E-Commerce for WordPress

WordPress is great - that much I’ve made known in many posts (and in conversations with anyone whose had the distinct frustration of listening to me ramble on about web design). Anyhow, WordPress is about MUCH more than just blogging. The platform has evolved and through the open source code availability has made it possible for end users and developers alike to quickly and affordably to add incredible functionality.

WordPress can be used, if done properly, as a turn-key web solution for nearly any business purpose. I started using it a few years ago as a blogging platform for my investment blog, the Logical Investor. As I explored more and sought out more functionality, I discovered just how incredible this simple and powerful platform can be.

Bottom line is WordPress can be more than a blog. It can be a store, an information-rich website, a community forum, ANYTHING your neighborhood coder (that would be ME) can put together. Below are a few examples:

• WordPress used as a content management system AND full-scale web store
• WordPress used as a community forum and content management system
• WordPress replaces tricky HTML and ASP pages for a professional business website

The true beauty of WordPress is how simple it is for my clients to maintain and update. How nice would it be to have a website that YOU can update without costly hourly fees to a web person? What about being able to add, subtract, and edit products?

I can do all of this for you - click here to get started!

Mixed Martial Arts Website Design: More than just MySpace

Wake up everyone! The Mixed Martial Arts industry is exploding. The Ultimate Fighting Championship is breaking pay per view records and attendance records. Despite the recent folding of Affliction (putting too many eggs in Fedor’s basket in my opinion), this sport is gaining recognition and is here to stay.

Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Bas Rutten, Ken Shamrock, Royce Gracie, Dan Severn, and Chuck Liddel (and MANY others) built the business. Now, fighters like Georges St. Pierre are getting sponsored by Gatorade. You can’t just get by with a MySpace page anymore… it’s a real business now!

What a lot of trainers, schools, gyms, and even agents seem to completely dismiss is that this industry, the mixed martial arts industry, is a powerful business opportunity! Despite having fighters they are supposed to be promoting, agents don’t even have a basic website to help build up buzz on their fighters.

Don’t think that buzz works? Have you ever heard of a guy named Brock Lesnar? Yes, he’s an exceptional athlete, a mammoth human being, and a world class wrestler - but don’t forget he got a title shot not because he was completely qualified, but because he was electrifying and had tons of press (and the UFC heavyweight division was WEAK, but that’s another story).

I’m a huge fan of mixed martial arts, muay thai, jiu jitsu, and almost any other combat sport. I can put together an incredible website for your gym, your school, your agency, or even for fighters. I can link it to your MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook accounts to update automatically. I’ll show you how to maintain your site and make sure it’s getting YOUR message across. If you can update a Facebook or MySpace page, you will be able to maintain the site I build for you!

Wouldn’t it be great to have a content-rich website with videos of you training your students, your fighters competing at non-aired events. How about pictures of your fighters training or holding their belts? What about the students at your school holding their accolades - proving to the public that you know what you’re talking about?

YOU NEED TO BE ONLINE! I can make it happen - contact me TODAY!
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The Much Awaited “About Us” Page!

It’s finally here! We’ve added a little personality to the site and to the company. It’s vital to know what kind of company you’re dealing with in this business - especially if you’re not a “web person”. A business owner myself, I know what you’re looking for when you want a new website or a redesign of an old one - you want to create a “store front” for your company online.

You want to show your client who you are and why they should use your company. You want something that’s easy to navigate and something that puts your visitor on a path towards the areas of your site that are most important.

Most designers accomplish this no problem. What they almost always fail at is making the site friendly on the back end for the client. All of the sites I design are made in such a way that my clients can update, maintain, and add to them without my involvement.

Please visit our About page to learn more about EQX Design and why we
should be the company you choose to redesign or launch your site!

NextGEN Gallery: Can’t Add New Gallery Solution

Many people, myself included, have been having issues with the newest version of NextGEN Gallery (NGG). Once they upgrade to WP 2.8, the updated NGG works just fine on existing images and galleries, but adding new ones is problematic. For 1&1 hosting and other shared-server structures, I’ve found a solution to the following issues:

• I can’t add a new NextGEN gallery
• NextGEN gallery only uploads a few of my images
• NextGEN gallery will not create thumbnails for my gallery images

The first thing you need to do is upload a file called PHP.INI to your root directory. In that file, place the following text:

memory=20mb

This may solve those nasty “Error 500″ messages you keep getting after adding a plugin or upgrading your WP platform.

The next step is to create a file called “.htaccess” (without the quotes of course). In that file, place the following text:

AddType x-mapp-php5 .php

This will force 1&1 to use PHP5.2 rather than the default setting of PHP4. Happy coding!

Wordpress 2.8 - Skip the Upgrade

Wordpress is known for it’s simple interface and lack of bugs. Wordpress 2.8 decided to go the way of Microsoft a little bit and was released too early - before all the bugs were worked out. It’s my recommendation to hold off on upgrading for now. If you do upgrade, MAKE SURE you back up your WP database through the aptly named WP-DB Backup plugin or something similar. Also, check to see if your current plugins have known conflicts or issues upon upgrading.

You can’t say you weren’t warned!

Your Business Website - First First Impression

Most people know that not having a website is a huge mistake for any business. But what about a “bad” website? Surprisingly, having a “bad” website is more of a turnoff to potential customers and clients than not having one at all. So what is a “bad” website?

I have outlined eight items that rank among some of the most annoying and ugly features of “bad” websites for your education and enjoyment!

• Not visually pleasing. If your site is ugly or looks like a budget site with grainy images, poorly aligned text, or obvious pre-packaged template use, it’s not going to fly with your potential clients and customers.
• Difficult to navigate. Many sites look pretty good, but if it takes several clicks and a lot of reading to get where the viewer wants to go, then you’re going to lose them. Website visitors have a very short attention span. Also, if your colors don’t work with each other (think blue text on a black background), then people will immediately get frustrated and leave your site.
• Slow to load. When the web first went mainstream, the only way to set your page up properly was to use tables. Then, images and flash came along. Now we have stylesheets and numerous other tools at our disposal to accomplish our goals. The older design systems are chunky and take a long time to load. Mouseover images that disappear and come back only after loading a server-side image may turn off your visitors.
• Not searchable. This isn’t a cardinal sin. However, as a business owner, you are ignoring a very powerful solution to your visitor’s need. They are most likely on your site for a reason - to get specific information. Using a robust search feature can give them a speedy solution and increase your conversions.
• Clumsy e-commerce. When you are trying to sell something on your website, it has to be integrated seamlessly into your content. The store page has to have the same look and feel as the rest of our site and has to “ooze” your company. Also, ensure that you’re keeping your viewers on YOUR site throughout the purchase process.
• Broken links. This is unforgivable. It reminds me of my business law professor in college. “Spell check comes with all word processors. If you have a spelling error, it means you’re too lazy to check, so I’ll be too lazy to give you a good grade.” Having broken links, bad image links, or missing components to your site is a sign that you don’t care about your site and therefore, you don’t care about your visitors or their experience.
• Take it easy on the fonts. Two fonts should be used - MAX. The body of your site should not look like your Font folder on your computer. Yes, fonts are fun, but web fonts are all pretty similar so relax a bit. Choose one for your headlines and one for the body. Other accents can be done with italic, bold, underline, and image highlights.
• Same goes for colors. Your site should be clean and uncluttered. Your fonts should all be the SAME color unless highlighting a specific item (and used sparingly) or using a hyperlink.

This list isn’t exhaustive, but it’s a start. The web is vital to the success of any business. From law firms to day cares, from catering companies to martial arts schools, you NEED a high quality website. If you have a “bad” website, forget about search engine optimization for a minute and focus on bottom line optimization!

Feel free to look at our portfolio and see if our services could increase your web presence and make your site more of a tool than a burden for your business. We design and code websites so that they’re maintainable by YOU and it’s extremely affordable to get off the ground.

Why Wordpress ROCKS

Wordpress is, in our opinion, the best Content Management System available on the web. This platform has grown exponentially since it’s birth in 2003 and continues to expand and grow at a mind-boggling rate.

Initially a blogging software, Wordpress now has the flexibility to do almost anything and the best part? Well, it’s free and its super easy to maintain and add content once everything’s designed nicely!

Here are just some of the features you’ll love:

What’s the deal with Twitter?

Twitter, ladies and gentlemen, is the water cooler of the digital age! Twitter users share short updates, called Tweets, on what they’re doing with all of their friends and associates on the site (called Followers). 

Great, so why do you care? Well, Twitter is an SEO dream come true! There are so many people Tweeting like crazy, that the traffic that Twitter builds can be incredibly valuable IF it’s harnessed properly. 

Here are a few guidelines to remember when using Twitter:

1. Separate YOU from your company. Tweeting about going to the grocery store or how much you love Lost will not help your business at all (a bummer, we know!). Keep your business Tweets relevant.
    
2. Tweet often, but not too often. Tweeting every 15 minutes to talk about your business is, under most circumstances, not a good idea (and annoying). Keep your Tweets relevant (see #1) and they have to be newsworthy. Now, if your company is in the middle of a major revolutionary change (new product line, merger, etc.) then Tweeting more often is justified and mandatory!
    
3. Link away! Each one of your Tweets should highlight something about your business. Each Tweet should also have a link back to your company’s home page or an individual page or post (if it’s a blog or combination blog/website) relevant to that Tweet
    
4. Follow to get followers. Find Twitter users that are in the same business as you or have the same interests. One of our clients, Divinity MMA, has done an exceptional job building up a host of followers of both faithful and fight fans on their Twitter page. By following several Twitter users dedicated to mixed martial arts and religion, the followers of those users have in turn begun to follow Divinity.

That’s the basics on Twitter. For more information, a great book is Twitter Power by Joel Comm.

Now Available on oDesk

We’re pleased to announce that we’re now available on oDesk! oDesk is a great resource for those looking for quick projects that need to be completed with minimal interaction between the client and the provider.

It definitely is NOT for the programming novice as many of the providers have sub-par English skills and expect a lot of detail from new clients. Here are some pro’s and con’s of using oDesk:

Pros (the good stuff)

• Great way to ensure invoices are accurate with hourly jobs
• Great for locating low cost providers for simple projects
• Offers providers from dozens of different work categories - programming, design, technical writing, legal work, personal assistants, and more!

Cons (the bad stuff)

• English skills for most providers are quite bad despite passing tests on comprehension
• Complicated projects that require client-provider interaction are extremely difficult (most providers are in India and other low-wage countries, making phone conversations a sticky situation and very difficult to understand)
• Overwhelming responses - we’ve posted jobs on oDesk before to help us complete a couple projects and we got dozens of responses, many of them not having the minimum requirements we requested AND most of them didn’t even read the job description! VERY frustrating!

Check us out on oDesk!

Portfolio Now Online

We’ve revitalized out website! We have been so busy making incredible websites for our clients, ours got a little stale. We’ve added some of our projects to our Portfolio page so that you can get a better idea of what we can do. As you’ll see by visiting our Portfolio, we can put together impressive online solutions to capture your company’s image through a variety of mediums. Not only do we design an efficient website, but we also locate and customize high quality graphics to help convey your message about who your company is to your viewers.

We can do it all and the best part is that we’re also super affordable! Our commitment to cost effectiveness goes a lot farther than initial cost - our solutions are designed and coded in a way that makes it EASY for you to maintain and update your site!

Click here to see our completed projects