Take the time to realize that the only thing a customer sees of your product or service when they visit your website are your photos. And if they are out of focus, dark, or have random family members in them  it affects trust, sales and could put your online efforts in jeopardy.

Are you a professional business? Fly by night? There are certain telling elements to a website and one is the quality of your photos. Everyone thinks there is nothing to this photography thing, after all they have the latest megapixel point and shoot with a hi-tech feature set. There is more to model or product photography than having a camera in hand.

Leave it to the professional photographer. Sure, it costs a little extra, but your efforts will pay dividends.

An important part of any online business is perception. People want to buy quality, or invest their time in something that is real and valuable to them.  Its akin to going to a job interview in jeans and a ripped shirt vs a well tailored suit. Yes it’s that obvious.

We want your small business to be a success!

If you have comments, questions, or are in need of our talents! Website Design, Logo Design, SEO, Web Marketing, eNewsletters, Link Building, Analytics… (1st year of hosting is Free with any website package)

Call us 1.888.274.4912, or visit www.mentalpixel.com

Cool! Now what do I do. Where do I go from here.

• Position your company - Don’t try to do it all and specialize! Cut out the competition by focusing your company’s effort on bringing value to a small, unique piece of the pie.
• Make advertising efforts count - Be smart, don’t waste money on things that don’t support your position; but do put the necessary money towards the basics of doing business, like a company website.
• Don’t cut corners - A professional writer, website designer, photographer, logo designer, etc., can make all the difference. Budget right for a great first impression.
• Be lean and mean, but friendly too - Start your business on a great footing, go the extra mile and be social. Let your followers know of your efforts, let them be part of and help build your story of success.
• Consistency - Be consistent throughout your whole business, not just part. (A great product with bad customer service = 0) A successful business is about providing the whole package!

Good Luck and we hope to hear from you!

If you have comments, questions, or are in need of our talents! Website Design, Logo Design, SEO, Web Marketing, eNewsletters, Link Building, Analytics… (1st year of hosting is Free with any website package)

Call us 1.888.274.4912, or visit www.mentalpixel.com

I’ve created a short and sweet checklist for those interested in having a website designed for their business. Granted you need a competent website design & development company (wink, wink…) There are a few other things you should be aware of.

You will need:

• A domain name - This is your site’s web address, ex. http://www.mentalpixel.com This can be purchased through one of the popular domain buying sites.
• A good hosting company - A hosting company provides you with the space & bandwidth for your website. You can also set up email, databases and more.
• An eye catching company logo – A lot of people forget this part! A good logo design can say a whole lot about your company with minimal words. Make it count!
• An SSL Certificate - An SSL Cert. secures your website. Not every website needs an SSL Certificate, I would advise that if you are opening an online store or are storing highly confidential information (log/pass) you protect yourself and your clients with one.

If you have comments, questions, or are in need of our talents! Website Design, Logo Design, SEO, Web Marketing, eNewsletters, Link Building, Analytics… (1st year of hosting is Free with any website package)

Call us 1.888.274.4912, or visit www.mentalpixel.com

It’s like the Mona Lisa without her head. You would never be able to guess whether she’s smiling, smirking, looking at you or elsewhere. So what gives?

The visual part of a website is extremely important. Web design supports branding, readability, and helps reach out to a specific demographic. The visual part of a website can make or break your small business.

Yet that is only the beginning of the job of a web design firm.

And this is where the great “template factory” ends.  So if you chose a template, you’d be dealing with a headless Mona Lisa and still struggling with how to grow your business.

Lets put the web design company’s job in “paint by numbers” perspective.

• Design a site that’s visually unique
• Draw up a road map, skeleton or outline. Organize information and business goals into a site flow.
• If the client is writing copy, are there keywords associated to promote visibility.
• Optimize your SEO
• Make headlines pop!
• Make the visuals SEO friendly
• Analytics
• Create a sitemap. Notify search engines.
• Backlinks, Link sharing
• Long term site optimizing & management
• Plus

The point is that there is a lot more to today’s website design than meets the eye. And a good design firm will make it easy for you. After all the Mona Lisa needs a head!

If you have comments, questions, or are in need of our talents! Website Design, Logo Design, SEO, Web Marketing, eNewsletters, Link Building, Analytics…

Call us 1.888.274.4912, or visit www.mentalpixel.com

What designers have done in the past to make the user experience unique is to turn non-standard web type into a graphic and implement it as an image file on a web page. That’s all well and good, but it’s time-consuming, takes up precious bandwidth and can be a pain.

Type the way type was meant to be…

One of the simplest things you can do to make your website stand out is to use the CSS3 definition “@font-face”  that implements any font you’d like into your site design. Pick a typeface that compliments your website logo, a sales offer or just makes your site sing.

The right font will improve user experience & sales!

• Take every effort to support your brand with a unique typeface.
• Gives prospective customers a fresh look and fresh offer (Beat down your competitors. . . by closely matching your offer with a typeface that speaks to the demographic you are after.)
• CSS3 font implementation will improve your SEO.
• Make your messages clearer, set a tone, bring nuance and style to your website’s design

Remember, user experience is king and your web fonts (and what they say about your company or service) can make or break a sale or getting a new lead.

If you have comments, questions, or are in need of our talents! Website Design, Logo Design, SEO, Web Marketing, eNewsletters, Link Building, Analytics…

Call us 1.888.274.4912, or visit www.mentalpixel.com

This is truly great news for those interested in creating a website that doesn’t just look pretty, but will extend your businesses ability to serve its clients.

Development Cash

Let’s face it, you could turn to a development company and they could build the functionality you need, but it is going to cost you. And that functionality will not be as robust, or tried and tested than the prebuilt options available right now. And best of all they are relatively easy to implement.

These web companies offer their technology free (asking only for a donation), for a small one time fee, or sometimes comes with a monthly subscription plan.

This is not to say that all web development should be integrated in this way. There are many specific tasks that are best handled in-house, but it is a great opportunity for small businesses on a budget.

Mental Pixel does development, but we are all about “bang for the buck” and the end result when it comes to the design of your site and its functionality. If you have comments, questions, or are in need of our talents! (Website Design, Logo Design, SEO, Web Marketing, eNewsletters, Link Building, Analytics)

Call us 1.888.274.4912, or visit www.mentalpixel.com

So what’s at issue here:

• Original Design Matters! There is a design solution specific to your company only. This includes aesthetics as well as functionality. It  makes no sense to develop a business that is built on vibrant ideas meant to propel a business forward and then lump yourself in with thousands of copycat template sites.
• Your website can be the first point of contact for many. This is the make it or break it moment. You have under a minute to gain a user’s trust or they are gone. Templates give off a “generic” vibe, or say “Here today, gone tomorrow”.  These are not impressions you want for any business.
• Creating Customer Loyalty. Why should people come back to a site that basically offers what thousands of other template sites have?

The visual impact your site makes is “your foot in the door” to new customers and in creating lasting loyalty. This is not to say that there aren’t successful template-based sites out there, but do you really want to take that chance with your business?

If you have comments, questions, or are in need of our talents! (Website Design, Logo Design, SEO, Web Marketing, eNewsletters, Link Building, Analytics)

Call us 1.888.274.4912, or visit www.mentalpixel.com

Organic SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) aka “The keyword query blues”

Let’s focus on the organic results, these are the results that pop up on the lefthand side of the page in Google, after typing in your search term. If you represent a unique business or service and have keywords that are not in competition with thousands of other sites, consider yourself lucky. Your business or service is likely to pop up on the first page without much effort.

If you have highly competitive keywords and are selling a product or service that is identical in nature to many others, you are in the thick of it. This is where the importance of SEO comes in, and this is also the place where your Spidey sense should be it’s sharpest.

Don’t sacrifice your humanity for the sake of superhuman SEO powers.

What I suggest:

• Don’t turn your site into SEO speak. It’s like Icarus flying too close to the sun, you may return great organic results, but when the real human part of the equation sees your website and it’s highly optimized gibberish, most will be turned off and exit your site.
• Don’t use every SEO optimization scheme available. Use any suggestions you find in moderation.
• Don’t sacrifice your core message. Be unique and provide valuable information to your customers and don’t compromise because your SERP may suffer slightly. Keep your business and it’s core message intact.
• Use long-term back link efforts to improve SERP. A back link is a link back from another website to yours. Find a partner, become part of an organization that allows back links, leave  a website link on blog responses. A back link is basically a vote for your website, and the more closely related that site is to yours, the more weight that link is given.
• PPC Advertisements. Pay per click ads will help you get ahead of the pack. There is an investment, a certain amount of management involved, and a mid to long-term commitment. This may be the answer you’ve been looking for.

Now I realize that much of this is beyond the scope of running a small business on an everyday basis. You may not have the time or even the patience to do these things. Let Mental Pixel Website Design handle all your web slinging SEO needs and make your business grow.

If you have comments, questions, or are in need of our talents! (Website Design, Logo Design, SEO, Web Marketing, eNewsletters, Link Building, Analytics)

Call us 1.888.274.4912, or visit www.mentalpixel.com

Location, Location, Location!

Just being there, around the corner or down the block is a valuable asset to your customer. It’s a big plus in terms of convenience and trust in most cases. You are part of a local community. Don’t hide it! Some things to include in your quest for local dominance:

• Location as part of your website’s title
• Location-based keywords
• Geo tagging
• Let people know you through Google Places

Taking your business beyond

Sometimes your services or sales demand you stay in a specific area. (ex. You own a company that installs air conditioners, its reasonable to believe you will only service customers within a certain distance from your business) But there are products and services that have the ability to work locally and worldwide.

A huge customer base is waiting right out your fiber optic or cable line door

Open up your business prospects and build an online store. Offer your services through webinars or meet prospects through live chat via your website. Keep the local flavor, but now you can grow your customer base virtually.

If you have comments, questions, or are in need of our talents! (Website Design, Logo Design, SEO, Web Marketing, eNewsletters, Link Building, Analytics)

Call us 1.888.274.4912, or visit www.mentalpixel.com

Vect-o-Grunge Illustrations.

The vector portraits were created in the defunct Adobe (formerly Macromedia) program Freehand, then brought into Photoshop, where a grunge layer was added. This was a “just for me” experiment – at first, I included some round shapes (eyes and nose ring in the Lisbeth Salander piece), but because every other shape was straight, the few round elements stood out. So, I changed them. I kept the colors limited and all the shapes symmetrical. The texture gave the images more depth, giving them the illusion of a handmade look. Perhaps this style will work its way into a client project sometime in the future.

See more Vect-o-Grunge illustrations

Stunning cover art to my band’s new CD/digital album.

The first sketch had three adults sitting around the campfire, but our singer/songwriter/guitarist suggested changing them to kids – which made sense, given the “family theme” of most of the songs. Initially, I’d planned to use a brush-tip pen to ink the sketch, but after doing a color test of the rough image, I liked the loose look of the pencil work. So, I traced a new version, cleaned up the lines a bit, and colored that digitally in Photoshop, using a Wacom Intuous tablet. I kept the colors to a limited palette, to give the piece a cohesive look.

Me Make Monster App

Me Make Monster is a web app that lets kids create a custom monster, then print it on a t-shirt, mug, bag, or other products. I developed the app in Flash as a test integration with Zazzle’s API. Once the user finishes their creation, the vector elements become rasterized at a high resolution, saved on the server, and are then handed over to Zazzle’s site where they can be applied to any of the dozens of products Zazzle offers. Since the site launched in 2009, hundreds of thousands of monsters have been created.

Visit www.memakemonster.com

To see more of Steve’s awesome work, please visit: www.stevespatucci.com