Seems there are a million and one hosting options. I’ve only worked with thousands (or so it seems) and there is usually a unique wrinkle with each one when implementing standard software like WordPress.

With Network Solutions, the wrinkle comes in how the wp.config.php configuration defines the “MySQL hostname”.

With 99% of hosts this line of code is left as defaulted: define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’);

With Network Solutions the “localhost” value must change: define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘Server IP’); where ‘Server IP’ must be changed to the value assigned to your installation by Network Solutions.

You can find your ‘Server IP’ value by logging into your NetSol account and looking in the MySQL admin area. It should look something like ‘mysqlv21′.

Some might ask “Why not just use the simple install script that the host provides?” The answer has to do with security. To protect your client’s WP site against getting hacked, you should be creating and securing your database and other elements of the install manually, with strong passwords and atypical table prefixes for example.

Hope this helps some of my web design friends. And for my business friends, I apologize for the tech speak.

Professional logos can cost between $150 and $10,000. For the small to medium business, $250 to $500 will attract some very experienced creatives. $1,000-$1500 will attract even higher end ones if your project is complex and your budget can bear it.

By way of eating our own cheese sticks, we just did a logo makeover. (I know, I know, ’bout time). Anyway, thought we’d share our experiences:

• Out of pocket investment: $470.30
• In-house project management cost: 1.5 man days
• Agency: crowdSPRING.com (a crowd sourcing marketplace of 50,000 plus creatives)
• Winning creative: peg770

Here are a couple of the almost 100 concepts we recieved:

Ninetyseven entries were posted to our project altogether. Frankly, two thirds of those were dismissed out of hand as either too literal or amateurish. The other third were of some interest, with about 15% nicely creative. We were very impressed with the professionalism of that 15% and the fast turnaround in response to our feedback — and most importantly with the ultimate outcome based on investment in time and money.

The 1.5 days of project management time was spent doing the following:

• Brainstorming requirements for logo use
  • on web banner
  • as web favicon (those tiny icons on browser tabs and favorites lists)
  • in print on business cards, stationery, ads
  • on clothing and other promo items
• Developing a creative brief
  • crowdSPRING makes this easy with an online brief builder and their 10 things to consider post.
• Providing feedback on 97 design entries.
  • This is time consuming but crucial. Creatives need timely, helpful, specific feedback, and it’s in the buyers best interest to give it.
• Polling our network for feedback on the top entries.
• Verifying files
  • Checking files delivered by creative and testing integration of logo on websites prior to final project approval.

What did we end up with for our $470 and the time spent? Original high quality artwork that we own, that was developed quickly and delivered in three versions:
 
Hope this post gives you some helpful insights into the process when considering your own logo. Let us know what you think.

Need affordable help with your branding, web presence or online reputation management – or just want to bounce some ideas off a good listener? Contact us anytime.

OK, you’ve earned their attention. They’re your newest  fan. Your hard work resulted in them visiting your site and  they’ve found your message relevant. Now what?  

Why not ask for an email address?

FeedBurner makes doing that free and incredibly easy, by way of an email subscription widget.

FeedBurner was acquired by Google in 2007, and is a marketing tool that every blog or website should be using. It’s free and takes minutes to set up.

Adding the FeedBurner email subscription form to your blog is a cinch. Just cut and paste the code that FeedBurner provides into your blog admin panel (in WordPress you can add it via Appearance > Widget).

Once the email form is in place, FeedBurner handles all the complexities… The confirmation email and unscubscribe processes, the database for storing and maintaining the subscribers’ email addresses, as well as tools to export addresses to a standard CSV file  to use any way you want, e.g. with your email campaign tool of choice.

The FeedBurner site will walk you through how this is all done, but if you have a question that’s not covered, enter a comment here and I’ll try to address it.

Want more of the kind of information you just read? Easy.

Just subscribe to my free newsletter service on the right.

It starts off like this: “Worst service…I have ever seen”. And ends like this: ”…Don’t ever do business with these guys, EVER! Followed by a 1 out of 5 star rating. Ouch, that  really hurts. It hurts doubly bad because studies show that consumers assign much higher credibility to peer reviews than to company generated messaging. The scary part for business owners is that the reviewer can slam you anonymously, whether you deserve it or not.

Here’s how to proactively manage your online reputation to ensure your ratings fairly match the quality of products or services your business provides.

1. Expect to get Slammed: Recognize  two immutable truths: 1. unhappy customers – and unscrupulous competitors - have a built in incentive to “punish you” in a review and will spend the time and effort to do so.  2. Satisfied customers - left unattended – will stay silent.

2. Don’t Fight ‘Em: You can never win an argument with a customer, so don’t try. Avoid responding to any but the most slanderous reviews. Your time is probably better spent influencing happy customers to go online and review you.

3. The Good Side of Bad Reviews: Mine for gold in bad reviews. Sure, we can all handle just about any amount of praise, but who’s going to tell us what we’re doing wrong? You know, the things that most of our customers won’t tell us to our faces.

Eric Kirsammer, owner of Quimby’s Bookstore in Chicago, also avoids engaging his critics openly online. Instead, Kirsammer uses negative reviews as a tool to improve customer service. (By Kasey Wehrum | Jun 1, 2009 / Inc)

The takeaway is simple: If the anonymous nature of online reviews help people be more forthcoming, shake off the hurt pride and smile at your good fortune.

4. Set a “Good to Bad Ratio” Goal: If you believe, as I do. that every business is doomed over time to get slammed, then work proactively to encourage happy customers to review you. If 49 customers say your fabulous and the 50th says you’re dog food, fabulous wins every time.

5. Monitor Online Mentions: Reputation management is not a one time thing. Be ever vigilant. Search regularly for what’s being said about your company online. For that matter, see what’s being said about your competitors too, both pro and con. Look for actionable items. A quick Google or Bing of your company name + review is one step. Search Twitter too.

6. Be Proactive: First let’s talk about  prevention. Prevention is better than a cure.  If it takes getting slammed by a reviewer to jump start your efforts at reputation management, just be prepared to roll that heavy barrel up the hill instead of down.

7. Review the Reviewer: If you’re like me, you appreciate an honest, thoughtful reviewer, whether they post something positive or not. I always click on the reviewer to see what else they’ve reviewed and what they have to say. If they’ve only reviewed one business and they slammed it -or they’ve reviewed a bunch and they love everyone, I factor that into how much their rating will influence me.

Case Study: Checkered Flag, a neighborhood carwash here in Irvine, California launched a campaign to encourage customers to rate them online.  The rules where simple:

a. Review them on any one of these sites: google, yelp, yahoo, local.com
b. Get a free car wash
c. Limit 1 per customer
d. Print out the review and bring it to the cashier for your free car wash
e. Offer expires Oct. 31, 2009

Checkered Flag handed out fliers at the register announcing the offer to patrons. The staff were very careful not to influence customers to write a good review, which earned them a righteous nod in my book. A PR friend of mine took exception, questioning whether this would be interpreted as ”paying for a review”. I think not. I see it as reimbursing the customer for the 15 to 30 minutes of their time it takes to post a review – and clearly ethical so long as the business does not try to influence customers to write good reviews – beyond their consistent delivery of good products and services.

The results so far in Google, Yahoo, and Local.com are overwhelmingly positive for Checkered Flag as of this writing. Yelp reviews, as typical of Yelpers, were less glowing, yet mostly positive.

In summary, what people are saying about you online matters. Savvy companies are making online reputation management a strategic focus. The take away here is that if you don’t have the bandwidth or inclination or marketing wherewithal inside your business to nurture your online reputation- and most small businesses don’t, then outsource it. Else, bare your loins and pray the nasties leave you be.