8 Reasons Why WordPress is Better Than Contribute

Yesterday I send out an email newsletter about content management systems (CMS) for small business. I have already received a few emails from clients and subscribers who are interested in upgrading their static Web site to a CMS.

One client with a static site was using Contribute to update their site and wondered if a CMS offered any other benefits. This led to a discussion with my friend/co-worker Dave Cousins about the myriad of benefits  WordPress--a blogging/CMS platform we often use-has over Contribute. Other CMS platforms have similar benefits.

1. Contribute is $200 per copy. WordPress is free.
2. Contribute is $100 per upgrade. WordPress upgrades are free.
3. Contribute is for one computer. On the road? Working from home? You'll need to have your laptop with Contribute installed with you or you're out of luck. With WordPress you just need to log into your password-protected admin system from any modern browser and you're good to go. In fact, you can have multiple people updating the Web site and not have to buy multiple copies of any software.
4. It's easy to add pages in WordPress. Yes, you can add pages in Contribute, but it's a bear.
5. It's easy to update navigation in WordPress. Don't get me started on Contribute.
6. WordPress uses XHTML/CSS for fast-loading, bloat-free sites. Chances are if you're using Contribute, your site is a few years old and is ready for an upgrade.
7. Design revisions are less expensive with WordPress. Because of its extensive use of style sheets, a design update or even overhaul is significantly less labor intensive in WordPress. You only need to update the style sheets, not rebuild every page on the site.
8. WordPress is an online publishing platform, Contribute is an update tool. WordPress offers a site search, blogging capabilities, podcasting capabilities, RSS feeds, and unlimited plug-ins to enhance your Web site. Contribute allows you to fix typos and update your events page. In fact, it's really not fair to compare the two. But that didn't stop me.

I'm sure I'm leaving plenty of ideas out, so feel free to jump in. Or, if you think I'm wrong, let me know why Contribute trumps WordPress.

Rich Brooks
WordPress Web Sites for Small Business

Animoto - Slick Slide Shows for Small Biz

If your small business has some nice visuals (think scenic views, jewelry, art, beautiful people, etc., etc.,) and you've been looking for an interesting way to display it online, you might want to check out Animoto.

I first heard about Animoto in an article I read in Entrepreneur magazine last month and began playing around with it right away. It's addicting to say the least.

What Animoto does is create slick slide shows set to music with great transitions. While there is a free version, it just too limiting to be of any use to a business. By upgrading to a paid account you can have videos of any length, have DVD-quality images, upload your own music, and include a clickable call-to-action. (For example, a resort could end it's slide show with a "Book Your Room Now!" link to the reservations page on their site.)

Once you've established your account you can easily create a slide show by clicking on "create video" near the top of every page. After that it's a three-step process.

Images: You can upload images from your computer or another Web site like Flickr. Once they're on the Animoto site you can rearrange the order, add text, delete or even spotlight certain key photos. Once you're happy with the organization click continue.

Sound: You can choose from Animoto's royalty-free library that includes a number of genres such as hip-hop, classical, independent rock and more. You can also upload your own music, but be aware of any copyrights you might be infringing on. In other words, dropping that Zeppelin track on your slide show may get you a call from an attorney.

Once you've selected the appropriate music it's time to render your video.

Render: If you have the business account you'll be able to add a call-to-action button at the end of your video. You'll also be able to change the image pacing of your video (although just 1/2 speed or 2x speed) and choose a cover screen. Once that's done Animoto gets to work.

A few minutes later (or even a few hours, if there are a lot of photos), you'll get an email that your video is ready for viewing. This is a lower-res version. If you like what you see you can download a DVD-Quality version. If you'd like to have the Animoto engine try again you can "remix" your video.

You can choose one-click remix, which will just give you different transitions, or go back in and tweak the order of photos, text, and choose a different song.

For small businesses looking to break through the clutter and grab a visitor's attention, Animoto might be just what you need.

Below is the video I created for Portland Motor Club based on my trip to an open house they had a few weeks back.

If you can't see the movie here, check it out on YouTube. Keep in mind that the DVD-quality is somewhat diminished when rendered through YouTube's system.

Rich Brooks
One Day I'd Like to Direct

ProSites - Affordable Web Sites for Small Businesses

We don't often promote individual ProSites -- our affordable Web sites for small businesses -- here at the flyte blog, but every once in a while it's nice to list some of the companies that are now using the ProSites.

• Maine Custom Woodlands - A full service timber harvesting, land management and excavation company.
• Alan Shaver - Candidate for trustee of the Episcopal Church Pension Fund.
• Psychological Associates of Northern Jersey - A multi-disciplinary partnership of mental health professionals in northern NJ.
• Business Etiquette Institute - Margie Kelly, a business etiquette consultant.
• Reduce My College Costs - A resource-rich Web site for parents of college-bound children looking to save money on tuition.

All of these sites are built on the WordPress platform, allowing our clients to update their Web site without any HTML knowledge or expensive 3rd party software. Just a modern browser is all they need to keep their Web site fresh and smelling like springtime.

Rich Brooks
Small Business Web Sites

How to Share Your Google Analytics (Without Sharing Your Google Account)

As you may know, here at flyte we're pretty fond of Google Analytics and set our clients up with this great, free traffic reporting software.

If you're working with a contractor who's helping you with search engine marketing, or improving your Web site's effectiveness, they may want/need access to your traffic reports to make better recommendations. However, if you give them full access to your Google account they can also access your Gmail and intercept all of your mushy emails or those cease-and-desist letters from Sarah Palin's lawyers.

Here's how you can give them access to just your reports but keep curious eyes away from anything else.

First, login to your Google Analytics account. Down near the bottom of the page you'll see "User Manager." Click there.

That will take you to a page that will show you any user that already has access to the traffic reports. In the dark gray bar you'll see an Add User link near the right. Click there.

This will take you a page where you can add a new user. You can give this new user just View Reports access or make them an Account Administrator. If you choose to give them Account Administrator access they will be able to edit your account settings such as adding other users, creating filters or having Google Analytics email certain reports to users.

This could be just what you want, but just be aware of what you're choosing.

Your new user will need to have a Google account, but as Google accounts are free this probably isn't much of a problem.

You may be tracking reports for multiple Web sites. If you're just giving View Reports access you'll need to select at least one domain from the Available Website Profiles, click the "Add>>" button, and make sure they end up under Selected Website Profiles. Otherwise, the reports won't transfer.

And as always, save your work.

That's all you need to do. Next time they log into their Google Analytics account they'll see a link to your analytics on their dashboard page.

Rich Brooks
Web Analytics Guy

Web Marketing Course for Entrepreneurs and Small Business

I can't believe that we're just one week away from the first class of Web Marketing for Entrepreneurs and Small Business over at the University of Southern Maine.

Well, actually I can, as I spent most of yesterday afternoon updating and revamping the search engine optimization content for the class. And I've blocked out plenty of hours this week to review the rest of my content and build out the social media component. But the "I can't believe" part stresses the fact that it's only a week away, and if you were planning on coming you've got to get a move on.

Who should go? Well, you should be in driving distance of Portland, Maine. (Yes, one of these days I'll create an online version, but not today.) Assuming that you can get to the campus, this course is geared to small business owners, marketers and entrepreneurs who are looking to build a Web presence to grow their business.

Topics will include search engine visibility (how do you out rank your competition,) email marketing, business blogs, social media, e-commerce, and building a Web site that will convert prospects into customers.

The course is held over four Monday nights, 11/10/2008 - 12/1/2008, from 6pm - 8pm at the Abromson Center on the campus of the University of Southern Maine (directions.) The cost is $205, but you need to pre-register for the class, so...

Register Now!

We'll be spending class time reviewing students' current Web sites (when applicable) and making on the spot recommendations to help you rank higher, drive more qualified leads to your site, and convert more prospects into customers. So what are you waiting for?

Register Now!

Rich Brooks
Oh Captain, Your Captain

Protect Your Email Address from Email Harvesters

Putting 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.

Red Bull Delivery = More Efficient Web Development

Two beautiful women just delivered three cases of Red Bull to our offices here at flyte. (Actually, I can't be sure they were beautiful, but the way the light gleamed off the three cases of Red Bull they seemed entirely angelic to me. Nah, I'm pretty sure they were beautiful.)

As I carried one of the cases triumphantly around the office above my head, Andy asked the all important question: "when will they be cold?" Realizing they weren't getting any colder two feet above my head, I stuffed as many of them as I could in our small fridge.

Now I know that my team will be sufficiently energized to complete the work ahead of them.

I'm wondering if we'll have to start changing the tagline on the bottom of all our Web sites: Web Site Design by flyte new media | Fueled by Red Bull.

Rich Brooks
Got Wings?

How to Create an Effective Site Map for Your Web Site

As I struggle through a 527 line Excel spreadsheet that I need to coerce into a coherent site map, I decided to write up some of my thoughts on developing an effective site outline for a Web site.

In no particular order:

1. The home page doesn't get any sub-navigation. Don't ask me why, it just does. Move along, nothing to see here.
2. A site map's purpose is to tell you where pages exist within the structure of a Web site.
3. A site map's purpose isn't to list every element of each page, especially repeating items like "search box" or "email signup box." That goes somewhere else, like in an Information Architecture document or a checklist of "things it would suck to forget."
4. A place for everything and everything in its place. Think of the site map as a tree. If you have a page that doesn't connect to the rest of the site what you've got is a dead branch. The only pages you don't need in a site map is Not Found and Thank You (landing page for contact forms.)
5. "About" should be one of the last items, not right after "Home." Web sites for individuals may be the only exception to this rule, and even then not very often.
6. If you've got to the 5th level of navigation, you've gone too far. Carol Anne - listen to me. Do NOT go into the light. Stop where you are. Turn away from it. Don't even look at it.
7. Every line in the site map = one Web page. If you've got a Resources section that includes Links and FAQs, you still need content for the Resources overview page.

Any other suggestions?

Rich Brooks
Site Maps for Dummies

Learn Internet Marketing in Maine This Fall

For those living in or near southern Maine who are looking to learn more about using Internet Marketing to grow your business, you may be in luck.

I'll be teaching a 4 class course on Web Marketing for Entrepreneurs and Small Business at the University of Southern Maine. I've taught this course a few times before, and it continues to evolve. This time around there will be more time given to social media and how you can use it to leverage your brand and connect with prospects and customers. We'll look at YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and more.

As in the past, we'll also spend time on what I consider the building blocks of Web marketing:

• Search Engine Optimization: how to improve your search engine visibility through keyword rich content and incoming links.
• Business Blogs: how a blog can increase visibility, improve rankings, and establish you as an expert.
• Email Marketing: how to build a subscriber base in a world that has too many ezines already.

And we'll look at traffic reports (analytics), podcasting, and building a Web site that converts prospects into customers.

Dates & Times: 4 Mondays, November  10-December  1, 6-8 p.m.        

Cost: $205 (8 contact hours/ 0.8 CEUs)        
Place: Abromson Center, 88 Bedford Street, USM Portland campus (directions)

Register Now!

Rich Brooks
Small Business Web Marketing Expert

How to Get a Small Business Web Site for Nearly Nothing

In today's Small Business section of the Wall Street Journal is an article called Creating a Successful Site for Almost Nothing by Vauhini Vara. (Link will expire soon for non-subscribers, so click now!) And unlike a lot of similar-themed articles for mainstream media, this one is pretty well researched and written. If you've never had a Web site before, following the instructions in this article is a great start.

You'd think this would make me nervous, being a Web designer and all. I mean, look no further than travel agents to see a job title that's been almost erased by free tools on the Internet. Do free and nearly free Web sites mean the end for your local Web designer?

Ummm...no. Although many travel agents closed their doors after Expedia and Travelocity became popular, others chose the value-added route and became wildly successful. Like any service professional, the best will focus on services that can't be automated or outsourced abroad.

Business owners who are looking for free and nearly free Web sites aren't my target audience. Cheap is not the same as valuable; in fact, the two are usually diametrically opposed. As the article states,

[The hosting companies that offer free hosting] often make money by charging for premium services or running ads on your Web pages.

I mean, what business would have free ads on their Web site? Probably the same ones who hand out business cards that say "Learn how you can get your 50 free business cards by calling..." It doesn't reek of professionalism.

Now, when I started out I designed my own business cards and printed (yes, printed) my monthly newsletter on my dad's printer/copier to save money. I remember the startup days. But if you're a serious business, you shouldn't be trying to create a free Web site, you should be trying to build an effective Web plan that includes search engine optimization, email marketing, blogging and maybe even a social media strategy.

Rich Brooks
Small Business Web Sites and Internet Marketing