Celebrating Colors from the Psychedelic 60′s to Today
Does your website pop? One of the easiest ways to make any website design look fresh and up-to-date is to make sure its color scheme instinctively influences the visitor’s first impression!
Color Styles and Moods from the Ages
Here’s a great infographic from Pantone that takes us through a fun journey of color trends – from the psychedelic 60′s to today – that can help give you some ideas for your website’s graphic design color palette.
Read full article: http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone.aspx?pg=21111&ca=90
The Future of the Web. HTML5 and CSS3
Tweaking in development
We have to wake up and realize that full cross-browser support of new technologies is just not going to happen anytime soon or maybe never. Some users will still be using older browsers; while some users will be having strange view port sizes and some will not have the necessary plugins installed in their machines.
We should find new technologies and adapt to them.
Amazing How Quickly The Internet Has Changed Our Lives!
Great classic video with our fellow Florida gal Katie Couric and the Today Show gang back in 1994.
Katie – “the internet… is becoming quite big now”.
Bryant Gumble: “what do you do, write to it like mail??
Who else remembers those days of doing research using “books” and “card catalogs” ? Simply amazing just how young the Internet is.
via Amazing How Quickly The Internet Has Changed Our Lives!.
New WordPress 3.6 Launching April 29th
Full-width Website Fans Take Notice!
For “full-width” website fans (like me) who are looking for creative and flexible combinations of post format colors, the new WordPress Twenty-Thirteen theme is a big improvement. Scheduled to ship with the upcoming WordPress 3.6 release on April 29th, WordPress 3.6 presents a focus on blogging, great support for post formats, and is device responsive.
New WordPress Twenty Thirteen Launching – View Demo
Mark Jaquith introduced the new theme on make.wordpress.org and writes:
“What you’ll notice first is the colors. Way more use of color than a bundled WordPress theme has had before. Each post format has its own color, so each is distinct, yet they are all complimentary. The bold colors encourage authors to try out all the different formats. This color extends the full width of the window, which breaks your blog up into a lush, segmented timeline. This effect is even more pronounced on mobile browsers, where the screen can be dominated by one or two posts at a time, in all of their chromatic fullness.
“On closer inspection, you’ll notice details, like the font-based icons (“Genericons”, by @joen ) that scale up to any resolution or zoom level and can be easily recolored using CSS.
“Twenty Thirteen really prefers a single column layout. Widgets live best in the footer, where jQuery Masonry bricks them together (but it supports a sidebar, if you really insist). Header images have a fixed width and height, and will be cropped at smaller resolutions, so the best choice is an artistic header where not 100% needs to be shown all the time (it ships with three).”
WordPress Just Keeps Getting Better
Every single update makes the software better. Twenty Thirteen is only available for use with version 3.6. If you want to use the new Theme on your site, you will need to upgrade.
Facebook Can’t be the “End All, Be All” of a Marketing Plan
Puppies! Kittens! Babies! FOOD!! ♥☺
We all know that Facebook is fun, and a great tool, but should you use it exclusively for your business website? In most cases, businesses that use a Facebook page as their primary online presence are potentially setting themselves up for disillusionment – or worse.
Think about this: With a website or a blog you own the domain and content, you have creative control – after all, it’s your companies’ online hub. Your social media channels can compliment your website by engaging prospects and driving traffic to your websites’ home base.
Here’s some points to think about if your business is using Facebook exclusively:
- Not everyone uses social media. With a properly optimized business website all prospects can find you, whether they use social media or not.
- Competitors’ advertising – this is a BIGGIE: As you might have noticed, Facebook has more and more advertising. Those ads compete with your own short-lived posts and messages for your visitors’ attention. Your website will always compete with other websites for visitors, but on Facebook you’re competing within the same space.
- You’re relying on a third-party – you don’t own your page. With all Facebook’s changes in recent years, many businesses have either lost content and/or formatting, or have had to start all over. If Facebook goes down or deactivates your page, you would have no web presence at all. When you create content and information on your own website you maintain reliable, creative control. No hand slapping!
- Limits creativity. With your own website you can create a great user experience that you completely control. You can add a blog, develop an email list, engage visitors, and start building your customer base. Facebook pages are limited to promoting your website and building visitors and brand awareness.
- It takes a LOT of time with few rewards. Setting up a Facebook page does not mean people will automatically follow you, and when they do, are they really quality leads? Maintaining an engaging Facebook page takes time, resources, and energy. Only 30% of your posts are appear in the newsfeed of the people who like your Facebook page. In order to get more views, you have to use Facebook’s “boosted posts”.
Likes, Pins, and Tweets – oh my?
According to a consumer online buying behavior study from Incyte Group/Get Satisfaction:
“… real value for your brand doesn’t come through Likes, Pins or Tweets. It comes down to engaging customers to create lasting relationships built on relevant information, which can only be accomplished via a branded customer community on a company website. When customers look to part with their hard earned cash, they want to do so with brands they know and trust, not companies that repeatedly spam them on Facebook or Twitter.”
The study found that:
- In spite of $3 million+ spent by U.S. marketers on Facebook pages, consumers still prefer company websites, visit company websites more than company brand pages, and would prefer to learn about companies from friends, not ads.
- 70% of visitors to social networking sites are there for social reasons. Only 12% go to interact with brands.
- Consumers nearing the end of their buying cycle – those looking for info to make a buying decision – overwhelming look to brand websites. (89% vs. 21% who choose social networks.) Similar findings were reported for consumers in earlier phases of their buying process.
Who’s Your Designated Driver?
A company’s website is the preferred place to research products and find information that leads to purchasing decisions. If you don’t have a website for your business, think hard about contacting a professional web designer and get one going soon.
DO use Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest to perk interest, gain followers, and drive extra traffic to your company website. It’s a much better long term strategy and will help you grow your business.
It’s my birthday – back to the land of the living!
It’s my birthday Sunday. I’m sitting here playing around in social-media-land, gearing up to “keeping away from the computer” for the weekend and plan to simply shine my face to the sun.
So in preparation for a smoothe landing, I looked up my Aries horoscope and ran across the excerpt below… so I’m “pacing” myself now.
- Could that be a silly mistake?
- And is it plain to see?
- Should I use my weapons?
- Is anything dangling by a mere thread??
Ahhhhhh!!! {unexpected outburst}
The Week Ahead for Aries:
Wow!
Hallelujah! The sun exits the twelfth house bringing you into the land of the living, or more truly, into the light. What might well have been shrouded in mystery could be plain to see, and you will no longer be consumed by doubts. You are beginning to get back your power and your determination, although whether you should use your weapons just yet is debatable.
On Friday Mars hooks up to unpredictable Uranus increasing the potential for silly mistakes and unexpected outbursts. While this could prove to be an exciting and rewarding week, if anything is dangling by a mere thread it may not last much longer. Therefore, pace yourself and don’t light the touch-paper. – astrolutely.com
I’m just going to go sit in the sun and read my book.
Happy Birthday to all my March peeps… may the Sun shine on your face 
Simple WordPress Website Conversion: Like Night & Day
I was approached by new client who decided his ‘website tonight’ wasn’t as flexible as he wished and wanted a website re-design and content management solution at a great price while keeping it simple. He just wanted a good, solid SEO-friendly website he could update himself without all the social sharing “fluff”.
Difference is like Night and Day
As “luck” (ha!) would have it, I had the perfect WordPress package for him – and the difference and functionality he gained is like “night and day”. With a nice, clean and simple look, a jQuery projects gallery, custom contact form with uploadable files area, and testimonials, he couldn’t be happier.
Yay! Mission accomplished: Before and After screenshots:
My WordPress website package is designed for small businesses in the NE and North Central Florida areas who want a website they can update themselves, and have it up-and-running quickly and affordably.
Social sharing “fluff” included
New WordPress Website: Fishing for Florida Anglers!
Congratulations to Captain Dean of Bass Professional Guide Service in Fruitland Park, Florida on his new One Cast Away website launch! We took his old, static website and “reignited its engine” with the latest version of the WordPress 3.5 framework, a custom website design to reflect his company brand – not to mention a blog, and added lots of great functionality and social sharing opportunities.
But wait… there’s more…!
The 2012 theme for WordPress is a fully responsive theme that looks great on any device. So now all you mobile anglers can easily connect and share with Cap’n Dean – even while you’re fishing on one of Florida’s beautiful lakes! (Anglers: be sure to subscribe!)
“Bass Professional Guide Service has been assisting anglers ply the waters of Stick Marsh in Fellsmere and other prime Central Florida bass fishing lakes in search of huge Florida strain largemouth bass.”
Custom Website Design and Development for One Cast Way using WordPress 3.5.1 Framework – by Bright Green Path Web Solutions
Visit our website and contact us about reigniting your website’s engine with a new WordPress custom website and quickly start updating your own website and develop quality contacts and leads. Twenty Twelve is an elegant, readable, and fully responsive theme that makes your site content look its best on any device.
You know you want to get started with WordPress…But!
You know you want to get started updating your own website with WordPress but are wondering… how do I get it setup the right way?
FTP? Installation, downloading, configuration?? Help!
You just want it to look great and have someone handle the technical details of installation so you can get on the right path to start writing and engaging with your audience. If so, then my WordPress Starter Website Package is ideal for you and your small business. You can quickly start updating your own website and develop quality contacts and leads.
WordPress is now the most popular and versatile content management system around. That means you have total control over your website. You can edit, create pages, move things around, add images, client testimonials, products, services, menus, videos and much more, all yourself. And it doesn’t matter if you’re not too “tech-savvy” – WordPress is easy to use and we provide the training, support, and hosting you need to become your own webmaster in no time at all.
hmmm… prefer to convert your existing Website to an entirely new WordPress website you can update yourself?
We’d love to convert your existing Website to a dynamic WordPress website and blog with your branding, look and feel, adding the latest functionality, social media, and visitor engagement opportunities. WordPress started as just a blogging system, but has evolved to be used as full content management system and so much more through the thousands of plugins, widgets, and themes, WordPress is limited only by your imagination.
Checkout all the goodies included and start developing leads and engaging with your online friends and associates in 2013!
Custom Web Design Fresh Start Package Special
Greetings Ocala and North Central Florida Business Owners!
Looking for a fresh start for 2013? I’ve put together a special budget-friendly website design package ideal for local Ocala and surrounding Florida area businesses that would like a unique, professional website within an affordable budget that can be found in the search engines.
Maybe your current Ocala Website a totally Flash site or “Free” business Website?
Search engines are heavily dependant on picking up text rather than images and hence the problem of them not being able to “read” Flash Sites. We can convert your Flash site to a beautiful and functional HTML website that is search engine friendly. Perhaps you decided to take advantage of a “free” website and are ready to take your business to the next level.
For a brand new website, SEO can help you analyze what competitors are doing to make their site a success. Insights from competitor analyses can give ideas on things to include (and avoid) during your website design. Keyword research helps you determine what your target audience is searching for and help you create a framework for relevant content on your site.
Save Money and Be Found ~ Find out More!
