News from Two Trees Media

No, you didn't read that wrong. Apparently even bad products reviews can help increase online sales.

CNN Small Business recently profiled AlpacaDirect.com, a website that sells Alpaca products such as sweaters, scarves, socks, and yarn (unfortunately no Alpacas themselves). AlpacaDirect installed PowerReviews Express software that allows customers to post critiques of products they have purchased. Jim Hobart, the owner, was surprised to see that sales of products with reviews - even bad reviews - increased.

Hobart was effectively paying to host bad press -- such as posts by customers who described AlpacaDirect's golf cardigan as "kinda sweaty" and a "poor fit." Both awarded the cardigan three out of a possible five stars.

But a month after installing the PowerReviews service, Hobart saw sales climb 23% on items that had customer reviews (even that cardigan, which garnered an average of four stars).

Online customers today are looking for great deals, but they are also looking for retailers to be honest about what they are selling. The best way to be completely honest about a product is for customers themselves to post their thoughts. People are more likely to trust a review that discuses both the negatives and positives of a product than one-sided marketingspeak talking up the latest widget.

The Takeaway for Website Owners

The huge lesson in this is that customers want a website to be honest - they are looking for a business to care enough about customers to post potentially bad reviews or comments.

Successful businesses open a dialogue with their customers (or between customers) by allowing ratings or feedback on their products. Shopping cart software often comes with this built in, or it can be added on (Drupal's Ubercart shopping cart module integrates nicely with Fivestar, for example). Or, if your site isn't eCommerce, you could start a blog to open the discussion.

Customers want to do business with companies that are open an honest about the products they sell. Help your business and your website by taking steps to make that honesty know.

Source: Even bad reviews boost sales (CNN Money)

One of our clients, Open Hearts for Orphans, is hosting a fundraiser at Buffalo Wild Wings in Woodridge, Illinois on Sunday October 11, 2009. Download the certificate below and present it at the restaurant and 20% of your purchase will be donated to Open Hearts. The offer is good all day on Sunday October 11.

So come on down and help yourself to some good food while helping orphans in need!

A bill filed in the French National Assembly is proposing a requirement to add disclaimers to photos where a person's physical appearance has been altered. UMP member Valeria Boyer filed the bill in order to help combat anorexia and other eating disorders by noting when a body has been photoshopped. The bill reads (translated into English):

The publicity photographs of people whose physical appearance was altered by software image processing must be accompanied by the words: + retouched photograph to change the physical appearance of a person +

Lets be clear here: every image in every ad in the history of modern civilization has been altered in some way, shape, or form (some quite humorously). Everybody knows that. While we're all for promoting positive body images for women and especially teenage girls, at best this label will quickly degrade into meaningless noise when all images in a magazine carry it.

In California, Proposition 65 requires all consumer products containing substances that could possibly cause cancer be labeled as such. If you've ever been to California, you will see everything labeled - I remember seeing signs saying breathing air at a gas station could be hazardous (duh). The result of this over labeling is you start to ignore the warning after a while.

While this bill seeks to note images that have been digitally manipulated, it doesn't cover images that have been skillfully photographed. Lighting placement, camera angle, make up, and many other methods can be used to change a model's appearance before an image is turned into pixels.

Please France, join the 21st century and stop trying to legislate advertising and art.

Source - AFP article translated by Google

As you're probably aware, WordPress is quite possibly the best blogging software out there. It is easy to use, open source (read: free), and has tons of plugins to extend its functionality. But what you might not know is there are two ways of setting up your blog: self-hosting the WordPress software, and hosting it with Wordpress.com.

Self-Hosted WordPress

Self-hosting a WordPress blog means that you already own a domain name such as www.mysuperterrifficblog.com, and have purchased server space through a hosting provider like GoDaddy or DreamHost. We won't focus on the specifics on how to install and configure your blog (there are tons of tutorials out there), but typically you'll need to FTP the WordPress code to your server and create a database to store your data.

Pros of Self-Hosting

• You maintain complete control over your data - you can import, export, upload, download and do anything you want with the information stored in your blog.
• You can extend your blog in any way you want - add on plugins to do eCommerce, start a community site, or do a photo journal blog. You can do any of these and more using the extensive library of code available. 
• Use custom themes or develop your own - customize the look and feel of your website to almost anything you can dream using prebuilt (and usually free) themes, or build your own.
• Configure and fine-tune the back end for optimal response and performance - when you self-host, you can access PHP settings, caching, load balancing, and other stuff to make your site run faster and do what you want it to do.

Cons of Self-Hosting

• You are responsible for backups - you'll have to periodically get in and back up the WordPress code, your database, and any content you have uploaded. There are plugins that can help with backups and even automate them.
• You are responsible for general maintenance and updates - you'll have to periodically update the core WordPress code, which can be done with a few clicks through an easy web interface.
• You are responsible for spam control - you need to keep a flood of spam comments from being posted on your site, but there are easy-to-use plugins that can help with that.
• There is the possibility of being slashdotted - without a robust hosting package, sudden spikes in traffic have the potential to bring down your site. But realistically, the odds of being slashdotted are pretty low.

Hosting your blog with WordPress.com

WordPress.com is "is brought to you by some of the same folks who work on WordPress." Same software, mostly the same functionality, only the hosting and management of your site is taken care of by WordPress.com. The software and platform is pretty the same as if you hosted the blog yourself, but there are some minor differences. WordPress.com has locked down some features such as custom theme (look and feel) development and plugin use. But for the most part the end result is the same, a blog that runs on the great WordPress software platform.

Pros of Hosting with WordPress.com

• Easy to set up and configure - enter your username, email address, and password, and you're up and running with your own blog. No need to mess with MySQL databases or FTP info.
• They offer a free package - get 3 gb of file storage and the great WordPress software for free! Or, pay for premium features on an as-needed basis.
• Backups and software updates are taken care of - no need to worry about running patches or updates, the server admins automatically take care of all that for you.
• Spam control is taken care of - out of the box, Askimet (did you know that 83% of all comments are spam?) is turned on and stops all the nasty spammers from inundating your site.
• Ready-made audience - posts are automatically listed in the WordPress.com blogs of the day and tags, which give your blog greater visibility to the public at large.

Cons of Hosting with WordPress.com

• No customized themes - WordPress.com has over 70 themes in their library, and some of them are pretty cool. But you are locked into those and can't use any of the thousands of free themes found elsewhere on the web.
• No customized PHP code - Even if you are technically inclined, you can't get in and mess with the guts of your blog or customize anything.
• No plugins - You can't upload or use plugins, period. Which means you can't extend your blog beyond being a basic blog. No photo journal, no eCommerce, no Twitter integration, nada. And some could say plugins are the best thing about WordPress.
• A 3rd party has possession of your data - Even though WordPress.com is probably not an evil company out to get you, they still have your data. You are at their mercy to make sure your data is backed up, not corrupted, or otherwise lost.
• It's hard to get your data out - If you did ever want to switch platforms, you can't grab your entire MySQL database (which contains all your content and settings) or connect to your site over FTP to get images, videos, or other assets.

The Bottom Line

What it all comes down to for me is who controls my data? Even though WordPress.com gives you a free blog with many of the features of self-hosted software, they ultimately have possession of your data and content. This comes into play if you every want to upgrade your site or switch to another platform.

All other things being equal, we strongly recommend to clients to go with a self-hosted setup. Most of the technology concerns can be overcome with a little bit of education and configuration, but once a company has control of your information you are locked into a long-term marriage with them whether you like it or not.

We here at Two Trees Media Media absolutely love photography. One of the coolest things happening with photography today is so called "light graffiti" You might have seen it in the (somewhat) recent Sprint commercials:

How Light Graffiti is Created

Light graffiti is created by taking a picture with a long exposure (typically 10-30 seconds) at iso 100 and the smallest possible aperture. Photos are taken at night or at very low ambient light levels. The camera is placed on a tripod to minimize the shaking associated with a long exposure.

People in front of the camera use a bright light source such as flashlights, LEDs, fireworks, or glowsticks, and move the light source around in interesting patterns. Since the exposure is so long and person moves so fast, the result is a dominant light trail and a ghost-like (or invisible) person making the movement.

Awesome Examples of Light Graffiti

Graffiti Light by jesty00

antiparticle by { tcb }

Light Graffiti by MightyBoyBrian

Fire Island, NY - 07, Aug - 44 by sebastien.b

Human Bulb III by jasonr611

Lightpainted Oasis by duane.schoon

The Burning Bush by earsaregood

Magic Show by duane.schoon

I have something to say by sparktography

You have started a blog for your business's website to share your expertise, be part of a larger online community and to help market your business. Now what? Your blog is up and running and maybe you have written a few posts. How do you get people to visit your blog?

That is the question that runs deep in the minds of just about all bloggers, especially new ones. And while growing your blog's popularity is not an exact science, there are generally accepted practices that will help get your blog noticed. A few weeks ago I came across an excellent blog post by Darren Rowse from Problogger. His blog post, How to Find Readers for a Business Blog talks about this very topic.

With a business-oriented blog you have a very specific target audience in mind. You not only want to market your business, but your blog must offer value to the reader, that is, provide content that helps the reader in some way. Darren's post talks about content as the foundation for your blog. Without a solid foundation, your blog won't attract many readers. Here's what Darren says:

"Your blog posts need to meet a need of readers in some way. Readers of business blogs needs will vary but could include a need for news about your industry, a need to learn how to use your products, a need to get updates on developments/news about your company that relates to them, a need to see how others are using your products."

Even with great content, your blog will unlikely get noticed right away. In fact, it could take years for content alone to generate traffic through search engines - and even that won't amount to many visitors. That is why you need to get the word out about your blog by leveraging your network of associates, employees, industry leaders, business contacts and so forth. Let them know about the blog on your website. If your content is valuable and well-written, word-of-mouth and links to your blog will start bringing in a lot of traffic.

This post only touches on the very basics of getting your business blog noticed and read. The most important rule I have learned in my years of blogging is to be patient. Stay in it for the long run and write the best content you can. If you do this, your business will reap the benefits.

Its inevitable - your website will experience downtime. All hosts, regardless of price, technology, or quality, will experience downtime. Site downtime is a bad thing because if your customers can't get to your site, they can't send you their money. No monies = sad business.

But website owners don't need to worry about your site being down without you knowing. There are a few options out there that will periodically check your site and send you a message (via email or text message, depending on your preferences) if anything is wrong. These services are great because if you are proactively notified that something is wrong, you can take action before it negatively impacts your business.

Pingdom

Pingdom includes options to test DNS, email, or check for normal HTTP responses from one minute to 60 minute intervals. The great feature of Pingdom is that when a problem is detected, error analysis is performed to help you troubleshoot the error. They will record traceroute information to help find network problems, response information from the server, and DNS lookup checking. All this information is recorded in an error log that lets you see your website's performance over time.

Normally a paid service starting at $9.95/month for up to 5 sites, Pingdom recently added a free plan for monitoring one site.

Are My Sites Up?

Are My Sites Up? is the service Two Trees Media uses to monitor its web properties. The service reports if your site is either up or down, with very little information to aid in troubleshooting. Their interface is super simple to use with fewer options, making the service perfect for power users that just need to know if one of their many sites is working. Notifications can be sent via email or SMS text message.

Are My Sites Up? has a free service that lets you check up to 5 sites at 60 minute intervals. Paid plans start at $35/year for 25 sites and 30 minute status checks.

Do you have beautiful handwriting and want to world to know about it? Your wait is over! If you've got a few minutes and a scanner, FontCapture can turn your handwriting sample into a font face, ready for use in any program you can think of.

To get started, print out the font template, and fill it out. I used a fine point Sharpie to fill mine out to give my font a little more weight, and well, Sharpies are the best things ever. Once its all nice and complete (you can skip over the funky characters if you never use them), scan the page and upload it to the FontCapture website. Conversion takes only a few seconds, and the site outputs your font in both Mac and PC file formats.

Mine turned out great (see above image) and you can be sure I'll be using it wherever I get a chance.

Kinetic Type is the art of creating videos out of text set to the audio track of a favorite movie scene, song, or voice-over. The typefaces themselves, as well as the position of the words and other graphic design elements, add significant emotion to the spoken content. This style of animation is the latest trend in the advertising world lately. Kinetic type has been shown to be an effective way to capture and maintain a viewer's attention, and as such is very effective in commercials (see also: Ford F150 and Microsoft Business ads).

Graphic artists has taken some of their favorite movie clips and songs and created their own kinetic type videos. Below are a few of our favorites for your viewing pleasure. I think my favorite is the 8 Rules of Fight Club. Enjoy!

Warning: some of the videos below contain subject matter that may not be appropriate to younger viewers, those that are easily offended, or people at conservative workplaces. Viewer discretion is advised. I never thought I would have to write that in this blog!

Letterpress printing has experienced a resurgence in popularity over the last few years, as artisans have turned to it as an expressive way to make small runs of printed materials. Letterpress printing is fairly flexible, and allows for a wide range of designs and colors which makes for some truly beautiful printed art.

This video from Egg Press (who we previously featured in an Inspiration Friday post on letterpress printing) celebrates 10 years of cranking out gorgeous hand designed and printed stationary. Filmed on location in Egg Press's studios in Portland, OR, "Egg Press Work and Whirl" gives a fascinating view into how letterpress printing is done.