RedLime Web Development - x cart development - x cart customization - x cart programming

Whoops!

2010-01-05T23:18:00.002-07:00

I can't believe it's been a year since I last blogged.

WHOOPS!

Well, it's the new year and we have some big changes in store. One of which is a regular blogging schedule. Yeah, I know, I've said it before... well, this time we'll make it work.

And first on the list is a move to Wordpress. This blog will be moving very shortly to a new home. Please make sure you update your bookmarks and make a note of the new addy. Coming soon.

Oh, and guess what? We're going to Disneyland! Yeppers. Last full week of January we'll be in the company of a million screaming children. And we couldn't be happier!

January 25-31

2009-01-03T15:57:00.003-07:00

That's right. We're going to Disneyland! It's nearly time for our annual vacation and as in the past 3 years, we're heading to the magical kingdom - the happiest place on earth.

We'll be thinking of each and every one of you as we sail through the coves of the Pirates of the Caribbean. And from the rooftops of Peter Pan. And the factory of Monsters Inc.

M.I.C.K.E.Y. M.O.U.S.E.!!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T22:24:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's 2009 already. Where did the last year go?

I really like the first of the year. It's fresh and anything is possible. Well, most anything. We still haven't figured out how to get your website to do your housework... but we're working on it!

With the new year come a few resolutions. Things like being more diligent in writing articles for this blog. Working more normal business hours (2am coding sessions are getting quite tiresome.). And taking weekends off. (she states as she works on a Saturday...)

Something new that we'll be doing is including a press release with every site we complete in 2009. This will be posted on our blog and will also be available to our clients for their own press pages. Just another way that we hope will help with sales and traffic.

We have a few cool mods for x-cart that we'll be finishing up and releasing soon. One will revolutionize gift ordering - that's all I can say for the moment. It's pretty rad though!

So we're looking forward to what this year has to offer and we're especially looking forward to January 25. More on this later...

Shipping Tutorial

2008-10-20T22:55:00.008-07:00

Ahhh, shipping. Or more correctly, accurate and problem-free shipping. The elusive holy grail of many a frustrated and enraged etailer.

In my experience, shipping is the number one cause for angst and aggravation among etailers. We've talked more than a few clients off the ledge after dealing with a particularly odious shipping issue. Is there another issue that can reduce so many normally rational people to completely irrational and crazed behavior? I think not.

I hope that my own experiences in this area might help you come to some sort of peace with the hideous Shipping Beast.

There are several ways you can handle shipping.
• Free Shipping for all orders or after a particular dollar amount is reached.
• Incremental shipping that increases as the value of the order grows larger.
• Shipping by weight, ties in with above.
• Flat rate shipping - one rate regardless of amount spent.
• Real-time shipping via one or more of the major carriers. UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL, etc.

There are pros/cons to each of the methods above. This could turn into a very l-o-n-g article if I were to discuss each of these at length. So let's skip that and go right to the heart of the matter.

After using all methods at one time or another I've realized that flat rate shipping is the way to go. My own stress level has dropped greatly since I instituted the flat rate charge and customer service issues relating to shipping have completely vanished. No more queries or complaints, no more fretting over the shipping being off by $.05 or the much-loved refund as a result of the customer being overcharged by more than $1.00. No, now everyone pays the same. Regardless of how much they purchase.

One needs to consider the human psychology behind shipping costs and the consumer's purchase. When I offered free shipping, I found that order sizes dropped. I quickly realized that without a shipping cost to determine order size (oh, if I spend just $X amount more, the shipping is worth it) customers were spending less because they could order again later at no extra expense to themselves. This was actually costing me far more than I would have anticipated - I had counted on the free shipping drawing customers in and ordering copious quantities. Not so.

With the flat rate, orders are larger as the customer is encouraged to purchase more to make the shipping charge worth their while. My single unit orders have dropped dramatically as a result of this.

But leaving profit and order sizes out of the equation, consider this. What is your time worth? How many hours per day/week do you spend fretting and agonizing over shipping? Multiply that by your hourly rate and see what you come up with. I think you might be surprised. Be sure to count all the emails and phone calls you've had to send/make/receive in regards to shipping. How many times did you have to refund someone? How many times was the cart off by more than $.50? All this adds to your angst bank and can fester there before erupting one day when confronted by an irate customer who was overcharged for shipping.

You have a business to run, products to make and market, orders to ship. Fiddling with shipping shouldn't be something that is on your daily list of things to do.

If possible, I recommend a flat rate shipping module. Your life will be easier and customers will be happier. And you just might find that your order sizes increase and sales improve. But you'll definitely appreciate the drop in blood pressure that you're sure to experience...

Oh, and in case you didn't know, you can get FREE boxes from the USPS. Of course this requires using the USPS to ship your packages, but they are the fastest when it comes to getting your packages to where they need to go.
order USPS Priority Mail boxes

The savings in box purchasing will offset money lost from instituting the flat rate shipping. It all works together to create shipping nirvana...

new RedLime site!

2008-10-19T16:29:00.005-07:00

Times are changing and we needed a fresh, new look to our site. So out with the stale and in with the new!

We've completely overhauled our website so serve you better. Content has been merged and some pages eliminated entirely to make it easier for you to browse the site and get the information you need more quickly. I think you'll find the change quite refreshing!

In addition, I promised back in June to be publishing a weekly article and well, I obviously failed miserably on that count. But with the new design comes a promise to be on top of things and actually take a bit of time off each day to get side projects completed. One of these being my weekly article. As stated before, the first article will be on shipping. Look for that tomorrow!

As a reminder for those who have forgotten and for those who are unaware - Cherie is not only a web designer/developer, she also owns and operates an ecommerce website based on a line of gluten-free foods that she creates and then sell. This business, Glutenada, is run on the x-cart platform and is a prime example of multiple custom hacks and programming we've done to a basic x-cart site.

So not only do we live and breath web development, we also exactly where our clients are coming from since we too are etailers. This makes us unique in the development world and gives us a unique perspective on designing and developing sites.

Until tomorrow...

weekly article coming soon

2008-06-25T16:25:00.003-07:00

Cherie here. I've decided to write a weekly article on subjects that consistently come up in conversations with our clients and other retailers. These will be written not only from my perspective as a web designer/developer, but from a retailer viewpoint as well. I have knowledge from both sides of the fence which allows me an advantage in the web design element as I actually know how the retail world operates.

First up will be my thoughts on shipping. Oooo... so exciting! I promise to keep it short and to the point so you don't lose the will to live after reading a few sentences. I've been selling my fudge for 2 years now and I've tried everything for shipping - it was truly the bane of my existence for quite some time - and after mucking about with different methods and pricing, I've finally hit on the one truly successful way of doing shipping.

Interest piqued now? Well, check back Friday for my first in a series of articles designed to help the small business/indie shop owner!

RedLime has moved!

2008-03-19T23:00:00.006-07:00

RedLime has moved from beautifully sunny (and painfully hot) Tucson, AZ to wet and verdant Port Angeles, WA. Where is Port Angeles? This link here will help you out. (gotta love Google maps...)

Why are we here? Well, I'm sure everyone knows about the mortgage crisis by now. Unfortunately, we lost our home.... haha. Just kidding! Seriously, we left our comfy home to move back to the town of our youth so Cherie can grow her food business, Glutenada. Cherie's family is from the area and WA state is friendlier to small food businesses than AZ is. So, it was a logical decision to make. Back home we came...

So a few days before the end of February, we packed up our house and a moving truck (in 3 days.. we do not recommend the patented Joe and Cherie method of moving unless you'd like to totally lose it. Not a great idea. Especially when you then have to drive nearly 2000 miles in 3 days...) and hit the road. We decided at the last minute to head up through CA instead of our usual route through UT because the idea of driving through snow in a 26' rental truck just wasn't Joe's idea of a grand time.

All in all, it was a very uneventful (and somewhat boring) trip. Driving the full length of California is a l-o-n-g and b-o-r-i-n-g drive that just never ends. And staring at the back end of a Penske truck for hundreds of miles is enough to drive even a saint to contemplate unspeakable things. An award should be granted to whomever came up with the rest stop. That's a definite sanity saver!

Our dog, Joey, was the lucky one. He just camped out for the entire journey with brief runs about the rest areas. A few Scooby Snacks tossed his way and he was a happy mutt!

So here we are in Port Angeles. Obviously we're working on PST time now. We got a bit behind due to the move, but we're finally starting to get on top of things. Thanks for your patience during this process... moving a house and 2 businesses is no easy feat!

RedLime launches twenty|nine & co.

2008-01-11T11:41:00.000-07:00

Back in early December, we launched twenty|nine & co., a "nature inspired bath & body boutique." Founded by the husband and wife team of Jaime and Amanda, this yummy B&B co offers a nice lineup of deliciously decadent and pampering products.

Amanda wanted a site that was soothing and calm and invoked a sense of nature and spa. Using their logo, we were able to come up with a design that provided all this as well as being easy to shop and that allows the product photos to take center stage.

Products like their Whipped Shea Exfoliating Scrub...

The site will allow Jaime and Amanda to grow their business and natural, paraben-free product line. One can never have too much good and natural so if you're in the market for quality, natural b&b products - give twenty|nine & co. a whirl.

Has it been 2 months?

2008-01-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

Hmm... I guess that time has been flying much faster than we'd thought. I went to our blog today and realized it's been since mid-November that we've posted anything. Whoops! Blame it on Thanksgiving. Christmas. New Year's. Etc! I'm sure there's a valid excuse in there. Somewhere.

Oh, we've been very very busy working on sites. That's it. Yeah.

It's a new year for RedLime and there are some changes afoot! We'll be detailing those as time goes by.

In the meantime, we've launched a few more sites and I think it's time to update the blog to reflect that.

...stay tuned...

We're No Angels Soap Co.

2007-11-16T01:56:00.000-07:00

We're on a roll! Here's another new site.

We're No Angels Soap Co.. "Peeling away the Alaska/Yukon's Gold Rush History... where else can you find fabulous soaps and enjoy a tantalizing, entertaining sordid little story revealed about the person on the backside of each label? From Prostitutes, Dance Hall Girls, Gamblers, Prospectors, Brothel Owners and Con Men of the Alaska/Yukon Gold Rush. It's all here..."

I have to admit, this is the most unique concept in B&B products that we've seen for a good long while. Lee has struck gold (no pun intended!) with this gem of an idea. Using brilliant artwork, her products and labels represent the glory days of the Alaskan Gold Rush time period.

With such a different idea, we knew the site we designed had to be up to par. It needed to match her "theme" and present her products in a way that made sense. After a bit of head scratching we had a stroke of genius and what you see now is the result. An aged design befitting this rather risque period in Alaskan history.

Meander on over to this site for a totally unqiue gift for that someone special in your life. I don't think you'll be disappointed!

RedLime launches Kristen Bowen Studio

2007-11-15T15:45:00.000-07:00

Today we launched the Kristen Bowen Studio website. "Kristen Bowen is a master soap and lotion maker with six years of experience in producing natural, organically based soaps, lotions, scrubs, lip frostings, and other natural products. Kristen is a graduate of the Nordbloom Institute of FootZonology.

Located in northwestern Utah, Kristen offers classes in various different B&B specialties as well as a foot massage workshop that I'd like to take, just so someone will massage my barking dogs! If you're wanting to learn to make soap or lotion or would like to learn more about essential oils or giving foot massages, you'll want to check into attending one of the classes Kristen holds in her home.

Kristen wanted a site that would reflect her workshops and love of natural products. Everyone is thrilled with the results. RedLime included!

If you're in the Hyde Park, UT area, look up Kristen and sign up for a class. Should be a fun learning experience!

When do we work?

2007-11-10T23:55:00.000-07:00

Hey, limes? What are your hours? I mean, do you keep regular business hours of any kind? Or is there a set time you work? I'm only asking because in the past week I've received email from you at 8am, midnight, 3 am, 6 am and all hours in between. Do you EVER SLEEP?

This was a question that was asked of us recently. The answer is, of course, no. We don't sleep. We've managed to come up with a method by which we can work 24/7 and do so without laying down.... down... amsod....zzzzzz...

:three hours later:

Man! Why am I on the floor? Huh? What's going on?

Oh, I was talking about sleep. Yes, of course we sleep! We just do so at odd times. If you're looking for a firm that is here M-F 9am-5pm, run away! Run away! There is no one here by that name. We're bonafide night owls. One of those rare breeds that comes to life in the witching hours and gets an amazing amount of work done. Thus our middle of the night emails to you.

The majority of our work is done between the hours of 10pm - 4am. All days of the week, of course. I don't believe we've had a real honest to goodness actual FULL day off in over a year. Scary

But anyway, between the barrage of phone calls that never fail to materialize on a daily basis, the flood of emails that come pouring in, and the cries for help from desperate clients - it's no wonder we get virtually nothing done during "normal" business hours. We attempted to clone Joe a few months back and that ended badly. Let's not discuss that. Suffice to say Joe lost his last few hairs during those harrowing hours.

So, that's the answer to your question. No, we try not to sleep and yes, we are up at 4am sending email. No, we didn't just get up, we haven't gone to bed yet!

RedLime launches Three Wheels Design

2007-11-10T23:43:00.000-07:00

We've done it yet again! Another new site.

This time it's Three Wheels Design,"a lovely place for handcrafted, classic stationery for your modern family."

And it is! Victoria has some pretty snazzy looking stationery and cards available for purchase. She offers everything from toy truck notecards to modern birdies... and everything in between.

I just adore this card. The browns and the pattern on the flower petals. It's very ME! And yes, this is Cherie blogging this time. There would be a serious discussion taking place in our office if Joe was stating something like this.

Anyway, Three Wheels Design is based on the Mal's shopping cart and has our own little database in place for easy site and product management. This has been tweaked and customized to meet Victoria's requests and the end result is a site that is fast, cute, whimsical, and really sets off her beautiful stationery.

I want that card. I don't even use a pen anymore except on occasion to sign a dinner receipt or write a check (everything else is typed, baby!). But that doesn't matter - I MUST have that card set. With my name of course. Methinks I need to come up with a new plot so Joe will be hoodwinked and won't know what hit him. (more evil laughter... where is that coming from?!)

Erm, if you need invites, stationery, or just are in the mood for some cute cards, head over to Three Wheels Design. Victoria will fix ya up good! And don't be ordering my flower cards! Those are special. Just for me!

RedLime launches Blue Heron

2007-11-01T23:25:00.000-07:00

RedLime is thrilled to announce yet another new site - Blue Heron Jewelry and Hair Accessories.

Emily Palm, owner and master artisan, works wonders with gorgeous pieces of wood to create hair accessories that defy belief. Totally gorgeous. And she's no slouch with the jewelry either. Cherie has been banned from visiting the site when she has credit card in hand (come on, Joe!) but that hasn't stopped her from eyeballing a few pieces that she's deviously plotting to one day own. (cue evil laughter)

Blue Heron has several custom hacks and mods in place as well as a few other from some well-known x-cart module developers. Joe worked his magic on the categories to give the top-level categories a larger image and the lower-level cats smaller images. He also programmed the cart so it would display the 2 main categories and their immediate top-level categories in the main menu on the left.

If you're in the market for something for your special gal this Christmas or at any other time, swing by Blue Heron. Emily is a doll and she'll be happy to help you out!

Away from the office

2007-10-24T00:03:00.001-07:00

The Limes will be out of the office Friday afternoon, October 26 - Monday, October 29. We'll be back to work on Tuesday.

We're here working nearly 24/7 so we've decided to take the weekend and get a bit of R&R in.

Of course, we won't be leaving the house and office w/out out laptops and iPhone so we'll be reachable. If an emergency pops up or you need immediate assistance, we'll still be around. Just not working as normal.

We'll come back refreshed, rehydrated and full of energy. Ready to jump back into the design and development work!

RedLime unveils NEW service!

2007-10-18T17:57:00.000-07:00

RedLime Web announced today the first ever Pre-Emptive ESP Monitoring Maintenance and Site Updating Service

Co-owner, Cherie Funderburg states, "with this service our clients won't even have to email us anymore. We'll simply be alerted that they are thinking of contacting us for a change to their website and we're able to get it done and notify them before they've even had a chance to contact us."

RedLime believes that this service will cut down on unnecessary emails by 90%.

Cherie says, "currently we receive between 10 and 100 emails daily by clients who need to have this little thing done, that price changed, or this product here removed. We enjoy doing these updates as they are quick and easy to do but have always wondered about the waste of bandwidth and hard drive space needed to store these "Done!" emails. In addition, it's struck as as a waste of our time and our clients' time to have to type out the request. So, we came up with the 'PEESPMMSUS'.

"In addition, this service also allows us to make sense of an email that a client might send that doesn't contain all the information we might need to do the job we're tasked. An example would be sale that is supposed to start on X date. This sale is only valid on X products but the client forgets to tell us this and a number of the incorrect products are then sold at a discount when they shouldn't be. This service will allow us to verify that the information we have is correct and that we have all necessary info so we don't make a mistake."

When asked about the potential for finding out information that the client might have that is not related to their working relationship with RedLime, Cherie was quick to set the record straight.

"Oh no! We won't be able to get any information from someone's head that is not related to us. We won't be seeing your darkest thoughts or snagging the CC number as you enter it for an online purchase. In order to access this service, the client needs to clearly and emphatically think 'REDLIME' and we'll pick up on everything that comes after.

"In addition, our service is comprised of a bit of AI programming, that's artificial intelligence, and it is able to determine whether a thought does pertain to RedLime. If not, it will blur it out and we will not receive it. Or if it does come through, it will be in an unusable format, similar to blurring out body parts on a TV show."

RedLime is definitely ahead of the times but is certain that other firms will be quick to follow with this service.

"How could they not? This is such a great idea - and we're thrilled to have been the pioneers in this line of thinking. We hold the patent on 'PEESPMMSUS' and there are plans in place to set up a website where other businesses, including those that offer services outside of the web development field, will be able to subscribe to the service. We'll be offering monthly brain-washing sessions so these businesses will be open to the thoughts of their customers and clients."

It would appear that the folks at RedLime Web Development have outdone themselves this time. I wore a tin foil hat as I conducted this interview, just as an extra layer of precaution should either of the 'Limes' manage to penetrate my thoughts. But Cherie laughed as I walked in and assured me that this was an unnecessary step and that my thoughts were my own. I was glad to hear it, but kept my hat on anyway.

Contact:
RedLime Web Development
http://redlimeweb.com

Cherie Funderburg, co-owner
Joe Funderburg, co-owner

Written by:
Susie Q Doo
Satirical Reporter at large

Helpful answers to pressing questions

2007-10-08T00:50:00.001-07:00

In our little corner of the world, we seem to be asked the same questions quite frequently. So, we've decided answer them here and hopefully educate a few extra people along the way.

Today's question involves Google and the time it takes to be listed. Joe Bob de Rob from Middle Earth, Alaska asks.. "you finished my site 12 seconds ago. How come I can't find it in Google???????????"

Well Mr Joe Bob de Rob (that's quite the interesting name you've got there and to be honest, we've never heard of Middle Earth, Alaska, but we digress...), thank you for your thoughtful question. We can see from the excessive use of question marks that this is a very important question to you... as it should be. Getting listed in Google is something you want to happen. And if it happens quickly, that's even better!

But we're sorry to say that even Google, in their world-conquering prowess, doesn't yet have the ability to discern when a website is launched and will not be dispatching spiders to crawl it immediately. This isn't the Matrix where those creepy Sentinels are hovering about, waiting to launch when the command is issued. Unfortunately, it takes time for Google to get to your site, even when it's manually submitted to the list of those waiting to be crawled.

Google states: "We add and update new sites to our index each time we crawl the web, and we invite you to submit your URL here. We do not add all submitted URLs to our index, and we cannot make any predictions or guarantees about when or if they will appear."

So, if Google themselves cannot guarantee a time frame, we're not going to be able to help you in that regard either. Sometimes it's in 5 days. Other times it's 5 weeks. And of course, everywhere in between. It'll happen when it happens.

We're reminded of a Comcast commercial that touts their "amazing download speed." A woman stands at a coffee shop and orders a double latte. The employee turns away to make the latte when the lady brightly chirps, "excuse me? Where's my latte?" We want to gag this lady. She's uber annoying. But that's not relevant here and I apologize for again digressing. The employee looks at her while the Comcast music plays and they inform us of just HOW fast they are.

Wouldn't it be great if Google were that fast? If we've just launched your site, it's going to take some time to be listed. Please be patient. You'll get there eventually!

Curious about if your site is listed in Google? It's pretty easy to check yourself. To go google.com and type this into the search box.

site:yourdomain.com

Please *replace* yourdomain with your own domain. If your domain is petrifiedhearts.com, then you would search for site:petrifiedhearts.com. Be sure not to put a space between the site: and your domain. This search will tell you just which, if any, of your pages are listed in Google.

We hope that this helps, Mr Joe Bob de Rob. Let us know if you have any other pressing questions that need answering!

Next up will be merchant accounts. How they work and do you need one?

RedLime (hearts) MailChimp

2007-10-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

We here at RedLime really love MailChimp. We're not big monkey fans, but when it comes to the MailChimp, we're in love.

For those not in the know, MailChimp is an email marketing solution. I suppose it's in direct competion to Constant Contact, but in our opinion, there is no comparison as Constant Contact is the pits. Just dreadful. We can always tell when someone is using CC as their email is quite ugly and it looks the same as everyone else who uses this horrid service. And that's before we even get to the bottom with the really hideous footer with CC info splattered everywhere. Ewww.

MailChimp, on the other hand, has a beautiful website and you'd never know the person is using their service as their templates are actually clean. And lovely. And not used to advertise the MailChimp service.

Where CC's footer is a great way to learn where NOT to go, MC users are typically so thrilled with their entire experience, they're telling everyone about it.

One of the founders of MC is a Mac freak. For this reason alone, we know they are awesome. Well, there are other reasons as well, but this company is starting on the right foot. A comparison of the 2 sites brings to mind the comparison between a Windoze OS and the Mac OS. MailChimp has a lovely, beautifully clean website and CC, not so much. It *looks* like Windoze. And if you're going to want to look like something, for pity's sake, don't choose THAT!

MC has several different templates you can use or you can create your own. They allow you to carve up their own templates to best suit your needs and they make it super simple.

MailChimp doesn't charge you a monthly fee. What if you're on vacation for a few weeks or you just don't send out an email every month? With MC, you only pay for the mail you send. That's it.

I suppose that right about now, you're thinking that we must work for MC or that we've been paid to write this review. Nah. We just heart the chimp!

These guys have a sense of humor as this blog entry indicates. And this one here? A total scream. The front page of their site currently yells out "email a constant headache?" Haha. Clever Double entendre there! We want to be just like MC when we grow up...

If you are looking for an email marketing solution, you could do a heck of a lot worse than MailChimp. We guarantee it. We recommend this service to every client that asks about newsletter or html email marketing and at this point, I believe we've set up a dozen or so different templates and accounts for various clients.

MailChimp rocks our world. Thanks MC for being so super duper cool and fabulous!

Go visit MailChimp now.

Whoops - that was a waste of paper!

2007-10-03T13:22:00.000-07:00

Over the summer, we finished up an online catalog for a client of ours in which she lists the thousands of different items she sells in this one particular category. This is a hefty catalog - I think it's around 50+ pages. Anyway, we saved it as a pdf and interested visitors to her site will be able to download it and peruse it at their leisure.

Well, somehow along the way, someone - I'm not saying who, but it couldn't have been ME so that just leaves Joe... - when converting this file to a pdf format, put in in the printer queue instead. So, the other day, I go to print out a ticket receipt and once I hear it start, I leave the room to get a drink. Or something. I can't recall right now, but it's not really essential to this tale, so we'll just leave it at that.

Anyway, I come back and sit down. After a moment or so, I realize that the printer is spitting out page after page. What??

I turn to Joe - "Um, what's the deal with the printer? Are you printing out a book or something? Did you become an author and not tell me?"

"No. you set it to print. I don't know what you're printing out over there. You're the author, not me."

I bask for a moment in the unintended compliment and then get up to go see just what has been printed. There is my ticket receipt and there are... hmmm... it's the pdf catalog. What the hay?

Joe denies doing this and we all know it couldn't have been me. I would never make such a mistake. We now have a boat load of scratch paper to use for jotting down notes or coming up with a site layout or something. Of course, we'll be buying a new black toner cartridge a bit sooner than we'd hoped, but that's what happens when JOE hits print instead of save! ;)

RedLime is hiring!

2007-10-03T00:44:00.000-07:00

Join us for our first ever "JobFair."

We are looking for one person. A person who stands out as the lone survivor in a battlefield littered with the bodies of his fellow-applicants. A person who has what it takes to rise to the top and claim their reward. A person who is willing to risk life and limb for a job that is certainly not worth it. A person willing to compromise whatever is necessary to make it in one piece to the finish line. Or at least in a piece that can still type and has power of clear thought.

Does this describe you? Then please come to our "JobFair" on April 1, 2008. This "JobFair" will be held on the county battle ground and will begin at 7am and end when the final victim, er, victor is left standing.

Please be prepared to sign our death waiver and note that we will have an attorney present to answer any questions you may have about your likely death and/or dismemberment.

What do you need to bring? For this "JobFair" we could care less about your resume, previous work experience, age, medical conditions, or your salary requirements. We're interested in a person that can last out the battle. Nothing else matters.

The battle lines have been drawn. We require only your presence and your weapon(s) of choice. Each applicant is encouraged to bring as many weapons as can be carried by one person. Should your weapon of choice break in the midst of battle, you don't want to be left standing empty-handed. This is to admit defeat and will result in certain death. An applicant that is not well-equipped is not an applicant we are interested in.

Please note that once you've entered the battlefield, the only way off is in a body bag or as the sole survivor. We are not interested in anyone who gives up upon having their arm severed or their head cleaved. No, we are interested in applicants that are in it to win it.

Weapons suggested: meat cleavers (for close-up battle), filing cabinets, computer monitors, paper shredders with the safety collar removed, staple guns, packing knives, 3-ring binders lined with magnets, glass bottles - anything that can inflict pain and misery upon the person on which they land.

Men and women both are encouraged to apply. We make no discrimination on age, sex, or religious affiliation.

We look forward to meeting each and every one of you and seeing who will reign victorious as the next RedLime Web Development employee.

This is satirical. If you cannot see that, please do not bother applying. Anyone without a sense of humor will be promptly fed to the wolves. No exceptions will be made to this rule.

"Flea" joins the RedLime staff

2007-09-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

Joe and I made the decision to hire some help this week. "Flea" will be handling odd jobs and will be trained by Joe to master the x-cart system. He'll be taking on some of the grunt work to free Joe and I up to do design and programming work.

Did I mention that he is our son? "Flea" is 15 and is homeschooled by Joe and I. We required him to get a job this fall and he was applying here and there when it occurred to us that we should hire him ourselves. It is a win-win situation for everyone. And so far, he's doing a great job!

"Flea" will be taking on more responsibility as he learns the x-cart system and will eventually be tasked with handling maintenance requests so early next year, you may be working with "Flea"!

Death and Clients

2007-09-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

We adore our clients. They're great folks and sometimes, they send us little nuggets of hilariousness like the example below.

I was doing some updating on a site and the husband was tasked with providing me with a photo upon pain of death. I eventually received the photo and this email along with it...

Hope it's ok. If it's not, my wife will kill me and eat me, but maybe not in that order. I mean, she might cook me to death and then eat me, or just go for tar-tar, which I know she's fond of. Either way, I'm screwed.

Comments like that just make our day! We both had a good laugh over this one. Thankfully the photo was just fine so this client lived to breath another day.

Product Photography

2007-02-09T02:11:00.000-07:00

Why is having professionally photographed products so important?

When your selling medium is the internet, your photographs must sell your products. The customer cannot pick anything up and feel it, smell it, or turn it around in their hands. You lose out on the buying excitement that comes from holding a product in your hands.

The customer must be sold on the photograph of the product in question and then by the description of the product. If you're showcasing your product in a dark, blurry, washed out, out of focus, pixelated, oddly posed photograph - what chance of success do you have to sell the customer on the product? Would YOU want to purchase something that looks like it was shot in some basement corner? I sure wouldn't and I don't think I'm out of the ordinary here.

The same goes for the text you use to describe the product. Are there typos? Errors in punctuation? Do you ramble on for multiple paragraphs when a brief description will do? Perhaps you only give a brief sentence that elicits zero buying excitement in the customer. In this case, more is better. If you are unable to come up with a description that will cause the reader to NEED to purchase the product, you should hire a professional copywriter to help you. This cost will be repaid many times over in increased sales and overall excitement about your products. The purchaser will tell someone who will tell someone else. Word of mouth is a solid marketing tool and one not to be overlooked.

Please consider hiring a photographer to shoot your products in way that will light the fire of "must have" in your target audience. Sure, it's an expense, but a worthwhile one. This is a decision that you really cannot afford to decline. Professional product photography will enable you to sell your products for a premium price and will prove to your customers that you care about your products and their business.

Free sites?

2007-01-14T14:45:00.000-07:00

Why shouldn't I let my child/friend/family member/college student/neighborhood dog design my site for free? Then I can save money for other things!

Great question and one we are asked continually. Now let us ask you a question... would you let a young child help write your business plan? Would you also allow him/her to control your finances or design your brick and mortar shop? We certainly hope not!

Sure, a free or nearly free site might sound like a great idea, but if you are after business success, you're going to need to hire a professional to take on the work that will help get your business noticed. Most folks who are there to offer their design skills do not have the foggiest idea of what it takes to develop an online presence that will improve your bottom line. If you want to be taken seriously as a business, you're going to need to spend the money to look like a business that means business!

It's a old, overused cliche but it sure can be applied here... it takes money to make money. When your selling medium is the internet, you need all the help you can get. Customers cannot touch or pick up your items so you're going to need a professional website that will sell them on your goods. You're also going to need professional quality photographs - but we'll get into that another day.

The majority of online shoppers are going to shy away from an obviously homemade site. They're also going to run away rather quickly from a site that looks like it was developed in the public library. Homemade looking, unprofessional sites do not instill confidence in the consumer and this will definitely have an impact on sales, or the lack thereof.

You might be tempted to save your pennies for another part of your business, but if you are doing any of your selling online, you cannot afford to skip this important step. Let the professionals help you make your website a place that consumers feel comfortable shopping at and eager to part with their hard earned money. A professionally designed site shows your customers that you are serious about your business and products and will ultimately result in higher sales.

Consider This

2007-01-13T13:37:00.000-07:00

So, you've made the decision to hire a designer to create your site? Not all designers are created equal. Regardless of whether you end up using RedLime or another firm, we encourage you to consider the following points before choosing a designer or firm to give your business to...

Satisfied Clients: Take a moment to contact some of the clients of the designer you are interested in using. If they do not have this information readily available on their site, ask them for some references. You should not have to take the designer's word for it. And check more than one reference...it is best to check 3 or 4 if possible to get a real feel for how the designer works, how they treat their clients, how they client feels about the work done, and if they would recommend the designer. If the designer will not give you references, I would seriously reconsider doing business with them. You can never know what they are trying to hide.

Portfolio: Does the designer have a portfolio on their site? If they do, are any of the sites unfinished? If so, how long have they been unfinished? If there are a number of sites "under construction" ask the designer if they can expect to finish yours in a realistic time frame with such a work-load. You certainly do not want to be the latest in a long string of unfinished sites! If the designer does not list a portfolio, ask that they provide you with a list of sites they have created. If they refuse to do so, I would again seriously reconsider doing business with them.

Rates: Cheaper is not always better. There will always be someone who can do it cheaper, but does that mean that they can do it as well as or better than the person charging a bit more? A number of my clients had already had sites designed by those who are cheaper and the end result was less than satisfactory. They ended up with a site they needed to have redone at more expense to themselves and their business. In the long run, trying to save a buck or two could end up costing you more. Don't choose a designer based only on what they do or do not charge. You are bound to run into trouble.

Design and Knowledge: Make sure you choose a designer who truly knows their craft. With the number of site building applications out there today, it is very easy for someone to purchase a program, give themselves a few days to learn it, and then go into business as a designer. Do you really want someone designing your site who has no idea how html works? What will happen if there is an issue that they cannot figure out? Where will you go for help? You should be looking for a designer who is both knowledgeable and skilled in the art of design. The end result will be a site that loads correctly in all current browsers and in all current operating systems. A site should never be built to load on only one browser or operating system. This is the surest way to kill a business. The internet is for all computers, all users. Do not utilize a designer who tries to tell you that they can only design for one browser. That designer is no designer at all!

Site Design: This might seem rather obvious, but how is the designer's site done? Is it pleasing to the eye? Does it load quickly and properly? Are all the links functional and do all the pictures load? Are there indications of broken code showing up on the page? To be honest, if the designer's site is not something that you find even remotely professional or appealing, do you want them working on your site? Remember, the person that created that site is going to be doing yours! Unless, of course, they have hired out their own site to another designer. In that case you need to ask yourself...do you really want to hire someone who cannot even design their own site?

Time: Make a note of how long it takes the designer to get back to you when you ask questions or inquire about site design, rates or other design elements. If they take several days to answer you when you are a potential client, how long do you think it will take to get a response once they've already got you on board? This is something our firm prides ourselves on...the quick answering of all emails, no matter whether they are new clients or established clients. You shouldn't have to wait for days or even weeks for someone to finally getting around to answering your email.

Contract: If you walk away from here without anything else, at least take this with you. No matter what designer you choose, make CERTAIN you get a contract. A properly drawn up contract protects you in the event that the designer heads south after you've paid your hard-earned cash and not received what you've paid for. A properly drawn up contract protects you, your rights and your interests so that in the end, you have a site or you have you money. We would have serious doubts as to a designer's integrity and professionalism if they did not have a contract in place. Get it in writing!!

On that note, we'd like to discuss, for a moment, both your rights as a client, as well as our rights as the designer. This will help you to better understand the design process and our roles as designer and client. These are self-explanatory, but if you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to contact us. Thank you!

You, the client, are entitled to:

- Good estimates
- Honest, constant communication
- A written contract
- Immediate notification of delays, problems, and extra expenses
- Pay only for work authorized
- See the project as it develops
- Reasonable turnaround and response
- Reasonable security and privacy precautions
- Deliverables that work as described in the contract
- Own all appropriate rights to the site

We, the designers, are entitled to:

- Know what the budget range is up front
- A completed project profile
- A written contract
- Have our time valued (client delays cost designers money!)
- 50% of the bid up front
- Prompt payment
- Manage the process without being micromanaged
- Be paid for consultative work or ideas
- Be told when we are out of the running for a job

We hope that this page has helped you in your decision about having a site designed. Thank you for reading!