Blog
Custom Facebook Tabs – Making Iframed welcome page using Heroku – 2012
January 20, 2012
(No Comments)
Ill preface by saying this by saying that I am a newbie to Facebook apps and welcome pages. When I searched on Google I found hundred of articles on how to set these up using Static FBML, and a whole bunch of Iframe tutorials that are either not using HTTPS, or using their own website with HTTPS. I had the following needs for my Facebook Welcome Page.
- An Iframe from an HTTPS site, without buying a SSL certificate for my website
- A welcome tab that did not require users approval to use the app. Did not want my Welcome page to display an authorization request.
- A page with a Like button, not the classic “Click Like Button Above” message
- No ads or attribution links
I imagine there is an easier way to do this, so if you are a FB expert please chime in in the comments. If you are ok with having a small 3rd party link below the page you can use Iframe Apps which eliminates the need for most of the steps below.
You will need to install the Facebook Developers app, then create a new app. Follow the directions on how to set up an app using Heroku. This will create an app that requires the users approval, but we will take care of that later. Setting up the Heroku app is a process in itself, but its the only free HTTPS hosting I know of. I never thought I would be using the command line again, but their directions require using the command line to update and upload files. After you get the page running outside of Facebook, you will need to refer to this article to make it a Facebook tab.
After you have styled the HTML on the page to your liking and your app is running on Facebook we are going to remove the authorization request from the Heroku app.
Delete the code in index.php after - require_once(‘utils.php’);
All the way down to the - <!DOCTYPE html>
You should leave the ?> used to close out the PHP
After that code is removed your app will no longer require users to install the app to see your welcome page. The downside is that you can no longer import variables like their name, and their friends. What is interesting is that you can still use the same “Like” and “Send” buttons you would use on a website. I just used the developer code generator for these and pasted the code into the index.php.
So there you have it, a Welcome page that uses an Iframe on an HTTPS site without paying for an SSL certificate. It also does not require users to install it, and contains like and send buttons. If you want us to help you set up something similar be sure to contact us.
Blog, Helpful Hints and Tips, Internet Marketing Tips
How to fill out your free Manta Profile
January 19, 2012
(No Comments)
With tens of millions of business profiles Manta is one of the largest business information websites on the internet. Creating a business profile or claiming an existing one is simple. If you have had any online presence with your business in the past Manta likely has a basic profile for your business already. So first step is to search Manta for your business by name. If you find it visit the profile and click the “claim this listing” link. If not you will be prompted to add a new listing. The procedure from here is the same.
Now you will need to either log in to an existing Manta account you own or create a new one. Manta asks you to give a name and how you are related to the business (owner, employee, or representative.) This will appear on the profile so it is best to use legitimate and complete information.
Then we are guided through a 4 step process to fill out the profile. First step is business name, address, and website link. Second you can add a description of 150 characters and 5 services so choose wisely. The third step allows you to choose 3 business categories. With lots profiles come lots of categories and Manta’s category match tool can be a little confusing. Make sure you double check the parent categories of your selections to find the most relevant category to your business. Step 4 is the up sale, ignore it and look for “No thanks. Continue to my profile. »” towards the bottom.
Now this is honestly a feature I haven’t used but you are prompted to import email contacts. This would help you to find people and businesses connected to your business on Manta. They support many common email services (gmail, yahoo, hotmail…) If you are setting this up for your own small business using more of the social features of Manta could be a real plus. You can choose to do this step now or skip and view your profile.
So now your profile has all the basic business information. There are a couple more things you can do to improve your free listing. If you have a logo to upload you should start there. You can edit your “metro area” and add a nearest landmark in the top area. Below that is a product area where you can theoretically create product pages with text and images. I normally encounter 404 errors and other junk on the product pages, definitely still a work in progress. With the free listing you can create 3 of these pages with 250 and 3000 word descriptions, one picture, price, and a link. If you can wade through the errors definitely create these.
Back on the main profile keep filling out as much as possible because completeness of the profile counts towards Manta’s ranking of your listing. Make sure to add a detailed business description, it can be up to 800 characters. You can add business hours and a description, again put something just for completeness.
Finally at the bottom of the profile you have a few more fields to complete. Business info can be modified here along with adding brands carried. There is an additional information space of 200 characters and another 200 for Green Initiatives. Professional memberships, certificates, and licenses can be added as well. Then its just external media links and the obligatory Facebook and Twitter links.
It might take more then the few minutes Manta would have you think but creating a free business profile here is a must.
Blog, Shameless Self Promotion
How much do websites cost? Websites that don’t cost a ton of money
January 8, 2012
(No Comments)
As much as designers hate it, we often use templates for low cost websites. Getting a jump start on both the design and the development is a great way to cut costs, as well as the time needed to produce the website. Here are some advantages of starting from a template.
- Design Choices – We can sit with our clients and show them a variety of options.
- Lower Cost – You are getting a big head start on the design and setup of your website
- Shorter Project Length
- More budget for search marketing to get customers to your website
Here are some customers we helped with template based designs in 2011. All of these sites are built with a WordPress Content Management system and cost less than $1500 in total project costs.
If you want to take a look at some of the templates available try the WordPress.org Themes Directory or Themeforest. You can always try searching Google where you can find articles like Most Popular Free WordPress Themes.
After you find that theme you think is a good fit for your new website, give us a call and we will help with customizing it for your business.
Latest Project – Non Profit Website Design
December 5, 2011
(No Comments)We provided a custom designed WordPress website for Arlington Cursillo in Virginia. We are really happy with the way the design came out, and we also got a chance to add in some custom features.
- Events Calendar – Feeds upcoming events to Twitter and supports adding recurring events.
- User Contributions - Website Visitors can submit a post from the front end of the website. Administrators are notified to approve the post.
- User Activity Monitor – Shows a feed of user activity, as well as what browser they are using.
- Custom Comments - Sign up for a schedule using a custom post type and comments
Our new Commercial
July 16, 2011
(No Comments)
Thanks to Michael Geise for making that for Boom Visibility. Liking the music choice.
Helpful Hints and Tips, Wordpress Tips and Tricks
My Favorite WordPress Plugins
June 30, 2011
(One Comment)When I set up WordPress I use the following plugins. They all work great and don’t have a ton of advertising displayed.
- Duplicate Post – Not sure why this functionality isn’t built into WP already but this allows users to duplicate posts and pages. It adds a duplicate button next to the Edit options so it really fits in nicely. This helps if you set up nice page layouts for your clients that they might want to recreate.
- Si Captcha Anti Spam – This prevents spam comments on your blog. Akimet comes standard but it is only supposed to be free for personal blogs and websites. I don’t think its worth taking a risk by installing Akimet on a business site, especially when there is a perfectly good free alternative.
- Contact Form 7 – There are other contact form plugins with more functionality but this one does everything I need. Be sure to also install Really Simple Captcha so you can use a form with a Captcha
- Platinum SEO Pack – All in One SEO just does much more than I need it to. This allows you to write title and description tags while writing posts and pages. It also allows you to automatically add the blog name or other variables to the title tag. Be aware that by default it will add your blog name to your title tags.
- Google XML Sitemaps – This plugin automatically creates an XML sitemap of your website each time you make a change and sends it off to Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Ask.com. I can’t believe I used to do this by hand.
- Resize At Upload Plus – This will prevent users from uploading rediculously large photos from a digital camera. you specify a max height or width and it automatically re sizes the image while uploading.
- NextGen Gallery – This is the best photo gallery I have found. Its pretty simple so if you need something super sexy this might not be the best, but works great. Be sure to also install the photo resizer for this to prevent users from uploading huge photos.
- TinyMCE Advanced – If you spend some time using the content editor in WP you may be frustrated with its handling of page breaks and adding paragraphs. Basically if you press enter to go to a new line it often ignores it. This plugin allows you to customize the editor options, and you can disable wordpress’s handing of page breaks.
If you are searching for quality WP plugins I hope you found this useful. If you are interested in another post about my standard modifications to the WordPress defaults please leave a comment.
Helpful Hints and Tips, Shameless Self Promotion
Business Catalyst SEO
May 19, 2011
(No Comments)
So recently Ive been working with a few clients who use a content management system (CMS) called Business Catalyst. If you are a web designer or developer, I recommend looking into it. It is a very powerful e-commerce CMS that is also a CRM. Think about reports where you can see that the same person who signed up for your newsletter also returned to buy something 3 months later. You can run a report on your customer database for users who spent more than $X. Its not as cheap as wordpress (which is free) but I think its well worth the cost. As they say in their promotional video, Business Catalyst is more than a website, its an online business.
Anyway, the purpose of this post is to advertise my SEO services to any Business Catalyst users interested in SEO. I have worked with business catalyst website owners to optimize their sites, and I have also worked with them on a consulting basis where I teach them how to optimize their own sites. Business catalyst, as it is now, does not make it very easy to optimize the website, but I have familiarized myself with the CMS so that I can teach others how to use it for effective SEO.
I have to give a big thanks to my friend Devon Reehl who is an expert Business Catalyst Web Designer. He introduced me to the software, and has helped me make some contacts in the Business Catalyst Community.
Class 8: Tips and Tricks, Helpful Hints and Tips, Internet Marketing Tips
Easy and Affordable Videos for YouTube
April 21, 2011
(No Comments)There is no substitute for a professionally produced video. A really quality video commercial for your business can be highlighted on your website and used for TV advertising. Our friends at Walking Whale have helped us produce a few amazing videos, but in many cases a professionally developed video is not in the budget, and it is not necessary to give your business a presence on YouTube.
CamStudio provides free screen cast recording. After installing the software you can press record and make a video of any task that is completed on your computer. This software does not allow you to edit the video but if your computer came with Windows Movie Maker, or other video editing software, you can add captions, and cut out unnecessary parts of the video.
Some good examples of screencast videos include:
- How to find a job on LinkedIn created by a career coach
- How to check on your tax refund by an Accountant
- How you use our pet portal by a Veterinary Hospital
Another easy option for making videos is making a slide show. If you have Powerpoint you can put together a slide show with captions and “Save As” .wmv which is a video format.
Some good ideas for slide show videos include:
- A virtual tour of your facility
- Show different stages of a repair or product process
- An existing sales presentation
Videos are more engaging to users and appear in searches on Google as well as searches on YouTube. Making a video for your business is a lot easier than your think.
Helpful Hints and Tips, Opinion, Questions for Smart People
Are Yellowbook Websites a Good Idea?
April 15, 2011
(3 Comments)
Hopefully someone searching for an answer to the question above will find this blog post and decide against it. One of my customers built a website with Yellowbook who now has ownership of the domain name. Before building the website, the Yellowbook Rep assured the customer that if he ever wanted to build his own website they would release the domain name. What he didn’t mention is that they would do anything possible to make this difficult.
When I spoke with Yellowbook 6 months ago they informed me that they would release the domain at the end of the current contract in April. When speaking to them in April they informed me they would not release the domain name until 1 year after the website was published. The rep claimed that the website was published in November so they would not release the domain name until November of 2011. I have been working with this customer since August of the previous year, and we had been using the Yellowbook website as a basis for the new website. According to the customer his website has been in operation well before we met, so clearly their records are inaccurate or their “retention department” is making things up.
I asked for him to email and fax a copy of the signed Yellowbook contract before we got off the phone. We have still not received a copy, so we will have to call again.
If you have any words of advice on how to obtain a domain name from Yellowbook please let me know. If you are considering building a website with Yellowbook look elsewhere.
Opinion, Questions for Smart People
Google Docs Feedback: Why is copying such a pain?
April 13, 2011
(No Comments)I could be missing something here but I have a folder in Google Docs with a bunch of template files in it. When I start a new project I need to copy them into the new project folder. The only way I know how to do this is way more complicated than it should be.
- Go to the templates folder and open the document I want to copy
- Go to the file menu and click “make a copy”
- Find this copy, which can only be found in the “all items” section of Google Docs
- Click the “actions” button and select “organize”
- Navigate to the appropriate directory
There’s got to be an easier way. Please help.
