Maybe you’ve been through it yourself, and maybe, like many other business owners, you’ve experienced your share of headaches. Shoddy work, unprofessional designers, missed deadlines…the list goes on. Or maybe you’re getting ready to hire a web designer and are terrified by the horror stories you’ve heard from friends and associates.

The good news is that by following a few simple steps, you can avoid the problems that so many people run into, and enjoy a smooth, painless web design process with the designer of your dreams.

Step 1: Know your goals

If you don’t know what you want to get out of your website design project, how do you expect any web designer to meet your expectations? Start of by figuring out exactly what you want your new website accomplish for your company. Are you looking for a more professional looking brand? A more user-friendly shopping cart? Better conversion rates? The more time you spend mapping out your goals, the better you’ll be able to communicate them to your designer and the better they’ll be able to create a website that helps you accomplish them.

Step 2: Have a realistic budget

The fact that your nephew may be willing to design your website for $200 doesn’t mean that any professional should be expected to do the same. A true professional usually has years of schooling under their belt, along with real-world experience that enables them to deliver results that an amateur simple can’t deliver. You might find yourself wondering what a realistic budget would be. Unfortunately, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer, but a good starting point is a few thousand dollars for a completely custom website design. I can tell you that at the time of writing this, our website design services start off at $3,500, and go up from there depending on what’s needed in our client’s website. I’ve also seen websites priced as high as $70,000 when working with Fortune 500 companies, so it’s a pretty wide price range.

Remember, you’re not just paying for someone to physically design, code and test your website — you’re also paying for their knowledge of what will and won’t work in achieving your online goals. And that knowledge is priceless.

Step 3: Have a realistic deadline

Designing a website takes time.

There is the initial consultation, where your designer will take time to learn about your company, goals, challenges, competitors, etc., followed by a significant amount of time invested in planning how to make the most of your situation and help you achieve your online goals. This research and planning, which you’ll probably never even see, can often take a full day or more – and that’s before a single pixel is placed on the screen.

Next is the initial design, which is usually presented to you as a .jpg image to illustrate how your new website will look. This is where you begin to request any changes, and after the appearance has been finalized, your designer will begin coding your website. Depending on the complexity, the coding could take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks or sometimes longer.

Once the coding is complete, your designer still has to test it in multiple web browsers to make sure it displays and functions properly in most environments.

That being said, a basic website can usually be completed in about 30 days, but the more complex it is, or the more pages it has, the longer it will take.

You have to account for time to do the actual work, in addition to communication back and forth, fitting into the work schedule, technical delays, etc.

Step 4: Choose a designer that can align with your core principles

If you need a website for your brand new oil company, it’s probably best to steer clear of the web designer who swears that oil is pure evil, not because there’s anything wrong with that designer, but simply because you aren’t going to see eye-to-eye on most things so you won’t be able to work well together. When your designer shares your belief structure, you’ll just work better together and the web design process will be much smoother and easier on both parties.

Step 5: Review their porfolio

A web designer’s portfolio says more about their work that anything they could ever tell you. Spend time carefully reviewing the websites they’ve designed for past clients and see if their style of work fits your company.

Step 6: Talk to their previous clients

Any decent web designer should be willing to provide you with a list of previous clients who you can ask about the work they received from the designer. Don’t be alarmed if they haven’t worked with the designer in quite some time though, because many companies simply update their website and then don’t make any further changes for years.

But don’t just ask if they were happy with the final results. instead, dig deeper and find out what they thought about the process, whether deadlines were met, was communication effective and timely, or if there were there any surprise charges or costs. You want to get a picture of the entire process from start to finish.

Microsoft did, so they ran a massive split-test to find out which link color produced the highest conversion rate.

They learned that one specific color of blue (#0044CC) outperformed all others, leading to an increase in user engagement that produced an additional $80 million in annual revenue!

When Microsoft was designing what would eventually become Bing, it tested a vast number of colors and it turned out that the one that users engaged with the most was indeed blue. More specifically, it was a shade of blue quite similar to the one used by Google.

Paul Ray, a user experience manager for Bing said on Tuesday that choosing that specific blue (#0044CC for you color enthusiasts) over some other hues amounted to an additional $80 million in annual revenue, when one factors in the additional clicks on advertisements and increased user engagement.

Microsoft’s testing showed that color and contrast were more even important than the typeface.

That’s great for text links, but what about buttons?

Orange carries the same emotional impact and energy as red, but without the negative associations (stop, danger, debt, error, etc.) that red triggers in most people.

It’s no surprise that we use orange in our buttons, and we’re in good company – your can find orange call-to-action buttons in use on Amazon, Bing, Twitter and Walmart and eBay to name just a few.

Now, without spending any of your own time or money, you can benefit from the valuable testing some of the biggest online power-houses have already done.

What other tiny changes to your website can make a huge difference in your website’s conversion rate, traffic and revenue?

Click here to find out!

Before long, visitors became annoyed at suffering through pointless intros and self-centered “about us” video introductions, and jumped from one crappy website to the next in hopes of finding one that provided some shred of value.

Thankfully, things have improved for the most part. More people understand the importance of a professionally designed website because it helps to increase the time a visitor stays on your site, and usually improves conversions, meaning you make more money. Over the last several years things have been slowly improving, and among professionals, website design has become more of a science with plenty of data to back up our decisions.

But most people’s primary focus is usually on traffic, and in most cases, that means PPC or organic SEO traffic. Their thought process is often “If I can just get enough visitors to my website, it will make up for any shortcomings my website has.”

That was something that you could get away with in the past, though not very profitably. Things are different now because instead of deciding whether they’ll click through to your site based only on the title and a snippet of info right below, search engine users can actually see a preview of your web page without leaving the search results.

It’s too early to say with any certainty, but I believe this will dramatically change the current ranking/traffic breakdown. In the past, most traffic would have gone to one of the first few results (with positions 1-3 receiving the lions share of traffic) but now that visitors can quickly and easily see each page without ever leaving the search results, I believe they will be more inclined to see what everyone else has to offer. If you have a boring, dated website, expect to be skipped over.

Keep an eye on your search traffic. If you begin to see a sudden and steady drop, your website my need to be redesigned to capture the visitors you’re losing out out on.

While the WordPress support forums boast an active and thriving community, sometimes you just can’t find the answer you need when you need it, which costs you time, money and most of all, sanity. Fortunately, Chris Coyier and Jeff Starr have solved that problem by releasing an updated and expanded version 3.0 of their book, of Digging into WordPress.

There is a lot to learn about the World’s most popular web publishing platform. Starting with your first steps of learning the basics of WordPress all the way through maintaining and modifying your site throughout the years, this book is packed with truly practical information. Coming in at nearly 450 pages and loaded with answers and solutions to any question or scenario you could ever imagine, Digging into WordPress is the proverbial WordPress bible.

If you share my borderline compulsion for buying books every time the wind blows, you’ll love the print version with glossy full-color pages and easy to navigate, color-coded chapters. The text is large, clear and easy to read, which is a godsend for anyone who stares at a computer screen all day, and rather than the traditional binding Digging into WordPress is spiral bound so that it can sit (and stay) flat on your desk while you work.

All printed copies of the book also include a PDF version (or you can buy the PDF version alone) which is great for three reasons:

1. Hyperlinked. All the URL’s in the book can be clicked on, taking you to the web page referenced. There is also internal linking – you can click links in the table of contents to jump to those sections.
2. Copy & Paste code. It’s much easier to copy & paste code than retyping it from scratch. Of course the page numbers in the book and PDF match, so if you are reading the book you can jump over to the PDF and go to that page to copy and paste. You’ll always know exactly where that code is.
3. Search. The book has an appendix, but that’s never quite as easy as just using your PDF readers search feature to find exactly what you’re looking for.

The best part?

When you buy this book, you will instantly get the most current version. But also, you are getting a lifetime subscription to all updated (PDF) copies of the book, which are automatically emailed to you as they are released. If you’ve ever bought a book about a software application, you know how important this is; a single update can make a traditional book useless, but since Digging into WordPress is constantly updated and you’ll receive the updates for life, you’ll never have to worry about that.

If you want my advice, pick up a copy of Digging into WordPress today. The only real decision you have to make is whether to order the print or electronic version.

They may look nice, have cool web 2.0 features and even tons of traffic, but a business website really has only one purpose; to make money. Each one may take a different approach, for example, you could sell products directly, promote affiliate offers or even generate leads, but at the end of the day, the goal is to convert your visitors into paying customers.

Most websites fail to do that.

There are lots of reasons, but here are the three most common, and what you can do to change them.

1. Your copy sucks. You may be one of the top experts in your industry, but that doesn’t mean you can write compelling copy that makes people understand what you do or makes them want to buy right now. That job is best left to a copywriter…a real one, not someone you found up on Craig’s List. My recommendation is Phenomenal Content LLC, which offers, as you might guess, phenomenal copywriting and editing services at a great value.
2. There is no call to action. When a visitors arrives on your website, you want them to do something specific. Maybe it’s to buy a product, maybe it’s to sign up for your newsletter or maybe it’s to call you. Tell them. Don’t expect them to be mind readers, and don’t be afraid that you might come off as pushy. Your job is to help people, and you can’t do that if they aren’t your customer.
3. You don’t make it easy. Sure, you know your way around your own website, but do your visitors have to dig for contact information? Do they find your website difficult to navigate or is your checkout process a nightmare? You can get a pretty good idea of what challenges people have on your site by the questions they ask.

That’s the tip of the iceberg. Improving your website is an ongoing process that is never finished—there is always something that can be better. If you want a solid step by step checklist to get more traffic, conversions and revenue from your website, I recommend getting a copy of our 21 page website checklist!

Price is what you pay, value is what you get.

You could save tons of money by going with a dirt-cheap web designer, but if your website does a poor job of converting your visitors into customers, what did you really save? On the other hand, if you blow your entire marketing budget on the perfect website and then can’t afford to market it, did you really make a wise investment?

You need a website that presents a professional image and gives your visitors that warm fuzzy feeling deep in their gut that lets them know they can trust you. But more importantly, you need a website that converts your visitors into customers. It’s all about results.

To determine whether the price/value ratio is on the mark, you’ll have to know what your website needs to be capable of. Functionality impacts price. For example, our website design prices currently start at $1,225. That’s for a completely custom designed, multi-page website website, coded with valid HTML and CSS that works properly in all major browsers. Specialized functionality, like a content management system, which gives you the ability to easily  change your own website content, moves your investment up into the $2,200 range. The more bells and whistles you add, the more your website will cost.

Some people may be thinking that’s a lot of money, which is both right and wrong at the same time. If you just want to set up a blog as a hobby, a couple thousand dollars is probably a lot of money to spend, but if you want to set up a custom website for your company, investing a couple thousand dollars is virtually nothing. Think about it like this. You’re selling a product or service, and if you’re website allows you to increase your sales by even just 5%, how quickly will your investment pay for itself? More importantly, what will it mean to your bottom line after that?

What is the scope of your project

In addition to the functionality of your website, the scope of your project can have a significant impact on the price. More work obviously means more fees, so you’ll need to factor in certain details ahead of time, such as:

• How many pages will be included?
• Will you be providing content or will they write it for you?
• Who will input your content (copy and/or products)
• Is web hosting included?
• Is a domain name included?
• Will you be providing images/photos?

When do you need it?

You might be surprised at how many people wait until the last minute to start their web design project. If you want to save some money, don’t be that guy! When a firm has to rearrange their existing projects, work extended hours, through weekends or holidays to meet your deadline, there will be additional fees.

Experience counts

OJ Simpson can tell you how important it is to hire the right lawyer, and the same principal applies to web designers. An experienced web design firm will almost always charge more, but will produce much better results. We’re not just talking about appearance though. In this case, we’re talking about your bottom line. An experienced firm knows what it takes to get your new website up and running quickly, how to drive traffic to it and how to convert your visitors into customers.

Experienced web design firms will often utilize standardized processes, like our web design process, and checklists, like our web design checklist to make sure each client receives consistent quality, their specific needs are met and that no details are missed. If you’re considering several firms, look at the systems they’ve put in place, some of the websites they’ve designed, read their testimonials and even contact some of their clients. If they seem to have solid systems, you like the style of their work, and their clients are successful and happy with their service, it may be worth the additional cost to hire a more experienced firm.

The bottom line?

Price should never be your sole determining factor, in fact, it should be the last and least significant factor in your decision. You should choose a web design firm with sufficient experience to execute your project, but you also need to make sure you can afford to market your new website once it’s up and running. The “build it and they will come” days are far behind us.

Finding broken links within your website is simple and painless; you can either use W3C’s online link checker tool, or a more robust tool, like Xenu’s Link Sleuth, which is free and runs from your desktop. Finding broken links from other websites is equally simple, but takes a bit more work to fix them. First, you’ll have to dig through your server logs to find any 404 errors, then see which sites are linking to those non-existent pages and contact the site owners to have them corrected. If you can’t get in touch with the site owner, or he isn’t willing to correct the link, you’ll need to set up a 301 redirect to automatically send visitors and search engines to the correct page.

This is so important because if a visitors arrives at a non-existent page, they will usually just leave and visit one of your competitors instead. If a search engine finds several non-existent pages on your website, they may lower your ranking, which means less traffic.

1. What are your goals? Before you change a single line of code, before you even start thinking about what your new website will look like, you need to know exactly what you want it to accomplish. Do you want your new website to present a particular image? Do you want it to generate more leads/sales or do a better job of converting the traffic you’re already getting? Figure this out and you’ll get a lot more from your new website, plus, the entire process will move more smoothly and quickly.
2. What is and isn’t working? You need to know how your current website impacts your goals. This means spending some time analyzing your website traffic, leads and sales. You’ll probably notice that a small handful of sources drive most of your traffic, leads and sales, but a little more digging will often turn up some low-hanging fruit that you’re missing out on. Maybe you’ll realize that 70% of your revenue comes from one or two products, which would be an indication that you should focus on developing more similar products. Or perhaps you have a #1 ranking for a particular keyword but don’t rank at all for a few other variations that may drive reasonable traffic with lower competition. The more you dig, the more opportunities you’ll find.
3. What are you up against? Potential customers will be looking at your competitors, so you need to as well. The idea isn’t to copy, or even emulate them. The idea is to make sure that your website covers the same bases they do while filling in the gaps they’ve missed. For example, if all of your competitors offer online ordering, you damn sure better offer it too, but also offer what they don’t. Perhaps you sell a complex product that people often call you about before ordering online. You could launch a blog or forum that lets your visitors learn more about it. This helps present you as an industry leader and will often help to shorten your sales process too.
4. Where are you now? Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither was Apple, Starbucks or any other large, successful company. Take a cold and emotionless look at where you stand today; traffic, exposure, brand recognition, budget, etc. If you’re running a small mom-and-pop store with little website traffic, spending thousands of dollars to add the newest web 2.0 social-media this and that to your website is a really bad idea. You need to invest for the future, but rather than adding features, focus on driving traffic and building a brand. Before you add any special functionality, you should determine how it’s going to help you reach your goals.

CSS, otherwise known as Cascading Style Sheets, is simply a way to tell a web browser how to display the elements on an HTML page. It offers more precise control and is supported by all browsers today.

Ideally, your CSS should be contained in a separate file, which is then linked to within the and head tags of each web page, as such:

<link rel='stylesheet' href='/style.css' type='text/css' media='all' />

The first, and most significant advantage in using CSS this way is that it puts all of your formatting into a single file. This means that rather than editing each individual page, you only have to change one file, which can save you a lot of time and effort when you make changes. For example, instead of using cumbersome tables to control your layout, you can use CSS to position and style elements, and the best part is that if you’ve set it up properly from the beginning, you can change your entire design by just modifying your CSS file. A great example of this is CSS Zen Garden. In each example, the HTML remains the same, the only thing that has changed is the external CSS file; it allows complete control over the appearance of an HTML document. The learning curve can be steep, but once you have a solid understanding, you can create more compelling designs in far less time than ever before.

CSS can help improve your search engine optimization (though just slightly) by reducing the ratio of code to text, which makes your content more relevant in the eyes of the search engines, resulting in more traffic. Less code also means a faster load loading page; another factor in how a web page ranks, but also a factor in your page view numbers because people will usually spend more time on a faster website.

By now, it’s probably obvious that you need a solid understanding of CSS. To get started, you can find tutorials on every aspect of CSS at W3Schools.com and for more advanced learning and interaction with experts on the subject, you’ll want to bookmark CSS Tricks, by Chris Coyier. That information along with a few books and healthy dose of trial and error will take you a long way to becoming a CSS pro!

For most people, the first reaction is to fire off a scathing email, loaded with all sorts of threats and insults. If that’s what you’re considering, wait until you cool off first. Chances are that they may not have known they were doing anything wrong, or an employee or freelancer did it without their knowledge. By putting them on the defensive, you’ll make it more difficult to come to a quick and satisfactory resolution. A better approach is to contact them in a friendly tone, letting them know that their website contains content that was taken from your website without permission and that you would like them to remove it. In most cases, they will quickly remove the content in question.

But what if they don’t? Fortunately, you still have several options before you have to file suit in court. The first and most effective is simply filing a DMCA complaint with their web host and the major search engines. It’s important to ensure your complaint is structured according to their requirements and contains just the facts. Leave emotions out. Upon receiving your complaint, the web host will usually suspend the website while they investigate the matter. They will then require that the site owner removes all illegally copied content before their website will become active again.

If a DMCA complaint does not resolve the issue, you may file a law suit in court, but this can quickly become expensive and time consuming, so you’ll need to carefully weigh your options to decide if it’s really worthwhile.