Archive for the ‘Web Site Information’ Category
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
I need a new website, but I don’t know which kind to choose? The designer is telling me I can have either a completely custom one-of-a-kind website or a Content Management System, but I don’t really know what they mean?
So let’s discuss this . . .
A Custom one-of-a-kind website is just that. No one else will have the same design, layout, etc. The designer uses the HTML and CSS languages to bring your vision to life. There are no templates, no set structure or skeleton to work with, just a blank canvas and you & your designer’s imagination. If you want your website to resemble your desk, a blueprint, a spinning globe, or even a pizza box. . . you can do that. Of course it always depends on the level of expertise and knowledge your designer possesses, but truly the sky is the limit in the case of a custom website.
Yang to the Ying i.e. the negative to the positive. . . if you need to make changes, you better brush up on your foreign languages ’cause you’ll be doin’ a lot of corresponding. . . with your computer that is. You gotta know code, at the very least HTML and CSS in order to make changes and on top of that you’ll need to have a program such as dreamweaver installed on your local computer and know how to work the program or there will be no changes here. I hope you have LOTS of extra time on your hands.
Now if you don’t need to make changes very often, this is great, especially if you host your domain with the designer. At Y Desygn if you use our hosting, we make up to 2 hours of changes each month for free.
Or you can use a Content Management System (CMS) such as Joomla or Wordpress. These are theme driven or in other, less pc terms TEMPLATED. Now just because it is a template, doesn’t mean it can’t be custom. When you are looking at CMS themes, you want to look past the logos, colors, images, and text. These will all change or not depending on your preferences. What you want to focus your attention on is the structure. Kind of like when you are looking at a house. If someone else is living in the house, you look past their couch, paint on the walls (at least try), and sometimes even what’s on the floor. You envision how your stuff would look arranged in the room with the RIGHT paint color and flooring, the flow of the house. Do I like where the kitchen is situated? Do I like the open concept design? Or the bedrooms all on the second floor? This is how we need to look at the CMS, just look at the structure, will your information, pictures, colors, etc. look good in this “space”?
Yang to the Ying, in other words, the positive - If you need to make changes on a regular basis, there is an admin panel that you can login to to add or take away content, add or take away pictures, etc. etc. You can create blog posts, you can manage comments and basically your website. You don’t need the designer’s help, unless of course you royally screw up and delete your site or some other nightmarish scenario.
Another positive of the CMS is that your blog is directly connected to your website, people don’t have to go to a different domain or subdomain to get to it, nor does the brand change from page to page, it all stays very consistent.
This is a brief overview of the two styles of websites. Please let us know if you have any questions and we will be happy to help you figure out the right software for your next adventure!
Tags: Blog, CMS, Content Management System, CSS, Custom Website, HTML, Joomla, Wordpress
Posted in Uncategorized, Web Site Information | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Just a few years ago I would have considered myself a perfectionist. No work of mine could leave my desk until it was as near perfect as I could get it. I would painstakingly go over it and over it until I had exhausted myself. Needless to say, it was not a fun process.
So what changed? And why am I writing on perfection today? Well, what changed is that I was so stressed and so anxious that I was driving myself and everyone around me nuts. I mean absolute nuts! Through a series of serendipitous events, I went to a workshop that changed my life and has taught me how to release that intense need and pressure that I apply to myself. And the reason I am writing on this topic today is because I see so many small business owners doing exactly what I was doing to myself a short time ago.
There is a fine line between perfection and paralysis when it comes to getting yourself out there. Believe me I have dealt with my fair share as an artist and writer. I have fought many a demon as I prepared to release my soul to the world.
As a business owner, you want the world to have a certain perception about your company and product, however, if you can’t let it go out into the world because it has to be at the highest standard, they won’t have any perception of you anyway. Not to mention the valuable time, energy, and resources you are wasting.
As a business that helps other businesses, we have seen many a client who couldn’t put their site “live” because it had to be absolutely PERFECT. Now don’t get me wrong, we strive for the highest quality in all our work, but in life, there is NO PERFECT. Especially when you are dealing with numerous browsers and varying opinions. What you see as perfect may be very different from your customer’s perfect.
So who is most important in the grand scheme of things? Your need for perfection and this pie in the sky perception you are looking for, or your customers? If you said anything else besides your customers, maybe you should rethink your whole vision. At any rate, yes it’s your customers and I can guarantee you that as a consumer myself, I do not rip apart most websites or won’t do business with a website because they had a typo or because the picture they have up is not the perfect size or shape.
Think about what is most important to your customers . . . the right information and a site that is appealing and easy to navigate. Have you got that? Then good, get out there and start selling. The best thing about websites, they are always a work in progress and you can make changes as you go. It’s not like print materials that must be set in stone because once it’s run, that’s it, no going back.
Tags: small business counseling, website design
Posted in General Business, Web Site Information | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
Life has a comical way of illustrating points for us when we focus on them. Last week I blogged about creating a ”blueprint” for your website before you go to a web designer to create it. A day or two later, as I am helping a friend of mine create a website for her fitness company, I asked her about the content for her site. I wanted to show her how to upload and manipulate the content and place it into the site. This was her response - “I guess I haven’t put much thought into all of this. I just thought I could get a website and start writing and it would just magically appear the way I wanted it!”
Talk about a good belly laugh! This is exactly what I was getting at in my last post with how people approach their website projects, “I’ll have someone build it first and then I will start writing the content or thinking about what goes into it. ” And that may work in a limited amount of cases, but it would save you money and your designer time to have the content written and your must haves thought out and outlined beforehand.
As with just about everything in life, there is a trade-off. It’s called time or money, which one is more important to you?
If your time is more valuable, you can hire us to create a site complete with content. This way you are focusing on what you do best, your job and we will focus on what we do best, creating an aesthetically pleasing, easy-to-navigate, compelling website. BUT, and this is a big BUT, if you hire us to create the content, you will still have to give us direction and help us to understand your market.
If on the other hand, your money is more valuable, then I suggest sitting down and delving in . . . grab a pen and paper or your favorite word processing program and sketch out your content, what you want to convey to potential clients, images, quotes, and anything else that you have to have on your site.
Either way, the more information your designer knows about the project, the less it will cost you in both time and money and the happier you will be with the end result. In my next blog, I will provide you with some questions to consider and resources that will help guide you in building a content rich, relevant site.
Tags: business websites, content design, content writing, corporate websites, graphic design, website design
Posted in Web Site Information | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
I don’t know about you, but I love stories and I love to use stories and metaphors to illustrate points that I am making. I find that I learn things easier when I have an anology or metaphor to help me relate to my current situation. . .
I think maybe because the internet is a relatively new “space” and also because as we understand things or we deal with the same things day in and day out, we sometimes forget that others do not see things nor understand them the same way and often the little details are overlooked. So I’d like to share a sort of metaphoric story to illustrate something I see often in the design industry.
Imagine for a moment that you are wanting to build a house. Your family has grown and the space you are in is just too contricting. You and your significant other begin talking about building this house and thinking about all the various things you want in your new house and if you are like me, you sit down and start sketching out where you want the kitchen and how the master bedroom will be positioned in just such a way that the picture window will have an awesome view of [insert your perfect view here] behind your property. After you have sufficiently daydreamed about this house, you contact a few architects to find out what it will cost and so forth. After choosing the “right” fit for the job you wouldn’t just say ok make me a house and leave it up to the architect to figure out what features you absolutely can’t live without, right? Maybe some of you would, but most people would want to sit down with the architect and tell them how many bedrooms, 1 story or 2, an island in the kitchen, etc. they want in the house.
It works the same way for building websites. Just as your architect can create the perfect blueprint of your house with your special features, the right specs and building codes, a web designer can build your web site to fit your style using web standards and principles of design.
So when you meet with your web designer, make sure you have a pretty good idea of the features you’d like as well as, the content you want on the site. The more information you provide up front and the clearer you are on the direction you want to go with your web site design and it’s functionality, the easier the process will be and the better the final result.
Tags: content, features, Website, website design
Posted in Web Site Information | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
The first recorded “eCommerce” transaction occurred in the early 1980’s; the internet hasn’t been the same since.
By 1994, with the advent of security protocols and continuous connection to the internet, eCommerce found a permanent place in the homes of people all over the world, from wikipedia. In the last 10 years, the internet has exploded like a supernova and Google has recorded over 1 trillion URLs, or addresses to websites, with no end in sight.
Because of its exponential growth, MANY different eCommerce platforms have evolved. Just do a search for “shopping cart software” and you will be overwhelmed with page upon page upon page of websites, reviews and advertisements for eCommerce software. So which way do you go? What software do you choose?
Well that obviously depends on whether you are planning on figuring this out yourself . . . which unless you are quite “tech-savvy”, I wouldn’t recommend or whom you choose to develop your storefront. Each developer has their own preferences and platforms that they work on for a myriad of reasons. I would HIGHLY encourage doing your own research before hiring a developer and before deciding on the right proprietary software.
The first step is to consider your vision for your storefront, what do you see? What features do you want? Check out some other competitors and eCommerce sites that you like. What do you like about them? Is it their easy navigation? The cheerful color scheme? How the buttons are laid out or roll over into a different color? Or maybe you love the customer review section that gives you all the info you need to make an informed decision.
Next, consider your customers. What experience are you trying to give them? What is the feeling you want them to have while on your site? What will help them make a decision toward purchasing from you?
Make a list of all the features you want on the site, if you are at all artistic and even if you aren’t, draw out the general layout you are thinking about. The more information and the clearer you are about your vision, the easier it will be for your developer to find the right software for your storefront and the easier it will be to create your vision.
When you meet with a developer, make sure you ask them questions about the different platforms they typically use and TAKE NOTES. Ask them questions about the features and functions. What feeling do you get from the developer in terms of their knowledge of the software?
Another point to consider is whether you want to make updates or you want the developer to make updates for you and how often. How will that work? How difficult is it to navigate the dashboard? And if you plan on using the developer for updates, how easy or difficult is it to get your questions answered or have a phone call returned? You don’t want to go with a developer who doesn’t return calls or make changes for you in a timely fashion.
A lot to consider I know . . . but then again this is just your livelihood . . . how do you want to proceed?
Tags: eCommerce, shopping cart software
Posted in Web Site Information | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
I know that question seems pretty rudimentary, we are in business right? But I am astonished at how many small businesses that don’t REALLY know the answer.
Because we work on the web, we can’t help but look at websites . . . ALL day. And what we’ve been noticing is that while some of these websites are graphically fantastic, their content is truly lacking; lacking in pulling us in; lacking in seducing us and making us feel as if “I HAVE TO HAVE IT”!
Who are you marketing to? What is your solution to MY problem and WHY should I buy from you? How is what you are doing any better than the next Joe? These are questions that we as business owners have to ask ourselves frequently. Why? Why would anybody want to buy from me? What is it that makes MY PRODUCT stand out? And HOW on earth do I convey that to people searching for what I’ve got?
You start by asking the people . . . then REALLY listening to the answers. Find out what they love, what gets under their skin and use that information in your approach. Give the people what they want and they will come back for more!
You can have the best looking site on the web; get yourself out there with social media; have your website optimized and what’s that gonna get ya? A bit of business, perhaps, but more likely a huge headache as you beat your head against the wall trying to figure out what went wrong?
For some reason, people focus all their attention on the visual appeal, and don’t get me wrong, that’s a great start. . . but if you don’t have the “killer content” they ARE NOT going to stay or BUY!
In case you haven’t heard, we are in the INFORMATION AGE, we are bombarded with crap every time we get on the internet. The last thing we want to read is MORE CRAP. We want something that grabs us, pulls us in, and doesn’t let go; we want a connection. We want to be left with a FEELING, people a FEELING. Got it?
Good . . . now get going!
Tags: content writing, graphic design, SEO, Website
Posted in Web Site Information | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
One of the most difficult aspects of the web design business that we have found is in educating our clients on what it is that a.) they want, b.) they need, and c.) what they can afford. My goal for this post is to explain the differences between the two major types of websites that we generally create for our clients in a way that helps you make better decisions about how to proceed with your project.
Corporate/Informational
The first type that I will be talking about has a few different names; it is generally called a “Corporate“ web site, or an “informational” web site. Just as the second name implies, this type of web site provides information to browsers about a company, their products or services, and a way to connect with the company to receive service. Usually these web sites are anywhere from a couple of pages to 20 plus pages. They provide information about the services or products, but they do not have a “buy” button so purchasing products from the web site is not possible. This type of web site includes an element of education; educating the consumer about the particular solutions your company can provide. They also may include features such as newsletter sign up, get a quote, video downloads, and so forth. These web sites can either be fully customized or template driven depending on client preferences and how much control the client wants over changing information on the web site.
So if the client doesn’t need changes very often and would rather be hands-off on the web work, a custom site would most likely be a great fit. The designer can get really creative and build something very unique to fit the business. Now on the other hand, if the client has changes to make on a regular basis, say a calendar that needs to be updated weekly or articles to add, etc. A template which uses a Content Management System (CMS) would be the best fit. CMSs allow clients to easily navigate the “backend” of the web site and make their own changes quickly and easily.
E-Commerce
The other major type of web site that we create frequently is called an e-commerce site. E-commerce sites are a bit more complicated as they are written in a dynamic language called PHP. They typically include hundreds, if not thousands of pages. These pages are often just “pieces” of the website that when “called” will come together to form a page. E-commerce sites are templated and come with a limited amount of features.
What we run into oftentimes with clients is that they like the look of a certain web site that they have seen “out on the web” and want pretty much the same thing. Now, this is great, don’t get me wrong, it makes our jobs a lot easier when the client knows exactly what they want. The problem comes when we have to explain that the features of the web site that they enjoy and want to incorporate for their site are not built into the base price of the web site. These special features must be custom programmed into the site and will cost extra, sometimes quite a bit extra.
So here’s my analogy. . . Say you are looking for a new car, you see a commercial for this slick machine with all the bells and whistles. You then head down to the local dealership and ask to see one of these machines. The salesman takes you around the lot and shows you what they have in inventory. When you look at the sticker prices on the cars, you notice that they vary depending on the features added. Now I know many of you have purchased a vehicle in your lifetime, so please bear with me. So the base price of the car you just have to have is in the range that you can afford, however it doesn’t have all the features that you’d really enjoy like a nice sunroof, navigation, the two tone seats, etc. You can upgrade and purchase packages that will include some of these features, however that requires more money. So, you may have gone into the dealership thinking you were going to drive off in this new car with it fully loaded, however your pocket book dictates that while you can still drive off in the car, not all of the bells and whistles will be driving off with you.
This is how it works with e-commerce sites. If you are a big business and can afford to spend tens of thousands of dollars on your website, you can pretty much have whatever functions you want. But and this is a big ole but, if you are a small business owner with a limited budget, you really need to consider what features are most important to the functionality and usefulness of your customers and which of them will fit into your budget. You can always, when funds become available, add additional features or modify the website according to your needs down the road. With web design, nothing is ever set in stone.
Still have questions? Or want a free quote to create your next web site? We are happy to help. Contact us at info@y-desygn.com or call 602-574-7714.
Tags: Arizona Web Design Services, CMS, Corporate Web sites, custom web design, E-commerce websites, Informational Web sites, templates, Website
Posted in Web Site Information | 28 Comments »
Monday, January 4th, 2010
If you are a business owner or are thinking of starting a web site, this post is for you. As more and more traffic hits the web, it is very important for anyone thinking of starting their own web site to have some basic knowledge about what that requires.
In this post, I hope to help you understand a few basics BEFORE launching that site.
Domains . . . you are the king of your castle
The domain name or domain as they are often referred to is actually the name of your web site, rather it is the name that URLs use to access web sites. Or another way to put it, as Wikipedia so eloquently explains,” domain names are often seen in analogy to real estate in that (1) domain names are foundations on which a website (like a house or commercial building) can be built and (2) the highest ‘quality’ domain names, like sought-after real estate, tend to carry significant value, usually due to their online brand-building potential, use in advertising, search engine optimization, and many other criteria.”
So for example, our domain is called www.y-desygn.com . You can have several domains point to one server; you can type in www.y-desygn.com or www.ydesygn.com , both will take you to the same web site.
You can also have sub-domains under your main domain, meaning you can create multiple pages under the domain, such as your blog or your storefront. An example being the sub-domain you are on right now, www.y-desygn.com/ydesygnblog .
If you are creating a web site, it is HIGHLY recommended that YOU OWN your domain or at the very least, have the person buying it on your behalf make you the administrator and enter your email information as the administrative contact in whois.
As web designers, we have seen too many customers who don’t own their domain or are not the administrator of their domain, suffer many a headache when they try to transfer to different hosting or when the company who purchased the domain goes out of business. Unfortunately many companies feel threatened and refuse to let go of the domain when it comes to transferring hosting, leaving the business owner in quite a dilemma.
Now that you know, you won’t be one of them.
Hosting . . . and we’re not talking your typical dinner party
After you have your domain name, you need a place to host your site. Hosting simply means a “space” to store your web site. A hosting company will store the files for your web site on a server that is always on, so that when someone “clicks” on your site it is readily available. There are many different types of hosting accounts such as free, dedicated, virtual dedicated, managed, cloud and so forth that I won’t go into here, but feel free to click on each one as it will take you to pages that will define each of them for you.
It is important to choose the best option for what you are trying to accomplish, if you are just creating a personal page to share with friends and family or a blog, a free account might be the right option. However, if you want to create a storefront and showcase 100’s of products, this definitely wouldn’t be the right option. You would want to go with something like a managed account. I say this because If you have no web experience, it is much less complicated to have someone else manage the security and maintenance of your account than to try to do it yourself.
Typically you “rent or lease” hosting from a 3rd party company that takes care of managing the web site for you. We are happy to help you with your hosting needs, contact us today for a free quote.
Tags: Arizona Web Design Services, Business, domains, Hosting, Web Design, Web Sites, Y Desygn
Posted in Web Site Information | 3 Comments »
