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9-Point Web Site Assessment

January 5th, 2012

Do you think that 2012 will be a better year than last year? I really don’t know so I am not making any predictions. But I am banking on that 2012 will be different than last year. Any change is better than no change right? So I am going for different. Speaking of different, I suggest that you start the New Year looking at your web site a little differently. By the way, do you even have a web site? If not then skip the rest of this article or maybe this could be your goal for the New Year. The American dream used to be a little house with a white picket fence. Today that dream has changed to owning a web site that produces a revenue stream. My New Year’s gift to you is this 9-Point Web Site Assessment for you to begin thinking about your site differently.

Domain Name: Do you own a domain name? I suggest you login to your domain name account and review all of the contact information. You may find a surprise or two. You should be named as the Registrant. But also check the contact information for the Administrative Contact and the Technical Contact to make sure they are correct. Is it time to renew your domain name?
Web Hosting Account: Review your web site hosting account. Who are you hosted with? Do you know how much you are paying each month? What do you get for that?
Ongoing Web Maintenance: Do you have a web maintenance contract with a web company? How much are paying? Are you taking full advantage of their services?
Site Updates: When was the last time you updated your web site? Can you update your content and photos with your own Content Management System, CMS? It may be time for some minor updates. Or possibly time for a complete web site redesign?
Looks are Everything: How does your web site look? I suggest that you look at your web site differently. Does your site look current? How does it compare with your competitors? Does your site look outdated? Does the home page look interesting and draw visitors in? Or does it look cluttered? How does your site look on a big monitor? How does it look on an 11″ MacBook Air? How does it look on an iPad? On an iPhone?
Copy/Text: How does your web site read? Content is still king on the web. How is your site’s content? When was your site’s text last updated? I suggest that you actually read through all of your web pages and find out.
Social Media: Are you Social? Do you blog? Do you do Twitter? Do you Facebook? Vimeo? Flickr? LinkedIn? Social Media is possibly more important than the web site itself.
Dated: Check out your web site copyright/footer date. What year is showing in your web page footer? If your web site footer doesn’t say 2012, it looks outdated.
Pull Some Rank: How does your site rank? Is your web site in the search engines? Go to Google and punch in some key words related to your web site. Where does your web site show up on the Search Engine Results Page SERP?

First Crescent has been designing and developing web sites for 15 years. We are a web Communications Company based in Santa Barbara, California. In addition to elegant web site design, we can help you manage your own web content with a Content Management System-CMS, implement Search Engine Optimization-SEO, set up an online store, integrate Social Media, and assist you in achieving your marketing goals. We love working with clients who are ready to take their business to the next level. Begin your year with this 9-point web assessment and make 2012 a different year.

Tags: Santa Barbara, web design company, web site assessment
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It’s the Boy Scout in Me

March 17th, 2011

I had lunch with a buddy yesterday and we were talking about Disaster Recovery or what is now called Business Continuity Planning – BCP. Disasters are on everybody’s mind right now with Japan’s Earthquake, Tsunami and now the worsening nuclear situation. Maybe it is human nature to think that we are immune to such large scale disasters. Then I recalled the long list of disasters that has impacted our area over the years.

Since I moved to Santa Barbara in 1984, this idyllic seaside community (one of the founding hubs of the original Internet – ARPAnet) has endured 4 major wildfires including the Paint fire in 1990 that claimed 500 homes, the Zaca Fire in 2007 that burned over 240,000 acres, the Tea Fire in 2008 that burned 210 homes, then the Jesusita Fire in 2009 destroyed 80 homes. Even the Northridge earthquake in 1994 although 80 miles away, left the Santa Barbara area without power for half the day. A Business Continuity Plan would’ve been prudent for the radio station where I was working at the time. Without a backup generator, we were actually off the air the whole time. So much for the Emergency Broadcast System.

The point is that disasters can and will likely happen. Earthquake, fire, flood, cyber attack, sabotage, weather, utility outage, terrorism, and even disease are all threats that may affect you, your family and your business. Your best protection of course is to have a Business Continuity Plan. Proper prior planning and a little initiative will mitigate the impact when it hits.

I am an old Boy Scout and have lived my life by the Boy Scout motto: “Be Prepared.” Here are some questions to ponder that will help you plan ahead for when the unthinkable happens and disaster strikes:

Do you have an emergency communication plan for your family? Your business? What if the phones, the cell phones, and the Internet are all down? How will you coordinate? How will your business operate? Do you have a prearranged single point of contact?
What about emergency supplies? Water, food, first aid supplies, clothing and medicines?
Is your business data backed up? What if your office burns down? Are the back-ups stored off site? Do you have enough information backed up to bring your business back to life?
What about your own computer? Is your computer backed up? Backups stored off site?
What about your web site? Do you have a complete back up of your web site? Where is it?
What if your Web Master gets hit by a bus? Do you have all of the login information for the domain name registrar account? Do you know who is hosting your web site? Do you have the login information for the account, for the control panel, and the FTP information for your web site? Who is going to bring the web site back to life? Who is going to maintain it?
Lastly, have you tested your Business Continuity Plan?

The bottom line here is that stuff happens all the time. Learn to think like a Boy Scout and Be Prepared.

Tags: BCP, Business Continuity Plan, Business Continuity Planning
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Full Moon Tonight

February 18th, 2011

Tonight is the full moon. We will probably not see it in California because of the weather. The Full Moon however is a perfect time to look at the word FULL. The web site development business uses the word FULL quite often such as Full Redesign, Full Service, Full Content, Full Web Building Capabilities, Fully Supported, Full Content Management System, and Fully Integrated. Let’s take a look a two of these Full Service and Full Disclosure.

Full Service
Businesses often state that they are “Full Service.” This adjective dates back to the 1950’s when gas stations offered a wide range of services including selling gasoline, washing the windows, checking the tires and even competent car repairs. These gas stations were marketing to the average car-driving American. They were selling gas and convenience or One-Stop-Shopping, a pseudonym for Full Service.
Today, well-branded web companies offer what appears to be Full Service or your One Stop Shop for all of your web needs. You can get a domain name for very little money, email accounts, setup a hosting account, setup your blog, and even setup your online store. These web companies even offer advertising services and online marketing. They appear to offer everything but are they really Full Service?

Full Disclosure
One of the problems in the computer world and web world is jargonation or geek-speak. We geeks forget that most of the world is populated with human beings rather than computer people technogeeks. The inmates are truly running the institution as is clearly demonstrated with the Help Menus in your software applications. Do you ever really get help from those help menus? Seriously? Those who authored the help menus are geeks. They don’t really help you and me. In a similar vein, web companies say all of the right things to lure you in but will they really help you with your web site? Will they solve your problem?

Ginormous web companies are good at marketing themselves using sexy girls and all the right buzz words to catch your attention and your dollars. If you are building a new or even redesigning a web site then chances are their TV ads caught your attention. Once they have successfully driven you to their web site, the incredibly cheap prices draw you in even further into their lair. They offer everything and appear to be a Full Service web company for very little money.

Read the Full Disclosure and read the fine print. How much support do they offer? Will they really build your web site for you? What will you get? Are their templates easy enough for you to work with? Do you really understand all that they are selling you? How much will it really cost you? Do your homework before you give them your credit card. Check out the user reviews at Consumer-rankings.com/hosting | webhostingjury.com or hosting-review.com

By the way if you do see the full moon tonight, notice its position in the sky. Since the moon and the sun are 180 degree opposites at Full Moon, where the moon is tonight is where the Sun will be 6 months from now, August.

First Crescent is a strategic web communications company based in Santa Barbara, California. In addition to elegant web site design, we can help you set up an online store, manage your own web content, integrate Social Media, and assist you in achieving your marketing goals. We love working with clients who are ready to take their business to the next level.

Look for the Full Moon tonight! (805) 963-9393 — toll free (800) 574-6146

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Our Namesake

January 6th, 2011

Look in the Western sky tonight, just after sunset. If you are lucky enough to see the crescent moon, you may understand how First Crescent got its name. The crescent moon is the harbinger of great things to come. Its unusual shape always catches the eye. It is a glimmer of hope emerging from a world of darkness. It is the very essence of change and in my opinion any change is better than no change. I named my first sailboat the First Crescent 33 years ago and then named my company after it.

That old wood and canvass sailboat is long gone but its namesake carries on with my web business. It is a new year, with a First Crescent moon and time to think about what you can do to make things better. Cleaning up your life begins with cleaning your closet. Good business begins with good marketing. Good marketing begins with a good web site.

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Why Am I Still Here?

October 25th, 2010

Did you see the cover of the September issue of Wired Magazine? How could you miss that neon orange cover with giant bold letters that simply said “THE WEB IS DEAD” For those who don’t know, Wired Magazine is the bastion of geek chic publications since 1993, known for their wildly colorful 2-page graphical layouts, and thought provoking articles like Bill Joy’s classic “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us.” As a web developer since 1997, naturally I had to find out why Wired thinks the web is dead. For if Wired says that the web is dead, who needs me? Who needs a professional web development company anymore? Why do I matter?

Chris Anderson clearly lays out his position in this Wired article, that if your typical digital day rolls like many of us, beginning with email [Outlook for me] then Facebook, Google News and Google Reader, listening to the latest NPR podcast, and then finally onto Pandora for workday tunes, then you and I are spending our day on the Internet but NOT on the Web. “This is not a trivial distinction…one of the most important shifts in the digital world over the past few years, has been the move from the wide-open Web to semi-closed platforms that use the Internet for transport but not the browser for display. It’s driven primarily by the rise of the iPhone [iPad and Blackberry] model of mobile computing…and it’s a world that Google cant crawl…and it’s a world that consumers are increasingly choosing…because these dedicated platforms often just work better or fit better into their lives…” Ari Melber in The Nation magazine states that “Americans now spend more time on Facebook than on the next 5 most popular websites combined.”

So with most of the world on Facebook and the web dead, again who needs a professional web development firm? If anyone can get a 2-minute web site for $10 to $15 per month why is my company (established in 1997 – ancient history in web world) why are we still here? Well my friend, if you’re reading this article, then you either have worked with us, are about to work with us or will work with us someday in the not too distant future.

Forrester Research. Forecasts that online retails sales will grow to $250 billion by 2014. This sounds really good in the depths of the recession. The truth is what was once a luxury is now a necessity. If you are one of those who say “I love technology” you need a web site. If you are one of those who say, “I hate technology” you need a web site. Or how about the paradox of the web…how many times have you tried to buy something from a web site that didn’t work or had problems? The unfortunate truth is that it is business as usual. Understanding the shopping cart buying protocol, the battle for the brain, integrating development trends, and weaving the principles of beautiful web design into your site will help you achieve the results you are seeking. The Web may be dead, but First Crescent is very much alive.

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