Like the carpenter whose house is never complete ...

I often feel the same about my own website ... I never feel as if it is really complete because there is always something more I want to add. More news. More articles. More samples into the portfolio. More search engine optimization (SEO) tweeks. But as a dedicated website designer specializing in getting small businesses up on the web, I always put my clients first.

Today I took a few minutes to make a few new additions to my own website and performed my own SEO "check up". I searched for the general term "small business web design". I intentionally did not put a state or region in order to see where I was on the Google result for such a general term. Here is the result:

Yes, that is a first page placement with the second position!

The primary key to this success? Patience.

Nearly two years ago, which I started Flying Change Webs & Graphics, this sort of positioning was only a dream. Now, with some hard work, dedication, and PATIENCE, I finding myself happily busy doing what I love and reaping the benefits.

Are you ready to give your website a new look - or just put your business on the web? Check out my updated Web Design Portfolio page and then give me a call.

Listed First and Second in Less Than 3 Months!

This past Spring, I worked created a logo and website for Lisa Madison and Rocky Coast Seminars. It launched at the end of April. Today, in a Google Search for "seminars in Maine for educators" I was pleasantly surprised to find the following results:


The correct use of keywords, clean coding, and attention to the design aspects is the primary difference between this site and many of the competitors. Congratulations Lisa! Your first seminar hasn't started yet and you're already on your way to success!

To Skype with Love …

The most wonderful thing has happened! Well, it’s wonderful when you are a techno geek like me with a hubby who travels …

My husband finally has a laptop that he can take on these long, round-the-world trips to Australia (he is currently on his 4th trip around the world since January 1, 2009). The difference is ... he's discovered SKYPE!

I'm sure you've heard of Skype the video phone call made from your computer … a FREE video call from your computer. Keyword being FREE ... especially since international cell phone calls are quite expensive!

Now I’ve held business conferences using skype before and it is especially wonderful when we are hoding the conference between multiple time zones - Germany, France, and various zones here int the USA. But this time …

This time ….

It was my hubby.

• We cooked dinner together
• My daughter got to show him her muscles
• I ‘gave him a cookie’ (showed him the cookies my daughter made)
  
• He showed the wave pool outside the hotel – which my son loved!
• We all got to “hug” him (or pretend we did)
  

We are not a conventional family. In fact, our motto is “it’s not just a marriage, it’s an adventure”. So this form of communication fits right in!

So I realize this little story isn't about business or websites ... but I wanted to share it with you because I DO LOVE MY GADGETS!

If you don't have Skype, perhaps you should download it FREE and try it for your next business conference call. It will change the way you work - and play.

Look me up. My Skype handle is "flyingchangewebs".

Love Ya Honey!

Yahoo Mail & Firefox

I was recently informed by a client using Yahoo Mail with Firefox on a PC that he was unable to link to send an email from my contact page link. I use both a PC running IE 7 and Firefox and a Mac running Firefox and Safari with email clients outlook, entourage, and mail. I was unable to recreate the problem he was having, so the problem only seems to apply to the Yahoo Mail and Firefox on PC combination.

I pride myself in looking after my clients, so I found the following general information about using Yahoo Mail and Firefox on the PC:

• There has been a long list of problems in the last 2 years with this combination.
• The troubles have ranged from error messages saying "Yahoo Mail doesn't support your browser" to not opening an existing email link at all. (This is what happened to my client.)
• Unable to send links within emails.
• Email not sending at all.
• Inbox not loading completely.
  

The recommended fix is a plug-in for Firefox. There are also some Yahoo Mail setting that may help. I don't use Yahoo mail - so I am providing this information just in case you run into any problems and need the fix.

If you have your own website, you may consider switching all your email to the personal email account - like you@yourdomain.com and use a mail client like outlook, thunderbird, or even webmail to access your email.

Hope this helps anyone who may have this problem.

As a website designer, I am often asked what are the best methods for better search engine optimization. There are a few simple steps anyone can take to improve their website performance: clean coding, using proper tags, clean coding, keywords, and did I mention clean coding?

The following video says it all - and is fun to watch, too!

You learn something new every day!

Within the past week I've had 2 projects that required resizing over 100 photos for a photogallery. The originals were all high-quality digital photographs, thus rendered at over 1000 pixels wide. My image area was only 450 pixels wide. I envisioned DAYS of resizing, until I discoverd this new trick. Actually, its not "new" but it is new to me.

Photoshop Image Processor Is My New Best Friend!
Adobe Photoshop is the program I use for most of my image work and within that program, there is a wonderful tool called image processor. I use CS3 and this is how it works (for anyone who might need to use it and didn't know it exists):

1. Open Photoshop and click File > Scripts > Image Processor
2. In the Image Processor window, select the current folder in which you have your images
3. I suggest you save the resized images to a different folder - so choose that folder (or create it if you haven't already). Even if you choose to have the resized photos in the same folder, photoshop will place them all into a new folder called "JPEG" so it doesn't overwrite what you have.
   
4. File type is JPEG and quality of your choice (5 good, 10 is best).
   
5. Since I am resizing my images for website use, select "Resize to Fit" and enter the desired dimensions. My photos were all different heights, so I used a set width of 450 pixels and an arbitrary height that I knew would cover any photo I had. The nice thing is the aspect ratio is kept if the photo is shorter than the dimension entered.
6. Click Run and Photoshop will start the processor. In a matter of seconds the photos are all resized!

GOTTA LOVE IT!

"How did you do it" asks L.L.Bean

After reading my last blog about the SEO success of Hola Amigos, an employee and friend from L.L.Bean, Inc. - who runs a large part of the L.L.Bean website - asked "how did you do it". My response:

"... basic techniques – using the right wording, <title> codes, using the <h1>, <h2>, etc, linking keywords to other parts of the site, and keeping it NICE AND CLEAN in the coding overall."

Basic search engine optimization doesn't have to be complicated - unless you have a complicated site like L.L.Bean and other large corporations. Working with small business websites typically has a much more focused target audience, so even a small tweek can bring big success.

Read more about SEO with these articles:

Your New Website - Getting Started with Keywords
SEO Basics: Beyond the Keywords