MenuLog InAdd Your Comments...I invite you to comment on the blogs posted here. Simply click here to create an account. We'll immeidately send you a password. Then you may login and use the "Make A Comment" option which appears at the bottom of each full blog entry. Click the Read More option following any of the summaries on the home page to access full blog entries.
Since moving this blog here in April of 2007, we were unable to transfer past comments from our previous site - so we welcome new comments from legitimate posters.
Spammers need not apply.
 |
Cousin Ned Syndrome
 |
What is Cousin Ned Syndrome? |
| |
In short - we all have a Cousin Ned. Ned is the person we turn to for computer repairs, technical help and most importantly for our web site development. The development of a web site can be quite costly. Why pay a professional when you can hire your Cousin Ned for pennies on the dollar to build it for you? The problem here is that Ned does not know what he's doing, and perhaps you don't know the difference. So anything Ned says or does "seems" right. By tasking your Cousin Ned with the job of taking your business online, you are most certainly missing out on design tactics that would serve to bring a greater audience to your web site, and to keep them there for longer periods of time.
This web site is my personal blog. As a web designer since 1995, I have been hired on numerous occasions to come in and clean up after Cousin Ned. Following are my rants and raves about the web design industry, and in particular the downfalls behind hiring an amateur (Cousin Ned) to design and build your online presence.
Beyond this, you will also find many useful tips on how to properly integrate several web design elements into the development of your web site. Such elements as will enhance the appeal of your web site, and move to better your site's rankings on the major search engines.
Feel free to create a new account and post your comments here.
Enjoy,
--Kevin
These blog entries were moved to a new format and a new hosting site on April 18th, 2007. In one or two instances, blog entries will refer to web sites which have, since my initial blogging, been updated. These references and links were retained during the transfer of these entries to retain the original blogs. |
 |
 |
Blogs
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 10/27/2007 04:41 PM 345
The Title-Phrase, "Deceive, Inveigle And Obfuscate" is being used here as an SEO (search engine optimization) test to demonstrate that - the more obscure a phrase, the easier it is to rank high with that phrase. The phrase will be altered to read, "Deceive, Inveigle, Bamboozle And Obfuscate" for the final test.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 08/21/2006 12:09 AM 2078
One of the more difficult tasks in establishing your online business as being legitimate in the eyes of your visitors is to have a full set of published store policies. These will help to build a trust relationship between your online store-front and can include, but are not limited to: Privacy Policy, Shipping - Returns & Refunds Policy, Security Policy, and finally, adding to this list something that is more of a guarantee that your site will flourish, a Customer Service Policy...
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 08/15/2006 12:09 AM 1302
As you build and grow an online business it is important to consider how your web site and your policies affect your customers. While the Internet has given birth to a whole new breed of familiar and trustworthy names such as Amazon.com, eBay, Monster.com and Yahoo Stores, new online business owners have to consider the market into which they are entering and consider their brand image and how they will convey this image to the public...
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 03/04/2006 12:08 AM 1448
SSL, Secured Sockets Layer, is the technology used to secure your customer's connection to your website during moments when your customer is being asked for detailed or secure information, like credit card numbers, financial information ...etc. If I had to guess, I would say SSL is most often used by shopping cart driven web sites, and is there to protect the customer during the payment process. To this I would add, if you are ever purchasing from an online company and the payment information screen, you know - the screen that collects your name, address and credit card information, is not SSL secured ... RUN ... run as fast as you can, but DO NOT enter your personal or banking details on web site pages which are not secured! ...
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 02/08/2006 12:06 AM 1299
To all online, or soon to be online, business owners, I ask the following - Have you heard of CMS? CMS stands for Content Management System and is defined by the use of an underlying program on your website which handles all of the data input and management, and most importantly, allows you - the web site owner the ability to login and work on your own web site - without having to know any programming or HTML code! CMS allows for the fast integration of various web site tools like article managers, web page development, FAQ development, user management, online forums/bulletin board, calendar of events, announcements, classified/real estate style listings, newsletters and so much more...
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 01/15/2006 12:01 AM 1196
Ok, I've been caught harping on this topic for some time now, and for reasons beyond my control - here I go again. I understand that most online business owners are non-techies who simply want guarantees from their designers and marketing techs that everything will be okay. With that simple "guarantee" in hand, most online business owners can sleep well at night knowing that we, as techies, have their back and are watching out for their best interests. However, there is an odd phenomena which constantly occurs in the realm of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) that must be set straight...
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 11/14/2005 12:00 AM 1146
There are a growing (now predominant) number of webmasters who do not help their clients market their websites. Many webmasters do not feel that marketing is or should even be a part of a webmaster's job description. They couldn't be more wrong...
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 10/24/2005 11:54 PM 1230
They say that, "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery". If this is true, then I guess I should be pretty darn flattered. An online competitor of mine has copied (stolen, pilfered, taken) my original copy text right off of my website and published it on theirs (with a copyright notice of - all rights reserved). They even left my company's name in the text, indicating that they didn't even read the full content themselves before stealing it from me, or that they were too lazy to edit it. OH MY! In the words of Forrest Gump, "Stupid is as stupid does".
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 09/10/2005 11:53 PM 1181
As you develop and grow your online business it is important to impart a professional and stable image of yourself, your company, its name, and your services to your adoring public at all times. While the concepts of Brand Imaging are often associated with the graphics, text and visual cues we develop to represent our company, much like McDonald's(r) has done with their famed Golden Arches(tm), there are some very simple ways to continually brand your company to your public while instilling a feeling of stability into their hearts:
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 08/29/2005 11:52 PM 1177
I want to point out a major pitfall for those who are involved in Affiliate Marketing, but first... For those who have never dabbled in the realm of Affiliate Marketing, here's the short course. You place something like a banner ad or sponsored link somewhere on your website. When someone clicks on it they are sent to the site which sells the advertised product or service...
|
|
|
|
Nice job ... |
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 08/28/2005 11:51 PM 1073
http://www.slim-fast.com
top level menu across the top, each with sub menus below. select top menu and get a new page with all sub topics listed. at this point the top level category appears at the top of a sectional menu on the left of every page within that section and it includes all of the sub sections in that area.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 08/27/2005 11:50 PM 1114
In the short time that the Internet has been in the hands of the public (circa late 1992), we have already established acceptable and intuitive patterns of designing a website so as to minimize the initial learning curve that visitors must go through upon their first arrival. As an online, or soon-to-be online business owner you should be aware of the navigation elements which us Web surfers already take for granted, and have these elements incorporated into your site design.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 08/25/2005 11:49 PM 1101
I believe one of the design areas where many new and experienced webmasters tend to skim over is in the area of SEO (Search Engine Optimization); the tactics implemented into a website's design and text (mostly text) which serve to bring that site higher rankings on the major search engines. As a student of SEO for almost 10 years, I cannot express strongly enough just how important this process is to a website. The real question here is - are you including SEO on the websites that you are designing and building?
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 08/24/2005 11:21 AM 1152
I've been asked to clarify the importance of FSF, or First Screen Full; a phrase I've used in a few of my initial posts here. When visitors enter your site, FSF describes the first bit of information they are presented at the very top of the website's homepage - prior to scrolling down or navigating to another page on the site. In its broadest definition FSF is used to describe the First Screen Full of data presented to a visitor on "any and every" page of a website. It is at that flickering "moment" that visitors make a decision to stay or leave, to read more or hit their back button and return to the search engine from whence they came.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 08/23/2005 10:34 AM 1021
This next site suffers from "several" common design problems.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 08/23/2005 12:01 AM 1098
With my first few epic entries out of the way, let's make haste. These next few sites are fairly self explanatory. I'll point the way for you . . .
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 08/21/2005 01:28 PM 1203
This next site is too easy. I don't think a single 'good' design rule was followed here. While it would be fun to focus on just a few key issues, it would be more fun and more educational to run through a list of the top 15 most obvious problems - so here goes:
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 08/19/2005 05:16 PM 1041
Our first Cousin Ned Award has to go to a website which incorrectly assumes that we all have our secret decoder rings nearby. A quick visit to this home page should immediately set off several design alarms...
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Posted by: Kevin on 08/19/2005 05:00 PM 1128
My name is Kevin McElligott and I am the founder of iTech Developers, a web hosting, development and marketing company based out of Northern California. I have designed and developed hundreds of websites and online applications, taught numerous courses in web development and design tactics and spoken before many large audiences on the dos and don'ts of website design - I begin here today a new blog on the subject of good and bad website designs.
|
|
|
|
|
