Monday, May 12, 2008
Prompt! Teleprompter Software Review
Quite often professional voice talent creating video or audio production use a teleprompter. For small business website multimedia production, there's a low cost alternative to expensive dedicated teleprompter solutions when adding video or audio to your web design or podcast.
After considerable research of teleprompter software reviews, the Prompt! software from DataWay Multimedia Canada, Inc for $44 USD is my recommended choice. A free lite version may be downloaded, also. Here's the list of features from their website, MovieClip.biz:
Prompt! version7.0 is a standalone application that allows keeping multiple windows open during recording. My advice is preparing your audio script in NotePad and then load it into Prompt! with copy and paste. The scrolling text may be adjusted by size, color and background, and scroll speed. The Lite version is limited to 2500 characters, so you may want to do a test drive with Lite before making a purchase.
Using a teleprompter for short clips or full presentations allows readers to focus on content to eliminate gasps, oohs, or aahs during recording. Speaking extemporaneously is very difficult for most small business owners, and a prepared message is more likely to enhance the multimedia production. Reading from an audio script will be faster and more professional when adding audio or video to your website, blog, or podcast. Download Prompt! here.
TAGS: advice audio small business services software review video
After considerable research of teleprompter software reviews, the Prompt! software from DataWay Multimedia Canada, Inc for $44 USD is my recommended choice. A free lite version may be downloaded, also. Here's the list of features from their website, MovieClip.biz:
- Text can be imported and exported
- Simple text editing is available
- Native files can be saved
- User customizable controls
- Macintosh or Windows playback
- Control over font size
- Mirrors text display on screen
- Mouse or keyboard control
- Lite version available
- Multiple resolutions
- Works with most remotes (not included)
- Cheap!
Prompt! version7.0 is a standalone application that allows keeping multiple windows open during recording. My advice is preparing your audio script in NotePad and then load it into Prompt! with copy and paste. The scrolling text may be adjusted by size, color and background, and scroll speed. The Lite version is limited to 2500 characters, so you may want to do a test drive with Lite before making a purchase.
Using a teleprompter for short clips or full presentations allows readers to focus on content to eliminate gasps, oohs, or aahs during recording. Speaking extemporaneously is very difficult for most small business owners, and a prepared message is more likely to enhance the multimedia production. Reading from an audio script will be faster and more professional when adding audio or video to your website, blog, or podcast. Download Prompt! here.
TAGS: advice audio small business services software review video
Labels: advice, audio, podcast, reviews, software, video, websites
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Real Estate Website in CMS Launched
A new custom web design featuring real estate vacation rental ads was launched earlier using CMS, a Content Management System, allowing the webmaster to add property without knowing HTML code. The site is a rent by owner USA vacation property ad directory for owners, property managers, and realtors to upload free or low cost ads for USA short term rentals.
As the site owner, another purpose of the site is to demonstrate CMS capabilities to realtors interested in real estate templates for a custom web design, also. The layout is suitable for property sales as well as rentals, or both.
Initially the site is in test mode with the first rental listing from Central Florida, and new USA vacation rental properties will be added in the coming days and weeks. Visitors may join as members to view vacation property details including rates, and save favorites, plus view bookings availability calendars.
Owners or managers of rental property may join as agents to immediately begin adding listings with up to 8 photos per rent by owner vacation ad. Ads for listings are available to upload or edit 24/7, and real estate agents or homeowners gain instant access.
In addition, the site features a Rent by Owner USA Vacations blog using Blogger and integrated with a matching color scheme which will provide advice and tips for tourists and owners. Both were done in XHTML with CSS for fast loading and streamlined code. Visit the main real estate vacation rental ad website here, and the rent by owner USA vacations blog here.
TAGS: blog template custom website design content management system real estate website launch
As the site owner, another purpose of the site is to demonstrate CMS capabilities to realtors interested in real estate templates for a custom web design, also. The layout is suitable for property sales as well as rentals, or both.
Initially the site is in test mode with the first rental listing from Central Florida, and new USA vacation rental properties will be added in the coming days and weeks. Visitors may join as members to view vacation property details including rates, and save favorites, plus view bookings availability calendars.
Owners or managers of rental property may join as agents to immediately begin adding listings with up to 8 photos per rent by owner vacation ad. Ads for listings are available to upload or edit 24/7, and real estate agents or homeowners gain instant access.
In addition, the site features a Rent by Owner USA Vacations blog using Blogger and integrated with a matching color scheme which will provide advice and tips for tourists and owners. Both were done in XHTML with CSS for fast loading and streamlined code. Visit the main real estate vacation rental ad website here, and the rent by owner USA vacations blog here.
TAGS: blog template custom website design content management system real estate website launch
Labels: blogger, launch, templates, websites
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Royalty Free Photos of People
This site includes a directory of royalty free photo websites for small business owners to use for web design or printed marketing material. Royalty free photographs of people require special consideration. Royalty free does not mean free to use without limitations even when offered for commercial production of websites, print, or multimedia.
Creative works are intellectual property, and if a photographer posts photos on a royalty free website, it does not imply transfer of ownership if you download from their gallery. There are sites who charge a one time fee for use in one application, others who charge recurring royalty fees, and then those in my directory that are truly royalty free. If a photo includes people, each person's rights cannot be overlooked.
Anything royalty free has restrictions for use, including those without any fee. Always look for and read the license to avoid any legal copyright issues, and be cautious about using pictures from sites without any license information. They may have accumulated photographs without caring about copyright. Sale or redistribution of royalty free photos whether singles or collections is illegal.
It is your duty as a small business owner to stay within the law when downloading content for fair use. A photo that includes real and identifiable persons is especially tricky, and should never be used without that person's consent including a written model release.
TAGS: advice photographs royalty free small business advice
Creative works are intellectual property, and if a photographer posts photos on a royalty free website, it does not imply transfer of ownership if you download from their gallery. There are sites who charge a one time fee for use in one application, others who charge recurring royalty fees, and then those in my directory that are truly royalty free. If a photo includes people, each person's rights cannot be overlooked.
Anything royalty free has restrictions for use, including those without any fee. Always look for and read the license to avoid any legal copyright issues, and be cautious about using pictures from sites without any license information. They may have accumulated photographs without caring about copyright. Sale or redistribution of royalty free photos whether singles or collections is illegal.
It is your duty as a small business owner to stay within the law when downloading content for fair use. A photo that includes real and identifiable persons is especially tricky, and should never be used without that person's consent including a written model release.
TAGS: advice photographs royalty free small business advice
Labels: advice, artwork, photographs, websites
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Small Business Online Research Frustration
People do online research looking for fast answers to inquiries in search engines. The trail leading to free information for a simple question should not take 5-10 minutes of sorting through sites for a real answer. Here's one case study of small business online research frustration, and the eventual solution.
After receiving a voice mail message from a small business owner, and then getting their answering machine when I returned their call, I decided to search online for more about them. The caller only left their name and phone number and a brief description of the design services of interest.
Without a business name or website URL, my first choice for finding out more about their company was a reverse phone lookup. The results from lookup services were a huge disappointment. Following search engine results was frustrating because each of the first three free lookup sites returned results on their website of "found" with more information available. Following that link took me to a paid service to get what should be publicly available for free.
Finally, I input the prospect's phone number into the Google search box, and instantly the first listing was their website. From viewing their site and doing a search in WhoIs, I was well prepared on the second callback when finally getting through and talking to the owner. Consider various ways of getting creative when it comes to search engines and small business online research to avoid the frustration of following dead ends and finding a surprise shopping cart.
TAGS: advice research search engines small business advice
After receiving a voice mail message from a small business owner, and then getting their answering machine when I returned their call, I decided to search online for more about them. The caller only left their name and phone number and a brief description of the design services of interest.
Without a business name or website URL, my first choice for finding out more about their company was a reverse phone lookup. The results from lookup services were a huge disappointment. Following search engine results was frustrating because each of the first three free lookup sites returned results on their website of "found" with more information available. Following that link took me to a paid service to get what should be publicly available for free.
Finally, I input the prospect's phone number into the Google search box, and instantly the first listing was their website. From viewing their site and doing a search in WhoIs, I was well prepared on the second callback when finally getting through and talking to the owner. Consider various ways of getting creative when it comes to search engines and small business online research to avoid the frustration of following dead ends and finding a surprise shopping cart.
TAGS: advice research search engines small business advice
Labels: advice, general, websites
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
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
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
Labels: advice, audio, podcast, websites
Saturday, April 26, 2008
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
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
Friday, April 25, 2008
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
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
Labels: advice, artwork, examples, websites
Jim Degerstrom
