Building Better Websites That Visitors Love & Make Money

If there’s one thorn in your side when it comes to website content, it’s the humble About page. Whether you’re a company trying to win big business or a freelancer looking to nail your first gig, chances are your About page could be better than it is.

Think about you own Internet behavior. What page do you click to when you are interested in a website, but have never heard of the brand – the About page.

But designing an about page can be daunting. After all, how do you strike the perfect balance between selling your capabilities and getting so self-promotional that you actually drive clients away (or boring them that they are underwhelmed)?

Don’t worry, it’s easier than it seems. Here are six best practices your About Us page should perform, from what content you need to what the design should include (with examples)!

Your About Us Page Should…[Continue Reading]

The following is a contribution from Caroline Black, a writer specializing in Internet Security and technology. A website hack or DDoS attack is one of those things that seems like it could never happen to you…until it does. It’s easier than ever to execute an attack. And targets aren’t just large or controversial organizations – they can even be everyday beauty bloggers. Either way, it pays to be aware of the issue before it happens. Read on!

[Continue Reading]

Finding truly free images for commercial use is a confusing pain. There are a few things going on.

First, photographers (sensibly) do not give free images restriction-free. And violating those restrictions can result in bad, expensive consequences for your business.

Second, there are incentives for photographers to give free images to businesses with license restrictions. And there are businesses that would rather follow license restrictions than spend budget on good imagery.

Third, many times photographers want to offer the general public images for free, but also reserve the right to charge businesses.

And so – we’re left with a confusing situation for honest businesses on a budget. And unfortunately, there plenty of lists of “free images” on the Internet that blindly list image websites that offer images that are not truly free.

They have license restrictions for businesses, require email registration, require watermarks, or generally go beyond the Creative Commons commercially allowed licenses.

So! I have reviewed 200+ “free image” websites and curated them into this list of 59+ image sources or search tools to find truly free images for commercial use.[Continue Reading]

The following is a contribution from Katelyn Dramis, a content strategist, writer, and currently Content Lead at Nebo. Whether you are developing a marketing strategy for yourself or a client, repeating the cliche that “content is important” will not get you very far. But what does make it worthwhile? That’s what Katelyn distills into 4 key angles. Enjoy!

[Continue Reading]

Marketing your website successfully doesn’t matter if your site isn’t meeting your business goals (ie, making money). Different types of sites may have different problems (ie, your leads are low quality), but there is one sure fire way to quickly kill your online store – getting less money from your customer than it takes to get the product to them.

Usually this problem comes up because of a free shipping offer – one of the most surefire marketing tactics for any online store. Hundreds of blogs, agencies, and studies show the impact of free shipping on both increasing visitors & getting them to hit the Buy! button (not to mention that it pretty much helped build ecommerce empires like Zappos! and Amazon – along with becoming a customer expectation online).

Here’s a look at the pros, cons & alternatives – along with an introduction to a new, free app to help you make the right decision for both your marketing & bottom line.[Continue Reading]

This article – republished from 2013 – is my take on Sacha Greif’s email newsletter of the same title. He runs an excellent blog on design here, and has several blog posts on starting side projects – here, here, and here. You should check it out.

“Content Marketing” is the buzzword to describe giving away lots of free, useful, and relevant information to attract potential customers to your website.

The basic idea is that customers are looking for answers and information via search engines and their connections on social networks.

If you are the business that provides the content – not does your website get the visitor, but you get the brand boost.

Advertising costs money. Content, however, costs time and creativity. Often small businesses will have more of one than the other. And despite some warnings, there are plenty of industries (I’m looking at you heating & air) that could be a quick, free win for owners willing to produce content.

So what to write/film/etc/etc about? How can you use your website to get more customers? How do you generate leads for your website or small business without wasting time?

The short, vague answer is that you need to provide solutions to people’s problems – whether that means they are vexed, searching, or just bored.

Quick Aside: I’m not devaluing the need for content strategy or personas. Do not fall into one of the myths of content marketing. That said, I think that the main danger is not doing anything at all. Just start, and see what works for you and your audience.

Here are 11 specific topic ideas that I strive to use myself and have observed successful website owners using.[Continue Reading]

Here’s the problem too many new websites and blogs face: your site just doesn’t look that good without amazing imagery. You’re looking for quality stock photos, but are confused by the licensing, royalties and expense of good imagery.

There’s also the issue of a fine up to $150,000 for copyright infringement that can happen to anyone (no matter your site size) who uses an image outside of the scope of the license.

And yet, the world of searching for free or paid royalty free stock photos for your website can be a confusing world. Licenses aren’t spelled out completely. Prices aren’t visible. Or worse, a site is licensing a photo that it has no right to license – putting you at risk of copyright infringement despite attempting to stay above the law.

Here’s the resources I use to find straight up free and royalty free stock photos for blogs and websites.[Continue Reading]

You don’t have to be a web consultant to know that mobile usage is skyrocketing.

And especially if you are a content website, or consumer product/service website – your customers are probably already visiting your website with their iPhones, Galaxies, Droids, etc, etc.

(Even though – you can easily find out how many mobile visitors and if a website re-vamp is worth it via Google Analytics. See our guide to that here.)

The problem is that smartphone hardware is getting better much faster than web design technology (and designers) and keep up.

That means that there is no single right way to “make my site look good on an iPhone.”

There are, however, 3 general approaches that web designers are using.

Here they are, along with the pros and cons of each…[Continue Reading]

Imagine building your own house. Whether you or a contractor builds it – you will mainly care about the design, layout, and whether the cupboards have enough space, right?

But – you’d also care on a certain level about the materials, engineering, and craftsmanship behind the scenes – even if you don’t know exactly how they work.

You’d want the right materials for the job, so that you’d have a house that lasts; that does what you want it to do; that isn’t a pain to use; doesn’t make you reliant on that builder; and doesn’t break the bank.

It’s the same way with websites – here’s why (and how to choose).[Continue Reading]

A small business client runs his entire business out of the “cloud” – ie, Gmail, Google Docs, and various iPhone Apps. But could open his data to hackers. [Continue Reading]