Category: General News


The World Wide Web is the great equalizer in the marketplace. A well designed website is the public face of an organization or small business. It must be pleasing and present that organization’s or business’ persona. Web design considerations are an important factor in reaching the consumer.

There are many things to ponder as one considers the design of a website. Is the website for E-commerce, organizational, Informational, an infomercial? It can also be a combination of these things, but it must fulfill the requirements of an organization in an efficient manner. The purpose will determine the design in many ways, and a Marietta Web Designer can help meld these purposes.

E-commerce Solutions
E-commerce is one way for a small business or an organization to increase the market they can reach with a minimal investment. The electronic store front is a business model that offers low overhead, while allowing an organization to reach a much larger audience than in a traditional brick and mortar establishment; but with this form of Web presence comes a responsibility to protect the customer with a secure web server.

Most web hosting services provide some form of verification or authentication service to protect the customer and let the consumer know they can shop at the site with a minimum of concern for personal data security. A merchant account with shopping cart software and a payment gateway are also necessities. Due to the involved nature of E-commerce, professional site administration should definitely be considered to avoid pitfalls, complications, and allow for worry free productive operations.

The Infomercial
The Infomercial site, that is meant to present a single product or a palette of products in detail, is where a Marietta web designer can make the difference. Presentation to make the public aware of a product or service can make or break a product. Considering the investment to bring a product to market, an experienced professional designer is really a necessity in this media age.

The consumer expects high production value in the media world of the Web. A professional designer knows how to insure a product is presented to get the public’s attention. Part of the designer’s job is to infuse the product with the organization’s personality while presenting the product in a dramatic fashion and incorporating modern Web technologies for the most impact.

Information and Organization Oriented Websites

Information is what the Web was born to share. Properly presented, a website can help to inform the public about an organization’s goals or something they think the public should know. Maybe a news organization wants to make its presence felt on the Web. Getting one’s message out there is what the blogosphere is all about.

Information can act as a draw to a website increasing traffic, and exposure for an organization. This requires keeping content new and exciting. A website based on a Content Management System or CMS like WordPress can be the solution that allows a flexible fluid environment with the ability of the visitor to take part in the information exchange. This interactivity might be the draw that brings the visitor back.

Organizations like clubs, civic organizations, homeowner associations, and governmental entities can use their websites to provide information and services to their customers dynamically. These groups can service their customers more efficiently with a well-organized attractive website.

A Marietta web designer can provide the expertise and design ability to give your small business or organization the Web presence it needs to perform exceptionally for the customer, making your business or organization successful.

This article was written by Forrest Watkins, an expert
in the Web Design / HTML category at www.yoexpert.com

 

 

Photo credit: W. Warby http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/

Bob Parsons, CEO of GoDaddy, has made the news lately, by “ridding” the world of a problem elephant in Zimbabwe, then creating a promotional video portraying himself as a hero who helped feed the local community (elephant meat).  Now we are finding out that the elephant he’s pictured with is very likely a young female.  http://news.discovery.com/animals/parsons-elephant-killing-110404.html

 

This is not sustainable hunting, nor does really help the community.  Elephants remember, grieve and retaliate against losses.  This is particularly true of females, who form complex family groups.

True, Zimbabwe’s “animal management” policies may need some review, but what was Bob thinking?  How could he think this would be good PR?  And what does this have to do with websites?

Well, GoDaddy has  long been recognized for the biker chick image and the in your face website (you can’t make a simple account update without being bombarded by sales offers).   And Bob Parsons has infused the business with his own personality.   While passion and personality in business are generally rewarded, I’m thinking he’s gone over the top.  And I’m thinking I don’t like the GoDaddy personality. Or the Bob Parsons personality.  After all, if success were the only measure of likeability, we’d all be fans of Donald Trump.

What to do?  Well, the thing is, I have several domain names registered at GoDaddy, and so do most of my clients. Their customer service is second to none and, while the website is annoying, it gets the job done.  And, domain registrars have a way of making it difficult to change.  That’s why, in the past, I’ve advised clients against having their domain registered with their web host.  Because if you want to part ways with your web host, you can move your website, but it may be more difficult to change your domain name registrar.  At least, that was my thinking, and it proved true in a couple instances, when clients had fly-by-night web hosts or web hosts that help you construct (and then own) your website.

But that was then. I’m re-thinking.  Bluehost has been good to me.  As a reputable web host, I have no reason to think they’d make it difficult for me if I need to make a change in the future.  So, I plan to try moving my domain names, and see how it goes.  I’ll report back on how this is handled by both GoDaddy and Bluehost.

Oh and…  I will NOT be recommending NoDaddy to my new clients!

SurveyMonkey vs. SurveyGizmoRecently I decided to set up a survey for prospective clients – to try to find out what’s important to them in a website or web designer.  I did some homework to find the appropriate online survey tool.  I thought I’d share what I’ve learned.

 

Caution!

When looking for any free tool or service to use online, you have to be careful.  When you use the word “free” in any search, you get results that include junk, bait-and-switch, and even malicious websites.

 

The Good News

On the other hand, plenty of legitimate companies offer free services alongside their paid ones.  The free services are meant as an introductory offer for individuals or micro-businesses.  The paid services are more comprehensive and higher volume – meant for companies who use them regularly in their core business.

There are some terrific online software companies that use this business model. MailChimp (for eNewsletters) comes to mind since they are easily my favorite.  They’ve earned my loyalty by offering generous free services to the “little guys”, including fantastic customer service.  What’s in it for them?  Well, I’ll say nice things about them, make banana jokes with them, and refer my clients.  And one day – when my ship comes in – I might become a full-on paying customer.

 

Survey Software I Tested

Back to the world of online surveys.  Two of the reputable ones are SurveyMonkey (yes, monkeys are “in” right now) and SurveyGizmo. There are others, but I concentrated on these two.

 

SurveyMonkey Pro

I started by creating a free account with SurveyMonkey, because I see their surveys all over the web, and I assume they are a great deal for paid accounts.  It was very easy and quick to set up a survey.  I think anyone could do it – the user interface is simple and intuitive.

 

SurveyMonkey Con

On the other hand, when I wanted to customize my SurveyMonkey survey by adding my colors and branding, I was enticed by all of the features they promote, only to find that each feature I wanted was only available for a paid account.  Now, in all fairness, this is part of the business model – offer limited free services, then entice people to pay for an upgrade.  After all, we’re all trying to make a living here.  But SurveyMonkey seems to excel at leading you down an interesting path that ends with “Upgrade Now”.  I felt a bit like a rat in a maze.

 

SurveyGizmo Pro

So, I tried SurveyGizmo, who seems to have many, many more features with the free account. In very little time I had a professional-looking survey with my own branding ready to launch.  I’ll stay with SurveyGizmo!

 

SurveyGizmo Con

The bad news – SurveyGizmo’s interface is not as user-friendly.  In part because they offer SO many options, it can be confusing.  Some of the customization I did required a bit of knowledge of HTML and CSS, and I actually had to read some instructions.

 

The Bottom Line

SurveyGizmo offers many more services to the free account user, and is better suited to folks like myself, who have some knowledge and want some customization.  SurveyMonkey is a good choice for those who want a quick and easy set-up, and don’t need branding or customization.

 

Resources

I found a very nice comparison chart of free survey software in this blog post at freesourcing.org. It compares SurveyMonkeySurveyGizmo and Zoomerang.

Go to website: Georgia Native AzaleasEarl Sommerville has been collecting, propagating and photographing Georgia’s Native Azaleas for almost 50 years.

This very simple Starter Website has only one purpose:  to show off his beautiful photo collection.

What’s unique about the website is the technology used.  Cool Iris takes your images (via an RSS feed) directly from your Picasa, Flickr, or other collection, and displays them in this stunning, lightning fast photo browser.  You have to look at Earl’s photo page to see what I mean!

Have you noticed the little yellow review stars appearing in Google search results?   Google is picking up reviews from various places on the web, and inserting them into the RESULTS pages. This means that, before a user even decides to click on your website, they are seeing a rating of your service or product – assuming one exists.  I don’t know about you, but those little stars influence what I click on!

One of my author clients has only one review on one website for her new book.  But it’s a credible website, and Google has “scraped” it.  That means she’s benefiting quite a bit from just ONE review!

A recent survey conducted in the UK and US found  that 69 percent of respondents trusted online reviews as much as personal recommendations. See article for details: Local Consumers Trust Earned by Having More Reviews – Website Magazine.

As small business owners, we would do well to develop networking or service follow-up routines that include asking satisfied customers rate and review our products or services online.

Did you know that there are only a handful of fonts that are considered “web safe”?
These are the fonts that can be rendered by most people’s computers without any special “work-arounds”.   Web designers just use HTML or CSS to tell the browser what font to use, and that’s that.  You can see these web safe fonts at the ampsoft website.

But wait?!  I’ve seen lots of fancy fonts online!
Yes, these are generally used in titles and logos.  For the most part, these special fonts are really not text, but IMAGES of text. Instead of typing in the text and formatting it, designers create an image of the text in Photoshop, then place it on the web page. You can tell whether a font on a web page is text or an image: Just try to highlight and copy the text (left click and drag over the text).  If  you can’t  copy the text, you’re looking at an image.  If you right-click on the image, you should see a context menu that allows you to save the image.

Text or image, it looks the same. Why is this important?
The important thing to know is that search engines can’t read an image.  So, using images as a replacement for fonts is a tricky business.  Overdo it and it will effect your search rankings.  And here are a couple more reasons to be judicious about replacing text with images.  Screen readers can’t read images;  If all the headings on your web page are done with images, your website will not be accessible to people with special needs.  Also, too many images will slow down you pages.

Web designers love fonts! It’s frustrating to sacrifice beautiful design for search engine friendly design, or vice versa. This is a problem we talk about, and there are some improvements on the way.  But often they require special skills or extra, unnecessary code.

Google Fonts

The folks at Google have offered us a partial solution. By storing some special fonts and code online, and allowing us to link to it, they’ve made some new fonts available to web designers. You can see them at Google Web Fonts:    http://www.google.com/webfonts. Your web designer should be able to implement any of these fonts byt following the instructions provided by Google.  Very most cool!

 

BeauCreations Web Design just launched a website for Terri Howell, Certified Court Reporter from Rome, Georgia.  Terri needed a simple, affordable website with a form that helps clients schedule court reporting services. No bells or whistles, just an online presence that helps potential customers to find her locally.

More on Starter Websites

OK, I think this just became available tonight.  I had signed up to be notified as soon as it’a ready – bet their servers are seeing a lot of traffic just now from folks like me.

Greplin is a search engine for your stuff.  It indexes your email, tweets, LinkedIn contacts, Facebook friends, Google calendar, and more. Then you can search all  of these places at once!  No more lost files, misplaced emails.  Check up on friends without even going to Facebook (it will show you their status updates, right in the search results).  Very cool.

You have to give it permission to access all of these accounts – a little scary, but hey – nothing’s scarier than Facebook!

https://www.greplin.com/

Maintenance Cooperative, Inc.  is in the business of cleaning theaters.  What sets them apart from other janitorial services is the professional integrity that owner Jay Scovill brings to the table.   Theater managers know they can count on Jay to make sure that things are done right, their facilities are secure, and everyone involved is treated fairly.

BeauCreations Web Design recently re-created the Maintenance Cooperative website.  It was a pleasure to work with Jay, who took the time to educate me about his company values, business model, and future plans.  Jay had the following goals for his new website:

  • Design: Update the look while preserving the original logo artwork
  • SEO: Get “found” by search engines for terms like “theater cleaning”, and “janitorial service theaters”
  • Content: Update copy, draw attention to the certifications held by staff
  • Functionality:  Improve navigation and online forms.  Add a training video.

While these goals have been met, the website is still a work in progress. In particular, it may take months for the SEO improvements to be fully realized.  However, we are tracking search engine results, and have seen a marked improvement; Maintenance Cooperative is in first or second position for several of our keyphrases already!

 

I just posted my web designer profile to a new (new to me) local service listing site called Thumbtack.

This is my listing page:  Marietta Georgia Web Designer

I don’t know much about thumbtack.com, but the user interface is great, attitude seems friendly, they’re nation-wide (but specialize in local search), AND they connect you (help you list your service) on Craigslist.  Maybe they’re “up-and-coming”!