So what is css and why is it so important?

CSS stands for cascading style sheets. While it is not new – it was first developed in 1997 – it is now being used to design full layouts. In its humble beginnings and for a long time afterwards, css was primarily used to define how html elements display on a page. Today however, complete layouts are being done in css. The reasons are several.

1. Layouts done in css are easy to change: Asking for a font change or size change or even a color change after a layout has been done is unlikely to drive a hole in your pocket if the layouts are full-css. And your web developer is less likely to crib as well as it saves him a lot of time making the changes than it would if the layout used tables!

1. Fast load times: CSS layouts are lighter and cut a lot of extra code. The code is leaner, neater making it faster to load pages. Faster pages mean your visitors will not click away without a look at your site. So there you have them!

1. Standards compliant: W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) lays down certain standards as benchmarks for good design. CSS layout is one of them. A standards compliant design doesn’t just make good design sense but also good business sense.

1. CSS layouts are more accessible: If you have heard a screen reader read out the content from a tabled layout with nested tables, you would know how important this is. While it may be imperative for your site to be more accessible from a purely business perspective, you might be mandated to have a fully accessible site by your local Governments. Governments insist on web accessibility to ensure that websites can be used by the widest possible audience.

1. Mobile friendly: Ever noticed how some sites completely break up while others can still be easily browsed on your mobile? When you have your website created completely in css, you can put to rest your fears that your site will appear all awry on mobile screens. Considering the sharp increase in mobile web browsing, that’s a big plus for any website.

1. CSS makes good SEO sense: The fact that search engine like sites that are accessible and have leaner code and thus load faster, makes the css websites more search engine friendly. The more search engine friendly your website is, the more the likelihood of its ranking higher in search engine result pages (SERPs). Higher ranks can translate into higher traffic and better conversions.

So if there are so many pluses of a css layout for a website, then how is it that non-css websites are still being made? The answer is quite simple. CSS layouts require a greater effort and better skills to  implement and most designers and developers would like to take the easier way out. Insist therefore for a css layout. Its worth it.

The advantages that Google Drive has upfront are that the product integrates well with Gmail and Google+. So if you are an avid user of gmail, you might want to consider moving from Dropbox to Google Drive.

And ofcourse it is backed by Google’s search prowess. So finding files in terra bytes of data would happen smartly, and in a jiffy. Google’s official blog says Google Drive can even scan the text in scanned documents. So if you scan and upload, say a printed invoice, you will still be able to search successfully on its text.

Plus, and that is a big plus – you can view 30 different types of files right there in your browser. If you are someone like me, who has had an autocad or adobe illustrator file sent to you for review and been at loggerheads to be able to view these files without having their expensive software installed on your hard drive – well, you now have a solution.

Set Additionally, you can set permissions for people you share your files with. You decide who sees what and who can comment and who can modify.

You can even collaborate with your colleagues and post and reply to comments on shared files.

Tracking changes is another attractive feature. If you have been emailing files back and forth during a discussion with a client or a colleague, you know how important it is to be able to track changes. Google Drive tracks every change you make-so when you hit the save button, a new revision is saved. You can look back as far as 30 days automatically, or choose a revision to save forever. Google’s search also uses image recognition technology, which means if you have any famous landmarks in your photos, a search by their name would bring up your photos featuring the landmark or monument.

Google Drive provides access to files on the go. With the android app already out and iphone app expected soon, Google Drive would have most mobile users covered.

The Cost:

5GB of storage comes for free as a trial, which is quite a lot of space for a soho business. If your storage needs are higher, you can upgrade to 25GB for $2.49/month, 100GB for $4.99/month or even 1TB for $49.99/month. When you upgrade to a paid account, your Gmail account storage will also expand to 25GB.

And if like me, you are worried about the privacy of your data, the news is that like all other Google products, Google DRive too is covered by Google’s unified policy.

So if you already use Gmail or Google Docs for exchanging documents, the bit below is not something new to you and you might just be ok with the risk.

“”When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content.”

Oftentimes we as entrepreneurs rue about why we are getting a raw deal, why our commitment to superior service levels is not valued enough to bring in bigger, larger orders, why our products are not selling like hot cakes.

The problem, quite often, lies not in our products or services or even at the client’s end. Its something more fundamental. Its simply because we don’t ask! No, don’t let this shock you. Most of us respond to direct requests instead of indirect requests cushioned in words that are supposed to ’sell’ but sadly fall flat in the face.

And this principle holds good even when trying to engage customers or when recruting and retaining an able team. An entrepreneur is a salesperson from whichever perspective you may look at it. To your customers, you sell yor products, to your employees the work environ at your company, to your investors a promise of higher returns, the list goes on. So its little wonder that what holds good for a salesperson holds good for an entrepreneur as well.

The moot point therefore is that one must completely rid oneself of any hesitation and back it up with sound planning.

Lets take a simple example – you have just been told by your seo manager that client testimonials when added to the landing pages of your website can improve the conversion rates. You have scores of really happy clients but no recorded testimonials. What will you do? Will you send out a direct personal request to your top clients asking for a formal review of your services? One would have thought the answer would be a very vehement and obvious Yes.

I was shocked, however, when I recently came in touch with not one, but three recent entrepreneurs, all of them professionals with very impressive resumes to boot, hesitating to pick up the phone and ask their few existing clients for testimonials.
Can you imagine how difficult it must then be for them to ask prospects for sales? What is it that holds these academically successful people back? Is it because it is considered rude to ask people directly for what you want? Is it the fear of rejection that does it? Isn’t not asking, and therefore not getting what you want rejection as well?

Having said that, it does not mean that asking ensures that we will get what we want. But yes, it does increase the probability manifold. When we ask, we put the control in our hands. The answer may be a NO and be prepared to hear a NO. Even hearing a ‘no” can be turned into an advantage. When you hear a no, have the courage to ask why it is a no. Is it because of external factors? Is it because your research or customer segmentation was wrong? Is it because your positioning was wrong? Is it because they are not happy with your service? If it is something that is in your control, rectify it and then go back and ask again.

This may appear to be elementary stuff but it takes a lot of the go-getter attitude to get it right. By not assuming that the person across the table will find it rude, get offended, picture us as greedy, has no need for my product or service, we will do ourselves and our fledgling businesses a great favour. Sometimes, it just helps to not think too much and get down with the “doing’ bit.

5. Sound communication skills: Its important that you and your point of contact in the agency understand each other. Prompt responses, clear communication and the ability to explain things in a language that a layman can understand are the key points you need to check on. The first few communications with the design firm will give you a fair idea of this.

6. Hidden costs: Some agencies will make a very low cost offer initially but as you move along, you soon discover that stuff that you had assumed to be a part of the package need to be paid for. So before you hire, make sure you have a clear list of deliverables and the associated costs.

7. Need based or fad based: Flash sites may be pretty and experiential but are they suited to your business and your target audience? A good web designer will not hard sell the latest fad to you but will suggest what is likely to work best for your site, bring in most visitors, generate more inquiries, result in more sales and the like. They will start with your site objectives and work with you to achieve bang for your buck.

Stay clear of the web design agencies that do not ask you what your site objectives are.

8. Search Engine Ready: Although it appears way down in the list, this is one of the most important factors to consider when hiring a web design company. All your time, effort and money spent in creating an impressive online identity will go down the drain if your site can-not be indexed by search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Make sure your web designer knows how to create search engine friendly websites. Make sure you tell them you want a search engine friendly architecture. Even if you do not currently have the resources to hire search engine promotion services, it would be prudent to make sure that your site has a search engine friendly architecture and that you are ready to go when you have the resources.

9. Original designs, original content: Your website is your online identity and should represent what your business stands for. It should be unique and not a pot-pourri of graphics copied and pasted from other sites or a clone of someone else’s website layout. Make sure that your web designer does not use images or text stolen from another site in your designs or you could run into copyright issues. Remember, your website is available anytime, anywhere to anyone who is on the internet and it won’t be long before they discover your site uses someone else’s layout or content.

10. Full service: When you are setting up a small business, you want to focus all your energies on it and not waste time running around trying to find different agencies for web design, database management, hosting, marketing collateral design or printing. Make sure the agency you hire is a one-stop shop and have the wherewithall to provide the bouquet of design and programming services your small business will need over the next few years.

As your business grows, your branding and IT needs will grow. Invest your time and resources with a company that has the potential to deliver during different phases of your business.

Finally, to ensure the success of your project and to help the agency deliver on its promise:

• Be prepared: You know your business the best. You know your customers the best and you know your industry and competition better than any web designer would. So do your homework and prepare a brief for the web design agency. It would be a recipe for disaster if you leave everything to your designer initially and then get them to do several rounds of changes. Most small business websites are done at low margins and requesting too many changes will only drive the web design firm against the wall, often resulting in reduced commitment and unpleasantness.
• Trust your design firm: Just as you know your business better than any web design firm, they know web designing better than you do. So, once you tell them what you want, trust them with the creative and the technicalities.
• Create your own identity: Avoid trying to get your web designer to add all fancy animations that your friends’ and competitors’ website may have. You don’t want a me-too identity for your business, do you?
• Avoid legal issues: Often times to cut costs, clients ask the web design agency to take images and text from competitors’ websites. While it is unethical and tantamounts to piracy, it can also land you in legal issues with the rightful owner. Google is known to ban erring website links from appearing in search results and display the link to the DMCA complaint instead. Thats not what you want your first time visitors to see on the web about you, do you?
• Pay on-time: Expect the web designer to stick to the timelines they promise. But remember, they have a business to run and salaries and bills to be paid as well. Pay on-time to avoid any delays or reduced service levels.

It is not unusual for a small business to be tempted into contracting the firm that offers services at the lowest price. After all, it makes sense to save every penny when the business is just being set-up and evolve one’s online presence as the business evolves, and the needs evolve.

Yet, quite often a small business finds that it got a raw deal or finds itself being arm twisted by the once seemingly perfect web design partner. So what goes wrong in these cases? If you talk to the smart SMBs who succeeded in finding the right design/IT partner in the first go, you will notice a common thread. The smart ones took care of the basics.

What are these basics and how do you find yourself the right web partner who also has the capability to ‘deliver’ at all phases of your business?

In this two part series, we look at the top 10 things you need to check.

1. Domain Rights: Stay clear of the potential arm-twisters. Make sure that the company you hire registers your domain and hosting in your name. And that you are provided all login info for both your domain name control panel and your web hosting account. It is quite common to find unscrupulous small business owners who had to change their domain name or fight it out with their web design firm because it refused to give them control of their domain name when they decided to part ways.

2. Fly-by night operators: Low barriers to entry and a large pool of freelance web developers have meant more choice and better prices for customers. If you are on a shoestring budget, you may want to hire a freelancer to design your website. But will he be around an year later when you need changes to your web pages? Or will he have the time to meet you during business hours? Will he have the time and the skillset to launch a fully-functional website in the committed time-frame?

3. Competence Levels: Your website is your online presence on the world wide web. It is what most visitors who come to your site through search engines see first. And we all know the importance of the first impression. Does the web design agency have what it takes to deliver the “right’ first impression?

• Do they have the requisite skills?
• And the creativity?
• What kind of work have they done for other small businesses?
• Do they have any references?
• Have their clients used them more than once?
• Do they deliver on time?

These are the typical questions you need to find answers to when deciding on your web/IT partner. Again, don’t get carried away by a big client list. Talk to a few of their clients and find out what their experience in dealing with this firm was.

Ofcourse, as in all cases, there may be exceptions where you may want to hire a completely new design firm because they may offer the lowest prices or because they may be willing to provide more for the same amount or simply because you know them personally and so feel that you can trust them. In such cases, avoid the urge to rely entirely on your gut-feel, and do a background check. It will pay to check if the people behind this new firm have the right skills & competence levels and if they are capable, credible, hard working and trustworthy.

4. Usability: How the information is presented on your website is critical to the success of your website. If site visitors feel lost when they arrive on your site or have to pore over the site pages to find the info they are looking for, then you have lost them. It takes a lot of effort to get targeted traffic on any website but takes only a click on the x icon to lose it. With several thousands of options to choose from, the average internet user decides in the first few seconds of arriving on a site whether its good enough for him to stick around. If they have to wait for pages to load or if there are annoying animations, broken links, too much clutter, it won’t take them 10 seconds to bid goodbye.

It is imperative, therefore, that

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While studying tips for good writing, I got to know about the concept of SEO copywriting. This technique indeed distinguishes your copy from a general one. I think an SEO copywriter is the actual hero and not merely a writer. He is a chef who has to convert a complex structure into a simple one and blend all the suitable items together. While preparing a write-up, he must have a clear picture of his aim in mind.

My list of 3 basic must-dos in seo copywriting is:

1. Define Your Target Segment Clearly – As a first step in seo copywriting, very clearly define your target customers. Who are your readers going to be? Who is the copy meant for?

2. Researching Keywords – Once you are over with the job of defining a particular target group, its time to find out the related key phrases and traffic generated through them. This can be easily done with the help of several user-friendly Keyword tools available online. My personal favorite is the Google Keyword Suggestion Tool. This tool shows traffic of the key phrase and competition going in the industry. A must-do again for any seo copywriter.

3. Checking Keyword Density – After shortlisting key phrases, start developing the copy. Make sure however to weave the keyphrases judiciously into your writing. Its imperative to ensure not to end up with overuse of keywords. Stay clear of keyword stuffing. This may not only put off the reader, but also lead to your site being penalized by search engines.

Apart from these fundamentals, this article on principles of good writing has always been my true guide in my seo copywriting assignments. The gist of the article is:

• Be specific about your idea. Crystalize and organize your thoughts.
• Use simple and clear words to express yourself.
• Maintain conciseness as well as accuracy.
• Make proper use of punctuation marks.
• Use short sentences. The KISS rule applies here too!

That said, experts have suggested 6 C’s of good writing. They stand for:

• Clarity – Be clear about what you want to convey to your target audience. Do not mislead them by giving vague ideas.
• Conciseness – Expressing more in less words should be one of the qualities being possessed by an SEO copywriter.
• Crispness – The write-up should have smoothness as well as an easy flow.
• Coherence – A write-up reflecting a logical approach might provoke thoughts and instant reaction of the reader.
• Continuity – All the paragraphs in a write-up should remain linked or connected to one another.
• Consistency – From beginning to end, a write-up has to be given a uniform shape. It means the style and format of writing should remain the same to bring harmony among all its various parts.

These points might have given you an idea about SEO Copywriting and how it is different from a normally written copy, say for a brochure. They have worked for me and hope will work for you too. Do share your own experiences!

Given its importance, no designer can take the choice of fonts lightly. And that often means hours spent surfing fonts online or trying various combinations through graphic design applications or perhaps flipping through printed font directories. In case of trying fonts on the computer, well…anyone who has done it, will tell you how cumbersome it is. And in case of the printed font albums, one doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that there is a limit to the choice of fonts you have. And thats where the folks at Fontplore have come to our rescue.

They have devised an interactive application for searching and exploring font databases. It helps you browse, preview, compare and print fonts on an interactive table using tangible objects. Quite futuristic.

The sad bit is that the interactive tables are still something only the big agencies can afford. Though, given the way technology has made things accessible to people over the last decade or so (remember how expensive the first mobile phone was?!), it won’t be wishful to think that we will soon have an interactive table with Fontplore to vet font choices with clients for their design project. Can’t wait to lay my hands on it, honestly.

Fontplore Showreel from Mphasize on Vimeo.