SERVICE NOTES

With a new web site or a redesign, the typical order of topics between most web designers and their clients follows this course: price, page counts, visual layout, artwork, text, search engine optimization, increasing traffic, revisions, maintenance, and the need to get more value from the web site.  This, of course, is completely backwards.

A move in the right direction

Before we can talk about money, either initial production costs or, ultimately, web-generated sales revenue, we need to turn things around. Let’s start with your site’s purpose so we can select the right content and presentation methods to achieve worthy and measurable goals.

Understanding your web requirements, desired execution level, and budget, begins with a simple planning exercise . . .

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Here’s proof that good design skills can span disparate mediums. This month’s website showcase is for Wurts Interiors, created by Wurts’s own interior designer, Debbie Cañedo. Wurts Interiors serves San Diego homes and offices with flooring, space planning, remodeling, and everything in between.

Their classy new site sports a light and easy to navigate style.  It wins a gold star for using standards-compliant XHTML (that improves its performance, accessibility, and search-engine friendliness).  And, unlike most “artsy” sites, it conservatively presents the Flash intro in a way that doesn’t make you wait before you can get to the main navigation links.  (I can’t fuss much about the non-optional Flash intro music.)

Easter Egg: If you have a 1600×1200 display, you might find a little something in the margin.

It’s rare to see a relatively small company launch an in-house designed website and hit all the right style and technical targets (because it’s really hard, I tell you!), so Wurts deserves accolades.

Most DTL users get little to no spam. I personally might receive two or three junk messages in a month.  So it surprises me when I hear that someone is receiving unwanted email. Despite all our spam-fighting safeguards, a few of you may be getting picked on, and that irks me into action.

While looking into this, I discovered an interesting fact that might shock you. I am about to reveal a simple test to determine your chances of being spammed. It’s so easy, you probably already know how to do it …

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This month’s showcase is an original DTL production for Olga Gunn Photography. Olga’s camera magic brings out the best in her subjects and makes everyone look great. That kind of talent calls for a special web site that frames her work as brilliantly as her photos.

Olga’s work is awesome. Preparing her photos for the web was an absolute treat. I love working with people who are truly gifted in their profession, and Olga is just such a person.

The standards-compliant site takes you on a tour of 100 stunning photos scanned from original negatives and prints. Each is digitally optimized by DTL for the web. I also wrote the copy, recreated her logo, and hand-tinted the image on the About page, one of her signature shots.

Our next update to the site includes a complete photo proofing interface so clients can preview and order photos right from the web.

Welcome to the new DTL Networx customer magazine, Service Notes.  (The old Service Updates are still available).

To improve on our traditional email+web customer newsletters, I’ve finally made the move completely to a web-based format that provides much more interaction and greater benefits for both you and me.

Now you can read and respond to articles, share your insights with other DTL customers, and access our service notes in new ways.  For example, you can use the search feature, browse the categories of articles, and automatically keep up to date using your favorite RSS reader.

If you would like this advanced self-publishing capability for your own web site, contact me. I can explain the benefits for your business and help customize and integrate it into your site.