With a company name like First Crescent you know that I am into celestial phenomena. We were lucky enough to have my wife’s neck X-rays to view two recent celestial astronomical events, the Solar Eclipse and Venus transiting the sun. (X-rays by the way make perfect sun filters.) I am always moved by these things. Someday I will tell you about the Total Eclipse of the sun that I witnessed first-hand in Bozeman, Montana back in 1979.

My Mom is another phenomenon. Her 92nd birthday was at the end of May. I am amazed at her strength of character even in ill-health. Her spirit is still very bright as is her mind. I am proud of her and am lucky to be able to thank her for all of those wonderful gifts she bestowed upon me. Have you thanked your Mom lately?

I am also proud of my company. First Crescent has survived 2 major recessions, and has been building web sites for over 15 years. We were recently hired to do a complete site redesign for Friendship Tours World Travel, a company in perfect alignment with First Crescent’s core values. Friendship Tours are making the world a better place by providing life-changing educational travel and community-service programs for teachers and students. They get an “A” in my grade book for all the good that they do in the world.

Speaking of grades, First Crescent, has received the highly coveted “A  plus” rating from the Better Business Bureau – BBB.  According to the BBB website, their mission is “advancing marketplace trust.” In an effort to remain unbiased and maintain fairness, the BBB holds a standard policy of refraining from recommending or endorsing any specific business, product or service. Before you choose a business to work with, be sure and check them out on the Better Business Bureau web site.

Let’s see what else is new around here: We upgraded to the newest Adobe software suite, Creative Cloud Services. The Creative Cloud not only gives us access to all 16 Adobe applications, it also comes complete with all of the tools for designing and developing web sites for a variety of users using a broad-range of devices and browsers, for what is commonly called Responsive Web Design or RWD. Responsive Web Design will assure that the web site displays properly on a desk top computer, on a small notebook, on an iPhone or an iPad. This is no small task! By the way, how does your web site look on your iPhone?

New software and new technology requires new training which is why we subscribe to Lynda.com. Her amazing online training also helped us ramp-up for our third Ruby on Rails project for our new client AppFolio.

Just like making the effort to see the First Crescent moon, we are constantly making an effort to stay ahead of the web technology curve. For over Fifteen years we have been offering our clients memorable web design and unparalleled customer service. I maybe an amateur astronomer, but I am a professional when it comes to web development.

1. 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?
2. 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?
3. 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?
4. 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?
5. 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?
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

May be you have one or know someone who has one but according to Nielsenwire, apparently we are in the early adopter phase of Smartphones. Only about 23% of the cell phone users in the US are using Smartphones. Of the scores of different Smartphones available, Blackberries, iPhones and iPads dominate new Smartphone sales with the Droid gaining market share by the day.

These Smartphones have more computing power than the computer that first put a man on the moon in 1969. Phone calls, emailing, texting, getting directions, and Internet browsing from one small handheld device are now luxuries enjoyed by these early adopters. However as the wireless networks get faster, Smartphone Internet usage will become cheaper, easier and more prevalent. Walt Mossberg says, “…in a nutshell, most of the industry is gradually moving from “3G” networks to faster networks called “4G,” or fourth generation. This will take several years and billions of dollars, and will be turned on city by city.”

In the future, bigger is not necessarily going to be better. Do you remember how excited you were when you went from a 15-inch computer monitor to a 17-inch monitor? I do. Then up to a 19-inch? Then a 21 inch? Then 26? A 30-inch monitor? Now we are going the other way. Today, web sites must be designed for these huge monitors and for Smartphones with very tiny screens at the same time. Web sites must look good, be effective, and work properly on both a large and a small format screens. If your web site is more than 3 years old, it is likely time to consider a redesign. More importantly, is that your web site be ready for the mobile, smarter, faster, and smaller world.

Just 10 years ago if you were to ask the same question, what about web video on my site the answer would have been a definite no. Xing technology, a pioneer in streaming technologies began right here California’s Central Coast. Before it was sold to Real Networks in 1999, Xing invented StreamWorks, the first live 24-hour video and the first live 24-hour audio broadcast system for the Internet. Web video back then, was resource intensive. Moving the vast amounts of data around the Internet using the old 56k modems during the 1990’s was painfully slow. I remember waiting 45 minutes for a Maria Carey music video clip to download in 1995. Not only was the video the size of a postage stamp but also it was less than one minute long.

Today’s technology makes it easy and accessible to produce videos for the web, unlike in the pioneering days of webcasting in the 1990s.  With video portals like YouTube, Hulu, and Brightcove, finding and watching them is easy too.

But should you use video on YOUR site? The short answer is – probably. However, just because it’s popular doesn’t mean it’s right for your business. Revisit your business goals, ask yourself what you would like to achieve and whether video will help you reach your objective.

Then, before you even think of picking up a camera, do your homework.

• What’s the objective of your video? Get clear on this right at the start. Is it to promote a new product, get sign ups for a seminar, do damage control, introduce your new CEO, answer frequently asked questions, provide customer support? Something else? Knowing what you want to achieve will help you focus the content.
• How long does your video need to be in order to reach your objective? 30-seconds, 3-minutes, 23-minutes? Or more?
• Who is your audience? What are the demographics of your target audience? Are they male or female? How old are they? What is their level of education? What do they want to know? What do you want them to know? What do you want them to experience? Getting to know your audience will narrow down your content even further and keep you on track.
• Define your message. Focus your entire video on getting your message across, but be specific. A very general message is less likely to hit home with your viewers or get more than a ho-hum reaction from them. That’s not what you want.
• Who will write the script? You do need one. Winging it may sound like fun, but the results won’t measure up and your video will be a dud. Will you write the script yourself or do you need to hire a scriptwriter?
• Who is going to produce your video? Anyone with a video camera, a Macbook, iMovie, and the Adobe Suite can produce a video for the web. But ask yourself whether an amateur video will create the impression you want. If not, it’s time to hire a professional team.
• Figure out your budget. Nothing puts a damper on enthusiasm as quickly as running out of money before a project is finished. In addition to a videographer and scriptwriter, add in the costs for renting equipment, editing the video, hiring other professional talent both on and off camera. Finally, if you want an added dimension to your video, include the cost for the background music, or music bed as it is called.
• How are you going to post it on your web site: as a QuickTime movie? As a Flash movie? Or simply upload it to YouTube?  YouTube is free and but consider whether it’s the best place for a business related video. If the answer is yes, make sure to embed your video into the web page or you run the risk of losing your audience to YouTube’s site.

Yes, consider video as a way to get your company message out to your audience. Then think the project through and plan in advance BEFORE the camera rolls. You’ll save time, money and aggravation, and you’ll end up with a video that gets your viewers excited.

1.) Spelling Counts! – Like it or not, we are judged on details and first impressions. Sure, the message counts. But grammatical and spelling errors make you and your company look sloppy. Readers assume that your employees aren’t the best and the brightest if they can’t spell properly. Don’t give your readers a reason to devalue your company before they finish reading your article.

2.) Don’t Try to Sell – Of course you want to get business from your blog.  But you don’t do that by making it sound like your marketing department! The most successful blogs offer value to their readers with candid, insightful information into the company and the industry. If your CEO is willing to be the face of the company blog, that’s even better. Over time your readers get to know your company, you gain credibility with them because of your knowledge – and that’s when business happens.

3.) Keep an Eye on Your Industry – You need to know who your competitors are and what they’re doing. Follow leaders and bloggers in your industry to keep abreast of the latest trends and topics. Commenting on blogs and allowing others to comment on yours is a great way to create worthwhile connections with other bloggers and your readers.

4.) Keep it Real – Be transparent. Don’t hide behind fake usernames and “anonymous” comments on other blogs. Use your real name. Make it clear that you work in the industry. Readers value and respect companies who present themselves honestly.

5.) Keywords are (well um)…KEY – They’re called keywords for a reason, right? Using relevant and interesting keywords in the title of your blog entry draws in readers; they also help the search engines find you. But make sure the keywords relate to your article: if readers don’t find what they expected, they’ll feel cheated and chances are they won’t come back.

6.) Post Often – New content encourages readers to come back. It also helps your search engine rankings.  Develop a schedule and stick to it. Often it’s easier and less time-consuming to write several articles at once and then you always have one ready to post on schedule.

7.) Be Relevant – This is often a major roadblock in maintaining a company blog. The topics are obvious (anything related to your field). However sometimes it’s hard to find new angles for the same old subjects, without drifting off into irrelevance. Readers come to your blog expecting to find posts about a certain subject: it turns them off when they find something different. And they lose interest in you.

Follow these 7 Rules to avoid the most common pitfalls of blogging –  and your blog will become a treasure trove of resources and useful insights into your industry.

Whether it’s Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, Yelp or others, social media is an essential part of your marketing mix because it’s a way to reach out to customers more easily and at a lower cost than with traditional marketing methods. It’s the online equivalent of "word of mouth" marketing: people are turning to it more and more to find recommendations for goods and services.

To help you get started, here are some basic dos and don’ts.

DOs
1. DO respect the community. Learn the proper etiquette for online dialogues in general, and for the application you are using in particular. Always keep your comments constructive, even if someone makes you angry.
2. DO participate. Otherwise no one knows who you are or what you have to say. Monitor topics and contributors that are important to your industry and interact with them through their social media. Instead of posting everywhere just to get your name out, focus on bringing value to the conversation – you’ll gain more respect.
3. DO write original content. It’s a violation of copyright law to lift someone else’s material directly off the Internet and pass it off as your own. You will be caught! Remember that you are a leading authority in your field and people want to hear YOUR thoughts and opinions.
4. DO monitor your efforts. As with all marketing efforts, it’s important to know what results you’re getting. You can use one of the social media monitoring tools to find out what people are saying about you and whether the time you spend on social media is leading to increased business. The tools also help you stay engaged in the conversations that matter most to you. Businesses that stay on top of the buzz about their company can respond quickly when they need to.
5. DO stay current. Social media is constantly changing. Tools that are popular today may be considered ancient tomorrow. Follow the trends. Know what’s available but don’t jump on every bandwagon just because you can. Know which tools help your business make the biggest impact.

DON’Ts
1. DON’T lie. Social media is based on trust, and trust must be earned. Shady tactics can backfire and create huge negative publicity. Don’t say things about yourself or your competitors that are untrue, and don’t create aliases to post comments to artificially boost your reputation.
2. DON’T spam. Many social media applications require people to subscribe in order to receive your messages, but that doesn’t give you a license to flood their inbox. When you overrun the application with your messages, you risk alienating your fans and they will turn you off.
3. DON’T overdo your presence. Sure, you want your company’s name spread around as much as possible. However, it’s best to stick to a few core social media applications. When you attempt to post in too many places, it becomes overwhelming and you’ll end up posting exactly the same content everywhere. That’s likely to annoy your readers. Or you’ll run out of worthwhile things to say.
4. DON’T be a pest. Everyone wants the biggest and most important people to be their fan or friend. However, if they haven’t responded to your request, don’t keep resending it in case it got "lost in the mail". At best, they might continue to ignore you, at worst you may have annoyed them enough that they call you out on it publicly.
5. DON’T connect with just anyone. When you want to build authentic relationships, be wary about connecting with strangers whose only goal is to sell you something. They are unlikely to add anything to your relationships. Ideally you want your fans to be people who are genuinely interested in what you have to say and offer, and who will respond to and interact with you.

There you have it: simple ways to make sure that your social media spreads the word about your business in a way that creates a positive impression and gets you noticed. For a comparison of various major social networking applications and ways in which you can leverage them for your business, check out this guide to the social landscape.