Archive for Website Design – Page 2

26 Jan

Free Doris Day Font Now Available

Doris Day FontFinally, my all time favorite actress is available in font form. Well, not exactly. But if you’re a fan of the 50s there’s an exciting new font to check out.

It’s called Doris Day, and is described as “a stylish little brush script from designer Mario Arturo”. This typeface was based on a 1940 book The ABC of Lettering by artist J.I. Biegeleisen. It includes both upper and lower case letters.

Great for those vintage 1950s designs you’ve been working on. Best used for large headlines, not so good for paragraph text, though. And it doesn’t include numbers.

If you love Doris Day as much as I do you’ll find this font a must have addition to your design collection. I have been a huge Doris Day fan since I first saw her movie Jumbo in 1962. I was a mere child. Since then I had the great pleasure of meeting Doris Day in person while volunteering at a few of her animal charities. She was very friendly and gave me her autograph.

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

Sign up now for my semi-regular Juice Factory newsletter filled with fun and helpful tips on graphic design, marketing and other business related stuff.

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Design Website Design
19 Oct

Why Your Website Should Be a Hub of Information

Websites Are No Longer Just a Showcase

The days of showing pretty pictures and awesome special effects are over. People want information and they want it now. A good way to lose your audience is to have them wait for a Flash splash page to download.

Make your website a hub of useful content

Today it is important to fill your website with “useful” information. Write about what you know. Show your voice and passion. Explore how to do something in your field. Comment on related news events. Review products. Create a links page that points to related sites your audience might be interested in.

Include a blog on your website. This will allow you to regularly post information related to your business, product or service. Writing a series of articles greatly enhances your search engine optimization. People, and Google, like to know the site you have is current and relevant. Plus this is a great way to get people coming back to your site.

Easy to Navigate

Your website should have an easy to understand navigation system. The look of your site should be clean and simple. The text should be large enough to read clearly and should be on a white or light background. Did you know white type on a black background is difficult to read? It strains your eyes. A lot of people click “next”.

Link to your social marketing efforts

Twitter is a great way to send out mini blasts of information. Facebook is great for social networking and letting people know about you and your business. LinkedIn is also a good place to have a business presence. YouTube is great for video tutorials and product reviews.

But all social networking should lead to your main website. This is where you have room to show what your business is all about and teach new things about your business.

Branding Business Practices Helpful Hints Marketing 101 Website Design
19 Sep

How to Add a PDF File to a WordPress Page that Doesn’t Open an Extra Page

Adding a pdf link to your WordPress page gives a link. But when you hit the link online sometimes a new page opens, usually with a comments box. You then have to press the link again.

Here’s an easy way to avoid that.

  1. Upload/Insert “Add Media”
  2. Find pdf file and either upload it from your computer or locate the file in your “Media Library”
  3. Click “Show”
  4. Where it says “Link URL” hit the button that says “File URL”
  5. Insert into Post

Hit the "File URL" Button

You will then have a link. Hitting the link will either bring up a dialog box asking to open or download the file or will do either of those depending on your browser’s preferences.

Computer Tech Support Helpful Hints Software Technology Website Design
08 Sep

Take Control of Your Website

Are you a New or Small Business Owner?

Smart Preservation

Smart Preservation

Then you really need to get a website. Let the world know you exist.

The question is, where do you start?

Start your own blog/website.

WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS). It has a completely accessible back end that is easy to learn. You will be able to add an unlimited number of pages, posts and plugins with unbelievable functionality. This includes photo galleries, PayPal shopping carts, Twitter and Facebook links, calendars, search engine optimization and tons more.

Market your business by adding content

Search engines love it when you add new content to your website. So do readers. Adding useful content to your site on a regular basis is a great way to increase your Google page rank.

Starting your company blog also helps to connect you with potential and current clients. It’s a way for you to be creative too.

Custom Designed Templates

Stand out from the crowd. There are plenty of free WordPress templates available. But you want your website to be unique.

It’s easy to get your own company website.

I can design your custom template and set up your entire site.

Many options are available:

  • Domain name and hosting. I am an authorized GoDaddy affiliate.
  • Quick lessons on how to access your Admin page and make changes yourself.
  • Search Engine Optimization. Includes Title Tags, Meta Description, Keywords and Registration with major search engines like Google and Bing.
  • Widget setup. I’ll install the most popular and useful plugins to meet your individual needs.
  • Backup and maintenance available. Keep all your plugins and WP operating system up to date and your files backed up online. You can also get a regular backup of your files emailed or sent to you on disk.

Call Chuck at 310-791-5803 for more information and prices.

I will design and set up your unique website that will meet your budget. Special package deals available upon request.

Advertising Branding Website Design
03 Aug

10 Great WordPress Plugins

WordPress has become one of my favorite ways of creating a self-hosted website. Part of the reason is because of the growing number of plugins that add functionality to your site. Here are a list of some of my current favorites. On your WordPress Dashboard go to the Plugins tab, click Add New and do a search for these highly useful add-ons.

  1. All in one SEO Pack Out-of-the-box SEO for your WordPress blog. Appears on every page and makes adding keywords and meta tags easier.
  2. Easy Adsense Easiest way to show AdSense and make money from your blog.
  3. Exclude Pages from Navigation Provides a checkbox on the editing page which you can check to exclude pages from the primary navigation. Very helpful for those special landing pages.
  4. Follow Me The Follow Me plugin is designed to allow users the ability to add links to their social media profiles in their blog. Shows up on the side with a pop up of your chosen social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
  5. Google Analytics for WordPress This plugin makes it simple to add Google Analytics to your WordPress blog, adding lots of features, eg. custom variables and automatic clickout and download tracking.
  6. My Category Order My Category Order allows you to set the order in which categories will appear in the sidebar. Uses a drag and drop interface for ordering. Adds a widget with additional options for easy installation on widgetized themes.
  7. My Link Order My Link Order allows you to set the order in which links and link categories will appear in the sidebar. Uses a drag and drop interface for ordering. Adds a widget with additional options for easy installation on widgetized themes.
  8. My Page Order My Page Order allows you to set the order of pages through a drag and drop interface. Perfect if your theme is not exactly WordPress 3.0 compatible.
  9. NextGEN Gallery A NextGENeration Photo gallery for the Web 2.0. Lots of options to choose from.
  10. WP-DBManager Manages your WordPress database. Allows you to optimize database, repair database, backup database, restore database, delete backup database , drop/empty tables and run selected queries. Supports automatic scheduling of backing up and optimizing of database.

By the way, did I mention these plugins are all free? Some of them do ask for donations and I encourage you to do so. Somebody has to support these people so they can continue to create the wonderful plugins.

Helpful Hints Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Website Design
28 Jul

Web Design from Scratch

Issues Surrounding Background Music

You should be aware that background music that automatically starts playing when a web page is loaded may not be appreciated by a large number of your visitors. Some of them, when greeted with the sudden blaring of music from their speakers, may immediately hit the BACK button of their browsers. This may occur even if you’re playing a piece of music that you think is well loved by everyone: remember, there are people who surf the Internet in public libraries, at work, or in the dead of the night when others are asleep. Others may already have their favorite piece of music playing on their computer speakers, and your auto-playing music file will only cause them to be annoyed.

Even if you are satisfied that your website has the type of target audience that will enjoy your background music, there are alternatives to automatically playing music that you might want to consider. For example, giving visitors a link which they can click to play music would allow you to showcase your music while remaining sensitive to your visitors’ preferences.

Common features of Today’s Websites

The great sites above share the following design features:

  • Simple layout
  • Centered orientation
  • Design the content, not the page
  • 3D effects, used sparingly
  • Soft, neutral background colors
  • Strong color, used sparingly
  • Cute icons, used sparingly
  • Plenty of white space
  • Nice big text

Let’s look at these features one by one.

Simple layout

It feels like we’re seeing more simple 1- and 2-column designs than in previous years.

The overall feel you get is that designers generally agree that simple pages work better.

These pages read in a straightforward way from top to bottom, and you don’t find your eye skipping around trying to work out what to look at. It’s a much calmer and more solid browsing experience.

Centered orientation

The other thing you notice about all the hot picks above is that they’re all laid out around a central axis.

Whereas a couple of years ago, you’d find a lot of liquid layouts and left-aligned fixed-width layouts, today content goes in the center of the screen.

Left-oriented layouts are much less common than they used to be.

Also, liquid (full-width) layouts are less popular.

The wisdom has always been that we should try to get as much information “above the fold” (i.e. visible on the screen without scrolling). Liquid layouts achieves this.

However, today we seem to be more comfortable with scrolling, and we’re willing to put up with scrolling for the benefits of increased white space and line height.

Design the content, not the page

Good modern web designs put less energy into designing the page background – the canvas and permanent page features – and rather focus on designing the content itself.

This reflects the principle of drawing the viewer’s attention to the content. This is also great for search engine optimization. They love relevant content.

We see the effects in:

  • Freer, less boxed-in page layouts
  • Softer, simpler, receding page “furniture”
  • Strong color and 3D effects used to draw attention to the content itself, including the main branding
  • The focus is on making the site’s subject look good, rather than making the web designer look good (which is better for the designer in the long-term!)

Why center-align?

When the content sits in the center of the screen, it feels up-front and confident.

It also gives a sense of simplicity and balance, which reflects the move towards clean, more Zen, design.

The most common centered designs are either fixed-width (i.e. master width in pixels or percent) or sometimes zoom-width (i.e. master width in ems). The benefit of restricting the width of the content (particularly with zoom-width, which resizes as the font size changes) is that the line-length is prevented from getting too long on larger screens. (Very long lines of text are less efficient.)

3D effects, used sparingly

Every single one of the hotties uses gradients subtly, either to give bars a slight roundedness, to create a soft feeling of space in the background, or to make an icon stand out with embossing and subtle drop-shadows.

Reflections & fades are very prevalent. Drop-shadows are still used, but with care.

Soft, neutral background colors

All the hotties have a plain background, the most popular being white and greyscale fades. These give a cool, neutral, soft base against which you can flash strong color to draw the eye.

Strong color, used sparingly

A soft, stylish background is the perfect base for adding eye-catching features. Strong colors and tonal constrast are great for drawing the eye to the more important elements on the page.

Cute icons, used sparingly

There’s a theme here: Don’t use too many attractive elements on the same page view (i.e. that appeals to the eye and draws the user’s attention).

As with strong color and 3D effects, appealing icons and buttons can add that bit of polish to help give a page a high-quality feel. But used too much, they’ll have the counter effect, cluttering the page and confusing the user.

Plenty of whitespace

Today’s web designs are so fresh, they feel like they’ve taken a deep breath.

Your eye needs space (guttering in typo language) round stuff to help you clearly and cleanly identify things.

In general, the more white space the better.

Of course, “white” space doesn’t have to be white. But it does have to be space!

Make the most important text on the page bigger than normal text

Like the other design techniques we’ve seen, it works when used in moderation. If all your text is big, then none of your text is big.

Use bigger text to help your visitors see quickly what the page is about, what’s most important, and figure out where they want to look next to find what they want.

Copy on this page courtesy of Ben Hunt and “Web Design from Scratch”

Helpful Hints Website Design
16 Apr

The Power of Social Media Marketing

You can find hundreds of books to talk about Social Media Marketing, formerly known as Web 2.0. And I’m going to give you crash course in just a few paragraphs.

Blogs

Your blog is an extremely powerful social media hub. If done correctly, it can boost the visibility of your business in ways never before possible. Think of it as an online magazine. You’re in charge of design and content. Your blog can help promote your company’s website or it can be a part of your website.

Setting up a blog is very easy. You can try using a free blogging system such as WordPress.com or Google’s Blogger. But if you want to appear really professional you need to go for a self-hosted blog. The most popular and easiest way to do this is through WordPress.org. You have lots of options for design themes and plugins. Of course a professionally designed unique theme that utilizes your company’s brand identity is best.

Maintaining it regularly can be a challenge. You have to constantly come up with copy that is interesting, relevant and remarkable. This could be once a week. Daily would be great. A few times a week is good too. The trick is to write posts that people want to read. Show your personality and have fun.

Facebook

Facebook is the most popular online social network today, with over 400 million active users of all ages creating a home page and making “friends”. Facebook is a place where “friends” gather. Let everyone know what you’re doing. It’s easy to set up and is free. Show photos, play games, network, add applications. What’s your status? Your Facebook profile can be made public or private. You control the settings of who gets to see your page.

If you have a business you need a “Fan” page. A fan page is part of your original Facebook account. It is visible to everyone, registered or not, including all your customers. While a Facebook Group is better for hosting discussions, for long-term relationships, a “fan” page is best. Personalize your fan page with your company brand or image.

In order to get people to become a “fan” of your company, you need to drive them to your Facebook fan page. Therefore it is important to link your social media together. Create a button on your blog and company website, inviting visitors to become a Facebook fan. You want your fan page to be a fun place to visit. Create content and invite discussion and participation. Make your fan page a resource of information about your company and related products.

Another way you can entice users to join your fan page is by creating contests or coupons specifically for your Facebook fans. This could include discounts on products, free shipping, or other special deals. The goal is to get people to join your fan page and come back often. You need to give them a reason to participate. Encourage comments and input.

Creating a successful fan page takes planning, time and dedication. It’s not something you can set and forget.

Twitter

Twitter can be a very powerful business tool with over 17 million users, a large number of which are older professionals with high incomes. It is called micro-blogging because your “posts” are limited to 140 characters. But you can create an unlimited number of posts.

With Twitter you have access to immediate feedback from people all over the world, 24/7. When you need help, just ask for it. You’ll be surprised at the number of people who will answer your questions and offer assistance. This is also a great way to do market research.

Use Twitter to let people know who you are. Your tweets can include links to photos and video. Send links to helpful or interesting websites. Promote contests, specials, sales, new products, whatever. Inform people when you make a blog post. Direct people to visit your website. And don’t forget to create a unique Twitter backdrop with your company brand and information.

Coming soon to Twitter will be “Promoted Tweets”, a way of advertising on Twitter. And you will be able to pay for a Commercial Twitter account which gives a business detailed analytics tools and the ability for several people to post to the same Twitter account.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a business social network with over 65 million professional business users with an average income of over $100,000 a year. If you’re selling to other businesses you’ll want to have a LinkedIn presence. It’s a great way to drive targeted traffic to your website and further build your social network by exchanging “information, ideas and opportunities”.

Building Buzz and Getting Noticed

The best way to get noticed is to remain consistent. That means you must post to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and write your blog posts on a regular basis. If you don’t, people will stop following you. That’s not good. Sign up with HootSuite and you can write one post and send it to any or all of your social media at one time.

The more followers, friends and fans you have, the more you’ll get. It’s kinda viral. People want to follow popular people. And when you give people what they want in terms of information, tips, discounts, promotions, contests, customer service, etc., they’ll keep coming back for more.

When you’re involved with social media marketing, you’re also a part of the exciting new world of mobile marketing. Facebook, Twitter and Blog news-feeds are a huge part of mobile phone apps. Even Apple has entered the arena with it’s new iAd concept coming to an iPhone or iPad near you. Imagine interactive mobile ads and videos that are graphic and enticing. Google already has a big presence in mobile text advertising. You don’t want to be left out of this new marketing frontier.

So that’s the essence of Social Media Marketing. It’s all part of Search Engine Optimization. The goal is to get people to your website or social media hub. This can also include being part of social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Delicious, Reddit, Digg; photo sites like Flickr; rich media sites like YouTube and Spoink and don’t forget MySpace.

For more information on how you can become a part of this exciting and powerful world of social media marketing contact Chuck at Creative Juices.

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

How to Take Control of Your Website

If you’ve always wanted a well designed website platform that you can easily update yourself, WordPress.org is the answer.

“WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.” So says the WordPress website.

A self-hosted WordPress blog/website is the perfect format. It’s a content management system that’s easy to use and update. You have complete control of your site and can modify it whenever you want. Add pages, add posts, modify text. Create a photo gallery. And unlike WordPress.com, you can sell products and sign up for affiliate programs. And the best part is, it’s easy to understand. And don’t forget free.

“WordPress is infinitely extensible. One of the core philosophies of WordPress is to keep the core code as light and fast as possible but to provide a rich framework for the huge community to expand what WordPress can do, limited only by their imagination,” says the folks at WordPress.org.

A large variety of plugins add infinite versatility to your site. Just about anything you can think of can be added. It’s as simple as finding the plugin, installing it with a click of a button and dragging a widget to your sidebar.

Free Templates are Great. Your Own Unique Template is Better.

Here’s where Creative Juices comes in. While you can get quite a variety of free templates online, having your own unique header and theme, utilizing your logo, photos and artwork, adds a special touch.

A Creative Juices designed template adds class to your site. You’ll stand out because your site will be unlike any other.

Here’s a great opportunity to start your own self-hosted WordPress blog/website. Let the world know about your business or service. It’s fun to express yourself, share your expertise and maybe even make some money.

Special Offer from Creative Juices

For a limited time Creative Juices Design Studio is offering one year Free Hosting, set up and Domain Name Registration with your custom designed WordPress themed blog/website order*. This is an incredible opportunity to start your own blog/website with a creative look uniquely your own.

And remember, your self-hosted WordPress blog/website has a completely accessible back end that is easy to learn. You will be able to make changes, add an unlimited number of pages and install plugins with unbelievable functionality, all on your own. This includes photo galleries, PayPal shopping carts, Twitter and Facebook links, calendars, search engine optimization and tons more.

Search Engine Optimization and Site Registration are also available. Call for estimate.

Includes Title Tags, Meta Description, Keywords and Registration with major search engines like Google and Bing.

Call 310-791-5803 today and you can have a fully functional, completely customized website within a week.

Starting your own blog and/or website is a great hobby as well as a business tool. We make it creatively easy for you.

When you’re ready for something more, we can also design template-free websites from scratch.

Call for a quote. Because everyone’s needs are different we can’t list prices. Tell us your budget and we’ll tailor a program to fit your needs.

And of course, if you’re not interested in a hands on approach, we can do it all for you.

Hurry. You can’t afford to be without a visually appealing, highly functional website.

Business Practices Creative Juices News Helpful Hints Marketing 101 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Technology Website Design
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