I don't know what alternative to "cheese!" I asked the girls to say, but I promise it will never happen again.
Happy Halloween!
Archive for October, 2008
Happy Halloween!
Friday, October 31st, 2008The Irreverent Widow – Expressions of Grief w/a Side of Humor
Thursday, October 30th, 2008
Irreverent. Widow. They're not two words that you might imagine go side by side. Yet, Sandi Amorello seems to make them work.
Sandi came to us a few months ago to help her build a Web site to promote The Irreverent Widow Project: art, writing and exhibits that represent her artistic expression of coming to terms with the death of her husband, Drew, and her subsequent exploration into "midlife courtship."
The site is filled with Sandi's irreverent sense of humor, stories (rated with 1 – 5 tissue boxes), and examples of her art. Much of her stories are free, although she does have stories you can purchase, and will have the first of three books coming soon.
Sandi has also started an Irreverent Widow Blog, and can be found tossing clever bon mots in my general direction over at Twitter where her handle is @sandiamorello.
Flyte designed and built the site on WordPress, the popular open-source blogging/content management system platform. This allows Sandi to update not just her blog, but any page on her Web site without any HTML knowledge and without additional software.
Protect Your Email Address from Email Harvesters
Thursday, October 30th, 2008Putting an email on your Web site has traditionally been the most effective way to learn about low mortgage rates, Russian brides and Viagra. That’s because email harvesters–evil little programs that scour the Web for email addresses–collect your email and deliver it to spammers.
However, as our own Andy Woznica reports in our flyte crew blog, a Web based version of Enkoder is back. Enkoder is a program that hides your address from the email harvesters while showing it to the humans who want to contact you.
Now, personally, I think this is just the latest salvo in the spam wars, and one day the email harvesters will figure out how to decode the enkoder, just as the Terminators learned to mimic human form. But for now, the good guys are winning.
If you feel the urge to show your email address on your Web site, check out the Enkoder today.
Getting More Out of LinkedIn with Groups
Monday, October 27th, 2008
LinkedIn is a popular social networking site. It's probably the most well-established, business-friendly of the social media Web sites out there. It's been described as "Facebook in khaki" because of its business-casual, mild-mannered design. There's little you can do to pimp out your page; LinkedIn is first and foremost a networking platform.
I first joined LinkedIn years ago, setting up a profile and finding friends and colleagues to link up with. After that, I didn't do much outside of accept (or decline) someone's heart felt request of:
I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.
- Your ex-employee / One-time vendor / College dormmate / Random Dude
You had me at "I'd like."
However, I find I'm spending a bit more time there as more tools have been rolled out. None of these are game changing; in fact, they're pretty derivative of other social media sites. But if your peers are on LinkedIn and unlikely to be found at MySpace or Facebook, these new features up the interaction quotient quite a bit.
A while back, LinkedIn created Answers, where people could ask or answer public questions, establishing expertise and networking all the while. Now LinkedIn has Groups, where you can join or create a group. A group could be alumni of your alma mater, a local networking group, or even people of a particular religious or political persuasion. Like the basic membership at LinkedIn, there's no charge to join or create a group.
Groups come with some nice features. Groups can enable discussion boards or post news articles for discussion. Hmmm…actually that kind of sounds like the same thing except the latter comes with an upload feature.
Sending an email blast to the group isn't as easy as it could be. LinkedIn seems to have made a decision to disallow a bulk email to go out to group members. Instead you can initiate a discussion through the discussion forum, or download the csv list of members and email them through your own email program.
Despite the lack of better email tools and the small feature list, I like the use of groups because you can have a more intimate conversation within a group of people who share an interest or a zip code. These type of conversations tend to be more rewarding.
If you haven't been active at LinkedIn for a while, you might want to check out the groups section.
Kilbride & Harris Insurance: Another WordPress Web Site
Monday, October 20th, 2008
Last week flyte launched a WordPress powered Web site for Kilbride & Harris, a Maine-based insurance company offering medical malpractice and employee benefits.
Visitors to the site can learn more about their medical malpractice services, especially their professional liability niche. Businesses interested in employee benefits can also get their questions answered at the site.
Flyte build the site on WordPress, the popular open-source blogging platform so that Kilbride & Harris can easily update their site, adding pages, content and even video as their needs grow.
If you need medical malpractice insurance or employee benefits be sure to check out Kilbride & Harris. If you need a Web site to grow your business that you can update and manage yourself, talk to flyte today.
How to Gain Followers on Twitter
Monday, October 20th, 2008
Sure, it’s easy enough to get started on Twitter. But how do you leverage the power of this microblogging platform? How do you get a couple dozen followers, or a couple hundred, or a few thousand? (Without using bribery?)
By building your following naturally and organically you can extend your reach and influence, or just make a wider circle of people laughing, crying or informed.
In this video Rich Brooks (that’s me) takes you through some proven techniques to increase your followers on Twitter.
Saco & Biddeford Savings: Maine Bank Gets New Web Site
Friday, October 17th, 2008
Last week Saco & Biddeford Savings launched it’s new Web site designed by flyte. Saco & Biddeford offers personal and business banking from locations throughout southern Maine.
Flyte first designed and developed the new site. After that, Fiserv, a provider to banks and other institutions, ported our files onto their own content management system so that Saco Biddeford could update their own site, quickly publishing new rates, CD, and offerings.
Search Engine Notes at the Maine SEO Blog
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
Last week Nicki Hicks and Cybele Brooks from flyte attended the Search Marketing Expo in NYC. Three days of intensive education on search marketing, local search, mobile search, incoming links and new trends in search engine optimization.
Nicki has transcribed most of her notes into a series of posts at flyte’s Maine SEO blog:
- Ask the SEOs
- External Linking Tactics
- CSS, Ajax, Web 2.0 and SEO
- Personalized and Customized Search
- Internal Linking Tactics
- Search and Reputation Management
- Paid Search Fundamentals
- What’s New with Local Search Marketing?
- Search and the iPhone
Now these are just session notes…sometimes "you had to be there." If you have more questions or wonder how to apply this to your own site be sure to contact Nicki directly for more help.
And, if you haven’t yet subscribed to the Maine SEO blog RSS feed, now’s your chance!
