as malicious. Within 24 hours, the infection spread to all the websites on my server and upon trying to visit any of these sites, the web surfer was greeted with a page that looks similar to the thumbnail above, warning them that the site had malware and could potentially harm their computer.

There are many new anti-virus and anti-spyware, malware software programs that are reporting clean sites as malicious due to what is called a “false positive”, which means that like most software it screwed up. In this case, my first course of action was to make sure that sites on my server were not being inaccurately flagged by a false positive, but unfortunately in this case, the warning was justified and the malware was real.

I attempted to remove the malicious script manually without resolve and investigated employing several server side anti-malware routines that may have been able to salvage the sites by destroying the malware, unfortunately the malware was irreversible and the only sure fix was to delete all infected files, which within just 2 days nearly 90% of all the files on the server were infected and had to be deleted.

What happens next? I am tirelessly attempting to resolve the issue. This may take several days because of the scale of the situation. I have local copies of all the websites, however they have to be scanned for malware as well. Once confirmed that they are clean, I can recreate the directory and upload the site again. I will have to monitor the fresh upload to ensure that it remains free of malware. This process is multiplied by the 3 years worth of websites that resided on the server. Needless to say, this is a monumental task.

For those clients who were benefiting from free domain registration and / or free website hosting, I will no longer be able to provide these free services.

If you are a client of mine, who now has a website that is not functional, it is because the website has been deleted from my server. In this case, YOU will need to provide your own hosting and domain registrar services. I recommend GoDaddy.com for these services. I will explain the procedure below:

1. If you do not already have a domain registrar or hosting service, go to http://godaddy.com and create a new account and purchase a hosting plan. For a single site, choose the Economy Linux plan. For multiple websites choose the Deluxe Linux plan.
2. Email me your registrar and hosting account information including the customer number, username, password.
3. I will transfer the domain to your account and / or upload your website to your hosting server.

Again, thank you for your patience in this matter.

Todd Donald

*** Please keep in mind that during this time, I am unable to respond as quickly to emails and telephone calls. I will be leaving my Facebook open to try and respond to general questions in real time.

Category : Blog