Rule #1: Build a Strong Homepage

According to Mashable.com a website has approximately 2-4 seconds to make a lasting impression on a first time user. Make sure your website is clear and concise and most importantly.. easy to navigate.

Game Changing Design Integrations

• Integrate the Soundloud Widget or an Embedded Music Player
• Embed Your Latest Music Video through YouTube
• Integrate Your Recent Blog Posts
• Newsletter Signup (W/ Free Track)
• Display Your Upcoming Shows/Gigs and Remove Past Shows
• Have a Link to you New Music or Merch for Purchase

Rule #2: No Adobe Flash

Flash has a number of inherent drawbacks in regards to security, functionality and usability, I’ll admit in the right situation flash websites can be great but for the masses will have mixed reactions. Your website needs to appeal to EVERY user and make them want to return to keep up with your brand.

Rule #3: Build Your Website in WordPress

Using WordPress as a management system for your website is essential. WordPress Boasts on the fly updates with an easy to use interface to keep your website updated without the hassles of having to connect to the server remotely through FTP. WordPress should be your only choice when choosing a CMS and there a number of E-Commerce Integrations to sell your merchandise and increase profits.

Rule #4: Keep Your Website Up to Date

Either designate a person in your band to keep the updates flowing or hire a company to manage the posts and make daily or weekly appointments with them to keep everything up to date.

Rule #5: Integrate Your Favorite Social Media

Social Media is the best way to self promote yourself or your band. Integrate any social media platform that you regularly update.

Social Media Platforms We Love for Artists

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• SounCloud
• Spotify
• RevebNation
• YouTube
• Myspace
• Tumblr

Rule #6: Engage Your Users in a Personal Way

Make sure the content and artist direction mirror your style and personality. Your fans are there to engage with you and your band. Making weekly blog posts about life on the road, upcoming projects and features in media are a great way to keep you users coming back time and time again.

Rule #7: Buy Premium Hosting

Buy the best hosting you can afford, a website that takes forever to load is going to irritate your users and most likely they won’t be back anytime soon.

Hosts we Recommend:

• WpEngine
• Dreamhost
• BlueHost

Hosts to Avoid:

• HostGator
• GoDaddy
• 1and1

Still Not Sure What You Need? Visit Our Band Website Design Page for More Information

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Thank you Neil Armstrong for being an Innovator, a Hero and a Legend.

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Luckily, this issue was recognized in the mid 1990’s and ever since then, developers have been working on an update that would increase the amount of unique IP addresses to an unfathomable number (all we need to know is that the amount is sufficient enough to handle the increase in Internet devices well into the future). On June 6th, the update known as “IPv6” was launched and the transition to the new Internet officially began.

Google stresses the fact that the transition will not affect the public’s Internet accessibility in any way. So why is this update so important? All good ideas are shaped and perfected through experimentation. At one point the Internet was nothing more than an experiment and when it launched, the founders never imagined that their experiment would have such a far-reaching impact on the world. The official unveiling of IPv6 serves as a tribute to the humble beginnings of the Internet and the visionaries that brought it to the masses.

Written by Simon Rubin

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After the bell this morning, the Facebook stock opened at $42.05. This was a good sign for traders early on because it means the demand for the stock is high, however there was no “big pop” in the price of the stock. Expectations that the stock would increase by 30% or more were swiftly extinguished after FB remained relatively flat during the first few hours of trading. While an increase of more that 10% was observed, the stock then fell back near Facebook’s opening stock price.

Many consider Facebook’s first day of trading a flop with a closing price just 23 cents above the initial $38. Realistically, the close of FB around its original IPO is a good sign that demand was met. While the stock price did not change much, the volume of Facebook trades on Friday was one of the highest for any IPO.

While Facebook’s venture into the public trading realm is surrounded by buzz of how the stock will fair, there is another reason for the social media giant’s IPO. When a company goes public the potential for growth is exponential. With public investments more readily available, Facebook will now have more capital to develop new products and make acquisitions. Facebook’s lackluster performance on Friday is just a hiccup in what is shaping up to be a very valuable stock.

Written by: Simon D. Rubin

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Many of these changes are aimed at returning more relevant search results for its users by targeting and removing websites employing “black hat” SEO techniques from high ranking positions. Unfortunately, many businesses and SEO specialists were caught off-guard when Google announces some once acceptable SEO practices were heavily penalized by the new update. While these changes may improve the search experience in the future, currently the new Penguin update has caused an uproar from businesses of all sizes that watched their top-ranking websites plummet to be replaced by sub-par websites that have little of no marketing done.

To enhance web presence, small and large companies alike have relied on SEO specialists to tailor their websites for improved searches. Traditional SEO techniques include keyword placement, blog writing and website linking. With the new update, however, these traditional methods of ranking websites are now weighted differently and some techniques have been rendered useless under the Penguin criteria. The effects of the Penguin update have hit small businesses the hardest. With tight budgets and fewer resources, small businesses are not able to react as quickly as larger businesses. To save their search rankings, Google’s Matt Cutts has encouraged businesses to emphasis high-quality content and usability with respect to company websites. It appears Google is trying to foster a more “natural” ranking system; unfortunately, the changes are so drastic that companies are essentially loosing customers due to their new lower rankings.

Written by: Simon D. Rubin

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To become a subscriber, one first needs a background check and must conform to strict requirements that are to be set by the developers (including copyrights and trademarks of products and website content). Once approved, special hardware is needed to register and subscribers must agree to several Internet security practices. The .secure domain would not only be constantly monitored but any attack would be investigated and legal penalties would be enforced.

The .secure domain is designed to provide protection for people and businesses that are frequently targeted by hackers, without policing the entire Internet. The added protection of a .secure website would be a great business tool, considering millions of dollars are lost to Internet fraud every year.

Written by: Simon D. Rubin

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Application Programming Interface’s (API), the root of Oracle’s lawsuit, use Java code to standardize the interactions between applications and different types of software. Oracle has accused Google of stealing their Java API’s during the development of the Android software. The lawsuit is broken up into 3 phases: (1) a ruling on whether Google committed copyright infringement when developing Android, (2) a ruling on the “fair use” of software API’s (the legality of Copyrighting API’s), and (3) an assessment of damages (Oracle is seeking $1 billion).
On Monday, a verdict on the first phase was released: citing that Google did in fact commit copyright infringement. If API software is considered “fair use” in the second phase of the trial, Monday’s verdict could be overturned. However, if API’s are considered copyrighted material by the court, the implications could affect the entire software industry. If the API’s can be copyrighted, software developers would have to pay royalties to the original developers in order to create new software for the business community, effectively raising the cost to do business and hindering the creativity of software developers. There is no doubt that the final verdict of this trial will be a historic decision.

Update May 20th, 2012 | Oracle v. Google and the Fate of Software Development: Part II

The fate of the software development industry is still up in the air as of Wednesday (May 16^th). While no further verdicts have been reached (see “Oracle v. Google and the Fate of Software Development”), the two feuding tech companies have come to an agreement that has the potential to accelerate the pace of the trial.

On Wednesday, Oracle’s lawyers suggested that if the court finds the Java Application Programming Interfaces (API’s) to be copyrightable, then they would pursue full damages in the third Phase of the trial. On the other hand, if the court rules against the claim that Java API’s are copyrightable, Oracle will not seek further damages. This agreement could effectively get rid of the third “damages” phase of the trial depending on the judge’s ruling, which could come as early as next week.

This agreement could save time and financial resources for both parties. Realistically, however, no matter what the judge rules next week, Oracle or Google will most likely appeal the decision. This could mean a new jury and a chance to revisit Oracle’s copyright and patent claims. Last week’s copyright decision, in favor of Oracle, could be revisited if Google files for a mistrial based on the incomplete verdict, which was reached on May 7^th. In a partial decision last week, the court found that Google did in fact infringe on Oracle’s Java script by copying approximately 9 lines of code in the development of Google’s Android. The court, however, could not come to a conclusion about the “fair use” of API’s (software communication platforms that use the Java language). If next week’s “fair use” verdict favors Oracle, then API’s will be considered copyrightable and royalties would be enforced on all software developers using Oracle’s property.

Written by: Simon D. Rubin

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There are several techniques SEO specialists can use to improve the visibility of your product or idea. SEO uses keywords and word placement techniques to boost the ranking of your website in major search engines. If you have a small website with limited pages, SEO specialists like the ones at Fyresite can create more content and webpages embedded with keywords specific to your industry. Even more established websites with many pages could benefits from SEO services by rearranging content and altering the site layout. SEO services do not end at the website level, SEO specialists are also able to optimize your social media sites for higher ranking. Major search engines also take into account the longevity of a website; the older the website, the more likely it is to be ranked. In short, attention to SEO is an investment for the future success of your business. Please call Fyresite today for more information or to speak with an SEO specialist.

Written by: Simon D. Rubin

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What many do not realize is that Scottsdale also attracts businesses and entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes; from posh restaurants to physicians and small businesses. Over the decades, Scottsdale has become a center for business-minded individuals and economic growth due to its location, culture, and the efforts of the city to simplify the process of opening a business (for more information see: http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/Businesses).

Are you a business owner interested in relocating to Scottsdale? Or maybe an entrepreneur with the next big idea? Wherever your niche in the business world is, a professional web designer with the right tools and creative drive will help you effortlessly market and advertise your products or ideas. Over the years websites have become a staple of any successful business venture. Creating a website with customized themes, content, and graphics, however, requires the talents of an experienced web designer. In a competitive industry, a website alone may not be enough. Your customers need to know where to find you and now certain web design firms have the capability to not only create an attractive and professional website, but also market the site to targeted audiences and enhance its visibility on the internet.

Fyresite is your professional web design firm. Fyresite is based near Scottsdale although our web design services extend nationwide. We pride ourselves on customer satisfaction through quality website designs, eye-catching in-house logos and graphics, and search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to make your business more visible to customers. Whether you are new to business or a seasoned veteran, Fyresite web design have the tools to help your company grow with Fyresite Web Design

Written by: Simon D. Rubin

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In 2012, the old hypertext markup language (HTML), as we know it, will be quite different. The current version, still under development, is an all encompassing update to HTML4, Java Script and XHTML1. Its basically a standardization effort to avoid syntax errors, with new inclusions like the and tags. This improved mark up language also defines how invalid documents should be processed, thus ensuring that all browsers are able to treat syntactical errors in a similar manner. This new 2012 trend markup language to look out for is HTML5.

Another trend that has been quietly gaining momentum, with its explosion in to the hot trends list expected early 2012, is the use of large, over-sized headers and logos. The big idea behind this trend is to make an unforgettable first impression on your website visitor. This also takes care of the click-phobic visitor, who has, over time, grown to fear clicking due to years poor navigation experience. What your large headers and logos do is provide a platform similar to a splash page, minus the need for clicking. The visitor just scrolls down to get the details they need.

Single page websites, that have sliders, are also expected to hit the trends headlines. These websites will be more like a business card, showing all the necessary details a visitor may need, including your location, your social media hangouts and so on. The sliders too will improve functionality, by removing the need for the boring dragging the mouse over complicated navigation bars to access information. These sliders mean that instead of a slide show being incorporated in a website, the website itself, becomes the slideshow.

Finally, there is the mobile design, which is already starting to make a huge headway in to the top trends of 2012. With the increase in the popularity of smart phones and tablet technology, web designers will need to learn how to adapt their projects to accommodate this change in screen resolution and size. Luckily for them, there is CSS3, which allows a website designer to make a site that accommodates the mobile technology in to the web design. With more people buying smart phones and tablets, there is a need for websites to look as good on these gadgets. These are some of the 2012 web design trends that are expected to make headlines.

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