Almost on a daily basis I am having to explain what it all means to my clients who are mostly Boomer-aged. One of my clients who is about 55ish said, “It’s all creepy. Why would I want to tell everyone what I am doing all the time?” I told her it could be creepy if you got too personal, but use it to your advantage for your business. It can be an avenue to get the word out about your next business shift, change, sale, discount, deadline etc. Another client asked what does a network mean in the social media context. Social media is just that… networking people together online and different social media outlets have different purposes such as Linkedin is for corporate/business networking, and Facebook is mostly used for “friend” connections.

It’s gotten to the point now where one of my clients has hired a contract employee to handle all the online marketing through the use of social media outlets. When she writes her press releases, she delivers it to her entire staff, and her new “Social Media Marketer”. It’s a new position in the business world.

On another social media note, I think it’s important to be discerning about who you add as a friend/connection, or follow or allow to follow you. I noticed that many people gather as many as they can - no matter who they are. With the very little time we all have these days, at least connect with people who have similar interests as you, who you can either learn from or do business with. After all… it shouldn’t be a popularity contest… we’ve graduated from high school already!

In closing, my prediction on social media outlets is only going to grow stronger. They will grow and change - evolving to the tech world we live in. I remember when the Web was really getting on it’s way in the late 90’s, there were a ton of search engines and now it’s paired down to the most successful that have really dominated the Web such as Google. I think the same will happen with social medias… only the most solid will survive, but they won’t go away. Their families will only grow bigger and their offerings refined. You may as well get on board now and flow with the times than get left behind.

1) The most important element on a website is the one sentence description of what you offer. Take some special time to come up with that perfect one sentence description that covers who, what, when and where. This sentence will be used in multiple ways on your website including being embedded as a “META” tag in the code of your future website. Keep the sentence to the point, short and sweet!

2) The next most important element is the paragraph description that is basically an expansion of your one-sentence description. Take some time to rough draft a paragraph. This paragraph can be fine-tuned later, but at least get it started as this paragraph ’should’ be used on your home page. Your home page is the most important page on your website and the paragraph should explain what you offer in simple, too-the-point terms.

3) Outline the pages that you’d like to have. The pages can be refined at a later date. To get an idea, look at similar websites for ideas.

4) Do you have a logo? If not, consider hiring a graphic designer, or have the Web designer like me, dream up one for you. Note: Extensive logo design is treated as a separate project by any professional and expect separate billing for it. Logo design is an important part of your “business branding”. As a Web designer, when I look at a client’s logo, it gives me a good idea (or should) about how the website should look. Typically I’ll choose colors or shades of the colors in the logo for the entire website. Sometimes I will emulate the shape of the logo throughout the site if the shape supports the message successfully.

6) Finally, for the fun part…. surf the Web. Look at your competitor’s websites. Make a list of at least 5 websites and write down what you like and don’t like about each.

I’ve never been to Cape Cod so I really had to browse a lot of websites, and look at photos to get a good idea of what it’s like there. Really, that’s one of the funnest aspects of website development… is researching the topic upon which you are to design for. What I gleaned was a tight-nit community, arts and culturally rich, lighthouses and more lighthouses, and a close connection to the ocean. I married those concepts to “Art” and got the website (see below). The ocean background is a photo that Diane had taken on one of her trips there, and the background of the site is the texture of canvas material you’d find on  a stretched canvas. The font for “Art” is a brush stroke font and flourished the site with Diane’s signature “Cancellation Stamp” at the top and bottom of all the pages. I also had a lot of fun putting together the slideshow for the home page. It all is supposed to resemble a scrapbook of Diane’s art adventure!

I just realized that the concept of websites looking like art collages is a 2008 web design trend. I’m trendy on accident.  A couple of days ago, I came upon a Web development website that talked about design trends and the “collage” theme is one of them. I actually don’t look at a lot of websites for design inspiration. I try and get the inspiration from an existing logo, the photos that the client provides me etc. I digitally paint the essence of people. I feel that every site I create, is them. You know the hardest site for me to do? My own. It really took a very long time for me to settle on “who I am”. That’s almost another topic. In a nutshell, I love nature. And…. I especially love to do websites that have a hint of nature:

Some of the features of the website include printable coupons, a “streaming” calendar from the Arts & Culture Calendar, www.nvarts.org and a blog; Shawn had been inspired by some local articles that he thought would be great to be able to re-post in their own blog. Visit the site to hear Jeff’s interview on our local radio station.

The look and feel of the website was inspired by a framed work of art in Jeff’s office which he also uses as the store’s logo appearing on their business cards and exterior sign. It was a process to see how I’d translate the art into a website. I tried several variations of chopping it up into a header, but the free-forming art just did not flow being “cut off”. I think the free-flowing watercolor background and the contained site in the foreground is a nice balance between the two.

States who and what makes the artist special… “Guitar Driven Blues” (File Size 11.02 KB).

Clearly states what the banner is about, where and when and easy-to-read (File Size 7.32 KB).

This banner clearly states what it’s selling and has two calls to action to either “click here”, or call the very large print phone number and it’s 3 frames of animation (File Size 11.94 KB).

This banner has rich colors with a photo of the artist for the visitors to identify with, states what makes the artist special (IBC Winner) and has a strong call to action, “Book Festival Now” (File Size 7.28 KB).

This banner is SIMPLE which makes it easy to look at. It states at the very top what it is (Harmonica), has a photo to describe the product. Since it’s a niche market, they really can afford to keep their advertising simple (File Size 8.99 KB).

The banner clearly states who it’s targeting (Bands & Promoters) and what it delivers (Electronic Press Kits)… complete with branding logo (File Size 4.82 KB).

The banner clearly states who the artist is, what it provides, what makes him special and call to action with a phone number (File Size 7.79 KB).

The banner clearly states who the artist is with photo identifier, and call to action (Now Booking) with a phone number, as well as a testimonial from a music magazine (File Size 7.28 KB).

Banner is simple with strong photo imagery and rich colors (File Size 6.38 KB).

Everyone likes the word “Free” (File Size 5.49 KB).

Photo identfiers of the artists and calls to action and branding logo (File Size 5.27 KB).

Strong photo imagery, flashy description of name of band and what makes her special (Red Hot Blues Rock). Red on blue is a graphic design “no-no”, but I think it’s working OK in this case (File Size 5.27 KB).

Clearly states what the banner is about which happens to be their logo, and what makes the magazine special (File Size 8.41 KB).

• State WHO as little words as possible.
• State WHAT makes the artist or company special in as little words as possible. Basically a catchy tag-line or slogan.
• Supply a “Call to Action“. Examples are… “Book Now”, “Buy Now”, “Order Now”, “Get Discount” etc.

Other ideas that may be applicable are:

• TARGET a specific group of people.
• Supply strong IMAGERY of the artist or CD cover if applicable for visitors to identify with.
• Supply a LOGO if you have a well-know brand or name.