General articles on marketing, design and web development

Why should I care that you document your work properly?

Every once in a while a client (usually someone who is in marketing) will wonder why I bother to say ‘I document my work properly’ on my home page and in videos. They think it’s a minor detail; that it’s just not something clients will care about. But that’s exactly my point! I put that sentence front and center because it is an important benefit to the work we do here. And I’ve noticed that most clients need to be […]

New Isn’t Always Better

There is a tendency for all businesses to want to ‘refresh’ their web sites periodically. I get this. Every ad campaign needs periodic updating and let’s face it, for most of you your web site is your single biggest ad campaign. But what’s frustrating me recently is a new wave of ‘updates’ that are actually less user-friendly. For example, have you taken a recent look at the NetFlix web site? It now has a re-design that is seriously frustrating. Yes, […]

Self-Promotion

I used to tell people that a web-based business was like farming. Unfortunately, people took that to mean that, after a hectic period of building the site (planting), you basically just waited around for the orders to come in. But what I meant was that a web site is like… FARMING. 😀 Anyone who has done any real farming knows that you have to work at it every day in order to get any kind of harvest. Web sites are […]

Content. Privacy. Nosy Questions.

I routinely work on sites where there is lots of ‘stuff’ my clients aren’t even aware of. Maybe it was left from a previous employee. Maybe it was put there for some ‘temporary’ purpose and then forgotten about. Occasionally, it’s even junk deposited by some malware. So one of the first things I do when I start work on a site is take a mental inventory and if I see anything that looks unrelated to the site’s goal, I’ll ask […]

Four Types Of Web Sites

Every site is an individual, of course. But the truth is this: your web site almost certainly focuses on one or more of the following: credibility, information, transactions and advertising. Credibility: I put this first because that’s the primary driver for many of you to have a site. I often use the phrase ‘business card’ for this. When people look at the web site it creates an immediately positive impression which makes people want to contact you—just like a classic, […]

Before. After.

I recently re-did the site theme, which I mentioned in the September 2013 newsletter.

As I said in the article, “if I don’t keep my site fresh, how can I recommend that you do the same?” Here is a discussion of why I did this, how I did it, and how such changes can benefit you.

Know What You Want The Site To Do

Many site owners conflate a good looking site with a site that will get lots of responses. The two are not the same. This post discusses understanding the difference between a site which creates a good image for you and one that will encourage the most contacts.

Tweaking The Budget

I’m thinking about sending this along to every small client on a tight budget. It’s sort of my ‘pre-emptive first strike’ on cost over-runs. Maybe it’s asking for trouble. But it’s what every guy who does what I do is thinking

Panda. Penguin. The SEO ‘I Told You So’ Topic

Many site owners are really unhappy by the changes Google has made to it’s ranking algorithms over the past year. Each major change Google makes has a nickname. Last years biggee was ‘Panda’ and this year it’s ‘Penguin’. Two site owners I’ve spoken with recently described their problem as ‘The Panda Virus’. For many years Google has been telling everyone who would listen about their intentions. Obviously they don’t give up the specific algorithm, but they do tell you their […]

Do You Need To Be Comped? (Part I)

The first in a series of articles on why web sites cost what they do and how to provide great value. There are a lot of reasons why big sites cost a lot. Frankly, I don’t think most small businesses realize how expensive a commercial site really is. One basic reason sites are pricey is that they are always comprehensively pre-planned, or ‘comped’. A mock up is created, typically in Photoshop, of every page and all the key states on […]

Best Not Viewed In Internet Explorer

Something I often forget to mention to new clients is this: Don’t view the progress of your new site in Internet Explorer (IE). After I call a client with a first draft, I usually send a desperate e-mail: DON’T LOOK AT IT IN IE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I, like many of my colleagues hate IE. We don’t develop in IE or work in IE. What we do is develop in Firefox or Chrome and then, when everything is ready to go, we go […]

Think Of Me Like Your Bartender

I get a lot of clients who simply hire me to do a job; like a plumber. Don’t get me wrong, that’s completely valid; sometimes you just need a leak plugged. However, if your site is integral to your business, I’m going to suggest that you think of me more like your accountant; or better still? Your favourite bartender. A good bartender is a guy you can trust. He’s seen it all and keeps his mouth shut. He doesn’t lecture […]

Hi-Res: What You Should Know About Artwork

One of the first thing’s I will ask new clients for is ‘hi-res’ and ‘original’ artwork. And then I get a cheerful e-mail with lots of PDFs or JPGs attached. And then we have to have a discussion. Hi-res is a term that gets bandied about a lot, but the easy way to think about this is Print Quality. Web graphics are almost always of much lower quality. They are highly compressed in order to load the page quickly but […]

A Word About Color

Matching colors between all your print and web products is critical to your brand. If the colors aren’t consistent, it makes you look unprofessional. Unfortunately, ‘color’ is a complex and often painful topic. It’s so complicated, I’m not going to waste your time even trying to explain how it works. I’m just going to tell you what to do to avoid trouble. But first I’m going to tell you why it’s so often an issue. The main problem, I think, […]

Why Fonts Are Boring (Part II)

Now as I said in my last post, there are newer technologies which expand the universe of fonts. These are javascript libraries which grab fonts from the cloud. Some are free (Google.) And some are paid subscriptions of a few dollars a month from companies like Adobe. Guess which tend to look nicer? But since they are cloud-based, there are two small risks: First, that your site will render a bit more slowly since each page needs to make an […]

Why Fonts Are Boring (Part I)

You may have noticed that there is a same-i-ness to many web sites and pages. Much of this is a good thing. How rough would it be if all cars did not have the steering wheel, brakes and so on all in the same place? So having certain conventions makes your site much more comfy for users. That said, some of these conventions are more like constraints that came out of the dawn of the vast Interweb. And fonts are […]

All Browsers Are Not Created Equal

You should realise that every web browser has its own unique personality. Which is a polite way of saying that your web site will look slightly differently on Firefox vs. Chrome vs. Safari vs. Internet Explorer. I won’t bore you with the reasons why. Suffice it to say that it is borne out of the intense competition between the various players when the Internet was young. The reason it concerns you, the web site owner, is that it affects the […]

Ask Not What Your Website Can Do For You…

From the moment you contemplate a new site, think about how much time you can invest to make it successful; both during and after development. A well implemented site will bring you more business, improve your image and all those other good things. But not without ongoing effort. A lot of people think of a web site like a new car: even if it’s expensive, once paid for, the fun begins the moment you drive it off the lot. Unfortunately, […]