Web marketing & development company

I am not a tech, so don't read this looking for programming advice. This is purely for all of the amateur web designers out there, in Houston, Texas and everyone all over the world.

First off, if you are a true designer, you should be using Photoshop to begin building your site ideas for the web. You need to know what your site will look like, how it will be laid out first and foremost. A sketchbook and pencil works wonders for that. And don't be afraid to go all out.

So let's talk about textures. Adding a texture to your site, most commonly used in the background, will really make your design pop. It's the next level above using a background gradient.

A texture is able to unify your design, create interest and add contrast simultaneously. But don't over-do it. Keep in mind, a background texture is a nice effect but it's still a detail, albeit a very large one. People do not like spending time on busy, cramped websites with ultra-contrasty colors. Use your background to accent your design with texture subtleties. Something like a thin, 20% transparent pinstripe or anything that can be repeated without getting busy. Here's a low key site with a subtle stripe.

I was recently asked about inserting the badge from 20SomethingBloggers into a WordPress blog page.

"u know why "twenty something bloggers" badge not coming on my blog as it shud have??"

The badge for twenty something bloggers will give you some code that looks like this…

<embed wmode="opaque" src="http://static.ning.com/socialnetworkmain/widgets/index/swf/badge.swf?v=4.0.9:20487" FlashVars="backgroundColor=0x000000&textColor=0x69523B&config=http://20somethings.ning.com/main/badge/showPlayerConfig?&size=medium&username=25m4sfd60fx4k" width="206" height="174" bgColor="#000000" scale="noscale" allowScriptAccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"> </embed><br /><small><a href="http://20somethings.ning.com">Visit <em>Twenty Something Bloggers</em></a></small><br />

The problem is that this badge uses embedded flash which WordPress does not like. There are two ways to get around this. One is cheating and the other is manipulation of code.

I recently got an Email about how to use HTML for blogs. It read:

"I'd thought I'd take you up on your offer about HTML. I'm new to blogging and getting super frustrated when it says my blog can't post due to HTML. I never know what the problem is. Any idea what that means? Do you have any key pointers to a new blogger about HTML?? Thanks so much! Any help is much appreciated!"

This person blogs on Blogger.com so I will use that site as an example.

Remember on your Blog that the title of your blog will become your H1 tag as well as your page title tag. So make sure the title of your blog is something very relevant and important to your topic. This is very important on searches for your blog. If you blog is about pug dogs then you might name it "Jane Doe's Cute Pug Dogs". This will help you get searched better for your name as well as the main subject of the blog "Cute Pug Dogs". You are blogging to share your ideas with others so imagine what others will be searching for to find your valuable information.

The relationship between a business and its web designer is not one to be overlooked. A happy, professional interaction can lead to a fruitful transaction, while a distant or uninvolved relationship will most certainly hinder the potential of your website or web application.

Obviously, we can say be nice. Still, there is so much more. If you would like to get the absolute most out of your website - and there's no reason you shouldn't - you should absolutely heed these notes.

You are the "Patient"

If an oncologist diagnosed you with cancer and prescribed you a treatment, would you question them? Maybe - but you would at least have to acknowledge his extensive background in experience with and treatment of cancer. He probably studied it extensively in school. Perhaps he happens to have a number of successful cancer survivors as patients.

The doctor-patient relationship is a great parallel and reference to the client-web designer relationship. You, of course, have the final say on what happens to your body and with your treatment, and if you have a good doctor, he will listen to what you have to say. However, how often do you take the stethoscope out of his hands?

Facebook is well known to many, but its usefulness may not be as familiar. What may be a waste of time for most can bring a great return on investment of time to others. Below is an overview of steps that should be taken to promote your business using Facebook.

What Can Facebook do for My Business?

Facebook has a LOT of users. Those users may be your business’ potential clients. If you are trying to promote a website, spread product awareness, or target consumers, then you should be on Facebook.

• Facebook is one more place to put a link to your website.
• A Facebook Page can be a relevant, positive search result that comes up in Google when someone researches your company.
• Facebook can target consumers based on their interests.
• Facebook can spread awareness of your company/product.

Getting Started

1. Create an account at Facebook.com. The person who will control all Facebook affairs for your company should be the person to create or use their current account on behalf of the business.
2. That person’s profile should be filled with information about himself or herself. They should be active participants in the Facebook community, and should not be on Facebook for the sole purpose of promoting the company.
3. For SEO-friendliness, the user should probably put a link to the company website on their personal profile.
4. Do NOT create an account for your business. That is what Facebook Pages are for.

Pages

Facebook found that users wanted a place to promote their products and businesses, but it made no sense to use the same fields (like About Me, Interests, etc.) for a business. This is why Pages was created. Users can create a Page about a business, store, or product, and fill in relevant information (like parking information and hours of operation). How to get established with Pages:

1. While logged in, create a Page for you business/product.
2. Choose your business type. Be logical. (Example: For Poetic Systems, we chose “Local: Other Business”, because we didn’t quite fit in the other categories).
3. Edit your Page. Fill in as much information as possible through the backend of your page. Be sure to add a link to sites where you would like to drive traffic (like your company website).
4. Upload a main picture. If you have a central location, maybe use a picture of the storefront/signage. Otherwise, a logo is a good idea.
5. If your company website has a blog or news section that has RSS, do the following: From your Page, go to Edit Page >Notes > Edit > Import a blog. From there, import your blog using the RSS address you have. From now on, when your company website has a new post, so will your Facebook Page.
6. PUBLISH YOUR PAGE. At the top of your Page, there should be a red link that reads, “publish this Page.” Now others can find the Page.
7. To invite your friends on Facebook to check out the Page and become “Fans”, use the “Share +” button located in the upper right section of the Page. This tool will give them a link to immediately become a Fan.

When a person becomes a Fan of your Page, all of their friends will see what they are up to, and may go to see what your Page is all about. So, the more people who are Fans of your Page, the more likely more people will become Fans.

Now, all you

Hyper link no-nos

Link stuffing is shoving tons of links into a page that have no real use other than to take advantage of search algorithms. This is unethical and deteriorates the quality of the Internet. Users need to feel confident that links point to relevant information.

Before 2003 black-hat developers would create several websites, also known as link farms, and fill them with tons of links to their sites. This triggered Google to implement the "Florida Update", a change in the Google search algorithm. The Florida Update changed how a site was ranked, spotting nepotistic links and devaluing them.

People started abusing links inside legitimate sites which caused Google to develop the "nofollow" attribute. The "nofollow" attribute was developed by Google in 2005 to prevent search engines from recognizing links. It is commonly used on forums, wikis, and other user generated content sites to prevent people from link stuffing.

I learned how to make neat half-tone patterns in Photoshop this week. Here is a step by step guide on how to create neat halftone textures. I will assume you already know how to open Photoshop and make simple operations within Photoshop.

Step 1: Open Photoshop and make a new document about 600x600 pixels. Create a new blank layer.

Step 2: Select the Brush Tool and make one dot in the center size 100 with 50% hardness.

You might have found that some of the images that have been inserted have the issue of running up the edges of content or words.

To give the image and content the proper amount of spacing we’ll have to inform the editor that there will need to be spacing placed between these two items.

To do this, just follow these steps:

1. Inside a Joomla! article select an image from the files or upload a new image.
2. Once selected you can choose the “edit CSS style” button, and a window with different options will appear.
3. Inside the window click the tab that reads ”Box” and under this tab is a section labeled “Margin”
4. Inside the section labeled “Margin” uncheck the “same for all" box. Now the other options below this box will become available.
5. Inside these now available sections is where you can put in the spacing that you desire to have between images and content (I find that pixels work best).
6. Once you believe that you have found the correct amount of spacing click the “update" button inside the window. Make sure to apply and save all changes.

The image will now have a space where the content used to run up against its edges. If you feel the need to take away or add space, you can by repeating the previous steps. Let me know if it works for you.

I have been asked to explain what makes a good blog post, or at least how to effectively blog, write well, SOMETHING to help with bloggers' issues. What style, format, length, etc. is appropriate? And for which situation? I intend to touch on a few things in order to point the lost in the right direction.

What to Blog About?

What moves you? Or what do you think will move other people? What is useful? What is relevant? What is interesting? If you don't know the answer to any of those questions, then don't try. Fitting any of those categories can be enough to qualify, but without that qualification, you have made your post a burden and an annoyance. News, tips, and personal thoughts are all perfectly acceptable as long as they fit with one of those questions.

What Format?

Aside from a few exceptions, begin with some sort of introductory paragraph or sentence. This keeps readers from wasting their time, so they know if they've found exactly what they're looking for. Whether you make it epic or to-the-point is completely up to you. Either is fine.

This all depends on the content, but just be logical. If you are sharing a short story you came up with, write in traditional format. Most posts, like news will be similar. Break sections and use headings properly. Before you begin think about what pieces of the post go together well and clump them accordingly. If you list features, use bullets. Number instructions. If you have a big quote, block it out.

There are many times when for one reason or another I need to have Internet Explorer on my Mac. For the longest time I thought the only way was to use Boot Camp or Virtualization until recently I discovered IES4OSX.

IES4OSX allows you to install a few different versions of the Internet Explorer (currently pre IE7) on your Mac and a few popular browser plug-ins. We have had varying amounts of success with it but for the most part it proves to be a viable alternative to Virtualization or Boot Camp if you just need IE6 for testing designs or for sites that require Internet Explorer.