good places for stock photos
http://www.shutterstock.com/
http://www.bigstockphoto.com/
http://www.istockphotos.com
Monday, December 14, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Hosting
Let whoever is going to work on your web site pick the hosting. It is his tool bench.
Don't be penny wise and pound foolish.
Don't be penny wise and pound foolish.
DNN nuke
This is built on ASP .NET and is sort of like an intranet in a box.. with ability to add 3rd party modules to add functionality. It has the ability to let non-experienced users update the web site whether public or intranet and manage permissions on who can view what.
It has its good and bad points.
If you know how to program you can many times do things custom for the same amount of time as you can researching modules, installing them, testing them and configuring them for the purpose you have in mind.
Users can update the site, but they can still mess things up and make it look amateurish.
Designers won't like it much since they are either very limited or need a programmer to help them put their custom design into the DNN format of the look and feel, when they call a skin.
It has its good and bad points.
If you know how to program you can many times do things custom for the same amount of time as you can researching modules, installing them, testing them and configuring them for the purpose you have in mind.
Users can update the site, but they can still mess things up and make it look amateurish.
Designers won't like it much since they are either very limited or need a programmer to help them put their custom design into the DNN format of the look and feel, when they call a skin.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Social media revolution
Excellent video on social media..puts it in perspective for the client.
in reference to: The Web Site Guy: Social Media Video (view on Google Sidewiki)Google Sidewiki
You have to install Sidewiki.. then you can go to any web site and make a comment about the page.. it is like a post it note on the page that other users of sidewiki see when they go to that site. This is like having a bulletin board on every site on the whole internet.. this is going to really make an impact. Now we don't just read web pages, we read them and make and read comments from others as well.
http://www.google.com/sidewiki/intl/en/index.html
http://www.google.com/sidewiki/intl/en/index.html
Thursday, October 1, 2009
facebook is great for doctors
The medical industry resists change but Facebook is great for doctors.
Some stay away concerned about liability, but this is a classic aversion to something they don't understand.
ANYTHING that you ever write on a computer needs to be thought out and something that should not be able to cause you issues of liability. If you wouldn't put it in a letter to a patient, you don't put it on Facebook. Problem solved.
Facebook can be good for reinforcing your brand, just keeping you out in front of the customer. It can be great since things posted CORRECTLY in Facebook can end up in the search engines. Facebook is also a way of doctors making it easy for patients to refer them to their friends.
Doctors need to get on Facebook.
Some stay away concerned about liability, but this is a classic aversion to something they don't understand.
ANYTHING that you ever write on a computer needs to be thought out and something that should not be able to cause you issues of liability. If you wouldn't put it in a letter to a patient, you don't put it on Facebook. Problem solved.
Facebook can be good for reinforcing your brand, just keeping you out in front of the customer. It can be great since things posted CORRECTLY in Facebook can end up in the search engines. Facebook is also a way of doctors making it easy for patients to refer them to their friends.
Doctors need to get on Facebook.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
How 20 popular websites looked when they launched
From Google to youtube, from craigslist to flickr - how some of today's biggest sites looked back in the early days of their existence.
Remember the days when the word Google was not interchangeable with internet? Or when every site seemed to have a Netscape icon on it? Or when Flash was still something you cleaned your floor with? Then you were clearly using the web in the mid to late 1990s when pages were rudimentary affairs containing lists of links and information.
Thanks to the waybackmachine internet archive, we're still able to see some of the Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 pioneers looked in their earliest incarnations.
read more
Remember the days when the word Google was not interchangeable with internet? Or when every site seemed to have a Netscape icon on it? Or when Flash was still something you cleaned your floor with? Then you were clearly using the web in the mid to late 1990s when pages were rudimentary affairs containing lists of links and information.
Thanks to the waybackmachine internet archive, we're still able to see some of the Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 pioneers looked in their earliest incarnations.
read more
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
I don't like the way it looks
Are you the target market, moron?
You a designer? Does your taste suck?
the web site isn't for you buddy....
You a designer? Does your taste suck?
the web site isn't for you buddy....
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
newsletters and blogs
You gotta just keep hammering them. daily posts even if it is crap. just keep adding to it.
Here is a sure bet, whenever the client says he will update the blog or newsletter every so often, once a week, once a month, whatever, make a bet with him and bet good money. THEY CAN"T DO IT EVER!
Here is a sure bet, whenever the client says he will update the blog or newsletter every so often, once a week, once a month, whatever, make a bet with him and bet good money. THEY CAN"T DO IT EVER!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
web pages with no scrolling
ring ring
I want my web pages so it all fits on one page and you don't have to scroll.
You are a @@#$@#$. (hang up phone)
I want my web pages so it all fits on one page and you don't have to scroll.
You are a @@#$@#$. (hang up phone)
Monday, April 6, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Clients
How do you potty train a client?
Do they want you to be a true consultant and tell them what to do and they will actually value your input and do it?
Or do they think that they are so damn smart that they can tell you how to do your job?
It is important to try and figure out what the client wants.
They will fire you if you are trying to be a consultant but they want a gopher.
They will fire you if they want a consultant and you are being a gopher.
Eventually both you and they figure out which one they want.
Hell, I will do the most idiotic thing in the world if you want to pay me for it, but only after I have tried to be the consultant with you multiple times and you have shown that you only want a gopher or yes man. Well I can be that too.
Nevermind I have a masters degree in business, have my own business, been in the web business over 10 years, created more web sites than I can remember, have/had my own web business, managed tens of thousands of dollars of clients money to promote their web sites and saw what worked and what didn't. Nevermind all that, you oh client are so wise that you surfed around, or read some article from some reporter who didn't know a damn thing... you oh client I will do what you want since you are so damn smart and opinionated.(and I believe in not casting my pearls before swine, and you have proved yourself to be swine and I would rather take your money than try and do what is best for you, since you have proven time and again that my expertise is not worthy compared to your subjective list of sites you like and crazy ideas you have about things that work)
If a client TRUELY will listen and give heed to an experts view.. even if they don't agree or implement their ideas ALL OF THE TIME, but at least give it some credence, then the expert will continue to tell them what is best for them, even when it is not what they want to hear. In the end the one who listens to the expert will probably do better than the guy who thinks he knows everything about something he knows little about.
But have it your way, if you discount someone's advice enough, sooner or later they get tired of trying to help you do things better and just give up and say, "yes I can do that for you." and hang up the phone do what you want and invoice you for it, telling their buddies in the business what an idiot you are and never giving anyone your web site as a reference since everyone but you knows that you wear no clothes.
I go both ways, both ways I make money and one of the ways you end up making more money.
Do they want you to be a true consultant and tell them what to do and they will actually value your input and do it?
Or do they think that they are so damn smart that they can tell you how to do your job?
It is important to try and figure out what the client wants.
They will fire you if you are trying to be a consultant but they want a gopher.
They will fire you if they want a consultant and you are being a gopher.
Eventually both you and they figure out which one they want.
Hell, I will do the most idiotic thing in the world if you want to pay me for it, but only after I have tried to be the consultant with you multiple times and you have shown that you only want a gopher or yes man. Well I can be that too.
Nevermind I have a masters degree in business, have my own business, been in the web business over 10 years, created more web sites than I can remember, have/had my own web business, managed tens of thousands of dollars of clients money to promote their web sites and saw what worked and what didn't. Nevermind all that, you oh client are so wise that you surfed around, or read some article from some reporter who didn't know a damn thing... you oh client I will do what you want since you are so damn smart and opinionated.(and I believe in not casting my pearls before swine, and you have proved yourself to be swine and I would rather take your money than try and do what is best for you, since you have proven time and again that my expertise is not worthy compared to your subjective list of sites you like and crazy ideas you have about things that work)
If a client TRUELY will listen and give heed to an experts view.. even if they don't agree or implement their ideas ALL OF THE TIME, but at least give it some credence, then the expert will continue to tell them what is best for them, even when it is not what they want to hear. In the end the one who listens to the expert will probably do better than the guy who thinks he knows everything about something he knows little about.
But have it your way, if you discount someone's advice enough, sooner or later they get tired of trying to help you do things better and just give up and say, "yes I can do that for you." and hang up the phone do what you want and invoice you for it, telling their buddies in the business what an idiot you are and never giving anyone your web site as a reference since everyone but you knows that you wear no clothes.
I go both ways, both ways I make money and one of the ways you end up making more money.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Sharepoint
Microsoft's attempt at an intranet in a box is sharepoint.
It looks like crap and is great at document management.
You can just click on a document on a web site or intranet and have it open in Excel or Word on your desktop.. you edit the document and save it and sharepoint saves the file back to the server for you and makes the changes to the whole version control system. Very cool.
But try and do some simple things and use their automated tools and it is like pulling teeth.
It makes editing documents or web pages easy, but once you start trying to customize it or try and do something even a little bit sophisticated and it just is more of a hindrance than a help.
In the end your web people will just be spending tons of time trying to work around it or trying to do it the "sharepoint" way.
It looks like crap and is great at document management.
You can just click on a document on a web site or intranet and have it open in Excel or Word on your desktop.. you edit the document and save it and sharepoint saves the file back to the server for you and makes the changes to the whole version control system. Very cool.
But try and do some simple things and use their automated tools and it is like pulling teeth.
It makes editing documents or web pages easy, but once you start trying to customize it or try and do something even a little bit sophisticated and it just is more of a hindrance than a help.
In the end your web people will just be spending tons of time trying to work around it or trying to do it the "sharepoint" way.
DNN or Dot Net Nuke
DNN or Dot Net Nuke is supposed to be sort of an intranet in a box.
It is supposed to make updating your site easy, even if you don't have experience making web pages.
Well what it does is
1. make updating the site easy as far as new pages and text changes
2. creates havoc when you eventually move to a new version of DNN
3. Usually you end up with an ugly site that isn't so friendly with the search engines
4. You end driving your web designer or programmer nuts, since things he can do really easily are extremely difficult in DNN
5. Every other thing you need to do has to be in the DNN way, instead of the more common, ordinary way and every time you turn around you have to buy and install a module. The modules are not user friendly to setup or use, so back to number 4.
In the end you save money if you want to update an ugly site yourself without a web designer.
If you have a web site that keeps growing and getting more and more features, you probably will end up spending alot more money to pay a programmer or web guy to make things work the DNN way, which is just plain much harder than it should be.
It is supposed to make updating your site easy, even if you don't have experience making web pages.
Well what it does is
1. make updating the site easy as far as new pages and text changes
2. creates havoc when you eventually move to a new version of DNN
3. Usually you end up with an ugly site that isn't so friendly with the search engines
4. You end driving your web designer or programmer nuts, since things he can do really easily are extremely difficult in DNN
5. Every other thing you need to do has to be in the DNN way, instead of the more common, ordinary way and every time you turn around you have to buy and install a module. The modules are not user friendly to setup or use, so back to number 4.
In the end you save money if you want to update an ugly site yourself without a web designer.
If you have a web site that keeps growing and getting more and more features, you probably will end up spending alot more money to pay a programmer or web guy to make things work the DNN way, which is just plain much harder than it should be.
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