Sitepro Blog - Entries for category 'Web / Internet'

Save Yourself! Referrer Spam is on the Rise.

Martha Seroogy — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:55:00 -0500

Google Analytics is one of my favorite tools, and it can be really exciting when you get new referring sites in your reports, right? Well, not if they're stealing your code and faking traffic.

20 Years of the World Wide Web, 15 Years of Sitepro

Martha Seroogy — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:59:00 -0500

20 Years of the World Wide Web, 15 Years of Sitepro

On August 6, 1991, a service was made available to the public for the very first time: The World Wide Web. A mere 20 years later, there are over 25 billion web pages, 1 trillion unique web addresses and hundreds of millions of users!

Sitepro has been there for 15 of those 20 years, and we'd like you to help us celebrate!

Browser wars

Sitepro Staff — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 12:20:00 -0500

With the recent announcement of Internet Explorer 9, the discussion of which browser is the best seemed approprioate. For many people out there, Internet Explorer is the browser of choice if not simply because it came with their installation of Windows, and it's what they are familiar or comfortable with. Though many people have been flocking to the many other browsers out there. There are plenty of reasons for that too. Hopefully we can cover a few of those reasons here.

Building a Modern Website

Mitchell Schultz — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:59:00 -0500

In the early days of the internet before modern browsers, search engines and social networks the creation of a website was a much simpler process. With early versions of web technologies and lack of bandwidth website builders were limited in their ability to display pixel perfect designs and handle interactive functionality.

Ruby Camp at Sitepro

Sitepro Staff — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:45:00 -0500

On Saturday, February 13th, Sitepro was the proud host to the first ever Chippewa Valley Ruby Camp. Developers from all over the Chippewa Valley and even into Minnesota were in attendance.

Five Things Your Site Can Learn From TV

Adam Knight — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:07:00 -0500

As much as you might enjoy CSI or 30 Rock, it’s probably hard to see how those shows relate to your own web page. After all, they’ve got to create a compelling story in a short amount of time through a fast-moving visual medium. Nothing at all like the internet.

After you’ve washed off the sarcasm dripping from that last sentence, take a look at these five things web writers can learn from television – remember that TV has been pretty much the same for the last 60 years, they must be doing something right.

Sitepro Podcast Episode 7 - Building a Branded Multimedia Campaign. pt 4

Martin Cuccia-Nilsen — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:00:00 -0500

Episode 7 of the Sitepro Podcast is now available. The Sitepro Podcast was created to help educate clients and the community about various aspects of web, video and other multimedia content. This is the last of four episodes of the podcasts that focus on the the Grace Lutheran Foundation and all the multimedia work that Sitepro has produced for them. Be sure to subscribe to get all of the episodes of the Sitepro Podcast.

SEO Tips: Find Keyword Phrases to Target on Your Website

Jeff Gibson — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:08:00 -0500

Introduction:

In this blog post I will provide simple instructions for finding the right keywords to focus your SEO efforts on targeting. Search Engine Optimization or SEO is simply getting the search engines to give you high rankings for certain keyword phrases. Since ranking higher is directly related to getting more website traffic, everyone wants their website to rank higher in the search engines.

Social Media

Matt Haller — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:52:00 -0500

Common Factors of Social Media Success

Question: Don't you think its tough to measure social media?

Being a Leader in a New Global Economy

Matt Haller — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:45:00 -0500

"If you think you are a leader and no one is following you, you're actually just going for a walk"

- John Maxwell

One of the best quotes I have seen in a long while...

What does it really take to be a leader in this new global economy?

What is Bing.com?

Cleo Gilgenbach — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:28:00 -0500

Bing search service launched in early June by Microsoft. It is their version of Google. It is different because you can ask it questions, as opposed to Google, where you mainly search for just information. Bing is capable of answering questions; it is like a decision maker.

the Mobile Web - Part 2

Sitepro Staff — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:45:00 -0500

After spending a little more time with the mobile web, there's a bit more to be said about issues surrounding designing websites for the mobile browser. Differences in phone technology as well as new software technologies in development are changing the field of mobile web design. This post takes a look at some of those phone issues and new developments.

Widget Wizardry - Part 2

Adam Knight — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:12:00 -0500

Armed with a tag cloud and an RSS feed spitting your company’s insights into the twitterverse, you might think you’re good to go. Don’t. Like most things, there is always something else you can do to make your social media presence more effective. The first of these is a flickr widget.

Widget Wizardry - Part 1

Adam Knight — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:45:00 -0500

Continuing my series on company blogs, I’m now going to describe for you the myriad benefits that come from what MTV might call "Pimping Your Blog". These nifty techniques have nothing to do with the words you write, but rather how people see, interact, and (most importantly) broadcast them around the web.

Websites for the Mobile Web

Sitepro Staff — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:00:00 -0500

With the rise of the iPhone, Google Android, Palm, Blackberry and several other touch screen phones out there that are not only web enabled, but offer a browsing experience similar to the one we are familiar with on desktop computers, the need for mobile friendly websites is becoming greater. I've had several web enabled phones, but the most recent one I purchased has given me a much more fluid and intuitive web experience. It's shown me, though, that most websites aren't coded with mobile phones in mind.

What Makes A Website Successful?

Paul Her — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:18:00 -0500

We’re not going to focus on the design or the layout of a website, although we may mention some basic elements that will relate to the design, but more importantly, we’re focusing on how the website is structured so it can be successful.

There’s no question on arguing how a website can help you obtain a successful online presence and that it’s the most effective marketing strategy one can have as a designer or a company. A successful website should already have basic information where a site visitor can learn, identify and quickly understand how you can help. Essentially, a website provides a solution to a problem.

It's Official: Microsoft and Yahoo! team up to fight Google

Benjamin Stroinski — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 09:26:00 -0500

CNN Money is reporting that Microsoft and Yahoo have reached an agreement to integrate search technologies and share revenue in their ongoing battle for search supremacy. Both companies trail Google, who currently enjoys a 65% market share. Even though Microsoft attempted to purchase Yahoo last year, this is a somewhat surprising development in the world of search advertising.

Read on past the break for more details about this new deal!

YouTube Video 101

Keif Oss — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:03:00 -0500

5 years ago clients typically wanted videos in a format that they can easily hand out such as DVD or interactive CD. As a multimedia supplier, Sitepro.com was unique from other production companies in that we were streaming videos within client websites as well. While physical deliverables and inter-website distribution have still been a stronghold, more clients are inquiring about services like YouTube, Facebook and other social media applications.

While there are lots of other social video sites out there, YouTube has proven to be the top of the crop. Did you know that YouTube is the number one video site on the internet? Get this: It’s the 4^th largest internet destination in the world and the #2 search engine behind Google and before Yahoo…….just huge. Often clients ask me questions like :

"How can I get my Video on YouTube?"

"How can we create a Facebook account and put my videos in it?"

"We just want to make some simple videos and upload them. Where do we start?"

Follow this series, YouTube Video 101, to gain some insight on these questions as well as thoughts you may not have considered when developing videos for social media and website use.

Backing up your data - Part I

Tim Kiekhafer — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:06:00 -0500

"I've never had a hard drive crash on me." That is the phrase I kept using as an excuse to put off setting up a backup system for my home computers. That and the tons of space that I would need to fully backup my important data. Images, mp3s, videos, important files, etc., on multiple computer... oh the logistics! Well you can pretty much imagine what I'm going to say after the break...

Google Enters the OS Wars

Benjamin Stroinski — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:59:00 -0500

Not content with Chrome browser for desktop platforms and the Android OS on mobile devices, Google is planning to release Chrome OS later this year. Beyond that, it has plans to partner with hardware manufacturers to include the new OS as a standard install on netbooks.

According to the news posting on their blog, "Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we're already talking to partners about the project, and we'll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve."

Read Google's blog here, or read some additional thoughts about Google's Chrome OS after the break.

Top Five Pages Every Website Should Include

Kate Rafko — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:55:00 -0500

A successful website will stand out from the crowd; it features a unique design and interesting content. However, there are some pages that every website should include no matter what products or services are offered. Your site visitors will be looking for these...

Using Friendfeed to Automatically Post Your Blog Entries on Twitter

Jon Karna — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 04:46:00 -0500

Friendfeed is a feed aggregator that groups together updates from twitter, facebook, digg, youtube, your blog and much more. It can also publish entries from your friendfeed to twitter. This article shows you how to tap into that twitter publishing feature of friendfeed to automate the posting of your blog entries to twitter. Watch my screencast to create a seamless connectioin between your blog and your twitter account.

Why Live Chat On Your Website …

Jan Hilton Koepke — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:49:00 -0500

I recently read the article "3 Reasons You Need a Live Chat Agent For Your Website - Make Every Visitor Count" The article supports the mindset that if you own a website that provides a service you should incorporate Chat into the site.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words - True or False?

Kristen Cooley — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:34:00 -0500

Are pictures worth a thousand words? In regards to websites, most definitely true. Images are a very powerful way to convey many different things about you and your company. Images also add visual concrete evidence to back up text in your website. Studies have shown that our brains are more easily drawn to familiar real life objects than words. A good image captures attention, conveys emotion, and can even tell a story. Large, dominant images tell the viewer’s eye where to look first. Directing the viewer’s eye along a very specific path has been designed into the website.

Using Twitter To Promote

Paul Her — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:55:00 -0500

Hard economic time brings less people and traffic to you making you second guessing your advertising strategies. Don’t have to spend a dime if you don’t want to but how are you still going to drive traffic? How are you going to announce your next big thing without any advertisement?

Not All Browsers Are Created Equal

Tom Dzikowski — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:36:00 -0500

In providing Technical Support to Sitepro Customers I have noticed that at least 90% of customers use Internet Explorer to browse websites. Of course I realize the average computer user will use what is given to them, in the case of the Internet Explorer Browser it is pre-loaded onto all Microsoft Windows & Vista operating systems. Microsoft has done an admiral job in trying to keep Internet Explorer current with new versions that try to give their users a better web-surfing experience. But being the largest software producer in the world can make the process of getting out new versions of Internet Explorer a real production. Microsoft needs to issue a few Beta Versions before they can fully launch a new product that will securely function with all of the different versions of Microsoft’s operating systems.

Web Marketing 101

Steve Allingham — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:50:00 -0500

Web marketing is easy - put your web address on absolutely everything that will ever come in contact with a customer, prospective customer, or someone you hope may one day be a customer. Yet, how many times have you come across business advertising and marketing that omits a company's web address?

Go Viral: Office Depot and the Recession Aggression Bag

Benjamin Stroinski — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:03:00 -0500

If you spend any amount of time on sites like Hulu or YouTube, you may have come across this clever new ad targeting small business owners. Advertising the "Recession Aggression Bag," a phony bean-bag style product that a small business owner can physically abuse and verbally demean to feel better about the economy, the ad does no promotion of Office Depot until you visit the intriguing URL promoted at the end of the ad: thesurvivalofthesmartest.com.

Click past the break for the full video.

Sitepro CMS – Content Management System

Matthew Martin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:08:00 -0500

The Sitepro CMS allows you to quickly make updates to your sites WebPages without the need to contact a Sitepro representative. This saves you time, money, and allows you to keep your content fresh and relevant, important issues facing every competitive business. The best part is, the Sitepro CMS comes standard with each and every website we host.

Usability in Web Design

Paul Her — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:02:00 -0500

Usability testing determines the success (or failure) of a website. Site visitors click through the site with the mouse and decide what the next step should be. Whether your site is a product driven site and the main focus is to generate a profit through people buying things, or a content heavy site with just loads of information to educate or get a point across, all site owners have one purpose in mind and a single goal to accomplish, how will the site visitor interact with the web site and how they think.

Why Do I have a Business Website and How is it Doing? Part 4:
Taking Action-What Do I Do With All This Data?

Jeff Gibson — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:59:00 -0500

This is the final post in the four part series: Why do I Have a Business Website and How is it Doing? The first post expressed the importance of defining clear goals for your website, the second post showed you how to assign a dollar value to those website goals, the third post explained how to create Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) to measure the performance of these website goals, and this final post will show you how to organize and look at these KPI's to make real data-driven decisions.

Why call when you can Chat…..

Jan Hilton Koepke — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:35:00 -0500

So it comes down to competition - which team can produce the most informative blogs within a given time frame wins the pizza and the whole ..... well you get the picture. Obligation, arm twisting and team competitiveness wins every time and prompts the writing of this blog about Live Chat.

Firefox 3.5 First Impressions

Benjamin Stroinski — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:58:00 -0500

After months of release candidate testing, Mozilla released Firefox 3.5 just days ago. If you're a current Firefox user, upgrading is as easy as clicking Help>Check for Updates up there in the menu. And if you're on a different browser all together, you can download the Firefox installer here, or stick around to read more about some of Firefox 3.5's features and newfound speed past the break.

My Two Year Old Has a Better Chance of Reading Your Content…

Chris Landon — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:53:00 -0500

I was playing outside with my son Jacob this weekend, and made an interesting observation. He was running back and forth from the yard to the garage, pulling out a different toy each time. He'd take out the soccer net, and before I could get out the soccer ball he was on to the next toy. I'd come up with a game to play with the new toy, and he'd already be on to the next. It dawned upon me that the challenge of keeping his attention long enough to get into a game is the same challenge faced when trying to get website visitors to reach your targeted message.

Into the Future of Website Pixel Trends

Paul Her — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:37:00 -0500

Statistics are important data to business industries. However, statistics regarding browser display and the trend of advancing forward are important concepts to web designers and developers. As computer technology advances, the size of monitor screen is increasing; thus resulting in technology companies designing and developing sites at a wider scale. However, this opposes a problem for the general public, especially businesses and individuals who are still utilizing smaller monitor resolutions or viewing sites at the ancient resolution of 800x600 pixels.

Why Do I have a Business Website and How is it Doing? Part 3: Site-Assessment - How is My Website Actually Performing?

Jeff Gibson — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:23:00 -0500

Once you know what your website goals are and you have defined how much each goal is worth, the next step is to measure how well your business website is actually performing in getting visitors to complete the desired goals. To effectively measure your website performance, it is important to create and understand some Key Performance Indicators (KPI's).

Consider Paperless Billing

Cleo Gilgenbach — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:07:00 -0500

Take a few minutes and think of how many invoices a business receives every month. Telephone billings, utilities, and vendor bills are probably just examples of what you receive. Each invoice arrives in an envelope; each envelope contains an invoice, many include a return envelope for payment, which requires a check and also a stamp.

Flex Examples: Week 1

Matt King — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:02:00 -0500

Every week I'm going to highlight an example of Adobe Flex technology that I feel showcases the power of this program.

For those who don't know, Flex is an Adobe tool that generates Flash-based content. Whereas Flash began as an animation program that expanded into multimedia, Flex is geared towards generating business applications. Here on this blog I'll locate great uses of this outstanding program and provide links and information regarding their uses.

The inaugural example comes to us from Philips Electronics.

There's No Recession Online Presentation Video

Keif Oss — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:00:00 -0500

Recently Sitepro presented collaboratively with Lee Adelman from CURT Manufacturing at the 2009 Manufacturing Advantage Conference . The presentation, titled "There's No Recession Online", discusses CURT Manufacturing's success using online retail and company reseller sites coupled with engaging media. The company has experienced significant financial success despite manufacturing it's product in a declining market in addition to the current recession. This video featuring Lee Adelman (VP, E-commerce and Retail, CURT Mfg.), Mike Phillips (Owner, Sitepro), Keif Oss (Senior Producer, Sitepro Video), tells the strategy behind CURT's recent success. View this video and learn why "There's No recession Online".

Sitepro Developers Attend TCCFUG

Jon Karna — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:29:00 -0500

Last Thursday, a few Sitepro developers attended the Twin Cities Coldfusion User Group at University of St. Thomas. We were introduced to the future of Coldfusion, specifically Coldfusion 9. There was free admission, free food, free shirt, prizes, and an abundance of new Coldfusion features.

Just Point and Twit with TwitPic!

Josh Gore — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:14:00 -0500

Okay, I know that social media tools are flying at us faster than a teenager driving home with the latest version of "Halo", but this one's definitely worth taking a few moments to examine (and yes, this too is flying extremely fast).

Get Followed on Twitter!

Benjamin Stroinski — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:05:00 -0500

Regular readers and my colleagues know that I'm quite the Twitter junkie. It's been particularly great to use Twitter to speak in an open conversation with local businesses, get tips and news from design colleagues, get quick texts about upcoming area events, and even to send myself RSS feeds of great local shopping deals within a few minutes of being posted. I don't have a ton of followers, but that's ok - my goals for Twitter are mostly personal/professional communication, and to dialog in an interesting way with people I might not meet otherwise. Are you happy with who's following you?

So let's assume you've read the article I keep posting regarding 50 uses of Twitter for business (heck, why not browse all of our Twitter-related articles), and you've started your Twitter account. But what's this? No one will follow your tweets? What do you do? I have some suggestions about getting those elusive Twitter followers, so read on past the break to learn some simple ways you can encourage followers and gain that Twitter audience you crave!

NOW IS THE TIME - Start an Online Business TODAY!!

Kregg Knox (K2) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 06:00:00 -0500

As a whole society is cutting back on spending and focusing more on saving money. I'm sure you have all seen or heard the commercials for feedthepig.org.

Besides the mascot being outright scary, the site offers great information on how to pinch your pennies. With save instead of spend being on the top of people's mind, why is now the time to start up an online business?

Privacy and Social Networking

Benjamin Stroinski — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:24:00 -0500

Still not sold on facebook, twitter, linkedin, and similar web applications? The most common reason I hear from people as to why they won't try social networking is the loss of their privacy. Well, if that's all that's keeping you from connecting with friends, colleagues, and potential customers, I'm here to share some simple things you can do to participate and maintain whatever level of anonymity you choose!

Read on for ideas for guidelines you can set for yourself, and settings relevant to several of the more popular sites to keep your personal information private.

IE6 Holding Ground

Benjamin Stroinski — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 07:18:00 -0500

Love it or hate it, it looks like Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6 is stubbornly clinging to browser market share. According to recent stats published by StatOwl.com, IE6 still clings to a 3rd place share, or 18.23% of all web users. This month, Firefox 3 took over the 2nd place position with 18.58%, and IE7 remains firmly atop the chart with 43.51%. The case for continued IE6 compatability becomes even more interesting when looking at the usage trends for corporate entities: In this case, IE6 leads the pack with over 41% , followed by IE7 at around 39%.

Want to know why the continued survival of IE6 is such a big deal? Read on to learn how not all browsers are created equal, and why IE6 looks to be sticking around for a bit longer.

50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business

Benjamin Stroinski — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:37:00 -0500

Several weeks ago I posted an article about joining Twitter. If you haven't yet, give it a try! It takes just a few minutes, and can be adapted for a variety of different business purposes. Still not convinced? New Marketing Labs President Chris Brogan has written about 50 ways you can use Twitter as part of your business.

Check out the complete article here!

Sitepro Joins Twitter

Lauren Haugh — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:28:00 -0500

Sitepro recently joined Twitter where you can follow our latest news, events, and activities. Check us out at http://www.twitter.com/sitepro and become a follower! Give it a try and see how it can work for you or your company.

Have a voice? Use it! - The Language of Blogs.

Matt King — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:15:00 -0500

You could be forgiven for not jumping on board the blogging bandwagon. As someone in business, I'm sure you understand there's always an inherent risk involved when undertaking something new. But there's a real benefit in putting yourself out there for the world to see. Read more about it after the jump.

Browser Wars Revisited: Microsoft tells a different story

Benjamin Stroinski — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:58:00 -0500

Last week I discussed a ZD Net report that indicated Safari 4 was found to be the "world's fastest" browser, particularly at tasks involving rendering JavaScript. Microsoft has responded, completing their own study of IE 8, and now say that it's faster than both Chrome and Firefox. See more of their results after the break.

Twitter wants to know: What are you doing?

Benjamin Stroinski — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:16:00 -0500

Today's the day. Are you ready to get started with social networking? Let's start up your very own Twitter account! Click past the break to see how easy it is.

Safari 4: King of the (Browser) Jungle

Benjamin Stroinski — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:51:00 -0500

ZDNet News reported test results last week indicating Safari 4 is the fastest browser available, both on PC and Mac. While the data ultimately comes down to a matter of milliseconds, Safari still clocks in more than three times faster than Firefox 3 and more than five times faster than Internet Explorer 8 (release candidate 1).

These are results from a PC with a 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo:

1) Safari 4 (Total time: 910ms)
2) Mozilla Minefield 3.2a1 (1,136ms)
3) Google Chrome (1,177ms)
4) Firefox 3 (3,250ms)
5) Opera 9.6 (4,076ms)
6) Internet Explorer 8 (5,839ms)
7) Internet Explorer 7 (39,026ms)

Bottom line, this may or may not mean much to you. Everyone likes a browser for a particular reason. If you're up for a new flavor of Internet, why not give Safari a try? You can download it for free here.

Make It Interactive – Design for how People Use the Web!

Benjamin Stroinski — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:27:00 -0500

Since the Internet went mainstream a little over 10 years ago, having a website has been an important part of a business marketing plan. You operate a website to communicate your message to the rest of the world, to encourage purchases, or maybe even to sell products online. Your site exists for visitors to visit, read everything they want to know, and then become a customer. It’s that simple, right?

Not exactly. A website must go beyond one-way communication, meet definable customer needs, and achieve company goals. Most websites are too wordy, asking viewers to read the site like a book instead of finding ways to use the site as an interactive branch of the business. Text-heavy sites are built with the incorrect assumption that visitors will patiently click one page after another and read every word, eventually finding what it is they are looking for. These sites fall short of quickly directing visitors to critical information, and fail to encourage an actionable goal out of their visitors. Read past the break to learn how your site can avoid the same fate.

Increase Sales & Customer Loyalty with Niche Social Networks

Kregg Knox (K2) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:18:00 -0500

Social networking has quickly become an integral part of everyday life. The use of social networking is not simply restricted to today's youth, but spans all ages. It was revolutionary when e-mail became mainstream many years ago. The idea that you could send a message and the recipient could read that message within seconds was groundbreaking. Social networking sites are the evolution of that: communication and community building using the power of the internet. Read on to discover more about this ongoing trend.

Top Five Advantages of CMS

Lauren Haugh — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:34:00 -0500

A Content Management System (CMS) is computer software that allows the user to easily create, edit, and manage website content in an organized, consistent fashion. Not all CMS are created equal. Some allow more control than others and are developed differently. But, all in all, CMS definitely provide website owners with some serious advantages.