Advice for New Small Business Websites

For owners looking for advice for a new small business website, the first 10 podcast episodes of the Small Business Website Mailbag may be the perfect starting point. The audio programs were intentionally presented in a logical order for business owners getting online for the first time.

Each show averages just over 10 minutes, so listening to each provides valuable audio advice for saving time and money with your first website. Listen online or download episodes to hear the expert tips at your leisure.

The 10 podcast programs are like a two hour audio course with advice for new small business websites. Besides paid web design services, I'm more than willing to provide free advice to small business owners without obligation, as well. You are welcome to contact me about problems or questions concerning a new or existing site.



TAGS: advice podcast small business advice website design

Add Quality Original Content Often

Would you prefer to be number one with Google, or number one with new customers? Making page one for any search in Google is great for small business website owners. Agonize over getting there and you may be wasting time.

Quality content in website design can make the difference. If your company strategy for success is centered on search engines, you need to consider more proactive methods to attract customers and realize SE traffic is just one segment of marketing your small business.

The time spent agonizing over your position in PageRank or Search Engine Results Pages (PR or SERPs) could be better spent on conversion. A ton of traffic is useless if people arrive and don't buy. Track your stats to see landing pages, where they came from, visitor length, and popular pages, and then adjust your content to please the majority based on trends.

You decide. Again, would you prefer to be number one with Google, or number one with new customers?

If I only taught one phrase for search engine optimization it would be "Add Quality Original Content Often". Time spent tweaking and improving your small business site content for a positive shopping experience may be more productive than wasting time trying to figure out page one strategy. Worry about customers first. You may get that new revenue and page one!



TAGS: advice small business advice search engine optimization website design

Website Tabbed Heading Graphics in CSS

A novice small business website owner questioned how heading backgrounds with rounded corners are created and referenced a real estate website using the technique. This was a custom website design using css with graphic design of background images, and explains the technique used.

The sample real estate site was done in HTML plus CSS for layout without tables which provided an excellent example of what can be done creating a tableless web page. Before looking at the code my guess was the page was done with tables, so I was surprised (and impressed) with their layout. Here's a graphic of three sets of links with a top heading and text in pure css that only appears to be created using tables.



The headings were done in CSS and each is a background image which consists of just two graphics which allows text headings. For the ones in question, right clicking on the rounded corner at the left and selecting "view background image" in FireFox (on the real estate site... not this graphic here) allows a visitor to view the corner only. In IE you may not have the view option and might have to save-as to see the square with the upper left corner in white.

Next, right clicking on the far right to view the rest of the background image you would see it is a single thin vertical line with shading to match the horizontal highlight at the top of the rounded corner. The "square" is used once, and then the vertical slice butts up against the "corner" and repeats horizontally as many times as necessary to fill the space.

Attributes in the CSS call out "no-repeat" to place the corner once and "repeat-x" for the vertical line which repeats (x = horizontally) until it reaches the end to fill in the background. The outside border was done using the "border" attribute and specifying the color.

After visiting the site, and for such a well designed page, I was surprised the home page had over 100 code errors. The designer mixed HTML with XHTML creating most of the errors, and if they had validated the code at W3C the errors could have been easily identified and fixed.

In summary, the technique for a heading background and box outline requires advanced design methods in HTML with CSS, plus the graphic skills to create the matching corner and vertical repeating graphic. The person making the inquiry mentioned examples used elsewhere with gradient fills. These use the same code technique except a different custom matching set of graphics.



TAGS: advice css graphic design custom website design

Preview of Podcast on Cybersquatting

After meeting with an Orlando area recording artist last weekend, I offered to assist them in recovering a domain with their personal name being held by a cybersquatter. More details will be provided in an upcoming cybersquatting case study podcast episode.

Cybersquatting is the practice of registering a domain name strictly for gain without any rights or legitimate interests in that domain. For individuals using their personal name as the trademark for a small business venture, you have options for recovering your domain.

Recovering a cybersquatted site may be successful through arbitration which is usually less costly and faster than pursuing legal recourse. Your name is intellectual property and if used as a trademark in the course of doing business, the chances of success are improved.

Acquiring your domain from a cybersquatter when their intent is to resell at an excessive price, use the domain in bad faith, or unrelated commercial use will be presented in my upcoming podcast episode. Visit and bookmark the Small Business Website Mailbag podcast, and then return next week to hear the program and detailed advice.

Update: Listen now to the podcast episode on cybersquatting advice released 26 April 2008.



TAGS: advice cybersquatting domains podcast small business advice

Two New Card Designs with Custom Logos

The custom business card gallery on my main site features more than 50 designs done for clients, yet it has not been updated in at least a year. Here are two recent card designs with custom logos for a real estate company and an insurance company. Graphics are shown larger than actual size in low resolution.

Real estate card of Green Investment Group, LLC



Insurance card design for Einstein Insurance and Investment Group



Each features custom logos from sketches provided by the client, and then rendered in a unique way or color scheme in vector graphic art for print to match their corporate image. Clients needing a business card, custom ad, or print advertising yet don't have logo artwork can email me a scanned image. As part of my small business services I can reproduce just about any logo in vector art for print or online.



TAGS: business card card design custom logo graphic artwork small business services

New Podcast Episode on Social Bookmarks

The latest episode of the Small Business Website Mailbag podcast features an updated tutorial for adding blog social bookmarks and matching graphics to blog posts done in Blogger whether hosted by them or hosted on your server. Each version includes a separate tutorial with bonus graphics, step by step instructions, and the actual code to add to your Blogger template.

This updated tutorial replaces one done a year ago that covered revised templates for the old Blogger and new Blogger (beta), and provides advice for alternate formats for WordPress, TypePad, and others. As usual, you do not have to register or give an email address to get your copy of the free download tutorials. Each zipped folder is 12Kb and includes a text tutorial, actual code for revising your Blogger template, and a set of free graphics of my top 12 social bookmarking services.

Readers are invited to listen to the Blog Social Bookmarks Tutorial episode and then download the free Blogger tutorials.



TAGS: advice blog template podcast Blogger small business advice tutorials

McAfee Green Website Testing Service

I was surprised recently while checking my site visitor statistics to find a link to a green rating from McAfee. Following one visitor's search in Yahoo returned results including a link to a report about this website at the McAfee online SiteAdvisor green website testing service, so I couldn't resist checking it out.

One report displayed a green rating for JimDegerstom.com zipped downloads plus an overall green rating including links they follow from my site. I'm certain the majority of commercial sites tested by McAfee show positive results, yet it's nice to know they report truly deceptive websites that attempt to appear legitimate.

The green rating for this site was no surprise, yet still important. I offer many free to download resources for small business owners including seo reports, how-to PDFs, free design templates, mp3 podcasts, and more. Each information product for download on my site is original content that I write, design, produce, and distribute.

Unlike some websites, visitors to this site may download without registering or revealing their email address. Offering advice without any strings attached is especially rewarding when those visitors take the time to email me a thank you note explaining how my free resources helped their small business.

You may want to learn more about SiteAdvisor. McAfee has a search function for checking domains for suspicious activity, and most notably phishing, malware, or spyware risks in downloads. In addition, their purpose is to rate websites for safety, so readers may be interested in the McAfee green website testing service and how they uncover spyware, spam, viruses and online scams.



TAGS: advice small business services reviews website advice online scams

CD Cover Artwork for Newly Released Album

I just completed custom graphic artwork of a CD cover, CD insert, and CD label for a newly released album, Back to the Basics, from Shizz Entertainment and featuring 21 songs of indie artists in the Philadelphia area. This comes less than a week after designing a one page website for them and creating posters, flyers, and other printed marketing materials.

Shizz Entertainment, a small business and Philadelphia independent artist recording studio, also does production and promotion for solo artists or groups, and specializes in gospel, r and b, jazz, and poetry whether vocal, instrumental, or both.

Below is the music album cover design and other artwork shown approximate actual size in low resolution.



Next is the cd album insert showing tracks of these independent musical artists and groups in order of their appearance: Shizz, Young Don the Don, Young Leek, Nuckles, Scrooge, Geezz, Lord Dom, Millz Banks, Black Card, Kanard, Mac Money, 12 Gage, Crazy Ink, and O.C.S.



Finally, here's the look of the finished CD label simulated as printed and placed on a production CD. The look matches the album cover and includes all 21 track titles and the names of each artist or group for every song.



The artwork was custom designed for this promotional music CD, and free downloads of all tracks are scheduled for released on the Shizz Entertainment website later this month.

Readers interested in affordable custom web design or matching graphic artwork for print are welcome to email me from any page for a no obligation review and proposal.



TAGS: cd artwork cd cover design graphic artwork promotion small business

Royalty Free Photo Directory Update

Small business owners on limited budgets often have difficulty acquiring quality photos for in print or online. The small business royalty free stock photo directory lists websites that provide photographs without recurring royalty fees, and was updated today to add another 5 star directory. Here's the new listing as it appears in the stock photo directory:

Wikimedia.org contains a contributed database of over 2.5 million high resolution media files including photographs, graphics, and multimedia.

The number of 5 star sites is now four. The Wikimedia site contains many photos unrelated to business, yet from over 2 million selections I'm certain small business owners will find this a valuable resource.

In addition, the link action on the directory was revised so photo gallery websites will open in the same window, not a new blank window. Links that launch a new window make accessibility more difficult for diasabled persons, so the design change enhances usability for visitors who prefer the back button function.

Over 3 million photographs and graphics are now searchable from sites in my directory with the addition of this public domain photo site. The Small Business Resource Center royalty free directory resulted from reviewing over 150 websites and selecting 23 websites that offer photographs without a recurring royalty fee. Choices were subjective based on my review of selection, ease of use including terms, and the directory is primarily for the benefit of my small business clients.



TAGS: advice news small business advice photographs photo directory

Small Business Blog Time Management

Time management as a small business owner is a matter of sorting tactical and strategic activities. The value of a blog is really a strategy with future benefits, not a tactical activity like other day to day tasks that require immediate attention. For me, building a reputation for my niche establishes long term traffic worth more than the value of any one post.

The tactical distractions in a small business that are time wasters need to be recognized. If you come across a link or interesting email that has you following an internet trail to oblivion, stop. We all do it, and it may takes hours away from real work. As soon as you learn to recognize those things that are fun yet don't generate revenue, you may find more time to dedicate to a blog.

For blog post ideas I subscribe to Google Alerts which delivers daily news on related subjects, and sometimes I follow my blog tags to view other opinions. A visit to the tag cloud on the Technorati home page may be a good source for what's hot and interests people for a given moment. Client feedback is another source of topic ideas for small business bloggers. I've even taken content from my emails to new prospects with advice that I wrote and use part of that if the advice makes a suitable blog post.

Blogs provide one of the most cost effective ways to promote your small business, and the seo or search engine optimization value is worth making blog time management a priority.



TAGS: advice blogging search engine optimization small business advice time management

New Website Launch for Recording Studio

Another custom web design was launched earlier today for Shizz Entertainment, an indie artist recording studio in Philadelphia, PA. The simple starter website will expand over the coming months to add more details about their services, including featured artists, music downloads, and perhaps videos.

Shizz Entertainment specializes in recording, production, and promotional services for independent music artists. Genres include gospel, rap, rythym and blues, jazz, and poetry. Solo and group indie performers are welcome to inquire about low cost solutions for getting started.



The above screenshot of part of their website includes the custom logo design that I created for Shizz which is already being used for posters, printed marketing materials, and t-shirts. CD cover designs are in work.

Previously covering Philadelphia metro only, Shizz Entertainment is expanding with services for indie performers in most East Coast cities. New website content will be provided and added as their time permits, yet a free download sample CD with 21 tracks is scheduled for release soon.

The custom web design for Shizz Entertainment meets W3C standards for XHTML 1.1 and CSS2 with zero code errors, and content is optimized for seo, search engine optimization.



TAGS: launch custom logo design custom website design small business services news seo