Arizona Web Design

Chris Hooley's Blog

2006-08-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

For those who know me, or one day might, I would like to invite you to Chris Hooley's Blog. It is basically the place where I am most likely to post marketing tips, tricks, or ideas. I also use it to write about anything funny in the world of Chris. (Hooley that is)

It also has links to may main social networks, pics, and sites of interest. Hope you find it interesting!

Phoenix web design

2005-08-01T20:34:00.000-07:00

Phoenix web design - my new little freebee site. I wonder if getting free sites like this works for SEO

MCP Media launches Arizona Search Engine Optimization and Phoenix SEO

2005-03-27T17:10:00.000-08:00

MCP Media, the premier Arizona web design company, launches their Arizona Search Engine Optimization services ot the general public. Let's see how this one goes!

MSN Search Beta Ramp-Up

2005-01-16T19:50:00.000-08:00

Beta Ramp-Up

The new MSN is getting introduced to the general public. I gotta say, I love it (well, my site ranks #1 for Arizona Web Design on it, so I gotta love it!)

Arizona Web Design Serps are going nutts!

2005-01-09T10:25:00.000-08:00

Ok, I don't mean to be an overzealous rankings watcher, but for the past few days I have been watching my site hit #1 in google, then sink back to #3 over and over again. It settled down to number 3 again, and I can't say I am too excited about it :(

Here is the SERP in question: Arizona Web Design on Google

Let's hope to see that number one ranking again really soon!

Perfect Party Ideas? sounds more like the perfect SEM ideas!

2005-01-09T09:33:00.000-08:00

Content Syndication info - this is a great resource for article syndication. It might not be exactly "Arizona Web Design" related, but it is still great info for any forward thinking search engine marketer.

The Web Designer Versus the Web Developer: Who is Right?

2005-01-04T21:49:00.000-08:00

For some reason, they have the same goals, but can't seem to agree on the right way to achieve them. Your designer swears that you need a super slick interface with all the bells and whistles and lots of vibrant color to draw the user's attention. Your web developer tells you that you need blue underlined text links and a white background at all times because it is more usable. Both want you to have a successful website, and neither can tolerate the other's point of view. So who has the right idea?

The answer is... (drumrolll please)... Can I buy a vowel and get back to you?

Let's explore the minds of these two individuals first to see what makes them tick. After that we should be able to finally answer the age-old question of who is right; the web designer or the web developer. (and by "age-old" I mean "internet age old" which is younger than I am, but I digress)

The mind of a web designer
Web designers see the web differently than most. Hip to design ideology, current with design trends, able to spot low resolution graphics in a single glance, these individuals are responsible for bringing pizzazz to the web. Who else would be able to see tabular data and decide that HTML tables where the perfect way to place graphics on a screen? They have stretched the boundaries of the web's infrastructure and turned it into a true media instead of a simple text-based research tool.

These graphical wizards (at least the good ones) understand form and color theory. They understand the visual aspects of marketing and what drives people to react to visual stimulation. They know what looks good, and how to visually brand your company. They know what looks bad, and will likely tell you ambitiously when they spot it. They understand how sight drives feeling. To make your site look and feel the way it should, the web designer is right.

The mind of a web developer
Web developers see the web the same as everybody else should. (at least in theory) Although at times they might not be able to tell you precisely why something is visually appealing, they sure can elaborate on why something doesn't work properly. Logically the web is a place to attain information as quickly and efficiently as possible. After all, that's why it was created. Web developers think logic, efficiency, functionality.. and maybe design if it doesn't affect the integrity of the data flow diagrams they created in the planning phase of the systems development life cycle.

Accessible and sensible, efficiently coded and highly compatible; websites that web developers produce work. Plain and simple. No time for flashy visuals because the load time will increase. Why design a graphical button when with half the code and one third of the bandwidth you can have a text link that performs the same task? Think of all the money you can save if your site is programmed as efficiently as possible. Logically, a web developer is right.

The answer is... (drumrolll please)...
It depends.

I know, that's not the answer you wanted to hear, but it was either that or "both". Your designer and your developer are both right, although neither will likely admit it. If you own a design studio, or your are in entertainment, chances are good you will be leaning towards the advice of your designer. After all, creativity is more valued in your industry then say, software development. If you are a software development company, you may be leaning towards your web developer's advice because efficient systems are more important to people in your industry.

But what about the average website owner? Maybe you have an online store, a real estate agency, a retail business, you are a member of a virtual community or something else that is not as black and white as a design firm or a development team. The fact of the matter is you have to weigh the options against your company's values and goals to make the appropriate decisions if the designer and the developer ever clash. In all cases your site needs to look good, and in all cases your site needs to function properly. The choice shouldn't ever boil down to one or the other.

This is why there are both web designers and web developers. They are the yin and the yang of building websites. If your company doesn't have a little of both involved in creating or maintaining your website, you may have some unbalanced karma with your click throughs and conversions.

Chris Hooley is a web design and web development specialist and founder of MCP Media, Inc. MCP Media is a Phoenix Arizona based web design, web development, and internet business development firm.

Why Use XHTML on Your Web Site?

2005-01-04T21:48:00.000-08:00

As website owners, we all want the same thing. We all want a great design. We all want to make money. We all want our site to reach as many people as possible. But how often have you heard "My site looks great at home but I looked at it on this different computer and it looked terrible!"?

Chances are you've heard this before, or maybe you've even said it yourself. Thankfully, good web developers know how to avoid this, and still deliver everything you should expect from a good website.

Many web design companies only understand certain portions of creating a great web presence. Some companies focus on web development, but have limited design and marketing skills. Others are so focused on bleeding edge technology and design that they forget that some people view websites on PDAs or alternative browsers that can't support such technical wizardry. Few firms can find that sweet spot in the middle where your website looks great and functions well in all instances. Enter XHTML and cross browser compatibility.

What is XHTML?
XHTML is the W3C standard for developing cross browser compatible websites. It fuses all of the display elements of HTML with some of the functionality of XML. By forcing a web designer to program more carefully and adhere to strict code standards, XHTML successfully allows a vastly larger percentage of browsers or code parsers to properly parse your documents. In less geeky terms, it means more people can see your site the way you meant for them to see it, and less people see your site with elements strewn all over their page.

For your site to reach the widest potential audience, it is important that it is developed in the most cross browser compatible method possible. XHTML is that method. The rise of handheld internet ready devices is forcing lazy web designers to program their sites more efficiently, since most internet ready cell phones and PDAs require XHTML to be able to view websites properly. People who use mac computers often see a bunch of gibberish on their screen when browsing the web because some of the tools web design "professionals" use create bloated code that does not render properly. Lazy programmers often only use WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors to create their web pages and don't even bother to open up the code window.

When somebody comes to your site and sees a total mess of graphics and tables all over the place, it is your brand and your site that suffers. No company looks good with a site that looks bad. Let's do a short exercise to prove this point.

Right now think of me as a user who is ready to buy a widget. You sell widgets. I just landed on your home page. Your site looks awesome on my computer at home running Internet Explorer. However, today I am browsing around on my neat new cell phone. Chances are if you're site is not XHTML compliant; it looks terrible to me right now. I don't want to see this mess on my new toy, so to clean my screen I have to just click right past you and into your competitor's home page. Unfortunately for you, their site is programmed in XHTML and looks perfect.

That's it, I'm sold... and I just bought this shiny new widget from your competitor.

Chris Hooley is a web design and web development specialist and founder of MCP Media, Inc. MCP Media is a Phoenix Arizona based web design, web development, and internet business development firm.

Need a professional web design company to enhance your business? Please contact MCP Media.

I’m Online, So Now What? Generating Traffic for Your Company’s Website

2005-01-04T21:46:00.000-08:00

Let's say your company has recently made the decision to expand your market to include cyberspace. You've done your research and designed an absolutely killer website. You've got your URL, you've got your host, and you're ready to rock and roll. Bring on the profits! Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple. Your company can have the slickest website on the Internet, but if people aren't finding you, you aren't making any money. The answer to this is, of course, marketing.

Web marketing contains some new procedures and methods, but the underlying principles are the same as in the 'real world'. You must attract people to your product, create a positive impression of your brand, and facilitate an atmosphere that encourages the potential customer to make a purchase.

The World Wide Web is a vast place, with literally millions of different webpages on any subject you can think of. To help sort through this maze of information, most web surfers use a search engine, such as Google, to find what they are looking for. Google uses a somewhat complex method called ‘crawling’ to find information on the web, which is then indexed on the Google servers. This index gives the web surfer their search results, and is updated on a frequent basis.

Google (and other similar search engines) can be an excellent resource for increased traffic, but only if your site appears at the top of the search results. Most people never look at the second results page, so if your site isn’t in the top twenty, you’re missing out on quite a few potential customers.

Though Google’s specific methods for ranking search results remain a closely guarded secret, many companies have had quite a bit of success with a process known as ‘search engine optimization’, or SEO. For a fee, an SEO company will work with your website using several different techniques to raise the search result ranking. While this may seem to be an extraneous expense at first, careful analysis will show that it is not only worthwhile, but a necessary investment as part of your overall marketing strategy.

Search Engine Optimization is a valuable tool for your Web Marketing Strategy, but it is certainly not the whole story. Another highly effective method of generating traffic is purchasing advertising space on other websites. This often takes the form of banners placed on popular sites where your target market would likely browse or having your site appear among the ‘sponsored’ listings in a search results page.

If you choose to use banner advertising, smart ad design cannot be stressed enough. Web users are bombarded with advertising constantly, so only the most interesting and/or informative ads will catch their attention. The key is to give them a reason to be curious about your site, without trying to cram too much information into the small space of a banner ad. Also, avoid misleading ads, such as those designed to look like Windows error messages. This will be a turn off to most web surfers, and will only hurt your brand image.

Most search engines also offer a program where a company pays a fee to appear on a sponsored results list. This list generally appears before the regular search results, and therefore can be another valuable marketing tool. The different search engines offer varying programs, but generally, you select certain keywords and/or geographic areas, and relevant searches return your website in the sponsored results. Depending on your particular product and market, this has the potential to generate quite a bit of traffic.

The practice of ‘link exchange’ can also be a successful and inexpensive marketing device. This is where you make an agreement with another website – generally one that offers a complementary good or service – to prominently display a link to them, and they, in turn, link to you. This can be beneficial by generating extra traffic to your site, as well as fostering useful partnerships with other companies.

E-mail can be a good way to follow up on sales leads and market to existing customers, but do not – I repeat, do NOT – engage in unsolicited e-mail advertising (also known as Spam). Much like the misleading banner ads, Spam nearly always annoys your potential customer. While you may generate a few sales this way, it is ultimately counterproductive when you consider the negative image attached to your brand.

Your Web Marketing Strategy, in the end, should be designed to reach your target market in the most efficient way possible. Remember to stay true to your brand. Just because your company is now in cyberspace does not mean that you should abandon the principles and themes that have brought you success in the real world. Thoroughly research your target market, use the resources at your disposal to reach them, and stay true to yourself.

Alex Benson is a creative writing specialist and for MCP Media, Inc. MCP Media is a Phoenix Arizona based web design, web development, and internet business development firm.

Five Common Web Design Mistakes

2005-01-04T21:39:00.000-08:00

These days, everyone’s a Web designer. With relatively simply Web design packages readily available, lots of people are doffing their new, shiny Web design hats and taking a stab at bringing their business online. But is this wise, or is it giving them a headache?

If you have the time, the flair, and the vision for your organization’s website, you will no doubt save some dough in designing yourself. But are you leveraging technology or bastardizing it? There are two schools of thought on this issue. Whichever school is your alma mater, we can all agree that there are some basic mistakes many website designers make, and these are best avoided. Let’s take a look at these “common” mistakes with an eye toward making them less common.

1- Overly Wordy Web Designs

Well, maybe this isn’t completely about design after all. But when you look at a page and there are too many words, there’s a perception problem, a comprehension problem, and a design problem. Good design is clean and concise. If your text is making your momma yawn, you know you’ve typed too too far. How to slice it down? Spin doctors say everything can be boiled down to three main things. That may not be true - -of course your business model and offerings are paragons of complexity and obscurity that must be explained in 10,000 Arabian nights of detailed prose - but what we can agree on is, why give your secrets away? Be brief. The rule of thumb for Web copy is, unless you are behind the login of a subscription service where information is actually for sale, don’t give it away. Whet the appetite for the online visitor to actually call or email you. Drive them to action. Don’t satiate—tempt.

2- Ugly Web Designs

You probably thought I’d find a nice word for it, didn’t you? Let’s face it, lots of sites are plain ugly. What does ugly mean? Like beauty, you know it when you see it. In poor Web design, “ugly” often takes the form of pixilated graphics that weren’t sized for the screen, a lack of integrated design, and the use of stock (free) clip art instead of artwork designed specifically for your pages. And my favorite - jumpy animated graphics and scrolling banners that have less artistic merit than a line of ants tracing cookie crumbs in your kitchen.

How can you avoid ugly? There are only two methods that I’ve seen work - have someone with artistic talent and aesthetic design your site, or, simplify your site to the point of pure text and basic buttons. (And if you do that, make sure all your text is the same font and all your buttons are the same size. Preferably black on white.)

3- Your Website is Useless

Dare I say that? That there are actually useless websites out there? Thousands of them. If your website doesn’t have a point to make, a raison d'être, a mission statement of its very own, it’s a design flaw your visitors will perceive - and leave. How do you know this has occurred? When you view your Web log or your report of website visitors, 90% of them come to the home page and run, never digging any deeper. This means all your Web visitors can think of, when they see you, is something else. Counteract this by making sure your website is relevant to more than just your ego (unless, of course, your ego IS the reason you have a website). That way, your target demographic - your target customer - should see something they like and stay.

4- Lack of Traffic Flow Planning

Similar to useless, but less harsh, a lack of an overall traffic plan is a common flaw in Web design, especially amateur design. A good website is tooled for its user. The Web design and development team literally imagines that ideal customer coming, and designs the perfect path for them. It’s like when your girlfriend is coming over, and you plant a rose by the door, a trail of rose petals to the . . . um, kitchen . . . (this is posted on the Internet after all!) and there you are twirling a glass of Chianti. Think she’ll stay for desert? Absolutely! And that’s the way great Web design does it . . . First, there’s some thought to the demographic analysis of the potential customer or visitor to the site. The top three or five reasons someone may visit the site are well considered, and actual “information paths” are created for those situations. At the end of the path, the visitor is invited to more action than click-throughs, and has an opportunity to whip out their credit card, send an email, or download something fascinating. (You of course, know this works because you track your customers.) Which brings me to Flaw #5

5- Lack of Tracking

You may have the most beautisimous (kidding) website on Krypton, but how do you know it does what you want it to do without tracking features? At a bare minimum, you want to know the monthly visits to each page and where those visitors are coming from (in the form of referring URLs). You also want to know which pages you’ve created that are “sticky” - the pages that tend to keep people involved for a while. These metrics are important because they should directly lead you back to your customer. Did you succeed in creating paths for your visitors they want to follow, or do you need to re-tweak or re-write some of the copy? Your tracking program is the only way you’ll be able to measure whether or not your website is meeting its mission.

As you, savvy reader, have by now deduced, these common mistakes all point to a lack of forethought on the part of the would-be web designer. People, especially results-oriented entrepreneurial types, tend to want to “dig in” to an application, push the buttons, and create something. But good Web design takes forethought. That’s why so many people outsource it - time is not one of their luxuries. The best professional Web design firms will not throw a suite of pages up for you. They will talk you through the demographics of your visitor, the mission of your website, and the “critical paths” of visitation. It’s boring, but it works. If you want Web presence that gets results, you can’t skip these initial steps. If you think through your customer’s needs, and create a site to meet them, you’ll avoid all the most common mistakes in Web design.

Lisa Calhoun is a creative writing specialist for MCP Media, Inc. MCP Media is a Phoenix Arizona based web design, web development, and internet business development firm.

Cascading Style Sheets, a deluge of advantage!

2005-01-04T21:35:00.000-08:00

So you’ve heard the term, but you’re not quite sure what exactly is meant by a style sheet, much less one that performs acrobatics like cascading? You’ve come to the right article. Issues of style have long been a mystery, but when it comes to formatting text, you’ll find that cascading style sheets make sense.

History of Cascading Style Sheets

Historically, style sheets used to be manual records of the style of a publication. Magazines and newspapers, for instance, had style sheets that specified which font to use in headlines, typical margins, the amount of indent to start a paragraph, bullets, the preferred ratio of headline size to subhead size, and the house rules for hyphenation and other editorial niceties. The style sheet is what gave a publication its unique look and feel. Do you use Century, Times Roman, or Baskerville as body copy? When text is bulleted, what bullet is used, how much is it indented, and how far apart is the bulleted text? These questions were resolved by the style sheet.

The Need for Cascading Style Sheets

In the 1970s and 80s, when computers became the platform on which more and more type was being set, style sheets were in transition. Styles were applied to text by hand—in other words, the designer or layout person would highlight text with a mouse, apply formatting, and repeat this process again and again until every block of text was in the appropriate style. This kind of style is now called “inline style.” It got the job done, but it was still a laborious process.

Style sheets got more and more robust with typesetting applications, and the expectations of users grew. Web designers began to look for ways to make more attractive Web sites more simply. Instead of formatting text paragraph by paragraph with tags, HTML evolved so that embedded style sheets could set display parameters for entire pages.

The latest incarnation of this evolution toward better Web design is the Cascading Style Sheet (.css). The name “cascading” describes the rules the style sheet uses. The cascading style sheet is able to weigh inline styles, embedded styles, and global styles. Inline styles have the highest weight, and are always observed. Embedded styles are the next most authoritative. In the absence of either of these, the cascading style provides overall formatting for the document.

Lisa Calhoun is a creative writing specialist and for MCP Media, Inc. MCP Media is a Phoenix Arizona based web design, web development, and internet business development firm.

The Splash of Flash

2005-01-04T21:28:00.000-08:00

You know we're in a new age when talking about flashing someone is less about taste and more about bandwidth. Flash, a streaming format from Macromedia, allows Web sites to behave like movies, reacting to the mouse in a way that seems almost alive. Flash has gained in popularity in the last five years as more and more designers learn how to integrate it into overall Web design. In extreme cases, entire Web sites are built in Flash.

The Pros of Flash

Flash is platform independent, meaning your Flash messages appear the same way on a Mac or on a PC. Plus, the interactivity of Flash lets your viewers linger on your site playing with its reactivity, making it move. Flash sites can be addictive. Check out these successful business sites to see Flash in action:

http://www.mercermc.com
http://www.adp.com
http://www.matrox.com
http://www.mckinsey.com

The Cons of Flash

There's no doubt that Flash is appealing to the eye, but when it's over-used, it can easily create a messy impression. It's also much less modular than graphics/test interfaces. With a graphics/test Web site, when your product changes, you upload a new photo. When your product changes and your Web site is Flash-based, you've got a few hours of careful crafting on your hands instead of a quick upload.

Also, even though the playful interactivity of Flash is a positive, the downside is your well-crafted messages could get lost in the motion. Did you visit http://www.mercermc.com? Can you name two definitive things they do? Although it's listed in the text, the sheer interactivity of the graphics is overwhelming. On the other hand, http://www.adp.com uses a small dash of flash to add attractive motion to an otherwise very modular, easy-to-update, text-driven site.

Flash files are also larger than typical Web graphics and text. If your intended viewers aren't surfing at fast connection speeds, they will find Flash pages frustrating. As a Web developer at Employease, the hosted application provider for the HR/payroll industry, told me recently, "Flash looks like amateur hour really fast."

Most designers can agree that you don't need Flash to look great online. Consider the following Web sites--they sport unique interfaces and have chosen to be Flash-free (at least at the time of this writing!):
http://www.fedex.com
http://www.casauri.com

How to Use Flash

Most experts agree that unless you are a Flash developer showing off bleeding-edge skills, the best way to use Flash is with the "seasoning" methodology. A little spice goes a long way. Used sparingly like salt or pepper, Flash can accent your Web site with interactive, captivating touches that don't slow down the overall connection speed too badly. A little goes a long way. So as you consider adding Flash to your Web site, keep in mind your reasons. Are you adding Flash because everyone else has it? Or because you feel a splash of Flash might add just the stickiness you need to keep someone's attention a couple of critical seconds longer? Flash, like everything else about your business Web site, is a business decision--make it with your users in mind.

Casino Gambling Watchdog

2005-01-04T21:24:00.000-08:00

Casino Gambling Watchdog - this is my pal and his site rock, even if it IS a casino related site!

Logo Design - Using Simplicity to Achieve Success

2005-01-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

When a company makes the decision to create a website, their potential market is greatly expanded, but so is the competition. All of sudden you’re not only competing with the business down the road, you’re also competing around the country, and sometimes the world. Brand recognition is one of your most effective weapons in the battle for customers, and effective logo design is one of the most fundamental elements of brand recognition.

People tend to remember a catchy logo at a much higher rate than nearly any other advertising element. When designing your logo, there are several things to keep in mind to achieve you goals: be unique, be true to your company, consider the psychology of your target market, and, above all, keep it simple!

To accomplish a unique logo design, you should start by getting online and checking out the competition. This will allow you to avoid designing a great logo, only to find out that it is strikingly similar to a competitor’s. Once you have an idea of what is already out there, sit down with your graphic designer, and start brainstorming.

During this phase, your company’s identity and your target market’s psychology should be the main consideration. For instance, if you are a company with a very professional atmosphere, such as a law firm, you may want a logo design with a classic style. If your company is more laid back, you may want to consider something more cartoonish or modern looking.

Aside from general style, your company’s identity can also generate good ideas about logo specifics. A travel agency would find it helpful to use imagery that implies travel, such as a globe, an airplane, or something along those lines. Also, your company name can be used to create an interesting, successful logo. This can be achieved by using your company’s ‘intials’ or sometimes by using the entire name. Another successful method is to come up with an interesting shape that goes along with the image you are attempting to portray (think Nike’s swoosh). Again, be sure to browse the competition to avoid a copycat logo design.
The same principles apply to your target market psychology. If you market to senior citizens, you probably want a logo design that is refined and elegant. If you market to the tech industry, you want something a bit slicker. The key is to consider what your target market wants, and then design a logo that speaks to those desires.

Once you’ve brainstormed some good, solid design ideas, you are ready to begin crafting your new logo. If your brainstorming was productive, you will likely have a long list of wonderful things to include, but be careful not to get carried away. One of the main purposes for your logo is brand recognition, and a simpler logo will stick in people’s heads much more effectively than an overly complicated one. By taking a minimalist approach to your final design, you will end up with a great logo that will look good on the website, business cards, letterhead, and so on. If you get too complicated, you may end up with something that looks wonderful at the top of your website, but becomes garbled when inserted on a business card.

Remember, logo design is a crucial element to your general marketing strategy. Put in the necessary time, effort, and creativity, and you will end up with an effective, memorable logo that will go miles towards developing the positive brand recognition you desire.

Need a professional Arizona logo design company to enhance your business? Please contact us.

Arizona Web Design is now on blogger!

2005-01-04T18:55:00.000-08:00

Can you beleive it? It is about time I got with the program!

Some of you may know me from forums- I usually post as Arizona Web- sometimes as MCP, and sometimes Arizona Web Design. My real name is Chris Hooley. I am a really just big web geek. I also work at NextStudent as the Senior Web Developer and Liason to Marketing and I own an Arizona Web Design company called MCP Media.

I'll be using Blogger mostly to post my web design articles, but I am pretty sure I will turn into a blog junky in no time flat. I tend to get deeply involved in all things web. I launch a lot of sites, and I have started to lean towards launching my own sites, and letting my designers do most of the MCP Media work. Some of my newer personal sites are Research Lawyers, a place to learn about common lawyer related terms and types of lawyers, and Direct-O-ry, a general free online web directory. Feel free to check them out any time. I love when people check out my websites!