Today Facebook is changing the Timeline.  Tomorrow, Pinterest brings out a new look.   Then WordPress switches things up and Twitter creates new ways for your brand to be seen.  But there are a few things that remain constant that will help you put your best face forward for your business.

Here are three questions to ask yourself:

1.  Do my graphics and branding really reflect my business and what we’re about?

Take a good hard look at your website.  Are you happy with your graphics, colors and ‘look and feel’ and they represent you and your business?  When was the last time you had them updated?  Are you still using a picture of yourself from 5 years ago in your header?

2.  Are my social media profile images consistent with my website graphics?

There’s something disconcerting about seeing one look and feel on a business’s website, then something completely different on their Facebook page, then something else again on Twitter.  Consistency is key with social media, where building relationships is what it’s all about.  If your graphics don’t have some similarity with each other, with recognizable images of you across the board (they can be different, just not wildly different – like one from yesterday and another from 5 years ago when your hair was a completely different color or you weighed 30 pounds more), then you’ve got some work to do!  And if you’re not linking your business Facebook page from your personal profile in the ‘About’ section, you’re missing out.  I can’t tell you how many people I’ve come across where I know they have a business, but their personal profile has no link to it.  Don’t miss the opportunities that come with people wanting to check out your business!

3.  Have I reviewed my website recently from the eyes of my ideal client?

If you can, have someone unfamiliar with your site, but who might be an ‘ideal client’ sit down with you and click around your site.  Note what sort of questions they ask, if they’re confused about what to do next, or if they’d rather just ‘leave’?  Do you have a ‘get started’ page that new visitors can easily access to get what they need out of your website, or where you direct them to the places you want them to go and the things you want them to do?  Is your opt-in – or what you want them to do on your site more than anything – located in the top right corner of the site?  Finally, is there too much going on?  Too many opt-ins, too many competing visuals, just too much of everything?

So there you have it – 3 ways to ramp up your website presence right now.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – your web presence should be a reflection of YOU and your business, without compromise.  Don’t settle for less.

The post 3 Things You Can do Right Now to Make Your Business Shine Online appeared first on The Cabin Design Studio.

Here are the 5 common mistakes I’ve seen with clients using WordPress for their business sites:

1.  Pasting content directly from Microsoft Word.

If you write your content in a program like Microsoft Word first, then copy and paste it directly into your WordPress post, it will come with a lot of extra ‘code’ in the background that will make your formatting all goofy.  Specifically, it will challenge your ability to use your theme’s built in styles to make your posts and pages look great.

The result is messy looking posts and pages that will drive you crazy as you try to format it in WordPress. Unless you know HTML and CSS and can edit it out in the back end, of course.

But there’s a much better way.

So if you like to write in a program like Word first – and many people do – you’ve got a couple of choices:

1. Copy your paste into a text editor like Notepad or TextEdit first;
2. Convert it to ‘plain text’, which strips out all that extra stuff;
3. Copy that into your WordPress post OR use an editor plug-in like Ultimate TinyMCE which offers a special little icon in the toolbar that will open up a space where  you can place your text, then it will strip out the extraneous code.   Keep in mind that you’ll lose all your formatting – but that’s actually a good thing.  You want to use the formatting options that come with WordPress.

2.  Not keeping plug-ins updated.

This is probably the biggest mistake I see, and it can cause some serious cracks in your site.  You absolutely, totally and completely need to keep your plug-ins, theme and WordPress core files updated.  If you’d rather spend your time building your business and creating great content, there are professionals who can help you keep everything ship shape (us included!).  Your site is a huge investment of time and energy (and yes, sometimes money) – be sure to keep it protected!

3.  Hosting in an unstable hosting environment.

Sadly, there are some large hosting companies out there who sadly seem to have a lot of issues with securing their clients’ sites, particularly on the shared servers that are hosting so many of our small business sites.  A ‘cheap’ site hosting package cost you in the long run. 

If you find your hosting company is having regular ‘issues’, your site is getting hit by malware attacks regularly, you’re getting warnings about brute force attack attempts, or their whole system is confusing or just seems like a giant sales pitch, it might be time to consider another host.

There are a lot of great hosting options out there, large and small, covering a huge range of site needs.  But for most small business owners, I’m currently recommending Hostgator (nice and simple to use), or if you want a more personal experience, Starrhost, who specialize in WordPress hosting and maintenance for small businesses.  Starrhost’s owners are top notch and know their stuff.

4.  Not using the theme’s available styles.

• If you’re using a premium theme, you’ll have all sorts of opportunities to make your site look great.  Be sure to use the built-in theme styles you’ll find under the editor drop-down titled ‘Format’ that shows ‘Paragraph’ as the default, as well as the options shown in the drop-down menu titled ‘Styles’.
• Do your best not to change font sizes and such manually in the editor if you want your posts and pages to look cohesive across your site.
• If you don’t know how to amend your theme’s font styles or paragraph spacing, there are lots of tutorials available from all of the main premium theme developers.  Or you can get some technical assistance and focus on doing what you do best!

5.  Using images not optimized for online viewing.

When you’re uploading pictures to your website, be sure that they’re optimized for the web.  There are a lot of tools to do this, but a really simple one is available at befunky.com.  You want your images to be ‘shrunk’ to about the right dimensions for your purposes, and saved in a format like jpg (if there’s no transparency around the image) or png (creates larger file sizes, but allows for transparent backgrounds) for the web.  Befunky.com will allow you to choose the file size when you save your final file.  Super handy.

If you attend to these five common mistakes,  you’ll reduce your frustration factor and help your site maintenance be a joy, and not a pain.

Have you ever had any of the above issues affect your WordPress site?  If so, let us know in the comments below – we’d love to hear your story!

The post 5 Common WordPress Mistakes Business Owners Make appeared first on The Cabin Design Studio.

Bottom line – there are a number of solid themes that will get you the aesthetics you want and technical options you need.  There are just a few questions you need to ask yourself first.

Themes Explained

If you’re new to WordPress, you might be wondering what a theme is.  Let me explain: if you think of WordPress as the engine of your website (so to speak), then the theme would be the paint job and accessories that make it work for you and stand out from the crowd.  It’s what determines how your site will look and function for your site visitors… and you.

The beauty of using WordPress and themes is that you can switch up the look and feel of your site easily, from tweaking your existing theme to changing to a whole new theme.  Your actual content isn’t affected by most themes – it just changes the way it looks on the page – so you’re free to keep the way your site looks up to date as times change.  And no matter what theme you use, it doesn’t change the way to create pages, posts, widgets, etc., or the way you manage your site.  It’s what makes WordPress a great choice for most independent business owners over any other platform.

There’s a lot more involved in how it all fits together, but that’s the simplest way to explain it.

Now, there are free themes, and there are premium (paid) themes.  I’ll kick this off by saying that as a serious business owner, you want a premium theme.  Why?  Because your business is important, and you want to know that your theme is being kept up to date by a dedicated development team, to address security issues, new WordPress core features, and other things ‘web’ that change over time.  It’s an investment in your business, not a cost.  If you’re blogging for purposes other than business, then maybe this isn’t as critical, but as a business owner, the last thing you’d want is to cheap out on a free theme and then have your site crash a few months down the road because the developer is no longer supporting or updating it, or worse, that your site gets hacked.  No site = no income.  Premium themes can be kept up to date and evolving because their developers are getting compensated for their work.  And their good work is critical to your business’ success.

It’s worth the minimal cost – don’t cheap out!

How to Pick the Right Theme for You

You’ll see various business coaches and bloggers recommending specific themes – and there’s a reason for that.  Based on their own experience and their business model, the recommendations make sense.  Some run support programs and having all their clients using the same theme allows them to provide great value and a consistent message.  If you’re in that situation, working with a specific coach who is recommending a specific theme, I’d advise you to go with their recommendation.  But if you’re not a client of one of those coaches or bloggers, you’ve got more options!

Here’s a checklist of things to consider as you’re researching a theme for your business site:

• Is the theme backed by a solid development team?  Does it have good support?  Most free themes won’t offer support (because really, who could afford to?), so that alone is reason to purchase a premium theme.  Nothing worse than trying to do something with a theme and having no one to ask.  Developer street cred is easy to check in the About Us section, a quick Google search, and user forums, if you can access them as a prospective buyer (some allow access and some don’t, which makes sense, considering members are paying for access in many cases and it wouldn’t be fair to allow access for free – but some do). If you can access forums, look for the quality of interaction, see how many posts don’t have responses, and be doing a few searches for reviews.  You can (and should) also do a search for reviews for the theme.  If you do look at reviews, there are a few things to keep in mind:  1) some reviews that show up in search results are REALLY outdated – check the dates and don’t bother reading anything older than the last 6 months or so, as themes and theme support can change quickly; 2) many reviews are by affiliates who get a commission if you buy the theme via a link from their site – not necessarily a bad thing, but something to keep in mind; and 3) everyone has their ‘favorite’ theme, and some REALLY love their favorite theme and think any others are garbage.  Don’t let that sway you…
• Does it provide good SEO options out of the box?  Most of the top premium themes have excellent SEO options built in for you to use, as well as the fact they’re ‘coded’ in such a way that the search engines find them easy to work with.
• Does it look close to what you want your site to look like, out of the box, or does it require major customization to get it looking decent?  Depending on your situation and the type of information you’ll be sharing, you may want a theme that you don’t have to customize much.  In other cases, you may want site that’s extremely customized, so those themes that have fewer ‘out of the box’ design options probably won’t work without a lot of custom CSS work (which, of course, will be an investment in either time or funds).
• Is the cost in your price range?  Most of the premium themes that are worth their salt run in the range of $40 to $80.
• Is it a one-time charge or are there annual renewal fees?  Annual renewals may sound like a pain, but they allow the developer to keep developing and supporting the product.  You don’t expect to work for free, and neither should quality theme developers.
• Do you have the time and skills to make customizations yourself, or will you be hiring a designer to do the initial set-up for you?  Again, the themes that come styled out of the box, with a few pre-set color and layout options to choose from, will be quicker to get up and running for someone with no web design background.  You’ll still need to do customizations like uploading your logo, etc., but generally the choices are quick and easy.  The themes that are more ‘framework’-based, without any pre-set styles, are a lot more flexible, but to get your site done quickly and looking the way you want it will probably require the assistance of someone who knows the framework inside and out.  After all, you’ve got a business to run and your time and brainpower is better spent doing what you do best!
• Is the theme ‘responsive’?  With the explosive growth in the use of smart phones and tablets, built-in ‘responsive’ styling is pretty much a given now with most premium themes, but some do it better than others.  Be sure to check it out and ask the question if it’s not blatantly obvious.

 My Recommendations

In my time working with WordPress, I’ve tried all sorts of themes.  Some are horrific to work with (read: tearing your hair out, nothing is obvious, etc.), and others a joy.  Some are incredibly flexible and make otherwise complicated designs quick and easy, while others are lovely, but very limited in the choices you have for customization without a lot of extra CSS and PHP work.

Based on that experience, these are the themes I’m currently recommending to my clients.  Each client will have different requirements to consider, but if you’ve worked through the questions above, you’ll have a solid idea of the type of theme that going to work for you:

• Studiopress/Genesis – Studiopress is the grandpappy of WordPress theme developers (Genesis is the theme framework that the Studiopress themes are built on).  Solid support, ongoing development and updates, and professional designs.  The only con seems to be that the themes themselves are rather limited out of the box, so if you’re looking for a theme that offers a lot of options, Studiopress may not be for you.  But if you just want a professional looking site that you can be confident follows all the latest standards, this may be the ticket.  Of course, anything can be done with any theme, but if you’re wanting to avoid a lot of custom ‘coding’, again,  you’re relatively limited.  Most themes have been updated to be fully responsive.  studiopress.com
• WooThemes – WooThemes offers a LOT of themes, many of which are incredibly flexible, and some which aren’t so much.  I’ve been reading recently that their support isn’t quite what it used to be, and I don’t find it quite as user friendly as some of the other themes, but it’s a solid choice.  Many responsive options.  woothemes.com
• Elegant Themes – If you’re looking for beautiful, more ‘artsy’ design and layout, Elegant Themes might be a good choice.  It’s also the most economical of the bunch!  They’ve always been quick to provide answers to support tickets, and are constantly developing gorgeous new themes.  Most themes are responsive.  elegantthemes.com
• Thesis – This one comes with a caveat (see below).  I’ve developed a whole lot of sites in Thesis 1.x and a few in the new Thesis 2.x, which was released in October 2012.  Thesis 1.x does a great job at providing a lot of options for the small business owner to develop their own website without knowing any ‘coding’, though if you don’t have time to do the customizations, a lot of the sites end up looking a lot alike.  Add to that the fact that to add any extra widgets and blocks outside of what’s offered in the default require understanding either PHP and CSS OR knowing how to use ‘hooks’ (not complicated, but again, you need to learn how to use them effectively or bring a designer on board to assist), and you can see the limitations.  That said, it’s a solid, powerful theme that will serve you well.  Thesis 2.x, on the other hand, is powerful and flexible, but at the time of writing has a very steep learning curve for anyone not familiar with web design (and, to be honest, a lot of us who do – it took me awhile to figure out how all the pieces fit together).  Still, if you want a solid theme that will allow you flexibility and ease of getting a simple site up quickly, it’s worth checking out.  Superb support community that end up taking a lot of heat for delays in releases of skins, updates, etc. (one of the diythemes downfalls).  Keep in mind that at some point they may stop supporting the 1.x version (though at this time they’re saying they’ll support it ‘as long as it makes sense’ – whatever that means!). Thesis 1.x currently not responsive out of the box.  Thesis 2.x requires some fiddling to get it responsive.  diythemes.com
• Headway – Headway is a theme builder that’s really just in its infancy.  It’s first iterations were a bit limited and a tad confusing, but the latest versions keep getting better and better.  At the time of writing there aren’t any official ‘skins’ (pre-made themes) available – so essentially, you’re starting from scratch.  This would be a problem with a lot of theme frameworks, but Headway really makes it easy to build an effective, beautiful site quickly with elements that would require custom coding if you were using any other theme.  As with any theme, there is a learning curve, so I’d only recommend going this route if you know you’ll be hiring a designer to do the initial set-up and design (unless you fancy yourself a web designer).  Once that’s done, though, a quick tutorial from your designer will show you how to keep it maintained AND how to add elements, etc.  It’s powerful, the development team is solid, there’s a growing number of 3rd party developers creating handy add-ons, and the support is very attentive.  Has a setting to make theme fully responsive.  headwaythemes.com

So that’s about it!  As I mentioned, there are a number of things you want to keep in mind when picking a WordPress theme, but if you do your homework and choose a theme from any of the providers above, you’ll be hard pressed to run into any problems in the long run.  If you’d like to chat about themes more or discuss your specific business situation and what might work well for you, let me know in the comments below, or fire me off an email!

The post How to Pick the Best WordPress Theme for Your Business appeared first on The Cabin Design Studio.

I’ve had some questions recently about the best way to put backgrounds into WordPress sites if your theme doesn’t already have a place for that.  I’ve also had questions about the best way to include a photo gallery and/or portfolio.

So I thought I’d tackle the questions head on and make some recommendations for plug-ins that can handle it easily – no coding required.

Let’s start with backgrounds.

WordPress Site Background Images

Some premium themes, like Thesis (by DIYthemes), Headway, and Canvas (by Woothemes), have places where you can upload custom background images for your site with a simple drag and drop or browse for the image you want to use, and settings for repeating/seamless backgrounds or fullscreen backgrounds.  If not, there are a couple of way to do it in the WordPress:

1. WordPress offering something called ‘custom backgrounds for WordPress themes‘ starting in WordPress 3.0. Now, even though this feature is included in the core WordPress files, it will only show in your Appearance dashboard tab if your theme actually supports it (which those listed above do).  If not, and you’re an intermediate WordPress user, you can set this up by amending your functions.php file.  If you’re not comfortable fiddling around with php files, you’re better off using a plug-in or a theme with that supports backgrounds.  Here’s a good tutorial should you want to tackle it yourself.
2. Another option is to simply add your chosen background image via amending your theme’s custom.css file (if it has one -  if not, it’s the theme’s primary stylesheet).  If you’re not familiar with CSS or amending CSS files, I wouldn’t recommend it, but here’s a tutorial should you want to give it a go: How to Add a Background Image to Your WordPress Site
3. If you’re not keen on messing with your php and css files, which I’m pretty sure most of my clients are not, there is another option:  WP-Backgrounds Lite.  This is the plug-in I use (the premium version) on my modernhomesteading.ca site.  I love how easy it is to use – and it works without a whole lot of fiddling around with settings.  I don’t have time for plug-ins that require a lot of time investment, which is why this one fits the bill for me.  Here’s what it can do (text taken from the developer’s website):

• Set fullscreen background images for posts and pages.
• Apply a link to each background image (in themes where it’s possible).
• You can deactivate the plug-in for certain pages and posts.
• Compatible with all major and modern browsers.
• Can be used with nearly every theme (premium and free ones). For the most themes it works out of the box (I’m currently using it with Thesis 1.8.5 on modernhomesteading.ca). A background color option helps you to adjust the body background color.
• Vertical & horizontal image centering.
• Small fingerprint, only a few kb filesize.
• Easy installation, works out of the box.
• And more.

They also have a premium version with a lot more features.  Here’s the demo page to see what it looks like in action.

So there you go – you can easily add background images to your WordPress site to give it more punch and pizazz.  Have fun with it!

Photo Galleries in Pages & Posts

There’s also a super easy way to add photo galleries to pages and posts. Here’s an example of what it can look like out of the box:

Now, the steps:

1. Open the page/post you want to insert the gallery into.
2. Click on the ‘Add Media’ tab at the top of the editing window.
3. Click on the ‘Add Gallery’ button.  At this point, all of the pictures in your Media Library will show.  You’ll also have the opportunity to add new images from your computer.
4. Click on the photos you want to include in the new gallery.
5. Insert any URLs/pages you’d like the photos to link to if someone clicks on them.
6. At the bottom of the page, click the button ‘Create Gallery’.  At this point it will give you an option to save the gallery and insert it into your page.  Click it and voila, you’ve got a photo gallery in your page or post!  Couldn’t be easier.

You can also view this in a video tutorial here:  How to Create WordPress Photo Galleries

If you want a fancier look, you can edit the CSS for the default display of the galleries, but the easier way would be to use a plug-in – there are various ones that will create effects for your photo galleries, but the method listed above is the most basic, quickest way to get it done.

Tips for Creating Images for Your Site Backgrounds

Things to keep in mind when creating and uploading images to your website:

1. Your background images need to be optimized for the web – the smaller the better (preferably under 100kb each).  There’s a bit of a trick to this, but tools like befunky.com can optimize your images for the web fairly well.  That’s if you have something like a photo that will reach across the background (what they call ‘full-screen’).  If you’re using ‘seamless patterns’ that will repeat in the background, you still need to make sure the image is small, but you won’t be dealing with those massive pictures that need to be optimized.  Every photo will be different, so you’ll need to play with the settings a bit to get the best resolution for the smallest file size.  This is really a post unto itself, so I won’t go into too much detail, but suffice it to say, there is no ‘one size fits all’ answer to image optimization.
2. How to optimize – try to get the actual dimensions as close to the size of the image you’ll need as possible – this will automatically reduce the file size.  Then in Photoshop, befunky.com or your other photo rendering tool, make sure you ‘save for web’ as a jpg (creates the smallest file size).
3. For large photo backgrounds, it’s best recommended practice to use large images, above 1700 pixels in width, which will cover most display sizes.

So there you have it!  I hope this was helpful – if you have other ways you’ve found to easily add images to your WordPress site background, or plug-ins for photo galleries that have worked well for you, let us know in the comments below!  And if you know anyone who might find this post info useful, please share it with them.

The post How to Set a WordPress Site Background and Create Photo Galleries appeared first on The Cabin Design Studio.

As a business owner or blogger, you have mere seconds to convince your website visitors that they should spend their precious time reading your content, and that you have something of value to offer.  Need convincing?  Take a minute to read this article on Derek Halpern’s site, Social Triggers:  “The Content is King Myth, Debunked“.  This guy knows his stuff.  Enough said.

So the big question is this: Are your website header, colors and layout causing people to engage or fall asleep (or worse, flee)?  Here 5 questions to ask yourself – and I’ll warn you right now, some of them might sound a bit harsh.  For the next few minutes, it’s all about the tough love.  I’ll apologize ahead of time…

OK, here goes:

1. Do your website header and graphics look ‘home made’?  ‘Yikes!  Did she actually say that out loud?’  Guilty.  The last thing I want to do is offend anyone, but it’s got to be said – too many of the headers and graphics I see on the websites of people I know are professionals and experts in their field look like they were put together in about 10 minutes.  Some even less.  It’s like, ‘I know I have to do this so I’ll just throw something up temporarily, even though I haven’t a clue about design or how to make this design software do what I want it to’.  Maybe you’re one of those people.  Maybe you’re thinking, ‘Who do you think you are, lady? What’s WRONG with my home-made header?’ Humph!!!’  Truth be told, there may be nothing wrong -  you might have an awesome design eye and your header matches your business perfectly.  If so, congrats!  But your business is worth me potentially offending you a little.  Stop right now and go take a good, detached, critical look at your header through the eyes of your potential customers – what judgements might they be making about you based on what they see?  Ask someone you trust to be kind, but honest, what their first impression is when they look at your website.  Take notes.  If the answer isn’t: ‘Your website makes you look like a sought-after expert in your field, like you’re successful and know what you’re doing, and that your business is important enough to have invested a little bit into the design – I’d trust you and hire you for sure!’ you’ve got some work to do.  It doesn’t need to be fancy or expensive – just an attractive, clean, accurate representation of all your years of experience and wisdom!
2. Do the colors on your site all work together and create the feeling you want your visitors to feel?  If your profession is environmental consulting but you’ve used hot pink and electric orange in your site background because those are your favorite colors, you may have a problem. Your potential clients in government, engineering, and big industry aren’t likely to take you very seriously. Now if you’re a life or fitness coach, those colors can work great, but…  It pays to do some research into the effects of color on your potential clients.  You don’t want to send them running the moment they land on your site.
3. Is the photo of you in your header or on your bio page from that photo shoot you had done 10 years ago?  Sadly, this one seems to be rampant.  If you look 10 years younger in your bio pic because you erased all those hard-earned wrinkles in a photo editing program, or you really were 10 years younger when the pic was taken and had a completely different hair style or color, your clients might be a bit taken aback if/when they meet you in person or see you in a video and see what you really look like.  You want to use a relatively recent photo of yourself – connecting with your audience and building trust is so critical to your success, and it’s kind of hard to do that when your pic doesn’t even look like you.  You don’t need to spring for a professional photo (though that’s ideal) – just get a nice, clear, high resolution portrait shot against a light background, one that shows you how you want to be seen by prospective clients, and any web designer will be able to use it to update your web graphics so you shine.
4. Is there a logical process and flow that your readers should follow when they visit for the first time?  If a potential customer comes to your site and likes the general feel of the place, but doesn’t know what to do next after reading the article that brought them there, you’re probably going to lose them.  You can create these visual flows using colors and custom graphics, widget placement, OR even more simple, create a menu tab title ‘Start Here‘ that lists the top 3 or top 5 steps to working with you, or reaching their goal, etc.  As one of my business mentors says, ‘If you don’t tell people what you want them to do, they won’t do anything.’  I think that about says it all.
5. Is your site in WordPress?  If you’re still running an old html website, or worse, a Flash site, you’re missing so much opportunity!  Make 2013 the year you get your site switched over to WordPress.  It’s easy to manage, you can do a lot of the work yourself (if you want to), and you’ll never be without support. A good WordPress service provider can get you up and running relatively inexpensively (depending on the number of pages and features on your site, of course).  It’s worth every single penny you invest.  The SEO value alone makes it a no-brainer.
   

Whew – hope you’re still with me.  As I said, I really don’t want to offend anyone, but your business success is worth me risking your ire. I want you to succeed!

Can a ‘home-made looking’ website be successful?  Absolutely.  There are examples of this all over.  But their content is top-notch, their audiences are huge and for some reason, their sites have succeeded despite their less than attractive appearance.  But for the rest of us, especially those of us selling products or services who aren’t household names, potential clients are making judgements about us and our businesses every single day based on what they see when they visit our websites.

Let’s make 2013 the year you get your site design and graphics to a level that really represents you as a professional, and as a business.  You deserve to shine.

Have you had any results from updating your website graphics?  Do you have a story to share about building your own website and graphics – one where you wish you’d got some help instead of doing it yourself?  If so, please share them in the comments below – we’d love to hear your thoughts.

The post Is Your Website Design Turning Off Potential Clients? 5 Things to Check appeared first on The Cabin Design Studio.

Photo: shutterstock.com

If you’re a small business owner or solo entrepreneur, you’ve probably heard the horror stories about web designers who hold their clients’ sites hostage, or clients who expect unlimited revisions and add-ons, even though their project scope and agreement clearly states that only 3 are included at the quoted rate.  There are a gazillion anecdotes – I won’t bore you, but I think you know the sort of thing I’m referring to.

Both scenarios are uncomfortable for everyone involved, and if not handled correctly, can create a lot of nasty feelings and frustration.  Oh, and wasted time.  No one needs that.  But here’s the bottom line – they should never happen in the first place.

Let me kick this off by coming clean – I’ve always been one of those designers who gives more than is actually agreed to initially when it comes to web or graphic design projects.  Call it customer service, marketing, or just treating my long term clients well, but I’m always throwing in freebies, or not charging for tasks that only take me 5 minutes (but that I know others charge a full hour for).  Call me crazy, but I enjoy treating people well.  So you can see how this might apply to me (ahem).  That said, I’ve learned – the hard way – to ensure that expectations are clear at the beginning of the project, so any ‘bonuses’ are exactly that, and the client knows that’s the case.  As you’ve probably figured by now, it wasn’t always that way.

There was a time, not all that long ago, when I wasn’t so clear about expectations, or what services I would provide for the agreed-to price.  So I often ended up doing a bunch of extras I wasn’t being compensated for, and as they ate up my time and kept me from other projects – and my family – I created a whole lot of frustration for myself, and sometimes, for the client.  It wasn’t fun.  At all.

But there was only one person I could point a finger at in those situations - me, myself and I.

I’ve also been on the other end of the relationship, as a client.  I remember a company I worked for paying $1500 for a series of logo mock-ups that were woefully inadequate, to put it mildly. We didn’t end up using any of them, and never got past the first round, but we still had to pay.  And who’s fault was that?  Ours, for not getting clear on the terms ahead of time.  It was an agency we’d worked with a lot and spent a considerable amount of money with over the years – I could never have imagined they’d charge us that sort of coin for that quality of work.  Half that, maybe, but not $1500.  But charge they did.  Ouch.

I’ve since learned to make sure everything is explained in writing up front, and while I’m still perfecting the fine art of negotiating ‘extras’, it’s working a whole lot better for everyone.  The key has been to put a few systems of process in place that make things very clear from the outset.

So, based on all that experience, working with a whole bunch of great people from all over the world, and having been a design client myself, here are seven things you can do to ensure your experience with your next web or graphic designer is one that will serve your business well – and that you’ll enjoy.

1. Do Your Research – The more work you can do ahead of time, the easier the whole process will be.  Have an idea of what sort of colors you’d like to see, examples of other web graphics, logos, etc. you like, and when you’d like the project delivered.  Also, spend some time going through your prospective designer’s portfolio and make sure they do the sort of work you’re expecting for the price you’re willing to pay.  Expecting a high-end, custom drawn $1500 logo when you’re only paying $197 will only frustrate you (and the designer).  For example, most logo designs from an experienced, reasonably talented designer at an agency start at about $500.  If you’re paying less than that with a freelance designer, expect to have a few less edits included in the base price, less research on the part of the designer, or other compensations.  More is possible -  you’ll just need to pay for it.  You may find designers willing to create high quality graphics for cheap, but it shouldn’t be the norm.
2. Have an Idea of What You Want – As mentioned above, having a bit of an idea of what you’re looking for will save you money, time and frustration.  The more versions a designer has to create, the more expensive it will be.  Know that the options in web and graphic design are pretty much endless, which is why most designers have limits on how many rounds of edits are included in the base price.  The better idea you have about what you want at the outset, or the more flexible you are about the end product, the happier you – and your designer – will be.
3. Ask for a Project Scope – If it’s not clear already, ask exactly what’s included in the price, including the number of edits (for graphic projects).  Know what the delivery dates will be, who is responsible for what parts of the project, and what will happen if you’re unable to provide approvals on time, etc.  You’ll also want to know the payment terms, how communications will occur and what sort of turnaround time can be expected.  In short, get all the details you can!  A vague agreement over the phone is just asking for trouble.  Get it in writing.
4. Commit to a Timeline – Here’s a secret: most quality designers are busy, and their work queue is booked at least a week or two in advance, if not longer.  When you’re unable to provide, say, approvals on a color palette or first round of a website header by the agreed-to time, you’ll either throw off your designer’s whole schedule OR you’ll find yourself moved to the back of the queue as they work to honor their commitments to their other clients.  Knowing that ahead of time, you can either be sure you get the designer what she needs when she needs it OR you can be OK with the fact that you might have to wait a little longer for your product.
5. If You Change Your Mind Part Way Through, Expect to Pay More – This sort of goes without saying, but if you get part way down a design process on a header, logo or other element, and then you change your mind and decide you want to go in a completely different direction, you can expect to pay for the work that has already been completed, even though you may not use it.  The designer has invested time and energy into the project, and should be compensated.
6. Pay On Time – I’ve been very fortunate in this respect, but I know a lot of others who aren’t so lucky.  This should go without saying, but if you are happy with the work your designer has done for you, especially if they did it on time, make sure they get paid on time.  And if you aren’t happy, make sure to tell them so so they have the change to make changes to the design elements, or adjust the invoice accordingly.  Don’t just leave them hanging!
7. If You’re Happy with the Work, Share Your Experience – I can’t tell you how much it means when clients share how happy they are with their new header, logo, business cards or web design or support services.  Warm fuzzies all over!  And it’s not just the fuzzies – it’s important feedback, so they can continue to improve their business to serve you and their other clients better.  Make sure to tell them if there’s something you found frustrating as well, so they have the opportunity to address it in future.  Most designers want you to be happy, and will be more than amenable to getting your constructive feedback.

So there you go.  Keeping these tips in mind when you’re hiring a new designer will increase the likelihood you’ll have a great experience, and that you’ll have a designer for life who will bend over backwards to keep you happy.  The client/designer relationship is truly a two-way street, and can be SO beneficial for all involved.  After all, it’s your business we’re talking about – you want it to be well represented by your website and graphics, and you want it to all  happen in an enjoyable, dare I say even ‘fun’, way.

Do you have any tips to share about creating a mutually beneficial relationship with a web or graphic designer?  If so, share them in the comments below!

The post 7 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Relationship with Your Web or Graphic Designer appeared first on The Cabin Design Studio.

So how does a website get ‘dated’?

There’s the blatantly obvious – like static html websites that looks like they were built when we were all partying like it was 1999, all scroll-y, flash-y, Times New Roman (if your site looks like this, know that you’re missing out in a huge way by not reaching your potential audience).  Then there’s the more hidden and insidious faux-pas in the background that can sabotage the success of your business and cost you.  Big time.

Do I have your attention?  Good.  Because I see mistakes, easily avoidable (and easily fixable) mistakes, every single day that tear me up because they directly affect the potential of your business to create a life you love in very big and profound ways.

So what are they?

Mistake #1: Not Being in WordPress

If you’ve got a static HTML site, let me say (with love) that you really, really (and I’ll say it again), REALLY need to get your business into the WordPress platform.  And not WordPress.com, but a self-hosted WordPress site at a reputable hosting company like Starrhost.com, Hostgator.com or other highly regarded providers.  When you do, not only will you be able to do your own content updates, saving yourself a lot of moolah in the process, but you’ll have complete control over your website.  No more being held hostage by some web guy who won’t give the passwords to the back end of your own site, then disappears and takes your entire online business presence with him.  Nobody needs that.

Now, having complete control over your own website is pretty great.  But even better is the fact that the search engines love WordPress (so if you do things right, your site will end up higher in the page ranks, which means its easier for people to find your business), it’s designed to be state-of-the-art when it comes to what’s happening online, and it’s super easy to keep updated (see Mistake #2 below).

As with anything worth doing, there’s a bit of a learning curve, but there are a whole lot of skilled people out there (including ourselves… ) who would be thrilled to help via Skype tutoring sessions, as well as countless fabulous tutorials online.  Don’t have time, or not interested in learning how to move your existing site to WordPress?  We can help there too.

Mistake #2: Not Keeping WordPress, Plug-ins and Themes Up-to-Date

Unfortunately, I see this a lot.  Way too much, actually.  Beautifully designed sites I know people spent a lot of money to have built that haven’t had WordPress, the theme, or the plug-ins updated in months.  What’s the problem with that, you ask?  If you fail to keep these components updated, you run the risk of:

1. Having your site crash when everything gets too old and potentially starts conflicting with other software; and/or
2. Getting hacked and losing your site entirely (at least temporarily).  The WordPress ‘core’ is updated regularly, sometimes to introduce new features, but more often to seal up security holes that may create space for unsavoury types to access your site and do their nasty business.

I’ve seen clients lose days of potential sales because they neglected their site maintenance.  I’ve heard about even worse disasters through the grapevine, where content is lost and the site needs to be rebuilt from scratch.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Most WordPress core and plug-in updates are simple to do and don’t create any issues.  Theme updates can be little more risky in terms of potential conflicts with plug-ins and other old themes you may have installed.  But usually, in a given month, it shouldn’t take you any more than an hour to update everything.  Some months will be more work than others, depending on how many updates are required, and if something goes sideways, you could be in for hours of sleuthing trying to figure out what happened.  To avoid any hassle, a lot of business owners choose to have a WordPress expert do the updates for them every month.  Removes the potential for ‘oopses’ and creates peace of mind.  Worth every penny.

Mistake #3: No Interaction

When you build a business online, you’re building a community – or at least you should be.  And the best way to do that is to first create content that people actually want to read, then invite them to comment, and finally, you have to actually go back regularly and respond.

You’ve probably seen some of those high profile blogs where readers are leaving comments but it seems like nobody’s home – the blog owner/writer never comes back to answer readers’ questions or even acknowledge appreciation for the visits and comments.  Crazy.  If you have comments open on your site, and people are commenting, make sure to go back regularly and show them you appreciate them and that you’re there to serve.  If you don’t, you’re missing a massive opportunity.  People with multi-million dollar brands are showing up to respond to readers and followers personally.  The rest of us have no excuses.

Note:  I’ve also seen a few big name blog owners respond to readers, but frankly quite rudely.  I haven’t figured out if that’s worse than not responding at all… but at least it’s a response and shows they care about your business.  I just don’t understand why they have to be so nasty.

Mistake #4: Never Posting New Content

Full disclosure:  as of the time of writing this post, I haven’t been posting to my blogs (here or at modernhomesteading.ca) as frequently as I know I should. But I do post.  Here’s the thing – search engines love fresh content.  Regular content.  Valuable content.  A static website that’s the same today as it was 6 months ago doesn’t serve your business or your customers and will put you at a disadvantage online.  Your competitor who posts to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and who uploads fresh, useful articles, how-to’s and videos to their WordPress site every week (or even better, daily) will beat you to your customers every time.

If you resist the idea of creating consistent content like I used to, have no fear – it’s actually easier than it might seem.  Blog posts don’t have to be long – they just have to provide value for your customer or potential customer.  Articles as short as 500 words are totally acceptable.  And if the thought of writing feels about as comfortable as sitting on a chair of tacks, you can easily upload short video or Soundcloud recording (1-2 minutes, or even shorter) on a topic important to your audience.   This is where your trusty smartphone comes in super handy.  It doesn’t have to be super polished – it just has to be something your audience is interested in, and it has to be authentically YOU.

Which leads us to the last big mistake…

Mistake #5:  Feeling Like you Have to do it All Yourself

Anyone struggle with this, the downfall of many a new entrepreneur? (Hand raised).  If so, I can tell you you’re definitely not alone.

Until just recently (and maybe even still… just a little bit), this was me.  Because I can do a lot of different things, I felt like, “Why should I bother hiring someone else to do this when I’m perfectly capable.  And I’ll save a few bucks.”  Sound familiar?  Ffftt!  As a recovering perfectionist who just about went batty trying to do it all myself, I’ll tell you right now – it can’t be done.  Not and have a healthy body, great relationships, a successful business and a life that looks the way you want it to.  Not.  Possible.  At all.

Bottom line is that every penny you spend in getting competent help for the tasks you’re not so good at or don’t enjoy will come back to you two fold, if not more.  You know what I’m talking about – those tasks you end up spending WAY too much time on.  Time you could be using to build your business… or spending on activities you really enjoy… or with your family.

Maybe you need a virtual assistant to schedule all your social media posts and set up your newsletter each week.  Maybe you need some help with site back-ups and updating your WordPress plug-ins and theme instead of spending hours fighting on tech support forums when something goes wrong and your site crashes.  Or maybe you really need to quite trying to learn Adobe Illustrator and just have a professional graphics person design that new header you need for your upcoming product release.

You can save yourself a lot of headaches, regain time with your family and create an amazing business if you’d just admit one thing – you can’t do it all yourself.  Nor should you.  You’ve got bigger and better things to do…  you’ve got a message to bring to the world!

Your Homework

Here’s your task for today:

1. Grab a pen and paper, your laptop, tablet or smartphone.
2. Open up your website and take a good look at it, based on the list above, then make a list of 5 areas where it could be brought up to date.
3. Take a look at that list, and identify one thing you could do today.  Then either do it yourself, or get someone who’s a pro in that area to take it off your plate.
4. Take a look at the list again, and pick another thing you could get done – or have someone else do – by the end of this week.
5. Do the work or connect with someone else who can get the work done for you!

Sharing time!  Have you ever made any of these mistakes with your website?  What did you do to fix them?  We’d love to hear your stories, as they’ll help others in the same boat.  Please let us know in the comments below!

The post Does Your Website Need a Makeover? appeared first on The Cabin Design Studio.

But as you’re probably painfully aware, it’s not all roses and sunshine.

If you’re a coach or sell digital products, you know how much time you send answering questions about accessing downloads, troubleshooting issues with playing back videos, or resending links to digital product or coaching call recordings.  You love your clients, and you’re blessed to have them in your life.  You want to provide great customer service, but there are only so many hours in the day, and you’re not quite ready to hire an assistant.  There is an easier way!

You may have never thought that your business could benefit from membership software, but more and more solo entrepreneurs, practitioners and small businesses are discovering the benefits of adding membership software to their WordPress website, even if they aren’t offering coaching or official ‘membership’ programs.

The Benefits

•    Continuity programs become a breeze to manage.
•    No more calls from your clients on weekends saying they’ve lost the link to their course materials or call recordings.
•    Manage multiple information products from one simple dashboard.
•    Clients access all their products and content in one centralized place right on your website.
•    Offer affiliate programs for your products.
•    Manage coupons, dime sales and content dripping from one dashboard.
•    Saves you time – LOTS of time
•    Allows you to focus on what you do best – building your business – while your clients can focus on learning and not keeping track of emails and links.

So now that you’re convinced (or at least a little intrigued) that membership software can make your business more efficient and will make life so much easier for your clients, how do you pick the best application for the job?

How to Assess WordPress Membership Software Applications

Before you invest in a membership platform, there are a few questions to ask yourself to figure out the best solution for you:

1. What will you be using the membership software for?  What do you want to accomplish?  Easier delivery of content to existing clients?  Launching a coaching program?  Delivering dripped video courses?
2. How much time will you be able to invest in maintenance and creating new product connections in the software?
3. What’s your budget for initial purchase and maintenance?  Many applications have so many add-on fees, and costs can add up quickly.  Look for a one-time fee option.
4. Will you be setting up the system yourself or will you be outsourcing?
5. Think of the current and future sticking points in your business and write them down – the right membership software will help alleviate some of the redundant tasks you end up doing every day.
6. Review the forums of the different applications and see what people are complaining about.  Are they real technical issues or are there repeated complaints that should be red flags?  Do support staff seem to respond quickly to forum questions?  Are they responsive, kind, and helpful, or do they sound like the users are bothering them?
7. Does the company do the software installation for you?
8. Do they provide copious amounts of tutorials, videos and documentation?
9. How often do they update and upgrade the software?
10. Is the dashboard intuitive?
11. Do they have a money-back guarantee?

There are so many options o choose from, but after literally a solid week of research last fall and building numerous membership sites over the last year, there’s only one I recommend for most small businesses and entrepeneurs:  Digital Access Pass (DAP).

What Makes DAP Different?

• It’s great value at $167 – a one time fee for a single license (plus $60 a year – current rate – for updates and support).  For what it does, this is a steal.
• You can provide a variety of different types of content to both free and paying customers/clients, including WordPress pages/posts/categories, videos from your video hosting service, audio files, PDF reports, zip files, html pages and even images.
• Allows you to sell unlimited products and create unlimited membership levels (free and paid), as well as recurring subscriptions and one time products.
• You’ll be able to sign up unlimited members.
• Offers limited-duration free and paid trials.
• You’ll accept payments from a range of carts and payment processors: Authorize.net, ClickBank, e-Junkie, Paypal Standard (Business & Premier), Paypal Website Payments Pro, 1ShoppingCart and all private labels, 2CheckOut, Infusionsoft, Premium Web Cart, WP eStore, Plimus, Warrior WSO Pro, Google Checkout, JVZoo, DigiResults and more.
• Use the built-in FREE DAP Shopping Cart for Authorize.net, Paypal Standard and Paypal Website Payments Pro so your members can check out and pay right on your web site. Free cart also has support for Coupon Codes and Dime Sales.  It needs some styling to look great, but it can eliminate the need for a shopping cart subscription for some business models.
• Utilize ‘real’, unlimited content dripping without having to create a new ‘product’ for each dripped content segment.
• One-click upsells and downsells, as well as one time offers.
• There’s a built-in affiliate program that lets you pay per lead and pay per sale with support for PayPal Mass Pay.  Also lets you offer multi-tier commissions.
• There’s also built-in email autoresponder and broadcasts emails.
• Then there’s the top-notch customer support, the ongoing development – and they’ll even install it for you!

You can find out more about the HUGE volume of features of Digital Access Pass here.  If you’re interested in discussing how DAP might make your business run more efficiently and make life easier for you and your clients, check out our Membership Sites page, then drop us a line via our contact page.  We’d love to talk to you!

The post How to Pick the Right WordPress Membership Software for Your Business appeared first on The Cabin Design Studio.