The worst thing about having a website is getting it noticed by search engines! I do everything suggested only to find out certain things are no longer important and something new needs to be done. I have keywords on my pages, in the page titles. in the meta tags and alt tags. I have added this blog (that no one really reads), a link to  facebook and twitter pages. I have backlinks. The problem is I don’t have enough. It is difficult getting other sites to link to your site. I get a lot of spam from sites trying to get a link from me. I should try the same!

Back to keywords, I did a site for Advantek Solutions. They are in the time and attendance business. Naturally “time and attendance” is their main key phrase. Put that into Google and you can go through 30 screens and won’t find them. On the other hand you will find sites that are not optimized and are not trying to be found (i.e. sites meant just for internal information for a company’s employees). However, I will keep at this. I need more business!

I get a lot of emails from various services I have subscribed to regarding web design, SEO, etc. I actually get inundated with them and it is impossible to read them all. However, I occassionally get some good information from one of them.

I recently saw in one of them something about a website called websitegrader.com. Type in your URL and it will give you a score from 0 to 100. It will also tell you weak points and what is missing or needs to be improved. I am designing websites so you think mine ( http://www.webdesignonabudget.com ) would be good. WRONG! I got a 35! I started adding things that were missing such as this blog, and RSS feed to another blog, Facebook and Twitter links, and so on. I got my site to my target of 80! There are still a few things I can do to get it even higher.

Website Grader also helped me get new business. While talking to a client about giving their site a makeover I showed them a website grader report on their site. It was a 12! Pretty poor, huh? It helped me secure their business.  Check out their new site at http://www.davidsonfab.com

I think I will continue looking for little tools like this that will make my job easier and increase my business.

What is the significance of Oct 2013? I am going to retire at least from my main job. I spend most of my time in sales and marketing of time and attendance systems for businesses. In 3 years I am done. But in an effort to keep myself from just spending all my time sitting on my butt watching the “Boob Tube”  I am developing this website design business to give me something to do that I really like.  Since I design at home I will no longer have a 50 mile each way commute! How nice it will be to spend that 3 hours driving everyday being creative instead. I never thought I would look forward to getting older.

Well they claim a blog is important for a website to be found and flourish. So… here is our site’s blog! I have never been what I would call an “author” so it is still a mystery whether or not this will be the least bit interesting. I tried using Blogspot as you can see in previous posts but to be effective a blog needs to be part of your website.

I have done about a dozen sites now. the last was for my daughter Michele. Her and her friends just started a new business, Knock-Knock Mobile Spa. The bad thing was I had to do it for free! Just because I am her dad! At least her and her 2 partners liked it. LOL

Published on Blogster on 5-21-2010

Update on Webdesign

It has been quite awhile since I was on here. The last time I was wondering if I could make money designing websites. It took awhile but I finally did several. Recently I finished Courtland Manor Nursing and Convalescent Home, Medley Fire Protection, and La Campagnola Ristorante. Now I am working on a site for my HVAC contractor. More on that later!

Next week I am getting together with 2 other people to see if we can work together and have a serious business. Web Design on a Budget! The bad thing is optimizing the sites for SEO. I do it but not crazy about it. I may teach my daughter to do that. Who wouldn’t want a job they can do from home?

Originally I started a blog on Blogster. As a website designer I have learned how important it is to have a blog as part of a website. My forst couple of posts are transferred over from Blogster. Published on 3-11-2010…

I did my company a favor one day by saving them some money. I created their website for them! http://www.advantek-solutions.com I knew nothing about this but learned quickly. After 6 generations of this site I got sort of good at it, good enough to start doing it for other companies. So I developed my own site http://www.webdesignonabudget.net Now I have the bug. This is something I really like doing. I have taken several training course for Dreamweaver, Flash animations, etc. I am now ready to make a little money doing something I like. I can design sites, create company logos, and provide other services such as optimization. I will post updates on how this venture goes. By the way, another site I have done is http://www.wellness-at-work.com

Thanks for visiting our website and blog!  Over time we hope to post various articles about web design, graphics, and the progress of our endeavor. Please look around, make comments, and most of all… return!