Adobe Air Apps crashing Windows on install?

13 July, 2009 – 4:15 pm

Adobe Air IconI recently spent bits and pieces of time over the last couple of months searching out and experimenting with various Twitter apps to both, try them out and find something that will assist my tweeting addiction, =o)…

Many Twitter Apps are written using Adobe’s new ‘Air’, which provides a beautiful experience but I had a problem! Everytime I attempted to install any Adobe Air Application, Windows would crash to a blue screen of death! AHHHHHHH!!!!!

I tried many solutions, to no avail, then finally late last night, in the wee hours before dawn, the right keywords were searched and I happened across this forum post: http://tr.im/sbsx on the Adobe Forums.

WOOHOO I found the problem and better yet, the solution! Read More »

By Ron Boyd | Posted in in the news | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

twitter.com/flowersmeller

7 July, 2009 – 9:04 am

gosmelltheflowers-com-screenAnother great background from orionsweb…

Flowersmeller’s twitter page was looking great, but as with many twitter pages, they look great at very high resolution but for a huge number of browsers they look as this did here: (the background image is cut off by the twitter central content.

So we went ahead and, using Flowersmeller’s background and some graphics from their website, we created their new background for their twitter page! Want to see what it will look like after a new custom background? Read More »

By Ron Boyd | Posted in clients, domains, web design | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

3 SEO Myths Shattered | Blogging Elements

4 July, 2009 – 8:17 am

Good post by Ashwin, which brings to light a couple of issues that we’re constantly dealing with as SEO’s.

3 Wordpress SEO Myths Shattered | Blogging Elements

I feel it important, however to point out one possibly dangerous flaw. His first statement regarding Meta tags not being a must.

He is correct in his explanation that for SEOs title, description and especially keywords do not have a huge impact on rankings (SERPs) but they do a bit, and it’s important when you do use them that you use them properly!

So what’s my big ‘issue’? It’s just this.. SEO may not rely upon meta tags vitally, BUT the title tag and description are required, they are part of the page, and vitally needed for usability and accessibility within any website.

So use them, use them properly, form them well, just don’t freak out about them from an SEO stand point.

By Ron Boyd | Posted in optimization, social media, tips & tricks | Tagged , | Comments (0)

RDFa and a Practical Semantic Web

3 July, 2009 – 10:30 pm

If you’ve no clue what RDFa is, no problem. If you’re not sure, no problem. If you heard about it and want to know more, again no problem!

Came across a great article: RDFa and a Practical Semantic Web which really helped clarify many confusions that I had regarding RDFa, what it is and how I can use it on websites.

This article speaks to Drupal’s implementation of RDFa which is an awesome step towards a better more Semantic Web for us all. Other CMS, and blog platforms are also beginning to take notice, even the WordPress community has started bringing us plugins which can utilize some of the power of RDFa in our blogs and sites.

By Ron Boyd | Posted in in the news, optimization, tips & tricks, web design | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

Can the geographic location of a web server affect organic SEO

25 June, 2009 – 2:42 pm

Got this as a tweet out from @MattCutts this afternoon. I also subscribe to the GoogleWebmasterHelp’s Channel on Youtube, if SEO is your business you can get a ton of helpful tips there.

This is an oft asked question with a simple answer, yes. But pay attention when he mentions cTLDs (country extensions) they also play a part. So if you’re Canadian and your domain is hosted in the US (this is obviously our most common example) your site will come up in both Canada an the US but more for the US, however if your domain is a .ca then no worries.

Anyway so here’s the vid, and thanks again Matt: Can the geographic location of a web server affect organic SEO?

By Ron Boyd | Posted in optimization, tips & tricks | Comments (0)

Google unveils research on executive Internet use :: BtoB Magazine

23 June, 2009 – 8:04 pm

Came across this b2b article (thank you @davidbullock for the tweet).

All I can says is THANK YOU Google once again.. this time for actual research!

Now I can just point all those nay-sayers to this article.. Business DOES use Social Media.. Tools like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and the link are essential in todays world..

Google unveils research on executive Internet use

By Ellis Booker
Story posted: June 12, 2009 – 12:33 pm EDT
via Google unveils research on executive Internet use :: BtoB Magazine.

By Ron Boyd | Posted in in the news, soapbox, social media | Tagged | Comments (0)

Coleman Web Store – Bad Example

22 June, 2009 – 12:52 pm

colemanwebstore_caA fellow Scouter forwarded me an announcement they received today about the opening of Coleman’s new online ecommerce store for Canada, http://www.colemanwebstore.ca!

I enjoy shopping online whenever I can, and we’re actually looking to upgrade some of the Cubs camping equipment soon. So off I go to the site..

First impression, not too bad, aesthetically it presents well, very easy to navigate, it’s just shopping, not much else, product lines are clearly displayed down the side menu. Well done..

Then I start going through the site… What a disaster! Read More »

By Ron Boyd | Posted in in the news, marketing, soapbox, web design | Comments (2)

New! Twitter Page Customization!

16 June, 2009 – 5:13 pm

Orion’s Web is now offering Twitter Page Customization!

twitter-birdFrom as little as $75 we will take imagery of your choosing or your company website, and translate it to a custom twitter page background.

Give your followers more information about you and what you do!

Take a look at our twitter page to see a simple twitter page customization: http://twitter.com/orionsweb.

And then contact us to get your twitter page customized!

By Ron Boyd | Posted in web design | Comments (0)

Facebook Usernames

13 June, 2009 – 1:25 am

facebookOK.. This one covers the gamut! It’s definitely ‘in the news’ we’re talking about major impact on search marketing, optimization and I’m definitely getting up on my soapbox and shouting it from the highest geographical location I can find!

People! and I do mean EVERYONE! Facebook just opened up USERNAMES! “So What!” you say? Well put it this way: Facebook allowing everyone to get their own personalized URL is pretty close (not exactly but close) to ICANN saying we’re deleting all the .com domains and tomorrow you can all start again to register them from scratch!

Yep that chance to get YOUR NAME or your COMPANY NAME is now.. If you are a professional, self employed, personality, celebrity, VIP, business owner or politician you will want to have http://facebook.com/username so everyone can find you that much easier!

Be very careful in the name you choose as you cannot change it! I stayed simple http://www.facebook.com/ron.boyd for my personal FB profile page.

Here’s another kicker… I really hope you’ve set up your FB Page for your business! Cause it too gets it’s OWN Facebook URL! If you don’t get your web designer or social marketer to get one up there for the June 28th deadline!

Oh wait.. you’re here already! just Contact us and I can help you set up your facebook page, I can also help integrate your blog and twitter accounts for you too.. Make Social Marketing easy!

By Ron Boyd | Posted in in the news, marketing, soapbox, social media | Comments (1)

The Vendor Client Relationship

13 June, 2009 – 1:00 am

Good friend, John from seoworks.com fired me over this video clip earlier today. It was sooo good, sooo bang on the money that I just had to share it!

For any of you that are self employed, or own or manage a business I can guarantee that you’ll be able to relate to this excellent video produced by Scofield Editorial, Inc.. Watch the video and then check out their site, not only does it bring about truths and entertain, it illustrates the power of viral marketing and how vital social networking can be to a website.

By Ron Boyd | Posted in in the news, soapbox | Comments (0)