Ask MyWebGal, Deb Augur

Error? Fun with 404 Pages

Deb Augur — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:13:17 +0000

Not many people put much thought into their 404 pages but they are often an accidentally ”highly visited” page on a site. So, maybe it’s time we think about that and put some thought behind our 404 error pages. At least make it less of a nuisance for your visitors that stumble on them!

Here’s a TED talk video of Renney Gleeson telling the …

Story of a page not found

What’s really funny (to me anyway) is I goolgled “the best 404 pages” and I came across a few lists where the “cool” 404 pages were not found!

If you have, or have seen any great 404 pages, let us know in the comments. We’d love to see 404 page creativity!

Here’s one of my 404 pages: OOPS!

It’s easy to do in WordPress. Simply look in “Appearance / Edit Theme / (Your core theme files) / 404.php and change the page URL to one you’ve created to take it’s place.

You could also use the WordPress plugin called Redirection, too. It is even simpler.

If you have any questions, let me know.

In the meantime, share your cool 404 page finds with us!

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How to Create a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign

Deb Augur — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:48:06 +0000

If you haven’t heard about Crowdfunding yet, you’re in for a pleasant surprise, but know this: while Crowdfunding is all about gaining the financial backing you need for your startup or product, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd and not reach your funding goal.

There are hundreds of Crowdfunding sites today and the industry, designed to help individuals and groups raise funds from the “crowd,” is growing at a phenomenal rate.

Who’s the Crowd?

The crowd consists of family, friends, fans, followers and strangers.

In pledge Crowdfunding, upon which most of today’s Crowdfunding sites are based, people are not investing in a business, product or idea. They are not receiving equity. Nor are they donating to a charity, this gift is not tax deductible.

Not an entirely new concept, Crowdfunding lies somewhere between investments and charity.

That’s the part crowdfunders (those with campaigns) need to understand.

The people who support campaigns do so for their own reasons. They may like the idea of being a part of something bigger than themselves, or helping an interesting person, project or startup, or owning a pre-release of an item to be produced, or obtaining one of the enticing rewards being offered.

Like I said, people have their own reasons to contribute funds. It’s one of the most important things to be prepared for when building a campaign. You need to create enticingly strong, emotional or intellectual reasons for your audience (think crowd) to relate to. What would make them want to fund your campaign?

Another all-important-part of creating a successful Crowdfunding campaign is attracting your crowd. The fact is the Crowdfunding site you choose to post your project on is not responsible for bringing the people to your offer. Their part in this is giving you the platform – the technology and capability to set up your campaign. Your part is bringing your contacts together in support of your project and helping them spread the word to their contacts, all converging upon the public space in which you are provided.

While creating anything with the intention of going viral is difficult, at best, it can happen with your campaign with concerted effort and marketing savvy.

How do you get this particular marketing savvy?

Watch other campaigns. Watch lots of other campaigns. See what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong. What attracts you to some of them while other make you just leave the page? That’s a great start.

Know that your network of people is where this all begins. Hopefully you have built a relationship with the people in your social circles before you even consider building a Crowdfunding campaign.

It takes an audience, a great message and story, massive effort and perhaps a good deal of luck to end up like one of the few that have gone well over their intended goal and ended up with a million dollars* or more.

What makes what you want to do worthy of Crowdfunding?

That is the ultimate question.

* Have you heard about the ipod nano “watchband?” Their crowdfunding goal was $15K but they collected nearly $1-million ($941,648 to be exact!) on Kickstarter. (Product pictured above.)

Crowdfunding is the future for entrepreneurs with a passion to create the next coolest thing, even if it’s not for everyone.

So whether you’re looking for funding for your project, or want to help fund someone else’s project, you can do it!

Soon I’ll be introducing a crowdfunding project site that I’m co-founding with a couple other women. We plan on focusing on women (not exclusively, though) . I’ll be announcing this soon.

In the meantime…

We are putting on a live event June 9th, 2012, at the Radisson Hotel LAX. We have a panel of true experts (and successful fundraisers) to help you understand how to create a successful campaign! It will be very exciting (and informative).

For more information on this live event, go to CrowdfundingLive.com >>

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We Are Defining Entertainment of the Future on YouTube

Deb Augur — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:08:53 +0000

What does Rebecca Black, Justin Beiber and Yosemite Bear Vasquez… have in common?

YouTube Viral Videos!

Kevin Allocca is a professional YouTube watcher… actually he’s YouTube Trends Manager. In this very entertaining 7-minute video he talks about viral videos and how they come about.

The secret?

The unexpected. Like cats watching cats watching “cats” on YouTube!

And, as Kevin explains in this video, we don’t just enjoy now, we participate, which means we’re defining entertainment of the future.

Thanks to Mitch Joel of Twist Image / Six Pixels of Separation for bringing this TED talk to my attention… and I just had to share it with you!

Enjoy! And don’t forget to let me know what you think of the video…

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Awesome WordPress Plugin

Deb Augur — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:50:10 +0000

This WordPress plugin is not new but I just found it and had to share it with you. It’s called the “Ultimate TinyMCE.”

A lot of my clients and friends are going to want to install this plugin right away. It simplifies many of the things they want to do but often don’t because of the level of difficulty.

With a click of a button you can add YouTube videos (with just the share link), AND add, create and manipulate tables! There’s also advanced features for images and ordered and unordered lists.

It adds a lot more text formatting capabilities, too. You’re going to love it! Popup windows, image mapping (hot link multiple areas within an image), use short codes and so much more!

Check out the video to see how easily you can do these things (and more) with this awesome WordPress Plugin …

Let me know what you think about it!

Does this sound like something you would like to have?

Do you already have this particular WordPress plugin? (If you do already have it, why didn’t you tell me about it! LOL)

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Just Say No to SOPA PIPA – TED Talks Video

Deb Augur — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:09:29 +0000

“Clay Shirky: Why SOPA is a bad idea”

In this TED “Talks” video Clay shares the real impact of the SOPA PIPA legislation and warns us that even if it’s not passed we need to be prepared for a fight because that won’t end it. He tells us how for the past twenty years there has been efforts to stop us from sharing things we enjoy with each other.

In fact, if any legislation similar to SOPA ever passes, we could lose Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and much more. We may have to close comments on our own blogs.

But the most startling thing that this video brought to my mind was the story about a bakery and children’s artwork of their favorite characters. Very sad! And I never thought about this type of thing.

What’s the full story?

Watch the video below. It’s in the first minute or so and I’ll bet you will be shocked!

Please leave your comments, while you still can…

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