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Oct 17 2010 Mobile Devices Web Design BEFORE PC Web Design

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After reading an article I just read by Luke Wroblewski, entitled “Mobile First”,  I was reminded of a few years back, when I ran a printing company in Pensacola, FL.

I always asked my new clients how they found out about the company and I noticed that a notable amount of new clients were finding us through a google search on their iphones.  I once got a call from a client who asked for directions to the shop.  When I asked him how he found out about the company, he said that he had just got through doing a google search WHILE DRIVING!
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Oct 10 2010 CSS Grid 978px Improved

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The 978px grid with added push/pull classes as well as prefix/suffix classes.  After reading an article by webdesignerwall.com, I decided to give their “simpler 978px grid” system a try. I like how it is slightly larger than the 960 grid system, has no margins on the far left and right sides, and also has 30px gutters. I quickly realized, however, that the css had no push, pull, prefix, or suffix classes.  So I decided to add them myself.
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Nov 26 2009 Estimate Value Of Website

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So today I messed around with trying to find a site to evaluate the true value of a website. I found several different tools to help calculate this value. What I found is that these tools are nice in theory, but there are just too many factors that are not being taken into consideration on each tool that I tried. This makes for a very bad or inaccurate estimate on the value of the site.

Other than the tools, I found a couple of formulas that seem to beat out each tool that I tried. The basic info that I found to be the most helpful and correct in determining value was to take an average of the last three years profit and multiply that number by 3. So for example, let’s say your average profit for the past three years was $31,000 per year. Your business or website’s potential value is $93,000. A potential investor could make their money back in about 3 years, or most likely sooner if the business is improved and ‘tweaked’ to perfection.

Another few sources use the average profit multiplied by 2.5, or even up to ten times (10X) the gross profit! Check out this site for a few examples: Entrepreneurs-Journey. This site contains a very good article, as well as several good points about before, during, and after the sale of your website. It talks about additional things to consider such as web hosting, training the new owners, the financial transaction ( I recommend Escrow.com), and other information about the website sale.

Evaluating the value of a website that actually makes profit is similar to evaluating the price of a brick and mortar business. Cash flow and profit are the most important things. Nobody wants to buy a business in debt or without positive cash-flow. People want to buy a business that works. Of course, who would want to buy a job?

I found myself determining the value of one of my websites today for a potential buyer and in the process discovered a few things. One of those things is that I found that I am more emotionally attached to that website than I ever realized. While the money is enticing, it is hard to put a monetary value on the blood, sweat, and tears put into something. But sometimes you have to know when to let go and the time seems right for me on this particular site that I’m talking about. Sorry for being so cryptic here, I just want to keep the identity of the site I’m referring to hush-hush for now.

Those so-called website evaluation tools that I found are mainly based on Alexa rank and back-links, but take into consideration sales from products or ebooks, or anything like ad revenue from Google Adsense. This flaw provides for huge discrepancies in either under-valuing or over-valuing websites. But, they can be fun tools to mess with.

If you are trying to discover the true value of a website, you need to crunch the numbers yourself and you need to cold hard facts to do so. Even that formula is slightly flawed, especially when using the prior two years numbers when the economy has gone down so much. I expect the sales for next few years to climb back up and beyond they were back in 2006 & 2007. If you need help determining the value of a website, feel free to contact us.

Scott
Pensacola Website Design

Nov 14 2009 “How Much Does A Website Cost?”

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Well Ladies and Gentlemen,

You will be happy to know that this is my very first blog! YAY! (Insert sound of party noise makers here)  

What topic shall I choose?
My first instinct was to write at lengths about one of the many things you can do to frustrate your graphics designer, however, I will save a whining and moaning blog for another time!

“How Much Does A Website Cost?”

What a great start because this is the first question I get asked when I tell people that I design websites.

Let me tell you, they cost EXACTLY $738.97!  ha!  No, but seriously: asking how much a website costs is like asking how much a car costs.
By that I mean, you can buy a car for $200, or you can buy a car for $2,000,000!

I typically answer this question with SEVERAL questions, partly because I need to know, mainly because it annoys the heck out of people! muahaha

1) What is the purpose of your website?
Do you intend for people to call you or email you after browsing your site? Is it just to share information?  Without a purpose, your website will just end up floating around in some solitary corner of cyberspace, not fulfilling it’s destiny!

2) Are there other websites on the net somewhere related to what you have in mind?
There is nothing wrong with getting inspiration from others!  In the end, your site will have all of the elements you want, yet it will look completely different than anything else and be its OWN UNIQUE SITE! I like to hear things like: “I want the top of my site to be kind of like blabla.com, but I like how gluggalug.com put a flash banner on the right, oh and piccapicca.com has a good color scheme”.  This is a GREAT start for your web designer.  This will set them on the right track, right frame of mind, and “driving” in the right direction. 

3) How many pages?
This question is tricky for those who are not computer savvy.  Optimally, you will have a nice neat flow chart or something very organized showing which links you want on what pages. I have yet to see this! (Even in creating our own website!) The best advice I can give here is refer to #1; find a site that has similar navigation to what you have in mind. 

4) What features are you looking for?
Shopping Cart? More money.  Interactive features? More money.  Crazy custom flash animations? You guessed it! More money!

5) How much are you willing to spend?
Using this figure, we can either try to squeeze in as much of your website’s features into the budget as possible or recommend possible additions that may help.

In short, make sure you have your stuff together before you ask this question!

Fritz
Pensacola Website Design

Nov 11 2009 Website Devlopment

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Website development is the process of planning and designing a website from start to finish. A lot of careful planning and preparation go into creating a great website. Just throwing up a simple landing page just will not cut it in today’s Google Slap Happy World.

You need to develop a good website if you want customers to find you and come back to you. You want to educate and inform people about your products and services, as well as entertain them as much as possible. Too many business owners miss the importance of a good website and what it can do for their bottom line.

In reality a website is never really “done”. It is a constant game of improvement and updating to meet the changing needs of the site’s users. In this fast paced world we live in, it is easy to fall behind the times if you let anything just sit and become stagnant.

We are in a never-ending quest to improve and sharpen our website so that people will know that we mean business and understand what we are talking about. If you want to dominate any market, be it global or local on the Internet, you need to understand a few important rules to succeed with your website and business. The main rule is “never stop learning and doing”. This applies to almost any business model Online or Offline.

If you are looking for personal attention and a website development plan that meets your specific needs then you have come to the right place. We are here to take you by the hand and walk you through this complicated maze that we call the Internet. With a little bit of help from the right people you can succeed online with your website and business. Give us a call or fill out our “Online Business Request E-Quote” form today.

Scott
Pensacola Website Design