12 Pitfalls to Avoid When Building a Website for Your Business

I’m on a mission. My mission is to rid the world of bad websites and educate the do-it-yourselfers on how to build better websites. I know, I know. This may be a far reach, but if I can help just one person make his or her website better, then I’ve made a difference!

Pitfall #1: Music and Sound
The number one thing you can do to turn visitors away is adding music or an automated voice that blasts through their speakers when they reach your website. Instead, give your visitors the option to turn it on rather than having it play automatically.

Pitfall #2: Forgetting Multiple Browsers and Screen Resolutions
Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc. There are several browsers and each one renders your web pages, colors, and fonts differently. If you’re not viewing your finished site in multiple browsers, then expect the unexpected. Why, oh why, can’t the developers just work together so everyone sees the same thing? Well, even if they did, there is also the issue of different sized monitors and different screen resolutions set on every computer.

Pitfall #3: Too Much Content
If you have more content on a web page than one vertical scroll, then put it in a book. In today’s world, we don’t have time to read 20 paragraphs of text and we’re not going to. Unless you’re Wikipedia, you have no business having that much text on a web page. Scale it down, highlight the important stuff with bullet points and move on. Another option is to break it up into separate web pages and let your visitor decide what’s important to them. Read more

July Business Spotlight: Joe Green with Fit For You

I’ve been working with Joe Green, owner of Fit For You, for almost a year now. Joe’s diversified services entail everything from personal training and weight management to clinical exercises to working with individuals of all age groups who have chronic illnesses.

Joe GreenFitness is not “one size fits all,” which is why Fit For You provides fitness coaching designed around you and your lifestyle. Each program and approach towards fitness should be as individualized as each person. No two people are exactly alike; their heights, ages, genders, medical histories, interests, hobbies, and schedules differ. Each one of us is unique in our own special way. So if you’re looking for a program customized to fit you and your needs, then you’ve come to the right place.

Fit For You is the place where fitness meets wellness. Their goal is to transform the traditional boundaries of health and fitness with the ultimate personalized approach that makes “this time around different.” They strive to bring you the best that the fitness industry has to offer.

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Outlook Productivity Tools Part II: EZDetach

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I receive tons of email messages every day, many with attachments. Outlook is a hog anyway when it comes to taking up disk space and memory, but when you add a large number of attachments and gigantic attachment file sizes to the mix (keep in mind that I deal with graphic files every day!), you have an Outlook file that weighs more than 800MB―that’s a LOT! And that is not good. About a month ago, I neglected to perform my usual archiving and maintenance, which landed me a big fat scolding from Outlook. I couldn’t send, receive, change options―nothing!

EZDetach
Once I archived my files, everything was fine again, but I knew it was just a matter of time before it happened again. During my research to determine the initial problem, I came across several links to Outlook add-ons on the Microsoft website, which led me to EZDetach, my new best email buddy. EZDetach is offered by TechHit.com and allows you to save and categorize attachments with a click of the mouse, all without ever opening the message!

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