Now offering basic websites for $29.99 per month. 3 page website concept and design, free web hosting, 5 email accounts, domain renewals or DNS transfer (1 per yr.), and a basic SEO campaign package.

What a deal, no one is offering all these services for so cheap. contact us today!!!

May 2010 - NEW SERVICE

We are now offering to our customers off site back up for your servers. Update to a off site server every 4, 8, 12, or 24 hour period.

Your information is completely secure as well as accessible in case of an emergency at your place of business (fire, flood, theft, etc.).
All Backup Servers have 99.999% up time, you'll never have to worry again.

Email Us, if you are interested in setting this service up for your business.
Prices are relevant to space, and back up requirements, contact us for a free consolidation and quote.

Jan 2010 - New web tool site strategicfirst

Strategic First - Website Statistics & Business Intelligence is a free tool to use to estimate how much your website is worth.
To visit and find out what your site is worth click here.

Oct. 2009 - Coded Site Vs. Flash Site

When it comes to the right website for your business, the decision on what way to go could be very difficult choice to make. Here is a bit of information to consider when it comes to making the choice over an interactive site (Flash) or a coded website (PHP).

Some business just like the look and feel of an interactive site and just tend to go that way. Just remember for everything that can be done in flash can be accomplished with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

Some of the down falls to using a coded site is programing and graphics design takes long hours and tends to get very expensive. However your end product is completely more reliable & secure.

Pros / Cons for Coded Web Site

Pros

1. Search Engines pick up more content from your site.
2. Can service mass users.
3. No plug ins/downloads required.
4. Can be viewed on most mobile phones.

Cons

1. Can be expensive.

Pros / Cons for Flash Web Site

Pros

1. look and feel is nice to look at and is interactive.
2. Price, can be design for around $500.00 for 4-5 pages.

Cons

1. Search Engines cannot pick up the flash embed.
2. Must have flash player plugin installed on your browser.
3. Supported only by some mobile manufactures.

September 2009 - Pioneers @f Change

If you look around at today's business market, You will notice extreme technical changes happening and improving the way we conduct business.

What are these changes?

Business now are having to adapt to the internet and embrace the power of networking to stay ahead of the game.

Some old methods have been improved over the last decade like replacing old fashion post mail, with Email.

New technology has been breaking its way through and creating whole new platforms on how to conduct business and lower overhead costs.

Expensive telephone networks are being replaced by VOIP.

Sales are done over chats, and IMs.

New leads and interest are generated from social networks.

Company's are even becoming more green friendly and lowering there carbon footprint by using paperless data systems.

Who even looks in a phone book anymore?
Cant remember the last time I picked one up.

It has almost become standard to look up there business information, hours of operation, services and contact information on the web. So guess what, if you don't have a website your more then likely missing out on people being able to find your company.

August 2009 - Why Do I need a Website?

Q: My business is very small, just me and two employees, and our product really can't be sold online. Do I really need a website?

A: That's a good question. In fact, it's one of the most important and most frequently asked questions of the digital business age. Before I answer, however, let's flash back to the very first time I was asked this question. It was circa 1998, during the toddler years of the internet.

So should your business have a website, even if your business is small and sells products or services you don't think can be sold online? My answer in 1998 is the same as my answer today: Yes, if you have a business, you should have a website. Period. No question. Without a doubt.

Also, don't be so quick to dismiss your product as one that can't be sold online. Nowadays, there's very little that can't be sold over the internet. More than 20 million shoppers are now online, purchasing everything from books to computers to cars to real estate to jet airplanes to natural gas to you name it. If you can imagine it, someone will figure out how to sell it online.

Let me clarify one point: I'm not saying you should put all your efforts into selling your wares over the internet, though if your product lends itself to easy online sales, you should certainly be considering it. The point to be made here is that you should at the very least have a presence on the web so that customers, potential employees, business partners and perhaps even investors can quickly and easily find out more about your business and the products or services you have to offer.

That said, it's not enough that you just have a website. You must have a professional-looking site if you want to be taken seriously. Since many consumers now search for information online prior to making a purchase at a brick-and-mortar store, your site may be the first chance you have at making a good impression on a potential buyer. If your site looks like it was designed by a barrel of colorblind monkeys, your chance at making a good first impression will be lost.

One of the great things about the internet is that it has leveled the playing field when it comes to competing with the big boys. As mentioned, you have one shot at making a good first impression. With a well-designed site, your little operation can project the image and professionalism of a much larger company. The inverse is also true. I've seen many big company websites that were so badly designed and hard to navigate that they completely lacked professionalism and credibility. Good for you, too bad for them.

You also mention that yours is a small operation, but when it comes to benefiting from a website, size does not matter. I don't care if you're a one-man show or a 10,000-employee corporate giant; if you don't have a website, you're losing business to other companies that do.

Here's the exception to my rule: It's actually better to have no website at all than to have one that makes your business look bad. Your site speaks volumes about your business. It either says, "Hey, look, we take our business so seriously that we have created this wonderful site for our customers!" or it screams, "Hey, look, I let my 10-year-old nephew design my site. Good luck finding anything!"

Your website is an important part of your business. Make sure you treat it as such.

That Design Spot will be happy to help your business create a professional looking website. As well as give you a cost effective way to advertise your business online without all the technical knowledge and costs associated with an in-house web developer employee.

July 2009 - Excel is not a Database

Here is the thing: Excel is not a database. Most people who dont work in IT dont seem to understand this and they are deathly afraid to actually communicate with anyone in IT, so they take matters into their own hands, and create problems so big that IT is forced to get involved, because at some point this spreadsheet becomes critical to some business function. Then IT gets even more bitter toward the non-IT folk, validating some of the reasons the non-IT folk went that route in the first place, and virtually guaranteeing that they wont come to the IT group next time either.

So, if you dont work in IT and are not a geek, know this: Excel is not a database. Excel is not meant to manage data on a long-term basis. For everything you can do with Excel, there is almost certainly a better tool for the job. This isnt to say that Excel is good for -nothing-, just that it is generally not good in places where data needs to be managed over the longer term, shared with others, and relied upon for day-to-day operations of a business or department.

Find someone in IT who seems nice and deals with databases, and ask them what their thoughts are on the topic. Then tell them the actual problem you are trying to solve, and ask how they would approach it. You are not likely to hear Excel in the reply unless Excel is so rampant in your company that it’s become a corporate standard for creating data fiefdoms, which would be bad.

June 2009 - New CMSS Launch

That Design Spot launched the Content Management Software System.

Developers: Robert Osmond, Senior Project Developer - Chief Technical Officer.