As a result, I have decided to go on a sabbatical with GnomeMedia. I feel there are very few times in life that we actually get to do what we love as a career, not just “like”. I have that opportunity, and I’m taking it.

I truly appreciate the patronage of each of my clients and wish all of them the best with their businesses. If you would like to be contacted when GnomeMedia is back up and running, please let me know.

• BluesCityDeli.com – Website Redesign
• Chiropractic-Plus.com – Website Redesign
• GnomeAcres.com – Website Redesign & Added Blog Functionality
• 3SistersWorkshop.com – Ongoing Website Maintenance & Promotional Material Designs

Over the past few months, I’ve had several people I know send me spam email through, specifically, their AOL and Hotmail accounts. Not sure why, but it seems that these two email providers are being targeted heavily by hackers.

Had the majority of those people ever changed their password on those accounts?
Nope.

Do they use that email address to access bank statements, credit card statements, 401k’s, shop online, etc.?
You betcha.

Most online security professionals recommend changing your password every 3 months. Of course, what you do online could dictate whether that timeline should be decreased or increased. If you’re not online very much, you could get away with going slightly past the 3 month mark. If you’re constantly online playing games, shopping, etc., it’s best to not go past that 3 month timeline.

Think of it this way, you go on a trip and lose your wallet because there’s a hole in your pocket. You’re now in a frantic rush to cancel your debit and credit cards. Not updating your online passwords is like creating a hole in your cyber pocket that allows hackers the opportunity to steal this information.

When creating a new password, you have to think about something that is obvious to you that wouldn’t be to an outsider. You should always avoid using your kid’s names, pet’s names, etc. Include a couple numbers, capitalization and a symbol if you can.

Ok, so stop reading this and go spend a few minutes sewing up that cyber pocket of yours by creating some new passwords!

A couple weeks ago, our sister company, GnomeAcres, decided to take Square for a spin at the Etsy Art Sale & Holiday Open House at the St. Louis Contemporary Art Museum. Immediately upon setting up the booth, before the event had even started, people started commenting about how excited they were to see that GnomeAcres could accept credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover & American Express).

And then the event began…

With the first sale also came the opportunity to try out Square. GnomeAcres started up the Square app on the iPhone (free download), plugged the Square Card Reader (free card reader) directly into iPhone, entered in the charge amount and swiped the customer’s card. It was literally that easy. The customer had the ability to sign the receipt using the touch screen (GnomeAcres had a stylus on-hand to make the signing process go a little smoother). There were many a “oooh” and “ahhh” that came from customers.

Another perk of Square is that it allows you to send a sales receipt via email or SMS to the customer. There’s even the ability to enter in notes on the receipt about what the item was that you sold. How do you know how much you sold? No problem. Square sends you an email receipt as well. You can also login to your Square account online to see all of your transactions.

You’re probably thinking, “What’s the catch?” Well, there is a small fee for every transaction you make, as there is with accepting credit cards on any platform. In the case of GnomeAcres, by the end of the Etsy Art Sale, exactly 75% of all sales were processed using the Square Card Reader. That’s 75% of sales that could have NOT happened if Square wasn’t around to make the “accepting credit cards” scenario such a breeze.

So, what are GnomeAcres plans for Square in 2011? To be as hip as they can be…

* Please note: This article was written based solely on the opinions of GnomeMedia. Experiences with Square could vary.

When you’re in online marketing, you trust that people will always question you. This is just a fact that comes with being involved in this particular profession; the non-common sense part, if you will.

ZDNet.com released a great article about SEO last week that I think explains the best way to approach SEO if you’re not an “SEO Master” of sorts. Their advice? Lose any preconceived notions you may have had about SEO and leave it to the professionals. This is not meant to offend anyone, it is meant to let people know that unless SEO is your full time gig, you might want to consider consulting the pro’s. Just like if you want a good steak, you know you’re not going to McDonald’s.

For example, just because you sell “dinner plates”, doesn’t mean that optimizing your site for the phrase “dinner plates” is going to get you ranked #1 in the search results, nor should you expect it. Think about it. How many people sell dinner plates online? Approximately one gazillion, give or take a few, right? The whole concept of SEO is to drive QUALITY traffic to your site, not just put the most common keywords or keyword phrases on your site and hope that the marketing gods will shower you with conversions. You have to get specific with the type of traffic you want to bring to your website and create a game plan so you aren’t just throwing dollars to the wind. The more specific you get with your keywords and keyword phrases, and the more research you do upfront on those terms and different traffic avenues, is what will help you lay the foundation for a successful website.

I think the number one rule people should remember about SEO is that it takes a great deal of PATIENCE. Rome wasn’t built in a day; your marketing campaign shouldn’t be either.

Many people are tempted to just go straight to Google Images, type in what they need, and “borrow” one of the first images they see to complete the look of whatever project they’re working on. Or, they tell their web designer and/or marketing person, “just find something online.”

Finding something online is easy, it’s the making sure you pay for the image you want to use that isn’t. There are various stock photography and clip art sites that sell the rights to images for mere cents on the dollar, or actually offer their imagery for free as long as you give credit where credit is due. Depending on what you need the image for, the resolution you require and the size, the small investment upfront could help you avoid potentially a great deal of headaches in the future.

Need help finding images to use on your website or in your marketing materials? Not sure if the images you’re using fall in the “safe to use” zone? Contact GnomeMedia today so we can help.

Let’s explore some examples of Unrealistic Expectations:

- “I want my website to be as big as Facebook within the first month I launch it.”
This is impossible. Why? Facebook wasn’t created overnight. They have invested millions upon millions, years and years, into making their site as big as it is now. Having the attitude of “I want to be the next Google” will get you nowhere, unless you have Oprah or Queen Elizabeth providing you endless amounts of funding and you know ALL of the best web developers in the entire world that are willing to devote every waking moment they have to helping you.

- “I want to spend $60/month on advertising and get at least 10,000 new visitors to my site with that investment.”
If you break down the $60/month investment and look at it on a daily basis, that’s $2/day you’re spending to gain at least 333 new visitors. That’s $.006 for each of the 333 visitors. That’s less than a penny per lead, or new visitor! You have to be willing to spend money to make money. It’s always been this way in the brick & mortar world, and it’s definitely this way in the online world. If you don’t spend money to get the word out and let people know you exist, then they’re not going to know you from Adam.

- “I’m starting a news website and I want it to look and function like CNN.com, but I only want to pay $500.”
This type of expectation is similar to wanting to be as big as Facebook in a month. $500 might get you a very nice looking website, but it will not function like CNN.com. The “look & feel” of a website is merely one aspect that is considered when pricing a website. The overall functionality is the biggest aspect that is taken into consideration. It takes a great deal of time to get a website set up that functions like CNN.com. Depending on the rate you’re paying your web developer, you might only get a small portion of the functionality you want for $500. That’s not necessarily because the developer is overcharging you, but it’s because of the large amount time involved in building out the functionality. The Roman Empire wasn’t built in a day, and neither was CNN.com.

Domain
This is the web address used to access a website on the Internet. A domain name on the Internet is the same as a house address.

Hosting
This is how a website is made live on the Internet. There are machines called “servers” that are connected to the Internet. Each server runs a software program that was specially designed to make websites live on the Internet. There are two different types of hosting available; shared and dedicated. Most smaller websites will reside on a server that offers shared hosting, which means multiple websites can be hosted on a single server. Larger websites typically utilize dedicated hosting, which means that often one entire server, or more, could be dedicated to a single website.

Ecommerce Website
An ecommerce website is the type of website that is needed to have a store online. There are many companies that offer a variety of different types of ecommerce platforms to build a store on. Depending on the type of store you want to open online will determine what type of ecommerce storefront that you will choose.

If you have any questions about other website terminology that may not be mentioned above, contact GnomeMedia today and we can help.

The answer is called a “301 redirect“. A 301 redirect is the the most search engine friendly way to redirect users from one page to another.

How They Work
Someone goes to a search engine, types in something they’re looking for more information about, and they get a link to your website as one of the results. If the link is one that directs users to a page that is on the older version of your website, a 301 redirect will direct users to the newer version of that particular page on your current website when they click that link. Essentially, the 301 redirect is telling the search engine that you have permanently moved the info from your old site to this new link.

How to Set Them Up
How you would go about setting up 301 redirects depends on a number of items; whether your website is built within a content management system, who your hosting provider is, etc. If you need assistance setting up 301 redirects for your website, contact GnomeMedia and we can help you figure out what you need to do.

Let’s say you own a brick and mortar store that sells tennis shoes. How is everyone going to know you own a store that sells tennis shoes? Hopefully you chose a popular location that is easily accessible for shoppers, you advertise in newspapers, pass out fliers, attend events related to shoes to let people know you exist, and basically take continuous action to make sure you are getting your name out there.

These same ideas apply to your website. Just because your website is on the World Wide Web, does not mean everyone who interacts with the web across the world is going to automatically know your website exists.

Why is SEO so important? Your website visitors need to be able to find you online, which means you have to take action to ensure that you are working on getting your name out on the Internet. One of the problems people have with understanding SEO, is the idea that you have to constantly work at it, exactly the same way you have to constantly work on your advertising for a brick and mortar store.

According to the Compete Online Shopper Intelligence Study, more than 80 million shoppers use shopping sites that show price comparisons. Knowing this, means that you have to work even harder to get the products on your website noticed.

In future posts, we’ll dive further into what simple SEO techniques should be implemented on your website.