Articles in Category ‘design’

How To Work With Web Designers

May 18th, 2011 | No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

In a previous article (7 Keys to Getting the Website You Need), we discussed the value of planning your website before you begin development. So you've done your planning and chosen your Web Designer. You're all set, right? Well, maybe not. In this article we'll cover some approaches you can adopt that will help ensure a smooth development and successful implementation. Use Milestones To Track Progress For any sizable development, you should ask your Web Designer to provide a set of milestones. For many designers, providing milestones is standard practice. Use the milestones to track how the development is ... [»]

How To Choose a Web Designer

April 20th, 2011 | No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

You've decided that you need a website or website make-over (if you're in doubt, see Do You Really Need a Website?). You've also decided that you need a web designer to help you (if you're unsure, see Do You Really Need a Web Designer?). Maybe it's not clear to you how to go about picking a good web designer. It's really not all that much different than picking any other contractor. You might not know a lot about the Web, but you know enough to make a good decision. Let's go through some factors you should consider in making your pick. Where Do You Find Them? But before we get to the selection considerations, how do you get ... [»]

Creating Compelling Web Content

February 23rd, 2011 | No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

Your website is beautiful. Your products/services are great. Your site has lots of useful information. And yet, no one is reading it. Visitors come to your site and leave almost immediately. What could the problem be? Probably your content. Maybe you're boring. Maybe you talk too much about yourself. Maybe you aren't very convincing. Maybe your pages are too intimidating. The good news is ... [»]

7 Keys To Getting the Website You Need

February 16th, 2011 | No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

You've decided that you need a new website. Great. Would you like to do what you can to see that it meets your needs? Gets delivered on schedule and on budget? Doesn't waste a lot of your time? Building a website is like most projects—up-front planning can pay huge dividends. But you probably don't buy new websites very often, so you might not know how to approach it. A good web designer will spend the time to understand your needs ... [»]

Your Website Can Build Sales

February 9th, 2011 | No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

You know you need a website (if not, see "Do You Really Need a Website?"). But if you think of your website as just the digital "sign" for your place of business, then you're not using it to full advantage. Of course people expect your website to tell them who you are, what you do, where you're located and how to contact you. But when someone visits your website, why not take that opportunity to present your key marketing messages? Your website can be a powerful means of generating sales. Can you afford not to take advantage of this? Your Website Is Your Storefront The Web has fundamentally changed the way people shop. ... [»]

12 Keys To Successful eCommerce Websites

February 3rd, 2011 | 2 Comments

In 2010, roughly 6% of all U.S. retail purchases were made online. That may not sound like much, but it amounted to some $175 billion in revenue. And the percentage of purchases made online is increasing every year. On the other hand, many eCommerce sites aren't as successful as they could be. How many online stores did those purchasers visit before they decided to buy? And the sad fact is that more shoppers abandon their carts than complete the purchase. I'm sure that you'd ... [»]

Do You Really Need a Web Designer?

January 26th, 2011 | No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

You know you need a website (or redesign), but you're wary about dealing with web designers. After all, web design can be expensive. Although professional web design is the best choice for most businesses, there are alternatives. Let's review the major options to see whether any of them are right for you. Website Options There are actually a ... [»]

Adding Interactive Mapping to Your Site

July 12th, 2010 | No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

Almost everyone is familiar with interactive mapping services like those offered by Google, Yahoo and MapQuest. What you may not know is that these services can be embedded in your own website to make it more user-friendly. Simple Map The simplest use of mapping is to show where you are located, as in the example to the left. You might be thinking to yourself, "I could just have a graphic artist draw a map for me". ... [»]

When Lawyers Get In the Way of Selling Wine

July 5th, 2010 | No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

David Meerman Scott, who has written a lot of good material on Web 2.0 marketing and PR, had and interesting post called When lawyers get in the way of PR. A poor approach that some winery ... [»]

How To Discourage Visitors To Your Winery Website

June 29th, 2010 | No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

I recently wrote a general web design post on why splash pages are a poor idea. Since we're in the California wine country and work a lot with wineries, I thought it would worthwhile to give some examples based on winery websites. I'm going to discuss some specific websites, but only what visitors see ... [»]

How to Hurt Your Results Using Splash Pages

June 23rd, 2010 | No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

Suppose someone interested in whatever you have to offer finds your website (Google, a link from another site, a friend). When they land on your home page, what do they see? A page that says "Click here to enter"? A page that makes them either click "Skip Intro" or wait for a large Flash file to load? In web design, these are called ... [»]

I’m Here To Help. Really!

June 14th, 2010 | No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

If you've made it this far, you've found the Wine Country Web Design Blog. Since this is the first post in this particular blog, I should explain who we are and what we're going to be talking about here. Who We Are Wine Country Web Design is a design company located in St. Helena, CA, in the heart of the Napa Valley (California's premier wine area). The company is primarily one person (me). We do web design, graphics, illustration, custom applications and Search Engine Optimization. If you want to know more about us, check out our ... [»]