Reno SEO, Web Design & Internet Marketing » Tips and Tricks

Camera and photo equipment

Kristy — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:47:22 +0000

iPhone 3GS
3-Megapixel Camera – The new 3-megapixel camera takes great still photos, too, thanks to built-in autofocus and a handy new feature that lets you tap the display to focus on anything (or anyone) you want.

Canon EOS 7D
18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3-inch LCD – the camera is amazing…. and eventhough it has twice as many gizmos and gadgets – it’s still pretty easy to figure out. It was a good upgrade from my original Canon EOS Digital Rebel.

Canon EF 17-40mm 1:4L USM
Ultra-wide Zoom Lens – I use this lense all the time. Mostly because it takes such wide shots that allow me to crop more than less of the image out of the frame.

EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
Standard & Medium Telephoto Lens – I adore this lense for its sharpness and blurring affects. I use this lense for portraits and for all of my food shots.

EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM
Telephoto Zoom Lens – This is a heavy lense but manages to get some great close up shots of subjects that are just sometimes to far to get close to.

Handy uses why I use Google Alerts

Kristy — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:25:33 +0000

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Choose your name, your business name or your website address.

Some handy uses why I use Google Alerts:

monitoring a press release I posted about my business or myself
monitoring a press release that I might have been part of that somebody else published
monitoring when Google indexes my blog posts
monitoring who’s linking to my website and what are they saying (this is kind of sneaky)
monitoring who else is talking about my business and what are they saying (you can patrol
monitoring who might be stealing your content)
monitoring and staying current on a competitors (this can be fun)

http://www.google.com/alerts

Here’s the email I get whenever my name or my business name get’s indexed by Google. This can give you a lot of insight into how often you come up in conversation online.

Picasa organize, edit, and share your photos

Kristy — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:46:44 +0000

Organize. Share. Explore.
Picasa is a software download from Google that helps you organize, edit, and share your photos. It’s free, and easy to use. Share with friends and family, or explore public photos.

I am liking Picasa more and more these days. There are so many integrated really cool features that Picasa and Google have combined. I can easily upload my images of Nevada through Picasa’s desktop interface or through my Google account login. I can then add a title and description, place a marker for the location and share to multiple social networks. How cool is that.

My 2010 goal is to upload all of my Nevada photos to all places we travel and see if I can’t cover the entire state of Nevada!

Download Picasa for your Desktop Today!
Download the Facebook Picasa Widget Today!

Wink printed photostrips

Kristy — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 19:05:43 +0000

Wink, by Shutterfly, is another really cool, low cost and quick way to capture and share some of life’s moments. You can use Wink’s desktop application or the iPhone app to create printed photostrips using pictures from your phone, camera, Shutterfly account, or social networks like Facebook and Flickr.

They’re cheap too… $2.50 and everything is included. You can send anywhere for the same price! Download the app for your iPhone and try out a few for Free! http://wink.shutterfly.com

May 13: Social Media Panel Discussion

Kristy — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:19:40 +0000

May 13: Social Media Panel Discussion
Kristy Crabtree will be one of a panel of experts discussing social media. Time: 6:00-7:30pm; Location: Wells Fargo Auditorium of the Knowledge Center at UNR. The event is co-sponsored by the College of Business and the Small Business Development Center. More information coming soon.

Amazing photo filter software

Kristy — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 22:28:05 +0000

One of the best photo filter apps that I have run across has to be CameraBag for the iPhone and now it’s available as a Desktop application for both the PC and the Mac. It is the coolest and easiest photo manipulation software out there right now. With 12 photo filters to choose from you have more than a dozen different ways to capture and share your moments.

Check out some of the mobile photographs that I have taken below. Want to see more? Visit my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/kristy.crabtree2

Build your own custom Twitter background

Kristy — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 19:16:30 +0000

Here are a couple reasons for why you might want to build your own:

1. Express who you are: A new backdrop can really help people understand who you are as a business and an individual. I use my background to display my business but I also ‘sprinkle’ in a few things about me personally… for example, my love for cooking, my passion for outdoor photography and how all of those things tie back into who I am as a business and a business owner.

2. Additional contact: It’s an easy way to add additional information that you might not be able to plug into your 160 character bio.

3. What’s your brand: Having your contact information, your face, or additional bio information within your background is a common practice. It helps potential followers understand what you do, why you are someone people should follow and how to contact you direct.

4. Why not… it’s fun: It’s really another platform to show off your creativity and style. I use Twitter to showcase more I Love Nevada photography. I change the background images out once every couple of weeks to keep it fresh and entertaining. Follow me on Twitter.

To learn more about how to design and setup a custom Twitter background, give me a call at 626-8330.

Top 18 Featured WordPress Sites

Kristy — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:52:52 +0000

Businesses are realizing that they don’t necessarily need a custom built CMS system to run their website. Why not use a state-of-the-art publishing platform that focuses on aesthetics, web standards and usability. Take a look at WordPress as a solution for your business.

Top 18 Featured WordPress Sites

View Westward Strategy’s WordPress Client Showcase

1. Elect Ken Stover
www.Electstover.com

2. Contract Medical Billing
www.ContractMedicalBilling.com

3. Nevada Foodies
www.NevadaFoodies.com

4. Bartlett Architecture
www.ArchitectReno.com

5. Gary Cardinal Law Office
www.CardinalLawReno.com

6. 7Q10 (formerly Huffman & Carpenter)
www.7Q10.com

7. Bidart & Ross, Inc.
www.Bidart-Ross.com

8. Paramount Bedding
www.pbmattress.com

9. Recycled Furniture
www.recycledfurniturereno.com

10. Susan Hill PR
www.SusanHillPR.com

11. The Gold ‘N Silver Inn
www.GoldnSilverReno.com

12. Koonce Consulting
www.KoonceConsulting.com

13. Lyman PR
www.LymanPR.com

14. Reno Big Band
www.RenoBigBand.org

15. WETLAB – Western Environmental Testing Laboratory
www.Wetlaboratory.com

16. Westward Strategy & Design Group
www.WestwardStrategy.com

17. Kristy Crabtree
www.KristyCrabtree.com

18. Sports Attack (former client)
www.sportsAttack.com

19. Johnson-Perkins & Associates
(Coming Soon)

20. American Housekeeping of Northern Nevada
(Coming Soon)

Westward Strategy, a Reno web design company, has the capability of customizing a web solution for you and your business … most importantly without loss of quality and with your budget in mind. Call Kristy for a solution that fits your needs (775) 626-8330.

WordPress Recommended for Small Businesses and Non-Profits

Kristy — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:57:51 +0000

Small businesses and non-profits are beginning to realize that they don’t necessarily need a custom built CMS system to run their website. Why not use a state-of-the-art publishing platform that focuses on aesthetics, web standards and usability – and not to mention… it’s FREE?

Blog or use it as a Content Management System, WordPress is the next best cost effective web solution.

No need to purchase additional software, your site is accessible wherever there’s internet connectivity and most importantly, you own it. No monthly leasing payments.

There are also hundreds of Free and inexpensive WordPress Themes available to choose from that represent several business styles such as: Magazine Editorial, Corporate, and Creative, Retail, Technology, Nonprofit, entertainment and more. You can make simple changes to represent your brand and brand messaging without having a fully custom built website. Example: http://themeforest.net/category/wordpress/

The WordPress administrative area is easy to use to make updates to both your posts and pages. Posts are listed in reverse chronological order and are also displayed in RSS feeds. Pages are static and not listed by date. Your navigation is typically referencing a static page; whereas your posts reference the latest information sorted by date.

WordPress also keeps costs of having a dynamic website minimal because of the long lists of plugins that are available to customize your needs. There are ecommerce plugins, fundraising plugins, social media plugins, All-in-One SEO plugins, sitemap plugins, gallery plugins, calendar plugins, event plugins and more. Example: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/browse/popular/.

Take a look at WordPress as a solution for your business or non-profit. View their Showcase and the many businesses and non-profits that are currently using WordPress as their choice for a publishing platform.

Non-profit Examples

You can download WordPress for free http://wordpress.org/download/.

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If you would like to learn more about WordPress as a solution for your Reno Business or Reno Non-profit, please give Westward Strategy a call at (775) 626-8330.

Free Tool Friday: ExactFactor an Automated SEO Service

Kristy — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:08:09 +0000

Free Tool Friday - Tools that Help Small Businesses Succeed

Promote your website automatically in Google | Yahoo | Bing and more… ExactFactor is an automated SEO service which promotes your site in search engines with no previous knowledge required. Three easy steps, and you can begin getting better search results, more traffic and more customers.

Ok, Please note that this is just a tool and that there is no guarantee that you will receive more customer BUT… what ExactFactor can do is give you some insight into what keywords and phrases you are ranking for and where exactly you fall in the results.

I receive a weekly keyword analysis report that has been automatically created for Westward Strategy. Keywords and phrases such as Reno Web Design, Reno Web Marketing and Reno Web Designer help me, the business owner, have a better understanding of how people are finding my business and more importantly how they aren’t.

See example below of part of the report you receive from ExactFactor.com.

Keyword	Direction
nevada internet marketing
nevada seo
nevada web design
nevada web designer
nevada web marketing
reno internet marketing
reno seo
reno seo agency
reno web design
reno web designer