I’m going to tell you a bit about these projects and something I’ve learned from each of them.

Contactified

Integrate Constant Contact with the Shopify shopping cart. A really cool project inspired by the great Chimpified.

What I learned

This was an interesting project to get going because it made clear how, even with a template app, a strong API with decent developer documentation, and experience in PHP coding for WordPress, creating a SaaS application is a lot of work, especially as an one-person development team.

There are lots of items to build from scratch, such as where users will be redirected, how to know which page they came from when they logged in, etc. Lots of this I normally let WordPress take care of, but when building Contactified, I started from scratch. Next time, I think I will build the app on top of WordPress.

HTCTablet.net

HTCTablet.net is a blog / resource for HTC tablets (like the new Flyer). The HTC Tablet site is giving away a HTC Flyer.

I started the HTC Tablet site before the Flyer was launched. There were rumors that HTC was working on a tablet, and I set out to get ranked for the product. I started with the base twentyten WordPress template and wrote some blog articles. The Flyer is now launched, the site is ranked #3 for HTC Tablet and #5 for Buy HTC Flyer.

What I learned

After the tablet was launched, there was no longer speculation; there was reporting, and there was lots of it. I didn’t fully appreciate the amount of work it takes to have a topical tech blog.

Setting up the Flyer giveaway was initially easy because of Gravity Forms – I figured it would be simple to choose a winner from the submitted entries, but didn’t anticipate how hard it would be to collect Twitter and Facebook entries:

• What happens when an user doesn’t follow directions exactly? If the link and hash tag are there, that’s what matters to the contest.
• The contest states post a message on your wall; entrants are posting to HTC Tablet’s Facebook page. I will have to determine what exactly will be done about that!
• Some people submit more than once using every email account they own. These users will be disqualified when the drawing comes. Filtering these people out is manual.

I’ll write more about the HTC Flyer giveaway as the time comes.

WordPress Plugin Support

I have a lot of WordPress plugins that I have authored or am in charge of. The plugins have almost 150,000 downloads to date, and I have dedicated a good portion of my schedule to upgrading and maintaing these plugins.

What I’ve learned

Maintaining free plugins is not a great way to make money. A few users have been very generous with their donations and shown appreciation for support by donating. Donations, however, don’t pay the bills.

I am planning on having free and paid version of plugins, just like with iPhone or iPad apps. Contactified has a free basic plan, but then a $3/month plan. I am planning on adding killer features to some plugins that will take literally hundreds of hours to create…I cannot afford to give these features away.

Charging for plugins is a technical hurdle. There are sites such as WP Plugins that may work for this, but there are a lot of crappy plugins that are charging 10 bucks for one line of code (eg: Remove Admin Bar) and I don’t like that approach.

Plugin documentation is really hard to do well, and very important. Documentation in my plugins is often insufficient for non-technical people. I am going to be creating documentation in the future, but in the mean time, I am helping users troubleshoot issues for free.

Client Work

In addition to the different “side-jobs,” I’m still an SEO and web developer. I have clients to complete projects with, maintain, and support. The “what I’ve learned” from working with clients is far longer than anything I can write on this blog. In short, running your own business and working with clients is a great way to learn about yourself.

No related posts.

If I were to die…

• I use a password management application and have instructed my wife how to use it. This application holds all passwords related to my business, protected by a master password only she and I know.
• My wife has a 50% stake in Katz Web Services, Inc. and will legally be able to act as a representative of the company.
• I am a HostGator web hosting reseller. After speaking with a HostGator customer representative, they told me what would happen is that clients could call them direclty and sign up for an account with them. HostGator would then transfer their databases and all website files to their account for free. Even though in theory they could continue using my hosting forever (there’s password reset, auto-billing, etc), they would be able to get access to their information regardless of what happens.
• I use standard coding practices. Any web developer should be able to pick up where I left off without too much of a learning curve. There’s always a learning period when taking over a website, but all files will be accessible and open source.

“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” – Mark Twain

Next steps

I know that stating that “your information will be available to you” is a good start, but it’s not perfect. If requested, I will prepare a document for my clients with all their information. Otherwise, I am an optimist, and plan on being around for longer than their current website

Related posts:

1. Denver web hosting — we’re making the switch to reselling
2. Un-Ban Yourself from WHMCS Administration

KWS has a new home on Facebook

The transition from Katz Web Design to Katz Web Services, Inc. is complete with the launch of the Katz Web Services Facebook page.  Become a fan, ask questions on the discussion board, and be recognized by others for being so avant-garde!

I love KWS fans – share your love and become a fan today!

Related posts:

1. Katz Web Design is now on Facebook
2. Katz Web Design Updates — The BBB, Inc., SEO, and Web Design

iContact sent out their Email Marketing Monthly October email and featured the Katz Web Services iContact plugin for WordPress. We’re glad they like it, and hope you do too!

Get the iContact Widget for WordPress, and check out iContact for your email marketing.

Related posts:

1. How to tell if your WordPress Plugin or Widget is Activated in WordPress
2. iContact Widget for WordPress
3. Mad Mimi Plugin for WordPress

I launched this blog in January 2008 – only 19 months ago. Since then, the blog has seen 100,000 visitors. I look forward to creating more posts that you find interesting.

Last year at this time:

• The blog was averaging 18 readers per day. Now it averages 357.
• The blog had 14,677 visitors. This month, we hit 100,000.

Most popular blog posts on SEO Denver Blog:

• Barack Obama’s Web Designer – 14,793 Views
• Constant Contact WordPress Widget – 8,320 Views
• WordPress Real Estate – 5,595 Views
• The SEO Stylesheet - 5,555 Views
• VerticalResponse for WordPress – 4,432 Views

“Next year in Jerusalem Denver”, SEO Blog!

I’d love to see the blog continue to grow at this rate. That would mean that the site would hit:

• 11,283 visitors per month, 376 visitors per day,  and 158,517 total visitors by next January
• 14,313 visitors per month, 477 visitors per day,  and 253,436 total visitors by next July

For people who like statistics, this is the equation for the polynomial trendline. Check out the equation on Wolfram Alpha. My numbers may be off (I couldn’t stay awake in my 8am Statistics class in college!), but either way, I’m looking forward to checking in on the numbers in a year.  Thank you, readers!

Related posts:

1. SEODenver.com is new home of Denver Web Design & SEO Blog
2. The SEO Denver Blog is Now Self-Hosted
3. Denver Performance-Based SEO plans

After a year of hosting the SEODenver.com website on WordPress.com servers, it’s time to finally move on.

WordPress hosting was a good way to get the SEO Denver Blog up quicky and without much forethought…but WordPress.com hosting was always temporary, and finally, the site has moved!

Why move the SEO Denver Blog?

WordPress.com hosting didn’t allow:

• JavaScript — WordPress.com doesn’t allow you to include JavaScript because of security concerns.
• Plugins or Widgets — As a WordPress plugin developer, I need to be able to feature my own plugins on the site. Not only that, but I need to flexibility to add functionality when I want to.
• Basic SEO Functionality – I want to be able to name my post one thing and give it a different <title>. Is that too much to ask?  Apparently…
• Theme Editing — I am a developer, designer, and Denver SEO, so I need super crazy control over my theme. So, instead of using a basic Cutline installtion, I’m now using the Thesis theme.  Yes, I could have paid more to edit the CSS, but then I’m paying for something I can do for free myself…
• Related Posts — besides being great for keeping readers on your website longer, having related posts is a great way to encourage Google and search engines to deep-index your website. If I wanted related posts on WordPress, I had to include posts from other websites. No thanks!
• ME WANT LOGO! — This is along the lines of theme editing, but it’s another reason I switched: I want to have the Katz Web Services logo on the top of the site instead of a text link. Simple, right? Now it is.

More Competitive in ‘Denver SEO’

Now that I have my own hosting, I can make more moves than I could on WordPress. I now can compete with this site for the phrase Denver SEO. This site’s already #1 for SEO Denver…let’s see what a little optimized code can do

Let me know what you think of the new website by leaving a comment below.

Related posts:

1. Denver SEO Blog Hits 100,000 Visitors
2. SEODenver.com is new home of Denver Web Design & SEO Blog
3. You need Denver SEO if you want to rank well in Google.

Can a Denver business afford to rank poorly in search engines?

Katz Web Design is an SEO company in Denver. This is our blog.  Need help with your website’s search presence? Call 970-882-1477 for a free consultation.

Denver SEO Case study: Ignite Matchmaking

An example of how effective Katz Web Design’s SEO services are is Ignite Matchmaking. When Ignite had KWD redesign and optimize their website for search, their website was ranked 508th in Google for the search “Denver matchmaker.”

“Since Katz Web Design redesigned my site, I’m completely overwhelmed with leads.”

Immediately after launch, their site rocketed to ranking 6th. 7 months later, and ever since, their website has been ranked #1 and #2 for the phrase. That has directly translated into more traffic, and more leads generated.

Editor’s Note: this was supposed to be a welcome post for the blog, but it didn’t look very good…so it had to be an actual blog post! I didn’t mean it to be so “Denver SEO-y” if you know what I mean

Related posts:

1. Denver SEO: Achieving Goals – a slow trek toward good search engine ranking
2. Denver SEO informative website launched: DenverSEO.info
3. Denver Performance-Based SEO plans

This holiday season has already been busy for SEOs like Katz Web Design, but it seems like it’s going to get even busier.

There’s a delicate balance between neglecting your business for your blog, and neglecting your blog because of your business. Right now, I’m too busy to strike that balance, because customers always must come before marketing. 

I have lots of neat WordPress and SEO tricks to share, but it’ll have to be after a few projects are completed  

Until then, here’s a poll:

No related posts.

It’s been a wild number of weeks here at Katz Web Design, and there have been some really cool developments.

Business developments: 

• 

  Katz Web Design is now a member of the Denver Better Business Bureau

• We’ve incorporated: Katz Web Design is a division of Katz Web Services, Inc. Zack is now an employee of Katz Web Services, Inc….and hoping his boss will give him a raise!

SEO news:

• Collaborative Solutions, a Denver executive coach is working with Katz Web Design on their search optimization. So far, the results have been good; their website has moved up significantly in many of their target keywords.
• Katz Web Design will be working with Knox SEO on some upcoming SEO projects.

Web design news:

• 

  Steve Spangler (the 9 News “Science Education Specialist”) is working with Katz Web Design to update his science blog

• Healing Touch for Animals chose Katz Web Design to update and maintain their website.
• Mountain High Roofing, Inc., a Denver roofing company is having KWD create a business blog and refresh their website.

I’ll be posting more updates shortly with some helpful hacks and WordPress tricks I’ve developed, but for now, I’ve got to get back to work!

Related posts:

1. Westside Business Builders chooses Katz Web Design
2. SEODenver.com is new home of Denver Web Design & SEO Blog
3. Web Design Coupon — Up to $300 off a new website!

A win-win solution: we’ll resell great hosting, you’ll pay less

Katz Web Design will resell hosting to our clients for a discounted price; $2.99 rather than $4.99, for example. The great part? Our clients will pay less for better services, and we get a monthly payment, rather than a one-time commission. Win-win.

There are many web professionals that resell hosting and charge them the “going rate.”  KWD is reselling hosting for good — not for evil! Our clients are going get a great deal on web hosting — a cheaper package with more features than any other host I would normally refer them to.

If you’re interested in cheap, high-quality hosting, call: 970-882-1477.

My web hosting background

As a web designer, I have many clients who need advice on the best host. I used to refer them to 1&1 Internet — it’s cheap and good feature set, but I found A2 Hosting to be better; much nicer administration interface, faster and friendlier service, and only $1.00 more per month.  These are both great options if you are hosting a single website.

KWD is an affiliate for both 1&1 and A2 Hosting, and gets a one-time commission for referring clients to host with them. This works for me: it costs my clients the same amount, and I would have referred clients there even if KWD wasn’t an affiliate. The problem is this: a one-time commission is bitter-sweet, and I want to increase residual income while providing superior services for my clients.

Finding a good web hosting reseller

In looking for a reseller, I wanted unlimited domains, unlimited accounts, and an integrated billing system. After looking around, I narrowed it down to WebHostingBuzz and HostGator based on features and price. Next came the feature comparison.

Comparing WebHostingBuzz and HostGator:

• WebHostingBuzz
  • Pros: Amazing deal…seriously.  Very cheap packages. Every service I could want. Online chat available 24/7. Nicely designed website. Unlimited domains, databases, subdomains, users.
  • Cons: only the more expensive packages include billing management. Phone support only 9-5, didn’t pick up after two calls. Very negative and mixed reviews - mixed enough that it made me quite uneasy. I was | | ← that close to signing up with them, but the bad reviews were rampant. Medium ping times (~55ms), no free website transfers.
• HostGator
  • Pros: Same services as WebHostingBuzz (which is a lot!), billing management, 24/7 phone support, free transfer of 30 websites (!), fast ping times (~24ms). Glowing reviews made a huge difference in confidence. Free eNom domain reseller account.
  • Cons: More expensive ($5.00/month) than WebHostingBuzz with coupons. Less storage space included in base package. Less techy/modern web design.

It was a close race, but it came down to good reviews for HostGator and bad reviews for WebHostingBuzz. Reputation really does matter…even more than price and a slick website.

Related posts:

1. The SEO Denver Blog is Now Self-Hosted
2. “What If I Die?” What This Mortal Tells His Clients
3. Optimizing a website for search: Google vs. Yahoo! and MSN