Top 10 websites for inspiration

When starting a new project it's easy to go to what you know. A tried and tested formula that's worked in the past. But web design is different. For the most part, people and businesses don't want the same website as everyone else. They want something that will stand out from the crowd - something that makes people pay attention.

It may be as simple as a mouse-over effect or an innovative way of navigating around the site, but it't always good to keep abreast of the industry and keep the pulse of what's new and cool. Just like the catwalks of Paris, you don't necessarily take a whole site to use, but little bits from here and there, some colour inspiration and some flair can be just what you need to have your users glued to their screen for a few minutes longer.

Here's a list of my top 10 websites to visit when I'm looking for some new ideas or just some of the current trends in web design.

1. The FWA - http://www.thefwa.com

This site has long been the exclusive list of the best in the world. The people and companies pushing the envelope right to the edge of the desk. Unfortunately most of these sites are out of a modest budget range, but very cool none the less.

2. CSS Website Awards - http://www.cssdesignawards.com

This is a neat little site that showcases some quite regular sites that offer things out of the ordinary, or sometimes just look nice. Either way, it's a nice place to drop by now and again.

3. Dribbble - http://dribbble.com

While Dribbble is a new exclusive tight-knit (often snobby) group of designers, it actually had an awesome gallery of web designs and unique web elements. While you rarely see a full site design on the site (due to the small size of the image you can upload), you do see a lot of small pieces which allows you to focus on some fine detail. Good luck trying to get a full designer account, but you can view the gallery no problems.

4. Site Inspire - http://siteinspire.com

A nice little site with a lot of nice design work, but the featured sites often seem to be a little too arty for my preference. Still if that's the look you're going for - this may be just the site for you.

5. Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com

While it's definitely not a place to find cool web designs, it does have a load of very cool art, crafts, architecture, cooking & photography - all of which can spark a cool idea.

6. P22 - http://www.p22.com

A font foundry that produces loads of very cool fonts. If you've never paid for a font, it's about time to start. Fonts have been the focal point of a number of sites I've worked on. I find them very inspirational, and very interesting. On the other hand, if you're looking for a site to get fonts at no charge that can be used commercially - check out Font Squirrel.

7. GettyImages - http://www.gettyimages.com.au

While not a web design specific site, Getty is arguably the premium stock photo provider worldwide. It has an extensive range of royalty free (note this does not mean free) and exclusive rights managed images. If you're looking for a unique photo or set of brand photos that will define your business and brand on your website this is the first place I'd go to ensure nobody else will pop up using the same photos.

8. DeviantArt - Web Interfaces - http://browse.deviantart.com/designs/web/

While DA is a breeding ground of art (of every kind), it does often have some nice web layouts featured on there. Unfortunately the web interfaces category is constantly bombarded with animated gifs, forum signatures and other random banners, there's still some inspiration to be found occasionally.

9. Websites that suck - http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com

While it's not necessarily a positive inspiration. It's good to see things that turned out quite bad from time to time (and to make sure none of my work is ever listed on there). Sometimes the idea was good, and the artwork was good, but the execution that let it down. It can be worth a visit for a chuckle from time to time too.

10. Designspiration - http://designspiration.net

Another site of many cool design pieces, but very few for web design which is why it's so low in my list.

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What are your favorite places for inspiration?
Talk to Digerati Solutions today about how we can build the coolest website on the block - together!

Pinterest - The new kid on the (social media) block

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a cross between twitter, a bookmarking site and a global game of show & tell. Users find interesting photos online and 'pin' them to 'boards' (or save them into categories). Similar to Twitter, you can select to 'follow' your friends but Pinterest also determines other people that post similar content and add them to your feed as well. The end result is a constant stream of photos of all different topics and styles. Clicking on the photo takes you back to the website it came from, so you may be checking out a million dollar kitchen followed by a great rainbow layer cake recipe or weekend craft ideas with the kids.

For the most part, the photos are high quality, and even if you're just into looking at great inspiring photos, you'll get a lot out of the site without ever pinning your own images.

It may seem a little strange in concept, but it's very simple to work out, and before you know it, you've spent 3 hours looking through all of the great content.

Pinterest is NOT meant to compete with the likes of Facebook or Twitter, and really doesn't provide a similar function. Its main function seems to be providing an unlimited resource of things that people like; including (but not limited to) cooking, clothes, art, nostalgia, flowers, craft, cocktails, aspirational quotes, unbelievable home renovation, as well as a slew innovative products and portfolio pieces.



A Bit Of Background

Pinterest started in early 2010, and although reaching 10,000 members within 9 months, it wasn't until an article in Time Magazine (Aug 2011) that it started to gain a massive following. By December 2011 they were averaging 11 million visits per week, and by January 2012 there were almost 12 million unique users, making it the fastest site in history to break the 10 million user mark, and as by March it was officially the 3rd largest social media network in the US. 

It has been reported that as many as 85% of users are female, and altough the averages are slowly coming back towards even, the user base is still heavily weighted by women which does prove to be a great targeted demographic for marketing.



Appropriate Use

Although the official rules are relatively unrestricted, they do have a Pin Etiquette page which outlines their requested usage. This includes things like being respectful, crediting your sources & user responsibility for reporting questionable content.

It's important to note that all content that you pin is public, so anybody can see your activity - whether they're a member or not. There are no private boards, so it's intended to be a truly social and open network - like twitter.

There is ongoing discussion around the tone of the artwork being added by businesses, whether it needs to have some level of artistic merit, or if all is fair game. As noted, there's no rules that touch on the tone of the content (beyond inappropriate content), but I think you'll find more success if you produce artwork somewhere in the middle.

Content that has more of an artistic or high quality photographic element are more likely to be liked or re-pinned.

Getting The Most From Pinterest

The genius thing that Pinterest have done is to integrate each action with your favorite social network (Facebook or Twitter). Whenever you add something new, like something of someone else or re-pin content, the action is saved to your news feed. This means that the things you 'like' are being exposed to your entire social group (and visa versa), as WELL as random people that like similar things.

The way these things generally trend, within year or so, Australia will be well and truly on the Pinterest bandwagon. You will want to be on early to be familiar with how it works, but it's more important to be active. Just like most social networks, content exposure is highest at the time of posting (or pinning in this case). It's a bit of a chicken or the egg scenario, but why not have a dominant presence ahead of your competitors.

In terms of content suggestions for your business, there is an easy ways to integrate with your website. If you set up a specific image that represents your business you can add a 'pin it' button to your site. Users clicking this button and they will see a popup with the image you have made along with a pre-written message.

This can be great to add some viral component to a giveaway or promotion or just something new you want to get some wide exposure on.

Here's a few companies that have put a lot of effort into their boards and their Pinterest presence.
- http://pinterest.com/peugeotpanama/
- http://pinterest.com/etsy/
- http://pinterest.com/pauladeen/
- http://pinterest.com/threadless/

Creating An Account

Pinterest is a free network, but is limited access in that if you want to just go to the site and sign up, there's a 3-5 day wait for your account to be approved. The quickest way to get instant membership is to be invited by an existing member. This ensures that you start with at least 1 friend, and the Pinterest network stays communal in nature.

If you would like an invitation, just give us a call or shoot us an email, and we will send over an invite. Feel free to chat to us about how Pinterest could be a benefit to your business, and let us know how you're using it in a new and interesting way.

Facebook Evolution - Timeline for Business

It's the start of a new phase for Facebook, as they roll out possibly the biggest change to their platform in almost 2 years. The 'Timeline' layout and functionality for business sites will become standard within a few weeks (31 March 2012). There's some great new things the new format brings, so it's time to embrace the change.

You may have noticed the timeline layout for personal pages was rolled out a few months back to a lot of upset users. Not really because of any significant reason, ut because it meant a shift in how they use facebook and the placement of some key components moved around a little. The business side is basically the same, but with some nice additions.

See a new timeline outline here »

The key changes.

1. Public interaction with the brand without being able to force a 'like'
In the current version, you are able to basically make it impossible for a consumer to interact with you publicly, by posting on your 'wall' etc. Now, all standard facebook interactions will be possible without requiring a user to like your brand. This does NOT extend to applications though, and you can still force users to like your brand before they see additional content.

2. Cover photo
Each brand will now be able to select a large cover photo for display at the top of their page. This looks great and helps a business to expand its brand graphically within the facebook framework unlike before. There are some rules however.
Cover images may not contain:
- Price or purchase information, such as "40% off" or "Download it at our website"
- Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page's About section
- References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
- Calls to action, such as "Get it now" or "Tell your friends"
Jon Loomer has a nice video outlining some of the new rules here.

Examples of some great cover images.
https://www.facebook.com/ford
https://www.facebook.com/cocacola
https://www.facebook.com/Microsoft
https://www.facebook.com/coles

3. Application icons
In the current version, reaching custom applications was restricted to a small navigation under the logo on the left side, but you were able to set a default 'tab' page. The new layout means that you no longer have content that loads automatically, and instead, you get to highlight 3 content pages (now called apps) via the app icons directly below the cover photo. You can hold up to 12 apps, but there's only space for 3 app icons.

4. 'Pinned' post or featured photo
Not to be confused with the new social sharing site Pinterest. A pinned article is a post (text, photo, video or a combination) that you can 'pin' to the top of your timeline for 7 days. A featured photo is one that spans the full width of the timeline.
The restrictions that apply to canvas artwork don't apply here, but remember, it's just a photo, so if you want to direct people to an app, you're going to have to include a link to it in the photo description.


5. New W-I-D-E App page
Unfortunately all app content is now on a separate page, however there are a few benefits.
1. More space. The tab page layout restricted content to 520 pixels, but the new app page layout is 810 pixels (that's over 55% more space). Since you're going off to another page, they have added some additional navigation to the top of the page so you can easily go back to the timeline or to anywhere else in your facebook account.

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Talk to us today about updating your facebook presence, or even helping you get set up.

The 5 Keys to Online Business

It's hard for many people to imagine (or remember) a world without being able to shop online. The ease of being able to buy your groceries, Christmas presents and book in your mani-pedi (all while watching re-runs of Master Chef in your PJ's), makes going into an actual brick & mortar store seem like something out of a black & white movie.

We are living in the era of online shopping and while the global online shopping center is almost unfathomable, there are a few key elements that can make or break your online business.

Note: As much as we emphasise the importance of great creative - as long as the content is laid out in a manner that can be followed, the overall style of the elements is only a small factor of customer satisfaction compared to the key areas below. There are many non-pretty sites that are highly successful (Craigslist, Wikipedia & are just a few examples). Great design has little to do with how pretty it looks - it's all about how functional it is.

1. Ease of finding/browsing products

If a potential customer can't find what they're looking for, how are they going to be able to make a purchase? Try to think how your customers will be thinking when they come in, and not how you categorise your products. Select the best of what you have to offer (either the highest interest or the highest profit) and make sure the user sees those first.

Things to avoid

• Don't categorise products primarily by brand. Unless you're a B2B operation, few customers will know which specific brand they like, so navigating through different styles becomes tedious. This does however work well as a secondary 'filter' option for people who want matching items after they have found one they like.
• Don't try to overload the user with everything you have to offer at once. Create a hierarchy of information and highlight key areas for the user to see first. (Remember, bold text only stands out when it's surrounded by regular text).

2. Current & complete data

You've been looking for a specific product for weeks, you finally find it online and at the right price, you got to place the order only to find out that the product is no longer available or the price has changed. You've not only wasted the time of your customer (who isn't likely to ever come back), but you're now having to provide some customer service to smooth things over.

As monotonous as it is to keep a large inventory up to date on your site, it's essential that your catalogue is current, and as complete as possible. The more you add up front, the less likely you are to have products returned to you.

Things to avoid

• Don't try to be deceptive in your descriptions. Yes it may close the sale for you, but as soon as the buyer gets a product that doesn't match what they expected, you know it's coming right back.
• Blurry or small photos. Because a customer can't touch the product before they buy, you need to make the shopping experience as close to realistic as you can. The better you present your product (or service for that matter), the better it's going to 'feel' on screen.

3. Answers to common questions

There are a handful of questions that almost every user that comes to your site wants to ask. The goal of a good online business is to allow the user to not only search, find and buy what you're offering, but can also 'ask' any questions they would have asked if they were completing the purchase in person. Start with transaction-based questions like security, what will appear on a credit card statement, shipping rates & times, then go onto delivery, guarantees and warranty, then importantly a number to call (or a form to complete) for more questions.

Things to avoid

• Again, don't try to mislead people. Be honest and clear about prices, delivery times, order processes and special offers.
• There's no need to think of EVERY question. it's called frequently asked questions for a reason. Not 'every question that's been asked before'. Keeping the list somewhat limited makes it easier to skim through the list and makes it more readable. If people are presented with a long page to sort through, they're either going to skip it and call you directly or just go to another site.

4. Easy to understand terms & service information

Make sure any terms and conditions of your business are easy to find and easy to understand. This may be as simple as adding a link to your terms in the top navigation, or you may need purchasers to agree to your terms before completing a transaction.

You will also need to ensure that you have a legal privacy policy which outlines your company's policy on the collection and storage of personal information. A text link in the page footer for this is an adequate solution.

Things to Avoid

• Industry Jargon. Speak in plain english (or your relevant language), and provide external links to explain technical things.
• Don't take advantage of the fact that few people will actually read the terms by hiding in loopholes for yourself.

5. Customer service

We've all needed to return an item or call to report a problem with a service we're paying for. So we also know that the experience starts at a place of being unhappy to some extent. When we feel that the person we're talking with isn't taking us seriously, is being unreasonable or is minimising our problem it can quickly escalate.

Online support is no different, and in many cases is a little more sensitive. People are generally more wary of making purchases online since there is (often) no physical store to return to, or no way to make a personal connection with a sales representative.

Make sure your customer service personnel are adequately trained to keep your customers calm and help bring situations to a peaceful resolution. You can easily turn an aggravated consumer into a raving fan with the right tone. Since your customer is also likely to be savvy with online platforms, there is also a high likelihood that whatever the outcome, they will be sharing it on Facebook or Twitter.

At the end of the day, if a customer decides not to buy from you, you want it to be because the product itself or the price weren't in line with their expectations - not because they felt you were untrustworthy, didn't care about them, or they felt you were being deliberately deceptive.

Things to avoid

• Avoid confrontational language like "If you had read our refund policy...", "Calm down", "You should have...", "Why didn't you.." or "Like I told you..."
• Avoid suggesting that the reason the customer is unhappy is because of their own fault or incompetence.
• Avoid using informal colloquialisms. Keeping your language formal is a great way to reassure the customer that you are taking them seriously. Phrases like "Just a sec", "Hold on", ""

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Let us know your top tips for a successful online business.

The Handoff - Letting Go

As a creative team, we get personally invested in every project we work on. Both designers and developers have a personal connection with the things we build. Every tiny image, link and button is fit into place with precision and love.

It should come as no surprise that it's hard to let go of control when it comes time to hand the reigns over to it's new owner - you, the client. To make hand-off a little easier for both of us, I thought we would list a few things that can help us both out.

1. Content Overload

Unless you're visiting wikipedia, a user is generally not looking for an opportunity to sit and read (primarily) when browsing for a product or service. For the most part, they want the key information presented quickly and efficiently with the option to read more if they would like more information. For this reason, you should keep content on your main pages short and to the point. If you have lengthy information that may be helpful, consider adding it as an article or a secondary page.

Although we usually allow for pages to expand to fit any length of content - it's a good practice to keep your text as concise as possible. If you will need to have pages that contain a lot of content - that should be something that's discussed before the site is designed so that we can take that into consideration too.

2. Copyright Protected Content

Acquiring pre-made images (photos or clip art) can be a tricky situation. Copyright law is much more extensive than most people understand, and infringements can be accompanied by significant legal consequences.

As a general rule, anything that's already on the internet (text, image, animation or otherwise) is protected by copyright law and you will need written permission to use it - unless otherwise stated. We will usually confirm that you have rights to use any content sent to us, but it's ultimately the responsibility of the site owner if content is being used illegally.

Image libraries are a great source of photos, videos and other media for us on your site. Using royalty free images means that after you have paid an initial fee, you have full rights to use that image however you like - for as long as you like. These images vary in price based on quality, size & the site you're on. but you can expect to pay around $2-$5 per photo.

Here's a few of the larger libraries;
- istockphoto.com
- dreamstime.com
- shutterstock.com (subscription based)
- gettyimages.com (royalty free AND rights managed images)
- sxc.hu (this is a free site, but most are not free for commercial use)

Note that using the watermarked image without purchasing the image is also illegal.

Copywriting is often a forgotten component to developing a professional site. The readability of your information, and the tone that is set on your site is a element crucial to high-level success. Hiring a professional copy writer to develop the full copy for the website and your company communications can raise your level of professionalism above most other small and medium sized organisations.

As with images, copying text from a competitors site is illegal, regardless of whether they will ever notice. Even changing a few words here and there is most likely inadequate to dodge a copyright infringement lawsuit. It can help to understand how a competitor ranks so high on searches by reading their text, but just re-write it in your own words and you're good.

Legal text again is something that is often overlooked or often copied. Speaking with your legal advisor will give you the best results for preparing your privacy policy & terms of service documents. Make sure they're specifically relevant to your site and your business, but most of all make sure that any claims you make in them are accurate. There's nothing worse than claiming something in your terms (that were 'borrowed' from a competitor), then having a customer finding you had breached them inadvertently.

3. Images

Regardless of how large the image shows on the website, the actual size of the image needs to be appropriate for the web. Photos you take with your digital camera (or even sometimes your mobile phone), need to be resized before you use them on your site. If you don't have any image editing software, you can use an online tool like smalljpg.com.

Try to keep the file size if any images below 40k for large photos, and 15k for smaller images.
Feel free to ask us what image dimensions are appropriate for your specific site.

Just for the record, the DPI (dots per inch) setting of a JPG file is not important as the display size (on a computer screen) is dictated by the screen resolution, not the print resolution. If the pixel dimensions are the same, there's no difference between a 300dpi file and a 72dpi file on a website.

3. Formatting

The key to a professional website is consistency. Headlines, along with body copy and callout text should all be the same font, size, colour and postion on every page. Images should have the same padding, borders & text labels.

While we can enforce content to follow very strict guidelines (overwriting any that you add), we prefer to leave a level of flexibility within the CMS tool for you to use it how you need to.

Be careful when copy and pasting as it can bring more than just text across. Embedded code, styles and scripts can be an unwelcome hangers-on that mess up the formatting and layout of the other content on your page.

Understanding search engines

If you ask 100 businesses what they would like if they could have 3 things for their website, you're almost guaranteed to have 'higher listing in google and other search engines' as an answer for every one. And why wouldn't it be? Research¹ clearly shows that the higher your listing (on a relevant search), the more clicks you will get, which is no surprise to most internet users. (Who ever clicks past the second or third page of results?)

The natural result is that SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is a hot topic, and one that many companies sink thousands of dollars every day into ensuring their lofty placement. While that may be an option for a national or international chain with millions in marketing revenue, it's not usually an option for local one-off stores or family businesses.

Unfortunately, there is no magic solution (if there was then it would be widely known and shared, not to mention abused). If you go backwards to the source, however, it's a little easier to track back how the search engines determine listings, and give some helpful insight into the ways you can improve your own ranking.

What is the purpose of a search engine?

Basically, a search engine attempts to unite a searcher for an answer. The less accurate the results, the more frustrated a user gets, and ultimately they look for another provider, so its in the best interest for a search engine to determine an algorithm that takes many pieces of information to determine how 'relevant' a site is for a given search, and for a given searcher.

How does a search engine work out the 'right' answer?

This is the million dollar question. Most modern search engines work on a concept of relevancy. What web page is most relevant to the words or phrase used in the search, and which of those are most relevant to the person searching? There are a few ways to look at how that's determined.

1. You need to remember that a search engine works mathematically, not with reason, so the relevant results are going to be tied directly with specific words, and the words they are commonly associated with.

2. Think how a searcher thinks. This may seem obvious, but it can often help to use the exact tense, verbiage or even spelling in your optimisation based on who you want to target.
2a. A wedding cake maker may tend to use phrases like 'wedding cake varieties' where they may be better targeting a phrase like 'wedding cake ideas'.
2b. If you're targeting a global market, you may want to use American spelling on some key words so that you're not overlooked by that market.
2c. Use a tool such as Google Insights to see how many people are actually searching for the things YOU think are relevant.

3. What do other 'important' websites say about your website? It's important to know the major directory websites for your industry and make sure you get listed. The more detailed the listing, the better. Generally directories are very high on search engine results, so getting a link in them is essentially a recommendation for you. Better still, because the majority of the directory is very keyword specific, so every listing they add makes your listing more valuable.
Although it's less common these days, link swapping can be an effective way to get your site linked on a site with similar keywords to your own. Just make sure your link is filled with keywords that match both your site and the host site, and with your reciprocal link, make sure you're not going to be promoting a questionable business or one that could leech business off you. Also make it a point to periodically check to make sure they still have your link, and if you want to maintain the agreement.

4. What does YOUR website say? How do you say it? How much do you say it? The content within your domain says it all. Make sure search engine robots can actually read your content (they cant read images and have difficulty reading the content within flash). Make sure you use words that your customers use. Make sure you include specific model numbers for people looking for alternate sources to purchase a specific product. If your business specialises in one area, make sure you use many different words and phrases when talking about your product or service. Also consider anti-keywords using a phrase like 'alternate to productX' or even 'we don't offer the cheap productX because of poor quality'. You can already see how you might snag a few people looking for productX.


5. Personalised Results. This may surprise some people, but with the introduction of a google accounts, Google now builds a profile of every (logged in) user that completes a search. Now with the introduction of Google+, it now cross-references the sites you like, with the sites that your  'circles' (people you know or have some association with) like - it's like a friend has given their recommendation within your search results.


D.I.Y. SEO - 5 Easy things you can do to boost your listing

Here's a list of tips and tricks you can do (quite easily for the most part) to help yourself.

1. Make a list of 20 key words / phrases that you want to use that cover your entire site. Make a top 10 from that list and separate it from the ones that relate specific to a product or service that you will cover in more detail on your site, and the ones that are more general. The 10 words you use here should be used on every page of the site where possible.

2. Go through your site and list every page. Then write out a list of 10 key words that are specific or most relevant to that page, and try to incorporate those words or phrases at least twice on the page. If you can, try to get some of the most important ones into a headline.

3. Create a site map page. This is basically just a page of links to all of the pages in your site. It can also help if you add a short description of each page along with the link, again including some of the page-specific keywords from #2. Make sure there is a text-link to the site map page from somewhere on your page. Usually it's located in the footer with any copyright or legal notices.

4. Make sure your images all have ALT tags and you use them to describe the image. Search engines like it when you do that and you can also slide in a few extra keywords. Adding a tag for every image also shows Google that you built your site correctly.

5. Add content regularly. Google LOVES active websites. The more you can update your site with relevant content, the more frequently your site will be indexed. Google must figure that if you're putting in the effort to update it, that it must be more valuable than a site that sits stagnant. Plus, every now piece of content will either strengthen your existing keywords or add some supplemental ones.

Too much to take everything in?

Feel free to talk to us about ways we can help you to help yourself. At Digerati, we're not just here to sell you a new site every time you talk to us, we want you to get the most out of your investment. Talk to us today.

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Websites for your soul

The need for a business website in today's market is crucial, but most people don't know how easy it is to set up a website for your own interests. As personal blogs & hobby-sites are becoming more and more popular, people are searching for great ways to get their content online - that's where we can help.

Although Digerati have built a corporate-strength content management back end (myCMS), its simple interface and flexible editing options make it great for personal projects too. Don't get worried about spending 'corporate website' rates on your personal site - we can also scale projects back to fit most budgets.

Whether you're interested in a 1-page site to let the world know about your collection of model cars, or a full blown online ordering system for selling your unique baked goods, we can put together a great package that will take your hobby to the next level.

Here's a list of ideas for your hobby site;

• Keep a catalogue of your collection and wish list items (we can even restrict access if you want).
• Sell produce or food goods that you make on the weekend.
• Advertise times & schedules for your team games or meetings.
• Create an online site for more information for a wedding or special event.
• Create a website for more information on a property you're selling - and even have a mobile version that people can visit from their phone using a QR code posted at the property (or on print listings)
• Keep a journal of your holiday or research trip & use it to keep friends and family back home up to date with your progress.
• Post your family recipes up on a site and allow other people to submit theirs.
• Create a fan site for your favorite team, band or celebrity.
• Create a forum for people facing similar health concerns to collaborate and chat about treatments & experiences.
• Advertise your freelance photography or artistic services & show examples of your work.
• Take online RSVP's for your party.
• Create an online resume to impress a potential employer.
• Keep a private journal of your pregnancy, or treatment that only friends and family can access.

Here's some ideas for some short-term or small support sites for businesses; 

• Run a promotion for people to enter their details (and join your mailing list) for the chance to win a prize.
• Run your work football tipping competition with staff & clients on your own branded site.
• Hold annual awards for staff & clients and keep a public record of the achievements & milestones.
• Create an event-specific site for clients to get all their information in one place. It can be more helpful than finding it hidden within your company website. An example may be for an accountant to set up an 'end of financial year' site with checklists and forms that need to be completed.
• Create an external blog site which can be used to stuff keywords and links for SEO optimization.
• Create a 'secret site' that can only be accessed via a mobile device taking a photo of a QR code. The site may have a special offer or coupon that the user can show on their phone. 

No matter what your project or idea, come and chat with us and we can help bring it to life.

Let's make a website!

The start of an era. A salute to Steve Jobs.

A visionary like former Apple Inc. executive Steve Jobs only comes along once in a blue moon. A mind so fertile with ideas, that dozens of products he invented & developed changed the way we interact, work & live today. And although his legacy will live on, I'm sure he would expect that his brand wouldn't die once the pieces currently in development hit the market.

While the world remembers the legacy of a genius inventor, marketer and strategist, there's some aspects of Mr Jobs' life that are worth remembering. Ideals that he lived by, and certainly ones that we could do well to mimic in our own lives and businesses.

"The broader one's understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have."

"We're always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it's only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important."

"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected."

"I used to say that Apple should be the Sony of this business, but in reality, I think Apple should be the Apple of this business."

"innovation comes from people meeting up in the hallways or calling each other at 10:30 at night with a new idea, or because they realized something that shoots holes in how we've been thinking about a problem."

"Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's really how it works."

"My favorite things in life don't cost any money. It's really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time."

"Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations."

"Things don't have to change the world to be important."

From the quotes above, you can see that Steve was a man of confidence and vision. He didn't care what other people were doing or achieving - rather - creating the next thing that was going to make people's lives easier. Looking for a need, and solving it. He didn't sit around holding group meetings asking people what they thought of something - he created the solution for problems that most people didn't even know existed.

I titled this blog the start rather than the end of an era because Steve's passing hasn't ended a chapter, it's only just beginning. I think more of us need to take initiative and stop trying to just do things the way they've always been done. There's no ground to be broken in a well plowed field so challenge yourself to think outside the box. Who knows, you might just be the start of the next household name.

Meta what?

We all want to be found in a search engine when someone searches for something relevant to what we offer. The tricky part is how a search engine determines which site is the most relevant to each individual. In the mid 90's the answer was the use of META tags.

So, what is a META tag? A meta tag is a short piece of information within the code of a website that looked something like this.. < meta name="keywords" content="Digerati Solutions, custom website, web page design, Sutherland Shire, Northern Beaches, Web Agency, Web Site Design, myCMS" >

The idea is to provide a snapshot of key page information without a search engine having to actually read the page. As you can imagine, the honesty system only works for so long before people start to realise they can trick the search engines to thinking they're relevant to a specific search when they're not. 'Keyword stuffing' was a very successful practice for a time, but the constant abuse from primarily adult service websites led to an abrupt overhaul in the way search listings were determined.

It is unknown exactly how much weight current-day search engines give to meta tags, but it's small to the point of insignificance when compared to known and listed strategies such as page heading & content keyword density, external links inbound and newer metrics like +1's.

It has also been suggested, that if the listed meta information doesn't match the actual page content, your website may actually be penalised in the search results. This is of more significant concern with website content being frequently updated.

Although it was significant 10 years ago, Digerati no longer recommends the use of search-related meta tags, but we can certainly implement them upon request if its something you would like to self-manage for your own website.

Talk to us today about a custom strategy for maximising the search engine friendliness of your site, and other ways we can build up the external links to your website.

Good things come in small packages

The world of online services is supported by big companies, small offices and freelance operations all over the world. Some with outrageous claims of result guarantees and some with outrageous price tags. So how do you know what your best value for money is going to be?

Well when it comes to website or online application development, bigger isn't necessarily better, and a one-man-show is often unlikely to offer a tailored solution. There is a point at which a web development agency is too small to accommodate a wide variety of clients or solutions, and there's also a point at which your project is too insignificant or time consuming for a profit-driven large agency to focus on your individual needs and work out a custom solution that's not only cost efficient for you but also pushes the envelope beyond a run-of-the-mill product.

In online services, a large agency would probably be classified as one with over 30 staff, but some would argue that 20 employees is larger than 80% of the industry in the western world. Here's a list of areas where they fall short.

Problems with working with a large web development agency:

• You're paying for their million-dollar office building, latest fancy mac laptops, lavish Christmas party and the owners new yacht. Most employees are paid about the same across the industry, so all that higher premium you're paying is doing little more than lining some investors new pool.
• They're hamstrung by their bottom-line profit-driven pre-made model that most of the time you'll end up with something that fits into their existing framework.
• Usually, lots of people are working on the same project which causes problems with missed detail, non-linking of information. Each developer has their own way of building things, and the seams often show at the end.
• The impressive portfolio is loaded with work that was done by people that no longer work there. Often work is done in collaboration with another large agency so it's hard to know who did what.
• Your personal desires and attention to detail is often overlooked in light of a deadline and final invoice. Since you're just one of thousands of clients they need to do work for, the quicker you're out the door the quicker they can move onto the next project.

On the other hand, the freelance market is quite a mixed bag of goodies. Like Forrest Gump suggested, You never really know what you're going to get. Sometimes you happen to find a jaded genius who branched out on their own, bust mostly you're finding amateurs that over-promise and under-deliver.

Although the rates they offer are often a fraction of the cost of structured business (due to little or no overhead costs), you're also taking a lot more risk and there's very little you can do if things don;t go the way you thought they would.

Problems working with a freelance web designer/developer (or your next door neighbours kid)

• Since most of them working from home, it means you usually don't have an office you can drop in to if you need or want to.
• Legal liability is limited to their personal possessions, and very few freelancers have any kind of professional insurance.
• Most one-man shows rely on contracted partnerships with other freelancers or agencies meaning that you're not only relying on the freelancer working for you, but their relationship with their contractors.
• Regardless of what they tell you, very few (we're talking less than 1%) freelancers are good at design AND development. They usually have a strength in one and have passable skills in the other. This means you end up with a good front end or back end, but rarely both (unless the contract to someone who does the other half).

Efficiencies of a small agency

A small web development agency is really the prime place to be in this industry. You have the personnel to create new, dynamic, custom and exciting products for each client, and not rigid enough that you can't change your best practices as needed and improvements across the business happen very quickly.

Clients get to know the people working on their project, so there's a personal service, and chances are high that they will be doing everything they can to make you a satisfied customer (since there's not always another 10 jobs ready move on to like in a large business).

At Digerati, we hand-select staff that are not only experts at what they do, but also love what they do. We hire passionate people that are going to throw themselves 110% into each project, looking for ways to squeeze in a small detail that nobody may notice or take the extra 20 minutes to make something more seamless to the user.

Talk to us today about how we can build a website with you.