Jump Out of Your Skin

I often get asked for advice on how a web site should be structured. I have a lot of experience in designing web sites and have read hundreds of books on web design and visited more web sites than I would like to admit to to research the topic. This list covers what I consider to be a basic introductory approach to constructing a good entry level site.

Content
We have all seen impressive sites on the Internet. We bookmark them read them,enjoy them and most importantly revisit them regularly.

They are excellent sources of information. You would love if your site could be even close to their style and content

However before you aim high start low. Begin off with a simple site. Have a simple message with a few pages. Although your business may fascinate you (I hope it does or you wouldn’t be involved it) it may not fascinate others. A few basic pages are better than many pages. If you are a small business there is no point in trying to portray yourself as a huge business that can provide multiple services. I recommend that you start with the following guidelines for your site.

• Front page - Write a couple of paragraphs outlining your main business proposition whether it be IT, Dog grooming, or motivational training. Do not use flowery language. Use simple short phrases and sentences. People reading Internet pages bounce out of pages really quickly. Power Tip: Get someone to review it for you and comment.
• About - An about page describes you and your business. Describe your background and why people should use you. It is not necessary to mention that you have such and such a degree or that you came first in class for best writing. Just tell them why they should use you. Testimonials from other people are powerful tools here. Your Mum doesn’t count sorry.
• Contact Page - You contact details should already be displayed prominently on the main page. E-Mail, telephone and postal address should be visible on main page and on the footer (my personal preference) of every page. On the contact page an e-mail form is best practice so that people can fill it out quickly. Power Tip: Use an e-mail address that reflects your business. Power Tip: Use info@businessname.com or yourname@businessname.com. happyboy@yahoo.co.uk does not portray a professional image.
• Product Overview - On the front page a teaser (a few lines on product) should link to this page where you can expand on the details of your product offering. Again don’t go into mind numbing detail. If your product is a technical one then link to a PDF data sheet that people can download and read later.

Help Google Find You

We all want to be number one on Google. There are ways of paying for this which I can cover in another article but this shows how to at least make sure that you have some fighting chance of being found by the Google engine.

If your product description is not covered on the page then you are dead in the water. If you are trying to sell or market horse riding lessons and the words “horse”, “riding” and lessons are not regularly in your pages then Google will not index you in this category. It is also important that associated words with the topic are used in the text that you write. Look at your competitors sites that rate highly and you will see that they mention their product offering regularly in the text. All this is part of Search Engine Optimisation a topic I will cover again later.

In the <title> </title> tag you MUST have a clear business description of the business. Look at the top of your browser and you will see it. If it says Home Page it will be a very long time before Google ranks you on is search.

There are many, many other tips I can give you on how to rate on Google but first and foremost work on the content. I will add a post later in the week about more advanced techniques.

Graphics and Colour

I love graphics on sites. There is nothing like a crisp graphic which shows what your business is about. But there can be cardinal sins committed on this front. Here are some of them

• Size: Make sure that you don’t use a graphic that is so big that it slows down your site loading. It is still OK to use it but you can reduce the file size and still use it on a web page
• Type: I see too many sites that have graphics that came from some clip art CD. They look silly and out of place. There are tons of sites that can provide excellent stock photos and clip art that looks excellent. I often pay a small fee for their use on sites and it is worth the investment as it makes your site stand out. The photos on this post come from a free stock photo site that I often use for blogs.
• Colour: There is a temptation to use many colours and fonts especially if you are using your hosting services web design package to create the site. Don’t. Black is fine. Stick with it. Occasionally a coloured headline is OK. Stop there.
• Flash/Rotating Images: Unless you are professional Flash programmer and can do it subtly don’t’. If you think you can create a rotating image don’t. It looks terrible. No debate.

Tables to CSS

Tables were popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s for sites. I can still remember when the version of HTML that supported tables came out. I was really excited (yes I am a sad lonely geek). I loved tables then as there was no other options. Tables have now really been overtaken by the use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). This is a styling language that allows you control the location, colour and position of your text by the use of custom tags within your HTML and the use of a style sheet(s). Confused. Don’t worry. You can start using these slowly and gradually build up to a reasonable expertise level with their use. The problem with tables is that they can appear differently in different browsers. CSS is far from perfect on this front but way better and more powerful.

Finally ….
This is just a simple primer for your site. You may be confused and think that there is tons of work to be done to accomplish your ends. However this is not the case. If you need further advice contact me on info@grangewebdesign.com or 086 812 7999

Barack Obama is reaching his 100th day in Office tomorrow.  Good for him. I like the guy.  As I read the reports on his performance and the various commentators giving him scores and thoughts on how he has done well and not so well it makes me think of how my last 100 days have been and how my next 100 days will be.

As those who read my blog regularly know (thanks Mum!) I am a regular list maker and so I have made up my next 100 days list.  You should do it too.  I will meet up with Barack (or Bo the dog?) and review it after the 100 days are up.

Sit down with a piece of paper and make out a list of things that you want to achieve in the next 100 days.  Don’t bury it in a blog (like I usually do) or in a notebook, put it somewhere that is prominent and March to it over the next 100 days.

100 days from now is 6th August.  Here are some tips for you to keep track and focused.

• Besides the list put reminders on your PC, phone and other devices to remind you as blocks of time pass.  I recommend 7 days as you can change any habit if 7 days.
• Update the list regularly and put plans behind the goals.  Break each item on the list into its individual components.  There is nothing wrong with revising the list.  Put targets within the 100 days so that it is not all one block of time.
• Share your plans with others.  Let them know what you are aiming for.  Real friends will be supportive.

Here is a small sample of some my list for the next 100 days (my actual list is MUCH longer and some of it is private).  What would yours look like.

Fitness and Health

• Run the Cork City Marathon in under 4.5 hours on June 1st
• Run sub 8 minute 4 miler before July 30th
• Lose 14 lbs in weight by July 4th
• Lose and additional 4-5 lbs before August 6th

Professional

• Improve and give value to online presence in various online forums and share expertise (this needs to be expanded and I will blog on this)
• Increase traffic to grangewebdesign by 100% per week through to 6th August
• Blog at least 3 times per week

and there are much more but it gives you the idea… I have a Spanish list, a family list and an office non web related list as well (the longest!)

Like you I like to follow interesting people on Twitter and read their Tweets.  But occasionally (usually Mondays) I need to reduce the number of people I am following.  I use the Friend of Follow tool sometimes to do this.  I do not blindly unfollow in one fell swoop.  I use these tried and tested methods.

• If you haven’t tweeted in 3-4 weeks I unfollow.  Sorry I use Twitter as an information source for technology, fun, jokes and general news.  Silence is bad.
• If your overall number of updates is really low in proportion to your followers it implies (maybe incorrectly) that you are a spammer. Bye.
• If I cannot remember why I followed you in the first place.  Sometimes I just follow based on a #followfriday as I like the person who sent me the tweet about the person.  You cant always be right but if there has been no interaction since its adieu.

I like to follow lots of people as if makes sure that my twitter stream is varied.  I do more than one thing as I am sure you do too.  This is why on Twitter, my following is varied like my interests.  Your should be too but a regular cleanup is recommended just like house work.

If you are one of the many hundreds of people who download music illegally (not me I swear judge) and are wondering how you can satisfy your music needs without this source then I hope I can help you a little.  I love all kinds of music and there are many places where you can get music at a reasonable cost for your own personal use and even more where you can get music to listen to over the Internet.

EMusic

I subscribe to emusic and it is where I get my most listened tracks.  It does not have a lot of what I call top of the charts music but it has a very healthy catalog of music froma wide variety of spaces.  I have a 100 track per month subscription for the cost of two shop bought CDs.  It is much cheaper than ITunes and Amazon and I get music that I would never be able to find easily in a store.  I have also found new artists that I had never listened to before that I an now a monster fan of like My Morning Jacket, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah andmany others purely because of the range here.

Local Library

Most local libraries now have a music section and I know that mine has a great selection.  You can get a lot of CDs out in one go and listen to them to your hearts content and copy them as well.  No I didn’t say that as that is also illegal.

Streaming Music

There are a lot of great streaming music sites out there and if you have the band width why not check out last.fm, blip.f mand ping.fm where you will find most of the artists that you are interested in.  Here is what I am currently listening to on last.fm.  Spotify is a new service that is growing rapidly and is a new business model for streaming music to you.  It may not be available in your are but should be soon.

Online Radio

Online radio has exploded in the past couple of years and if you search you will find stations that cater for all tastes from rock to gospel to country and western.  You can listen to these from all over the world and if you have an IPhone or IPod tocuh  can listen using one of he many free and paid apps that are available.  I often tune in when I am in a wireless hot spot.

So all is not lost for the pirate bay lovers.