I know, I know, I haven't blogged for ages, but there is a reason for that... :)

Apart from being generally busy, I have been creating a new website for Infiniti (still in development) and I have just launched a new eMarketing platform, a free business directory for County Mayo, Ireland called MayoFree.com.

To make it free the site is being sponsored by Infiniti Mixed Media, and my main goal is to create a good, rich directory of businesses, services, organisations, groups and clubs in County Mayo. It was inspired by my own clients' need for a cost-effective method of promoting their businesses, which has been focussed by the recent economic downturn.

Quite often, small and start-up businesses know that they need some kind of presence on the internet, but can't afford to commit a large sum of money to having a professional website designed.

This usually results in using the cheapest web designer or developer available, with a 'something is better than nothing' attitude, or even nothing at all. A blank page or even a dreaded 'under construction' page.

It's true, from a web aspect, that something IS better than nothing, but as far as your brand image is concerned, once that first impression is made it can colour the market's view of your business for a very long time.

So, how can we make it more affordable? Well, we can cut out all the bits you don't need for a start.

Over the past couple of months I have been approached by a few clients that have been battling with their own brand images, for start-up and developing businesses, and this has highlighted for me some common problems that I am seeing over and over.

The biggest difficulty I see for new clients, is thinking of an appropriate brand name that has a good domain name available to go with it. Anything they can think of is gone as a .COM and they feel that .IEs are difficult to use and too region specific.

I am working on a solution to this with the introduction of Design In A Box, a (baby) sister business to Infiniti Mixed Media, specialising in pre-designed logos and brands, which is still currently in development... Where does all the time go?

I have an alternative approach, which is to collect neat web 2.0 style, 5 and 6 character domains that sound like they could work as a brand, create a suitable brand design around the name and then customers can browse through the collection and choose a package that they feel is suitable and appropriate for their business and market.

Progress is a bit slow, but I have built up a good collection of domains so far. Most are still awaiting designs to go along with them, so I thought I would open up the domains for sale without transfer fees and at a reduced price, to get them used and keep them moving.

For the interest of those students and overseas design communities that occasionally enquire about, and generally follow the progress of Infiniti Mixed Media, *shucks* I thought I might mention the debut shirt of our 'in-development' tshirt store - Lovili.

It was going to be called Triniti, and I wrestled with domain ideas but I eventually settled on this neat and unique brand name to launch this 'mini-me' of a store.

Progress has been slow in the development, as busy busy Infiniti has taken up the lion's share of my time, but in order to test the quality and set up of the production method, I have produced a limited run (as all the designs will be) of 25 Skin & Bones tshirts.

You can have any colour, as long as it's black, and they are available through the PrintMojo store for a mere $20 while the main site is under development. It may be a while.... More to follow.

Buy the Skin & Bones T Shirt here

Whilst running the risk of repeating myself, I wanted to post a few more of Sage Lewis's videos, to remove some of the myth and mystery behind this 'magical' process called Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

It's not magic, it's very straightforward and should not be approached as a last resort fire-fighting solution to improve a badly performing website, but as a series of guidelines for building good sites, with good content that reach the right users...

There are many reasons why your existing website might not be working for you that the practice of Search Engine Optimisation alone cannot improve. You need to look at design, marketing, strategy, how it is written, and even how you compare to your competition in the marketplace. You can have the best site that money can buy and still not make those conversions (sales that result from a visit to your site) because your competition presents itself as cheaper, faster and provides more information. Think about it.

Just knowing this information isn't enough, it needs to be applied effectively and consistently to work.

Top 5 SEO Countdown Week - #5

In the same way that we can use YouTube to serve and promote our video content, we can also do a similar thing using Flickr.com's improved slideshow facility, to serve our image content. If you don't know Flickr, here is a great video to get you up to speed.

Flickr Step By Step