Creating a custom background has become more of an ART rather than a SCIENCE since a serious judgment call needs to be made as to what size to make your background message. If you make it viewable to everyone, it becomes virtually worthless because it’s so narrow. The next size up can look oddly narrow in many browsers but be functional and the reverse is true if you try to accommodate the design for very wide screens.

Here are some current screen resolution usage statistics:
100% of all computers will show 41px on either side of the new Twitter layout.
72.7% of all computers are 1280×800px screen resolution or higher and will show 112px on each side.
28.8% of all computers are 1440×900px screen resolution or higher and will show 180px on each side.
Forget about the 1920×1080 Screen Resolution folks.

The safest bet is to design your background for the 1280px screens, but if your viewers are more likely to have newer computers, you may want to consider the 1440px option since the message will have more impact.

If you opt for the 1440px format, keep it simple, don’t include large amounts of text and make sure to tweet your urls and phone number to ensure that all your twitter users have a chance of seeing it, instead of just the users visiting your full size profile page.

So, if your current Twitter account has a branded background design built to fit a 1280px or 1440px screen for the old Twitter, it may be time for a healthy update.

People forget that websites are not a fine art project, they are a tool. There will be some visual compromises in order to attain the end goal of Search Engine Optimization and an great user experience!

They also sometimes forget they hired a “professional”. While the concept of a site’s design is often created from direct client input, a “micro-management” gear also tends to kick in during the process.

Here is a brilliant look at the all-too-frequent reality of the client/web developer creative process.

Off the soap box for now… and back to work!

Now that you have a video, own your content, control your brand experience and increase your brand recognition with a motion graphic intro and exit. What is a motion graphic?   It’s like the short Pixar clip you see before the movie starts and there you go.

Click on the video below to see an example of a video intro and outro:

Imprint your name and logo every time the video is played with a motion graphic intro and exit and make it easy for viewers to find you by providing website information.

Remember, your video might be linked or embedded on other websites or come up on a Youtube search – so make sure the viewer knows whose content they are looking at.

Web Marketing Therapy practices what we preach and can help you create this easy tool for ensuring solid brand recognition.

If your entry does not automatically redirect to an address with “www” in it (i.e. www. WebMarketingTherapy.com), then you have a case of Search Engine Jekyll & Hyde — the search engines are seeing the “www” and “non-www” addresses as two different sites!

The main issue here is that this could significantly affect your page ranking because the traffic to your actual site is divided depending on how visitors type in your url address.

Using what is called a 301 URL redirect, you can easily divert yourwebsite.com to www.yourwebsite.com.

To make sure Dr. Jekyll stays being just Dr. Jekyll, add (or have your webmaster add) a .htaccess file to your hosting server containing the following code and you’re are done!:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.yourwebsite\.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.yourwebsite.com/$1 [L,R=301]

Of course everyone wants to get the best price possible, but there is some degree of truth in the old adage “you get what you pay for”.

When striking a balance between your budget and the services you seek, be fair and understand that website programming and creative design take time and are skilled professions.

Make sure you have a comprehensive service contract with your vendor outlining exactly what is to be done so that there are no questions later about what is included in the negotiated price. This serves to protect both parties and creates the environment for a healthier relationship.