sIFR – Taming Fonts Too Dangerous For The Web

Have a new design for your Web presence that doesn’t use standard Web safe fonts? Tired of boring old Arial, Helvetica, or Times New Roman? In the past, if you wanted to use fonts that weren’t Web safe, you pretty much needed to put the text into an image, like a GIF, to be sure that people would see your text the way that you intended. After that, changing text meant creating a new image.

Then came sIFR – Scalable Inman Flash Replacement – which essentially takes text and uses JavaScript to build it into a Flash movie (where it’s able to apply the font that you want). And, presto! A headline in Matura MT Script Capitals!

sIFR has been around for a while, and has cross-browser and cross-platform compatibility. And the great thing is, if an end user’s browser doesn’t have the tools needed to display the sIFR text, a Web safe font alternative that you specify will be used.

Learn more about sIFR and its implementation.

Other Resources: - sIFR in Action - sIFR Font Libraries

Quick Random Tip

I am a big proponent of having an empty email inbox. There is just something Zen about a clean slate. But what do you do with those items that require follow-up work? I recently set up a free Gmail account along the lines of followup@gmail.com (that's just an example, so don't try to be clever and spam it!). Any time an email requires a lengthy, thoughtful response, I reply with, "I'll let you know by XXXX," and BCC my follow-up account.

I also have a rule set up in my email software that moves all messages sent to the follow-up address to a 'Follow-Up' folder. A few times a day, I review that folder and clear my follow-up items. It saves me time, ink and Post-Its, and it also gives me a Zen-fully clean email inbox!

Hodgepodge - CTC Vista, Mobile Giving, and Net Neutrality

CTC Vista - The deadline for non-profit organizations to apply for the CTC Vista Project is February 22, 2008.  Essentially, this program places IT savvy Americorps*VISTA members in non-profits around the country to help with their technology planning and needs.  I've had the pleasure of talking to and working with one such VISTA member, Morgan Sully, who is currently contributing his talents to the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC). Mobile Giving - the Mobile Giving Foundation is working with major cell phone carriers in the US to make donations collected by SMS text messaging more feasible and profitable for non-profits.  Read more here. I think larger arts organizations, who might have the resources to mount and support a successful mobile giving campaign, may want to keep an eye on this.

Net Neutrality - Comcast has admitted to purposefully slowing down internet traffic on its network.  For those of you not familiar with net neutrality, you can visit Save the Internet.com or check out the Wikipedia article.  The FCC's investigation into Comcast's network practices is ongoing.

The Digital Museum - A New Book and Upcoming Webinar Series

Recently, the American Association of Museums published The Digital Museum: A Think Guide, in which twenty-five leading thinkers in the fields of technology and museums explore the impact of new technology on all aspects of museum operations, from interpretation to conservation. Topics range from the use of handheld devices, websites and digital games to open source technology and real-time learning. Beginning on Tuesday, February 12, AAM will launch "The Digital Museum: Transforming the Future Now" - a four-part series of monthly webinars further exploring areas identified in the publication and facilitated by leading practioners in the field. According to AAM, "The Digital Museum webinar series will help you explore how recent innovations in technology are transforming museum operations of every kind, from exhibitions and content delivery to education, audience evaluation, and institutional planning."

For more information on each webinar and to register for the series

Google Apps

I sat in on a webinar yesterday, courtesy of NTEN, which gave a whirlwind, back-end tour of Google Apps. What is Google Apps? Google Apps is an online collection of communication and collaboration tools, such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, and Google Docs.

• Gmail (email) - many folks out there use Gmail for their own free, personal email account, but Google also offers Gmail for businesses. One neat feature of Gmail is the ability to use labels (taxonomy) on your emails to help with sorting and search management. Also, emails are displayed as conversations, so it’s really easy to view, sort, and file entire email chains.
• Postini - recently acquired by Google, Postini provides software that is integrated into Gmail that provides better spam filtering and email archiving, security and encryption. Unfortunately, this service is only offered with the paid Premiere Edition of Google apps (more on this later).
• Google Calendar – there’s nothing really fancy about Google Calendar; it’s your basic calendar application. One nice thing is that it is tapped into your Gmail contact list. You can also sync up your mobile phones or BlackBerrys. Also, with some editions of Google Apps, you can set-up and allow reservations of shared resources, like conference rooms.
• Google Talk (instant messaging) – an IM in your browser. It’s also integrated into Gmail and its contacts. For more information on IMs, see David’s previous blog post.
• Google Docs (document creation and management) – this is the meat and bones of Google Apps, in my opinion. While Gmail, Postini, and Calendar might all combine forces to overthrow Outlook or Thunderbird, Google Docs is Google's attempt to replace MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. All of the Docs are powered by AJAX, which basically means they're all browser-based and stored in HTML (essentially). I'm not going to go into all of the features of Google Docs, but some of the highlights include being able to have multiple people simultaneously working and saving on a document, versioning which keeps a history of every change made to a document, and the export to PDF feature. Google Docs also serves as a document repository for your Docs-created documents, but at this point you can't upload other file types (at least I don't think so).

What’s it cost? The free Standard Edition has access to most Google Apps functions, but there are limitations: 6.32 GB storage, no 99.9% uptime guarantee, text-based ads on certain screens, no 24/7 assistance, no Postini, no email migration tools, and so on.

Non-profit organizations are eligible to receive the free Education Edition, which gets you some of the benefits missing from the Standard Edition, but you still don’t get a 99.9% uptime guarantee or Postini.

The Premiere Edition, which gets you the whole enchilada plus 25 GB of space instead of 6.32, costs $50/user account/year.

For more detailed breakdown of the different editions, click here.

Is it a good idea for my organization to start using Google Apps? Well, that depends. If you are a small office that's connected to the internet and want to take advantage of the collaborative tools that Google Apps provides, then maybe it's worth looking into. Google Docs, for example, is a very strong, collaborative resource that doesn't require an organization to pay for, own, or manage server(s) to share documents. The free Google Apps Education Edition gets you some nice features, and cost of the Premiere Edition isn't astronomical. However, there are some things to consider.

• There currently is no offline support for Google Apps. If your internet connection goes on the fritz, so does your ability to access and work on your documents. Google is working to change this with Google Gears, but it's in development and might not be ready for a while.
• Without paying for the Premiere Edition, you don't get a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Doesn't sound like to big of a deal...until you can't access your files. This is just something to consider, though, rather than lose sleep over; Google's network is very, very big and most likely trustworthy in terms of uptime, redundancy and security.
• In its current state, Google Apps seems more like a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, other processes and software. The convenience of the collaborative tools might be overshadowed by the additional time and energy spent configuring, learning, and using these new tools.

Though it may happen in the future, I don't think Google Docs or any other online document creation and management software is robust enough, at this point, to replace MS Office. Personally, I’ve been using Word since I had to write my first school report (on the state of Arizona) and I can't quite come to grips with the idea of never using it again. Yet.

Google Apps and other "Desktop in the Sky" applications (see a previous post by Brad on ajaxWindows for an example) are worth keeping an eye on. Case in point: if you visit Google Apps site, you'll see that almost all of the product's logos have the term "Beta" included in them. As the presenter explained yesterday, Google is constantly improving and modifying Google Apps. In a few years time, Google Apps could become powerful and all-in-one enough to woo me away from MS Office. We'll see.

If you have any other questions about Google Apps, feel free to either check out their site or post a comment and I’ll do my best to answer.

More resources:

• Google Apps for Non-Profits
• Google Apps Tours and Demos
• Review of Google Apps

Instant Messaging in the Workplace

A few years ago at my previous job, I engaged in a debate with some colleagues over whether or not we should set the staff up with the ability to send instant messages (IMs) to one another. I argued that instant messaging would allow us to communicate with each other more efficiently, but my boss argued that instant messaging would reduce productivity and weaken the staff's interpersonal connections. Needless to say, my boss won out. Not that I was bitter about it. When I transitioned to my current position with the Center for Arts Management and Technology, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the staff had incorporated instant messaging into the office's culture. Rather than calling each other's extensions or sending short e-mails back and forth, staff members send brief IMs to one another. In fact, instant messaging proved to be quite a valuable tool during my job transition. I frequently used IMs to ask questions of and gain clarity from my predecessor.

So has my experience with work-related instant messaging validated my argument from years ago and proven my boss wrong? Yes...and no.

Instant messaging has indeed proven to be wonderful tool for informal workplace communication - asking brief questions, sending quick reminders, sharing internet links, etc. The real-time rapid exchange not only fosters an immediacy of communication, but it also gives the user the feeling that they are engaging in a more personal conversation than e-mail. Correspondingly, the personalities of the users are often infused into the exchange. Rather than weakening interpersonal connections, instant messaging can actually strengthen these connections by providing the messengers with a personal medium for communication.

It hasn't replaced my use of e-mail or face-to-face meetings, but instant messaging has changed how I use these other means of communication with my colleagues. Now, I tend to use e-mail for formal messages as well as messages containing important details or information that the recipient may need to access later. While I still chat informally with colleagues in-person, a great deal of my face-to-face meetings with co-workers are used for brainstorming, problem solving and other collective business activities.

Now for the "No" part. I must admit that I do feel some pressure to interrupt my work throughout the day to answer instant messages as they appear, and it has impacted my productivity to some degree. There is a solution for this. I can change my online status to indicate that "I am currently unable to reply," or I can log out.

It sounds so simple, yet it truly requires a shift in my work habits. Over the years, I have developed the habit of responding immediately to incoming email and IMs. (I also do this with returning voicemail and answering incoming phone calls.) Now, I realize that in order to focus on particular tasks and work items, I need to turn off my IMs, close my email and turn off the phone. After all, if it's really important, they'll leave a message... Right?

Related items:

• Instant Messaging Invades the Office
• Instant Messaging Etiquette

Man from Mars

I can't remember where I first heard this lovely bit of advice, but I figured I'd pass it on (especially since one of my New Year's resolutions is to make silly pictures of myself more often). When looking at your organization's Web presence, it sometimes helps to ask yourself, "Would a man from Mars understand this? Would he be able to figure out what we're about?"

If a casual, first glance at your home page does not make it clear what your organization does or where a visitor can find needed information, then it might be time for an overhaul.

Klaatu barada simple.

Please BCC Me

It's amazing how many people still don’t, at the very least, BCC their recipients when sending out mass emails. BCC stands for blind carbon copy; this means that any address listed in a BCC field will get a copy of the email, but their email address will not be displayed to anyone else who is sent the email. That includes anyone in the TO or CC fields. Before I continue, I want to offer this to all of those out there who have been victims (I thought about putting that in quotes, but ultimately decided not to) of non-BCC’ing. Whenever your email address is exposed in a manner you wish it hadn’t, send a friendly response to the sender of the email and point them to this post. I have composed a reply with this post’s link here.

Since September 2007, I've received at least 5 emails where I my email address is listed right out in the open in the CC field (along with a total of 406 other individual email addresses). My email address has been leaked on audition notices, a Holiday "goodie guide" from the couple who made my wedding cake, a local performance group's new show announcement, and other emails.

So what's the big deal?

Security. Pure and simple. If you have email addresses for patrons, artists, donors and so on, it is your responsibility to protect those addresses and use them wisely. Due to the faux pas of the aforementioned emails, I now have access to over 400 email addresses of people who have shared interests. I could add them to my own email distribution list, send them my own announcements, spam them, track them down, flame them, or worse. To borrow an analogy..."Look at it another way, would you send your entire holiday card address list out with each card you sent?"

Nobody wants their email addresses shared in this way. Nobody.

How do you BCC?

It’s simple. When sending a mass email, first put your own address in the TO field (1). I know this sounds weird, but trust me, this is the thing to do. Plus, you’ll receive a copy of the email in your own inbox for your records. Then, put all of your other addresses (the ones you want to hide) in the BCC field (3). You have the option of adding addresses in the CC field (2), but keep in mind that everyone getting the email will see these addresses.

All of the recipients in the BCC field will get a copy of the email with the same address in the TO and FROM fields (in the screenshot above, myown@emailaddress.org) and no other addresses.

Pretty nifty, huh?

The specifics of using the BCC field, like getting it to show up in your email composition area in the first place and the formatting used to separate email addresses (commas or semicolons) can differ depending on what software you are using. If you need help figuring it out, I’d suggest using either the help resources of your email program, the links listed at the end of this post, or an internet search.

What other mass email options are out there?

This BCC business is the bare minimum that you should do to protect your recipients’ privacy. But, if you’re a group or organization that is currently or will be sending out lots of mass emails (or eBlasts, if you prefer the hip and trendy terminology), consider utilizing one of the many bulk email software/services out there. Here’s a list (in alphabetical order) to get you started in your searching.

http://www.constantcontact.com/ http://www.icontact.com/ http://www.lsoft.com/ http://www.patrontechnology.com/

Anyone out there use one of the services mentioned above? Or are using a different one and want to tell us about it? Please leave us a comment.

Related links http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~watrous/Bcc-for-privacy.html http://www.iwillfollow.com/email.htm

Final Search Engine Optimization article

Make Your Nonprofit Website a Top “Hit”: A 30 Day Step by StepGuide to Dramatically Improved Search Engine Optimization Part 4 of 4 By Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson Lance@TicketPrinting.com http://www.ticketprinting.com/

Week 4 Objective: Your objectives in the fourth and final week include emailing potential link partners, negotiating link agreements, and continuing your education of SEO and nonprofit resources online.

Let’s Get Started:

1. Link Recruitment Email- Unless you have a personal friend within the site you are trying to contact, the first step you should take is to email requests for links. To do this you will want to make sure that your email contains the following:

1. Include the request for the link early in the email so the reader knows the purpose.
2. Explain what your website has to offer and why it will be beneficial for them to link to you. Be sure to demonstrate how this will benefit the users of the partner site.
3. Tailor your request for the site you are contacting. Do some research and learn what services they provide to better understand their needs.
4. Give your sites URL (address) that you would like them to use for the link. To make your link structure look more natural to search engines, do not always give the URL of your homepage. Where appropriate, link to pages within your site that are more beneficial to the link partner.
5. Tell where you would like your link to be placed within their site.
6. Give your contact information and request for them to contact you if they are interested.

Link Negotiations- After you have made contact with the organization; you will negotiate the terms of the link. Use the information you collected in week three with your primary and secondary link objectives to discuss the link placement. Again, your goal should be to get a link on their homepage, or within a part of their site that is topically relevant. Other points of negotiation will likely be how long the link will be posted and the appearance of the link. Use varied anchor text with your links. For example, do not ask for a “click here” link, but rather one that is topically relevant such as the organization’s name or main purpose.

2. The Future

Staying current with the latest technology advancements will make your nonprofit more successful. Below are three technology changes that will have a direct impact on your organization. By understanding what these key changes are and how you can use them, your organization will be better positioned for the future.

1. Vertical Search Engines- Have you ever wanted to search for information that is specific to nonprofits but been unable to find what you are looking for in general search engines such as Google or Yahoo? The growing number of vertical search engines may be the solution you are looking for because they are specifically focused on one topic or user group. Today, Guidestar and the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) are great tools which help network nonprofit organizations and related information. GoodSearch is also an excellent choice for more broad information searches because they donate 50% of their total revenue back to the nonprofits registered on their site.
2. Rich Media and Content– Rich media is becoming more and more popular due to its aesthetic appeal, but should be implemented with caution. It is often difficult for search engines to crawl frames and java content and therefore may be detrimental to your SEO efforts. Also, users with low bandwidth internet connection may become frustrated while waiting for pages to load. For more information on optimizing rich media content, visit http://www.seonews.com/.
3. Social Networking- Sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Squidoo, and Friendster have caught the attention of many commercial companies and nonprofits alike for their unique ability to connect individuals. Many nonprofits are using social networking sites to raise awareness for their organization and accomplish very real fundraising objectives. For more information about how to leverage social networking, read TechSoup’s article, “What Can Social Networking Do for Your Organization?” or part one of my fundraising series titled, “6 Unique Online Fundraising Techniques for Your Nonprofit”

Review- Let’s now review your progress over the last four weeks.

1. You have identified several keywords and integrated these into our websites content. This has helped your website become more visible to searchers and improved its natural search position.
2. You have created a blog on your website which facilitates communication between affiliates and the organization while simultaneously encouraging other blogs/sites to link to you.
3. A well thought out link campaign strategy which targets topically relevant partner sites has been established.
4. You have begun to execute your link recruitment campaign by sending emails and negotiating link agreements.

Congratulations! You are on your way to vastly improved search engine optimization. Remember that great SEO is a continuous process and should be perused with diligence for as long as your organization is on the internet.

Week 4 Checklist:

• Email websites
• Negotiate link agreements
• Establish technology goals for future
• Continue SEO campaign and remain current with research

Third in the Search Engine Optimization article series

Make Your Nonprofit Website a Top "Hit": A 30 Day Step-by-Step Guide to Dramatically Improved Search Engine Optimization Part 3 of 4

By Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson Lance@TicketPrinting.com www.TicketPrinting.com

Week 3: Objective: to plan and develo9p a sound link recruitment campaign

What you need to know:

Links: A link is a connection between one webpage to another. Search engines value links because if many links are pointing to the same webiste, then the wesbsite is deemed to be important and is given a higher pagerank (range 1-10) or level of importance. Having inbound links from "quality" sites will booste yor website's SEO campaign more than any other factor.

If we think of keywords as the means to telling search engines what your site is about, then links are the channels that tell search engines how important your site is. Links are also where your nonprofit can truly shine. Other websites are generally more willing to provide a link to an informational or nonprofit organization making link recruitment considerably easier.

Link Recruitment Strategies - There are three basic strategic approaches to acquiring links:

1. Get as many links as posible
2. Get a few high quality links
3. Have a combination of quantity and quality links

Having a combination between quality and quantity is currently the most effective and recommended strategy. Remember, search engines do not value all links equally and neither should your organization. Having some low quality links from directories (week 1) will give your organization a slight boost, but the real gains in ranking will be derived from the quality of incoming links.

Inbound Link Partners - The question you need to ask yourself now is, "What webistes are similar in topic and would benefit from the contents of my webiste?" To answer this question, you will first need to identify the informatino or service your site offers that makes it unique and friendly to link to. As a general rule, websites will only link to you ify ou give them something of real value. If you find yourself thinking, "My website has nothing to offer," then you should go back and work on your website's content before continuing any further. If you do have value to offer, take some time perusing the Internet to find organizations which focus on similar topics that would possibly link to you. In the first 30 days, try to develop a contact list of at least the top 50 possible link partners. Look for sites with a high pagerank (although keep in mind pagerank is a rough estimate not an exact measurement). Pageranks range in value from 1-10 and show up on the top of your Web browser. You will want to install the free pagerank toolbar to acquire this tool.

Reciprocal Linking - Some entities inevitably will only be willing to trade links. This is called a reciprocal link. Establishing a reciprocal link entails placing a link on your site which directs visitors to a partner's site in exchange for a link back to your own. Search engines do not value reciprocal links very highly, but a few reciprocal links will not hurt the organization as long as it contributes to a natural looking link structure (searchenginenews.com). Reciprocal links should rarely be sought out, but rather used as a fallback position in link negotiations (this topic will be covered in week 4).

Link Placement - The placement of your link on a partner's site is often equal in importance to the quality of the partnering organization. This makes it critical to have a link placement strategy in place before you contact the organization. A good strategy consists of a best case scenario which almost always is a link on the homepage, and a backup position which will be where you feel your link is the best fit to the organization. Having your link placed in a topically relevant area of the partnering organization is critical because search engines use link placement information to determine the purpose of your organization.

Anchor Text - Another factor that is pivital to achieving a natural linking structure is establishing varied, keyword rich anchor text for each link obtained. Anchor text is the text displayed in the link on another page linking back to yours. If websites linking to your site are willing to accept suggestions for the anchor text, make sure each one is varied and include common keywords. Avoid links that say "click here" etc. because they will be much less valuable to your site than a specific targeted keyword that you identified in the first week.

Voluntary Links - If your website has quality content; it is very possible that sites will want to provide a link to your site without you even having to ask. To facilitate this, provide an easy "link to us" section of your webpage where sites can sign up to link to you. Be sure to approve each link personally so that you ensure overall quality.

Additional Resources - The Unfair Advantage book, "101 Link Building Tips to Market Your Website" (SEOBook.com), and How to Achieve Higher Rankings and Stay Out of Google Hell Via Optimized Internal Linking are good sources for more information about linking.

Week 3 Checklist:

• Decide your link recruitment strategy
• Identify what valuable service/information your organization contains
• Develop a list of the top 50 possible links with contact information
• Set your link placement goals for each contact
• Decide what anchor text you will use for each contact.