Here in upstate NY, Spring is taking it’s sweet time in getting here. I thought I’d encourage it’s arrival with a fresh new wallpaper! Enjoy~

Click the image to view and dowload full size

Photo Manipulation Contest Winner

As I continue to book new clients, and divide my time among ongoing projects and brand new ones there are sometimes topics that I want to discuss but don’t have the time to address in a full blown blog post/article. The topic of reliance on 3rd Party sites is a topic deserving of much more in depth discussion than I have time for here, but needs to be something you think about as a small business owner building a presence on the Internet.

The 3rd Party Dilema

Sites like Facebook, and sites offering functionality such as the Disqus commenting platform are the types of 3rd party sites that we use to increase our exposure. Although it’s hard to imagine Facebook disappearing overnight, that’s exactly what has happened to similar sites in the past.

Sometimes it only takes a small change in a site’s TOS (terms of service, or TOU terms of use) to make content disappear. Imagine all the pictures, discussions, and notes you’ve published on Facebook suddenly disappearing because the site is no longer there, or they suddenly violate a newly imposed Term of Use.

Legal issues happen. Technical issues happen. Would you lose that content forever if this were to happen to a 3rd party site that you perhaps rely on too heavily?

Take responsibility for the ownership of your content. You work hard to create it, so make sure you never put yourself in the position of losing track of it. I would have lost the photo manipulation shown at the top of this post due to a hard drive crash, if I hadn’t found it on the site that held the contest. Back up any content you don’t want to lose!

• If you have sales pages on a 3rd party site, make sure to keep a copy of your HTML codes used and sales presentations. (ie: Etsy, IMVU, etc.)
• Download photos sent directly from your phones to any 3rd party sites.
• Quote the high quality discussions in a blog post, or “Best of” page on your site to preserve them in your ownership forever.

Utilize 3rd party sites, but don’t rely on them

Using third party sites to increase your Brand’s exposure is simply smart business these days. It’s a delicate balancing act though. When posting, we have to remember that everything we post is out there forever as a reflection of our Brand. At the same time, we must be aware that any 3rd party site is outside of our control, and may change at any time. Knowing this, it’s our responsibility to preserve the best content created through a third party site on a domain that we can control. (Not to mention hard drives and storage facilities.)

Some thoughts from a Twitter discussion I instigated with a poll:

POLL: Facebook's newly updated comment box, OR IntenseDebate/ComLuv/Disqus? #socialmedia #poll

March 2, 2011 8:09 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@wwginger

GingerWench

@wwginger None of them. I'd rather use WordPress to handle my comments, I want to own my data, not farm it out to 3rd party service.

March 2, 2011 8:55 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@kimparsell

Kim Parsell

@andrea_r lol @ "the facebook" ;) So, do you use/recommend just straight on WP commenting with no plugins? <article research>

March 2, 2011 10:12 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@wwginger

GingerWench

@wwginger yep, on every site I own, it;s the built in wp comments.

March 2, 2011 10:16 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@andrea_r

andrea_r

And my thoughts from a reply I made to a blog comment this morning:

No third party site should own any of your original content exclusively, I agree. I always suggest social media participation to my clients as an enhancement to their web site to increase their Internet presence.

(Yes, even though the comment I’m replying to is off topic, and my gut tells me it was generated by a bot, I thought I’d publish it anyway, simply because I had asked my Twitter friends what they thought about the new Facebook comments box. The result was a discussion about third party reliance by web site owners, and how it’s a bad idea to ‘put all your eggs in one basket’. Comments especially, are not something you want owned and hosted by a third party.)

It is for this very reason that I’m reconsidering the use of IntenseDebate here on my own site. My trust in Automattic is the only reason it’s still here.

Food for thought. Please continue discussion of this topic in the comments, there’s so much to consider when trusting a 3rd party with your content, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks to the ice and snow storm here yesterday, I was without Internet for almost 20 hours. (Cable TV and phone were out too!) What a strange day it was here. Needless to say, I got some reading done, and even though I had a wallpaper all planned for St. Patrick’s Day, I made some more. Call it a winter storm bonus, since I didn’t need Internet to play in Photoshop.

To view the desktop wallpapers from the St. Patrick’s day collection, simply click the thumbnails below. If you’d like to download them to use on your computer’s desktop, right click the images below and choose to open in a new tab. This will display the full size image that you can then right click to save to your desktop, or file on your computer. I hope you enjoy these St. Patrick’s Day themed desktop wallpapers!

[View with PicLens]

There are also a couple of St. Patrick’s Day wallpapers in my DeviantArt Gallery from last year, if you’d like to add to your collection.

As I prepare to participate in a group activity aimed at increasing blog traffic (for my own sites, and those I manage for clients), I find myself taking a lot of “deep cleansing breaths”.  As is often the case in any self-improvement activity, we’re required to take an introspective look at ourselves, our goals, and our desires. In this case, I’m forced to pair those desires up with business strategies, and I’m learning that my business, and my web design habits have gone and evolved without any notice or forewarning! The horror!

Change is Good!

We grow through change. I know this, but apparently this entire concept of change, or evolution has been hiding in my blind spot for over a year now in regards to my own business. One of the dangers of managing web sites for clients is that my own site suffers for lack of attention. Updates, blog posts, and general maintenance (all of which are services I sell to clients) have been sporadic at best on the site that represents my business.

If it were anyone else, I’d say they just need a good kick in the ass to get back on track… but since it’s me, and it’s physically impossible to do that (go on, try it, you know you want to!) I’m just going to dive into this #sitsgirls31dbbb project head first. The idea of support, feedback, and the ever present sounding board provided in the forums was all the inspiration I needed.

My Dilema

Looking up at the top of my site, you’ll see that my bi-line, or ‘short version elevator speech’ is “Decorating the Web… one site at a time!” For many years, I’ve referred to myself as the ‘Make it Pretty’ girl… I’m not a programmer, so I’m only able to tweak code, not write it from scratch (Dammit Jim, I’m an artist… not a programmer!).

My true desire is to create beauty through digital art, so my Web Design business was built on satisfying that desire. So, “Decorating the Web” really summed up what my intent was, and I’d hoped it conveyed the message that customizing your WordPress powered site to LOOK like your business was my specialty, as opposed to creating sites that require custom coding.

*Deep cleansing breath*

Over time though, my client’s needs have changed the direction in which my entire business has ‘evolved’. Through identifying the client’s needs, and offering a solution (the key to business success), I’ve become the girl that “manages your site so you can manage your business”. Much like the credit card company that handles your credit line needs so you can concentrate on running your business… I run my clients sites by performing updates, writing blog posts, optimizing and maintaining photo galleries, entering products into your e-commerce stores, editing your videos, implementing link exchange strategies, managing your Facebook pages, posting to Twitter accounts… whew!

Notice that “making it pretty” isn’t listed there. Yes, I do that first, and maintain your theme on all aspects of your site’s Internet presence through Twitter backgrounds, Facebook ads and banners, etc… but customizing your WordPress theme is only step one in the process I’ve become a specialist in. Making that design conform to your individual web site’s goals has turned into a service that my clients contract me out for on a monthly basis.

That’s just a tad different than ‘decorating’, yes? LOL

Combining My Stubborn Desire with Natural Evolution

Needless to say, this group activity has caused me to accept the fact that my business has grown through a natural evolution to solve a problem that my target market has. How awesome is that? I’m now faced with the task of tweaking my bi-line instead of code for a change. The question I asked myself was “what is it that I can do for prospective clients, that they may not realize they need”?

Decorating and Managing your web site, so you don’t have to.

My clients have no interest in touching their web sites, they’re too busy creating products, teaching classes, organizing events, dealing with suppliers, providing services to their own clients, etc. They want to rest easy knowing that their web site represents their business in a professional manner, so they don’t even have to worry about “all that Internet stuff”.

I customize the ‘look and feel’ of your small business web site to match your company’s image, then I manage all aspects of the site so that you can concentrate on running your business. My clients don’t worry about the “How” of it, they just tell me what they need their site to do for them, and I make it happen!

If I were to meet you in an elevator, and I answered your question as to what I ‘do’ with the above… would that work? Let me know in the comments, because much like my business… my long version elevator speech will evolve…

… and that’s a good thing!

Timing is everything, they say… well, it turns out that Twitter released their new layout just as I promised a new client a customized background graphic that would compliment her new site design. After some research, and a little help from my friends, the new layout wasn’t as difficult to work around as I first thought.

Below, find the first two “New Twitter” background designs I’ve completed. As I test more, and *if* Twitter decides to roll out this layout with changes to the current version, I will be able to easily adjust. There’s a little less room for that all important branding, but as usually happens with artistic folks, we simply become more creative.

If your Twitter account needs a bit of a “face lift”, why not get yourself a new background to go with the “new Twitter”? Contact me to discuss your vision for your Twitter homepage by filling out this form, or contact me on Twitter or Facebook. As always, I invite your feedback… leave a comment on this post and let me know what you think!

Update: Customized Twitter backgrounds for the #NewTwitter are on sale through October 31st, 2010! [more info]

Sandy Sparkles new Twitter background. Click to view the full size screenshot. 1280x768 resolution

♦◊♦

GingerWench Twitter background. Click to view full screenshot. 1280x768 resolution

As I was sorting through my closet, storing winter clothes and breaking out the summer outfits… I had to laugh. Small Business owners should feel the same way about their site design as I do about the clothes in my closet. Out with the over-sized, heavy stuff… in with the minimalistic, lighter things in preparation for a HOT summer.

While the clothes I wear have everything to do with the seasonal weather, in a lot of ways, so does the design of a successful small business web site. There are a lot of hand held devices being used more this time of year, as people come out of hibernation and bring their internet connections with them! The popularity of the iPad, iPod Touch, and cell phones with web access should be considered when designing your site. (Remember that I’m in Upstate NY, so good weather is something we wait a long time for!)

A quick loading site is always important for visitor satisfaction, obviously… but when your site is being accessed through WiFi on a beach, it’s absolutely necessary! Consider dumping the bloated graphics, updating your scripts, and actually using a wireless device to view your site. Will summer surfers be able to find what they need on your site quickly, or will they leave your site in frustration? What provisions have you made for WAP surfers?

If you’ve never heard of “WAP“, or haven’t even considered what today’s tech savvy surfers are seeing when surfing your site on their wireless devices, contact me for a consultation… or check out some of the links below for more information. I’ll be concentrating on updating current client sites when I’m not out on our Harley-Davidson enjoying some of the long awaited warm weather… in all my re-discovered summer clothes, of course!

WAP and WordPress related links:

• WordPress Mobile Edition – a plugin that shows an interface designed for a mobile device when visitors come to your site on a mobile device. Mobile browsers are automatically detected, the list of mobile browsers can be customized on the settings page.
• WordPress Mobile Pack – The WordPress Mobile Pack is a complete toolkit to help mobilize your WordPress site and blog. It includes a mobile switcher to select themes based on the type of user that is visiting the site, a selection of mobile themes, extra widgets, device adaptation and a mobile administration panel to allow users to edit the site or write new posts when out and about.

Let me know if you’re interested in redesigning your site for summer… lighter graphics, minimalistic design and updated scripts and plug-ins including WAP integration. If there’s interest, perhaps I’ll run a customized design sale

I’ve launched two new client sites in the past couple of months, and simply haven’t had time to update my portfolio. Until I do, here’s a little preview of what I’m doing these days.

Full Tang Cutlery, LLC

I custom designed a StudioPress theme for this new business site. Includes an extensive photo gallery, contact forms, blog, site management, and we’re going to be installing shopping cart capabilities soon. Currently integrating PayPal payment systems into the site.

Search Engine Optimization, and Social Networking have been built into this site as well. Facebook and Twitter integration and management are also part of this client’s contract.

Logo design and artwork were a collaboration between myself and the client. They had a clear idea of what they wanted, and I worked with them until we had a digital version that wound up improving the original “vision”.  This client has also commissioned me for the graphics design that’s being used on their promotional T-shirts.

Gatesway Health and Massage

This site is also a customized StudioPress theme. Site management contract includes custom graphics, logo adaption, site navigation slider, events calendar management along with corresponding class registration forms.

I also performed video editing, enabling this client to make use of marketing avenues that were not available to her before.

Banner design, search engine optimization, and newsletter management are all a part of this client’s current site management contract.

Enjoy these Christmas themed social icons, web design icons and elements, PNG files, PhotoShop shapes and brushes and so much more that I’ve collected. Please take note of each item’s terms of use and respect each artist’s copyright.

Icons

These beautiful, and professional quality Christmas holiday icons by Icon Dock are shown here in the EPS (scalable vector) format. The original icon files that you can download for free do not include the drop shadow you see here, and are a little larger in size.

You’ll also receive these 45 icons sized 16×16 in PSD, GIF, ICO, and PNG formats.

Your imagination is the only limit to how these can be used to decorate your holiday designs. On blogs, you can use these as category or menu icons… or use them to add a touch of the holiday spirit to your headers, post pictures, or sidebars.

Please refer to the Icon Dock terms of use, and check out their list of resources for more free icons sets!

The DelliXmas Icon pack by Wendell Fernandes contains 8 high quality, professional icons to decorate your blog or website with. (Originally released exclusively for Smashing Magazine and its readers.)

Included are Icon Sizes: 256×256 PNG files,  and 128, 64, 48, 32 and 16 pixels ICO files

You can freely use it for both your private and commercial projects, including software, online services, templates and themes.

Bonus: SmashingMagazine offers another great Christmas icon set in last year’s collection article for freebies here!

Update: Found another great collection of holiday icons here, check them out!

deviantART Resources

For more Christmas goodies visit my

Christmas Resources Collection on deviantART

Please be sure to adhere to each artist’s terms of use, thanks!

Once again, Twitter is turning out to be a great resource. There are tons of designers that offer their work as free to use downloads, and I found a ton of creative web elements in my Twitter stream today. If you like free resources as much as I do, you’ll want to follow @PhotoshopPLUS and @graphire. If you’re not on Twitter yet, you’re missing out on a great way to participate within the communities that exsist there.

Free icons from Smashing Magazine

The icons shown here by SmashingMagazine.com are only one set of exciting resources I found through a blog post by DesignFreebies.org. The PNG files included in the download are very large, which gives you plenty of options when using them to supplement your designs.

The Halloween collection includes vector images, icons, fonts, PhotoShop brushes, texture packs, PSD files, and even themed PhotoShop tutorials!

Keep Artist Terms in mind

The only thing you have to be aware of when downloading these free resources is the terms of use provided by each artist. Some are free to use in personal and commercial projects, some may be for personal use only. Please be sure to check the artist’s terms before using these resources.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, so when I saw all the goodies available for free, I must admit to going on a bit of a download frenzy! While playing with the icons from SmashingMagazine for this post’s graphic, I realized that it would be easy for me to give something back to the community by offering my own PhotoShop Styles… so, I had some fun playing in PS, and made a Halloween Styles collection!

Free Halloween Styles

Halloween styles for PhotoShop by GingerWench.com are free to download and use however you’d like! Some include textures, and all include gradients from my vast collection. Even if they’re not exactly what you’re looking for to make your Halloween project “pop”, they provide a great starting point for adjusting to your needs. Enjoy them!

[Download Halloween Styles by GingerWench.com here]

I came across a great article today, a humorous take on what NOT to do when dealing with a graphics designer. 8 Ways to Drive a Graphic Designer Mad gave me a great laugh with my morning coffee. Please remember, when reading this article, it’s sarcasm! Doing those things will indeed drive someone like me absolutely over the edge. Seriously.

Some thoughts and explanations about the items mentioned from my personal point of view:

Microsoft Office
I’d rather you used a plain text document to send me your textual content. This is really easy, Windows users can just click on their “Start” button, and choose to open Notepad! Save your work as a .txt file, and it makes a very easy to send email attachment!

Without getting too technical, this just makes it easier for me to copy and paste your content to my programs without all the bloated coding that Microsoft products put into the document. When I have to clean up coding like that, or *gasp* type your content over myself, it winds up costing you more due to the time it takes to do so.

Recommendations made during a consult
When it comes to working on your site, I have no ego. The recommendations I make are not due to some personal preference of mine, they are the result of years of experience and analysis into what provides the best outcome and experience for your site’s visitors. Learn about Usability here. For example, the fonts used on your site can be related to usability issues. The colors used, and the layout of your site can be related to the psychology of sales (as well as usability). Rewording something within your content may be related to search engine optimization.

Photos and/or Artwork
If your content includes photo and/or artwork, I prefer that you send them to me in their original digital format. High resolution, large files are best. I will adjust them as necessary. Burn them to disk if necessary, and send them to me that way if email zip file attachments won’t work. Remember, with digital photo and art files, bigger really is better!

Deadlines and Do Overs
As part of our initial consultation, I ask you what your time line is. I base my decision on working with you on whether I feel you’re providing me enough time to complete your project to the best of my ability. If this timeline changes at any time during our working relationship, you need to tell me ASAP! The contract we established in the beginning was based on your original time line, changes to that will change or in some cases nullify your contract with me, so keep that in mind.

Anything I create for you is subject to your approval. The approval process consists of my sending you different versions of my work for you to choose from, then I adjust to your specifications. (Two “adjustments” per piece are included in the standard contract. After that, there are additional fees for further changes.) Once we agree on a completed version, any additional changes require that we agree on additional compensation for my time. I consider changes to your content after completed versions are approved by you to be “maintenance”, and as such would be included in your maintenance contract if you have one.

Not sure? Ask me!
Usability, search engine optimization, and obtaining the desired result from your site’s visitors are some of the main reasons I make the recommendations that I do. If you don’t understand the “Why” behind something I suggest, please ask me to explain. I’ll be more than happy to do so!

* All icons used in this article’s images were collected from IconBuffet, for free.