Archive for July, 2008

During a Google search recently I encountered a #1 listing on page one that had the following hyperlink under the title of the search result stating: “This site may harm your computer.”

Following the Google search results warning link included an explanation with this graphic:

With the graphic was a text explanation that said in part “This warning message appears with search results we’ve identified as sites that may install malicious software on your computer:”

This level of sophistication from the giant of search engines warning visitors about sites listed in their search results was a pleasant surprise. Following the link to the Google Answers page included a further illustration of a second stronger warning that appears if you follow the potentially malicious site link giving you the option to return to the search page or proceed to the suspicious website.

A new feature on the Small Business Resource Center main site was launched today with a custom web design project directory of client websites. The directory lists finished web design projects and visitors may follow links to view project history from concept to completed website.

This custom web design project directory features a listing of client web design projects for visitors to evaluate. Each web design customer project is presented with a summary and a Read more… link to view more details including an audio recording of client feedback.

The first listed is a custom cms web design vacation rental website and has an intro, overview, results and customer feedback. Visitors may listen as the site owner describes their new website redesign experience.

The custom cms, content management system, web design for SunShinyFlorida.com vacation rental site launched last week and final web design enhancements were completed over the weekend. This example of cms web design techniques has the following advanced features:

• Home page flash slide show with controls for play, pause, and stop
• Separate interactive flash photo gallery featuring their home
• CSS and XHTML custom design contact form with captcha to avoid spam
• Custom vacation rental availability calendar to show open rental booking dates
• Matching color scheme custom integrated Blogger blog for vacation news
• Custom 404 error page providing navigation options to keep visitors engaged

The admin backend control allows the owner to create unlimited new pages in xhtml with css that comply to W3C. For the price of 10 static web design pages the intial launch is a 25 page cms website, and the owner may now add 100, 500, or 1000 website pages at no additional cost. The web design service price included resources for seo, or search engine optimization to enhance visitor experience and attract search engines.

Small business owners interested in a web design makeover, or completely new website design, are welcome to request a no obligation evaluation of their website needs. View my main site or the CMS Vacation Rental Site Launch for ideas about website design features that you would like, and then email me from any page.

I’m surprised that the search phrase “free small business web design” returns over 78 million results in Google. Does a small business owner really want a free website? It could be a major strategic error depending on your expectations for site performance.

My analogy from personal experience is a free puppy years ago, and in less than a year the vet costs were astronomical and then it died suddenly. Later the vet discovered the dog was terminally ill with a rare disease. He volunteered to dispose of the carcasse if I would allow an autopsy in the name of science to assist in evaluating the cause, and then told me about the rarity and that perhaps inbreeding was partly to blame.

A small business website that is expected to perform and attract visitors as well as search engines, and then convert those visitors to buyers, may not work with a free small business web design. You risk the same unknowns as that free puppy, and in most cases it leads to disappointment.

Professional advice for acquiring a new website when cost is a factor and you are thinking free is best could very well be a cms, or content management system. Unlike static sites with ongoing costs to upgrade or add pages, a cms system allows a small business owner to take control to add, edit, or delete content without the knowledge of html or xhtml programming. Once the intitial cost is paid, your website is just like free because you can add unlimited pages by creating content in a word processor. For owners who do not have the time to work on website pages, delegate the task to your brightest employee, and learn enough to take over or train someone else in the event of employee turnover.

On the other hand, if you want a site that simply provides more information than will fit on the back of a business card, and search engine traffic doesn’t matter, a free web design may work. This point brings out the philosophy I have of asking “What are your expectations for site performance?” before accepting any custom web design project. Think about the downside of a free web design compared to cms, and then view what I offer because a content management system close to free may be the best long term strategy for your small business.

Readers are welcome to request a no obligation evaluation of their website plan, including free advice for resources to meet their small business goals. Visitors to this site reluctant to take the time to write may be surprised. I’m very willing to help steer owners in the right direction even if it means not with me.

As computer technology and internet browsers change, web designers should adjust their thoughts about what is right or wrong in web design. There is no standard web design page width, yet web developers often have a favorite, and I’m no different. The standard I use for new designs is fixed width at 960 pixels, so some designers would complain that “older” 800×600 pc monitors will have a horizontal scroll bar across the bottom. From checking stats, fewer than 5% of my visitors have 800×600, so that (old) objection to horizontal scrolling because of page widths wider than 800 no longer applies.

Some small business web design clients don’t realize that controlling a visitor’s experience completely is impossible. For example, in all browsers you can enlarge text size which is an option for vision impaired people. The standard in IE is “medium” text size which should look fine on all computer monitors. I test each of my web design projects in the latest version of all 5 major browsers to make sure the custom web design displays properly.

The enlarged text option can move objects around, so if you allow text resizing which is the right thing to do, you no longer control the visitor’s experience. Not discussed, and most web designers either do not know or care about this aspect of design, is accessibility. Many designers create sites with fixed font sizes, so visitors have no choice, yet mine allow disabled persons who need larger text to enjoy reading site content.

While my standard web design page width is 960 pixels, even that number has evolved with year to year changes in technology. There is no one correct answer, so being flexible and offering clients a choice based on their preferences will help keep the majority happy. Don’t like a page width standard? Ask, and most web designers will accommodate your needs.

During a web design site upgrade discussion recently, a client pointed out that more than 50% of their competition is closing shop or moving to a home based operation to cut costs. Asked how they manage to survive, they stated they have the experience and longevity, and here’s a bonus small business owner finances tip.

A creative source for small business credit card factoring advances is FastUpFront.com who bases loan repayment on daily sales, not on fixed monthly payment amounts. The advantage is more working capital to cover costs during lean months, and they specialize in helping small business owners with poor credit or zero collateral.

My situation as a home-based sole proprietor is more flexible in a slow economy, yet brick and mortar small business owners need all the help they can get during an economic downturn. The release of lower cost web design options in CMS is intended to help ease small business owner finance concerns, also.

For best practices in web design, and especially for do-it-yourself small business websites, methods for creating internal hyperlinks can benefit seo, or search engine optimization, if done correctly. It is still fairly easy to find novice web design examples using “Click here” for the link to new content. This poor example of link text instructs the visitor with the action to take without any clue as to the destination, or what to expect when following the link.

The best web design method for links is to use text in the hyperlink that describes the content at the target page. This helps give your visitors a reason to follow the link, and for disabled persons the descriptive text improves accessibility. If you want search engine traffic driven to your site, the key words used in the link text will enhance the value for seo, search engine optimization.

For example if you have a tutorial on web design, using a link of “click here” with visit our tutorial about web design, “click here” as the hyperlinked text would not be as effective as visit our “tutorial about web design” with tutorial about web design as the hyperlink. This advice is for web design and internal hyperlinks, yet the same is true of external links. The value of backlinks to your site from other sites gets a boost by search engines if each describes the page content with key words rather than just your www domain page file name.

Descriptive text in hyperlinks helps visitors, enhances accessibility, and will help attract search engine traffic. Comments or questions about best practices in web design and search engine optimization are welcome.

Some time ago a client for a custom web design asked my assistance in doing research for submitting a USA trademark application for their small business. While my real business is custom web design, the customer felt I could find key information about trademarks easily, and save them the time.

Here’s what I found. If considering a trademark for your small business to protect your web design or other rights, visit the US Trademark FAQs website to discover more about this interesting topic. Learn the difference between trademark, service mark, certification mark, and collective mark.

The process of applying for a trademark can be costly, and certainly takes time with up to a year of waiting during the approval cycle. Small business owners are welcome to contact me for web design projects or related online research.

Small business owners should be wary of experts who promise web design seo performance without showing evidence of positive results. Too often web developers use deceptive means to improve ranking and lasting results are unlikely. A new Content Management System or CMS web design related free PDF download entitled Case Study of CMS Web Design Performance of Small Business Owner Website was released earlier today with the following topics:

• Introduction of Search Engine Philosophy
• Comparing CMS Web Design to Static Pages
• Overview of Web Design SEO Performance Results
• Screenshots from Actual Search Engine Traffic
• Search Phrases and Summary of SEO Results
• Appendix of CMS Web Design and SEO Training

The purpose of the report is to demonstrate to web design clients the value of the advanced seo, search engine optimization, methods being taught to cms web design customers. The report includes advice as well as screenshots of actual searches that brought recent visitors to my website after visitors searched Google for cms and related web design terms.

While the advantage of easily adding new content using CMS is key, most new pages may take time to show up in search results, perhaps months. One search result earlier today was to a new page launched yesterday, so having pages optimized for search as well as providing quality content can provide page one ranking in Google, and new traffic in less than 24 hours. Another new page featured in the web design and seo report made page two out of 457 million results.

My advice for best practice web design has always been design for visitors first, and then add quality original content often. Those words quality + often = happy repeat visitors and search engine traffic.

Right click this link to download the illustrated CMS Web Design Performance Report (286kb, pdf, 7 pages). You do not have to register or provide an email address to enjoy this free web design related report. Readers are encouraged to forward the PDF to friends or small business peers who may be interested in this web design and seo performance breakthrough using cms.

The newest page on the main site for web design using a CMS, or Content Management System, is an outline of the web design training tutorials provided to my clients for small business custom cms web design. The outline lists the initial 14 chapters of training materials in pdf that allow owners to create new content for their website without a requirement to learn html code. Some lessons may be released as video tutorials, also.

View the list of web design tutorials for cms clients here. Small business owners interested in do-it-yourself web design, or free website resources, may want to consider this outline for planning their web design project. If enough people ask, I may feature a public ebook version of the pdf training written with generic advice rather than customized for my cms web design clients only.