Archive for the ‘news’ Category

Out of curiosity being in the custom cms web design business I researched www domain name statistics and found out there are over 100 million websites and 1 trillion pages in 2011.

Of all www domain names registered 30 percent are not renewed so they expire, and 37 percent of all active domain names have either a one page website or zero content. Resellers grab domain names to hold in inventory on speculation, so that could explain many of the 37 percent with little or no content. We’re left to wonder about that 30 percent who pay to register a domain and then do nothing with it and let it expire.

That’s just 2 interesting www domain name statistics I encountered during a recent search to get an update on the total number of domains and total number of web pages as of today. The closest I could come was older data with estimates, yet at least that puts the numbers in perspective.

As usual, Wikipedia provides credible domain stats data including reference to a Google announcement, and I quote “On July 25, 2008, Google software engineers Jesse Alpert and Nissan Hajaj announced that Google Search had discovered one trillion unique URLs”. In addition, the Wikipedia article cited “As of May 2009, over 109.5 million websites operated.”

With over 100 million websites and 1 trillion pages as of 2011, I feel confident about long term job security for anyone with the drive, ambition, and talent to offer custom web design services. Don’t worry about the competition because they can’t do it alone.

At 37% out of 100 million www domains that’s 37 million websites with one page or none that need web design help!

An important tool in writing cms web design optimized content for search engine optimization is keyword research. For small site owners the web design and online research tools at Keyword Discovery are by subscription yet they do offer a keyword discovery truly free trial.

Here’s a graphic of part of the search page (slightly smaller than actual size):

If you want a custom web design that can compete online you need to know what site visitors type when they search for someone like you, not phrases that you know about your product or service and imagine people will search. You will probably be surprised at phrases in the search results that you did not consider. Your research will allow you to adjust key words in your web design and attract more traffic.

The free online tool version of Keyword Discovery has less features such as only the top 10 results for a given search phrase and a limit of 50 searches per day, yet that is usually enough unless you’re in the business of offering seo or web design services to clients. Unlike some seo software free trials that have a time limit, there is no expiration date.

Here’s how to get started optimizing your custom cms web design. KeywordDiscovery.com is owned by Trellian, so visit the Keyword Discover signup page and submit your request for a Trellian account and then check your email. Click the activation link in the confirming email then log-in to begin using the tool.

Finally, there’s a great online keyword discovery tutorial (html) or view and download their Quick Start Guide (pdf).

FireFox browser users may share online gems with a tweet on Twitter or post a message on Facebook while surfing the web as you share page content instantly. In addition you can quickly email links to the content via GMail, as well. The following graphic illustrates how the F1 FireFox extension may be used in Twitter, Facebook, and GMail.

The tiny “V on its side” icon (left) takes up very little real estate in your FireFox browser menu toolbar. While on a page of content you want to share select the “V” icon and choose from Facebook, Twitter, or GMail (center). Finally, insert a message and hit the share button (right) to instantly share the link.

The Facebook post will include a snapshot from the page, the Twitter tweet uses bit.ly shortened URLs to save characters, and the GMail option automatically inserts the URL into the message body. Download and then install the F1 social sharing FireFox extension or watch the video and begin using it now.

I’m a big believer in custom cms web design to meet W3C standards with zero or near zero code errors. A site created in xhtml is more likely to display well today and in devices yet to be invented compared to older html web designs. Those same design practices may not provide an equal experience on mobile devices.

If your web design was not originally designed to meet mobile device web design validation then it likely has errors or violates mobile design best practices. If you don’t know, it probably wasn’t. Regardless, this tutorial will show you how to test your web design.

The W3C or Worldwide Web Consortium creates the standards for recommended web design related specs, and they have an online mobile device web design validation tool for testing if your website meets their recommendations.

Note that most websites are designed for personal computer browsers, so this may not mean your website will have display problems on a mobile device. It simply grades your site on a scale of 0-100% for mobile web design best practices.

Specific checks are graded as low, medium, severe, or critical. I tested the home page of this site and it’s rated 86% with no severe or critical issues. That’s better than a competitor website that I checked. Their web design was rated 0%. Drop down arrows allow you to view failure data in great detail, so you can analyze and fix problems to improve your web design.

Here’s the tutorial. Follow the link above to the W3C mobile device web design validation tool and type your domain in the input box, and then select the check button to view results for your site’s web design. Be patient as it may take 30-60 seconds to run the test.

Keep in mind that the W3C recommendations are ideal standards for very small screens, so a low score may not indicate a poor web design. Not all of us in web design would compromise larger physical or file size content that we feel meets the purpose of a web page message just to satisfy mobile user experience.

In fact, file size and rendering recommendations have not been an issue viewing 480 x 360 videos that I’ve created and viewed on tiny iPhone or Android mobile phone screens. The quality of the video and xhtml in the custom cms web design is excellent when reduced by the user to fit the smaller screen.

Regardless of results, check out all failures for opportunity for improvement. The trend to more smaller computing device screens for viewing content online is unlikely to get much smaller. Therefore, it makes sense for those of us in custom cms web design to add mobile device best practices and validation to our long term strategy.

Earlier this year I began offering marketing services on a trial basis with several clients who have multiple custom cms website designs from me. Their intentions were good when they first launched, yet time is the enemy, so they agreed to have me “market” their websites by adding original quality content often.

The marketing services option for a custom cms or content management system may be a cost effective solution for small business owners to do more online promotion by outsourcing the work.

Besides your main website, I recommend adding a blog to allow posting news, reviews, and advice about your niche. Does a blog attract search engines? Definitely. I’ve posted content on my blog and had visitors sent by Google to that new post 90 minutes later. The concept of adding new content often means Google is back on my site several times a day, not several times a year.

Compare what the average business owner spends for Yellow Page ads to poor ROI performance because people are more inclined to search online. Many of my clients now realize that their advertising and marketing budget for print ads is better spent on expanding their website. Several of my customers with large budgets for Yellow Page ads decided to save most of that and spend a portion with me for marketing rather than the phone book.

Interested? Have a blog but never or hardly ever post? Did I design your custom cms web design or blog and yet you just can’t make time to learn the do-it-yourself details? Contact me to discuss your situation and the marketing services options for cms that I offer.

Everyone with an email address has experienced some type of email virus alarm or online post warning you to “forward this message to everyone you know” to protect them from dire consequences. It’s time to remind readers to take a trojan virus reality check and get the facts before forwarding any alarm email or message.

In most cases you can determine if the warning being passed on is real or a hoax in a couple of minutes. Otherwise, you could be wasting resources by perpetuating an online chain letter effect, or hurt your reputation for being like Henny Penny (“…the sky is falling”) if it’s a hoax and not real.

Here’s an example of a recent post on Facebook about the koobface virus.

Virus spreading like wildfire on FaceBook! It is a trojan worm called koobface. It will steal your info, invade your system and shut it down! DO NOT open the link Barack Obama Clinton Scandal! If SmartGirl15 requests you, don’t accept it; it is a virus. If somebody on your list adds her then you get the virus too! Please copy and paste to your wall.

There is a virus version of koobface circulating on Facebook (and MySpace), yet slightly different than described in the post. Here’s a link to details on Urban Legends at snopes.com which is always a great place to check out any alarming messages about virus threats.

After documenting details of the real threat, the last paragraph explains the Obama/Clinton and SmartGirl versions were each a variation and hoax of the real virus. The “do not open” advice given in the post is still excellent any time you encounter something suspicious.

Think twice and take that trojan virus reality check by doing a search on Urban Legends before you forward any email warning alert.

UPDATE 29 Aug 2011 – Need 2012 business card artwork? Follow this link for Free 2012 Business Card Artwork that was just released.

Original Post: It’s that time of year again when I release free custom business card calendar artwork, so the 2011 business card calendar download is now available.

As always, you do not have to register or reveal an email address, so click the card graphic to the right or use this link for your free 2011 business card calendar download (zip folder, 1.3mb size). Artwork is in 300dpi JPG CMYK 4-color ready for print.

Just like last year the zip folder includes 3 versions with your choice of backgrounds in light granite, grey marble, or plain white. The free 2010 business card calendar for this year is still available for download, also.

Each card design is oversized at 3.625″ x 2.125″ for USA standard business card size to allow bleed for 1/16th trim on each side to 3.5 x 2.0 after printing. Like the artwork? Please take a moment to comment about the free 2011 business card artwork or tell a friend and send them a link to this page. Thanks.

We support Kiva, a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose slogan is “loans that change lives” with a mission to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Imagine the idea of random acts of kindness and helping someone realize the dream of a better life for their family by offering funds in the form of microloan support through Kiva. If you are an active customer for my design services then a portion of your fee for custom cms web design or matching artwork may have already helped a Kiva entrepreneur.

The Kiva community allows a person to invest a nominal amount towards microloans to entrepreneurs mostly in poorer countries who would not otherwise qualify for a traditional loan. You get to choose a specific entrepreneur by trade and geography after reading their bio and history.

As of November 2009, Kiva had facilitated over $100 million in loans in their first 4 years since incorporating in 2005. Understand that lending to the working poor through Kiva involves risk of principal loss, yet you can place as little as $25 towards helping prequalified persons attempting to make a better life for their families.

Kiva does not guarantee repayment. Kiva does not offer any financial return on your loan. However, the principal repayment rate is greater than 98% to date, so helping ease poverty and seeing that success rate is very gratifying. Once repaid you may withdraw the funds from your account, loan it again to another needy person, or donate it all to Kiva.

Note: A 15% donation added at checkout to funds the first time you lend is voluntary and may be declined, yet helps defray Kiva operating costs. You have other Kiva donation options on future microfinance loan purchases from 0-20%, also. The donation portion for USA lenders is tax deductible.

Visit their website to learn more about helping people help themselves with microloan support through Kiva. While there, visit my microloan lender page to see profiles of entrepreneurs I helped.

Recent completed web design work includes multiple cms and blog conversions done for the Mountridge LLC family of websites including: AdamsHomeownerServices.com, MainStreamMemorabilia.com, and AdamsFloridaServices.com.

Both Adams sites were converted from static pages to a custom cms content management system which allows the owner to add, edit, or delete content 24/7. The MainStream Memorabilia online store website was updated with a bolder look. All 3 Mountridge LLC websites include custom matching WordPress designs that were converted from Blogger.

Visit each blog for news or advice about products and services from the following links, and then use top navigation to view the matching look of their main websites.

Adams Homeowner Services handles Florida vacation or long term rental property, the MainStream Memorabilia e-commerce store offers movie and tv star autographed memorabilia, and Adams Florida Services specializes in residential or commercial Orlando area landscape and lawn service.

This month marks one year since my son Roger launched the custom cms web design for Haggetts Aluminum in Florida. Just last month the owner mentioned how pleased they are with sales coming from the website. It makes my day to get happy web design client feedback since Roger chose a career in website design and took over the CodeRepair.com site.

The team at Haggetts is very busy and they credit the performance of their website as the key reason.

A quality web design with proper optimization will attract traffic from search engines. The real goal is to make a positive first impression so those visitors stay and become customers. It’s great knowing my son, who’s slogan is “The next generation in custom website design”, has made a difference for Haggetts Aluminum.

Check out the custom home page awning factory video tour showing how they manufacture custom aluminum awnings. That 2-1/2 minute video presentation is a dynamic sales tool 24/7 with the factory tour, background music, and narration.

Does your website attract search engine traffic and make a positive first impression? If not and you’re ready for a new custom cms web design or makeover of an existing website, contact us today for a prompt review and quote, or follow the link in the first paragraph to check out Roger at CodeRepair.com.