Homespun business websites need professional edge to compete
Seems everybody has a son, a brother, cousin or nephew who builds websites on the side. When these relatives design a website for a business or an organization, the owners of these sites think it’s “good enough” as-is. Especially in those instances that someone from a professional web design firm contacts them about updating their […]
Evaluate your own business website by – shhh! – secretly shopping your competition
Every year I do something many of my website colleagues think is a little crazy. I visit the websites of my competitors and I crawl over them at a painstaking pace. I study and privately critique every little nook and cranny on those websites. Then I make purchases from them. Sometimes those purchases are extremely […]
Expert web design requires just that…an expert
“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” ~ Alexander Pope Last year, I undertook what I thought would be a fun and easy project. I took on the task of putting together a subject-specific website for a family member trying to win a little contest at his workplace. Entrants only had to write a convincing, […]
Web design basics: Your best Internet customers tend to be finicky shoppers
Business owners frequently chit-chat socially about their websites and brag about how their sites are getting a huge amount of traffic. Hits are great, but the real question is: How well are those visitor numbers converting to actual sales? Especially when it comes to Internet savvy and professional bargain-hunting website customers like “moi.” We are […]
Web Design Basics: How clean is your internet “laundry” for launching your website?
You’re busy working with your website designer, discussing graphics, working on your page content and navigation, deciphering your site’s all-important keywords for search engine success. As a result of considerable planning and decision-making, you’re now focused on launching a magnificent sales-generating website to represent your business online. Your web design company has certainly performed enough […]
Website design basics: Keywords and keyword phrases can make or break your site
Websites. Everybody these days seems to have one whether it’s for a business, an organization, an affiliation with a sports or political team. Maybe a hopeful Ebay-like auction or a money-making Google pay-per-click website. You name it, they’re out there. Some of these websites are home-spun do-it-yourself websites created for free from an online instant […]
Small town businesses needs a ‘big city’ web design approach
Why would businesses in a town the size of Duluth, Minnesota (population 85,000 according to its 2007 census estimate) need a big-city Nextfly approach when they have companies in their own communities to build websites for them? It might seem illogical. What would a big-city web design company possibly know about business in a smaller […]
Business website floundering? Try George Clooney-izing
There’s an amazing phenomenon out there which, at first glance, seems hard to comprehend. It’s a phenomenon called George Clooney. Everybody knows George. Women go crazy over this guy. Men wish they could be him. Even teenagers rave about being George Clooney fans. If you stop and ask elderly women on the street, odds are […]