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Needless to say, the most often question asked is: “How do I get my videos to you to put on the website?”. Of course the answer is slightly more complex than the question…

There are two ways to display video on a website:

Option 1 – Self Hosting

You can upload videos to your own hosting server and show them either with flash or link to the file for in-browser play.

The benefit of uploading it to your own server is that this keeps your file self-contained within your website hosting environment, and you can display your video on your website however you want.

In my opinion the benefit ends there. Videos can be large and take up a lot of server space, which can end up costing you in the long run both in capacity and bandwidth. A lot of clients who go this route end up having to buy a more expensive hosting plan to accommodate their videos. Additionally, displaying the video usually involves a flash player (if you want the video to be cross platform compatible) which is not mobile device friendly. Alternately, you can link to the video file as-is in its original format, which works but is not ideal as it usually requires a good portion of users to install additional software on their computers (QuickTime, Windows Media Player, etc.).

Option 2 – Video Hosting Services

You can also upload your videos to a video hosting service and embed the file into your website using their supplied code. These services include YouTube, Vimeo, and Viddler to name a few.

The down side of this option is that each video hosting platform has its own skin and often labeling on each video, so your viewers will know where the video is hosted. This is really more of a personal preference matter and shouldn’t be a worry unless you are dead-set on keeping your videos self-contained on your website.

On the other hand, the benefits of using a video hosting service are pretty great with YouTube being the optimal choice for several reasons.

First, YouTube is free. You can host your videos for no additional cost and share them not only on your web site, but also on Facebook and other social platforms. This saves you hosting space and bandwidth, and therefore money.

Second, YouTube videos will play in some fashion on most mobile devices such as Apple (iOS) devices, Android Devices, Blackberry, Windows Mobile etc. Web trends are going mobile more and more, so if your videos aren’t viewable on mobile devices you might as well leave it off of your website altogether.

Thirdly, YouTube has become a social network in and of itself. It can’t hurt you or your brand to have a YouTube channel featuring all of your videos. You’ll reach a larger audience and cover both your website and social networking bases all in one.

So the answer to the question?

Set up a YouTube account and upload all of your videos there! YouTube converts the video files for you and takes care of all of the hard stuff, so it makes it easier on your website developer, easier on you, and easier on your wallet!

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Finally, an online payment gateway that gives us the option to accept bank transfers with low fees!

With all future invoices, we will now be offering the option for our clients to pay via check OR online bank transfer through WePay at no additional charge. No extra effort required, our clients will simply receive an online payment link with their invoice.

Additionally, for those clients who wish to pay via credit card, we can now offer credit card processing through WePay as well with an additional service fee of 3% of the invoice total. Simply request a credit card payment link and we will send one over for your convenience.

PayPal, watch out! WePay is on its way up!

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For starters, we made the main navigation, the page headings, and pretty much whatever text we needed to add, “real text”. There are only a handful of fonts that can be used for website text which is why most of the time any special fonts on websites you see are created with images embedded into the page and not actual text. This can make for a lovely looking website and in some cases this is a perfectly acceptable way to build and design a website. In our client’s case though, we were more concerned with the search engine visibility of the site’s keywords which is why we gave google as much text to read as possible.

Additionally, we optimized our client’s page titles which is something we do for all of our clients. These aren’t the titles you see written directly on the website page, but rather the title of the page that your website browser sees. The line of text that is written in the tabs of your browser window is something that is customizable through the website code and is one of the things that google looks for most when scanning a website for keywords. In this case, we set the homepage title tag to “Joel G. Deutch | Cincinnati Family Law, Criminal Defense, and Personal Injury Lawyer”. This title states the location of our client and the most likely terms a person would search for when looking for his services.

Finally, we linked up certain portions of descriptive text throughout the website. The “Featured Services” box on the right side of this website has a list of services our client performs. This list of keywords is linked up to other pages on the website so that google and other search engines think, “oh, this page must be about criminal law because that’s what the link said that pointed me there”. This is another easy and simple way to make a website search engine friendly.

A lot of times our clients are not willing to sacrifice good design for search engine friendliness, which we can completely understand. However, looking at this website it is pretty clear that good design does not necessarily have to suffer in order to achieve a search engine friendly website. Our client wanted a clean and simple design, and wanted it search engine friendly. Now that we have laid the groundwork, our client can now hire a search engine marketing company to take our work a step further to really get his website out there without having to start over, or work with a website that has limited potential for search engine success.

Have a look around our client’s new website at www.joeldeutchlaw.com.

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We have added a couple of new features that we think are important for everyone to think about for their websites.

For one, we have completely redone our portfolio using only JavaScript and CSS. Our old portfolio was nifty and had some cool effects, but it was not very mobile device friendly, so we scrapped that! Its amazing how quickly mobile devices have moved up the totem pole of important factors consider when building a new site.

We have also added a couple of nifty features that might be a good option for your company, including a fixed “quote” button on the right of every page which follows you wherever you go. This is a great way to keep an important page on your website accessible to your website viewer’s no matter where they are on your site.

Also, because our new website is full of new content and we have abandoned the concept of keeping the design and content all “above the fold”, we have added a transparent button which appears at the bottom of every page after you begin to scroll down which takes you back to the top in a nice smooth fashion. A nicely placed useful tool such as this can go a long way!

We hope you enjoy our new site and we look forward to hearing from you when its time to build a new website for you or your company!

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In my opinion, compared to other web technologies, Flash is very difficult to work in. You need special software to create a Flash file for starters, which on its own costs $700. On top of that, there is one file for creating the animation (.fla) and another file to view the published animation (.swf), which means whenever I inherit a Flash website I can never make any changes because the developer never uploads the .fla file on the server. Just to add some icing to the cake, Adobe seems to do a complete overhaul of Actionscript (the programming language for Flash) every time it releases a new version which means you basically have to start from scratch to re-learn.

Now that’s just the down side from a web developer’s perspective. There are several reasons why anyone having a website built should avoid Flash as well. Generally, once I give my clients a few pointers from my “Why I hate Flash” checklist, they change their mind as well, so I thought I’d share my list here.

1. Flash is incompatible with most mobile devices. This means anyone viewing your Flash website with most tablets or a smartphones won’t see the Flash. You can get by if the Flash is just a small part of the website, but if your entire website is created in Flash, you might as well forget it.

2. People have to install Flash software on their computers to view your website. Other technologies don’t require this.

3. Flash content is not compatible with search engines. This means that any text or keywords you include in your Flash website will not be read and indexed by search engines, making your website far more difficult to find and making optimization much more expensive.

4. Flash does not yet have very good compatibility for 64 bit Windows systems. This means a lot of folks with newer windows computers might have to make an extra effort to install a beta release of Flash, or it just won’t work at all. This eliminates a large group of website users.

5. There are other solutions out there such as jquery and ajax that will allow you to do a lot of cool things with your website without using flash. Why not use more advanced technologies that are compatible across most newer browsers and don’t require extra software to be installed to implement?

Everyone seems to want to do cool things with their website, which is fine to an extent, but sometimes subtlety is better. It might be cool when you first do your website, but people aren’t going to look at the car driving across your screen and think “wow that’s really cool”. Lets be honest, the days of background music, animated butterflies on your screen, and lengthy intros are over. People want to get right to business when they go to your website, so its time to start thinking about what cool features can I implement on my website that will help my users get where they’re going faster instead of holding them up and making them listen to your favorite Michael Jackson tune playing in the background.

Moral of the story… forget the Flash.

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The Information You Need

1. The username and password for your email account (9 times out of 10 email setup errors are caused because one or both of these is typed in wrong)

2. The incoming server address. You can get this from your email service provider or hosting company. It is usually in the format of mail.domain.com

3. The outgoing or SMTP server address for your email account. Sometimes this is the same as the incoming server, sometimes it is different, so you will want to check on this.

4. The account type that you have (IMAP or POP3). Most will be POP, but some provide IMAP service as well, so when in doubt assume POP3

Once you have this information gathered, there should be a step by step wizard in your email program or mobile device that will walk you through the steps of entering this information. All of this seems pretty straight forward and many times it will work the first time you enter the information. But what if it doesn’t? How do you troubleshoot these email settings to figure out what went wrong?

Troubleshooting

1. Username and Password: If you get a connection error upon testing the account setup, make sure you double check the username and password you entered for the account. Most of the time if you aren’t connecting to the mail server its because this is typed in wrong or you are using the wrong password.

2. Authentication: If you get an authentication error, try checking or unchecking the setting for Use SSL or Authenticate using SSL setting in your email. Usually this is found in the advanced settings of the account options depending on what POP service you are using.

3. Account Type: Most accounts are POP3 email accounts, and some provide IMAP service as well. If you chose IMAP for the account type when setting up your email account, try setting it up again choosing POP as the account type instead.

4. Outgoing Server: Sometimes you will receive email ok, but get an error on sending which will usually say something about relaying. If this is the case, it is likely that your internet service provider (whoever provides your internet service at work or at home) does not allow you to send email through another server. In this case, you will need to find out what the outgoing SMTP server settings are for your internet service provider and change the outgoing server settings in your email settings to the ISP’s instead of using the setting provided by the email host or email provider. In my case I use Time Warner Cable’s roadrunner internet in Cincinnati, and my outgoing server has to be set to smtp-server.cinci.rr.com instead of the one provided by my email host.

5. Ports: Most email hosts use standard ports for sending and receiving. These are Port 25 for sending (outgoing) and 110 for receiving (incoming). Check the advanced settings in your email setup to see if these are the ports that are being used. If not, try changing them to these ports. On the other hand, some email providers will have special ports that are not standard email ports for their servers. You might double check with your email provider to make sure they do not have custom ports that need to be changed for the account. For example, my hotmail account uses port 995 for its incoming POP3 server instead of 110.

If these troubleshooting tips don’t fix the problem, try contacting the email provider for help, and if that doesn’t work contact an IT person as a last resort.

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1. If the domain you want seems obvious, always make sure you run an availability check before you commit. There’s a chance that someone has already registered your domain name, so run a search on the domain and often times you will discover that if the .com is taken perhaps .net or another option will be available. There are many domain search websites out there, including my own. You can run a check at http://www.websitesbykristen.com/domains.html

2. If the domain you want is taken, try to find another domain that’s similar. If your business name is taken, try adding inc or llc at the end. If your business is specific to a location, try adding the location name in there somewhere such as NYC or DC so that you can target an audience in that area.

3. If you still aren’t satisfied, check to see if the domain you really wanted is for sale by the owner. You can do this by visiting the domain and checking the page that appears to see if it is for sale. Sometimes you can get a domain you really want for a reasonable price, but other times the owner will ask for hundreds of dollars, even thousands for a domain that they own. In this case, I’d suggest finding another domain. Domain sale companies can be a bit sketchy sometimes, so you really have to do your research before buying a domain in this manner.

4. If you are a business or individual, I highly recommend buying a .com domain. If you have a choice between a .com and a .net, always go with the .com. Most people assume that a domain is a .com so they will try that first if they are trying to guess your website address, and you always want to do whatever you can to make it easy to find you. If you are a non-profit I do suggest you go with a .org domain name, as that makes your non-profit look legitimate and is a good identifier for the type of business you are in.

5. Try to choose a domain that’s relatively short. This will again make your website easier for people to get to. Shorten words in your business name if possible. For example make Associates, assoc instead.

6. Many people have the urge to buy several domain names and point them all to their website. I do not recommend doing this as it will hurt your page rank with Google. If you point multiple domains to the same content, depending on how its done, Google will consider this duplicate content and your website will lose points. If you feel the need to buy several similar domains just to keep others from purchasing them, this is ok as long as you keep them floating or parked and not redirected. Another option would be to purchase several domains and give them all different content which refers back to the main website. This will help your search engine rankings, however this can get costly when it comes to building the actual websites.

7. Remember that only letters, numbers and dashes are allowed in a domain name, so you can’t use periods, slashes, ampersands, or any other special characters. If your business name has an & in it, you will have to write it out as “and” in the domain name. Try to avoid the dash if possible as well. It makes your domain more difficult to find as people will assume that there are no dashes.

8. Never register your domain through a “create your own website” service. Often times they will maintain ownership over your domain, so if you ever decided to upgrade to a custom website or change providers you will have a difficult time doing so.

9. Always make sure your domain is registered in your name and not that of your hosting company, website developer, or anyone else. This ensures that you maintain ownership of the domain no matter what happens to the third party. This way if you switch hosting companies or website designers, you will still have access to your domain and should have no trouble making the switch. Otherwise your domain could end up in a hostage situation.

10. Unlike hosting, purchasing a domain simply means you are taking ownership of the name so that no one else can have it, and typically does not include services that vary from registrar to registrar.  Perhaps the only extra service you can pay for is private registration which blocks your name and contact information from being visible on a whois search. Because the service is consistent no matter who you register through, make sure you are not overpaying for a domain registration. Typically it should cost you between $5 and $15 for a domain, any more than that is probably too much.

Hopefully these tips will get you started, but if you need help making a decision, always ask your website designer. They can usually provide some insight that is more specific to your area or your specific profession.

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I’ve had the pleasure of doing several band websites over the years, and they hold a special place in my heart. Mostly because I love music and consider it my second passion next to my work, and because I have a great respect for other artists who are doing their best to get their creativity out there for the world to see.

Most creative people I know usually want all the bells and whistles for their website. My guess is because it looks cool, or because they are trying to one-up their creative competition. These can be great, however there are many things to keep in mind when considering what the website needs and what is overboard.

First, every band or musician website should have sound clips. The internet is often the first place people go to learn about new bands and what their music sounds like, so if they can’t hear you, your website is nearly worthless. That being said, you need to be very careful about protecting your music. No matter what security precautions you take with the programming and setup of your website, sound clips and other media can always be swiped off of your page one way or another, no matter what format it is in. Before you share your music, make sure you edit the MP3 file down to a 30-45 second sound clip. This way, even if someone swipes the file, all they have is a small portion of your song.

Flash is another thing to be reckoned with. I have always made it known that I am not a big Flash fan. It has its VERY small place and it should stay there. Its great for photo galleries and that’s about it. Crazy flash animations and presentations are nice the first time… maybe… but bore the viewer after that, and limit your website’s search engine and mobile device visibility. Be very careful when considering adding flash to your website. Weigh the cost of the extra flash features over the benefit it will have for you and your website.

I also highly recommend adding a content managed area to any band website. This could come in the format of a news script or a blog, and may cost a little more, but is definately worth it. Its very important to stay connected to fans, and your website is a great place to do it. Speaking from personal experience, being on the road is hectic and tiring, and the last thing you want to do is type out updates to your website and coordinate them with your designer. Its a great thing to be able to log into a blog or news module, type in the lastest news for your fans, hit submit, and be done with it. It keeps people connected in an easy and efficient way, keeps fans coming back to your website frequently for more news, and is definately worth the extra cost.

Lastly, keep some of these ideas in mind:

1. Always have an up-to-date list of your gigs on your website, even if its just a link to your myspace page.

2. Always make sure your CD’s are easy to purchase from your website. Don’t make people dig to find your shopping page.

3. Try not to play your music as a background to the website. I know its tempting, but when people are trying to listen to your sound clips (which are a must), they can’t hear them. It also requires flash, which gets complicated. Always give people the choice of whether they want to hear your music or not.

4. Always have good promotional pictures taken. Find a good photographer who can take good quality photos for your website. You can and should use professional promo pics for both your website and your print material. Nothing is worse than bad photos. It makes your band look like its second rate.

5. Always have a media or press kit for download on your website. Its good to give freely available information to the media so they can write wonderful things about you and your band. Your press kit should include high resolution photos, band and band member bios, and optionally a show poster to help promote your gigs.

6. Same goes for a tech spec sheet. If its on your website for everyone to find, you are less likely to show up at a gig and the venue is missing a mic, or forgot to rent you a kick drum, or didn’t realize you needed to eat before your gig.

This concludes my two cents on band websites. Take it as you will, but I personally think its brilliant advice and every band should read it before they start a website, because not all web designers will have music industry experience and might not think to tell you these things.

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