eeep! productions blog

I have been known to complain long and heartily when I receive poor customer service. I do believe that the best companies are ones where the paying customer is number one. It’s a sort of modified take on “the customer is always right” — If I take the time to walk into your store to buy something, greet me, make me welcome, don’t smother me, but be available when I have questions. It’s not too much to ask, really. And I had impeccable training in this concept when I worked for The Container Store a few years back. I hold all of my vendors to that standard, which is also the one I hold to for my own customers. What do you need? I will take care of it for you.

I have noticed, though, that when I receive great customer service, I tend to just let them know how pleased I am and then proceed to hug them quietly in my heart. Instead, I should be shouting from the rooftops about how amazing a particular company is. So begins a new feature on this blog. When I work with a vendor or any web- or computer-related manufacturer/distributor that gives me awesome service, I’ll be writing about them here.

Looking for a bag for your laptop? WaterField Designs is, without question, the way to go. My local Mac support guy recommended them to me last year or so when I needed a sleeve for my powerbook. Their service and product were so great, I purchased from them again when I recently purchased a MacBook Pro with a larger screen than my powerbook had.

Product: Cases, sleeves, bags for computers, phones, ipods, PSPs, cameras…You name it. It is incredibly well made, good looking and very sturdy. I love my laptop sleeves. I can slip them easily into my bag of choice and the sleeve is easy to access and open when I’m standing on the security line at the airport, while juggling my quart-sized bag and carryons.

Service: Gary and his cohorts are so friendly and nice. The automated emails are kind and appreciative. They write personal notes on the packing slip. Emails are replied to promptly and in a very friendly manner. Almost as if Gary is your own personal friend, taking care of your case needs personally. And maybe he is…who knows?!

Price: I’ve seen cheaper (and those sleeves/bags/cases were really crappy quality, not to mention made in China), but I’ve definitely seen more expensive. I believe you get what you pay for, and I was more than willing to pay $40 to protect my laptop, which would cost many times that to replace.

From the Website: No mass production or overseas workforce. WaterField bags are designed and made in San Francisco, where rent is high, labor is expensive and competition is intense. We wouldn’t go anywhere else!

and

In a nutshell, WaterField products are ridiculously well-made, fastidiously designed, have more personality than you can shake a stick at, and are so “user-friendly”, that you can actually operate them with one arm tied behind your back. This turns out to be a huge benefit for high-frequency travelers; the busy, laptop-carrying, cell phone-obsessed commuting types; or the dual diaper/carrying bag parents.

So, if you need a new bag or case, definitely check out WaterField Designs!

Hi all! I just sent out a newsletter with some updates, the biggest news being that I am actually going to take a vacation April 23-30. I know…it’s about time.

I’ve also updated the site with a new article about methods for getting more inbound links to your site. Enjoy!

Snagging Inbound Links

By Andy MacDonald (c) 2008

Inbound links are now so important in the constant battle to achieve top search engine rankings, that tons of people are using every tactic under the sun to gain that one additional link. You must be careful when it comes to linking though. You could jeopardize your whole linking plan by getting links in a shady manner which could have an adverse effect on your search rankings. These inbound links are seen by search engines as votes for your site within a particular community of sites.

Anytime you’re being voted for, you want to have as many votes as possible. However you want to be using tactics which are going to pay dividends in your linking strategy, not do more harm then good. Below I list some of the best and safest methods around for generating inbound links for your website. Some can be more effective than others:

Read the rest of the article here.

I just sent out a newsletter to all of my clients/vendors/colleagues about a small email glitch I had yesterday/today. Details are here, but if you sent email to websmith@eeep.com between 4:30 pm Eastern on 1/28/08 and 10:30 am Eastern on 1/29/08, please resend.

I’ve added a new article to the site. I think this one will be really helpful for everybody. Enjoy!

20 Simple Ways To Get Massive Traffic To Your Web Site

By Penny Sansevieri (c) 2008

Embarking on an Internet marketing campaign doesn’t have to be difficult,
tricky, or complicated. Here are a few simple ways (twenty in fact) that you
can easily implement to get tons of traffic to your site right now!

1) Write articles: believe it or not this is an incredible tool for driving
traffic. Well-written, relevant articles can net quite a bit of activity to
your web site. Don’t forget to add your URL in your byline. Articles should
be 500 to 2,000 words in length. You can send articles to sites like: Article
City, Go Articles, Submit Your Articles and Ezine Articles.

2) Social bookmark *everything* - and I do mean everything - you can bookmark
each page of your site and each blog entry you post. While this might seem
tedious, it’s worth it. You’ll see a strong increase in traffic if you social
bookmark each page on your site and each of your blog entries.

3) List yourself in the best directories – you’ll have to pay for this
but since most people don’t do this (since everyone’s looking for a freebie)
you could really enhance your traffic by getting a listing: dir dot yahoo dot
com, business dot org, botw dot org.

Read the rest of the article on the website.

Howdy all! I hope that everybody’s holiday season is happy and bright so far. Remember to take a breath and don’t let those nasty shoppers get the best of you in the mall parking lot!

I added a new article to the site…it’s got a lot of helpful information about protecting the content on your website.

Copyrights, Trademarks and Patents, Oh My! Understanding Intellectual Property

You are a business owner with a web presence. During a routine Google search for your page ranking, you discover something disturbing. There is another company out there with a name very similar to yours and almost identical content on their website. What do you do? Is your company name and website content automatically protected by copyright law? Should you have registered your company name as a trademark? Can you demand that they change their name and dismantle their website immediately?

Intellectual Property can be a confusing topic, and one that all business owners should know about. Sadly however, many entrepreneurs simply don’t. Intellectual property is in very simple terms an idea that legally belongs to somebody, be they a company or an individual. Only the owner of that idea, or somebody the owner has a legal agreement with can use the idea. Generally, the owner of the idea is usually its creator unless someone paid them to create the idea, in which case the idea’s owner is the person who paid for the idea. There are different kinds of intellectual property, but for the purpose of this article, we will focus on copyright, patent and trademark.

(Read more…)

There’s a new feature on eeep.com! Check out my new and growing archive of website design, marketing and SEO articles. This area of the site will be a repository of articles I’ve found that I believe are of interest to my clients. In order to make it easier for you to keep up, I’ll post to the blog to let you know the archive has been updated. And now, without further ado, I give you…

Cornerstones Of An Effective Website

By Patrick Schwerdtfeger (c) 2007

Just about everyone has a website today. Certainly, if you’re in business one way or another, you have a website. And people have different objectives behind their sites. Some are content-driven. Others provide an online service and have sophisticated user interfaces. Others still are designed to entertain and amuse their visitors. But regardless what your website is designed to do, there are a few primary objectives you should keep in mind before you start building.

focus

This first website objective is FOCUS. Your site needs to have a narrow and specific focus. Why is this? Because there are literally millions of websites out there and the visitors you’re lucky enough to attract will only take a few seconds to decide whether they’ll stick around or whether they’ll simply click the back button and continue browsing elsewhere. Within those few seconds, your site needs to communicate exactly what
it’s designed to do so the visitor can decide if it meets his or her needs or not.

One of the best exercises to enhance the focus of your site is to establish a 15 to 25-word positioning statement that guides all your development activity going forward. Think about it like a mission statement. It should articulate exactly what your website does in just 15 to 25 words. (Read more…)

Hi all!

it’s been super busy here in the eeep! basement. I’m finally taking a few breaths tonight to announce the launch of my biggest project to date: The Memory Zone Scrapbooking Store, LLC.

They are located in Plymouth, Indiana. Rhonda and Marlene, the sisters who run the store, are completely devoted to their customers, providing great service and instruction. We also launched a great online scrapbooking store on their site.

If you’re in the area, please do go and check them out, take a class or two! If you’re looking for an online scrapbooking store, complete with free scrapbooking ideas and QuicKutz products, surf on over!

Today’s post is going to be quick and to the point(s). Have a great day!

WEB HOSTING SALE
I am having a hosting sale from now through September 30. All new hosting accounts opened at eeep! productions during that time will receive the first full month of hosting for FREE! This is on top of my usual 10% off pricing for a yearly contract. What a DEAL! Email me if you have any questions or are ready to sign up.

WEBSITES 101 FOR ARTISTS BOOK NOW AVAILABLE!
Some of you know that I presented a 3-hour class called Websites 101 For Artists at Art Unraveled earlier this month. The accompanying workbook was such a hit, I’ve decided to make it available for purchase on lulu.com, both in printed ($34.95) and downloadable ($24.95) format. If you’d like to make a purchase, please do so using the link below:

Websites 101 for Artists
by Tracey Kazimir-Cree

I also have two spiral bound, signed copies left over from the class. I will sell those for $25 + shipping. Email me if you’re interested!

Since I’ve been installing Wordpress for my clients and I type many emails with information on how to use it, I thought it would be helpful for everybody if I put together a wee tutorial on using the posting interface in Wordpress. If you ever have any questions regarding blogging or using your Wordpress installation, don’t hesitate to email me!

TO WRITE A POST

1. Log into your Wordpress blog, using the login and password that was given to you. This will take you to the Dashboard, which is the control center for your blog.
2. The first link, under “Welcome to Wordpress” is “write a post.” Click that and you will be directed to a page where you can start writing.
1. Type a title. This is very important for search engines, so be sure it’s descriptive of what your post will be about. You might write your title last so you’re sure it’s appropriate for your content.
2. By default, the area where you write your post is on the Visual tab. This will allow you to see approximately what your post will look like when it’s published.
3. As you type your post, be sure to click the “Save and Continue Editing” button below the entry box so that you don’t lose your work while you’re writing. This will save your post, but leave the post editor open so you can keep working on it. “Save” saves the entry as a draft.
4. Above the entry box, there is a toolbar which will look familiar if you’ve used programs like Microsoft Word or Excel in the past. These buttons all work in a similar manner.
5. The 11th button from the left is the “insert/edit link” button. When you want to make a link, select the text or photo that you want to be clickable, and then click the button. You will see a new box that will allow you to put in the URL of your link. Select “open in new window” if you are sending the user to a page that’s anywhere but on your site.
3. When you are finished with your post, be sure to check the categories on the right that apply to your post.
4. Click the Publish button to publish your entry. Or, if you are a contributor to a blog, save it and the editor will publish it for you.

TO ADD IMAGES TO YOUR POSTS
There are two ways to add images to your post - you can either upload them to your blog or you can reference them from another site, such as your photo hosting or other gallery.

1. Inserting/uploading an image into your blog: Under the upload tab, below the entry box, there is a Browse button. Use that to locate the image file on your computer’s hard drive. If desired, give it a title and description and click the UPLOAD button below. When the image is uploaded, a thumbnail will show up, along with some radio buttons. You can choose which size of your image you want to show in the post, and what you want it to link to. Once you do that, click “Send to editor”. Follow instructions under MANIPULATING IMAGES IN POSTS for further information.
2. Including an image from a URL in your post: Place the cursor in your post where you want the image to be. Click the “insert/edit image” button (the tree button) in the toolbar. Paste the image URL into the box that opens up. Click insert. Your image will now be in your post. Follow instructions under MANIPULATING IMAGES IN POSTS for further information.

MANIPULATING IMAGES IN POSTS
There are a number of things you can do with the “insert/edit image” dialog box that will allow your blog posts to look professional, polished and easier to read.

1. Resize images: Click on the image once, and you’ll get little handle boxes in the corners. Click on one of the corner handles and hold down your shift key. Drag your mouse and see the image resize. Holding down the shift key keeps the scaling proportional.
2. Align images with text wrapping around them: Remember that images are INLINE, which means they will sit on their own line, or on a line with text, but an image is much larger than the text, so you’re generally wasting a lot of space. By ALIGNING the image, you get the text to wrap around the image. To do this, click on your image, then click on the “insert/edit image” button in the toolbar above the editing window. You’ll get a little popup window where you can set the alignment. Left or right is usually sufficient. Make sure you click update to set it. The image will then align right or left within your text.
3. Place a little buffer space between your image and the text: There are two other fields in that image properties pop up box: Horizontal space and Vertical space. Putting a small number in here (I usually put in 5) gives you pixel space around the image so the text doesn’t butt right up to the image.

Hi all,

In case anyone was wondering, yes, the server was down for a brief period tonight. I don’t know all of the details yet, but it appears there’s been some rough weather in NJ, with lots of lightning and it’s possible that’s the reason. It appears to be back up and running.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

It’s been so busy here at eeep! that I’ve forgotten to post to my blog! Shame on me…I broke my own #1 Rule for Blogging: Post often! I think once I outline everything I’ve been doing, you’ll understand…

• The big project of the summer (and spring, and winter…) has been a redesign and expansion of the website for The Memory Zone Scrapbook Store, LLC, in Plymouth, IN. Most of their site is alive and kicking and we’re finishing up the online store for launch at the end of August. It’s been a huge project, but it’s a great example of how I have been able to work with all sorts of clients, whether they are local or not, to help them achieve their website goals.
• I’ve also been revamping the site for my New Mexico pals, Karen and Dana Robbins. They are glass artists and do incredible work. You can email Karen if you’re looking for unique glass items for gifts or for yourself. Their site, complete with awesome photos of their work, will be live later this summer as well.
• I recently welcomed Lighten Up Electrical Services to the eeep! productions roster. They’ll have a site coming soon, but if you’re looking for an electrician in Northern Colorado, Tye and his team can help you out.
• If you’re looking for a fresh face for your website, I’ve recently started reselling premade website templates. Let me know if there’s anything you like and we’ll get it set up for you!
• I’ve also launched a special blog package. $700 gets you a blog installation and configuration, training, widgets and more! Read the details on my web design page and make sure to check out Fran Saperstein’s testimonial for the work I did on her blog!

My biggest personal project this summer has been prepping for Art Unraveled, a week-long mixed media art retreat in Phoenix. In addition to taking classes all week, I’ll be presenting a three-hour class called Websites 101 for Artists. During the class, I’ll be talking about the building blocks of planning a website, geared toward non-techies! I did a dry run of the class recently at The Artists’ Nook here in Fort Collins, and it was a hit! I’m really looking forward to a week of art and seeing my friends.

On that note…eeep! productions will be closed August 4-12. In case of emergency, please call my mobile phone: 970-744-9030. If it’s not an emergency, please email me as I will have limited email access. I will take care of all of your website needs upon my return. If I do work for you on a weekly basis, please be sure to watch out for my direct email with instructions detailing how we’ll get your work completed while I’m away.