Today RD2 did a presentation at the DFW Wordpress monthly meet-up. I was very excited once they started talking because we feel very similar about design and approach as they did. So instead of doing a review of them, I'm mostly going to summarize their presentation with a few of my own thoughts interjected.  This presentation was given either for people planning to work with a design team, or someone who creates blog/website design.

What is the biggest challenge of design?

Design is subjective, its personal. Most people have trouble explaining why they pick a color scheme. What needs to happen is you need to move to an objective place. Colors, for example, maybe they support the mood of the pace, exemplify a fundamental change in the company, convey the message, or just support their branding colors.

Why?

The best way to be objective is to apply the "why" filter. With every design, color, piece of content, we need to ask why? The answer to the question why should line up with one of the following:

• Overarching reason or purpose
• Mission
• Key Summary
• Core Value System

You need to keep an overall goal in mind. What is the purpose of the website? Is it to put out information, leverage your clients or customers, share knowledge, network or maybe just establish yourself as an expert? Get this well defined.

Steps

1. Know your goals

We talked a little bit about the why up above. Spend a lot of time defining the goals. Again, just apply the "why" over and over again. Without goals you won't be able to get anywhere.

2. Identify Your Audience:

Its so important to KNOW your audience. RD2 suggested actually doing full profiles of possible users of the website, including slice of life descriptions. (AKA, how old is the user, where do they live, why are they on the site, what do they do, activities, family, etc.) User profiles can be real people. Feel free to interview the kinds of people who would actually visit the site.

3. Know your competitor.

Visit competitor sites. Pick what you like and don't like on those sites. What can you use? What can you improve on? Take those elements and decide what would make someone come to this site instead.

4. Research some Inspiration.

Inspiration can be about content or design, it can be cause by competitors or outside influences.

5. Plan Your Content

Its important to know your content before your design Layout pages, text, what you know you want. Have it written down in a flow sheet. Start a layout and plan as much as you can before you ever design anything.

6. Plan Your Features

After you know what you want on the pages and all the content you expect, try to decide what you want the site to do. (Again, looking at competitors might help here.) Do you want to connect to social media? Do you need a contact page? Interaction? Write all those down. Even brainstorm without the web (aka, "if your website could do anything, what would you have it do?")

7.Outline Your Needs

Once you've got your content and features decided on, start wireframing the site. Decide exactly where you want everything to go before you ever start with the art.

But we want to end up on the importance of "Why". Everything you do must go back to the goals, values and needs of the site itself. Make that your foundation and everything else will fall into place.

Twitter made some subtle design changes recently and I couldn't help but comment on them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about sleek designs. Except the new bird is kinda weird. But here's my problem: why is Twitter spending money on a redesign when they could put that cash towards greater/smoother functionality or finding a monetization strategy? Or, you know, adding a "ReTweet" button, like other apps have (TweetDeck, Tweetgrid, so on...). That'd be cool. Hello?? Twitter? Are you listening?

What awesome feature would you have spent Twitter's money on?

(Also, go rate that video. I lost the password to my YouTube account and I can finally get on it after a year! I need some love.)

We have reached the end of our series! Its true, so many little things can ruin your entire website. In the series I tried to touch on each of the most common pages businesses place on their site and then discusses the top ten worst things for each. Here we'll do a quick summary of those lists.

But what I want you to take away is this: your website is part of your branding. Make sure every page, every line of text exemplifies who you are as a company. That's the best way to create a great website.

HomePage

1. Too much text
2. Unclear navigation
3. Clutter
4. Screaming Colors
5. Forgetting the Bottom Line
6. No Logo or Branding
7. Flash
8. Too Much Scrolling
9. Ads Taking Up the Top Half of Your Page
10. Skimping in the Design Department

About

1. Huge Pictures of Yourself in Classic Realtor Style
2. Writing for Yourself, Not Your Audience
3. Removing Distinction Between You & Your Company
4. Text Overload
5. Being Boring
6. Not Optimized
7. Repetition from Home Page
8. No Formatting
9. Failure to Highlight the Important Part
10. No Purpose

Contact

1. Wrong Information
2. No Information
3. Contact Form Error
4. Never Hooking Your Email Up to Your Contact Form
5. Never Checking the Email Connected to Your Contact Form
6. Requiring Someone's Birth Certificate Before They can Use Your Form
7. Making the Form Look Too Long
8. Hiding Your Phone Number
9. Excessive Text
10. TMI

Shopping Cart

1. Log-In Hell
2. Not Saving Contact Information
3. Deleting Everything When There is an Input Error
4. Not Putting the Cart Front & Center
5. Not Giving Prices Upfront
6. Making the Process More than 3 Steps
7. Long Load Time
8. No Options
9. Errors
10. Charging the Wrong Amount

Blog

1. Hiding the RSS Feed
2. Captcha Doesn't Work to Comment
3. Requiring a Log-in to Comment
4. No Structure in Posts
5. Design doesn't Mesh with Website
6. Blog Content Doesn't Match Goal of Website
7. 5th Grade Writing Level - Sometimes You Should Pay for Content
8. Not Using Your Own Work (Or At Least Claiming its Yours When it isn't)
9. Not Taking Advantage of Titles
10. Clutter

Did you enjoy this series? Is there page you think should be added to the list?

Blogging has become an essential part of good online marketing. Most people have either connected a blog to their site or link to one hosted elsewhere. A blog page has many different aspects, which makes it easy to ruin. Here are my top ten:

1. Hiding the RSS feed

No visible RSS feed might be the most frustrating thing ever. If I find a blog that inspires me, I want to subscribe right then. If I search for 5 minutes and can't find the feed, I'll probably leave and never come back. If you want to retain readers, keep your RSS feed at the top and bottom of your page. (Also, consider offering email subscription, too.)

2. Captcha doesn't work to comment

I admit, I am guilty of this one. For two months no one could leave comments on posts because my captcha created impossible to decipher words. Finally someone told me and I fixed the problem. Check your captcha!

3. Requiring a log-in to comment

Most Wordpress blogs don't require a log-in unless you add a plugin for that, but some other blogs do. Sure, this deters spam, but it also deters serious responses. I know I will usually fore-go commenting if I have to take an extra step. Note: this is not because I am lazy, but because I am busy. Forcing people to log-in disrespects their time.

4. No structure in posts

Some blog pages show just part of a post, while others show the entire thing. I don't really have a preference, but if you show an entire post, make sure to give it structure. (Actually, give it structure anyhow.) By structure I mean paragraph breaks, headings... They call it, letting your writing "breathe." People except one idea to stop before you begin the next one. Structure helps signify those changes.

5. Design doesn't mesh with website

Sometimes blogs are embedded into a site, or just linked to the main page from another host. The design of the blog may not match the rest of the site. The clash of designs can range from disjointed branding to omg-my-eyes-are-burning.  Strongly consider integrating your blog; or at least matching your blog with the rest of your site.

6. Blog content doesn't match goal of website

Your blog should play a part in your marketing. If your blog content is too personal or isn't useful to clients its not functioning in your favor. Make every post work for you in some way. Sit down and think about the goal of your website and your blog. They should be complimentary.

7. Fifth grade writing skills - sometimes you should pay for content

Not everyone can boast beautiful writing technique. I don't mean you need an English degree or the best grammar. Just make sure your writing is readable. If you just don't have good writing skills, consider hiring someone or buying content. Don't give up on a blog just because you can't spell, but if you're not willing to invest the time, pay someone else to.

8. Not using your own work (or at least claiming its yours when it isn't)

DO. NOT. STEAL. Copying may be the highest form of flattery but its not worth it. If you get caught, imagine how that would destroy your credibility. Plus its just wrong. You can point to other blogs and even quote them, just link back and give credit.

9. Not taking advantage of Titles

Even if you don't display entire posts on your blog page, readers will at least be able to see titles. Use your titles to keep people clicking! This is a great way to convert a causal browser into a possible client. Your posts may already have good information, but your titles aren't urging people to click RIGHT NOW!

10. Clutter

It happens far too often. You spend hours adding links to your blogroll. You play with all the fun plugins and options. Its easy to suddenly have a blog just covered in random crap. Live by this rule, only add things you would click on someone else's blog.

So ends our series on How to Ruin Your Website! Was there any particular page you would have liked to cover? Which page do you struggle with?

Not all sites have an e-commerce section, but many do. Today, in our continuation of the Top 10 ways to Ruin your website series, I want to talk a little bit about your "shopping cart". Any e-commerce site has multiple sections from how products are laid-out to payment options, but I just want to focus on getting through the "cart" area, in other words the process it takes to get from a product to a sale. Not all e-commerce solutions offer flexibility, some are straight-out-of-the-box so to speak. But when you are making the decision, look out for these top ten.

1. Log-in Hell

I understand the need to have customers "log-in" so that you can have their information and contact details. But, this process should be as simple and intuitive as possible. If the log-in frustrates a customer they may give-up and never come back. If you require membership, give your clients an option to sign-up as part of their check-out process.

2. Not saving contact information

Give clients the option to save their information (leave me logged-in, remember my password, that kind of thing). Nowadays we all have 573 passwords we're supposed to remember. Don't let the reason you missed a sale be because a customer forgot how to log-in.

3. Deleting everything when there's an input error

This may be a personal issue but I really hate it when I spend 10 minutes carefully filling out my contact information, my credit card, etc. and then I mistype one number and the page reloads saying: there was an error with your credit card. Then, all the information I painstakingly added, vanishes. I have to do it all over again. This alone has made me give-up and use a different website before.

4. Not making the cart front and center

I don't see this often, so when I do, it stumps me. Put a link saying "Buy now!" next to every product. There should as many opportunities to click to purchase as possible. This does not mean tricking the client into purchasing, but it means make it easy to get the money.

5. Not giving prices up front

Prices vary for a number of reasons: tax, shipping, bulk ordering. However, simplify the question of cost as much as you can. Let them know if tax will be added. Give them an idea of what shipping costs average. Do not let the final charge completely surprise them. Also, make sure you include prices next to each item in a highly visible way.

6. Making the process more than 3 steps

If it takes more than 3 clicks to get from the product to making the payment, you need to simplify. Places you can cut:

• consolidate like information (shipping & tax, membership & credit card information)
• cut out unnecessary personal information requests
• only ask for approval to bill their credit card once
• Send an email confirmation instead of a page they can print

7. Long Load time

An e-commerce site may have heavy back-end coding. The reasons vary from lots of products to automated systems. These things can cause a slower load time. This is a hard problem to fix. You may need to find a new program or solution if wait time becomes an issue. Not all shopping carts are created equal. Don't lose clients because your page won't load.

8. No options:

The average person excepts your site to cater to them. Make sure to give them options. Marketing used to follow the rule: ask forgiveness, not permission. That philosophy went out with the 90s. Now people want to choose. So be sure to offer choices. You have a newsletter? Let them opt-in or out. Give them the opportunity to save their password, or let the site remember their log-in (or even keep them logged in for a period of time). Do they want an email receipt? Why not ask instead of assuming. These are just a few examples of options you can give your customers.

9. Errors

It happens. One misplaced bracket and it throws off the whole page. Check for coding errors. E-commerce requires multiple facets therefore it require extra time to debug. Don't be surprised if your web company charges extra to check these things, or be willing to walk through yourself.

10. Charging the wrong amount

The worst glitch that can ever happen is charging someone the wrong amount. If you charge too little, you have to charge a second time. If you charge too much, you have a pissed off customer. Much like site errors, these things sometimes happen. The best I advice I can offer you is deal with it immediately. As soon as the error becomes obvious, fix it.

I hate to add this but I will. Sometimes companies charge the wrong amount on purpose. They add a few cents or charge twice, just to see if the customer double checks. Its wrong. Don't do it. And if you ever do it and get caught, you'll be lucky to still have a company, so make sure to be honest.

How about some examples of good shopping experiences. If you spend money online, who do you like to shop with?

The next important page we'll deal with in our Top 10 Ways to Ruin Your Website series is the Contact page. Most websites have one. Usually a Contact page consists of some kind of form and also a list of other ways to connect with your business. So how does one screw up something so simple? Easy. Let's discuss the top reasons how.

1. Wrong Information:

Have you ever had this happen? You go to a Contact page, dial the listed number and get that lovely lady's voice on the other end: I'm sorry, the number you are trying to reach is no longer in service. (She sounds so pleased with herself, doesn't she?) If you change your number, update your site. There's no easier way to lose a client.

2. No Information:

Better even than wrong information, is none at all. You're excited about the company, you're ready to talk to them but... no contact information. This is particularly annoying when there is a contact form but no one answers your requests.

3. Contact form error:

Check your site. Make sure it works. Click through everything. If your contact form displays an error when they message you (even if the message actually gets through) a possible client can get very frustrated, even if the problem out of your control.

4. Never hooking up your email to your form:

A contact form must be connected to an email address. However, you can set-up a form without linking it to an email. In fact, funny story, we set one up for a client once and he gave us the email he wanted the message forwarded to. The problem was, he didn't actually have that email set up with his host. Lesson here: you do not magically have an email called info@company.com you can send things to. You set that up or pay a web company to do it for you.

5. Never checking the email connected to your contact form:

This isn't really a problem with the Contact page its self, but its worth mentioning. Actually I wrote a post just on contact forms a few months ago that talks more about this. If you have a contact form, check the email it goes to. Or connect it to your outlook, or forward it to an email you actually check, but make sure you get those messages! I know people who missed opportunities because they didn't stay on top of their contact form.

6. Requiring someone's birth certificate before they can use your form:

Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little. But you've seen what I mean. The contact form requires certain information (usually denoted with a "*") before you can hit send. Now, I agree, its a good idea to require some information, like an email or phone number so you can get back in touch with people, but don't expect people to give you their life story and social security number just to ask one question.

7. Making the form look too long:

This kinda pairs up with #6. You don't want to scare people away by requiring too much from them. If the form scrolls down two pages I'm probably going to skip it and look for another way to get in touch with you. Most people contact companies through websites to either immediately fill a need or ask basic questions. There should be as few roadblocks as possible to get in touch with you.

8. Hiding your phone number:

Apart from wrong information and no information there is much more sinister: purposefully hidden information. For some reason, certain companies only want feedback through one channel. So they put a phone number up but they hide it at the bottom or it takes two clicks to get to. Or they hide their email, or they hide everything but the sacred contact form. My thoughts are, give people as many ways to contact you as possible, but if you have a preferred method, list it. Or let them know that your response will be via your preferred contact method. AKA, please include you phone number in your email so we can call you back.

9. Excessive Text:

I'm not sure why people feel the need to write an introduction paragraph to their Contact page. But then again, I'm a fan of simplicity. It says (or should say) Contact at the very top of the page, isn't that enough ? But if you feel you must preface your information, than do so minimally. Get to the point as quickly as possible. Make sure your information or form still shows up on the screen without having to scroll down.

10. TMI (Too Much Information):

I mentioned earlier, you give people as many avenues to contact you as possible. But I want to add a disclaimer. Don't overwhelm people. Don't list 7 different phone number with no explanation. Don't list a bunch of names and then their emails addresses with their department. Make sure not to  overload people, sometimes they just want to send one generic email and be done with it. Give your customers that option.

Note: If you do any trouble-shooting or have a customer service department you Contact page is SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT! Everything I say here should be in bold for you.

Do you get contacted through your website? If so, which method do people use most often?

Image by AussieGal

In continuation of our series on Top 10 Ways to Ruin Your Website, we'll deal with your About page next. Its a fitting next step from the Home Page post since its the second most common page on a website.

1. Huge pictures of you, in classic Realtor style

I'm not sure what it is about Realtors, but they really, really seem to like big pictures of themselves in business suits. Somehow they always manage to make their website look tacky and self-promoting (like Peter Klaven or something) . I know, their business requires a certain amount of self-branding, but at least try to make your photos look interesting. Random headshots of you smiling fakely won't win you extra points. (For laughs, here are the 10 Worst Realtor headshots, just in case you have never seen a Realtor's About page before.)

2. Writing for yourself not your audience

An About page can become an exercise in polishing your ego. Whether the page exists for business or personal reasons it needs to convey important information, not just look-at-me-and-how-awesome-I-am-ness. If you won some great awards, post it. If your company history differentiates you from the competition, share it. But don't spend two paragraphs on the how much your mommy loves you. There's a big difference between being ego-centric and informative.

3. Removing distinction between you and your company

I once went to a fantastic branding seminar by Kathy Garland (seriously, see her speak if you can). She talked about branding for your business and your personal branding. Sometimes your company comes with a lot of "you" in it. If so, express that. Giovanni's site is a great example of this. However, if your company has employees of any kind, you probably want to ease back on the Look-at-Me approach unless you include everyone. Stick to company facts.

4. Text over load

Include your year established, your specialties and maybe some highlights of your time in business on your About page. Realize than anything beyond that is fluff. If you write more than two paragraphs you run the risk of scaring your potential clients away. No one wants to read a history book when they just need a few details. If you worry a client might need more information than what you provide, just add a link to contact you directly.

5. Being Boring

Unfortunately most About pages sound the same as everyone else's. Even across industries, companies repeat the same drab cliques on their About page. La, la, la, la, this company has you in mind, la, la, la, la, we serve our customers first, la, la, la, we're awesome. If you write an About page, write something worth reading.

6. Not optimized

Optimize your About page with your text. Google pays attention to "searchable content" on your site. So if your about page doesn't use any of the words you want to be found for, you missed the boat. Think about words you want people to associate with your company. Words they might put into a search. For example, instead of mechanic, they put reliable mechanic or cheap mechanic or mechanic in Dallas. Then make sure to mention those words in your About page.

7. Repetition from Home Page

Don't make your About page just a repeat of your Welcome speech on the homepage. Nor should it be just an extension. Keep your elevator speech and your branding on the front page and use your About to tell your history and highlights as a company. This page does not exist to snag clients, this is the "read more" section.

8. No formatting

Basic as it sounds, many About pages have no format. A ton of effort gets put on the homepage, arranging stuff, then the About page has an image and a block of text. Set things up nicely. Draw the eye. Design still counts on every page and yeah, use paragraph breaks.

9. Failure to highlight the important part

Look, when a possible clients gets to your about page, they want to know more. They are looking for something deeper. A lot of times they read About pages to compare to other companies. Don't just give them a page all about you and not anything about why you started the company. They are specifically looking for background or what separates you from the competition. So give it to them.

10. No Purpose

Don't create an About page, just because you think you need one. Have a specific purpose for that page. Decide ahead of time what you are using that page for (awards? history? why the company was started? listing projects or people who you've worked with? what makes you different? your specialties?) then make it happen. Don't just put a list of random things you thought up while waiting in line at Starbucks. Write each word with purpose in mind.

Note: Its completely okay to skip the About page. More and more companies do it. They let their other pages say what an about page usually does. Or they label their About page with the purpose (aka, having a Services page to discuss that in-depth and a History page to give more background, or better yet a page just saying: why choose us?). Or they skip it all together and blog. Its really worth considering breaking the mold. Do you NEED an About page, or will those words look better under a different title?

Got an example of a terrible About page or photo. Share the link for all to giggle at!

Image by Lampeduza.

I'm going to be doing a Top Ways to Ruin Your Website series. We're going to go through some of the more common aspects of a webpage and point out the best ways to screw them up. Mainly so you can avoid them.

Today I want to deal with the most basic of pages: HOME. I'll discuss some over-arching themes too (like design). I'm going to deal with them here because your homepage is most likely to be your landing page--the one people see first. So things like over-all design matter more.

In no particular order:

1. Too much text:

Within two seconds my mind will be made up. I'll decide if I like your website, or if I hate it. I'm not the only one. That's the average time span for viewing a site. A decision must be made, and fast. If you bog me down with a page and half of text, I'm overwhelmed. There is an appropriate place for superfluous text: your blog. Your landing page is your elevator speech. Don't put more than two (short) paragraphs there. It should detail very simply, what you do, the purpose of your site and why I need to be on it.

2. Unclear navigation:

Think of your homepage as a gateway. It should read like the back cover synopsis of a good novel. Give just enough hints to get your reader hooked. Then let them read the book! They should never search for the next page. If someone likes your site make it easy, like my-ignuana-climbed-on-my-keyboard-and-I-ended-up-at-this-awesome-website easy to get to the rest of your site. Navigation needs to be easy to read, easy to use, easy to get to.

3. Clutter:

Clutter comes in so many forms: ads, text boxes, design elements, links... Be careful with all of them! The most important parts of your homepage: logo, navigation, welcome. That's pretty much it. Consider anything else "extra". Remember any extras need to remain secondary. Narrow your focus. Your homepage is the appetizer: tasty, pretty and short.

4. Screaming Colors:

Consider for a moment, the palette of colors: so many choices, so many variations. Why then do I regularly see all three primary colors in their purest brightest forms on websites? Is that painful for anyone besides me? Remember art class in fourth grade? Remember secondary colors? Use them. Test your color scheme on a varied audience if you have doubts. Also, what you see on paper and what you see on a screen are not always the same thing. Check the screen.

5. Forgetting the bottom line:

I must stress again, narrow your aim. Be a  marketing sniper. Your home page exists for one purpose, to snag the reader. Make sure you snag them for the right reasons! Make your purpose clear from beginning to end. Don't write a beautiful intro and forget the key points like, what your company sells.

6. No logo or branding:

Your website is an extension of your branding. It needs to tie in to your print material and other marketing material. If you distilled all your branding to its most essential form, it would be your logo. Make it the centerpiece of your home page, or at least draw attention to it.

7. Flash:

Don't do it. Don't put a flash intro on your home page. If anyone viewing your sight has less than high speed internet it will slow them down. Its also annoying. It will probably play unnecessary sound, and probably skip over heart of your information. I know it looks cool, but save it for another section. Put it on Youtube. Anywhere but auto-playing on your front page. I'm not even going to get into the SEO ramifications. Stay away from flash.

8. Too much scrolling:

This ties in with #1 too much text. Everything important on your home page should be visible without clicking. Other pages may require scrolling, your home page should not. If you need more room for text cut out designs or images that eat up screen space.

9. Ads taking up the top half of your site:

This is just tacky. Example: I read a certain blog but refuse visit their site. I get each post via RSS forward only. If ever click on a post I just see a wall of ads and have to scroll down to get to any content. I don't mean one pretty banner ad at the top, I mean a wall of advertisement preventing me from even seeing text. If I didn't already know a blog post hid down at the bottom I'd just click back thinking I found a fake site. Don't let that be you.

10. Skimping in the design department:

Really consider the design of your homepage. It probably won't look the same as every other page. Hire a professional, or at least a consultant to give you feedback. Your design is much more than colors (which I mentioned above). It should invoke an emotion or at least a perception of what kind of company you are. Be sure the feeling your site creates matches your values. Also consider what your target market expects/likes to see in design as well. This is your first date with your perfect client, make the best impression.

Worried that your site may fall into one of the top ten? Veribatim offers free site reviews. Send an email and let us share our professional opinion of your site.

What other ways can someone ruin their homepage?

Cheating may be a little dramatic, but its true that not all web design companies are created equal. There are plenty of lies told by seductive salesmen to sweet naive companies to get them... into bed, so to speak. Here are the top 5 lies I hear most often from other companies, or second hand through clients who've been burnt. No particular order. (Note: I've cranked up the sleazy tone on these a bit, to make you laugh, especially the ladies, but the core concepts are very serious.) Watch for the absolutes, both cheating men and webmasters like to use them!

Tell-Tale Lies to Listen for

1. "This design is individual just for you." Is it really? Get samples of previous work from a designer. Does everything look the same? Same format all the time? Be careful, a design isn't individual just because you can customize your logo and drop in your own text.
2. "The most important thing is design." Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge believer that design makes or breaks a site. However, don't let someone convince you that a great design outweighs sound coding. The two elements should always work together.
3. "Everyone charges a monthly fee for upkeep." Errrrnt! Wrong. Simple websites rarely require upkeep. If you don't have any interactive features you probably only will need to update keywords, not edit your whole site. If a monthly fee accompanies a proposal, make sure you find out exactly what it covers. (The other explanation for monthly fees is "hosting". More on this here.)
4. "SEO costs extra. Its never part of the coding process." I'm not referring to extra money for keyword research or link building or even content creation, just SEO within your code. If you build a site from scratch, a lot of your keywords and meta data will be included in that process. Let's be blunt, anyone who creates a website then says "Oh, and its extra to optimize that code I just did" is cheating you.
5. "Your website or social media or email or whatever is the only marketing your company needs." This might be the biggest lie in advertising across the board. Every "specialist" is going to tell you their form of marketing is the best. Look, its just not. Your website might reach one target audience but may you also need newspaper ads to reach the others. Marketing should be a cohesive effort, and rarely does putting all your efforts in one medium result in success. If someone whispers this to you over candlelight dinner or even coffee, run away.

When you work with a web design company, listen for those absolutes, be on guard for lies. And if you ever hear: "Don't worry baby, I'll take care of everything." Drop 'em. Any company that doesn't at least offer to educate you, is taking advantage of you somewhere. I haven't plenty of clients who don't want the "details" but I still let them know why we do certain things and offer to explain everything. Ask questions. Do a little research. You are a strong, independent company in your own right; don't let a webmaster cheat on you!

Have you ever been lied to by a web design company? How did it make you feel? What did you do?

Image by WhatMegSaid

Secondary Note: I'd like to ask you your opinion about something that has been bugging me, in addition to the question above. Having been in the online marketing industry for a while now, I see these lies from companies all the time. However, sometimes I think companies just starting out don't know any better. They think they have to charge random fees to be competitive, or they don't completely understand organic SEO. My question is: What do I do? Do I say something to these baby companies, struggling to make things work or ignore them? And if I should say something.... what do I say? I really appreciate your thoughts and advice.

min·i·mal·ism: [Art] that emphasizes
extreme simplification of form, as by the use of basic shapes and
monochromatic palettes of primary colors, objectivity, and anonymity of
style. (American Heritage Dictionary)

Minimalism is an art form that has only been around the last 50 years or so. However its been embraced by web design artists across the world. As we continue to discuss design, I want to touch on minimalism as a direction to take the art on your site. I'm going to give you the quick pros and cons of minimalism as well as why I recommend it.

Pros:

• Not distracting: Your message is simplified and more powerful.
• Tailored to text: Minimalistic design will amplify any text on the page.
• Let the words shine through: Even though design can make or break your site; it should always compliment your text. The content of your site is what the customers are really there for. Minimalism makes sure your words take center stage.
• The Zen of simplicty: The last post I wrote goes right in-line with why minimalism can keep your clients happy.

Cons:

• Too bland: Too much minimalism can make a site seem boring.
• Minimizing the wrong aspects: Like any art, minimalism is subjective; but downplaying the important features can hurt your overall goal.
• Art is art: Hey, not every kind of art style will make your clients happy. Its art. Everyone likes something different. Minimalism is "modern" and therefore might turn some people off.
• Trying too hard: Going over-the-top with any design can make it look like you're just trying to be fashionable instead of really matching your design and message.

Why I suggest it:

Not only do I think minimalism is beautiful for its own sake, but it makes a statement. In the end, we want our website to make an impression. The art and text should be complimentary and leave your readers with a sense of knowing---knowing you and your company better. Minimalism is all about the final impact.

Here are some more examples of Minimalism. What do you think? Do you like it?

Image by Delcio G. P. Filho