The First of New Posts by Camilo

Hi, folks! This is the first of a new series of posts I'll be writing.

I'll continue to share News of 544 Productions and share resources that I find inspiring and interesting, related to the world of websites.

To kick things off, I'm going to share some of my Favorite Web Development/Design Tools:

Instant Eyedropper:
http://instant-eyedropper.com/?ref=ie
I use this smart tool almost everyday. It's FREE to Download and Install. Once it's installed, you click-drag the icon from your Tool Bar to your screen and you'll be able to see the web color code for each pixel you move your mouse over. Really helpful if you're visiting a website and need to pull colors from images or other elements of the site.

Pixel Ruler at CodePlex:
http://www.codeplex.com/Ruler
Another FREE, handy tool to measure pixels right in your browser. It measures horizontal and vertical; another tool I use almost everyday. Say you're at a website and you want to find out some basic sizes, like say the website banner; then you find that the banner image is not the same size as the actual banner area you want the dimensions of. Start this Ruler Software and you'll get a transparent ruler right over any window you're looking at. It's so easy to measure any area, down to the pixel.... really comes in handy.

ElectMikeLane.com

We've just launched our first political website (the first since my own davidmakar.com) for Dryden resident Mike Lane. He is running to be returned to the Tompkins County Legislature representing district 14. The website was build up quick with WordPress and a template - to help Mike get his message to his neighbors and to Dryden residents quickly.

http://www.electmikelane.com/

Finger Lakes Scholarship of Civic Engagement

544 Productions is a proud supporter of The Finger Lakes Scholarship of Civic Engagement. This scholarship is designed to give financial support to students about to enter college and who are engaged citizens and residents of the Finger Lakes.

This civic involvement can take many forms including but not limited to contributions to community through local institutions such as local government, school government, local libraries, fire departments, community newspapers, voter registration drives, campaign work, reporting on current events and helping to bring about solutions to community problems.

Learn more about The Finger Lakes Scholarship of Civic Engagement here:
http://www.tyleradmissionsconsulting.com/fsoce.html

New Website: Finger Lakes Writer

I recently worked with Sue Henninger, a freelance writer from Trumansburg, New York. Her busienss is called Finger Lakes Writer and her new website is online at http://www.fingerlakeswriter.com/. Here's a little blurb from her home page:

As a professional freelance writer, my goal is to use the most compelling words and powerful imagery to increase the visibility of your services and products, to bring clarity to your message, or to inspire or inform others in some way.

As a business writer, I work with my clients to create a number of marketing materials including website content, brochure text, press releases, and event promotion materials.

As a creative writer, feature articles are my area of expertise and life in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State is a constant source of inspiration and new ideas. The most phenomenal scenery in the world can be found everywhere you look and there is always a local festival, an unusual event, or someone interesting to interview.

Check out her website here: http://www.fingerlakeswriter.com/

Please Link To Me

One of the many criteria that Google (and Yahoo and MSN) use to rank pages is by the number of other sites that link to you. Other criteria include keyword matching and freshness of content. If two sites have the same keywords and same "freshness" (updated today), but one has been linked to by 50 other sites and another has been links to by 1 other site, google will rank the person with 50 links higher.

At least this is how it works today. Once google tweaks their algorithm to give "better" results, all bets are off. Since Google has hired many of the best software engineers in the country, they've been able to further compare links that point to your site. If you are a travel site for instance and 50 other travel related sites point to you (B&Bs, car rental, local restaurants) and you were compared to another travel site with 50 non-travel related sites pointing at your (an insurance company, a website design company, a house building company, a graphic artist) - then Google says, hey wait a minute, I'm not going to give you as good of a rank because the people you link to (and that link to you) are not related to your business at all.

This idea of referring to each other was started out of friendship (hey buddy, let's exchange links) and then turned to page rank madness (if you link to me, I'll link to you, even though there's no business relationship, but Google will like us more because we have links!). One of my customers (Norabloom Botanicals), links to other businesses that relate to theirs (for the most part: http://www.norabloom.com/links.php).

All of this came up because for the third time in the last week one of my customers asked me if they should exchange links with someone that emailed them. The someone was "Ion Doaga" of http://www.cornellhotels.com/ and http://hotel-systems.com/ which is an affiliate travel site with what appears to be the parent company of Booking Horizon (of Av. Marquès de l'Argentera, 25 entl. 2a; 08003 Barcelona; Spain) online at http://bookinghorizon.com/.

Does it make sense to share a link to them? They want you to add their link to your site, so they get more traffic. They list you on their site, in a page that is buried and has little chance of ever directing traffic to you. They don't list any names or office or local place to their business - - which makes it seem like they either are not proud of living and helping this community, or that they are not from this community. It looks like all of the local content for "Cornell Hotels" was gathered from thousands of miles away. As you look around the site, just remove the words "Cornell Hotels" and the Cornell Hotels logo and you could be anywhere doing this "local" service for any place in the world.

There has to be better ways to exchange links with local companies that have real traffic and may actually deliver people to you.

BNI: Jan. 29th Presenters

I am a member of the local Business Networking International (BNI) networking group. The group consists of 30 people from 30 different business sectors in and around Ithaca, New York. Each week members get to give a 60 second infomercial or "Marketing Manager's Minute" to the other 29 members (and guests). Then two members give a more detailed 8 minute presentation about their business and about what they need us to do as their sales team. I'll try to post a very short post each week with information about the week's speakers.

More about our chapter, Ithaca Thumbs Up: http://www.ithacathumbsup.com/

Dr. Ellen Matuszak, Chiropractor, http://www.doctorem.topchiro.com/ - Dr. Ellen has been in business for over 6 years and has an office on the second floor of Dewitt Plaza in the City of Ithaca.

Dr. Marcia Zax, dentist and owner of Advanced Dental Technology of Ithaca II, PLLC, http://www.advancedentaltech.com/ - Dr. Marcia is a D.D.S. and Ph.D. and has her practice on Trumansburg Road in The town of Ithaca. The office is just beyond the hospital at 1301 Trumansburg Road.

New Website: Arjan Healing Arts

Arjan and I put together a website last night for her massage therapy practice in Ithaca. She focuses on massage for injuries, for relaxation, for body awareness, chronic pain, and for prenatal & labor support. She's offering a $5 off coupon for new clients when you visit her website, contact her to schedule an appointment, and print out the coupon.

Check it out the site here:
http://www.arjanhealingarts.com/

New Site Launched - FerroWood Massage

Eugene from FerroWood Massage Services asked 544 Productions to help make their site more usable, more readable and better optimized for search engines.

FerroWood was started by Bill Ferro and Eugene Wood in 2006. Bill met Eugene at the Swedish Institute and came up with the concept of combining spa treatments with massage therapy in the home or hotel room. Bill and Eugene decided to build a business around Bill’s concept and formed FerroWood Massage Services, selling their innovative spa therapies to luxury hotels and new brides in the tri-state area.

Their new and improved website is here: http://www.ferrowoodmassage.com/

Introducing Samana Ride

Samana Peninsula, Dominican Republic - Today we launced the website for Samana Ride, a motorcross adventure trip across the Samana Peninsula of the Dominican Republic.

The web site features:

• A set of photographs from the trip
• The cost and when the trip is in 2007
• A Sample Trip Itinerary
• A Map of the peninsula, with descriptions of the four major stops on the tour
• A detailed guest information form and contact page

The Samana Ride is described as:

Spend 7 days exploring the undiscovered, undeveloped beaches of the Samana peninsula in the Dominican Republic. Visit more than 7 of these natural havens and you will be awestruck with the incredible beauty and tranquility.

Many of these beaches are near inaccessible by vehicle, so the mode of transportation will be motorcycles. You will have the chance to ride on roads that provide breathtaking views of the Samana Peninsula. On this exclusive trip, you will fully experience the rich culture and beauty of the Dominican Republic.

http://www.SamanaRide.com

Busy, busy

It has been a bust six month since the last business blog post. I've taken on a number of new customers and 544 Productions has launched a number of new websites. I'm going to list some of them here and then write individual blog posts for each one. Thanks for tuning in!

Thomas Hoebbel Photography: http://www.th-photo.com
Holly Adams: http://www.holly-adams.com
Amazing Grace Bed and Breakfast: http://www.amazinggracebnb.com
Diane Bostick / Naked Feathers: http://www.nakedfeathers.net
Varna Volunteer Fire Company: http://www.varnafire.org
Phoenix House and Well: http://www.phoenixhouseandwell.com
Greater Nassau Chorus: http://www.greaternassauchorus.org
IthacaMed: http://ithacamed.com
Tyler Admissions Consulting: http://www.tyleradmissionsconsulting.com
P.W. Wood & Son: http://www.thewoodoffice.com
Nancy Burnett: http://nancyburnett.com
James Lee Hypnotherapist: http://www.jimleehypnosis.com
Blue Moon Green Crafts: http://www.bluemoongreencrafts.com