Site Redesign of CodeRepair.com

Another of my neglected personal websites is overdue for a makeover. The advice site coderepair.com was originally launched in 2001 to help website owners repair code or fix display problems on web pages. The lack of attention adding fresh content in the last 2 years has allowed this site to become very stale.

All that is about to change. I'm on the low end of the learning curve for using a content management system program, and the plan is a new training site for novice website or graphic art designers. The project is already underway and will be the testing ground for adding more complex design options for my clients in the future.

Other options in the testing stages include audio features. Stay tuned.



TAGS: custom design website design website redesign

Unique Sales Proposition Basics

My latest marketing article published on my main website and entitled Small Business Unique Sales Proposition gives pointers to help small business owners evaluate their strengths, and then formulate a marketing strategy based on the exercise.

The key is making a list, getting customer feedback, and then fine tuning the results into a marketing message. Here's an excerpt of the summary from the article:

...evaluate your strengths and then get customer feedback to fine tune the list of benefits doing business with your company. Formulate the list content into a narrative Unique Sales Proposition with several paragraphs, and make the first paragraph read like a news report. Condense the USP into a 15 second version elevator pitch, and finally craft a company motto or slogan to enhance your corporate identity.

When done you will have a refreshing look at your small business strengths including a Unique Sales Proposition of several paragraphs, a 15 second sales pitch for chance meetings, and a single line motto or slogan. This small exercise takes very little time, and may be a real eye opener to ways for promoting your small business.



TAGS: advice small business advice advice articles usp unique sales proposition

Oldest Website Online Gets Facelift

Small business website reviews should be an annual event. Your personal sites may need a review and makeover, also.

My longest running custom designed website, and one of my first projects, has been neglected for years because of the personal theme. The Degerstrom International Family Page documents all known persons who share the Degerstrom surname, and includes people from Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the USA. The site was first launched in 1996 on Compuserve and then moved to free hosting on Earthlink, and then finally to the current dot ORG www domain in 2001.

The last design was an upgrade using tables for layout with older HTML code, and the newest version is in XHMTL with CSS and zero code errors per W3C's validation. The slimmer code of XHTML has taken one page from over 300 lines of code to just 126 to create the same content with larger text and an improved look. Less code means pages load faster, and using XHTML to design the website means it will unlikely need a makeover for another 10 years.

Six separate family branches are documented on the site with no connecting root ancestor. The genealogy and personal history of the Degerstrom family has been sitting stagnant for about 3 years and was long overdue for an upgrade. In addition a custom matching forum was added on June 16, and family members are slowly beginning to sign up.

My advice for small business commercial websites is doing a review every year to make sure your content reflects your current business. Personal sites deserve no less, and upgrading the Degerstrom International Family Page reflects my ongoing commitment to learn the latest coding standards and apply them to all projects including the personal ones.



TAGS: advice small business advice website redesign website design custom website design

Two Custom Matching Blogs Launched

Additional small business blogs integrated with matching graphics to the client's main website were launched recently and available to view. JB Owens, Public Insurance Adjusters, provide commercial and residential clients support analyzing property loss due to disaster to maximize insurance benefits. Roll Screen Solutions LLC specializes in retractable screens and awnings for your Florida home or business with custom design motorized or manual products.

Each client blog matches the main site with familiar graphics for a consistent marketing message and corporate identity.



Visit the James B. Owens blog here and the Roll Screen Solutions blog here.

Custom blogs with graphics to match your website provide an easy way to quickly add fresh content to your small business website. Pricing starts at $200 and includes 8 features for your custom template with every order. Visit the custom new blogger template page for more examples of client websites with integrated matching blogs.



TAGS: blogger blogger templates small business services custom website design custom graphic design

Forum and Message Board Software Review

Considerable time and effort was spent evaluating freeware for creating an integrated forum and message board for a custom website design project. My choice for ease of use and feature support is Simple Machines LLC free forum software.

The setup was simple one-click installation after creating a single blank MySQL database on the server. Most hosting plans will likely include the minimum basics for proper functionality. The SMF Community Forum is extremely helpful with over 1 million posts and nearly 100,000 members as of June 2007.

For the project currently in work a secure members only environment was a requirement that is easily met with the SMF freeware. The administrator's functions allow access by admin approval only, so this closed community can avoid problems with public access. In addition, category and subcategory setup of boards from the admin panel was easily done.

While the custom project is still in development and confidential, I created a new public forum for one of my oldest personal sites. The Degerstrom International Family Page began in 1996 as an introduction to the genealogy and history of persons with the Degerstrom surname, and includes six known branches in the US and Scandinavia. This (neglected) project was due for a makeover, so the home page has been redesigned in XHTML and the balance of pages will follow.

The forum is in place with very few posts or members, however visitors may view the basic layout and color scheme now. Visit the Degerstrom International Family Forum here. While the SMF software has limited color schemes, their forum community has many add-on features developed by members. My choice was recreating graphics to match the family site, so it has been customized for a familiar look.

Finally, I almost installed another open source freeware brand before finding SMF, and in retrospect the other option seemed behind the times though functional. I recommend SMF for anyone considering adding a forum or message board to their website.



TAGS: advice freeware reviews forum software reviews website design

Xara Xtreme v3.2 Software Review

Small business owners interested in do-it-yourself graphic design would do well to consider a free trial download of Xara Xtreme v3.2. My choice for vector graphics software has evolved from Xara X to Xara X1 to Xara Xtreme, and the recent release of Xara Xtreme v3.2 is loaded with fantastic enhancements with many new features added based on user feedback.

The first time I downloaded a 30 day trial of Xara software, I made my purchase within 48 hours!

Unlike some larger or otherwise arrogant software companies, the team at Xara Group Ltd encourages and acts on feedback from designers. The latest upgrade to Xara Xtreme proves their commitment to enhancing the end user's experience. Much of my day is spent designing custom graphic artwork and then hand coding websites in XTHML code in a word processor. You do NOT need more expensive software to create professional results.

Xara Xtreme, starting at $79USD, is what I use for all the professional design examples displayed throughout my main site. The limousine business card design and photo tutorial was done entirely in Xara Xtreme and shows the steps used to create a stunning effect.

The ability to integrate my photo editor to launch, edit, and save changes to photos from within my Xara drawings is one of the great new options, and a real time saver. If you're like me and detest flash animations on websites because of the large file size, you should be impressed with the new flash option added by Xara.

I created a 720px by 140px banner with a beach background and a huge jet flying into the frame from the left, across the banner, and then disappearing to the right. I was completely shocked that the animation was just over 200kb when I expected the file to be 10x that size.

Pros: price, performance, ease of use, professional results, and excellent tutorials
Cons: none (the great help files and demo movies shorten the learning curve for new users)

View the full list of features for Xara Xtreme v3.2 here to help you decide. Unlike some download trial software, and because of many years using Xara products, I purchased the upgrade first before downloading and installing it. After just 2 days using the new features, I have no regrets.



TAGS: advice review software review xara xtreme

Small Business and Open Ended Questions

This excerpt from a published article that I wrote offers advice for doing followup on proposals.

Many solo small business owners cannot state why they get business or why they lose business. We make assumptions, or just don't ask. Until you make it a priority to get both these questions answered, you'll never understand your strengths and weaknesses. Consider the dynamics of conscious marketing and sales efforts.

After the marketing is done and you find prospects the sales cycle is preapproach, approach, presentation, trial close, answer objections, and final close. Ask a trusted friend to tell you bluntly if you are weak in any of those areas. If you lack knowledge of basic sales techniques, it's time to learn. Marketing extends into the preapproach to understand how decisions are made and the price structure. The more you prepare and form a strategy, the more likely you are to succeed.

Finally, show interest by asking about the needs of the client. Open ended questions or statements allow the customer to provide details that you may not get with a "yes" or "no" answer. Apply the open ended principles to be prepared in the marketing and sales cycle, and then deal with and learn from disappointments. If necessary, revise your strategy and redefine your market to deal with people who truly appreciate what you offer.

Read the full article at ezinearticles.com entitled "Solve the Mystery of Lost Business".



TAGS: advice articles small business advice sales technique

Must See Screenreader Video Demo

After viewing and listening to a screenreader demonstration video by Victor Tsaran, I strongly suggest that readers visit www.last-child.com to observe first hand how blind or vision impaired persons experience the internet. Here is my blog comment left for Victor concerning his video:

Victor,

Your accessibility video was especially interesting and informative. As a website developer I downloaded and tested a screenreader in May 2007 in an ongoing effort to educate my small business clients and others to accessibility issues. Not being vision impaired, using a screenreader was daunting so doing the test run gave me a greater appreciation for the need to educate people about this subject. I've written accessiblility posts with advice and another with a freeware review on my blog at the following links:

Advice for testing websites for accessibility and Review of Thunder freeware screenreader.

Thank you for this great introduction to accessibility and screenreaders.

Jim

P.S. A new post and backlink to your video will be online later this evening.

Once my readers experience this must see screenreader video demo, I believe you will be very impressed with Victor Tsaran and how efficiently he navigates the internet. Very complex websites are easier to explore if the designer uses techniques that accommodate handicapped persons, vision impaired and others.



TAGS: video review screenreader screen reader accessibility website design

My Top 50 Article Syndicate List

This list of what I recommend as My Top 50 Article Syndicate sites is taken from a reply earlier today to members of the Small Business Forums considering writing articles for publication by free article directory websites. I decided to share this list here for the benefit of my readers.

I began a quest just over a year ago to promote my commercial site. Writing articles was one of 4 methods that I worked to develop and improve seo and backlinks. The results of the overall plan were an amazing surprise.

Search Google for "small business article directory" and out of 44 million results my site is #4 on page one after the sponsor listings as of the date of this post. It's easier to spot if you look for the "Small Business Resource Center" title in the listing which is what I use for my site, even though as you'll see the domain is my actual name.

EzineArticles has the top spot. If you follow the link for my listing you will find 15-20 articles and 1 author (me)... LOL. Compare that to sites that are free article directories with 30,000 articles and 5,000 authors and then it's time for the question "why?". Steve at the Small Business Forums had the answer when he commented that the value of being in an article directory has changed significantly in the last year.

In deciding to write articles I actually visited over 500 sites and based on what I felt was important like first impression, ease of use, and approval cycle, the list dwindled to around 150 top sites. Of those, I have the final list of top 50 article syndicates based on their performance over the last 12 months.

I spent 100's of hours of research, and at first thought about selling an ebook and have kept the list and results under wraps. Instead I began a series of 6 reports in PDF and offer them for free download from my site (no obligation... no email registration or first-born requirement); I'm giving it away because it's my nature, plus I'm very busy with actual design work.

The next free PDF report to be released (#3 in the series) is about article writing. The value of submitting articles to directories is different compared to a year ago, but it is still worth your time IF you provide quality.

Broadcast services that promise to place your articles in 1 million directories are a complete waste. The best directories still have editors who read and approve articles. If you do not control how each is submitted, the chances of approval diminish rapidly.

The issue of duplicate content is still hotly debated; however, you will not be penalized if your article (with your resource box) shows up as duplicates and you're the author on each one. Instead, what has changed in the last year is the SE's will only show your article in the SERPs from the top authority sites, ie EzineArticles.com.

It's no secret that the major SE's hide results. Each article you have published will be indexed wherever it is found, yet the majority will be "hidden" deep in the results. I stopped submitting to my top 150, and only submit articles to my list of top 50 now.

People are more likely to find you on the top authority article directories, and the value (for me) is traffic and new business based on establishing a reputation as a writer freely giving quality advice. Give first and success will follow. Backlinks are fine, but the real value is reaching people who are presold based on what you wrote before they actually visit your website.

Finally, I have purchased and reviewed software for automating the process of submitting articles, and the next PDF report is on hold pending my final results about software before I make a recommendation. Each has flaws despite claims of being fully automatic. I am convinced that semi-automated can work because of autofill features, but manual submission is still critical to get approved by the editors.

My top 50 (actually 52) is included below.

http://www.acmearticles.com/
http://www.allaroundsuccess.com/
http://www.amazines.com
http://www.articlealley.com
http://www.article-content-king.com/
http://www.articlecrazy.com/
http://www.articlecube.com
http://www.articledash.com/
http://www.articledashboard.com
http://www.articlegarden.com
http://www.articlekarma.com
http://www.articlelocker.com
http://www.articlemaniac.com/
http://www.articlemotron.com/
http://www.article-planet.com
http://www.articlerich.com
http://www.articlesbeyondbetter.com/
http://www.articlescorner.com
http://www.articles-galore.com
http://www.articleshelf.com
http://www.articleson.com/
http://www.articlesphere.com
http://www.articles-submit.com
http://www.articlestreet.com
http://www.articlesupplier.com
http://www.articleteller.com
http://www.articlevista.com/
http://www.bluearticles.com/
http://www.buildyourownbusiness.biz
http://www.dwarticles.com
http://www.dxarticle.com
http://www.eArticlesOnline.com/
http://www.ezinearticles.com
http://www.ezine-articles-planet.com
http://www.findmorearticles.com
http://www.free-articles-zone.com/
http://www.goarticles.com/
http://www.goodinfohome.com
http://www.indemandcontent.com/
http://www.iwantcontent.com/
http://www.myarticlepub.com
http://www.mycontentbuilder.com
http://www.mywebauthor.com
http://www.neoarticle.com/
http://www.newarticlesonline.com
http://www.positivearticles.com
http://www.postarticles.com/
http://www.publisherscloninghouse.com/
http://www.readyarticles.com/
http://www.submityournewarticle.com
http://www.upublish.info/login.php
http://www.websitecontentarticles.com



TAGS: advice article writing article directory articles search engine optimization small business advice

Royalty Free Music Review

After searching long hours for quality sources for background music I discovered royalty free music from The Music Bakery for an upcoming custom website project that will include audio. Looking ahead, I may launch a weekly podcast within the next 30 days, and online radio is much more interesting if there's a musical theme to your show.

If you are unfamiliar with podcasting and wondering why you would need royalty free music, you may want to visit the How to Podcast Tutorial by Jason Van Orden. He's done an excellent job explaining how in easy to understand language.

The Music Bakery, Dallas Texas, offers a vast selection of music including many with live recordings by studio musicians playing real instruments versus so many other choices that I reviewed with cheaper sounding synthesized tunes. The staff was especially helpful by phone, and the price range for a license is modest in my opinion. Selections include single songs that have the full version averaging over 2-3 minutes, and mixed clips around 60 seconds, 30 seconds, and 15 seconds.

In addition, their website features album collections of mixed genres that offer a variety of moods and style to fit your audio needs. Each song has a low-fi sample of each selection for preview. The products I purchased were shipped by priority mail the same day ordered. The 2 albums arrived in individual cases with detailed labels, and the envelope was well packaged in bubble pack.

Pros: Quality, variety, service, and pricing
Cons: None

I recommend The Music Bakery when you are considering quality sources for royalty free music.



TAGS: advice reviews royalty free music