You should identify your target audience immediately and speak directly to them in an appropriate tone. Slang and LOL's are fine for facebook, but a user base of potential and current customers might write you off as being unfit for professional use. Do a little research and tailor your site content to your target demographic.

Sounds good but how do I do that? Via a content management system.

A good website should empower clients to create and update their own content. Content management systems are all the latest rage in web design for good reason, they're great for frequent content updates. However, CMSs are like any other piece of software and require some effort and time to learn. All too often Content Management Systems go unused by businesses and individuals because of the lack of training or effort to learn how to use them properly. Everyone wants users to come back to their site right? In order to do that, the site has to have fresh, relevant and useful content. While a CMS can give site owners the capability to create and edit content, a huge percentage of those site owners don't take full advantage of the tools available to them. All too often, I get calls and requests to make site updates that can easily be handled by a CMS.

If you're running a website with a content management system, (and you should be in this day and age) make sure that your web design firm provides you with at least initial training on how to use it. If that's out of the question, most open-source CMSs have documentation and forums available online. The open source community is very good about helping people learn.

So the moral of the story is: a CMS is a terrible thing to waste.

Please enjoy, let us know if you love it or hate it and SUBSCRIBE TO THE RSS FEED of course.

If you're interested in using feedburner for your site's feed here's a few good links:
- http://feedburner.google.com/ (obviously!)
- http://adsenseforfeeds.blogspot.com/

I've worked a lot of different jobs over the years: caddie, mason's assitant, shoe salesman, waiter and so so many others. One thing you learn from all that "real-world" experience is that you need to treat the customer with respect or they'll go else where. (except for the masonry job. There, you just watch out for falling bricks and try not to die of heat stroke) Website design should be no different. Although you need to have a good, open dialog with your designer, in the end, the client is always right (as long as the check clears).

On the other side of the coin is the fact that most of the time you're hiring a professional for his or her experience and that experience should not be taken for granted. Hopefully your website designer and developer is professionally trained and has at least several years of experience dealing with and acheiving client needs and goals. I've often argued my design choices until I'm blue in the face but to no avail. So the bottom line is, if the logo needs to be bigger, then the logo needs to be bigger

Having a strong web presence coupled with your online marketing efforts is also a key to successful advertising in a recession. Getting people to read your ad is only half the battle. Potential customers need a comfortable place to land when they click through. A well architectured and designed landing page is the part of the equation that really seals the deal. Having a savvy website designer who knows the turf, is well worth the money. Mostly because you can tell exactly how effective your advertising efforts are.

So what I'm trying to say is, don't pass up the opportunity to monetize your web presence in these tough times through quality web design and online marketing.