Back From Hawaii

December 2nd, 2008

Matthew

I just got back from vacation and I wanted to share a few pictures with you. This time around was about celebrities, the yard house happy hour, and snorkelling.  We came across another filming location of Lost at the tropical farms macadamia nut farm. This is their submarine at the ponds dock.

We happened to run into John Locke ( Terry O’Quinn )at Teds Bakery near sunset beach. He was getting coffee and was on a morning walk. He is a very nice guy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also drove by Dog the Bounty Hunters Office as they were filming. I decided to wait an hour to get a family picture with Dog and his sweet mullet for our Christmas Card but he was too cool for us. The entire cast of their show seemed liked they were to be busy for us little people. I was disappointed but maybe next year. I did take a picture of Tanner ( my oldest ) in front of their office.

The other famous sighting was Wally Amos ( famous amos ) he was having a meeting outside of a coffee house in Waikiki. I did not take a picture because my wife said I was the biggest nerd alive because I wanted a picture with the “cookie guy”. So I had to prove to her that I was not that nerdy.

$12.70 flight to London

November 2nd, 2008

Matthew

 Budget airline Ryanair plans to offer trans-Atlantic flights as cheap as 10 euros ($12.70) before taxes to several U.S. cities from Britain and Ireland, a company official said, according to a newspaper report Sunday.

The Irish airline wants to offer services from London’s Stansted and Dublin airports to New York, Florida, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary was quoted as saying in an interview with Britain’s News of the World tabloid.

Ryanair Holdings PLC spokeswoman Pauline McAlester said she could not confirm the plan before an official announcement Monday when the company’s half yearly results - expected to show a fall in profits as a result of slowing consumer demand - are announced.

“Economy class will be very cheap - around 10 euros. But our business class will be very expensive. There’s always 10-15 percent who’ll pay whatever it costs for a wide seat,” O’Leary was quoted as saying.

Last month, the airline closed a base in Valencia, ending 70 weekly flights to the city in southern Spain.

But O’Leary hopes Ryanair could snap up aircraft from struggling rivals to create a new trans-Atlantic service, the newspaper said.

“We’ll just have to keep flying more aircraft, opening up more routes and offering people more cheap flights,” he was quoted as saying.

Google Eye Tracking

October 22nd, 2008

Matthew

New EyeTracking Study verifies the importance of page position and rank in both Organic and PPC search results for visibility and click through.

A joint eye tracking study conducted by search marketing firms Enquiro and Did-it and eye tracking firm Eyetools has shown that the vast majority of eye tracking activity during a search happens in a triangle at the top of the search results page indicating that the areas of maximum interest create a “golden triangle.”

The first phase of the study was conducted with 50 people in Eyetools’ eye tracking lab in San Francisco, California and presented panel participants with 5 distinct scenarios that would require the use of a search engine. Google was used as the search engine in all of the instances.

Key Preliminary Findings of the Study included

The key location on Google for visibility as determined by the eye activity in the study is a triangle that extends from the top of the results over to the top of the first result, then down to a point on the left side at the bottom of the “above the fold” visible results. This key area was looked at by 100 percent of the participants. In the study, this was referred to as the “Golden Triangle”. Generally, this area appears to include top sponsored, top organic results and Google’s alternative results, including shopping, news or local suggestions.

Visibility dropped quickly with organic rankings, starting at a high of 100% for the top listing, dropping to 85% at the bottom of the “above the fold” listings, and then dropping dramatically below the fold from 50% at the top to 20% at the bottom.

Organic Ranking Visibility

(shown in a percentage of participants looking at a listing in this location)

Rank 1 – 100%
Rank 2 – 100%
Rank 3 – 100%
Rank 4 – 85%
Rank 5 – 60%
Rank 6 – 50%
Rank 7 – 50%
Rank 8 – 30%
Rank 9 – 30%
Rank 10 – 20%

Eye scan and click through behavior changes dramatically as users moved “below the fold” to the section of results that required scrolling down. At the top of the page, the amount of eye movement declined rapidly through the top 4 or 5 results, and then at the bottom of the screen, tends to become more consistent through to the end of the page.

In searches where top sponsored results are returned in addition to right sponsored ads, the top ads received much higher visibility, being seen by 80 to 100% of participants, as opposed to 10 to 50% of participants who looked at the side sponsored ads.

On side sponsored ads, the top ranked results received much more in the way of both eye activity and click through. About 50% of participants looked at the top ad, compared to only 10% who looked at ads in the 6, 7 or 8th location on the page.

Side sponsored ad visibility

(shown in percentage of participants looking at an ad in this location)

1 – 50%
2 – 40%
3 – 30%
4 – 20%
5 – 10%
6 – 10%
7 – 10%
8 – 10%

There seems to be a “F” shaped scan pattern, where the eye tends to travel vertically along the far left side of the results looking for visual cues (relevant words, brands, etc) and then scanning to the right if something caught the participant’s attention.

These results come from an initial analysis of the results and were presented during sessions at the Search Engine Strategies conference in New York. While interesting, the study’s main findings are still to come and will required detailed analysis of individual behavior patterns.

Did It’s Kevin Lee said, “At this point, we weren’t too surprised at what we’ve seen in the study. We suspected much of this to be true prior to conducting it. However, there is tremendous value in confirming these suspicions, especially in a way that’s so visually compelling. It also proves that our methodology will hold up for phase 2 of the research. On the sponsored search side, data indicates that it is the clear branding and visibility advantage offered by gaining top positions, especially Google’s top sponsored links. Unfortunately, these aren’t always presented with a search. Google is a little fickle in this regard.”

Enquiro’s Gord Hotchkiss added, “We see a marked difference in how people say they search and what they actually do. Previous research had indicated that people were considered searchers and spent some time before choosing a link. The past few studies we’ve done, this one included, shows that there’s a huge importance placed on where the eyeballs end up on the page. Clicks happen pretty quickly. It just shows that search marketing is a real estate game. It’s all about location, location, location.”

Eyetools’ CTO Greg Edwards also commented, “Eyetracking is the enabling tool that fills in the gaps to understand why people click or don’t click — by quantifying what people consider before the decision to click or leave is made, companies can start to better anticipate and design to satisfy people’s needs. Applying this in the search results arena enables companies to better plan their marketing communication and increase conversions.”

This research is ongoing and the phase 1 results are highly encouraging. After further analysis is done, the results will be made available to the public through white papers. Further findings will be announced as they become available.

Flash. SEO Friendly?

October 17th, 2008

Matthew

Adobe is teaming up with search engine powerhouses like Google and Yahoo to enhance search engine indexing of Adobe Flash content. Read the press release here.

This is an amazing step forward for web content writers and producers! Now it’ll be easier and faster to make engaging, interactive, rich web content and still leave it accessible to search engine crawling. These are the kinds of trends we look for when we research and develop marketing solutions for our clients–and you better believe this will impact the deliverables we provide.

Temecula Chamber Competes with Members

October 7th, 2008

Matthew

The Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce is drawing fire from those who design Web sites for running an advertisement that suggests the business group is getting into the same line of work.

An advertisement that appeared in the chamber’s September newsletter announced the nonprofit would offer a service to help businesses start their own Web sites.

“Starting in October, the (chamber) will provide quality web design and domain names at affordable prices!” the newsletter ad reads. “Get your ideal domain name and optimize your website!”

The ad mentions a Web site link for a massage business. The site appears to have been done by the chamber, which also mentions the cost for the Web service starts at $199.

Matthew Burlile, of 7 Day Web Design in Temecula, said he was shocked at the prospect of the chamber being a competitor.

“I feel they defrauded me in the sense that I’m paying them to help build my business and they decide to compete against me,” Burlile said Friday. “I’m paying a competitor a membership fee.”

Burlile said he’s been a chamber member for the past five years, paying dues of $300 annually.

Kurt Peck, of Peck Creative in Temecula, said Monday he’s probably not going to renew his chamber membership.

“(The chamber) should not be doing anything that’s competing with their membership,” Peck said.

Chamber Board of Directors Chairman Stanley Harter said the September ad’s appearance was premature. He said the board has not yet decided whether to offer Web design services.

Anything the chamber offered would be “very basic,” with clients in need of more services being referred to members who could help them, Harter, an attorney, said.

Harter added that the chamber is not seeking to compete with its members and only wants to help members’ businesses succeed.

But Josh Paul, of Alexander Paul Design Studios in Murrieta, said he’s concerned the basic services described by Harter will mirror what he does. The pricing for the basic Web design service by the chamber is about what he would charge, he said.

“Where they start is where I start now,” he said. If the chamber’s goal is to promote its businesses, “it seems like they would build a bridge between me and the companies that need Web sites.”

Burlile on Monday said the massage business Web site shows the chamber has produced at least one site.

“It’s interesting to see them backpedal now,” he said. “Hopefully, that’s a good sign.”

Chamber spokeswoman Emily Pulley said the massage Web site was just a prototype.

The Murrieta Chamber of Commerce does not offer Web design services.

Besides lacking the staff to create Web sites, chamber Chairman and CEO Rex Oliver said, “That’s not something we ever feel we should do, is compete with our members.”

Harter and other chamber officials will meet with the chamber’s Web design and graphic artist members behind closed doors Oct. 21. Harter said he hopes to get input from the members before taking the issue to the Board of Directors.

lightview

October 4th, 2008

Matthew

I came across a great option for galleries. Lightview:

Lightview was built to change the way you overlay content on a website.

  • Clean: Designed to compliment your content.
  • Fast: Smart image preloading.
  • Easy: Customizable without having to know CSS.
  • Rounded: Adjustable rounded corners, without PNGs.
  • Smart: Content resizes to always fit on your screen.
  • Slideshow: One button slideshow.
  • Works on all modern browsers.

Google Chrome

October 2nd, 2008

Matthew

After years of mounting speculations, Google has finally entered the browser war by releasing Google Chrome - a browser that combines minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the Web faster, safer and easier. Google Chrome which is still in beta is currently only available for Windows and a Mac version will be released within the next few months.

Google Chrome has received lots of attention in the Web design and development industry. It has become yet another browser for us to test our sites in, but given that it is based on the Webkit engine (same rendering engine used by Safari), most compliant sites will render perfectly. There are also several developer tools included in Google Chrome like the Web Inspector that allows you to view DOM elements and the JavaScript Debugger. If you are a Web designer or developer, it is worth checking Chrome’s FAQ for web developers.

It is still too early to forecast what share Google Chrome will have on the browser market, but statistics so far shows that it has been embraced by tech-savvy users only.

Adobe Creative Suite 4

September 23rd, 2008

Matthew

Adobe Systems Inc. plans to unveil the latest version of its flagship Web-publishing software Tuesday.

The new software, called Creative Suite 4, is intended to make it easier to design Web sites that combine different types of media, such as animation and live video. These features are becoming increasingly important as Web sites evolve from the text-filled pages and static images that dominated the Internet’s early days.

“It used to be that video on the Web was enough to make you say ‘Wow,’ ” says Johnny Loiacono, senior vice president of the Adobe business unit responsible for the software. “But now it takes richer and richer experiences to keep our attention.”

Creative Suite 4 is made up of 13 individual software products, including the San Jose, Calif., company’s Photoshop for photo editing, Dreamweaver for Web-site design, and InDesign for desktop publishing. The new software runs 20% to 50% faster than its predecessor, says Mr. Loiacono. The different products are also more integrated with one another so a designer can now work with a video made with Adobe’s Flash technology while using InDesign, a task that previously required separate software.

The new software will cost $1,699 to $2,499.

Businesses are increasingly buying or developing visually compelling software that employees or customers can access over the Web, says Jeffrey Hammond, an analyst at Forrester Research. As the line between Web design and software development blurs, Adobe faces increased competition from technology giants like Microsoft Corp., whose Silverlight video software competes with Flash.

8 Bad SEO Web Design Moves

September 23rd, 2008

Matthew

Some web sites receive hundreds or thousands of unique visitors a day, whilst others only get a handful or none. The reason is often because the web designers or Webmaster has built the site in one �really bad way’ or other. This can end up hindering the potential success of the web site. If you want to make sure your site is not a �traffic flop’ then here are some simple rules to follow.

Bad Move 1: Build the site using a frameset.

Framesets may save designers time but are bad news for search engines. They can struggle to follow links into the web site or read text on the page unless you use a no frames tag effectively. In addition to this, if an engine does keep a cache of a site with frames it will often pick up the individual frames/ pages and not the complete frameset. The downside of this is that you may lose your navigation for many of your pages, which is likely to turn visitors off. Whilst one or two partial fixes to framesets are out there, it’s still no wonder that many web site promoters still cry �Please No Frames�. For more information on why framesets can cause problems visit http://www.html-faq.com/htmlframes/

Bad Move 2: Build the site purely in flash.

Flash intros and web sites can be visually stunning, but at the same time they can be rather limiting when it comes to search engines. If your main site is all one flash site it will typically play in just one html page. Some search engines simply can’t read Flash and so your web site to them is just one relatively empty HTML page. If your competitors web site has 15 or 20 pages in HTML talking about their good sand services then they will have a big advantage on you. If you must have a Flash site for graphical reasons then it would be wise to budget for a separate HTML web site to have along side the Flash so your site content can be read and indexed by search engines.

Bad Move 3: Decide that graphics are more important than words

Be careful. As great as some images can be, try not to let designers convince you that you don’t need copy on your web site or that a few lines is enough. Only very occasionally is there ever an excuse to fill your web site with graphics at the expense of text. If the graphics look great, then match them with great copy. Sales copy is important to tell your audience why your goods and services are important. Search engines also like to index plenty of useful copy too. 250-500 words is a sensible starting guide for most pages or ½ of the amount you would place in a brochure. Text copy is important and will always be so make sure web site has some!

Bad Move 4: Leaving out the Meta tags

This is a bad move as Meta Tags are important to search engines. Clear and concise title tags should be written for every page reflecting what it contains. Avoid writing things like �Home’ or �welcome’ as it’s fairly meaningless. If you page is selling blue widgets then get �blue widgets’ in the title and keep the title to 10 words or less.

In addition to this create a well-written objective Meta description for each page, and list your Meta Keywords. These keywords should also reflect the content on your web page. Leaving these 3 things out, or doing them badly can be disastrous. The impact of Meta tags on rankings may vary from engine to engine, but without them your pages could be ignored. Most HTML editors allow you to easily insert Meta Tags into your web page and it only takes a few moments to add to a page. So there are no excuses. Make sure you have good Title tags, Meta Description and Meta Keyword tags on your pages today!

Bad Move 5: Use lots of JavaScript

Search engines have a few problems understanding JavaScript in pages. At the best of time they struggle with it, at worst they may even ignore it. On its own, it can be an unreliable way to make web site navigation. If you must use JavaScript for your navigation make sure you have some alternative ways to get to pages by using HTML text links at the bottom of the page. If you have a large amount of JavaScript think about linking to it as a separate JavaScript file.

Bad Move 6: Don’t have sites linking to yours

Unless you want your web site hidden from the outside world you want to be found right? Well search engines ideally find a new web site by following a link from another site. This happens when people link to you and this kind of underpins the Internet. By having sites link to you search engine crawlers will find your web site and you never need to submit your web site to the likes of Google. It is still the case that web sites that rank highly on Google and Yahoo for relatively competitive key phrases often have scores if not hundreds of web sites linking to them Google help to explain the importance of linking here http://www.google.com/technology/ . So �think links� and be sure to get your site listed in some quality web directories as part of the process.

Bad Move 7: Focus on submitting your web site to thousands of search engines and forget the ones that matter

Now and then you will see some companies attempting to promote this idea - often by using Bad Move 8! It is true that there are thousands of search engines but the highest volume of traffic comes from less than 10 major search engines. The logic of �If I get one hit a day off each of the 1000 mini search engines I’ll get a 1000 visitors a day� unfortunately in practice does not ring true. It is a fact that a huge volume of search engine traffic comes from a small handful of search engine: most notably the Google, Yahoo and Msn.

Bad Move 8: Using unsolicited/ Spam email

This may seem obvious that this is not the best way to promote your business but is always worth stating. If you’re in any doubt simply ask yourself: �Do I like getting Spam emails?� It’s common sense to avoid using techniques that annoy people or damage your brand. Using unsolicited email campaigns could result in complaints and at worst your ISP could ban you. If you want a successful email campaign it is advisable to target genuine opted in newsletter subscribers and to always offer an opt-out button in every email.

Have a successful website

September 23rd, 2008

Matthew

What makes any web site successful? What increases the number of your visitors, making them coming back again and again? The answer is simple - surely, web graphics on your web site! If you have a professional web design you may consider to have half the battle on the business battlefield! Bright and efficient graphics on your web pages will catch an eye, help to promote your business, serve as your visiting card and generally make the first impression about your business and its owners. The elements of graphics on your web site must be loaded simultaneously with the page and then be reflected properly in the web browser.

All the graphics elements should be placed in the same folder named IMG or images. Then the IMG folder is copied into the html-pages catalog. Now the person involved in professional web deisign and web development may think about how to implement the the image into the web pages. We use the attribute SRC to specify the location of the image resource. SRC stands for “source”. The value of the SRC attribute is the URL of the image you want to display on your page. In other words, the attribute SRC shows the file’s location. Here is how the syntax of a defined image should look like: <img src=”url” > where URL stands for image location (i.e. where the image is stored). However, besides this one, there are other attributes responsible for different additional features related to image placement on the web pages.

The ALIGN attribute serves to align the graphics on your web page. The attribute allows two values assigned - left and right. The value LEFT makes the web browser place an image on the left of the text as well as the value RIGHT allows to place the image on the right relative to the text. You should note that if the attribute ALIGN has already been used to align the text relative to the graphics on your specified page, you will not be allowed to set the parameters of text flow around the image. The attribute ALIGN allows to place the text between two graphical images. In this case the tags describing the image shall be placed over the text that is to be enclosed between them.

The ALT attribute helps to add comments that will be reflected if the web browser cannot load the graphics on your web page. The attributes WIDTH & HEIGHT help to assign the width and the height of the image you are placing. However, these attributes are not recommended to be used for the images in jpg format since an incorrect value assignment may result in deterioration of graphics quality. So before you insert any graphics on your web pages you should correct its parameters with the help of any graphics editor. If the while background of the page is not what you really want, you can put any graphical background on your page with the help of the attribute BACKGROUND of the tag <BODY>. Since the web browser automatically places the image copies the way they fill in the whole page, so the image you apply for your background may be done small in size.

You should remember that while creating a graphical background of your page you should use such images that provide interesting visual effects and at the same time that would not disturb your customers from reading the text itself. For example, placing a text on the page with tiger background would result in lost of interest to your content since the reading would be completely uncomfortable in this case. A good image being repeated multiple times looks “smooth”, without any seams or joints. Don’t forget to pay attention to the color and size of your font if you make a graphical background to achieve absolute easiness in reading. The attribute BORDER helps the designers to assign the frame’s size around the graphical image. Experienced web graphic designers recommend to use gif format for graphics web site elements such as menus and banners and for jpg format for full-color images. Anyway, whatever you apply, keep in mind the fact that you are creating your professional web design for your potential customers and your web site should be easy to use from the point of web graphic design and web development.

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