Paula G. Web Design

As long as you’re not living under a rock and actually use the Internet and e-mail (and if you didn’t you wouldn’t be reading this!) you have fallen victim to SPAM.  It is the equivalent of Junk Mail in your mailbox but worse — it comes in droves.  What’s worse is that for people using e-mail for marketing, you need to be worried about your valid e-mails being irretrievably lost in someone’s SPAM bin, being blocked, or being labeled as a spammer yourself.

The CAN-SPAM Act was passed into Federal Law in 2003 for the following purpose:

To regulate interstate commerce by imposing limitations and penalties on the transmission of unsolicited commercial electronic mail via the Internet.

Meaning, there was now a way to define and penalize those who engage in spam activities.

So, what does that mean for you using e-mail as a valid marketing tool?  After all, you’re not harvesting e-mail addresses,  sending bogus claims, or sending unsolicited junk.  (I hope!) How can  you make sure you are in compliance?

The CAN-SPAM implications are one of my favorite reasons for recommending everyone sending e-mail newsletters use a professional system.  They are set up to comply with CAN-SPAM and all the opt-in requirements.  It makes it easy for you to ensure you are in compliance and prove so in the event there is a dispute.

One of my preferred e-mail broadcasting and autoresponder systems is Aweber.  They have a great little FAQ entitled “What is the CAN-SPAM Act?”.

In it  they excerpt this important piece from the regulation:

According to CAN-SPAM, all email messages must:

• Offer a method for the recipient to opt-out (unsubscribe).
• Contain the sender’s valid physical postal address.

With a professional newsletter system these two requirements are automatically handled for you.  After all, if you are sending something out of your e-mail client (i.e. Outlook) the recipients do not have these options, so technically you are in violation of the act simply by e-mailing people in bulk who have not explicitly given you permission (even if they have chances are you only have a piece of paper or verbal record) who don’t have an easy way to unsubscribe.

You can get the full details on CAN-SPAM at the Federal Trade Commission site.

For simplicity sake, just know that this law applies to you and all your e-mail marketing as well. You are required to ensure you are in compliance and the easiest way to do it is to find a provider you like (I can recommend several) and spend the small fee to ensure piece of mind for you and your business.

Photo Credit: Flickr

Anyone who has ever seen a computer die knows the importance of backing up data. Did you know it is just as important to back up your blog?  Imagine all those months of posts, images, categorizing, and SEO work gone in a flash.  Oy, it makes my stomach churn thinking about it.  If you have a reliable host it shouldn’t happen, but then again… neither should lots of unforseen things, right. That is why there is insurance. Well backing up your blog is insurance for your blogging efforts.

Note: I am only talking about Wordpress blogs here. The self-installed kind, not those hosted at Wordpress.com. Blogger and TypePad automatically back up their systems (and your blog) for you. That is both the good and bad news (consider: they have control of all your content and backed up data, not you).

There are actually 2 parts to backing up your Wordpress blog completely:

1. The Wordpress databases (your posts, user configurations, comments,  etc.)
2. Wordpress files (themes, plugins, your uploaded photos, etc.)

 Backing up the Wordpress Databases

There are several different ways you can back up your Wordpress databases. You can read all the nitty gritty in the Wordpress Codex.  Unless you are a geek it’ll make your head hurt.  However, there is a great little article complete with Pro’s and Con’s at “2 Quick Ways to Backup Your Wordpress Blog” which I found worth reading.

Personally, my favorite easy backup solution is the plugin approach using the Wordpress Database Backup Plugin.  Once you get the plugin installed and configured (quick and easy, especially for your website guru), you can schedule it to run automatically. There is nothing better than backups that run regularly and automatically.  If you have to THINK about it, you won’t DO it.  Sort of like an automatic savings plan, right?

In the event that you need to restore your blog from this backup, it is not quite as easy as pie as backing it up.  However, a good web person with Wordpress and phpAdmin experience for mySQL can help you. If that sounded like alphabet soup to you…trust me…someone with capabilities like myself can do it for you with reliable results if you have good backups.

 Backup Up Your Wordpress Files

Backing up these files is akin to backing up your regular website.  Using a piece of software called an FTP client (basically a big ole file manager for a remote site) you can download your files to your computer and back them up.

I personally use the FTP software from Ipswitch which is probably overkill for most uses who aren’t using it day in and day out.  For reliable and free FTP solutions consider FileZilla.

Once you download them to your computer, make sure you put them in rotation for getting backed up with the rest of your machine’s data (You DO have regular backups for your business and personal data, right?!? If not, do so NOW or you will really freak out if and when your computer dies one day.).

It is not “hard” to do regular backups.  It is sort of like brushing your teeth every night.  It’s not a great deal of fun to do and if you have those electric toothbrushes like I do it seems like a downright pain at times. Yet, you will be VERY glad you did so.

Need help putting together a backup plan for your blog? Contact me and I’ll help you navigate through the process.

Photo by Waffler.

What I love most about articles that talk about tried and true tips for effective websites is that the fundamentals are not rocket science. The basics of a successful website hasn’t changed a great deal over the years despite the huge increases in added technology, features, and gizmos we can use.  Sure those things are great and I highly advocate using them if and where appropriate, but the foundational principles of doing it well and doing it right remain the same.

I was recently reading the MarketingVox article “How-To: 15 Tips for Effective Web Design” and it reinforced my belief that if you get the basics right, you are more than 90% there in terms of being effective.  Here are a few of my favorite tips from that article:

1. Use a consistent color scheme.

The colors of your site have a significant impact on readability. Avoid clashing colours that make visitors squint or — worse — give them headaches. One classic example: using bright red or yellow text on a black background, which is appallingly unattractive and difficult to read.

2. Use consistent typefaces and sizes.

Maintain a consistent font style and text size. Pick one typeface for most of your content and avoid deviating unless you are making distinctions (such as between body and header). Small text sizes can be difficult to read at higher resolutions.

Consistency is key.  It ties directly into your branding and user experience.  If in doubt, go with the maxim that “less is more”.  The most striking websites and brands are ones that are easy to use and are elegant in their simplicity.

This consistency can be easily maintained if your site is constructed properly using proper web standards. What you see is not what you get…so that idea of using any old editor to “do your own site” will in the long run create more headaches than it solves.

In keeping with the simplicity theme, the idea of making the site easy to use is paramount. I don’t care how big you are, if the site is hard to use it is a major turn off. I am in love with the Olympics but am losing my mind trying to get the NBCOlympics.com site to work for me. The videos I am yearning to see won’t work, I can’t find what I want, and I leave generally confused and frustrated.  They are the only game in town, but when it comes to you and your business, you don’t have the monopoly card to play. So…

15. Use a straightforward navigation system.

Make sure every section of your site is accessible from a clear and simple navigation system near the top of the page. It should stand out from the content. Too many links in one place makes usability difficult for users. Have a third party experiment with your site on the front-end to provide feedback on the flow of navigation.

Remember - as a user, if I can’t find it - it doesn’t exist to me.  Be strategic in your navigation and make it easy to use and understand. Always have someone else test it to make sure it not only works but is also intuitive.

Some of the other tips get a bit techy, but overall the article is a good one. Hop on over to read the entire post.

As far as blogging platforms go, I am a strong proponent of Wordpress (installed).  It simply gives you as the serious business owner a lot more power and control over your blog as a marketing tool. To me the top reasons to use it over other, hosted solutions (especially the freebie ones) are the ability to:

• Access and maintain backups of your blog data and files.
•  Host your blog within your existing domain for SEO power.
• Use a myriad of plugins to enhance your blog capabilities (though I do believe in choosing consciously and wisely).
• Customize to your heart’s content for consistent branding.

Recently I had the honor and privilege of migrating a client, colleague, and friend’s blog from Blogger to Wordpress.  It was a resounding success.

Karyn Greenstreet who is a small business expert I greatly admire had been blogging for a few years but wanted to get more control over her Passion for Business Blog for the reasons I spoke of above.   So, I got to work giving her blog a new home and helping the old content move in and set itself up in its new home. Here’s a screenshot of her blog in its new home:

 Her branding and strategies were already solidified. My job was more tactical than it often is when I work with clients. That being said, it was important to ensure all the old content of 400+ posts and comments made the trip to the new home intact.  I ran into a few snags in the process, but overall it went extremely smoothly.  My message to you is — if you’re thinking of migrating to Wordpress it is worth the time, investment, and effort.

Not sure if migrating is for you? Or, know you want to migrate but don’t know how to get started? Contact me and I’m happy to chat with you and co-create a plan that works best for you and your business.

Designing your website is a strategic undertaking.  To be successful you want to begin with the end in mind.  The site map is a tool that will help you do that.  The benefits of taking the extra time up front to complete this task will include:

• More effective website
• Reduced costs in the long run
• More ROI on your website investment because you can build on this strong foundation over time

Recently I had the pleasure of presenting  “Web 101″ with my colleague Chanin Walsh of Brown Dog Design for the Bucks County Network Now group. We often collaborate on the branding and creation of websites and this was our first chance to co-present at an event like this.

Chanin created the standout handouts and covered the topic of branding your business. I talked about planning your website and implementing your online marketing strategies. We then both presented ways you can save money when you work with a web team like ours.

I want to share with you a 6+ minute audio snippet from that talk. It focuses on the importance of the site map.  If you’re not sure what a site map looks like — here’s a picture of what one looks like (click to enlarge the image).

 It is a generic map, but gives you a sense that it is a visual representation of what you want to say and do with your website.

Now — listen to the audio clip and learn more about the site map and how to plan your website.

 Want to get started on your own?  Check out the Free Website Planner on the right sidebar - sign up and get one of your own!

Today I was meeting with a client and we got to talking about registering her domain name.  She asked my advice as to whether or not she should purchase that domain name with a public or a private registration.  I thought this would be an ideal question to tackle here on the blog.

First of all, when you purchase (aka register) a domain name you want to do so through an ICANN accredited registrar. ICANN is responsible for being the big traffic cop of all Internet names and associated addresses.

My personal domain registrar recommendation both in terms of cost and convenience is GoDaddy. There are many others that are accredited that can help you as well.

When you purchase a domain name for a given cost, you are then asked whether you want to register it in your own name/business name (public) or have that hidden by registering via a proxy for an additional fee (private).  It can cost anywhere from a few dollars/year on up for the private registration service.  You can see how GoDaddy explains its Private Domain Registration in “Make Your Domain Registration Private”.

When you do so, your personal information is masked within the WHOIS database. You can get the gritty details at Wikipedia. However, if you don’t want your head to spin, just think of the WHOIS database as the big centralized database that has all the information on all the domain names that exist on the Internet - the domain name, the associated IP addresses, the registrar information (name, address, phone, etc.).

Here is an example of the difference between public and private domain registration as seen in the WHOIS database.  (This screen shot is from the following website: http://www.domainsbyproxy.com/popup/whoisexample.aspx?app_hdr=0&ci=5165)

As you can see, in the private registration all the contact information is noted as Domains By Proxy, Inc. and their related address and contact information. Essentially they act as a proxy (no pun intended!) for your registration shielding all your personal information from view.  The WHOIS database is open to the public via the Internet. Anyone has access to it.  Go check it out for yourself. You might be amazed what you find.

Now, what are the Pro’s and Con’s of public versus private?  Well, in my opinion the main positives of public is that it is less expensive.  And, if you are using a PO Box or Business address, you may or may not care that the information is public.  If you do a lot of business on the web or have a physical address tied to your website that information is already public.  However, if you have a personal website or a home address associated with your business you might not want that information as readily available (even though it still may be out on the web in some way, shape, or form).

The major benefits of private registration is that it protects you from potential:

• Identity theft (although again, this is just one possible avenue, chances are your identity is already floating around the web in some way, hopefully not the super secret confidential stuff, however)
• Spammers that harvest the WHOIS database and domain registration information to essentially send you spam and junk mail
• Harrassers and stalkers
• Disclosure of home-based or moonlighting businesses you want kept private

Again, the cost is not very much per domain. If you have a lot of domains registered, however, it can start to add up.

I do not know any hard core numbers around the potential rists of the items I mention above. Surely we all know identity theft and spam is a big problem. How much of it is tied directly to public registration in the WHOIS database is anyone’s guess. If you know of any real figures, please post the links to them in the comments so we can all benefit.

So the ultimate answer to public versus private registration - that is up to you.  If added privacy and peace of mind are important to you it is definitely, no questions asked worth the added costs. Just remember your information may be public elsewhere already.

Whenever you are creating a new website it is imperative to begin with the end in mind. You might not have the time or resources to implement everything you ultimately want your website to do right away, but you need to plan taking the big picture into account. Why is this so important?

Besides the fact that beginning with the end in mind is simply a sound strategy for most things (just scan the chapters on this topic in Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” book if you want to go in depth), it is crucial for both the graphic designer and the web programmer so they can ensure they build a strong foundation for your site.

For instance, if you think only about the next 3-6 months and Phase I of your project which consists of just a few pages but fail to mention to your web team that in 12 months you’ll be rolling out and launching a large number of products for sale, you may find yourself with a site that cannot easily accommodate your business’ strategic plans and growth. I’ve been invovlved in more than one project in my 12+ years of doing this, especially while working internal to organizations, that went wildly over budget and awry because no one ever took the big picture into account. Read the rest of this entry »

Just recently a major upgrade to one of the most popular browsers was released. Firefox 3  is now available (and of course remains free). There was also an upgrade to the browser Opera 9.5.

So, my question to you is — do you know for sure your website works in these new browsers? Whenever I launch a new website I always test it in Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer 7.  There are definitely differences and if you’re not careful your site can end up looking, well, not quite like you hoped.

I wasn’t expecting Firefox 3 to pose any major challenges, since it is one of the most standards compliant browsers out there. Yet, I found, much to my chagrin as I was doing some developing that it was not working in Firefox.  Usually it is Internet Explorer that gives us web folks fits.  I ultimately resolved the problem but it got me wondering what else out there might be breaking.

That is when I stumbled upon a major website for my industry no longer works in Firefox.  Now this is a worldwide site used by thousands and thousands.  Suddenly none of the links on the home page work.  It works fine in Internet Explorer 7 but I am left stranded like a plane crash survivor when I try to use the site in Firefox.

As far as Internet Explorer is concerned, a new one is in the works. However, many people STILL aren’t using Internet Explorer 7, they stay stuck in the age of the dinosaur with Internet Explorer 6 which quite frankly has an unpleasant way with websites built properly according to current standards.  So, I can say that Leah MacLean took the words right out my mouth when she said on her blog this week:

In my book there is no reason for anyone to be using Internet Explorer 6 anymore (it is 7 year old technology)!! In fact if you or anyone you know still uses IE6 then let them know it is time to upgrade.  Even if they don’t want to move away from the Internet Explorer brand to a better browser like Firefox or Opera, then at least to Internet Explorer 7 (IE7).

Absolutely! It is free and will make your online life much easier.

People often ask me if they can quote other content and bloggers online using small snippets and a link back to the source as a modern day footnote if you will. This is certainly acceptable practice under the fair use exception to copyright law, unless of course the source you’re citing is the AP.

TechCrunch shared the madness of AP’s stance in their post “Here’s Our New Policy on AP stories: They’re banned” :

They do not want people quoting their stories, despite the fact that such activity very clearly falls within the fair use exception to copyright law. They claim that the activity is an infringement.

A.P. vice president Jim Kennedy says they will issue guidelines telling bloggers what is acceptable and what isn’t, over and above what the law says is acceptable. They will “attempt to define clear standards as to how much of its articles and broadcasts bloggers and Web sites can excerpt without infringing on The A.P.’s copyright.”

Those that disregard the guidelines risk being sued by the A.P., despite the fact that such use may fall under the concept of fair use.

The A.P. doesn’t get to make it’s own rules around how its content is used, if those rules are stricter than the law allows. So even thought they say they are making these new guidelines in the spirit of cooperation, it’s clear that, like the RIAA and MPAA, they are trying to claw their way to a set of property rights that don’t exist today and that they are not legally entitled to. And like the RIAA and MPAA, this is done to protect a dying business model - paid content.

It makes no sense to me that an organization whose purpose is to disseminate information wants to limit its distribution. I certainly understand paid content is the business model they employ, but a few sentences quoted with attribution and link back? I smell frustration and desperation…but most certainly will steer clear of them when it comes to content sourcing.

So the moral to the story is… link away and share the wealth when it comes to information on the web; except if you see the source is AP. Then, you can just scratch your head, wonder about the old school mentality, and move on.

What are the top core values of your business? Who are you and what do you stand for when it comes to your business?

I believe orienting your business (and life for that matter) around your values is the surest way to ensure you are on track and feel great about what you do and offer every day. Not to mention I’ve found that people who orient around their values are far more successful at wealth creating than anyone else.

However, many people have trouble thinking in these terms, especially when faced with their website. One of the best questions (and often a stumper) that I ask when speaking with potential clients is this:

• What are your top 5 values? What would you like clients to say about you? (ex: honesty, integrity, timely, quality)

When someone visits your site, what do you want it to say? Do you want it to scream that you are a person of integrity? Are you super high quality? Perhaps speed, cost, or ease is what you value most. Whatever it is, your site needs to speak it loudly and clearly.

Whether you already have a website or are just planning for one, take some time today to ask yourself this question. Just notice what comes up for you…

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