Subscribe to Purple Pen 
Patching together your online presence with a variety of social media sites and third party service seems like a great way to get up and running quickly with minimal cost and time. But be careful you don’t fall into the trap of having all your content held hostage in other sites, not under your control. Here are some things to keep in mind as you build your online community.
Articles
Don’t Stop at SEO 0
It can’t be denied – Search Engine Optimization is important for any web site. But it’s not all that you can do, and it’s definitely not all that you should do to promote your site.
In this article, we’ll cover some other basic strategies for promoting your site and your business to take you beyond SEO and really bring in traffic and new customers.
Six Steps to a Successful Web Site 0
Many clients think that the work of a web site is finished once the site is completed and posted online. But the truth is that the work is just beginning. Web sites need to be maintained on a regular basis, kept up to date, and promoted. In this article, we’ll cover the six essential steps to making sure your web site is successful.
Speculative Design 0
It is oh-so-tempting to choose a designer or agency for your project by asking a handful of them to produce sample or speculative designs for you to review. But doing so is not only harmful to the designer, robbing them of valuable income, but is harmful to you as the client.
In this article, we’ll explain speculative design, why it’s harmful to both client and designer, and show you the best alternative so you can hire the best designer for your project.
Web Professionals 0
As a professional building web sites, it causes pain in my heart everytime a potential client says, “Well, my 14 year old nephew knows HTML so I’m going to have him build my web site.” Somehow an entire professional of dedicated and passionate professionals has given the public the impression that their jobs can be done by anyone who learns HTML.
In this article, I’ll give a brief overview of some of the disciplines and skills that go into building a truly professional and successful web site.
Evolution vs Revolution: Managing Your Web Site 0
It’s too easy to consider a web site “finished” and walk away from it for months or years, only to return and find it an embarrassment of outdated design and out-of-date information. Instead of overreacting and getting sucked into the expensive and never-ending revolution model of web site management, explore instead the evolution model. By making small, consistent changes to your web site, you’ll keep the design fresh, the content relevant, and keep your customers coming back for more.
Don’t Be in a Rush 0
So often, business owners feel rushed when starting a new project. They want a logo, business cards, a brochure, a web site, and a post card within 3 weeks – but more often than not, clients who rushed their creative projects either feel unhappy with the result at the end, or find themselves stalled in deadlock before the project is completed.
It pays to allow plenty of time for good quality work to be done, for plenty of exploration of design direction, and for building and cementing relationships between client and designer. Time can make all the difference in the outcome of a creative project.
DIY Web Site – Good Idea? 0
If you need a web site for yourself or your business, it can be tempting to try and save money by building the web site yourself. More and more options are available all the time for someone interested in tackling the job themselves without any prior experience. Hiring a web developer can be prohibitively expensive for small businesses and individuals, but more and more an online presence is as vital today as a yellow page listing was 20 years ago, before the web changed the way we find and interact with businesses.
So which is the right choice – go it alone or hire someone to do it for you? We’ll discuss both options, the pros and cons, and then reveal secret option number three – the consultant.
Don’t Keep Your Budget a Secret 0
Learn why you shouldn’t keep the budget for your web site a secret. Share it with anyone you’re considering hiring to build your site. We’ll also cover some basic rules of thumb for pricing web sites and talk about the exceptions to those rules. A web site project can be tailored to meet just about any budget, so make sure you discuss the possible adjustments with the agency you hire – sometimes a small change has a big impact on the cost.