When Should You Push The Design Envelope?

Jun 122010
 

In the last post, Rob talked about how a “big time fancy design firm” came up with a “blue text on a black background” layout, which can only be difficult to read because of the low contrast between black and blue.

It’s generally agreed that the higher the contrast and resolution, the easier text is to read, with black text on a white background at high dpi (dots per inch) being the easiest. In fact, newspapers and books can achieve higher contrast ratios than a computer monitor, so they seem easier to read. Text displayed at 150 dpi is twice as sharp as a typical video monitor, but HALF the resolution a basic laser printer achieves. Continue reading »

Focus Wins Over Pretty Design

May 182010
 

Something I often say, “If you don’t have a business plan for your website, you don’t have a website.” Something I have been saying all of 2010, “Make your site do something.”

Yesterday one of my coworkers sent me a link to a comic titled “How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell“. I’m sure many of you have seen it, but if not, it’s about how a site owner hires a webmaster to redesign their site. The webmaster does a great job, the client loves it, but then pecks away at it, slowly turning it into a Frankenstein of a website, just the way it looked when it started. Continue reading »

The Intranet Enhancement List

Apr 132010
 

After just making one new portal go live very early yesterday morning, I added the finishing touches to my teams project plan for enhancing yet another portal. This one is a big deal. It’s the main portal for the company, and it averages over 150,000 page views a day.

What does a large company with such a busy intranet find important? Below are some of the key items we are going after. Continue reading »

Roger, Copy that Body Treatment, Over

Mar 162010
 

When building a new webpage for your site it’s good to keep in mind some basic necessities. Looking at just the content, and not considering things like navigation or design here is a list of the basic elements. Continue reading »

How Much Does it Cost to Build a Website?

Feb 052010
 

Recently asked on how much it costs to build a 75 page website on what I will call Subject A, I thought this might be a good time to explain a way to calculate this. Possibly even, on how not to calculate this.

I get this question repeatedly, “How much does it cost to build a basic website?” My answer? It’s $10 plus my hourly rate if you want anything extra on the site. Example of $10 website without extras. Anyone want one? Continue reading »

Testing Your Call to Action

Jan 262010
 

Does your website have a primary call to action? I hope so. Getting your website to “do something” should be a goal for all website owners. Getting new visitors to see your call to action, or to even act on that call to action though, is the real trick to having a successful website.

You’re Paying for that Call to Action More than Once!

Assuming you have a call to action on your website, are you tracking how often it gets clicked? A call to action on your website should be managed as if you were paying for every impression of it being there. You are after all,  paying for it in several different ways. Continue reading »

The Internet is Not the Local Yellow Pages

Oct 212009
 

Originally titled “Why Build a Website for Ten People?”, I’m hoping this post attracts the attention of small business owners who feel their company website was a complete waste of time and money.

How many small business owners have pathetically low visitor counts to their websites? Most. How many business owners are completely over having a website because their website does next to nothing besides having a small online presence? Most. A message to those business owners: The internet is not the local yellow pages, so don’t expect to website to work like a large yellow page ad. Continue reading »

New CPA Network White Fire

Oct 012009
 

Venturing into the affiliate zone? I don’t do too many “How to make money” posts, but I’m sure it’s on the mind for many of you. Personally, I’m a banner ad, product, or service kind of guy. CPA or affiliate sites can work wonders though, especially if you do it right. So I thought I would mention a new CPA network White Fire Media.

Want to know how CPA ads can work well? See my post Targeting Sources for Better Visitors, and look for the paragraph title Sister Sites. It will give you a great hint.

What does CPA mean? CPA simply means cost per action. An action could be a purchase or something as simple as an new registered email. It’s nice to get paid just for referring. White Fire Media is a CPA Network for publishers and advertisers. Continue reading »

A Site Without a Market Analysis

Sep 282009
 

Doing some free website reviews on a webmaster forum this morning, I came across the classic case of time and money spent with no market analysis. The site owner has a pretty good looking site, has a product competitively priced, and a small budget for marketing. The problem? It’s not making sales as expected, and he is having a hard time getting visitors. If he had only done a little market analysis work first.

A Market Analysis is Essential

Starting a website without a market analysis is like buying a lottery ticket, and that ticket cost the price of developing your site. Have any of you gotten rich by buying lottery tickets? The odds are kind of against you here. Continue reading »

Take Ten Steps, Look Back To See If They Paid

Jul 212009
 

When I first started out on my own I worked in the restaurant industry. I started as a dishwasher when I was seventeen, and filled just about every position you could do in a restaurant after that. What I liked most was waiting tables because you are paid by tips. A good waiter will pick up on every bit of advice they can get when it comes to increasing tips, and I had a ton of live by rules. One of favorites was knowing that customers hate to wait to pay the bill. Continue reading »

 Older Entries
© 2012 Best Web Image Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha