Shadow Development News

Do you Pay More to Pay Online?

Shadow Development — 2012-02-06T20:00:00+05:00

By Kyle Perkins

It seems like second-nature to pay our bills online in this day and age. No need for purchasing stamps, licking envelopes, and hoping the mail system delivers it on time. Paying a bill online is quick, secure, and you don't even have to leave the comfort of your chair.

The Good, The Bad, and The.....What?

Here's a quick overview of what paying online can do.

Good: Customers can pay instantly and get a receipt.
Good: Payments usually clear within 24 hours. Faster payment = faster services/goods (like from Amazon.com, Buy.com, or Walmart.com)
Good: Customers don't have to buy stamps to send in payments.
Bad: Credit Card companies charge a small processing fee (usually 2.9% of the payment amount) while processing the payment.
...What? Some companies make you pay the processing fee (on top of tax and shipping)!

Yeah - that's right. Some companies pass the annoying fee to their customers! Why? Because they don't want to pay the fee!

Hidden Fees 101

Let's do a little math: Your new game costs $49.99 from an online resource. Shipping costs $5 and tax is $0 (for various reasons). So far, your purchase is at $54.99. Sounds reasonable, right?

Well, if you pay online, you may have an "additional processing fee" tacked on to that. Say, 4%. So that would raise your $54.99 purchase another $2.19, making your purchase $57.19. That's an overall increase of 14.5% of your original purchase. Tax is bad enough, and credit card fees are killer as well (at an average of 24.99%).

That's more for you to pay out of your pocket because the online resource you ordered the game from didn't want to pay the credit processing fee! It's like charging you to receive your own item!

To put it another way, think about shopping at your local grocery store. You pick up your groceries, head to the checkout, and the cashier gives you two options: pay for the purchase in cash, or pay with a credit card - oh, by the way, there will be an additional 5% charge if you pay by credit. Chances are, you'll pay in cash to avoid that extra fee.

See over the Verizon

For a while, Verizon wanted to charge $2 to allow customers to pay online. After less than a week, Verizon's customers had revolts against the policy, and eventually Verizon dropped it. Seems like a Bank of America moment, right? [sources: Geekosystem.com, Forbes.com, Tested.com ]

Anti-Progress

The best example I can think of is a certain electric company in our area. When using their online payment system, an extra 5% was added on top of the bill to process it online. I was already strapped for cash, and didn't want to add an extra 5% on top of what I'm already paying for electricity. I actually went out of my way to buy stamps and to send the bill through snail mail instead of through the "inter-tubes."

Does anything good come out of this?

I'm glad to report: Yes. Most companies (like ours) do not charge extra for paying online. In fact, we encourage our customers to pay online. More trees saved, right?

Our credit processor takes a 2.9% commission from every card charged. Our company calls that a marketing expense, just like Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, who says "The additional shipping costs are expensive for us, but we really view those costs as a marketing expense." Why discourage customers from doing something that can make their experience better? We couldn't come up with a good reason either.

New Client: ALP Systems Incorporated

Shadow Development — 2012-02-04T01:00:00+05:00

We are proud to welcome our newest client: ALP Systems Incorporated in Waynesville, NC! ALP is a lightning protection service for commercial and residental customers all over the world. Don't be fooled by the "blackbox" sales pitch - these guys mean business and have the experience to prove it!

From their current website:

Picture what lightning damage looks like. A broken tree on top of downed power lines. A burnt up TV. A blackened AC unit with melted wires. Horrible, yes, but lightning doesn't always directly hit your property. It's easy to cross your fingers and hope it doesn't burn anything up because the percentages are against a direct strike happening. What most people don't realize is that indirect lightning strikes ultimately do more damage than direct strikes.

You wonder why that printer or washing machine breaks down right after the warranty runs out. It's not that electronics are made to fail. It's that frequent exposure to indirect lightning causes more subtle damage and wears them down without the big bang. A properly installed lightning, grounding and surge protection system will keep you much safer and make your things last far longer than being unprotected.

ALP Systems is the world leader in lightning protection with over 20 years in the business. With ALP on your side, when you hear thunder, you know you're saving money.

We are excited to welcome ALP to our family and can't wait to get started on their site, alpsystemsinc.com, which should be up soon. Their existing website will be operational while their new site is in development.

Grab a Drink with a Geek!

Shadow Development — 2012-02-02T20:00:00+05:00

Have a question about your computer? Your network? How about your website? Well, we have good new for you!

Grab a stool, chug a beer, and talk geeky! Shadow Development has begun planning for a local event called Drinks with Geeks, an ostentatious event to gather non-techie people with questions to the local geeks in the area.

Drinks with Geeks will be held at Frog Level Brewing Company in Frog Level/Waynesville, NC.

We do not have a date for this event yet, but details will be posted at http://facebook.com/DrinkswithGeeks - "Like" us and stay in the loop.

Attending this event is free! Food will be provided, but bring your thirst - there are plenty of delicious beers to go around.

Questions can be emailed to drinkswithgeeks@shadowdev.com

UNC Students Raising Money to Help Cure Tourette Syndrome

Shadow Development — 2012-02-01T20:00:00+05:00

Charlotte, NC - February 1st, 2012
UNC Student Organization TICS, Tourette's Inspiring Charlotte Students, is working with Waynesville-based Shadow Development to create an informative website to help raise awareness about Tourette Syndrome and act as a resource to let others register for the philanthropic event, Walk for Robbie, on March 17.

Tourette's Inspiring Charlotte Students (TICS) and Shadow Development are pleased to announce their collaboration on creating awareness and fund raising for the upcoming event, "Walk for Robbie," and others with Tourette Syndrome with the website http://walk4robbie.com.

"We are a group of Students at UNC Charlotte that have taken a particular interest in Tourette Syndrome over the past few years. We created the Walk for Robbie in 2011 to help offset the cost of a very expensive surgery Robbie Lettieri needed to make his Tourette's more manageable and our quest grew from there. This year the walk is in order to raise money for Camp Twitch and Shout in Georgia, a Camp for kids age 7-17 with Tourette Syndrome. It allows kids the opportunity to come and enjoy the camping experience without having to worry about being different or not fitting in. Camp Twitch and Shout allows these kids to just have fun." says Holly Knibb, President of TICS.

TICS is a student-run organization on UNC Charlotte's campus dedicated to raising awareness and funds for those less fortunate with Tourette Syndrome.

Tourette Syndrome is a neurological disorder which becomes evident in early childhood or adolescence before the age of 18. Tourette syndrome is defined by multiple motor and vocal tics lasting for more than one year. The first symptoms usually are involuntary movements (tics) of the face, arms, limbs or torso. These tics are frequent, repetitive and rapid movements. The most common first symptom is a facial tic, eye blink, nose twitch, grimace, and is replaced or added to by other tics of the neck, torso, and limbs.

The "Walk for Robbie" will be held on Saturday March 17 from 2-4 pm this year. If anyone is interested in having a Team or walking by themselves, please visit http://walk4robbie.com/walk to learn more and register.

For further information on TICS, how to help out, donate, register for the walk, learn more about Camp Twitch and Shout, and more, contact Holly Knibb, President of TICS, at hknibb@uncc.edu or visit http://walk4robbie.com.

Shadow Development is a professional web development company in Waynesville, NC. Shadow Development specializes in hand-crafting websites and custom web services, balancing form and function to increase productivity, better response rates, allow for more customization, easier editing, and better flexibility. Operating since 2005, Shadow Development has helped companies and organizations all over the southeast region of the United States. For more information, visit http://shadowdev.com or call (800) 970-1058.

Congress backpedals on SOPA

Shadow Development — 2012-01-14T14:23:09+05:00

The Anti-SOPA support is working! Voters have raised enough awareness that Congess is finally listening and backing down. Although the fight isn't over yet, it's looking good for the public and protecting the "Freedom of Speech" right.

More information about this backpedaling can be found at http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/under-voter-pressure-members-of-congress-backpedal-on-sopa.arst

Many companies support SOPA, and we are among those who fully oppose it [original blog post], including Mythbuster's Adam Savage.

Since Congress was scared about the SOPA bill not passing, it seems like they don't have a choice now but to listen to voter choice and determination. In reference, after reddit members raised $15,000 in 48 hours for [Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)'s] anti-SOPA challenger, Ryan came out with a clear statement of opposition to the legislation. [source]

In review: if SOPA passes, it means that the government will have the right to shut down any website that has copyrighted images displayed on it without permission. Although we are in support to give credit where credit is due, we shouldn't give the government the right to nuke the Internet for a few copyrighted images (which is what will happen, not literally of course, but many popular websites, like Facebook, YouTube, Google, and even WhiteHouse.gov will be shut down because of this law). To show how ridiculous this law is, the author of the SOPA bill is a copyright violator for having a photo on his website with a landscape in the background that he didn't get permission to use (even though someone he knew took the photo).

Do your part to protect online freedom, and don't forget to give credit where credit is due.

SOPA image credit Mediaite

New Client! Walk for Robbie: Tourette's Inspiring Charlotte Students

Shadow Development — 2012-01-12T04:58:12+05:00

We are proud to welcome our newest client: Walk for Robbie: Tourette's Inspiring Charlotte Students in Charlotte, NC! Walk for Robbie: Tourette's Inspiring Charlotte Students is a student-run organization at UNCC with the inspiration to help others with Tourette's Syndrome, including Robbie Lettieri.

From the website:

"We created the Walk for Robbie in 2011 to help offset the cost of a very expensive surgery Robbie Lettieri needed to make his Tourette's more manageable and our quest grew
from there. This year the walk is in order to raise money for Camp Twitch and Shout in Georgia, a Camp for kids age 7-17 with Tourette Syndrome. It allows kids the opportunity to come and enjoy the camping experience without having to worry about being different or not fitting in. Camp Twitch and Shout
allows these kids to just have fun."

We are excited to welcome Walk for Robbie: Tourette's Inspiring Charlotte Students to our family and can't wait to get started on their site, walk4robbie.com, which should be up by February 1st!

Shadow Dev Welcomes New Staff Member: Brandon Knight

Shadow Development — 2012-01-10T01:00:39+05:00

Our family is always growing, and today, we can officially say that we have a new staff member. Please help us welcome Brandon Knight to the Shadow Dev family.

Brandon will be working as a Site Designer for Shadow Dev Clients, and a member on the Marketing team. Our high hopes go to Brandon as he joins our expert staff!

For the record, Shadow Dev opposes SOPA [UPDATED]

Shadow Development — 2011-12-24T01:19:42+05:00

Following a "trend" of online service providers, we at Shadow Dev want to keep the Internet a resource for the sharing and enhancement of ideas. Therefore, Shadow Dev opposes SOPA.

We usually don't like to get into politics or anything with red tape, but we believed that this is a point that needed to be made.

To summarize SOPA, it is a piece of legislation that, if passed, will give the Government the power to shut down any website they think is supporting piracy and violating the Copyright Act (see DMCA). This means that many of the internet's most visited websites, like Youtube.com, Facebook.com, Wikipedia.org, DeviantArt.com, even Google.com and WhiteHouse.gov (and pretty much 99% of the Internet) will be shut down due to this act.

It may seem like common sense to oppose SOPA, however one of the world's biggest online service providers, GoDaddy.com, supports SOPA (there is actually a really good article over at lifehacker that discusses this). In response, many of their customers are leaving, and a lot of GoDaddy's competitors (who oppose SOPA) are offering deals for ex-GoDaddy customers, such as NameCheap.com and Hover.com .

UPDATE (5:00 PM): Less than 24 hours after releasing a statement saying that they support SOPA, GoDaddy has released another statement saying that they now not supporting SOPA. This doesn't mean they oppose it, they just don't support it [our source]

UPDATE [Dec 30 11:10am]: Just a week after GoDaddy supported SOPA, then sent out a release saying they didn't support SOPA, they released yet another statement saying they are completely doing a 180 from their original stance and fully oppposing SOPA regardless of the boycott or millions of lost (or a few gained) domains! CEO Warren Adelman issued a statement on the company's adjustment of stance. It reads as follows:

"We have observed a spike in domain name transfers, which are running above normal rates and which we attribute to Go Daddy's prior support for SOPA, which was reversed. GoDaddy opposes SOPA because the legislation has not fulfilled its basic requirement to build a consensus among stake-holders in the technology and Internet communities. Our company regrets the loss of any of our customers, who remain our highest priority, and we hope to repair those relationships and win back their business over time."

[source]

There are several other companies who support SOPA, so this might give some people a good understanding of where their favorite companies stand in the support of online freedom.

On a report from Techdirt.com on November 15th, "[...] the latest report coming out of the Committee is that they're so afraid to actually hear about the real opposition that they've lined up five pro-SOPA speakers and only one "against."" Overall, the Government is stacking the odds in their favor to make sure this passes. In order to keep our freedom, we cannot let this happen. See why the SOPA Hearing is Positively Infuriating.

Mythbuster Adam Savage

(photo credit: Popular Mechanics)

In a recent interview with Mythbuster's Adam Savage discussing SOPA, Savage says "These bills aren't simply unconstitutional, they are anticonstitutional. They would allow for the wholesale elimination of entire websites, domain names, and chunks of the DNS (the underlying structure of the whole Internet), based on nothing more than the "good faith" assertion by a single party that the website is infringing on a copyright of the complainant."

On a related note, Matt Cutts, a big name SEO Googler, writes in his blog: "If SOPA becomes law, it could stifle the innovation (and jobs) that the technology industry creates. That's why Facebook, Twitter, Mozilla, Google, Yahoo, eBay, AOL, LinkedIn, and Zynga all oppose SOPA. This is not a Democratic or Republican issue - Red State thinks SOPA is a bad idea too."

If you would like to help make a stand against SOPA, visit americancensorship.org where you can contact Congress and tell them to "Stop Supporting SOPA!" For more ways to help support the Internet freedom, visit sites like OpenMedia.ca that support online freedom.

SOPA image credit Mediaite

What is the Difference between a Web page and a Website?

Shadow Development — 2011-11-22T20:00:00+05:00

Knowing the difference between an apple and an orange is a major key in today's technological world. Although apples and oranges aren't very "techie," the same rule can be applied to Websites and Web pages. Most people don't know the difference and interchange the two without even knowing it.

So, to set the record straight, here's the difference in a nutshell:

A Web Page

A Website

A Webpage is a single page of information, just like a piece of paper. However, it is just that: a single piece of paper. People can browse other pages, but that gets into the Website aspect:

A Website is a network of webpages interlinked to each other, like a book. A Website can consist of many webpages, ranging from multiple topics. Visitors can browse a website and go on multiple pages and do multiple things, like browse the blog, find the latest trends, see the prices, and contact the company.

I guess this metaphor could be more relatable by comparing an apple to grapes, since one grape could be counted in a bunch.

Unlimited Pages? How can that be possible?

If you browse our Pricing page, you'll see that all of our pages offer unlimited pages. Why? Simple: We use a dynamic programming language. In laymen's terms: we can program 1 specific page to be the home of 10,000 items. Instead of spending hours upon hours to create 1 page for each of 10,000 items, we create 1 "templated" page in code and have all of the information retrieved from a database. No more "5-page websites" for us, and for you as well!

Break Free!

If your web designer/web developer is limiting you to x number of pages, you are losing out on a world of dynamic programming options (and probably paying the price for it as well). On a static website (the content doesn't change often, if at all), creating and updating each and every single page can be a very costly effort, both mentally and financially.

Think about it: 100 pages on Company A's website, and each of them has the same menu. What if an item needs to be added/modified/changed/deleted/etc? The designer/developer has to spend hours upon hours to go into each page and make the change (and if they are charging by the hour, watch your wallet!).

Our approach: every page on a site shares the same menu file. One 30-second change, and the change is reflected across all of the pages. Yet another reason why we charge per project instead of per hour. If you are paying by the hour, chances are you are paying too much.

Sum it up!

In the end, 1 well-coded web page can essentially host a whole slew of topics, whether it is the Home page, or talking about something specific, like Mitosis. 1 well-coded web page can take on the role of 100+ pages without the extra hassle.

Hopefully, this article has been useful to you. So the next time you talk to your web person, they won't stare at you blankly as if you spoke a different language.

Shadow Dev Celebrates Global Entrepreneur Week

Shadow Development — 2011-11-19T05:43:33+05:00

Earlier this month, President Obama declared November as National Entrepreneurship Month, and we are proud to be part of the celebration.

Thanks to the work of the Kauffman Foundation and a few other organizations, November 14-20 2011 has been declared Global Entrepreneurship Week celebrating the spirit of Entrepreneurship around the world. To find an event near you, browse their event database to find a local event.

We love our Entrepreneurs, and without them, our world wouldn't have any type or kind of business.

Last year, President Obama declared November 19th, 2010, National Entrepreneurs Day. Since that was such a success, Entrepreneurs now have a whole month dedicated to them.

In addition, American Express and a few other businesses have teamed up to create Small Business Saturday, an initiative to help support local businesses in your area. This year, Small Business Saturday is Saturday, November 26th (yes, the Saturday after Thanksgiving). Keep the jobs at home and buy local!

Obama photo and GEW logo credit Global Entrepreneurship Week, under Kaufffman

New Client: Blackberry Winter Antiques

Shadow Development — 2011-11-19T01:03:48+05:00

We are proud to welcome our newest client: BlackBerry Winter Antiques in Maggie Valley, NC! Blackberry Winter Antiques has some of the finest antiques in the Western North Carolina and surrounding area and we are proud to be working with them to establish a new web presence.

We are excited to welcome Blackberry Winter Antiques to our family and can't wait to get started on their site, blackberrywinterantiques.com, which should be up by the beginning of the new year!

Response Rate Decrease = Faster Loading

Shadow Development — 2011-11-09T07:00:55+05:00

Since we updated the main Shadow Dev website, we have seen a major decrease in our website response rate, which means faster loading of information and pages. After looking at a response record for the past week from Pingdom, we have great news!

Overall, we have had a overall 52% decrease in response rates. In a faster-paced world, having information load faster could mean the difference between made and lost sales.

In comparison of our previous site response decrease report, we had a decrease of 78.4% in response rates. In combination with our current decrease, information should now load within 3 seconds instead of 8 seconds from previously.

Follow Shadow Dev on Google+!

Shadow Development — 2011-11-08T05:12:01+05:00

Good News Google+ Users! Since Google finally opened up Google+ to businesses and others with their Pages feature, it was only a matter of time before we got on it. Follow Shadow Dev on Google+. Like our Twitter and Facebook pages, the G+ plage will be a steady stream of the best of Shadow Dev, along with the occasional call for help/research.

New Design in the Works

Shadow Development — 2011-10-27T05:14:45+05:00

We at Shadow Development thought it would be time to update our website to a fresh new design and functionality. Although our current design has served us well over the past few years, it was time to upgrade our code from HTML 4.01 to HTML5, CSS 2 to CSS3, insert a few jQuery snippets here and there, and give our PHP and MySQL scripts a revamp.

Although our new design isn't due to hit publically till November 1st, we'd like you, our readers to view our new design at gamma.shadowdev.com and tell us what you think while we get all of the final bugs out and finish fine-tuning it for the release. You can send us feedback in the comments below, or email us at feedback@shadowdev.com if we need to change something, make things easier, rearrange items, etc, to make sure that we have the best website available for those using it. In addition, if you find any bugs, issues, or have something nice to say, please let us know.

Put QR Codes on Printouts to connect Offline Content to Online Material

Shadow Development — 2011-10-26T19:00:00+05:00

This posting is mirrored off of our President's personal blog:

[...] I realized a great method to implement QR codes to connect offline content to its online material.

This method is implemented in 3 steps:

Put this code in your footer files (PHP only):

echo "<div id='print_qr'>Scan this QR Code with your Smartphone to access

this page:<br/>";

echo "<img src='chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=100x100&chl=http%3A%2F%2F".

$_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'].$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']."' alt='QR Code'/></div>";

(this uses Google's API to automatically generate the QR code for each page. If you are using ASP, insert your own code)

Put this in your main CSS file:

#print_qr{ display: none; text-align: center; }

Put this in your Print CSS file:
```
#print_qr{ display: block }
```
and if you haven't done so already, put a print-specific meta tag to enable print-specific CSS
```
<link href='[print css file].css' type='text/css' rel='stylesheet' media='print'/>
```

And that's it! Now, when your users print your pages (hopefully they go green and won't print it), they can get direct access to the page by scanning the QR code instead of having to worry about typing in the URL, if it is even on the page

What to do with Federal Compliance/Labor Law Regulation Letters

Shadow Development — 2011-10-25T05:25:18+05:00

By: Kyle Perkins

You may have received a letter that looks like the one presented to the left. It looks like something that is from the Federal level discussing something super-important.

In reality, it's spam. Throw it in the nearest ~~trash can~~ recycle bin.

This is from a company in California that makes a living on "spoofing" Federal Regulation letters and demanding you pay $10-$100 for a compliance poster. In short: this poster puts all of the state-regulated DOL and OSHA posters in one location. Whoopie.

Yes, it may be true that a business may get fined if these posters aren't present, but the only fine that a business should receive is a notification saying to get the posters up.

One major key to see if this is really a state-regulated document, look at the "From" address in the top left corner of the envelope. This "spoofed" letter is from Ontario, California, not a state capital (the one for North Carolina is Raleigh).

I only know of North Carolina right now, but most states should allow you to get free copies of these posters from their Department of Labor websites (NC's is nclabor.com/posters/posters.htm). Just google "[your state] Labor Law Posters" and it should pull up the location you can order the poster from. If you can't find it, google their number and give them a call.

So when you get this letter, throw it in the recycle bin and don't get fooled by this deception.

Who Cares What Your Weakness Is?

Shadow Development — 2011-10-25T04:47:59+05:00

By: Kyle Perkins

"What is your greatest weakness?" I'm sure this question has come across during one or more interviews when applying for a job.

The question I have is: who cares?

A very interesting moment occurred during a meeting I had earlier today. During a meeting with a potential employee, various questions were discussed that dealt with her skills, experiences, and so on. Out of the blue, she said "My greatest strength is...." and continued. I was waiting for her to continue the discussion and say "My greatest weakness is...." and unload that with me. My Boss Mentality said "Ask the question if she doesn't say it." All of my urges said to ask that question based on previous interviews and experiences.

My expectations were that this meeting was supposed to be 30 minutes long.

2.5 hours later, numerous stories were exchanged, laughter was shared, tutorials were...."tutored", and so on. Throughout all of the discussion, she never said what her weakness was.

In the back of my mind, a memory came from a long-lost lesson I received during my Taekwondo Instructor training and/or college management courses. I won't go into details about this, but the memory says "Ask what their greatest strength is, and focus on that. Who cares what their greatest weakness is?"

To quote the Harvard Business Review from an article earlier today:

[...] A string of professional managers had led the company straight off the edge of that cliff. The fall had almost killed the company. It had 90 days working capital on hand when he took over - in other words, Apple was only three months away from bankruptcy.

When he returned, Jobs completely upended the company. There were thousands of layoffs. Scores of products were killed stone dead. He knew the company had to make money to stay alive, but he transitioned the focus of Apple away from profits. Profit was viewed as necessary, but not sufficient, to justify everything Apple did. That attitude resulted in a company that looks entirely different to almost any other modern Fortune 500 company. One striking example: there's only one person Apple with responsibility for a profit and loss. The CFO. It's almost the opposite of what is taught in business school. An executive who worked at both Apple and Microsoft described the differences this way: "Microsoft tries to find pockets of unrealized revenue and then figures out what to make. Apple is just the opposite: It thinks of great products, then sells them. Prototypes and demos always come before spreadsheets."

If your greatest weakness was dealing with mice, I wouldn't bring in a box of mice into work the next day. If your greatest strength is aerodynamic propulsion systems, you shouldn't be stuck building tables.

Same goes for companies; if your company is great at building custom chairs, don't try to build a plasma TV - it's a weakness of your company, but you don't focus on it. You focus on the things that matter.

Focus on your strength(s) and throw your weaknesses away at the door. This may be a purely optimistic view, but sometimes that is what it takes to get through rough times.

And yes, that is me in the photo during my 2nd Degree Black Belt testing.

New Client: Saki Sushi!

Shadow Development — 2011-10-17T23:56:25+05:00

We are proud to welcome our newest client: Saki Sushi in Waynesville, NC! Saki Sushi is opening a new restaurant in Waynesville and needed a new web presence to represent their excellent service when their restaurant opens in the next few weeks!

We are excited to welcome Saki Sushi to our family and can't wait to get started on their site, sakisushi.net!

Shadow Dev Celebrates 6 Years!

Shadow Development — 2011-10-15T17:00:00+05:00

Wow, has it really been 6 years already? It feels just like yesterday that Shadow Dev was just an idea in a head.

A lot has happened in the past 6 years, but let's take a moment to reminisce about the past year. We have:

hired 3 new employees: Developer KC Weeks, Sales Rep Tom Hughes, and Developer Kat Tanner

with the help of Dr. Lockwood, we are revising our financials and accounting books to become more optimized

launched our Site Analyzer Service

hosted our first seminars!

signed on new clients, like Cullowhee Mountain Arts, Inc, Innocent Footprints, Lu's Specialties Foods, New Era Photography and Studios, and many more!
started a new service: Receipt Rescue

Joined the NFIB

Created our first URL Shortner: shadowdev.co

Signed on to CloudFlare's proxy service, which we have been very happy with

Now accept credit card payments via PayPal

Published many informational articles covering topics like DNS, Nameservers, Proxys, and more

Signed on a new advisor: Hugh Simpson

Got our vanity Facebook URL: facebook.com/ShadowDevelopment

Upgraded our server from the 5-year old clunk to a new speedy, up-to-date server

received our offical Shadow Dev Polo's to improve our company's image

...and many more fun things that couldn't fit on this list!

We'd like to thank everybody who has helped us get to where we are today. Without you, we wouldn't be here and would probably still just be an idea.

Ok....we will shut up and enjoy some cake now!

What to do with a Domain Name Expiration Notice

Shadow Development — 2011-09-29T19:32:43+05:00

By: Kyle Perkins

About 4 months or so before a registered domain is about to expire, you may receive something in the mail from the Domain Registry of America saying your domain is about to expire, and, chances are, it looks something like the form to the left.

This isn't a bad thing. Yes, it is a friendly reminder saying that your domain is due to expire in the upcoming months, and things look okay until you look at the prices.

These prices are for renewing your domain for 1, 2, and 5 years - and only if you switch your domain registration company to the Domain Registry of America (DRoA). Chances are, you ordered your domain through a trusted domain registrar (such as GoDaddy) for a much lower price than what the DRoA is offering.

Our advice: ignore this form and stick with the company of your choice. This "informational form" is a sales attempt to get you to switch to the DRoA. Yes, they may be decorated with the American Flag and may look trustworthy, but believe us: don't go with them.

In short, the DRoA is a scam. In reality, domains are the same no matter where you go, so why pay 2-3x the price for the exact same thing you can get somewhere else?

The offical office of the DRoA is located in Buffalo, NY, and they rate a C- with the BBB for over 250 complaints in the past 3 years [source: BBB.org]. In addition, they are not BBB Certified, which most trustworthy businesses are (including ours). The DRoA also operates under the aliases of DROA and Domain Registry of Canada.

In closing, if you receive this letter in the mail, send it to your friendly recycling bin to give the sacrified tree another chance to be something else.

Shadow Dev now NFIB Member

Shadow Development — 2011-09-28T21:24:55+05:00

As of Tuesday, September 27th, 2011, Shadow Development is now an official member of the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB). NFIB is a Non-Profit organization that helps with voicing small businesses in Big Government, and helps fight to better the laws and governing rights to help small businesses operate better in the USA.

From NFIB.com:

The National Federation of Independent Business is the leading small business association representing small and independent businesses. A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 1943, NFIB represents the consensus views of its members in Washington and all 50 state capitals.

NFIB's mission is to promote and protect the right of our members to own, operate and grow their businesses. NFIB also gives its members a power in the marketplace. By pooling the purchasing power of its members, the National Federation of Independent Business gives members access to many business products and services at discounted costs. NFIB also provides timely information designed to help small businesses succeed.

Unexpected Outage

Shadow Development — 2011-09-09T22:07:55+05:00

We regretfully report that due to an unforeseen incident by our primary hosting company, our main operating server was down since 12:10pm. Since we do not have an explaniation of this unexpected outage, we want to assure our customers and surfers that the operations should resume at the time of this posting. Once we have some more details on why this outage occured, we will post them here.

Update: 2011-09-09 12:40PM: We weren't able to get a very detailed answer from the hosting company, and all we know is there was an issue with their primary management server. Here is the update from them:

Servers down at datacenter
Posted by WSSSupport on September 9, 2011 :: 10:38 am in Uncategorized

Admin are bringing up the servers now and they will be going through a file system check. Sorry for this inconvenience.

Thank you...
Websitesource.com
Tech Staff

And here is our conversation with Tech Support:

Diana: Hello, My name is Diana.
Shadow Development: Hello. I tried to access my VPS earlier, and the WSS CP said the system was unavailable (server has been down since 12:10pm). When I checked about 10 minutes ago, the VPS CP said it was booting. As of now, it is still booting. Any idea of the reason for this unexpected outage and/or the reason for the super-long wait on the boot?
Diana: should be back within 15min or so
Diana: the server brings up each vps separately
Diana: I can check yours
Shadow Development: thank you
Diana: ok, yours is in checkdisk mode
Diana: and sys admins at data center are checking each server as it comes up
Diana: but all should be back within 30 min or we will post on
Diana: http://wssnews.net
Diana: thanks for contacting us

An outage for this long is completely unacceptable, and we deeply apologize for any delay, confusion, or frustration this has caused. If you would like to contact us about this incident, please give us a call at (800) 970-1058, (828) 283-0319, or email us at info@shadowdev.com.

Update: 2011-09-09 12:52PM: In regards to our previous conversation with Tech Support, our VPS was stuck in a "Booting" state since 12:30pm.

Shadow Development: Hello. Since the outage from 12:10, my VPS is still in "booting" stage for the past 20 minutes. Is it stuck?
You are now chatting with Juan A..
Juan A.: Admin are keeping an eye on the servers. Because of the way it went down, it is going thru file system check
Shadow Development: How long until it is back online? This downtime is too long
Juan A.: It may take a little longer, may be another 20 minutes
Shadow Development: Can our account get a credit for this unexpected long downtime?
Juan A.: You will have to contact billing about that sir
Juan A.: I can't give any credit
Shadow Development: I will contact billing. thank you
Juan A.: Sorry for this inconvenience sir

We sent a request to Billing at 12:56PM to see if we could get some credit on our account to pass through to our customers. We are still waiting on a response.

Shadow Dev Welcomes New Staff Member: Kat Tanner

Shadow Development — 2011-09-06T01:05:34+05:00

Our family is always growing, and today, we can officially say that we have a new staff member. Please help us welcome Kat Tanner to the Shadow Dev family.

Kat will be working as a Web Developer for new and current Shadow Development customers, and our high hopes go to Kat as she joins our expert staff!

Here's a little more info on Kat :

Kat originally worked in the Veterinary field for many years and did some minor web work on the side. After becoming dissatisfied with her previous job, Kat came to Shadow Development to look for new and exciting opportunities. She's willing to learn the cutting-edge technologies that make the web work, and is excited to help our our customers.

Client Waynesville Haywood Concerned Citizens' site goes Live!

Shadow Development — 2011-08-25T01:00:08+05:00

We are proud to announce that our client, Waynesville Haywood Concerned Citizens, had their site go live earlier today at whcc-pac.org!

Our initial discussions started with WHCC early in June, and through informative client meetings, design discussions, and information processing, their site is finally live!

WHCC is a Political Action Committee set on changing the inefficient methods in Haywood County.

HOWTO: Email Bounces, Hacks, and Other Issues

Shadow Development — 2011-08-19T19:00:00+05:00

Ever open your email one morning and find a bunch of emails that are from a "Mailer-Daemon" that you didn't send, a bunch of your contacts are asking why you sent them ads for Viagra, or from an unknown address with a fairly large attachment?

This is a very common issue known as "Email Spoofing", and it is becoming one of the most annoying issues on the Internet. There are a few ways to deal with it; some good, some bad. Not going into any fine technical details, we'll discuss what an example "Email Spoof" looks like, some of the top methods to deal with this issue, and how to hopefully prevent it in the future (you'll understand the "hopefully" part at the end).

The Some-what Good News

Step 1: Most of the time, an "Email Spoof" does NOT mean that someone hacked into your computer, logged in as your account, and sent emails from your email. In most cases, your computer's security isn't at risk. However, to safeguard against any other issues, you may want to change your email account password just to be on the safe side.

However, if you receive an email from an unknown address (or even your own) with an odd attachment (usually *.zip or *.exe) DO NOT OPEN IT!! This is one of the most popular methods that hackers use to get you to install a virus on your own computer. Most email systems have a scanning procedure for these types of items and usually remove them or notify you about them. If not (or if one slips through), be aware of the dangers. (This ties in to our other article about the dangers of Web-based ads - coming soon).

The Some-what Bad News

This does mean that someone is sending email to random people (or your contacts) by modifying the "From:" field in the email. The bad part is that this is a fairly easy thing to do. For example, to do this in PHP (which is the primary language we use at Shadow Dev), all we have to do is say <?php $headers="From: 'John Doe' <johndoe@email.com>"; ?> and send the email. So, for most hackers (and "script kiddies" -a derogatory term used to describe those who use scripts or programs developed by others to attack computer systems and networks and deface websites), this process is easy and quick.

We would like to assure our readers that we at Shadow Dev never send out Spam-related emails from our servers.

Step 2: If you are want to be super-secure about spam-related email being sent with your address (not from your address), you can delete your email account, create a new one, and notify everyone about your new address and to not open anything from your old address. This is a bit drastic for most, but can be a safe procedure if you are unsure about your account security.

Last Step: Aside from changing your password, changing accounts, increasing your security on your computer/network via router, firewall, virus scanner, etc, there really isn't much that can be done from your end (key reference from Leo Notenboom). This issue is like squishing annoying bugs: you squish one, and more come. You get rid of the nest, and another comes around.

Most countries have laws about Spam and the do's-and-don'ts of how to send appropriate mass emailings (like newsletters, which should abide by the CANSPAM Act of 2009). Some countries even enforce jail time with some Spammers. However, just like squishing bugs, more will come around. And with the advancement and complexity of web-based languages arriving in today's world, spamming may get easier with time.

HOWTO: DNS 101

Shadow Development — 2011-08-17T19:00:00+05:00

DNS stands for "Domain Name System". Users on the internet use DNS Services without even knowing it. Google defines the DNS as "[...] the network service that translates a website's name to its Internet address."

In simple terms, DNS is like the Post office: it is the location where a sender (You) can send information to a specific address (URL), the Post Office receives it and delivers it to the proper address (DNS), and the Receiver receives the information and acts accordingly (Web Server).

Here's an example:

You type in google.com

Your browser goes to the closest DNS servers and pulls up something similar to 74.125.67.106 (this is known as an IP address - the "mailing address" of a Google.com server)

After your browser knows where to look for google.com, it goes to the IP address and requests information on the page

The Google.com server responds with the standard search page and returns it to your browser.

There! You used a DNS service and you didn't even know it!

Most DNS records sync worldwide and are updated on a 24-hour basis. For example: if a major website has been transfered to a new server, then the nameservers need to be updated. Until the nameservers are updated and synced, the Internet may point to the old servers. Once the sync has been completed, the Internet should point to the new server and will should the new website.

What does a DNS look like?

It's a little hard to describe what a DNS can look like, since it is usually software inside of a computer, but we can show you what a DNS address looks like, which should be more helpful.

DNS Addresses usually look like this:

NS10.WEBSITESOURCE.COM

NS11.WEBSITESOURCE.COM

NS1.MDNSSERVICE.COM

NS2.MDNSSERVICE.COM

NS.RACKSPACE.COM

DNS Addresses usually start with "NS", usually have a number, then the main DNS company's domain. However, sometimes a proxy is in place, which the DNS servers will point to a Proxy server instead of the direct server. In this case, a proxy's DNS can look like this:

iris.ns.cloudflare.com

pete.ns.cloudflare.com

The above examples are our NS records pointing to our CloudFlare Proxy servers.

In the above example, there are unique names before the "NS" portion, but the rule is the same. This company chose to use an additional subdomain level instead of just "NS#.SITE.COM", which is perfectly acceptable.

DNS Process

Post Office Process

Keep in mind that if there is a Proxy in place, the DNS servers should point to the Proxy instead of the direct web server to enable the Proxy's services (such as enhanced security from attackers).

There are lots of other finer details on DNS routing, but this article is designed to be a "Beginners Course" for understanding DNS systems.

HOWTO: Proxy Servers 101

Shadow Development — 2011-08-15T19:00:00+05:00

Some people may be wondering "What is a Proxy?". If you are unfamiliar with voting regulations or network configurations, the term "Proxy" may be odd to you. This article hopes to clear up some of the bigger understandings of what a Proxy is (as far as websites are concerned), and what it does.

Direct Connection

This is the most common type of Web Server connections: The Web Server is connected directly to the internet. Basic. Simple. Works most of the time. In most cases, this is all that is needed for a website to run. But, if there is ever an error with the web server (such as an attack, mis-configuration of a service, too many requests, etc), the web server (and website) can go down.

Server Down?

If this happens, then there is no backup service in place for server failures. If someone were to attempt to load this website, they would get the error "This Website cannot be found." Just imagine seeing that with Google or Facebook (or your Bank's website). This is very bad. All of the services, pages, databases, scripts, images, etc, that are on this server are unavailable (also known as a "404 Error")

Proxy Benefit: Backup Coverage

When a Proxy is in place, it establishes a connection between the Internet and the Web server. So, in case the web server is down, a Proxy backup service can kick in and provide a semi-up-to-date cache of the website, more accurate than Google's caching service. Proxy's usually work with a web server to provide a more up-to-date resource for downtime and also faster loading and transfering time between the Internet surfer (you) and the web server. Proxy caching can decrease page, script, and even image loading time with advanced caching services.

Proxy Benefit: Enhanced Security

In addition, a Proxy can also deflect spam and bot attacks. This increased security can help with server operations and help reduce the amount of downtime on a webserver.

Not to offer a shameless plug, but we at Shadow Development use a Proxy service for most of our websites: CloudFlare.com. This Proxy service is free and information is relayed on a 24-hour delay. However, our uptime status has been 99.9%+ and the amount of attacks on our server have drastically been reduced to almost nothing.

Shadow Dev has New URL Shortener

Shadow Development — 2011-08-13T02:00:58+05:00

Through some round-about ways, we now have our own unique URL shortner. We share links a lot in our blog posts, and to make things easier on the eyes, we have registered and created shadowdev.co - our own method to shorten URL's. Right now, the limitation is on Shadow Dev-related materials, but we may open it up to our customers and for public use - it depends on how much usefulness comes out of it.

An example of a shortened link: http://shadowdev.co/vs567nm
(will take you to facebook.com )

While we are always exploring the forefronts of web development and the internet age, there may be questions and concerns. We welcome any through our standard email address (info@shadowdev.com), and you may also call us at 800-970-1058 or 828-283-0319.

Minor Server Outage

Shadow Development — 2011-08-05T11:39:16+05:00

Between 1:03 and 1:16AM this morning, our main operations server was down for an unknown reason. We are looking into the cause of this downtime, and all services that were being processed at that time were completed at the moment of uptime.

Although we are unsure of the cause of the downtime, we are looking into it and will find a way to keep this from happening again.

We do regret that this downtime was longer than standard (<1 minute) and will inform everyone once a full security diagnostic has been performed about the how and why this downtime occurred. We would like to assure all readers that our 99.9% uptime guarantee is still being kept as per our promise to our customers. You can view our uptime report at shadowdev.com/uptime, which is provided by a Pingdom.com, a 3rd party monitoring service.

While certain functions of our websites may have been inaccessible, most users could access a cached version of our website via CloudFlare.com, our Proxy Service.

If you have any questions, please call us at 800-970-1058, 828-283-0319, or email us at info@shadowdev.com. All questions, concerns, and feedback are welcome.

Shadow Dev Welcomes New Staff Member: Dr. Thomas Hughes

Shadow Development — 2011-07-14T01:58:22+05:00

Our family is always growing, and today, we can officially say that we have a new staff member. Please help us welcome Dr. Thomas Hughes to the Shadow Dev family.

Dr. Hughes will be working Sales and Customer Service for new and current Shadow Development customers, and our high hopes go to Dr. Hughes as he joins our expert staff!

Here's a little more info on Dr. Hughes:

Dr. Thomas Jefferson Hughes comes to Shadow Development after his retirement from the Academic Community where he served as a Professor of English, Psychology, and Asian Studies for over thirty years. As a former classroom teacher what he brings to Shadow Development is a keen awareness of the written word, effective communication, and an artistic eye.

Shadow Dev Welcomes New Staff Member: KC Weeks

Shadow Development — 2011-07-06T00:39:39+05:00

Our family is always growing, and today, we can officially say that we have a new staff member. Please help us welcome Kenneth "K.C." Weeks to the Shadow Dev family.

K.C. will be working as a Setup Developer and Assistant Designer for the Shadow Dev team, and our high hopes go to K.C. as he joins our expert staff!

Here's a little more info on K.C.:

I was born and raised in Illinois. In 1997, I moved to North Carolina and began a career working in zoos. In 2000, I married the most wonderful woman in the world and today we have two incredible boys. In 2009 I had an epiphany. Granted, this epiphany was brought on by a horrible, two donkey accident and two weeks off from work to rest a severely sprained shoulder. I realized that I was not bullet proof and that I was going to need something to fall back on if I could not do the zoo thing anymore. I quizzed my friends and family as to what I should do and the same answer kept coming up; Digital Media. Graphic design, programming, and video games, oh my! So, in 2010, I went back to school. I had a little taste of digital media and I wanted more. In my spare time I enjoy playing and designing video games, writing, reading, and spending time with my family.

My skill set includes HTML, CSS, PHP, Photoshop, Flash, Action Script 3.0, and a little bit of everything else.

New Client: Waynesville Haywood Concerned Citizens

Shadow Development — 2011-07-02T00:00:00+05:00

We are proud to welcome our newest client: Waynesville Haywood Concerned Citizens, in Waynesville, NC! Waynesville Haywood Concerned Citizens bring the political newsfront to the citizens of Haywood County.

We are excited to welcome Waynesville Haywood Concerned Citizens, to our family and can't wait to get started on their site, whcc-pac.org!

Our Apologies

Shadow Development — 2011-06-21T01:29:32+05:00

Over the past week, a few clients (both active and potential) may have had some trouble contacting us or getting speedy responses as expected. Our company has recently gone through a re-construction, both interally and externally, which resulted in delayed responses and actions taken. For this, we deeply apologize.

In addition, our development team was a little overwhelmed with the amount of work that has been assigned for last week. With time-management matters aside, our developers' schedules have freed up a bit and are back on course.

It has always been our expectation to provide simple and fast customer service, whether it is getting a quote, making a change on a site, or creating a service. Over the past week, our high-held expectation was lagging. To correct this non-excuse issue, we are ramping up our customer service response expectations to make sure that all resonable requests are performed within a timely matter. Custom applications will still be based on their complexity, but replies and simple tasks will be completed in a speedy manner.

All site-related technological items were and are still active, and customers can check on the status of the server at shadowdev.com/uptime to be assured of our 99.9% uptime guarantee.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at (828) 283-0319, (800) 970-1058, or at info@shadowdev.com. We assure you that your question will be answered in a speedy manner.

New Client: New Era Photography and Studios, LLC

Shadow Development — 2011-06-01T22:37:00+05:00

We are proud to welcome our newest client: New Era Photography and Studios, LLC, in Raleigh, NC! New Era Photography and Studios offers that "professional touch" for photographs for your special event!

We are excited to welcome New Era Photography and Studios, LLC, to our family and can't wait to get started on their site, funtophoto.com

1 Month of CloudFlare Report

Shadow Development — 2011-05-18T02:49:21+05:00

Over the past month, we have been using the services of CloudFlare, a cloud-based DNS Proxy system used to help accelerate websites and increase security. During that time, we have said numerous compliments about how our site performance has increase dramatically. As promised from our previous blog posting, we are reporting on our 1 month usage of CloudFlare.

Our old nameservers ahd hosting servers that we used from June '06 to November '10 had an uptime of 99.9% and a response time of 450ms. Once we made a switch to an upgraded server for an increased storage capacity, updated operating system, and increased security, our expectation was to keep our uptime report around the 99% with the lowered response rate. After the server upgrade, our uptime reduced to around 70% and our response rates increased to 1000-2200ms (not good). We started using CloudFlare on April 11th, and have been happy ever since.

Aside from the 4/20 outage, our overall uptime has increased from 69-93% (December '10 - April '11) to 99.9% (May '11 - view our uptime report), and our average response time has decreased from 2262ms to 677ms (a 71% decrease). Here is our uptime report (from Pingdom.com) from April 12 - yesterday (May 16):

And our response time report:

One major improvement came just after the April 20th outage when we made some adjustments to our main server load files which reduced our server response time from 3000+ms to around 700ms (this means faster loading).

Overall, our experience with CloudFlare has been nothing but good. Would we recommend CloudFlare to anybody? Sure! Go Signup for an account today, spend 5 minutes having CloudFlare servers scan the DNS records, and your sites should be improved within 24 hours.

New Shadow Dev T-Shirts!

Shadow Development — 2011-05-07T01:34:53+05:00

It's always nice when we receive new things. Today's new thing is our new Shadow Dev T-shirts! Inspired by CloudFlare, we are willing to give these shirts to lucky people to show their love for us! Showing off our T-shirt is none other than our President, Kyle Perkins.
src='shadowdev.com/img/newshirt_front.jpg' alt='New Shirt: Front' style='float: left'/>

Contact Us, Facebook Us, Follow Us, give us a call at (800) 970-1058, or stop on by and ask how to get your own shirt today!

Lower Rates = Faster Info

Shadow Development — 2011-05-04T05:27:44+05:00

Thanks to some in-depth analytics studies and some MySQL query improvements, we have been able to reduce our response rate 78.5%! In simple terms, "response time" means how long it takes for the server to generate a page and send it to the user (you). In today's world, the faster something can be requested and received, the better. Lower response times means youget the information quicker (like getting a package in about 24 hours instead of a week).

This is only a portion of the improvements that we are making around the Shadow Dev site. By using the combined efforts of CloudFlare.com, Pingdom.com, Google Analytics, web server load reduction, code optimization, centralized functions, and studies done with NoSQL (via Netflix - slides here), we've reduced the server response time from an average (past 30 days) of 3315ms to 713ms (a 2601ms reduction of 78.5%). Here's a chart (via Pingdom) of the response time over the past 30 days:

We will keep working on improving server response time along with increasing site uptime and decreasing dowmtime. Our best response time over the past 5 years has been around 300ms.

Along with 99.9% Uptime, we should be able to offer a <500ms response time as well pretty soon for our customers!

Side Note: Ironically, we made many of these adjustments after our server outage on 4/20. To our surprise, they worked so well, we kept almost all of the changes.

Uptime Improvement

Shadow Development — 2011-04-23T05:01:40+05:00

We are always working on ways to help improve client sites, and our latest innovation technique deals with one of the biggest issues of all: Uptime. We are testing our latest features with a service called CloudFlare which is taking over our DNS records for the main company site (so we can figure out any issues before releasing to our clients). This testing will continue for 1 month so we can see how the performance has either increased or decreased. So far, our results with CloudFlare have exceed our expectations from our old DNS manager. Here are some reports showing how proud we are (generated from Pingdom.com, an uptime server status software):

Uptime

Downtime

Uptime Report

Aside from the small outage on the 20th (see more details on our President's Blog), our results with CloudFlare have been great! As of now, we are only running the CloudFlare service on our company site, and we should be able to offer a "99% Uptime Guarantee" to clients in the near future.

Server Security Report

Shadow Development — 2011-04-21T02:39:00+05:00

Recently, our main web server for shadowdev.com had a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, which made the main website go offline for a few hours. This had a ripple effect across many client websites, as they reference some static files from our main site. This may have resulted in some client sites being slow to load or down completely. Here is the report from earlier today:

Based on an in-depth security analysis, we had a few attempts trying to access our Shell (the command-line interface we use to communicate with the server) from Hong Kong, Texas, California, Thailand, and the latest (probably the main cause) from Jersey. Our original assumption was the DNS service, as we were trying a new service. That was not the cause, however.

We have implemented numerous new security measures to block further attempts and attacks, along with security checks from all of our 3rd party vendors. Hopefully, this should be the only attack that we experience.

We would like to apologize to anybody who experienced a service outage due to this attack. If you have any questions, please email us at info@shadowdev.com or give us a call at 800-970-1058.

Edit (April 25, 2011): Along with the massive Amazon AWS/EC2 network going down and numerous other attacks last week, it seemed like a big week for network attacks. Our server may have been caught up in the onslaught of larger networks.

Edit (July 5, 2011): Apparently, there was a security report written by CloudFlare on April 11, and it confirms a DNS attack on their San Jose datacenter:

Last night around 8:00pm PDT a large denial of service attack was launched against a CloudFlare customer. Unlike most DDoS attacks we see, this one targeted the DNS infrastructure and used recursive DNS providers to amplify the attack. The attack appears to be largely emanating from China and the site being attacked is Chinese in origin. We isolated the attack to one data center (San Jose). While the attack affected the western United States and parts of Asia, the rest of the world's traffic has been unaffected.

In San Jose, we have rate limited the number of DNS requests based on the requesting IP address. This is a somewhat crude solution which, unfortunately, blocks some legitimate DNS requests. To counteract this, we have increased the TTLs on domains that are not under attack so legitimate requests will get cached by upstream providers. This means that as soon as one DNS request is resolved for a legitimate domain, it should remain in the upstream provider's cache until after the attack is under control.

We are also working with the registrar of the domain under attack to fail it off of CloudFlare. Unfortunately, unlike most attacks, since traffic is pointed at CloudFlare via the upstream registrar, we cannot simply fail this type of an attack off our network without the cooperation of the registrar or the client. We have also arranged a conference call with the owner of the domain and a Chinese translator in order to get the domain moved off our system. We have contacted many of the largest recursive DNS providers to have them block requests to this domain and then whitelist their IPs so their legitimate requests are allowed through. Our team is also driving additional hardware we had been testing in our office to San Jose to help offset the load caused by the attack. We are also redistributing the DNS clusters to a broader range of IP addresses so we can rate limit the affected name server domains without affecting as many users. These changes will come online within the next hour.

The whole team has been working non-stop since the attack began last night to mitigate it. While we have been able to isolate the attack to only a subset of users, the fact that it is causing any spillover effects is unacceptable. We will get this under control and then make changes to our DNS deployment in order to ensure this kind of attack does not cause harm like this in the future.

In the meantime, if you are experiencing DNS problems and you need to switch your name servers away from CloudFlare you can do sure assured that we will keep your settings. Through your DNS Settings page you can export your Zone file in a format that can be uploaded to any other DNS provider. Your account at CloudFlare will remain intact and we can help you reenable it when this problem has subsided.

Source: CloudFlare Support

Happy Client: Lu's Specialties Foods has New T-Shirts

Shadow Development — 2011-04-14T22:29:49+05:00
Last week, Lu's Specialties Foods ordered T-shirts through our Marketing Program for their Open House on Friday, April 15th. The owner of Lu's Specialties Foods wanted a quick professional appearance for her staff during the Open House to allow exposure for their logo and to seem like a more professional team.

We are proud to say that the T-shirts arrived on Tuesday (April 12th), and Lu's Specialties Foods is happy to have them.

As proud supporters, wanted to show off our first T-shirt order, and the high quality that was put in to making them.

Lu's Specialties Foods signed a contract with us last month, and their site is almost ready at lusspecialties.com, and more information can be found on Lu's Specialties Foods and their Open House this Friday on their facebook page.

How To: Changing Nameservers on a GoDaddy Account

Shadow Development — 2011-04-14T03:08:54+05:00
Quite a few clients of ours purchase a domain before coming to us, and when they do, they usually go through GoDaddy. While this isn't a problem, we do ask our clients to update their nameservers so their domain can point to our hosting servers. For most web techies, this is an easy 30-second task. For non-web techies, it's like trying to explain how to do heart surgery - not an easy task.

As mentioned in our Understanding Nameservers article, a Nameserver is like a traffic officer; it directs your users to the correct hosting server (like directing you to the correct house). Same concept, but digital.

For our current and future clients, along with anybody else that can use this information, we have created a quick 2-minute visual guide tutorial (aka: a "video") to guide users on how to update their nameservers. While this video does focus on GoDaddy account holders only, we will try to provide guides for other companies in the future.

Just a quick note: as with all nameservers, all changes can take up to 48 hours to reflect globally. You may be able to see the change within an hour or so, but the people across the world will still see the old location until the nameservers sync globally.

Here's the video - enjoy!

Now Offering Credit Card Payments

Shadow Development — 2011-04-08T19:00:00+05:00

With the decline of paper currency, it is best for businesses to have some form of payment acceptace with plastic rectangles, also knows as Credit Cards. For years, Shadow Development has only had cash and check transactions. This just changed.

At least, temporarily. Online Credit Card processing will be implemented in three phases.

Phase 1 (now!): Clients can pay invoices online at shadowdev.com/payment and payments are processed instantanously, thanks to an integration with PayPal online transaction processor. Clients can use any major card, including American Express, Visa, Discover, MasterCard, or can pay directly with PayPal. Using this system, Clients type in their Invoice Number, Amount to Pay, and billing information, and payments are processed with just a few clicks.

Phase 2 (beta design): A new Client management system is being developed at my.shadowdev.com where clients can login and manage their account information with Shadow Development, manage/pay invoices, view outstanding balances, check the status of maintenance requests, and more. This new Client management system will be implemented when the new Shadow Dev Beta design is released.

Phase 3 (TBD): As Shadow Development graduates from PayPal to a more sophisticated credit processing platform, Clients will be able to make easier payments, recurring payments, receive easier discounts, and more! This phase is a ways off, but we will keep everybody informed on the progress of these phases.

10 SEO Tips for Anybody

Shadow Development — 2011-04-06T19:00:00+05:00
By Kyle Perkins

Search Engine Optimization (aka: SEO) is a very common term tossed around today, especially in the web development world. What exactly is SEO? To put it as simply as possible, it's a large combination of techniques, structures, algorithym setups, content placements, and other website tactics that get your website listed higher in search results. We'll be covering the top 10 SEO Tips for anybody to implement in this article, but keep in mind: the tips below are only the tip of the iceberg (literally)! There are hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of other SEO improvement tips out there that can help improve a site's ranking, but we want to offer a general overview to get you started on the right track.

Probably the most important tip of all: Fresh Updates! Just like any fruit, a website with old content will go stale (or get rotten) and a Search Engine will throw it to the bottom of search results (just like throwing out a bad piece of fruit). Having Fresh Updates, either on a blog, articles, "About Us" updates, or anything else, will let the Search Engines know "Hey! I'm still alive!" and will keep you in relevant search results.

No Splash Pages: Just like an annoying advertisement, most people don't like to view a series of photos, videos, or flashy text before they get to their relevant content. 99% of the time, they're looking for the "Skip Intro" or Close button to get rid of that as fast as possible. These are called Splash Pages, and they're just as annoying as ads. Aside from being annoying, Search Engines also rank sites with Splash Pages lower than other sites, because the first page that loads on a site (often called the index page) doesn't have any relevant information, just flashy photos and videos, and a "Skip Intro" button.

No Fancy Effects: If you've seen any sites developed in the 90's era, you may have seen some fancy effects like mouse trails, page transistions, bubbles or snowflakes, or even animated clocks. These may have been "super cool" back in the 90's but they are just as annoying as the ads of today (and they act as a sign of an amatuer). During these modern times, jQuery effects and CSS3 effects are okay, but must be limited. Why bring this up? Search Engines don't see any fancy effects, like mouse trails, page transistions, spinning text, or automated pages. All Search Engines see are plain post-generated text, and anything that isn't text is ignored (aside from image-specific searches and video-specific searches). In addition, if your site is loaded down with *.gif's (animated or not), page rank will be lowered as well.

No Flash: Similiar to Splash Pages, Search Engines cannot see Flash as well. Most Flash applications are developed to act as interactive, flashy, and show-y to visitors. While that may be true, Search Engines can't search, or cache, Flash content, so therefore it doesn't do any good for SEO.

No Audio: As with the Fancy Effects, having music play in the background upon loading a page, or sound effects on clicking links can get very annoying, especially when the speakers are up at full volume and the last thing someone wants to hear is an unexpected song blasting at the visitor without any sound controls. The same goes for video: unless a person requests the specific video (like on YouTube), don't have videos automatically start for the same reason. Why bring this up? Search Engines don't have ears, so they can't hear the audio or see the video (all they see is a series of 1's and 0's, called Binary), so the audio and video can't be cached or searched.

Relevant Title Tag: You may not pay much attention to it, but the Title tag appears at the top of your browser and is (hopefully) relevant to the content of the page. When Search Engines show pages, the first item they look for and show is the Title tag of the page (in Google, this is the big blue line that appears when you search for terms). Most people and Search Engines look at Title tags first before looking at the description of a page, to determine if it's relevant. If your title tag says "Home" or "(untitled)" or "My page", its not really relevant, so both Search Engines and people can't determine what the page is about.

Relevant Description: This may be hard for some people, but it is best to keep description tags relevant to each page and to 120 characters or less. This is the short description under the Title tag on Search Engine results, and people and Search Engines see this after they search the Title tag. Having the same description on every page actually lowers a page's ranking because the Search Engine thinks that every page is the same.

Relevant Keywords: This may seem like a no-brainer, but we recommend 10-12 relevant keywords based on the generic concepts of the website. Search Engines don't look at listed keywords anymore since a lot of people used to do "keyword stuffing" where countless keywords would be listed on a page either in a super-tiny font or in the same color as the background, to appear invisible. However, if the keyword-to-content ratio (that is, the amount of keywords that match up to the relevant content on the site) is fairly high, it does increase a pagerank score.

Professional Email: Some people have them, some people dont, but if the email listed on your site is hotbooty85@hotmail.com, then the page rank will be lowered because the Search Engine thinks that the site isn't serious enough to be ranked high. However, if the email listed is questions@mydomain.com, Search Engines see a professional email address and raise the page rank up (maybe a a fraction of a point, but it could be the difference between #1 and #10 spot on search results).

Get .gov and .edu Linkbacks: This may be the hardest of all, but if you can get your site listed on Government or Educational websites, Search Engines see that as a sign of professionalism and raise the page rank of the site up a bunch of points. These may not be easy to get listed on, but certainly worth the hardship.

Once these tips are implemented, it can take an hour to 3 months for different Search Engines to rate sites and adjust page ranks accordingly.

To learn more SEO tips and tricks, make sure to register for our free SEO Seminar "Are You Optimized? Get Noticed with Search Engine Optimization" at shadowdev.com/seminars that covers Front End (display) and Back End (operations) tips, along with a a large toolbox of Free Services you can use to help optimize your site and get a higher ranking on Search Engines.

Getting the Right Directions: Understanding Nameservers

Shadow Development — 2011-04-04T19:06:40+05:00
By: Kyle Perkins

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When you hear the term Nameserver, I bet an image of a server with a nametag is probably the first thing that you think of (either that, or a a Server that serves Names on a platter). When most people hear the term Nameserver, the usual response is "Name-what?", "Huh?", or the common deer-in-the-headlights-look. For those of you who do any of the above, this informational article is for you!

What is a Nameserver? In geek-speak, a name server (also spelled nameserver) "consists of a program or computer server that implements a name-service protocol. It maps a human-recognizable identifier to a system-internal, often numeric, identification or addressing component." In human terms, a name server acts like a traffic control officer, directing a requested URI (or domain name, as most people know it as (the http://www thing in the white bar at the top of your browser)) to the correct location of where a website is living (also knows as a hosting server).

Why are Nameservers important? Having nameservers with incorrect addresses can lead people to the incorrect hosting server, like a traffic control officer that directs you to the incorrect house or worse (like,say, off the nearest cliff). Nameservers are important to the traffic flow of the Internet, because if a nameserver goes down, then the browser (the software application used to browser the Internet, such as Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, or (as a last resort) Internet Explorer) won't know where to go and will give up trying to find the correct location (the Internet is a big place, and a little browser could get lost!).

In most cases, websites have a minimum of 2 nameservers set up, just in case one goes down, has an issue, or is overloaded, then a second one is present to give proper direction.

What does a Nameserver look like? Unfortunatly, you cannot see an actual nameserver. Just like an operating system, a namserver is a piece of software loaded into an ISP's (also known as Internet Service Provider - the company that provides you a connection to the Internet) connection servers. ISP Nameservers syncronize every 24 hours or so with national and global nameservers to make sure that all "directions" are uniform across the globe, so you can go to the correct hosting server whether you are visiting from New York, Italy, Japan, Johannesburg, or Cullowhee. A Nameserver address usually has a combination of letters and numbers, such as NS10.DOMAINCONTROL.COM, just as an example. In our traffic control officer example above, this is just like calling the officer "Jeff." Nameservers can have any number of names and addresses, but they must be obtained from ISP's or website hosting companies (just like trained traffic control officers - not anybody can do it).

So why are we covering all of this? A lot of our clients purchase their domain(s) before they come to us, and since domain transfers are usually a long and arguous process, we ask our new clients to update their nameservers so the current domain knows where to look for the new and improved site.

Don't know how to update your nameservers? Most website companies (and most ISP's) have instructions on their website outlining the steps needed to update nameservers. Just Google "update nameservers [website/ISP company]" and you should get the results you're looking for. Most of the time, the update process is pretty easy and the server update happens around 24 hours (to globably syncronize with other nameservers).

In the end, it's hard to imagine that something so simple can mean the difference between arriving at the right website location, and driving off a cliff.

Social Media 101: Working For Your Business!

Shadow Development — 2011-04-01T02:01:00+05:00
It is vital that businesses have some type of web presence. Whether it is a web page, a Facebook fan page, or a LinkedIn account, this workshop will show business owners how to make these social media networks work for them.

By coming to this workshop, business owners will learn how to set up pages/accounts on all the major social media sites (such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Maps, and more), and how to effectively maintain the accounts. Learn how to integrate the social media accounts into a website, so just a click will connect the two together and make it easier on your visitors.

Learning how to maintain these social media sites will allow businesses to grow beyond what traditional media can.

This workshop is free for anyone that wishes to attend. Go to shadowdev.com/seminars to reserve a seat. For those that wish to attend, please bring a laptop to the workshop.

This workshop will be held Thursday, April 21, 2011 from 4-5pm in the Conference Room at 144 Industrial Park Drive, Waynesville NC, 28786.

Shadow Development was founded in 2005 to provide a full-service web-management solution to businesses and organizations. The company offers a wide array of services including web design, development, social media integration, e-commerce, mobile versions, and more, and is focused on providing a one-stop solution for most website-related problems. Shadow Development can be contacted for more information and questions at (800) 970-1058, (828) 283-0319, and on their website at shadowdev.com.

LOCAL BUSINESS: PRESENTATION, SEARCH ENGINE SEMINARS

Shadow Development — 2011-04-01T01:16:00+05:00
Shadow Development Offers Free Seminars with Tips and Tricks for Better Presentations and Improving Search Engine Rankings

Every day is a challenge with technology changing everyday, just like expectations. With the innovation of social media networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, there are countless ways to connect with people nowadays. However, the skills taught in school on how to present properly become outdated before graduation. One local business is setting out to change this in Haywood County with a series of free seminars. The first seminar will be focused to help educate students, club members, and employees on creating eye-catching and memorable presentations with tips that weren't taught in school. The second seminar is structured on how to improve a website's ranking on search engines with both front-end and back-end tricks that the weekend "How to Build a Website" course didn't teach.

Shadow Development, which is located next to the Haywood Community College High Tech Center on Industrial Park Drive, is a professional web development company with over 10 years of combined experience in the sales and development of professional websites and services. As locally-owned and operated business, the owners want to reach out and help educate the local community with a series of free seminars, starting with "Powerpoint Etiquette" and "Get Noticed with Search Engine Optimization."

The first seminar, "Powerpoint Etiquette," will cover a wide range of presentation tips using Powerpoint-based presentations, including how to design slides so audiences don't fall asleep, the most common mistakes most presenters make, using images to portray points, death by bullets, and other tips, including some neat tools and tricks to use in the next presentation. "Wow" bosses, classmates, and even clients when presenting the next Powerpoint presentation. This free seminar will be offered on Tuesday, April 19th, 2011, from 10am till Noon in the Conference Room at 144 Industrial Park Drive in Waynesville.

The second seminar, "Get Noticed with Search Engine Optimization," will cover the basic aspects of Search Engine Optimization for a company or organization's website. Technology is changing every day, and these tips will help raise your ranking on search results on popular search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. These tips cover front-end and back-end tips and tricks, including localizing a site, keyword-to-content ratios, mobile device viewing, and more. There are millions of websites out on the Internet today, and it is a competition for the first spot on popular search engines. In addition to attending, each participant will also get a unique Custom QR (Quick Response) Code to take home! This free seminar will be held on Thursday, April 21st, 2011, from 2-4pm in the Conference Room at 144 Industrial Park Drive in Waynesville.

While these seminars are free, Shadow Development highly recommends registering online at shadowdev.com/seminars to reserve seating. "Our goal is to help out our community," says Kyle Perkins, founder of Shadow Development, "We've been in Haywood County for years, and this is just our way of giving back."

Shadow Development was founded in 2005 to provide a full-service web-management solution to businesses and organizations. The company offers a wide array of services including web design, development, social media integration, e-commerce, mobile versions, and more, and is focused on providing a one-stop solution for most website-related problems. Shadow Development can be contacted for more information and questions at (800) 970-1058, (828) 283-0319, and on their website at shadowdev.com.

New Office Sign

Shadow Development — 2011-03-23T20:49:54+05:00
Our office building has a new and improved sign out in front for better viewing and easier reading! The new sign was being worked on last Thursday, right before our SEO Seminar, and was finished the following Friday!

Old Sign, circa 2009

New Sign, 2011

Put Your Parked Domain into Drive!

Shadow Development — 2011-03-23T02:13:09+05:00
By Kyle Perkins

As a professional web developer, I've heard the term "Parked Domain" thrown around the web-world and around businesses now and then, but once I started developing website and applications, I never really had a good definition what the term "Parked" related to in terms of web development. Through a little research and testing out a few things, it turns out that I had actually been referring to an incorrect definition all this time. When I realized this, I thought it may be beneficial to let others know what "Parked" actually means with domains.

First off, let's cover a basic term: a "Domain" (also called a URL) is the http://www thing you put in the big white box at the top of your browser (called an "Address Bar"). The Domain is human-language for the machines and tells the Internet which website you want to visit (such as google.com, msnbc.com, ncsu.edu, and even shadowdev.com). This is easier for humans to memorize and type in instead of the a series of machine numbers and web server locations (also called an "IP Address").

Having a "Parked Domain" means that the domain has been purchased, but it doesn't go anywhere. The domain servers haven't been told where to look for the website's living location (aka: hosting). It's like paying for a car, but not having a driver; the car is yours, but all it does it sit in the dealer's parking lot.

Most web companies purchase domains for clients (or the client purchases the domain themselves) and a "Parking Page" is put up to say "Hi! There's supposed to be a website here, but it doesn't exist." This is good and bad for various reasons:

Good: since domains are a dime a dozen (not literally) today, many of the good quality domains are snatched up before useful services, companies, and organizations can use them. If the domain you want is available, find the closest domain purchasing company and PURCHASE IT or it may be snatched up by someone else. This way, you own it for as long as you pay for it, and nobody else can have it (unless you let it go).

Bad: Most web companies (and most do-it-yourself clients) go with the domain purchasing company's default parking page (for example: GoDaddy's parking page saying "Welcome to [site]. This web page is parked for Free, courtesy of GoDaddy.com"), which Search Engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing will see when they visit the site. Since all they will see is a "Parking Page," this will drastically lower a websites PageRank (the rating a site gets when it is archived by the search engine relating to where the site will appear in related searches). The longer a domain is "Parked," the longer it will take to get an adequate PageRank score. It's like having a bunch of 0's for grades, then one 100 much later. The average GPA of the score will be extremely low - same with PageRank....and everybody's goal is to be on Page #1 of a Search Result, right?

In addition, a lot of scammers buy available domains then auction them off or (as we say) "hold them for ransom" - this is known better as parked domain monetization. This means that the person/company who bought the available domain may sell it for anywhere between $250 and $10k+ to the person/company that wants it (instead of the $5-15 usual rate). Personally, this is a huge scam and should be illegal, but somehow the domain name registrars and Internet advertising publishers get away with it.

How do we solve this? One of the best practices that our company, Shadow Development, has is we put up a temporary Parking Page for new clients and services with the client/service name, logo, and our company logo, but we also tell the Domain Name Servers (DNS) where to find the site for later. This way, when Search Engines find the site, the PageRank will start in the middle to high range. We usually get sites and services in a Beta form within a few weeks, so the Parking Page is only shown for a short time. Afterwards, the site is live and Search Engines (and customers) can browse the site and grab the information they are looking for.

If the service won't be ready for a while (say, 3 months or so), we put up either a Meta Redirect or a PHP Redirect (aka: HTTP Status Code 302: "The requested resource resides temporarily under a different URI" (w3.org)) on the Parking Page to redirect the Search Engine and customer to a functioning website until it's ready - usually our company site. This tells the Search Engines "HEY! There will be a functioning website here soon, but for now, see our other website for more information" instead of "Hi. I'm here. Not much here. Not sure there will be."

Overall, having a "Parked Domain" can be good and bad at the same time, but if your company/organization wants a specific domain before the site/service is ready, make sure to give it a 302 Redirect or relevant information (name, logo, contact info, etc) so it won't be buried among the zillions of other websites in the Search Engine databases when it's ready. Just don't go with the domain registration company's default "Parking Page" - Search Engines and customers won't come back.

New Client: Lu's Specialties Foods

Shadow Development — 2011-03-22T04:22:08+05:00
We are proud to welcome our newest client: Lu's Specialties Foods in Waynesville, NC! Lu's Specialties Foods makes Asian sauces for that unique Asian-inspired taste (like Sushi).

We are excited to welcome Lu's Specialties Sauces to our family and can't wait to get started on their site!

New Client: Innocent Footprints

Shadow Development — 2011-03-05T03:34:31+05:00
We are proud to welcome our newest client: Innocent Footprints in Canton, NC! Gwen Clifford of Innocent Footprints offers various art, photographs, and books for all audiences.

We are excited to welcome Innocent Footprints to our family and can't wait to get started on their site!

Shadow Dev now on 2 Major Directories

Shadow Development — 2011-03-03T04:57:38+05:00
We are proud to announce that Shadow Development is now listed on 2 major search directories: Yelp! and Best of the Web directories.

Yelp! lists reviews and details for local businesses on the web and mobile devices.

Best of the Web offers the best of local reviews all over the US and UK.

We are on many other directories, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Manta, MerchantCircle, and AshevilleNC.

The College Kiosk is Closing

Shadow Development — 2011-02-01T08:26:22+05:00
So long, and thanks for all of the ~~fish~~ support

Although it was a great experience, the Parent company of The College Kiosk, Shadow Development has decided to terminate this service. While it was great to build a college-based e-commerce auction/advertising system, the progress isn't anywhere near what we expected. That, and the acquiring of EPiC Venture Enterprises was unexpected. We hope that everyone who joined had a good time while it lasted, and if you have any questions/concerns/death threats, please contact Shadow Development.

As of March 16th, 2011 (2 years from domain registration date), The College Kiosk will no longer be in service.

New Client: Two Cats Studios!

Shadow Development — 2011-01-22T07:24:12+05:00
We are proud to welcome our newest client: Two Cats Studios in Waynesville, NC! Two Cats Studios is a greeting card and logo design company that just started up this month! We are excited to welcome Two Cats Studios to our family and can't wait to get started on their site! Two Cats Studios' site can be viewed at twocatsstudios.com (still being developed)

Email Server Issue

Shadow Development — 2011-01-21T02:22:29+05:00
We would like to inform everyone that there was a small email server issue that started on Monday, January 17th. You may have tried to send an email to one of us at Shadow Development and received something like the below:

There was a small issue with the Email Limiter that wouldn't allow emails to pass through. We have talked to our system administrators and have erased the Limiter (although we don't know why there was a limit in the first place). We would like to assure everyone that no other systems or sites were affected by this change, and you should be able to send our staff emails without receiving bounced emails any more.

In case you have any other issues, please contact us at (800) 970-1058, (828) 283-0319, or send us an email at feedback@shadowdev.com.

Shadow Dev Welcomes New Advisor: Hugh Simpson

Shadow Development — 2010-11-29T08:42:35+05:00
Just before the Thanksgiving break, communications were reopened with an old Shadow Dev acquaintance from 2006. After discussing updates and news events since then, the acquaintance agreed to become an Advisor to Shadow Development! We wanted to share this news to celebrate our excitement and tell the community about our growing expectations!
We are proud to welcome Hugh Simpson as the newest Advisor to Shadow Development. Hugh is a "25 year vet of videography, 11 year vet of TV production and a 30 plus year vet of Public REALations consulting as I like to call it." Hugh's many connections and invaluable experience will prove useful to the growth of Shadow Development.

Hugh's various start-up business have varied from simple self-help solutions to building special support homes to technological advances in radio, TV, and other media channels. Hugh says, "I'm a 64 year young serial and parallel entrepreneur that is now involved in giving back through my Social Enterprises like 7th Haven Development."

Once again, we're proud to welcome Hugh Simpson to the Advisory board of Shadow Development.

Server Upgrade - Happening Now

Shadow Development — 2010-11-24T09:35:30+05:00
We wanted to let everyone know that the server upgrade that we've been talking about is actually happening right now. Our server support staff are slowly moving one domain at a time to (hopefully) not disturb anybody's sites. However, there may come a few issues out of this transition. This process should be complete with the move of the ShadowDev.com domain, which is scheduled for either Friday or Saturday.

If you have any questions, please contact us at (800) 970-1058, (828) 283-0319, or our president directly at kperkins@shadowdev.com.

We have a Vanity Facebook URL!

Shadow Development — 2010-11-23T06:39:58+05:00
It took a few hours of Social Media Marketing, but it's official: Shadow Development has a Vanity Facebook URL at facebook.com/ShadowDevelopment! We'd like to thank all of our fans for making this possible.

In addition, all Facebook fans can received a 10% discount for our services. That's right! Tell your friends! Tell your family! Tell your co-workers! Tell your fish!
If they are a Facebook fan, they'll get 10% off their total amount! (for most packages, that's a savings of $500!)

Contact us at info@shadowdev.com or at (800) 970-1058 to get started.

Server Upgrade To Happen Soon

Shadow Development — 2010-11-22T22:29:14+05:00
As mentioned before, we have outgrown our current server needs and are upgrading to a bigger, better system. We said last week that the Server upgrade was going to happen between Nov 15-19, but things didn't work out exactly as planned. We wanted to inform everyone that if things go right, we should be doing the Server Upgrade process on Tuesday night (so we don't interrupt anybody's busy site(s)). The upgrade should take place between 9PM on November 23rd and 6AM on November 24th. After the server upgrade is in place, we will be working as hard as we can to make sure that everybody's sites are back up and running as soon as possible!

If there are any questions, please contact us at (800) 970-1058 or (828) 283-0319.

Coming Soon: Server Upgrade

Shadow Development — 2010-11-11T04:42:29+05:00
We are proud to announce that due to our ever-growing success, we have outgrown our current hosting servers and will be upgrading to a new, better system of servers soon. The upgrade is scheduled for some time next week (11/15-11/19), but we're not quite sure exactly when. We'll post another update when we get a more definitive timeline. During the upgrading process, client websites may be down for a few hours, but we'll be working on the upgrades as fast as we can to get all client websites up and going as fast as possible.

We do apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and we welcome any questions and/or comments at our company email (info@shadowdev.com), our toll-free line at (800) 970-1058, or stop by our office in Waynesville.

Free Seminars!

Shadow Development — 2010-11-03T23:01:41+05:00
We're excited to announce 2 new seminars coming in the Winter/Spring of 2011. A lot of planning has been put into these seminars, and we hope that you, the community, can get a lot out of it! All of these seminars are free, and we have more in the pipelines, so subscribe to our RSS feeder to stay up-to-date and get the latest news on what we're offering! We also have our seminars, events, and presentations on our corporate site.

Are You Optimized? Get Noticed on Google with Search Engine Optimization
This seminar will be focused around the basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website, and what can and cannot be done to improve your ranking among search engines like Google and Yahoo.
Smoky Mountain Development Corporation Conference Room
144 Industrial Park Drive, Waynesville, NC 28786

Thursday, January 20th, 2011
2:00 - 3:30 pm
Register for this FREE Seminar Thursday, February 17th, 2011
2:00 - 3:30 pm
Register for this FREE Seminar Thursday, March 17th, 2011
2:00 - 3:30 pm
Register for this FREE Seminar

Powerpoint Etiquette Seminar
This seminar will be focused on using the Do's and Don'ts of creating and presenting effective Powerpoint Presentations for clients, bosses, seminars, classes, and other presentations.
Smoky Mountain Development Corporation Conference Room
144 Industrial Park Drive, Waynesville, NC 28786

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
10:00 - 11:30 am
Register for this FREE Seminar Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
10:00 - 11:30 am
Register for this FREE Seminar Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
10:00 - 11:30 am
Register for this FREE Seminar

Got a Question? We have Answers

Shadow Development — 2010-10-27T22:38:14+05:00
After months of planning, asking, and narrowing down, we have finally completed our list of Frequently Asked Questions! We have narrowed down the list of questions to the top 15 FAQ's and we should have most questions answered within those top 15.

If you have a question that isn't answered within the list, please Contact us so we can provide you with an answer.

Professional Image Upgrade

Shadow Development — 2010-10-21T00:14:40+05:00
It is always good to update your professional image every now and then, and the staff at Shadow Development did just that. This morning, the staff received their new Shadow Development Polo's from Land's End! We were so excited, we couldn't wait to show them off!

These polo's will be worn at all professional client meetings, presentations, seminars, and the like to show off our professional image and that we take everything seriously!

Local Web Firm Celebrates 5 Years in WNC!

Shadow Development — 2010-10-15T16:00:00+05:00
Shadow Development celebrates their 5th year Anniversary today!

It seems just like yesterday that Shadow Development was just an idea in a head. Five years ago today, our founder, Kyle Perkins, was sitting in his dorm room at Western Carolina University on October 15th, 2005, while trying to think of how to better serve the internet community and the surrounding businesses and organizations. It was at this point that Shadow Development was born: to improve the World Wide Web by making websites better designed, more flexible, and customized to fit target audiences.

In the duration of five years, Shadow Development has progressed from a small dorm room in Cullowhee, NC, to an corporate office and staff located in Waynesville, NC, along with helping clients all across the state, written many articles, developed a few online services, won multiple awards, and made countless presentations across the country, including a rare chance to ride a limo on the Indy Speedway.

The Greater Haywood County Chamber of Commerce also accepted Shadow Development into their membership program during January 2010 for working on the Fire & Ice Fest website, and the Asheville Chapter of the Better Business Bureau accepted Shadow Development in July 2010 for outstanding Customer Service and great relations.

According to the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, seven out of 10 new employer firms survive at least 2 years, half at least 5 years, a third at least 10 years, and a quarter stay in business 15 years or more. "This is only the start," says Perkins, "of a great business experience. [...] We've been here for five years, and I hope for many more!"

Shadow Development has evolved over the past five years, but has never diverted from the original core values, which revolve around superior customer service and providing a full-package for businesses and organizations needing an improved web presence.

The staff at Shadow Development invite the community to contact them at the corporate office at (800) 970-1058, locally at (828) 283-0319, stop by 144 Industrial Park Drive, Suite E in Waynesville, the main website at shadowdev.com, email at info@shadowdev.com, or through one of their many other contact methods.

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If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Keat Cahoon, please call 800-970-1058 or email media@shadowdev.com

Corporate Site gets Own Domain

Shadow Development — 2010-10-13T01:23:19+05:00
When dealing with two sides of a company, it is always best to have a separator between the "Audience" side and the "Behind the Scenes" side. For about a year, Shadow Development's corporate information had been located behind a "corporate" folder off of the Shadow Development main domain. As of today, Shadow Development's corporate website now has its own domain at shadowdev.biz!

ShadowDev.biz will serve as the corporate website for Shadow Development's portal for public internal information. While still operating as the same company, this provides a separation between the two.

While the corporate website mainly deals with corporate events, investments, public internal information, and the like, it is best to keep these two areas separate instead of having customers confuse the public service with the private decisions.

New Quality Enhancement Program to take affect

Shadow Development — 2010-09-08T22:29:08+05:00
Most of the time, when a web firm wants to gain more customers, they lower their prices which can also decrease their quality. Customers may only pay $100 or so, but that means that they only get a 5-page simple static site that was made in 10 minutes.

However, we don't want to skimp on our quality and want to offer the highest quality possible to customers while still affordable. After re-evaluating our pricing structure, the expenses outweighed the income and didn't match up right. Our programmers and designers were getting way less than minimum wage per hour (based on standard calculation procedures) for the quality they were producing.

This is why our prices are going to increase. We hate to say that we are increasing our prices, but in order for Shadow Development to survive, we must. We are still very flexible and can still offer custom packages to those who need them, but our primary focus has shifted to "anybody who wants a website" to more of a niche market of people who would like an improvement to their current website, are tired of the stereotypical "webmaster" hobbyist, and are fed-up with the templated cookie-cutter sites out there today.

In the book "Delivering Happiness" by Tony Hsigh (CEO of Zappos.com), Tony mentions that you should never stray away from your core values. One of our core values is "improving the quality of the web," and shifting our focus back to improving the quality instead of "just creating websites" will allow us to increase our quality in the services we deliver.

The prices changes won't take affect until September 15th, 2010 (about a week from today), and we're willing to take clients under the old pricing structure. But when September 15th rolls around, our new pricing structure will kick in. Potential customers can view the new pricing structure at shadowdev.com/pricing/newprices.php until September 15th. The increases are a little drastic, but the conclusion came after re-evaluating our cost for services.

Customers that signed a contract (either initial or renewal) before September 15th, 2010, will keep their original contracted prices and the renewal amounts will match what the contract says. This price change only affects customers that sign a contract after the September 15th cutoff.

If you have any questions about the price increase or anything else, please feel free to contact us toll-free at (800) 970-1058, locally at (828) 283-0319, RDU area at (919) 612-4151, send an email to info@shadowdev.com or stop by our office in Waynesville, NC. You can also visit our contact page to find more ways to contact us.

New Customer: Cove Creek Construction

Shadow Development — 2010-09-08T01:32:55+05:00
We are proud to announce that Cove Creek Construction of Waynesville, NC, has just signed on with Shadow Development. The President of the company came to us after his previous "webmaster" ventured out for new talents, and left his site out to dry.

Thank you again Cove Creek Construction and we're glad to have you onboard!

New Client: Cove Creek Construction

Shadow Development — 2010-09-07T21:03:00+05:00
We are proud to welcome our newest client: Cove Creek Construction of Waynesville, NC! Cove Creek Construction specializes in all phases of residential remodeling, such as whole house remodels, additions, decks, repair and maintenance, garages, carports, kitchens, baths, and workshops. Most customers are upgrading their houses to give it that special warmth of a home, enlarging to accommodate growing families, or expanding their outside living areas with decks or patios.

We are excited to welcome Cove Creek Construction to our family and can't wait to get started on their site!

Cove Creek Construction's website can be located at covecreekconstructioninc.com

New SEO Affiliation Provides More Options

Shadow Development — 2010-08-19T01:36:49+05:00
Shadow Development Technologies, LLC, and E Consulting Network, LLC, are now Company Affiliates

It's always good to have connections, and when those connections provide a win-win situation for all, who can say no? As of today, Shadow Development is now a partnered affiliate with E Consulting Network, LLC, out of Woodland Hills, CA, and is offering more targeted SEO options such as geotargeting, exclusive keyword targeting, and "Optimized SEO" (yes, we know it's redundant).

E-Consulting Network, LLC is a wholesale SEO provider, providing cost effective solutions to businesses large and small. We also provide a wide array of additional online marketing services, including search engine optimization, pay per click management and landing page / web site design.

From the E-Consulting Network website:

Because E-Consulting Network, LLC is a wholesale search engine optimization company, we've built a platform that enables other companies to "resell" our service to their clients. Let's say you own a marketing agency or a web development firm and your clients have been asking if you can get their site ranked in the organic portion of the search engines. Rather than trying to research companies to refer them to or trying to find an overseas company to whom you can outsource the work, we enable you to offer this service directly to your clients.

This affiliation program will allow Shadow Development customers better access to SEO practices, along with achieving higher ranks in Search Engine results, such as Google, Yahoo, AOL, and others.

E-Consulting Networks Affiliate Management Team can be reached at 888-740-1071 ext. 87 for questions or concerns.

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If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Keat Cahoon, please call 800-970-1058 or email media@shadowdev.com

New Donate Program begins Round 1 Funding

Shadow Development — 2010-08-03T09:34:35+05:00
Shadow Development has just launched a program to help their first round of Funding. The Shadow Development Donation page (at shadowdev.com/donate) is set up to accept donations from Friends and Family. This is to help the financial status of Shadow Development and to also accept larger amounts from lending companies.

According to potential venture capitalists and lenders, an attempt and amount must be raised by friends and family of the owners before larger amounts can be considered.

Shadow Development is not trading stock for donations, but rather a ROI of 10% over 5 years to the donors. According to Kyle Perkins, founder of Shadow Development, "Lenders don't like us having 10,000 different owners in a small company. That's like having every person who has stock in the company sit in a large auditorium and trying to decide who wants crunchy and creamy peanut butter. It will take forever to reach a final decision, plus it'll be very crowded and noisy. It's best to have few owners and lots of lenders so the ownership problem isn't drowning."

Round 1 of Shadow Development's "fund raising" is expected to last at least 6 months. Plans haven't been announced yet if the program will continue past its original 6-month run.

Shadow Dev now Accredited BBB Member

Shadow Development — 2010-07-31T01:49:13+05:00
Shadow Development is now Accredited Member of Asheville Better Business Bureau

Invitation into the Better Business Bureau is an exclusive honor, and Shadow Development has passed all of the qualifications and expectations to be accepted into the Asheville chapter of the Better Business Bureau.

Businesses in the Better Business Bureau must maintain a set of standards of best business practices and be free of customer complaints.

An accredited business must abide by the following (but not limited to):

Maintain at least a B rating with this Bureau and, if headquartered elsewhere than this Bureau's service area, at least a B rating by that Bureau;

Respond to all complaints presented by the Bureau promptly and in accordance with the Bureau's complaint resolution procedures and cooperate with Bureau efforts to eliminate the underlying causes of patterns of customer complaints;

Clearly disclose the following information to customers:

direct and effective means to contact the business;

all terms of any contract;

any product guarantees or warranties;

any restrictions or limitations imposed by the business;

any policies covering returns and refunds;

any recurring commitment into which the customer may be entering and how future billing will occur;

the complete transaction cost.

Fulfill contracts and agreements and correct mistakes promptly;

Respect customer privacy by disclosing on its website what information will be collected, with whom it is shared, how it can be corrected, how it is secured, how policy changes will be communicated, and how to address concerns over misuse of personal data.

Shadow Development received accreditation on July 30th, 2010 and best business practices will allow for great customer relationships.

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If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Keat Cahoon, please call 800-970-1058 or email media@shadowdev.com

Shadow Dev Now On Skype

Shadow Development — 2010-07-16T01:32:15+05:00
We are proud to announce that Shadow Development now has a Skype account to make it easier to communicate with our current and potential clients. If you have a Skype account (which is free), give us a call, chat, or video call at shadow.development. The call is free for Skype-to-Skype callers, so there is no charge to you!

In case you don't have a Skype account or you've never heard of Skype, fly on over to their site (skype.com) and learn about their features.

There are now many ways to contact Shadow Development: Toll Free (800-970-1058), Local (828-283-0319), Email (info@shadowdev.com), Skype (shadow.development), and of course, our office in Waynesville.

Shadow Development Celebrates 3 Years in Waynesville

Shadow Development — 2010-07-08T01:38:52+05:00
New consulting lease signed for Shadow Development with Smoky Mountain Development Corporation

Shadow Development is celebrating 3 years at the Smoky Mountain Development Corporation High Tech Business Incubator in Waynesville, North Carolina. Shadow Development first started in Cullowhee, North Carolina, in October 2005, and moved into the SMDC Incubator on July 7th, 2007.

As per July 1st, Shadow Development signed a new lease with SMDC in agreement to help with technical consulting for tenants in the Waynesville Incubator, along with visiting the 10 western-most North Carolina Counties (the focus counties are Clay, Cherokee, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, Swain, and Transylvania, and the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians [smdcnc.org/smdc]) to recruit new tenants for the local incubators.

During their 4th year in the Waynesville Incubator, Shadow Development is expecting to expand exposure and marketing methods, along with gaining new clients through the consulting/recruiting agreement in the Western North Carolina area and surrounding regions.

Shadow Development specializes in professional web development and web engineering. With packages and services providing solutions from small businesses and organizations to large corporations and public services. Shadow Development's portfolio is available online at shadowdev.com/portfolio. Shadow Development's Corporate site for investors and media contacts can also be found at http://corp.shadowdev.com.

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If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Keat Cahoon, please call 800-970-1058 or email media@shadowdev.com

New Client: North State Medical Transport

Shadow Development — 2010-06-25T19:14:20+05:00
We are proud to welcome our newest client: North State Medical Transport of Raleigh, NC! North State Medical Transport specializes in non-emergency transport of medical patients between locations, and offers a Shuttle service for others to use.

We are excited to welcome North State Medical Transport to our family and can't wait to get started on their site!

North State Medical Transport's website can be located at nsmt.biz

New Client: Western Economic Development Organization

Shadow Development — 2010-06-24T22:30:00+05:00
We are proud to welcome our newest client: Western Economic Development Organization of Waynesville, NC! Western Economic Development Organization was organized to improve the lot of low income persons through the coordination of resources in self help and cooperative endeavors by means of interest free loans, grants in aid, technical assistance, training, marketing and economic assistance.

We are excited to welcome Western Economic Development Organization to our family and can't wait to get started on their site!

Western Economic Development Organization's website can be located at westerneconomicdevelopment.org

New Local 828 Number for Shadow Dev

Shadow Development — 2010-05-16T10:31:41+05:00
We're proud to announce that Shadow Development now has a local number for Western North Carolina. In addition to our toll-free 800 number, locals in the Western North Carolina area (Asheville, Waynesville, Sylva, Cullowhee, Cherokee, Franklin, Cashiers, Arden/Fletcher, and more) can call us without having to worry about calling long distance.

Web's Worst Practices 3 - It starts with a blank canvas...

Shadow Development — 2010-04-22T20:17:14+05:00
We've just released the 3rd installment of our Web's Worst Practices series, which covers white-space: what it is, how it's used, and why it's important. You can view it online in PDF form or in HTML form.

Our Web's Worst Practices series highlight some of the worst practices that web developers and web designers do everyday, and provide solutions on how to prevent these "Bad Practices" from becoming worse.

Adding New Meaning to Outsourcing: Partner-out

Shadow Development — 2010-04-12T04:50:42+05:00
By Kyle "KP" Perkins

Let's say that you have a computer problem and you call for support. Chances are pretty good that the support you get is going to be overseas. I'm not saying that overseas workers are bad at support or anything, but that's the stereotypical idea that comes to mind when someone mentions the word "Outsource." Wikitionary defines the term "outsource" as "To transfer the management and/or day-to-day execution of an entire business function to a third-party service provider". That's just the thing: the idea of Outsourcing has become tained with society's usage of the term. When we think "outsource", that's too commonly associated with "giving up to someone else to do for a cheaper price." To be honest, I'm tired of outsourcing and being associated with that term. From now on, I'm using the term "Partner-out". Let me explain: To outsource something, you're basically contracting someone (or some company) to do your same task for a cheaper price. You pay them, they get it done. But in today's society, we need something a little better than just pay-as-you-go-workers. You could possibly call them "rent-a-worker" (or the more commonly known term in high school, converted to this text, "whack-a-~~nut~~worker"). You pay them, they get it done (again). How about having someone actually advise you and help you along your way. Your project is just that: your project. If you outsourced your brainstorming sessions, then technically what they invent could be theirs, not yours. You just outsource the work with the ideas in mind, and everything is kosher. How about a little ~~resistance~~ advice?

Partering-out (at least in my perspective) consists of making an agreement with someone (or some company) to assist you on a task, rather than doing it for you. Who else knows your product/service better than you? Instead of just paying someone to do the job for you, how about having them offer their advice, knowledge, and know-how to get it done? Sure, you could just pay the workers and sell what they do, but what if you're looking for something more? The idea of Partner-out is simply that: "partner" with a person (or company) to help you get it done, and keep that partnership for something else down the road.

Let me put it another way: a person I recently met (let's call him "Scott") was very overwhelmed with his company's website. There were so many ~~stupid~~ restrictions that it was driving him crazy. The text had to conform to a certain style, the images had to be a certain format, the data had to be formatted and authorized with a certain method - it was going crazy. I was thinking of how I could help him with his company's site, and thought of two scenarios: 1) he could "outsource" the whole thing to me and pay me to do it, or 2) I could "partner" with him and help him along the way with my knowledge. I considered option 1 for a while, but I didn't know what he knew (restrictions, conformities, regulations, etc), and if I attempted to re-create what he had to better suit my tastes, the people above him at his company would be yelling down his neck to make it a certain way, and then he would yell at me to do it the same way (thus, witholding payment). My skills and knowledge + his payment = acceptable, however if something went wrong, it would turn into his boot + my (you know what) = unhappy customer (and possibly legal action).

Option 2 seemed more reasonable: offer him a partner-out agreement where I could help him with the work and he could complete it within the specifications his company required. My skills + his knowledge + partner-out agreement = ongoing success.

Let me share another example. My company teamed up with a local agency in the area, and they outsourced their website to us (there's that nasty word again). During the 6 months of discussion, they finally said they were ready to start, so we got started. We planned their design (and got approvals), their code, the necessary sections, and everything else, and had their site ready within 2 weeks. Not too shabby. When we offered it for the final review, the main contact person (let's call her "Katy") was very unhappy with what she saw. Her vision and our vision were two totally seperate things. We continued to email each other over the period of about a week and a half, and finally, I had to stand up to her. What she was requesting for the site was totally non-user friendly. She said that at her previous job, the management staff told the "web guys" what they wanted, and they did it. If something needed changing, they told the "web guys" and they did it. No questions asked. But I just couldn't take it any more. The requests she had for the site (although it was technically her/the agency's website) made the site non-user friendly and with my experience and the tests my company had performed on usability, I just had to stand up to her. I responded with (in a friendly manner) "it would bog down the speed of the site" and "the text wouldn't be visible" and other technological standard mumbo-jumbo, and she kept getting frustrated that I wouldn't do what she said. I finally sent her about a 5 page email telling her (in very specific detail) the differences between what she asked, and what we did, and the disadvantages and benefits of both. She finally came to understand our concept and knew where we were coming from. Now, if we started out like that, we wouldn't have had to spend countless weeks/hours/emails trying to get this stuff figured out. If we started with a Partner-out instead of an Outsource, things would have been different. We would offer our advice and expertise on the subject, coupled with her vision and expectations, and worked together on the project, instead of us producing it and having them not like it.

The whole point I'm trying to express here is that Outsourcing has become too diluted with bad support, bad parts, bad service, and whatever you have like that. However, if a Partner-out was established, then things would be developed a lot smoother with better understandings, instead of one person doing the work, and the other taking credit (like paying your little brother to do your homework - eventually, it will come back to bite you).

EPiC Venture Enterprises - Closing up Shop

Shadow Development — 2010-04-02T17:30:42+05:00
This is not a late April Fools joke. After much delegation, EPiC Venture Enterprises is closing up shop shortly after their 1-year anniversary. The decision came when the shareholders Shadow Development, one of the potential EPiC subsidiaries, didn't approve of the acquisition during a meeting on April 1st, 2010. Instead, the shareholders wanted to keep Shadow Development as it was, dissolve EPiC (which at this point, only has one owner), and move EPiC's projects to Shadow Development for better skill-sets, business advisors, a longer history, and better financial support.

As per the dissolve: The College Kiosk will be owned by Shadow Development.

EPiC Venture Enterprises will officially close their doors for good on April 15th, 2010. The LLC filing with the state of North Carolina will default, and EPiC will be no more.

For all future contacts for EPiC Venture Enterprises, please contact Shadow Development online at shadowdev.com.

New Client: Queen Mountain Law

Shadow Development — 2010-03-12T13:15:20+05:00
We are proud to welcome our newest client: Queen Mountain Law of Waynesville, NC! Queen Mountain Law offers legal services to the Western North Carolina region.

We are excited to welcome Queen Mountain Law to our family and can't wait to get started on their site!

Queen Mountain Law's website can be located at queenmountainlaw.com

Web's Worst Practices 2 - Find My Content!

Shadow Development — 2010-03-08T18:00:00+05:00
We've just released the 2nd installment of our Web's Worst Practices series, which covers how people actually find content on your website. You can view it online in PDF form or in HTML form.

Our Web's Worst Practices series highlight some of the worst practices that web developers and web designers do everyday, and provide solutions on how to prevent these "Bad Practices" from becoming worse.

Web's Worst Practices 1 - "Click Here!"

Shadow Development — 2010-02-17T00:39:40+05:00
We've just released a mini-series of articles called "Web's Worst Practices," covering the best and worst of web standards when designing and developing websites. Our first one deals with an overwhelming problem: saying "Click Here" for links. You can view it online in PDF or HTML format through the Shadow Dev site.

Shadow Dev joins Haywood Chamber of Commerce

Shadow Development — 2010-01-16T00:00:00+05:00
Shadow Development now member of Greater Haywood County Chamber of Commerce

After residing in Haywood County for just over 2½ years, Shadow Development is now accepted as a member of the Greater Haywood County Chamber of Commerce.

Starting in May of 2009, the Greater Haywood Chamber contacted Shadow Development to design and develop the website and logos for the 1st Annual Fire & Ice Winterfest. The Executive Director of the Greater Haywood Chamber offered membership into the Chamber of Commerce in trade for the design and development of the Fire & Ice website and logos.

Shadow Development also joined in on Fire & Ice meetings along with the Waynesville Inn, The Gateway Club, The Downtown Waynesville Association, and other Haywood County businesses to plan and develop the Fire & Ice Winterfest, which will happen in just over a week all over Haywood County and offer various winter events, such as skiing, carriage rides, downtown snow festivals, ice carving competitions, and more.

Joining the Greater Haywood County of Chamber of Commerce will be beneficial to Shadow Development by allowing business connections throughout Haywood County, along with listing in the Haywood County Business Directory and on the Greater Haywood County Chamber's website at haywood-nc.com.

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If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Keat Cahoon, please call 800-970-1058 or email media@shadowdev.com

Now offering Freelancing!

Shadow Development — 2010-01-12T01:32:52+05:00
We are proud to announce that Shadow Development is now offering Freelancing programming! Providing customers with custom programming in (X)HTML, PHP, and CSS at $35/hour or on a fat rate, this will allow customers to receive our outstanding programming at a fraction of the cost of a full-blown website! Contact Us Today to receive a quote for your freelance projects!

3 Top Tips for Good Web Site Design

Shadow Development — 2009-11-05T22:11:57+05:00
By Kyle "KP" Perkins, Western Carolina University (NC)

Have you thought about your Web site lately?

Maybe it's time you should.

Most of us think that people who visit our Web sites can easily find what they need because all of the information is there. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.

You actually have complete control over your Web site, so wouldn't it be nice to make it more appealing? How about increasing its traffic by 5%, or maybe even 30%? It is possible - you just have to know the in's and out's of a good Web site - and why your Web site exists in the first place.

What Makes a Web Site Good?

As the average person surfs the Web, they encounter hundreds and hundreds of different Web sites - different domains, different designs, different structures, and the list goes on. Most "surfers" (people who are browsing the Web) just go to Google and type in keywords to figure out what they want. As surfers cruise the Internet, they create their own impression of any given Web site within the first 10 seconds (or less). Some sites are good and some are not. But what exactly makes a Web site "good?" I could write a book on every single little detail about what makes a Web site good, but I'll give you my exclusive, "quick and dirty" version.

If you ever read Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug, for example, you will understand the importance of a good structure and a good design. However, if you are not a person who operates in Web technologies (I'm speaking of more than just Facebook and Google), then you most likely don't really know what a good Web site contains. However, there is a good guide to follow to make sure you get the most of your Web presence, and to make sure your surfers get the most out of their experience. It's kind of like a local event. First, you advertise it and attract attention to it, set it up, charge admission, pay vendors and clean up. The process is fairly similar when it comes to your Web presence. Follow this simple guide to understand what surfers want.

Tip #1: Having a Clean Design

DO: Have a clean and concise design on your home page. First and foremost, surfers look at design. Within the first 10 seconds (or three, depending on the connection speed and person doing the browsing), the surfer gets an impression of your site. It's much like the first impression at an interview - same concept, different location. If your site is clean with associated colors (colors that go well with each other, not the rainbow), then it is easy on the eyes. Have your logo on every page, an easy-to-locate navigation bar, and a nice welcome message. This allows for "ease-of-use."

Most Web designers use a visual editor for their sites (FrontPage, DreamWeaver, or even Word) in which they just drag and drop their information and designs. Personally, I do not like these programs nor do I use them. In my opinion, those who use these programs do Web work on the side, or in their basement. Of course, this isn't the case with all designers. Personally, I am a Web developer who works with the hard-core code of a Web site to mold it to work for me. To be honest, I don't care what you or your Web designer use, as long as your Web site works well. The tips I offer here can be used by people who use designer programs or those who actually code.

DON'T: Be too flashy, unsized or too crowded. Many inexperienced Web designers like to be flashy. They may add a mouse trail, a flashy intro, or try to make their sites stand out with bright colors or animations.

Tech Tip: Most animations work only in Internet Explorer. Not everyone in the world uses Internet Explorer. As of June 2008, W3Schools.com reports that only 54% of the world uses Internet Explorer, with Firefox/Mozilla use coming in at 41.5%, Safari at 2.6%, and Opera at 1.7%2. The other .2% use something other than the top four browseres. So, if the animations on your site are IE-specific, what about the 41% who use Firefox? They won't see the flashy animations.

Also, from personal reviews and consumer reports, I've learned that having a "splash page" (the first page you see when you go to a Web site that has an "Enter Site" or "Skip" button) is a real annoyance. It's only an additional click to enter the site, and it seems most people do not like to perform that click. If they are on an information-search, they will either be in a hurry or will Google the content and skip the intro completely.

The "unsized" I mention in this tip applies to most "size-set" Web sites. What is this? Have you ever gone to a Web site where the content doesn't stretch across your browser/monitor? What about if you have to scroll left and right to read the information? Some designers, for reasons I don't understand, set the width of a Web site so it does not resize (such as 760 pixels or about 7.9 inches), which results in a lot of blank space on the right (and/or left) side of your browser. I believe this is very unprofessional. This might be good for a monitor that has an 800-pixel width (like back in the 1990s), but nowadays, most people either have 1024-pixel width or larger screens. A good site flexes and stretches to the width of the surfer's monitor without displaying too much white space.

As for content, it is understandable that the home page (the first page you see) is the most important on your entire site. However, it is not advisable to make every little speck of information available on this page - it will become too crowded. The surfer will not be able to find the information they want, become frustrated, leave your site and most likely not come back.

Also, make sure you don't cram too much content on other pages - such as having one extremely long page containing lots of information. The surfer will see the information at the top of the page, but will rarely see the information at the bottom unless they scroll down. This is called "Fishing the Page" (from Steve Krug). You see the "fish" at the top, but rarely see the ones at the bottom, unless you look hard or have a good fishing rod (Google).

Tip #2: Automating Your Information

DO: Download a dynamic scripting language and hire an experienced programmer. This may sound a little technical, but it will save you a lot of work in the long run. By a dynamic scripting language, I mean something along the lines of ASP.NET or PHP (my favorite). Talk to your IT person about installing this feature if you don't have it (and if they say it will cost money to download, tell them both are free [asp.net and php.net, respectively]).

As a person who has been programming with PHP for almost 10 years, I can easily say this has shaved almost 90% of my updating time for most sites. By having your Web site be dynamic, you (or your Web person) won't have to spend countless hours doing mindless updates.

One big feature I put on most of my client sites is an auto-update calendar. This allows the Web site to automatically update daily information (such as event title, time, information, pictures, etc) without having to sit down and manually input the information. Surfers hate it when a Web site is out-of-date. For example, the surfer sees an event they want to attend on Tuesday. However, it is Thursday and the surfer realizes the event has already occurred. By having up-to-date information (with an auto-updater), you have an easy way to stay current and not have to worry about out-of-date information.

DON'T: Use Static HTML or hire a "newbie" programmer. Unless your information won't change within the next year, I would stay away from using static HTML Web sites or companies. This just means that you (or your Web person) will have to go in manually and make all of necessary changes by hand. This is extremely time-consuming, especially if you have a programmer who just began programming. It may take them 10 times the amount of time an experienced programmer will need.

This is especially important with design issues. If a newbie programmer makes a design feature, they will most likely make it on every single page. If the design feature changes, the newbie must go into every page and make the change (which can be extremely costly if your programmer is paid by the hour). However, an experienced programmer will use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to make design features. If a design feature changes, all the programmer has to do is make a small modification to one file, and they are finished. All pages are affected.

So, next time you hire a Web programmer (or designer, whichever case is appropriate for your organization), make sure you hire one with the right experience.

Tip #3: Making Sure Your Site Is Easy to Use

DO: Run some usability tests before you launch your site. If you haven't read Krug's book (Don't Make Me Think), I highly recommend you do. It talks about lots of ways to keep your surfer from "thinking too much." One such example in the book pertains to searching for information. Searching for information on a Web site is sort of like searching for an item in a department store. Most people search via one or both of two methods: direct and self-finding (indirect).

For example: let's say you wanted to find garden hoses. The indirect searcher would walk into a department store, find the garden section, look for the general area where hoses would be, find the hose area, and narrow down their selection from the wide variety of garden hoses available.

However, the direct searcher (or the indirect searchers who get tired of looking themselves) walks into a department store, finds an employee and asks where the garden hoses are. The employee takes them directly there.

With Web sites, though, you don't have physical sections or employees, so you have to use the technical route. Indirect searchers find the menu bar, look for the right section, and narrow down the specifics from there (which may require many, many clicks). Direct searchers will look for a search section, type in what they are seeking, and go directly there. Sometimes people behave differently on different sites, so it's hard to determine what type of people will see your site. It is recommended that you include both methods on your site for ease of use.

In case you don't ever read Krug's book or need a starting place for usability tests, try these to get started:

1. The Fuzzy Test

Have someone load your site and make it full-screen (most of the time, press F11). Close your eyes and cross them (while your eyes are closed). Open only one of your eyes and take a look at your site. Can you determine, from looking at your site with a fuzzy view, where you start? Can you determine what the site does? Can you determine what your organization does from looking at your Web site? While most surfers won't see the site when it's fuzzy, this test allows you to take a look from a new "view" and helps you understand what people think and where they go when they first go to your site. After you perform this test, with respect to other sites, just ask yourself, "Where do I start?" If you don't know and can't figure out within three seconds, the site probably isn't worth your time.

2. The Specific Item Test

Ask some (who doesn't know your site) to find something specific (name it specifically, such as "Information about an event on Oct. 15," "the current films coordinator's favorite baseball team" or "the Chancellor's birthday" just to name a few). Have your site loaded on a test computer and sit down with them. Monitor what they do and where they go, but make sure you don't criticize them or push them too hard - just watch and take notes. This will most likely determine what your audience ("surfers") will do and where they will go for information. If the person can't find the test information, restructure your site's organization or design to make it easier to find it. Do this as many times as necessary.

DON'T: Expect what you know is what your audience will know. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is assuming you know your audience. Sure, you may know that your audience (or target market, whichever term you prefer) is between 18 and 27, both male and female, 56% Caucasian and 41% African-American, has an average income of $405,600, and lives within a 50-mile radius of your location3, but do you actually know how your audience thinks?

Don't always think, "If I have X, my audience will click on it." Most of the time, your audience will not click on it or they won't even see it. It's hard to understand exactly what your audience will think, so the best you can do is perform usability tests with samples from your audience and take notes on where they go and what they see.

No Second Chance for a First Impression

In time, there will be more methods and better ways to improve today's Web technology. Please keep in mind that the tips I share here are only a few of the many I've gained from my years as a professional Web developer. There are many other books and resources available to teach the proper methods of designing and coding Web sites. How you proceed is up to you. However, when you or your Web person designs your next site, please keep these tips in mind. They will save you a lot of hassle, as well as much time and money.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Make it a good one.

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About the Author

Kyle "KP" Perkins is Web developer for Last Minute Productions at Western Carolina University (NC), where he is pursuing a master's degree in entrepreneurship. He also holds a bachelor's degree in entrepreneurship from the school. He is the founder, CEO/president and lead Web developer of Shadow Development Technologies, a professional Web development company specializing in customized and automated Web development. In NACA, he has presented educational sessions on the regional level. In the fall of 2007, the Association of College Unions International honored him for Web site design. He also recently was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the Department of Entrepreneurship at Western Carolina University.

New Design

Shadow Development — 2009-07-07T03:11:00+05:00
We just got finished updating the Shadow Dev site with a new design. This design in itself is simplier, easier to load, and we think offers a new "edgy" side of Shadow Dev. This has gone through many revisions and tests, and the new design on our site is the result of many months of work. Although it will never be 100% finished, we hope you enjoy it now and our constant improvements. Some of you may remember some of the older designs we had (the white-background-with-round-corners one, the dark-design-and-exposed-code one, and even the all-white-and-simple initial design), but this one is planned to stay for a while.

With some minor improvements here and there, we will keep continuing to make improvements to the site, but it's all for your benefit. If you have any questions, issues, ideas, threats, etc, just email us on the Contact form

New 800 Number for Shadow Dev

Shadow Development — 2009-06-25T18:37:31+05:00
We're proud to announce that Shadow Development now has a Toll Free number! As of today, anybody can call us at 800-970-1058 and reach our team.

Best part of all: the number works after-hours! If someone calls us at, say, 9:30 PM, we have call forwarding set up so you can reach our team on their cell phones.

New Client: Educational Association of University Centers

Shadow Development — 2008-07-24T23:32:00+05:00
We are proud to welcome our newest client: Educational Association of University Centers of Cullowhee, NC! The Educational Association of University Centers' website is one of their continuing efforts to reach out to institutions of higher education that are not members..

We are excited to welcome the Educational Association of University Centers to our family and can't wait to get started on their site!

The Educational Association of University Centers's website can be located at eauc.org

Shadow Dev Founder receives Exclusive WCU Award

Shadow Development — 2008-04-07T17:00:00+05:00
Kyle Perkins awarded the "Young Entrepreneur of the Year" from WCU College of Business

The founder of Shadow Development receives the exclusive "Young Entrepreneur of the Year" from Western Carolina University's College of Business department.

Perkins founded starting Shadow Development in 2005 and has helped out numerous student organizations on WCU's campus and various businesses in the Western North Carolina area. Perkins also works with Keat Cahoon, an undergraduate at Southwestern Community College from Raleigh, NC, and Zach Phillips, an undergraduate from Hamptonville, NC, majoring in Computer Information Systems.

Shadow Development has expanded from a dorm room on WCU's campus to the small business incubator in Waynesville, NC in 2007, and has also participated in numerous business competitions, such as the 1st Annual WISE competition on WCU's campus and the national NASCENT business competition on the Indy 500 Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana, which was the first student team to attend a national business competition in 25 years since the Entrepreneurship program was initiated at Western Carolina.

Perkins was presented the award on April 6th, 2008, at the College of Business Award annual awards and scholarship ceremony, shortly after both the WISE competition and the NASCENT competition.

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If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Keat Cahoon, please call 800-970-1058 or email media@shadowdev.com

Shadow Dev wins Regional Design Award

Shadow Development — 2008-01-10T18:00:00+05:00
Shadow Dev's Client site wins Regional Award from ACUI for Best Design

A website for a Western Carolina University student organization made by Shadow Development won a regional design award at the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) conference in November of 2007.

Shadow Development revamped the website for Last Minute Productions, the student-run entertainment and activity planning organization on Western Carolina's campus.

The ACUI conference, hosted in Charleston, SC, had over 1,000 colleges attending from all over the country, and had numerous colleges submit materials to be judged for various graphic and art competitions. Last Minute Production's website was submitted and won the regional graphic competition for websites.

Shadow Development's founder, Kyle Perkins, also made a presentation at the ACUI conference called "Web Sites: Helpful Fact or Hurtful Fiction for your Organization," which he also presented Birmingham, AL, at the National Association of Campus Activities conference.

"Instead of throwing confusing words and techniques to my audiences, I talk to them on how they can improve their own sites, both for personal and professional use and for their audiences," said Perkins. "I have come across many sites today for student and professional organizations that have poor navigation, super-flashy designs or are out of date, which can turn people away."

Perkins said he improves Web sites through simple design, sensible navigation and organization, and creating ways to keep sites up-to-date through his work with Shadow Development Technologies, a company Perkins founded and leads as chief executive officer and Web developer.

On staff with Perkins at Shadow Development Technologies, which is located in Waynesville in the Smoky Mountain Development Corporation business incubator, is Zach Phillips, a junior from Hamptonville majoring in computer science; Keat Cahoon, a graphic artist for Lunar Productions; and consultant Frank Lockwood, director of WCU�s master�s degree program in entrepreneurship.

Western Carolina University's Public Relation office also wrote on this event, which can be viewed online at wcu.edu/5967.asp.

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If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Keat Cahoon, please call 800-970-1058 or email media@shadowdev.com

Are You Optimized? Get Noticed on Google with Search Engine Optimization This seminar will be focused around the basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website, and what can and cannot be done to improve your ranking among search engines like Google and Yahoo. Smoky Mountain Development Corporation Conference Room 144 Industrial Park Drive, Waynesville, NC 28786
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Powerpoint Etiquette Seminar This seminar will be focused on using the Do's and Don'ts of creating and presenting effective Powerpoint Presentations for clients, bosses, seminars, classes, and other presentations. Smoky Mountain Development Corporation Conference Room 144 Industrial Park Drive, Waynesville, NC 28786
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