Gregg H. Hawkins

Microsoft Corporation 1978

The question is, Would you have invested? This is a picture of Microsoft Corporation in 1978. I don’t know any information regarding the picture as it was presented to my Information Systems class here at Cal Poly. Some of you or maybe even many of you have seen this picture before. I haven’t seen it before and thought it was pretty interesting. Can you point out which person is Bill Gates?

Many businesses have their own websites to promote their services and/or products. There are 10 rules that a business should follow when creating their business website. It relates to the post I made in July about the 10 must haves of an eCommerce website. It’s definitely a great idea to have a business homepage, but if you don’t provide the right information you may lose visitors and potential customers. There are many important elements that businesses forget to include on their business homepage. Don’t be that business. Make the right decisions!

1. Who You Are - Does your business homepage have a clearly defined logo that clearly depicts who you are? Is there contact information visible on the homepage so people don’t have to search for your contact page? Make it easy for your potential customers to recognize your business and contact you without having to search your website.
2. What Do You Do? - Make sure your business homepage have a mission statement and/or a vision. People want to know what your business does, what you want to accomplish, and how you’re going to accomplish the goals you state. Let people know that they can use your services and trust your company.
3. Search Field - Does your business homepage have a visible search field? Include a search box so people can search your website for the specific information or product they’re looking for. No one wants to stay on a website where they can’t find the information they’re looking for. You just lost yourself a potential customer.
4. Color Scheme - Is the color scheme of your business homepage professional? Don’t use the wackiest colors and brightest colors you can. Yes, they do draw attention, but they will also drive away your customers faster than you can snap your fingers. Font that hurts my eyes is a definite turn off and I’ll take my business elsewhere.
5. Include Photos - Resize your photos with proper photo editing programs. Resizing that 1280 x 1024 photo by dragging the corners in your CMS (Content Management System) still makes your page load slow! The image may also look distorted and messy. Large images and long page load times is a negative and customers don’t want to wait any longer to purchase their products.
6. No Flash! - Flash only websites can take a long time to load and for a business selling products it isn’t necessary. If you’re selling products you’re not trying to win a design award, you’re trying to make a profit. Create a business homepage that’s sleek, professional, and trustworthy.
7. Too Large - Is your business homepage too large to fit on the average persons monitor? If you have to scroll left and right, that’s a definite no no. Either create a fluid design (one that adjusts to the size of the browser) or create a fixed width for your design. Many websites have a fixed with of 800 pixels, however you may want to go a little smaller just in case.
8. Update Frequently - If you have a current news section on your business homepage, but it isn’t updated frequently - get rid of it! No one wants to read information that happened 5 months ago, they want up to date events! Either get rid of the whole section or stay up to date with the information you provide.
9. Easy Navigation - Your business homepage should be user friendly and easy to navigate. If people can’t find what they’re looking for on your homepage they’ll leave. Create an outline of what pages you want to include on your homepage and what information will be provided.
10. Get rid of it! - If you don’t have anything for a page on your website get rid of it. People don’t care how many more pages you have on your website than your competitors. Don’t create a lot of fluff. Don’t mislead your visitors who want to find valuable information.

Source: Download Squad

A while back the Best Damn Sports Show Period teamed up with Hooters to name The Hooters Best Damn Dream Girl! They selected 16 girls from all around the nation to compete for the swimsuit edition for the Hooters’ magazine. Last night I was watching FSN and came across the show introducing all of the Hooter’s girls. The winner to appear on the cover of the swimsuit edition of the Hooter’s magazine ended up being Anna Burns from Fayetteville, North Carolina. She was voted the winner by fans on the online poll. There were over 320,000 votes cast on the internet.

Note: Sorry about the formatting of the post being all screwy. I can’t figure out how to get the pictures and paragraphs for each picture to show up on their own line.

Introducing the Hooters Girls!

Ambar Martinez is from Caracas, Venezuela. She’s 26 years old and 5 feet 9 inches teall. She has brown eyes and dark brown hair. Ambar has a nice body and quite the exotic look!

Anna Burns is from Fayetteville, North Carolina. She’s 24 years old and 5 feet 6 inches tall. She has brown eyes and brown hair. Anna was named Hooter’s Best Damn Dream Girl!

Beverly Mullins is from Tampa Florida. She’s 21 years old and 5 feet 6 inches tall. She has brown eyes and brown hair. Beverly has that innocent look every man looks for.

Breanne Ashley is from Atlanta, Georgia. She’s 21 years old and 5 feet 3 inches tall. She has blue eyes and brown hair. Breanne’s captivating eyes separate her from the rest.

Grace Espinosa is from Baton Rouge, Los Angeles. She’s 25 years old and 5 feet 6 inches tall. She has brown eyes and brown hair. Grace looks like the take home to mom type of girl - nice and innocent.

Kat Longa is from Norfolk, Virginia. She’s 23 years old and 5 feet 6 inches tall. She has brown hair and brown eyes. Kat’s skin has a nice golden tone that all the girls wish they had.

Linsey Toole is from Lakeland, Florida. She’s 21 years old and 5 feet 7 inches tall. She has hazel eyes and blonde hair. Linsey is the first Hooter on the list with hazel eyes and blonde hair. She also spells her name without the letter d!

Martina Andrews is from Peoria, Arizona. She’s 24 years old and 5 feet 6 inches tall. She has brown eyes and brown hair. Martina has posed for Maxim and has two tattoos - one on her back and one on her stomach.

Michelle Nunes is from Las Vegas, Nevada. She’s 23 years old and 5 feet 8 inches tall. She has green eyes and brown hair. Michelle definitely has a unique look and her eyes bring out the best of her facial features.

Natalie Pandorf is from Clearwater, Florida. She’s age 25 and 5 feet 9 inches tall. She has green eyes and blonde hair. Natalie definitely looks good in a swimsuit!

Nichole Kelly is from Rochester, New York. She’s age 24 and is 5 feet 3 inches tall. She has hazel eyes and blonde hair. Nichole is very stunning. Her eyes, blonde hair, and smile bring out the best in her.

Nicole Del Valle is from Las Vegas, Nevada. She’s age 22 and 5 feet 7 inches tall. She has brown eyes and brown hair. Nicole’s curves and backside aren’t hard on the eyes at all.

Randi Jackson is from Jacksonville, Florida. She’s age 26 and 5 feet 5 inches tall. She has blue eyes and brown hair. Randi has the best eyes out of the bunch. Just wow.

Sarah Coggin is from Mesa, Arizona. She’s age 26 and 5 feet 9 inches tall. She has brown eyes and blonde hair. Sarah is just crazy beautiful. Enough said.

Stacie Burns is from Pedro, Texas. She’s age 25 and 5 feet 8 inches tall. She has blue eyes and brown hair. Stacie was a tomboy growing up and tossed hails of bails around. She’s a sports talk radio host and her favorite sport is basketball.

Toni Romano is from Baltimore, Maryland. She’s age 19 and 5 feet 5 inches tall. She has brown eyes and brown hair. Toni is the youngest in the fleet, but her looks are quite deceiving.

MSN Fox Sports Complete Slide Show: View the Slideshow