It’s hard to think of any business bigger than a lemonade stand that can’t benefit from a functional, professional-looking website. And so, it’s not such a big surprise when clients come to us saying that they need to establish an online presence for their company. More often than not, however, they have no idea where to begin.

I can understand their confusion. Merely mention that you’re thinking about getting a new website, or updating the one you have, and you’ll soon find that there’s no shortage of advice on what you should do – including plenty of technical-sounding terms for “must-have” features.

Lost in all of this, though, is that websites are rarely built just to sit online; they’re usually designed to sell, inform, or serve some other purpose. And knowing what your site is all about before you hire a designer can save you an enormous amount of time, money, and frustration.

Here are three things to think about before you hire a web designer:

Who your visitors will be. What kind of person will be viewing your web pages? Will they be existing customers or new prospects? Colleagues or competitors? Having an idea about whom you want to draw in – and what you want them to take away from your site – is a critical first step toward building a concept that works. Try to form a specific image of your ideal visitor and then relay that to your designer so they can create something that attracts the right kind of attention.

What you need your site to do. Will you be selling online, or merely providing information? While there are obviously dozens of other things your site could do, this basic question can tell you a lot about the kinds of programming, hosting, and functionality you’re going to need. There’s no point in paying for complicated e-commerce packages if you don’t need them. Likewise, you’re going to be very disappointed if you expect your site to generate orders and it ends up working more like an online brochure.

Your budget and deadline. These might not be your first consideration, but it’s important to set the right expectations with any designer. Some companies can produce a simple website in just a few days; others require a minimum of a month or more. In the same way, costs can be across the board. While it’s a safe bet that quality work is probably going to put a bigger dent in your budget, it’s helpful to start out with a figure or range in mind.

Every Web project is different, and it’s not uncommon for a client’s needs or wants to change throughout the design process. But by having some basic ideas about what you need your site to be and do before you start collecting bids, you greatly increase the odds that you’re going to end up with a finished product that looks exactly like what you want.  Get a free web design quote from  MaryDesigns!

Collaboration for Kids, LLC is a Private Indianapolis Pediatric Speech Therapy Practice

Collaborating for Kids logo and website launched today. They provide private speech therapy in Indianapolis for pediatrics. They wanted their small 5 page website to have a fun and sunny approach so they could help communicate to their audience how bright their futures really are.

Their logo was already in existence but needed to be redrawn in vectors so that they would not be limited by the raster sizing issues they were experiencing.

They are members of both ASLHA and NAPW and can be visited at their new website: www.collaborforkids.com.

Choosing a website designer is a little bit like shopping for a car. The second you mention you’re in the market, everyone you know has an opinion about what you should get – and more often than not, these opinions tend to contradict one another. What one person insists is critically important, another swears is utterly useless. Eventually, you end up meeting with designers with that same feeling you’d get at the auto lot: with a big list of wants, but no firm sense of what kind of value and performance you should get for your money.

With that in mind, I suppose it’s no surprise that so many clients come to us with half-formed ideas about what they’ll need for their website. Often, they’re completely convinced that what they need is a CSS layout, CMS platform, Java coding, or some other technical feature – even though they aren’t exactly sure what these things mean. What they do know is that someone else used these tools and made some money, or at least a good impression.

As you might’ve guessed, however, choosing technical features for your website before you know exactly what you want it to do is a bit like going to your doctor and asking for a prescription you saw on television. Just because the people in the ad seemed happy with the cure, that doesn’t mean you have the same affliction – or even if you do, that you’ll get the same results. Just like every person’s body is different, so is their business situation. What works for one website can flat line another.

For that reason, my advice for prospective web design clients (whether they are thinking of working with us, or someone else) is to take some time sketching out ideas about what they’d like their site to actually do, rather than which new technique they want to try. Make a list of the capabilities that could help you grow your business, whether you think they’re doable in the short term or not. Once you’ve taken that step, ask a few key customers what they’d like to see, and take a tour of some competitors’ websites. Sometimes these different perspectives can yield big insights.

A good designer or team can take an end goal and find the most efficient way to get you the site you need. But a client who comes in looking for the “latest and greatest” can easily end up with something that’s different than what they really want – or worse, paying for features that they will never need or use.

These days, more clients than ever are turning to cut-rate web design firms to try to solve their online needs. It makes a kind of sense; in these tough economic times, business owners have to be smarter than ever with their money – and who doesn’t want to save some cash by hiring an aspiring designer or overseas company for less than they’d spend with someone more established?

The problem with this approach is that, like most things in life, something that looks too good to be true probably is. You certainly can save money by going with the cheapest Web design company you can find – it’s just likely to cost you a lot more in the long run.

Here are four ways that “rock-bottom” designers can cost you big money down the road:

Quality. There’s nothing complicated about it: good work almost always costs more than bad work. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the cheapest companies are charging less for a reason. Never has the term “buyer beware” applied as strongly as it does to the web design business, where virtually anyone can put up a site and be in business the next day.

Now you see it, now you don’t. Unknown design companies are infamous for giving low bids, showing a dazzling sample or mockup, and then given you something underwhelming – or disappearing altogether – once the deposits have been paid. The reasoning should be fairly obvious: it’s much easier to draw a sample of what a good web page might look like then it is to actually create and code a working site.

Compatibility. Along those same lines, imagine this scenario: you finally get a great website, one that you’re sure will do everything you wanted it to, including leaving your customers, colleagues, and competitors in awe. The only problem? Half of your visitors can’t load the pages correctly.

A good site is more than just a pretty design – it’s a platform that works well across many different browsers and systems. Your pages are only as valuable as the impressions they create on the people who visit them. A quality web designer can ensure you end up with a layout and coding it works for all your customers.

Service. If you have an issue with your new website, or need to change something in your layout, who will be available at help you? Unfortunately, with technology and marketing goals being what they are, it’s a virtual certainty that your site will need some kind of service or upgrade at one time or another. A reputable web designer shouldn’t be farther than a phone call or e-mail away.

Everyone wants to get a good deal, and budget-conscious business owners need to be especially careful with their money. Keep these tips in mind as you evaluate web design companies. And remember, there are a lot of ways to lower the price of your site, but many of them can end up costing you more in the long run.

Tanzania Safari Specialists

Tanzania Safari Specialists “Superb Tours & Safaris” website was launched today and I’m almost sorry. I’m not sorry for the client as they have been looking forward to it but for myself because I don’t get to work on it anymore.

Truthfully, I guess I never thought about Africa as being someplace I would like to go before but while building this website it was pretty hard not to see how beautiful taking a vacation on an African Safari would be.

I hope that I get to go someday.

Official Google Blog: Teaching computers to read: Google acquires reCAPTCHA

The thought of placing my credit card number out on the web unprotected is appalling. I can’t imagine doing it! I thought everybody understood the principles of shopping online—how to check if a site is secure or not. But, yesterday, I talked with three people who did not understand this, and I realized that not everybody understands the importance of making sure that an eCommerce designed website is conducting business securely.

A long-time client left MaryDesigns last week to launch a new website which they had been building with another web designer. I didn’t know about their plans; in fact, the first I heard about it was after the new site was complete and the client wrote to tell me the decision to go with another designer was “nothing personal.”

Out of curiosity, I went to look at the new site, and I gasped when I realized that they are NOW selling products “unsecured.” This was not the case in the solution they had with me! Tip: If your web designer doesn’t know that you need to secure the payments of your customers at your website, you need a new web designer! I feel badly for my ex-client and hope nobody steals their customers’ credit card information. They made the choice to leave MaryDesigns, so what they do is no longer my affair, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn a lesson here today!

As a shopper purchasing products on the web, what should you be looking for? The industry standard is to use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption on the page where the credit card information is taken. There are two elements you should look for—every site using SSL will have these two elements.
1. Look for “https” in the URL on the actual purchase page. The “s” in “https” stands for “secure.”
2. The second item is the padlock in the browser window. If the checkout page is secure, both these items will be present.

If the checkout page is not secure, anybody using a credit card on that site is asking for the card information to be compromised.

Remember: The entire website doesn’t need to be showing the “https” and the padlock. Just because those two things do not show on the pages of the site doesn’t mean the site is not secure! But the “checkout” page where you enter your credit card details SHOULD have both the https in the URL and the padlock.

Here’s the principle you should strictly follow: When you are shopping online, always look before you put in the credit card information. When it asks for the credit card, stop and look for both of these items. If you don’t see them, don’t buy, no matter how much you want the merchandise!

Twice in the last month my diNovo keyboard has “unpaired” from the Mac Pro for no apparent reason. I submitted a ticket to Logitech after my own computer guy was stumped … not even a response from Logitech! That’s encouraging huh? Anyway, what I discovered was wrong will make some people laugh and shake their head.  I’m going to write it anyway just in case it actually helps somebody!

Has your Logitech diNovo Keyboard suddenly become “unpaired” from your computer? If so…do you have another bluetooth computer turned on close by? It would seem logical to me that the other computer would probably have been used as a playground for the bluetooth device at some point in the past. Both my Mac Pro and Macbook Pro have been paired with my Logitech diNovo Keyboard before. I believe having them both on at the same time was the problem.

The first time it happened I didn’t know why the keyboard just suddenly quit working and wouldn’t pair. I was working in my office on the Mac Pro and my son turned on the laptop in my bedroom. I spent hours trying to make it re-connect to the Mac Pro and never made the connection that it was fine as soon as the Macbook Pro was turned off.

The second time I had the Macbook Pro sitting in the office as an additional screen and could actually see it grab the diNovo keyboard away from the Mac Pro. The two do not like to share their toys!

So there you have it. Maybe you’ve done the same thing and this helps you…if not have a good laugh at my expense.

I was really excited when West 10th Dental Group contacted me about redoing their website and working on their SEO for their Indianapolis Family Dentist Office. It’s been a couple of months since we started the project and it is now ready and launched.

I’ve come to learn (as always) alot about dental procedures while building this website! It’s really true that this particular dentist office does it all!

The site consists of about 38 pages of every dental service they perform in Indianapolis…run by and check it out!

I’ve had the great pleasure to design and implement the newly launched Indiana Criminal Law website for the Law Office of Eugene C. Hollander.

I was really excited about this website and while I love ALL my attorney clients…I’ve actually had this particular attorney as my lawyer before! Now before you go getting excited about the fact that I just admitted that I’ve had one of Indiana’s greatest Criminal Lawyers as my attorney and start imagining all the fantastic crimes I may have committed (snickering)…it was a family law matter AND many years ago.

Even back then (over a decade ago)…I could sense while walking the halls of the court house that Eugene Hollander was (and is) a very well respected and accomplished lawyer. It wasn’t until a bit later that I realized that he was “mainly” a criminal lawyer. Not to get off on some tangent that has nothing to do with why I’m writing…just let me say that he has a mind like a steel trap! OK so I’ll end my ramblings here. I just mainly wanted to show you the design and I thought it was rather neat that our paths crossed again

You might tuck away his information in case you ever need it. Not that I think you are going to commit some unthinkable crime which could lead you to a horrible trip into the scary dark abyss or anything! BUT IF YOU DID…you’d want to take him with you! Seriously, he is great at civil law too.