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Why You Should Stick with Clients Who Fit Your Target Niche
As happens every now and again, a client and I had a parting of the ways. Needs change, attitudes change, and sometimes the professional/client relationship just fizzles. It is difficult to please all of the people all of the time, especially when that particular person doesn’t really fit into your target client definition. Such a thing happened to me recently. I had been working with a particular client for almost a year, even though I was somewhat surprised that he chose me and liked my work. We come from very different worlds. He is an...
Responsive vs. Mobile Web Site Design
Depending on the industry you’re in, mobile usage can vary among users. While it seems that everyone is accessing the internet with their smart phones these days, in some types of businesses, many users are still sitting at their desktop computers. This tends to be higher among agricultural businesses, however mobile usage is climbing rapidly in that field also. According to Microsoft Tag which provides barcodes, QR Codes, and other recognition technologies, by 2014 mobile usage will surpass desktop usage, so making sure that your site is...
How to Add Your Facebook Activity Feed to Your Website or Blog
With the crazy popularity of Facebook and social media in general, it’s a good idea to provide several different ways for your readers to connect with you. At the very least you should have social media icons on your website or blog, which are linked to your various social media pages. Another great avenue for showing your readers what you’re all about, is to post your Facebook feed directly on your website as well, either in a sidebar or footer widget. This gives people a quick glance into the types of posts they can expect from yo...
Why You Should Care About Your Website’s Bounce Rate
If you’ve been a website owner for any length of time at all, you’ve undoubtedly heard the term “bounce rate” come up a time or two. Bounce rate is a good metric to use to help you hone in on layout, design & features of your site that will encourage people to click through to another page and ultimately follow your call to action. What exactly IS bounce rate? In a nutshell, bounce rate is the percentage of people that leave your site without clicking through to another page, regardless of what page they came in on....
How to Set Up an RSS Driven Email Campaign in MailChimp
If you’re like me, coming up with good content for your email marketing and your blog is an ongoing challenge. Case in point, I haven’t written a new blog post for about a month now, nor have I sent an email newsletter, with the exception of announcing my web and graphic design specials that I’m offering for the New Year. Sometimes the issue is just finding the time, others it’s coming up with really good content that people will find useful and informative. Anytime you can consolidate your efforts in this area, you are ...
Web Design Wednesday – How to Make an Image Map for your Website
Sometimes it’s necessary to link one image to several different URLs, but obviously this can’t be done by creating normal hyperlinks, since we can only link to one image that way. That’s when we would create an “image map”. An image map is just one image that has several clickable areas that link to various other URLs. Image maps are created using coordinates, located within the image. For example, if your image is 500px x 300px, any spot located within that image will have x and y coordinates, similar to longitude...
My 6 Best Latest & Greatest Tips & Tricks for your Website or Blog
Just in case you hadn’t noticed yet, I’ve rearranged by website, again. I kind of have this thing that I have to update it about once a year so that I can utilize all the great stuff I keep learning. I was the same way when I was a hair stylist back in the 80′s….I never had the same hair style for longer than about 6 months. Okay, so I’m easily bored. Since I was so busy with the rearranging, I haven’t posted in a couple of weeks either, and while I was so buy with the rearranging, I discovered some great ne...
Retro 101: Vintage-Inspired Graphic Design
Nothing instills confidence in consumers as quickly as the timeless feel of retro graphic design. Immediately conveying a sense of déjà vu and familiarity with the brand being advertised, vintage-looking marketing materials suggest to potential customers that the company has been in business for ages and is, therefore, trustworthy. In today’s fast-paced world of blinking, computer-rendered, flashy graphics, a well-designed retro piece can really stand out. Color Scheme One of the first things to consider in retro design is color scheme. The mar...
9 Hot Tips for Maximizing Your E-Newsletters So People Will Actually Read Them
The popularity of email newsletters continues to grow, and if you aren’t yet taking advantage of this incredibly easy, quick and often free way to keep in touch with your clients, I am here to tell you, it’s time! Print newsletters just aren’t cutting it any longer. Email newsletters can be delivered to anyone, around the world, with just one click, at a fraction of the cost – yes, even free – over print newsletters. In a recent post, I talked about what the best opt-in form placement is, and to follow up on that p...
What do you do when the internet goes down?
If you’re anything at all like me, you start going into withdrawals…..quickly. I’ll admit it, I’m addicted. Not only is my livelihood completely dependent on an internet connection, but it seems so is the rest of my life. I woke up one morning last week, around 5am, like I always do. My routine is such that I just wake up at o’dark thirty, make coffee and immediately get on my computer. I need to see what emails I have received that could forever alter the course of my life, naturally. My brain tends to function be...
