Oh my stock, photos that suck

January 30, 2008 | 12 Comments

Almost every website with any resemblance of professionalism uses stock photography. Although it is usually very high resolution, it is so often very low in realism.

Do people actually respond to fake, photographs? Only your own testing can tell for sure, but one thing's for certain, if the images on your site are actually unique and speak to your customers, you have an advantage over everyone else.

Here's my favorite examples of the too-stock photography that we see everywhere!

Continue reading…

Posted by jestep | Filed Under Development, Marketing 

Starting a new business, 5 reasons to avoid Microsoft now!

January 15, 2008 | 4 Comments

If you are a new online business owner, one of the best pieces of advice I can give you is to not become a whore to Microsoft, their high cost, and their ludicrous licensing system.

Since most of us started with Microsoft Windows it's natural to assume that they are the only viable company that can provide software for our business computers. What you will find especially if you can grow into a medium size business with several employees, is that Microsoft is truly an evil company, and your business is far better off without them. I don't just mean that your web server should not be running Microsoft, but if you have the capacity to, I recommend not installing a single piece of Microsoft software in your entire business.

There's millions of people that make the Microsoft sucks claim, but here's why you should avoid them with your business: Continue reading…

Posted by jestep | Filed Under General