Enter The Dragon Queen
March 31, 2010 by chev
When online marketing first hit the shelves, so to speak, there were a number of people proclaiming themselves Royalty. The King of … The … Queen. Now, at the time, it was a viable thing to do and drew attention, but a caveat for all you people that are proclaiming titular authority, I overheard one of my admins the other day saying;
“When I hear someone calling themselves the something King or Queen it reminds me of those tacky local commercials for local businesses, like ‘the Mattress King’ or some used car lot just outside of town. The one where they say they’ll ‘treat you like royalty’ or whatever riff they can make on the king thing. Trying to stand out so they can hype up their %50 off sale.’
If you really are the best at what you are offering, might be better to just say it upfront.
Peace Out
Chev
Simply the Best
Have A Banana
March 22, 2010 by chev
I was introduced to MailChimp recently by a client. I wasn’t too keen on using it to start, it was free for less than 500 subscribers as long as you put their advertising on the end of the email.
Turns out, their advert is a really cute stamp with a monkey on it. That’s it. So if you have less than 500 people on your list, I suggest you give this a go. The rates after 500 people are very competitive too. If you are just starting or if you started recently, think about moving over. If you have a current database of people, you can import them without having them re-subscribe so you wont lose out.
Other great things are the videos, most people when they get into database mailing list software are often overwhelmed at how much they are supposed to know and how to get something simple set up, MailChimp has a boat load of video tutorials to get things started.
The other thing that really appealed was the amount of control you have over the sign up box. A couple of the list companies have no control, the others have some if you know html, playing around with MailChimp however was a blast. They have the html version, but they also have a fantastic tool to let you design how your sign up will look with images, borders, backgrounds, sizes, everything can be tweaked to how you like it. They also have variations on the way it appears, either a link to a page (hosted by them, designed by you using the earlier mentioned design tool) or a standard sidebar / header opt-in box and a nifty little thing that appears as a sort of hover over the page after a set number of seconds of the potential client landing on your website.
There are also options for full campaign marketing, multiple lists with sign ups, follow up emails and auto responders.
I really did love the MailChimp, I have a soft spot for monkeys as many of you know, the software has simply re-affirmed this!
This is a genuine opinion, not a sales pitch, I don’t have an affiliate with them, I truly believe they offer amazing service for what is tantamount to a free service for people that dont need the extra expense while they try to get their business started.
www.mailchimp.com sign up and have a play around with it.
It’s All About Me!
July 22, 2009 by chev
Except is really isn’t. When you have a website created, what you like, often isn’t what you should have.
Let me give you an example and let you in on a little secret. I’m a closet goth. I never really grew out of it. Inside, Im still wearing all black with panda like eyeliner while scowling and lamenting the cruelty and injustice of a world that just doesn’t understand me.
Thankfully for all concerned, this is no longer reflected on the outside. If it was, this website would be similar to Marilyn Manson’s and most people that dropped by to see if they wanted to hire me would run screaming to the hills clutching garlic wreaths.
So whats the point of that? Its not about YOU, its about your potential paying clients. If you are selling a healthy eating lifestyle, you need pictures of food in your banner. Not a deep Indian sunrise reminiscent of incense sellers.
Healthy fruit eating people will leave. They will take their money with them.
No matter what you like, ask yourself “what does my next client like?”
And make your design match.
Spicing Up A Blog Post With Audio
May 1, 2009 by chev
It used to be hard work having audio on a web page, first you had to have an account with audio acrobat, then you had to record your message over a phone line with no ability to edit that tiny mistake in the middle of your 10 minute speech.
Then of course you had to get it online, hooking up the code, matching the site color. Its very laborious that most people stopped using the most powerful tool they had at their disposal. Oratory skills.
You can sell your product better than any text or image, you know what it is and what it means. Using these simple audio files you can really breath some life into your copy again. Sadly my microphone is packed (I hope) so I have used music files instead, but the effect is exactly the same.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
As you can see, you can have multiple audio files on the page, they don’t stop when you press pause, they pause, so you can carry on from where you left off listening, no matter how many others you open. It doesn’t slow down the page load so you can describe every product on the page in more detail if you so chose.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Pasting From Word – and why it isnt working
April 28, 2009 by chev
I have people asking me why some of thier posts are showing large gaps between lines, different fonts, different sizes and some times weird and wonderful symbols all over.
It’s because Microsoft Word is a web pretender and thinks it can write HTML code for websites. So when you attempt to copy and paste, it pushes into the html section reams and reams of bloated useless code that ultimately affects your layout and your post.
Up until recently, the only way around that was to writing directly into wordpress. Not an ideal solution, Wordpress has a dictionary, but it isnt the level of Microsoft’s Word. Thankfully you can now do both, type away in Word, spell check etc then look for this button 
in the group of buttons above the enter post window. Now you can paste your Word content in there and voila, no more symbols and mismatched type!
If you dont see the symbol above, look for this button 
called the kitchen sink, click that, it drops down or hides all the buttons.
What this will achieve, is that you can bold, underline, italicise, add links, indent all within Word and it will come across intact.
You shouldnt use this to paste images, images should always be entered directly into Wordpress, however once you have the text done, adding images is the easy part.
Search engines are not the only way to get the word out
April 27, 2009 by chev
Good old fashioned word of mouth. Give people the ability to tell the world you exist.
The great thing about this particular script compared to some of the others, if that you can write your own sales pitch in the script that the person sending doesnt see, try it out, send it to yourself and see what I mean.
Also this is a self hosted form, which in laymans terms means no ad’s complete privacy, no pop ups.
In house FTP? You’re doing it right actually.
April 24, 2009 by chev
I have this set up over at 2dragons. Rather than having people email me 10 megabyte files, I have them use this. I have a version of it running over on the support pages.
So, what is this? Its the same as yousend it or send this file, if you need people to send you files for what ever reason, larger than 4 meg is considered bad form. It can clog your email account and crash your email client if there are problems trying to get it. The way around that would be to use yousend it or sendthisfile or you could be posh and have your own!
My script works wonders in that you can have files sent to different people in your organisation, and if you dont have different people well then you can pretend that you do, and impress your clients. Or you have things send to your VA direct.
Its very customisable.
So for example, if you sent this for the design dept, a thank you will be emailed to you from “design” and the design teams email address.
Go play in the support area, just let me know that you dont actually want me to do anything with it!
Why do all new solo-prenuers & entreprenuers think they need shopping cart?
April 21, 2009 by chev
Nearly every new client I take on, that hasnt already got a data collection company in place, immediatly uses shopping cart, or asks me should I use shopping cart?
Maybe its the amount of affiliate links about to it, but I wonder why so many use it. Its very expensive, for the cart function and the mass emailing function, its about $60/70 per month. Most solo and entreprenuers sell products or services to people that know them. The likelyhood of anyone “browsing” your site and adding random things to thier cart is unlikely, and unless you use a merchant account you end up going via paypal anyway, so its not for the professional look.
You bought the domain name. So why are you using Gmail?
April 15, 2009 by chev
Really, the whole point of owning a domain name is for professionalism. So you own the domain myname.com or myname.net and yet when you email people you are using myname@gmail.com.
Think about how you feel when you see that email address from someone else. Are you impressed? Or do you immediately think that its a “one man band” outfit that you shouldnt take seriously.
Maybe I’m an internet snob, but I go with the latter.
There isnt much of an excuse, most of the domains come with free email, so you can have at least onename@myname.com if not more. And setting up? Usually a peice of cake and if cake causes you problems, the help line will talk you through it.
The last argument for it comes back to SEO.
Ah that old chestnut! You should be using Outlook or Outlook Express, you should have a signature attached to it and that signature should include your domain name and you correct email for that domain. Why? Cos when you email people your brand or your name should follow you. The more you get your name and message out there in the same format, the more will remember.
When you email a response to a list or a group from your email, it should include the above signature, so that your domain name gets on as many reputable sites as possible, these all count as backlinks.
So, why are you using Gmail?
SEO – What does it really mean?
April 9, 2009 by chev
I dont do Search Engine Optimisation.
I can do it, but I wont.
Im actually pretty good at it, but it is not something you can just “pop into” it is a constant organic growth that needs to be monitored and tweaked and compared with stats.
People bandy the phrase “I need some SEO on my site” like thats all that matters. We just add some code and voila! Google loves you!
For starters, let me ask you the first simple question before you even attempt to delve into the murky pond that is optimisation.
What phrase or keyword are you aiming for?
Nine out of ten of you are already stumped.
Getting Started, Getting Online.
March 22, 2009 by Randas
Part One: Whassa Interwebs?
You have a business, or a business idea and you’re raring to start promoting yourself online. Trouble is, you know very little about the internet, or computers for that matter. Navigating your way through the process is a headache and a half for anyone unfamiliar with the lingo and technologies that make up this brave new world.
In this post, I’ll try to give you noobs a helping hand. You’ve already passed the first hurdle with flying colours in hiring us to build your site. You can try and do it all yourself, or you can take advantage of the expert advice and experience that only a professional can give. So congratulate yourself for doing the smart thing!
Let’s say that building your first website is akin to building your first home. Instead of bricks and mortar, it’s code and hosting. Instead of paint and furniture, it’s colours and images. And instead of your family, it’s your content that decides your needs. It’s a lot to think about, and it can be very overwhelming for first-timers.
YouTube and Wordpress
February 2, 2009 by chev
You know I rather optimistically thought I would be updating at least once a week. I thought as soon as the new year resolutions faded I would be able to find the time. Apparently not! Still its good to keep the staff busy, too much free time and I find the office is re-arranged.
So, todays subject? Youtube & Wordpress. For those of you using Wordpress, Im sure you will agree with me that it is in fact a most awesome peice of software that is an absolute breeze to use.
Except of course for youtube.
Why? I truly have no idea, I know how to add a video, but it involves messing around in the code section of the blog, something most people are loath to do and frankly they shouldnt have to. The latest incarnation of Wordpress proudly states that it supports youtube, so why then did I get a call from a client the other day saying “Why can’t I add a youtube video???”
So, we cheat, as with all things on Wordpress, there are usually simple ways around it, once you get past the “it should already do it!” aspect, its easy to cheat. Go here and install the Viper plug in. Not only does it make youtube a cinch, but it allows you to add video from a host of other places as well Veoh, Myspace, Flikr, Google etc etc.
Installation is simple, for those reading this that want it but dont want to install it, well, you know where we are!
The F Word
January 2, 2009 by Randas
Font choices are a critical part of web design. Any graphic designer worth her salt should have a library of carefully hand-picked fonts at her disposal at any time. It’s not enough to have them, she should know how and why each of them works.
Newcomers to the wonderful world of font tend to get understandably excited about it. They want to use all the fonts at once. They go bonkers for Broadway crazy for Comic Sans and giddy for Giddyup Std
Some people can get attached to a certain font, going back to it again and again for the simple reason that they love it. Font-monogamy is fine for your personal work, but for public displays of font it’s best to carefully consider your options. How do you want to be perceived? What are you trying to communicate? Which font suits you best?
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