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:

• 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

                       

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

Labels: advice, general, reviews, websites

                       

Since my January 2008 post of statistics comparing the percentage of users by browser, Internet Explorer IE7 and Safari have made significant gains. Based on visitors to this website, IE7 has surpassed IE6 and FireFox, and the number of Safari browser users went from 1.7% to nearly 8% of my site traffic.

You may view the Cross Browser Website Testing post to view stats from January, or read the Safari Browser Review here.

While my preference is still FireFox because of the FireFox web developer add-on extensions that suit my work in custom web design, IE7 or Safari are excellent choices for everyday users. Otherwise, IE7 seems to overload and slow down my system performance, and Safari has superior rendering but not much third party support for extensions.

The excitement building over the launch of Internet Explorer IE8 bears watching. Microsoft has softened their stance on browser backward compatibility with the aim of the new IE8 to more closely meet W3C worldwide code standards. For web developers, the Internet Explorer IE8 launch later this year is highly anticipated.



TAGS: advice browsers IE7 IE8 Safari browser

Labels: advice, general, reviews

                       

The latest podcast episode of the Small Business Website Mailbag features free resources for keyword advice for seo in web design. Tools for small business owners linked in the podcast include the websites of Key Word Discovery and DupeFree Pro.

Listen to Optimize Your Website Keywords here to learn about free methods for search engine optimization of key words and phrases on your small business website, and then consider this software review of DupeFree Pro.

The features in this quick review of DupeFree Pro software were not covered in the podcast episode. Besides the value of being able to easily calculate keyword density, DupeFree Pro may be used to test for duplicate content, also. Imagine doing copy and paste to insert content from your website, and then quickly finding out if any other site owner is using your content without permission.

Perhaps you write advice articles published online, and just want to check if others are giving proper credit when they choose to republish your articles. Maybe you have several articles on one topic and want to check the percentage of duplicate content between two versions. DupeFree Pro allows you to do this easily, also.

Duplicate content is a major problem trying to achieve positive seo results, so you may want to test for duplicate content within your site, also.



TAGS: advice keywords podcast review search engine optimization small business advice web design

Labels: advice, audio, podcast, reviews, seo, software, websites

                       

The latest website advice article for small business owners was published earlier today, and you may read the full review Internet Explorer IE8 Doom or Joy for details.

Last year Microsoft announced an updated browser scheduled for release by the summer of 2008 with Internet Explorer 8, IE8, and the news was met by most web developers with apprehension. After following the news releases from Microsoft and an announcement earlier this week on March 3rd, it was time for an article and preliminary review of IE8.

Backward compatibility and cross browser compatibility are important to site designers and owners. One of the resources mentioned in the review and article is a website for testing page display in current and older browsers from BrowserShots.org. Visit their site to see what your website looks like in more than 50 browsers including Mac and older revisions of major and lesser known brands.

To the joy of web developers worldwide, Microsoft reversed a previous decision from December 2007 and announced that IE8 will incorporate the most standards compliant interoperability possible. This should be good news for small business website owners, as well.



TAGS: advice article browsers IE8 review small business advice website design

Labels: advice, articles, reviews, software, websites

                       

The Safari browser from Apple, Inc. is one of 5 browsers that I now use to test custom website designs for small business clients. The Safari browser received some attention in 2007 as the recommended browser for web developers to create and test website designs for the new iPhone when it was first released. I took another look at Safari after a recent inquiry to review the display of a small business owner's website. I was impressed with the rendering of Safari.

The site mentioned for review had problems because when viewed in 2 out of 5 browsers the layout fell apart with graphics out of place and text overwriting text. The site was designed for IE which looked fine, yet any site with a disclaimer "Best viewed in (insert browser name)" usually points to an amateur designer. The goal should be "Best viewed in any browser you choose" so that no disclaimer is required.

The following graphic compares the rendering of FireFox (left) to Safari (right) using a screenshot from this blog as viewed in each.



The rendering in Safari has enhanced headlines and text that may not be apparent in the reduced size graphic here, but it was impressive and immediately noticeable. The Google search box button was rendered as an oval whereas it was the old standard grey rectangle in FireFox. The layout and default options of Safari take getting used to, yet the experience for casual users should be excellent. As a web developer, my first choice is still FireFox because of third party extensions and tools used for technical reasons.

Pro: Excellent rendering with Safari as tested on a few dozen websites from a desktop pc
Con: Minor - Power users may be disappointed with lack of add-on tools and extensions

My advice to small business owners is testing your website in all browsers as posted previously with links to download all 5 major browsers. You may want to follow this link to download or read about the Safari browser here if you want to try it immediately.

The new Internet Explorer 8 browser, IE8, is due for release in the summer of 2008, so it will be interesting to see the tradeoffs Microsoft makes in IE8 between code standards and backward compatibility which has caused grief in the past with most web developers.



TAGS: advice browsers review safari small business advice website design

Labels: advice, reviews, software, websites

                       

With the release of episode 002 of the Small Business Website Mailbag podcast, feedback and customer reviews from listeners has been positive and encouraging. USA and international email comments were received from two professional web designers and existing clients which included the following:

Just listened to your podcast. I found it to be excellent, clear and informative; your voice inflection is awesome. I'll be tuning in regularly.

Excellent job, precise, direct to the point and informative. Who could ask for more?

Enjoyed the podcast very much. Actually I think it’s a much better idea than video in a way because it can be totally scripted and read. You just can’t do that with video.

Looks like a home run Jim!! I would like to set up something for people that have questions, too.

The podcast show topics cover websites for small business owners and each episode features a tip of the day, plus a catchy opening and closing theme song. One reply included a tutorial request for a new custom video production as featured on this blog, also.

Feedback is certainly appreciated, and I'll be sure to give serious consideration to listener requests taken from the website mailbag. Thanks.



TAGS: small business podcast podcast launch news podcast customer reviews

Labels: audio, examples, launch, podcast, reviews

                       

For readers who viewed my review of StatCounter and installed this free tool for analyzing website visitor stats, here are some tips for the evaluation of your weekly results. The following chart shows one week taken from December 2007 for my commercial site:



The average daily new visitors, first time visitors, and ratio of unique visitors to page loads is well within my expectations for my business. Unlike in the past when most new business was from client referrals, new traffic driven to my site by Google and Yahoo for custom small business website design is a bonus considering my work is sole proprietor. I do not have a large staff to support, so business is comfortable.

Some businesses could not survive with these numbers. If your site is new, it requires time and adding fresh content often to push numbers upward, so be patient. The results for my site are not inflated with overloaded traffic from disinterested casual visitors, but has attracted real prospects and new business worldwide. Unlike my business model, people selling low ticket items require high volume of traffic and sales to succeed.

Keep in mind a million visitors per day is meaningless if they stay less than 5 seconds and never convert to paying customers. The real measure of success is getting traffic from your target market and then conversion. Even then, you must accept that often a large majority of visitors have casual interest and are simply surfing for information without an immediate need.

If you do not track statistics, be careful of service providers who brag about the volume of traffic to your site. The difference between hits, page loads, and visitors needs to be understood. One visitor to a page with 10 graphics on it records 10 "hits" (10 requests sent to your server for each graphic) for just that page. If that one visitor goes to 5 similar pages, your hits become 50 just for the graphics, so ask for visitor and page load data instead. 50 hits does not mean 50 visitors.

In summary, consider these points as you evaluate my visitor statistics for comparison to your small business website.

1 The peaks are during the week, especially mid-week, and then less traffic on weekends
2 The average of unique visitors and return visitors converts and sustains my business
3 The ratio of page loads to visitors shows 2:1 so people go beyond the landing page

Return visitor numbers are a sure sign of interest. Most likely they were favorably impressed and bookmarked your site. It will be time to reevaluate your small business website design and content if you are not getting return visitors or new business through your website. Beyond the design, direct marketing and advertising may be required to help drive traffic to your site.

Use your stats to check trends, adjust product focus by revising content, and then look at search terms that brought people back to your site to determine if you need to emphasize a product or service. If you need advice or assistance installing StatCounter on your small business website or blog feel free to contact me.



TAGS: advice small business advice statistics website advice website traffic

Labels: advice, reviews, websites

                       

Following my Top 50 List of Article Directory sites a few months ago, the list was revised to the Top 20 and released today. Selection to this list is based on overall design and performance including approval time, reputation as a trusted authority site for article publication, and personal positive results using their services. The list is in alphabetical order:

www.advisor.com
www.amazines.com
www.articlealley.com
www.articlecity.com
www.articleclick.com
www.articlecube.com
www.articledashboard.com
www.articlegarden.com
www.articleonramp.com
www.articlerich.com
www.articlesbeyondbetter.com
www.buildyourownbusiness.biz
www.ebusiness-articles.com
www.ezinearticles.com
www.goarticles.com
www.iwantcontent.com
www.niche-content-articles.com
www.positivearticles.com
www.searcharticles.net
www.theleadingarticles.com

Follow this link to the complete Top 20 Article Directory List and reasons for the shorter version. Time can be an enemy for small business owners, so if you avoid writing articles perhaps the short list of top syndicates will help you. The seo, or search engine optimization, value of published articles is an important aspect of small business website promotion.



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

Labels: advice, articles, reviews, seo

                       

Ric Raftis from Australia launched a sales and internet marketing video on YouTube that is spot on with advice about relationships, although admittedly a rough production. I've known Ric for years and made the following comment under his video.

Ric, Your insight is an often oververlooked "secret" to success. 9 out of 10 salespeople don't understand that to succeed you sell nothing. You build relationships and solve problems. That was my reply when asked how I created $4 million profit in one year after joining a company that lost $600k a year for 3 years straight. Excellent information.

Missing from the comment that I made is insider info about Ric, and an important point to consider when selling. You must deal with absolute honesty and integrity. This describes Ric Raftis to a "t" and I believe he will enjoy the same level of internet marketing success online that he has established in his website design business at Bushsong. I expect he will shave the rough edges from any future video productions after this great start, as well.



TAGS: advice reviews sales advice advice video

Labels: advice, general, reviews

                       

You may have noticed the very small icon in your browser address bar as you visit some websites. This is called a favicon as in "favorites icon". When you bookmark a site, the tiny logo, or favicon, remains next to the listing in your favorites as a reminder of the website.

These are not complicated to create and add to your website. You can easily create a JPG in Paint if you don't have a graphics editor, and then you will need to convert it to the ico extension. Fortunately, there's a free resource for doing just that at www.chami.com.

From their browse button search your My Documents folders for the graphic and then select "Create Favicon" to have yours done instantly. Their page displays the favicon as it will appear on your page. Download the zip file, extract the new favicon, and then upload it to your server. You will need to add a line of code to your META tags on every page in order for the favicon to actually appear.

For HTML use <link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico">
For XHTML use <link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico" />

Upload your revised files and check your site. You may need to do a hard refresh CTRL-F5 to see it.



TAGS: advice website design favicon

Labels: advice, general, reviews, websites

                       

Small business website designs that depend on uploading photographs for online stores or sites like real estate will be more effective with photograph optimization. Too often site owners upload original digital photos taken at high resolution, and then the load time is intolerable for visitors on dialup because of the file size. They won't stick around waiting for pix to load.

Fact: More than 50% of USA internet users are on dialup. This number dwindles as high speed options become more affordable. Why disappoint half your visitors with slow loading photographs and increase the chance of losing a potential sale?

For this tutorial you may want to read the IrfanView photo edit freeware review previously posted on this blog. The owner of the recently launched e-commerce website for Mainstream Memorabilia downloaded IrfanView and learned this lesson in about 15 minutes total, and was very pleased with the ease of use. The online store is easier to manage, and IrfanView will be used on the Mainstream Memorabilia advice blog, also.

You should consider downloading the free software for this photograph optimization tutorial from IrfanView if you don't already own it.

Once installed, go to any large photo in My Documents and right click on the file name and select "Open with..." and then select "IrfanView" from the menu list. Here's a sample photo and screenshot of the open window.



In the main window menu (see top arrow) select "Image" and then "Resize/Resample" or use the shortcut keys by holding the CTRL button and pressing the letter R. The next window as shown below summarizes the file information, shows the current photo width in pixels, and the resolution in dots per inch, or dpi. Enter the desired width to match what you want on your site, and then select "OK".



When you select "File" and then "Save as" a new window appears as shown below. The sliding bar controls the quality of the final photo, and may be adjusted from lowest to best with 100 being the highest quality. Experiment with the bar in this last step until you have the smallest file size which still displays well on your screen and use that on your website.



To summarize, the steps are as easy as 1-2-3 within IrfanView. Select image-resize/resample, enter the width before doing save-as jpg, and then experiment with the slide bar until the file size is reasonable. Anything less than 50Kb file size will display well on your small business website, so taking your 1 meg photos and reducing them may keep visitors on your site longer and help make more sales.



TAGS: advice small business advice software reviews photo tutorial photo edits website design

Labels: advice, photographs, reviews, software, tutorials, websites

                       

My recent report for do-it-yourself small business website promotion introduced SubmitEaze for submitting your website to web directories. The strategy of listing your site in public directories that sort websites by category is one way to gain backlinks to your website.

Each link TO your site is like a vote when found by search engines, so small business website owners are encouraged to take 30 minutes a week to submit to 5 sites. For more natural linking over an extended period of time, pick one day a week to submit to 5 sites, and continue the weekly project for 6 months instead of spending 2-3 days of intensive submissions.

The free seo report Web Directory Top Resources listed my top 150 sites, and some may be outdated. The SubmitEaze software is preprogrammed with current sites and their future updates are free for life. This has been a great time saver because of the auto fill feature. As of August 2007 it is available in your choice of Pro License for $64.95 or Standard License at $39.95. View SubmitEaze features or download a trial copy here.

Here is the list of features and benefits displayed on the opening window of SubmitEaze version 4.0.

• Find directories that link to your website using Directory Detective.
• Full control over the auto-fill feature, so you can add your own fields.
• Sort directories on Google PageRank, Alexa Traffic Rank, or number of Incoming Backlinks to the directory.
• Setup rotating link title text and description text for each project.
• Full range of directories: Free, Reciprocal Link Required, and Payment Required.
• Project Briefcase so you can import / export projects between different computers.
• Full web browser navigation to display the current URL, move backwards, forwards, stop and refresh.

Pros: Ease of use, updated free for life, great time saver, excellent help files with video tutorials
Cons: A few outdated sites because directories changed from free to free with reciprocal link

This is software that I have purchased and use, and I recommend SubmitEaze for small business owners.



TAGS: advice small business advice software review submiteaze

Labels: advice, reviews, software, websites

                       

The team at AT&T have put up a test site for the iPhone at iPhoneTester.com for the benefit of web developers to sample test their designs to simulate how well they display on the new Apple gizmo. For sites done in XHTML with CSS, which is my standard technique and the recommended method according to Apple, "the look" on the iPhone should be just fine.

The page features a graphic simulation of the iPhone with an open space for displaying content, and then an input box to enter your www domain name. After testing several sites, I'm satisfied the designs I've created don't fall apart. They do, however, require horizontal scrolling which is not the case for laptop or desktop models. The XHTML with CSS sites I have designed are flexible and stretch to fill the screen regardless of screen size without any horizontal scrolling.

The recommended browser on the AT&T site is Safari which some perceive as a distant 5th behind the other 4 major browsers, so it was a curious exercise and recommended standard. Sites in XHTML with CSS that do not use tables for layout tend to display very well on cell phone screens without scrolling, and I can't help but be disappointed by any design that has a "displays best on..." disclaimer.

Have fun and try your www domain on the iPhone Display Test Website here.



TAGS: iPhone simulator reviews website design

Labels: general, reviews, websites

                       

Take a moment to learn why I recommend Article Post Robot for submitting original articles to article directories. It’s no secret that backlinks from other sites to your website are like votes when found by search engines, and writing articles for syndication is an easy way to create these votes.

The next free pdf report in my series of search engine optimization techniques covers this subject with My Article Writing Top Resources. Planned for release in July 2007 this report includes my Top 50 Article Directory list which was already published on my blog last month.

Article Post Robot will be featured in the new report, and after using this software for 2 months, I highly recommend this program to streamline submitting your articles for syndication. At the time this was written in 2007 they have over 450 sites preloaded in their software.

Select this graphic image to visit their sales page.



The problem with most programs used for automatically submitting articles is the potential for rejection due to being placed in the wrong category by the script running the program. Article Post Robot allows you to select up to 5 categories to help offset this approval issue. It’s not perfect, but close to it by comparison to other programs evaluated.

Note: Some article sites require prior registration and activation from a link in a confirming email to be registered as an author. Others require that you create a pen name on their website after registration. You may visit each site from within the list of over 450 article sites displayed in Article Post Robot with one click on each site name. The registration process takes time, but do that first, and expect to spend 1-2 days just setting up user names with passwords for the sites you select.

The option in Article Post Robot to manually submit articles is the ideal solution for me. Before buying this software the process of submitting new articles to over 50 websites was tedious. You visit each site, enter your username and password and then enter the submit articles area. Next, and with your article content open in NotePad, you copy and paste your article title, return to your file, copy and paste the intro, and continue back and forth for the article body, resource box, and key words. Argh! After an hour your wrist is ready to fall off and you’re cross eyed from bouncing back and forth between screens.

With Article Post Robot you complete these same steps, except you copy and paste just once because you enter these same blocks of text into fields within the program! Automatic mode will visit each directory site and post your article in an appropriate category based on what you input earlier. The software posts and submits, and then automatically goes to the next until it’s done. From experience the category selection is less than perfect, at least for my niche.

In manual mode you input your article details just once into the program to begin, and then it logs on each article directory, selects the category, inputs your article details in each appropriate box for title, intro, body, resource box, and key words, and then pauses for you to manually select the “submit” button. I prefer manual submission because I can verify fields are properly completed, and then change the category if I feel another is more suitable before I hit "submit". In automatic mode you click start and walk away.

Note: The layout and requirements to submit may vary by article directory, and some have additional manual only fields to enter, or correct. You can only see these if you use manual mode. Almost all articles are reviewed before approval by a human editor. Manual mode may result in more article editor approvals.

In manual mode you pause at each, so you must monitor progress, yet the autofill feature means you no longer have to copy and paste 5-6 blocks of text individually on each site. This time saving function allows you to post to more sites in a much shorter period of time with very few clicks for each. You can do in 30 seconds what used to take 3-5 minutes, so the process of submitting is much easier on you, and especially your wrist.

Important Note: In either mode you may notice an error or page not found if the target directory is temporarily offline. There may be a significant pause as if the software locked up. It probably didn't. Wait several minutes if necessary because as I found out it is still working and will advance to the next site.

Article Post Robot was less than $130 at the time this review was written. I feel that the cost savings in time from submitting just 2 articles more than offset the price in time savings and convenience. The documentation is written in less than perfect English grammar which is easily dismissed because the basics are there and sufficient to effectively use the software to your advantage.

Pros: Reliable, fast, cost effective, great time saver, value for money
Cons: Category selection for some niches and documentation less than ideal

Overall I highly recommend this software. You may purchase Article Post Robot here.



TAGS: advice articles software reviews article writing article post robot

Labels: advice, articles, reviews, software

                       

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

Labels: advice, reviews, software

                       

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 limousin