Custom Web Agencies vs. Template Based Agencies

Posted on September 6, 2012 by marnold

Knowing what a great business asset a successful website can be for your company, it is important you find the right web agency to take on your project. There are generally two types of agencies offering services; template based agencies and custom agencies.

Template based agencies start your project by purchasing pre-made templates from other designers; modify graphics and present you with a cookie-cutter site. Just like all other companies who simply purchased this template; your site will probably “work”. Not only are they not taking the time on your project to make it ultimately successful, they are charging the price as if they did.

Custom web agencies take pride in the development process, resulting in a customized product for your specific needs. Your project is taken on by a team; which extensively researches, brainstorms, and develops a successful game plan from the beginning. Custom designs are created and developed specifically for your company. If your site needs an application or database, they are built from scratch. There is no need to depend on third-party providers or having to work with software that has been hacked together to try to meet your needs.

As a developer, I know the effort and time that goes into developing and creating web projects through the custom process. It’s important to me that I can take pride in the finished product. Don’t get cheated on your next web project; find a custom agency.

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5 Tips on Launching a Website

Posted on August 21, 2012 by marnold

1. Getting all your social media accounts

By getting your social media accounts setup before launching, you are guaranteed that you get your preferred account name before you become well-known. Social media allows your users to have additional ways to engage with you, so this is a crucial step in preparation.

2. Building anticipation for the launch

To try to create anticipation, let people know that your site will be launching soon. Let interested users get excited about what’s to come, and sign up to be notified.

3. Making sure the site is complete

The launch will be your users’ first experience with your site, so first impressions are pretty important. Make sure that the site is complete, all links are working and the site doesn’t contain any dummy content.

4. Launch on schedule

Once you have decided on a date, it is important that you keep on track and launch on time. If users are anticipating the launch, you don’t want them to be let down when this doesn’t happen.

5. Promote the site

After launching, contact all anticipating users that the day has arrived. Start promoting your site online and through social networks.

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Audit My Website: A Regular Website Consultation

Posted on August 16, 2012 by bcaldwell

Do you ever wonder why your website isn’t performing as expected? Are you not receiving enough leads or sales? Do you think your product or service should be in higher demand online than it currently is? You could benefit from a professional website audit of your company site.

Too often, websites are built that brag about customer service, product innovation, educated employees, or bold company personalities. At first look, it’s a great idea so that the consumer can log on and see how great the company really is, but how does this directly impact the consumer?

So your company is great, what now? How does that really help me (your customer)? Where does it say on your website how you are going to directly impact my life or the life of my company? If I can’t find this information, I’m probably going to leave your website and not give your company a second thought.

A website audit and performance evaluation may be exactly what you need to enhance the flow of your visitors. A report can give you great insight into how visitors are browsing or leaving your sight. After careful review, you can develop a plan to determine how to improve on the results and have a website that works for you and your customer.

The bottom line is that performance evaluations help us evolve our websites in a way that show our customers that we are focused on them, not us. Because it is thanks to them that we are even in this business in the first place. Websites probably give us the most insight we could ever have into the mindset of our consumer, so we need to take advantage of that. Step one begins with your site audit.

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Why Your Business Should Have a Mobile Friendly Website

Posted on July 13, 2012 by marnold

As the number of smartphone users continues to grow; there are more and more users reaching your site on mobile devices. What are mobile users seeing when they reach your website? If you still do not have a mobile friendly site, it’s time to start thinking about one.

Mobile internet usage has gone far beyond checking emails; many users depend on their mobile devices while on the go to aid in shopping or finding local services. If your website cannot be viewed correctly on their device, you could be missing out!

Think about who is using mobile devices to find your website, what are they doing? They are most likely away from home; looking for the services, products or information that you are providing. If the user is unable to see this information, they will quickly find an alternative site that has the information they are searching for. This can be a missed opportunity. As a business it’s important to be sure you are thinking mobile while building your website.

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Search Engine Optimization for Web Developers

Posted on June 15, 2012 by marnold

SEO for web developers

One aspect that is often overlooked during development is Search Engine Optimization. Use these basic tips to help kick start your SEO efforts.

1. Simplify Your HTML and Keep a Structure
Well written code allows search engines to index your pages easily. Make sure to use the correct tags for titles, lists and paragraphs. The information should be presented hierarchically; pages should be using all six heading tags if possible.

2. Take Advantage of Attributes
The alt and title attributes should be used on images and links. Since search engines cannot see images, an alt tag contains details of what the picture is about. The same practice should be used for links with title tags.

3. Try To Avoid Frames
Not only do frames make your website load slower, they are also more difficult for search engines to crawl. If you must use frames, make sure there is a descriptive title attribute.

4. Check For Broken Images and Links
Check your pages for broken images and links; make sure the images exist and the paths are correct. Not only is this frustrating for your users, search engines penalize sites with too many broken links.

These basic SEO tips can help optimize your site for search engines and increase your page rank.

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Fort Worth Web Design: Professional Web Design

Posted on June 8, 2012 by bcaldwell

If you have never gone through the process, I’ll tell you right now that choosing the right web designer can be an overwhelming process. Just a quick google search for “Fort Worth Web Design” will pull 3.5 million results. Google and other search engines make it easy to find a web designer, but do they make it easy to find the right web designer for your business? This blog should help you measure how to find the web design agency that best fits your needs.

Location – Consider what is important to you in regards to the location of your web design agency. Do you need to be face to face with your agency on a regular basis or can you rely on skype, phone calls, and traveling to meetings? Although Anchor is a Fort Worth based web design agency, we have clients all over the globe and enjoy traveling to them.

Relationship – It is really important that you mesh well with your web design agency. Some people “get it” and others don’t. Make a point to meet with, or get on the phone with, the agency prior to making the hire. Your new website is very important to your business, make sure that it is equally important to your web design agency so that you get the quality of work that you deserve.

Aesthetics (of THEIR website first) – Even in a quick search for “Fort Worth Web Design”, you can see that there are many web designers out there who do not put much effort into their own web sites. In my opinion, the argument of “we focus on our clients so we don’t have time for our own website” doesn’t hold water. It tells you two things: 1. This is a web design agency that is unorganized with their time and 2. They are likely going to put the same effort into your web site that they are putting into their own.

Web Copy – In line with looking at web agency websites, keep a close eye on their web copy. If they have grammatical errors on their site, you can expect that you will have them on yours too. Be prepared to write 100% of the copy and review it thoroughly prior to launching to the public.

Price – Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way. Websites can be expensive, especially large websites. Most web design agencies will not list their prices online, but will have a form where you can request a quote be sent to you. From a consumer standpoint, you would love to see what websites cost to get an idea of where you need to place your budget. From a web agency standpoint, you don’t want to list your prices because it is important (and I cannot emphasize this enough) to get to know your business and the goals you have for the new website prior to making any kind of bid. Anchor believes strongly in the phrase “you don’t know what you don’t know” – which breaks down to: you have a great idea for your website, but our experience tells you that your idea 1. could be much more effective than you even know or 2. won’t work in today’s market. A consultation prior to a bid is an important step in the web design process. Some of you literally have zero idea of what to expect from a web design pricing perspective, so I’ll try to help out a little bit. Based on my own years of experience in this industry, a small business website can run anywhere from $500 – $15,000. A medium sized business website can run from $5,000 – 30,000. And a large size business website can run anywhere from $20,000 – $350,000. Much of the price is going to be boil down to the functionality and size of the website. To get an accurate quote from a professional web design agency, contact Anchor.

Dynamic – Are you looking for a “one off” static website to be built or do you want a dynamic website to represent your business? In today’s world, dynamic and interactive sites are the way to impress visitors. If your site is the same today as it was two years ago, it’s probably time to make some updates.

Mobile – So many people are accessing your website from a mobile device, so build one that is suited just for them! Do you have an iphone, ipad, android, or other mobile device that you access websites from? So do your consumers. If your website is confusing on a mobile device, you may never get another chance to connect with that visitor again. Anchor designs websites that are aimed directly at your consumers’ mobile devices.

These are just a few of the factors to consider when choosing a web design agency. I hope that this sheds some light on an area that you were not previously considering when making the web design decision. I’d love to hear some of your feedback in the comment section below. What is another important factor that I didn’t touch on today? Are you looking for a web designer – what other questions do you have?

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Does speed really matter?

Posted on May 15, 2012 by marnold

Does speed really matter? Page load time

We’ve all been to a website that takes too long to load, it’s frustrating. If you haven’t already hit the back button, you probably aren’t looking to bookmark the page while you wait. Today, information is so readily available, users are expecting results instantly.

If you have a website, you want to share your information with as many people as possible. User experience is a big factor, and you can drastically improve this experience with your page load time. Not only does optimizing your website help user experience, it can help your search rankings as well.

Search engines calculate page load times, bounce rates and repeat visits. These factors are very important to your search rank, and optimizing your site can make a difference.

How can my website be optimized?

Images

Does your site have large images? The size of the image file can slow down your pages.
Actually resize the images in a photo editor. Using CSS may make a difference in the visual appearance of your pages, but not in the load time. When the page is loading, it still has to load the large image file before resizing it with CSS.
Saving the image for the web. In Photoshop and other editors, you can choose to save your images for the web, which will drastically decrease the file size and optimize your image for your website.
Save the image in a file type best suited for the image. PNG files are best for solid colors or images with transparent backgrounds, while JPG files are best suited for photographs or images with details and color depth.

Scripts

Having several external scripts can slow down your pages; although some are necessary, try not to have too many on every page. Each script calls an external function, therefore this can be time consuming.
Place javascript files at the end of your html file; there is no need for the page to load these scripts before it displays the content (unless the script is relevant to the view, such as an image gallery or to display information).

HTML Size

Developers use different software to create their web files, some generate huge files full of excess fluff. For smaller file sizes, try to avoid creating your files with these programs, or use a tool to trim or minify the code. This will reduce the file size, and improve the loading time of the page.

Server Load

If your server is getting too many requests to service, it will slow down your site considerably. This happens mostly on websites that use shared hosting. In this case, you really have no control, unless you switch hosting providers or migrate to a dedicated server.

First impressions are everything. Give your users a great experience by following these easy tips to optimize your site and decrease your page load time.

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When and when Not to Use WordPress

Posted on April 5, 2012 by mmunsie

When not to use wordpress That is the question. As a developer I have learned many different ways to create a website. In the beginning I used notepad, progressed to Dreamweaver, removed Dreamweaver and went back to notepad, and then started learning frameworks and content management systems. The major goal of any website should be that it’s manageable, efficient, and easy to update. This is where the question of using a CMS or framework becomes an important factor in the creation of the site.

If your website is built for the user to manage and update, a CMS must be used. Now what kind of CMS depends on the type of site being built. For many a CMS like WordPress fits perfectly because it allows the user to create pages, blog posts, update images, and even install plugins (such as a captcha that prevents spam on comments) without having to have the knowledge of programming.

WordPress works great most of the time, but I personally find updating the site a bit more of a chore. What I mean is that if I wanted a button to move in the top right corner I would have to either do some inline JavaScript, create my own way to have a JavaScript file import for the page currently viewed, add JavaScript in the current layout to make that happen, or client-speaking cross my fingers and hope a plugin has been made to do so.

Courtesy of: http://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/thegoronclub/loading-time-art

You might also notice a WordPress site can sometimes load slower than a site not using WordPress. The more plugins you use – the slower the site usually becomes (see: http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-wordpress-plugins-affect-your-sites-load-time/). Also with having a cleaner URL (such as using post-names) can be query intensive and create loading issues (see: http://digwp.com/2011/06/dont-use-postname/). The best way to usually solve the issue is to buy a more powerful server, but for many they are comfortable with having longer loading times to have a website that’s easier to update and afford.

When it comes to developing sites I enjoy the ability of building the simplest website to the most complex web application with no limitations. By preference I use the most micro bare bones framework so that I can build anything I want with the added benefit of complete organization. I’ve learned over the years that if a user wants to manage their own site they typically just want to update content, add pages, and images. In very rare instances do you have a case where someone wants to make a page completely different from the rest of the pages.

When it comes to a CMS, I usually like to build one from the ground up so that I can build to what the user wants, and allow myself to easily update the site if needed. It certainly takes more time to develop but what you end up with is a complete custom site that is tailored to your users needs as well as your own. I even have the ability of adding WordPress if I wanted to, but in those cases I like to use it for a blog and place it into a sub directory.

In the end you should pick what works best for your situation and not for everyone’s situation. Being too general just gives you a really general site… generally speaking.

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Firefox 3D Debug View

Posted on March 15, 2012 by mmunsie

So my life just changed today. Firefox came out with an extension that allows you to inspect your webpages in 3D. That means you can see the all the divs stacked on top of other divs, divs that go outside of your container and basically seem to float in space and time, and overall get a better picture of how your layout is structured. Personally, I think this is the coolest thing since string cheese.

Would you like to try it out yourself? I’m sure you do. Here are a few steps to get the ball rolling.

1. Obtain Firefox. If you don’t have it (shame on you), but here it is: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
2. Download the extension, https://github.com/victorporof/Tilt/raw/master/bin/Tilt.xpi and drag the file into Firefox.
3. After installing the plugin, goto any webpage and press ctrl+shift+l (for mac users try cmd+shift+l).

If for some reason the plugin doesn’t work, probably because an error message “Could not initialize the WebGL context, your hardware or drivers may not support it” – try the following steps below (taken directly from: http://hacks.mozilla.org/2011/07/tilt-visualize-your-web-page-in-3d/):

1. In Firefox’s URL bar, type “about:config” and press Enter.
2. Click the “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button.
3. Do a search for “webgl” in the Filter field.
4. Check that “webgl.disabled” is set to False.
5. Double-click “webgl.force-enabled” to set it to True.

Here is what our website at Anchor looks like when inspecting in 3D:

If you would like to learn more about Firefox’s awesome new extension, check out http://www.flashstreamworks.com/2012/03/13/firefoxs-3d-debug-view-is-visually-stunning-and-practical/. If you are or have already started using this, let me know what you think and if you find it more useful or not than regular element inspecting.

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Responsive Web Design

Posted on February 21, 2012 by mmunsie

No, I don’t mean when you click on a link it makes a certain noise, or perhaps you watch a video and a snake comes into view and eats the video. What I mean is that when you scale your browser width or height, the page will scale to make sure all content is still within view.

These days users are not viewing your website from one particular device. You have users with tablets, smart phones, dumb phones, laptops, and desktops. Everyone’s window is a different size and that’s why it’s becoming increasingly important that your content is viewable from any device.

So, just how do I even begin with creating a site using responsive design? The answer: CSS media queries. What this means is that you build your site using a smart stylesheet using conditional statements that basically say “I want the following statements below to trigger if the width is between 500 and 800 pixels”. Also, depending on if you are using a framework or not, you can have content appear only on a particular platform (ex: I want this navigation only to appear on the mobile version).

If you would like to learn more about responsive design, check out the CSS-Tricks video tutorial on the basics of responsive design at:
http://css-tricks.com/video-screencasts/102-braindump-on-responsive-web-design/.

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