I found another great webmaster message board today: Web Pro World. While I was there I reviewed a site that dealt with a rather ponderous banking subject. The site looked like it had been done by an amateur, and I made some recommendations of things I’d change to make it look more professionally done.The first thing that hit me about the site was the font used. The site owner used Times New Roman 12pt., highlighting some key points in red and blue. The site’s colors: red, white, and blue, were probably meant to be patriotic and the only graphic on the page was a small American flag in the upper left corner. Though some of the blue in the header and left-side column was lightened, and the main section was white with mostly-black lettering, the site continued to give the feeling of darkness.

My first recommendation was to make the site look more professional by using a nice sans-serif font made for the web, like Verdana, 10pt..

I also recommended brightening the place up a bit. Here’s what I wrote…

“For a graphic in the header, I think the flag in the corner is too small. Your site would look nicer with a large banner that extends across the page with the site name on it. To make one you could download the Paint Shop Pro program at http://www.jasc.com and use it for free for a few weeks on a trial basis. Make yourself a drop-dead gorgeous name banner and your site will look 100% better.

Put something in the background that makes people feel cheerful and happy - like a field of yellow tulips. Lighten up your colors. I recommend that because you’re dealing with a very deep subject and a few cheerful or interesting graphics may have a subconscious way of helping people deal with the idea of CD rates in a better state of mind.

For an example, check out this bank website with the cute photo of bears in the middle of it: http://www.bankofthewest.com - notice the light colors and the cute house and world icons further down on the page.”

Catering to your potential customer’s subconscious feelings by putting him in a good mood is always good for business.

I just joined a great message board resource: Create Blog - where blog skin designers get together and offer their template creations to the public.

There you’ll find free Blogger templates, free Xanga templates, free Livejournal templates, free website templates, free MySpace templates, tutorials, graphics, wallpapers, banners, and more.

It is a friendly site with some wildly talented designers contributing. Just go there and join - you won’t regret it. Here’s the link again: Create Blog

See you there!

I’m officially closing my webdesign business on March 31, 2007 so I’m not renewing contracts or accepting new clients at this time. I will be keeping this site online to maintain this blog.

My blog was originally designed to chronicle my adventures in owning a webdesign business. The new focus will be on giving free webdesign and browsing tips and information to anyone who needs it. Most of the articles I’ll be posting in the beginning will be very basic, but as time goes on I’ll get more in depth in discussing the more complex elements of webdesign.

Now, as for why I’m closing the business aspect of this site - I am just plain tired of it. I’m burnt-out, and ready to do something new. Whatever I’ll be doing in the future will include webdesign, but I’m doing it for myself now, not for other people.

My newest projects are EFT Joy, a site about using the Emotional Freedom Techniques, a method of energy healing; and Journey! California, a California Travel site.

I’m also the proud owner of Bigfoot Sightings, where I chronicle my Bigfoot research activities, and LindaJoMartin.Com, my personal writing website.

SEO Resources

This book is highly recommended (over other SEO books).
- LJM

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SEO Dictionary - if you’re not sure what a SEO word means, you’re likely to find the meaning in the SEO Dictionary.

SEO Specialists - comprehensive SEO resourcesSEO Chat - articles, tools, forum for SEO study

Number One In Your Niche - learn about SEO from Priya Shah.NicheBot Google Keyword Ranking Tool - where are you in the listing?

Guidelines for Successful Link Development - Sensible views on links from an SEO expert’s point of view.

GoRank’s SEO Tools - very informative search tools.

Search Engine Watch - search engine marketing super-site.

Search Engine Relationship Chart - verrrrrry cool!

Google Dance - lets you know when Google updates.

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Meta Tag Optimization Tips - what meta tags are and what they can do for you.

Why Quality Content is Key For Search Engines - tips on writing great content for your website or blog.

Identifying SEO Experts - series of articles about what it takes.

Keyword Selection Tool - an online Overture tool for selecting the right keywords for your site.

Good Keywords - free Windows software for finding the perfect set of keywords for your web pages. Knowing the right keywords to target is very important because your site should provide what people are searching for.

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