Often you’ll start with a logo or a photograph that is the jumping off point for the color scheme. But where do you go from there? This can be a real quandary.

Thankfully, the web abounds with tools that can help you select the right colors for your new website.

Here are seven tools that can help make the difficult job of choosing a website color scheme that much easier:

• 0to255 — a simple tool that helps web designers find variations of any color; perfect for hovers, borders, gradients, and more;
• kuler — explore, create, and share color themes;
• Color Scheme Designer — generate color schemes;
• ColourLovers — a creative community where people from around the world create and share colors, palettes and patterns;
• Color Palette Generator — create a color palette to match an image;
• Color Schemer Gallery — website ready color schemes;
• Daily Color Scheme — a new color scheme every day.

I’ve also listed these on the Resources page of this website which I’ll be updating on a regular basis.

What are your favorite tools for selecting website colors? Leave me a comment and a link to the website.

Photo: unleashingmephotography

That kind of thinking is wrong. Social media is not “free” — it takes a lot of time to maintain Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, and time is money, especially for a small business owner.

Here’s the best reason to have a website: it’s the best way to reach your customers.

Think about this: what about your customers who aren’t on Facebook and Twitter? How do you reach them? What about the fact that Facebook’s advertisers are placing ads — perhaps competitor’s ads — on your page? What about the fact that you, the business owner, don’t own the information on your Facebook page? (Surprise! Facebook owns that data.)

If these facts don’t give you reason to reconsider your “I don’t need a website” thinking, consider this:

“Search engines, which are still the most popular way by far to find information online, use website and blog traffic to determine your ranking.” — Ramon Ray, Open Forum Blog

Here’s the truth:

You should be using social media to augment, not replace, your website content.

I could go on and on, but I don’t need to as Ramon Ray has already written a great post about this on American Express’ Open Forum blog:

30 Reasons Why Old Fashioned Websites and Email Marketing are Best for Growing Businesses

Read it. You’ll be glad you did.

Image Credit

Although the author wanted to be able to add new content to the site and to start a blog, she didn’t want to worry about WordPress upgrades, plugin upgrades, security, etc. — all the issues that go along with having a self-hosted WordPress site. She didn’t want a website with a lot of “bells and whistles.” By her own admission, she isn’t tech savvy. She also had a small budget for the site.

Thinking over what she needed, I realized a site on WordPress.com would be “just right” for her. The yearly costs are low — no hosting fees, just the annual fee for her domain — and because WordPress.com themes don’t require (or allow) many customization changes (unless you purchase the CSS upgrade), I was able to quickly create a website that fit her needs and her budget. Plus she will never have to worry about upgrading her software or making sure the site is secure.

It was my first time working with WordPress.com and while I was frustrated by some things — the inability to have more than one page template for instance — all-in-all it was a good experience. Most important, I think the client is happy with her site and happy to have worked with someone who listened to her — and gave her what she both wanted and needed.

There’s a belief in the world of many WordPress users and so-called “experts” that the right way to go when creating a website — the only way to go — is to use WordPress on self-hosted sites. I disagree — you should consider the needs of your client when making such a decision. WordPress.org versus WordPress.com? Sometimes WordPress.com comes out the winner.

From WordPress: WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org

In addition, LinkedIn has announced an easier way for you to keep track of what’s happening with your LinkedIn contacts: LinkedIn for Outlook. With LinkedIn for Outlook, “Outlook users can … transform their desktop inboxes into their hub for all things LinkedIn.”

According to a brief, informative video that LinkedIn has produced on this new application, users will be able to see — at the bottom of any email — “current information about the status of their LinkedIn Network … including who they are connected with, what articles they are reading, and when they’ve updated their profile.”

To learn more, and to move your LinkedIn profile from a static page to a social place, go here:

• Integrating Twitter and LinkedIn

• Integrating WordPress and Linkedin

• Add your blog (other than WordPress) to your LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn for Outlook

• Microsoft Outlook Becomes A Lot More Social (Mashable)

• Download LinkedIn for Outlook

But social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook aren’t for everyone or every business. (If you’re wondering, yes, I have a Twitter account, but, no, my business doesn’t have a Facebook page — yet).

How can you determine if it’s time for you to sign up for Twitter or Facebook? And if it is time, how do you start?

Two articles at Mashable, “The Social Media Guide,” offer excellent guidance on how — and whether — your business should begin using sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Among their suggestions:

• Consider your audience: who are they, what social media tools are they using, how can you reach them?
• Take it slowly, and set goals. What do you hope to gain from using social media? Do you want to promote your services/products or build relationships?
• Don’t give up. “Don’t expect a case of build it and they will come.” Once you’ve created a presence on Facebook or Twitter, you’re going to have to put time into it to promote your business.

The notion of getting into social media might seem overwhelming for any small business. Spending time upfront before launch to create a plan with goals that includes how to translate that social media presence into dollars will go a long way toward achieving success. — Leah Betancourt, Mashable

• 5 Ways Businesses Can Avoid Social Media Panic
• 4 Myths About Social Media and Business

What About LinkedIn?

In my opinion, if you have a business, are employed by one, or are looking for work, you should have a LinkedIn profile. Even if you do not actively use LinkedIn, think of your profile as an online resume and a way to build contacts with others in your field. It can be much more than that if you’d like, but as with all social networking sites, you’ll need to devote time and work to reap benefits.

You might also be interested in reading my other posts on using social media.

Do you have a question about using social media? Post a comment below, and I’ll answer.

Photo: Lululemon Althetica

There’s no question why we choose easy-to-remember passwords, even when we know we shouldn’t. Now companies are forcing us to choose something a bit more complicated than, say, “password” (number 3 on the list). Recently Twitter banned subscribers from using 370 of the most popular passwords. You can see a list of banned passwords here. Security experts have lots of advice on how to choose passwords; see the Times article for some tips and browse the comments for reader suggestions. At the least you should follow this advice:

… bowing to the reality of our overcrowded brains, the experts suggest that everyone choose at least two different passwords — a complex one for Web sites where security is vital, such as banks and e-mail, and a simpler one for places where the stakes are lower, such as social networking and entertainment sites.

One tool that can help is the Secure Password Generator located at PC Tools, which will generate a random password; there is a secure version located here. Just remember to note the password somewhere so that you’re not locked out of your favorite site the next time you visit.

Photo: rpongsaj

Over the past few months, I’ve waded — very slowly — into the Twitter pool, and I’ve discovered that it’s a valuable place to gather information or to connect with people who have interests similar to mine. I’m hoping that using Twitter will help me to promote my business, but I’m not focused too much on that. Because who will listen to what I tweet if all I’m talking about is “Me! Me! Me!”?

So to those of you who are reluctant to join Twitter, here are three ways that I’ve been using it successfully:

• Ask a Question — need information and don’t want to get lost in voice mail purgatory or wait for an email answer? Use Twitter to ask your question. Chances are the company/organization you’re trying to reach is on Twitter. Chances also are that they’ll answer quickly because they’re there to promote and protect their brand. They want to keep you happy.
• Ask a Question, Part II — Visiting a new city and don’t know where to stay/eat/go? Thinking of buying a new cellphone and wondering which one to get? Post your question on Twitter, and you’ll get answers from fellow Twitter users who are happy to help.
• Connect — looking to “meet” people who share your personal or professional interests? Use Twitter’s search function, and find people to follow on Twitter. Contrary to what you think, you’re not the only one interested in [insert interest here].
• Connect, Part II — attending a conference or symposium? Again, search Twitter and connect with other attendees. The event itself may have a Twitter account. You can make plans to meet pre-conference or trade information about events associated with the conference. Use a hashtag to narrow your search.
• Complain — Did your favorite company really screw up? Are they ignoring your emails or have you been waiting on hold forever? Let them know via Twitter that you’re unhappy. Don’t be nasty; simply state your case and ask for help. Tweets are public. People can see your complaints. The company you’re trying to reach knows this. They want to solve your problem.

What are you waiting for? It’s time to join the conversation. Sign up for a Twitter account today.

You can find me on Twitter here.

Do you have questions about this post or about using Twitter? Let me know in a comment, and I’ll answer promptly.

Changing themes in WordPress is so easy. Simply install the theme, activate it, and voila! You’ve changed the look of your site.

But before you hit that “activate” link, there’s one very important thing you should do: deactivate your plugins. Your current theme may use certain plugins that conflict with the new theme you want to use. If you don’t deactivate the current plugins, when you activate the new theme, your site may completely disappear. You won’t see your login page or your admin panel or anything. If this happens, don’t panic. What you need to do is connect to your site and delete the offending plugin(s).

You can connect to your site using FTP or through an interface offered by your web hosting company. Find the proper directory — all plugins are located in the following WordPress directory:  wp-content/plugins — and delete the plugin. If you’re unsure of how to do this, or do not know how to connect to your site, contact your web hosting company and see if they can help. You can also ask for help in the WordPress forums.

Finally, if all else fails, restore your site using the back-ups you made of your database and files. This assumes, of course, that you’ve backed-up your site. You have, haven’t you?

“If you own or manage a website, you are responsible for that website’s security. Compromised websites can infect visitors with badware, and are commonly blacklisted by search engines, web browsers, and security vendors. Many legitimate websites are the targets of malicious hacking attacks, during which code linking directly to badware is inserted onto an otherwise innocent, but poorly secured, website.” (StopBadware.org)

On a regular basis, all website owners/administrators should check their sites for badware by using these tools:

• Google’s Safebrowsing Diagnostic Tool: To test your site, use the following URL, but replace “example.com” with the name of your site:
  • http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=example.com
  • If I wanted to check my site, I would enter: http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=rmfcommunications.com

• Check to see if your site is listed in the Badwear Website Clearinghouse at StopBadware.org.
• View your domain’s site report at McAfee SiteAdvisor.

Hopefully, your website will pass these diagnostic tests. However, if you do find badware, you’ll need to remove it. You can find tips for doing this at StopBadware and BadwareBusters.

WordPress users can find tips on keeping WordPress installations secure at “Hardening WordPress.”

Once you’ve removed the badware from your site, you should request a review of your website from the services that have issued warnings: Google, StopBadware, and/or SiteAdvisor. If you don’t, visitors to your website may see the following warning: “This site may hurt your computer.”

You might have a flashback to previous disasters with software upgrades (does the blue screen of death ring a bell?) and decide that your site is working just fine thank you very much, and you don’t need to upgrade.

That would be a mistake. I’m not saying you should upgrade the minute a new version of WordPress is released; I usually wait a few days to make sure all the obvious bugs are worked out before I upgrade my installations (one good way to do this is to read what others are saying or complaining about on the the WordPress forums).

But why, if your site is working properly, is it necessary to upgrade WordPress? What about security? Are you concerned about that?

Older versions of WordPress have known security issues. With each upgrade, the folks at WordPress address these problems. But the evil hackers of the world are hoping that you won’t upgrade WordPress, that you’ll keep using the same version you’ve been using for the last 18 months so they can access your blog and install malware.

Now tell me which is scarier:

• The thought of upgrading WordPress?

• The thought that someone can hack into your site?

Really, I sympathize because I always feel a little pang of fear before I upgrade any software. But WordPress makes it easy to upgrade with the automatic upgrade (just press the button and go!). Or you can upgrade manually, if you prefer; instructions can be found here.

However you choose to upgrade WordPress, don’t forget the most important rule of upgrading: make a backup copy of your database and your WordPress files before you upgrade. Don’t skip this step. That way, if anything goes wrong with your upgrade, you’ll be able to restore your site.