Although the sound was a bit troubling at times (which really was my only complaint) , we gained some valuable insight we wanted to share with you

Value of content – I really liked Lorelle VanFossen’s mindset when it comes to blogging with a purpose and bringing back the human element into blog posts. So often I’ve seen blog posts written just as a promotion vs focusing on your readers.  I’ve often wondered if people understood the true purpose of blogging – that yes, it can help you promote your ideas, products, services… but if your blog only contains PR … is that really going to hold the attention of your reader? It was so nice to hear another professional blogger state that blogging should be personal, thoughtful and focused towards your readers… not just what you want to promote.

Quick easy ways to blog -  Lorrella also discussed how WordPress has the capability of “scheduled” posting. A light bulb came on and realized how effective this can really be. Often times as bloggers, we run out of ideas or we don’t feel like writing. Then inspiration hits us and we feel like writing 2-3 blogs. With scheduled posting, this makes it easy as you can write several articles at a time, but leave them for future posts. This way you still get a chronological stream of content for your readers, but you write when the mood hits you.

Social Media Overkill - Merlin Mann kept me rolling with his quirky sense of humor about the internet.  In his presentation Something Something Social Media: The Overdue Minority Report …  he discusses how social media can be used in some not so good ways.  According to him social media is about describing our relationships with others in public, specifically on the internet.  Where social media can be cool in many ways, the downside is it can be overwhelming and even disrespectful at times.

I totally agree. Often I’ve seen companies and individuals create tons of profiles on various social medial profiles. Although this may sound ideal, I don’t see the point.  I  believed social media is only as effect as the effort you apply. What is the point of a profile with no personal activities? Would you ignore your customers if they walked into your restaurant? So why do you ignore them if they post on your profile?  Kind of like blogging – if the only post on your Facebook profile your specials and discounts without engaging your time with your friends…then it’s not social media. It’s self promotion.  People will see right through it. They know they are just being promoted.  I think it’s insulting for the visitor.

So you have to ask yourself the question…how much time do you have to spend to engage yourself? Between Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn… managing social media can take alot of effort. It’s enough to make you go mental.  In my personal opinion, before you dive into the world of social media… ask yourself  are you committed? Are you willing to reply to comments and actually LISTEN to your customers?   Are you willing to share with the world your personal message about your organization that’s outside of what is on sale for the day? Do you know your voice? You need to define yourself first, apply yourself,  be honest, respectful to others  and keep it going.

Global IP:  During our break we chatted with Jim Christian, lead SEO expert at Godaddy.com. Curious on how to obtain rankings in the US market for one of our clients, he mentioned how from what he understood Google is looking at the global IP. Some things you need to factor in is the location of the server. In addition,   there is a setting in Google Webmasters tools where you can select your Geo targeting. Although he did mention he was not sure about the reliability of this – it was another option.

1. Go to Google Webmasters Tools

2. Under Site Configuration—> Settings, find the Geo Target area.

3. To learn more about Geo Targeting visit Google Webmaster’s Geo Targeting information page.

Changes in Google: During our conversation with Jim, he did mention he’s heard Google will make some alterations in their servers which may impact rankings around Nov/Dec/ Jan……more to come about this topic…

These were tid bits of what we gained from this conference. Useful and absolutely worth the $30.00  You can watch hi-lights at WordCamp 2009 hilights sponsored by Godaddy.com

I’ve seen those little orange buttons, but what the heck is RSS? RSS or Rich Site Summary is a method to publish your current content in a stream of information. Originated in 1999 for netscape.com, it has gained widespread use in news related websites and web blogs. Created using XML coding, RSS gives users the ability to publish ongoing content which in turn can build loyalty.

So how do I manage all these feeds? There are many different software applications called RSS readers. An RSS reader is a method you can use to subscribe and orgnize your RSS feeds.  I’m a big fan of FeedDemon for the ease of management and functionality.

Pros:

• PC based application that will give me notifications of new feeds in a small pop up box.
• Internet browser contained in the application is the best. I can comment on blogs, reply to comments, check out new links all within the application.
• Real Time Watches to keep informed of different keyword type topics. For example, I have several watches in the areas of design, SEO, social media and of course my favorite gardening. I find this function really helpful to discover what people are saying on the web.
• In Feed Demon 3.0, there is an ability to configure your twitter account to keep informed of your friends postings. You can also reply using Feed Demon.
• I use the clipping folder often to save specific articles I want to research, comment, or blog about. This saves me lots of time as  i am able to check my feeds and file them when the time is right.
• New Integration with Google Reader: Since I’m not always at home to read my feeds, I like the fact I can also log into Google Reader, check my feeds and it still be updated in FeedDemon.

Cons:

• I have not found many cons about FeedDemon. The free version  of 3.0 does have annoying ads. But for $10.00 I could remove them. Right now they haven’t bothered me enough to make me want to purchase a licensed.

So who’s on my list? Here’s a list of some of my all time favorites.

Blogging:

• Copyblogger
• Men with Pens
• Problogger
• WordPress Development Blog

SEO

• SEO Book
• SEOmoz
• Search Engine Journal
• Search Engine Land

Google – I follow all the google blogs as who better to go to then the source!

• Google Analytics Blog
• Google Chrome
• Google Code
• Google Webmasters Central
• Google Website Optimizer
• The Official Google Blog

Social Media

• All Facebook
• Chris Brogen
• Facebook Blog
• Mashable
• Sociable Blog
• Twittip
• Twitter Blog

Design

• Design Reviver
• Smashing Magazine
• A List Apart
• CSS Beauty

So get subscribing and follow along with your favorite industry trends.

Kimberly at www.greenseedwebdesign.com

I recently started a new blog and after just a week I’ve seen visitors using 18 different browsers/versions of browsers. Did you know when all versions of all browsers are considered there are more than 50 potential browser programs someone landing on your site may be using.

I dare say my blog is like many other sites, 82% of all my traffic are using either IE or Firefox. What to do with the other 18% then? I’m showing Safari, Seamonkey, Mozilla, Opera, Chrome and others. The best way to check if your site appears ‘normally’ on most browsers (all is probably optimistic) is to run a check.

Browser Shots offers a free scan of your url, you can preselect all or some of the known browsers prior to running the scan. Results can take a while so brew some more coffee while you wait. When you get back you can see if your site by definition is due a serious overhaul or not. The older the site the more potential for that being the case, especially when you consider how many versions of each browser have been released over the years.

Again, the key to deciding what to do with your site is knowing where it stands in real terms. Hopefully checking browser views will help.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign

Check out Tweet Tabs – this very simple application allows you to filter tweets related to specific tabs you set up. For example if you want to see anything related to gold investment / precious metals – you can set up the your tabs and scroll through tweets that will pertain. I tried the tool this morning and the filtering while not perfect does make it easy to identify and then follow those who are discussing what you might be selling/marketing or simply interested in. I can use it daily!

Tim @ greenseed

This is the first suggestion in a series of ideas to improve your current web design. If your site isn’t performing as it should it’s critical to assess if navigation and other  improvements will provide a benefit or if you might be better starting fresh.

Modifying an existing site (especially as it ages) can often take more design/programming hours than just cleaning the slate and building something new and (importantly) contemporary. So…it’s best that you take the time to review what you have and make an educated decision.

Feedback Army have a solution that involves people (yes…real people) who will review the site and answer questions that you set! You can submit 3-6 questions (some examples are provided) and for a fee you will get responses specific to a review of your site. They advertise it as risk free so it’s a good place to start.

We’ll provide the same service for you at Green Seed Web Design if you have a site that needs a facelift, has poor navigation or perhaps a replacement completely. Our initial consultation will provide suggestions and recommendations and is free you contact us. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you’ve done the hard work of having someone arrive at your site it’s business suicide to have a site that doesn’t keep the visitor engaged.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign

The desire for profit and community online in 2009 has reached ever increasing heights. I won’t show the lack of tact to list them all but every combination of Micheal / Jackson / Death.com were seized within moments of his passing away. On facebook by late evening I counted over 60 groups with RIP, Missing, Goodbye Michael Jackson having sprung up in less than 6 hours. Membership levels on some of these groups was amazing. Naturally enough his official website was locked, assumed due to traffic.

In addition the news spread like wildfire via social networking, before even all the TV networks were on board. The point of my writing today is that the internet has replaced traditional modes of community to some extent, you might not know the person who lives 3 houses away from you but you probably have seen photos of all 4 kids of someone you knew back in junior high.

Strange times, it’d be healthy if news topics of more importance gained the same seismic impact but that’s another blog entirely.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com

This is where it gets messy. I’ve followed a few business twitters recently and am finding posts that might be interesting to a friend but a complete turn off to a prospective client.  For example, you are an experienced landscaper, and yet your tweets are as such:

• I cannot believe how nice the weather is again
• Had to skip Target the lines were too long
• Soccer practice at 8am for the kids…aaarrggghhh
• Stuck waiting for my new tires 45 mins now
• Such a hangover again today…
• Gas is $2.82 today…$2.60 a week ago I’m sure

All of these are true I’m sure, but where oh where does that help me (a client) decide that you (the landscaper) are marketing what you do (landscaping) to me? In a business sense Twitter needs to be your real time banner advertisement. Explain what you are working on, ideas you are having, reasons to follow your business, pricing specials, website updates etc.

Simply put – create a personal Twitter account for the ‘fun’ stuff and use your business one to best effect and market what you do. Add a feed to your website or facebook page and draw all these elements together.

We’re always glad to help you devise a social media campaign, don’t spin your wheels and jump in the deep end without determining a strategy.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com

With logos and banners getting the perfect font can be a trial of patience and ingenuity, but this website can get you that much nearer to the finish line in just a few clicks. Ideally if you can find an image of your font as close to 100 pixels as possible it will aid the program in working…I know…I’ve tried. I’m about to launch a new blog soon and was using album cover art to replicate certain text – this program came very close to a perfect solution. You can either upload a file (it’s best to photoshop the text you want to focus on) or provide a link.

The software then analyzes your font and provides suggestions (and a chance for you to type any corrections) if it misread your upload. The other thing that helps is adding more spacing between the letters to allow a better read.

This is one to bookmark – hope it helps you too.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com

Thisrank.com is a very easy to use and fast site that lets you at least have a feel for the strength of your site based on keywords. I analyzed 4 or 5 combinations and the results were all back within 5 seconds for three search engines. They offer a free subscription for a program that lets you track your ranking daily, weekly or however often you choose. The site is based around Google but considering 60% of all daily searches originate there it’s the best place to start.

The results look good, I checked back on 3 searches and the rankings were exact on all 3.  Please note, it won’t report data if you are not in the top 1000 sites found. If that’s the case…call us now !

Give it a spin and I hope your results are good, if not at least you aren’t in the dark.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com

Email has essentially been fairly dull now for over a decade, and Google proclaim Google Wave is going to be what email would look life if it was designed today. I have to admit that in itself is quite an enticing prospect. There is a lengthy video and more detail over at Google.

The new tool intends to combine e-mail, blogs, instant messaging, and wikis.  The root of all the changes is that email will now be a thread ~ and that creates entirely new parameters. Just think Facebook. This is cool also…it’s Open Source!

If you wrote a  message to your friends about an event (say a party)  with incomplete details…all recipients can join the wave, add ideas, or questions. Everyone sees the updates via the same document.

Promised Features include:

Google Wave highlights include:

• Real-time typing option, which makes each wave a potential venue for instant messaging
• Private messaging,  so certain people see only select parts of a wave
• “Playback” allows a new person on the wave’s to get current with the conversation
• Spell Checker from heaven….you have to see the video !
• Blog interaction/embedding

I’m sure learning a new email protocol might sound a bit daunting…but I for one am really excited. Let’s hope this wave breaks soon.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com