About ten years ago, I decided that the web was not only here to stay, but that it was likely to become a dominate aspect of how we go about marketing. At the time, I could have teamed up with web developers and as I do with other production vendors such as printers and sign companies, remain focused on design and let them deal with the technical end of production.

However, in designing for those other disciplines I had hands on experience to bring to the table. I had no experience in the structural aspects of how a website was built and functioned. To make matters worse, the web world was dominated by code. I have great mechanical ability and instincts, but show me a page of code and my blood runs cold.

In transitioning from hands-on graphics to computer graphics back in the late 80’s, I was faced with similar problems. What saved me then was the advent of graphics software that provided a codeless interface allowing me to focus on design.

So I purchased a copy of Adobe Dreamweaver, web development software, and that allowed me to enter the strange universe of the internet without becoming a programmer. This was a big learning curve for me, but eventually I managed to develop stable websites that functioned smoothly and consistently, making it possible to put my focus back on design.

Because of that, I am not only able to build fairly complex sites, great for small businesses, organizations and professionals, but I am also able to work with more advanced web developers for more complex projects and provide them with design concepts they can easily work with.

What I have to offer…

Most small businesses do not have the budget to both create and then maintain a website, yet lack the skills necessary to maintain it themselves without corrupting the site in some way. However, sites that don’t regularly change and evolve tend to get ignored by the search engines.

To remedy this situation, I began encouraging my clients to add a free WordPress blog to their sites. The free blogs use templates that are well designed but limited in terms of customization. That said, they are easy for any business owner to make changes or add to, including both text and images and those updates are great for attracting the search engines.

What I’ve been doing is creating a website to serve as a showcase for your enterprise, since the design possibilities are not restricted by templates and integrating a blog feature into that so that it feels like part of the site. My clients are then able to make changes and regular additions to the blog portion of the site while leaving the showroom (website) intact. This provides a healthy blend of consistency and change without breaking the bank.

The website can be an economical, single page site or it can be made up of multiple pages to help you better detail what you have to offer. Either way, a blog can be integrated with the site.

WordPress blogsites do much more than allow you to blog. They are websites in their own right with a built in blog option. You do not need to become a blogger to take advantage of these sites. They can be set up more like a multipage web site that can be closely integrated with your main single or multi-page website, the WordPress portion of which you can easily make changes to. I try to set things up so that information that is unlikely to change much appears on your website and information that is likely to change appears on your blogsite.

In fact, if you can live with the limitations imposed by the WordPress templates, your blog can be your website. This is a very economical way to go.

Conversely, there are WordPress developers out there who can, through code, design outside the limitations of the templates. I can provide them with a design concept and they can build it in WordPress in such a way that allows you to make changes and additions, making your WordPress site, your website.

Do it yourself

WordPress makes it possible to DIY and is not the only game in town. There are many other free options available for DIY blog and website building. Some are easier to use and some are technically more challenging. You may feel confident about designing within the limitations of the templates offered or unsure about how to visually put things together.

They all provide technical and design assistance if you opt into the level of service that requires a monthly fee. If you want the free service plan, but feel technically or visually challenged, I can work with you to come up with a design that works within any particular service including, of course, WordPress.

Summary of website options

Single or Multipage website

Single or multipage website with WordPress blog

WordPress blogsite only

Design a site then turn production over to WordPress or other web developer

Assistance designing for Do It Yourself web/blog builder.

In the summer of 2014, I was approached by Pamela Donleavy a Jungian analyst from the Boston area about a complete redesign of her website. I explained my approach to web design and after a little back and forth we agreed to work together on the site.


This is the Homepage of the main site .

The first hurdle, and a big one, was establishing rapport with someone over the phone that I had never met in person. I don’t dictate design, but rather, work closely with my client’s, trying to tease out a visual identity that they feel represents them well. Not meeting someone face to face or seeing where or how they work makes that process all the more difficult.

So, I asked a lot of questions about her practice. I even emailed a whole list of questions, asking her to answer only those that triggered something in her imagination. She showed me examples of websites she most responded to and I asked her to send favorite photos she had taken or that friends had sent to her.

Analysis, being a mind to mind sort of thing, doesn’t suggest much in the way of images
without making the site look either like the History Channel (Photos of Jung etc.), a Dali exhibition (you know, Jung, dreams, etc.), or a psychedelic hallucination (mandalas), any of which might scare off potential clients. After looking and talking a lot we decided to focus on representing some of the qualities of mind that clients might hope for as an outcome to the therapy – clarity, freedom, peace and so on.

That’s when we started looking at photos in earnest.- lots of photos. In the meantime, I began working on a way of laying out the pages that somehow reflected those qualities just mentioned. One thing that emerged from that effort was establishing the size and proportion to be applied to all of the images.

Pamela liked the direction things were heading and by my sending her proof revisions we worked out a color scheme and finalized the elements in the layout. All while that was going on, Pam was busy writing content for the page headings we decided on.

We then focused on narrowing down photo choices which I had presented to her in the low, wide landscape format we decided on. Sometimes that meant choosing not to use a particular photo or recropping it, etc. I did several photo shoots so we would have plenty of images to work with and gradually we narrowed things down to a single image to represent each page.

At that point I began constructing the web pages and configuring the blog. The method I use to construct pages utilizes a series of rectangular boxes arranged top to bottom and side by side and often nested inside one another. It is a very boxy, hard edged universe that I’ve made it my mission to soften up. One of the things I like most about this site is that other than the main photo, everything else fades into the background. The clarity of the images contrasts well with the softness of everything else.

I try, whenever possible to include a visually matching blog closely integrated into the site structure. The blog consists of Posts which appear on the main blog page and moves down that page as new posts are written, ultimately being removed from that page and archived. The blog also contains pages similar in function to most other web pages.

WordPress is a company that provides the blog structure that I use to integrate into my clients’ web pages. There are other companies that provide the same service but I’ve enjoyed working with WordPress and I am familiar with how the sites are structured. I do not build my sites using code, at least for the most part and probably never will. For those that do, WordPress blogs can be completely custom designed using code. The rest of us must rely on templates created by WordPress developers. Many of them are well designed and quite beautiful, but ultimately limited in design options for code impaired designers such as myself. That said, there is still quite a bit of flexibility in how the templates can be configured and I am able to make the blogs bear a close resemblance to the main site.

I try to include a blog with the formal website for two main reasons. One is to allow the site owner to add content, words, photos, etc. to the site by posting as well as updating pages that contain information that is likely to change often. It is fairly easy to learn how to post using WordPress. What appears on the main site is the more permanent information about the business that is unlikely to change much. I prefer not to create a dependent relationship with my clients requiring a lot of site updating and maintenance on my part.

That brings us to the second reason for the blog. The internet abhors anything static. Websites that just sit there without evolving on a regular basis are unlikely to get the attention of search engines. By updating blog pages and posting regularly, your website becomes more dynamic and that gives viewers a reason to return to learn more about what it is that you do.

Pamela’s blog page is shown below. It’s much in keeping with the main site but lacks the subtlety of the main web pages. The blog pages are more functional and somewhat less formal than the main site, but make the whole of the website experience more useful to visitors.

In spite of the distance that made it impractical for us to meet in person, Pam and I were able to arrive at a web design that represents her practice well. The internet really makes such an undertaking possible, but it’s always reassuring when the outcome is such a happy landing.

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When it comes to hawking your wares, stop sweating your SEOs and start building and using your social media infrastructure. Why not? It’s free and the connections you make are much higher in value than those you might get from a newspaper ad for instance. That’s because, like the garden variety word-of-mouth, however far down the chain the message is spread there is ultimately a human contact at its source who has positively interacted with you in some way. “Oh! My son-in-law’s best friend’s girlfriend’s mother, just had her toenails painted with glow in the dark polish at Nails ‘n Rails and was able to toss out all her night-lights.”

Social media comes in all shapes and sizes, but you don’t have to sign up to any or all of them to make them work for you. I can install a plug-in in your WordPress blog that will automatically place a row of social media icons that your customers might regularly use, before or after each post and page you create. This allows them to post your article on their Facebook page, etc. – instantly, I might add. It’s that quick and easy response that puts your information in front of the connections of those who find some value in what articles you’ve posted or information you’ve provided.

One icon is in the shape of an envelope. If someone finds one of your posts valuable, they just have to click on the envelope and an email window opens that they can address to themselves or anyone. The email will contain an automatic link back to your post. That same process happens with each of the other Social Media sites. They click on the appropriate icon and the link is posted on their Facebook, Tweeted on their Twitter, Pinned on their Pinterest and so on.

It’s all so fast and easy that visitors to your site barely have to think about it. If they have a positive response they just click. Others who are connected to them will be able to see that post on whatever social media site it appears and if they like it, they can instantly share it with their connections.

You can choose which social media icons you want displayed and in what order you want them to appear. You also have some control over how they appear on your blog site.

If you haven’t already done so, I would start by creating a formal and informal email signature. The formal version generally should include your name, business name, web address and phone number along with your street address if you have any kind of office or storefront and perhaps a line or two about what your business has to offer. It’s ok for the formal signature to be reasonably inclusive since it will generally be used only at the beginning of a client relationship. The informal signature might include just your first name, phone, and web address depending on the nature of your business. These are easy to create following instructions in the help section of your email software. You might also type into Google, “How to create signatures in my (name of email software}”.

Once configured, you then have the option to sign your emails with whichever signature makes the most sense. I usually use my formal signature when I first contact a new client and once we get to know each other, switch to a shorter, less formal version. Basically though, once you’ve created these, every email you send out gives your recipient the opportunity to instantly discover more about who you are and allows them to easily pass your information on to a friend. Listed web addresses will automatically be linked to that address when the email is sent. With one click, the recipient is at your website.

I also suggest not trying to get too fancy, displaying logos, photos, animation, etc. Those can distract the recipient from your email message and also limit who can view your email without running into technical problems. Just use your basic email type with perhaps some judicious use of bold and italic.

An email signature then is just typing and not really a signature. It’s simply a short cut so you don’t have to continually retype all your vital information. When you compose an email, there is a signature tab that allows you to choose between several signature options you’ve created including displaying no signature. It’s quick and easy and an invaluable way of making your website one click away and your web address easy to share.

Above client sites: Visage Salon; Pamela Donleavy, Jungian Analyst; Julie Nelson, Actor

I have been creating websites for small businesses that are highly personalized and serve as a focal point for all the other marketing – a place that potential clients can visit 24/7 to get as complete a story as possible about what is being offered – stuff that can’t be communicated within the limited confines of a business card, for instance.
 
I’ve also been strongly encouraging clients to integrate a WordPress blog into that website so that the website becomes the static and visually consistent portal into which most users first experience the site and the blog provides the dynamic and ever changing content that makes the site more search engine friendly and allows site owners to add and change content.

Above client sites: Dr. Ellen Mitnowsky, Chiropractor; Barbara Ween, Jazz Vocalist; Erica Lorentz, Jungian Analyst

This combined approach has been working well. The website side of the site offers more design potential, well suited to the task of creating a visually rich experience. This richness then allows me to work with my clients to create a virtual storefront best suited to their needs, where visitors can really get to know what is being offered.

The blog side, built using WordPress templates, is more limited in terms of design since it is so structured in advance, but there is enough flexibility to make the blog look like it belongs with the rest of the site. The more I work with these blogs, the better I can integrate them seamlessly with the website.

The main feature of the blog is the opportunity to create and archive new content through the blog post feature. Recent posts are viewed on the main page of the blog with the latest post appearing first followed by previous posts which ultimately are moved into an indexed archive.

Above client sites: Lisa Oxboel, Life Coach; Iris Karas, Educational Consultant, Ken Lieberman, Attorney at Law

At the same time stationary pages can be created that function pretty much like other webpages. I try to reserve these pages for content that the client can regularly update themselves such as events schedule, testimonials, workshop offerings, etc. These pages can be linked to from the main site as well as from within the blog. That way the main website rarely needs updating.

The trend in web design is toward flexibility, a concept which I truly appreciate. The idea is to have the content adapt to whatever container it finds itself in, PC, tablet, mobile phone, etc. However, I prefer a more consistent approach in which the design remains the same regardless of the device it is being viewed on. I work closely with clients to develop a particular look and I think it is important to have that preserved. I also prefer that some basic content should be static though that too flies in the face of how most site development is approached these days.

Above client sites: Community Yoga, Yoga Studio, Award 1, Awards and  engraving studio, Wendy Chabot M.D., Health and Wellness Coaching

Sites that adapt and change are considered dynamic. Though I can appreciate that, I think there is something to be said for consistency at least as far as basic information is concerned. I remember recently visiting a site and then again a week later. The colors and images had  changed so much that I wasn’t sure I was visiting the same site. I found it disorienting.

Combining the more static website with the more dynamic blog provides the best of both worlds. It’s not for everyone, but I think it works well, particularly for small businesses looking for something that is custom designed to reflect the owner’s vision.

A single page main site combined with a blog that the owner can control is the most economic way to go, though I am also willing to work with clients to build a website using just WordPress or other template driven site design options such as Squarespace or Site Builder. These all offer free, do-it-youself website design, but some users find it too difficult technically to work through while others are not that happy with the results. For a monthly fee, these companies offer access to tools that make more customized design choices possible. Even though the site building can be a challenge, using these sites once they’re built, is pretty basic.