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Month: March 2012

Facebook: Add Some Finishing Touches To Your Business Page


Saturday March 31, 2012

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Ready! Set! Go! Today is the day that business owners will wake up to see the new look of their business Facebook page. Notice I didn’t say final or finished look. Because as we all heard in this scene from the movie Social Network…Facebook will never be finished.

Eduardo Saverin: So when will it be finished?
Mark Zuckerberg: It won’t be finished. That’s the point. The way fashion’s never finished.
Eduardo Saverin: What?
Mark Zuckerberg: Fashion, fashion is never finished.
Eduardo Saverin: You’re talking about fashion? Really, you?
Mark Zuckerberg: I’m talking about the idea of it. And I’m saying that it’s never finished.
Eduardo Saverin: Okay. But they manage to make money selling pants.

There was a time when I thought the most critical statement from this scene was “It won’t be finished.” But today I am thinking that Eduardo Saverin’s closing line “Okay. But they manage to make money selling pants” really is the more important message for a business Facebook page. Your business Facebook page should contribute to your bottom line in some way…it certainly should not be a liability. Come to think about it, I covered this topic two years ago when I posted: Nine Tips For Managing A Business Facebook Page.

Today I thought I would do two things:

  1. Show you how our Webconsuls’ Facebook page looks today, because we will start updating it and you can follow the progress by “liking” us today and staying tuned.
  2. Share a great blog post from Copyblogger. How To Create A Cover Photo For Your Facebook Timeline. Read this post carefully, as it tells you what the cover photo may “not do” according to Facebook’s terms. Also if you read some of the comments, you will notice that people have shared a link to their Facebook page with their new Cover Photo.

Now, just so we have a record, you know like a real old fashion scrapbook: Here is a snapshot of Webconsuls’ Facebook Page, March 31, 2012.

webconsuls facebook
Webconsuls’ Facebook Page 03/31/2012 (click to see larger version)


If you have already updated your cover photo, please share a link in the comments. I am going to post a link to this article on our Facebook page.  Remember: Like our page and check back to see our updates!

Reading Time: 3 minutes
Google wave

Just about two and one-half years ago I wrote a post about GOOGLE’s WAVE. The post was entitled Eight Google WAVE Invitations – Is Anybody Going to Wave Back?   Guess what? Nobody waved back.  So I thought I would do a public service announcement for our clients and regular readers to let you know it is official.  The sun is setting on the final wave.

Today I received the following email message from The Wave Team:

Dear Wavers,


More than a year ago we announced that Google Wave would no longer be developed as a separate product. Back in November 2011, we shared the specific dates for ending this maintenance period and shutting down Wave. Google Wave is now in read-only mode. This is reminder that the Wave service will be turned off on April 30, 2012. You will be able to continue exporting individual waves using the existing PDF export feature until the Google Wave service is turned off. We encourage you to export any important data before April 30, 2012.


If you would like to continue using Wave, there are a number of open source projects, including Apache Wave. There is also an open source project called Walkaround that includes an experimental feature that lets you import all your Waves from Google. This feature will also work until the Wave service is turned off on April 30, 2012.


For more details, please see our help center.


Yours sincerely,


The Wave Team

The following YouTube video is dedicated to The Wave Team.

Reading Time: 5 minutes
Google blogger
Over the past couple of years I have written about such things as designing for the guest experience and not being shy about offering a suggestion to a business, no matter how big or small the business entity. I have also talked about the importance of saying “Thank You!”
 
Today I want to share a story of how I made a suggestion to Google’s BLOGGER design team and at the same time say “BLOGGER, Thank you for listening!”
 
First a little background.  It would be helpful if you Google this phrase: external links should open new window. You are going to see a lot of search engine result pages (SERP). Millions! The bottom line is this, good design promotes good user experience and if your web page or blog post includes links to other pages, then when the user clicks on the link a new browser page should open. After all, you want your reader/client/customer to be able to find their way back to your site and the cleanest way to do that is to open a new window.
 
If you understand HTML coding, then you know having a link open in a new window is a simple piece of code: target=”_blank”.  But you need to know where to place the code and therein lies the problem with guiding and teaching clients on how to use a blogging platform and how to insure their external links will open in a new window.  
 
Over the past few years I made the acquaintance of some of the BLOGGER team while attending Blog World Expo. And they always encourage you to send them suggestions.  In January 2011,  I sent an email to Brett Wiltshire which included the following suggestion:
         “When inserting a link in the blog text it would be wonderful if the user could easily check a box in the EDIT LINK BOX that says  “open in a new browser” . Some users know how to insert the html code < target=”_blank”>, but this can be  very hard to teach to clients.”
About six weeks ago, I was working on a client’s blog and realized the BLOGGER team acted on my suggestion. Or I choose to think they liked my suggestion! See the screen shot below:
 
blogger link
See the little check box “Open this link in a new window”? This little enhancement is such a time saver for the writer and the reader.
 
Thank you, BLOGGER, for listening. 
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Did you know March 8, 2012, is National Proofreading Day? The very fact that there is such day must imply that proofreading is important. Don’t you think?  I know Jay Leno’s nightly routine continues to include making fun of proofreading errors. For myself I will tell you that I spend an inordinate amount of time proofreading our clients’ submitted text for their websites, newsletters, blogs, etc. I also spend time reading blogs that deal with text content and the power of good content, as it applies to making a good impression with potential customers and current customers.

You might think when it comes to proofreading that I am only concerned with assisting our own customers. This is not the case. Do you remember when I wrote “Bystander Effects on Broken Blogs and Websites”? Basically I really believe that if you come across a glaring error on someone’s site or blog you should do the right thing – tell them! They will appreciate it. Go ahead “pay it forward”.

We all make mistakes. Our eyes play tricks on us. We can read something so many times that we don’t “see” the mistakes. For that reason, many companies (large and small) have staff that edit and proof text multiple times prior to going to “press.”

So today I want to share with you 15 Grammar Goofs That Make You Look Silly.  These tips are coming to you by way of Brian Clark at Copyblogger. Believe me when I tell you that almost every day I learn something helpful from the Copyblogger team.

Enjoy and remember to pass this on to others and “pay it forward”.

 

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