Am I finished? Should I hit publish? These questions plague our customers and website owners everywhere before turning on their website for the first time. While making changes on your site is quick and easy, having a checklist of essential components is a great idea to make sure you’ve covered your bases. I encourage you to watch my recent webinar about the 10 Things Every Great Website Needs. Below are some highlights.

1. Contact Information and Contact Page: Don’t make your customers hunt for contact information on your website. Make it the first thing they see! Add your phone number and contact info to your footer for easy access. Plus, make sure your Contact Page has all your pertinent info!

2. Logo: Make you branding apparent with a logo! This will provide your customer with your name and branding immediately! This visual representation of your brand is essential.

3. Easy Navigation: Make sure your menu/navigation items are in a font and color that is easy to read and access. One great tip for this is to keep your top level navigation items to seven or less.

4. Branding Color: Does your logo have an obvious look or color scheme? Incorporate that throughout your website! The colors of your logo and website are just as much a part of your brand as the name itself.

5. Streamlined Portfolio: Display your BEST work! No Filler. No Fuss. We recommend 8-12 images on the home page and 10-15 images per gallery.

6. Comprehensive Bio Page: Take the opportunity to talk yourself up! You are your brand! Talk about your education, inspiration, and philosophy, and what makes you unique or sets you apart from your competition. Also be sure to keep it short and sweet, you can lose your customers by making them scroll!

7. Social Media and Blog Links: Facebook, Twitter, and your Blog can be fantastic tools to help boost your web presence. Don’t forget to link these to make it easy for your customers to interact with you.

8. Basic SEO: Have you put in a website title, web description, and some basic keywords under the Search Engine icon? They can all help improve your search engine ranking!

9. HTML Mirror: Make your site accessible anytime, anywhere! If you have a Flash Portfolio Site, an HTML Mirror will help your site be seen on mobile devices everywhere.

10. Customizations: Your PhotoBiz site comes with great customizations like backgrounds, color shifting, and captions. Utilize these to make your site really stand out, and reflect your brand!

Follow these ten steps and be confident when you hit that Publish Button!

“I’m not a photographer, but I would still like my images to look professional on my website. What can I do?” This is a common question that is asked of our Passionate Support team. And the images on your website are an important part of the presentation of your company.

Luckily, there are some great and free online tools that you can use to create beautiful and unique images!

GIMP
www.gimp.org                                                                                                
GIMP is a free downloadable software that uses controls similar to that of Adobe PhotoShop, including photo retouching and image format conversions. If you love PhotoShop controls and abilities then GIMP is a great alternative for you!

Sumo Paint
www.sumopaint.com
Sumo Paint is an online image editing tool that allows you to use painting and drawing elements, similar to those in PhotoShop. Once you manipulate your images, you can save them on your computer, and then upload them to your website.

ipiccy
www.ipiccy.com
ipiccy is a great online solution for people with no photo editing experience! This site allows easy uploads of your images with lots of really neat one-click filters and color effects. It also has a nice font bank and the ability to make transparent .png files.

Picmonkey
picmonkey.com
Picmonkey has lots of great filters and frames for you to use on your images as well as an ever expanding font bank! This can be a fantastic tool for creating some unique and special images for your site.

Take advantage of free online image editing tools to enhance your website, and let your creativity soar!

“I’m on my iPad and I can’t see your website!” These words can cost you more than just frustration – they can cost you money. Wouldn’t it be great if you could make your site accessible no matter what device someone is viewing it from? You can with PhotoBiz’s HTML and mobile mirror sites!

Having an HTML or mobile mirror site gives your customers the best of both worlds: the beauty of Flash on their computer, and the accessibility to view and navigate from mobile non-Flash compatible devices (e.g., iPad, iPhone, Android). No matter what device they access your site from your customer can explore your work, learn information about your company, and contact you with ease. In fact, our system does all the work, automatically recognizing what device someone is viewing your site from to determine which version to display.

HTML mirror site. An HTML mirror shows all the same pages and links as your Flash site, but in HTML format. This allows your site to be seen in its entirety from any non-Flash device. You even get to choose an HTML template and adjust the colors to compliment your Flash site. This is a great way to present continuity between your sites and provide the same experience to your customers, no matter what device they access you site from!

Mobile mirror. Having a mobile mirror is another way to provide easy access to your website from mobile devices. This format is presented with the feel of an “app”. You get a clear navigation menu, and your beautiful images can be easily seen.

These products are available for purchase through your Flash/HTML control panel under the “Extras” icon.  This is a great way to invest in the accessibility of your website!

You’ve heard the old adage, “You only get one chance to make a first impression!” The same thing could be said about your website. Have you ever wondered if there was an easier way to navigate your website, blog and Facebook pages while impressing your customer at the same time? Using a Splash Intro can be the perfect solution!

A Splash Intro is a great way to advise your customers about how to find different aspects of your company’s’ online presence, and the best part is it comes with a PhotoBiz Flash or HTML website. 

Here is what a Splash Intro page should do:

• Welcome your customers, without being a hindrance to get to your site
• Prominently feature your logo
• Have at least two links,
• Include your contact information such as.your company name, address, phone number, and email.
• Feature the same color scheme and background as your website

You can also use the Footer Text box to add HTML features, such as a Facebook “Like” box, a badge for your favorite organization, or deep links to improve SEO. Take advantage of the HTML ability of this box to add some pizzazz to your Splash Intro!

There are so many cool things you can do with a Splash Intro page, and this is only a hint at what was discussed in today’s webinar titled “Perfecting Your Splash Intro Page”.

And as always, the PhotoBiz Passionate Support® team is eager to help you make the Splash Page of your dreams! Feel free to call us here with any questions you have to help you utilize all portions of your Splash Intro so you can make the best first impression!