Steps of a Project for a Freelance Web Builder

dzgnfhjAs a new freelancer, there is nothing scarier then starting your first project. This article will take a closer look at the steps you should follow when in charge of a project. Hopefully, if you are aware of what the process should be, you won’t be as concerned about getting things right. Since I am assuming that this is your first client, return business is essential to growing your business. Follow the below steps from start to finish and you should have a happy client and a check in your hands.

1. TRACK TIME

It is important to track your time when you are working on a project. Start logging time as soon as you start to give your attention to a project. Place a time log into a new docket and write onto this log start and finish times along with other detailed information every time you work on this project.

For several reasons, it is important to use the time log accurately. First and foremost, your client might expect you to break down your hours for him so they are aware of where

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7 essential SEO tips for developers

ykjuykSearch engine visibility is the number one priority for most online businesses, but thriving in these competitive spaces can be a huge challenge. This is often compounded by a lack of collaboration between teams, which is a recipe for disaster! These steps will help you improve the performance of new site developments and existing migrations.

01. Block staging servers

One common issue is in the development and staging versions of a website. Crucial for testing landing pages, these can also be the most vulnerable regions of the site. If no access controls are in place, search engines will crawl and index these areas. The result of this is page duplication, which can lead to ranking drops or content on the development server outranking the real stuff!

To guard against this happening, you can take any of the following approaches:

  • Specify the IP range, which uses the firewall to restrict access and block search spiders
  • Include a ‘robots.txt‘ file at the root of the development server, which disallows spiders
  • Create a password-protected login page, which also prevents
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Top 10 Mistakes that Make your Website Look Unprofessional

xfhkyjlBuilding your own website can seem like a good idea for money-strapped entrepreneurs. You can just get a designer on board later on, when your startup gains some ground, then you’ll worry about insignificant things like that.

Right?

Actually, design can prove to be much more important for your fledgling business than you may imagine. When you run an online business, visitors’ judgements of it always depend on tiny details in your design.

Customers are distracted. They trust a few major brands already. Why should they suddenly start trusting you? Unless you catch them within the first few seconds, they’re out.

Ultimately, it’s the tiniest details that make the most difference. But these details must be carefully examined and fixed, if you are to build a trustworthy brand and build revenue. In this post, I’ll talk about common web design errors that amateur designers make. Even if you have limited design abilities, you’ll be able to recognize some of the common mistakes that may have also crept into your web design.

Note: the examples used in

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Key steps To building a successful website

Design
Design like art is subjective. But it’s safe to say that there are some golden rules you should always strive to follow. Keep it clean, simple and elegant.

Your visitors should not have to think about what your website is about, or worse, how to use it. They should intuitively grasp your message (strong and clear call to actions), as well as be able to navigate (clear menu architecture) within seconds upon landing on your web page. Study and internalize websites that are commonly held in high regard. Reflect on how and why they “work” and develop your designs and creative eye based on that. Always design appropriately to fit your target audience and industry.

Navigation and site architecture should not exclude search engine spiders. Minimize Flash to banners and graphic animations and avoid using Javascript menus. Always include a text link based sitemap so the entire site structure is accessible for the search engines.

Coding
Always ensure that your coding is clean and concise. Use 100% CSS whenever possible. Push the important stuff (content) as high up in the HTML code as possible. The repeated blocks (e.g. Left column menus, horizontal menus etc)

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How to Write Excellent Website Content

The overall design of a website will influence a visitor’s split-second decision whether to stay or leave a particular URL. Design includes items such as the layout, font style and color, as well as the choice of graphics and pictures. However, once the visitor is drawn in by the design, the quality of a site’s written text will have a lasting effect on both whether a visitor will remain for a longer period of time, as well as whether or not the visitor will return sometime in the future. For this reason, with the exception of basic site design, nothing impacts the quality of a website more than its written text. Ensuring that great text is written is therefore a critical step that requires a structured approach to accomplish efficiently. This article answers this question by outlining a specific writing process that is used by all the best website design writers.

Website Writing in 5 Phases
When attempting to write excellent website text, it is best to keep in mind that all web writing goes through 5 specific and discreet steps or phases. These are 1) creating an overall plan, 2) writing an outline, 3) composing a rough draft, 4)

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12 Hacks to Keep Visitors on Your Pages Longer

Conventional wisdom suggests that a “good” bounce rate (aka, the number of visitors who check out a single page on your site and then leave) falls between 30 to 50 percent. But if you ask me, anything over 25 to 30 percent represents an opportunity to reach more potential customers through the implementation of design and user-experience hacks that keep visitors on your pages longer.

Here are 12 to start with today:

1. Declutter your design.

This isn’t 1996. Geocities is dead. So if your site is still packed full of animated images, excess design features and other modern no-no’s, it’s time for a redesign. According to Tony Haile, the CEO of Chartbeat, you have just 15 seconds (or less) to convince new visitors to stay through the power of your site’s design alone.

2. Cut your number of fonts.

One immediate signal to readers that your site — and, by extension, your company — is out-of-date? The number of fonts you’ve used. If you’ve got more than two or three on your homepage, trim them down to create a more modern look.

3. Try a larger font size.

On a related note, the

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5 Secrets for Increasing Conversions on Your Site

Whether you own a small business or a large corporation, website conversions are important for customer engagement and brand loyalty. If your good SEO practices are getting people to visit your website, you’ve taken a huge step in the right direction but it’s not quite enough. You may still have low conversions simply because you can’t get visitors of your website to take the next step and become actual customers.

Getting conversions to really take off might be as simple as renovating your current website. There are hundreds of ways you can improve your website to entice customers to use it. Implement these insider secrets to get you started.

1. Less is more.

When it comes to overall design, the mantra is keep it simple. Some website platforms make it easy to cram in as many images, calls to action, navigation tabs, and forms as possible, but having so much on your website will only overwhelm your future customers. People visiting websites like a clear understanding of the site’s purpose and a designated path to navigate the content. It becomes very difficult for them to follow that path if your website is cluttered. Top bar navigation, a

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