April 2008

The following posts were written in April 2008.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 10:12pm

The Retro Design Is Back

Just like I promised, the black/white/red theme was, in fact, temporary, and has been replaced with an updated version of my favorite theme of the past.  To celebrate the new look, I went ahead and purchased MarsEdit to take care of all my blog posting needs.  I love the clean UI and the Markdown support, so I finally caved and bought it.  Yep, I consider it a business expense.

I really like this design because it’s more personal.  The image at the top was taken at sunrise in Wildwood, NJ, where I’ve vacationed with my parents practically since birth.  The color scheme is better suited to a website with the word “sunrise” in it, which I also like.

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Thursday, April 10, 2008, 9:02pm

SEO Really Does Work

Sometimes it’s hard to sell a business - especially a small business - on the concept of search engine optimization.  Despite having concrete numbers to analyze ROI, I think many business owners are less willing to go into something when they don’t quite understand how it works.

For example, would you pay someone a huge chunk of change to take your existing website, rework the underlying code (which you don’t understand), and then put it back online, only to have it look more or less identical to the previous version?  Would you pay someone to rewrite the content on your website to better match what people search for on the Internet? Believe me, it can be a tough sell.

This afternoon, however, I had a Snowdrop client who was originally skeptical about an SEO evaluation call me to say that sales are up by roughly 40% since February 15, the day we launched the newly optimized site.  Being an online content provider, search engine visitors are absolutely critical to the success of his business. Needless to say I was very happy to receive the feedback and the kind words, and it gave me even more faith in the rising SEO industry.

Once feedback like this makes its way down to small business owners and business at the local level, I think we’ll have much less difficulty finding local SEO work.

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Tuesday, April 8, 2008, 8:47pm

Is Blogging Dangerous?

I love the commentary floating around on this NY Times article.  Apparently blogging is unhealthy and bloggers are over-worked (or over-work themselves). The opening paragraph really sets the tone:

They work long hours, often to exhaustion. Many are paid by the piece — not garments, but blog posts. This is the digital-era sweatshop. You may know it by a different name: home.

There are too many good responses to list here, so you can pick a few of your own to read.

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Sunday, April 6, 2008, 10:00am

How Small Businesses Evolve

About a week ago I had a client ask me what Snowdrop Media specializes in.  By the way she asked me, I could tell that she really meant what was the real cash-cow service that Snowdrop offers to most, if not all, of its clients, perhaps trying to get a feel for what other local small businesses have done to promote themselves online.

For some reason, I found it difficult to answer this question.  I knew mostly all my work was for small businesses and individuals, and I knew it all related in some way to the web, but what do I really do most for clients?  I started out strictly doing web design and database access (CMS), then moved to mostly WordPress customizations and WordPress-powered applications, and then now more recently I’ve been doing a lot of SEO work.  So what’s the answer?

It’s funny how small businesses evolve based on the needs of their audiences.  As SEO/SEM has gained more of a solid reputation, I’ve experienced much more demand for that service.  Many businesses that previously took the leap online in the early 2000s are now looking for cleaner, more functional designs that play well with the major search engines rather than settling for brochure-type sites that only list available services.

So what’s my real point?  What your small business was two years ago may not be what it is today, and certainly won’t be what it is five years from now.  Whether your niche shrinks or grows, it also evolves. Even in a shrinking industry, a small business that evolves will succeed.

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Friday, April 4, 2008, 9:39pm

WordPress 2.5: Best New Features For You, For Clients

I’ve noticed that the new UI and functionality of the WordPress Admin have made me consider switching from MarsEdit back to the built-in, web-based editor.  Although I haven’t posted much here, I’ve been messing around quite a bit while installing the latest version for several Snowdrop clients and I’m very impressed.

It’s always interesting to hear what others - especially clients - feel are the biggest improvements when a new version hits the market.  For me, the colors and overall interface layout are the most noticeable (and appreciated) features, whereas clients have mentioned the better upload and media capabilities most often.

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