A great web design idea!

A "Tax" for using Internet Explorer!
For years, web designers have complained about Internet Explorer.  It doesn't follow the web's standards, so web designers have to take extra time to make sure pages look similar to what thye would in any other browser.  Internet Explorer 6 was the absolute worst, but every browser since has Microsoft ignoring basic parts of the HTML standards.
That adds to the cost of designing a website.
Now, Kogan, an online retailer in Australia is passing those extra expenses to consumers who refuse to use modern, standards based browsers.  If you attempt to purchase something on their site using IE7, a popup window tells you they are adding 6.8% to your bill for the cost of supporting the outdated browser.  And the rate will go up .1% a month.
It's overdue.
FYI, last year, Microsoft issued a warning about IE6: IE6 Countdown Warning.  IE7 has also been implicated in a high profile security hack.  If you're still using it, it's time to move on.

Lynn McColley is a Mesa Web Designer with his own agency: McColley Marketing Media.  With more than just a couple of years (saying how many might make you think he's not as young as he used to be) in advertising, marketing and media, he approaches his work with the crazy idea that a website is a marketing tool and that it should actually sell something.  You can reach him at 480-704-4286.

Tempe dui lawyer Michael Urbano back from California

Michael has been taking the California bar. He's back and taking cases.  Visit his site at www.urbanolaw.com. 
Yeah, we did his site.

oops! Here's the right link.

My link to show off the Tires Tires Tires connection between Facebook and Joomla had a bad link.
Here's the right address for Tires Page at Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TiresTiresTires
The Special Offers page is pulled into Facebook from this page on their website, which is completely controlled by their content management system (Joomla), making management of timed offers automatic. 
When the deal ends, it disappears from both Joomla and Facebook without any intervention. 
We can also start content by date and time, or even run the same content every Wednesday, with different content on Thursday, and on Friday... (think daily specials).

Thanks to Brad Prose at LinkedIn who caught the flub!

Lynn McColley is basically lazy.  He doesn't like to do things over and over again, so he finds ways to streamline his effort while getting more impact.  "Lazy" actually sounds pretty good when you describe it that way, doesn't it?  Want more time to sit around the pool this summer?  Call 480-704-4286 to interrupt Lynn while he's enjoying a frosty adult beverage next to the water.    McColley Marketing Media is a Mesa Web Design Company that provides Small Business Web Site Design Services and Local Internet Marketing for Small Businesses.  We're Phoenix Joomla Web Design experts.  We also help local companies as a Small Business Email Marketing Consultant.

Mesa Web Design - Connecting Joomla and Facebook

Well here's a cool new trick.  For some time we've been connecting Facebook back to our websites so our clients can add content at their Facebook Page and have it show up on their website. 
That's kind of old hat now.
What about going the other way?
The first question of course is why?  It's a great way to use one of the great features of Joomla: Content Time Control.  You see, in Joomla, you can set a piece of content to start or end by time. 
Let's say you have a special offer that ends on July 13th.  You can add the content to your website and set it to expire.  When July 14th arrives, Joomla will automatically remove that page from your site.
If you display your Joomla content inside Facebook, Joomla will remove the content at Facebook, too.
For an example, go to www.Facebook.com/TiresTiresTires and visit the Special Offers page.  You'll find a set of content that looks a lot like this page at www.tires3.com.  We've set Facebook to actually pull the content from the Tires Tires Tires website.
As you can see, we're a little restricted by the narrower shaped space that Facebook gives us, but the content shines through. 
We can also make that page the home page for our Facebook followers - even presenting different content based on whether they have Liked us or not.
Can you see some of the possibilities?
It's a cool way to connect your website and your social media and leverage the benefits of each while making your life easier.
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Lynn McColley is basically lazy.  He doesn't like to do things over and over again, so he finds ways to streamline his effort while getting more impact.  "Lazy" actually sounds pretty good when you describe it that way, doesn't it?  Want more time to sit around the pool this summer?  Call 480-704-4286 to interrupt Lynn while he's enjoying a frosty adult beverage next to the water.    McColley Marketing Media is a Mesa Web Design Company that provides Small Business Web Site Design Services and Local Internet Marketing for Small Businesses.  We're Phoenix Joomla Web Design experts.  We also help local companies as a Small Business Email Marketing Consultant.

Who thought this was a good idea?

Clear, blue, and white are the expected colors for packaging water. Maybe a green.
But yellow? Even with the JDF tie-in, yellow is just not the right color for water packaging!

Phoenix Joomla Web Design - Horror Stories

A week or so ago we were digging through some old files and came across a real Joomla Designer horror story.
We had to sign a non-compete with the agency that hired us to fix this site so we couldn't tell anyone about our involvement until now.  (As far as we can tell, the original designer and the agency are no longer in town)
The site was for Surgical Specialty Hospital of Arizona. 
The agency was nearing the launch deadline and said the site was "too sluggish."  We were horrified to discover that the home page took 45 seconds to load!  Most people abandon a page that takes more than 6 seconds, and that number has probably fallen even more now that we're all on broadband.
There were other problems, too: 

• The biggest challenge was the physician listings.  The lists were set up as simple documents that would have to be maintained by hand.  Since there were multiple lists, getting one out of sync was inevitable. 
• The hospital had a number of videos to include - but the Joomla designer didn't know how to get them to play.
• The agency had promised something "snazzy" to show off what doctors fell into what specialties. 
  

When we got there, the site was definitely in critical condition.  But we were able to clean up all the problems and get the site launched on schedule.
It was a similar story for Pilotshares, a company that provides shared ownership of high end aircraft to companies and pilots.
Their Joomla designer had set up an extremely convoluted site architecture.  There were dozens of duplicated pages.  And it was so mixed up, he couldn't get the built-in Joomla menu system to work - so he created a new one outside of Joomla. 
That eliminated any chance for the site owners to make any changes to the site - which is the purpose of using Joomla in the first place.
We got that site flying as well.
The point is: not everyone who claims they are a Joomla web design expert, really is.
After all that, should we claim that we are Joomla web design experts?  Well, we have built dozens of Joomla sites.  We have been working with Joomla since the day it was released (actually we worked with it's predecessor, Mambo, first).  We have become known as the go-to company for a number of agencies when they run up against tough Joomla problems. 
OK, we'll say it.  If you want a Joomla site done right, the first time, call us.  We're Phoenix Joomla Web Design Experts.
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Known for our humility and shyness, McColley Marketing Media is a Mesa web design company specializing in small business web site design, local internet marketing for small business and Phoenix Joomla web design.  We also help local companies as a small business email marketing consultant.  Call us at 480-704-4286.

The Rapture of the Deep - now at Tires3.com

The deeper a scuba diver goes into the water, the more they risk getting the "Rapture of the Deep."  They start feeling really good.  Elated. Euphoric. High. 
Its a potentially deadly feeling when they're 100 feet down.
It's also known as Nitrogen Narcosis.  The pressure of being that deep forces nitrogen into the blood stream and causes oxygen starvation.
Here at the surface, nitrogen isn't dangerous despite making up 80% of the air we breathe.  Oxygen molecules are smaller than nitrogen molecules so they just naturally pass through the lungs and into the blood where they do so much good.
The same thing is happening in your tires - but it's not so good.
Oxygen in compressed air is actually oozing through the pores in the rubber of your tires.  That's why your tires tend to lose pressure.
Filling your tires with nitrogen instead of normal air will keep them pressurized longer, and that can save you a bundle of money.
Web Design Fun: A Nitrogen Calculator
This month, the Tires Tires Tires website is promoting using Nitrogen in your tires.  McColley Marketing Media got to look at all the studies on using nitrogen in your tires and build a calculator to show the benefits. 
Go give it a try at www.tires3.com.  Enter in the price you paid for your last tires, how many miles you drive a year, the price you're paying for gas, and your vehicle's miles per gallon.
Using the numbers from a half dozen studies, the calculator shows you how much you'll save on gas by keeping your tires properly inflated and how much you'll save by reducing the wear on your tires caused by underinflation.
And since Tires Tires Tires is giving away FREE nitrogen fills, it's a pretty simple decision to make - especially while gas prices are out of this world.
BONUS!
Keloland TV,  the local news powerhouse, just featured Tires Tires Tires Nitrogen Campaign!
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Need a special way to explain your company's benefits to customers?  McColley Marketing Media can help.  We've been creating compelling advertising content since before the internet was born.  McColley Marketing Media is a Mesa web design company specializing in small business web site design, local internet marketing for small business and Phoenix Joomla web design.  We also help local companies as a small business email marketing consultant.  Call us at 480-704-4286.