Web Design

It's that time of year again when we're all in high-gear trying to find creative gifts to give to friends and loved ones, and thoughtful gifts are always the best. From big, extravagant, outside-the-box gifts like a MacBook Pro, or a stand-up desk to smaller, practical (and incredibly useful) ones like a pound of really good coffee, or a Field Notes notebook, this list was compiled to give you all kinds of ideas. 

Some of the most memorable gifts I've received haven't been expensive at all. You don't have to spend a lot of money on gifts for them to be awesome. 

I've sorted the list in to a couple different categories to make it a little more readable. Here are 40 suggestions that should help you find something awesome.    Read more »

I've made the decision to design and develop websites using theming frameworks like Fusion, Genesis and Standard and I couldn't possibly be more happy. Orracle Media is a small family owned and operated business and I handle all of the design and development work so this was only a natural move for me. In an effort to give my clients the best possible product and do it in a reasonable time frame I've decided that the best step forward is to use the theming frameworks. Here's why.    Read more »

 I spend my days working in front of a computer and get a lot of time to myself in my work.  Several years ago I grew tired of listening to tunes on my iPod Touch and replaced virtually all the music with podcasts and audio books.  I'll cover my favorite audio books later, but here is a short list of my five favorite podcasts.    Read more »

Today I just have a simple question for website owners - what is your greatest struggle with your site? I was just curious as to what others struggle with on their websites.  I know the things that I struggle with - my design, traffic, and many of the things that I write about; that's why I write them!  

So I throw it out there - as someone who owns and/or runs a website what is your biggest struggle? Please let me know in the comments below.    Read more »

In my previous post on essential elements for websites I talked about some essential pages and tools your website needs. You want your site to draw traffic, engage your visitors, and turn those visitors in to customers, clients, and raving fans. It doesn't happen automatically as soon as you hit publish - it takes thought, planning, and some extra hard work but it's worth it.

Making sure you incorporate these elements will go a long way in helping you get the results you're looking for from your site. So let's dig a little deeper this time and cover some things you can use to make your site awesome!    Read more »

It’s a frequent issue that comes up whenever I’m talking with someone about their website. There is so much to think about when getting your website going that it’s hard to keep up. It’s easy - really easy - to get swamped in the weeds of the fine-grain details and overlook elements that are essential to your site being successful. So if you’re not sure what’s missing from your site take note of the essentials below and make sure you’ve got them implemented. It’s your virtual reputation. Make sure you have the basics covered.

"About Us" page

This is an easy one to gloss over but people like to know that they’re doing business with people. This isn’t a 5000 word essay that would take a week to read, it’s an elevator speech and a resume all in one. Chris Brogan has an excellent example of a great “about” page. If a publisher, potential client, or customer landed on his page they’d immediately be informed about all that he does and what he’s accomplished.    Read more »

An important topic for any website owner to invest time in learning would be the basics of search engine optimization (SEO). Early on in my experimentation with website design and development I learned that for any site to be successful that, not only did it have to look good and present itself in a professional manner, but the content had to be constructed with equal or greater care than the visual aspect of the site in order to perform well for its target audience.

There is art and science to properly optimizing your site. There is an entire industry dedicated to it, and if you're in the web design & development business you're likely to get spammed by companies offering SEO services and promising to produce dramatic results. However the basics of getting your website in to great shape to be found and crawled by search engines are not that mystical, or complicated - quite the contrary. It can be done by following sound coding and design principles and making a conscious effort to highlight the things that are central to the goals you're trying to accomplish.    Read more »

How is your site doing? Do you know? Are the keywords that you're targeting generating traffic?  How are people finding your site? What about your competitors - do you know how they're doing?

Getting quality visitor data from your website is key to any successful site. You need to know if your site is getting the exposure that you want. Competition is fierce, and getting quality results from your site is absolutely essential.

Actionable data is available if you know where to find it. Some of these you will have heard of, others may be new, but these tools are the ones that I’ve found most useful and valuable for my projects and clients.

Google Analytics

http://google.com/analytics

This free application is invaluable for getting relevant information and statistics about the traffic for your site. Whenever I hear a question about increasing traffic or gaining increased visibility my first response is always, “do you have Google Analytics set up on your site?”    Read more »

This year, it's my goal to read a book a week.  Long ago I learned that constantly adding to your value as a person through a commitment to life-long learning makes you not only more valuable in the marketplace, but also more valuable to your family, friends, and on your job.  There are a lot of things that war for your time, but few can be as rewarding as turning off the television, and digging in to a good book. 

So far, I'm behind - I'm not making good progress.  But there are legitimate reasons for that, and I plan to redouble my efforts and get back on track. I've finished a couple, and most recently I've picked up a couple that are going to take far longer than a week to read.  But that leads me to my next thought - what to read?  The most recent books I've ordered from Amazon are both very dense, heavy material that will take some time to work through. So with that, I'm planning on reading these at the same time that I'm reading something not quite so rich. 

So my bookshelf will continue to expand with a variety new titles, but I will also add a page here to chroincle my goal with my reading list and reviews.     Read more »

The way the world does business is changing has changed. There can be no doubt that the world wide web has forever changed the landscape of how the world conducts its business. 

The playing field is (somewhat) level, and barriers to entry for the aspiring internet entrepreneur are few. But the question arises for those contemplating the jump in to ecommerce, what platform should I use?

There are numerous different platforms available for use from free to expensive, from easy to set up to needing an expert to get you running. This is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list of ecommerce platforms at all!  I've picked a couple of the more popular tools that I'm familiar with and that I think might be beneficial for those of you who are trying to set out in to the ecommerce world.

Some are subscription based, some are open source, some are proprietary paid platforms.  If you're looking to launch a store you really can't go wrong with any of these.    Read more »