Lost in Translation

I’m overdue for another post. Things get hairy when you run a business from home, have infant twins, and the air conditioning goes out. In many parts of the country, that’s not a big deal in May, but in Texas it can be HOT! We have babies and ferrets, so it meant several days of little work, no fun, and no sleep.

Meanwhile, here is a post I originally wrote for DrakNet that was posted April 30, 2010.

I thought I’d share it here for those that may not follow the DrakNet blog and also because this site is basically an extended FAQ covering issues I deal with all the time from clients. Google image search and copyright are recurring themes in my line of work.

I get a lot of images from clients to put on websites. Because I like to educate and protect my clients, I am prone to asking, “Where did you get this from?”

More often than not, the response is: “Google’s free image search”.

Let me clear up a common misconception: the image search on Google is not a repository of free images for everyone. What Google is doing is searching images on other people’s websites and showing those images to you. These are images that are protected by copyright law.

Read the rest of the article here…

I’m pleased to announce that GeekArtist Web Solutions will be providing website assistance to DrakNet Web Hosting customers. GeekArtist is acting as their “in house” web design service. That is in quotes since we’re still two separate entities, but we have several years experience working together.

I’ve spent some time working DrakNet’s support desk and actually, DrakNet provides my web hosting service. This means I’ve got improved knowledge of their hosting intricacies and administrative knowledge, and access to their servers.

I’ve been with DrakNet for nearly a decade. Of all the hosts I’ve worked with for the past 10 years, DrakNet is the most reliable with the best customer service. I would not resell through any other web host.

I can’t say enough good things about Jen Lepp and DrakNet. And I’m thrilled that our businesses are working together in this capacity.

Remember GeekArtist hosting clients: as always, contact GeekArtist with any hosting questions. If you contact DrakNet they will simply refer you back to me.

People build a lot of mystique into search engine rankings. They like to pretend that there is a big secret to how this works. There is only one secret: search engines don’t tell us all criteria they use to rank websites. They don’t reveal all of the details involved because they don’t want people gaming the system. (And people already try using what they do tell us.) Anyone claiming to know these secrets is either a liar or has committed a felony called industrial espionage. So you’ll want to avoid those people.

However, when search engines do share information, they tell us a great deal. For that part, there is no big secret. While there are a great many technical details that can go into making a site rank better in search engines, there are a few basics you should know about as a site owner. I’ve got 3 things you should know.

Read the rest of the article here…

In the past 10 years, I’ve made websites for a wide variety of organizations. I’ve made them for businesses, nonprofits, and individuals. One thing most have in common is a misunderstanding what is acceptable in terms of logo, and other image use, on their site.

For example, many sites have logos that belong to other organizations on their sites. The logos may be from manufacturers whose products they sell, or from professional organizations of which they are a member. The logos may be from social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

More often than not, these logos are used without explicit permission from those the logos represent. The website owner borrowing the logos isn’t doing so maliciously. In fact, most of them are convinced they are just giving the other websites some “free advertising”.

Let me once again be the bearer of bad news: that just ain’t so. What that is, is theft. Read the rest of the article here…

There are a lot of individuals starting out in online business. A great many see it as a means to make extra money or become self-employed. For those just starting out, many do not know what they need to do this or where to turn for services.

This is often the most confusing part for those who want to sell a product online. Here is an e-commerce checklist for you. Better yet: a checklist for starting your first online store on a shoestring budget.

Read the rest of the article here…