Yuck.

I wouldn’t like that for very long, would you? Think of all the beauty we would miss if we didn’t have color.

Color has so much power.

Think about how you feel when you see that first burst of color in your flower bed in the spring. Or [ladies] how you feel in a pair of red shoes. Or the difference it makes when you write with a purple pen.

This post isn’t about color psychology or color theory – color is a huge industry in and of itself – but I want to bring out the importance of using colors in your web design that are relevant to your readers. They may not be the colors you would choose, but they might be more appealing to your prospect because he sees them in use everywhere.

Ideas to research color.

I like to look at colors in the latest product packaging, clothing & fashion, or room décor. You can sleuth these trends by just paying attention on your next visit to your local box store [love Target], or upscale department stores. Look for how color is being used in clothing, product packaging and merchandising , especially for people in your target market.

Another way is to pay attention to online design galleries. Dieline for instance is a very cool gallery of package design. You can browse Smashing Magazine for other great examples.

I enjoy color palette galleries and tools, check out the TRENDS feature at Colourlovers.com. There you will see web design color trends, as well as other interesting color applications.

Nature is one of the best sources of color inspiration. Visit Flickr and search using color terms for example orange+ yellow, and hold onto your hat. You will find some inspiration for sure.

There are tons of tools to create a color palette for your project, some of my favorites are:

• http://www.colourlovers.com/
• http://colorschemedesigner.com/
• http://kuler.adobe.com

What are your thoughts about color?

[B/W Image: Flickr]

by Beth Cole

How did you choose your last web designer? Was it because of a referral, possibly?

I think referrals are an awesome way to find a great web design partner, but in addition to checking out design portfolios you might also consider interviewing your next web designer with questions like these.

1. What projects do you love working on? [Learn if your project is a good fit.]
2. Who’s responsible for setting timelines and keeping the ball rolling? [Can this person meet a deadline.]
3. Tell me about your repeat clients? [Satisfied clients are a great indicator of good quality.]
4. What project has been your absolute favorite and why? [Gives insight into whether your project is a good fit.]
5. What makes you different than other web designers? [Differentiation is tricky so the answer will give you good insight into what makes this company tick.]
6. Do you recommend and use a content management system (CMS)? [Projects vary but I would say a CMS is quite important to keep your site fresh.]
7. What kind of training do you provide? [If you want to learn how to manage your site and you can find a teaching attitude, you will be in great shape.]
8. Are there any ongoing fees for your services? [In addition to hosting, there may be other fees, you don’t know unless you ask.]
9. How long will it take to finish the project? [Timelines can be thrown off by indecisiveness, too many opinions, or too many projects, but you need to start off with some time expectation in sight.]
10. Why should I hire you? [Will tell you if this company knows its strengths.]

To find web design companies to interview you might try 37Signals new gallery, Sortfolio, or a matching service like Elance.

What have I overlooked? Look forward to your comments.

By Beth Cole

Here’s a handy big picture website launch checklist to sum up the Website Launch Series that finished last week.

Check out the other post articles here….

1. Laying the Foundation;
2. Content;
3. Design;
4. Promotion.

Here’s the checklist:

Website Planning

1. Define website purpose
2. Define readers (users) in terms of a persona or personas
3. Clarity on primary action(s)
4. Domain name
5. Hosting

Website Function

1. Define technical requirements of the site, for example
   • Blog
   • Ecommerce
   • Forms
   • Polls
   • Member registrations
   • Private areas
   • Photo galleries
   • Event management

Website Content

1. Decide who will be the website manager
2. Create the sitemap
3. Research and choose keyword phrases
4. Create content for each page
5. Incorporate keyword phrases in page titles, page descriptions, page headings, and links
6. If blogging is part of your plan, create an editorial calendar or schedule for posting
7. Create or source video/photo/audio content
8. Choose optin list management tool

Website Design

1. Research industry trends
2. Create wireframe layout of content buckets
3. Choose color palette
4. Create home and subpage layout
5. Approval and signoff
6. Convert design to xhtml/css and/or cms framework
7. Test on development platform

Website Development

1. Add content and functionality to the site
2. Incorporate social marketing tools
3. Cross-browser testing
4. Train user on CMS tool, social marketing, email newsletter if applicable
5. Launch and support!

Have I overlooked anything important? Please do tell.

**Please note** This is not a paid endorsement of my company, this is Mary’s opinion, but I want to say thank you in advance for the positive feedback she shares in the interview.

Take it away, Mary!

Q1. What aspect of your website launch took the most time for you?

Gathering the content—which required attention to branding image, tone, flow, relevancy, phraseology, and proper grammar usage. We had three writers and creating “one voice” was vital.

Q2.  What surprised you the most about the process?

The amount of detail that comprises a site and the needed concentrated focus it demands. One main surprise element that we discovered was the smooth process that is possible with a knowledgeable, organized, and efficient website designer who leads the process from beginning to end. Beth Cole guided us every step of the way and we knew step by step what we needed to complete. She was observant if she felt an important element was missing and knew how to create and develop what we needed. She knew what questions to ask us and was collaborative throughout the process.

Q3.  If you had it to do over again, would you change anything?

My experience was superb and I wouldn’t change anything except allot more time in my schedule to tend to the website process.

Q4. What is your top piece of advice for someone who is considering a new website or website makeover?

Ensure that your website designer is knowledgeable, organized, and an efficient manager who can lead the process from beginning to end, pays attention to detail and someone you can count on and enjoy working with on the project.

Thanks to my team (including the best Joomla wrangler ever, @vivclark) and the entire team at CCE!

The WebServant team met our website needs with competency, attention to detail, promptness, along with stellar customer service. The website process from beginning to launch was seamless. Their follow-up process is commendable—providing service as CCE grows and evolves. Thank you, Beth, and the WebServant team.
–Mary Verstraete, Center for Coaching Excellence, CEO & Co-Founder

Thank you CCE for choosing the WebServant for your website project!

I created my first website in 1997 using Dreamweaver, oh my, it was a piece of work for sure.

A few years later, I discovered CSS Zen Garden by Dave Shea and Molly Holzschag and everything changed.  I immersed myself in the world of  CSS and began handcoding everything and trying to learn as much as possible about web standards.

It wasn’t long before I began reading about a little content management tool called Wordpress that would allow anyone to make changes to their website. I could see this was an important idea, so Wordpress became my new game and that brings us to now.

I have tinkered with dozens of other open source and commercial content management tools, but I still like Wordpress for the majority of our clients. We are grateful to all the smart people who develop and contribute to make Wordpress the awesome tool it is.

As far as the future,  I see a couple of trends that might make an impact on service websites.

The first is the idea of a lifestream website that incorporates your “stuff” such as Twitter conversations, music, photo galleries, etc., kinda like a social media business card. Josh Highland has incorporated this concept into his site, and there are many others.

The only thing I dislike about this style of website is the visual overwhelm, egad, we need a little whitespace in my humble opinion.

The other trend I wonder about it horizontal presentation with right and left directional arrows, kinda like flipping through your iphone apps. Aaron Asay has a nice example of this style, here is an example of  a photography site, and a gallery of many more.

What has your web experience been?  What website features do you predict?

[Photo Murat Erturk Flickr]

Your website is kinda like a dog. You tell it to “Sit. Stay.” and it pretty much does.

Your dog needs spiffing up every now and then, and so does your website, so here are some quick tips to clean it up for the New Year.

1. Check your links. As you add content and pages throughout the year it’s easy to make little typos that cause the dreaded “page not found.” Visit the W3C Link Validator service to have a look see.
2. Do a browser check. Visit the Google Labs Browsersize tool to see how much of your website shows in various size browsers. You can also see how your site renders in various browser by using a tool like Browser Shots.
3. Mobilize your site. There are over 56 million people with handhelds. Look into a mobile version of your website by adding a mobile plugin such as Alex King’s Wordpress Mobile, or using a paid service like MoFuse or Mobify. [*this is on my to-do list]
4. Do the grandma test. Read every page of your site from top to bottom. Check for complete sentences, typos, etc. As you are reading, try to picture your grandmother (better, your ideal client). If your grandmother can understand it (and your prospect “gets” it),  you’re ahead of 95% of all websites.
5. Voice check. Does your website sound like you? And is it written in the same voice from page to page (i.e. first person, second person). And is it customer focused or all about you? Check out the “We-We Calculator” here.
6. Benchmark it. Check the top 3 keyword phrases in Google Analytics for which your site is being found. Are these the top three for which you intended to be ranked? If so, type each phrase into the Google search box and make a note of your site position for that phrase. This becomes your benchmark for making improvements throughout the year. If the top three phrases are not what you want, hmmmm, well that’s a post for another day.
7. Choose a core action. Every page of your website should reflect your core message which should lead to the action you want your reader to take. That might be joining your email ist, subscribing to your RSS feed, requesting a strategy session, or something else. Remember people are not always going to enter your stie from the home page. Is your core action easy and aparent on every page of your site?

That’s all I can think of for now but I am sure I have overlooked some important things. What are they? I look forward to your comments.

I see a lot of template and D.I.Y. websites that look ugly and outdated, yet are being used as a calling card for professional people.

I understand that cost is often a consideration and custom design is not for everyone. But I want to encourage those of you who are offering professional services to match your website appearance to the caliber of service you provide.

My mom always told me you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, and that is true, but the problem is, we ALL make snap judgments about quality based on appearance because we live in such a visual society. You are being Googled, whether you realize it or not, and judgments are being made about you by your website.

So if you are using a website template or D.I.Y. tool, here are some tips on how to easily make your website a little more beautiful. I am sure I have overlooked plenty, please add your thoughts in the comments.

• Watch out for cut and paste. I see a lot of  pasted Word document content. The problem is, Word has built in formatting that will override the CSS style settings of your website, so the content you paste directly from Word will not look like it belongs. If you are using Wordpress, try using the Word or Text clipboard paste tool when pasting text, or the text cleaner (eraser tool) to remove formatting from the imported text.

• Padding around images. When text buts up against your images with no breathing room it just looks bad. In Wordpress, when you edit the image, click on the “Advanced” tab and next to Image Properties add “10px” vertical and horizontal spacing. Ahhhh, that’s better.
• Use a transparent background for images. If you want to use your logo or another image in the header of your site, ask your designer for a version with a transparent background vs. white. Your image will blend in to the header better without that white blocky background.

• Consistent image size. Mismatched image sizes from page to page make your site look jumbled. Try to stick with a certain size standard, i.e. 250px square or 250px x 180px.

• Limit font colors. Just because your website editor gives you 20 different font color choices, that doesn’t mean you need to use them all. Stick with one main color for text with a complementary color for headings and links. If you are using a Wordpress theme, this will already be set for you through the style sheet, but again, pasting from Word will override this so just be aware.

• Keep fonts and styles consistent. Your website will look more unified if you limit your font choice to one or two and keep all headings as H1 for example, with H2 for subheadings. Also, watch capitalization, i.e. are the words in the headline all capitalized or just the first word? Either way is okay, just keep it consistent.

• Uniform ad size. I see a lot of pasted ad graphics in sidebars that are a jumble of shapes, sizes and colors. This is really distracting for the reader. If you are going to use advertising, try to keep the ad size and shape uniform. You might not be able to control the color, but the size should be tweak-able.

The website content you offer and the conversions that happen as a result is going to be a better measure of success than the beauty factor. But, if you can make your site easy on the eyes, easy to navigate, and easy to take action — you’ve done it all. I’m with you all the way

What suggestions do you have?

I wanted to share with you the results of a recent web makeover project we did for Loup Basin Public Health Department (LBPHD). The goals were to improve navigation and usability for readers, and to give LBPHD an easy way to manage and update their content.

Loup Basin says…..

“The site now reflects the culture and image that is professional and user friendly. Also, the addition of the social marketing tools has allowed us to appeal to a new generation of followers who want to access information through Facebook and Twitter. Thank you, Beth, for helping us to develop a site that has the flexibility and complexity to meet our needs.”

Comment from a user….

“I am in a new position for disaster planning and recovery and want to commend your office on a great website, the layout and ease of use are something I have not found on many others in this region. And the addition of twitter and facebook. I’m going to add now”

Here’s the video — thanks, Loup Basin! [Drop by and say "hi"]