Web Design, Video, Prints and Computer Services

website design photographs video computer repairWelcome to the Random Thoughts blog and website. I like to provide my online website visitors with assistance with services they need.

Today I would like to introduce my Additional Available Services webpage for website design, video production, photograph prints and computer cleaning services. The link is second in the tabs at the top, or if you are on mobile, click the menu button to navigate to additional available services.

Website design is an important aspect for any small business trying to become established online. I offer custom website design services for small business owners and my current customers nationwide.

I can produce customized print photos with special effects such as painting styles and special photo editing such as black and white photos into color. Consider acquiring your very own customized 8½ x 11 photos which can be great gifts for family and friends.

I provide my local customers with computer fixing services to help speed up slow computers. Some issues I give attention to include:
•Running Windows updates
•Deleting and uninstalling spammy programs
•Cleaning out large files
•Checking antivirus is up to date
•Running a registry cleaner
•Disk cleaner and defragmentation

I also offer custom video production for customers with video needs. Video formats can be everything from a post on a Youtube channel, to just about any format, to burned on DVD for personal distribution to family and friends. Some occasions for videos could be for births, weddings, funerals, or a gift for any occasion such as birthdays and Christmas. A video could be a good addition for your small business to have more of an online presence.

Take advantage of my services including custom website design, photo prints, computer cleaning services and custom video production. Again, thank you for visiting my blog and website, and be sure to have a look at my Additional Available Services webpage for more about web design, photo and video ideas. Bookmark this page and refer it to your family and friends! Come back soon!

Mobile-Friendly Website Test

mobile-friendly website testWelcome to Random Thoughts! I like to provide my online visitors with advice and news on the online world and things to do that are both free and safe. Today I would like to introduce you to the term, “Mobile-Friendly Website”, and how to test if your website is in fact, “Mobile-Friendly”.

Mobile friendly websites refer to websites that appear on mobile devices clearly, concisely, with no need to scroll side to side in order to see the entire page. Mobile-friendly websites are more in demand since the number of people with smartphones increases every day.

Website owners can either create website content from scratch or use an existing software package from a company like WordPress, Drupal, or Joomla, which can provide a theme, design, and templates. Google provides this link to Customize Your Website Software.

Not everyone is able to create their own template. Of course, it is much easier to use a pre-existing template or theme than to create one from scratch. If you have a WordPress based website, and want your website to be mobile friendly, WordPress actually offers Mobile WordPress Themes to use for no cost. There are a variety of mobile-friendly WordPress themes, so going mobile without having to create a template from scratch can still be easy while providing options.

To see if your website is mobile-friendly, use this Mobile-Friendly Test website provided by Google.

Thank you for visiting the Random Thoughts blog and website. Be sure to come back soon for more news, tips and advice about computers, web design, and everything free and safe online! See you soon!

Web Design in a Nutshell

Webdesign, Layout, WebsiteMany times when I’m discussing a potential web design project with someone, they ask me, “How much is a website?” Well, asking how much a website costs is like going to a car dealer and asking them, “How much for a car?” The real question is, do you want a Pinto or a Porsche?

Website designers and programmers are paid based upon the technical level of tasks performed. When you go to a brain surgeon, they aren’t paid hourly, they are paid based upon their expertise in their field. So many factors are involved. The point is that I have to qualify the customer for just exactly what they want before I can even begin to get an idea how much their website might cost.

Perhaps the client needs a logo design, or a website that needs special functions such as a store or contact form. Some of the most important elements to consider in the early stages of planning a website include picking out the domain name, the content, the sidebars and blog. I put together a checklist of questions to consider to help me put a dollar figure to the design:

  • What are your expectations?
  • How many pages, informational or just sales?
  • Do they have content or is the designer creating it?
  • Want matching business cards?
  • Need or have a logo? Color Scheme?
  • Who will provide content? On regular basis?
  • Need someone to run the site or do you want to learn to do it?
  • Does it need: contact form, flash video, blog, e-commerce/shopping cart?
  • How many products are involved?
  • Expect to have a website to send people for more inforomation than can fit in business card or do they intend to have SEO for page one in search engines
  • View existing site(s) that are in place for this business and research layout, source code, so on

The layout, sidebar content, logo design, header and on page content need to be prepared before a web designer can go ahead and get started on your website design. Here is a helpful post I wrote which could help walk potential website design clients through the process and considerations before designing a website called Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder. This post gives a list of potential names for tabs across the top and a list of ideas for elements to include in the website’s sidebar(s) plus much more.

General ideas for website pages include:

  • Home page
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • FAQ’s
  • Videos
  • Products
  • Blog
  • Tutorials
  • Portfolio
  • Payments page
  • Photo gallery
  • Services
  • Testimonials
  • Store
  • Contact form
  • Resources

Is the client going to need someone to maintain the website or do they intend to eventually take over adding content? Maintenance, updates and comment moderation are some of the perpetual tasks for a small business website. Some people think they can just launch a website and kick their feet up and watch the customers roll in, but it doesn’t work like that. Google likes a website that grows, so to expect page one results, you should add content on a regular basis.

Also, for a successful website, there should be a good amount of interaction on social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and perhaps LinkedIn. To learn more about interacting on Facebook for your business, here is another useful post I wrote about Effectively Utilizing Facebook.

Enjoy reading and if you are in need of a small business website, contact me today to discuss your project. Bookmark random thoughts and come back soon!

Effectively Utilizing Facebook

Many people just browse Facebook not realizing the potential the social media site really has. There is a lot more to it than posting a status, uploading photos, videos and sharing memes and statuses, although those things can really be fulfilling enough. Today I’d like to suggest a few other activities available on the social media website which can help you more effectively utilize Facebook.

suggest friends1One activity available is to suggest friends to connect mutual friends of yours who may not have connected on Facebook yet.

When suggesting friends, if you have your friends list organized into groups like I do, it makes it simple to suggest friends from the list from where your suggestee would belong. Choose the list you want to add them to and let the reconnecting begin!

Be sure to add everyone you know to appropriate lists before performing suggestions and use lists to determine for whom to click the “suggest friend” button.
suggest friendsTo suggest friends for someone, hover over the ‘Friends’ (or Friend Request Sent) link on their timeline at the bottom of their cover photo, then click “suggest friends”. When suggesting friends for each person, click the list they would belong on and reconnect them to each member on the list.

The ones who are already friends with them will show up checked at the bottom. Doing this can actually allow you to see who is more active on Facebook than others. I can literally say I’ve connected dozens of friends who have lost touch for a matter of decades using suggestions.

create pageAnother great feature Facebook offers is the ability to create a Facebook Fan Page. Create a Fan Page to promote your business, then be sure to add content on a regular basis to generate traffic which converts into more business.

To create a fan page, click the ‘More’ link next to ‘Pages’ on your news feed. The fan page allows the administrator (creator) to post as different “voices”, meaning you can toggle between posting as the business or as your own name.

Facebook allows its users to create groups where you can gather certain groups to a page such as a class, club, people from work or any group with something in common.

To create a group, simply click ‘More’ next to the ‘Group’ link at the left of your news feed. Use your friend lists to inspire some ideas for a type of group page to initiate.

create eventAnother great way to connect on Facebook is by creating events. Events can inform your friends about upcoming events, with time, place and details, and actually improve turnout.

create event2To create an event, click on ‘Events’ on your Facebook home news feed then click ‘Create Event’ at the top right. To create the new event simply fill in the name of the event, details, place, date, time and choose which frinds to invite.

Once you have your business fan page, event or group in place, you can promote them even further with shares, tagging friends (not to excess) and posting news on your timeline.

Be sure to take the high road and ignore the negative statements, but don’t be afraid to speak your mind. Arguing on social media really is a waste of time and solves nothing, but it’s going to happen. Life is a mirror…if you put out good then good will come back to you.

Bookmark my blog and website for more tips and advice concerning random thoughts and everything else under the sun! Come back soon!

Free Kids’ Games

Enjoy these free kids’ games from the Google Play store for your Android tablet or smartphone.

Barney and Friends Fan AppBarney and Friends Fan App
If your children love Barney the Dinosaur, this is a must have app for their tablet. As long as you have WiFi, your little one can watch from an entire library of Barney and Friends videos directly from YouTube with this application.

Coloring Book for KidsColoring Book for Kids
by TeachersParadise.com Studios is a premier coloring book app for children of all ages. 140 cute images to keep little ones entertained for hours.

Kids Doodle - Color & DrawKids Doodle Color & Draw
Kids Doodle, the BEST android drawing app for kids!
Kids Doodle is particularly designed for kids with super easy-to-use painting on photo or canvas. It has endless bright colors and 24 beautiful brushes, such as glow, neon, rainbow, crayon and sketchy, etc.

Kids Dinosaur Game FreeKids Dinosaur Game Free
This is a simple game for toddlers. You dig for dinosaur bones by rubbing the screen on the marked spots. While digging, you find dinosaur bones and random items, and when you have found all the bones, the dinosaur comes alive. Kind of like Dino Digger, but for toddlers!

Drop FlowersDrop Flowers
In this game you need to touch the correct color before the flower touches the basket at the bottom. The speed of the flower increases as the game proceeds. Submit your score and compete against the rest of the world.

Kids Animal Jigsaw PuzzlesKids Animal Jigsaw Puzzles
Complete jigsaw puzzles while learning about wild animals, farm animals and identifying the sounds they make. This educational and fun App helps young children learn animals and the sounds that each one makes while developing their hand eye coordination and puzzle solving skills. It’s a unique early learning game with realistic sounds and photo quality pictures which toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarten age children will enjoy.

Play with DinoPlay with Dino
“Don’t try to understand it, Babies just love it!” Play with dino was designed with the help of toddlers and is aimed for them (1-3 years old). Parents who wish to introduce their toddlers to their first educational game ever, look no further. It is an exploration game, where little kids and toddlers try to find out everything that happens in the game simply by touching everything. Touch anything on the screen and see how it acts!

Kids memory game animalsKids memory game animals
Kids memory game animals is the classic board game, which help develops the memory skills of children.
Playing this game with your kids will help them improve their recognition while having fun.
Kids game contains very cute images of animals as lion, cat, dog, etc., which are on memory cards.
Animals memory game is a game for children of all ages, babies, preschoolers, school children and teens.

Kids Memory Game LiteKids Memory Game
Preschool years are a time of rapid learning as parents begin to prepare their children for the upcoming
challenges of school. Concepts and skills, such as letters, words, colors, numbers, and hand-eye coordination, can all be taught at this age, and Fun4Kids provides parents with premium apps to help with this process.

Kids ABC Learning TrainsKids ABC Learning
Kids ABC Learning Trains invites preschool-aged children to learn and become familiar with letters using trains and railroads as their tools. With Kids ABC Learning Trains, kids can learn alphabet letters. As children build railroads, they learn the names and shapes of the letters in the alphabet.

Kids Learning GamesKids Learning Games Free
Kids Learning Games is a totally FREE app for 2 – 6 year old kids, keeping them entertained. This app contains kids learning games activities which teaches in school – ALPHABETS, NUMBERS, COLORS, SHAPES, FRUITS, VEGETABLES, ANIMALS, BIRDS. It helps the kids to learn each section with images. The app makes learning easy and interesting.

Toddler Coloring Book Free
Toddler Coloring Book
Ad-free – your little one will not see any ads! Now with an option to unlock all coloring sheets by completing an offer from our sponsors. This section is protected by a toddler guard so your little one can’t get there.

Toddler Game with Toddler Lock
Toddler Game with Toddler Lock
FREE Educational application with toddler lock aimed at small children to teach various animals and methods of transport with a real childs voice, sound effects and a quiz! Features a selection of flashcards and a quiz to test the child.

Animal Games for Kids Puzzles
Animal Games for Kids: Puzzles
Do your kids love animals? Do they love puzzles? Look no further. Animal Games for Kids: Puzzles HD is a fun animated puzzle game for toddlers, preschoolers and kids from ages 2 to 6.

Educational games for kidsEducational games for kids
Best educational app for children of all ages. Learn professions and match the relations, learn to recognize more than 100 animals including their sounds, solve mazes of increasing difficulties, guess the sound of musical instruments and solve puzzles with fun images and stimulating music.

Kids game baby phoneKids game: baby phone
Fascinating educational music phone toy for your child!
Piano sound on click, catchy song, exciting game, beautiful animals!
Options:
1. Call to 11 different cute animals: pig, cow, funny cats, dogs and other
2. Learn voices of different animals
3. Learn numbers
4. Funny game with swinging buttons
5. Catchy song
6. At least 20 minutes of distraction for your children
7. Real simple game. Good for phones and tablets

Kids ShapesKids Shapes
A hands-on, real-life way for kids to learn shapes.
Wouldn’t it be just wonderful if there was a simple game for preschoolers and kindergarten-aged children that made learning shapes enjoyable? There is! It’s called Kids Shapes.
What activities are included?
Learning shapes using real-life objects
Recognizing shapes in their real-life settings

Animals for KidsAnimals for Kids
Animals for Kids is a FREE educational application that helps young children learn the animals and their voices.
It has 33 animals (dog, cat, chicken, rooster, cow, donkey, frog, horse, pig, owl, sheep, turkey, lion, duck, wolf, monkey, elephant, bear, camel, zebra, parrot, snake, hippopotamus, panda, peacock, seal, whale, giraffe, crocodile and canary).

Wash Pets - kids gamesWash Pets – kids games
After a whole day exciting play, all those little fluffy and cute animals are so dirty! Do you want to hold those little messy pets? No? How about let’s give those little pets a bath and make them look pretty again? Make the pet show its best with many available options.

Kids GamesKids Games
Play, learn and have fun with us!
These Kids games were designed with the whole of the family in mind. Children and parents can test both their memories and reflexes together. The Kids games are fun for even a 2 year old with its easy to understand goals and user interface.

Kids Slide PuzzleKids Slide Puzzle
The Kids Slide Puzzle is a simple and funny jigsaw puzzle, ideal for your children because they will train their brain, imagination and creativity while having fun.
Solving puzzles helps motricity, creativity, spatial skills, language and self- esteem.

Chuggington Kids Train GameChuggington: Kids Train Game
Traintastic Adventures await in this ultimate train set and railway adventure app for kids! This app includes railway adventures, exciting episode clips, a train set collection activity, and lots more! Fun for kids of all ages.

Great Day for a White Wedding

untitledHappy 11/12/13 everyone, and the first day of snow for many states across the country. Welcome back to my blog and website of randomness for news, tips and random thoughts. Tuesday isn’t traditionally a popular day for marriage, but today, 11/12/13, is a busy wedding day for thousands of couples across the U.S. Since it’s an easy day to remember, today is, as Billy Idol put it in the early 80’s, “A great day for a white wedding.”

“Couples are coming out to get married in droves” states ABC News.

“An estimated 3,000 couples across the nation will make their way down the aisle to say “I Do,” all in order to secure the iconic sequential 11/12/13 date for their nuptials.” -ABC News

“I had over 100 brides that registered for 11/12/13 to do their wedding,” -Stacey Rywelski, general manager of David’s Bridal Manhattan flagship store

If you’re getting married today, congratulations and many happy years, and if not, still enjoy your day, 11/12/13, because it only comes once in a lifetime. Bookmark me, and keep posted on my blog and website for more!

Stream Live Video Worldwide

ScreenHunter_01 Nov. 12 00.13Ever wanted to go somewhere without having to travel at all?

I’ll show you a way to go to Times Square, New York, Tokyo, Japan, Sydney, Australia, Las Vegas, Nevada and Miami, Florida just in one click.

Visit EarthCam to stream live video worldwide in seconds. Some of the other locations available include:

  • Seattle Space Needle
  • Oakland Bay Bridge
  • World Trade Center, NY
  • Moscow, Russia
  • Bangkok, Thailand
  • Liberty Statue Torch, Staten Island
  • Dublin, Ireland
  • Budapest, Hungary
  • Brooklyn Bridge, NY
  • Austin, Texas
  • …and much more!

Keep posted on my blog and website for more random thoughts, ideas, tips and news!

Corky the Shelter Dog

ScreenHunter_01 Sep. 28 15.55Welcome back to my random thoughts blog and website. Today I’d like to introduce my dad’s dog, Corky the Shelter Dog. Here is the Corky the Shelter Dog Youtube Channel.

Follow the true life story of Corky, a shelter puppy born August ’08 who was left abandoned by his owner at 4 months.

Corky writes periodically on his Dog Blog and posts on Twitter as well.

Here is Corky’s Website and dog blog, and also give his Corky the Shelter Dog Facebook page a like as well.

Bookmark my blog and website, and come back soon for more random thoughts, and cool things for you to check out!