TopNotchDomains.com is Relaunched!

Elliot Silver
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Yesterday, I announced that my blog was redesigned, and today, I am pleased to announce that my company’s website, TopNotchDomains.com was redesigned and launched this morning! The redesign comes on the heels of a logo contest I started on Sitepoint (after seeing the success of Sahar’s contest). Initially, I planned for just a new logo and business card, but I was so impressed with the quality of work of Mike McAlister and his SixOneFive Design company, I asked him to redesign my website.

I know the difficulty in finding a great quality designer who is trustworthy and cost effective so I wanted to briefly talk about Mike’s company. The main focus of SixOneFive Design is on creating brand identities. They work on complete image overhauls with logos (like my projected started), business cards, letterheads, websites, etc. The company stays on top of new design trends, and they integrate it into their work. Mike provides high quality work with a quick turn-around, and from my experience, the price was more than reasonable.

Another project Mike recently finished was a complete overhaul on ClickFacts Security & Audit which can be seen at ClickFacts.com. Other samples of Mike’s work can be seen at his site SixOneFiveDesign.com.  I hope you like the new look on my blog and TopNotchDomains.com, and I would like to thank Mike for his hard (and speedy) work.

***Although I am never paid nor compensated for my blog entries, I want to make it clear that Mike did not ask me for this recommendation, nor did I receive anything in return. Mike created a great website, logo and blog header for me, completed it very quickly, and he did it at a very reasonable price.

ElliotsBlog.com Unveils New Theme!

Elliot Silver
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Last week, I held a contest on Sitepoint to create a new logo for my company, Top Notch Domains, LLC. I had never used Sitepoint before, but I thought it would be interesting and worth a shot. I received several high quality submissions, and eventually chose a winning design.

I was really impressed with the designer’s work, and I began discussing a revision of the entire website instead of just the logo. We agreed on a very fair price and timeline, and he is currently in the midst of revising the site, which will probably be unveiled this week. While I was reviewing the first round of revisions on my company’s website yesterday, the designer sent me a test header for my blog, just in case I wanted to make it match the company’s website. I hadn’t even asked for it, but he thought it might be good to keep the look and feel consistent.

I am very happy to unveil the new design of my company’s logo – and the new design of my blog! I have been impressed with the quality of work the designer has done, and I think the blog looks great as well. If you would like to learn more about the designer (Mike McAlister), his company is called SixOneFive Design.

Please Be The Judge

Elliot Silver
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The winner has been selected! The Top Notch Domains, LLC website will be undergoing some redevelopment, and it should be relaunched soon. Thank you very much for all your feedback!!

Calling All Designers…

Elliot Silver
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Top Notch Domains, LLC LogoAfter a couple of years with the same look, I’ve decided to move forward and have my logo and business card redesigned.  I  set up a contest at Sitepoint  to open this to as many designers as possible.  I admit that I got the idea of holding a contest from  Sahar  – Thanks!  

Although I like the current style/concept of my logo, I am looking for something more fresh that uses less black for better space.  I like the skyline, but don’t need the actual buildings (an outline of a skyline would probably suffice).  I would also like a more modern looking font for the name of the company.  I’ve given comments to the designers who have submitted their work so far, so you can get an idea of what I am asking.    

Down the road in the next few weeks, I can also see myself redesigning my entire  Top Notch Domains website,  and perhaps this logo and business card design contest will help me find someone for that project.

So check out my contest and show me your skills!

Search Bar – “What Can I Serve You?”

Elliot Silver
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There have been plenty of times where I walked into a bar and asked for a beer that the bar doesn’t stock.    Of course, I ordered a different beer, but for the sake of this post, let’s say that I really wanted a particular kind of beer, and when the bartender informed me that he doesn’t have it, I walked out and went to the bar down the street.

If this scenario happens just once or twice, the lost business probably won’t cost the bar much money.    However, if this is a recurring situation, it would be in the bar’s best interest to begin carrying the requested beers to satisfy the needs of its customers and not miss out on a revenue generating idea.

Likewise on a website, the owner should do his best to provide content that is of interest to his visitors.    Oftentimes if a visitor doesn’t find what he needs, he will use the search bar to locate it.    A savvy website/domain owner will use the search log information to see what his visitors are looking for but can’t seem to find.    He will then make adjustments to his product/content selection to ensure the needs of his visitors are met.    

The lost revenue from one or two visitors may be small, but if you can learn about what your customers want and offer it to them, you are sure to satiate your visitors’ thirst for information.

(Special thanks to Jonathan for reminding me about how important the search bar can be to a domain owner!)

StatCounter.com – Good Stat Tracking Resource

Elliot Silver
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On a few of my domain names, I use StatCounter.com to track information about my visitors.   If I know how visitors find my domain name, what links they click on while there, and how long they view a particular topic, I can optimize my websites to fulfill their needs.   I would recommend this website for stat tracking.   According to the site, StatCounter.com is:

“A free yet reliable invisible web tracker<, highly configurable hit counter and real-time detailed web stats.”

With StatCounter.com, I have access to the following  information about visitors to my websites:

– Popular Pages
– Entry Pages
– Exit Pages
– Came From
– Keyword Analysis
– Recent Keyword Activity
– Recent Came From
– Visitor Paths
– Visit Length
– Returning Visits
– Recent Visitor Activity
– Country/State/City/ISP

I would recommend this site to people who don’t have access to this information from their own servers.   There is no cost for smaller accounts (up to 500 log quota), and there are upgrade opportunities depending on the size of the file you want.   Oh… I am not a paid endorser either – I just like the information they provide.

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