Website Development Articles and Posts

Back in 2014, I originally published this post. I had been already working in website design and SEO for ten years and I was painfully aware of the need for digestible content. In the last six months, my husband Jason has been digging into the genetics of alpacas (we're alpaca farmers) and his world has been filled with terminology that includes words like alleles, genotype, phenotype, and DNA sequencing. As he learns more, he wants to share this knowledge with the alpaca community. He ... Read More

I’m a strong believer in preparing website content before initiating graphic design and this applies to both websites and blogs. Some will argue with me, but I’ll fight this battle and dig in because I know content before website design is the right approach. I believe: Strong website design extends past colors, fonts, and layout boxes. Strong design focuses on the user. Website design should be crafted around the user, their needs, and the desired outcome of a website visit. It should be ... Read More

You walk into a car dealership with high hopes of purchasing a new vehicle. The dealership you picked is an amazing store that comes highly recommended and sells everything from economical Ford and GM cars, trucks, and minivans to luxury brands like Jaguar, Infiniti, and Ferrari. Everything under one roof! What could be better? As you walk through the door, you approach the salesperson and ask him or her to provide you a quick quote on a new vehicle. It’s a realistic request right? No not ... Read More

I’ve recently been talking a lot about website design requirements, proposals, and contracts. I’ve done so because I know a successful website design launch is more than software code, text, and images. Website design success is a direct result of a structured process and solid documentation. Executing a successful website design project begins and ends with a solid documentation. This documentation can be a proposal, contract, or statement of work. The name of the document is less ... Read More

Tomorrow I’m headed to WordCamp San Diego to present a session titled Expectations Management in Contracts & Scoping. The entire presentation is focused on establishing proper scoping and documentation for website design projects. The session is a collaborative one, so I’ll be joined by industry veteran Karim Marucchi (the CEO of Crowd Favorite). While this presentation is focused on helping WordPress developers, the same lessons apply to those who purchase web design services. After all, ... Read More

Over the years I have realized that my children are easily persuaded. I can typically steer them one way or another with mere words. At first I just assumed my daughter was go with the flow and that her personality dictated the ease of persuasion. Once my son arrived, I realized the ability to alter one’s thinking was less the child and more the parent. I grew up in a family where Christmas was important. I’ve wrote about it before in my blogs, because when I think of my childhood, I think ... Read More

For a while I’ve thought websites are like the clothes you wear. I used to think the clothes to website analogy was just something my quirky head thought of, but I was wrong. One of our clients recently said the same thing.  Once I regained my composure, we chatted a bit about it and I realized websites really are like the clothes you wear! Websites Are Personal A lot of our clients ask for our opinion during the web design process. I’m an opinionated person and while I openly share my ... Read More

With every new web design project I get excited. After years of doing this, you’d think I’d be over the thrill of creating something new. But I’m not and I try to transfer this excitement over to the client in an effort to get them geared up for the project ahead. The cheerleader in me is there for a reason – the majority of our clients underestimate the workload involved in preparing for and executing a web design project. Companies struggle with website projects because they incorrectly ... Read More