Monday, May 31, 2004

Ask Girl Geek: How to I get more traffic to my site?

Hello Annette

I wanted to touch base with you about the possibility to doing a bit of work with you on my website. I'm happy with how it looks and functions (though need to update content a bit),but have not done the legwork to figure out how to make the most of it in terms of generating traffic. I keep telling myself I shouldn't need to hire someone to do this, but then I don't find time to do it. Hence the inquiry.

Sarah

Hi Sarah,

Do you have your webhosting username and password so that I could go look to see if you have site statistics that tell me how much traffic you're getting and from where? I'd also need the web address of your webhosting company. That's where I would start. Then I would look at what other website promotion strategies you are using. Most coaches don't have the time, much less the knowledge of successful internet marketing. Please call me and we'll talk in more depth about your needs.
Thanks for asking!
Annette

Ask Girl Geek: How do I reduce image file size so my pages will load faster?

Hi Annette,
Infranview is quite good. However would you kindly tell me how to reduce the file or kb size of a picture. I see how to reduce or increase image size. I would be forever in your debt. Or something like that. If you can spare the time.
Oh yes, here's my newsletter.
Warm regards,
Fred

Hi Fred,

http://netmechanic.com/GIFBot/optimize-graphic.htm

This will compress image file size and show you results before you decide which to use.
Thanks for asking!
Annette

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Ask Girl Geek: How do you work with your clients?

Hi,
I would like to know how you work with your clients and perhaps some examples of websites you've done.
Debora

Hi Debora,

How I work with my clients consists of approximately a one hour FREE consult to determine your needs, after which I send you a no obligation bid which is good for 30 days. The price is quote you is the price you pay for the web design. There's no cost overruns. See http://www.girlgeekwebdesigns.com/Newsletter13.htm for the 10 questions you need to answer before hiring a web designer. I may ask you to send me links to other sites you like and tell me what you like about them, so I can incorporate those ideas into your site.

Then when we sign a contract I require a deposit of half of the bid up front to start working on your site. I start by designing the look, layout, and navigation of your site. I post that to the web on my server so you can look at it and give me feedback to get it just the way you want it. Your job is to provide me with the text for the site and any images, such as personal photos, logos or original artwork you want on the site. I will provide editorial feedback about your text as writing for the web is different than writing for print. In fact, check out my newsletter at http://www.girlgeekwebdesigns.com/Web_Design_Newsletter14.htm for "Writing Well for the Web." We may touch base on the phone a few times to clarification or questions or to set up things like ezines and hosting and PayPal, if you want that on your site.

Then we'll do site testing to make sure it all looks and works the way it's supposed to. When that's done, you make your final payment. I'll have you purchase hosting and I'll upload your site to the hosting company's server after that. Voila! You're online. Then you get 3 months of FREE minor corrections following the publication of your site.

You can see all my completed sites and some that are in progress by going to my website a clicking on portfolio. I also encourage you to read the testimonials there.

Thanks for asking!
Annette

Monday, May 24, 2004

Ask Girl Geek: How can I put audio files on my website?

If I have a voice download for a class that one can access on my website, will the dsl vs dial up take different amounts of times. If so, how do I check this out so I can warn the ones who might have to wait for the download to happen? Thanks! Rita

Girl Geek's Response
Hi Rita,
Sound files, like image files, are very large usually. I would put a note to people using dial up about the amount of time to download would be ___ number of minutes. You can tell how large the file is by looking at it on your computer or the server where you site is hosted (if you've uploaded it). If the file is longer than 3 minutes in listening length, you might want to look at streaming audio, rather than just having it as a file people can download from your site.

Another thing to think about is what kind of software your site visitors will need in order to listen to your audio file. Some audio players are free or already installed on most new computers, but others will have to be downloaded from the internet. Also, the file type would need to be compatible with what software the site visitors have on their computers.

A final thought is if you have a lengthy audio file, why not consider an audiopodium, where people can call in and listen to your class. Then you just list the phone number on the site for them to call in 24/7 to listen. You can get an audiopodium from MCPer Ed Shea in Chicago.

Hope this helps!
Annette

Sunday, May 23, 2004

Ask Girl Geek: How Can I resize photos to send by email

Hi,

It's easiest to send image files that are 10k (kilobites) or less as email attachments. You can resize your photos, gifs or jpeg image files using almost any graphic editor.

A nice one that's available online for FREE is at www.irfanview.com. It also compresses image files, which will help your webpages load faster. The chief thing that slows down the loading of webpages is bloated image files.

Thanks for asking!
Annette

Ask Girl Geek: What about using Web Easy 5.0?

Hi,
thank you for the search engine info. I would be interested in a future
conference call regarding websites/engines etc. I know that you do website design, I was wondering how it would work if I used a product to type in all my text etc and worked with you to add the spunk to the design. I purchsed web easy 5 and have not opened it yet, have you heard of it?
I registered a
domain with Open Door Coaching and am feeling the need to get the site up
and going. Others have said they've used "good daddy" or something like
that, what comments do you have?
Thanks for any input
Deborah

Ask Girl Geek: Help! Mac Graphic Artist vs. PC Web Designer

Hi Annette,
I have a graphic designer who has designed several things for me, the latest being my website (which is not up yet). He does not actually post things to the web, however. Herein lies the problem. He works on a Mac (like many graphic designers), and he used Quark X-Press and Adobe Illustrator for the most part. I like what he has done.

I also have a Website designer who adapts and posts designs to the web. He works on a PC and uses Adobe Photoshop among other things (I'm not sure what else).

The Webpage designer cannot read the graphic designer's files in their original program form, and the various outputs that the graphic designer has been able to make available join all of the layers together, making it very difficult to manipulate anything. I want to avoid having the website designer (who is not a polished graphic designer) try to reconstitute everything "more or less" because I think that it will result in a lot of work for him as well as in a less polished product.

Do you know a way around this Mac-PC-Quark conundrum? Can Mac-Quark files be saved in a PC format, for example? Etc, etc.

Any words of wisdom would help. I'm too far down the track here to change the fundamental parameters or players.

Dear Help,
I edited out the rant my programmer gave about never using graphic designers who don't do web work. You're learning that the hard way.

Here's his suggestions. I'll forward more from the others as I get them.
-------------------------------------------------------------
It doesn't matter if it is on a Mac or not, Quark is an impossible
program to deal with in most of my experience.
It was not designed for web development, it was designed for print
publications, and is not easily portable.

The only thing I could suggest is that all files be converted to
Illustrator if possible.
It shouldn't matter at all if it is Mac or PC Illustrator... just as
long as in the Mac you click the box to save with "PC Friendly
Extensions".
From there you should be able to find a way to save with all layers
intact.
If you can save with all layers intact, A newer version of Photoshop
should be able to read the Illustrator file and layers.

Other than that I am afraid that you are left with taking actual
screenshots of the Quark files and just splicing them in Photoshop to
create the cuts that you need.

Thanks.

If needed and you can provide all of the Quark files I might be able to
find an copy and covert them somehow to a useable format for the web
guy.

Second Opinion:

I talked to another graphic designer with 20 years+ experience.

He echos some of what the other email said. Quark and Illustrator are software programs which do not save files that can be used on the web. They are the best program to use for PRINT design, but not website.

There may be some add-ins available for Quark to make the images web ready, but you'd have to find those on the web and there would be an expense to purchase those.

What your web designer is trying to do, to replicate the graphic as close as possible to what the graphic artist is doing, is the best solution.

Friday, May 21, 2004

Who's linking to your website and where do you rank in search engines


Hi All,

You hear all the time...well, maybe YOU don't, but I do as a web designer, that link popularity and link relevancy help increase targeted traffic to your website and increase your ranking in search engines.

If you want to know how many other sites are linking to yours and in what search engines, here's a handy little tool.
http://www.freewebsubmission.com/link-popularity.html
Check out your site and that of you main competitors. Then talk to your web designer about optimizing your site for search engines.

Also, if you want to know if and where you're ranking in the search engines, go to
http://www.freewebsubmission.com/site-ranking.html
and enter your website name and the main keywords used on your site.

If all of this is gibberish to you and you want to learn more about optimizing your website for higher rankings in search engines, send me an email and I will notify you of my next Q & A conference call coming soon.

Or for a thorough analysis of why your site isn't performing as well as expected, sign up for my Well Website Check-Up service. You can learn more about that by sending a blank email to WellWebsite@girlgeekwebdesigns.com and you will get a list of all that's part of this service.

Annette Vaillancourt
Girl Geek Web Designs
Custom Websites for Small Businesses on a Budget
http://www.GirlGeekWebDesigns.com
(618) 529-5886