Another project i’m just finishing up…can’t wait to release it for feedback. I’ve worked with Damon over at TradeWarrior software for a few years, helping him with everything from web design, print design and general web tech stuff. We wanted the new site to help clarify and emphasize the key feature to their software, as well as present a cool modern look. There are building some really cool software over there, check em out www.tradewarriorsoftware.com.

• 1st you need one for personal information, things like bank accounts, bills, investment accounts, and important accounts of all kinds. If you die tomorrow, this is the stuff you’d want your wife, mom, kids or whoever, to have access to.
• 2nd you need one for shopping, signups, registrations, and less personal email conversations. This might also be the account you use for social networking and your main online profile.
• 3rd you need an anonymous account for posting online, signing up for spam risky services, and other nonsense that’s marketing driven (aka, junk account). Think Groupon, the spamming bastards.

Rule number one is never use your work email for anything but work. Period. Make your life easy and keep business separate from all other stuff. It will pay off in the long run.

For your personal account (account #1), make sure your password is ridiculous, and different than any other password you use, anywhere. The password should include numbers and special characters and be really tough to guess or crack. Your name or one of your kid’s names and their birthday is not tough to crack, it’s the oldest trick in the book, do better. The password reset button for your other two accounts should be reset by sending a new password to your personal account, this way if one of your accounts is compromised, you have ultimate control.

Once you get accounts 2 and 3 set up, have all mail for these accounts forwarded to your main account. I actually only check my 2nd and 3rd accounts monthly, if that often. All important mail shows up right in my main account, where I don’t miss a thing. My spam is decreased, my personal information is protected, my online profiles are kept organized, and I have more control over what information people and companies have about me.

This is a lesson that I’ve learned the hard way, at one point my online profile was a complete mess. I’ve finally been able to fix it for the most part by using this method. I’ve actually taken this to an extreme level (with several email addresses), but only because of the amount of work I do online. I register domain names and sign up for software research accounts all over the place, so my daily activities demand such.

For most people, 3 will do.

It doesn’t matter what email service you use (I use and love gmail), but it’s much easier if all of your 3 accounts are at the same email provider. Integration is usually much simpler.

Go forth into the internets. G.

I worked with Tevor at www.iloveyourcarpet.com to develop some landing page sites for some strategic domain names in order to improve SEO. I also integrated his mobile site for smart phones. This was a fun project with quite a bit of custom art direction and copy development. These are plain old single html files in order to simplify upkeep and management of multiple domain deployments. You can visit one of them at www.carpetcleaninglayton.com.

The internet and the world of web search marketing is bigger, more difficult, and more rewarding than most people can imagine. Getting people to find your company on the web, keeping their attention for more than a millisecond, and then getting them to take some action is excruciatingly hard. Another important element often overlooked is time. It takes time to market effectively on the web. It takes time to refine a good strategy. And it takes time to build a presence. The difference is, are you marketing on the web, or do you just want to be on it?

Prospective clients often ask me, “what will is cost me for a really simple website?” My new answer is $250. Your website will include your logo, your email address, your address and your phone number. I will center it all on a single page with a single background color. Sometimes this is all companies want, and it works. They have a website, and their business continues to be a success for them. Sometimes the response is, “well not that simple”. The definition of “a simple site” varies drastically by client type. My prospective client will then usually add upon their definition of simple to include: a catchy homepage with some marketing material, an about page, a product page, a contact form, and maybe a simple blog. Now we’re marketing. My answer, $2500 minimum. Gasp!

Well that is quite a range you say. That it is. The difference here is design, expertise, writing, encouraging interaction, building upon your brand, and meeting the visitors expectations. The difference is thinking…lots and lots and lots of thinking. The difference is trial and error, learning, experimenting and even starting over from scratch after hours of work. The difference involves…well, quite a range of skills.

I used to underbid projects, only to find that I undermined the projects themselves. I always found myself overly forced and constrained by time and cost. I was nearly always unsatisfied with the end product. That is a failing recipe. I failed to provide a good product. In the end, this will define my company.

I’ve found that the most simple marketing websites, are the most difficult. It’s every bit as important what you don’t say, as it is what you say. As Mark Twain once said, “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one”. It’s editing and creativity that is hard. I love to create websites, but only because it allows me to create value and an image for a company. What I really love is helping companies succeed using the web. That takes time and energy.

If what you want is truly a “simple site”. I’ll whip you one up for about $250. I’ll even throw in some basic SEO and search engine submissions. If you want a site to help you build your company, it’s going to be more, substantially more. Is it worth it? That depends. Are you type one, or type two?

There are several reasons that big companies (and government entities) choose this path, the most influential of which is decision maker risk. By going with “what everyone else does” and by choosing the most feature rich application, they reduce the chances of being held personally liable for the “failure” of the technology effort. In the event of success, they get credit. In the event of failure they simply state, “all the big companies are using it”, and “it will do anything, it will just take some time to work the kinks out”. Users, like me, morph these systems into some sort of working combination of folders, attachments and contacts. Nearly everyone limps along using a complex system that gets in the way rather than helping facilitate action that adds value. By choosing to avoid failure, we also reduce the likelihood of success.

For collaboration and document management there are plenty of better alternatives to SharePoint, notably I might add is ThoughtFarmer or PBworks. While they offer what I consider to be improvements over SharePoint, they are not project management oriented, they are social collaboration systems. The problem that I’ve experienced is that these collaboration suites normally fail when it comes to detailed management of projects, somewhere along the lines of a Basecamp or LiquidPlanner. Personally, I find the usefulness of a nice project management system superior to collaboration and document suites, but a well thought out blend would be welcome.

In big companies and government entities, changing this direction will take time and repetitive failure. For small businesses, which are my focus, I recommend avoiding big corporate mentality. Don’t simply use the “safe” option. Test, experiment, ask questions, and find a solution that’s best for you. There are literally thousands of useful software tools out there, most will offer substantial savings and marked improvements over big corporate bloat ware. Beyond existing tools, software development has become easier, faster and more affordable. So when it comes to truly custom tools, don’t overlook the value that can be added by rolling your own system. If you really get stuck, as a pro that is unaffiliated with any one solution provider , it’s great to get an unbiased opinion.

And while we’re on this note, I’ve been using Mozy backup service at home for a couple of years, and I’ve been fairly satisfied. For $5 a month it’s pretty touch to beat unlimited backup space and automated, secure, worry-free backups. If you haven’t checked it out, do it. It’s a killer little service for the money.

All that said, with my new Dropbox, I don’t think I’ll need both. I’m canceling my Mozy and just moving with a single solution for both, Dropbox. for $10 a month, I get 50GB of space. That will work for me for a while.