Daily Web Design Inspiration & Ideas
Have you heard about
running your car on water?
Click here to read the reviews of 3 systems.
This is off the web design subject but I just wanted to share this.
Eleven water fuel kits got reviewed and only 3 made the cut. They save fuel, fast and easy to setup and not too costly (well under $100).
Check it out. Pretty interresting stuff.
A web host normally focuses on one or more of the following target groups. The beginner website owner who is in need of basic web hosting services; disk space, a domain name and bandwidth. Then there are the more advanced website owners who are in need of dedicated services and finally there are the online businesses. Neither of the mentioned groups is comparable with each other, but online businesses or ecommerce clients differ themselves, especially when it comes to customized services needed.
A smaller business web host client often relies solely on their partnered web host to manage a whole set of surrounding services for the ecommerce business to stay online and keep legally floating. And the need of small business web hosting is only getting larger. Smaller business web hosting Professional web hosting and ecommerce businesses hence go hand in hand and in its niche they are equally dependent on each other to profit and prosper. Used by smaller businesses online this web hosting niche contains of customized services and client-adapted price levels.
Bigger ecommerce businesses simply do not bother to outsource to other web hosts but often establish an in-house departments and servers to secure their online business. Advantages with small business web hosting Enrolling in a web hosting plan is the perfect option for smaller businesses since their needs often exceed what they know and can afford to do themselves. Small business web hosting is often thought to be the web hosting niche where customers get the most for their money’s worth.
Realizing the full service need of smaller online business, web hosts often include all assistive services that their client might need. Pre-installable scripts, software, templates, data bases, applications, SSL certificates and other features. Smaller business web hosting by Yahoo! As a response to the early increasing need of proper web hosting by smaller online business Yahoo offer web hosting to small businesses through Yahoo small business web hosting. Included services allow web hosting clients to get online, sell products, market their business, hire personnel and much more.
I had a reader leave a comment on another post and decided to check out their website. While doing so, I found a page entitled, “Top 10 Reasons to Hire 3rd Eye Solutions.” This is a great page. It’s a combination mission statement and a great marketing page for their company.
My question to you is this; do you have this same type of information on your own web design services site? Are you straightforward and confident enough to list reasons as to why a potential client should enlist your services? If you are competent and confident in your skills, then you should consider creating a page to tell the world why your services are the best! Promoting your skills and services is not an egotistical approach to business…it’s a wise approach. Being confident in your craft and being willing to tell everyone is a powerful way to gain additional customers.
By the way, if you have such a page on your own site, please feel free to let me know. I would enjoy reading it. Thanks!
TemplateMonster is putting on a lottery selebrating the 4th of July. They are also working the US 2008 Presidential Election into this event to make it funner.
There are two website templates that are up for election. Everyone that participates in the voting will be entered into a lottery after the election is over. Plus, everyone that votes will get a Free Patriotic Iconset, worth $50. Voting starts on June 26 and runs until July 9th.
What is the lottery prize you ask? See their website to find out. 
Click here to visit TemplateMonster 4th of July Lottery page.
Quite a while back, I wrote an article and posted it here about The Long Tail and how it applies to web designers. I came across an article entitled, 5 Powerful Website Niches that are Here to Stay. I think this article is a great example of 5 niches that web designers can take advantage of as far as soliciting potential customers. In your local market, my suggestion would be to target businesses in these 5 industries and see what you may be able to do for them and their websites (or lack thereof).
Just some food for thought…
As web designers, part of your duty is to properly advertise and market your own services. Sometimes you also are enlisted to advertise and create marketing concepts for your clients too. Because of this, I’m going to start featuring some “advertising inspiration” every once in a while. Whether the advertising is physical (billboards, magazine, promotional items) or it is web based, I think it can stimulate that creative process for us.
So, here’s the first installment. This is a group of creative advertisements featured at Toxel.com. I have a couple of favorites from this group. I like the Adidas ad. I also like the drunk driver’s parking space too. What’s your favorite from the list?
Michael Rasmussen’s “Mini Site Profits Exposed” Video Series: How To Create A Mini Site That Runs On Autopilot And Makes You Money While You Sleep!
Click Here To Get FREE
Private Access to This
$197 Value, Life Changing Product!
Most Internet marketers understand that having mini
sites is the fastest and easiest way to make money
online. They don’t require a lot of time, energy, or
money to set up, and once you’ve got one up and
running, you can sit back and just collect money from
all the sales you’re making.
At least… that’s how it’s supposed to be, right?
The truth is that mini sites really ARE easy to set
up. They really DON’T require much time, energy, and
money to set up. So why is it that so few people
actually make money with their mini sites?
The answer is that they never learned how to actually
turn their mini site into a profitable moneymaker that
runs completely on autopilot. The good news is…
*************************************************
YOU’RE ABOUT TO LEARN HOW TO DO IT!
*************************************************
Here’s what this is all about: My colleague Michael
Rasmussen has just released a brand new video course
that will walk you through the process of creating a
killer mini site from the ground up, and then he’ll
also teach you how to actually start making money with
it right away and into the future.
If you’ve been looking for help with monetizing your
mini sites, then this is exactly what you need. The
best part? The videos are FREE! I’ll tell you more
about that later. First, let’s talk about the videos
themselves.
If you’re in a hurry, you can just check the
videos out right now for free. Click here: MiniSite Profits Exposed
*************************************************
OVERALL QUALITY
*************************************************
It’s important to note that these are online videos
that you access from your web browser. Michael uses
Camtasia Studio to create these videos, which is the
premier software program for creating screen capture
tutorials such as these.
The first thing I noticed when I hit the play button
on the first video was the incredible production
quality. These are NOT your ordinary screen capture
videos. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone
make videos that are this high quality before.
He uses beautifully created graphics to pass his
wisdom along to you, and the sound quality is the
highest you will ever hear in an Internet marketing
product. They sound like they were recorded in a
professional studio.
Michael explained to me that he was sick and tired of
seeing all the low quality videos out there, and so he
set out to create something different in order to
raise the bar in our industry. I think that, when you
see Mini Site Profits Exposed for yourself, you’ll
agree that he has succeeded.
Now let’s move onto…
*************************************************
THE ACTUAL VIDEOS
*************************************************
Here’s a brief summary of each video. Obviously
it’s impossible to list every single thing here,
but I want you to get a feel for what each one
covered, and how well it covered it.
If you’re in a hurry, you can just check the
videos out right now for free. Click here: MiniSite Profits Exposed
VIDEO 1 - INTRODUCTION
This videos introduces you to the entire course, as
well as the teacher himself. You’ll learn what you can
expect from the course, and why it’s structured the
way it is.
Michael realizes that you may not have heard of him,
and so he spends some time establishing his
credibility with you by sharing some of his biggest
successes. It doesn’t come across as bragging at all.
Michael explains that, in order for you to get value
from the teachings, you need to have faith that the
teacher actually knows what he’s talking about. By the
end of this video, you will have no doubt.
By the way, this is a good lesson for all of us
product developers. If you want people to accept you
as an authority on any subject, you first need to
establish your credibility with the reader. That way
he’s willing to relax, and trust that what you’re
telling him is sound advice.
VIDEO 2 - THE BASICS
This video will introduce you to the basics of mini
site marketing. This will set the foundation that all
future learning will rest upon, so it’s important to
pay close attention to this one.
You’ll learn:
* What mini-sites are, and what makes them different
from regular content sites.
* Which businesses they work well for… and which ones
they don’t.
* The right mindset to have when it comes to creating
mini sites as part of your online business strategy.
* And the different tools you need to get started.
This was a great video, and did an excellent job of
kicking things off, and building the foundation for
the rest of the course.
VIDEO 3 - SQUEEZE PAGES
This is probably one of the most useful videos of the
entire course. Every Internet marketer needs to build
an email list, but how do you do it? What is the best
way to capture the most opt-ins?
The answer is ’squeeze pages’. This video will teach
you:
* Why using a squeeze page is far superior to other
opt-in methods.
* The single most important thing you must include at
the top of your squeeze page to skyrocket your opt-in
rate.
* The secret structure of a squeeze page, and why most
marketers get it wrong (which costs them a LOT of
money).
* The most important to include in your opt-in process
that will make sure that people actually receive your
email.
After watching this video, you’ll know everything you
need to know to start building a massive opt-in list
right away. This will probably be the first video that
you ‘take action’ on. You’ll be so excited about the
possibilities, that I guarantee you’ll go and create
your own squeeze page right away.
VIDEO 4 - MINI SITE COPYWRITING - PART
ONE
Nothing happens until the sales copy is written.
Graphics alone will never sell a product, but sales
copy alone WILL. This video begins to demystify the
mysterious process of writing words that make people
whip out their credit cards and buy.
Specifically, you’ll learn:
* Why you need to learn copywriting, even if you “hate
to write”
* What a compelling offer looks like, and how to tell
the difference.
* How to write an eyeball-grabbing headline that
practically forces your readers to go through your
entire page.
* A simple trick you can use in your opening to make
your reader want to learn more.
There is no skill that is more important to your
success than the ability to write killer sales copy.
Make sure you pay extra attention to this video, as
well as…
VIDEO 5 - MINI SITE COPYWRITING - PART
TWO
This video dives right into the individual components
of a killer sales letter. You’ll learn how to create
the “secret structure” of a mini site sales letter
that makes big money. Specifically, you’ll learn:
* How to create captivating body copy that draws your
reader into the sales letter.
* Bullets that force your reader to keep reading the
whole page, and makes them insanely curious and want
to buy your product
* How to take the risk off people’s shoulders, so
they’ll feel safe buying from you.
* How to craft your ‘call to action’, and get people
to whip out their credit cards and buy immediately.
* The secrets of writing a killer P.S. that helps seal
the deal, and flip your prospect into a buyer
instantly.
This video covered a surprising amount of detail,
especially considering that this course is not
specifically about copywriting. Michael Rasmussen is
definitely someone who overdelivers in his educational
products.
VIDEO 6 - HOW TO AUTOMATE THE
DELIVERY OF YOUR INFOPRODUCT
Unless you want to be chained to your computer, you
must learn how to put your mini sites on autopilot.
The only thing you should be doing is driving traffic,
and letting the site itself do all the work, including
the work of instantly delivering the product to the
customer.
This video will walk you through the process of
automating your product delivery, so you can just
relax, and collect the money. The best part is… once
you have this automated system set up, you never have
to touch it again.
VIDEO 7 - HOW TO “GROW” YOUR SALE
This video is guaranteed to be an eye opener for
almost everyone who watches it, even the experienced
marketers. Michael dives into some of the most
effective ‘upselling’ techniques that I’ve ever seen.
Nowhere else on the Internet have I seen such a
thorough tutorial on how to increase the ’size’ of
your orders. You’ll learn:
* The psychology of ‘upselling’, and how to use it
make your customer spend even more money with you.
The best part? He’ll think it was his idea!
* The absolute best time to upsell your customer. This
one will surprise you when you realize how much money
you’ve been leaving on the table by skipping this
step.
* 5 simple techniques to increase your profit by up to
100%.
If you’ve already got a mini site that’s up and
running, this video will make a big difference for you
right away. Use any of these ‘plug and profit’
strategies to increase your income literally
overnight!
VIDEO 8 - CREATING AN AFFILIATE SALES
FORCE
If there’s one thing I’ve noticed that all successful
marketers have in common, it’s that they have a great
affiliate program. They create a program that allows
other people to make good money by promoting their
products, and they get to just sit back and relax,
while everyone else is doing the hard work of
promoting FOR them.
If you’ve ever dreamed of having an army of motivated
sales people working hard to make you money, then
you’re going to love this video. Michael will teach
you:
* What an affiliate program is, and how to set one up
very quickly.
* Exactly what tools you need to give your affiliates
(most people miss the mark here, so pay extra
attention to this part).
* Why merely having an affiliate program is NOT enough
to convince people to sign up, and what you can do
instead to have people eagerly trying to become one of
your affiliates.
* How to motivate affiliates to sell for you.
VIDEO 9 - MINI SITE MISTAKES TO AVOID
Let’s face it… it’s not enough to explain what you
should do. You also need to know what mistakes you
should avoid. Michael has already made these costly
mistakes, but you don’t have to. You’ll learn:
- Why people do judge a book by its cover… and how to
capitalize on that for your mini-site
- The single biggest reason people don’t buy from a
mini site, and how you can apply this ‘instant fix’.
- The single biggest thing that will kill your
mini-site (it’s not what you think, and making this
mistake is a surefire way to drain money from your
bank account FAST!)
- Two list building mistakes that’ll cripple your
long-term profits.
VIDEO 10 - SECRETS OF CREATING A
PRODUCT FUNNEL
This video will walk you through the process of
designing a product line that will make you a TON of
money. There’s a lot more to it than you’d think,
which is why this important concept (which was taken
from direct marketing) gets it’s own video.
After watching this video, you’ll understand why you
can’t just have a single front end product, and you’ll
know exactly what to do in order to get your customer
to keep buying more and more expensive products from
you… completely on autopilot!
This video is a MUST for any serious marketer who
wants to make a lot of money from their online
business.
VIDEO 11 - OUTSOURCING SECRETS FOR
WORKING LESS, AND MAKING MORE
The title of this video says it all. You’ll learn
all of Michael’s secrets for getting top notch
freelancers to help you create your mini site empire
in record time.
Let’s face it, you can’t be an expert at everything
that mini sites require. For example, it’s really
tough to be a top notch graphic designer, while also
mastering HTML, and then becoming a killer
copywriter, on top of also creating the product
itself.
And the list goes on and on. If you want to be
efficient, and begin making money as fast as
possible, outsourcing is the secret to making it
happen. This video will show you exactly what to do,
as well as some common (and very expensive) pitfalls
to avoid.
VIDEO 12 - OUTSOURCING SECRETS FOR
WORKING LESS, AND MAKING MORE
Let’s face it… it doesn’t matter how great your
mini site is if you don’t get any traffic coming to
it. Getting traffic can be one of the most confusing
and mysterious parts of making money online IF you
don’t get the proper education.
Thankfully, Michael really dives in, and gives you a
lightning fast education in this area. Specifically,
you’ll learn:
* How to use Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising to get
targeted traffic fast.
* 3 ways to get targeted traffic without spending a
dime.
* 2 ways to leverage the experience and contacts of
other people to explode your traffic.
* 3 traffic strategies to avoid like the plague!
By the time you’re done with this video, you’ll know
what to do right away to begin driving targeted
visitors to your mini site.
Wow, you get all those videos for free? Click
here to check out the Mini Site Profits Exposed
course for yourself: Click here: MiniSite Profits Exposed
*************************************************
DELUXE VIDEOS
*************************************************
Mini Site Profits Exposed comes with 12 videos, and
has more content than most 300 dollar home study
courses. And did I mention that it’s free?
If you decide that you want to continue your
education, and get the biggest possible advantage, you
can also upgrade to the deluxe course for a small fee.
The deluxe course contains four full-length videos
that each cover one advanced topic in great detail.
Here’s a breakdown of each video:
*************************************************
VIDEO 13 - DESIGNING A KILLER BACK END
THAT RUNS COMPLETELY ON AUTOPILOT
*************************************************
This deluxe video could easily be a whole course in
itself. It walks you though the entire process of
setting up a back end that is completely automated
using an autoresponder system.
You’ll learn how to set up your autoresponder to
automatically remove a person from your prospect list
after he buys, and then insert him into your customer
list. This is where your new autoresponder sequence
will start promoting your back end products
automatically.
Bottom line… if you want to make the big bucks like
all the Internet marketing gurus, you need to create a
back end that works hard for you while you’re out
creating new mini sites and developing new products.
This video will show you how.
*************************************************
VIDEO 14 - LIST BUILDING SECRETS
*************************************************
In this deluxe video, Michael will walk you through
some of his best tactics for growing a massive list
from your mini site. He’ll not only teach you what to
add to your mini site, but he’ll also show you what
you must REMOVE from your mini site in order to get
the most possible subscribers.
Building a list is about SO much more than just
offering a free newsletter. In fact, Michael shows you
five different things you can offer your readers to
get them to instantly give you their name and email.
You’ll also learn the best places to actually put the
opt-in email form on your mini site. You’ll also learn
about pop ups and tell-a-friend scripts, as well as a
bunch of other incredible tactics for growing your
list.
I have a hunch that you’ll find yourself referring to
this video over and over again.
*************************************************
VIDEO 15 - MARKETING ACTIVITIES THAT
MAKE YOU MONEY
*************************************************
When you think about all the ’stuff’ you can do to
drive traffic to your site, it’s hard to know what you
should focus on first. This video will walk you
through the four most important marketing activities
you can do to drive traffic to your mini site.
Once you master these four, you’ll never have to
wonder what you should do when you start a new mini
site. You’ll have an easy-to-follow road map for
driving tons of targeted prospects to your site, so
you can begin making money ASAP!
*************************************************
VIDEO 16 - MAKE MAXIMUM PROFITS FROM YOUR MINI SITE
*************************************************
In this final deluxe video, Michael will reveal his
best kept secrets for squeezing maximum profit out of
any mini site. These are techniques that you have NOT
seen before, so you’ll want to pay extra close
attention to this one.
Think about it… if you’re going to put the time in,
and set up a mini site the proper way (like Michael
shows you in these videos), then it only makes sense
that you’d want to make the most amount of money
possible from it.
In this video, you’ll learn:
- How changing one sentence on your mini site could
double your profits easily.
- How to instantly increase the dollar amount of your
average order (which puts more money into your
pocket).
- The one thing you must add to your ‘download page’
that will instantly increase your income (with no
extra work, once this thing is put into place).
- How to turn your actual product into a money making
machine!
*************************************************
CONCLUSION
*************************************************
Whew! That was a lot of information, and I hope it
helped you decide to check out Michael Rasmussen’s
Mini Site Profits Exposed video course. Remember the
course is absolutely free, so you have nothing to
lose.
Michael believes that it’s important for him to prove
himself to you before he ever asks you to buy anything
from him. He wants to show you that he will deliver
you the absolute best education available anywhere,
and he’ll gladly do it for free… just to win you
over!
So go ahead and check out Mini Site Profits Exposed
right now, and see what all the fuss is about. I
highly recommend that you upgrade to the deluxe
course as well. Click here: MiniSite Profits Exposed
Back in April, I posted a short blurb about pricing and how to come up with realistic prices for web design and graphic design. While reading another blog last week, I found an article that discusses one designer’s method of establishing prices. His post at Tutorialaday.com is an interesting read. When you have some time, go check it out and let me know your thoughts on his pricing methods. I’d also still like to hear from some of you on how you determine your rates as well.
Thanks!
Yes, this is supposed to be my Mute Monday post. But, I wanted to comment a little about it. This is an article put together by David Airey and featured in his blog under the title 5 Easy Steps to Build Trust Online. My advice would be to read through it and examine your business practices. Make sure you are doing your best to develop a reputation built on trust! Do you have any other good, solid tips on developing a trustworthy online presence? Let me know!
While this isn’t directly related to web design currently, it will affect us down the road with the technology advances it brings. It’s an interesting article. Here are some highlights. If you’d like to read the full article, you can check it out here.
“Scientists unveiled the world’s fastest supercomputer on Monday, a $100 million machine that for the first time has performed 1,000 trillion calculations per second in a sustained exercise. The technology breakthrough was accomplished by engineers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory and IBM Corp. on a computer to be used primarily on nuclear weapons work, including simulating nuclear explosions.The computer, named Roadrunner, is twice as fast as IBM’s Blue Gene system at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which itself is three times faster than any of the world’s other supercomputers, according to IBM.
To put the computer’s speed in perspective, it has roughly the computing power of 100,000 of today’s most powerful laptops stacked 1.5 miles high, according to IBM. Or, if each of the world’s 6 billion people worked on hand-held computers for 24 hours a day, it would take them 46 years to do what the Roadrunner computer can do in a single day.
The IBM and Los Alamos engineers worked six years on the computer technology.
The interconnecting system occupies 6,000 square feet with 57 miles of fiber optics and weighs 500,000 pounds. Although made from commercial parts, the computer consists of 6,948 dual-core computer chips and 12,960 cell engines, and it has 80 terabytes of memory housed in 288 connected refrigerator-sized racks.
The cost: $100 million.
Turek said the computer in a two-hour test on May 25 achieved a “petaflop” speed of sustained performance, something no other computer had ever done. It did so again in several real applications involving classified nuclear weapons work this past weekend.
“This is a huge and remarkable achievement,” said Turek in a conference call with reporters.
A “flop” is an acronym meaning floating-point-operations per second. One petaflop is 1,000 trillion operations per second. Only two years ago, there were no actual applications where a computer achieved 100 teraflops — a tenth of Roadrunner’s speed — said Turek, noting that the tenfold advancement came over a relatively short time.
The Roadrunner computer, now housed at the IBM research laboratory in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., will be moved next month to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
But the computer — and more so the technology that it represents — marks a future for a wide range of other research and uses. “The technology will be pronounced in its employment across industry in the years to come,” predicted Turek, the IBM executive.”
