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Author: Todd Day

Home >> Articles posted by Todd Day (Page 3)

Author: Todd Day

New Year: New Website?

Most business owners are not aware that their website needs to be updated often. I don't necessarily mean a full-on reboot every 30 days but at the very least you should be adding new content, updating images and WRITING A BLOG. So why is this important? First of all lets look at it from a user standpoint. We all love new .. new clothes, new car, new job, new year. It's in our DNA to constantly be changing and evolving. We get bored quickly with the same old routine ("peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch again?"). When a frequent visitor to your site sees the exact same content every time they land on a page they will eventually grow bored and move on. It's human nature. Next there's the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) part of the equation. The complex algorithms used by Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc return search results based on parameters such as the number of times certain keywords in your search text match in a website's content. For instance, if you go to Google and type in "where can I buy bananas?" the results are likely going to include local grocery stores and farmers markets because they are selling bananas and the word "bananas" appears in their content multiple times. If I wrote a blog post and included one sentence that said, "Boy do I love bananas" it would likely be waaaay down in the results. Probably not on the first 20 - 30 pages. Or more. Those pesky algorithms at work!! So how do you make the algorithms work for you? Content, content, content. Those pesky algorithms also look for new content in established sites. Content that changes and refreshes. Relative content. If every 30 days you write a blog post that touches on your business and includes lots of rich keywords, Google is going to notice. The more you do this the more Google notices. It's an organic process that builds on itself. If you don't have a blog I highly recommend you start one now!! If your site is built on the Wordpress platform you only need to simply start writing blog posts and publishing them so that they appear on your site. If you have an older site or one that is a static, custom coded site, you can create a blog at Wordpress.com or have your developer create a blog with Wordpress.org…

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Merry Christmas!

All of us at Todd Day Graphics would like to take a moment to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year. May we all come to know peace in our hearts and prosperity and stability in our daily lives and business.  

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Why does my business need a website anyway?

  • Todd Day
  • blog, Website Design
  • 14 November 2016
  • Comments Off on Why does my business need a website anyway?

Believe it or not that's one of the most frequent questions I get from potential clients (and sometimes even existing clients). A lot of business owners, especially those of a more "mature" age and from a more old-fashioned way of doing business, tend to stay stuck in the "yellow pages" mentality of business promotion. And for good reason, after all, at one time the Yellow Pages were the premier forum for advertising a business. Particularly a small business. Those days are long gone my friend. When a young couple are trying to decide where they are going to eat dinner on "date night" they are no longer digging out the Yellow Pages and flipping through endless pages of Restaurants. They probably will not even consult their town's local "entertainment and nightlife" publication.. you know the ones that you find in racks outside restaurants and bars. Their first stop will be an online search. That search might begin with Google, Bing or Yahoo. Or maybe they'll start with one of the many popular apps like Yelp, Urban Spoon, etc. If you are a restaurant owner without a website they won't find you. That scenario applies to any type business. Online searches are now the norm when looking for a restaurant, plumber, electrician, babysitter, piano teacher, hotel or even a band to book for your nephew's 21st birthday party. Many business owners make the mistake of thinking they can't afford a quality website. A quality website does not have to have a dozen pages, endless graphics and E-Commerce. You simply want to get noticed. Your name and logo, location, services offered and contact information are the building blocks and from there the possibilities are endless. If you are the hands-on type you are in luck. You can take charge and purchase everything you need to design your own site and get online fast .. right here from our website! If that seems like an enormous headache we can take over and design a site for you!! Let's get started getting you noticed!!

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First site utilizing WordPress

We are pleased to show off the first site that we have developed using the award winning Wordpress.org platform. http://thedentalbusiness.com The Dental Business is one of our longest running clients. Over the years we have done many site redesigns and refreshes as they like to keep their content fresh and up to date. We made the decision to use Wordpress for their latest reboot after much research and sterling testimonials from some very trusted business associates. We hope you love the new site as much as we (and they) do. Feel free to leave us some kudos!! We appreciate your feedback.

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To Tweet or not to Tweet, that is the question..

  • Todd Day
  • blog, Social Media
  • 22 June 2016
  • Comments Off on To Tweet or not to Tweet, that is the question..

"Should I use Social Media for my business?" That's a question most web designers will hear from their clients. Especially if said client is a new business owner or never had any sort of web presence even if they are established. While many people may look at Social Media as simply "fluff" or "entertainment" when it comes to promoting a business the value is immeasurable and the sky is the limit! The simple fact is that these days many potential customers/clients use Social Media as their starting point, jumping off point or pipeline to the rest of the web. If you're already perusing Facebook and suddenly remember that you wanted to find a good garage organizer, why not start with the search bar in Facebook to begin with? That's exactly what most people do, especially young people. Make no mistake though, once they find the Facebook page of a company that looks promising they will usually click through to the actual website to get more information. Used in this way your website and Social Media pages can work together to bring you business. Think of Social Media as a funnel for your web traffic. A quick peek at the Google Analytics page for a successful company will show the amount of web traffic that originates from Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin or Instagram is astounding. Setting up a business Facebook page should be a natural compliment to your fantastic website. Need help? We can do that too! Contact us today!!  

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More than one way to skin a cat (with apologies to my Scooter)

First of all apologies to my cat of 15 years, Scooter. The title above is obviously in jest .. a saying my parents and grandparents used to use whenever they had a particularly unique or personal way of doing something. My grandparents were all farmers, and if there is anyone who knows how to improvise and figure things out on the fly, it’s a farmer. That sort of goes for web developers too. I’m knee deep in a brand new site for a charity golf tournament. To see my work go here: http://www.friendsforlawson.com. I have a photo page that is .. well .. full of photos. But at the moment they are in a sort of linear, straight down the page format. Somewhat jumbled in size as well. I did this because honestly I was in a hurry to get the site live and didn’t want to spend hours (days?) formatting a slideshow or gallery. But now the site has been live for about a week and I’m largely unsatisfied with the look of the photo page. What to do? The choices are pretty varied and somewhat predictable. There is the good old standard slideshow. The kind where the user clicks a thumbnail to change the featured picture. Or the kind where the user clicks a “next” button or arrow to change the featured picture. There is the “mouseover” option where there is a page of thumbnails and a simple hover of the mouse enlarges the thumbnail or even changes the feature picture. Also don’t forget a simple fading slideshow. The user doesn’t get much interaction with these, though. I’m not a fan myself. Most of the above shows are formatted using some form of javascript or jquery. There is also Flash to consider but since all indications are that Flash is going away, or at the least deprecating, then I think I will avoid it at this time. So where does that leave me? I think perhaps the easiest one to create and easiest for the average user to navigate is a simple page of thumbnails that are larger in size than a typical slideshow. Large enough to get a good look at the picture but small enough to make you want to see the picture larger or in its original size. A simple guide/hint at the top of the page tells the viewer to click each thumbnail to…

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QR Codes .. next big thing or next big bust?

If you spend any time perusing traditional forms of media such as newspapers and magazines you've surely seen QR Codes popping up everywhere. They're even showing up on grocery store shelves and product packaging! QR codes are those square icon looking images that sort of resemble a thumbprint ... a digital squared off thumbprint. QR Codes are simply links. With the proper tool (app) on your mobile device you can scan the image and your device will instantly open a linked file/image/website in your default browser. It's basically adding clickable links to static, real-life objects! So what's the big deal? QR Codes give you instant access to additional information about a product or advertisement. A sort of "Read More" that can be applied almost anywhere to anything. Think of the possibilities of adding these links to your own product advertising, materials, media and packaging. The sky's the limit! Need help implementing a QR Code campaign or strategies? Let us help. Ask us how now!! ~Todd

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Happy New Year!!

2011!! It's kind of scary saying that word. Wasn't it just 1998 and everyone was talking about CSS and what was the next iteration of CSS going to look like? Oh wait .. developer talk. I digress .. We hope your New Year is off to the best of starts and don't forget the champagne!!   ~Todd

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Merry Christmas from Todd Day Graphics!

How did it get to be Christmas already? Time is flying. We are spending our first Christmas in our new home. What a contrast from past Christmas times. We have more room for more decorations and a bigger tree and even though we really are still not completely settled we definitely know we are now HOME. The house is beautiful and my wife's knack for decorating is really making the season especially fun and joyous for me. What's your wish for Christmas this year? Peace on Earth is always a good one for me!! Merry Christmas Everyone!! ~todd

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One page what?

One of the frequent reasons potential clients say they don't have a website is that they "can't afford to pay for all those pages." What they mean is that many website design/development firms charge by the page. Or at the least they charge an upfront fee then more for each page added to the site. To be fair this is pretty common practice and at Todd Day Graphics we have structure that also takes into account the size of the proposed project. So what are you to do if you need a great looking functional website but can't afford 10-12 pages of content? Or maybe you don't even HAVE 10-12 pages of content to offer? The answer: One Page Sites. One Page Websites are trendy this year and for good reason. You can say a lot with a little (the old "less is more" principal) if you do it right. One designer refers to One Page Websites as "digital business cards." That's a great analogy. If you need a great website but don't have a lot to offer in content at the moment, why not let us build you a great looking and great performing One Page Website? Let's get started!! Contact us Here..

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