Blogs are websites, but much more dynamic.  When people think of websites, they usually are thinking something that is “static”, or used just to display information.  Blogs however, allow you to publish your own articles, pictures and videos, create conversations and manage everything easily from a simple dashboard.

Blogs can be built to do anything websites can do, and the user can control everything themselves.  Even large companies are using WordPress for a that website/blog combination, keeping everything all under one roof.

What’s the big deal about WordPress?

The WordPress blog is now a website with tens of thousands of people signing up for WordPress each day making it the world’s most popular website/blogging platform and it is now 12% of all websites on the Internet. Over 260 million people worldwide visit WordPress sites every month, bringing them over two billion page views. Not only is WordPress easy to use, but it offers thousands of free plug-ins to enhance your site’s functionality and user experience.

WordPress is Open Source

You do not have to pay licensing fees to use it for your business.  It is a free software that you can modify and use for all of your sites.  Being open source, thousands of developers freely build upon WordPress, which is why it has such a huge selection of designs/themes and plug-ins.

WordPress is User Friendly

Going back and forth with a designer can get very frustrating for a non-techie person who just wants to make a simple change to their site.  With an easy to use interface, WordPress lets you manage all your day-to-day website maintenance such as updating the content on your site, adding pages, organizing the layout and installing plug-ins.

WordPress has Beautiful Themes

It is so easy to get the look you are ecstatic about with WordPress.  Since it is open source, you will find thousands of free themes online that you can just download and install on your site with just a few clicks.

WordPress has Outstanding Plug-ins

Almost anything you can imagine can be done with your WordPress site.  Since it is open source, any developer can create a plug-in that performs a certain function.  And for the most part, they are very simple to add on to your site.  You just download, install them into your site with the plug-in installer and if they need any configuration, make the appropriate changes and you are up and running.

WordPress is Always Evolving

You won’t get left behind with an outdated website, as WordPress constantly is improving and adding features to their software and when they release them, you can update your site with just a few clicks.  Remember, since WordPress is an open source software it remains pretty advanced as the community is always creating the cutting edge tools to match the advancement of online technologies.

WordPress is Search Engine Friendly

For those of you that don’t know, big brother Google is cracking down…again.  They are actually bumping websites from the first page that don’t show comments and recent activity.  This means if you don’t have the right type of site, you may never make the first page of Google.  And if you are not on the first page, you might as well forget it because 95 % of all site traffic from search engines comes from page one results. Google wants to see dynamic websites – WordPress websites – ranking on the first page.

Can You Use It For Business?

WordPress is perfect for businesses of all types.  Sites are built specifically to help business owners and marketers get found on the Internet.  Not only do WordPress sites perform better in the search engines and help you build a list, but they are integrated to your social media sites for complete optimization.

A trade mark is therefore a ‘badge’ of trade origin. It is used as a marketing tool so that customers can recognize the product of a particular trader. A ‘sign’ includes words, logos, colours, slogans, three-dimensional shapes and sometimes even sounds and gestures.

The original creator is the trade mark owner and may also own copyright and design rights in products and packaging.

A trademark includes any word, name, symbol, or design, or any combination used, or intended to be used, in commerce to identify and distinguish the goods of one manufacturer or seller from goods manufactured or sold by others, and to indicate the source of the goods. In short, a trademark is a brand name.

A products name can always be trademarked if the name does not infringe another name.

What is a Service Mark

A service mark is any word, name, symbol, design, or any combination, used, or intended to be used, in commerce, to identify and distinguish the services of one provider from the services provided by others, and to indicate the source of the services.

Notes

Business names can be trademarked if the business provides a service, such as marketing, legal, accounting, etc. Business names, such as IBM, HP, Coca Cola may be trademarked, but only if there are goods or services with that name.

• IBM is a registered trademark because it is the name of a company and provides a service
• Coca Cola is  a company name and provides a product.

The U.S. Trademark Office is very sticky about the difference between business names and product names. They have specific rules.

Business directories are a good place to check for names that are already in use, thereby avoiding infringement. Also consider checking with the Secretary of State in your state, local county clerk’s office for DBA filing, and the United States Patent and Trademark office (online).

Links

All Mark – Establishes Trademarks for a Fee

Trade Markia -Registers Trademarks for a Fee

Trademark: How to Name your Business & Product – Book by Kate McGrath

ThomasNet.com – Search ThomasNet to find manufacturers, distributors and service providers that my conflict with your choices

United States Patent and Trademark Office -Online Trademark Database

Service Mark -Legal Definition

What is a service mark?

smile Use one or more  :-)  :)  :]  =)	frown Use One or more  :-(  :(  :[  =(	tongue Use one or more  :-P  :P  :-p  :p  =P
grin Use one or more  :-D  :D  =D	gasp Use one or more  :-O  :O  :-o  :o	wink Use one or more  ;-)  ;)
glasses Use one or more  8-)  8)  B-)  B)	sunglasses Use one or more:  8-|  8| B-|  B|	grumpy Use one or more  >:  ( >  :-(
unsure Use one or more  :/  :-/  :\  :-\	cry Use :'(	pacman Use  :v
devil Use one or more  3:)  3: -)	angel Use one or more  O:)  O:-)	kiss Use one or more  :-*  :*
heart Use   <3	kiki Use ^_^	squint Use -_-
confused Use  o.O O.o	upset Use one or more  >:O  >:-O   >:o   >:-o	curly lips Use  :3
robot Use  :|]	Chris Putnam Use  :putnam:	Shark Use  (^^^)
Penguin Use  <(“)	42 (I have no idea why) Use  :42:

Old School

Using Alt Codes one can achieve:

• Heart
• Spade
• Diamond
• Clover

…and many more.

A list of codes for accented letters and other characters. In order to use these codes, your computer should have a separate numeric keypad on the right.

The list is organized by type. To insert the particular grahic image, hold down the Alt key and typ the number on your keypad. Mac users already know what key to substitute for the Windows Alt key, right? (Opt)

Is there a way to access the layered version of the layout? In the glow theme (blue), the site navigation displays on top of a semi-transparent graphical accent that is flatted into the background image. Ideally, I would like to move that nav highlight area up on the page…. how can I do that without having access to the layered image source file?

I got to foolin’ round with the background image, making my own version. It wasn’t even close. My stucco texture was too course.

Glow Original

Glow by Flash

I honestly wasn’t too clear on what the Elegant Themes user was trying to accomplish. I found the theme contained all the files necessary to move any of the graphical elements anywhere. In my re-constructed file, I’ve labeled and grouped the layers. The end result it a tidy 14+ megabyte PSD (CS4) file.

See in action here: http://coloradorealestateconnection.com

Click on the Calculators link.

• Great Real Estate – Version 1.4 | By Roger Theriault
• Simple Real Estate Pack – Version 1.1.2 | By Max Chirkov
• Next Gen Gallery – Version 1.6.2 | By Alex Rabe

This baby has a lot of publishing power along with mortgage number crunching capability.

Demo »

Download ↓

If you are one of those who find hot air balloons fascinating, you’ve probably enjoyed dreams of going for a balloon ride, or maybe even piloting one. Did you know it’s relatively easy to get involved in ballooning? Getting involved can be as simple as following a balloon and meeting it at its landing spot. There are lots of other ways to get involved, a few of which we explain here:

Buy a balloon ride

Buying a balloon ride for yourself is often the most direct way of learning about the sport. Ask if you can help with the inflation and deflation of the balloon – most passengers enjoy helping which maximizes your experience.

There are lots of companies who offer balloon rides. The flight lasts generally an hour, and you should plan to spend about 3-4 hours for the entire adventure. Flights will take place near dawn and dusk since that’s when the wind is the calmest.

Call a Local Pilot

If there are any local hot air balloon pilots in your area, give them a call and tell them you are interested in crewing. Most balloon pilots are very happy to accept new crew people. You’ll help with all aspects of the flight, and will ride in the chase vehicle as it follows the balloon during flight. Don’t expect to fly, as this very important job will keep you grounded. Your efforts will be appreciated and you’ll learn all about balloon flight quickly.

Go to a Festival

Balloon Festivals are a popular place to watch balloons fly. There are hundreds of balloon festivals around the world each year, with the majority occurring in the summer or fall. Some festivals allow spectators to walk among the balloons, while others may keep spectators away from the pilots and crews.

If you go to a festival, don’t be shy — balloonists are happy to answer your questions, and its possible you’ll find a balloonist that lives near you. We are working on the new version of our Festival Directory, and if you’d like to know when it’s available, just subscribe to our newsletter (in the box to the left).

Find a Balloon Club

There may be a balloon club near you, which would be a great way to find a balloonist to help. Many pilots welcome new crew members, and volunteering to be an a balloon crew is probably the quickest way to learn about the sport.

Air Colorado

Price:

Adults: ~175.00 / Person
Kids: ~60.00

Contact

Web: http://www.aircolorado.com/
Tel: (877) 247.2656
Notes: Upgraded website. This business has gone pro.

Life Cycle Balloons

Price:

Adults: ~245.00/person
Kids: 195.00

Contact

Web: http://www.lifecycleballoons.com
Tel: (303)-532-3318
Notes: Awesome website to go with much higher than average prices. Got to pay for it some how eh?

Fair Wind Hot Air Balloon Rides

Price:

Adults: 195.00
Kids: 145.00

Contact

Web: http://www.hotairballoonridescolorado.com
Tel: (303) 939-9323
Notes: Website is old school, cartoonish – horrible background & needs professional help.

Boulder Outdoor Center

Price:

Adults: 185.00
Kids: 145.00

Contact

Web: http://boc123.com
Tel: (303) 444-8420
Notes: Clean, professional and utilitarian website. Doesn’t inspire but gets the job done.

Wind Tracker Balloon Adventures

Enjoy the spectacular scenery of Northern Colorado from a hot air balloon. Each flight is celebrated with a champagne toast and certificate presentation! We are flying in beautiful Cappadocia Turkey for the 2010 season. Will resume flights in Fort Collins in 2011!

Price:

$225.00 / person

Contact

Web: http://www.windtracker-balloons.com
Tel: (970) 482-4492
Notes: Amateur & butt ugly website.

I’ve been fooling around with the @font-face css selector and have put together a small demo whereby one can simply copy and paste my code to get the effect on ones own website.  If your a WordPress aficionado, as I am, then I’ve included some useful links to WordPress font face plugins.

Demo»

Demo

http://quickcolorado.com/demo/bottom-tab-css-menu/ (opens in new window)

Features

• Includes native layered Photoshop files to enable color/decoration adjustments.
• Easy to edit CSS for size and alignment edits
• Uses ‘Current’ CSS class – compatible with WordPress/Joomla etc.