This month we're happy to be able to announce the launch of Frontier Medical Devices website! This is an example of a WordPress-based website, utilizing the popular platform for it's general admin capabilities. 
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Hello! (Please note: if you do not wish to receive this email or other messages from us, you can safely click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email.) A Few Web Design Mythsby Nathan Lyle Like anything else in life, the art of creating websites enjoys some popular myths. Some ideas come from older ways of doing things, and are translated into the new technology. Other ides are born of the very common feeling that if we feel a certain way about something, chances are most other people do too. Here are some of the most common design related myths about how websites are put together and used. The Three Second RuleOne of the oldest misconceptions, the idea that a website has three seconds to capture a visitor's attention was originally based on studies back around 2000 examining how fast people made up their minds. However, not only were the original studies far from conclusive, online technology has changed and so have your website's visitors. People are more relaxed and willing to look around for something specific. The danger of worrying about the three seconds is when you let it make you think it's a good thing to cram too much into too little space from a fear that people won't stick around. The FoldAnother instigator of badly used space, the concept of their being a "fold" on the screen comes from the world of print. You would put your catchy content "above the fold" in order to ensure you got people's attention. The computer is not a newspaper, however, and you should not be afraid to utilize the vertical space that's available. Instead, you should use design that leads your visitors around your website in a desired direction. They're not afraid to scroll or click, as long as you're giving them something they're interested in. The various size of devices used to browse websites, from wide screen monitors to phones, also makes the concept of a fold pointless. You can't know in advance where the cut-off line will be for your visitors. Print is all about utilizing a fixed space. The Web is all about content. Let it breathe, knowing you don't have to pay extra for a little more white space. Websites Should Look The Same In All BrowsersWhile a good designer can indeed create some continuity, the sheer number of devices and software applications that can digest and display a web page makes this just about impossible. Yes, your website should look good, but it should also be primarily functional and accessible to as wide an audience as possible. Chances are, the main reason you have a website isn't so people can tell you, "wow, what a great looking website you have." Make sure that your goals are supported by a website designed to enable those goals – whatever they might be. The More "Hits" The BetterThe holy grail of having a website is having a ton of hits, or visits, right? Not necessarily. Keep in mind that every visit to your website translates into bandwidth used, of which you have a monthly limit which you're paying for. Going beyond that limit can cost even more. If your website is intended to sell things, how many of those visits translate into sales? That's where your real focus should be. The conversion is what counts. Better to have 10 people visit your website and do what you want them to, than to have 100 do so and get nothing from it. If you're trying to sell advertising space on your website, a large stats number can help, but don't make the mistake of thinking that every visitor to the website really counts in any way that matters to you. Statistics let you measure, and that's good, but be sure to focus on measuring the success of your goals, and not just your supposed visibility. The U.P. Web Maestro Has Gone AwayWhile there's been some confusion due to our name change (to Marquette Web Maestro), and in the addition of a second location (Sylvania Web Maestro), your favorite fun-loving web guy is still plugging away. Granted, I've let my wife believe that we have moved to Ohio, but with one week spent in Marquette and three in Ohio, it's really a question of whether the glass is half full or half empty. I'm still at home in the Marquette area, and in my mind I just take a long trip South every month. The Marquette Web Maestro office is in the Masonic building on Washington Street (with the orange awning) in suite U12. Kenric is who you'll see holding down the fort most days. The timing of our move from Negaunee township to Marquette also contributed to some people's concern that we'd gone out of business, but the Negaunee location was always intended to be temporary. To those of you who already know this, my apologies for going through it again, but this is one myth that we hope most fervently to debunk. (We also apologize to our competitors who seem to have gotten their hopes up. Sorry guys.) Want to read more articles? Read previously published articles on our website's article archive.  Use LinkedIn EffectivelyGuest Article by Chris Brogan LinkedIn is the de facto online social network for business types. The thing is, lots of people are "on there" but aren't necessarily using it to the fullest. There are books out there about it, like I'm on LinkedIn–Now What??? and LinkedWorking: Generating Success on LinkedIn the Worlds Largest Professional Networking Website . Some of what I'm about to say complements these books' advice. Some of what I say is counter to the books, and/or might be against LinkedIn's requested best practices. But here are the ways I'm using LinkedIn right now, and why I think it's effective. Status UpdateI had no idea that people still used the status update in LinkedIn. Here's what NOT to do: link Twitter to it. People don't really want to read "@dogguy – Lol me too" on LinkedIn. Instead, craft business updates for business people over there. I've actually received two leads from status updates alone, so that's already paid for itself as a tactic. Link in Your Blog and Slideshare At the very least, import your blog and your SlideShare accounts in there. And for extra bonus material, make one of the slideshare decks that you share something that's both useful content and a lead generator for your business. I've found lots of value in that (six leads so far from a slide deck I uploaded a month ago or so). Join Some GroupsDon't immediately make a group. Join a few. There are some great groups in there. I've enjoyed them because it means I can connect with people in a forum area before linking to them. I also find myself hearing what's on people's minds so that I can adjust my own offerings and strategies accordingly. Finally, I can always offer some help. I'm spending maybe an hour in groups every three days. If I added more time to it, I might get more from it. Answer QuestionsWe all kind of know this one, right? If you sit around inside questions and answer ones that relate to your business, you can get some business. You might also ask questions in such a way that your company/product/whatever is the answer to the question. I mean, people see through that quite often, but you're always welcome to try. [read full article] About the author: Chris Brogan consults and speaks professionally with Fortune 100 and 500 companies like PepsiCo, General Motors, Microsoft, and more, on the future of business communications, and social software technologies. Miscellaneous Maestro MinutiaeThose of you with web hosting accounts with us will start seeing some new email notices. Currently, when you make a payment for a hosting renewal with a credit card or debit cart, you get a sales receipt after the fact. We've been working on our system, and you should now get notices 15 days before the renewal date that the payment will be drawn. You'll still get sales receipts, but this will let you have an advance reminder of the renewal. You will also get a notice when your card's expiration date is before the next due date.
That's it for today, thanks for reading! Please feel free to let me know what you find useful or what you'd like to see us cover in future issues. Sincerely, |
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Call 906-228-5887 or send an email gberg@companybgraphics.com for pricing and information! Web/Technology NewsRe-thinking the Internet with security and mobility in mindThe middle-aged Internet (ARPANET first went live more than 40 years ago) could easily slide into complacency, but the National Science Foundation (NSF) might be staving this off with four multimillion-dollar grants that the agency has recently awarded. The Future Internet Architecture (FIA) research projects are expected to re-think the network from the ground up, taking into account emerging security concerns, the demand for greater bandwidth and the growth of mobile devices. [read more] Apple Launches Ping, Social Network for MusicApple has launched what it's describing as a social network for music. Called Ping, the service will reside within the iTunes store software on PCs, iPhones, and iPod Touch devices, while employing vocabulary ("follow," "like," and "status update") popularized by social sites such as Facebook and Twitter. [read more] Paris Hilton busted by Twitter pic?It is not easy being Paris Hilton. You have to spend so much of your time focused on the "being Paris Hilton" part that it leaves very little time for much else. Like considering the state of the nation. Or remembering what pictures you tweeted a month ago. My fingers flicker with sympathy because Hilton seems to have got herself into a slight pickle. A slight pickle that might be less slight than her much-loved sex video. [read more] Nigerian scam tops list of decade's online consWe've all received e-mails from deposed Nigerian princes asking for help in getting lots of money out of their country. But that's just one of several scams that made Panda Security's list of the most frequent online cons of a decade. As 2010 starts to wind down, the security vendor on Thursday unveiled its rankings of the most widespread Internet scams from the past 10 years. Though the cons themselves may vary, the pattern is typically the same, according to Panda. Cybercriminals initially contact their victims through e-mail or a social network, asking them to respond back by e-mail, phone, fax, or some other means. The crooks will then try to gain the trust of anyone who swallows the bait, eventually finding some excuse to request money. [read more] FCC appears to delay Net neutrality rulesIn a blow to Net neutrality advocates, who were hoping for sweeping new rules as early as this month, federal regulators suggested Wednesday that they're delaying any action in the near future. The Federal Communications Commission said it will be conducting a "further inquiry" into the details of broadband regulation, including whether wireless networks should be exempted from strict Net neutrality rules, a concept that Google and Verizon recently endorsed. [read more] Boring Product, Great Ad: Tipp-Ex Channels Subservient ChickenEver watched a wild bear dancing to disco? Been longing to see a grizzly and a hunter fornicating in the woods? Thankfully now you can, courtesy of an interactive YouTube video campaign for European stationary brand Tipp-Ex, which recently launched in the U.K. [read more] Google Instant: Better but not revolutionized searchThe feature, announced a few weeks ago at a Google search event, had been known as streaming search since it was first noticed in the wild last month. Sometimes after a short pause, it retrieves results based on what you've typed as you type it, changing those results live as you add to the query. It's like Google's search suggest feature, which offers various ways to complete your search query—but on steroids. [read more] Microsoft legal punch may change botnet battles foreverWith court backing and a novel use of a civil procedure, Microsoft appears to be close to obliterating the Waledac spam botnet, changing the way online criminal operations are defeated. This would mean that the 276 Web domains deployed as Waledac command-and-control servers to provide instructions to thousands of infected computers would be forfeited to Microsoft, effectively shutting down the botnet for good. [read more] 'Social Network' weaves a complex Web (review)An early montage depicts it best. As Harvard students socialize and chatter in their dorm rooms, drink and dance at parties, and strive to scale the storied university's well-established social ladder, Zuckerberg is at his computer, building a predecessor to Facebook that let undergraduates click to rank the appearances of their fellow classmates based on pictures gleaned from online "face book" directories. He's hacking their lives with beer in hand, mischievously unmaking and remaking their social world as they know it: Loki at work. Due in theatres October 1st. [read more] Latest Blog Postsother places you can find us 
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