The New Web Design

For the last 15 years or so that the web design has been an industry, experts have been spending fortunes hiring specialized designers to code a personalized website for them. Some individuals have chosen to venture off the beaten path on their own to save money, and have created their website using a drag and drop program like Microsoft Frontpage. Although, I am never really impressed with sites that are created using these types of editors, I do give credit to the budget shopper. Today with all of the advancements in technology, finally an alternative to spending the money has entered the marketplace. The alternative is templates. Sure their have been template websites all throughout the last decade and a half, but none with templates near the quality and functionality that there is now. Now you can buy a template that has the look and functionality of a professional looking website. With a couple of clicks you can manage an email list, add a video, place a contact form etc. Everything that you need in a professional website plus the classy look are combined in today's templates.

Now for the good stuff, how do you use templates? There are two major platforms that are template driven. First Wordpress, second, Joomla. There has been much debate as to which is better, but I say it is personal preference, Wordpress has been around longer, but Joomla is a little easier to operate (to be debated). They both have outstanding templates and features, and both will make you look like a pro.

A third alternative, if you have some coding experience. Is to you use a html coded template. It will give you a little more control if you know what you are doing on the coding side, but is a little more time consuming.

Any way you go, as an expert you need to focus on quality and professionalism. The days of having a flat colorless site and getting hired are over. Find a template that fits your personality and go with it.

I have included a couple of my favorite sites to purchase templates below. Take a look, you will be blown away by the look. 

I highly recommend starting with a template to save money and look professional.

Rocket Theme - has Wordpress and Joomla templates

Dream Template - has customizable html templates

  

Are You Branding on a Budget?

First of all, WELCOME TO THE BLOG! I am not yelling at you, just excited that you are here!


As we discuss branding it is important for people to truly grasp the nature of branding and what it really is. Branding in a simple definition is using a combination of elements, name, sign, symbol, message, phrase, tag line etc., to identify a product or service.

Branding is one of those key parts of a business that is extremely important to focus on, but rather difficult to track the results. Unless you have lots of money to hire a focus groups or  a teams of experts to measure the effect of every change that you make to your image, you are left with one set of tools (the same tools as everyone else), the commonly accepted practices of the self employed masses. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. If you know where to look for assistance and what to look for, you can excel far past your competition and create an image with much more focus and detail.  Here are some ideas that I use regularly to gain information about what is working and where I should focus my attention.

1. The single largest source of branding information comes from watching the 'celebrities' of the industry; the people who are branding themselves very well.  Like I said before, unless you have the budget for expert advice and opinions branding can be difficult to track. So what do you do? You go to the people who do have the resources and look at what they are doing. I look at their online content i,e, website arrangement, video content, design stylization, wording etc. My goal is not to copy word for word, my goal is to get ideas of what is working to implement into my material.

2. Article search. You would not believe how detailed you can make your google searches these days. You can get answers to almost any question that you may have, and they are good and credible answers. There is a wealth spring of excellent information out there regarding branding that you can search our very simply using the popular search engines. **Note: There are a lot of sites whose sole purpose is to lead you down winding path, telling you that you need their product to succeed. Be careful of what you purchase. A good majority of information can be obtained free simply by searching for it. You should not have to buy basic information.

3. Ask! The single most helpful tool that I have implemented into my efforts over the years is the art of asking questions and listening to answers. One of the greatest things about life is that as you get older and more wealthy to start to really love helping others. I have found amazing mentors for various aspects of my business that have been willing to help simply because they have reached a point in life where they want to share the information that they have gained. Now don't get me wrong, there are some grumps out there who wont give up their precious information, but with a little persistence you should be able to find someone willing to give you a little (or a lot) of free information. All you have to do is ask.

Start here and move forward. A dollar saved while you are in start up phase (or growth phase) is extremely valuable. Good luck and let me know if I can help you with anything!

Scott