Virtually everyone has heard of MTV’s Pimp my Ride. The world of web development has been blessed by a little friend called a plugin that allows webmaster’s to pimp their websites. A plugin is the webmasters best friend when designing personalized websites via open source (aka free) CMS (content management systems) like WordPress or Joomla. They are many times free or available for low subscriptions or onetime fees. WordPress and Joomla are common open source or free software packages that are available for download and usage via the Internet. These two CMS packages represent a easy to Read more
Gomez Launches Cool Gizmo for Website Developers
Posted in: Website Design | June 29, 2009
Gomez just released a cool gizmo that reviews a website and displays how it looks across various browsers. Why does this matter some may ask? A single website page can look differently across different browsers such as Internet Explorer, Safari, or Firefox. In fact, different versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer can make the same website look different if it is not written to manage IE's quirks. Yes, the fact that web developers have to worry about this amazes me as much as it probably surprises you. This "quirkiness" of Internet Explorer may given companies with older Read more
In Website Design, Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
Posted in: Website Design | April 22, 2009
When it comes designing websites, small businesses are many times victim to the old saying that states "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Unlike large corporations with large in-house website design and Internet marketing departments, small businesses are left to their own ill-equipped devices or left in the hands of an outsourced website design firm. It generally takes a third party to point out a website's physical and esthetic flaws. Sometimes it takes a few hundred of your dearest friends and colleagues to convince you that your website is ugly. An ugly website can come in many Read more
Do I Really Need a Website?
Posted in: Website Design | March 22, 2009
Unless you live in a cave and sell your products and services to other cave dwellers, you need a website. As my friend once said, "I have to have a website because everyone else has one." He is right. While he may not be the most technology focused person I know, he is a small business owner and he sells products and services to every day people. Since most of his B2C (business to consumer) prospects use the Internet to research their future purchases, the company must have a website for prospective customers to review information about his company and product offering. If you are a small Read more
If You Build It, They Will Come
Posted in: Internet Marketing | March 3, 2009
When it comes to conversations on search engine optimization and Internet marketing, by far, one of my all time favorite comments was "but I thought if you build it, they will come." This was made by a co-worker of mine some five or so years ago when we were discussing our corporate website. We then sat down together and had a frank, one on one discussion about designing websites that are both beautiful to view and easy to reach via a Google or Yahoo search. Developing a world class website provides little value if no one finds it. If you are the thought leaders of your industry and you Read more