Observations

[caption id="attachment_2254" align="alignright" width="300"] Old Site | 2010[/caption] I was asked to do my church's website not long after I got in the business, back in 2003. Immanuel Lutheran is located in Crosby, Minnesota. The first rendition was OK, but largely forgettable. The second rendition, done in 2010 was pretty cool. I took a template called WP80 and swapped out various images. I think the site was really unique looking, by the time I got done and has served the church well. Recently, I've felt pressure to upgrade the design, since some of the functionality didn't really w...

Revision Time K&J Repair is a marine and small engine repair shop located near me in the Brainerd Lakes area. I built the site to the right...about ten years ago. I've always thought it was cool having the dark appearance. But I realized it was not mobile friendly and alerted the owner that a revision to a responsive theme might be in order to retain they're excellent Google positioning in the area. Kevin McGuire, owner said go for it. I went to work and retained most of the content. Since it was a WP site built using Artisteer, it was pretty straight forward to convert. I used M...

Making Maps (for Free) Great Again! Map making has always been fun for me. I've used Google Maps and Leaflets Maps Marker, etc. for years in Wordpress. But those plugins are getting very difficult to use and Google Maps is now charging for API usage - which used to be free of course! Leaflets is also holding you hostage to API's and other upgrades - once free. It gets very frustrating searching for API codes and other related hassle factors, especially with Google who changes their policies about every six months. Suddenly you can't find anything and of course their support is horrible. ...

We were asked to update and outdated website for Marilyn Peters, owner of Screen Area Enclosures. It's a pretty cool concept turning outdoor areas such as patios and decks into three season environments. The system is unique and we needed to do a couple of things: Improve the appearance and make mobile friendly. Set up informational links to the manufacturer for additional info. Embed SEO tactics to bring up prominently for regional searches. We also added a Dealer Inquiry section to attract more regional dealers. Key Action - Call for More Information We set this up on a W...

Lakeview Tree Company - Crosslake, MN Jason Preble got my name from SawAgain.com owner Dan Dean. I set Dan up several years ago with an online store that's kickin' bootie! Jason has been in the competitive tree services business for over 20 years. As you know, there are a bunch of similar services available all over, especially in the heavily wooded regions of the U.S. This original site was a Do-It-Yourself special we see a lot of these. After while the business owner finally figures out that, without SEO and a responsive design, you really have nothing. We revamped the site pulling th...

How We Were Home Schooled Before It Was Fashionable This has nothing to do with internet marketing, but I love it. For those of you over 50, many of you heard these words directly from your parents. For you younger folks, this is exactly Most of our generation of 60+ were HOME SCHOOLED in many ways. 1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE. "If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning." 2. My mother taught me RELIGION. "You better pray that will come out of the carpet." 3. My father taught me about TIME TRAVEL. "If you don't straighte...

The Easiest, Most Simple Photo Resizer - FREE! Anyone working with images on the web, often brings in large photo files that need to be reduced to work efficiently online. If you've ever opened up a webpage and noticed a photo taking a long time to load, you can see the issue. Most images off a camera or phone, by default, are upwards of 3K megapixels, way too large for web work. There are a ton of applications to resize images. Here's a free one I use all the time. It's called Photo Resizer from Faststone. It's very intuitive unlike most of image applications I've seen today. Here's a ...

Bar Harbor Supper Club is a famous lakeside bar and restaurant located on the north end of Gull Lake. It's colorful past is displayed on some of the many photos and memorabilia from the 40's and beyond. A fire destroyed the restaurant many years ago and it has gone through several changes of ownership and remodeling. The restaurant is now one of the classiest places in the entire Brainerd Lakes area to dine and relax. The ownership wanted a website change to reflect the current motif and the wide selection of menu choices. We added a reservation widget to the home page to allow for...