Today we’ll be talking about one of the least technical pieces of planning your new website, and one of the most important to get right: choosing a domain name. Your goals, in the order I’d put them in, are: Available. Memorable. Succinct and typeable. We’ll be going backwards through this list, to show how we […]
It’s hard to find a good web developer. Part of that is because web development is a jungle of unlicensed practitioners with very different interests, price points, and skill levels—meaning it’s a lot tougher to know where to start than if you were looking for a good, say, heart surgeon. But it’s also important that […]
Having a fast-loading website should be a top priority for any business. Not only does it dramatically improve the user experience, as anyone who has frustratingly had to wait while a site crawls in can attest to, it also can affect your website’s position in search rankings. Increasing your site speed is always a great […]
Just like a car, a web project could cost almost anything depending on your needs and budget. Your developer needs to know both. “I want a car. How much will that cost?” Web developers confront this question almost every time they talk to a client—except with “website” replacing “car.” When you ask your web developer, […]
One of the marks of good web professionals is that they’re partners in strategy. I recently spoke with Matt from 3thought, a graphic design team we love, about working with them on a redesign project. In the course of the conversation, Matt asked a question that made me think: “What would count as a win […]
This post continues an earlier post on site support, which we can summarize as follows: You’re going to need site support. You’re going to need a plan for site support. Here, we cover one of your best options for securing ongoing support: creating a retainer arrangement with the same developer or team who built and […]
The moment your website launches, support starts. Ongoing support is one of the most underappreciated costs of owning a website. The moment your website launches, support starts. Believing otherwise is a bit like buying a pet goldfish and being surprised that you also need to pay for fish food. Why You Need Support You need […]
A common mistake entrepreneurs make is to start with a very specific idea and grind as hard as possible to make it work. This might work out great—but as many entrepreneurs learn, it’s far too easy to rush through, or entirely overlook, the process of refining our initial ideas into something people truly want. Not […]
It’s too easy to plan out a web project in terms of technologies rather than solutions. Too many web projects don’t meet their goals. The project could be the wrong solution for the right goal, the right solution for the wrong goal—or, perhaps worst of all, a shiny solution for no goal. The problem is […]
Here’s a video about what makes websites succeed and fail. The video explains that every website needs three kinds of plans to succeed: A strategic plan: the overall vision (inspiration) for the site, turned into measurable goals, with evidence that the goals are achievable by the site owner, and a look at strategic risk (possible challenges and obstacles to […]
A website is not a purchase; it’s an ongoing investment. This is perhaps the most important thing you can hear before having a site built. We’ll be exploring this distinction by looking at what proper website maintenance requires. Before that, though, we’ll be using a (we hope memorable) metaphor to examine the ways most websites […]
You have two main options for setting up a mailing list for your WordPress site. One is to install a plugin which integrates a newsletter service directly into your site. The other is to use a standalone mailing service; with these, you will generally manage your site’s signup forms through a plugin, but you’ll manage […]
