It’s unavoidable, to have a website you need two very important things:

1. A domain name (like outboxonline.com)
2. A web hosting service – the place where you’ll put the files that make up your website so that you can access them through your domain name (see above)

These can be mysterious and often confounding propositions – where to begin? Read more

Earlier I wrote a post about how to give feedback on a website. It was less about the ins-and-outs of giving feedback, and more about a tool you can use to make it easy to deliver your feedback. This time I’m going to talk a little bit about ways to give helpful feedback to your web designer. Read more

All too often people are left in the position of using the tools they have at their disposal for giving feedback on a website. As a web designer, I’ve received feedback as prose in an email, over the phone, as a bulleted list in a text document, as a document that has been printed, scanned, then emailed to me, etc…

And they’ve been effective for the most part – but wouldn’t it be nice if you could put your notes right in place over the actual website, then easily send that to someone?

Well, technology is a wonderful thing, and I’ve discovered this wonderful tool called Bounce (http://www.bounceapp.com/).

Bounce lets you easily add notes right over an image of any web page – you just enter the URL, they take a picture of the page, then let you make notes on it & send it on to someone. It’s simple, it’s elegant, and makes life just a little bit easier. Who could ask for anything more?

Every now and again I am reminded that it’s easy to get swept up in the details rather than focusing on the bigger picture when designing a website.  As website designers, we’re really serving two needs:

1. Design (and possibly implement) an engaging, usable, website design to sell a product or service, or to act as a resource.
2. Help the owner of the website understand their goals, so that their website helps them achieve said goals.

It’s often easy to assume that someone looking to have a website fully understands and acknowledges their overall goals.  To create a successful website design, not only does the client need to fully understand their goals, but the designer needs to as well to create something that helps meet them. Read more

Most people are under time constraints – they have lots going on and not enough time to do it.  So things sneak up on them and then need to be done in a hurry.  We’ve all been there!  But what are you to do when you need a web presence ASAP, but don’t have the time to plan and implement the whole site before your deadline?  Create a page that has the critical details on it and then plan out the rest of your site knowing that your web presence, while minimal, is still working for you.

Do not settle for an old school “under construction” page, or for the domain parking page that your registrar puts up there to make money off of you while you get your site underway!  The page you create should have some basic, but critical information on it. Read on to find out what to include on your Coming Soon page…

Like with many things besides the pie vs cake debate (pie is clearly better!), there is no clear answer to the blog vs email marketing debate. There is also room for both – have your cake and eat your pie too! Lorrie (of Web Marketing Therapy) and Kate virtually sat down to create some guidelines for to help get you started.

Before we get into it, though, let’s break down what form they take most often:

A Blog: A blog is part of a website or a stand-alone destination in which content is published over time. It becomes a valuable repository (hopefully) of information and links.  Also, people can visit to read/view/listen to your posted content and interact with the author(s) by leaving comments at any time. People can use an RSS feed to subscribe to your blog, which delivers the latest content from your blog to their Feed Reader or their email inbox. You need a platform on which to create your blog, like Blogger or Wordpress (my favorite).

Email Marketing: Email Marketing is a subscription-based service in which you send content (eg: a newsletter) via email to a subscription list. What you send can include text, links and images, but needs to adhere to some of the limitations of the email programs that will display them. Often, an incentive is offered to entice people to sign up for your mailing list. You need a service that allows you to create a way for people to sign up, manage the subscription list, and send emails to them.

So how do you know which to use when?

Read on…

I began the process of redesigning my own website (http://www.outboxonline.com) today – Version 4.  In the next couple of weeks, the new design will be rolled out on the site:

There are lots of reasons that I’ll enumerate below for this redesign, but the most important is the evolution of my business based on the needs and wants I hear about from my existing and potential clients.   The last time I redesigned my website, I was moving from doing both user experience design for software and web design & development, to doing mostly web design & development — so the website reflected that.  I kept the Portfolio section as updated as possible with recent projects, but otherwise it remained the same for about 2 years.  That’s a long time in the life of an online portfolio!

Since then, along with the evolution of social media platforms and people’s understanding of them, blogging platforms have also made huge advances, and as many people are looking for partially-custom budget-friendly websites as are looking for bespoke, unique websites.  Additionally, more and more people better understand how important web marketing is, and how social media can help spread the world about their businesses.

Based on all of the above, here are the things that will change about my website and why:

1. There will be much less text on the Home page: The text on the Home page will be streamlined to efficiently explaining what I do and how to get in touch with me. I had already streamlined text on the last iteration of the design, but I wanted to do it even further in this case to get down to only what is essential. There will be further details in other places on my website, and the job of the Home page is to engage people enough so that they click through to read it. In most cases, people visiting my website want to see examples of my work, know a little bit about me & what it’s like to work with me, and decide whether they want to contact me to work with them. This is different than visitors to my blog, who are looking for information about how to do something, or resources for their project(s). I know this because I’ve regularly checked in on what people are checking out on my site via Google Analytics.
2. The services I offer will be much easier to identify: There’s lots of overlap when it comes to the skill set necessary to design and develop web collateral. And not every designer and developer does the same thing. Often, it can be very confusing for people looking for someone to hire — they don’t know exactly the skill set they need, they just know what they want the end result to be. So, it’s important to be as clear as possible about what I do, and talk about it in terms of what people want the end result to be, eg: blog, website, logo, etc…
3. There will be a better & more efficient way to know how much something will cost: Since there are so many variables to consider, it’s very hard to give someone an estimate without having a conversation about what they need and want. But the form they fill out to get in touch with me can gather more specific information to help me get them a quote more quickly. Also, I can offer semi-custom packages with very specific elements that can be added a-la-carte so that people with a limited budget can choose only what they need/want.
4. The blog will be a part of the site, rather than a separate entity: Beyond the technology change of having the whole site built in Wordpress, I want the blog to be an integrated part of the site rather than a stand-alone entity. Since the blog content I create is closely tied to my the work that I do, and because I want it to be easier for people to jump from the blog content to my portfolio and back again, I’m presenting a consistent navigation across the whole site.

Next time, I’ll talk about the decisions that went into the aesthetics of the redesign & any changes that happen while moving from design to development and why. Stay tuned!

Recently I wrote about the importance of delegating when it comes to running your business & maintaining your sanity.  Among the tasks that may be delegated is the generation of blog posts, Tweets and Facebook content.  While there is nothing quite like your authentic voice, and you probably should add your own personal touch from time-to-time, it is possible for someone else to easily add some targeted content to your social media outlets with great success.

By establishing the keywords that bring the most relevant information and people to your attention, someone else can take the reigns when it comes to posting news that position you as an expert, making fruitful connections, and bring your product or service to the attention of those who may need it.  With just a couple of hours a week, someone can handle your social media, and also track its effectiveness through analytics to be sure that future efforts have a greater chance of success.

Not only will your social media impact increase because someone will be dedicated to it, but you’ll maintain a single voice with the added benefit of collaboration.  Collaborating with a social media expert will bring new content not only to the attention of your audience, but to you as well.   They can track mentions of your business, and promote your triumphs!

Finding someone to work with is as simple as finding someone who is willing to understand your business and how you see it evolving… it might be someone you employ already.   If you find someone who is comfortable and familiar with social media, you’ll achieve traction more quickly — but anyone who is passionate about what you do will be a great help.

Many successful people share a common characteristic: they are good at many things & they have their fingers in multiple pies. This is especially true for people who own and run their own businesses. Usually, they’re responsible not only for the actual work generated by the business, but also for the marketing of it, the financing and billing for it, and the incoming and outgoing communication that keeps it running. This is above-and-beyond the necessities to keep life going – like grocery buying, clothes washing, house cleaning, family care, etc…

In recent memory, I can think of at least three people I’ve kvetched with about juggling all of it. But there *is* another way: delegation. Read more about how delegating can help make you more successful…

Caveat: I’m guilty of this myself!

You likely have an “About Me” or “About Our Company” or “About Us” page on your website. And you certainly have a thumbnail image that you use for your social media profiles (if you’re not using a logo or brand). Occasionally you might be asked to be interviewed on a blog, or an article may be written referencing you. In each of these circumstances, you may want a photo of yourself displayed. In a physically disconnected world, where many of your networks and connections are made online, it’s more important than ever for people to sense your authenticity and your personality.

And you don’t want a terribly lit & untouched-up photo of yourself taken at a friend’s wedding, or a snapshot of your vacation to Costa Rica to be the way you represent yourself to the world via your business. I once had a client who wanted to use a photo of himself at an event where he was clearly snozzled – yikes!

If it’s your personal Facebook profile and you regularly update it to show something recent & cute, that’s one thing, if it’s a headshot of you on the website of your business, that’s another thing entirely. This isn’t to say it needs to be stuffy, or nostalgic for Sears photo shoots circa 1981… you want it to reference your personality and that of your business. Read on to learn more about how to make headshots work for you, and see some great examples…