Naples Web Design & IT

Naples Port Royal Homes

2009-08-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

We launched NaplesLuxuryProperties.com this past year and are working on updating it with some search engine optimization. The website focuses on the Naples Port Royal Real Estate. This is one of the several semi-custom sites we have done for Premier agents which includes functionality specifically for them. We also offer a semi-custom web design option for all other clients - which is an ideal solution of condominium associations among other kinds of businesses.

View the Naples Port Royal real estate website.

Featured Website: Port Royal Real Estate Website

2009-06-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

We launched Richard Prebish's website last year and are working on updating it with some search engine optimization. The website focuses on the Port Royal Real Estate in Naples, Florida. In addition to the search engine work we are currently doing, the website features a custom built content management system that enables the update of properties, communities and page editing. Richard wanted a very clean but upscale design and layout. IntegrityNETworx did the design, flash and programming on Richard's site.

View the Port Royal Naples, Florida website

Hackers and Thieves Zeroing in on Small Business

2009-06-12T16:51:00.000-07:00

Today Clark Howard was talking about how hackers and identity thieves are targeting small businesses more than individuals and large businesses these days. Small Businesses are less likely to have an in house IT department and will more than likely use cheap firewalls and not utilize stringent security practices on their computer networks. However small business bank accounts are a much bigger payoff for thieves than are individuals. The worst part of it all is that businesses fall under Uniform Commercial Code and are not protected from liability the same way individuals are.

This again makes the case for small businesses having an IT budget. Spend money on having certified IT professionals monitor and maintain your network. This is such a no brainer!

Clark told a story about a business owner that was out over $150,000 due to hackers making wire transfers from multiple accounts during a 30 minute period of time. He discovered it almost immediately but it was not soon enough to stop some of the transfers.

Check out the story on ClarkHoward.com.

New Premier Properties Agent Websites

2009-05-31T05:56:00.001-07:00

We've launched a couple of new semi-custom websites for real estate agents at Premier Properties. Premier contracted us last year to develop a turn-key website option that their agents could subscribe to. The sites feature IDX property search, a communities database, a golf course database and access to Premier's internal listing database in addition to IDX. All information is updated daily via Premier's .NET web service.

Here is the standard look for $199.

We also offer a semi-custom option for $699 and here are a couple that have just recently been launched:

Finally a good example of WHY managed services is a good deal for clients.

2009-05-22T15:54:00.001-07:00

So we have a client who REALLY needs their computer network to work. They need it to work all the time: early in the morning, late at night. You name the time, they need it to work at that time. So they hired us to do typical "break and fix" work. This means they call us when their system breaks and we come fix it. They already had their equipment in place. We simply stepped into the role of being their IT guy.

When they hired us, we tried to explain the value of being on a maintenance plan with us. We use Kaseya. It allows us to automate very important maintenance tasks (i.e. patch management, virus & spyware updates, service packs, system monitoring etc.). They didn't think it was necessary to spend several hundred dollars a month for it. They didn't see the value in it.

We're not salespeople. I'll admit it. I'm probably admitting it to all of our competitors right now LOL. Oh well, that is who we are. We're honest hardworking people and want to provide true value and we're not pushy. So they did not want a maintenance plan and we agreed to do "break and fix" work.

The client had an old server that someone built. It wasn't under any warranty. They did not have a good system for backing up their data. Frankly, it was a mess. The system went down one weekend. The server was basically dead. We worked day and night for about 3 days straight (over the weekend) resurrecting it, only to have it die again sometime Monday morning. We managed to get their data over to a temporary machine and they ordered a new server. The amount of time spent diagnosing the issue and finally moving everything was astronomical. Had we been taking a more proactive approach with this server, as we would have on a maintenance plan, we would have been able to prevent this failure or foresee the need to replace the equipment long before it failed. There was not a proper backup, but luckily we were able to get the data off the machine. That is not always the case. Sometimes you can't recover the data.

Honestly, this case is the kick in the pants I needed to wholeheartedly believe in managed services. Like I said before, I am not a salesperson. I really like to keep things inexpensive for the client and help them get as much value as they can out of their equipment and our labor. So it has been difficult for me to sell a recurring fee service such as a maintenance and monitoring package without experiencing its value first hand. When I saw how quickly the bill can accumulate when something catastrophic like the above happens it finally clicked for me that managed services is really a great deal for the client.

When something like this happens, it is never about the cost of the equipment. It is about doing whatever is necessary, at whatever cost, to save the data and get them back up and running as quickly as possible. Lost productivity is way more expensive than equipment. So by that reasoning it is a no brainer to spend a couple of hundred dollars a month to have proactive maintenance and monitoring done to your system. Not only could this prevent a catastrophic failure from occuring all, but it allows you to follow a plan for equipment replacement rather than waiting for it to fail. It can also drastically reduce lost productivity, because "break and fix" calls are nearly eliminated.

Keep in mind I'm not happy that this happened to the client, but it was what I needed to see to really get behind managed services.

Review of Digsby: All in one social network, IM and email client

2009-04-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

So I finally found a tool that puts all my stuff in one place. Digsby is free and it allows you to setup your IM accounts (Yahoo, AIM, MSN, etc.) and your Social Networks (Twitter, Facebook and Myspace) all on one cool little messenger tool. You can use it for email too but I am keeping Outlook for that.

I have been using Digsby for one day now and so far I am really liking having everything in one place. It is easy to just glance at updates on Facebook and Twitter. It even will work with the Facebook chat!

Check out Digsby Here

Featured Website: Six 10 Building

2009-03-27T14:42:00.001-07:00

For the design of six10building.com the client wanted a clean modern design to showcase their 3D renderings. The site also features a flash intro.

Visit Six10Building.com

Visit Naples Web Design Portfolio

Current.com: Twouble with Twitters (I love this)

2009-03-24T06:47:00.000-07:00

Featured Website: Rentprovo.com

2009-03-24T06:07:00.000-07:00

RentProvo.com is a vacation rental website for booking a rental property in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The website features database driven advertising module with credit card processing.

Visit RentProvo.com

More Naples Web Design

Great SEOMoz Video About Getting Awesome Links

2009-03-22T13:37:00.001-07:00

I found this video to be a nice concise explanation of how to get some good links. This also applies to small business websites.

SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday - How to Get Awesome Links from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.

FastTrac™ Growth Venture summer program for businesses - Fifty Percent Scholarships Available

2009-03-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release
Contact: Sue Huff 239-596-7990

E. Sue Huff & Associates, Inc. selected to
Coordinate Nationally Recognized
FastTrac™ Summer Program for Southwest Florida

(March 12, 2009 – Naples, Florida) Sue Huff, owner of E. Sue Huff & Associates, Inc., a marketing and management consulting firm located in Naples, Florida, has been selected as the coordinator for the FastTrac™ Growth Venture summer program.
Huff founded her consulting firm in 1996, after gaining extensive business experience through work in management, offset printing, newspapers, advertising, and the visual arts. E. Sue Huff & Associates assists small to mid-size businesses in developing, administering, and planning their marketing strategies, as well as, providing gap management services for those companies who find themselves with too few senior managers. The firm’s clients vary from computer software developers, aviation repair stations, banks, real estate, transportation, medical and accounting practices to educational, governmental and non-profit organizations.

Huff says, “We are honored to be chosen to help market and coordinate such an important educational opportunity for business owners. This program specifically targets entrepreneurs who have experience running their businesses. In this tough economic atmosphere, it is a privilege to offer them a framework to improve the performance of their business.”

FastTrac Growth Venture® is a ten-week, three hour per week opportunity to focus on improving and growing all aspects of a participant’s business. In today’s economy where many businesses are facing financial difficulties, the program offers guidance on ways to focus, bootstrap, plan and strategize to improve profits and grow sales.

The summer program begins on Monday, June 8th at the Hyatt Place in Bonita Springs. This season is being sponsored by KeyBank and BriersCPA. Two people from the same business may attend for a single tuition of $650. Fifty percent scholarships are available to anyone making the request. FastTrac has graduated 650 businesses in this area and 300,000 nationwide. For additional information, interested parties may contact Sue Huff at 239-596-7990 or master facilitator, Dr. Beth Hagan at 239-947-8085 or online at Visit www.FastTrac.org and www.FastTracOfFlorida.com.
The FastTrac Growth Venture Program® is an initiative of the nationally recognized Kauffman Foundation. Ewing Kauffman, the late entrepreneur and philanthropist, established the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation as the first foundation to focus on entrepreneurship as one of its primary areas of interest. The foundation is devoted to advancing entrepreneurship by focusing on research, education, technical assistance, and policy. It’s goal is to increase the number and success rate of individuals engaged in the process of starting or growing their own business or idea. The Foundation is based in Kansas City, Mo. and has around $2 billion in assets. For more information, visit: www.kauffman.org.
For more information about E. Sue Huff & Associates, Inc., visit online at www.esuehuff.com or call 239-596-7790.
-end-

Blogger Is Broken Ugh

2009-03-14T06:17:00.000-07:00

So I woke up this morning to my home page being down. I have a script that reads my rss.xml from blogger and displays links to five of the latest posts. For some reason blogger is generating empty xml files. So I've commented out my code for now and put a straight link to my blog. Meanwhile I've found a bunch of blog posts about this and so I am definitely not the only one having the problem.

Just in case you are having the same problem here are what some people have found out. Google is still working on it.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2009/03/atom-rss-feeds-are-empty.html

I guess I really should stop being lazy and get my Wordpress blog off the ground. I just don't have a lot of time for my own little projects right now. Oh well hopefully it will be fixed soon.

From Clark Howard Show: Be careful what you post to online review sites!

2009-03-14T05:59:00.000-07:00

I just read this interesting tidbit on ClarkHoward.com. Apparently people are being sued successfully by businesses for leaving bad reviews on sites like Yelp. Unbelievable.

http://clarkhoward.com/liveweb/shownotes/2009/03/12/15309/

Symantec Warns of Worm's Return

2009-03-09T06:25:00.001-07:00

A third version of Downadup has been identified by Symantec, which says the new variant gives infected machines more powerful instructions to disable antivirus software and analysis tools, among other actions.

read more | digg story

Five Super Simple Link Baiting Steps for Mom and Pop

2009-03-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have decided to start writing some super simple and short guides for mom and pop. Mainly since the vast majority of the SEO blogs out there are addressing people in the web development & SEO business.

First, since this article is for mom and pop, let me define Link Bait. Link Bait is any content on your website that is so useful that other websites link to it. As you probably know (or maybe you don’t), links from other websites help with search engine rankings. So how does a local small business develop content that others will want to link to? Here is just one simple strategy.

1. Start a Blog (visit blogger.com for a super simple and FREE place to do this).
The blog audience doesn’t always have to be your potential customers. In addition to customer focused posts, I suggest blogging about topics your colleagues might be interested in too. Maybe you are in the printing business and you write an article aimed at other printing businesses. For example, this could be a top 10 list of favorite tools. Maybe there is a printing business in another town that finds the article useful and they mention your blog post on THEIR blog and they link back to your post. That is a link. Not only is that a link. It is a link from another printing business which is even better, because it is on topic.

2. Identify Your Linkerati (audience from whom you would like a link).
Let me define that term for mom and pop. Linkerati = potential linkers. So in the example mentioned in #1 the linkerati would be other printing businesses. Whoever your linkerati turns out to be, that is who you need to write for at least some of the time. Not every blog post is Link Bait. You will still write for your current customers, potential customers, the community at large and now your linkerati.

3. Join Twitter.com
Start following colleagues in your industry. You can find them by going to Twellow.com which is an organized directory of twitter profiles. Hopefully they will follow you back. Have meaningful conversations with them. This can’t just be about spamming them with blog posts. Setup your blog to post to your twitter automatically using the easy and free tool offered at twitterfeed.com. There are similar tools for other social networks.

4. Join a Few Message Boards and Social Networks
These would be communities where your linkerati hang out. Again the interaction here should be genuine. Some social networks allow you to feed your blog posts to your profile. For message boards you can include your blog link in your signature. Let me caution you that this can be a tremendous time waster if you are not methodical. Join just a handful of communities that you genuinely want to participate in related to your industry. Then once a day or every other day, visit and participate for a set amount of time (or else you will find yourself compulsively being there all day). Again, the goal here is not to spam them with your blog posts, but to network with others in your industry and in the process you can make them aware of your blog and any good posts that you write.

5. DIGG.com, StumbleUpon.com, Del.icio.us and Reddit.com
These are all places to submit to that can potentially get your post in front of the people who might link to it. If your post is really good, it will be voted up and more people will see it. The people who see it who find it useful will talk about it in their own blogs and link back.

That’s it for now. I’m hoping to keep doing these super simple and short guides for mom and pop in the future.

Google taught my kid to read. Can I hire her now?

2009-03-08T06:55:00.000-07:00

My daughter taught herself to read using Google at roughly 3.5 years of age. I noticed she would search for the few sight words she knew and then find them on the page of results. She would click through the websites shown in the results one by one until she found what she was looking for (usually pictures of dogs). She continued to improve her repertoire of sight words that way and eventually was actually reading and comprehending the content she would pull up. Later, at about 5 years of age, she started searching for information about her favorite video game, Petz 5, and read tutorials on how to download and install hacks to customize her Petz. She started using paint to draw new background scenes for the game and would browse to the appropriate program files and deploy the design. She is 7 now and has at least 10 blogs, regularly creates and edits her own videos and continues to research via Google. She's passionate about the computer much the way her father and I are.

So the question is do I continue to foster that by giving her some of my real design projects? Certainly, she can batch resize a group of photographs in Photoshop or enter new products into a shopping cart. I suppose one could look at it this way: This is our family business. She is expected to contribute to the family by doing chores whether it is washing dishes or writing a SQL stored procedure (wishful thinking!). Many kids (usually older) work in their family business. I suppose this is no different and she would love the chores assigned to her.

There is also the question of balance. Lately hubby and I have made it our mission to get our entire family outdoors more and to enjoy low-tech activities such as camping. My daughter enjoyed a short stint taking dance classes, but found it wasn't her thing. She is also enjoying girl scouts. Maybe she is on the computer enough and needs to broaden her horizons. It is really a tough call. I don’t want to squelch her natural passion for technology, but I want her to learn balance.

Alternatives to Photoshop

2009-03-08T06:47:00.000-07:00

I had a client recently ask me if I knew of other programs she could use besides Photoshop. The biggest drawback to Photoshop is the price and learning curve. Many of my clients have a need to resize and save their photographs for use on the web. I came across this post by Daniel Shain this morning on Six Revisions:

10 Excellent Open Source and Free Alternatives to Photoshop

There are some really feature rich free alternatives out there!

Featured Website: NaplesBayResortVacation.com

2009-03-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

One of our favorite web design clients, Todd Kendall, had us build this website for his Naples Bay Resort rental condominium. He wanted the website to really capture the essence of Naples Bay Resort's many amenities while showcasing his unit's unique features and what sets it apart from the standard units there.

Our Web Design Process

2009-03-03T04:25:00.001-08:00

When you hire IntegrityNETworx this is how you can expect your web design project to go:

1. Initial Telephone Call and In-Person Consultation
The initial consultation may be held at our office or on the telephone and this is when we will discuss the details of your web design project in order for us to give you a quote or formal proposal. For this conversation you will want to think about the pages and functionality that your website will have. The size and complexity of the website determine how many hours will be required to build it. We need to understand in as much detail as possible how the website will function so we can give you an accurate quote. Generally our first conversation will be done over the telephone and we will give you a rough estimate based on that conversation. This is to let you know what a starting point might be for the website cost. If that is within your desired range then we will usually setup an in-person meeting at our office to explore the details further.

2. Formal Proposal
We will prepare a proposal based the project described in our Initial Consultation. The proposal will list all of the pages and functionality to be built. The payment schedule and project timeline will be listed in the project. We require an initial deposit and a signed proposal in order to move forward.

3. Design Consultation
The design consultation is where we discuss colors and layout. Ideally you will come to our office prepared with a list of websites you like, any advertising and branding materials that you currently use and any other ideas you may have about color and layout.

4. Mockup Design
After the design consultation, the first week of the project is spent creating a mockup design. A mockup design is a picture of a proposed web page template for your website. You will give us feedback so that the mockup can be revised to your liking. When you are satisfied with the mockup design we will use it to build the HTML template. We will ask you to sign-off on the mockup giving us final approval of the design. It is important that all major layout revisions are done DURING the mockup revision process instead of later on in the project.

5. HTML Template
When you have approved the mockup design we will slice it up and build an HTML template. This template will be duplicated to build pages for your website.

6. Temporary Link
You will now receive a temporary link that will enable you to watch the progress of your web design project.

7. Content
At this point you will want to begin providing us with content (text, photographs and documents that will be used to build the pages of your website). We will begin creating your static web pages from content you provide.

8. Programming
We will also begin working on any programming that is required by your project. Programming is used anytime there is special functionality required such as a shopping cart, updateable pages and password protected areas etc. We will continuously show your progress and ask for feedback as we complete various sections of the website.

9. Punch Out
Near the end of the project we like to have the client go through the website page by page and provide us with a punch-out list of things to fix. We will complete these items prior to the website launch.

10. Training
If your website contains special functionality such as an administrative backend, we will train you either in-person or remotely (depending on the project). During this training we will demonstrate how all of the functionality operates and how you will use it to maintain your website.

11. Website Launch
At this point we will point your domain to our web server and in 24 to 72 hours the website will be launched. If you owned your domain name prior to hiring us, you will need to provide us with the registrar username and password so that we can login and change the nameservers. Once the nameservers are changed it takes 24 to 72 hours for the new dns information to propogate around the world.

To see examples of our work on other Naples web design projects click here.

What are good links?

2009-02-28T05:11:00.001-08:00

Rand Fishkin's Friday video gives a great breakdown of what is a good link and what is not.

SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday - Dude, Your Links Kinda Suck from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.

Featured Website: DD-Talk.com

2009-02-23T07:00:00.000-08:00

DD-talk.com is a web-based application for speech language pathologists and behavior analysts to use for data collection and reporting of therapy progress. We designed the graphics and also built the application. The public portion of the website features trial signup, credit card processing for purchasing subscription and instructional videos. The private portion of the website features a data collection application, progress reporting and graphing component. There are multiple user levels to facilitate individual subscriptions as well as school systems who have multiple users. The program is currently being used by Collier County Public Schools.

Click here to visit DD-Talk.com

Click here to our Naples Web Design portfolio

Featured Website: Surface Consulting

2009-02-20T06:04:00.000-08:00

Today's featured website is surfaceconsulting.net. This website features flash albums displaying the client's custom surfaces as well as a web based backend that allows him to update news on his website. Additionally, there is a client area that enables Surface Consulting clients to login and follow the progress of their job.

Visit Surface Consulting

Visit our Naples Web Design Portfolio

Conversation with a Client About Social Networking

2009-02-19T08:23:00.000-08:00

I have a client that I am working on search engine optimization for their website. They will not participate in any way, shape or form. They just want me to "do some stuff" and get them number one. So I am left writing some content (on a topic which I am not an expert), posting some stuff on their blog and trying to get some decent links into the site. I've done pretty well with this, but now they are asking me if I can do more on the social networking sites to promote them. Here is where I stand on that. For their project I have used social networking sites for the purpose of getting links where I know the no-follow tag is not being used. My mission there was not to promote them, but to get a link, plain and simple. If they truly want to use social media to promote themselves, I have tried to explain, it is not sufficient for me to hop on and "post some stuff" every once in a while. Social Networking is about relationships, not about posting and running. I feel like anything I'd post for them would be superficial anyway, which is fine if all you care about is getting a link, but not fine if you want to interact with real people. You can't fake it!

Salesperson or Teacher?

2009-02-17T13:56:00.000-08:00

Many of my clients are local small businesses that need an affordable website. They don't have the budget to hire separate firms to do web development, web marketing, PR etc. They look to me, the generalist, to educate them on things like usability, copywriting, SEO and the like. So for years I have either done it for them AFFORDABLY or taught them how to do it themselves. I have a heart of teacher anyway so it works out great. Most of my sales calls turn into a lesson. I have always said I am not a good salesperson. However I do close a high percentage of deals and I believe it is because I am willing to share my knowledge with anyone (sometimes until their eyes glaze over). I am also honest to a fault and one thing I could never do is take someone's money and build a website that I know in my heart will fail. I do everything in my power to give clients the tools they need to succeed.

What was the point of this post? I have no idea. I am just rambling I think. Maybe it is a public service announcement for all the used car salesman types out there to say "You don't have to be a pushy salesguy to do well. Just be honest and genuinely want to help people. Ummkay?".

Happy Birthday To Us: IntegrityNETworx Turns 7

2009-02-13T06:21:00.000-08:00

I can't believe our birthday came and went and I didn't even notice it. Unbelievable. I've been at this for 7 years!!! I started this company on February 1, 2002 and called it MB Designs of Florida. Since then we have changed our name, added an IT consulting division, a couple of employees and over a hundred happy clients. Happy Birthday IntegrityNETworx.