Monthly Archives ⇒ May 2010

Visual Design – Software

· Brandon Hann

There is a plethora of web design software out there! It’s no joke. And nobody knows where to start! In fact, web design is such a special niche, that people are turning to hiring designers to take care of all the loose ends. The problem with this is that the costs can go through the roof. Worse yet, what do you do when you want to make a design change? You have to rely on someone else to do it for you.

The catch 22 is that you either spend time building the site yourself to save money, but then you don’t have enough time to focus on your business or you pay someone to do it to save time, but then you don’t have enough money to spend on developing your business!

Top Web Design Software

There are a couple of choices in the type of software you get. The main type is called a WYSIWYG editor (what you see is what you get). Think of this as a blank piece of paper and you have to write the code in manually. The other type is a live editor where you’re able to literally drag and drop text and images right on the design that you see. Think of it like looking at a colorful webpage and being able to move things around on the fly.

  • Adobe Dreamweaver – This is by far the best web design software there is, at least in my opinion. This is a hybrid editor that supports both direct coding as well as live design. Another advantage is that you can create and edit CSS styles directly in the software. Plus, if you have other Adobe programs, you can cross link documents between them. Read more about what Dreamweaver can do at Adobe’s website.
  • AceHTML Pro – This was the software I started with when I first began creating websites so many years ago! I still like it as a lightweight editor although I don’t use it anymore because I use Dreamweaver.
  • WebPlus Website Maker – I’ve never used this software so here’s the product description from the manufacturer:

    WebPlus X2 is Serif’s outstanding Vista certified web design solution, packed with everything an organization needs to design fully-featured and professional-looking sites–with no need to learn or program any HTML! With smart Web gadgets including forums and site search hosted for free by Serif, integrated e-commerce with partners including PayPal, support for engaging YouTube, podcast and RSS content, plus video and Shockwave Flash animations, WebPlus X2 is the perfect answer for in-house web design. WebPlus helps at every stage, whether starting with a professional business template, designing from scratch, automatically fixing design issues, or publishing to the Web, it’s never been easier to achieve fantastic results, fast.

  • WebEasy Professional – I’ve never used this software so here’s the product description from the manufacturer:

    Create a great website has never been easier. WebEasy includes everything you need in a one box to create your ideal website with built-in templates and e-commerce tools. Drag-and-drop simplicity and automatically HTML code generation, create the website you want without any programming or technical skills required.

Using Themes or Templates

With blogging taking over the Internet space as the next major form of design, software packages such as WordPress have paved the way for users to focus more on their content instead of the design. WordPress allows you to use pre-designed themes that can be installed with one click.

There are even sites such as StudioPress, Woothemes and TemplateMonster that sell WordPress themes so you can get a head start on a more advanced design than you can download for free. In fact, the very design you see on this site is from a web template!

Even if you don’t use WordPress, you can still purchase web templates from TemplateMonster. They will give you a very drastic head start toward a completely designed website. All you really have to do is fill in the blanks by inserting your content into the design. Take a look at some of the web templates you can purchase here.

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Using Microsoft Tags on your business cards

· Brandon Hann

Back in April, I wrote an article about using digital barcodes on your business cards, but today, Microsoft just took their service out of beta mode and I decided there was a lot more to be said on the subject, so here’s a new post just for Microsoft Tag.

First of all, if you haven’t seen my other article, go check it out now. Otherwise, here’s a small breakdown of what it was all about. I was talking about new ways to distribute information while still using an old standard: business cards. Generally, when you meet someone and/or acquire a new business contact, 9 times out of 10, they’ll hand you a business card.

Downsides of business cards

  • Cumbersome – I know what you’re thinking…how can these little cards be cumbersome? Well, lets say you go to a trade show and score about 100 of these little cards. Do you know what a stack of 100 business cards looks like?!
  • Stagnant – Once your card is printed, there’s no turning back. If your number changes, you have to reprint new cards. This may not be so much of an issue because cards are cheap, but what about all those people in the past that have taken your card? If you don’t have their contact info, you’re screwed.
  • Dime-a-dozen – This means that everyone has them and generally speaking, you don’t stick out very much. How can you hand a business card to someone and have them remember who you are?
  • Information overload – I’ve seen cards that have so much text on them and 5 different phone numbers that I don’t even know where to begin! Also, have you ever had to sit at your computer and input all that information by hand? How about for 100 cards? Yes, you could purchase a business card scanner, but it’s still a time consuming process.

What is a Microsoft Tag?

Microsoft has introduced a new barcode format that uses a multi-colored series of triangles to represent data. Essentially it works the same way as other data-enabled barcodes that can store all characters (instead of just numbers). You have most likely seen these barcodes on shipping boxes from FedEx or UPS.

Microsoft has set up a site specifically for those wishing to create their own tags at Tag.Microsoft.com. You can create any number of tags using these tag types:

  • URL – This tag type will only contain a URL to your website, so when someone scans it on a mobile device such as iPhone, they will automatically be sent to your website. (The tag to the right is a URL tag for this site. Try it!)
  • Free Text – This type allows you to simply create a tag that contains random text. You can use this type if you want to encode some kind of message for your visitors to see. An idea could be a special offer that you’re giving away. Allowing your customers to scan it will create interactivity.
  • vCard – This will probably be the type you’ll use most as it allows you to save all of your contact information in the vCard format. You can even import already existing vCards!
  • Dialer – The one works similar to the URL type, but instead, it just stores your phone number. Any smartphone that can automatically read phone numbers as such will start an automatic call to the number.

Always up-to-date

The most important item to mention is that once you create a new tag type, it’s already been encoded based on a unique registration number. What this means is that as long as you don’t delete the tag, you can always log into your Tag account and update, change or delete information and the tag image never changes!!

In theory, you can create a business card with nothing on it except your Microsoft Tag and your business card will never get outdated. You could even put a line of text on the card that says “Scan here for updated contact info”

How can I scan these?

All you need to do is get the mobile software for your phone! The easiest way to do this is grab your phone and go to this address: gettag.mobi

Of course, not every device is supported, but here’s a current list of supported operating systems and phones at the time of this writing:

  • Android
  • Blackberry
  • iPhone
  • J2ME (Beta)
  • Java 2 Micro Edition (Beta)
  • PalmOS
  • Symbian S60
  • Symbian S60 1st Edition
  • Symbian S60 2nd Edition
  • Symbian S60 3rd Edition
  • Symbian S60 5th Edition
  • Windows Mobile
  • Windows Phone

Final thoughts

This is the ultimate convergence of technology and a proven standard! I remember back with people thought the business card would be replaced by mini cdrom business cards, but imagine handing a disc to someone and then expecting them to have access to a computer at all times to be able to read the contents? This new technology doesn’t have to replace the old…it simply adds to it.

Another possible advantage is that in some cases, you’ll find that you don’t even have to give out your card! Just let someone scan it, get your information and give it right back to you. You don’t even have to put these tags on business cards. Put them on flyers, posters, email signatures, websites, message boards, etc. Here’s one I just thought of: use it as your avatar throughout the Internet!

In the end, what really matters is how you’re being remembered. Right now, not a lot of people are using this technology, so you have the opportunity to stand out above the crowd.

UPDATE: November 18th, 2010

I hadn’t been on the Microsoft site since creating my first tag, but when I decided to finally get my new business cards printed, I went back and discovered some great news. Microsoft now allows you to create tags in black and white! This was such a relief for me because I really didn’t like the fact that they were in color before. I mean no matter what your business cards look like, how will pastel colors ever fit in?!

Anyway, I created my first business cards that can be seen over on my article about putting barcodes on business cards and I think they really turned out well! Both the Microsoft tag and the QR barcode are fully readable by mobile scanners and work just as intended.

Social Bookmarking – Orkut

· Brandon Hann

Orkut is likely one social networking site you’ve never heard of. That’s simply because it’s not as popular here in the United States as sites like Facebook and MySpace. However, India and Brazil have found Orkut to be their number one social networking site. I mention it here because it is yet one more way you can help promote your online existence.

The site was created by a Google employee for which it’s named, Orkut Büyükkökten. I personally set up an account here after reading about it on Google, but I don’t use it much. This is mainly because there aren’t many people from the U.S. on it.

What is Orkut?

Orkut is your standard run-of-the-mill social networking site with a few minor differences compared to Facebook. One major difference is the use of themes to change your profile layout, much like MySpace. Another difference is that you can upload videos on the site and have them appear on YouTube directly.

As stated above, the majority of this site’s users are from India and Brazil, so if you’re doing business in either of these locations, this site is a great addition to your existing Facebook and MySpace page. In fact, check out the traffic chart to give you an idea of where this site is currently ranking worldwide. The U.S. used to be the top visiting country when the site launched in 2004.

Should I use Orkut?

I always say use every tool you can to help bring in more traffic to your site, but I would stay focused. If you have too many social networking sites, you won’t be able to keep up with all of them. Just pick a few that you know will serve your interests best. If you or your expected visitors are going to be coming from the high traffic countries, then use this site.

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Social Bookmarking – Plaxo

· Brandon Hann

Over 40 million people trust Plaxo to store their address book in the cloud. At least that’s how it started out. Today, Plaxo offers the same address book features plus adds new social networking features that are very different than Facebook, MySpace and others because it isn’t a place where you simply add a bunch of people you don’t know.

Benefits of using Plaxo


Plaxo offers a new way to network with your friends. The approach is different than other sites because it isn’t a place where you see how many online friends you can collect. It allows you to connect with your real friends, co-workers and family.

Plaxo has something called Pulse that makes all this possible. It allows you to better see what everyone is creating and sharing online–things like blogs, pictures, videos, etc. They tout the fact that they have one of the strongest privacy policies out there and make sure that your personal information doesn’t get into the wrong hands.

Plaxo is part of Comcast

Comcast Interactive Media now owns Plaxo and this will allow them to offer more connectivity through the Internet and tv based connections. They intend to make Plaxo the most unified social networking site available.

<< Back to Technorati Forward to Orkut >>

Social Bookmarking – Facebook

· Brandon Hann

I doubt I need to explain to you what Facebook is, but I thought I’d give you some pointers on how you can maximize your Facebook experience while promoting your website at the same time.

Use Facebook to promote your site


If you’ve ever used Facebook to post blogs, you’re already at an advantage. The first thing to know is what each of the different Facebook pages are and how they can further help your cause. There are three types of Facebook pages:

  • Profile Page — This is your standard Facebook profile. If you have an account, this is was you’re already familiar with. Beyond all the normal profile features you get, you can use a profile page to post blogs and events. This tools can be used to submit articles (as blog posts) and showcase this content on you profile wall.
  • Fan Page — I wrote an entire article about how to use a Facebook fan page to advertise and promote your business. Before creating a fan page or even a group page, read it because there are some significant differences between them. A fan page is basically a public profile that you set up for your business and people will become fans of it instead of friends.
  • Facebook Group — A group page is basically the same as a fan page except that you can’t promote it via social ads. Another difference is that Facebook users have to join your group to become a “friend”. Group pages tend to be used more for actual groups such as clubs and organizations.

Blogging tools

Another advantage to using WordPress is that there are many plugins that allow you to post links on your wall that lead back to your blog site automatically. What this means is that if you post an article on your WordPress blog, the plugin will automatically post the link on your profile page.

All of your friends will then be able to see your post with a small introduction of text that describes what the content is about. If you posted any images on the site, it’ll show a thumbnail on Facebook. The top WordPress Facebook plugins:

  • Facebook dashboard widget — This is a simple solution to bring the Facebook data to you. Using the dashboard widgets available in WordPress 2.5 and above, this plugin will process your Friends status updates RSS feed, your posted items feeds and/or your Facebook notifications feed, and add a widget for each to your WordPress admin dashboard. So now you can keep up with whats going on in your friends lives from anywhere without needing to access Facebook!
  • Add to Facebook — This plugin adds a footer link to add the current post or page to a Facebook Mini-Feed. While the plugin is activated a link will appear after the content of the post with the text “Share on Facebook” or the Facebook icon or both. Clicking this link will bring the user to the Facebook site. If the user isn’t logged in they will be prompted to do so. Once logged into Facebook the post will be added to the Mini-Feed of the account.
  • Wordbooker — This plugin allows you to cross-post your blog posts to your Facebook Wall. You can also “cross polinate” comments between Facebook and your Wordpres blog.

    Various options including “attribute” lines and polling for comments and automatic re-posting on edit can be configured.

Facebook ads

Facebook ads works just like Google AdWords where you purchase ad space based on keywords which makes your site visible to a targeted audience. This is a great way to get your business in front of millions of users. I was reading a blog post that showed the 10 rules for advertising on Facebook and I think it’s some of the best information I’ve seen on this topic. Check it out now.

<< Back to Sphinn Forward to Delicious >>

Social Bookmarking – Sphinn

· Brandon Hann

Sphinn is a concept site that specializes in discussing Internet marketing and news. One of the major advantages of using and being on this site is that it allows you to take part in discussions and network with similar people in your specific field.

How can Sphinn help my site?


If you’re running a blog, Sphinn can give you an advantage over other site owners. Just like most of the social networking site I’m covering in this section, you are able to submit articles and news related to your topic of choice. Naturally, these articles link back to your own website where you are currently marketing yourself or your products.

  • Publish original articles – When you publish original content, submit it to Sphinn so you can start building web traffic that you need for your site. The more original and fresh your content is, the better it’ll rank.
  • Discuss – As a member of Sphinn, you can jump into a conversation about any item on the site. This creates a very interactive experience.
  • Network – Meet other users in the same industry as you and talk about topics that are of interest. You can also add these people to your contacts list.

Is Sphinn for you?

As mentioned above, this site is only for content related to Internet marketing, SEO and making money online. If your site does not fall into one of these categories, Sphinn will not be able to help you out.

<< Back to MySpace Forward to Facebook >>

Social Bookmarking – MySpace

· Brandon Hann

When you think of MySpace, you probably don’t think much about social bookmarking, but then again, you probably don’t think of that with Facebook either. However, besides all the fun and games you can have on MySpace while connecting with all your friends, you can also use it as a platform to help promote your website and/or blog posts.

Another good thing about MySpace is the relative ease of buying advertising space on the site. It’s inexpensive and it can still jumpstart a flow of traffic to your site given the millions of users still on it.

Using MySpace as a promotional tool

Back when MySpace was huge, it was pretty much the only social networking platform of its time and you probably saw all sorts of things being promoted on it such as movies, companies, celebrities, news, etc. I can remember not too long ago, just about every single new movie coming out had its own MySpace page.

The reason for this was because it works. Here you have a site with hundreds of millions of users all interacting with each other which opens up the flood gates for potential customers. Here are some ways you can maximize your earnings on MySpace:

  • Find as many friends as you can. There’s no shame in adding people you don’t know! If you’re promoting something on the Internet, you’re going to run into a LOT of people you don’t know. You might as well add them to your list.
  • Buy advertising space. Just like you would do with Google AdWords, you want to maximize your presence as much as possible. MySpace ads work the same way by offering your ad to a targeted audience that is already interested in the things you’re selling.
  • Post blogs. Use the MySpace blog section to post new pages about current offers you have or new products you’re selling. Everyone on your friends list can see these.

My two cents

I’m not going to tell you that you need to have a profile page at every social networking site you can find, but I will say that you should stick with one and blow it up. Make the most of whatever site or sites you settle with and don’t let up. It might take time to get a huge list of friends, but it will pay off in the end.

<< Back to LinkedIn Forward to Sphinn >>

Social Bookmarking – LinkedIn

· Brandon Hann

LinkedIn is a really neat site that is basically like Facebook or MySpace except that it’s strictly for connecting with co-workers and other people in your industry. If you have a huge list of contacts in your field or a stack of business cards, you’ll want to check out this site.

What’s so great about LinkedIn?

In you’re currently using MySpace or Facebook to do all of your networking, you might be doing yourself a disservice because those sites are not geared for this type of networking. I’m not saying they can’t handle it, but instead, they focus primarily on sharing things like photos and videos over business-related ideas. Because of this, it’s not hard to get your personal life and your professional life mixed up.

Beyond that, you’ve probably heard of these stories where an employer has accessed the Facebook page of an employee to determine what kind of life they lead outside of work. If you’re trying to maintain a professional image at work, don’t let your wild weekend adventure take you down a few notches in the eyes of your boss.

LinkedIn helps you bypass this by allowing you to create a professional profile to share with all your colleagues and work friends without having to censor yourself.

More benefits of Linked In

  • Groups – LinkedIn now offers LinkedIn Groups, a new way for groups to bring value to their members. Many professionals advance their business goals by counting on professional groups, alumni organizations and work groups to make vital new business contacts which will enhance their trusted connections.
  • Find jobs – Using your LinkedIn profile as a professional resume can help you land jobs! There are tons of job opportunities out there that are tailored to match your profile, so it makes finding a new job much easier.
  • Network with others – Now you don’t have to search for people who might be related to you (in terms of your industry). They become part of your extended network and you can choose to add them to your list of contacts.

How does this help your site?

As with any online account system that contains a profile, you can add your site link(s) to it so anybody who’s a friend of yours or anyone that happens to stop by your profile will be able to see what you’re all about and they might be prompted to check out your website. Check out my LinkedIn profile to see what I’m talking about!

Get started with LinkedIn today!

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