by Askingrobin on August 10, 2010
Creating a focused environment can be embodied within six characteristics and practices:
I found this very inciteful article by entrepreneur, writer and investor Scott Scheper. You can apply these principals to any size company from home based like myself all the way up to multinationals. His 7 ways to create a productive work environment include:
1. Implementing natural, people-centered tools (whiteboard)
2. Creating a focused work environment (one that prevents distraction)
3. Shaking-up your workspace every three months
4. Seeking rags, not riches (constraints)
5. Holding focused meetings (brief and to the point)
6. Setting focused goals (make sure everyone at your organization understands the why behind their actions)
7. Don’t eat a lot at work
Here’s a link to the full article – http://howtogetfocused.com/chapters/7-practical-ways-to-create-a-productive-work-environment/
by Askingrobin on July 24, 2010
Regardless of how new you are to internet marketing every inch of credibility is important. One of the easiest things you can do in this regard is add your picture or company logo to your url, this, in internet jargon is called a favicon. Favicons help users identify what website they are visiting, are used by nearly all modern browsers, and bottom line help make your website feel more polished.
So what are Favicons?
A favicon, simply put is a “favorites” icon. Favicons are the small icons that you see next to the URL in your browser. Look for mine in this browser where the url is.
Why the need for a Favicon? This really is a personal question, but considering how simple they are to implement, adding one has to be on your to do list.
How do I make a Favicon?
To make a favicon start by opening your favorite image editing software such as Photoshop or GIMP and create a new image 16×16 and no larger than 150kb. Once you have a new file open, work your magic and create the Favicon of your dreams.
Once you are done save the file as a *.png.
Now it’s conversion time.
Before we can add the favicon to your website we need to convert it into an “.ico” format. To do this visit you will want to use the converter found at Faviconr.
Simply upload your .png file to faviconr.com
Faviconr will then convert your file into a .ico file.
Once your favicon is generated simply click “Download Favicon.” Remember where you saved it.
Once you have your .ico file saved, it is time to upload it to your website. Make sure you put it in the root directory. This means if you visit
http://www.yourwebsite.com/favicon.ico you will see your favicon.
Once you have your Favicon uploaded simply add this line of code within your tags – <link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”/favicon.ico” type=”image/x-icon” />.
Part of the code above gives you a relative path – href=”/favicon.ico, to make sure browsers find it you may want to change this to an absolute path, in other words – <link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”http://yourwebsite/favicon.ico” type=”image/x-icon” />.
If you are using WordPress this tag will be found within your “header.php” file.
If you are using the “Thesis” theme it’s even easier, here’s what you have to do:
Upload (I use filezilla) your favicon.ico file to:
a) The root directory of your WordPress install. This will display the favicon in your browser and a subscribers’ RSS feedreader.
b) Also upload to the directory where your theme is located. For most Thesis users this will be something like …./wp-content/themes/thesis_17/ This is required to display the favicon for all pages on your site.
3.) Next, log into WordPress and going to Thesis > Site Options > Additional Scripts add the same line of code used in the example above, in my case to be absolutely certain I used the absolute path in the code,
<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”http://yourwebsite/favicon.ico” type=”image/x-icon” />.
4.) Refresh your browser!
5.) That’s all there is to it. Don’t worry if it doesn’t display immediately, it can take a while. One thing that can help is to clear the cookies in your browser.
Creating a focused environment can be embodied within six characteristics and practices: