Business Card and Postcard Resources
Even internet based businesses need business cards. Here are some great print resources that I have found.
Graphic Designers who do print
My different clients recommend the following Martha's Vineyard graphic designers when they need ads for print, mailings or brochures designed.
Reference and Copy Researchers
Writing a book and need someone to help you with the reference and fact checking? Here are some options.
Tutors
Need help learning how to help yourself? Here are some great local resources.
Before you start designing resources
Here are a list of important resources for before you start designing. These resources answer many initial questions.
All About Color
Do you need to convert pantone colors to RGB? Are you looking for what colors might go together? Here are some color related resources that I use when designing website graphics.
Clip Art
I do not recommend clip art as the main graphic elements in a site - but every now and then it's nice to add a fun graphic punch to a calendar event or announcement.
Copy writing, proofing and spell checking
Having well written copy on your web site is essential, both for clear communication and for search engine optimization. The right text will make people stay on your site, and click further into it. Having copy that is spelled correctly is very important as well. If your writing is sloppy, your site does not look professional.
E-commerce Solutions
Here are some of the e-commerce solutions that I and my clients have used.
Fonts
Searching for the perfect font for your graphic design? Here are some font resources.
Graphic Branding - Favicon
Links for generating favicons for your site and other branding tips and resources.
Professional Photographers
Professional photography delivers pictures worth "a thousand words" by visually capturing the uniqueness of your business or service. Anything less than picture-perfect quality will not attract the attention your website deserves. With a little help from these photographers, you can give your website a real competitive edge. These photographers are highly recommended for print and internet production.
Sound and Video
Sound and video are very important tools on websites. Adding narration to your site will help communicate on an audio as well as visual level with visitors. This can enhance your web site's effectiveness.
Stock Photography
The quality of photographs can make or break a web site. I've compiled a list of stock photography sites, some with FREE photographs, and others with fee based images. These area great resources if you need photos for your web site.
Web Site Standards and Stats
Are you wondering what the average screen resolution is? What fonts are the most common? What versions of flashplayer are supported by what percentage of people?
Are you wondering why your web designer is designing your site at a certain width or height, and why she/he is choosing certain fonts?
Here are some links to helpful stat pages.
CSS Resources
Here is a list of useful CSS resources.
Javascript Resources
Here are some of the javascript codes that I find invaluable day to day designing web sites.
Other code snippets
Here are some other code snippets for your site, from how to create email links to displaying the weather on your home page.
Other great resources
Here are other resources that answer questions or give insight to your website and the internet.
Mailing Lists and E-mail Resources
Looking for a way to cut back on spam? Thinking of putting together an e-mail newsletter or mailing list to remind your clients where you are? Here are some resources.
Passive Income
Read more about my experience with passive income here.
There are different affiliate programs that can help you earn "passive" income through your web site. Google adsense is one. Amazon's associates program is another. (You can see samples of both of these on this page: right hand column.) A third is Search Feed. This is a search engine that you can incorporate into your site. What is important to figure out is whether you diminish your website's content and message by incorporating these tools into it. What you earn in passive income may not compensate for traffic lost, or site appeal diminished.
A topic that keeps coming up more and more around the internet is RSS Feeds. (check out my glossary for definitions). RSS Feeds are a means of both supplying relevant and fresh content to your web site, AND ALSO of syndicating your own articles and putting them out on the internet to generate traffic back to your web site. PODCASTING is another form of RSS feeds which supplies people with audio instead of articles. RSS is a great way to get your content out on the web, and to redirect targeted traffic back to your site.
Search Engines
Information on how to optimize your web site for search engine placement and links to where you can submit your site.
Spyware/Privacy Protection for your computer
Providing protection from data-mining, aggressive advertising, Trojans, dialers, malware, browser hijackers, and tracking components. Lavasoft is the industry leader and most respected provider of anti-spyware solutions. Lavasoft develops and delivers the highest quality antispyware solutions to keep your computer or network free of compromising and intrusive threats to your privacy.
Virus Protection
Having anti virus protection is imperative . I have put together links to some respected providers of anti-virus software.
Cool links for gathering SEO information
Here are some cool links that you can use to gather information to help with your search engine optimization.
Free Submission to Search Engines
Here are a list of links where you can submit your web site to the major search engines for free.
The add URL pages will appear in new windows. Copy your URL from your home page and paste into the add URL field, press the confirm/enter button, then close the window and open the next one. The entire resubmission should take just a few minutes.
Submitting your site to Directories
It's a good idea to submit your site to relevant directories as well as to search engines. You should only need to do it once, except for Yahoo! (try resubmitting about every three months). For each directory, go to the correct category page for your site and from there click on Add URL.
1. Text Editor Interface Tutorial
Here are some tips on how to use the text editor interface which is a consistent component of my content management areas.
2. Image Editing Tutorials
Now that you have the ability to upload images to your website, do you have questions on how to prepare them for the web? I have put together some tutorials using adobe photoshop elements which show the how to of resizing, cropping and some quick color correction. I have chosen adobe photoshop elements because it is a relatively inexpensive software ($80) and it is cross platform.
