April 8, 2010

Proud Alumni of DECA

Posted by Dani

Back in high school I proudly counted myself among the “DECA Dorks” (as we called ourselves). Every week we had a meeting to discuss how we could better promote DECA. We’d float ideas on how to get our classmates and the community involved. I was our chapter’s historian and the regional entertainment director. We also started a coffee shop in our school for which I served as the promoter. While in DECA I traveled to Florida to attend a sports and entertainment conference, where Disneyland and Universal Studios shared their marketing plans (we also got to ride the rides!). In DECA we used a purple cow to promote our chapter, the idea being you see many cows in a pasture but you’ll notice the purple one! I did many things in DECA including competing the regional and state competitions.

What I’m getting at is that because of this program at my high school I was exposed to many business situations and its helped me build my web design business today. I’m more confident, more business savvy, and have a wider understanding of different aspects of professional situations. Now that I’m out of high school I still go back and help judge competitions.

I wanted to share this with everyone that visits my blog in hopes that someone reads it and will help DECA this month try and snag the Pepsi Refresh Project. Pepsi will give the winner of the competition $250k to help their program.

Thanks everyone for taking time to read this blog and I hope you vote today! I promise my next article will be about more helpful tips for your online business!

To read more about what DECA does please go here and to read more about their Pepsi Refresh Project please go here.

January 14, 2010

< < Back It Up ^ ^

Posted by Dani

We’re all guilty of it. One day your computer is running fine and the next day you’re waiting in line at Geek Squad hoping they can recover the work you never got around to backing up. Lucky for us there are quick and easy ways to back up our files. This can become a very important tool. The last thing you want to do is lose all the files important to your business. Here are just two of the many backup options available.

dropbox

I’m so bad about backing up my work that I needed to find a solution that did it for me without me noticing. Low and behold there’s just such a program available! Dropbox is an online file backup system that syncs the files on your computer with those you’ve uploaded to the website and with other computers you give access to. Simply drop your files into the My Dropbox folder on your drive and as long as you have an internet connection it will automatically update the files in its database. Presto save-o!

What they offer:

  • 2GB - Free
  • 50GB - $9.99/month
  • 100GB - $19.99/month

timecap

Macs have a fun little program called Time Machine. You can hook it up to one of their nifty Time Capsules and everything is backed up for you through wifi.

What they offer:

  • 1TB - $299
  • 2TB - $499

Those are just two options available. CNET has some great reviews of various backup systems you can check out here. What do you back your files up with? Let us know below!

January 7, 2010

A slice of lime with your update?

Posted by Dani

Now a days having a CMS is all the rage. Static websites are a thing of the past. So you don’t know HTML…so what?! Not a clue what PHP means, no problem! A CMS makes updating a website as easy as writing an email, **in most cases. The only problem now is choosing one. Today we will go over a few different systems and how they work.

To begin with, there are more systems than the ones listed here and it is recommended you do your own research to determine what will work best for your site.

Pagelime.com offers an amazingly simple set up and a great update system. I’m particularly fond of the way you can update online from their site. I would recommend having a web pro set it up for you because it requires some coding to get started. The great part is that to make your site compatible with Pagelime you simply add a small line of code to the areas you wish to update often. The editable areas require a Div ID tag to work correctly, which any web designer can add in for you if your site does not have them in the desired areas. You get space for up to 3 sites free. If you want more sites you can upgrade to a paid package.

Wordpress is mainly a blog, but for small sites can be a wonderful content management system. There are tons of free and paid templates available, many designers are familiar with is, and its what this blog is running. It can be used as a CMS or can integrate nicely with your site as just a blog. It also has a ton of plugins and wide support community. You will need a web designer to integrate this into an existing website for you. But if you are creating a site from scratch you can, with some patience, get this up and running on your own. Wordpress can be downloaded for free or can be hosted on their .com site.

Drupal is definitely one of the leading CMSs out there. Built more for developers than the average business owner, you will want to have a web designer set this up or integrate your site for you. The guys over at Monarch Digital specialize in doing this. Drupal is wonderful for SEO optimization, shopping carts, and security. It has a vast library of addons and a large support community. Drupal is wonderful for small and large sites alike. You can download the latest version of Drupal for free to install on your host.

Joomla, like Drupal, is built for developers. Unlike Drupal though, it has a huge community of designer too. You can find many templates to fit just about any business. Again you will want a web designer to integrate or build your site for you with this system.  I have found the support is lacking a bit versus Drupal, but with a web designer that knows the system you need not worry about that. It is also a good fit for any sized website. Joomla can be downloaded for free and installed on our host.

All these systems are great for managing websites. They also allow you to update your site without the need of a web designer once set up. If you’d like to learn about more CMSs that are available you can try comparing them on CMSMatrix.org. If you have had experience with any of these systems or know of another great one, feel free to leave a comment about it!

November 1, 2009

Free Website Giveaway!

Posted by Dani

Euphoria Studio is proud to present our first ever

“Making Christmas More Beautiful”

Free Website Giveaway

snowglobe

We understand as well as most that Colorado Springs, like the rest of the country, is tightening their belts after the recession this year. To make things a littler easier on our neighbors we’d like to give something back. If you are a local Colorado Springs (or surrounding area) business, we’d like to help you make your website more beautiful!

First place prize:

Full redesign of winners site. Up to 2 hours free consultation/training on how to use your site. Logo update or redesign. You will also receive a back up of the layout and logo on a cd.

Second place prize:

Logo redesign. Up to 2 hours of free consultation for anything related to your website.

Third place prize:

Up to 2 hours of free consultation for anything related to your website.

If you’d like to enter your website just email us (euphoria.studio[@]gmail.com) with a link to your site, your name, contact info and brief story of why you deserve a site bump! Based on the worst looking site and most interesting story we will choose our winner that will be announced on December 25th! Merry X-mas and good luck to you all!

To inquire about our paid services please visit our quote page and we will respond within 24 hours.

**You must be the owner of the business/website to enter or authorized to enter. You must be 18 years of age or older. Website hosting, domain name, ecommerce shop, and any other charges not related to our services are the responsibility of the business. This contest only covers the cost of the site layout, consultation, and logo (valued at $1500) and nothing else. All winners of this contest agree to appearing on this blog and Euphoria Studio’s portfolio. You further agree to be used in future promotions, advertisements or features. A small unobtrusive link back to Euphoria Studio will be included at the very bottom of your site. Euphoria Studio reserves the right to change any of the above rules at any time, for any reason.**

September 27, 2009

Don’t Forget…

Posted by Dani

Ever wonder what the top ten most important things to include (or exclude) in your site are? Search no further. All sites require most, if not all, of these things to make a great site. Nowadays it has become very important to represent your business in the best light possible. Thus, I find this list (and my services) to be a vital tool to all businesses looking for an online presence.

  1. Navigation: Specifically, simple navigation. While not all businesses can have small, simple sites, you can have simple navigation. No matter how big your site grows not every link needs to be cluttering up your page. Link hierarchy is very important in keeping things neat and organized. Just because every piece of paper is important doesn’t mean you can’t stack them.
  2. Broken Links: Which brings me to important point number two. So, maybe you aren’t offering wood flooring anymore, just tile. Or maybe you’ve combined your wood and tile section under “Flooring”.  Great! Unless, you haven’t taken down the now broken links.  Delete, rename, upload, or make-over whatever you want on your site; but be sure that you update, remove, or add in your links. Just like having a dirty store, many visitors may become frustrated and leave if they think your site is not updated properly.
  3. Update Your Content: You want your customers to come back to your site often, so keep it updated often. Imagine walking into Sears and seeing the same line of refrigerators from five years ago. Why go back? Customers want to know whats new and want to have a reason to keep coming back to you.  So give it to them!
  4. Search Engines & Site Maps: Now, if you only have 5 links then maybe a search engine isn’t for your site. But for larger sites and for shopping carts especially, this is a must have. Even small sites can use a site map, though. You don’t have to link it through to customers but at least make one web crawlers like Google can read. The site SiteMaps.org can help you create one for your own site. OR hire a great designer to make one for you *wink wink*.
  5. Busyness: Ever hear someone say that flier was too “busy”? Or that pattern is too busy? Well, background images, text, and colors can all make a site too busy! Don’t use crazy backgrounds for your website, they distract people from what’s important. Text can be informative, but also overwhelming. Make sure to break up text with bold words, line breaks, images, and anything that will allow the reader to scan your document for the most important things they need to know. Finally, colors.  Now, I’m not saying bold, flashy, and bright are not allowed. What I am saying is, not all together. Bold red text on a flat blue background is blinding and hard to read.  Goldenrod yellow may not be the best idea for a large menu bar across the middle of your site.  Keep your colors in check, your text formatted, and images clean.
  6. Audio: My only no-no on the list.  I’m asked often about adding audio to sites, and honestly I’m mostly against it. Music, especially, is a bad idea.  Most people not visiting a MySpace page aren’t thinking about their speaker volume.  Maybe they were listening to a really quiet YouTube video, or a really soft song.  You may scare your poor visitor half to death or they may not hear it at all.  If you wish to offer music, add a mini player somewhere on your site so the visitor can control the volume and the timing at their discretion.  That way it is not a distraction or a blaring mess that drives them off.
  7. Focus on your audience: Who are you trying to reach? Elderly, disabled, 20-somethings, or maybe people who speak different languages. Make sure you think how your visitors do.  Place links that might interest them in prominent places and make sure your code includes any changes necessary to cater to them.
  8. Fast Loading: Not all sites are created equal, or load at an equal rate.  But there’s no reason to wait two minutes to view an attorney’’s site.  On the other hand, people are generally willing to wait longer if they are expecting to view an artist’s portfolio.  Just because you have high speed internet, doesn’t mean your customers aren’t on dial-up.  Link to large images from smaller ones, use text instead of image links, and keep things simple.
  9. Contact Form: Always offer a way for your visitors to contact you.  Preferably email and a phone number, but at the very least offer a contact form.  You don’t have to display your email, but do have it sent to one you check often.  Keeping an open line of communication can mean the difference between a life long customer and just another passerby.
  10. Hire a Professional: If you don’t have experience don’t take a chance.  A well balanced website and flawless coding can help your business grow in unimaginable ways.  I always say your website is your online store front, make sure it is inviting and easy to view.

September 10, 2009

FreshBooks

Posted by Dani

If your small business is anything like mine, you’re constantly on the go. Fielding phone calls, keeping track of clients, billing invoices, and managing time cards. This can all get overwhelming very quickly especially if you’re the only one doing it all! That’s why I love little programs like this one. Little things that help me better manage my business.

FreshBooks is an amazing invoicing  tool much like Quick Books and other programs. The great thing about FreshBooks is its all online and comes with an amazing customer service team. I can be on a vacation and quickly send out an invoice to a client, check who’s made a payment, or see who’s looking at the bills I’ve sent. They have tons of options to suit any business of any size. Since I’m a one person team, I signed up for the free plan. The free plan allows me to

  • Manage up to 3 clients at once
  • Have one additional staff member (other than myself)
  • Send unlimited invoices through email
  • Send “snail” mail invoices (All you pay for is the stamp. Return envelope and tear-away payment stub included.)
  • Track time for myself and staff

What got me hooked on this company was the staff. I often scour the web for new things that will help me run my business and when I stumbled on this I thought “what a great way to bill my customers“. So its around 10pm at night and I enter my info, try the login once and head to bed. Next morning I check my email and rather than the typical “Welcome to our service” hoopla I was expecting, I had a personalized email from one of the staff members.

The email said they left a message on my voice mail and the gentleman asked what my business does and if I needed help finding my way. He even directed me to the new users area of the site. So I’m thinking no way this company has the time to actually send me this email AND a phone call right? Wrong! I checked my voice mail and there was a friendly message saying all the same things. He also let me know that I can give him a call if I needed anything at all.

Service like that is so rare in our super-fast paced tech world that it instantly made me a permanent customer. And thus, I feel that this service would be a great asset to any small business. If you want to check it out for yourself go there now!

August 19, 2009

The real cost of your site…Are you ready?

Posted by Dani

So you’ve decided its time your business had an online presence. Great! I’m a strong believer that your website is just another way for people to “window shop” your business through the online world. Which is why I also believe that your front page needs to be an eye catcher instead of an eye sore.

Lets start at the beginning. You see an ad for a $10 domain name (a .com), great deal right? Maybe…Once you buy that $10 domain name you have to host it somewhere. Here is where things get pricey. Say you want a really basic hosting package, well thats $60 a year. Ok, still not bad right we’re only at $70. Most small business can swing that. So you set up your site and you check out your home page and well…it falls kind of flat. So you check out some sites and you get a wicked case of design lust. You call up a few designers and they quote you a some prices. Then you realize most professional designs start at $1000+.

Feel like you need to sit down yet?

You just swallowed $1070 and thats just to get started. Shopping carts can cost even more! For a shopping cart you still have to purchase a SSL certificate (this allows you to accept credit cards), a shopping cart,  and then you need to contact a web designer to make it stylish.

This is were you start to research ways to cut costs. Two places you do not want to do this is your hosting plan and your designer. Hosting plans are important because you always want your site to be available for viewing. Some cheap or free plans may have good prices, but unreliable service. Even with reliable hosting plans you can find cheap prices so don’t get discouraged. I prefer to send my clients to godaddy.com as they have great up time, a nice support center, and various options to suit all kinds of budgets. Then there are various free shopping cart options out there, but they can be complicated to learn. Again, GoDaddy may have a great option for your shopping cart needs.

Now for the designer costs. I may be a bit biased, but I consider myself a professional. You can find designers and templates for $100 or less, but I will tell you now you will get what you pay for. Generally if the price seems too good to be true, it is. If you truly want to go with such a low price point ask to see a portfolio and make sure that what you are getting from them is a unique design and not from a template.

Which brings me to my last cost saving issue. Templates. Many businesses use this option to cut the design costs out. Problem is templates often are sold to thousands of customers so various other businesses have the same site layout as you.

So I bet you’re wondering Why does web design cost so much?, lets break it down so you know what you’re buying.

  • Layout created and graphics edited in Photoshop
  • Layout carving for best through-put into CSS/XHTML layout
  • CSS/XHTML construction in compliance with W3C standards
  • Inclusion and editing of content such as information and creative material
  • Incorporation and setup of special requests from client such as blog or shopping cart

All these components require a certain amount of expertise. This is why you hire a professional. Many people are unfamiliar with just how complex this process can be and just how difficult it is to get all these elements to come together fluidly. Web designers can spend many hours on each of these aspects. We here at Euphoria Studio feel that our designs are unique, fair priced, and capture each business’ character. So, if you’re ready to bite the bullet and get yourself an online presence look us up!

August 9, 2009

Sites to suit the masses.

Posted by Dani

All inspiring products need inspired web design to back them up. That is the purpose of my business and this blog, to better help my clients and some-time casual visitors create the perfect mesh of the two. Think of your website as your store’s front window. It needs to be eye catching, informative, and artfully balanced all at once. Too much signage and your most important message is lost. Too much color (or a lack of color) and its an eye sore. And too much clutter and customers can’t focus on whats important. Your company’s website should be unique or you’re just another fly on the wall.

This blog will specialize in tips and tricks to make your website and your business run smoother. Feel free to leave questions or comments and I’ll try to answer them the best I can. If you know of a great tip for other business owners please share it! Thanks for stopping by and we hope to see you back soon!