New Website Features
December 22nd, 2009We have recently updated our website layout to a more modern design approach. Previous customers may be pleased to know that Downeast Design is starting to pay closer attention to modern Search Engine Optimization trends. Our new design layout is designed with some of those trends in mind.
Here's a few highlights on how our new website designs can help your SEO strategies for getting found on the Internet.
Our new sites utilize a table-less design structure. We use Cascading Style Sheets to generate our content. This helps search engine robots/spiders index your pages easier.
We are using META tags more effectively than ever before. Now you can set keywords and descriptions for each individual page of your website. Our previous tactics were useful ten years ago, but due to modern SEO strategies, we've had to configure a new way to manage your site specific keywords.
Built-In Newsletters are a powerful way to get people to revisit your website. Our Content Management Systems now make it easier than ever to build an email list, allowing your visitors to Opt-in and Opt-out at their own leisure. Writing your Newsletter is as easy as filling in a simple form. Reach all of your Opt-In Subscribers with the push of a button!
Online Stores include a much more effective shopping experience. Our new designs will take advantage of "Breadcrumb Trails" to help visitors navigate, plus we'll show your visitors "Similar Products" while they are viewing your products so your potential customers can always be kept aware of other available products that they might not have noticed.
We've integrated a cool Flash Photo Slideshow that can hold any number of images. This Slideshow can easily be embedded onto any page of your site.
Creating custom forms on your site has never been easier. We have kept things simple by providing two methods for creating Feedback Forms. The Basic Form allows you to create a form instantly by selecting from a list of check-box choices, while the Custom Form gives you the freedom to create up to 20 unique fields. Add as many forms to your page as you desire!
Downeast Design has also added a new line of service for Photography! See our Photography section for more details and samples of some of our work.
Entertainers may be pleased to know that we have bundled a special package to deliver a powerful website for your band or music related business. Special tools like our myspace calendar synchronization tool, which literally absorbs your myspace schedule right out of your profile. You don't even have to log-in to myspace to make it work! Now you can sync your events calendar on your website with your band's myspace profile in a single click! Add Photo Albums, Flash Slideshows, an MP3 Jukebox, and even a Music Setlist organizer!
We're also in the business of creating matching business cards, banner graphics, and much more. Downeast Design is your one-stop resource for all of your website needs.
New Website Launched
December 15th, 2009Downeast Design launched a new website today. The new layout is a little better looking and more organized than our previous design. I've separated the Website Design and Photography Portfolios, making it easier to see work in either field of interest. Plus, I've enabled commenting in the Photography Portfolio as well in some of the pages of the site (including the Newsletter section, if you feel like leaving a comment about this post)
The reason for the recent update was to demonstrate some of the recent work I've done on the back-end Content Management Software and Search Engine Optimization emphasis of my latest designs.
One of the new features that excites me most is the use of 'Clean URLs'. If you are unfamiliar with this, it's basically the difference between URLs that look like 'index.php?i=1' and URLs that look like 'blue-fuzzy-widgets.html'. Search engines love Clean URLs, and now we're excited to be able to take advantage of a dynamically generated website CMS that can produce Clean URL pages with ease.
I've changed my pricing structure for websites too, which is based on an average cost from the past few years of building sites. There used to be different prices for different types of designs, but now I'm offering one full package, one flat price, which includes all of my cool editing tools, and design creativity.
So, what was once known as our 'eCommerce Bundle', is now the only package that we are selling. The price was $2,400.00, but has actually dropped to $1,800.00.
Another package that we were dealing with was called the 'Basic Foundation Bundle' which priced at $800.00. It did not include many of the features of the eCommerce Bundle and is now complete phased out. We dropped this package and are no longer offering complete websites at this price.
The best news of all is our new website designs are packed with cool editing tools and utilize methods that can make your website more popular with the search engines.
It's been over 6 months since my last Newsletter post. So I shouldn't have to excuse myself for the length ;) Remember, you can opt-out of these newsletters at any time by logging into your account on our website and changing the Newsletter preference in the 'Settings' area.
Happy Holidays from Billy at Downeast Design! :)
Web 2.0 and SEO
May 5th, 2009A lot of people are talking about Web 2.0 and SEO these days. For those of you unfamiliar with these terms...
WEB 2.0 refers to what many would call a second generation of web design tactics, where the visitor is more involved with the contents of the web page than sites built in the past. For example, a visitor can register, leave comments, vote, or collaborate with other registered members through commenting, private messaging, or other means.
The idea is to provide something for the visitor to do once they have arrived at a website. Even if you are only interested in selling products, you might provide the ability for your visitors to leave comments about your products, or rate them. This interactivity is helpful to customers who are curious about a product and want to hear what other people had to say about it.
It's always important to note that these wordy comments also double as useful keywords that search engines can use while indexing your website.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is another popular trend with modern websites today. SEO is the process of making your website popular on the Internet. This is achieved by focusing on much more than just writing a good paragraph with a nice looking picture.
SEO is an ongoing process that involves social networking, learning how to use targeted keywords and where to place them on your website, and much more. You can learn a lot about SEO, and develop new habits that will help raise your website's popularity levels on your own by reading a good book on the subject. There are lots of helpful books available today.
SEO can be affordable or expensive, depending on how much you can handle by yourself. Your budget can include online advertising campaigns if you desire immediate results, or you can spend your money in other areas that will produce better organic search results with search engines. (That's where the term Search Engine Optimization actually comes from).
We have been working on our CMS (Content Management System) and have started incorporating many SEO trends, allowing our customer's websites better organic search results. Our methods are always improving, as the world of SEO continues to evolve.
More recently, Downeast Design has decided to pursue a much needed focus on Web 2.0. Our upcoming CMS will begin to deal with modern Web 2.0 tactics, enabling our websites to make use of visitor commenting, voting, and other interactive features. We're excited about these changes to our CMS and hope that some of our existing website customers will consider upgrading their website to experience these awesome additions.
Contact me for more information, pricing, or to just figure out if your website even needs the upgrade or not. I'll work with you to make the transition seamless and affordable.
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