Unidentified Flying? Object

I am a Web designer so I always have my camera with me. So one day, while outside my home on Lake Logan, I heard an unfamiliar sound, I reached for my camera. I didn't see anything but I took some shots anyway, I thought it was a hummingbird moving fast. It made the same kind of sound, sort of a low buzzing, air whooshing, big bug flapping wings frenetically kind of sound.

I never gave it another thought, till I downloaded the images from the camera. I never sort my images, I just downloaded them and put them in folders, sometimes I even label the folders, mostly though they're just dated. Anyway to make a short story even longer, finally I did look at the images, by accident or serendipity as I was looking for something else, turkeys actually. One day I stumbled on a flock of wild turkeys, we bumped into each other, we both jumped, they ran and pooped their way into treetops, I wanted to do the same, but didn't, just took some photos. I thought a turkey or two would be nice imagery for the Vinton County Wild Turkey Festival, on the county Web site.

Much to my surprise I saw this image! Wow what was that? Then I remembered the whooshy sound and the few random shots of I took. I took several shots, maybe seven, in a circle trying to capture an unseen hummingbird. Well I'm not saying it's a UFO, I have no idea what it is, but it's not a hummingbird, I can tell you that. I must have been standing at maximum one to two feet from it, I never saw it, I heard it, and I captured it with my camera. At the time I had on me my little point and shoot automatic camera, I wish I had the "Big Boy", but even though, looking at the original image, you can make out reflections of the trees, the sun, clouds and sky. It was there alright. I've been a little hesitant to share this with anyone, after all I am a graphic artist. Someone may think I manufactured this image. I wish my skill was this refined.

I just came across the image again, while looking for something else, so I thought I would post it.

Domain Names

Domain Names are assets to your business. They are inexpensive to purchase and expensive to replace. The longer you have them, the more traffic you have going to your Web site, the more valuable they become. There are things you should do with them and things you shouldn't do.

You should get one, maybe more than one. Like I said they are assets. Domain names are a convenient way to direct your online users to your hosting account for your Web site, via your domain name. Your registra points your DNS to your host, so make it a good name. One that is easy for your clients to remember. Like www.fredfioto.com is a good name, www.fredfiotowebdesign.com, is a good name too, especially if I am a Web designer. Not so good if I am a bus driver. So your domain name should be relevant to you and your business for it to be a good one, with a geographic reference, and the shorter the better. Also .com is better than .us or .net or .anythingelse. Geographic references are especially good if you want local walk-in traffic.  So you choose a good name, or names, you point them, you renew them, you look them up in WhoIs or you protect them so you can't look them up in WhoIs. Cost about $10 -$35 a year.

Don't transfer your domain name to anybody for any reason. There is no reason to, all you do is point and renew. How hard is it to point. Not hard, call up your registra and have them help you, or if you trust your Web company grant them access to your account, or have them help you, but never transfer account ownership to them. All these forms and technical verbiage sometimes can be daunting so grant your Web guy access if you must, but retain the domain in your name, never approve anything that mentions the word "transfer" in association with your domain names. Also don't let them expire. Just like everything else they have terms, start and end dates. Most have auto renew features, so use it. Oh and before I forget, keep your contact information current, check every year, and be sure to keep your credit card on file, what good is auto renew if you have an old credit card number?

You want to check your information in WhoIs go here who.godaddy.com/

Oh and don't become a cyber-squatter, no one likes them.

Technology the Waiting Game

Technology waits for no one. The good thing about being in a technology business is the game changes, seemingly from moment to moment. You're never bored.

Last night while watching baseball on the tube I realized that baseball has been the same game for over a hundred years. The craft is taught and handed down through generations, sometimes from father to son. It must be great to make a profession out of a game that stays the same from year to year. Honing your craft is fine tuned and the separation from player to player is thin, so thin that luck, funny bounces, geographic location, weather, and human error are all part of the game. ...and they keep statistics to track it all. Batting averages during away day games with two out and men in scoring position. They track that!

Not so in Web design. New standards, software, hardware, and constant training come into play. Investments in equipment, subscriptions, peer reviews, e-learning all are necessary to succeed.

That's why this month I'm testing blog feeds, AGAIN. I tested it and provided this service for many years. But as I was saying nothing stays the same and Google once again changed, so here I am, generating this garbled verbiage to test it's effectiveness.

I want my clients to be effective in their marketing, and if there is a tool, especially if it's free, (how cool is that), I want to make it available to them. So I guess this wraps up this rant... and if you want your blog headlines fed automatically to your Web site, give me a call or visit my site F-Webs

2012 - Another New Beginning

Every year starts for me with promise. New adventures, new clients, new places to visit, new food dishes to prepare and explore, and new designs to create. This year we go for a few WordPress designs, exploit CSS3 and HTML5 in the custom Dreamweaver designs, and the latest gadgets in the form of jquery javascript suites in both.

Last year was a good year, had a lot of new designs go live, like the Vinton County Chamber of Commerce, A Georgian Manner Bed and Breakfast, Zip the Wilds, Burlington's Willis Graves Bed and Breakfast, and Clay Bryn Castle (Hocking Hills Lodge) being amongst my favorites.

I also launched a few test sites to test marketing ideas such as Hocking Hills Discounts, Top Choice BnB, and 7SOS which hopefully will present fruitful marketing and SEO advantages into my clients sites. So far testing has been very promising.

I also redesigned my main Web site although I still have more to do this year. So what's new, besides the new design engines? Glad you asked! Blog feeds, more social media, GYRO's, New Orleans, Apalachicola, Franklin County Indiana, Grubb Landscaping, Inn at Woodhaven, just to name a few things.

OK did I say Gyro, well yes, I found a source of gyro meat right HERE. It is shipped from a warehouse slightly south of Milwaukee WI, so it takes 2 days, FedEx. It's shipped with dry ice and arrives frozen to your doorstep, in the winter. You then have to bake it for a few hours. Then partition it and then freeze it. It arrives in a 5 pound loaf. You can buy the larger cones, but I don't have a machine. So I just slice up the precooked meat, mix in some onions, garlic, rosemary, and some Greek Seasoning, Cavendish brand works well, add to fresh pita bread with a cucumber yogurt sauce and your in Greek Heaven.

So there is a lot to look forward to in 2012. Hopefully the Indians and Browns improve, maybe a little CSS3 will help them too!