• September 11th, 2011

CORE Consulting, LLC

Simple, brochure style website for a software consultant in Springfield, MO.

Basic design and functionality make up this website. The customer had an existing logo and wanted to incorporate the colors of the logo into the site design.

Some of the technologies used in the construction of the site include:

• HTML – Basic page layout and structure
• CSS – Styling and interactivity in the menu
• JavaScript – Slideshow in the top section
• PHP – Basic site structure is managed with this server side language

This medical software consultant in Springfield, MO would be happy to discuss your needs. Just give him a call.

• March 16th, 2011

For the most part, professionals working in the website business are one of a few types of people, graphic artists, programmers, or writers.

Many times you’ll find one of those types working in the web design business. Why is that? Well, in my opinion, it is because, any of the three skills can be replaced by other methods. For example, a programmer can buy a template, or an artist can use software to generate the website code, and still yet, both can use content generators or content networks to create copy for web pages. At even a computer savvy person can could use all three methods together and become a web designer.

However, if you are looking for a very talented graphic artist to handle your Branson web design project, I would recommend Tony at tek2graphics.com.

• March 1st, 2011

Some years ago (around 7 or 8 I think), I had just completed building a website designed to help People planning on visiting the Branson area in there search for things to do. I had built the site from the ground up and I was wondering what it would take to get the site in the search engines. So I set out to see what I was doing wrong.

In Search of High Rankings

Somewhere in my search for the proper way of marketing a website, I ran across HighRankings.com, a website belonging to Jill Whalen, a search engine optimization specialist that seemed to be eager to share what she knew about the “art” of SEO. This really stood out to me because at the time there were so many self proclaimed professionals that talked about all the tings that could be done, but I could never decipher how they were saying to do it.

Another thing that stood out to me about Jill was that she always promoted a long term approach without using questionable techniques to get the results in the search results. She always spoke about “making good content that others want to link to”. This sounded right to me. Not only that, I also reasoned that she appeared to be an honest person and because of that, I could trust what she told me about search marketing. Beyond that, the community that visited her site forum shared these views for the most part. All of these factors together drew me to her website, forums, and knowledge base.

Today, I don’t claim to be a search engine optimization professional, but I have learned some basic techniques that I have found to be effective for me. That knowledge is thanks to someone being willing to share it with others. So if you are looking to learn about search marketing, I would recommend that you start with Jill’s site.

• February 27th, 2011

That’s a question that many website owners ask themselves time and again. Better yet, some some would not even ask the question, instead they might just declare that search engines can never be “flawless”. There are many different explanations of how search engines get it right, or get it wrong.

Google, the Best Search Engine?

For years now, Google has been viewed by many as the standard in search engines results. You might notice that often times when someone talks about “search engines” they occasionally use the term “Google” where the phrase “search engine” should be. Perhaps the reason for this is that for the most part, in recent years Google seemed to be all that mattered. Thinking appeared to be ‘if I can just get my pages in Google, I’ll be set’. But is that so? Well, some feel that way.

Others feel that Bing vs. Google is up for debate. That point aside, some search marketing experts feel that Google often times gets it wrong. In fact, that’s exactly the idea of that post by Jon. And not only does he make the statement, but he establishes a line of evidence to support his claim.

As for me, I don’t really go so far as to declare one search engine better or worse than the others. I just try to write focused, specific content about a variety of subjects trusting that my efforts will work out in the end. After all, I’m not flawless either.

• April 20th, 2009

Well, many months ago I posted that I would be postponing my training program. I did this for more than one reason. I’ll explain those reasons, and then I’ll get to the point of this post.

I held off on the training program because of multiple factors. First, I tend to explain things in detail (some might even say that I over-explain) when I teach. Since this is the case, my files ended up being quite large. Since my goal is to help people learn at a reasonable price, I couldn’t afford to buy more server space to post the videos without charging for the videos. After all, many would agree that free is the most reasonable price for many.

I would have went ahead and charged a nominal fee for the tutorials if it were not for the second reason for the postponement. The work involved in setting up a download and purchase system for video tutorials would take more time than I wanted to commit to the idea.

As a result, I decided to hold off on the training program and patiently wait for other opportunities to get the training out there.

Training Program Back

I just happened to come across a website that allows it’s users to upload videos for free. I thought, hey this is good, after all, I am one of those that appreciates “free” stuff.

So I began uploading the tutorials I had from the inception of the idea. So there you have it. The training program is revived, although it cannot be found on this website.

• February 16th, 2009

After months of working after hours and early mornings, the site revamp is nearly complete. The all new site has a fluid, or “liquid” design which allows it flex with your browser window.

While the front-end is done, the back-end will be an on-going process. Eventually, I plan to have a members area to the site that will have additional information and functionality available to my clients.

Well, that’s all I have time for right now. Got to get some rest so I can get up tomorrow and finish up a couple of projects for clients.

• January 23rd, 2009

With the real estate market struggling in some areas of the country the need for good research becomes even more imperative. Many online tools have been developed in the past to assist home buyers in finding the perfect home for their situation. And now there is a new tool that will prove to be very beneficial to anyone shopping for a St. Louis Condo.

The site has been live for just about a month and features a very handy set of tools to support a variety of condo searching methods. With its interactive search, a condo hunter can choose a landmark (like Anheuser Busch) and search for condos near that location. Too, the shopper can filter out condos through a number of parameters. This allows for a very thorough look at condos in the St. Louis area.

• December 2nd, 2008

Another new site launch to announce:

Lakes Area Carpet Care is a Branson carpet cleaners website that was just launched earlier today. This cleaning company is family owned and has been owned and operated by the current owners for over 20 years. LACC (Lakes Area Carpet Care) offers home and commercial services.

I learned quite a bit about carpet care from this site build. One feature I really appreciate is the quick tips box in the right sidebar.

One thing I would recommend, is watching the video that is embedded as well. It really highlights what to look out for when choosing carpet cleaning services.

As for the site design, it was selected by the site owner from a group of four custom designs.

• November 24th, 2008

Just a quick note to let you know that the redesign for the new Branson Arts Council website is complete. One of the adjustments that was made during the transition was the switch from the .org ending to the .com extension.

As a result, the official site can now be found at: http://www.bransonartscouncil.com. The change affected the email address as well. it is now info@bransonartscouncil.com

• September 6th, 2008

It seems like every post I make nowadays is a new site announcement. I really will be posting interesting information in the future. I have intentions of creating articles, and perhaps even posts that talk about various HTML, CSS, Actionscript 3.0, and PHP techniques. The problem however, is that I have been extremely busy lately. Hence, this site launch announcement is being posted on a Saturday even though it was launched about 3-5 days ago.

The new site is called Commrecial One Brokers. The site owners had an existing website, but wanted something different from what they had. After meeting with them and their marketing specialist, I determined that they were looking for a design with a corporate, professional feel and that would match their logo colors.

The site is now live and has been checked in all the major browsers for consistent rendering.