New Look
May 2nd, 2008
I just can’t ever let anything sit. I decided to change the design of my site to something and little lighter and cleaner. I also have changed my portfolio (though it is only halfway done). Added Seesmic video comments to replace Riffly because I was having a lot of problems getting it to work consistently. One other change was moving from ustream to Mogulus on my live page..
Check it out and let me know what you think.
New RVC Site
February 1st, 2008
I recently re-worked the Rancho Vista Church site, and migrated it over to Wordpress. We added a blog, dynamic events system, and much more. Check it out at ranchovistachurch.com
Why Are Blogs Are So Important?
November 28th, 2007
Check out this article from Network Solutions on why it is so important to use a blog. A blog is a very important element to consider as you develop your online presence:
In an online world competing for customers, eyeballs and credit card numbers, every type of business can benefit from having both a Web site and a professionally hosted blog.
I have a Web site, why do I need a blog?
Just as businesses today realize the need and value of having a Web site, they are also beginning to understand the value that a blog, or multiple blogs, can have in connecting with customers and building ongoing relationships. Consider these reasons for adding a blog to your site:
- Change It and They Will Come - Increased TrafficWeb sites generally provide information about a business, its products and services. This information is relatively static - you may update the look and feel of your site or add new products and services, but your customers generally know what to expect to see on your site when they visit it again.
However, a blog, which changes with each new post, gives your customers reasons - even daily reasons if you latch onto a hot topic - to visit your site more frequently. This gives you the opportunity to expose visitors to your Web site more often, which is always a good thing. The more visits to your blog, the more visits to your Web site, the more exposure to potential sales.
- Ask and Receive - Customer Feedback and ResearchEvery business wrestles with understanding what products and services customers truly want, need and are looking to purchase. For example, “Should I add a red widget to my product line or would customers rather have a yellow widget?” A blog makes it easy to quickly pose these questions to customers and prospects and get feedback into what they want - or don’t want. If you have an active blog, you can quickly tap into what is hot and what is not. Blog posters will also often provide you their reasoning behind what they are seeking. Most importantly, customers like to know that you are interested in their needs and that you want to listen to them.
- Blog and Be Found - Search Engine OptimizationBlogs can be used to boost the search engine rankings for your Web site. Search engines recognize that blogs are generally updated more frequently than Web sites, they often contain links, and blogs are rich with relevant content. For a winning combination, make it easy for blog visitors to access your Web site by placing links to your site within your blog.
Blogs can improve search engine optimization through:
- Trackbacks. Trackbacks, or links to your blog from other bloggers, may be seen as valuable recommendations of your site when search engines calculate the relevancy of your Web site. These “referrals” can add credibility to your business in the eyes of search engines.
- Keywords. Relevant keywords, which are vital to search engine optimization, are often abundant throughout your blog postings. With a blog, you can add more keywords when you talk about your company or your products. Once again, you are adding value to both your Web site and your blog, in terms of search engine optimization.
- Navigation structure. Blogs have a defined structure of navigation that can be easily indexed by search engine spiders.
- Viral marketing component. If you can create a buzz among your customers, they will help spread the word about your blog, your Web site and your business. They will even handle distribution for you by sending the links to your Web site and blog to others!
If you don’t have a Web site for your business, don’t delay. Whether you choose to do it yourself, or have a provider do it for you, a Web site and a blog are business must-haves. There are numerous Web site and Web hosting providers that provide solutions to meet every need - big and small - and every budget (big and small).
Site Fixed
November 26th, 2007
Ok, a big apology for those of you who are using Internet Explorer. I didn’t get around to checking/fixing my site, and making sure it worked on IE until tonight. So now you can enjoy my site it in all it’s goodness. But I highly recommend you change to a better and more secure browser like Firefox.
New Site Design
November 20th, 2007
I was wanting to freshen up my site, and I wanted to do it my way! So, rather than relying on someone else’s stock theme, I decided to make my own.
I still need to redo content of some of the pages, but I will get to that soon.
New Sites
November 9th, 2007
Just finished a couple of new sites. Check it out.
LandVU
San Diego, CA
landvu.com
Virtual building creation using Google Earth technology.
Dr. Paul E. Dougherty, DDS
La Jolla, CA
drpauldougherty.com
Photography by Candid Clicks
Top 10 Wordpress Plugin Sites
September 26th, 2007
If you are a Wordpress user like I am, you are always looking for new plugins to help you more effectively run your blog. There are so many sites out there that are great resources for Wordpress plugins. Here are my top 10 sites in no particular order:
New RVC Site
May 1st, 2007
I just finished a redo of our Rancho Vista Church site. This would normally be nothing to shout about, but this is my first effort of design applying Web Standards. For non-geeks, this is a way for sites to have more consistent code in the page which will allow it to be viewed more consistently over all browsers, as well as ranking higher in search engines. Visually, there isn’t much difference, but the site is much more accessible.
It took me about a month to “go to school”. While I don’t have if totally down yet, it is a paradigm shift in how I design sites. Check it out here:
