Get a Site in 48 Hours
By David Golding
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We just rolled out a new service: get a site in 48 hours. All too often, I run into folks who went shopping for websites, as it were, and were amazed at the enormous investment it usually requires. With so many billions of sites out there on the web, why does it cost me the thousands to have one for myself? Another element is time. Small businesses can sometimes get locked into a corner where they’re almost forced to push something out on the web in so little time that the price gets inflated on them whenever they talk to a designer or developer (or worse, an agency of some sort).
And so many small business owners go out there are buy up a template. It’s cheap, and it looks good, right? Well, yes, they are cheap, but usually pretty ugly or you run into an even bigger hassle. You don’t know HTML, the template doesn’t look right in the program you bought like FrontPage or GoLive or Dreamweaver, and you’re stuck. So you go right back to all those designer blood hounds you swore you wouldn’t pay a couple grand to do something you thought you could do on your own.
Sound familiar? Maybe.
We aim to solve these problems by offering site implementation services in 48 hours. You pick a template, you upload some content, and we’ll do all that nitty-gritty nasty work for you. The sites are beautiful, professionally designed in the first place, and in the second place, it’s like buying anything else on the net: you just click, submit, and you’re done.
We’re really excited about this new set up and can’t wait to get started on your site. Run on over to our Get a Site in 48 Hours page for more details on how, in just 4 steps and in 2 days, your site will be stamped, sealed, and delivered.
Determining Quality in Web Design
By David Golding
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Folks, don’t be fooled by web designers these days. There is a difference between ugly, mediocre, and clean web design. I’m befuddled by the onslaught of the ugly and the mediocre on the web in the name of quality. For example, check out some samples of ugly:
Now, compare those to some examples of what I call mediocre (a step above ugly):
All of the sites you have seen come from companies who are considered the market leaders for web design. It doesn’t take a graphic design expert to see the lack of quality in these designs. Now, for examples of the clean, the beautiful, the professional sites:
Logo Pond
Socialtext
Fusionary Media
Shoutwire
On a technical level, we could get into exactly why the latter are better than the ugly and mediocre sites. But really, everyone can see why. And there are designers out there that have the touch. Please, go find the ones with that touch. The key to identifying their skill is by previewing their portfolio and comparing it to sites you know are well-designed. Be careful: sometimes, at the insistence of their clients, they will alter the design and sacrifice quality. I just recently made adjustments to a client’s site that I believed were steps in the wrong direction, but hey, they get what they want. So, more importantly, look at the portfolio on the whole. Give it a grade. And shop around until you find the designer that will deliver a good design, not a mediocre one.
The problem in this industry is that there are relatively no barriers to entry. A high school kid can jump in and charge you for terrible work and it will cost him the same as some powerful design firm. Anyone can jump out onto the internet and start designing. But there are those that are the cream of the crop. College recruiters painstakingly sort through all the high school football players to find those that are qualified to play Div. I college ball. And the NFL has a draft to filter still the pros from the amateurs. In the web design world, there certainly are pros and a whole lot of amateurs. So put in place your own draft, and pitch around your idea to a variety of designers. If they don’t offer a free price quote, move on.
Site Diagnostics
By David Golding
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When you go to the doctor, you’ll notice a barrage of tests and questions to zero-in on what could be wrong. Just like the doctor trying to diagnose a problem, site technicians need to continually filter through the site in an effort to diagnose potential problems. In keeping with the analogy, doctors are experts with high levels of experience before they are even able to see a patient. They’ve had tests and have gone through intense certification procedures.
While medical science is, I believe, much more complicated than internet technology, and certainly can mean the difference between life and death, you ought not to turn your site check-up over to someone without some substantial levels of experience.
But there is a problem in all of this that only compounds the difficulty in finding certified experts: the internet is insanely volatile. By volatile I mean in constant change. Yesterday’s experts have become today’s has-beens. I read a PDF of an e-book that a friend emailed me. It was written in 2000, just before the big dot-bomb. I noticed serious flaws in the strategy that author recommended and thought how interesting it would be to pick up the article today and try it out. No doubt it would flop. But I’m positive it was a worthwhile technique… 6 years ago. Interesting that in 6 years serious internet experts have had to completely revamp their strategies.
So how do you determine a good diagnostician for your site? You know, I suppose you just have to see their track record. Trust the numbers. Do your best to find out which sites they have worked on to improve ranking and exposure and traffic. If they have little to report, they’re likely hiding failed attempts.
Here’s a list you can work with when trying to diagnose problems yourself, an “at-home check up” if you will.
Checklist For Diagnosing Problems
1. Site Navigation Is Easy and Bug-Free. Click around the site. Test every link. Make sure that to get from any point to any other point the user isn’t interrupted at all by bugs built into the site inadvertently. Try out different browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and Safari (on the Mac) to see if there are any bugs related to just one browser.
2. The Main Point of Each Page, Including the Home Page, Is Straightforward and Easily Understood. In graphic design, we live by the “1.6-second Rule.” Studies have shown that most designs are consumed with an initial 1.6-second review. Gestalt theory is grounded in how the brain perceives everything in one whole before is processes all the parts, and over the years, has proven one of the most revolutionary concepts in graphic design and architecture. If the brain finds any value to any portion of the design after the 1.6-second review, it will concentrate more fully. Otherwise it considers what it has seen as noise and rejects the initial review. So try to write your site around this rule. If you need more than 2 seconds to know what the page is about, you will probably have more visitors reject the page altogether.
3. Your Site’s Ranking Suddenly Drops More Than One to Three Positions. It’s quite normal to see some fluctuation in your site’s rankings. But if one day you were ranked no. 5 and the next no. 25, then most likely the search engine updated its index and your site didn’t agree with it too well. Go find an expert who can isolate what took place and repair the damage so you can be back and running in your normal ranking.
Aside from these three items on your checklist, there could be many more. But the point is, look for ways to keep your site running at its optimum strength. And like your doctor says, come in for a regular check up.
