Web development, design, and site optimization

When I first started my blog in November of 2007 I did so with a few goals in mind:

1. Promote myself to the masses.

2. To acquire new contacts for personal and professional use.

3. Build traffic that could then be used as a stepping stone to other revenue generating projects.

In just 3 months time I have managed to do a lot of both goals #1 and #2. As far as traffic, no traffic is ever enough. My traffic is growing at a good clip and with a few tweaks I hope will begin to spike even further. Most notably I think that as long as I add valuable content the readers will continue to come and come back.

Now one thing I have learned since joining the blogging community is that a blog in itself can be a very good source of supplementary income. It is not nesessary to build a seperate revenue generating site off of the blog. By building solid traffic and doing a few other advertising related things, you can make a lot of extra cash. Its not easy cash by any means, you have to put work into it. But once you have a system in place and rolling along it can mean more money with less effort than would be necessary to earn that money outside of your blog. More »

Something I have been doing of late is participating in answering user submitted questions on Yahoo! Answers. Its a great system they have in place over there, it can actualy be quite addicting running through the questions and answering them.

One question that came up was about what hardware to invest in for starting up a hosting company. Well, that poster is out of business likely before he starts :)

More »

About Mark Sapusek:
Visionary Web - www.visionaryweb.com

I started doing web design in 1995 and we started Visionary Web Design in 1997. I started doing contract work out of Chicago, IL and Indianapolis, IN. We have done more than 1000 projects for companies throughout the United States. Today our primary focus is on web development work and the name of the company is now Visionary Web, LLC (a division of NCI Ventures, LLC). In the parent company I am the CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) and in Visionary Web my responsibilities are that of project manager and existing client sales. My current job title with Visionary Web is Director of Web Solutions. I have worked individually with 100’s of clients and my main focus is on ROI for those customers. We love to do work where the client can see their return on investment in measurable standards. Early on in my career I spent a lot of time working with and teaching marketing departments for large corporations the how’s and why’s of web design.

I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ball State University (1992) and some Master’s level coursework and additional studies in technology. I have been on the board of directors of many organizations within our community including the Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Development Center, Broadband Vision Group of Wabash County and Kiwanis. My wife and I are very involved in our community and regularly work with schools and church groups to strengthen our young people. Being from a small town in Indiana makes it even more vital that we stay active in the community.

I currently reside in Wabash, Indiana with my wife, Christina, and two children (8 and 11). We attend Saint Bernard Church in Wabash and are involved in the school and church community there. Christina is the President and CEO of the company. Visionary Web, LLC currently employs 5 full-time and 2 part-time individuals. The overall company employs 13 individuals with the need for additional growth in the coming months. More »

Wow, it has been a busy couple of weeks with the new baby in the Muise house-hold. I have not had much time to formulate ideas for new posts or let a lone to put my ideas down into somewhat comprehensible sentences. Today I read a post at The Webhosting Show that triggered a topic I wanted to also touch upon, to add my thoughts on this practice of hosting companies that are promising the world for a very low price, but not having the ability to actually provide it (or support it).

The webhosting business is an industry that has been infiltrated by the masses. Competition is stiff. Not only are prices dropping for hosting services, but the costs of going into the hosting business is next to non-existant. As is the technical expertise required to get into the business. Anyone can go to someone like ResellerPanel.com and become a hosting company for free. Yes FREE!. But the thing is having the ability to resell hosting and being a good hosting company are two separate things. As a customer looking for hosting you run the risk that your hosting company of choice is nothing more than a young teenager running his own business from his parent’s basement looking to make cash rather than build a stable business. Selling services at bargain prices with huge storage and bandwidth hoping to get as many customers as possible and cash out, leaving you in the dark.

Unfortunately in the industry this practice is not just taken by the teenager in the basement analogy. Some “legitimate”, want to be in business, folk also take this route. There are countless companies out there who offer excessive storage and bandwidth for very low costs. How do they do it? Well its like this, most of their users will never ever reach anywhere near the amounts being sold. So the hosting company is never really tested. Now these companies are not necessarily bad companies to do business with. Some may be stable, that should be made clear. The issue I have with these companies though is the ones that seem to come and go tend to fall apart as a result of two things. One being that their user base is growing far too fast and they have no clue or resources to manage them. Two being that these companies who are all about selling low also tend to be also about cramming as many customers on one server as possible to save a penny, degrading quality and stability.

So beware if you are using a company or looking at using a company that seems to offer excessive specs for low costs. Research the company, ask them questions direct, browse user forums. They are, whether they like it or not, a part of a larger tier of the industry that also includes fly-by-night operators, you can’t be too cautious.

And something that always makes me weary is when storage or bandwidth is sold as “UNLIMITED”…. Really, unlimited??? Sure.

Webhosting giant 1and1 recently conducted its own survey of the domain name industry. Here are their findings:

- Over 40 percent of SMBs spend same amount of time choosing their coffee maker - 1 in 3 companies believe their revenue would increase with a better web address

U.S. small businesses are rushing their choice of web address, with 42 percent investing under 1 hour of thought in the decision, according to a survey released today by 1&1 Internet Inc., the world’s largest web host by known servers. A survey of 1074 American businesses revealed that the average business spends less than 12 hours choosing their main domain name. Some 60 percent of business owners sought no second opinion before making a selection and over half (57 percent) did not consider options such as .biz or .net at all. Most recognized that their domain name could have a lasting effect on their business, with one third of businesses (37 percent) believing that their revenue would improve as a direct result of having a better web address, and 1 in 4 businesses (28 percent) admitting they had ‘concerns’ about the effectiveness of their web address.

1&1’s ‘SMB Domain Choices Study’(1) found that U.S. businesses most often choose their primary domain name in haste. Some 42 percent of businesses surveyed spent the same time selecting their domain as they did sourcing minor equipment such as their coffee maker or paper shredder (less than 1 hour). The average U.S. business admitted to spending less than 12 hours on the decision, the same amount of time spent selecting IT equipment such as PCs and printers. Some 60 percent of business owners did not seek a second opinion, even though over half (58 percent) had to modify their domain because their first choice was not available.

It is therefore not surprising that many American businesses believe that their choice of domain name could have been better. 1 in 4 businesses (28 percent) admitted to wanting improvements in either their domain name wording or suffix (e.g. .biz). Furthermore, a significant one third (37 percent) believe that their sales revenue would improve as a direct result of a change in web address. Alarmingly, about 1 in 4 of these businesses (23 percent) said they were unwilling to attempt a change in domain name because they believed it would involve a lot of work. There is a clear danger that a number of businesses continue to use an undesirable domain name while recognizing it could be having a negative impact on their business.

1&1’s research would suggest that the way many businesses choose their web addresses could be improved. The survey found that most business owners were preoccupied with .com or .org options, with over half (57 percent) completely ruling out less obvious suffixes such as .net, .biz or .tv. 1&1 recommends that businesses spend at least a few days thinking about their domain name wording and weighing up the pros and cons of the various suffixes available to them.

Andreas Gauger, Chairman of the Board, 1&1 Internet Inc., commented, “The selection of a business’ web address is a crucial decision, businesses should consider all available options before purchasing their primary domain name. As the number of registered domains increases, it’s often the case that the best available domains belong to less obvious suffixes, and it is always advisable to seek external opinion on what a domain could suggest about your business.”

While most U.S. small businesses now recognize the benefits of having a website, the research would suggest few are optimizing their web presence. Some 7 percent of business owners surveyed admit to having forgotten their own domain name.

Gauger added, “Although purchasing a web address should be one of the first steps in launching a business, it is often bought in haste. Every American business must recognize the lasting impact that a domain name can have on sales and image, and business owners shouldn’t delay making necessary changes.”

As the world’s largest web host, 1&1 offers a comprehensive range of web solutions including domain name registrations, web hosting, email solutions, dedicated servers, and eShops.

For more information on 1&1 Internet Inc. visit the website at www.1and1.com.