As a web designer and developer for small businesses, I’m always excited to take on new projects that challenge my creativity and technical skills. When I was approached by Melody, the owner of the popular food blog “Chow With Melody,” I was thrilled to work on her website redesign. Melody wanted to upgrade her existing site design and also migrate it to a more flexible and cost-effective platform. In this article, I’ll take you through the journey of creating the new Chow With Melody website and some the challenges we faced along the way.

Meeting Melody

When I first met Melody, it was clear that she had a vision for her website. She knew what she wanted, but she also valued my expertise and advice. We discussed her goals, target audience, and the overall aesthetic she desired for the blog. I appreciated her open-mindedness and the opportunity to provide my insights and suggestions. This collaborative approach laid a strong foundation for our partnership.

Some Needed Upgrades

To transform Chow With Melody into a more user-friendly and visually appealing food blog, we identified several key upgrades:

1. Fresh New Design: The existing design felt outdated, so we aimed to give the website a fresh and modern look. We focused on clean typography, vibrant colors, and intuitive navigation to enhance the overall user experience.

2. New Recipe System: The previous recipe system was tightly integrated with the theme, making it inflexible and difficult to manage. We decided to implement an independent recipe system using “recipe cards.” This approach allowed for better organization, searchability, and easier updates.

3. Cost Calculator: Melody wanted to provide her readers with a cost calculator feature to estimate the expenses of each recipe. However, no existing system supported this feature by default. To overcome this, I developed a custom solution that seamlessly integrated the cost calculator into the recipe system.

In today’s digital age, it is essential for businesses and organizations to have a strong online presence. A well-designed website serves as the cornerstone of this online presence, helping to establish credibility, attract customers, and effectively communicate information to the public. In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of responsive modern web design and some key considerations to keep in mind when creating or updating a website.

The Role of Web Design in Branding and Credibility

A website is often the first point of contact for potential customers or clients, and it is crucial that it makes a good first impression. In this blog post, we will discuss the role of web design in branding and credibility and how it can impact a business or organization.

Web development is the process of building and maintaining websites. It involves a range of tasks, from designing the layout and structure of a website to coding and programming the various features and functionality. Web development can be broken down into three main categories: front-end, back-end, and full-stack.

In this blog post, we’ll explore the fundamentals of web development, including the technologies and tools used, the different roles and responsibilities within the field, and the latest trends and best practices. By the end, you’ll have a better understanding of the skills and knowledge required to become a web developer, and what it takes to build and maintain successful websites.

What is Web Development?

Web development is the process of creating and maintaining websites and web applications. It encompasses a range of tasks, including designing the layout and structure of a website, coding and programming the various features and functionality, and testing and debugging to ensure that a website is functioning properly.

As a small business owner, having a strong online presence is crucial for attracting and retaining customers. A well-designed website can help establish your brand, showcase your products or services, and provide an efficient and convenient way for customers to interact with your business. However, with so many web design and development professionals to choose from, it can be overwhelming to figure out who is the right fit for your business.

In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of selecting a web designer or developer for your small business. We’ll cover how to determine your needs, research potential candidates, consider the cost, ask for references, evaluate the contract, and ultimately trust your gut. By following these steps, you can make an informed decision and choose the designer or developer who will help bring your online vision to life.

Determine Your Needs

Before you start the process of choosing a web designer or developer, it’s important to first determine your needs. This will help you narrow down your search and find a professional who is well-suited to your project. To determine your needs, you should consider the scope of your project, as well as your budget.

A Comparison of WordPress with Wix and Squarespace

When it comes to building a website, choosing the right website builder is crucial. There are many options available, each with its own set of features and capabilities. In this article, we’ll be comparing three popular website builders: WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace.

WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) that powers over 40% of the internet. It’s known for its extensive plugin and theme libraries, which allow users to customize their websites to their heart’s content. Wix and Squarespace, on the other hand, are closed-source platforms that offer more limited customization options.

In this comparison, we’ll be looking at several key factors that are important to consider when choosing a website builder, including customization and flexibility, search engine optimization (SEO), e-commerce functionality, and cost. By the end of this article, you should have a clear understanding of why WordPress is the superior choice for building a website.

Why Choosing the Right Website Platform is Important

Choosing the right website platform is important because it can have a big impact on the success of your website. The website builder you choose will determine what features and capabilities you have at your disposal, as well as how easy it is to build and maintain your website.

Short answer: buy google ads

This answer may seem like a cop out, but it is absolutely the only way to get to the top of Google in one day. If you keep reading, you may realize that you’ll get a better ROI if you use your SEO budget towards ads instead.

Long answer:

There is a conception that organic SEO is free, so why pay for ads? Organic SEO is not free. It hasn’t been free for many many years. Back in the before times, in the long long ago, there were ways to game the system and you could get impressive results for a relatively small amount of effort. However, Google can’t be gamed anymore. The only way to show up at the top of google tomorrow is to buy ads.

Everyone asks me about SEO or Search Engine Optimization, and how to show up on the first page of Google. As you can imagine, this is a complicated topic, and Google’s algorithms are always changing. If you want to do Search Engine Optimization professionally, you really need to stay up-to-date with Google‘s constant upgrades.

My goal with this post is to go over the timeless basics of SEO. The things that, most likely, will never change.

Generally speaking, SEO can be broken down into two major categories. On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO.
First, let’s talk about On-Page SEO since this part is completely 100% within your control, making it much easier to understand.

You Have A Reputation With Google

Before diving into keywords and how they affect your site, you need to be aware of the fact that you have a reputation with Google. Your website as a whole, and each individual web page on your site has a reputation level with Google. This is generally how Google decides who gets on page 1, and who ends up on page 18 in their search results.

Continue reading “Search Engine Optimization” →