Archive for December, 2008

The illustration below is a custom flyer for an insurance company in Florida with a custom map of Kissimmee, space for an address label and stamp, yet appropriate for a handout as well as mailing.

The background image of the company building is actually a collage with significant photo edits for a more attractive presentation. Not seen are utility poles and wires, background signs from nearby businesses, the original sky (replaced), and the card back which is identical except in Spanish.

View additional examples of custom post card and flyer artwork for print in the custom post card gallery, and then email or write about affordable custom flyer artwork and printing options for your small business.

The next podcast episode being released later this week will include a Podcast Anniversary Feedback Contest, and prizes with $750 in value. To celebrate the one year anniversary of the Small Business Website Mailbag podcast, listeners are encouraged to provide feedback on their favorite web design audio advice program. Contestants identify 1 of the first 52 episodes in an email with an explanation in 25 words or less why a particular show was their favorite.

The winner will be selected based solely on my judgment and announced on January 3rd, 2009. The first prize $500 design credit may be used in 2009 towards any and all web design related services that I provide including custom web design, blog design, seo services, video production, or even custom graphics.

You do not have to be a current or past client to enter. In addition to the first prize, a runner up will receive a free custom business card and a post card flyer design worth $250. The deadline is December 31, 2008 and winners will be announced on this blog on January 3rd, plus be mentioned in the podcast episode for that week.

From experience in web design and seo, the phrase Welcome to our website in web design would be my last choice for a page title. Search engines like key words in titles and “Welcome to our website” doesn’t really define what to expect when following a link to that page. Let’s have some fun.

The latest podcast episode of the Small Business Website Mailbag launched earlier entitled Website Title and Description with audio advice about web design and seo including tags for title, META description, and META keywords.

To explain effective title tags that help define a site theme and enhance search engine optimization, the podcast episode points out the phrase “Welcome to our website” as a poor choice for a page title.

For an effective page title tag in web design your choice needs to include key words about what you do because people searching online are more likely to search by product or service rather than brand name.

While it is VERY unlikely anyone would search for “Welcome to our website” looking for a product or service, I decided to test that phrase in Google enclosed in quote marks. Someone has to be #1 on page one, right? As of today’s date, the winner is the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Congratulations!

In my opinion as a specialist in custom web design, people struggle to acheive a #1 Google page one listing, so if asked I would advise the staff at the university to keep their “Welcome to our website” page title. They deserve an award!

A second custom integrated blog design launched this week for author Ben Furman of Black Hawk Press. Mr. Furman is an independent publisher and writer, and former FBI Counterterrorism Chief who writes two genres of fiction. The audience for his mature content blog on counterterrorism is adults, and the latest blog features information about his fantasy adventure series for young adults.

Each custom integrated blog matches the pre-existing web design and each sidebar features a custom logo graphic as shown above to illustrate the theme of each blog. The original blog included posts on both themes, and the new blog separates content based on the target audience. Included in the custom integrated blogger template design is an audio player so visitors may listen to book excerpts, also.

The main site has more information on all books including reviews and links to purchase online.