We did a post a while back in which we shared some tools we use on a daily basis to make our lives managing websites easier. We have an updated list and hope you find these time saving/helpful sites as beneficial as we do. Best of all, they are free to use.
1) Embed Responsively – This is a great site for those of you who are embedding video and want to make sure it is responsive. This not only works for YouTube, it embeds all different types of video. Website →
2) Character Count Online – This easy tool is great for writing tweets. It counts characters including spaces, words, paragraphs and whitespace. Website →
3) ConvertCase.com – This site saves me time as some clients love the cap lock. This site converts case and has several options. Website →
4) Text Fixer – This site can do a variety of tasks to help you on a daily basis. It can alphabetize things, put in numerical order, remove dupes and more. Website →
5) Am I Responsive – This cool little site shows what your site will look like on various devices, from desktops to pads and SmartPhones. Website →
6) LastPass Password Generator – In today’s world, it is no longer ok to have easy passwords that hackers can figure out. This tool will generate long, safe passwords with a variety of options. Website →
7) PHP Beautifier – If you code your own PHP or just have a WordPress site that others write code for, one thing is for sure: At some point you or someone else will need to go into the code. Many programmers are great at writing code but do not format their code properly. This makes it hard for those who come afterwards. This tool will beautify your code and make it easier to edit for the next person tasked with editing. Website →
8) Unsplash – We all at times have to use stock photos. Some sites are so full of overused images, you cringe just looking at them. This site offers 10 free images every 10 days. And they aren’t your typical shots. They are spectacular and can be used for any project. I used one of their images for this post :). Website →
9) Lorem Ipsum – When we build websites, we don’t always have the text we need to complete the pages. Rather than have blank pages, I prefer to use placeholder text. This tool allows you to generate words, characters, bytes. The text is derived from Latin literature from 45 BC. It is the perfect placeholder as people don’t get caught up reading and commenting on the words. Website →
10) SSL Analyzer – This tool will tell you if your SSL certificate is valid and also will give you a lot of information about your certificate. Website →
Have any great time saving sites you’d like to share? Add a comment below.
Those who read my posts know I relate everything to web design, development and the management of websites. (I know, makes me a geek. I am what I am :)) This summer has been no different. Bored with TV, I like many people have gone to Netflix. I stumbled upon MASH, a show I watched as kid, liked but in truth never appreciated fully. As I watch more and more episodes I realize what made this show special and one of the most successful of all time.
Here are my 5 lessons:
Content – People tend to think a show is only as good as its cast. While generally this is true, MASH lost many of its stars over the years. After a couple of seasons, Wayne Rogers and McLean Stevenson left. The show survived and flourished. Larry Linville left, the show survived. Why? because the writing was amazing, the scripts were a work of art. There are more reasons as well which we will get into, but certainly content was number 1. Lesson Learned: Content is the most important thing, whether you are a website or writing for social media. People want to do well in search, but they worry more about what something looks like rather than investing in the most important thing, content. Put money and time into improving your content and posting new, quality content on a consistent basis.
Tug at the heart strings – MASH was a comedy, no doubt, but what made it special was that it truly was emotional. The show could make you laugh, sure but it could make you cry as well. When Radar comes into the operating room with no mask to say that Colonel Henry Blake’s plane had been shut down over the sea of Japan, I cried like a baby. MASH made you care about these people, even though they were fictional. Lesson Learned: Show your heart. Don’t only show your skills, show a bit more, humanize your company. People don’t like cold, faceless companies. Nice testimonials, showing you go the extra mile, go a long a way. On social media, show the fun side of your company. If you do charity work, show it. People want to do business with people they like and respect. If all you do is sell to people, they grow bored and go elsewhere.
Longevity – The series, which depicted events occurring during a three-year military conflict, spanned 256 episodes and lasted 11 seasons. Incredible, the show was much longer than the Korean conflict. In television, as a series stays on the air, more and more people become aware and tune in. Lesson Learned: Longevity in the web world is important. Google definitely factors this into their algorithm as it should. A company that sprouts up complete with a new website won’t outperform a company that has been around for many years (at least for a while). The lesson is patience and not to expect search engine success right away. Add quality content, on a consistent basis and search engine success will come. And remember, MASH struggled in year one in terms of ratings as did Seinfeld.
Don’t give up on what works. MASH is the best example of this in entertainment history. McLean Stevenson, Wayne Rogers, Larry Linville and Gary Burghoff all left before the series ended. They all had their reasons, but none came close to the success they had on MASH. As an actor you dream of participating in show that lasts over a decade. Lesson Learned: Don’t abandon a ship that ain’t sinking. If your site works well, don’t be so eager to move to a completely new one, especially if you have search engine success. Say you have a site that has great content but not mobile-friendly. Rather than blow it up, consider tweaking the design so your site is responsive. We have done this with sites and the results have been impressive.
Quality – Watching MASH this summer I realized it isn’t one thing that makes the show great. The writing is brilliant, the acting, the direction, the sets. EVERYTHING! There are virtually no flaws in the show’s execution. Lesson Learned: Pay attention to every detail. Design, coding, testing, graphics, performance are all important. Even things like grammar are truly important. Poorly written content is a major turnoff. No detail is unimportant on a website. Attention to details pay dividends.
Bottom Line: You can learn a lot by studying the success of others, even if it is a different industry. In this case it was a classic TV show, but you can apply this to other industries as well. See what makes them a success and apply to your business.
We did a post a while back in which we shared some tools we use on a daily basis to make our lives managing websites easier. We have an updated list and hope you find these time saving/helpful sites as beneficial as we do. Best of all, they are free to use.
Those who read my posts know I relate everything to web design, development and the management of websites. (I know, makes me a geek. I am what I am :)) This summer has been no different. Bored with TV, I like many people have gone to Netflix. I stumbled upon MASH, a show I watched as kid, liked but in truth never appreciated fully. As I watch more and more episodes I realize what made this show special and one of the most successful of all time.