Doodlekit - Latest Blog Entries

Doodlekit Shopping Cart Upgrade

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:44:00 -0500

Last night we pushed out a new release of our shopping cart that has two major new improvements. The first improvement is that you can now use our shopping cart with Google Checkout. You can have either Google Checkout or PayPal process your orders (or both and the customer can decide which one to use). Second, you can now add multiple options instead of just one (see image). So now, for instance, you can ask customers to pick an item color you offer as well as an item size. You can make as many options as you wish. That should help out our online store owner quite a bit :).

New Doodlekit Feature: Anti-Spam Protection

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:00:00 -0600

The last few months, many of Doodlekit ‘s websites (including our own) have fallen victims to SPAM attacks. Unfortunately, SPAM is not easy to fight, and the amount of resources it takes to fight increases costs for everyone. SPAM costs U.S. companies over $70 Billion each year. Because of this, Doodlekit has had to spend most of our development time over the last few months developing SPAM protection instead of working on our new release.

Kinds Of SPAM Attacks

Websites are attacked in the following ways with SPAM:

1. SPAM Bots: Automated (Robot) Spamming Software used by third parties. These bots submit hundreds (even thousands) of spam comments within minutes to websites. An attack like this can bog down a web server – slow it down to a crawl or even shut it down completely. Not to mention that whoever’s website got attacked will wake up the next morning with hundreds/thousands of spam entries/emails.

2. Manual SPAMMING: Actual people manually go in and submit SPAM to your website. They get around automated SPAM bot protection by doing this. However, they can only do a limited amount of SPAM since it is not automated. Most manual SPAMMERS won’t waste too much time on one website.

Below is a screenshot of some actual SPAM submitted by bots to one of our Doodlekit websites:

Doodlekit Solutions To SPAM Attacks

1. Automated SPAM Bot Protection: Last night we pushed out captchas for all Doodlekit forms. Captchas are the images of’ words’ that you verify before submitting a form. These are common on many sites and you have probably run into them before. Captchas are now available for Doodlekit users in three places: Blog comments, the Contact Us form, and the custom Form Builder. Check the Advanced Settings to turn these on for the first two, and the form builder itself has an option to turn this on for each custom form.

2. Manual SPAM Protection: This was actually implemented a few months ago. You may have noticed that all links (anchors) that you add to a Blog or Forum comment show up with the linked URL or words changed to ‘web link’ or ‘my website’. One of the main reasons that websites get SPAMMED is to increase the SPAMMERS SEO ranking. They do this by creating links on other peoples Blogs and Forums to their websites. The word phrases they use in those links are the word phrases they are trying to rank higher on search engine searches for. By changing all link word phrases and URLs to the text ‘web link’, they lose the ability to do this. When most manual SPAMMERS see that this happens on our websites, they will leave because they are wasting their time.

Another deterrent is that we add an extra property to every blog/forum comment link called ‘no follow’. This tells search engines not to count this link for SEO purposes. Most search engines respect this and void any SEO points to the link provided.

While we cannot block all SPAM, you can gain some satisfaction knowing that any SPAM that does get through will NOT help the SPAMMERS in any way (at least on Doodlekit websites).

Coming Soon: SPAM Management Tool

We are currently wrapping up a new tool that will allow Doodlekit users to manage their SPAM better. The problem is that if a SPAM bot does get through our protection (which will probably happen every once in a while) your website gets stuck with hundreds/thousands of spam comments. We don’t expect you to go in and manually delete these – that would take forever! So this new tool will allow you to do searches on your comments for certain ‘keywords’ or timestamps and delete comments in bulk.

Conclusion

SPAM protection is an ongoing battle. SPAMMERS make smarter SPAM bots and we have to retaliate with smarter SPAM protection software. The key is to keep on top of it. If you notice any consistent SPAM attacks getting through to your website, contact us and let us know. Thank you for your understanding in this matter and your patience.

Doodlekit Maintenance Outage Tonight At 6:00 P.M.

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 09:58:00 -0600

Doodlekit will be down briefly tonight for about 15 - 20 minutes to do a system update. Servers will be back up ASAP. Thank you for your patience.

Doodlekit Profile: Vernon Chalmers

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 09:54:00 -0600

Featured Doodlekit Website:

Vernon Chalmers - Online Marketing and HR Development Western Cape

Website Owner's Name:

Vernon Chalmers

How Old Is Your Website:

Two years

Description of company / website:

The purpose of the Vernon Chalmers website is to provide clients, students and visitors access to various categories of business, marketing and product information in order to meet their specific requirements.

In doing so, the website aims to:

Frequently update business, course and subject information
Maintain professional content and communication standards
Continuously upgrade to meet new information specifications
Provide an affordable range of premium branded IT products

How having a website has affected your business/objectives:

During the 2008 academic year, the website became an extension of my lecturing and classroom activities. As an independent lecturer on various campuses, students could now register and download their class notes immediately before or after a presentation. Not having an office on any campus also improved online interaction and communication between lecturer and student.

The website provided me a tremendous opportunity to learn and understand the web 2.0 platform offered by Doodlekit. Very quickly during 2008 I started offering Internet Marketing courses and consultations mainly due to the knowledge and skills I mastered working with my Doodlekit website.

My online income from offering private courses, consultations and various IT products increased with 80% from the 2008 to the 2009 financial year. This was mainly due to an effective deployment of Doodlekit’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO), quality onsite tools and generous online support from Doodlekit.

Lessons learned and advice to others about building and operating their own website:

The website became an extension of my business, persona and service delivery standards and therefore required mindfulness in all content, news and product updates.

Know your target audience before attempting to communicate content and news to them. This will assist in information that is more relevant to increase return visitors and sales conversions.

Any website should be developed on traditional business and marketing principles. Set key targets and regularly track visitor behaviour to enable a good understanding of the pages they visit. This in turn will assist in tweaking content to be even more effective.

Very important is to register a website with your own domain name – I suggest that free plan users (on the Doodlekit platform as well) should at least take a Simple Plan to take advantage of the custom domain offer. Allow three to six months of active search engine indexing and SEO to gain substantial momentum with keywords, blog posts and general content searches.

A successful website takes time to develop and your site’s Internet Marketing and SEO is forever a work in progress.

Regularly update your website with new content, news and relevant advertising is mandatory for SEO and keeping visitors interested in returning to your website.

Comments about Doodlekit:

From day one Doodlekit very quickly became an important stakeholder in not just offering a functional and professional website, but an exceptional hub of continuous online support. What a pleasure to work with Ben and Heath – always answering a query or offering effective advice on how to do various front or back-end tasks. I am indeed looking forward to another year with Doodekit. Thank you.

Doodlekit Profile: Artist of America

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:22:00 -0600

Featured Doodlekit Website:

Artist of America

Website Owner's Name:

Diedre Burke

How Old Is Your Website:

One year

Description of company / website:

Artists of America (AOA) is a 501(c)(3) IRS recognized non-profit organization based in Los Angeles. We provide Free Art Classes for Foster Children & At-Risk Youth.

How having a website has affected your business/objectives:

It has brought us more attention, and more creditability. We are more organized, because now we have a great way to disseminate information about our work, and the children we are helping. We look more professional -- there is a tremendous difference between a professionally designed website and an amateur one. I am no longer ashamed to refer people to our website (yes, I was embarrassed before by the website I built).

Lessons learned and advice to others about building and operating their own website:

Sign up for the Premium Package at Doodlekit - it is well worth it! If you are a computer-illiterate, like I am, having a professional design the website and be available thereafter to answer any questions I have, as I fill the pages of the website, is a necessity.

Comments about Doodlekit:

I love Doodlekit. They are always there for me, and have the answers I need. I choose the Premium Package, because I am not able to build & design the site to my satisfaction on my own. Now I am relaxed, because anytime I have a website problem, I just ask Doodlekit! It's terrific!

The 'Greened' House Effect

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:05:00 -0600

Ever watch HGTV? Then perhaps you have seen some of the shows hosted by Jeff Wilson. Jeff recently asked Doodlekit if we would be interested in hosting the website for his latest series of shows called: The Greened House Effect. Here at Doodlekit we are big fans of everything and anything 'green', so we agreed to do so.

Jeff just released his first video in this series just a few days ago, so we thought we would help get the word out! Visit his Doodlekit website to learn more about how you can help the environment and the economy by 'greening' up your home!

Also, stay tuned to www.HGTVPro.com. They will be posting his series early this coming spring on their website. Great start Jeff... looking good!

New Doodlekit.com Website Design!

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:33:00 -0600

Unless you're blind, you've probably already noticed the new design for Doodlekit.com. Post any bugs you might find here. Feel free to make comments as well. We are still touching things up a bit - it might be a few more days before we get it exactly the way we want it.

Hope everyone likes the new design!

Doodlekit Profile: CV Specifics

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:31:00 -0600

Featured Doodlekit Website:

CV Specifics

Website Owner's Name:

Vanessa Gayle Cohen

How Old Is Your Website:

Since May 2009.

Description of company / website:

Expert CV/Résumé Writing and Cover Letter Service for Professionals Worldwide from a Certified Professional Résumé Writer.

How having a website has affected your business/objectives:

As a British owned company based in the south of France targeting an English speaking market, the greatest problem I faced was to become known to those seeking the services of a professional Résumé writer. Working within a small start-up budget, Doodlekit provided the perfect solution and the transition from 'invisible' to 'visible' was a particularly rapid and smooth running process. After sending out a press release to the leading London employment agencies that I work with, I was delighted to find that business more than tripled in the first month thanks to the website. Business is fast growing and in fact many of my Clients refer family members and colleagues which is the very best reference I could have.

Lessons learned and advice to others about building and operating their own website:

Having wasted much time trying without success to find a company who could build a reasonably priced website, I strongly advise small businesses to save themselves the expense. Doodlekit is definitely the way to go and offers so much more than just website building tools. The best tip I could give would be to plan out your website before making your business cards. Once you have chosen your color theme from Doodlekit's wide selection, you can then have some elegant business cards designed that compliment your website.

Comments about Doodlekit:

As a total novice in everything related to website building, it was very rewarding to find that I could build and manage my own site so easily. This said, I had a million and one questions and after opting for the upgrade, I could not be happier with the excellent personalized service provided. Dealing with the team at Doodlekit has been a most delightful experience from Day 1 and I am definitely here for the long haul!

Doodlekit Profile: SheMentor Marketing

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:28:00 -0500

Featured Doodlekit Website:

SheMentor Marketing

Website Owner's Name:

Phyllis Neill

How Old Is Your Website:

Amost two years now.

Description of company / website:

At SheMentor Marketing, we help businesses change marketing strategies into 2-way conversations with social media marketing.

How having a website has affected your business/objectives:

As a small business owner and consultant, having a web site that I can largely modify and append by myself was absolutely integral to my business. Try pricing out having a web developer "write" a web site for you that you can maintain yourself - it's not pretty! For a very affordable monthly fee, I have an incredibly professional-looking site that I keep updated constantly. I've been so pleased with Doodlekit that I'm about to start creating another web site for another business with them.

Lessons learned and advice to others about building and operating their own website:

A tip would be to enlist the aid of a good graphic designer, who can create a customized style sheet for you to turn your Doodlekit web site into a one-of-a-kind creation that matches your logo, letterhead, biz cards, etc.

Comments about Doodlekit:

Anytime I've had a problem with ANYTHING, these guys have stumbled all over themselves to respond quickly. They are constantly adding new features to the product, and I just couldn't be happier with the quality of the product.

DK Quick Tips: Editor Icons

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:45:00 -0500

The Doodlkeit Editor is your main window into most of the content on your site. Though there are a only a few icons it's a very powerful tool. Most of the icons are self explanatory, ie. bullets, undo, spellcheck however there are a few that aren't quite as obvious.

Insert Javascript, Video, Object Code (the red gear)

This icon can be used any time you're trying to insert a block of HTML into your page. This could be a YouTube video, Twitter or Facebook widget, Social Bookmarking bar, Tracking Code, etc.

Simply click the red gear, paste the HTML and click Insert. You will see a small red gear in the content where the actual widget will appear. Save the editor in order to see the end result. Sometimes you may need to refresh the page if it doesn't show up right away.

Clear All Content

Sometimes you just want to clear everything out and start all over. The Clear All Content button will do this for you. You may also need to use this if you're having troubles deleting tables from your content.

Click the Clear All Content button and you will be prompted to be sure you actually want to do this. This will clear everything from the current editor screen

Upload File

The editor makes it super easy to up upload a file such as a PDF, Word Document, Excel Spreadsheet, etc.

First you'll need some text to link to the file, such as "View PDF". Select that text and click then "Hyperlink" icon. When the Hyperlink box pops up you'll see an ellipsis(...) next to the URL field. Click this and you can either choose a file from your Doodlekit file system or you can upload a file from "My Computer".

Ideas vs. Execution. Which is More Important?

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:33:00 -0500

Last week I posted my article on Ideas that come from Necessity in a discussion group on LinkedIn which turned into an interesting debate.

One person argued that Ideas are the easy part and that the hard work comes from executing a real business strategy. Others said that Execution is easy, programmers and hosting are a commodity and that the Idea is most important. I disagree with both.

In the last half of the last century something very interesting happened. People had extra money. They paid for their house, car, groceries, etc and had some extra cash lying around. Marketers seized this opportunity and created products specifically for this superfluous income. These great Ideas such as the personal computer, portable audio devices, home theater, etc were all pioneers of their time. The Idea came first, then you figured out how it was going to work.

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs didn't know exactly how they were going to sell personal computers back when they first started, they just knew that it was a great Idea. It wasn't until later that Gates figured out by focusing on partnerships with hardware manufacturers, Microsoft could sell software faster. Jobs didn't at first realize that by creating a cult following he could maintain brand loyalty. These were the olden days of coming up with a great Idea and following it up with Execution.

In today's post consumption economy the Idea and the Execution have to be the same thing. In other words, your Execution strategy has to be part of the Idea. You can't just say "I have a new Backscratcher". You have to say, "My new Backscratcher will have a social website where everyone can talk about the latest Backscratching gossip". You have to know ahead of time how cost effective it will be to produce these Backscratchers. Most importantly you have to figure Marketing into the Idea an thusly the Execution.

It's not so easy to spend billions of dollars on TV ads and expect to have a successful product anymore. The Idea has to have something that people really need and are looking for. This means that you have to create an ecosystem for your product that is based on the consumer finding and interacting with you through search engines, social networks, etc. The product or service has to be created with this New Marketing world in mind.

When we first started thinking about Doodlekit we didn't just say, "Hey, let's make a website builder" and figure out how later. The Idea was to create a website builder that was easy to use, self servicing, could be hosted economically and was supported by just two people. We factored in that we wouldn't be #1 so we had to have low overhead. Without a huge customer service staff we still need to be able to have personal customer interactions so we had to make sure that people could manage just about every aspect of their site themselves. That's the Idea and that's the Execution.

The bad news is that it's getting harder to come up with a great Idea and make it an instant billion dollar industry. The good news is that if you can come up with a good Idea/Execution/New Marketing Strategy and run an honest business you can make an honest amount of money doing it.

Speed Improvements

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:45:00 -0500

We've received few complaints about the Menu Administration page being slow for customers with many pages. We're working on a redesign of the interface with some new management tools, but in the meantime I've done some optimizations on the backend that should speed things up.

Re-ordering pages should now be much more responsive. Don't forget that you can Drag and Drop the pages up and down.

More coming soon...

The Best Ideas Come From Necessity

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:34:00 -0500

How does someone come up with an idea like Post-it Notes? I imagine some committee in a conference room trying to figure out a way to sell paper and adhesive. The truth is that the Post-it Note was invented by a 3M employee that was tired of bookmarks falling out of his hymnal on Sunday.

Facebook was created to keep in touch with college buddies. YouTube was created when friends had trouble sharing videos from a dinner party. These ideas came from a simple need and grew into the biggest success stories of this decade.

If you're trying to figure out what the next big thing is going to be, you're wasting your time. If you're trying to think of some silly video that will spread viraly across the Net, you're wasting your time. Think about your life and what you like to do. Think about all of the times you said "Wouldn't it be cool if someone made a...".

Heath and I came up with the idea for Doodlekit a few years ago talking about all of the friends that ask us to build websites for them. Even when you know what you're doing it's a tedious process to get hosting and install the tools you need. Not to mention the tools back then were not made for novices. If we setup a site, we'd end up maintaining it too. We created Doodlekit as a way to help friends out, and it turned into a profitable business.

In this new Internet based global market it's easier than ever to create a success out of necessity. If you're idea is genuine and useful, customers will find you. Gone are the days of manufacturing great ideas, consumers need real products that will help them get through their busy days. The only truly great solutions come from problems. So what's your problem?

Want to Sell Your Product? Give it Away for Free

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:51:00 -0500

When we first started Doodlekit we had a limited 30-day trial membership. We thought it would be enough of a taste to get people to buy our product. Unfortunately it wasn't a great success. After thinking about it for a while, Heath and I decided to make a plan that was completely free forever. The results were instantaneous. We started seeing signups like never before and our profits climbed like crazy.

Before I go any further let me clarify that this only works if you actually have something else to charge for. The "give everything away for free and figure out how to make money later" model is broken and unsustainable. Free is a segue into the paid products and services.

So why didn't the trial work? A free "Trial" is not free enough. It's still too binding. People have already been burned by magazine trials that start charging automatically, or shareware that stops working before you get a feel for it. If there are really no strings attached, the customer is much more likely to stick their toes in the pool.

One of the most effective marketing tools is Word-of-Mouth. The paradox of course is, "how do i get customers talking about me if I have no customers?" A large base of free users isn't terribly hard to build up, and if you can impress them they'll be sure to tell their friends and colleages.

Assuming you ask for an email in exchange for the free product or service, this gives you a great list for marketing. The best part about this list is that you know the customers are interested in what you have to say, they've given you permission to tell them more about the product. This is worth much more than Google Ads or blind Bulk Mailers. You've already engaged the potential customer in a conversation that can lead to more business.

The only trick is finding that balance of what you can afford to give away. For us, the cost of hosting all the free sites is trivial compared to the return. Much less than hiring an Advertising Agency.

By giving our product away, we've been able to keep our business profitable and growing. You could too.

Growing your Business by Getting Personal

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:37:00 -0500

In Permission Marketing Seth Godin talks about the downfall of what he calls Interruption Marketing. For the majority of the previous century you could make just about any product successful by spending a lot of money on TV ads. Today, as consumers we're so used to this interruption based advertising we tune it out. How many advertisements do you think you were subjected to yesterday? Probably hundreds, maybe thousands. How many do you remember?

The marketing phenomenon has given rise to the misconception that you have to be a big business with a big advertising budget to be successful. This implicitly suggests that if you're small enough to have a personal relationship with your customer, you'll be unsuccessful. Or, if you're not getting lots of money per customer, it's not worth talking to them. Couldn't be further from the truth.

The reality is that each potential customer is worth much more than the dollar amount you put on your product. By creating a personal relationship and treating them with respect you can not only gain their business, but you create a product evangelist.

More often than not we have customers talk about how their always telling their friends about Doodlekit. Not just because it's fun to use, but because we're always there. It's a good feeling to know there's someone on the other side waiting to answer a question, and much better when you know them by name.

You also get a great resource for feedback. When you talk to customers on a personal level they give you and outside perspective and point out obvious ways to improve your customer experience. People are much more willing to give you honest and helpful feedback if they know who it's going to.

Most importantly it's about creating an honest company that you can be proud to tell Mom about. This honesty will shine through in everything you do creating a aura of trust around your business. That's priceless.

You can already see a resurgence of smaller niche companies that thrive on quality and customer experience. It's a reaction to decades of faceless corporations that will do anything to keep profits up. I hope that this next decade about creating relationships and trading great products as opposed to stock markets and abstract money.

To the Mom and Pops!

Doodlekit Profile: Greyhound Adoptions of Florida

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:35:00 -0500

Featured Doodlekit Website:

Greyhound Adoptions of Florida

Website Editor's Name:

Dave McGurgan

Date Website Went Live:

June 2008

Description of company / website:

A non-profit organization dedicated to finding responsible, loving homes for retired racing greyhounds. Our primary chapter is based in FL. We have a Southeast chapter that serves the Carolinas and a Northeast chapter that serves DE and PA as well as some areas in NJ and NY.

How having a website has affected your business/objectives:

Since switching to Doodlekit, we've seen a tremendous increase in traffic and requests for adoption information.

Lessons learned and advice to others about building and operating their own website:

Be patient and don't expect to perfect your site overnight. I never think of our website as being "finished." I constantly evaluate opportunities to improve and fine tune our website, including adapting to the ongoing changes in social media to ensure we are interacting with the community we serve in the best way possible.

Comments about Doodlekit:

Website builders are a dime a dozen. Doodlekit is different. It's a straightforward and intuitive tool that takes the often complex and confusing aspects of creating a website and streamlines the process. By automatically integrating functionality such as registration, forums, comments, SEO and statistics, Doodlekit makes creating and maintaining a website a breeze. Anyone with a fundamental knowledge of HTML and working in an in online environment will be really impressed by the power and flexibility of Doodlekit.

Have an Idea? Get it out there now!

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:46:00 -0500

Our whole economy is based on Ideas. Most of the products you use today came from somebody saying "Gee, my life would be easier if someone made a ...". That's the thing though, and Idea is just an Idea until somebody executes it.

When you get a good Idea you tend to protect it, keep it close. You tend to nurture it until it's ready to be unleashed. Sometimes this can be helpful, but what's happening while you're waiting? Someone else is getting the domain name you want, or building up a bigger email list, or getting better search engine ratings.

Even though you're Idea might not be ready, that's no reason to stop you from preparing. So what can you do while your idea percolates? Start generating some Buzz.

Create a teaser website, something really simple with a mysterious title. "Are You Ready to For the Next Revolution in Donuts?" Don't oversell yourself, but give them enough to be interested. Then put a simple E-Mail form on the site.

Send this to friends, colleagues, trade-blogs, whoever. If you get it to enough people, you're sure to generate a decent email list. Now you'll have a list of people that have given you permission to market your new product to, right when you're ready.

This is just one example of getting your presence on the market right away. Any business is going to take some time to get started, so why not get started now?

User Consolidation Project Complete

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:59:00 -0500

It's been a long time coming, but we finally finished our User Consolidation Project. The purpose of this project was all customers to create multiple sites under one central Doodlekit account.

What's New?

Email and Password across all of your sites, including doodlekit.com is automatically synced
One Credit Card can be used for multiple websites
Easier website signup for existing customers
You can now reactivate websites that you have canceled or have been suspended because of payment issues
Opens possibilities for new programs such as discounts and affiliates

In addition we have improved the backend to make it easier for us to serve you better.

This shouldn't change much for existing customers, you should be able to login to your website or doodlekit.com as normal. You'll notice the new link on the My Websites Box on doodlekit.com that will take you to your account and of course you can still use the "account" link in the admin section of your website. We've also added an easy to remember url if you ever need to get to your Doodlekit account.

http://doodlekit.com/account

Please let us know if you see any discrepancies in our account.

Of course the best part is now that this is out of the way we can focus more effort on fun new features.

System Maintenance Moved to This Sunday

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:29:00 -0500

Due to a scheduling conflict the System Maintenance will be moved to Sunday, the 23rd starting at 10pm Central Time.

System Maintenance This Saturday

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:53:00 -0500

We will be upgrading the billing system this Saturday starting at 10pm Central Time. This will require all sites to be down for a few hours as we run a data conversion. Please pass this information on to your customers and website visitors.

As always we will be updating the status of the upgrade on our twitter and Facebook pages.