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Archive for Website Design

6 Important Reasons to Update Your Website in 2017

Website design is constantly evolving. You want a design that will help your audience convert to paying customers.

You also want a website that is up today’s standards and not stuck in the past.

Here are some of the website design trends happening in 2017:

Full Width Images and/or Video Sliders. Studies show large images make people stop and notice. The image must be exceptional and unique (avoid stock photos). This contributes to a high conversion level.
Split-Screen Layouts. This allows your audience to go to where they will be most likely to convert.
Monochromatic Colors. Your CTA (Call To Action) button will stand out if you use a bright spot of color on an otherwise neutral or contrasting color palette.
Simple Navigation. Make it easy for people to find what their looking for. Avoid deep menus that require a lot of clicks.
Video. A level of trust is needed to convert your audience into clients. A video will allow you to personalize your brand. You will see more and more videos on the home page of websites today.
Responsive Design. A responsive web design is one that fills all screen sizes optimally. This is a must as an increasing number of people use their mobile devices to search up websites.

These are tips to keep in mind, whether you’re needing a new website or revising an existing one. Don’t let your business get left behind.

Contact us for a free quote today!

16 Apr

Is Your Website Mobile-Friendly?

Google is about to update their algorithm again which will affect how they analyze your website. Having a mobile-friendly website is vital to your success online.

Mobile-friendly websites will soon rank higher on Google’s search engine results pages (SERP). If your site is not mobile-friendly it’s likely to become less relevant and disappear from prominent search results.

Studies show that time spent daily on a mobile device has increased more than 5X from 2011 to 2014. Searching, browsing and shopping are all going mobile. 40 percent of all search queries are from mobile devices. And that number is growing.

If your website isn’t optimized for mobile users, you’re probably losing business. In fact, with a mobile optimized site, you can expect to convert up to twice as many people as you would without optimizing for mobile customers.

If your website looks good and works well on smartphones and tablets, you can expect up to twice as many conversions compared to a less-than-optimal display. That’s because customers who search for you on their mobile device expect a webpage specifically designed for smaller screens, like smartphones and tablets. Otherwise, it’s just too hard to use your website and customers give up. The result: no conversion.

It’s crucial to your business that your website is easy to read, navigate and click on all devices, especially mobile.

Enter your website into Google’s Mobile Friendly Test and you will find out if your site is okay.

Graphic Design Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Website Design WordPress

20 Aug

6 Reasons You Must Redesign Your Website

Is your website looking old and stale?

Is it responsive to the various tablet and smart phone sizes or does it look strange and unprofessional?

Technology is constantly changing and so must your website. You cannot just let it sway in the online breeze.

Here are some tips on what makes an attention grabbing, quality website:

Make it easy to read. Are the fonts large and clear? Is the content easy to skim? Use headlines and bulleted items.
Create a unique experience. What makes your site stand apart from the competition?
Include a search box visible on all pages.
Eliminate animated graphics. Flashing, garish graphics are quite annoying, slow down your site and should be avoided.
Simplify your navigation. Get to the point. Allow the user to find what they want immediately.
Choose your design layout and color scheme wisely. Consult with an expert for best results.

Remember that viewers decide in an instant whether to read your website or click away. Make sure your site really grabs and keeps their attention.

What are your pet peeves about websites?

Advertising Branding Design Graphic Design Helpful Hints Logo Design Marketing 101 Online Marketing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Website Design

23 Feb

What You Should Know Before Starting Your Own Business

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Are you an entrepreneur?

Starting a business is not easy. It can be fun, exciting and scary.

I started Creative Juices in 1981. I was a mere child. There was no internet. There was no Mac. There was little competition.

Today life is much more complicated for small business owners. There are lots of things to be aware of. I’m going to list a few of the ones directly related your business image.

First Impressions are Very Important

Get a logo design. It must be clean, professional, and timeless. It should represent you and your company.
Start a website. This is the hub of your business. Everything flows from and to your site. This includes all social media.
Create an email list. You must encourage visitors to give their email addresses on your site in order to stay in touch with current and potential clients. Perhaps offer a free ebook or newsletter.
Set up a newsletter. Regular newsletters are a great way to get people to remember you.

This is only a tiny bit of information to help get you started, graphically speaking. There’s a whole lot of other stuff you should know. My goal is to help you get your business going in the right direction.

You can never have too much information (or can you?!) Check out the following business related articles:

8 Legal Steps for Starting Your Business

Four Questions to Ask Before Setting a Price

10 Essential Features of Every Good Business Website

Here’s the latest digital media and social marketing news from Mashable:

42 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed

Mashable Weekend Recap: 30 Stories You Might Have Missed

37 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed

Find Creative Juices on Facebook and Twitter. See sidebar for links.

Don’t forget to “like” me on Facebook. Sign up for my FREE e-Newletter too.

Email Marketing by Constant Contact makes it easy to connect with your customers. Try it FREE for 60-Days.

Business Practices Design Graphic Design Marketing 101 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Website Design

29 Nov

6 Helpful Business Tips for Success

This is part of my new series of article collections. I regularly read the latest RSS feeds from blogs related to business marketing, such as Entrepreneur, Blogging Tips, Anthony Morrison and ProBlogger. In today’s busy world it’s often difficult to find time to read.

But modern technology came to the rescue. I have my iPhone, iPad and Kindle to help me catch up with my daily search for news. My favorite place to read is while exercising on the StairMaster at the gym. Every day I climb and read for an hour. Not only do I stay healthy but I get to read uninterrupted.

The following articles cover ways to be a successful business owner by boosting year end sales, how to utilize Google+ pages for your company, how to store your data in the cloud, how to advance your website’s SEO (search engine optimization) through social marketing, and how to stay out of trouble if you’re a blogger. Let me know what you think.

Find Creative Juices on Facebook and Twitter. See sidebar for links.

Don’t forget to “like” me on Facebook. Sign up for my FREE e-Newletter too.

Email Marketing by Constant Contact makes it easy to connect with your customers. Try it FREE for 60-Days.

Blogging to promote business. Business Practices Graphic Design Marketing 101 Online Marketing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Website Design

23 Nov

Thanksgiving-Eve Marketing News You Can Use

Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful for what you have. It’s also a good time to work on getting more… business that is.

Here are some helpful business marketing articles I’ve found interesting:

Measuring Offline Vs. Online Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Five New Online Tools for Finding Local Customers

Social Media: 4 Simple Principles To Convert the Harshest Critics

The Lede: 7 Writing and Marketing Links You Don’t Want to Miss

If you use WordPress to design your own website, checkout Premise:

Get Premise Ultimate for only $95.

Copyblogger Media just released version 1.2 of their Premise landing page software for WordPress, and it includes lots of cool new features and refinements.

Most impressive of all is the introduction of an innovative 8th landing page type — the social sharing page.

Premise Ultimate usually goes for $165, as it gives you:

1. All the landing pages you can build
2. Use on as many domains as you want
3. Access to ongoing optimization seminars
4. Copywriting advice from inside WordPress
5. 1,100+ custom graphics by Rafal
6. Unlimited technical support
7. Unlimited updates (you’ll thank yourself for this next year)

During their Thanksgiving sale, you can get Premise Ultimate for only $95. Yes, really.

Just use the code THANKS when you check out and you’ll save $70 on the best landing page software available for WordPress.

This deal ends promptly at 7:00 pm Pacific time on Monday, November 28, 2011. Hurry up and get Premise Ultimate before they come to their senses!

Blogging to promote business. Business Practices Helpful Hints Marketing 101 Online Marketing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Technology Website Design WordPress

20 Nov

Helpful Articles with Marketing Tips for the Holidays

The holidays are upon us. It’s never too late to improve your business. Here are a series of articles I found that relate to helping you and your business succeed.

I regularly check out RSS feeds from Entrepreneur Magazine and other business related sites. Topics will range from running your business to marketing, social media, website design and blogging.

Check back often to my blog. You never know what you will find.

Enjoy reading these articles this Thanksgiving week.

Seven Easy Tweaks to Turn Your Site into a Holiday Sales Machine

Brian Solis on Five Common Social Media Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

More Small Businesses Extol the Benefits of Social Media

Social Media and Content Marketing

How to Create a Google+ Business Page

I believe blogging is an excellent way to increase traffic to your business website. The following books can help.

5 Good Kindle Books For New Blog Owners

Why not buy yourself or someone you love a Kindle Touch for the holidays.

Blogging to promote business. Business Practices Helpful Hints Marketing 101 Online Marketing Website Design

15 Jul

The Ultimate Guide to Free Fonts Online

In the beginning, there was Compugraphic

Once upon a time, in the late 1970’s, I used to run a typesetting machine. It was an old Compugraphic Imagewriter, a blue electronic box with a typewriting keyboard and a display screen consisting of a single line of type. The type was all caps. A simple arrow let you know if the type was in lower or upper case.

To typeset a job you had to visualize the entire layout in your head. Or you could sketch it out, if you were so inclined. And here’s the fun part, every time you wanted to change the font, you had to open the machine and change a film strip. Each font was on a different film strip, which had to be carefully attached to a roller of sorts. And they were expensive.

What you got was all there was

Even more fun, there was no memory beyond what you were currently working on. As soon as you set the machine to process the text to film or photo paper, it was gone. Yes, GONE.

Once a job was printed out it could be pasted up on a job board, using hot wax. Corrections and changes had to be entirely re-typed and pasted up.

Typesetting was a sought after specialty

For graphic design companies this was great news. It meant few people would be able to design, typeset and create their own ads, flyers, forms, brochures, business cards, etc. When you wanted these products you would visit the printer or graphic arts studio.

Today, free templates seem to be everywhere

Times have changed. Now all you have to do is turn on your iMac or similar PC type machine, select any one of hundreds or thousands of free templates and “create” your own, unique artwork. Changes are easily made and printing is at a touch of a button. Just remember, though. Free is not always better. If you truly want a professional, unique website, logo or design project, call Chuck at 310-791-5803. Just saying.

What is a font?

The dictionary describes a font as “a set of type of one particular face and size”.

Fonts are a breeze. Hundreds are included free with almost any program and thousands are available online, also for free. Just search and download.

Here are just some of my favorite places for finding free type fonts. Most have Windows and Mac versions.

When using free fonts make sure you read the licensing agreements. A lot of these fonts are available for personal, not commercial use.

The very popular Doris Day font

Everybody loves Doris Day. The 1950s was a great time. Business was booming, as were babies. I was born in that era. Relive the nostalgia of the 1950s with a perky script font that says Doris Day.

Download the Free Doris Day font here (for both Mac and PC).

A boatload of other free typefaces

Daily Free Fonts The free font archive (TTF fonts for free and cool fonts)!

Famous Fonts Lot of famous fonts from TV, Movies, Music, Publications, Games, Companies, Automobiles, Sports and more.

Fontspace Free fonts from designers around the world.

MadTuts Fonts and inspiration for designers.

SearchFreeFonts The name says it all.

Urban Fonts Lots of free fonts for your use.

dafonts A great collection of free fonts covering many themes.

1001 Free Fonts You’ll never run out of fonts at this site.

Let me know if you have a favorite free font website.

Sign up for our free Juicy Newsletter. Look for lots of fun, useful and fabulous tips on graphic design, marketing and business.

For Email Marketing you can trust

Design Graphic Design Helpful Hints Website Design

12 May

5 Reasons Why the Cheapest Website is Not the Best Choice

You Don’t Want to Look Cheap

Times are difficult for a lot of people. Making ends meet is very important. But in business it’s all about image. When it comes to how people perceive you and your company, how you represent yourself is vitally important.

Make Your First Impression Count

To be a successful business you must have a web presence. Just having your name out there is not good enough. You need to showcase your products and services. You only get a few seconds to make an impression.

You Won’t Find Your Web Designer at The 99 Cent Store

Here’s five things to look for when you shop around for a web designer and why cheap is not always a bargain.

You get what you pay for. This is not just a cliché. The cheapest web design is not necessarily the best representation of your business. Do you really want your business to look cheap?
Keep your navigation simple and easy to follow. People notice when a website is poorly designed.
Most cheap websites are either copied from a template or from someone else’s site.
Will that web designer be there if my site has errors or ceases to function properly? Do you really want to pay someone new to fix your broken site?
Do they have a knowledge of SEO and how it works? Even a little search engine optimizing helps get your site noticed.

A modern, clean, fully functioning and easy to navigate website says a lot about your business. Update your content and website regularly and you’ll increase your chances of getting noticed.

To that end, why not call (310-791-5803) or e-mail Chuck at Creative Juices house of design. We create websites that fit your personality, business and budget. And we’re friendly too. (Chihuahua kisses are optional).

Blogging to promote business. Branding Marketing 101 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Website Design

01 Apr

Setting Up a Clickable Header Using Artisteer and WordPress

It’s a common practice that the header image of most websites link back to the home page. People expect this.

Linking your Header Home Using Artisteer and WordPress

What if you’re using Artisteer to create a WordPress template?

Here’s a simple way to link your header back to your home page.

(Before making any changes to the page.php code, copy the original code and save it someplace. If you mess up you can always return things to the way they were.)

1. Find the art for the header. It should be located in the wp-content folder in the theme folder under “images”. It would be called “header.jpg”.

Figure out the exact url for this image, or copy it to an easier location and upload it to your server. You will have to locate this exact url, either way.

2. Log into your wp-admin account.

3. Go to Appearance in your Admin page.

4. Click on Editor

5. Find “Page Template” (page.php) on the right hand side and click.

6. Look for the following highlighted code:

Original code for page.php header image.

7. Replace this highlighted code with the new highlighted code below:

Make sure to use your own domain name as well as the entire url address of the header art. Also include the proper height and width.

8. Update the page template.

You should now be able to click on your header from any page and it will take you home.

If you see a little box with a ? in it, that means either you do not have the correct, exact url for the header image or you did not upload it to the server.

For more details check out the Artisteer Forum.

Helpful Hints Technology Website Design