Designed by Krista
Web Design

Get in the mood for playing in the snow, peaceful holidays, and clear winter nights! This kit is ready for the holidays in crisp blue and warm reds!

Part 3 of 4: In truth, if you have been reading this article series in order, you have already learned some ways to make your website user-friendly. This article will hit the highlights of website usability. “Website Usability” refers to how easy your site is for people to learn and use.

Key Point: Make your site as easy as possible to use - no one will complain that your site is “too easy” to use, even if they are an expert user.

1. How to create a free website
2. Adding content to your website
3. Making your website user-friendly
4. What is a search engine?

Read the rest of this entry »

Part 2 of 4: In the first article, I covered how to find a place for your pages (web-hosting) and get them set up. Now, let’s talk about the “content” - anything you publish on your site is called “content”, including images, videos, text, etc. So, what should you put on your website and how?

Key Points: Keep it short. Keep it real.

1. How to create a free website
2. Adding content to your website
3. Making your website user-friendly
4. What is a search engine?

Read the rest of this entry »

Part 1 of 4: The first question you might ask me is, “Why would you tell people how to make your own website? Isn’t that your business?” Good question! I got into web design because I want to perpetuate good websites, usually by doing quality web design and development.

However, there are times when you don’t want to hire a web designer - your business may be just starting out and you need to invest in other things, or maybe you are a non-profit and need to have zero overhead, or maybe this site is just for fun. I can get you started with some recommendations, and you can always let me know if you want to ‘take it to the next level’ and have a professionally designed site. Shall we begin?

Key Points: Don’t recreate the wheel - use a social media site if you can. If you can’t, paid hosting is affordable and beneficial.

1. How to create a free website
2. Adding content to your website
3. Making your website user-friendly
4. What is a search engine?

Read the rest of this entry »

Keyword Questions Tool

I’ve just heard about this useful free tool for finding “long tail keywords” that pertain to your website. As you know, keywords are terms that your potential site visitors will type into a search engine to find sites like yours. A long tail keyword is actually a phrase that contains keywords. For example, a keyword pertaining to my site would be “websites”, and a long tail keyword would be “best website design for small business”.

The benefit of a long tail keyword is that there may not be as much competition (i.e. other websites like yours) for that phrase. While there are thousands of sites using the keyword “website”, there will be a lot less using the key phrase of “best website design for small business”. So, I have a better chance of appearing high on the search results if I feature that phrase on my site.

The Keyword Question tool allows you to search on your topic to find the types of questions people are typing in to search engines, like Google, Yahoo! or MSN. This is a great benefit, because you can put the question on your site, such as the title of a blog post, and then use that page to answer the question.

How would you use this? In my case, a search on “website” shows 100 questions people frequently ask. The top one is “how to unblock a website.” Well, that is going to vary depending on who has blocked the site, so it’s probably too complicated for me to write a short article on that one. However, one question that appears in many different forms is “how to make your own website” (see also how to make a website, how to make a free website, etc.). Since I’m a web designer, I happen to know a lot about these questions, and I can make a post containing some tips for how to proceed. In fact, I plan to create a series of posts on this topic, so stay tuned!

I have recently been taking steps to learn about trans fat and remove it from our family’s diet. I know… kind of jumping on that bandwagon a little slowly. What can I say? I love fried foods! A few weeks ago, I was meeting family for lunch at Great Harvest Bread Company in Lake Forest Park, and we happened to run into the proprietor. Since I am a bread maker myself, I wondered how they were handling the trans-fat question, so I asked what they were doing or planning to do about fat in their breads.

To my pleasant surprise, he said, “There isn’t any.” Talking further with him, he mentioned that not only is there no fat, but very little sugar, (usually none or honey) and they use whole grains. What impressed me even more is that I have tasted many of their breads, and they do not taste like cardboard, as many whole grain breads can. I was so thrilled with all of this, that I wanted to share a big “Way to go” for Great Harvest Bread. You can find one near you with their bakery locator, and if you stop by, they will always give you a free slice of any of the fresh breads on their menu that day. If you go to the Lake Forest Park branch, I recommend the Cinnamon Chip… not completely healthy, but it’s only one slice, right?

Email is your main contact point for your business, so it makes sense to put a little thought into setting up your business email address. Believe it or not, your email address can communicate things about you and your organization. Here are 5 tips to setting up your email accounts to show your business to the best advantage.

1. Use your domain name. It’s very common for small businesses to use a Gmail or Yahoo! account for their email address, because it’s free and simple. However, it definitely gives a less professional impression and can even cause your email to be caught in your customer’s spam filter. All major hosting companies offer free email accounts with your hosting costs, so you should always set up email with them so that your email reads “yourname@yourdomain.com”.
2. Use a “naming convention” for your email boxes. This means all email addresses for your company will follow the same strategy for naming, which gives a level of professionalism. On a technical level, all email boxes for your website must be unique, and a good naming convention can prevent duplication. (i.e. if you have two people named “Joe” at your company, one can be jsmith and one can be jbrown.) Below are several examples of good naming conventions. Note that using your first name can appear less professional, and might be a good choice if you are a non-profit organization or a business which has a family appeal.
   first initial + last name (ex: jsmith@yourdomain.com)
   full name (ex: joesmith@yourdomain.com or joe.smith@yourdomain.com)
   first name (ex: joe@yourdomain.com)
   firsname + last initial (ex: joes@yourdomain.com)
3. Create generic addresses for business areas. In small businesses, each person often wears many hats: sales, customer service, orders, receptionist, etc. As your business grows, however, you may be able to hire individual people to staff these areas. Rather than try to re-train your customers on the ‘right’ person to contact, why not set up email aliases such as “billing” and “information”. For now, you can forward these all to yourself, but you can switch them to the correct people as your business grows, without having to change your marketing materials.
4. Reply to customer email promptly. It seems like this would go without saying, but customer service is often the main or only differentiating factor between you and your competitors. Speedy reply to a customer email is a major part of good customer service, as the popularity of email over phone is increasing. One client I have had an unopened customer email sitting in their email box for over 5 months - egad! We can safely assume that customer went somewhere else! If you are not the type of person to check your email frequently, consider forwarding all emails to your mobile phone. As a last resort, if you know you can’t keep up with email, do not list an email address on your website of business cards. Rather, post a phone number, preferably a mobile phone, where you can usually be reached.
5. Manage your spam. Take steps to reduce your potential for receiving SPAM or unwanted email. If you get too much spam, valuable customer emails could get lost in the mess. Further, you will be tempted to change your email address, and this could make it difficult for past customers or contacts to find you. To prevent spam, do not post your email directly on any webpage - spammers can automatically get your email from the HTML code of the page. Rather, use a “Contact Us” form. If you need to post your email, such as in a message board or blog comment, just post a link to your contact us form on your website. As your business grows, you will naturally become a target for spammers, so you can add CAPTCHA technology to your form (i.e. users have to type a funny-looking word to prove they are a human). You can also use any number of good spam filters on the market to stem the tide of spam, though there is always a small risk that your customer’s email will be caught in the spam filter by accident, so make sure to check that area, too.

I recently purchased an HP Photosmart C8180 All-in-One printer, and it works like a dream. I can print to it via my wireless network, so I can finally print when I take my laptop off it’s docking station. I’ve been very happy with it until a couple of weeks ago. All of a sudden, I started seeing a wide black stripe down the center of any photocopy or scanned image.

I researched the problem on their support knowledge base, and found an applicable help article right away. After I tried all of the things listed, I was still having the problem, so I contacted their online chat support. The man who responded was knowledgeable and helpful and didn’t make me re-do all of the things I had already done. (I hate that) He had me try several things that seemed reasonable, and after all of it, there was still a stripe.

So, they deduced that it is an issue with the hardware and they are sending me an entirely new printer at their expense! Plus, I will be mailing the old printer back at their expense. I am very impressed with this. Though I would have been happier if there was no stripe in the first place, this customer service has been really great, and I wanted to reward them by spreading the word!

More and more people are making their own webpages via blogs, site wizards, and even editing their own pages in HTML. One habit people get into when making hyperlinks or “anchors” - i.e. the stuff underlined in blue - is using “click here” for a hyperlink text. A quick way to improve your website usability is to remove these words from your vocabulary!

Why? First, it’s too generic - it doesn’t tell people what they will get it if they click. When users scan your page, the hyperlinked text stands out, and they don’t have time to click every link to see if it will be useful to them. So, tell them what clicking that link will do for them.

Second, it’s redundant - the fact that the text is underlined or looks like a button tells people that is where to click.

Finally, you lose an opportunity to highlight keywords for search engines. Search engines will automatically assume that the words contained in the link are pertinent to your site, so make sure you have keywords or phrases in there.

Examples:
BAD: Click here to review our services
GOOD: Website Design Services

BAD: Click here to register
GOOD: Register for Website Design Seminar

Rich colors and fun elements remind you of bounty, even in these troubled financial times! Our newest Dixie Digitals kit is an overflowing bounty of cool digital papers, ribbons, and embellishments! This November kit helps you to give thanks for all of the family, fun, and friendships in your life! A traditional look with a modern flair. Give it a try!