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Front Page Website Layout That Works

July 23, 2015 By Scott Fichter Leave a Comment

Effective front page website design follows the function of understanding visitors and making them to act. There are truths that are understood about your audience.

  • There’s a percentage of visitors who have little or no knowledge or your business. That percentage is dependent upon your brand authority online.
  • Your site is competing for the attention of your visitors.
  • Site visitors make an evaluation as to weather they stay or leave. Your site has seconds to convince them to stay. Below are main elements that assist in keeping them around.
    • Valuable content
    • Fast load time
    • Professional Design
    • Intuitive navigation / ease of use
    • Simple and impactful message

When the internet was new, website design was like the wild west.  Design styles were created with little thought as to what the users was experiencing.  Design was a bit more flamboyant.

Now design follows strives to make things easy for the visitor.  The site’s design steers the users in into digging deeper in to the site. Have you noticed that sites design is more conservative?  There’s a reason for it.

Below summarizes why layout looks the way it does. Websites have grown up and form now follows function function.

#1 Upper Top Navigation

This location is commonly used for websites that offer access to a client area, shopping cart or membership login. If your business does not offer this kind of service this area can be omitted.

#2 Masthead: Logo (left area)

The masthead information is to reside on all pages. The right side of the Masthead contains your logo.  This is the first thing the human eye sees when visiting your site and so using it to sell your brand is important. It is understood that the logo is a link to the front page. Also, make darn sure the Alt tag contains your business name.  Google is listening.

  • Avoid logos with excessive height. It is the goal of the developer to minimize vertical space so that more area is seen before the page must be scrolled.  Wide logos are better for websites.  Learn towards this aspect when designing it.
  • Combining two companies by showing two logos is a very bad idea.  By combining brands you are diminishing both. One website… one logo.
  • Good logos have a simplicity in their design. This makes for a bold brand and a fast load time.

#3 Masthead: Contact Information (right area)

This area is best for contact information because it a visible area on your site and you don’t want to hide contact information.  I’ve noticed that businesses who wish to mitigate incoming support calls like to hide their phone number from this area.  This is detrimental in developing trust with your visitors.  Take pride in posting phone number. Don’t hide it.  Below lists common contact information posted in this area.

  • Phone / Email
  • Hours of Operation
  • Social Icon links
  • Notices, instruction, and or warnings.

#4 Primary Navigation

Most site now use horizontal layout for their primary navigation.  It has become a standard.  Vertical layouts are rarely used because scrolling may be necessary to view all the buttons.  The following buttons will be expected by the general public so don’t omit them.

  1. Home (could be omitted)
  2. About
  3. Product or Services (or both)
  4. Contact

Why Can “Home” be Omitted?

If your business has a savvy web audience and you feel they understand the logo is the home button, then you can omit it. If on the other hand, you believe there’s a percentage that may not understand then you MUST include it.  90% of the time it should be there.

Design That Disrupts The Subconscious Mind

Most human beings meander when reading content.  That’s why they call it surfing.  When we surf our conscious brain is does the reading and our subconscious finds the information.  Good design is made for the subconscious by following design trends that have been adopted by the general public.  If you fail to follow the design rules, you force the visitor to figure out what to click. When this occurs, you break their focus. The goal is to make them act on a call to action not focus on what to click or how to click.  An example of failure is when the designer explains in writing what to click or how to click. Remember, if you have to tell them what to do you have failed. Keep them reading not thinking about what to find.

No More Sub Choices – A Leap Of Faith

Sub choices for navigation are quickly becoming a thing of the past. The reason is simple. When a user mouses over a primary navigation button and sub choices are revealed, the user ends up spending time deciding what sub button to click.  Superior design moves these choices to the pages seen after the click. This is one of many techniques that keeps the user focused on your content in this noisy world.  Don’t forget you are in competition for your visitor’s attention.
Be As Litteral As Possible.

Naming your buttons should be literal.  Business some times fall into the trap of reinventing the name of what a nav button should be.  Don’t forget; your message is being broadcast to a percentage of visitors who many know nothing of your business.  The message must be simple. For example, name the button “Employee Bios” not “Industry Experts.”  The name of your buttons should be clear.  Don’t get tricky with it.

#5 Slideshow Area

Statistically, visitors do not read this area.  It’s considered to be a gigantic banner by most.  I recommend the placement of a single message with a professional photo.  It can be animated but must be made simple.  The message must be engaging and powerful. Cycling several photos and messages is not effective.  Most will skip over the messages. Very few will wait to see the slides. If you don’t catch their attention right away, they will move on.

Fast load time is crucial to keeping visitors.  Using several large photos in your slideshow can add to the time need to load the site. This is another reason why the slideshow must be kept to one or two slides max.

#7 Info Squares (were the action occurs)

Your front page receives the most traffic.  This is an opportunity for your business. This area is researched to entice your visitors to go deeper into the site.  Ask yourself a question. What’re the most commonly asked questions about your business? After uncovering these subjects develop a small sentence that will draw the user in.   For example, if you are in the automotive repair business and you get calls regularly concerning transmission help you must place a square that highlights how to get help for this type of repair.  You are essentially giving information with the hope of getting the sale. You are fishing for visitors on the front page.

#8 Call to Action / Outro Text

This section is where you ask for the action. It may be to call for service or to fill out a form. It’s also a place to add more information about your company.  This section is not required.

#9 Footer

The footer is to contain information that answers the question, “What do I do next.”  Duplicating the primary navigation in this area will satisfy this need. Worried that the navigation is duplicating information? Fix this by only placing links to main pages. Did you know that Google changes search results based on your location?  Adding your full address, with a link to Google maps is important in the footer for this reason.  Adding links to your companies affiliations and certifications will also help with validation.

Front Page Website Layout Is Fun

hope you can take some of this information and apply to your site.  Also, reply below and let me know if you agree or disagree with what I’ve written. I also would enjoy your opinion on layout strategy that’s worked for you.  If it makes sense, you can bet I’ll add it.

Best wishes with you project

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Tips

What Hosting Companies are Best?

December 19, 2014 By Scott Fichter Leave a Comment

The 800 Pound Gorillas of Hosting

I’m sure you have surfed around on the net and found the big players in the web hosting industry. Let me take a guess, do these companies sound familiar?

  • 1&1
  • GoDaddy
  • Endurance International Group (HostGator, BlueHost, here’s the entire list)

Before you make your decision on who you are going to choose, It’s important you understand what you’re getting for your money. Although these hosting companies make grandiose promises about unlimited storage and 99.9% uptime, I suggest you consider issues that are swept under the rug. Don’t get sucked in by their cunning marketing techniques. This information is created by me a guy who builds sites for a living.  Although I’ve worked in this business for over 15 years, I don’t think you should consider my opinion as 100% fact.  Do your own research online. Then make an intelligent decision after developing your own global perspective on what’s going on.

Fast & Knowledgeable Phone Support is Crucial

If you purchase hosting from the big boys (listed above) get ready for 20 minutes + hold times during the 9:30 am to a 4:30pm time slot.  Hold times will be even worse when you attempt to contact their “live chat” systems accessible from their front pages. Beware! Email support is even slower.

In respect to support, their high volume of clients is your loss.  It’s referred to as being “Oversold, ” and it means that the ratio of customer service representatives falls below the number of rising customer accounts.  When things go bad for the big hosts, the phones ring off the hook and support falls apart like a 1971 Chevrolet Vega.

If you finally get in contact with your support person take note of their communication skills.  Receiving a well-educated person who speaks clear English is not a guarantee. For example 1&1 support staff is not from the United States.  Many have broken English and depending on who you get can barely be understood. Godaddy and the EIG companies are ok on this.

Receiving staff who have a comprehensive understanding of how web servers function is also a roll of the dice.  It’s not uncommon to hang up the phone, apply the solution only to learn that it does not work and they you must call back only to be placed back in the 40-minute queue again.  It’s painful, to say the least.

Carrots On A Stick

99.9% Uptime – What is this percentage based upon?  Is it a month/year / lifetime? The percentage is worthless if it’s based upon any length greater than a year.  If the percentage is based upon a period of a year, 99.9% is the same as saying .1% which is a whopping eight hours.  If you’re running a successful online store, this could mean lots of lost money so move to a host with 100% uptime.  To be fair, there are times when the server must be upgraded.  During the upgrade, the server must be taken off-line. These are controlled outages and are usually executed from 2 am to 4 am. Hosts usually execute these updates at night when everyone is asleep. Good hosts will send a notice via email warning you about it.

Unlimited Transfer and Storage – Before I begin to explain the next carrot, transfer refers to the amount of data being sent and received from your site.  Storage is the total file size of your site. When you hear hosts talk about “Unlimited” transfer and storage its best to take this with a grain of salt. When hosts say Unlimited what they really mean is “reasonable” usage.  Take HostGator for example. They explain unlimited by writing, customers who use 25% or more of system resources for longer than 90 seconds will be in violation.  In other words, if your site uses 25% of the server’s resources storage or processor resources your site will be stopped. How is that unlimited? In fairness if your site is small you shouldn’t have an issue with this limitation but, if your site begins to grow and your site generates revenue, you should consider moving your site to a more robust host with superior service and performance.

 cPanel Vs. Customized Software

1&1, Godaddy and many others have custom software control panels that’ll drive you insane due to their convoluted and antiquated design. Godaddy is the worst. The number of clicks to accomplish simple tasks like setting up email forwarding is insane. The number of attempts to upsell you on similar products is also irritating. Make sure the hosting company you choose uses cPanel as the control panel.  It allows you to see all the controls on one page. The need for clicking is minimized. Finding things is easy.

 So What Hosting Companies are Best?

If you’re on a small budget and you’re just starting out MDD Hosting is an excellent choice.  Support is by email only, and their response is fast. They employ cPanel and their up time is fantastic.  They also use something called LightSpeed which accelerates PHP processing. In other words, your WordPress website will Fly! They also understand the intricacies of WordPress which great.

 

Yoast (actually spelled Joost) is a highly respected WordPress, and SEO guy out of the Netherlands. He recommends a shared hosting company called WestHost out of Providence Utah.  I have used them for a few clients, and their service is excellent. Hold times are minimal, they are knowledgeable, and their monthly fees are small for small sites.  They provide the cPanel software, and they offer FREE nightly backups which are fantastic.

If you’re interested in researching further avoid the sites that list in the “Top Website Hosts” sites. There has been talk online that these rating sites are paid off by the big boys. It’s affiliate marketing. Your best bet is to read what other designers are saying on forum sites. These websites will give you real human opinion on every company.  After reading these forums, you will get a bird’s eye view on what companies you should avoid.

Below is a list of web hosting forums that you can browse.

  • WebHostingTalk
  • DevShed.com
  • HostingDiscussion.com
  • DigitalPoint.com

Filed Under: Opinion, Tips

Check WordPress For Cryptophp

December 1, 2014 By Tom Collins Leave a Comment

CryptoPHP BackdoorGreg Gurev at MySherpa sent me an email about a backdoor program that has been proliferating on Drupal, Joomla and WordPress CMS systems this month. MySherpa is a very popular managed IT firm in Wilmington Delaware and Greg is very aware of what’s up with the industry.  Needless to say when I get a virus warning from him I look into it.  Sure enough everyone is talking about it and many have been infected.

Upon further research it appears the backdoor installs itself into CMS sites via pirated versions of paid themes and plugins.  I don’t venture down that road so the red flag in my brain lowered a bit.  As I continued to read I learned that a company called Fox-IT in the Netherlands was the company that discovered the vulnerability.  They wrote an in depth white paper about the hack.  Below is what I extracted from the 50 page document.

Its All About Black Hat SEO Strategy

The software is a backdoor because it creates an opening for a third party server to add content to your site. The reason is to inject links and content to websites into your site pages.  This is then read by Google as a back link which gives that site receiving the link better rank.  There are also some instances of folks being redirected to a Justin Bieber youtube video which I believe is a fate worse then death.  So to boil it down, this backdoor allows a third party to manipulate your content so another website can receive higher rank on Google.  It’s the ultimate black hat SEO play.

How To Check WordPress For Cryptophp

Removing Cryptophp is fairly simple.  What you do is copy your entire site to your computer and search it for a specific shortcode.

Do the following;

  1. Create A New Duplicator Package: If you don’t have the duplicator plugin I highly recommend it.  Its the fastest way to get a copy of all WordPress site files on Easy Findyour local computer.  Here’s a video tutorial on how to use it if you’re not familiar with it.
  2. Download And Uncompress Your Duplicator Package: The end result is to have a copy of all your site files on your hard drive.
  3. Search for the following include call in your site files. “<?php include(‘images/social.png’); ?> The search program I use is called Easy Find.

If your search finds the PHP call, it’s time to remove the offending template file or plugin.  If the call resides in your theme, you’re going to have to use another (rebuild your site) or buy the actual theme. If you’ve pirated themes or plugins and got infected, well that’s a shame. Remember, the hackers are fueled by greed and love to prey on low level pirates.  Stay clear of that activity and you won’t have trouble.

 

Filed Under: Security, Tips, Tutorials

Fixing Missing Rankie Keywords In The Dashboard

December 1, 2014 By Tom Collins Leave a Comment

Rankie Keywords

So your looking to fix the missing Rankie keywords in the dashboard, eh?  You only see five rows, right?  You’re probably thinking there’s a conflict with the WordPress 4.0 release. WRONG!  The plugin is working fine.  The list scrolls!  Go back and give it a shot.

Here’s what’s really interesting. This post is just over 120 words. Rankie is only repeated twice in this post. If you found this page, it means that the value of content trumped the lack of page optimization.

Wrap your brain round that one!

Two Things You have Learned From The Missing Rankie Keywords Problem

  1. The Rankie keyword list was never broken. The designers had to allow for space for the report when you click the keyword.  It’s a interface design flaw.
  2. Content value trumps SEO post tweaks.  You found this post because you needed it not because the page was balanced for SEO.  Needed content trumps SEO. 🙂

Also,  I would also like to report that I ran a Pingdom Speed Test on the site after installing Rankie and there was no noticeable impact.

I wish you good fortune and success.

Peace.

Filed Under: Plugins / Components, Tips, Troubleshooting

Hide From Search Engines With TrackMeNot

November 24, 2014 By Scott Fichter Leave a Comment

Track Me Not

Everybody is watching you. I’m not talking about friends, family, and neighbors. I’m talking about fortune 500 corporations. If you use any network you’re being tracked. I’m talking phone, internet, credit card, bank….. EVERYTHING. It’s really getting ridiculous these days. If you agree with this statement, read on. If you don’t believe or don’t care, I get it.

Now that I have that out of the way, let’s discuss a fantastic technique to hide from the search engines. A computer repair technician passed this tip to me a year ago and his recommendation was gold!  Here’s how it works. The plugin is called TrackMeNot and what it does is execute random searches on the most popular search engines while you use your browser. The search phrases are 100% random so when a company tries to figure out your search profile they get data spaghetti. For example, let’s say you love sky diving and you search the subject constantly. Bing collects and sells this search information to a third party. If you use TrackMeNot your data will be mixed with random terms. Your real profile data will be diluted and hidden. You’re essentially hiding in plain view. The idea is simple and effective and the software is light weight and it works! Give it a try.

Hide From Search Engines With These Download Links

  • Download TrackMeNot For FireFox
  • Download TrackMeNot For Chrome

Video tutorials are here.

Filed Under: Software, Tips

Understanding Domain Name Pitfalls

November 13, 2014 By Tom Collins Leave a Comment

Domain Name Pitfall #1 – Ownership

domain nameThe next sentence I write for you will be the most important info on this page. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES LET A THIRD PARTY REGISTER YOUR DOMAIN FOR YOU. Your domain name may not seem valuable now but as time passes it could be worth thousands or more.  Ask yourself how much is pepsi.com worth?  What if back in 1998 Pepsico had some average Joe register pepsi.com for them.  Who owns the name in that situation?  Is it Pepsico? No Way! The person who controls it is the person who registers it.  Don’t let a third party register your domain for you. It is also very important not to allow the registrar to host your site.  If your host crashes, gets hacked, or goes out of business all you have to do is log into the registrar, change a few settings, and your site will be up and running in a few hours.

Finding Alternate Domain Names

To check if your domain name is available visit NameCheap and enter your desired name. A report showing what names are available for each TLD will be returned.  I recommend NameCheap because they are fair and honest and their site’s interface is easy to understand.  If you find your name in .com or .net, fantastic! If not you have options. One option is to invent an alternate name.  Thankfully there are websites that can help.

The sites listed below provide free online tools that create alternate domain names. Check them out.

  1. LeanDomainSearch – You type in the word you want and the site returns a massive three column list of alternatives that could work.  It’s a great brain storming system.
  2. BustAName – You type in a few words you want and the first column allows you to select synonyms. The system will use those new words to create your new name. Excellent system!
  3. Name Mesh –  Very similar to LeanDomainSearch except that it sorts the columns into categories like SEO, Short, Fun, Mix and others.
  4. Domize –  This is great to use if you looking for a quick search.  You type in a few words and the system will hyphenate them and tell you if they are taken.  It responds FAST.
  5. Wordoid – The column on the left is where you enter your word.  Then select the word limit.  Now click the blue button named “Create Wordoids”.  This site creates abstract words.

I think you will be very happy with some of the alternatives that these links provide.  I should also tell you that .com .net and .org are not the only choices. ICANN, which is the domain name governing body, has released over 400 new top level domains.  This release started in late 2013 and they have been pouring in.  This means you could substitute .com with .dance .business. .info.  Check out the full list here.

Registration Pitfalls

[pullquote]Always register with a real email address and don’t forget to add a renewal reminder on your calendar. Domain Squatters are waiting to snatch up your domain the second it gets released.[/pullquote]So you found the name.  Cool!  Now its time to lock it in. Go to NameCheap (Stay clear of Godaddy and Network Solutions) and sign up with them.  They will ask you for your contact information.  Please take note of the following:

  1. Your email address (not your phone number) will be used as the primary method of communication between you and the registrar.  Expiration warnings concerning your domain will be sent to this email address.  If you fail to read these messages, your domain will expire and a domain squatter will buy it and offer to sell it back to you for hundreds of dollars. Choose an email address that you will be able to read for a long time. Don’t lose this account. Consider a Gmail account..
  2. Your personal information will be available to the public through a “Whois” search.  This means the phone number and email address you use will be seen publicly.  If you’re not comfortable with this exposure, consider paying for Whois protection.  It will hide your information.  A domain name registrar called NameCheap charges $15 for five years for this service.
  3. Some folks recommend registering your domain for a single year but I like to register mine for five to ten years. My life is complex enough and I don’t want to worry about it.
  4. When I register my domain I always place reminders on my calendar a few weeks before it expires.  It’s best to have that reminder just in case you lose the email account on file with the register.

I have no affiliation with companies that I endorse on this page.  I’m not reselling their services for personal gain. I’m simply speaking from my experience in the industry.  My opinion comes from the heart and not from dollar signs.

Filed Under: Opinion, Tips

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