It’s really easy to lose sight of WHO your website is for. We all know it is for our customers. In fact, I would argue it is for the people who aren’t our customers yet but who we really want to be our customers. TRUTH is that we are all guilty, us included, of designing our sites (and other marketing materials) and writing our content the way we know how to. Worse yet we are all are guilty of designing and writing for our personal tastes and styles not for what would be most effective in reaching new costumers.

We all need to stop doing that and we need to start zeroing in on our target audiences.

I read this article about a business owner who has over 2 million monthly subscription customers. He spends a majority of his time writing, editing, re-writing and fine-tuning their website and marketing content. The E-myth (great classic book about small business) teaches us that we need work on our businesses not just in our businesses.

So here are some simple challenges to all of us:

• Study your front page / landing page – Is it geared for new customers?
• Look at your language – Is it clear? Is it proper? Does it have your customer in mind? Are you too wordy?
• Does your website navigate easily for the most important information?
• Do you have a clear call to action?
• Have you any idea how much traffic your site is getting and other important statistics? (Link it up with Google analytics)
• Spend 1-5 hours EVERY WEEK fine-tuning your messaging on your site – Learn how to make it the powerful tool that it can be for placing you first in your market category.

[Ryan also writes for RedBikeLeader.com - engaging & developing young leaders]

I love how a good clean site can be so simplistic and yet so aesthetically pleasing. Minimalism is hard to accomplish without seeming boring, but when done properly, the outcome is amazing. Check out these great sites that have nice color and typography choices, and a stunning minimalist layout.

Often we are contacted by potential clients that have little to no money. Just yesterday we had an up and coming actress inquire about a site, and only had $300 to spend.

This is hard on me. I love to help people, and I really love the web and marketing. In fact its why I love my job. I really wish I didn’t have bills, I would probably sit around, and help people for free or cheap all day long, and still love my job.

So back to my story. I thought to myself, I wish I could help this actress out, but for $300, there was little we could do. So I had an idea that would get her started on a site, help her out, and not use her entire budget.

Wordpress!

Wordpress is a blog. but it has pages. and you can flip wordpress around to be pages first, blog secondary. Thus turning it into a sweet little CMS anyone can use. Here are the steps.

1. get hosting set up that doesnt have any advertising headers.

Personally I love Liquid web, and we use LW for our dedicated servers.
or wordpress.com works. If you go this route, skip step 2.

2. Install wordpress.

Most big hosts can do this for you, or give you a simple install button in their control panel.

3. Pick a classy theme

there are great free themes and paid for themes.

free:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/05/18/100-amazing-free-wordpress-themes-for-2009/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/01/08/100-excellent-free-high-quality-wordpress-themes/

Or there are paid themes: woothemes.com

4. Add in your pages as needed.

wordpress is traditionally a blog, but with a few tweeks, it can look more like a website, with a news page, than a blog.

Learn more about using wordpress here

Now while this is a good cheap and dirty set up, its no substitution to a great designer building something custom.

Dont forget – your organization, product and services are unique, and so are your customers, so you still need to custom tailor the site experience to fit those factors. This is merely a quick patch for a no money situation. A real website will do 10x for you that a free template can.

We are all about learning new things here at Factor 1. We try to stay on top new design and coding trends, and we love finding new techniques to test and play with. I know we have quite the mix of regular readers here: fellow designers, other coders, and some clients that have no design or coding knowledge. I’d love to share some of our favorite learning resources here at Factor 1, some for beginners to learn more about what we do and some for the more advanced people here.

General Design Stuff
Smashing Magazine
DesignM.ag
PSDtuts
Training Sessions at Gangplank with Forty

Coding Stuff
CSS-Tricks
Nettuts
Noupe

Branding
Brand New
Logo of the Day
Logo Design Love
Logo Moose

Website Inspiration
Design Meltdown
Best Web Gallery
CSS Website

Other Awesome Stuff
The Dieline
Card Observer

Where are your favorite places to go for inspiration or learning new techniques?

When you think of websites with white backgrounds you probably think of search engines, news sites, and plain designs with lots of crammed in content. Many people want color, texture, and bright vivid designs. White is often overlooked, but many things can be done with just a white background. White offers the ability to add lots of contrast, allows your images to pop and there are many possibilities that you might not have considered before.

Here are some great sites that use lots of white to achieve a great look.

Typography is one of the most standout parts of a website, affecting the overall look and feel. It’s something we certainly take into consideration when designing a site. Which fonts work best with the style and feel of the site, does the information flow easily, is everything legible and easy to navigate through? Typography is a design aspect in itself and needs careful consideration in order to make a site top-notch. 

Here are a few great sites that use great typography, making their content stand out and their design shine.

Web design is not all technical. We work hard to make the html and css stuff work on our end and then hand it over to our clients to make the content work on their end. Many mistakes are made on the web, by forgetting simple art theory and how it plays a big role in how web sites look. People also forget about how other people will view their page, how they will navigate through and find the information they need. (more…)

Some people say there isn’t anything new to design anymore, we are all just rearranging things that have already been created, slapping on a new label, and calling it our own. That may be true, however I do believe we can certainly push the envelope, change what’s already out there and make a beautiful creation that has never been seen before. Just like each website we create is brand-spanking new, an opportunity to wow a new audience with every new company/church/business. I came across these vodka bottles on The Dieline and I am wowed and impressed.

Someone decided at some point that vodka bottles are supposed to be made of clear glass, and be tall and cylindrical. Everyone that made a vodka bottle after that point, followed suit. Until 1000 Acres came up with a new idea, something  unique and different. You can do what you’ve always done and seen before, but shouldn’t you expect the same results? Break out, do something different, push the envelope and you might be surprised with how well it’s received.

You would think an article like this from Seth Godin would make design firms shiver in fear that clients would walk away, and do design themselves. In case you don’t follow that link, Seth Godin talks about how you can become a better designer with a few hours a month of reading from his book list. 

Not us.

In fact, it makes me happy. I fully agree with him, and I think you SHOULD be a better designer. Why you ask, would a creative firm like factor 1, want clients designing things themselves?

1. You can’t rely on design firms to make the small things. Sure we can build an awesome website for you. But when you need a single powerpoint slide, for tomorrows presentation, thats harder to get a firm to want to do. 

2. Almost every one of our websites is a CMS (content management system) driven site. Meaning our end client can log in, and add content. I would love it every one of our site administrators could insert top notch graphics. 

3. If our clients know a bit more about design, and can speak the lingo, it makes communication and brain storming even better.

4. At the end of the day, I know the years of experience, talent, and overall approach our team brings to the table is not going to be beat by a book. 

So I am sure some creative companies cringe at Seth’s post. I for one, embrace, encourage, and fully support it.