Welcome to our blog on Santa Fe web design. Within you'll find everything from information on web design, to simple SEO techniques. We'll also discuss how you can benefit from hiring Jacobito for your next design project.
In the age of instant gratification, where digital devices get you what you want faster than ever, it pays to have a marketing campaign that is as specific as possible. One of the ways of achieving this is through a search engine optimization (SEO) campaign for your website. Continue reading “SEO in Santa Fe”
I’ve witnessed first-hand websites that look great in one web browser, and look like a train wreck in another. I often wonder if the owners of those websites know they have a major problem on hand, or if they just don’t care. Either way, let’s get those of you who aren’t in the know up to date to which browsers are being used out there and share how you can test to see if your website has any design styling flaws. Continue reading “Web Browser Testing For Clients”
Yes, we are the new web design firm in Santa Fe. That doesn’t mean we aren’t familiar with what it takes to do business in a town that is saturated with web design competition. In fact, we feel like we have the upper hand. We’re cheaper, leaner and offer unique custom websites that are search engine friendly from the get-go. Plus, we enjoy interacting with our clients and making them very happy!
Oh yeah, we’re affordable… Even in these hard economic times. We have low overhead and believe in sustainable practices. This means that we can charge less than the average web design firm. “How much less?” you ask. On average, we charge $10 (per hour) less than most web designers. And it won’t be one of those scenarios where you say, “Well, I guess we got what we paid for.” We want our clients to feel as though they not only got the most for their money but also enjoy the way their new website works, looks and feels.
Costs are kept relatively low at Jacobito Design. We follow “Green Protocols” that we’ve written into our business plan. These “Green Protocols” definitely help us save money by reducing facility energy costs, fleet costs and waste. Ultimately by keeping costs low and following green protocols, we feel that we are not only helping our bottom line but also helping the bottom line of our clients — not to mention our contribution to the wellbeing of the environment.
Our previous blog post detailed search engine friendly websites. In that post, we wrote about underdeveloped code-hoarders that generally haven’t bothered to update their skills and evolve. We believe there is quite a bit of this that goes on in the Santa Fe web design community. Not every designer is this way, but there are quite a few. We pride ourselves on creating clean-coded, custom websites that are easily indexed by search engines.
So, even though Jacobito Design is new to Santa Fe, we feel like we have a structure that our clients will be happy with. It can also save them money before and after the web design process is complete. We invite you to see how we can best serve you and your web design needs.
Whether you are aware of it or not, not all websites are search engine friendly… And it’s more prevalent than you think! There are many websites out there that are either outdated, written by code-hoarding designers that haven’t bothered to update their web development skills in the last decade, or just plain missing important search engine friendly code altogether. You might be saying, “Why would this make a website less search engine friendly?” Let me give you general examples of why!
Some website owners believe it necessary to neither update the content of their website nor update the design and code. They just let it wither away into web antiquities. Ultimately, in the long run, this is a very bad choice. Websites should be thought of as being alive and needing some attention from time to time. Content should be kept fresh, so loyal visitors aren’t bored by seeing the same old content. Minor design changes are important too from time to time for the same reasons. And if you’re still rocking that website from 2001, chances are it was built with old clunky code that not only slows the website down but hinders how it’s indexed by search engines. In the long run, this can affect your search engine rankings. Plain and simple, neglected websites over time become jaded and surly just like your best friend’s neighbor’s decrepit grandmother who doesn’t bother answering the door for trick-or-treaters on Halloween anymore.
Like website owners that are guilty of neglecting their own websites, code-hoarders tend to be guilty of neglecting to update their web knowledge. I mean let’s face it, all web designers/developers know (or at least should) the web is a fast paced ever-changing realm of new and exciting web design features. Yet there are designers/developers out there that refuse to change and evolve. They get stuck, and build websites with unnecessary code-clutter, it bogs down the website so that it doesn’t perform as well as it would than if it were designed by someone who was writing light-weight code that is easily indexed.
Web designers should at least have some working knowledge of the semantic web and how to use meta-tags properly. Yet, it is surprising how many websites out there are missing aspects of both. Web semantics are probably the most important; they give your site clean structure that tells search engine robots what content is most important. This takes the guesswork away, so robots can index a site according to salient information. Sure it’s great to have a website that looks great, but if it’s not working for you and gaining you more viewers, then it might as well be pretty paper stuck in a filing cabinet.
Overall it really doesn’t take much to make a website search engine friendly – mostly just a little love and proper code. With a little knowledge and a little less neglect, a website will be well on its way to eventually gaining higher search rankings. Of course, there are other strategies involved with gaining higher search engine ranking, but we’ll save that for a later post.
Even before choosing a web designer, it can be a real challenge figuring out where to start. That’s why we want to share three pointers that will help you visualize what kind of website you want and what features to best showcase your business.
Your first easy step is to writing down who your target audience is. Ask yourself what age groups would be attracted to your site? Think about their general social structures, how they interact with one another, and how they might use your site. Start thinking of how you want your site to be perceived and what type of color theme you want.
Visit similar sites within your industry. List all the web addresses you visited. Make a sub-list of all your likes and dislikes. Pay attention to the features they have within… Do they have a photo gallery or video? Do they participate in social networks such as Twitter or Facebook? Ask yourself what you’d do differently and how it could work better by having a different navigation structure or color theme. Lastly, Ask yourself if you got frustrated with their site, and what made it so frustrating?
While visiting these similar sites, what keywords did you type in to find them? Write down all the keywords you anticipate your visitors typing in to find you products or services. Is your business a local company or a national business?
By following these steps, you’ll not only be well on your way to the brainstorming stage of your new website, but you’ll also have notes that will aid your chosen web designer in estimating you envisioned web project.