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Free online photo editors

By Jeff King In Web Posted March 11, 2012 No Comments

One of the main tasks of preparing content for the web is photo editing, resizing and formatting. Photoshop is the industry standard software package used to edit graphics. However, there are simpler and less expensive options if all you need are basic tools to resize and crop images for your website or email newsletter.

The editors discussed below are all free to use. These tools work for personal emails, too. Before sending those family photos, run them through webresizer.com in order to reduce the file size. Or upload them to Pixlr Express so you can add captions.

Why do we need to resize images? Because it helps our pages and emails load faster. It standardizes the appearance of the image across browsers, platforms and devices. It saves space if your online storage provider enforces a disk quota. And it saves time for both you and your recipients. Large files take time to upload, download and open. There is no need to send 7MB photos via email when a 45kb image would suffice.

WebResizer.com

Webresizer.com provides a simple user interface allowing you to perform basic edits including cropping, rotating and resizing. If you are new to photo editing, this is what I would recommend. Merely uploading and then saving your image will reduce the file size. (You do not need to change any of the settings.)

Pixlr Express

When you are ready for something more advanced, Pixlr Express allows you not only to adjust your images, but also to add text, stylized borders and other effects. You can upload an image from your computer, type in the URL of an image you want to edit, or even capture an image from your webcam. After your image is loaded into Pixlr Express, you can add text and make your adjustments before saving as a new file.

Pixlr Editor

Pixlr Editor is a full-featured photo editor similar to Photoshop. It gives you many tools to edit images or create them from scratch. This is a good choice if you need the ability to make precise adjustments.

How to think about your website

By Jeff King In Web Posted February 1, 2012 No Comments

Your website then and now.

Years ago when the web was taking off and many businesses were creating their first websites there was a lot of talk about establishing a “web presence.” The idea was that businesses were gathering in this new space and you needed to be there, too. Many people thought of the internet as a virtual town square or shopping mall. For the most part, just showing up was considered good enough. The typical website was little more than a brochure.

Because a website was thought of as a glorified brochure, you might have familiarized potential customers with your business in person or on the telephone and then referred them to your website for more information. The website served its purpose if it merely helped to establish credibility.

Even if you haven’t been paying a lot of attention to your website, your prospective customers assume that what they find there is your best effort.

Fast forward to the present, where a completely different paradigm exists. Today your website is often the location of your business’s first interaction with a potential customer. Rather than engaging in a personal conversation with you, your customers conduct research and make purchasing decisions based on what they find online. This means your website is a critical part of the sales process. Even if you haven’t been paying a lot of attention to your website, your prospective customers assume that what they find there is your best effort.

This is just one reason why it is crucial for your website to accurately represent your uniqueness and to make potential customers feel good about doing business with you. In the past, you could connect personally through a warm smile or a friendly voice. Today, many of your potential customers want to keep personal interaction to a minimum. They would rather look at your website first and then decide whether or not to increase their level of engagement with you.

Does your website connect with busy people who want to keep personal contact to a minimum?

Can you depend on your website to bring in new business?

For most of us, there is tremendous opportunity to strengthen our businesses simply by making our websites more accessible and useful to our ideal customers. They are out there searching for us. We need to demonstrate that we can help them.

I enjoy helping my clients figure out how to do this. Clients have said that after working with me the web (and their place in it) finally starts making sense. Call or email to find out how we can work together to make your website not just a brochure, but a relevant and useful tool that attracts your ideal customers.

Your website doesn’t need to be amazing, just useful.

By Jeff King In Web Posted January 11, 2012 No Comments

One of the reasons clients give me for why they don’t have more content on their websites is that they simply do not know what to put there. They don’t think they have anything that would be of interest to anyone. They may have been discouraged by the droning of some “marketing experts” saying that your website content has to be AMAZING in order to hold the interest of your site visitors.

These “experts” argue that you have to have amazing content on your site because amazing content is what will bring people to your site, encourage them to stick around or come back, and motivate them to tell their friends about you.

I disagree. The reality is that your content does not need to be amazing. It just needs to be useful. When I am searching for something I am not looking to be amazed. Nor is your prospect. They just want their question to be answered. They want their problem to be solved. They want to find that piece of information they need in order to proceed with their plans. They want to find someone who is qualified to help them.

Prospects don’t care about your “amazing” site design. They are not looking for amazing. They are looking for useful. Finding what they need on your site might be amazing to them. But only because of its immediate usefulness. Perhaps it was the precise answer they were looking for. Or it solved their exact problem. Maybe it gave them clarity and confidence on whom to contact for help.

Rather than worrying about being “amazing” or impressing people, I help my clients focus on the creation of value for their customers. Value is intrinsically understood and immediately useful. Trying to constantly amaze or wow people gets old quickly. In fact, it creates boredom.

Creating an interesting and useful website is not a matter of rocket science or show business. It may simply require changing your thinking about a few things.

To be continued . . .

Customer Experience: Thomas Music Co.

By Jeff King In Web Posted August 16, 2011 No Comments

It took me many years to realize the value of having a website. I had a steady stream of referral business, so I did not think that having a website was important for me. Developing a site seemed like a huge time investment and a lot of work on top of a very busy schedule. I wasn’t even sure how I would use it or how I would maintain it. Generally, I was comfortable with the way my business was running.

Then several years ago I noticed that something was changing. Referrals dropped off and it became more and more difficult to bring in new business. At first I did some soul-searching to see if I had lost my edge, but my skills were actually getting better. I tried the traditional route of advertising but it barely made any difference. What I did not realize was how much the business climate was changing and that customers were now using the web to find information and recommendations.

This was the point where I began to talk with Jeff King about the real value of developing a web site. He asked a lot of questions about my business and what I thought I needed. Next he gave me a step-by-step process for developing my content that focused on what I did and how it helped my customers. After I gave him all my content, he quickly developed the site.

The business results were immediate. I actually felt a little overwhelmed by the volume of email and calls from new prospects. After changing a few habits and developing some new intake procedures it became more manageable. I thought it would take about a year to get my business back to a full schedule, but it was there in just two months.

The content development was hard work, but not having a full business schedule was even harder. In retrospect it has made my business life much easier because my site regularly sends me pre-qualified clients. The site is a valuable resource for my customers, and having it has also given me the confidence to pursue even newer technologies such as app development so I can always be there where new prospects can easily find me.

– Jim Thomas