Here are a few mistakes that small business owners can do when it comes time to start putting together a new website.

1. Take the time to learn your target market.  Instead of putting the primary focus on getting a website posted as fast as possible, take the time to learn who would want to use or buy your service or product.  From there you will be able to think of a better design.
2. A web design that is too flashy or busy.  The goal for the ideal website is for visitors to be able to find what they are seeking within three minutes.  Also, you will need to take into consideration visitors that use their mobile devices to view websites.  A busy website will be too hard to view.
3. What do customers do next?  Many websites are informative, but there is no direction.  A website needs to tell the customer where to go next if they want the service or product.  Purchasing the product or service, contact us, or subscribe to a newsletter?  Have a destination for your potential customers.
4. Do homework before hiring someone to design a small business website.  Have an idea of a budget and understand you get what you pay for.  If you pay very little for your site, you might expect just that.
5. Don’t get complacent.  Your site needs to have fresh content and have weekly changes.  When a website stays the same for long periods of time, people get bored and lose interest.

To avoid these common mistakes always take your time and realize that rushing and doing to many things yourself can be harmful.  A good website is put together in time and it has all of the necessary research completed to ensure the site is fluid and functioning.

With the proper fundamentals and the ability to break down the barest elements, minimalist design is achievable and getting in touch with the current trends is simplistic.  Here are a few examples that will help a web designer get the simple web design appearance.

Less is More – this statement was popularized by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.  The goal is using less to achieve more of an effect, which will achieve a simplistic yet functioning simple web design.

Omitting Needless Things – only focus on things that contribute to the content or function.  A terrific example is a simple grey background.  With simple typography and minimal effects, a website can have the simple flare that is desired.

Subtract Elements – crafting a simple website can also be achieved with subtracting elements until the site just doesn’t function anymore.  A great way to get this appearance is a simple single column body with a three-column footer.  Anything taken or added from this look would make the site less user-friendly.

Making Details Count – the most important fact about details is making each individual is a vital contribution.  Minimalist web design can be funky, yet modern and clean with sophistication.

Color – minimalist web design takes on a very interesting approach when color is added.  The right color or accent will be able to make the design of the website ideal.  The color white is also the backbone to any minimalist website.

Minimalist web design has been around for a very long time, and there are plenty of trends to this unique design.  The key is taking away from a website to the point it’s lifeless, then bringing back subtle hints until the desired look is achieved and of course – user-friendly.

How does matchist work? Imagine being a freelance developer or a development shop that can now focus on actual work instead of trying to scout out jobs and dealing with all of the legal and payment process. Not only are developers able to have better time management, but the projects are all specifically matched to their skills and experience levels. Matchist takes pride in making sure each freelance developer and/or development shop is the real deal in their particular field and even checks with former clients during the screening process. The overall screening is to make sure freelancers and shops can be given a job and it’s successfully completed.

Entrepreneur Stella Fayman is no stranger to development when it comes to being a part of a new company. She was a founding member of FeeFighters, a venture backed payments startup which was acquired by Groupon in 2012. She also was the co-founder of Entrepreneurs Unpluggd, a website dedicated to entrepreneurship education. A column in Forbes and she was also recently named one of Crain’s Chicago Business “20 in Their 20s.” Therefore, she has a strong background in developing and executing an idea. She and co-founder Tim Jahn saw a terrific opportunity to better assist great projects and recruit top of the line candidates for the completion of each development project.

Royal Deer Design is looking forward to all of the projects headed our way and will continue to strive in quality work with our client’s best interest always being our number one priority.

Here are a few awesome features to look forward too! 

WordPress also takes great pride in making sure Parker is also tailored to each user.  New perks such as eight new admin color schemes make it fun using your dashboard.  Also, choosing a new theme is better than ever.  Widget management used to be complicated, but now it’s a simple “drag” or a “scroll” and you have a handle on your widgets.

The leader for this new release is Matt Mullenweg.  There were also 188 contributors adding to the release of Parker 3.8.

The omni-channel shopping method allows customers the choice of buying merchandise online or a physical store.  Not only is this method better service, but the retailer can have more inventory and provide faster delivery service options.  Fiona Dias, the chief strategy officer at ShopRunnerstates “The promise is there, the potential is there, and when it works, it’s a lovely thing”.  However at the moment, there are only a few retailers implementing this system, because the software is expensive.

Even though Amazon is dominating online shopping, Walmart, Nordstroms, and Macy’s are working on getting in on the action.  These 3 stores are using their stores to ship products from there stores.  Shipping from their stores has helped with the speed of deliveries and reduce the amount of merchandise that ends up on clearance.  U.S. Chief Executive Bill Simon expressed how Walmart is now filling 10% of their online orders from its stores.

The development of omni-channel shopping has a great deal of support, because all of the online sales increasing are confirming this is the way for retailers to go.  There are several different facets that are developing such as storage lockers in the front of stores, buy online, pickup in store, and reservations of items online, then a 24 hour period to physically get into the store.  Retailers are hoping these options will help not only increase sales, but open up more options in the future.  This information can be located at www.reuters.com.

One of the biggest changes for GoDaddy will be the website. Under Blake’s supervision and management, the site will appear less technical. That can be huge for people that don’t have the technical background for websites and design. This new look will be appealing for small business owners and marketers. With GoDaddy’s new look, the Media Temple website will be able to cater to more of a technical type of audience. The new appearances will be able to compliment both sites well, and make the overall experience for the user better.

Another big surprise about the acquisition is the fact that Media Temple will be operated as a separate company, and will not be integrated into GoDaddy. Any discounts and coupons will not be interchangeable between the two companies. Virb is a website builder acquired by Media Temple in 2012 will not be included in this deal. The original founders/investors will be purchasing Virb.

The new changes for Media Temple and GoDaddy are going to be new and exciting. With a bright new management team and an infusion of cash, GoDaddy is proving to be a fierce leader in technology and interactive with new improvements for both its existing customers and new customers. The information and data provided can be found at www.smallbiztrends.com.

Just where did this spam fighting algorithm come from and why so many updates? Let’s briefly go over when the releases happened and what was the impact of each.

Google’s overall search algorithm is monitored by Penguin. If you are in a situation where you have noticed a drop in traffic, then it’s time to take a look at your site. Bad links and poor quality sites are going to be red flagged, therefore you will have to improve your site. Until Penguin sees the content is removed, you are going to have a problem. The best way to avoid this problem is to check your content and links.

It may seem like writing and getting paid for fake reviews is a small issue, but nineteen companies have agreed to cease their practice of writing fake online reviews for businesses and pay over $350,000 in penalties.  That is a great deal of money for these businesses in trouble.  Fake reviews were found on Yelp, Google Local, and CitySearch stated New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

“Astroturfers” are people that know how to spoof their IP address, so it’s hard to find the location the review is being written from, and these “astroturfers” are also able to remain anonymous.  The Attorney General’s office spent a year investigation these schemes, and actually going undercover to gain evidence.  Companies involved in this scheme were hiring their own employees to post fake reviews as far away as Phillippines, Bangladesh, and Eastern Europe for $1 – $10 a review.  The common ad attracting these freelance writers was posted on Craigslist.org, Freelancer.com, and oDesk.com.  Other companies were direct with their approach, and simply placed ads asking for people with established Yelp accounts to post reviews.

Unfortunately, astroturfing is not likely to go away.  Consumers are going to have a really hard time distinguishing a real review from a fake ad, because astroturfers are so good at what they do.  As a consumer it is your job to take your time before making any purchase, and read all of the websites pertaining to the merchandise you are about to buy.

Here are ten tips that will give you a boost on your SEO without having to do anything too complicated.

These ten tips are going to help you on your way to Youtube success, but also SEO as well.  Google has identified that people love videos, so what better way that to take your business and get it on Youtube.

Here is a list of six trends responsible for the $61 billion dollar holiday shopping season.

• • Of course, E-commerce is going to be more than 15% of the holiday sales projections.  An E-commerce platform provider Volusion predicts that global retail E-commerce sales for small and mid-sized businesses will grow about 20%.  Those are very impressive numbers, and something to look forward to for retailers.
  • Mobile devices are going to be around 16% of retail E-commerce sales.  Tablet sales are also showing a particularly significant growth in E-commerce sales.
  • Free shipping is another huge holiday bonus.  A UPS study conducted in May of 2013 demonstrated that shoppers have recommended a particular store, just because of their free shipping.
  • Promotions also start sooner, because people are making their wish lists even earlier now.  Google sales managers Erin Dean, Jacalyn Stolt, and Nina Thatcher said “In July, nearly half of surveyed shoppers already had made plans for when to purchase their holiday gifts.  Of those actively planning, 30% are expecting to start before Halloween.”
  • Pricing is becoming even more of an issue.  A Google Consumer Survey from July of 2013 shows that shoppers actively shop around for the best price.
  • Smaller sellers have much more competition.  Therefore, these smaller stores are starting to sell their merchandise online.  Big competitors like Walmart have missed their second quarter estimated sales, because the competition is so fierce.

This year is going to be a very active one for shoppers, because of all of the smaller stores heading to E-commerce.  There are pros and cons to this approach, but the main goal is to sell their merchandise.  As E-commerce revenue increases so will the number of retailers getting their stores online to catch a piece of the action.