What’s the secret?  What’s the magic trick that gets all the balls rolling in the right direction?  The secret is, there is no secret.  The trick is, there are no tricks.  No magic pill.  No puff of green smoke.  If you want success, you’re going to have to work for it.  There are, however, a few tips that keep popping up –over and over and over.  I can either whack you over the head with a wooden mallet to get your attention –or you can start listening to the advice that’s been there all along.  Up to you.  It’s your headache; it’s your choice.  Since people these days are in a hurry and heck –maybe you’ve got an awful memory; I’ll just go ahead and make a nice neat list for you.  Pin this to your computer, your desk, or your forehead.  I won’t judge.  Successful small businesses are made up of a little bit of sweat, a dash of tears, a heap of stress, and a whole ‘lotta determination.

Hootsuite saves my life, sanity, the happiness and well-being of those around me on a daily basis.  Dramatic much?  Perhaps, but I’ll tell you this - anything on this planet that saves both time and money on a consistent basis is a win in my book.  So how does Hootsuite save me?  How does this delectable tool keep me coming back for more?  Well, I’ll tell you.

It's an intriguing thought. Website owners and developers alike spend a great deal of time considering what CMS to use, but that's not the most important part, as I came to realize at this year's CMS Expo. 

Adding to the list of “things I didn’t know about before, but now I do –and so should you” is a little HTML something that goes by the name of “ ”.  It is what’s called a “non-breakable space” in HTML.  As a very wise man explained to me –they appear automatically in text when you double space after a period (like we were all taught to do in typing class).  In your text, they will display as spaces and that is all well and good, except for one thing: they are non-breakable. What does this mean to you, you ask?  It means that the text cannot wrap or be broken up into separate lines.  You may be wondering, “Why do these “ ” even exist?” They exist to irritate me I think.

The 7th annual CMS Expo began this morning at the Hotel Orrington in Evanston, although the fun began last night at our Chicago DotNetNuke User Group meeting, also held here. I'll tell you what happened last night, and what's in store for the Expo.

There comes a time in every person’s life when they’ve got to ask themselves –is it time to redesign my website?  That may not actually be true.  The truth is, however, that if you DO have a website and if you ARE invested in it –it is worth a second look every now and then to see if there is actually need to shake things up a bit.  This could be anything from swapping out colors, to changing your whole theme.  Maybe your little spokesperson is a brunette, but you heard blondes have more fun.  Whatever your reasoning, if you are asking yourself if it’s time to redesign, here are a few pieces to look at that may need a little tweaking, moving, and shaking.

Photo: 2003 Chamber Expo "Best Booth" Award. Thank you for your support as we celebrate the start of our second decade of Newsday Tuesday emails! From the beginning, our mission has been to outfit clients with the tools and skills needed to market the html out of their websites.