Don’t worry – I can’t remember the last time I used it either.

Studies show that 85% of people use the internet to find a new business.  Studies also show that 80% of people that use the internet to search for businesses using Google, Yahoo, or Bing only look at the first page of Search Results.  Basically, that means if your business does not have a presence on the first page…  you don’t exist.

Search Engine Optimization is the methods that are utilized to get your business listed on the front page of Google, Yahoo, and Bing.  These methods have changed drastically over the last year, and if you haven’t been keeping up with the new trends you have probably seen your site drop in the rankings.  NOW is the time to re-invest in your business and get up in the rankings.

At Jennifer Web Design, we track the latest changes and the latest techniques in Search Engine Optimization.  Ranking high for your keyword phrases is our mission.  AND with our new pricing structure:

You only pay if we are successful!

We have created a new Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plan that only costs you money if we are successful in our efforts.  Yes – we are that confident that we can rank your website high in the rankings.

We only use completely ethical techniques and keep you updated on a weekly basis as to what we are doing and what we will be doing.

Contact us today to learn more.  Our initial consultations and assessments are always free.  If you want to learn how your site can capture the traffic that you have been missing -  call us at 702-880-9565.

I’ve been poking around for a while looking for a good, simple backup solution for MySql databases. I had been debating using  Cloudfiles because of the API and cheap storage. As I was about to pull the trigger and sign up for a Cloudfiles account then a friend of mine, the illustrious Ben Jones, sent me a link to Dropbox.

I was a little leary of it at first because I had not heard of it but after a few minutes of research and after trying it out I was hooked! I love this thing. Dropbox allows you to share files very easily using it’s software that creates a Dropbox folder in My Documents in Windows. You just drag and drop and BOOM the files are online ready to share. Well “BOOM” depends on your internet connection but it’s pretty darn fast. Not only could I share files easily but I also learned that Dropbox does file versioning. Hmmm…could I use this?

The magic came when I found out Dropbox had an API and a PHP library created by a Dropbox community user. Using the API and the library I created a PHP stream wrapper. A stream wrapper let’s you use all of the normal file commands using custom functions. So, for instance, I can now use ‘include’, ‘file_get_contents’, or ‘copy’ on Dropbox files. Now, the API is really meant for creating mobile applications but anyone can sign up for an API key and start developing. Your application isn’t widely available until you get it approved by Dropbox. Because I just wanted a backup system I could care less about making the application public.

The stream wrapper is by no means a finished, or even polished, product but it worked out for what I needed to do so feel free to use it or make it better! I’ve included the stream wrapper and a backup script. The backup script is simple:

1. Does a dump of the MySql database
2. Gzips it
3. Copies to Dropbox

In order to use it:

1. Sign up for a Dropbox account
2. Sign up for an API key by creating an application in the Developers section
3. Download the PHP library
4. Enjoy!

With the stream wrapper you can do things like:

Copy a file from your server to your Dropbox account

	

copy('my_local_file.tar.gz', 'dbox://whatever@test.com:mypassword@a_dropbox_folder/filename.tar.gz?key=my_dropbox_key&secret=my_dropbox_secret');

	

Grab the contents of a Dropbox file

	

$str = file_get_contents('dbox://whatever@test.com:mypassword@filename.txt?key=my_dropbox_key&secret=my_dropbox_secret');

	

Include a Dropbox file

	

include('dbox://whatever@test.com:mypassword@filename.php?key=my_dropbox_key&secret=my_dropbox_secret');

	

Download Source Code from my Dropbox Account

-In addition to programming Mark manages several Golf Game web sites

Capital Business Services, Inc. has set an industry standard when it comes to helping business owners Incorporate their business and establish unsecured business credit. Let them show you how to unlock the power of having a corporation and enjoy the financial freedom, security and success you deserve.

We are proud to add them to our list of growing clients!

This video from Google discusses the use of Meta Tags in Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  In a nutshell (if you don’t want to watch the guy in the Panda Shirt), Google does not look at the hidden meta keywords in the code on the “backside” of your web page.  Not a surprise to most SEO professionals, but still refreshing to see Google admit it so openly.

Often I meet with Clients who have been led to believe that if you put “magic words” in the code you will automatically leap to the top of Google’s rankings.  This is absolutely not true, and Google has admitted (see video) that they don’t even look at those words.

Does this mean that you shouldn’t use the keywords tag?

No.  There is a belief that Yahoo! and Bing probably do use the keywords tag, and that they base some ranking upon the words that are used.  Additionally there are quite a few other Search Engines out there that shouldn’t be ignored entirely.  It is likely that they use the keywords tag.  The Keywords meta tag should not be ignored, but it also shouldn’t keep you up until 3am pouring over different keywords.

There are over 200 different ranking parameters that Google uses to decide where a page is going to show up in the rankings, and most of those have to do with the things that you can actually see on the page.  Content is king.  If you have good relevant content organized and coded correctly and presented to the search engine spiders in a coherent method…  you will rank.

Having a SEO professional review and fix your website will help immensely.  Especially if your website was originally designed with the belief that the keywords meta tag was the golden egg.

Jennifer Web Design offers free initial consultation (including reports) on your Search Engine Optimization, and the price to optimize your site is probably a lot less than you think.  Give us a call today at 702-880-9565 to discuss the options that are available to you, or e-mail me at ben@jwdmc.com.  I’ll be happy to sit down with you over a cup of yummy coffee and come up with a game plan to take your ranking to the next level.

There are many web design companies in Las Vegas, and it’s important to ask the right questions when you meet with your potential design company.  At Jennifer Web Design our initial consultations are always free, but to get you started here are answers to some of the most basic questions.

Jennifer Web Design was created by Jennifer Markewich-Jones in 2000.  The business was started and remains in Las Vegas, although we do service Clients all throughout the United States.

To view some of our Clients please visit our Jennifer Web Design Clients page.  To see what they say about Jennifer Web Design visit our Testimonials page.

We have diverse group of people on our team and you can visit our About Jennifer Web Design page to learn more about the core team members and their experience.  Our core team includes a former Web Design educator, a former Vice President of a Fortune 500 company, and a former Microsoft programmer.  We are proud of our diverse experience and the “can do” talents of our team.

We do not outsource our work to overseas companies, and our clients work directly with a local project manager through the entire web development process.  Our Clients are heavily involved during the design process.  We use a sophisticated Project Management tool that allows a centralized hub for communication and development.

While our primary focus is web design we also  provide web hosting, web development, Flash Animation, SWiSH Animation, web site redesign, small business web site design, web animation, e-commerce web sites, custom Content Management systems, blog implementation, and search engine optimization (SEO) services. Our Graphic Design team can create your Logo, Letterhead, Business Cards, Signage, and Advertisements.

All of our website agreements are detailed prior to the start of the project.  We detail the project so that there are no “surprise charges” during the design process.  The only time the price changes is if the client requests additional functionality, and those changes are agreed upon (in writing) prior to any additional billing.  In other words, we won’t send “sneaky invoices”.  All fees are disclosed at the beginning of the project.

Please contact Jennifer Web Design today to learn more about us and to get your website project started.

Using Twitter is a great way to manage existing clients and source new clients. However, managing an aggressive Twitter campaign for your business is not an easy task.

The Twitter home page is designed to be simple.  It’s like a bike with training wheels.  Most “power-user” Tweeple don’t even go to the Twitter home page to manage their exiting Twitter accounts.  Using the Twitter homepage to manage an aggressive twitter campaign can be painful.   Fortunately there are a few tools that can help you to monitor and manage your Twitter account.

Tools to View and Send Tweets

TwitterFox – (Free) Is a great tool for people that use the Firefox Browser.

TweetDeck – (Free) A Desktop clients that allows you to View Multiple columns, and adds in you Facebook account too.

Seesmic – (Free) Similar to TweetDeck

Twitterific – (Free and Not Free) For the Mac Geeks.

Tweetlater - (Free and Not Free) Let’s you schedule Tweets.

Tools to Follow Trends

Twitterfall – A great way to insert yourself in a relevant conversation and find potential new followers organically.

#Hashtags – Works great for people that use the Hashtag, but may be losing some relevance in the age of better Twitter search functionality.

Search Twitter – Works.

Tools to Manage Followers

Twellow – Sort of like the Yellow Pages for Twitter…  great feature is the Twellowhood.  Helps you to find regional followers.

My Tweeple – Manage all your people in one place.  Interfaces with Twitter, the ratios are very interesting to use when making a follow choice.

Quitter – Tells you when people stop following you

Friend or Follow – Lets you see who is sharing your Twitter love, and helps you to quickly identify who is following you.

Of course this is just the beginning.  Jennifer Web Design in Las Vegas offers free initial consultation on how you can use Twitter to promote your business.  Contact Us to schedule an appointment today.

Of course…  this is just a starter list.  There are plenty of other tools as well.  What are your favorite tools?

I was once a Twitter evangelical nerd.  I sat on the mountaintop and preached that if anyone was well positioned to “kill” Google it would be Twitter.  It made perfect sense to me.

To recap:

• Twitter can provide an instantaneous index of the current landscape of the Internet…  Google cannot.
• Twitter can provide user generated filtering of Bull poopy where content that is cream of the crop will float to the top.
• Twitter can contain the verbose and force them to stick to a few good points.

I still believe in Twitter, but just like anything else in this world, once it gets popular and gets under the microscope the imperfections get amplified.  The retweet is a gigantic Zit on the Supermodel nose, and there is no Clearasil in sight.

For those of you that don’t know what a “retweet” is;  a retweet is when one person copies a tweet from someone in their Twitter network and shares it with the people in their own network.  For those of you that don’t know what a “Twitter” is; I would really like to understand how you get your cave wired for cable.

In theory the retweet is the definition of “word of mouth” advertising.  The more people share something with others the more relevant or important it becomes.  It makes sense.  However, there is a missing element in 90% of the retweets that I get from people.  Most people don’t add WHY they are retweeting.  A retweet without context is a sandwich without bread.  Non-contextual retweets fall into the “White Noise” category of information.

It’s gotten so bad lately that I have been “de-friending” the habitual retweeters.  In fact, there have been a few folks that only retweet.  In my opinion, a genetically engineered Gerbil could be trained to only retweet.

I understand that Social Media gurus teach this a way to “get the word out”.  I appreciate the sentiment of the idea, and agree that it might be successful in the short term, but in the long run it is absolutely the worst thing to happen to Twitter.

Why is it so bad?

White Noise retweet posts without context will become the “boy who cried wolf” of the internet, and eventually people will just start tuning them out.  This will kill the potential power of the search tool Twitter has at their fingertips.  It will be ruined by the tribes that can assemble enough people to retweet inane posts, and influence the search capabilities.  It is no longer user-generated content, and now becomes user-manipulated content.

How it can be fixed?

Add context for your retweets.  Tell people why you think they are important.  Without context to our retweets, we are nothing more than social media capable genetically engineered gerbils.

1. Go to Tools menu and select Options.

2. Click Settings (in the blue box in the image)

3. Select what you would like to have cleared. We recommend you at least check the “cache” check box.

4. (tip) If you’d always like your cache cleared, on this same menu, under the Private Data section, check the box that says “Always clear my private data when I close Firefox.”

5. Click OK.

6. Press “Clear Now” under the Settings button.

Last week a valued client contacted me to ask about a letter he had gotten.  The letter stated that his Domain was about to expire, and that he needed to pay $75 to the nefarious company to renew the site.

SCAM!

I was happy to inform him that he need not worry.  There are companies that prey on people that don’t know any better.  It is a mission of ours to make sure that none of our clients ever get taken by one of these scams.  The only people that will contact you about your domain expiration is usually your registrant company or your web designer.

Here’s how you can check to make sure you don’t get taken:

1. Go to your whois record.
2. Look for the Registrant info, and check the expiration date.  Write this date on a post-it note and put it on your forehead, or someplace where you won’t lose it.

To extend your domains registration:

1. On the whois record. Look at the Registrar.
2. Contact the registrar, and renew your domain.

For the letter:

1. Rip it in a million pieces, and sing “Won’t get fooled again!”

For a new business the right website can provide an important beacon to your potential customers.  For an established business a new website must maintain the legacy and reflect the brand awareness you have spent years cultivating.

There are many different types of websites.

A Brochure website is exactly like it sounds; it is an online representation of a brochure.

An e-Commerce website is one in which you sell stuff.

A Blog is a “diary” that is shared with the world.

A Database site is one in which you track all sorts of data and can have it reported in all sorts of ways.

An Organization site is a site that is used by an organization.

Most websites can fit into these categories, with a few bleeding into multiple categories.

One of the first things that we do with clients is to decide which style of website is right for them, and the ultimate goal of their website.  It may not seem like a hard question, but it is a very important one to answer.

Registration

The very first thing you should do is register your domain.  A good number of domains are already taken, but don’t let that worry you.  Be Creative.  Here’s a tip, if your business is based in a certain geography, try using the city, state, or county name in the URL that you register.  If you need help or advice, please contact us.

The length of your registration is up to you.  If you think you’ll be in business for a while, register the domain for a few years.  It’s cheap, and well worth the time savings of having to do it every year.  If your website is only going to be around for a short period of time, register it for one year.  You can always extend your registration at a later date.

Hosting

A host is a server where your website lives.  There are many different types of hosting you can get, and a basic rule of thumb is that you get what you pay for.  If you pay under $10 a month for your hosting service, it is likely that you are getting bare-boned service that you will need to maintain and monitor on your own with limited security.  The more you pay, the more security and ease of access you get.  At Jennifer Web Design, we offer many different hosting plans that are catered to your website needs.

Web Design

This is our favorite part.  A good Web Designer is someone who should be attentive to your needs, and easy to get in touch with.  Too often, we have clients that call us with this leading sentence:  “My Web Designer left town.”  Make sure you know the people you are working with.  Check out their Clients, and ask to meet them.  At Jennifer Web Design we love to meet our Clients, and (in fact) we can refer to many of them as friends.