Little did I know, I was also learning how to build effective and usable websites for all types of people, not just musicians.

Over the last few years the web has become an everyday extension of brand marketing and everything that makes up the digital ecosystem that we have all come to experience on a daily basis.

Naturally, from web designs for musicians came businesses and non-profits and eventually I realized that I needed to branch out and build websites for all types of people

Recently, I launched my freelance portfolio and I have been shocked at the response I’ve received. My inbox is full of requests for web designs.

This is really an exciting time for me. I’m trying something new and I can’t thank my friends and family enough for your encouragement and support.

So what is all this stuff?

What is a domain? What is hosting?

DOMAIN

Dub. Dub. Dub. (aka. WWW dot.) www.example.com. Double-U, dOUBLE-u, Double-u DOT.

Your domain name is your web address. Think of it just like your home address. When you buy a domain name, you are buying a plot of land on the World Wide Web. Once you’ve got the plot of land of the web, you can start building the house.

HOSTING

This is the house. This is the architectural structure, the behind-the-wall framing. All of your website pictures and videos and text will need walls to hang on, won’t they?

A web hosting service is a type of Internet  service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web.

DESIGN

This is paint, the colors, the decoration. When most people think about building a new website this is the first thing they think about. In reality, the design is a culmination of the creative elements and the architectural elements coming together.

My Design Process

To kick things off, I work on the overall layout/ architecture of pages, content, photographs, links etc. I develop a prototype/ wireframe which helps illustrate a few page layout options.

Then we focus on the creative elements.  Things like:

• colors
• photography
• imagery
• branding elements.

Once I have the architecture mapped out AND and the creative elements agreed upon, it’s time to Build the Website.

On the SEO front,  I help determine what you need to write about, what keywords to use and how to link it all together so that Google will find and index your website.

If you are in need of a website, a blog, heck- even an app, that’s right, I can even help with building iPhone apps. Let me know- And thanks again!

Hire Me

photo credit: twm1340 via photopin cc

Mike Toner

Mike Toner is a freelance web designer from Arlington, Virginia. During the day he works as a Web Content Manager for CSC. By evening, he’s a husband, dog owner and runner. Toner writes about Social Media, SEO and overall online visibility as well as digital marketing trends.

    

Don’t worry, I haven’t moved far.I am still living in Arlington, although my commute has gotten slightly longer as I am working from the Corporate Headquarters in Falls Church, Va.

As the Web Content Manager  for this industry-leading IT integrator and service provider I have an opportunity to showcase my talent for creating and overseeing digital marketing content in a dynamic and fast paced work environment.

I am creating SEO best practices for on-page content generation, particularly with regards to keyword optimization and content generation, title/meta tag creation, and internal linking strategy. All fun stuff.

When I was interviewing for this job I remember taking a few days to write out the pros and cons- both of leaving my previous job at Business Wire as well as the risks associated with taking a new job.

After taking a highlighter to the job description, I was blown away how well everything lined up for me. It was a perfect fit:

It fit. After 1 month in it’s safe to say that I’m having fun, learning a lot and really excited for the challenges ahead. In the end, we are building a world class marketing model for a $16 billion company. Who wouldn’t be excited?

You Can’t Move Forward Without Looking Back

I spent 5 great years with Business Wire and I learned a lot from my first job after college.

Business Wire allowed me to explore my interest in all things ‘digital’, from SEO and social media, to marketing and online strategy. In 2009, for a period of 6-8 months, I was even conducting national webinars for Business Wire’s Award Winning webinar series.

This access and transparency on what Business Wire was building and how we were building it allowed me to feel a part of the process.

My relationship with with my boss, Josh Rehrer was the hardest factor to overcome mentally when deciding to accept a new job- knowing that I was walking away from a great mentor and partnership. Josh and I developed a very close and unique professional/personal relationship- he was the best manager and friend I could have ever asked for.

This new challenge will undoubtedly broaden my skill set in all things digital. From SEO and Social Media, to Demand Generation and Content Creation; I am truly at the intersection of content, design & delivery  of news & information on the web.

Wish me luck!

Mike Toner

Mike Toner is a freelance web designer from Arlington, Virginia. During the day he works as a Web Content Manager for CSC. By evening, he’s a husband, dog owner and runner. Toner writes about Social Media, SEO and overall online visibility as well as digital marketing trends.

    

Last year, whispers and gossip of industry influence filled every room.

Ideas and opinions of the web and Investors Relations spread like wildfire, while social media and twitter filtered into a quiet back-channel of web savvy individuals interested in the use of Social Media for IR.

The National Investor Relations Institute Annual Conference is a melting pot of information and ideas for the Investor Relations community to think on over the next year or so.

Well- here we are a year later and we’re still talking about Social media and IR.

I consider the use of social media and the web for investor relations a likely avenue for future Investor Relations efforts- however social media is a relatively new communication channel which will continue to evolve.

As part of this learning curve, PR pros and IR pros alike will continue learning the skills necessary to effectively communicate online in partnership with all of the existing communication channels.

The most effective communicators are experts at ALL methods of interaction- phone, email, online, they are able to use all forms of communications be it oral & written; online & in-person.

You don’t stop calling someone- just because you can text them. You don’t stop calling someone- just because you can email them.You spread the communication methods to broadly reach the maximum audience.

For investor relations, the main takeaway is: how do you communicate with investors?

There is such a fine balance between the hard and soft skills required for an IRO to effectively communicate. It is important to understand the PR side of how to tell a story and impart information to listeners. It is also important to maintain an understanding  and use the financial data to tell that story from the IR point of view.

Widely distributing and effectively telling a story is the name of the Investor relations game. Social Media and the web are simply a new piece to that story-telling puzzle.

Mike Toner

Mike Toner is a freelance web designer from Arlington, Virginia. During the day he works as a Web Content Manager for CSC. By evening, he’s a husband, dog owner and runner. Toner writes about Social Media, SEO and overall online visibility as well as digital marketing trends.

    

Organizations are learning what is most important in managing social media- namely, being agile enough to take an opportunity and use it to respond and engage with customers online and make social media valuable.

[box]Social media is rapidly transforming the way organizations communicate with customers. As a cost-effective way to engage online, social media gives companies broader reach beyond traditional communication methods like email. With a simple post or tweet, businesses can promote products and services, provide instant feedback or support, creating an online community of brand enthusiasts. Staying competitive in today’s fast moving business landscape requires a solid social media strategy.[/box]

The online landscape is more transactional than ever before. As communicators, we have to focus on engagement and what customers do with our products or services. This emerging conversation is facilitated through social media tools- however the tools themselves don’t do your job for you.

“Hitting send on a tweet, or posting a status update on Facebook isn’t the same as doing your job.”- Mike Toner

Nielsen says “people visit 2.9 sites a day, and one of them is Facebook.” In making the case for social media as a business/ communication tool- you will not hear anything more significant than that statement.

If you’re not on social media then you’re ignoring where your best customers spend one-third of the day.

Below is an great infographic which illustrates the WHY, the HOW  and the WHO of social media.

• WHY should we interact with potential customers on social media?
• HOW does social media integrate with your businesses communication strategy?
• WHO is already integrating social media as part of their overall business objectives?

Source:  #E2sday, Social Cast Blog

Mike Toner

Mike Toner is a freelance web designer from Arlington, Virginia. During the day he works as a Web Content Manager for CSC. By evening, he’s a husband, dog owner and runner. Toner writes about Social Media, SEO and overall online visibility as well as digital marketing trends.

    

I decided a few years ago that there was a need for a new type of record label. I wasn’t sure why or what I thought the music industry needed, but I know everything was changing.

I founded Renot Records because of two main reasons:

1. I love music
2. I know how to build websites

I am musician myself. That’s me on the drums

[box]“Renot Records has been a work in progress. I decided it was time to just put it out there.”[/box]

I’ve designed and launched more than a dozen individual websites including miketoner.com, twittersongs.com, joshknightmusic.com, constantrevision.com, pixandtoner.com, soapostrophe.com

I also happen to be heavily invested in new music and up and coming bands.

This combination led me to the creation of a web design studio for musicians. Musicians tend to have a funky relationship with the web. I’m focused on making the music shine- let the musicians focus on being creative- that’s my motto.

So here’s the idea:

Mike Toner

Mike Toner is a freelance web designer from Arlington, Virginia. During the day he works as a Web Content Manager for CSC. By evening, he’s a husband, dog owner and runner. Toner writes about Social Media, SEO and overall online visibility as well as digital marketing trends.

    

Each year, right around the beginning of March my family and friends begin discussing what they are giving up for Lent.  This is usually defined as the tradition of personal sacrifice for the 40 days and 40 nights leading up to Easter Sunday.

This year- I decided to give up Facebook. Trendy I know…but let’s consider why:

I’m not sure who gets to see what on Facebook?

I’ve tried to tweak the privacy settings, I’ve tried to create lists- it just seems so imperfect. I’ve also heard that some users (read: my mom) can see my whole profile while I’m using my mobile phone (which has a separate set of privacy settings) versus using Facebook on my browser- (which has a different set security settings.) So it depends on what device I’m on as to which settings are in affect.

As you all know, there is always a constant chatter regarding the privacy of Facebook.  Occasionally you’ll see a post like this one cross your newsfeed:

With these sorts of warnings to protect against hacking, it really makes me think twice about what I share on Facebook and the ever-expanding reach into our personal information.

(Side note- I’m not sure how I feel about Facebook sharing my phone number and address information with it’s growing list of advertisers.)

Time Suck:

Take into consideration the amount of time spent on Facebook. Imagine the collective amount of productivity lost in any given workday to this addictive website. That’s enough to make you pause…

Facebook is everywhere.

It was almost exactly one year ago that Facebook’s changes to the Like Button went into full affect.

[box]One year later, the Like button has proven its staying power, becoming just as ubiquitous on Facebook as it has on the Internet as a whole. Facebook says more than 10,000 websites add the Like button to their platforms everyday.With more than 2.5 million websites featuring the Like button and a profitability reportedly higher than a tweet, the simple one-click feature has ensured that it will be around for many more birthdays to come. (via Adweek)  [/box]

Now What?

Giving up Facebook felt like such a pointless sacrifice unless I set out to accomplish something more tangible in partnership with my time apart from the online world.

Now, traditional sacrifices during lent haven’t gone away however there is definitely a call for more service as sacraficeduring the giving season.  My purpose was to use the 40 days to evaluate how I was spending my time and how easy it was to make a change.

Time to Give Back

Back in March, I attended an orientation to volunteer at Miriam’s Kitchen who provides free, homemade meals and high-quality support services to more than 4,000 homeless men and women in Washington, DC each year.

Since then I have spent two evenings cooking and serving at Miriam’s as a way to really connect my personal sacrifice with a sense of giving back of my time to the community. The whole experience was very eye opening to the daily issue of homelessness in my own community.

Also, a few weeks ago, my colleague and I spent an afternoon helping out as part of the Muscular Dystrophy’s Greater Washington Area chapter Muscle Walk. The local event raised more than $100,000 and many of the teams are headed by someone with a type of muscle disease, or a parent of a child with muscle disease. It was great to be part of such an inspiring event where these families use the walk as  opportunity to fight back against MD.

So, for the last 40 days- I was off the grid, so-to-speak- and spent my time giving back to the community through volunteer work.

Today, Easter Sunday- I plan to value the time I interact with my friends and family whether it’s online or in real life.  I believe Facebook can serve a good purpose and is an important channel for communicating with those important people in my life.

As far as volunteering, I need to reassess my purpose and continue to grow my personal sacrifices outside of Lent. What other activities could I or should I be volunteering my time with that perhaps offer a more personal connection?

Mike Toner

Mike Toner is a freelance web designer from Arlington, Virginia. During the day he works as a Web Content Manager for CSC. By evening, he’s a husband, dog owner and runner. Toner writes about Social Media, SEO and overall online visibility as well as digital marketing trends.

    

My friend passed this along to me and I wanted to share.

1. Change yourself.

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.”

2. You are in control.

“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”

3. Forgive and let it go.

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

4. Without action you aren’t going anywhere.

“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”

5. Take care of this moment.

“I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.”

6. Everyone is human.

“I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.”

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

7. Persist.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

8. See the good in people and help them.

“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.”

“Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.”

“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.”

9. Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self.

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.”

10. Continue to grow and evolve.

”Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.”

Mike Toner

Mike Toner is a freelance web designer from Arlington, Virginia. During the day he works as a Web Content Manager for CSC. By evening, he’s a husband, dog owner and runner. Toner writes about Social Media, SEO and overall online visibility as well as digital marketing trends.

    

SEO is Measureable:

Tracking the effectiveness of marketing dollars has always been the hard job of advertising and marketing departments.

It’s difficult to track how billboards, print ads and TV commercials bring in customers, and if sales are a direct result of traditional marketing campaigns- “what’s the ROI?”

It makes sense that marketers would move towards SEO and search volume/analytics on keywords. Whether it’s PPC, SEO, Social Media, or Conversion Optimization, through analytics, you can track how a particular campaign directly influences website traffic, leads, and sales. Everyone involved can see the statistics and can change plans to
improve performance.

SEO is Targeted:

Every month, there are 14 billion online searches.Many of those searches are for products and services.

Each industry has keywords that are searched on thousands of times.

Top rankings in the search engine results has the potential to capture a massive demographic that is looking to buy specific products.

As reported in Cornell University’s Eye Tracking study- 56% of searchers click on the 1st search result.

A big difference between traditional marketing/advertising and digital, is search marketing directly hones in on a demographic of customers who are looking to buy a specific product.
While traditional reaches a vast, ambiguous audience, search marketing reaches the right customers at the exact moment they want to buy. Traditional marketing is like blindly casting a wide net.

SEO as Strategy

Good search marketing campaigns achieve a balance between SEO, Paid Advertising, Social Media, and conversion strategies that drive website traffic and turn that traffic into sales. When each of those strategies blend together perfectly, website revenue increases dramatically.

Mike Toner

Mike Toner is a freelance web designer from Arlington, Virginia. During the day he works as a Web Content Manager for CSC. By evening, he’s a husband, dog owner and runner. Toner writes about Social Media, SEO and overall online visibility as well as digital marketing trends.

    

From Jan 6- Jan 9, 2011 I will be attending the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow.

The International Consumer Electronic Show draws more than 120,000 attendees with the exhibit space covering more than 1.5 million square feet of the Las Vegas Convention center.

When I first attended CES in 2009 Netbooks were just making their big splash and the big debate was LCD vs Plasma. Their were no Droids, no Tablets and most certainly no 3-D tv’s.

Here’s a quick look at the products that have debuted at CES over the past 20 years:

I am not overly excited about the possibility of tablet computers being the highlight of CES 2011. I already know that Apple will not be exhibiting at the show- (Apple never goes to CES) and the ipad will most likely continue to dominate the market for some time, especially with the prospect of an iPad 2 in the coming months.

It’s hard to tell what will catch my attention this year. I hope to see some amazing 3-D TV’s although I think the manufacturers still need to find a reason to make me WANT a 3-D TV…as I already know that I don’t need it! I also don’t want to wear those stupid glasses.

Here’s a little video from my time out at the 2009 Consumer Electronic Show:

And here are few thoughts on what to expect at CES 2011:

http://mobilelocalsocial.com/2010/what-to-expect-at-ces-2011/

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2010/12/ces-2011-preview-what-we-expect-to-see.html

Let me know if you are going to be at the show- @miketoner on Twitter

Mike Toner

Mike Toner is a freelance web designer from Arlington, Virginia. During the day he works as a Web Content Manager for CSC. By evening, he’s a husband, dog owner and runner. Toner writes about Social Media, SEO and overall online visibility as well as digital marketing trends.

    

As American Education Week comes to to an end I believe we are entering an era that requires drastic measures to ensure the success of America’s school system.

The results of the National Assessment of Education Progress released Thursday display the sames issues that emerge time and time again on other standardized tests. There is a substantial difference between the performance of whites and minorities, between middle class and poor. There are so many external factors affecting a students success.

I hope that the national debate on education reform will allow for a real dialogue about the challenges facing our education system and focus on the hard work and collaboration necessary to address these issues.

For the fourth and final segment in the What Makes a Great Teacher? series, I interviewed a literacy specialist and remedial reading teacher at a middle school in Northern Virginia.  When asked about whether or not schools work well he refers to teaching as an “industry” that needs to continually change and innovate- this answer resonated with me as I think it will with many of you.

When a business stops creating, it dies. Business models go through their life cycles and without change there cannot be growth. Our education system is no different. It is time for a change.

An effective student is one who takes accountability and responsibility for their own learning.  They have to want it for themselves or it will never really happen.  When I think back on my own education, it was not until I felt that the work was for me and not my parents or my friends, was when I really began to learn. It felt good to get good grades, but I wasn’t really building something that meant anything.

Mike Toner

Mike Toner is a freelance web designer from Arlington, Virginia. During the day he works as a Web Content Manager for CSC. By evening, he’s a husband, dog owner and runner. Toner writes about Social Media, SEO and overall online visibility as well as digital marketing trends.