Common Design Mistakes To Avoid
Posted by michellebuckley in 
Below are some common design mistakes you should try to avoid when designing a website.
Designing for yourself instead of for your clients
One of the biggest issues I think that happens is that website owners put too much of their own style into their websites. Remember that you are not the one using the site, your potential clients are. Just because you may personally like a certain style does not mean it solves your website’s design problem.
Lack of Consistency
Make sure your layout is consistent throughout the website. A radical change in layout could confuse the user into thinking they have left your website.
Content That’s Not Written for the Web
Writing for the Web is different then writing for any other medium. It means making content
Poor Layout and Design
You do not need fill every available pixel on the page with something. Open white space is a good thing. It allows the eye to travel around the page. Leave plenty of white space between your text and images.
Restrain yourself when using color
A sign of inexperience is someone that uses every color in the rainbow on one page. Pick two or three colors that represent your business. If you need more then that you can use different shades of those colors but take it easy. A good designer knows when to stop.
Those are just a few mistakes you should try to avoid. Agree, disagree, have more to add? Let me know.
Best Firefox Extensions for Web Designers
Best Firefox Extensions for Web Designers
As a web designer you need all the help you can get to make sure your sites are working and as an added bonus they are free. Below is my list of the Best Firefox Extensions for Web Designers in no particular order. These are just the ones I use the most in my day-to-day production.
1. Firebug
Indispensable and deserves to have the number one spot! Highlights of this extension are:
- The ability to view and edit HTML and CSS on any webpage live (Note: this will not effect the actual pages just what you see on your screen.)
- The Inspect tool allows you to click on an object on the webpage and see what styles are effecting it
- A powerful JavaScript debugger
I could go on and on but enough already, download it!
2. Web Developers Tool Bar
This extension has a 5-star rating on the add-ons page and rightly so. This is just ever so slightly behind Firebug but not by much. It is awesome. You can validate your HTML and CSS with one click, you can measure items on your screen, you can resize your screen to whatever dimension you like and more!
3. Xmarks
Once you create an account with Xmarks and download the extension and sync you can get your bookmarks anywhere you have an internet connection. Great for those of us that work on multiple computers.
4. FireFTP
This extension turns your Firefox into an FTP client where you can upload and download your files from remote servers.
5. ScreenGrab
Another great tool! From their description:
Screengrab! saves entire webpages as images. Just right-click on the page you want to grab and look in the “Screengrab” menu.
It will capture what you can see in the window, the entire page, just a selection, a particular frame… basically it saves webpages as images – either to a file, or to the clipboard.
You can download it from here.
Your Turn
Do you agree with my choices or have any to add? Let me know!
5 SEO Tips for beginners
5 SEO Tips for beginners
I know there are tons of SEO articles out their but I’m going to throw my hat in the SEO ring anyways. Below are 5 SEO Tips for beginners that should help you out.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is defined by Wikipedia as “the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.”
Search Engine Optimization is not something that happens over night. Once you optimize your site you can’t just “set it and forget it”, you have to work on it on a regular basis.
1. Figure out what search terms you want to rank for
You need to figure out the keywords that you want to rank high for in search engines. You probably will not rank high for every search term but if you put some thought into it you will rank high for the terms that are most relavent. Think like your clients or customers. If you were them what would you type into Google’s search box to find your business?
2. Create Content that is relevant to the keywords you want to rank for
Over and over you will here from web design professionals that content is king when it comes to SEO. Not only should you be writing killer content, you should also tailor that content to the keywords you want to rank highly for in search engins.
3. Use Your Keyword in the Title
Once you know what search term you want to rank highly for in search engin results pages (aka SERPs), you should craft your title to include that term. Take this article for example, I would like it to rank high for SEO Tips for beginners. You can see that I have my search term in the title as well as in the url, a heading, the actual content and in my meta description. That’s about as good as it gets.
4. Make sure your code validates
You should always aim to have your HTML and CSS code validate. That being said if you are using a CMS like WordPress this might be unavoidable due to plugins that your site is using.
If you’ve never looked before you should type in your website address and see if it validates. Here’s the link.
5. Don’t try to trick search engines
Search engins are smart. Don’t try to trick them with keyword stuffing, hiding links in the background, or any of those other SEO bad practices. You are just going to do more harm then good to your site.
That’s It!
That’s my 5 SEO Tips for beginners. Let me know what you think. I’ll be doing more SEO articles in the future.
Why you should not use Intuit Website Builder
Why you should not use Intuit Website Builder
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You may be tempted by the advertisements to use Intuit Website Builder but before you sign up for an account you should read this article. Some times things just sound to good to be trueWith the promise of your own website up in minutes and a low monthly fee it’s tempting to dive right in without taking into consideration all the options available. It’s even doubly hard to make a decision like that if you are laking in the computer/design skills area. Do you really have the time to be making a website?This is a do-it-yourself service. This is fine for those that are interested in learning website building, but for the majority of clients I’ve worked with they only have a basic knowledge of computers, let alone all things web. |
Before buying this service you should ask yourself the question, “Do I really want to spend the time and aggravation setting up my website on my own, or do I want to focus my efforts on my business?” There are some things that are better left to the professionals.
You may actually end up spending more than you thought
Intuit Website Builder charges monthly depending on the plan you buy. I’m going to focus on their “Professional” plan which at the time of this post goes for $49.99/month. (The other cheaper plans are even more of a waist of money and this plan is he only one that might be comparable with a professionally designed website) With this plan they offer Website + Domain + Email + Traffic. Looks awesome right? Wrong.
If we do the math you would spend $599.88 PER YEAR for a template website. You can get your own original, custom built website for not much more then that and for a one-time fee. Which one now seems more reasonable in price?
Your turn!
Do you agree, do you think I’m off base? Let me know your opinion!
How to Create a Facebook Fan Page
How to Create a Facebook Fan Page, Step-by-Step
With the popularity of Facebook still rising, more and more business are looking to connect with their potential clients through Facebook. Every business should have their own Facebook Fan page, it’s the perfect place to announce events or deals and interact with people.
The best thing about creating a Facebook Fan page is that it’s 100% free and relatively easy to set up. (although if you need help you can always hire me)
I’m assuming that you already have some working knowledge on how to use Facebook. You can use your personal account or set up a new account just for your business, it’s up to you.
Step 1: Create the Facebook Fanpage
Click on the Create a page link. It’s usually at the very bottom of all Facebook pages in the footer. You should see something like this:
Click on the category that you want your page to be in and follow the instructions. It’s really straight forward and easy to follow
Step 2: Adding your info
Once the page is up and running you’re going to want to change your default photo. Often a company or brand logo works best.
There is an “Info” tab located on the front of your profile. This should have information about your company, event or whatever you are trying to market. For Google and other search engines try to have keyword heavy and unique copy.
Step 3: Add In-Page Apps
In-Page Apps allows functionality to be added into any page. These are turned off by default and only an administrator can place one on the page.
Some examples of apps you could have would be ones that pull in your blog’s RSS feed (the Social RSS app is a good example of this) or YouTube videos, or you could develop your own.
Step 4: Promoting Your Page
Now that you have your page up and running you need to get the word out. You should have a Facebook Page button on your website to help others find it, spread the word on Twitter if you’re there (and you should be), sending out an email notification, and put a link to your Facebook page on your business cards.
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