A Contrarian Iconoclast Holds Forth
A Contrarian Iconoclast Holds Forth
javelin blog
javelin blog
How Branding Informs Web Design
People in my business talk about web design as if it were a separate, distinct, stand-alone profession. One that invites wild, almost garish creativity. To the point that you see crazy calls to action such as "Let's get funky." It's true that today the graphic possibilities are limited only by the . . .
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Don't It Yourself
Should you hire a web design agency or should you attempt to build your own website with one of the cheap template systems out there? Here are my top ten reasons to go with a pro.
1) You have no idea what good looks like. You haven't studied web design. You have no professional experience and no clu . . .
How Much SEO Is Enough?
Seems like everybody is selling SEO. You wake up one morning, and your dog has a new gig selling SEO door-to-door. He's partners with a pony. You're already getting robo e-mails from SEO companies. Soon they'll be robo-calling you 24/7. I haven't yet seen my first SEO billboard. It's coming. But really, do you . . .
SEO Secret Sauce Recipe
Grandma never measured anything when she baked an apple pie. This is kind of like that. From client to client, the proportion of ingredients always varies. You may not even need all the ingredients, if you are operating in a low-temperature competitive environment. Two or three might do the job. Tha . . .
Foiling The Card Swipers
One of the best ways to protect yourself as an online merchant is to force all transactions off-site and have them be handled directly by your merchant service provider. That's called SIM ("server integration method"). Total techie babble, yeah I know. Another name coined by a nerd in the name of ba . . .
A Progressive Agency
It doesn't mean that we preach. It doesn't mean we proselytize clients. It doesn't mean we pontificate. It means that in going about our business we walk the talk of the American Progressive Movement in the 21st Century. Right now you're asking, “What the heck does this have to do with web design? Tons, actually.
The Build Process
You've hired a web designer. Now what. What kind of build process can you, should you expect? We can't speak for anybody else. But here's our own 10-step web development process, as an example. The rigorous protocol starts with a "discovery" phase. Does your new agency have this, or something like it?
On SEO Purchasing
These days anybody who owns a website is going to be badgered by SEO salespeople. So let's get a few things straight. SEO is an advertising tool which exists alongside all your other marketing channels. Your investment in SEO needs to be apportioned relative to all your customer engagement strategies.
No Geek-Speak
You're a small business shopping for a Milwaukee web designer. Can't speak one word of Geek. Then why are all these people like me talking Geek at you on their websites? They must think you're a bigshot marketing director or IT ninja from Big Corporate. That is a very, very dangerous assumption to make. So we don't.