February 2007

Dear Client,

We have finished the migration of sites we host from an older server to one that doesn’t even break a sweat. It’s nice to have new toys! J There was a handful that we couldn’t migrate due to ‘special needs.’ Over the next week we will take care of these and a machine that has served faithfully for 5+ years can have a much needed rest.

No problems with our T1 connection to the Internet last month. I know…that’s how it’s supposed to work. But it’s nice when it does. Qwest isn’t real big on maintaining infrastructure. They collect money for this maintenance but choose to spend it on other things.

Microsoft now has Vista available for retail sale. We don’t have a burning desire to rush out and buy it. There just doesn’t seem to be a compelling reason to get something that almost certainly requires a hardware upgrade, and the features they are touting appear to be cosmetic. Let the hackers try to break the security on it for a few months (and subsequent patches be released) before spending $ on it.

For our business clients who have websites with us, one of the drawbacks of having a high position in search engines is the amount of interest you get that you can’t use. Many businesses are focused on a region they serve, while visitors can be driven via search engines from anywhere. One of our clients who had exceptionally good search engine positioning used to throw away 90% of their leads because they couldn’t do anything with them.

We now have on board an exceptional web developer who also specializes in regional search engine positioning. He has excellent skills in creating or updating sites which rank very high on the major search engines—Google, Yahoo and MSN—to a city or region. If this sounds like it could benefit you, give us a call.

On a personal note, I’m always an optimist—I found San Marzano tomato seeds in our local hardware store. I planted them one year for canning, and they are the best pasta-type tomatoes I’ve ever tasted. I now have 54 seeds started in a growing medium along with about 36 habanero pepper plants. I already fried one batch of seedlings when it got too hot here one day. Hopefully I can keep these alive long enough to plant.

Yesterday my remaining grandmother finally got her wish at the age of 96 to go home to her beloved husband. He had passed away 40 years ago and she missed him that entire time. In the dictionary under “Southern Lady” it should have read: ‘See: Theola Crawford.’ She epitomized the grace, goodwill and charm that this label aspires to. She will be missed.

Sincerely,

Ben Conner