September « 2009 « Christopher Ross

Archive for September, 2009

30
Sep
2009

Ashley would like to give you a free MacBook Air.

A lot of the time, people think this type of post is a joke or a scam but it’s not. Ashley Morgan of Upstart Blogger is giving away a free MacBook Air. There’s no real trick to the promo, simply link to his contest (here) and you can win it.

Why would he give away a MacBook Air?

Actually he could have picked anything to give away but the MacBook Air is sexy, it’s sleek and it’s amazingly cool. It’s also a valuable giveaway which will attract far more interest than say a free pencil but I guess the real question is why … why would a successful blogger like Ashley give away something as valuable as a MacBook? Wouldn’t it cost him a lot?

Yes. Simply put, giving away a MacBook Air will cost him a lot but cost it seems is a funny thing. As long as he gets back more than he give out, is there really a cost? Need that explained a bit more?

The cost to Ashley is fixed, he’s giving away a MacBook Air which according to Apple has a cost of $1499.

Ashley is trading links from websites such as mine to his posting at http://www.upstartblogger.com/link-to-me-and-grab-a-free-macbook-air. Every time I link from my blog to Ashley’s blog it acts as a vote from my website (PageRank 5) to Ashley’s. This does two things:

First it reaffirms with Google that UpstartBlogger is a valuable contributor to the Internet which in turn increases his websites position in search engine result pages (SERP’s). This improves his position and ensures his blog appears higher in the results.
Secondly, it causes readers just like you to follow my links to his website and in turn be exposed to his advertising which in turn … increases his revenue.

In short, the offer is a calculated risk which all business people can learn from.

If AR+AS is greater than C, it’s not actually costing him anything. So, as long as AR (Advertising Revenue) plus AS (Advertising Savings) is greater than C (Cost) he’s going to make a profit through the placement of ads and the money he saves by not having to buy links to his website.

Tags: Advertising Revenue, apple, Ashley Morgan, blog, blogger, Calculated Risk, Contributer, Contributor, Exposed, Free Pencil, funny thing, google, joke, Lot, money, search engine result, Sexy, Thsi, Vote
Posted in Marketing Advice

29
Sep
2009

Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up

3 Comments

I received an email this week from a friend of mine who’s been looking for a medical alert device for his grandmother which cracked me up. Not because old people falling is funny (it really isn’t) but it reminded me of a commercial when I was a kid for this old lady who’d fallen and couldn’t get up. Again, the commercial itself wasn’t terribly funny but the branding the phrase “help I’ve fallen and can’t get up” was brilliant.

See that’s the funny thing about marketing. It doesn’t matter that old ladies getting hurt is traumatic, without intending to do it the marketing professionals behind the medical alert device created a national pop culture movement that spread from late night TV to Saturday Night Live and had references on most popular culture shows of the time, that’s the aim of any budget marketer … the move the cost of advertising away from their own client and into the main stream media where brand recognition (even as the butt of a joke) is free.

In recent years, we’ve seen the same thing accomplished with Wendy’s “where’s the beef” and of course the infamous “wazzzzzzzzz up” campaign where simple, clever lines delivered effectively made the shift from marketing to pop culture without much effort.

Tags: Brand Recognition, butt, Clever Lines, Cost Of Advertising, Culture Movement, email, funny thing, Grandmother, joke, Late Night Tv, Main Stream, Marketer, Old Ladies, Old Lady, phrase, Pop Culture, popular culture, Saturday Night Live, Stream Media, Wendy
Posted in Marketing Advice

29
Sep
2009

Thoughts blog site

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I recently came across a new blog site called thoughts.com and found it very interesting.

The website is a fairly easy to use social networking/conversation websites designed to be extremely widget friendly. This gives each individual user the ability to interact with teh website in a completely different way, I really like that feature and to me it makes the website far more about me, which of course is always my personal objective.

The website allows you to interact with a community of bloggers through the widgets, you basically decide which information you’d like to share and your account is updated with the latest blog posts from your friends as well as emails and a ton of other stuff.

There’s a daily news section with an extensive amount of information crawled from around the web as well as breaking news and the ability to discuss or participate in the news community, through an active discussion board.

thoughts.com is a fairly interactive community with some really though provoking and thoughtful personal web blogs, with the vast majority of content generated by an active community of users. People on thought.com seem (for the most part) to subscribe to the companies “one love policy” which helps encourage like minded people to interact in a positive way.

Tags: Active Community, blog, bloggers, Breaking News, Discussion Board, Interactive Community, love, News Community, Personal Objective, Personal Web, social networking, Web Blogs, widget, widgets
Posted in Blogging

29
Sep
2009

Buying Domain Names for your Audience

3 Comments

For those of you who are in the United States, the .com, .net and .org domain are pretty well standard but of course there’s also .us and a whole host of other domains extensions on the market these days but have you ever wondered about using a domain name for your specific market?

Take me for example, while I work throughout the US on websites I actually live in Canada so a lot of companies who market specifically to Canadians use the .ca extension instead. In German, the .de and in the UK it’s a .co.uk.

This is a powerful yet often overlooked marketing tool for companies who sell product or services into a variety of markets, by using a domain name specific to the county, you’re not only pre-qualifying leads to that web property but you’re also customizing content for the specific customer.

Take for example a website which sells cooking DVD’s which wants to sell into multiple markets. Yes, it’s possible to sell into multiple markets based on a single domain name but why not also run the .ca version and adjust pricing throughout the website to reflect the shipping costs in local currency? This allows you to make special offers to each market as well as test new products you’d previously not considered.

Tags: audience, canada, canadians, Currency, domain name, domain names, Marketing Companies, marketing tool, Net Domain, Org Domain, Shipping Costs, Special Offers, Tool Companies, United States, Web Property
Posted in Marketing Advice

28
Sep
2009

Web Host Rating

1 Comment

Last week I posted my opinion of a great online web hosting review company and this got me thinking that I should point some of my readers to more quality web hosting guide websites, to help new users to the Internet marketing game understand more about the process of hosting.

The first question of course is what is website hosting all about? Simply put, website hosting the disc drive space your website resides at on the Internet. A slightly more complex way to look at it is that web site hosts are companies who specialize in renting hard drive and computer processing power to clients so that they can hold files on the web. Let’s take a look at how the process really works.

Step One – Have an idea.

So now that you’ve had an idea for a great website, you need to plan it out and just like any business you need to understand the risks, the rewards and the alternatives to building a great website. It’s a lot like planning to open a restaurant but instead of a menu and dishes to plate you have payment gateways or software to worry about but much like a restaurant you still need a plan.

Step Two – Build a website

Next you need to build a website, which either means hiring the designers and developers or doing it yourself. Once again, this is just like the real world … you need to hire somebody (even if it’s yourself) to plan where to hang lights, place bathrooms etc. in the office. The big difference? When you’re planning your office you usually already have a location in mind but with the web location doesn’t matter so we build the perfect website and then worry about where to host it.

Step Three – Host your website

So hosting is a little like renting space in an office building but unlike our real world example which depends on your address being close to your customers or other physical requirements, your website doesn’t need to be anywhere near your actual location. This means that when selecting a place to host your website, you’re free to pick from anywhere in the world instead of only worrying about local providers in your city.

In essence, web hosting companies spend massive amounts of money on extremely impressive technology which boils down to having just two, simple purposes:

To keep your website online
To keep your website fast

That’s why, at the end of the day I rely on BlueHost to keep not only thisismyurl.com running but dozens of my paying clients.

Tags: Bathrooms, Computer Processing, designers, Developers, Disc Drive, Dishes, drive space, Guide Websites, hard drive, Marketing Game, Payment Gateways, Processing Power, quality web, real world, Rewards, web host, Web Hosting Guide, Web Hosts, Web Location, Web Site Hosts
Posted in Blogging, Business Advice, Make Money Online, Marketing Advice

23
Sep
2009

A follow up post, Webhost Geeks

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Yestaurday I dropped you guys a quick note about web hosting review company Web Host Geeks and forgot to mention a couple of points that I think are great about the company.

First, they really take the time to break down a lot of the information out there and seperate information into bite sized pieces for new business owners, I think this is extremely important especially for people looking to host their first website as many review websites simply over power people with technical information and leave non-technical business owners more confused than before.

A case in point about this is their seperation of dedicated server and vps hosting, two terms which often cause great confusion for new entries into the marketplace. The clear definitions of dedicated, shared and vps hosting environments is a core asset to many inexperienced business people who need help making choices.

So what is the difference? Dedicated servers are computer systems dedicated to the business operation of a specific business. Literally, somewhere in the bowels of the hosting companies a computer system much like the one sitting on your desk is set aside and plugged in for your business. Often these are stored in rack units but otherwise have ram, cpu’s and harddrives exclusive to your business ventures. Due to the need for physically indipendent hardware, the cost of a dedicated computer are higher than other options.

A VPS or Virtual Private Server is very similar to a dedicated server but companies share all aspects of a computer with a limited number of other companies. Each company has a specific amount of hard drive, ram and cpu dedicated to the business venture. This process has a lower entry cost and often allows easy migration to a Dedicated Server down the road.

A Shared Hosting environment is the most common and the least expensive option for web hosting, in this scenerio many companies (often thousands) host on a single computer just like in a VPS environment but unlike the Virtual Private Server and Dedicated servers, all memory and CPU functions are shared. What this translates into is a low cost web hosting environment but with the risk of other websites unfairly causing delays or even crashes of your own business website. Some shared hosting c0mpanies such as BlueHost get around this by limiting the CPU and memory each Shared hosting account can use, in effect making even low cost Shared Hosting very similar to a VPS environment but a major crash on one hosting account may still affect dozens or even hundreds of others.

Tags: bowels, Business Operation, Business Venture, Business Ventures, Case In Point, Core Asset, Dedicated Computer, Dedicated Server, Dedicated Servers, Drive Ram, hosting companies, New Entries, Rack Units, Seperation, Server Down, Single Computer, Sized Pieces, Technical Business, Virtual Private Server, Vps
Posted in Business Advice, Web Site Advice

22
Sep
2009

Web Hosting Geeks

2 Comments

Most of you are well aware of the fact that I love hosting with BlueHost but I’m always looking for new web hosting partners especially when it comes to dedicated server and vps hosting options. That’s why I really like websites like Web Hosting Geeks, who point to a great collection of hosting alternatives and solutions I might not already come across.

The site is basically organized as a review website for hosting companies, it gives a general overview of each hosting firm as well as some technical details which would be useful for small business owners and first time buyers. Overall the website is easy to read, straight forward and informative.

What I like about this website in particular is how easy it is to compare brands and search out other hosting platforms, the easy interface makes selecting a web hosting company much more simple for many first time hosting account buyers. I also love that they’ve taken the time to organize by pricing, forums, unix, Windows etc. to ensure that users who are searching for a specific type of hosting can easily find what they’re looking for.

What I don’t like about the website is pretty straight forward, businesses like this make money by promoting affiliate links. It’s no secret, they get paid to promote companies by offering reviews which in turn generate traffic and hopefully sales. This isn’t a bad thing but there’s a fine line between editorial review content and commercial promotion of a product, I think they do a good job of walking the line between the two but it’s always worth keeping in mind when judging the value of their recommendations.

While I’m not likely to switch from BlueHost in the near future, the options provided and the ability to quickly compare service providers is a welcome service.

Tags: bluehost, Commercial Promotion, First Time Buyers, geeks, Good Job, hosting companies, Hosting Firm, Hosting Partners, Hosting Solutions, interface, love, Platforms, Server Hosting, Service Providers, small business owners, Technical Details, Unix Windows, Walking The Line, Web Hosting, web hosting company, website hosting, Welcome Service
Posted in Business Advice

15
Sep
2009

How to start your own business, easily.

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Making money online is really a lot simpler than most people would ever imagine, it really comes down to three easy steps.

First, you need to have a product people want to buy.

Second, you need to be able to sell the product to people.

Finally, you need to be able to collect money from people effectively.

What’s great about the Internet is that all these things are already completed!

Let’s say for example that you want to sell t shirts online. The first thing you’ll need is to find a t shirts wholesale supplier. Luckily, you can pick up a blank t shirt or several hundred blank shirts from a good company. The beauty of ordering blank t-shirts is that you can literally print straight from you computer to meet the needs of custom orders!

The second step? Using WordPress, a simple store can be setup which allows you to sell products to users locally or around the world. WordPress is a perfect solution for many small business owners because when it’s setup correctly it can take care of organic marketing, search engine optimization, site maps and other technical aspects automatically.

Finally, you need to be able to accept payment and ship the goods to users. Using PayPal, you can quickly and easily accept online payments plus PayPal has built in integration to the US Postal Service for easy printing of mailing labels. PayPal even lets you buy and print stamps directly from their easy to use website.

So there you have, three easy steps to finding a supplier, building a website and accepting online payments for small business owners just venturing onto the web. If you have questions, I’d love to hear from you or if you’d like to add to the discussion please feel free to contribute your thoughts.

Tags: Accepting Online Payments, Blank Shirts, building a website, Easy Printing, Good Company, How To Start Your Own Business, Mailing Labels, making money online, Marketing Search Engine, organic marketing, paypal, perfect solution, Search Engine Optimization, site maps, small business owners, Start Your Own Business, technical aspects, three easy steps, Us Postal Service, Wholesale Supplier
Posted in Make Money Online, Marketing Advice

10
Sep
2009

Easy tool for new website owners

4 Comments

I came across a website last night while surfing around for a new photoshop plugin that I thought was kind of cool and wanted to share with you, it’s like an online photoshop for beginners and lets you make funny photos or apply a range of filters to your existing pics. Every day they add new funny pictures effects, which is really cool.

Here’s some examples of what I did just today to give you an idea how easy it is:

Take a look for yourself, it’s a lot of fun. http://en.picjoke.com

Tags: Funny Photos, Funny Pictures, New Pictures, Photoshop Plugin, Surfing, Tool
Posted in Blogging, Design

05
Sep
2009

Getaway Graphics

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About Getaway Graphics
Designed to appeal to small restaurant and hospitality businesses, Getaway Graphics is owned by and managed by Ross Creative although many of the projects are delivered in collaboration with our design partners to ensure the highest quality, rich media designs.

About the Design
Getaway Graphics web design is a simple, two column layout with a key highlight image and easy navigation. The website was designed to mimic the look of a tourism website itself with rich colors, clean design and a browser friendly interface.

Photography by Ross Communications
Throughout the Getaway Graphics design, rich photographs adorn page headers and enhance the user experience. These photographs are key to adding a strong, attractive feel to the website. In this case, the photographs come from the company archive but in most web projects Ross Communications makes use of photographers or stock banks to find the best images for a clients website.

Search Engine Optimization
Like all websites by Ross, the Getaway Graphics website makes extensive use of Search Engine Optimization techniques and user friendly feature sets from keyword friendly page addresses to integrated article tagging, this website is packed with rich SEO friendly content.

Visit Getaway Graphics online today for your restaurant web design needs.

Tags: Column Layout, Company Archive, Content Visit, Design Partners, Engine Optimization Techniques, Feature Sets, getaway, Graphics Design, Graphics Web Design, Graphics Website, Hospitality Businesses, Interface Photography, Page Addresses, Page Headers, Restaurant Web Design, Rich Colors, Search Engine Optimization, Stock Banks, Tourism Website, web projects
Posted in Web Design, christopherross.ca

05
Sep
2009

Where I’ve been

1 Comment

Hey all, I know that I’ve not been posting here as often as I used to. Part of it’s the amazing summer that we’ve been having, part is a huge work load that I’ve been trying to focus on to guarantee the success of some amazing projects.

Huge thanks to Dallas Curow for letting me work on her great new website and an equally big thanks to house 9 design for letting me do it! I would love everybody to pop over and see the great new work at Great Chefs, sign up for their Twitter feed to win great prizes, cook books and DVD’s! I also found time to start work on my new portfolio site http://christopherross.ca, comments are always welcome.

Thanks all, I’ll be getting back into a regular posting schedule this week and look forward to hearing from all of you.

Tags: Cook Books, Focus, great chefs, Hey, love, prizes, Welcome Thanks
Posted in What I'm Reading

05
Sep
2009

Dallas Curow

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Montreal photographer Dallas Curow wanted an easy to manage website to display her works and grow with her, find out how we helped.

Tags: Dallas Photographer, montreal, Photographer Wanted
Posted in Web Design, christopherross.ca

04
Sep
2009

Stan Cassidy Foundation

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About the Stan Cassidy Foundation
The Stan Cassidy Foundation website is built to make the most of WordPress as a dedicate content management solution along with a custom website design and search engine optimization.

Visit the Stan Cassidy Foundation online.

Tags: cassidy, content management solution, Foundation Website, Search Engine Optimization, stan, WordPress
Posted in Web Design, christopherross.ca

04
Sep
2009

Care Connections

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About the Website
Ross Creative loves working with hospital foundations and groups like the Stan Cassidy Foundation who give back to the community. That’s why when the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation needed a new fund raising website, Ross was happy to help.

About Care Connections
A simple brochure website, the Care Connections project features an easy to manage content management tool and a clean design.

Visit Care Connections online.

Tags: Brochure Website, care connections, cassidy, Connections Project, content management tool, hospital foundation, Hospital Foundations, Ross, s hospital, st joseph, stan
Posted in Web Design, christopherross.ca

04
Sep
2009

Yorkville University

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About Yorkville University
Located in Fredericton, New Brunswick Yorkville University offers post graduate level education for professionals, their website needed to reflect their status as a premier online learning solution provider.

Open Source Solutions
Yorkville University makes use of several powerful Open Source solutions to help manage their multiple campus locations as well as several online initiatives. From WordPress powered websites and intranets to osTicket technical support solutions and Moodle classroom solutions, Yorkville University makes the most of great tools to quickly develop and deliver quality products to students around the world.

Online Learning
In addition to creating a striking website using open source content management tools, Yorkville University also features a rich online classroom environment utilizing the popular Moodle classroom support tool which allows students from around the world to participate in online discussions, classes and assignments.

Technical Support
To enhance the online experience for staff and students, Yorkville University features a highly integrated online support tool capable of tracking and managing technical support requests from thousands of students around the world.

Website Marketing
Using WordPress to power the universities core website, the school is able to focus on delivering quality education instead of fighting with complex content management tools. Our implementation of WordPress was designed to make the site easy to manage and rapidly updatable.

Visit Yorkville University online.

Tags: Classroom Environment, Classroom Solutions, Classroom Support, Content Management Tools, Core Website, Delivering Quality Education, Fredericton New Brunswick, Graduate Level Education, great tools, Intranets, moodle, open source content, open source content management, Open Source Solutions, Post Graduate, Quality Products, solution provider, Support Tool, Technical Support Requests, Technical Support Solutions
Posted in Web Design, christopherross.ca

Archive for September, 2009

Ashley would like to give you a free MacBook Air.

Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up

Buying Domain Names for your Audience

Web Host Rating

Step One – Have an idea.

Step Two – Build a website

Step Three – Host your website

A follow up post, Webhost Geeks

Web Hosting Geeks

How to start your own business, easily.

Easy tool for new website owners

Getaway Graphics

Where I’ve been

Dallas Curow

Stan Cassidy Foundation

Care Connections

Yorkville University

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