Tag - web design naperville

“Do Follow” Blogs 2-25-10

On a fairly regular basis, we are going to list what blogs we find that maintain "Do Follow" Tags throughout the sites.  For basic SEO, this is important to receive some PR from the site you comment on.  By no means am I suggesting that you SPAM any one of these blogs; this is to encourage some Link Love.  For all of the Web Designer and Developers in the Naperville and Chicago area, we simply ask that you pass the word.  A lot are out there leaving their clients in the dark, and it really isn't right.  Let them know what they are capable of for their site propagation.  Web Designers in the Chicago area have gotten a bad reputation lately, and it's time we counter all of the distrust that has been caused by a select few. In posting this, I ask that if any of these sites break, please let me know so I can take them off of here.hidden links Thank you, and enjoy-
PR:5
Computer Science Canada Blog - http://compsci.ca/blogCommentary on computer programming in education, technology, role of computers, and importance of computer science education in schools. - [Read more]
PR:4
NSpeaks - http://nspeaks.comNSpeaks is about blogging, wordpress, money making, technology and emma watson. - [Read more]
PR:4
Organic SEO Blog - http://www.organicseo.in/Organic Search Engine Optimization Blog of Ezhil, SEO Expert from Chennai, South India. - [Read more]
PR:3
Lars Bachmann - http://www.larsbachmann.dkLars Bachmann is a Danish searchengine expert. He is blogging about SEO, SEM and other searchengine related stuff. On this site tou will find guides and tutorials to different SEO technics and news from the SEO business. All articles are primary written in Danish. Lars Bachmann is working at a Danish advertising company with Search engine optimization, webdevelopment and online marketing. He is 30 years old and a well known name in the Danish SEO business. - [Read more]
PR: 3
Carlo Mendoza - http://xiirus.neta blog, photoblog, developer's blog - [Read more]
PR:3
Clement Nyirenda's blog world - http://nthambazale.blogspot.comThis blog discusses issues on technology and its use in the fight against poverty - [Read more]
PR:3
Bytecoders | Linux, Asterisk, PPC y otros gadgets - http://bytecoders.homelinux.comLa finalidad de este sitio es ofrecer un espacio donde realizar nuestras anotaciones y resolver nuestras dudas acerca de Linux y todo lo relacionado con el software libre, además de ser de utilidad a diferentes usuarios de PDAs. - [Read more]
PR:3
SEO, Marketing, and Website Review - http://www.reviewerofsites.comA website with information on marketing, Adsense, SEO, and other webmaster related info. - [Read more]
PR: 3
Computers & Networking - http://infodotnet.blogspot.comComputers and Networking articles on net - [Read more]
PR: 3
Marcel Fuursted - http://www.fuursted.net- [Read more]
PR: 3
SEO Diva - http://www.seodiva.netWhite hat SEO advice and tips from professional search strategist. - [Read more]
PR:3
iPod and iPhone Torrents - http://www.ipopho.com/ipod and iphone news and reviews, as well as torrent services. - [Read more]
PR:2
Blogs that Make Money - http://blogsthatmakemoney.netIncrease on line traffic with an Internet marketing strategy. - [Read more]
PR: 2
axel's blog - http://axog.blogspot.com/Blog riguardante articoli, guide e news del mondo dell'informatica! - [Read more]
PR: 2
JMorris Online - http://jmorris.name/The Blog of James Morris - [Read more]
PR:1
Deane online secret - http://deaneonlinesecrets.blogspot.com/This is about online opportunities and secret unfolds on how to make money online in different methods. - [Read more]
PR:1
Domain Name Blog - Marketing Tips - http://www.3appraisal.com/domain-blog/Read news and views on World domain industry. Internet marketing tips and comments posted regularly. - [Read more]
PR: 0
Andrew Barnett - http://andrewjbarnett.comBringing technology to the followers... - [Read more]
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New Website Builder at Intuit

For years now, Intuit has been a shining star to many small businesses because of its highly acclaimed TurboTax, Quicken, and Quick-Books software.  I myself have been an avid user of their small business tools and have enjoyed the time it saves with handling budgets, bills and payrolls.

Recently, Intuit began a major push for their new website building software and I thought I'd give it a shot.  If it's better than Go-Daddy's horrid "Website Tonight" software,  that would be a great improvement for businesses beginning a web footprint.  I've decided to break down my critique of their builder into three basic categories for this assessment.  There are certainly other criteria that could be used, but I would likely write much more than anyone would be willing to read.   After discussing the criteria, we will make a founded assessment of the value vs cost of their development price.  The three categories we will discuss are for design structure, code development, and what SEO and SEM their builds enable a site with.  We'll use a scoring method of 1 to 10 with 1 equaling Go Daddy's Website Tonight and 10 equaling a Free Wordpress Theme.

Design

Score= 4

First of all, their design structure, while a bit cliche, is one of the first autobuilder formats that has some decent design structure to their templates.  That being said, these are templates and will not move far.  Of the ~2000 templates they have, there are only about 100 that are really going to get peoples attention.  Of these 100 templates, take a guess at how many times each one will be recycled continuously across the internet.  On the positive side, the builder does allow you to tweak certain aspects and containers of each template to allownot worth it for some impression of originality on your site.  This will help to an extent, but eventually there will be repition of your site throughout your market and maybe even your direct competitors.  While far better than the templates that most autobuilders use, there's still a lot to be desired here.

Code Development

Score= 7

Some of you familiar with their templates are going to be scratching your heads after seeing a score of 7 on this one.  Yes, it may be a little high for legacy HTML, but there is a good reason behind this thought.

They're using Quality CSS and don't have tons of tables being shot out at your browser.  If familiar with other autobuilders, you understand that the majority of their build are conducted in long and dirty table design.  The CSS in the Intuit sites are actually decent.  Anyone hoping to see PHP within their listings, hope you can find one, but after and hour of search and reading "index.html" as many times as I did, it was apparent that there are no PHP driven sites within their selection.  This means that there is less functionality available through these sites, but if you're using them, you probably don't even notice.  All in all though, the HTML is written well for template use and the CSS is clean enough to earn an 8 in this category.

SEO and SEM

Score=2


Ok, here is the category that hurts them.  While it was hard to find any sites built with this tool(besides spend money and make one), I was able to find a few that we could run through website. grader from Hubspot.  The sites saw a "Best Ranking" of 30. At no point in my life has a score of 30 been a passing grade.  The same occurred when running it through the tools on SEOmoz(know some of you hate them, but they have easy tools).   There's simply no excuse for a website builder that will leave a client with a  site of  limited ability and still be published mainly through PPC style advertising.   If there is any suggestion for Intuit, or specifically people thinking of using there site builder, it would be that there needs to be more focus within the code structure to benefit the customer needs. If you are looking for a website that allows people to find your business and not just a vanity plate to put on a business card, avoid this builder as well.

Final Score= 4.3

While Some of my fellow designers will vehemently disagree with my assessment, I think it's like to be the best summarized review that could be offered.  It should be mentioned as well, that this is only a grade of the Starter system, since that's the one being offered for $4.99/month(while the only one with the tools needed for business cost $49.99/month).  The problem with the price is the "Bait and Switch".  If we look at the pricing table, it becomes apparent that this is not the fantastic deal that they make it out to be in the commercial(imagine that happening).  Here are there price columns per service.

As you can see, there's not much you're getting for their advertised $4.99/month or even for their Cadillac Package that could legitimize this site build being used for a long period of time.  It is understandable that some businesses must use one of these auto builders to get started, but it should only be a temp fix. These should not be used over six months at max; otherwise, it becomes a money pit instead of a money producer.  A quality CMS system built for your business will save you money in the long-run, and will do more for your income as well...

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