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About Me

I'm a freelance web expert who loves delivering big results to small businesses. I specialize in website design, e-mail marketing, and internet advertising.

Happy Clients

Matt has dedicated his time and creativity to making the Tustin Garden Club website both functional and beautiful! Matt has responded to every request for modification and periodic updates willingly and expeditiously. I would highly recommend GoldVine to anyone for web design and maintenance.

Anita Zantos
Tustin Garden Club

Very professional, helpful, efficient, knowledgeable, and most importantly - they understand marketing. Matt made a confusing process easy and painless.

Claudia
Marathon Triad

CSS for Beginners: Introduction

Posted in: Blog, CSS, Tutorials by Matt Goldman on November 11, 2010 | 1 Comment

What is CSS?

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets and it can be used to style your HTML files. HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, is responsible for the structure of your document. HTML tags are used to semantically divide your page content into meaningful sections. These sections and elements are then styled, and given layout characteristics via a separate .css file.
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PHP Function that Chooses a Singular or Plural Word based on an Input Number

Posted in: Blog, PHP, Tutorials by Matt Goldman on | No Comments

The other day, I needed a PHP function to display a word either singular or plural based on a number referring to that word. For example, this could be used on a blog post which may have 0 comments, 1 comment, or 2 comments. Feel free to use this in your projects, or modify it as needed.

function word_choice($number, $singular, $plural) {
    if($number == 0 OR $number >= 2) {
        return $number . " " . $plural;
    }else{
        return $number . " " . $singular;
    }
}

//Implementation
$number = 32;

echo word_choice($number, 'comment', 'comments');
//This will show "32 comments"

$number = 1;

echo word_choice($number, 'comment', 'comments');
//This will show "1 comment"

Exclusive Promotion for Newsletter Subscribers

Posted in: Blog, Customer Service by Matt Goldman on October 16, 2010 | No Comments

GoldVine Free Domain Registration Promotion

If you are currently receiving my monthly newsletter….congratulations! You get a free 1 year domain name registration ($24.95 value). Have you been waiting to register your business name as a domain name, or even your personal name? Now is the perfect time to reserve your favorite domain before someone else takes it!

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HTML for Beginners: Introduction

Posted in: Blog, HTML, Tutorials by Matt Goldman on October 5, 2010 | No Comments

An article I was reading recently compared trying to build a website without knowing any HTML to attempting to build a house without knowing what a brick is. It’s extremely useful to know a bit about HTML even if it’s just the basics. In this tutorial series, I hope to give you a basic understanding of HTML and CSS, as well as to point you in the direction of several other great resources for learning about these topics.

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The Effect the Internet is Having on Communities

Posted in: Blog, Branding, Customer Service by Matt Goldman on July 4, 2010 | No Comments

Times are changing, and it’s time for you and your business to adapt. There was a time when customer service wasn’t crucial because if a customer was upset, they didn’t have much reach to spread negative word-of-mouth about your business. Sure, they might have told a friend or two, but that wouldn’t crush your company. Nowadays, no matter who your customers are…with the internet, they can bring about dramatically positive or negative PR towards your company. And with the increasing use of smartphones, it’s even easier for consumers to share a negative (or positive) experience with thousands of listeners from anywhere in the world.

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New Beer Promotion Effective Immediately

Posted in: Blog, Customer Service by Matt Goldman on June 30, 2010 | No Comments

Today, I was thinking about how I could integrate my homebrewing hobby with my freelance business. After coming up with many ridiculous ideas, I’ve finally decided on a new promotion for all new website design clients.

Once you have hired me to design/redesign your website, I will also ask a few questions about your favorite beers. I’ll go on to craft a custom top-notch beer recipe and brew it while I work on your new website. Upon completion of your website, there’ll be one more deliverable that wasn’t included before (a batch of hand-crafted homebrew made just for you…..with custom labels and everything)!

Mmmm…..websites have never tasted so darn good!

Here’s a Quick Way to Improve Your E-Mail Campaigns

Posted in: Blog, E-Mail Marketing by Matt Goldman on June 1, 2010 | 2 Comments

E-mail spam is something that everyone HATES, but as soon as they start sending their own e-mail campaigns, they don’t consider it to be spam. Sending to a list of random “leads” may be common ground for many businesses using direct mail, but should not be considered when using e-mail marketing. Here are some guidelines you can follow to make sure you’re getting the most out of your e-mail campaigns:

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What Every Business Owner Should Know About Website Maintenance

Posted in: Blog, Website Maintenance by Matt Goldman on May 29, 2010 | No Comments

The benefits of website maintenance are measurable and are being proven daily by successful websites. These days it’s impossible to make a profit from your website if it doesn’t constantly feature fresh content. If you own an online shop, you should be adding new products or featuring different products with promotions. If you have knowledge to share with the community, you should be writing periodic blog posts or e-mail newsletters. Every website is different and requires a different type of maintenance. However, all websites do have one thing in common – if they aren’t updated with fresh content….they will FAIL!

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