SM Marketing is keeping companies a wake at night!

Use Social Media technologies to market your website. Turn communication into an interactive dialogue between your business and the rest of the world. How can social media marketing improve your business? Social media marketing is a process of gaining traffic and attention through social media sites to engage the consumers about your products and services. The companies that do well in social media marketing are the ones who contribute stories that the social community appreciates Social Media Marketing is NOT your traditional advertising network and companies that don't get this are most likely going to fail at social marketing.  You need to understand that not all goals can be profit oriented and that turning spontaneous viewers into legions of loyal followers can have an impact on your companies longevity. Successful social media marketing means creating a trustful relationship with your audience and contributing a myriad of interesting "sticky" messages. What is a sticky message? An interesting one that keeps the viewer sticking around for more! For example a social media article with “Why You Should Buy My Social Media Marketing Books” is dull and may not be considered sticky. It is not especially interesting or even an exciting title.  But maybe "SM & M is the new business love link!" or "SM Marketing is keeping companies a wake at night". Social Media Marketing is a commitment and requires a minimum of at least 15 - 30 minutes a day of your time per social media. So what social media markets are available?  There are many social medias available. Here are just a few to take a look at. Facebook Giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Twitter Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. Simply find the public streams you find most compelling and follow the conversations. Digg Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our community. Diigo Diigo Groups provides a ground-breaking collaborative research and learning tool that allows any group of people to pool their findings through group bookmarks, highlights, sticky notes, and forum. Delicious With Delicious you save, stack and share the web. Instantly save your favorite links, collect your discoveries in stacks, share what you find, and dig deeper into your favorite topics. A stack is a collection of links built around a common theme. Blinklist Never Lose a Cool Web Page Again Easily view your links from any computer and save a copy offline. Find Any of Your Links in 0.18 Seconds or Faster Links are automatically organized and searched faster than Google. Easily Share Your Links with Others While browsing, you can save and share links in one click. StumbleUpon StumbleUpon helps you discover interesting web pages, photos and videos recommended by friends and like-minded people, wherever you are. Visit www.pccgraphics.com Let us design your website. We've got your backend covered! We are also here for your country style website design too. We design beautiful websites inside and out for professional business & the arts and crafts industry!

What does country style graphics mean to you?

Most dictionaries state that country style means rural living in characteristic of farming or country life. These are just a few words that express country style to me: rustic, homemade, casual, cozy, cheerful, simple, charming, and homespun. Country style graphics bring to mind country picket fences, wicker baskets, drying flowers, candles, rocking chairs, old country cupboards, homespun quilts, plaids, checks, teddy bears, dolls, farm scenes, country scenes, shaker houses, angels, hearts, stars, and so much more. Most country style graphic artists bring country elements of primitive, Americana, rustic, shaker, shabby chic, French style, English style, etc. into the making of their graphics. Thru the years I have found that each country has it's own appealing style when it comes to creating country style graphics. It is hard to put into words all the different country style graphics that are available to us online. I have been a country style graphic artist for over seventeen years and I am inclined to make muted and darker colored country graphics mixed with the primitive look. I love creating country graphics that depict country living and country crafting. To me country style homespun inspires me in the making of my country graphics. What is your ideal vision of country style graphics?  "The only way to grow competently is to share knowledge."  Kind regards, JP COUNTRY GRAPHICS COMMENTS COUNTRY GRAPHICS www.CountryGraphics.BIZ Phone: 618-585-3634

Search Engine Optimization = SEO "The SEO Waltz"

Search Engine Optimization = SEO SEO FUNDAMENTALS - EASY TO UNDERSTAND SEO GUIDELINES CHAPTER 1 - THE SEO WALTZ by CountryGraphics.BIZ There is a considerable amount of support available on SEO. It can consume your time and you can spend somewhere between hundreds to thousands of dollars on SEO consultants. I have put together a few easy to understand SEO fundamental guidelines. The good thing is that you can do fundamental SEO work that will increase the traffic flow to your website pages. Search engines fetch free traffic to all sites, but most sites are not optimized to take advantage of this free service. Stick to the fundamental SEO steps provided in this article, and you'll be on your way to increased traffic to your website's pages. PAGE ACCESSIBILITY It is crucial that every page have a unique URL. Do not use drop down flash menus for your navigation, the search engines can't read them. Do not use the new CSS drop down menus at this time, you could be scrutinized as a spammer. JavaScript should only be used for enhancement and not a requirement for the page to display important subject matter information. THE TITLE META TAG & HEADING 1 TAG MUST WORK WITH ONE ANOTHER The page title is the headline in search results, the title words must reflect the page's content. It is useless to have redundant titles and non descriptive wording in the title tag. The page title meta tag is the most essential element on your pages. This wording appears in the browser's tile bar. There are different beliefs on the amount of characters one should use in a title tag. Major search engines generate from 65 - 70 characters in the headline search results, but the major search engine are always updating their title tag character guidelines. The title should begin with the key phrase subject matter, and can be followed by the name of the site. Always keep the subject matter as the main focus. Include as many keywords and keyword phrases as needed to describe the page's subject matter, but try to keep the characters down to 70. The title tag should be unique for each page on your site, it is essential to reflect the wording that is in the h1 Header Tag /h1 of each page. The requisite here is to insure the title tag and the headerh1tag, must use the same keyword phrases that describes the page's subject matter. Making sure this step is taken, will reinforce better search engine results and more traffic to your site. The h1 to h6 tags are used to define HTML headings. h1 defines the most important heading. h6 defines the least important heading. Your h1 tag  should contain keywords and keyword phrases that represent the pages main subject matter. The h1 tag should be the first words that describe your subject matter on each page. Common h1 tag mistakes are: the page has no h1 tag, the h1 tag is in p tags or other tags, h1 tags aren't explicit enough to describe the subject matter on the page. Make sure that your page begins with an h1 tag. The h1 tag does not need to be visually huge in the largest font. (See more about Tag descriptions at the bottom of page) THE META DESCRIPTION TAG The meta description tag meta name="DESCRIPTION" content=" YOUR DESCRIPTION HERE"  is also important. The description tag should be 150 characters long, because this is what fits into most major search engine listings. Characters over 150 are discarded or concealed. The description tag is an introduction that promotes your pages subject matter. The description tag should be written for your audience and not for the search engines. However, it is beneficial to include your targeted keywords, since the search engine will highlight them and this draws your audience to your search engine listing. THE KEYWORDS META TAG There are strong attitudes about the keywords meta tag. BE HAPPY DON'T WORRY is the main theme. Because of the immense abuse of meta keyword tags, the dominant search engine " Google" ignores them. Other search engines use them, but most SEO consultants theorize that you sacrifice little by ignoring them. I still use the keyword meta tags in my web design practices. I do not spam and I follow the old guidelines. We all agree at this point in time that the most important places to use your targeted keywords are in your page's title, h1, and body. SEO WALTZ CONCLUSION I call the above steps the SEO Waltz. If you follow the steps above with grace and balance it will bring you satisfaction and rewards. Do not word spam, be honest and use good judgment when creating the title and h1 tags. If you create first-class tags you will not be punished by the major search engines, but instead you will be rewarded with increased traffic to your site's pages. HTML TAG DESCRIPTIONS EXPLAINED The above tag descriptions p and body used in above statements are further explained here. Differences Between HTML and XHTML are none! p html tag: The p tag defines a paragraph.  The p  tag automatically creates space before and after itself. The space is automatically applied by the browser, or you can specify the amount of space in a style sheet. body html tag: The body tag defines the document's body. The body tag contains all the contents of an HTML document, such as text, hyperlinks, images, tables, lists, etc. HTML, which stands for HyperText Markup Language, is the language used to build web pages PARSABLE means able to be parsed. The word "parse" means to analyze an object specifically. It simple terms it's a method of reading code and delivering it to the web server in a readable format. META TAGS OR METADATA IS INFORMATION ABOUT DATA The < meta > tag provides metadata about the HTML document. Metadata will not be displayed on the page, but will be machine parsable. Meta elements are typically used to specify page description, keywords, author of the document, last modified, and other metadata. The < meta > tag always goes inside the head element. The metadata can be used by browsers (how to display content or reload page), search engines (keywords), or other web services. To learn more about html visit http://www.w3schools.com Don't have the time to do your own SEO PCC Website Design and we will quote you a price Phone: 618-585-3634    Kiss Web Design "The only way to grow competently is to share knowledge."  Kind regards, JP COUNTRY GRAPHICS COMMENTS COUNTRY GRAPHICS www.CountryGraphics.BIZ

Safely going online with a website - ONLINE SAFETY

ONLINE SAFETY Safely Going Online With a Website There is a dark side to cyberspace with companies who attempt to exploit your inexperience. Avoid some of the pit falls of setting up your e-commerce or personal site online. Establishing an online presence includes getting a few facts together before rushing headlong into a unfavorable situation. Companies will lure you in with freebies and super-low prices and then leave you struggling helplessly when you need assistance. There are a few tips everyone should follow before going online and with an e-commerce or personal site. Decide before hand what your objectives are. Ask yourself a few of these questions. Questions to ask yourself: Is my site going to be a long time investment or a short term investment? Investment can mean your time or your time and money. Do I need a secure hosting server? Examples: Selling products, password protected areas for sharing personal information, gathering personal information. What kind of experience do I have or need to maintain an online presence? Knowledge Examples: html, php, scripts, flash, FrontPage, just fill in the online forms. Is my domain name important to me? Do you want to keep it for the long term or this is not an important issue? Is customer service availability important to me? Do you want to receive customer service via email only, via phone only, or via both email and phone? Tips: If your website is a long term investment, make customer support a priority in your host providers credentials. Regardless of your needs at the time always look for a company with secure hosting service. If you do not know what html is, most likely you will need a site builder program. If a hosting company does not provide a demo of their site builder software, then walk away. You do not want to pay money out and find out that their program does not fit your needs. If you are in it for the long term your domain name should be very important to you. Make sure your domain name account is separate from your hosting account. Make sure you have control of your domain name via an admin panel. See domain name hostage article for more critical details. If you just want a free site for the time being. Then I suggest Tripod, but even at tripod you need to be aware of certain rules. When upgrading to a paid site, DO NOT use the free domain name offer, your free domain name is owned by their company not you and you will be in a domain name hostage situation. Buy your domain name from a domain registering company and have it forward to your free site. This way you do have control of your chosen domain name. DON'TS: Don't set up a long term e-commerce site on a free site... unless you read between the obligation and contract lines and they are acceptable to you. Don't accept free domain name offers... EVER!!! NEVER!! Don't assume it is really free! Don't buy a site builder without trying it out first. If the company offers a short term package, consider trying it out first, to make sure it meets your needs and expectations. Don't be fooled by the term free domain with website hosting. Again you are putting yourself in a domain name hostage situation. If it is too good to believe, don't get involved. Hard Luck Stories: I paid to have a custom site built for me and now I do not know how to take care of it. Work with companies that sell you products based on your needs and knowledge. I signed up for a free site with a free domain and now I want to move to another hosting service and I found out I don't own my domain name. Can't say this enough, Never accept Free domain name packages. I bought a site builder and found out that I can't use my preferred payment gateway. Always try out the demo. Make sure you have enough time to really try it out. If a demo is not offered, usually there is a reason. I bought a custom site, built in frames, only to find out that it is not search engine friendly. If your site is an e-commerce site, AVOID FAMES... see frames article. I bought website services and I can even get a response to my technical questions. Make sure your hosting provider or web designer offers both email and phone contacts. I needed a database to run my software and I found out I have to pay more money to my host provider. This is common acceptable practice, so make sure you read what is included in your hosting package. Or buy a package that includes msql. My site disappeared and I had to start over. Make sure your host provider creates backups... You still may loose some information between the backup scheduled times... but you will NOT have to start from scratch. Do you have a hard luck story? Let us know so that we can share it with others so they do not make the same mistakes. COUNTRY GRAPHICS NEWS Best wishes online... Kind regards, JP www.CountryGraphics.BIZ

Don't get framed into using frames!

Building or Having a Website Designed for you?  This is a must read article! WHAT ARE FRAMES?   Frame setting is combining several html pages in one browser window. The common frameset is a stationary html web page that stays put while you scroll through another html web page. Each frame is actually a separate web page. A frameset is a grouping of web pages with the same or different functions. Example: One frame for navigation buttons on the left side, one frame to display a banner across the top, and a collection of separate pages that the navigation buttons bring up into the main page frame. A well planned frameset can be appear to be an excellent online website choice. It looks great and the navigation button frame stays put when you scroll. Looks pretty, right? SO WHY DON'T I LIKE FRAMES? Frames in my opinion are for in-house company websites and for exclusive audiences. If you are taking the time, effort, and expense that it takes to be a member of the world wide web; you are most likely doing it to get some attention. If you want to get a message out, sell a product, or inform a wide viewing audience, then do not use frames. The biggest problem for frames is SEARCH ENGINE TROUBLES. Search engines and frames do not work well together. The search engines don't know what frame to include in their index. And my biggest gripe is that frames prevent search engines from finding other pages within a framed website. Search engines mostly index the home page and that is it. IRRITATING REASONS for not liking frames are numerous. Frames disable the URL addressing process, making book marking impossible. Book marking requires that your browser know what the URL address is, of the page you want to bookmark. A frameset usually displays at all times the URL of the initial state; which is in most cases is the index page of the website. The page you think you are book marking is actually hidden in the frameset. In simple terms...Julie wants to book mark your products. She saves your framed site to her favorites and when she comes back later to click on your book marked page, she finds herself back on your index page. Julie does not see the products she thought she had book marked, instead she sees your index page and now realized she has to search your site again for the products she thought she had book marked. Julie is not happy and will never book mark your site again. Equally Irritating You can not recommend a page via email. So Jackie decides to send an email message to Joanne with the recommendation to check out the products on a page in your framed website. Copying the URL address from the browser address field to send to Joanne creates the same results. Joanne is not happy and will dismiss your site as baffling. Most browsers cannot print framed pages correctly. Selecting File: Print will end up printing a single frame. Preview and select what fames you want printed will not be easy if the page you want to print is a scrolling frame. So now a viewer can't even print a copy of your products to show to Aunt Lucy,who does not own a computer. You have just lost sales, because your site is not user friendly. Still want your pretty looking framed website? Frames are not supported by all browsers, some browsers can't read frames. Oops you lost a few more customers. Most studies out there on the big wide web, tell us that most viewers prefer straight HTML websites, rather then framed html paged websites. You sell crafts in frames and Kathy sells the same crafts, but she uses html pages. Guess where most of your potential customers are going to go. Framed sites are commonly slow loading, because a frameset web page consists of several web pages in frames, it takes longer to load than a single html page. I do not stick around for slow loading pages, and most of the world does not stand still for your frames to load. There are a lot more sites just like yours in html format that load faster. OK OK OK I know I can go on and on about this subject. So don't take my word for it... check out what the rest of the world thinks. Put "Frames Pros and Cons" in your favorite search engine and read what others have to say. My questions to you are... DO YOU WANT TO GET NOTICED BY SEARCH ENGINES? DO YOU WANT TO SELL PRODUCTS ONLINE? DO YOU WANT TO BE VIEWED AS FRIENDLY? Then don't get framed into using frames! COUNTRY GRAPHICS NEWS Best wishes online... Kind regards, JP www.CountryGraphics.BIZ