Archive for the ‘cms’ Category

There’s more than one secret to sales success besides a quality design at a fair price when it comes to custom cms web design sales. The best salespersons are not those who can smooth talk and dominate a conversation with a potential new client.

The most successful salespeople are those who listen.

You cannot understand what your customer wants in their custom cms web design until they have the chance to explain it. They can’t do that if you’re putting on an aggressive presentation of features and benefits without letting them define their expecations. Your sales pitch sounds like blah blah blah if it doesn’t touch on a subject that’s important to the listener.

What is most important? They’re thinking “me”, or specifically “What’s in it for me?”!

Imagine a scenario that has nothing to do with making a sale. Meeting someone for the first time in a social setting my advice is asking open ended questions that allow the other person to open up. For example, inquire about their occupation and rather than respond asking a yes or no question like “Do you enjoy your job?”, you reply with “Tell me more about what you do”.

Listen carefully and continue asking about what interests them, and later when they walk away without learning a single fact about you, they’ll be telling others how wonderful it was talking with you.

Reconsider sales. Selling any product or service including a custom cms web design means learning what the prospect likes or dislikes about what you offer. Use these clues to overcome any potential objections to your custom cms web design services to make your offer stand out above competition.

People buy from those they trust. People buy from those who show a sincere interest in them including what they want and need. Be that person. Listen and care. For those of us in web design, being a good listener could be the most important secret to making custom cms web design sales.

Earlier this year I began offering marketing services on a trial basis with several clients who have multiple custom cms website designs from me. Their intentions were good when they first launched, yet time is the enemy, so they agreed to have me “market” their websites by adding original quality content often.

The marketing services option for a custom cms or content management system may be a cost effective solution for small business owners to do more online promotion by outsourcing the work.

Besides your main website, I recommend adding a blog to allow posting news, reviews, and advice about your niche. Does a blog attract search engines? Definitely. I’ve posted content on my blog and had visitors sent by Google to that new post 90 minutes later. The concept of adding new content often means Google is back on my site several times a day, not several times a year.

Compare what the average business owner spends for Yellow Page ads to poor ROI performance because people are more inclined to search online. Many of my clients now realize that their advertising and marketing budget for print ads is better spent on expanding their website. Several of my customers with large budgets for Yellow Page ads decided to save most of that and spend a portion with me for marketing rather than the phone book.

Interested? Have a blog but never or hardly ever post? Did I design your custom cms web design or blog and yet you just can’t make time to learn the do-it-yourself details? Contact me to discuss your situation and the marketing services options for cms that I offer.

The ubiquitous Internet Explorer v6, or IE6, seems immune to going quietly away. While many of us in web design agonize over workarounds needed in our code in order to make pages display well in all browsers because of IE6, there’s still no silver bullet for IE6.

Let’s explore why after a review of overall visitor browser stats to my website, and then look at the impact on future web designs.

The latest traffic stats to my site show less than 4% of visitors still using Internet Explorer 6.

FireFox has taken over first place with 43% amongst browser brands followed by IE8 at 18%, Google Chrome at 14.6%, and then IE7 at 12%. Add that 4% of IE6 to Microsoft’s marketshare, and they’ve moved from #1 to 2nd overall at 34%.

Chrome at #3 is pretty incredible, and demonstrates the power of Google to dominate when it comes to knowing what users want. Safari by Apple continues to grow capturing 7.4%. Opera has fallen to 1% share.

Why has this IE6 older version of the Internet Explorer browser managed to survive? One reason is IE6 is used in many older corporate installations, and some large companies are reluctant to switch because of the cost to modify, test, or debug their infrastructure. In short, the old adage applies: if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Another factor is a large number of third world users are on older technology, so they continue to use IE6, as well. The older pc excuse is not completely valid, however. Comparing operating system to browser stats, many IE6 visitors have upgraded equipment, so some of those individual diehards cling to what they know, too.

Until the corporate and individual users abandon IE6 the fact remains there’s no silver bullet for IE6.

The final topic about offering web design, or in my case custom cms web design, is providing a backward compatible website that displays well in all browsers. For years I’ve provided html and css code workarounds, and since 2004 I’ve designed in newer xhtml, so web designs will display well on current technology as well as computer systems designed or yet to be invented in the future.

Finally, the “Best Viewed in IE6″ in the illustration (or as a disclaimer for a specific browser on ANY website) is a dead giveaway that the site was created by an inexperienced designer. Mine would read “Best Viewed in Any Browser”, so avoid web design services if they design for just one browser.

If you use IE6, my advice is upgrade to IE8. The download is free and the world will be one user closer to R.I.P. IE6.

Current web design changes in Google search engine result pages, and more specifically the color used for the background of sponsored ad results, are both interesting and ingenious. The ongoing changes to Google’s home page design are more than a whim for entertainment value, and deserve closer study from a web design and marketing perspective.

The screenshot below taken on 30 Sep 2008 as placed in the background of this collage is being compared to another taken today and almost 2 years later on 3 Sep 2010, and displayed towards the front. You have to be impressed with the web design colors and Google ingenuity as they experiment with the layout of search results year after year. Some web design and layout changes are subtle and hardly noticed yet could have a dramatic impact on effectiveness generating revenue.

Search results appear near the center and down the entire length of the page. Sponsored results are the first 1 to 3 listings and people pay for those slots based on key words or phrases whenever a person clicks and follows those links. The rest of the search results are organic meaning they are selected naturally according to Google algorithms to represent the best and most relevant in importance. Sponsored results have a contrasting color for the background while the natural results match the white on the rest of the page.

The illustration displays 3 graphics in the collage: 2008 search results for “custom cms web designers”, 2010 search results for the same phrase “custom cms web designers”, and a small color chart of the hex codes for the 3 colors used in the page background. Why the phrase: custom cms web designers? That phrase summarizes my job description in 4 words, stats tracking confirms Google sends me traffic for that phrase, and I happened to have that 2 year old screenshot saved to allow this comparison.

In the 2008 results the sponsored ads (A) have a #FFFADD background which is obviously high contrast in a medium shade of yellow (B) compared to the rest of the page #FFFFFF white background (C). The 2010 sponsored ads have a #FBF0FA very light pink background (D) which may appear almost white depending on the viewing angle of your pc monitor. Let’s consider how a near white background of sponsored ads could affect user behavior.

The top natural search results (E) after sponsored ads happen to be my website at #1 and #2 worldwide both years for custom cms web designers. Comparing 2008 to 2010 and from personal experience, I tend to skip past the paid sponsor ads to the first natural results because those get listed based on merit and relevance. On my pc the 2008 background contrast is very obvious yet on the 2010 results the sponsored and natural results all appear to blend in with the overall white background which may make it difficult to tell if there’s 1, 2, or 3 paid sponsor ads.

The “pink” became apparent as my lcd monitor was tilted back and reached approximately 40 degrees, and then very apparent at 45 degrees. Maybe it’s just me, but I keep my monitor angle closer to 15 degrees. If it looks white on your screen use the tilt test to see the actual pink, yet use care you don’t break anything! Notice the contrast of the yellow becomes even more obvious when tilting the monitor, as well.

Google revenue from sponsored ads doesn’t come from simply listing advertisers at the top of search pages. Ad revenue is generated when visitors actually click through to the advertiser’s website. Will the current background color of sponsored ads affect traffic to your website if listed in the top 10 of natural results? It may. If you know seo and your page titles and descriptions are more interesting than paid ads, it may not matter.

Regardless, the ongoing testing of color and layout of their results pages is a fine example of web design colors and Google ingenuity. They could be getting more clicks and revenue from their experiment, yet I wouldn’t be surprised if the background color of Google sponsored ad results changed again, soon, or often.

Footnote: For those skeptics who wonder about my advice for online success with your custom cms web design, note that the #2 result worldwide in 2010 above is the blog post published yesterday revealing the web design secret to online success: add original quality related content often. The concept obviously worked for me. One day after it was published that blog post is #2 worldwide on Google page one for a phrase very important to my core business!

For years I’ve summarized the web design secret to online success with your custom cms web design as “add original quality content often”, yet it’s time for a revision. Creating lots of new content that is original and high quality may not be enough. To truly dominate search results with seo and site optimization you need to “add original quality related content often”.

At a glance you may not notice the word “related” added to that key phrase, but it’s an important update to the web design secret to online success. To rank on page one you need content that remains fairly consistent to the theme of your niche. Occasional off topic content is okay, yet keep the majority in line with the theme of your product or service.

Since I began offering custom cms web designs exclusively, the idea behind having a cms content management system has not changed. Owners want a website they can edit 24/7 without waiting or paying each time a site revision is needed.

Customers need a custom cms website designed so they can make changes without advanced technical skills. Finally, clients need a designer who can teach them how to get on Google page one! Trust the source who says they know how, and can provide proof that they did it.

The lessons I teach including custom cms and seo search engine optimization tutorials provide evidence that my natural methods work. The only investment is time learning and applying the techniques that I teach.

If you want to learn the web design secret to online success, start with a custom cms web design, and then delegate or make the time to add original quality related content often.

Recent completed web design work includes multiple cms and blog conversions done for the Mountridge LLC family of websites including: AdamsHomeownerServices.com, MainStreamMemorabilia.com, and AdamsFloridaServices.com.

Both Adams sites were converted from static pages to a custom cms content management system which allows the owner to add, edit, or delete content 24/7. The MainStream Memorabilia online store website was updated with a bolder look. All 3 Mountridge LLC websites include custom matching WordPress designs that were converted from Blogger.

Visit each blog for news or advice about products and services from the following links, and then use top navigation to view the matching look of their main websites.

Adams Homeowner Services handles Florida vacation or long term rental property, the MainStream Memorabilia e-commerce store offers movie and tv star autographed memorabilia, and Adams Florida Services specializes in residential or commercial Orlando area landscape and lawn service.

Inspiration for writing website content as part of web design, and especially the pressure for new blog post content, can be relieved somewhat if you recognize opportunity. Earlier today I had that type of experience involving web copywriting, and decided the topic was worthy of sharing here as the anatomy of a published article.

Ever help someone with a problem as part of your job by providing free advice? The good will generated is worth donating that solution with no strings attached, yet take it another step and document the story as a blog post so others know just what you did to make a difference in a person’s life.

If you’re away from the computer when inspiration strikes, jot down a short note as a reminder of the new blog post topic for later. Do that often during the day and you’ll never run out of ideas for blog posts. Here’s what happened today, and the timeline.

8:43 a.m. – Replied to an email with advice for writing effective blog post content
9:00 a.m. – Used notes from the tips I sent earlier to begin a formal advice article
1:15 p.m. – Article finished and began submitting it to my top 20 article directories
2:27 p.m. – Email confirmation received from EzineArticles.com acknowledging receipt
4:03 p.m. – Email message confirms EzineArticles.com approved and published my article*

Acts of kindness in business may be repaid by others who become new customers by observing or learning about how you treat people. I think of that whenever I’m doing custom cms web design and offering free advice.

What began as a helpful email reply to an acquaintance early this morning evolved into a full article submitted, approved, and published by the end of the day. That article will generate backlinks and site traffic because I recognized the opportunity to share expertise relating to web design.

Curious? Read the article entitled My Golden Rule Writing for the Web with advanced tips about writing website content.

*Footnote: For authors wondering about an article being submitted and then approved and published in just 96 minutes, those are true times down to the minute. EzineArticles.com gives expedited reviews to Platinum level authors like me. Read about another benefit of being a platinum author here.

This month marks one year since my son Roger launched the custom cms web design for Haggetts Aluminum in Florida. Just last month the owner mentioned how pleased they are with sales coming from the website. It makes my day to get happy web design client feedback since Roger chose a career in website design and took over the CodeRepair.com site.

The team at Haggetts is very busy and they credit the performance of their website as the key reason.

A quality web design with proper optimization will attract traffic from search engines. The real goal is to make a positive first impression so those visitors stay and become customers. It’s great knowing my son, who’s slogan is “The next generation in custom website design”, has made a difference for Haggetts Aluminum.

Check out the custom home page awning factory video tour showing how they manufacture custom aluminum awnings. That 2-1/2 minute video presentation is a dynamic sales tool 24/7 with the factory tour, background music, and narration.

Does your website attract search engine traffic and make a positive first impression? If not and you’re ready for a new custom cms web design or makeover of an existing website, contact us today for a prompt review and quote, or follow the link in the first paragraph to check out Roger at CodeRepair.com.

In anticipation of the production release of a stable version of WordPress v3.0 soon I registered a new domain and launched a WordPress live demo website earlier today. The initial design uses the pre-production WordPress v3.0 RC1 version (release candidate 1) introduced one week ago on May 28, 2010.

The following bonus extras included with a custom WordPress theme design from us in our standard package have been installed, tested, and passed functionality on the new demo website:

All in One SEO to optimize posts for search engines, Sociable to insert social site icons and links automatically on every post, WP dB Backup to automatically backup your WordPress installation plus email it to you, and finally SI CAPTCHA to place an anti-spam code and input box at the bottom of every post to help fight comment spam.

Follow this link to the new WordPress Road Test website that will eventually allow privileges for new customers to practice making WordPress posts and let them study advanced blog and cms tutorials. The site is not for v2.x or older WordPress installations. The May 2010 RC1 replaces the BETA version and is the next step towards release of a stable production version v3.0 of WordPress later in 2010.

Other than adding the plugins named above and a footer link to the WordPress design services on this site, the look and layout of the WordPress Road Test site use the default out of the box theme from WordPress v3.0 RC1. All that may change as the www.wpRoadTest.com site evolves.

For clients interested in a custom cms web design with a matching custom WordPress blog, you may want to review the Custom WordPress Theme Portfolio.

This flash gallery presentation features 10 unique and one-of-a-kind custom WordPress blog themes with graphics linked to actual blogs. The flash gallery is inserted here for reference, also.

Each example custom WordPress theme is an integrated custom blog with graphics and navigation to match the main cms content management system web design. Use your back button to return to this review of the WordPress theme portfolio. View the examples then email us from any page with questions.