New Features

The site features an updated branding strategy, that makes the navigation of the site super easy. Since internet users surf the web in different ways, it is important to offer multiple ways to peruse a website that work well together. The Oral Hull site accomplishes this by having a top navigation of critical links, a main menu navigation, a footer navigation, and a search functionality.

Other new features that are added to already superb content management system that is easy for the client to use and update their website with include:

• an events calender to showcase upcoming events
• a photo gallery to showcase the park and events
• a dynamically generated latest articles feature that pulls recent news articles into a subfooter part of each page
• an embedded Google Map to give easy directions to Oral Hull Park
• and dynamically generated archives and sitemap pages that showcase all articles and pages of the website

Accessiblity Features

However, the development does not stop there. The real beauty of this website is what you can not see. Website accessibility is important for any website, but it is particularly important to a website that has a substantial amount of users who are blind or have low vision difficulties. That is why the Oral Hull website features a text resizer on every page, skip to main content links on every page, and special style sheets that make it easy for a screen reader to articulate the important content of each page.

To learn more about the Oral Hull Foundation for the Blind, visit their website today!

If you want to drive traffic to your website, one of the most important things you can do is write good web content. Good website content is interesting, relevant, and utilizes smart internal linking with keywords.

Interesting content is related to the audience you are trying to reach.  While you know you are brilliant and fascinating, not everyone will think everything you write is interesting. Knowing who you want to visit your site is important for figuring out how to interest them in what you are writing.  For example, if you own a yacht comp, who do you want looking at your website? You probably want people who buy and use yachts.  While it is important to show that you know how to build yachts, saying you use high-quality fiberglass is probably more interesting to your potential customers than telling them the specifics of the 42-step process you use to build the hull.  Also, consider featuring content on your site about great fishing spots. Ultimately, you are selling them a lifestyle more than just a boat, so give them interesting  content.

Relevant content may mean different things, depending on where the content will appear.  If the content is appearing in a blog post, it is perfectly acceptable for the content to have time-limited relevancy, such as a special promotion or event.  Fresh content is important for search engine optimization. If you don’t have a blog, then you should be incorporating fresh content into your website pages.  Typically, page content should often have much more long term relevancy.  These are pages that you can update infrequently, but still provide good information to your clients.

Internal linking is an essential element to any really well-written website content.  Links are good. Internal links are very good. And links with smart anchor text are the best. Anchor text is the words that are used to link.  In the first sentence of this paragraph, “well-written website content” is the anchor text.  The link then takes you to our Business Writing Services page.  This is how you want to link in your content.

A word to the wise, while keywords are important, stuffing your text with keywords is a bad idea.  You don’t want text that looks spammy and having the same keywords repeated over and over in your text looks like spam to search engines.

If you’re not a writer and this sort of thing does not come easily to you, or if you’re too busy doing your business, then let Alphabetix help you write good website content.  This is our business, so let us help you.

Do you sell your products on Etsy, but aren’t sure how to build up enough presence to really be successful? Here are some tips for really developing a presence and brand recognition to help make your Etsy shop successful.

The best thing you can do to drive traffic to your Etsy site is to develop a web presence.  The best way to do that is to get your social media on. Having a blog, a Facebook Fan Page, and a Twitter account are some of the best ways to build buzz about your business.

A customized blog is a great way to drive business to your site.  Find other crafters and follow their blogs.  Leave comments on their posts and talk about your shop.  Use your blog as an opportunity to describe your crafty talent or post information about new products.  This is a really important part of building up your brand. There are a lot of crafty people out there that do this really well.  For example, Candace at Sparkle Power infuses her blog with links to her shop and descriptions of new products. You’ll notice she also has a “mini shop” in her side bar to direct you to her Etsy shop.  Lex from My Mama Made It uses her blog as a place to show tutorials, get feedback on what she makes, and share new products.  Again, she has a link to Etsy front and center on her blog.  A blog gives you the space to really connect with potential buyers that you can’t really find elsewhere.

Advertise on other blogs. Lots of crafters offer advertising space on their blogs. They will also do featured sponsor spots on their blogs.  Or, like many crafty bloggers out there, you can do blog exchanges, where you switch and post on each others blogs to reach a new audience.  There are lots of opportunities out there.  How do you find these crafty blogs? Well, start with some that you see here and see who they follow, and see who they follow, and on and on.  Before you know it, you’ll have a reader full of awesome like-minded people who would love to promote your business in exchange for promoting theirs.

Facebook can also be a great tool for marketing your products and driving traffic to your Etsy site. You can post pictures of your products, announce shop updates, and even offer discounts with a special coupon code.  You can also drive traffic back to your blog.  Use Facebook to build brand recogntion. For example, Ceci Punch Designs uses her Facebook Page to post shop updates and get people excited about her product, while linking to her shop.

A nice addition to a blog and a Facebook Fan page, is Twitter. You can use those 140 characters to tell people about shop updates or just build general buzz about all the cool things you do. Talk about your creative process.  Tell people what you’re working on. Hint at a really cool new product. Then, link to your Etsy shop. Want to see someone who does it well? Check out Petals Purses. And here’s a tip: don’t waste your characters on a massive link. Use bit.ly or a similar service to shorten that URL. And remember, if you want to be followed, you must follow too.

Blogs, Facebook, and Etsy are all great tools. But, none of them stand on their own. You have to use each as an ingredient, that once put to work together can create a delicious Etsy selling experience for you. If you are selling on Etsy, you are probably darn creative, so be creative with marketing yourself as well.

Using Facebook, you can promote your business or product.  One way is by using Facebook’s advertising.  Using their advertising, you can target specific audiences, track your progress, and change your audience if it’s not working for you.  This option is pretty expensive for a small business. If you’re Coke, you can probably afford it. (Hey Coca Cola, do you read our blog?)

You can also encourage people to link to your Facebook page on their sites or through their fan pages.  You can do this with a contest or giveaways. However, do so with caution and make sure you know Facebook’s Promotion Guidelines.

You can also participate in discussions on other fan pages or with groups that target the same audience you do (and link back to your fan page).  But, be polite. Going on a competitor’s page and pitching your product or service is pretty tacky.  Also, make sure your participation is relevant. No one likes spam and you wouldn’t want people to leave it on your page.

You can encourage people to visit your Facebook page outside of Facebook as well.  For example, you should have a “Become a Fan” invite on your web site.  A Facebook page won’t do you much good if your customers don’t know about it. You can also link to Facebook from your blog.  See how easy that is?  It is important to build links from your web site to your Facebook and vice-a-versa.  You should also link to it from other social media you use, like Twitter. Think of Facebook as another piece of a puzzle, rather than an entity unto itself.

From CostPerNews

Comment Rating embeds clickable images in comments automatically that allow users to rate comments in a thumbs up or thumbs down fashion.  The comment appears with rating in whichever format you select: a separate rating for like and dislike, a combined rating, or both. You can also select to only allow positive or negative ratings.

The utility doesn’t stop there.  Poorly rated comments can be hidden with a click to see link.  Highly rated comments can be highlighted.  Controversial comments, those which get a lot of both likes and dislikes, can also be highlighted. This can draw attention to a post and the comment traffic and can encourage more votes and comments.

This plugin allows you to set up the styling of the comment rating and the comment box.

Another cool feature is the anti-voter fraud mechanism that only allows one vote per IP address and does not allow the author of a comment to rate his own comment.

You can also download a Pro version of Comment Rating for a $20 donation which has additional features including CSS styling for comment images, ability to disable voting restrictions, and additional functions to retrieve comments based on their ratings.

Don’t have a WordPress CMS? Alphabetix can help you get a customized WordPress CMS.

Facebook Pages allow you create a profile for your business on Facebook. These pages can be used to give you an identity on one of the most popular social networking sites on the web today. This is a great way to strengthen your brand.  People can become fans of your page, which allows them to follow you and receive updates that you post.

One of the great features about having a Facebook Page is that when someone becomes a fan of your page, all their friends get an update in their news that says that they have become a fan. This is a great way to get more and more fans by creating buzz about your business. This is great for brand recognition as well.

A Facebook Page is only as good as the you make it.  If you don’t post, it won’t do any good for your business.  You can post promotions, blog posts (with links to your site), company information, photos, videos, applications and general messages.  Your activity then shows up in your fans’ Facebook feed so they see your activity.

When you sign up for a Facebook Page, you have the option of categorizing your page as a local business; brand or product; or band, artist, or public figure. Choose which one best describes what you want to promote, because you will be categorized with other pages that are in the same category.

Your Facebook Page can bring you new business, build brand recognition, and build on the relationships you already have with existing customers.  Does your business have a Facebook page yet?

Alphabetix is offering a great SEO promotion for your business.  It’s the $50 cup of coffee.  What’s a $50 cup of coffee?Well, it’s a cup of joe (heck, we’ll even do the fancy macchiato stuff) along with a consultation to discuss how you can grow your business by building web traffic to your site.

What’s included? Well, you get coffee (of course), an SEO Analysis report detailing your website’s opportunities, one hour consultation discussing said report and how to build web traffic, and the opportunity to speak candidly with an honest and ethical SEO professional (that’s us!).

What’s in the report? You get an SEO audit of your website structure, a site analysis of your overall content, and a competitor analysis of how you compare in your specific market.

Does $50 seem like a lot of money? We don’t think so, especially when you can get some serious jolt from the information you’ll get from us.

How can this information help you? You can find out exactly why people can’t find you when they’re looking for your services (could be you need better web content or cleaner code).  And, you can find out how to get your site found.  The new business you could gain is worth 50 bucks 1,000 times over.  Let us help you get where you want to be and get some caffeine while you’re at it.

So, if I say, let’s eat the cookie, I am referring to a specific cookie.  If I say, let’s eat a cookie, I mean any cookie.

A/An refer to any member of a group. So, if I tell you that I want a pony, it could be any pony. I just want one of the group of items known as ponies.

Whether you use a or an depends on the sound of the next word. A is used for words that begin with a consonant sound.  An is used for words tha begin with a vowel sound.  For example, you have an apple, but you have a delicious apple.

This can be a little tricky because sometimes something that is written with an initial vowel actually makes an initial consonant sound. For example, you attend a university, not an university (pronounced yoo-niversity). You can also have a word that begins with an initial consonant, but is pronounced with an initial vowel. This is particularly true with acronyms.  For example, you go to school to get an MA, not a MA (pronounced em-a).

The refers to a particular member of a group. So, if I say that I want the pony, you know I mean a specific pony.

One place the use of articles gets tricky is with count and non-count nouns. The is used with non-count nouns and can often be omitted.  So, you can have the water or just water. A and an are used with singular count nouns. So you have a duck and an ostrich.

Some common nouns that do not take articles are names of languages and nationalities (English, German, Spanish); names of sports (soccer, tennis, football); and names of academic subjects (art, history, mathematics).

Writing in English can be difficult, especially when English is not your first language.  At Alphabetix, we understand the particulars of ESL writing and can make sure that every article in your articles is grammatically correct.

With all the hype behind social media and networking, having a CMS plug-in that allows you to build friend lists is pretty awesome.  In comes the Drupal module called Buddylist, one of the most popular modules for Drupal to date and one that really gained popularity for Drupal as a content management system.

Buddylist helps you to create a social networking site with friends. It allows users to create a friend list similar to those found on sites like MySpace or Facebook. It allows you to organize your friend lists into groups and monitor their content. You can also allow one-way buddies or require two-way buddies where both users must accept the buddy relationship.

Buddylist also allows integration with other modules, such as Invite, that can do things like add invited members to buddylists automatically. Score! We love module-friendly modules.

Want to know how social networking can help you? Alphabetix is your social networking expert. Let us get you set up with a content management system that can help you grow your presence on the internet.