When people talk about computers and what they prefer, they will stand firm by the platform they use be it Windows, Mac or Linux. Interestingly enough all three also have web server software that host web sites, e-mail and other Internet applications. All three also have browsers and other programs that enable you to access the web via their respective platforms. Finally, you can find web development software available on all three platforms and this is where a lot of problems can occur.

For years Microsoft made a very popular, yet flawed product called, Frontpage. I admit when it first came out and was available I was attracted to it and its ability to manage a large number of pages as well as making it possible to design a web site in a visual format. However some of the biggest disadvantages of that program were that most people would use pre-installed themes making it easy to spot a Frontpage-designed web site quickly. Also, the code it created was become extremely bloated and hard to edit from a programmer perspective. Apple however has a current product, iWeb which sadly suffers from the same issues. While iWeb creates web sites that look way more beautiful than anything I ever saw designed by Frontpage, you can still spot from a mile off that the site was created from a basic template and has features unique to the product. In addition, the code it creates is way more complicated than it needs to be.

If these programs are so bloated and the results are so apparently uncreative from the perspective of the one who created the site then why are they sold? For one, both Apple and Microsoft sell those products as an added feature to increase sales and yes, they can be quite easy to get something up that is “quick-and-dirty”. That’s not always bad in some cases, but when it come to creating web sites for clients that communicate to a wide global audience we adhere to web standards, not Microsoft or Apple standards. Standards that can be created and produced in such a way that they work exceedingly well for the Mac, Windows or Linux desktop user. Another web standards issue to consider is the need to consider the different connection speeds of various web site viewers. Yes, a lot more people have high speed connections but many out there are still on dial-up.

For example, we design web sites for churches and agencies of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, a denomination that has many churches in rural areas without access to high speed connections. As a result, keeping our code clean and images optimized to load quickly are considerations to which we are committed. The current ARP agencies we have developed web sites for are World Witness and Outreach North America . We have also developed and currently maintain the sites for Unity ARP Church, Travelers ARP Church**, The Bridge ARP and Huntersville ARP. We hope to design and develop more web sites and podcasts for churches and other ministries within the ARP*. If you’re an ARP Church or ministry contact us and learn how we can create web projects that adhere to web standards so you have have the greatest outreach in your community be it a large metropolitan area or a very rural area with limited internet resources.

*This is not a site we have done but of course we would love any future opportunity to help with it’s development.
**Our home church - site is done “pro-bono” as one means of giving

This is a question we get asked a lot when we encounter people in public and hand out our business cards. When most people think of silk they usually think of clothing items made from the product of a silk worm. Actually when we came up with the name for our business we were combining some new services into with our older business name, Greer Web Design. We didn’t want a name that would restrict us to our family name or web design only so we debated several names and SpinningSilk stuck. Why? Well the majority of the work we did and still continue to do revolves around the World Wide Web, a subset of the Internet. We were not thinking as much about the material silk worms produce for fine textiles but rather the webs spiders construct. Spider silk is extremely thin and lightweight but don’t let that fool you. It is also one of the strongest fibers on the planet. Designing for the web and print works best when you can make files as small as possible while at the same time crafting compelling words and images.

The past couple of days have been fantastic days of growth and the feeling of a turning point in the history of our company.  We’ve been getting more and more calls for current clients to take on new web design projects, an upswell in photography assignments from clients has been encouraging and we are making big plans for a greater focus on podcasting aspect of our company. Last night I attended an excellent webinar hosting by Cliff Ravenscraft of gspn.tv where I learned many of the aspects of podcasting that will help us streamline and bring better service to our clients. As a result of attending the webinar I spent a good part of the morning testing out some audio editing programs and as a result I’m looking at getting a piece of software I don’t currently own, Sound Studio 3.  More than likely I will take advantage of the MacUpdate Promotion which not only includes a copy of Sound Studio but also several other pieces of software that will be interesting to try out including a copy of Parallels so we can run Windows on one our our Mac laptops that currently aren’t running a copy of Windows.

Tonight I plan on doing further work on the web site I mentioned in a previous post. The task will probably take several days as I work on it between client projects so please be patient as some things will be renamed and moved around in the following days. I want to close by saying I appreciate all of those who have thought of us for their small business marketing needs such as web site design and development, custom photography, small print jobs and online media distribution like podcasts, etc.

If you’ve been on the Internet or involved in any kind of business development I’m sure you have heard the term, Search Engine Optimization or SEO for short. This is nothing new. Ever since search engines or directories have been on the Internet companies have wanted to be at the top of the listing.

I hate to use the term “early days” but the previous mindset regarding preparing a web site to be easily found by a search engine involved some back-end technical steps which at one time made sense when search engines and portals had more of a directory approach.  The initial approach involved adding what is known as “meta tags” in the code of the web site and while some of these are still important to a degree modern search engine optimization is focused and hopefully will always be focused on the actual content in terms of text, images and other non design elements.

In terms of marketing this is actually a huge advantage in terms of competition, making updates known quicker and standing a better change at being found. Provided a web site has compelling content and is updated frequently.

What are some ways to to optimize, design and develop a web site so one can make frequent updates and provide compelling content? Here a few things to consider;

• Have a web site designed around a content management system - The makes it easier and faster for the non-designer, i.e. owner or employee of a company to update a web site without asking the web designer to make those updates.
• Incorporate a blog feature on your web site - The search engines love frequent content and writing on the topic related to your business on a frequent basis increases your search engine ratings
• Register your domain name for more than one year. The more years the better as search engines like Google rate domains with a longer registration period higher as it makes them look less, “fly by night.”
• Include words in your title tag you think people will use to search for a business like yours
• When writing, write naturally. Be sincere and don’t try to trick the system by stuffing keywords in the document.

These are just a few tips but they are ones they have helped us tremendously in the past few years to the point we rank on the first or second page of important search terms, many of which we have a lot competition.

Some SEO resources you may want to look at include;

• The Search Engine Academy of South Carolina
• The Wikipedia SEO entry
• Google’s page about working with SEO companies

Again these are just a few resources. We are constantly looking at ways to optimize web site for our clients and also our own business so we can not only get more customers but also practice what we preach and become more experienced to help others. If you are struggling with getting good search results for your web site contact us and find out what tools and resources we have that can help you be more successful. Of no one can guarantee you will be number one, that’s impossible and always changes but we can help you get achieve greater visibility amongst all the other choices out there. What are your SEO Success stories or concerns?

I find it very interesting that some companies will brand themselves by the product they produce or service they provide and another company that does the exact same thing will brand themselves by the problems they solve or even long standing  industry terms.

Take our company for example.  We provide design and development services in the realm or web, print, photography and podcasts. You will have advertising agencies that provide the exact same services, you have other companies who say they are “marketing” companies also provide the exact same services. What gives?

It’s true that a bulk of the work we do is web design and web development, especially e-commerce and content management. It’s where we started and and it’s not big secret that it’s one of the easiest businesses to get into because of the low cost of entry. It’s probably one reason we have so much local competition within that realm. In the mid to late 90’s web design was the cutting edge technology and to a large degree it was an experiment in the early days when most people were on dial up and the design specs were restricted to the limitations of the technology at the time. We do consider our web work as a “hub service.” Whenever possible we want our print products to lead people to our clients web site, Podcasts which take on a “life” beyond the a web site definitely call the clients web site home and a majority of the photography work we provide is optimized for the web as a way to effectively tell a story.

If you are looking for a company to design a web site ask if they provide other media marketing services as well/ You may be surprised that they do! If they only specialize in web design what is their mindset in regards to integrated media and consistent branding? Of course we are not talking against other companies who call themselves web design firms, marketing firms or advertising agencies but we do want to make it clear the we provide many of the same services they do but our niches and clientele may be different.

What are your perceptions who you hear the terms, graphic designer, marketing firm, ad agency, web designer, creative professional, etc?  Is it confusing to you?  Do many tend to do the same things from your perspective? Have the industry names not caught up with technology and skill sets of the work force?

What can we do to better communicate SpinningSilk Multimedia doesn’t “fix computers” and how can we make it clearer that we provide more services than web design as some people we have talked with are so easy to latch on to in conversation?