Design Tips from a Non-Designer

I, by no means, hide the fact I do not consider myself a web designer. Although I know my way around Photoshop and can alter someone else's design to match a client's needs, I am not someone who can sit in front of a blank canvas and come up with something compelling enough to garner clicks. I am a web developer. To clear up terminology, a web designer is the one who creates the look and feel (or "picture") of your website. A web developer is the one who makes it work behind the scenes. If you've ever watched the show Orange Country Choppers (about a company that builds custom motorcycles) you see this division of labor expressed in every episode - detailed, intricate painting is done by one set of guys whereas a totally different set of people assemble the painted objects, along with the engine, into a working bike. I am the second group - taking someone else's pretty pictures and making them work together as a website.

You would think that would disqualify me from giving design advice. However, I am beginning to realize just the opposite. Working with so many designers and being at the helm of the resulting websites' analytics give me the unique position of seeing what "works" and what doesn't, without getting defensive since I am not personally invested in the design. I wanted to share a few of these realizations with everyone, in hopes I can help your websites be more successful.

1. You need a hero picture on your splash page

When someone clicks onto your site, you have roughly 2 seconds to grab their attention before they hit their Back button and go onto the next website result. That means you need to sum up everything you want the consumer to know in 1 image and make that image the most prominent on the page. This is often called your Hero Picture. It should be above the fold (meaning the user doesn't have to scroll to see it - it is within the top 600 px on the page) and tell your story imediately.

2. You need to direct the user around the page

There is nothing worse than a page where every element is the same size and you have to really concentrate to figure out what the webmaster expects you to do next. As a designer, you can actually lead the consumer around the page by making elements of different sizes. First their eyes should jump to the Hero. Then there should be an element half as big as the Hero they will jump to next. Then another one or two half as big as that, etc. In addition to getting smaller, the images should get less busy/colorful so the eyes aren't distracted by competing elements. A great example is http://www.bathandbodyworks.com - you see the large (Hero) image first, then immediately jump to the big red blocks, then the white boxes which are the same size as the red ones but lighter in color, etc. Essentially I don't have to do any work, before I know it I have read the entire front page without any confusion or floundering around. They basically held my hand and directed me around their page via the size and color of the images they used. If you click through all of their main top links (i.e. "Spa and Aromatherapy"), you will see great examples of how they use this concept on inside pages as well.

3. Emotion

One way to get someone to stay on your site longer is to make an instant connection with them. Trigger some sort of emotion when they first glance at your page. If possible, make it an emotion that results from using your brand. Most emotions are triggered most readily by human to human sharing. For example, compare these two sites: http://www.thepapermillstore.com/ and http://www.myprintworks.com/ . They are both selling the same thing - paper. Paper isn't something normally associated with emotion. However, MyPrintWorks.com taps into the emotion of a family gathering around a printer and sharing their creations with the consumer whereas The Paper Millstore just shows paper on a shelf. Which one catches your attention most in that critical first 2 seconds?

4. Navigation

Yes, every designer wants to be new an innovative. But on some elements, sticking to what the consumer is used to will reward you with more clicks. For example - navigation. Users first seem to look for it across the top of the page. If it is not there, they look to the left side next. Don't make them hunt around to figure out how to go further into your site - give it to them where expect it for higher click throughs. If you use sub menus - keep the sub menu going in the same direction and very close to the main menu. For example, if your main menu items are across the top, then make your sub menu items along the top just under the main menu. If your main menu is along the left, make your sub menu expand under whichever main menu item is clicked. Lastly, always keep your Main Menu consistant and viewable on every page. Don't remove a link just because you are on that page, or make the menu jump around depending which page you are on. Consistency with the Main Menu means the user only has to learn where each link is once and then can easily navigate the whole site.

5. Search

Any site that has multiple products/services needs to have a search box and it needs to be located somewhere in the top right section of the page. Most e-commerce sites statistics show the Search being the first thing consumers use - before even trying to navigate the categories and menus you provided to them. Think about it - if someone comes to your site knowing exactly what they are looking for, wouldn't you want a simple one-click way for them to find it rather than making them guess at menu options and possible get frustrated and leave?

If you can't tell, the big theme of design is to make things easy for the consumer. Show them what to look at, keep things where they expect them and let them know immediately what your site is about. There are a ton more tips I have learned over the years - heck, I think I might do an entire blog post in the future on just navigation - but for now, these should get you pointed in the right direction. Any major design issues I missed?

RSS - Really Super Scary? Nope :)

Someone in the conversation throws out how you should be using RSS feeds on your website and you nod along agreeably. But internally, you are flipping out. What is an RSS feed? How much more is it going to cost me? Am I losing money because I don't have one? Gasp!

Deep breaths. RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication" - they wouldn't name something "really simple" if it wasn't - right? We have all heard the term "Syndication" used in television. When a program is syndicated, it just means whoever created the show is pushing it to various stations at the request (or purchase) of the station. Not rocket science here.

RSS is the same thing. It is just content that is wrapped up in an easy-to-pass-along gift box for others to use. So how can you use RSS to your own benefit? There are a few ways:

First is using RSS feeds to display other websites' information on your own website. For example, if you have a sports website and want to show all of the headlines from Google News about sports you could display another website's RSS feed on your page. Every time someone viewed your page they would see the newest sports headlines from Google News. The good thing about this is your website always has updated content without you having to lift a finger. When Google updates their RSS feed, your website is automatically updated as well. The bad thing is search engines don't like duplicate content so even though your website always has new content, it doesn't really help you in the search engines because it is the exact same content that appears on tons of websites (any that have a Google News RSS feeds embedded on their site) - there is nothing unique about it.

If you've heard the term "RSS Reader" it is refering to something very similar to these "display" websites. The only difference is that instead of the webmaster defining what content you will see, you define what you want to see in your reader. So if you use Yahoo RSS Reader for your reader you can set it up to only view sports headlines from Google News, FoxSports headlines, and maybe NFL.com. Every time you log into your reader, you will see the newest stories put out by those websites. RSS readers are just a way to stay on top of all of your favorite websites without having to visit each one individually. You simply define which websites you want to keep on top of, subscribe to their RSS feed, and then every time you open your reader you see all content from all of the websites in 1 place.

The second way for a small business to use RSS is to be the source of the new content. In the above example, Google News was the source of the new content. They added brand new content, then pushed it to all websites and readers that had a Google News RSS feed on it. This is EXTREMELY good for search engines, because your content is always unique. Any small company can begin publishing content regularly and using RSS to push it to others. The best example is by keeping a company blog. For example, take http://www.nyrealestatelawblog.com/. They are updating their content constantly and pushing it to other websites/readers. Those buttons along the right hand side are actually subscribe buttons for various RSS Readers. So if Person A uses Yahoo Reader as their reader, they use the My Yahoo button to add NYRealEstateLawBlog to their reader. Then every time they open their reader they will see the newest content from NYRealEstateLawBlog.com. If Person B uses ATOM as their reader they use the "Atom Feed" button to add this website to their reader.

A few snippets of code on your website and BAM - you have now joined the ranks of the cool people offering RSS on their website! The only thing to keep in mind when pushing content is your audience will only be as interested as your content is interesting. No one wil subscribe to an RSS that has no value. Therefore, make sure to keep the topics unique and the update often to make them want to keep following you.

Click 'Here' To Be Ambiguous

Imagine you are in a store and you see aisles labeled "Milk", "Sugar", "Fruits", etc. The next store you go into has its aisles labeled "Aisle 1", "Aisle 2", "Aisle 3", etc. Which one will give you more confidence that you are heading in the right direction for what it is you need?

With websites these "aisle labels" are called Anchor Text (also known as Link Text). It is the words you physically place your mouse over and click on to go somewhere else. And believe it or not, these seemingly simple words have a big impact on search engines both inside and outside or your website.

Search engines are just machines. They can only decipher what something is about based on how well it follows the pre-defined rules, not because it can read and comprehend the content. However, somewhere along the line the search engine programmers got smart. They may not have time to read every website that passes through their database, but other people do.

Externally, if someone links to your website then there is a good chance they read your content. The search engine looks to these people to help define what your website is really about. Since the search engine assumes only the link directly pointing to you is actually about you, it looks at the text used when linking to your website to get a clue as to what Website A believes your site to be about.

For example, if Website A said "check out this post about finding keywords" then the search engine would assume by clicking the words "finding keywords" it would land on a page about "finding keywords".

Seems simple, right? However, how many times have you seen this: "Click here to read about finding keywords"? People do this all of the time - both inside of their website and when linking to other websites. A search engine will look at this and think "the page I will get to from clicking this link is about 'here'". This doesn't help strengthen what the page is truly about in the search engine's mind.

In your website, each page should be targeting 2-4 main keywords (more about this later). So every time a link is pointing to that page, make sure at least one of those keywords is represented in the link text. That means don't just point things internally to "here" and when getting links from external sources (blogs, press releases, articles, etc) don't just always automatically hyperlink your URL. Throw some good solid keywords into that anchor text that link to various pages throughout your website. Your rankings will thank you.

Search Strategies: Paid vs Organic

If you are like most people, you just want your website to be found. With 95% of the web-using world admitting to using search engines, that seems like a great place to start. But then you begin reading up on it and it is enough to make your head spin - where do you start?

That is where a solid Search Engine Optimization (often abbreviated to "SEO") strategy comes into play. As you've probably heard by now, the Internet is no longer an "if you build it, they will come" type of place. Your online presence needs a strategic marketing plan just like your brick and mortar (meaning non-online) business. Every good online marketing plan will include a section on search strategy, which is a plan for getting your website seen on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.

There are two main avenues you can take to get your website returned in the results when someone searches for various keywords: Paid Search and Organic Search. These two types of results are segmented on Google as seen below (Google calls Paid Search results "Sponsored Links", Yahoo calls them "Sponsored Results").
So what are the differences?

Paid Search is exactly what it sounds like - you pay to have your website returned in the results for a particular keyword. Every time someone clicks on your website from the search engine, you pay the search engine a predefined amount (usually from $0.30 to $2.50 per click). The people who pay the most are the ones that show up first, the second highest price paid is shown second, etc. This makes it easy to tailor a Paid Search campaign to fit within your budget - you don't have to pay the same as the big guys to still get a little visibility. If you can find some keywords that don't have many other websites competing for them, you might be able to show up on the first page for almost nothing!

In contrast, Organic Search is the results returned by Google's algorithm. If someone searched for "stone fireplaces" Google looks to your actual website content to see if your website should be returned in the results. There are two main elements any search engine looks at when deciding if your site matches what the searcher is looking for: Onpage SEO and External SEO. I will define these both in more detail in future posts. However, in a 3 second snapshot Onpage SEO is a set of things you can do on your website to convince the search engines you are about X, Y and Z whereas External SEO is pretty much other websites telling the search engine your website is about X, Y and Z. The websites that are returned near the top of the search results usually use a combination of both Onpage SEO and External SEO..

How do you know when to use Paid Search and when to use Organic SEO tactics? The best answer is you use both together. Their individual pros and cons compliment each other to provide you a comprehensive search strategy. I have listed out some basic comparisons so you can see what I mean:

I have seen a lot of people use Paid Search aggressively while they are getting their Organic optimization underway. Then, once they start showing up in the organic results they back off the Paid Search a little or change strategy for only very specific high-converting keywords. This is what is meant by them being complimentary - Paid Search gets you moving quickly but is dependant on fees whereas Organic takes longer and is a bigger upfront investment but then can coast for quite a while.

How have you combined both Paid Search and Organic tactics successfully?

How much website do I need?

When I was growing up, Girbaud Jeans were all the rage. Everyone was wearing them and you couldn't be "cool" without them. The problem was, they only fit girls who were built like a 2x4 - no hips or stomach or tush. I was not this girl. I was curvy and the jeans looked awful on me and were extremely uncomfortable. I had two choices - follow the crowd or look my own personal best.

I see this "keeping up with the Jones'" mentality on a daily basis in the web world. People see their neighbors running ECommerce sites so they think they need one. So how do you know what website will benefit your company and what is a waste of money?

The two criteria that can help you decide is to ask yourself two questions:
(1) Why do you want a website?
(2) How much time do you have to spend on your website once it is up?


There are many reasons to want a website, and your reason may not be identical to your neighbors, so why work so hard to emulate someone else?

"I want a URL for my marketing material"
If you simply want a website so you have a URL to put on a business card, you only need a "Brochure Website". This type of website is for extending your company's brand onto the web. It might have some company info (like location, profiles of the employees, an about us page, etc) as well as maybe some basic package pricing and a contact us page. It is essentially your printed brochure online and as such, should be pretty and eye catching with big colorful photos and a professional design. This is one of the most inexpensive types of websites in terms of both cost and time, because once it is up it is pretty self sufficient.

"I want to sell my products online"
If you want to actually sell products online, you will need an "ECommerce Website". This type of website actually generates revenue by people placing online orders. It usually consists of a searchable catalog of products and a shopping cart. Although there are many out-of-the-box solutions nowadays, this type of website is still fairly expensive because it requires a database, 2 websites (a client facing one and an administrative one to keep products updated and fulfill orders) and credit card security. There are ways to cut costs - such as using PayPal instead of your own payment gateway - but overall this one is more complex so plan on investing a bit more on it. The time commitment for an ECommerce Website varies depending on how often your products and pricing changes.

"I want to strengthen my brand's reach"
If your goal is the strengthen your brand online, you will want to build an "Informational Website". This website type is less about selling your product and more about convincing your customer you are an expert in your industry. The best way to do this is to be the place they turn to for education. Load up your website with tons of articles, reviews, how-tos and advice. It is important you aren't plugging yourself in this content - blatant self promotion makes the content seem less genuine. Just be a resource your users can't live without so they think of you first when they are ready to buy. Because your goal is to keep users coming back, this content must be constantly updated and added to. One way to do this is by incorporating "user generated content" into your website. Things like allowing the users to add comments/reviews, having a forum, giving users the means to blog, etc, can help you grow your content. Just be warned that simply adding this functionality to your website does not mean people will use it. Normally it is a constant campaign to get users to interact - offering them something in return, being very active yourself, promoting your site, etc. This requires a huge time commitment to become successful but the payoff is repeat business and word of mouth recommendations.

Whatever your needs, just remember to define why YOU want a website rather than jump on someone else's bandwagon.

Online Competitive Analysis

Is one of your competitors boasting about how successful their web presence is while you are celebrating when you hit 5 visitors in a week? It isn't fair! However, the good news is, you can piece together (and copy!) your competitors' online marketing plans because all of their efforts are documented on the web! You just need to know where to look. Here are a few steps to get you started:

1. Define your competitors

Keep in mind your web competitors may not be your brick-n-mortar competitors. Use a few of your known offline competitors, but make sure most of your research comes from those competing businesses that are succeeding on the web. You can easily do this by just searching for a few industry keywords and seeing which websites always appear near the top of the organic results. These are the guys who have really put an effort into their web presence so they are worth copying.

Once you have compiled a list of potential competitors, use a free service such as alexa.com or compete.com to guesstimate your competitors' website traffic to see which are the true online success stories you want to emulate.

2. Find their backlinks

Google offers you the "link:" functionality built right into their search engine. Type "link:" before any url in their search bar and you will see all websites linking to that url. For example, if my competitor was Target stores, I could type "link:www.target.com" into the search bar in Google and see all external websites linking back to http://www.target.com/. This information can be used in many ways:

• How often and where are your competitors submitting press releases
• What directories are they set up in
• What websites are interested in writing about/linking back to websites in your industry
• What activities are they involved in that is getting them mentioned (i.e. the first backlink returned for Target.com was about a 2009 National Conference on Volunteering)
• What is the structure for their family of websites (i.e. if you look up link:www.projectorpeople.com you will see a lot of their backlinks are actually coming from sites they are hosting themselves but split into external websites to create an immense amount of backlinks)
• Which social media sites are they using and how often are they keeping them updated

By piecing together where your competitors are putting in an effort online you can follow in their footsteps. Once you know which online magazines have quoted your competitors in the past, try to gain your own relationship with them. Or if your competitors are getting a lot of local writeup for sponsoring a Little League team, look into it yourself. Sometimes starting out in the web world can be overwhelming, so why not let your competitors do all of the R&D and you just benefit from their results?

What is some other information you have found from your competitors' backlinks that you never would have thought of yourself?

Website Consultant vs. Outsourcing

Congratulations! You have decided you want an online business......now what? Finding and locating both a web designer and a web developer are only a small part of your total website. What about URLs and hosting and online marketing and SEO and promotion and .....whew! There are many parts to building an online business and each one requires its own budget. That is where a lot of people run out of steam. They may have enough money to get the website built, but then none left over for the exorbitant fees of a search engine optimization company. And what good is a website that no one can ever find?

Recently, there has evolved an intermediary position called an Internet Business Consultant. It is what I do, so I can only define it as my services, not necessarily everyone who claims that title. What is an Internet Business Consultant? In my case, it is someone who tries to save you money without sacrificing your website. How can adding on an additional fee save you money? So glad you asked :)

First is defining the setup of your website. How much do you know about hosting websites? Do you know if you need 20MB or 200MB of space? How much bandwidth do you need to support your users? Should your hosting plan include MSSQL, MySQL, or none of the above? I have seen a lot of people pay $20+/month to host a website that could be hosted on a $5/month plan, simply because they let the hosting provider guide them into the larger plan. An Internet consultant can help you deduce your actual needs so you aren't paying more than necessary.

Next is development of the website itself. Did you know there is a way to get a cheap website
without sacrificing professionalism? Rather than paying for a custom site, checking out existing templates can drastically reduce your costs. The actual web programming options vary on what your website will do. For simple brochure sites (ones that just act as a brochure for your company without any online dynamic catalogs or ecommerce) usually you can pay a one time fee to a developer for the initial setup and then upkeep it yourself so you don't have any ongoing costs. Internet consultants can teach you how to do that and help find reputable developers and designers.

Once the website is up, you need to get it out there. There are many components to this: things like SEO, keyword research, competitive analysises (which help you deduce your competition's marketing plan), social media, etc. The good news is, you can do it all yourself if you are on a tight budget. The bad news is, there is so much information online about these tactics it will take you months or years to learn what to do by yourself.

In comes the Internet Business Consultant, who is usually (at least in my case), also an SEO consultant and marketing consultant and whatever-else-is-needed consultant. They can help put together a plan of action for you to carry out yourself. Often I write up step by step instructions and recommendations for individual websites and then let their owners take it from there. This is successful for many reasons. First is budget. A lot of the methods above don't require special skills but do require time. If you are paying someone by the hour, it adds up quickly. But if you can do the grunt work for your own website, but with clear direction on what you are doing, it keeps the budget manageable.

Second is the content that comes out. Am I an expert on the replacement parts for a 1967 Corvette? Nope. I can fake it if I had to write some content, but there is a learning curve so I would be charging you for the hours I spent researching the topic as well as writing about it. But if I taught you, the owner of the website about 1967 Corvette replacement parts, how to write your own good and optimized content, it would be much faster. You already have the knowledge and terminology down. Your passion for the topic trumps what mine ever would be. To me, the owner writing their own content makes it more believable and impactful than an outsider spending a few hours learning about things they have never seen.

This is also true for Social Media. If I join all of these car forums as a representative from your site, I will never have the same level of success as someone who lives and breathes cars. But I can teach you how to use all of these forms of Social Media to promote yourself. I can help research where you should be, what types of interactions you should aim for, how often, etc. Social Media is about relationships moreso than outright promotion, so the person most passionate about the topic will always come across as most sincere and valuable to a community.

Can I actually do the work on all of the above for you? Absolutely. I am a computer programmer with lots of online marketing and SEO experience. But it will cost you. By hiring an Internet Business Consultant instead and doing most of the work yourself, you can get your website up and running on a budget that leaves you with plenty left over. This makes it the ideal choice for startups and entrepreneurs just looking to begin their online presence.

Let me know hwo I can help you!