Idiots, er, Barbarians at the Gate

Every day we are confronted with companies that continually do their clients a major disservice because they are uneducated in their chosen profession - web design. Most wouldn't know simple search engine optimization if it bit them firmly on the butt. These same people just don't know all the nuances of web delivery products, and therefore misinform clients, to the clients detriment.

Case in point: WordPress

WordPress is one of the Internet's secret superstars. It IS NOT exclusively for personal websites. And it IS NOT just a blogging platform. Well known companies like eBay, Yahoo, Ford, Sony, CNN, People Magazine and many more, use WordPress to deliver content to users worldwide.

Most web developers are frightened by WordPress - primarily because they don't "get it" and it threatens the income they earn from keeping your website up-to-date. Yet, your site can be a valuable tool, beyond your wildest dreams when using WordPress. Beyond the capabilites of uneducated web developers. Consider this:

• WordPress is scalable: WordPress is one of the few CMS platforms that serves trillions of pages daily, and if sites such as CNN, The Wall Street Journal and ZDNet are surviving perfectly well with their WordPress engines humming, your site will be fine too. Your site may not be as big as these, but WordPress is capable of growing with you.
  
  
• WordPress is Search Engine Friendly: Aside from the truly excellent All-in-One SEO pack, WordPress sites are well understood by Googlebot; and are one of the easiest types of sites to optimize. One of the most arduous parts of SEO is the mechanical, step-by-step routine of getting pages ready, and almost all of this is handled automatically. If every site was built on WordPress, the missing Title and Description attributes that we find on 50% of the sites we analyze would actually be there.
  
  
• With WordPress, you and your team can edit content: Web designers and home builders have one thing in common: they make more money out of changes you make to the original design. I know clients that were once accustomed to paying $80 per hour for simple edits to their websites - costing them thousands of dollars per year, which is quite frankly just shameful. This is truly like barbarians at the gate! With WordPress, you can hire a designer and SEO firm, set up the platform, and then make changes to pages, posts and layouts without having to cut checks. Editing WordPress pages is just like editing a Word document.

WordPress makes you focus on content. And in 2010, content is king. Static websites are DEAD!! Any web developer that tells you otherwise is guilty of stupidity at the highest level.

Contact us today to get a complete consult on using WordPress to deliver your business content on the web.

941.584.7417

IE6 users, it’s time to move on!

In late December 2009, we announced to our 8,000 plus hosting customers and to our many development clients, that we would stop supporting Internet Explorer 6 on January 1, 2010.

This move was based on many factors, but primarily that IE6 was a security and developers nightmare. It was replaced by Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 over three years ago, and upgraded again in March 2009 by Microsoft's new IE8.

If you are still utilizing IE6 in a corporate setting, the following two links are to must read articles on the subject. In fact, one plainly says "Any IT professional who is still allowing IE6 to be used in a corporate setting is guilty of malpractice."

• It's Time to Stop Using IE6!
  
• Should I dump Internet Explorer?
• Will Switching from Internet Explorer Make You Safer?

Attitude is Everything!

As we enter this new year, the use of effective internet marketing has reached critical mass when related to the success of any business. Although the attitude towards web marketing has changed over the years, many business owners are missing the point and continuing to WASTE their precious marketing dollars on dead or dying media.

The days of just "having a web presence" are behind us. In fact, they are long past. In today's digital marketplace, traditional businesses are separating themselves from their competitors with high quality, attractive websites. Ones that deliver visitors value and substance.

In the next month we will begin to display website comparisons for our visitors to review. Nobody is safe - from the Chamber of Commerce to local service providers, we will analyze their sites and give a comparison view of a similar business that "gets the internet."

What we are venturing to do is to turn the market on its ear, and let business owners know that the way they have always done business won't work in this economy or in this digital age. It's an attitude that is being adopted worldwide.

Back in 1985 I heard Zig Ziglar say that the results we get in life are based on 90% attitude and 10% skill and knowledge. Charles Swindoll said something similar -  "I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our attitudes."

What is your attitude towards change? What is your attitide towards growing your business? What is your attitude towards surviving in this economy? I'm hoping the answer may challenge you to keep a good attitude and make the changes in your business that are necessary to survice in the 24-7 digital age.

Warm wishes for a great attitude in 2010, from our family to you and yours!

John Delaney
President/CEO
Integrity Technology Group LLC

A Sneak Peek of 2010

Integrity Technlogy Group will launch its new website very soon. Here is a quick sneak peek of the site:

Must Read Web Stats

The days of developing websites for the majority of internet users is now officially over - cross platform and cross browser compatibility are more important than ever.  Developing websites for all users should be the goal of all web development companies.  Consider the following statistics based on April 2009 internet usage:

• 34% of internet users use a web browser other than Microsoft's Internet Explorer - 31% use Firefox.
• 39% use a screen resolution of 1024x768 - almost 51% use larger screen resolutions.

FREE Web Hosting!

Integrity Technology Group is now providing FREE website hosting for non-profit organizations in the Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte county areas.  To be considered for this offer, your organization must be certified by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation with primary offices in Sarasota, Manatee or Charlotte county.

NOTE:  This offer does is not valid for private, public or charter schools.

For details and to discuss this offer, please contact us...

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1.941.584.7417