At last some long awaited warm weather here in St Louis and everything is suddenly in bloom. Some treats from the St Louis web designer’s garden.
2010 © St Louis Web Designer
New web site for Atlas Restoration Specialists
If you have a house fire, get flooded or a tree falls through your roof then Atlas Restoration Specialists is the company to turn to.They are the St Louis experts when it comes to restoring your property to its former glory.
Launched yesterday was their brand new web site where you can truly see the value of their work with some amazing before and after photographs. Learn more about their full service offerings, meet the team and even contact them directly through their pager.
2010 © St Louis Web Designer
Your blog as an Internet Marketing Tool – Six Tips
Blogging is a great way to market you products or services. But are you making the most of this internet marketing tool?
Here are six tips that will help maximize your blog’s potential.
- Post Title Use key words in your blog post titles and make the title meaningful.
- File Naming Ensure that the file name generated by your blogging platform for each of your posts includes the keywords you want to target. Google’s blogger will automatically generate the file name from the title of your post but WordPress need to be configured.
- Post Content Write content that will engage your visitors, use imagery to add interest and format text so it is easy to read. Remember to include the key words you have targeted in the post’s title.
- Promote New Posts
- List your blog in Blog directories
- Use an automatic ping service Try Pingoat.com
- Use social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to announce new posts. Facebook can actually be configured to pull all new blog content directly into your page.
- Subscription Offer your visitors a number of subscription options. For example allow then to subscribe via a reader such as Google’s Reader or have new posts delivered as an email.
- Comments Make sure visitors can comment on your posts. All good blogging platforms can be configured so you can approve comments before they get posted to your blog and answering comments is a great way to engage with your visitors.
2010 © St Louis Web Designer
Eye of the St Louis web designer (in Chicago)
I tweeted about this Squirrel I spotted on a visit to Chicago this week and here is the proof. Even squirrels in Chicago eat pizza, and not just a scrap, this one has a whole slice!
2010 © St Louis Web Designer
Web Design Trends.
While doing a little inspirational surfing today for a new web site I am creating for a St Louis medical practice, I stumbled across a number of web sites that specialize in just this sort of thing, huge collections of inspiring web design. These type of sites can be useful for spotting the latest design trends and it got me thinking about the pros and cons of going with a particular prevalent design trend I noticed.
Here is an example of that trend, one many web designers are using on their personal sites.
A simple statement which acts as a strong introduction to their web site.
Pros:
A nice bold “don’t make me think” approach to getting your message across.
Cons:
This element was a “think outside the box” for the first designer who used it but now it is so over used, it’s effect is completely devalued. It is no longer novel and any one using it is “going with the crowd” and not differentiating themselves.
Design trends are a natural evolution in web design, aren’t we all glad that “framed” websites and flashing banners are a thing of the past!
2010 © St Louis Web Designer
New website for St Louis Hardscapestl.com
Launched today is a brand new website designed for HardscapeSTL
St Louis, if you are looking for a new patio, retaining wall, paver driveway this is your one stop shop.The site offers loads of information from design ideas, how to hire a contractor, installation tips for those DIYers out there and even offers a money saving coupon. It also includes tools to help you plan out and estimate your project and even a visualizer so you can check out a product in situ before you buy.
I have a lot more to say about this site and will talk about some of the design elements next time, just wanted to get it out there!
2010 © St Louis Web Designer
New logo and business card for Lava Smith
It’s been pretty hard to have time to post to this blog over the last couple of weeks with a very healthy workload of projects.
Here is one of our recent logo and business card creations for Lava Smith.
Visit our logo portfolio
2010 © St Louis Web Designer
Keeping your website fresh
I have been working as a web and graphic designer for 10 wonderful years now (wow!) and in that time I have noticed a few trends in clients requests.
The start of any year always brings in an abundance of requests for web site overhauls, it must be that “New Year lets get things in order” kind of thing.The revamps can be anything from simply adding a few pages or swapping out photographs, to a completely new look and feel. It’s all about keeping the web sites fresh
2010 has been no exception to the trend.
This week we re-launched Stroco.com having given it a new look and feel and updated much of the copy.The site is built around a new color palette which is more in keeping with the products they manufacture and features a section of “product placement” photographs.
Here is what the client had to say
“We are so pleased with the website…it looks really sharp! Thanks again for all your help with getting this project complete!”
There is nothing better than hearing these sorts of words from my clients!
2010 © St Louis Web Designer
A ROI Website Success Story
Anyone starting a new business venture understands the importance of having a website, it can be tool to showcase their products or services, streamline their business operations or act as a lead generation platform.
Depending upon the complexity of the site it can be a sizable investment and the return on investment (ROI) is high on the agenda for any savvy business owner.
Last year we launched for a website for Ruth Hasser, a St Louis wedding Officiant and she has seen a huge increase in her business as a result.
Here is what she has to say
“Last year at this time, pre-website, I had one wedding scheduled for 2009. By the end of the year I had done 25. Right now, I already have 17 weddings scheduled, and I have been receiving an average of one lead per day since the beginning of January- outstanding!”
You gotta love those leads!
The site ranks very well in the search engines thanks to excellent search engine optimization (SEO), a successful link building campaign and Ruth’s regular blog posts.
2010 © St Louis Web Designer
Can you see bluish yellow or reddish green?
While at the airport on my way to Chicago last weekend I picked up the Feb issue of Scientific America. It’s always a good read and I was particularly intrigued by an article on impossible colors, colors that we are not supposed to see. Can you imagine a reddish green (greenish red) or yellowish blue (bluish yellow).
You can read about the theory here but cut to the chase and do these simple tests below to see the colors for yourself.
Instructions
- Click on each of the graphics below, this will bring up a much larger image in a new browser.
- Hold a finger in front of your nose and focus intently on it. This will cross your eyes.
- Slowly remove your finger from view
- On your screen you will see three boxes. The middle box will show the impossible color, a bluish yellow or a reddish green. Make sure the crosses line up.
Can you see yellowish blue?
Can you see reddish green ?
It took me a while to master the visualization technique but it is a bit like doing the magic eye pictures. The key to seeing the colors is to hold the cross steady. They are pretty unstable and seem to flick in and out but they are definitely colors I have never seen before.
How about you, can you see them?
2010 © St Louis Web Designer