Do you feel that your business Facebook page is not experiencing the success that you had hoped for? Are you curious what others are doing to gain attention and success? This article highlights several tips on how to transform  your Facebook Page from a simple online presence to a thriving social network.

Create an Experience

Your Facebook Page is not like a website, brochure or print ad, where it is all about pretty pictures and elegantly written copy. Stop using witty headlines and quotes from your brochures. Start discussions, ask questions, and be ready to answer and have real conversations with real people.

Provide an incentive for membership

If you are in the process start of starting  your business Facebook Page, find a way to grow your fan base and grow it fast.  The best way to do it is pretty old-fashioned: Reward Them. Consider your Facebook Page as the online membership program for your business. Reward them for “liking” by giving them discounts or offer exclusive member’s only prizes, sweepstakes and contests.

Let Your Customers be your Sales force

Experiment with Facebook sharing apps and widgets and make it easy for customers to recommend you to their friends. If your website has a photo gallery or product catalogue, install Facebook like buttons. This way, every time your website’s visitors click on the button, this will automatically appear on their own Facebook pages. Also, if you’re into ecommerce, install a show & sell app on your Facebook Page. Not only will this allow your customers to purchase directly from your Facebook Page, this also informs everyone on your customer’s own network.

Make Your Fans the Stars.
Take pride in the customers that you have, and make them feel special by putting the spotlight on them. If you are an interior decorator or architect,  upload an album of photos of your customer’s homes. If you are a wedding planner, upload photos of the wedding, the reception and all the other things related to the event, and put little thoughtful greetings to go along with the albums. Most importantly, always ask for their permission. It mustn’t appear like you’re exploiting them, but instead, share in their joy.

Remember that those “likes” represent Real People
Take it from the father of modern advertising, David Ogilvy, who said “The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife.” That means more now, with social media, than it did with traditional media. This means that you must establish a relationship, and as with all relationships, the key is to establish trust!

Tools

What do you need to ensure your website has great images and to make them ‘web-ready’?

1. Adobe Photoshop
Not that many computer programs become part of the English vocabulary. “Photoshopped” is now a verb that is often used  in reference to images that were edited to look better than they actually appeared in real life. Although there are a number of graphics editing programs in the market, the most commonly used (and most reliable) is still Adobe Photoshop.

Over the last two decades, Adobe Photoshop has become the professional standard digital picture and photo editing software. It is the most used software, not only because of the quality of images that it produces, but also because it is quite user-friendly, and even non-professionals will be able to get the hang of it after only a few tips and tutorials.
Preparing pictures for the web is just one of Adobe Photoshop’s many functions, and for that purpose, you won’t really need to learn every single one of its hundreds of controls.
For your website’s purposes, you’ll need only a few of Photoshop’s capabilities.

2. Scanner

3. Digital Camera

These 3 tools can really make a difference when needing to supply images for your website!

Preparing “web-ready” photos.

1. Save “Original” images .
• For editing, always use a copy, never the original.
• Save original images in a “loss-free” format such as TIFF.
• Digital cameras as well as scanners usually offer you the option to save your pictures in TIFF format.  This uses lots of storage space, but gives you the best output.  Save the master copy of every photo that is taken via camera or scanner, then make copies in jpeg for use on your website.

2. Plan which photos to use on your website
• After you have discussed the details of your website with your web developer, ask for a “wireframe”
.  A website wireframe is a visual guide that represents the skeletal framework of a website. The wireframe depicts the page layout or arrangement of the website’s content, including photos.
• This is very important from your end because you’ll get to know exactly how many photos you’ll need to provide, and where each photo will end up within the website
• Discuss with your web developer if you need to do the cropping or if they only need the uncropped jpegs and will do the cropping and resizing themselves.
• Ask your web developer about the exact image sizes that they’ll need to get from you.

3. Organize folders for your website photos
• Have a “master folder” containing the original photos in TIFF format.
• With the website wireframes as a guide, make folders corresponding to every page of your website.
• Using Adobe Photoshop, open the TIFF files one by one (in the order of every page of your website), and convert them one by one, then save them in the corresponding folders.

4. Converting images to JPEG
• Using Adobe Photoshop, open the TIFF file.
• Click the “File” menu and then “Open” to select your TIFF file. Once the file is open, click “File” and then “Save As.” When the pop up appears you will want to select JPG as your file type. 
• Make sure you save them in the correct order of website folders.

5. Cropping
• First of all, discuss with your web developer if it needs to be you who’ll do the cropping or if they only need the uncropped jpegs and will do the cropping and resizing themselves.  Knowing this will also save you a lot of time and effort.
• If you have agreed that it will be you who’ll do the cropping, then open Photoshop 
• Click on the Crop icon from the icon bar at the side of the window.
• Use your mouse to draw a box around the area of the photograph you want to keep. Hit enter or right-click your mouse and select Crop.

6. Saving JPEGs for the Web
• Resize your photo to a the size that you and your  web developer have agreed on. To do this, click “Image>Image Size,” enter the desired width in the “Pixel Dimensions” box  and click “OK.”
• Click “File>Save for Web” to open the Save for Web dialog box.
• In the top left corner of the Save for Web window are a series of tabs labeled Original, Optimized, 2-Up and 4-Up. You can switch between a view of your original photo, your optimized photo (with the Save for Web settings applied to it), or a comparison of 2 or 4 versions of your photo. Choose “2-Up” to compare the original photo with the optimized one. You will now see side-by-side copies of your photo.
• Click on the photo on the left side to select it. Choose “Original” from the Preset menu on the right side of the Save for Web window (if not already selected). This will put a preview of your original, unedited photo on the left side.
• Click on the photo on the right side to select it. Choose “JPEG High” from the Preset menu. You can now compare your optimized photo on the right (which will eventually be your final file) with your original on the left.
• Edit the jpeg quality.  The objective is to find a balance between file size and quality. A quality between 40 and 60 is usually a good range, depending on your needs. Try using the preset quality levels (i.e. JPEG Medium) to save time.
• Once you are satisfied with your photo on the right, click the “Save” button. The “Save Optimized As” window will open. Type a file name, browse to the desired folder on your computer and click “Save.”

Look out for Part 2 of Preparing Photos for the  Web later this week!

If you’ve already hired a web developer to build you a website, then they’re probably going to ask you for photos and images.  Number one rule, don’t tell him to “just grab the stuff I uploaded on my Facebook page.” Also, avoid a needless back and forth of you sending them files in the wrong size, quality and file format.

This three-part article covers the three basic things you need to know to help you prepare photos for your website.

1. Format
2. Tools
3. Preparing “web-ready” photos.

Format
Two very important formats you’ll need to know about: “lossy” and “loss-free”.  Have you ever noticed how some websites take longer to load than others?  Usually, the last things to load are the website’s images.  Due to this issue, different image formats were developed to minimise the amount of data that needs to be held, handled, and transmitted.
Industry experts realised that the image quality requirements for a website were significantly less than those required of print. As such, the “lossy” format was born, where a substantial amount of data about the image is discarded, before the resulting degradation is sufficiently noticeable.  The most popular, and still best, format for photos on the web is jpeg. Jpegs store just enough information on the image so that they’ll look good on websites.

The downside of jpegs though is that every time you edit the image and then save that change, a little more information is lost and the quality of the image continues to deteriorate. Therefore, always make it a point to prepare a “master image” in a loss-less format.

TIFF is a popular loss-less format for high color-depth images and may be edited and re-saved without losing image quality.  Digital cameras as well as scanners usually offer you the option to save your pictures in this format.  This uses lots of storage space, but gives you the best output.  Save the master copy of every photo that is taken via camera or scanner, then make copies in jpeg for use on your website.

Another lossy format you should be aware of is the GIF. For sharp-edged line art with a limited number of colors,  this is the format that works best. Websites use GIF for  logos, patterns and other website graphics. GIFs can also be used for small animations and low-resolution film clips.

NEXT: Part Two – Tools and Preparing “web-ready” photos.

Perhaps the first thing you should do before taking your business online is consider your domain name. Here are some questions you’re probably asking yourself and our thoughts on the matter that will hopefully help you arrive at a better decision when choosing the right domain name for your business.

1.Long or Short Domain Names?
You can actually own a domain name with up to 67 characters. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you should have a terribly long domain name, but this can be helpful if your company name is Acme and you sell motor parts, as you will want to differentiate yourself from a company called Acme Furniture.  So you get www.acmemotorparts.com and they get www.acmefurniture.com.

2.Top Level Domains (.com? Or .com.au?)
These letters (.com, net, .org) appended to the end of your domain names are called Top Level Domains (TLD). The “.com” TLD is the most common and often used domain on the web with “.net” the second most popular. If your business is country specific then you may like to have a country specific TLD such as “.au” for Australia.
So, let’s say, on the internet, somebody already beat you to the use of www.acmefurniture.com. If your company (Acme Furniture) caters primarily to customers in Australia, then you can simply acquire www.acmefurniture.com.au.

3.Hyphenated Names?
If your business or blog has a very long name (www.acmefurniture.com.au) you should probably consider using a separator in your domain name in order to avoid spelling mistakes. Using a separator also removes any confusion with your domain name spellings. As an example, it is always better to have a domain name name like www.acme-furniture.com.au rather than having www.acmefurniture.com.au. 
Using a separator also improves the readability of your domain name and search engines can distinguish your keywords better and thus return your site more prominently in search results for those keywords occurring in your domain name.

4. Generic Names Or Brand Name Domains?
There are different reasons why some companies opt for a generic name or a brand name. Some companies choose a generic name (such as www.cars.com, www.hotels.com, www.sydneyrestaurant.com) so that they can easily be found. A great number of people seem to believe in this, and so you’ll notice how much money those generic names are being sold for.

However, if you look around at the most popular and successful online business, not a lot of their domain names sound generic or obvious.  Google, Yahoo and Amazon.com being prime examples.

For that reason, you should consider a domain name that matches your brand name. The real issue here is actually how clever you are with coming up with your brand name. Make sure that your brand name is distinct, relatable, and most importantly, memorable.

Good luck choosing the domain name best suited to your business!

When choosing a colour combination for your business, and by extension, your website, there are two important factors that you should consider. First, they must be colours that you like. After all, your business must reflect your vision, ideals and philosophies.

Second, they must be the kinds of colours that communicate the right kind of message that you want people to feel and associate with your brand and your company. For the latter, there are two easy guides to help you make the right colour choices: Colour Theory and Colour Meanings.

Colour Theory is more scientific and exact, using the colour wheel as a guide for designers in picking out colours harmony and contrast.  Most modern colour wheels are based on three primary colours, three secondary colours, and the six intermediates formed by mixing a primary with a secondary, known as tertiary colours, for a total of 12 main divisions; some add more intermediates, for 24 named colours. Other colour wheels, however, are based on the four opponent colours, and may have four or eight main colours.

Here are some really quick colour theory tips that can help you when you’re dealing with designers. The following is a list of all of the names of colours and what they’re good for.

1.The Primary Colours: Red, Yellow, Blue. These three are the base for every other colour on the colour wheel, hence they  are called “primary.” When two primaries are mixed together, you get a secondary colour.

2.Secondary Colours:  These are what you get when you mix the primary colours together: Orange, Green, Purple.  In the colour wheel, they’re located in-between the primary colours to indicate what colours they’re made from.  For example, green is in-between yellow and blue, which means that green is the result of combining yellow and blue.

3.Tertiary Colours: are those “in-between” colours like Yellow-Green and Red-Violet, a result of mixing one primary colour and one secondary colour together.

4.Complementary Colours: Red and Green, Blue and Orange, Purple and Yellow, colours directly across from each other on the colour wheel and when used together, they become extremely vibrant and have heavy contrast.

5.Analogous Colours: These are colours right next to each other on the colour wheel, such as Red and Orange, Blue and Green.

Moving on to the more philosophical beliefs regarding colour, here are some basic “meanings” often associated with the more popular colours in use today -

Red is a very intense colour and high visibile, which is why stop signs, stoplights, and fire equipment are usually painted red. Red brings text and images to the foreground. Use it as an accent colour to stimulate people to make quick decisions such as ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Click Here’ buttons on Internet banners and websites.

Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy. Use yellow to evoke pleasant, cheerful feelings,  to promote children’s products and items related to leisure. Yellow is very effective for attracting attention, so use it to highlight the most important elements of your design.

Blue is is often associated with depth and stability,  symbolizing trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. You can use blue to promote products and services related to cleanliness and travel. You may also use blue to suggest precision when promoting high-tech products while dark blue is associated with depth, expertise, and stability; it is a preferred color for corporate America.

Whether you go by colour theory, colour meaning or simple gut feel, what’s important to realise is that colour always has meaning or that colour must have meaning. Whether it is generated by a personal preference or the colour wheel, the most important thing to consider is that colour must have a purpose behind it.

Earlier this year, a massive breach affected 77 million user accounts of Sony’s online video game network.  This led to the theft of identities, addresses and credit card data, and is considered one of the most damaging Internet security break-ins ever.

As a result, investor confidence for Sony’s stock went down; share prices dropped 3.7 percent the week after the hack had been announced and several months after the fact, the company is still reeling from the effects.

This is a very strong reminder that website hosting security is something that anyone thinking of putting their business online, should include in any discussion with a prospective website host.  To ensure the safety of your website and your online business, make sure your prospective developer is equipped with technologies that defend against malware.

Also, and especially if your website handles online payment transactions, make sure that your website is secure from hackers. Without the property measures, hackers can steal credit card data, leaving you with lots of angry customers and legal issues.  Ask about  SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), which helps protect credit card/bank account information, phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.  Regular online shoppers look for this when browsing through websites and will refuse to shop unless your website has an SSL certificate which is placed on the checkout page.

Lastly, discuss with the web developer if they automatically conduct routine server back-ups. Many people have the smart habit of backing up the content of their personal computer. This practice should be applied to your website as well. If not done at all, this could mean that data loss is permanent, and you’ll have to start all over again (and PAY all over again, if you decide to go with another web developer).

So remember this: your website is a reflection of you and how you handle your business. If you don’t take care of your website, your reputation, and eventually your actual business could be seriously damaged as well.