Facebook as a Community Outreach Tool
September 5, 2009 by Wild Web West · Leave a Comment
Do you have a Facebook account? Millions do. But if you’re waiting for the right time, you may be passing up lots of great community information that your network and current friends are posting now.
More rural areas such as where I live in central Idaho, may be slower to adopt Facebook as a communication tool, simply because of the lack of broadband networks that are prominent in the bigger cities. With faster speeds such as the 3G and 4G networks, many commuters and city dwellers use their Blackberry PDA’s, IPhones and other handheld devices to post information at any time. (we hope they don’t do this behind the steering wheel of a vehicle, but common sense is applicable in all forms of life).
This blog I am typing right now will be posted to my website – which is a wordpress blog. I will then use the Share plugin that has been installed to every article I post, to share this article with my Facebook account. I can also quickly share it with my Twitter account. Perhaps I will identify one or two of the other social networking tools to share my articles with, such as Digg and Stumbleupon. I just haven’t had the time to focus on those other popular applications yet.
The topic of this post is meant to help people in my own community to become observant of the power that Facebook can yield for community type activities, bulletins and events. Lots of people mention to me, just in passing, that they do monitor the Facebook postings that I have added over time and therefore, I have a sense that while it may not be a primary focus of any one particular set of people, that the information is noted.
If you are reading this post but have not taken the step to include Facebook in your repetoire of digital communities, perhaps this article will encourage you to recognize that Facebook is going mainstream. All of the news channels have recently setup Facebook Fan Pages and using this social media tool to generate huge numbers of comments and discussions on issues that are communicated on their television news channels. The way that social media and Facebook in particular is rapidly evolving, its an area of the digital landscape I definitely want to take part in, understand and in turn, help my customers and community to also see the positive side.
Firebug: Neatest Discovery Since Sliced Bread!
August 15, 2009 by Wild Web West · Leave a Comment
Where have I been? I completely missed a fabulous tool that I could have been using to improve customized stylesheets!
While reviewing the user guide for the Wordpress Thesis Theme last night, I ran across Kristerella, who provided me with one of the most highly prized “EUREKA’s!” that I have experienced in quite some time (well at least since I found Thesis Theme). Kristarella provided Thesis Theme users with insight to Firefox’s Add-on called Firebug. I have to tell you, this find and understanding of what Firebug offers to web designers like me was – the neatest discovery since sliced bread!
With the Firefox browser and the add-on Firebug, I can open my Wordpress sites using that combination, and easily view the html as well as the styles or CSS that creates each element in the page. Take that concept one step further, when I make an edit in Firebug, it only affects my browser and makes the change in visual appearance to the web page, but the changes aren’t permanent to the site and simply acts as a tool to zero in on the snippet of code that I’m wanting to identify for modification.
Firebug has probably been out there for a while, but it took a series of events and Kristarella to open my eyes to the existence of this FANTASTIC tool that I will use and use until the next great EUREKA comes along. Thank you Kristarella!! Here is a link to her excellent video: How to use Firebug for CSS – by Kristarella
Thesis Theme for Wordpress is awaiting my customizing efforts!
Thesis Theme Wordpress Background Customization Success
August 14, 2009 by Wild Web West · Leave a Comment
While I’ve been working hard, updating customer websites, troubleshooting little issues here and there, I did save some time this evening to begin the modification of my Thesis Theme Wordpress Blog.
You’ll see that the background has changed from blah white, to a nice horizontal lined reddish color. It adds a rich visual dimension and the entire process went very smoothly. I had to tweak a few folder names, but if you do follow the handy directions provided in the Thesis Users Guide, you just about can’t go wrong.
Again, I would like to reiterate that my primary attraction to the Thesis Theme was the value in being able to customize the style for my own custom look and feel while not affecting the integrity of the html code that the search engines rely on to gather evidence of valuable content on my website.
I have also been super excited about the “share” plugin feature that is available on all Wordpress installs, a little feature that is easily activated and enables me to post my articles to be shared on any of the social media sites that I want to deliver that information to. Write the article once, on my blog, and BAM! BAM! I put it out there in multiple locations with just a few clicks and keystrokes. WOW!
Stay tuned for the next customization of the Thesis Theme: Customizing the header at WildWebWest.com
Thesis Theme is Wordpress Choice Template
August 7, 2009 by Wild Web West · Leave a Comment
Subscribe to my blog to witness the transformation over the next week
Customizing Joomla websites has been a primary focus of my web design service company for over a year now. I’ve provided many customers with the simply ability to edit their websites, leaving out the massive tedium that was putting my time and my love for design, in a glut. When the light turned on and Joomla became the CMS application of choice, I installed and creatively customized dozens of Joomla sites, and now consider myself a well qualified Advanced Joomla Web Designer.
I decided my focus this summer would be to begin pursuit of that same high level of proficiency customizing the popular Open Source blog application known as Wordpress. I’m not completely new to Wordpress customizations. I’ve been dabbling with the application for a couple of years now, launching my own blogs, and a few simple Wordpress hosted sites customized for people with low budgets who don’t want to pay for hosting but want to have an online presence. Most don’t seem to even be interested in adding articles, but nonetheless, the blog is known to be spidered frequently by the search engines and can generate SEO results with not a lot of effort. Here are a couple of samples of simple sites I’ve customized using Wordpress blog:
Where a web customer wants to focus on self publishing and posting articles as a blog, on a consistent basis, the Wordpress Blog application is a fantastic program. I love Wordpress and in order to ramp up my overall skills, I’ve pledged to launch my own website (here at WildWebWest.com) as a highly evolved, customized site using the Wordpress application. My research began eary this week. Enter Thesis Theme.
In my pursuit of some cool looking Wordpress Templates to initiate my own design, I discovered the Thesis Theme. I watched a well produced video by a gal who had great things to say about Thesis and who is a designer and web guru by trade. I checked out testimonials and was drawn to the highlight of Thesis as a Wordpress Template that could be very very easily customized (by the non-designer non techy types) while retaining integrity of code, even when the style is customized. Thesis claimed a clean code that is not bloated like many of the free templates out in cyberspace, and therefore loads fast. Furthermore, Thesis sports very strong search engine optimization features built in.
In researching applications that can be used by the common business owner, I’m always sensitive to the level of simplicity built in to any application so that my customers have a better success rate of editing their own site, thereby easing the support calls and leaving more time for me to pursuit new web design projects.
When it came to my review of the Thesis Theme, I was hooked and bought the theme. Yes, you heard it right. I actually paid for this highly commended theme, which is typically unheard of in the world of Open Source programs among folks like me. Pay for a template? Why, us web gurus would rather build our own! But in the case of Thesis, its so packed with excellent widgets and components to style the Wordpress Blog application to accommodate a thousand different style configurations, as well as the code integrity and SEO tools built in, that I decided to go out on a limb. So far so good!
The theme on this website is currently pretty simply looking during the writing of this post, in terms of colors, but I’ve been able to easily embed my videos in the standard look and articles. I’ve been able to easily add a subscribe button for the RSS feed to easily engage would be subscribers. I’m SEO optimizing my articles and in time, I’ll be able to report on the traffic rankings that are being generated as a result of the clean code, seo features and keyword rich content.
Over the next week, and in between paying jobs, I will start the Custom Style Sheet transformation of WildWebWest.com to match the look and feel that I envision for its branded look. Because I stay so busy working on customer sites, I have traditionally tended to neglect my own branded look and to be honest, I’ve neglected my WildWebWest.com website entirely. In the past ten years in business, I have considered that as long as word of mouth advertising is earning my way in the world, paying my bills, and sustaining a healthy business model, a well designed site takes a lower priority.
WildWebWest.com Is Turning A New Leaf For The Future
Heading into the next decade of 2010 to 2020, I’m committed to setting the example and hanging up my “cobbler with no shoes” and “butcher with dull knives” stint as a web designer. WildWebWest.com is going to reform itself and its owner will finally, after more than 10 years of commitment to customers, begin to prioritize its own branded look as a focus and a goal to accomplish without fail. Thats a promise! (Note that I’m sounding pretty convinced this is going to happen)
Stay in touch to witness the transformation of this Wordpress Thesis Theme to a new day for WildWebWest.com. I won’t let you down WildWebWest.com. its a matter of website maturity and providing a serious example of what I can do as a designer with the growing popularity of Wordpress blogging!
Google Chrome
August 7, 2009 by Wild Web West · Leave a Comment
While working on my laptop, I went to youtube.com to obtain an embed code where I encountered a message that said: We will be phasing out support for your browser soon. Please upgrade to one of these more modern browsers. Optional browser buttons provided include Firefox 3.5, Internet Explorer 8, and Google Chrome. I’ve got IE8 installed on my primary desktop, I’ve had Firefox installed on the laptop, and so being a Google fan, I decided to give Google Chrome’s browser a spin. Google is such a leader in the digital and internet frontier that I can’t help but consider that their browser also contains some very innovative features.
This article is geared toward Google Chrome, its features, its pros and cons and my overall impressions of the new browser. I hope its good. MSN and Yahoo are arming themselves enforce to go head to head with Google’s search engine. I believe Google will remain the leading force in the search engine space. Thats another subject though, to be addressed in an article that will perhaps compare google.com with bing.com (Microsofts new search engine).
LIKE: Google Chrome installs lightening fast. Nothing like Internet Explorer. It seemed to have take a minute or less, compared to IE8 which needs to be downloaded to your computer (a huge file) and then run or saved and run.
LIKE: Google Chrome has a new tab feature that seems to show my most frequently visited sites in little visual boxes. VERY NICE! Most people really respond to visuals, as they do in youtube.com with the small thumbnails that let a person scan through what they might like to view. Of course at this point, since the Google Chrome browser is newly installed, it probably needs some browsing history to begin logging my most visited sites. I can do that!
LIKE: Google says: On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn’t the browser that matters. It’s only a tool to run the important stuff – the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go. Great! I love speed and Chrome seems pretty fast so far!
LIKE: I noticed that Google Chrome has a built in Crash Control. The crash control is built into each tab individually so if one tab crashes, it doesn’t mean (according to Google) that all tabs crash along with it. If you’ve used IE8, you’d find that frequently there is a crash, just when you’ve typed something brilliant, and if you’re lucky, the browser will recover the page, but typically you’ve lost your information typed into a form field. Well, we’ll see if I relive that experience with Google Chrome.
LIKE: When you install Google Chrome, you don’t have to lose your previous bookmarks and favorites. There’s a tool that looks like a wrench in the top right that allows you to quickly select options to import all of your existing bookmarks and favorites into your new Google Chrome browser. EASY! I’ve posted a video I found on the Google Chrome site to help with this task.
LIKE: to actually bookmark a new web page, just click on the Star icon at the left side of the address bar and in 2 clicks you’re done. Wow! thats easy.
DON’T CARE: Google Chrome has a featured called InCognito Mode. I guess for folks who are shifty, or trying to hide something from their spouse, or perhaps planning a birthday bash (thinking of a scenario without guile), this might be just the ticket. Google says Don’t want pages you visit to show up in your web history? Choose incognito mode for private browsing. This could also be used by a mischievious kid who is searching for naughty photos. Oh well, I really don’t care. Won’t use it. But I’m sure for some, it would be a useful feature.
Google really steps up to the plate with helpful video clips and information to help their browser audience to understand the full scope of the new Chrome browser. click here for lots of helpful video clips: http://tools.google.com/chrome/intl/en/features.html#
I’ll continue to post occassional updates as I experience the new Google Chrome over a longer period of time. For now, you get the jist of things. Most of my impressions of the Google Chrome browser received “LIKE” ratings and so overall, I really like it!
Social Media :: Use it Responsibly
June 3, 2009 by Wild Web West · Leave a Comment
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With all the stir about social media, I finally made it my priority to find out more about these web based networks that are taking the cyberworld by storm. Say what you want about the safety of the internet, but the facts are, we would no more venture into a dark alley, anymore than we would consider putting sensitive personal information online or communicating with total strangers who are lurking about with no true representation or purpose. The virtual internet world can be as wholesome an experience as reality. The mantra is that responsible living is a part of any aspect of life. So when it comes to the use of the internet by yourself, family members or children, just make sure you act responsibly. I rarely ever see the dark side of the internet, because I do not invite lude and lacivious behavior into that realm of my life.
To me, the internet and cyberspace is as safe as the guidelines that I live by in my normal everyday life. I use precautions and sensible judgement online and offline. Someone named “fuzzpeck” requested to be follower on my Twitter.com account. Upon checking this characters profile, in addition to my gut feeling about his Twitter account name, he did not appear to be a candidate I wanted in my twitterverse. The content of his profile was sordid as well, and therefore, I have not followed fuzzpeck. If he follows me, I will block his account from having access to mine. The importance of using discretion and good judgement is one that I attribute to the fact that I have rarely ever tripped over or had exposure to the dark side of life in cyberspace.
Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Linked In, Plaxo: These are all names you may be familiar with and are categorized by the type of online accounts they represent: Social Media
You’ve seen it on television, online and in print: Social Media is Taking Us By Storm. Whats all the buzz about?
Stay tuned here for my upcoming Social Media series, as I take you on a journey of learning and discovery about Social Media in the 21st century.
In the meantime, click on my Facebook banner above to begin your own discovery of a world that is largely human and places millions of people in touch with old friends, family, business contacts and a network of people who might have otherwise never been in touch.
I have enrolled in an online webinar series called “Social Media Summit 2009″, a series of audio webinars and question and answer sessions by some of the brightest social media gurus in the industry. As I learn, I will bring information to those who enjoy the information posted at WildWebWest.com
Thank you for your visit.
The Content Revolution
August 20, 2008 by Wild Web West · Leave a Comment
As a web designer, developer and web services provider, I try to stay in touch with current trends in the rapidly evolving virtual world by wading through the massive amounts of information available to web services providers both in print and online. As a self employed web services provider, spare time is a commodity, but fortunately I enjoy reading out on the deck or the front porch as a restful way to uncoil myself and also to continue in my endeavors to self educate. After all, information is power, and power often transforms itself into intuitive ways to generate income —> My Web Mantra.
I recently purchased a book that is key to the content marketing side of content management systems. It underscores the movement of businesses everywhere who are innovating their marketing approach to create content and deliver it to customers online. The book is titled “Get Content. Get Customers.” and is written by Joe Pulizzi and Newt Barrett. These two brilliant internet marketers promote the book as “A Marketers Guide to the New Social Media”. The book outlines, in common language their helpful guidelines on “how to use content marketing to deliver relevant, valuable, and compelling information that turns prospects into buyers”.
For me personally, owner of Wild Web West, LLC, I have worked almost 10 years growing my company, learning all the ropes, through sheer passion and hard work, and without a need for advertising, the word-of-mouth referrals have sustained Wild Web West’s continued growth in a nice relatively rapid pattern. Whenever I felt my plate was getting too full, I simply looked for ways to streamline some part of my business, and I also made gentle increases to my hourly rate for services rendered.
But now. Yes, now, with my plate spilling over, I have gleefully found that Content Management Systems are the right tool for me personally as well. I have launched CMS as the power behind two primary websites that are key to my professional career direction:
1. www.WildWebWest.com – the site you are visiting now
2. www.MaryMangold.com – a site that communicates information about Real Estate as a licensed Idaho Real Estate Agent.
In both cases, the Content Management System I have chosen to install is Joomla, and with Joomla, my marketing messages are accessible 24 hrs a day 7 days a week across the globe to anyone with a computer and an internet connection.
My real estate clients deserve the expansive potential of the skills I am using to market property to a target audience of buyers who are seeking vacant land or homes for sale in the region of Central Idaho. I am providing this exposure at www.MaryMangold.com
My website clients deserve the exposure gained by promotion of my web services through the examples set by their custom designed websites. I am providing this exposure at www.WildWebWest.com
If you are curious about Content Management Systems or Content Marketing, I do recommend starting your research by purchasing this book, which is posted on the right hand side of this article. The book will offer valuable information that will help you to innovate the way you are marketing your business now, and may open the doors to increased revenues through your willingness to “deliver relevant, valuable and compelling information that turns prospects into buyers”.
“Just a few years ago, it would have been laughable to imagine that a very small organization could create and maintain a website that could be updated daily – and that would allow visitors to interact and even buy products and services. Today, it’s not only possible, it’s pervasive.” [ Source: Get Content. Get Customers. - Joe Pulizzi and Newt Barrett ]
Contact Mary Mangold to explore the possibilities of a Content Management System for your online presence and join the Content Revolution
