Tag: Wordpress

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Websites that create leads

OK, tooting my own horn today a little but you know you’ve done a good job when a couple years after a project you get this sort of message from a client.

“My website is still my number one generator of new business.  Seriously, almost all of my new business is from my website.  Just finished answering another inquiry through the website (probably won’t be a client but that’s okay because the inquiries seem to generate other leads anyway.)  I’m probably your most satisfied customer.”

Jan Roberg

Roberg Tax Solutions

We created a custom WordPress site for them which they maintain themselves.  You can visit  at http://www.robergtaxsolutions.com.

Thanks for this great quote Jan,  I am so happy your website is working for you.

©: 2011 Chicago Web Designer

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Growing your blog audience

So back in March I casually announced I had started a new blog “Creative in Chicago” which follows my decorating adventures as I turn my ever so brown 1970’s Chicago house, into a light airy home. While this blog has nothing what so ever to do with my web design business  it’s very rewarding to see the practices  I preach to all my blogging clients actually working.

how to grow your blog readers

So what is it I preach?

Post Regularly
For a new blog I recommend posting everyday if possible and a minimum of 3 times a week.

Have meaningful well thought out keyword rich post titles
Search engines will like this

Offer different ways to subscribe to your blog
Everyone likes to read blogs in a different way so the more ways you can provide your content  the better. Signing up with a web feed management like Feedburner offers your readers great options and can also be configured to offer email subscriptions.

Allow comments
Comments can be configured so they are moderated and given the thumbs up before being published to your site. Write blog posts which  encourage dialogue between you and your readers and be sure to answer any questions they pose. It can also be useful to visit your commenter’s blogs and leave a message thanking them for visiting.

Write Comments
Commenting on other relevant blogs is a great way to promote your blog but be careful that your comments do not come across as spam.

Take part in other bloggers “parties”
Link parties are very popular with certain blogger groups, particularly those who write about something that can be photographed, think home decorator,  crafter’s, artists,  gardeners, cooks.

The host of a link party will offer the opportunity to promote a post from your site , quite often for nothing in return. The parties run for a predetermined time and generally result in a very high quality selection of projects as the host has complete control over what appears and any spam is weeded out.

Link parties really deserve a complete blog post and I will write that another day!

Promote
Take every opportunity to promote and link to your  blog. Include it in your social media profiles, participate in forums, tweet about it, start a Facebook fan page.

All of this takes time and effort but really does pay off. My Creative in Chicago blog has gone from zero to nearly 7000 visits per month in just four short months.

blog stats

©:2011 Chicago web designer

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WordPress training for new web site clients

Many of the websites we have created in the last year of so have been built on the WordPress platform. WordPress is more than a great blogging platform it is also a very powerful content management system (CMS) and for those clients who wish to maintain their site themselves it is a good option.

Once we complete a WordPress site we don’t just turn it over to the client and let then figure stuff out for themselves, we provide an interactive training session. Here is what we generally cover.

  • How to login
  • The anatomy of the WordPress dashboard
  • Writing a new blog post
  • Adding and assigning blog categories
  • SEO techniques for blog posts
  • Dealing with comments, approving, editing and trashing
  • Adding links
  • Uploading photos
  • Uploading documents
  • Viewing and editing website pages
  • Adding new pages

While this is not a comprehensive list of the all the things capable from WordPress,  it is the perfect collection of  “need to know how’s”  for clients who want to edit and update the content of their sites.

©: 2011 Chicago Web Designer

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New website for Lincolnshire Academy of Dance

Launched this week is a completely redesigned web site for the Lincolnshire Academy of Dance.

dance studio web site

The academy is about to move into a fabulous, brand new, custom built space and owner Brenda Didier also wanted to start things fresh with a new web site as well.

The site showcases a wealth of professionally taken photographs which capture the commitment of the students and the teaching ethics of the dance school,  they taken center stage in the the look and feel of the site. The content from the original site was reorganized into a more logical architecture and a clean and simple navigational tool allows users to easy move around the site.

For ease of client management the site has been built on the WordPress platform.

We have already heard very positive feedback on the site!

©: 2011 Chicago Web Designer

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The Challenges of Writing a Business Blog

In a recent post ” Chicago Web Designer: The power of 10” I alluded to the fact I strive to write 10 blog posts a month.  That really doesn’t seem that many but after writing for 5 years, read my first blog post here , keeping this live and interesting can be a challenge.  Looking at my blog stats I am falling a just little short of my monthly goal!

So what are the main  challenges of writing a business blog?

  • Fresh Content
    I keep a running list of topics to write about which really helps the despair of sitting down to a white screen and drawing a blank.  The nature of my business means it is important I keep abreast of  all the latest technologies and how they can impact my clients, from design trends, coding languages, communication and marketing tools , where were Twitter and Facebook five years ago? This evolution of technology provides a good source of fresh content.
  • Finding Time
    Sometimes, especially recently, following my move to Chicago, there are just not enough hours in the day to accomplish all I need to do. It is easy to let blogging to fall to the way side. However blogging is an important part of my internet marketing strategy so I make a concerted effort not to let things slip. Setting aside half an hour,after pressing emails have been dealt with, first thing in the morning works best for me.
  • Technicalities
    It is important to select a blogging platform that can accommodate your requirements as you evolve. For my business it was important that all blog posts could be stored on our server rather than a third party server. I started off using Blogger but they moved away from the self hosted functionality earlier this year. I then transferred to WordPress which is a self hosted application.

How about you, what challenges do you face writing a business blog?

2010 © Chicago web designer

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A letter to Chicago from the Chicago Web Designer

Dear Chicago,

Hello! A week ago today I was packing up my St Louis web design business and today, here I am firmly planted in Chicago. It may be a while before I am fully unpacked but I am really looking forward to getting to know you, all your fabulous businesses and getting down to work as the Chicago web designer.

Here is what I do:

Web Design

  • Custom Web Site Design
  • Web Site redesign
  • Banner ad Design
  • Email templates
  • Blog Design, wordpress, blogger
  • Internet marketing ( SEO)

Graphic Design

  • Logos and corporate branding
  • Presentations
  • Brochures
  • Advertisements
  • Traditional graphic design

I have been in the web and graphic design business for over 10 years and am truly passionate about what I do.

One question, as a city you have a lot of nick names. Which one do you prefer, Chi town, ChicagoLand or the Windy City?

Yours Sincerely

The Chicago Web Designer

2010 © Chicago Web Designer

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St Louis web design blog evolution

When I first started this blog back in 2005 it was an experiment and educational process. I could see their potential and what better way to learn than start one for my own company. Over the last five years my blog has evolved and grown into an invaluable tool for attracting site visitors and generating leads.

Blogger was a nice easy platform to start on and I used one of their templates, modifying it to reflect some very simple Indigo Image brand elements. As you can see (thanks to the way back machine) it was pretty basic stand alone application.

first generation blog design

When I saw the amount of traffic visiting it became imperative to incorporate the main site’s navigation into the template from a usability standpoint . I developed a header which created a seamless transition from blog to the rest of the site and vice versa and had a consistent branded feel. I also introduced subject categories to better organize the ever growing content and give the visitor a different avenue to explore.

2nd generation blog

The momentum for the 3rd generation came from a complete site redesign. I took advantage of this to better position the blog subscription and offered users a number of ways to subscribe. The 3rd generation was originally powered by blogger but has been recently switched to WordPress ( this was due to blogger withdrawing FTP support). The switch to WordPress has made it easier to introduce additional functionality like a blog search (this is such an easy way for me to look up older posts) and better manage things like blog categories.

3rd generation blog

So what’s in store for the 4th generation? I will definitely be taking advantage of the functionality offered by WordPress and some ideas are certainly beginning to formulate but not quite there yet. My main objective still remains the same though, but they are secret so I will keep them to myself!

2010 © St Louis Web Designer

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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.

  1. Post Title Use key words in your blog post titles and make the title meaningful.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Promote New Posts
    • 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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