I was looking at a site the other day that is under development and I was just puzzled at the layout.

Articles and graphics in the center column were bleeding over into side columns. At first I thought it was just a Firefox thing, because a lot of hobbyists just go with Internet Explorer . . . but no, it looked the same way in IE7.

But then I thought, “Well, they’re still working on it.” A month later it still looks the same.

At this point, it’s bugging me so I looked at the style sheet. They’re using a variable width layout and a percentage of the browser window.

Now if you are just having text in all of your columns, variable width is fine. The problem with the site is that the center column has wide images that break the layout in lower screen resolutions.

Balancing Beauty and Usability

It used to be that you weren’t a web designer if you didn’t know how to create a flexible width layout. In the advent of CSS, there has been much angst over creating flexible three column layouts. So much so that the successful implementation has been labeled the “Holy Grail.”

Here’s my issue with flexible width layouts today, you’re designing to the web browser rather than designing to the web reader.

It was one thing when the most commonly used resolutions were 640×480 and 800×600. If you had a two column layout that stretched between the two resolutions, either one is going to be readable.

A two column layout stretched at even 1024×768 is not very readable for the visitor, and once you get higher than that . . . forget it.

It really doesn’t matter the size or resolution of browser someone is using, once the content area gets wider than a certain point it’s uncomfortable to read.

Think about a newspaper. Stories don’t go across the full width of the page, they are broken into columns to make it easier to read. The same thing with books. How wide is the average book page? Not very.

So What is the Answer?

The is a personal (or business by business) judgement call based on what type of content is going to on the site and how it is going to be used.

If I am creating an informational site for a business, I usually go with a two column, fixed at 765px to 785px. That is not designing so much for 800 x 600 as it is setting a width where neither column will be too wide for readability.

If it is a blog or a site that will have advertising, video or other types of media in the side bar, I give on fitting it to a 800 x 600 resolution and design it for 1024×768.

When you are trying to incorporate 728×90 and 300 x 250 banner ads and 330 wide videos in a side bar, 800 x 600 just isn’t going to work.

According to Wikipedia, only 8% of internet browsers still use an 800 x 600 resolution and only 1% percent lower that that.

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Everyone has an email addict for a friend. You know . . . the ones that send dire warnings that would take two minutes to debunk on Snopes (Dawn, I love you, but you are way too trusting of emails), or threaten,

“You will have seven years of bad luck if you don’t forward this email to ten friends in the next five minutes.”

Whenever I get those, I always think, “Gee . . . thanks for thinking of me.”

However, yesterday my friend, Angela, sent me a forward that truly made a positive difference in my day. It was a list titled “45 Life Lessons and 5 to Grow On” by Regina Brett of The Plain Dealer.

The list starts off with this:

To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolls over to 50 in August, so here goes:

Then follows 50 lines of absolute gems of wisdom, one of which is enough to ponder for a day.

As I read through the tips, there were several that hold true for businesses as well.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

While you need to have a plan for your business, it is important to remember that the plan is for the long-term. It doesn’t have to be done all at once. Many times when I talk to a business owner about their marketing, they are overwhelmed with all of the avenues available.

You don’t have to do it all and not all at once. Prioritize and then take the next step.

13. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

So, so, SO true, for life as well as your business. In a past article, I talked about the pitfalls of making business decisions based on what others were doing.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.

Even a great idea coupled with an awesome plan will experience obstacles. If you believe in what you are doing, you not only have to go after it, but continue to plug on even when you feel like it is not going your way.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

You can’t control everything and life will just happen. Plan as well as you can and then have the flexibility to adjust the plan when the unexpected happens.

48. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Be specific about what you need and what you are asking for. Suzie Cheel with the Abundance Highway is currently in the middle of achieving a goal she has set for herself. She clearly delineated what she wanted to happen, why it was important, and how others could help her achieve it.

If you’ve been following her blog, you know that the results weren’t immediate. She set her plan and started the actions, but it took a little while for the results to start manifesting. There were times of discouragement, but she kept following the plan and then her results started to snowball.

If you’d like to read the rest of the tips, visit Regina Brett’s column.

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This is part three of our Web Site Basics for Business Owners series.

In the last article in the series, “Web Site Basics for Business Owners,” we talked about how the different components of a web site work together. This week we are going to go into domain names in more depth.

What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is how people find your web site on the internet. The domain name system (DNS) is managed by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Among other responsibilities, ICANN determines which extensions will be available for registration (.com, .net, .org, etc.) and accredits private companies known as registrars to manage the actual domain registrations.

How to Get a Domain Name

There are thousands of sites out there that offer domain registrations. I use www.GoDaddy.com. They have great prices, awesome customer service (you can actually get someone on the phone without getting lost in a phone system purgatory), and have great tools in their account management.

I don’t use any of their other services; however, all of my domains get registered through them. If you need to find a domain, they are having a sale through June 12th on .com domains. (Save 30% on domains: Go Daddy $6.95 .com Sale!)

One thing to remember is that you are paying to register to use the domain name and the registration has to be kept current.

Choosing Your Domain

Now there is an art to finding a good domain name, and I’ll cover several techniques in a later post in this series. For right now, here are a few basics to remember.

• Shorter is better.
• The .com extension is preferable.
• Avoid hyphens in the domain when possible.

There is an entire industry devoted to buying and selling domain names, yes people actually make a living from it. The Art of Money blog has four in-depth articles on choosing domain names. If you are just picking out your first domain name for your business, just follow those three tips above and you’ll be okay.

The Domain I Want is Registered

Finding a good domain name can be a challenge. Not only are there millions of businesses operating on the web, but there are domain speculators, or “domainers” that register domains to hold. If you search for a domain name and it shows that it is registered, you can take it a couple of steps further if you really want that domain.

First go to the domain to see if there is a site already active on the domain. If there is and it looks like it is an ongoing concern, you’ll probably have to move to your second choice of domain.

If it looks like a hobby site that hasn’t been updated in a few years, proceed to step two. If it is a site that only has advertising on it, it is likely that it is being held by a domain investor.

Next, check the WHOIS registry to see who has the domain. If you go through Godaddy, there is a “click here for info” link that will show you who owns it.

After finding the owner information, if you are still interested in the domain name you can send them an email to ask if they would be interested in selling.

Private Registrations: Many times people will pay for a private registration for their domain because they don’t want their contact information to be public. In that case, you have to send an email to the proxy email listed, which will then be forwarded to the owner.

Expired Registrations: Every once in awhile you will come across a registry that is in a redemption, or “pending deletion” period. Once a domain expires, there is a certain period of time in which the previous registrant can renew and redeem the domain. Basically, the domain is in limbo until it is out of the redemption stage.

What to Do Next

Once you have secured your domain, the next step is to point it somewhere by setting the nameservers. The DNS, or domain nameservers, tell the internet which server to route your visitors to when they access your domain name.

When you get web hosting for your site, your hosting company will give you a set of nameservers, which will look like ns1.myhostingservice.com and ns2.myhostingservice.com. You just go back to the domain management area of your registrar and enter the nameservers for the domain. It will take anywhere from a few hours to two days for the domain to point to the site on your new hosting.

If you aren’t ready to point the domain to your actual site, the registrar will normally have a “parked” page display when the domain name is accessed. Often registrars will offer a one page site included with the registration.

If this is an option, be sure to customize the page with your company information until you can get your actual site up. Include your company name, contact information, and a short description of the services that you offer.

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In a recent post on Turning Dreams into a Reality, I mentioned a local business, Podlinez.com, that was nominated for a Webby Award.  Below is a note from Michael Sharp, CEO of Podlinez.

Hi everyone, Michael Sharp here with Podlinez.com. I just wanted to stop by to say “Many Thanks” to all our friends in Houston, Humble, Porter, New Caney and especially the awesome Kingwood community for the tremendous support you gave and helping us to win the “2008 Peoples Voice Award”.

Podlinez won the peoples voice for the Mobile Market Place and Services category because you guys worked your hearts out to get out the vote against some very powerful competition including Chase Bank, North West Airlines, Monster.com and M Shopper. We are thrilled to have won and are very excited about going to New York for the gala and making our 5 word speech.

We are very proud to be part of the Kingwood community and know we would not have won without your fantastic support. You folks are the greatest ever!

Michael Sharp
CEO – Podlinez Makes Every Phone A Podcast Player
http://podlinez.com

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A recent study published in the Harvard Business Review by Magrid Abraham of Comscore gave a clear illustration of how display and search online advertising work in tandem boost revenue, and not only web site sales, but in-store sales as well.

The studies demonstrate consistently positive results showing that online display ads work to build traffic to an advertiser’s website, to increase sales on their website, and to increase sales through their in-store channels. Magrid Abraham, Comscore Voices, 4/7/2008

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A couple of years ago, I read an article in the paper about “time debt.” We promise more or overcommit to more time than we have to give.

I’ll admit, I’m a big offender in this . . . huge. No, not just huge, but “HU-ooGE” as Donald Trump would say (imagine the pursed lips.)

So after I read the article, I made a decision to be more accountable with my time.

Know What You’re Working With

The first step I took was to map out how my week looked and how much available time I actually had. I’m visual, so this was truly a schedule drawn on paper. I listed all of the things that I ideally wanted to do both personally and professionally: exercise, network, work on personal projects, etc.

What I quickly discovered is that I don’t have nearly as much disposable time as I thought I did.

After that shocker, I worked out what looked to me to be a reasonable schedule.

Track Time Spent

The next step was to track the time it took to accomplish tasks. Since I already kept a journal with running notes, this wasn’t too big of a stretch.

Again, it was sobering to find out that I couldn’t cram as much as I thought I could into a day.

However, as I kept on with the tracking, readjusted my expectations, and set more realistic goals, the amazing thing was that I actually found time. If I schedule three projects with realistic time budgets and one went more smoothly than expected, I might have a spare half an hour in my day.

Identify Time Stealers

Even with a clearly defined schedule, it is very easy to let time slip away if you don’t have a handle on the time stealers.

Don’t be afraid to set limits: If someone calls with a request, don’t hesitate to turn it down if it doesn’t fit in your schedule.

Have set time for emails and call backs: Rather than taking calls and returning emails throughout the day, schedule times to attend to them. Depending on the urgency of your business, once or twice a day should work for most situations.

Use a timer to control activity creep: Do you get lost in your RSS feeds, message forums, or industry news? Use a timer to keep yourself to the set time.

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Last week in the first part in the “Web Sites for Small Business” series, we discussed why your business needs a web site and the first step to getting online.

If you’ve filled out the Web Site Planning Worksheet, you will have a good idea of what needs to be covered on your web site. The next step is to determine how to get it there.

This week we are going to cover the very basics of what makes up a web site.

There are three main components to having a stand alone web site for your business: a domain name, the files that make up the web pages, and hosting on a server. All three of these components are what people normally refer to when they say that they need to get a web site.

The manner in which a domain, web pages, and hosting work together is similar to renting a box at a mail facility.

Let’s say you work from home and want to have a mailing address other than your home. You go to some place like the UPS Store, or here locally, Mail and More, and rent a mailbox.

You are given a mailing address, and anything that is then sent to that address is placed in your mailbox.

With a web site, the domain name is the equivalent of the mailing address in the above example and the hosting (or server storage) the mailbox.

However rather than people sending mail for you to read, you are leaving file, or web pages, for them in your storage space.

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To all the ringtone spammers out there, your comment will not be published so don’t waste your time and mine. The insurance and credit card offers won’t either

Does this really work for you? Does the practice of building a business based on virtual theft and harassment pay off?

And to the socially stunted twits who keep trying to hack the site scripts . . . GET A LIFE.

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This week Administaff, a PEO company based in my hometown of Kingwood, released a survey stating that 78 percent of the clients surveyed, small business owners and managers, said that their business was meeting or exceeding their growth expectations.

Forty-four percent of respondents stated that they were hiring full-time employees and 11 percent part time.

In an additional report with a compilation of their customer data, they stated that employee compensation was up 4.9 percent from last year.

I have to wonder if this survey is truly representative of the current plight of small business in today’s economy. The businesses surveyed were just those using Administaff’s services.

At the Career Waymark, all of the recent job search related entries by author Scott Williamson have indicated the complete opposite. His forecast is to expect layoffs, rescinded job offers, and further fallout in the job market from the housing crisis.

Although today on Kiplinger.com, Richard Sammon put a positive spin on the weak dollar by pointing out that it made U.S. exports more attractive abroad. Even in service industries such as advertising, architectural services, and public relations.

So what do you think? Are the doom and gloom forecasts true, exaggerated, or somewhere in the middle?

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If you have a business and have even the slightest reputation for being civic minded, you are probably hit up constantly for sponsorships and donations.

Supporting local organization and events is a good thing in and of itself. You build goodwill in the community and strengthen relationships. The laws of prosperity apply to businesses as well as individuals.

However there are marketing benefits to be had from donations in addition to the karmic rewards. Here are three ways to take advantage of those benefits.

Make Sure the Donee has Your Contact Information

This seems pretty basic doesn’t it? Well it is, but I can’t tell you how many times a charity event committee member has handed me a gift card or gift basket saying, “So-and-So donated this.” I have no idea who So-and-So is, what they do, how to contact them, or where to send a thank you.

At the very least, a business card with your name will do. Send a couple of business cards with your donation. One to go with the item and one for the organizer.

(If Mr. Handley with Handley Travel is reading this, thank you for the Houston rodeo tickets donated for the Picnic on the Park raffle. I Googled your name and couldn’t find a web site for your business. You need one. Call me).

Give Your Donation Pizazz!

This tip mainly applies to donations for raffles and silent auctions. Remember that presentation is everything.

You may be donating a $200 gift certificate for spa services, believe me people will get much more excited about it if you put it in a gift basket surrounded by $10 of product. People like pretty.

Also, keep in mind that you aren’t just exposing your business to the person that ends up winning it, but also to everyone that stops by to look at it. Along with the donation, send brochures or flyers with a holder to set beside it for attendees to take.

Take Full Advantage of Event Marketing Opportunities

In a previous post on the advantages of having a corporate marketing kit, I talked about opportunities that businesses miss out on because they don’t have marketing collateral ready to go. Again, I see this all the time.

If a sponsorship includes the listing of your name, logo, and a link to your web site, make sure you give it to them. If they let you hand out a promo or marketing piece, do it.

Don’t wait until a promotional opportunity is staring you in the face and then scramble to put something together.

You are in business.

You need to promote yourself.

Have the tools on hand to do so.

At the very least . . . and I mean the bare minimum . . . you need your logo and your business card in a digital format ready to email. The logo preferably be in a vector format, if not vector then a high resolution pdf or tif file.

Have print ads in a couple of sizes ready to go, as well as a couple of web banners.

Every business should have at least one general 468 x 60 banner ad. If you are only going to pick one other size, a 125 x 125 or 120 x 60 banner ad would work well in most sponsorship situations.

Freaking out on your new list of must-haves? Don’t worry, I do this all day. Call me!

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