StumbleUpon | danoshops's blog posts

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Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:36:30 -0700

Howdy All!

It's been a while since I've posted anything and it seems that I've been pondering the "who" and "where" question for awhile now... who are all the folks visiting my website? http://dano-dna.com/index.shtml

If you take time to visit, please drop me a line. Check out the link, for Geo Visitors (GV), at the bottom of any one of my pages. This will take you to a map of who's been at my site recently. My traffic has gone NUTS lately! I recently started a new job as a web developer at the Institute for Study Abroad, http://www.ifsa-butler.org, so maybe this has something to do with it. Before starting this job my traffic was pretty slow, so when I checked my GV map there were only a few pins, usually just in the US. Now if you have a look, I have hits all over the US, Canada, South America, Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Cayman Islands, Russia, Indonesia, Phillipines, S.Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India... check it out.� Our website http://ifsa-butler.org) has pretty good traffic with a 7/10 rating from Google, so maybe my profile there has spurred some of the interest? Another portion of the website is a NING network for current students, alumni from our programs, advisors of our programs and those who are interested in study abroad. This site is: http://community.ifsa-butler.org

If you visit our NING, check out the News/Updates feed. At the beginning of the week I finished posting the Alumni Photo Contest, http://www.ifsa-butler.org/for-alumni/alumni-photo-contest.html, which has some really cool photos from around the globe.

My Analytics account gives some more details, like the city of the reported traffic, length of stay on the my site, and all the other GA stuff. Anyone else using similar mapping tools like GV?

Drop a line,
Dan O.

http://danoshops.stumbleupon.com/review/30843264/

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:25:24 -0800

It's been a while since I last posted here. I've been happily busy with a new job. I'm now working as the web developer for IFSA-Butler.org. It's a super-cool gig and I work with great folks! I'm learning gobs and gobs about Joomla and hope some day to be a Joomla guru.

http://danoshops.stumbleupon.com/review/27688355/

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:47:01 -0800

Since my last post regarding Geovisitors my website (dano-dna.com) has had a handful of hits again... If you are one of these visitors, please send me an email via my contact form: dano-dna.com/contact.shtml

"Near Las Vegas, NV" lat=36.1515, lon=-115.2048

"Satellite Beach, Florida" lat=28.1737, lon=-80.5997

Northwest,� lat=47.7948, lon=-124.2643

"France... somewhere" lat=48.5, lon=2.5667

"Near Frankfurt, Germany" lat=50.1167, lon=8.6833

"Poland... somewhere" lat=51.4, lon=19.6833

http://danoshops.stumbleupon.com/review/27552578/

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:02:57 -0800

I'm really interested in the few hits on my website (dano-dna.com) that I've traced to a general location via Geovisitors that I have in the footer of my website. Once someone was apparently viewing my website from their car in a parking lot near Las Vegas. Another time, more recently, someone was viewing my site from somewhere NE of Witchita, Kansas. Does anyone else have experience using Geovisitors or similar mapping tools? Please send me a note for recommendations.

http://danoshops.stumbleupon.com/review/24572941/

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:10:32 -0700

I just found a Wordpress plug-in resource that I might have to invest in, The Wordpress E-Commerce Bible. I'll wait until the next version (4) comes out though, since that's what I'll need to fix my shop... http://artshop.dano-dna.com . Has anyone else used another Wordpress plug-in for E-commerce?

Thanks, Dan

http://danoshops.stumbleupon.com/review/24083119/

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:03:39 -0700

Freelance Folder Birthday Contest - Entry:

I have been freelancing for only a short time and so far things have gone pretty well. In one instance, we'll say my third client (and still active with a project underway since April), has been a real challenge due to communication issues. I bid on the client's project via Get A Freelancer and won. During the bidding process, after viewing the requirements of the website redesign and proofreading project I was very careful not to overstate what I would do to complete the work; I put a lot of effort into the bid with the hopes that we could clarify up front what was expected. The client's native language is not english, so since all of this took place via email and other electronic communication it was a challenge. Anyway, she was elated that I was in the US (as is she), stating that her last experience was with a design group from Pakistan who did not provide her a completed site.

Well, the client liked what I had to say about the project and awarded me the bid. Then it took a while of waiting for the client in which I spent my time organizing/forming my LLC, DanO Design LLC, web design and consulting. When the client was ready to go I sent her a contract (one document) and project specifications detailing what she said she needed and what I would do (another document) to review. When I sent her the documents I requested any further clarification of what I put into the specifications document. She requested a few new things which added a little more to the project budget, so I amended the contract and specs accordingly and resent them. After I received her signed copy both by fax and snail-mail, she very non-chalantly started requesting more, new requirements via email. One very big new request was a rather clear indication of the language barrier; she now wanted me to write the content for her website. I quickly took great care to explain that there is a huge difference between writing content, copywriting, and proof-reading. I gave her resources, etc. that explained in further detail and told her I would proof-read what she could provide but that our contract said nothing about copywriting which requires another type of professional service, not me.

Lesson learned? It took a bit of convincing but the client is now having her site professionally copy-written. I have been done with the design work and am awaiting the rest of her materials, so I can finish up the job. This job has been on my plate for a long time and the client "expected" something more, so I can only guess that the feeling is mutual: this project is taking way too long!

So my big tip to anyone writing specifications for work to be done for a client is that you need to write super-explicit project details/specifications. I had specified that I would "redesign" (with all the steps spelled out) and "proof-read" her site but I had not gone an extra step to state what I would not do, "I will not do copywriting for your website". This (and a few other items) will become a new clause in future agreements. I hope this helps someone out there.

http://danoshops.stumbleupon.com/review/24054319/

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:01:26 -0700

Last week I updated two of my e-commerce sites, one listed in the previous post and another hosted by Spreadshirt.com dano-dna spreadshirt shop. The second one, dano-dna spreadshirt shop, I am still tweaking as there are many styles to manipulate in my custom CSS with their base templates. If you are at all interested in T-shirt artwork, I think I have some very eye-catching options, so please check them out and review my shops.

I am also working to add more and more to my shops at dano-dna spreadshirt shop and at CafePress.com (my shop).�
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http://danoshops.stumbleupon.com/review/23931232/

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:44:34 -0700

Over the past few weeks I've fine tuned the appearance of dano-dna.com and the 'artshop'. These used to be close in appearance but now they are almost exact. I'm not sure I'll go all the way and make them exactly the same. Right now I don't see the point.
One sad note about 'artshop' is that I was a bit too hasty to use the new Wordpress automatic upgrade feature. It has squashed my ability to add more artwork to my 'artshop'! Wordpress 2.6 is the new version but the e-commerce plug-in is not yet compatible... It worked fine with WP 2.51 but the update killed that. I'll wait patiently for the the update to e-commerce which I hope happens soon.
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http://danoshops.stumbleupon.com/review/19673131/

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:29:41 -0700

I gained my first industry experience recently in a web design consulting position with Inkubook (parent company is Authorhouse) from a staffing agency (Beacon Hill). In this position I assisted in resolving UI defects, including but not limited to: Cross-browser issues, visual defects and bugs in the Inkubook.com website. Inkubook was getting ready to launch a new website and I was there to help work bugs out of the system. The work was pretty fast paced with my tasks changing sometimes several times per day.

On another note... I have finished filing paperwork to start a new business, DanO Design LLC. Right now, as you can see (if you followed the link in the previous sentence), the website is there but I need to put up the rest of the business information. This will take a bit more time. More information will follow when I've completed this.

http://danoshops.stumbleupon.com/review/16739732/

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 05:03:19 -0800

This is a great deal, if you need a host... I wish I could have found it when I needed it!

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http://tophostingcenter.com/rudolf.html