Your Purpose

Like many things in life, if you don't have a purpose, it's pretty much like running around in the dark. This is pretty simple but so crucial.

Any successful business has a defined target market. Your target market consists of age groups, gender, interests, demographics, abilities etc. For your website (and business) to be effective, you need to have a clear picture of who your market consists of. All of this will help you determine your purpose.

With your purpose in hand, your website can be created and the message crafted to sell your ice-creams to Eskimos. Which leads us to the next point...

Content is King

Sure you've heard that a lot but it's pure truth. Any piece of marketing is nothing without some good content. And no, content isn't just text, it's your images and CTAs (Call To Actions) as well. Content is your entire message. What are the key elements of good content?

1. Your content needs to be created for your target market. With the information you learned about your target market, craft your message for them! If your message can interact with them the same way they interact with others, you'll instantly have their attention!
2. Your content needs to be informative. If people visit your website and they can't tell within seconds what kind of service/product it is that you're offering, your website will fail! Also, once they want more information, it needs to be easily available and informative but in the simplest way.
3. Your content needs to be unique and fresh. In this age of the internet, your competitors are no longer just those in your immediate surroundings. So your message needs to be unique and updated regularly, or you'll lose your potential customer very quickly.

Loading Time

The internet has conditioned us to want things immediately. If it takes too long, we'll find another solution. This applies to your website as well. If you keep users waiting you'll be sure to find them on your competitor's website. Make sure:

• You optimize your images. This is the number one cause of slow websites. Make sure you don't use unnecessary images, save them in the right format, and compress them with tools like Smush.it, JPEGmini, and PunyPNG
• Optimize your website code. Another usual culprit. Your website code matters a lot. Not just in terms of loading time but SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as well. Make sure you (or your web designer) don't use Tables for the layout of your website or any type of code generator. Well written hand coded websites go a long way!
• Remove unnecessary elements or code. Some times we chop and change a lot of things, but don't always remove pointless code or content. Make sure you review your website every few months to tidy up "the house".

Navigation

Your website navigation is a key part of your website. Without some good navigational structure, your website will feel like a black hole. It's always nice to be unique and different, but when it comes to navigation nothing works as good as common practices. Top or left navigation works wonders, as it's found on nearly every website. If a user needs to learn how to use your website you've definitely failed!

Good navigation helps your customers get where they want to, tells them what's available on your website and makes it real easy for them to reach you or purchase your services/products.

Usability

Usability involves making it easy for your visitor to understand and navigate your website. The two points above, Navigation and Loading Time, falls under usability, but are far from the only factors of it.

The main thing to remember is people have short attention spans. So your success hinges on the following:

1. Make your website load fast
2. Immediately grab their attention (this doesn't mean you need flashy elements or text that scrolls!)
3. Tell and show them where to go (this is commonly known as a CTA or Call To Action)
4. Provide more information for those that don't follow through on your CTA and provide secondary CTA's
5. Keep consistent page structures. If you're using a left sidebar, stick to it through your entire site don't chop and change on every other page.

The clearer your marketing message is, the easier it will be for customers to understand what you do and how to find what they're looking for.

Design

The Pièce de résistance of your website. It's the layout of the content, the colour scheme, and all the imagery. It's difficult for your average person to point out the exact elements of a great design, but amazingly, we can all tell what it looks like. People know what looks professional and what looks cheap. So maybe you should think twice before getting a website done for a R1000.00!

Key points to consider:

1. Add some of your personality. Whether it's your business's personality or yours. This will set you apart from your competition. Business should be professional, but it doesn't mean you need to be cold and boring. It also doesn't mean you need to be a clown. Just be you!
2. KISS. We all know it. Keep It Simple Stupid! Sure, we all like being creative but don't overdo it. Too many "creative" elements may actually distract from your marketing message and ultimately affect your conversion ratios. 

A great design is one that's pixel perfect, but enhances your marketing message, not distract from it!

Analyze

Lastly, analyze analyze analyze. Your website will never be complete! Nothing is ever perfect. But if you analyze, you can move closer to perfection. Using visitor analytic tools, eye tracking tools, and split testing tools you can make sure that your website is as usable as you think it is. If you don't measure your website's performance, you won't know if you're reaching your goals.

So make sure your web design company or designer can perform these tests and implement the changes when needed.

Conclusion

As you can see, a successful business website can be pretty complicated. Although this may not be an exhaustive list of tips and guidelines, not many web design companies follow even half of these, and this is only part 1.

Next week we'll be discussing the marketing strategy of successful business websites.

Does your business website follow some or all of these guidelines or not at all? Tell us about it in the comments below...

We always receive questions about good web design, and what it looks like. So we decided to start a new series of posts, our Friday Favourites! Showcasing what we believe is the best web design around the world...

About Keith Homemade Cakes

"Established for over 50 years, Keith Home Made Cakes still delivers a range of speciality cakes that is ideal for entertaining guests, a family treat or a little self indulgence. Our full team of chefs and friendly staff take pride in providing attentive service while discussing your needs for your special cake. While small we are big in service and satisfaction."

View Keith Homemade Cake's Website

What We Love About Their Website

Once again, it blows me away to see what people can do! What a beautiful site. It's perfectly designed to their business, and you just get the bakery feel when looking at the site.

The homepage slide show has some beautiful high quality images that just make my mouth water. If I was located in Australia, I would probably be on the phone right know ordering some cakes. That's what powerful and professional design does! It captures you from the minute you land on the site!

Also, their use of gradients and textures just finish everything off brilliantly!

What do you think? Like their website? Don't like it? Tell is about it in the comments below...

We always receive questions about good web design, and what it looks like. So we decided to start a new series of posts, our Friday Favourites! Showcasing what we believe is the best web design around the world...

About Hello Somebody

"Moving forward as an organization, we are committed to more than feeding. We believe education is the key to put an end to the poverty and hunger cycle. Our Mission is to feed and educate children, by providing an avenue of knowledge, in order to break the cycle of poverty and hunger within their generation."

View Hello Somebody's Website

What We Love About Their Website

This website is just beautiful. I really love minimal designs. It's amazing how something simple can be so beautiful.

Lots of times we get clients that want to go over the top and want to really try and squeeze in every bit of possible detail (don't worry, we still love you), but this is a stunning example of how simplicity can really portray a message! And what a good message to portray!

The use of images is also stunning. But once again, this is what a minimal design allows you to do. You can use beautiful high quality images, without any other background or website elements distracting from it.

Go and have a look at their website and tell us what you think. Maybe you can even support their good cause...

What do you think? Like their website? Don't like it? Tell is about it in the comments below...

The Stigma of Template Websites

Whenever the word "template" gets mentioned to any professional web designer, the most common thought is of some sleazy guy selling websites for under R1000.00 a piece. To be honest, this sends shivers down my spine.

These guys usually use free or low quality templates and take a few hours to implement it. It may sound like a viable option but often ends in disaster. Mostly due to the fact that websites really are more than just pretty pictures (something we preach often).

They barely change anything on the template, maybe a few colours here and there, but that's where it ends. So you end up with a website that looks pretty much the same as a few thousand others.

These "designers" also usually know very little about coding best practices (which is why they're using a template in the first place).

Why You Should Choose a Template Website

Okay, so templates can be bad. But they can also be the best option for a business on a tight budget. The key is to find the right template, with quality code, and actually do some good customization on it (something a good web designer will know how to do). Customization to fit the image of your business and to differentiate your design from the base design.

It's a lot easier, cheaper and faster to do lots of customization on a template, than to design something from scratch.

Obviously, if you have a decent budget, I would suggest you get a custom design done to keep branding 100% consistent and unique. But it makes much more sense to invest in a customized template and rather use the extra money you have on search engine optimization or some other form of marketing like pay per click advertising.

The Verdict on Template Web Design

For a small business with a limited budget, this would be the best option. Just make sure you get it done by professionals.

I can guarantee you, that a "customized" template based website design done by professionals, will outclass any custom design done by amateurs! And the pricing of each option will be in the same region.

Which option would you choose? Or have you had a website designed? Is it a custom design or template design? Tell us about your experience in the comments below...

The Definition

The best way to define the two, is to show an actual example. Have a look at the image below. The red area indicates paid advertisements (PPC) and the green area reflects organic results (SEO, not paid for).

Now that you've seen what it looks like, here's a proper description.

PPC is an advertising model where you pay only if users click on your advertisement. These paid advertisements appear when people search for the term the advert targets. So you only pay when a visitor actually visits your website.

SEO is the process of optimizing your website for natural search engine results, without paying the search engine companies. So if you're on the first page of Google for a highly searched keyword and a few thousand people click on your result every month, you won't pay a cent to Google.

The Best Option - PPC or SEO?

Each of these online strategies have advantages and disadvantages. The one best suited for you is dependent on both your business and your own current position. Like any investment, sometimes you need short-term gains, and sometimes you're better off with a long-term strategy.

PPC Benefits

PPC is immediate. You log on to Google AdWords, create a campaign, choose your keywords and you're set. The moment you're finished setting up your campaign, your ads will appear. Depending on the quality of your ad you could immediately appear on the first page of Google for a particular search term.

This makes it easier to measure R.O.I. and see whether people searching for that term actually convert to sales. PPC is also ideal for business owners on a limited budget.

PPC is however, not a long term strategy. The more competitive the market gets, the more expensive you'll end up paying for your campaigns. Also, a PPC campaign needs to be consistently monitored and managed to make sure you're getting the best possible R.O.I.

SEO Benefits

SEO is a long term strategy, requires a bigger budget and does not yield immediate results. This sounds very demotivating, but the pros far outweigh the cons.

By consistently doing SEO you grow your online reputation and you get better conversions in the long run. In fact, organic search engine results can convert 20% and more than paid for advertisements.

Once you're in a good position, it's a lot easier and more cost effective to maintain it .

The Final Verdict

Now you know the benefits of each strategy. PPC to get quick short-term results, and SEO if you want sustainable long-term results and completely dominate your competition!

But is there an even better strategy? Yes!

Opt for both. You can focus on one or the other. At least you're getting returns immediately as well as ensuring your business's future is set and on the right course. The only downfall with this strategy is it would be more expensive to focus on both. But if you're serious about business, this is definitely an option for you.

Have you ever had a PPC or SEO campaign done by professionals for your website? What results did you experience? If not, why have you never tried it? Tell us in the comments below...

What's Friday Favourite?

We always receive questions about good web design, and what it looks like. So we decided to start a new series of posts, our Friday Favourites! Showcasing what we believe is the best web design around the world...

About Master Grinding

"We're dedicated to our local customers here in New Jersey and the Greater New York area. Hundreds of restaurants, pizza shops, cafeterias, delis, supermarkets, meat cutters and plenty of other food service professionals know they can always depend on Master Grinding. Plus, we continue to have individuals stop by the shop to get their personal knives sharpened or check out our great cutlery and restaurant supplies."

View Master Grinding's Website

What We Love About Their Website

I've always had a soft spot for black in Web Design. Especially websites that showcase a product. The black with the crisp image of the knife just makes it pop. Another thing to look out for is their subtle use of gradients. It's really done well and gives the website a very modern feel.

Most importantly though, when opening the site for the first time, there's no guess work as to who thee are or what they do. I can tell what they're about within the first 5 seconds. Good for keeping your bounce rates low and getting your visitors to stay longer!

My only critique

On the inner pages they have some code that's loading in from an external source. Some kind of SEO tracking software. This takes more than a minute, if not longer, to load causing their tabs to break. Other than that I can't really find anything drastically wrong...

What do you think? Like their website? Hate it? Tell is about it in the comments below...

Business owners get a website to help grow their business, and more often than not it doesn't succeed! Why? Because business owners (and most web designers) don't understand the fundamentals of designing a website. So read these ten steps to a better business website and tell us where your website went wrong...

1. What Is The Purpose?

Before you even think of hiring a web design company, you need to determine what is the purpose of your website. Be specific! Just to grow your business is not a purpose.

Educating your current customers, gaining new customers (leads) via a contact form or email signup form, selling your products online, or generating more awareness (branding) about your company. Those are all purposes.

If you don't have a purpose (goal), you won't know if your website is succeeding in growing your business. You need something you can measure and a purpose is your yardstick. Make sure you have one.

2. Who Is Your Audience?

You need to consider who your target audience is. What are they looking for and what do they expect when visiting your website.

By determining this you will be able to make vital decisions on what features need to be included on your website, what colours you need to use, what font size and how your navigation should be structured.

Questions you can ask yourself are:

• How old are my customers?
• What gender are they?
• What are they looking for?
• How tech-savvy are they?
• What devices will they use to visit the website?

3. Simplicity Is Key

I'm sure this is probably one of the most preached terms in business. Keep it simple! Many business owners make the mistake of creating endless pages about their company that just never gets read. Unless your visitors expect endless pages of information and your research proves this, just include the basics.

If you determined the purpose of your website, as in step 1, this will be an easy process to follow and help you eliminate any clutter. Don't add content and features just because your competitors are doing it. Stick to your purpose and make sure every action you take on your website is aligned with it.

4. Have A Contact Form

Yes a contact form. Not just an "email me" link and your contact numbers. People often don't realize the importance of this, and how your regular old contact page actually makes your life a lot more difficult.

There are a few problems with an "email me" link. By clicking the link it launches your default email client. Handy yes, but what if you're on a public computer or a friend's computer? Your email address won't be configured with that computer which just creates frustration. Also, what if your customer prefers using an online email client like hotmail, gmail, or yahoo? More frustration.

An "email me" link also exposes your email address, so any spam bot can come capture your email address and spam away. But the most critical flaw with an "email me" link is you can't easily capture necessary details from the customer.

A contact form makes sure you capture the right details the first time, and increases your conversion rate! Don't be caught without one!

5. Don't Settle For Less

It's a common fact, business owners are cheap! But you wouldn't be in business if you weren't. Every good business owner knows that a successful business requires its revenues to outweigh its expenditures.

There are however some exceptions and building a website for your business is one of those. It's very important not to settle for the cheapest, quickest or easiest website. After all, how many deals would your best salesman close if you dressed him in a cheap, dirty suit that portrays the opposite of what the customer expects from your company.

Dress your website for success. Make sure it's aligned with your purpose and make sure it's done by professionals!

6. Take Your Time

 A website isn't like your company flier. It takes time, research and a whole lot of effort. Avoid using terms like "It shouldn't take long" and "It should be easy and quick". Remember that a website is an investment. Invest your time, patience and money in something you'll be happy with.

7. Invest In Search Engine Optimization

This step is optional, but depending on your purpose is absolutely critical to making a success online. If you're looking to gain new customers through the internet, then you can't skip this step.

Any one looking for a service on the internet uses a search engine, like Google. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) helps increase your visibility in the search engines for certain predetermined keywords.

Be careful though. There are a lot of people that try to sell you SEO that just doesn't work. (We'll save this topic for another blog post). If you need help feel free to ask us about this.

8. Keep Things Consistent

People like consistency. It prevents confusion. Try to keep your website's colours, navigation, layout and marketing message consistent. Just because you like the look of another website doesn't mean it's going to fit in with your purpose (step 1)!

9. Analyze Your Site

Have a good analytics program installed on your site. A recommended analytics program would be Google Analytics. It's quick and easy to setup and it's free.

By using an analytics program you'll be able to analyze where your visitors come from, what they're interested in, and determine any roadblocks that prevent conversion on your website. This also helps you measure whether you are achieving the purpose you set out for your website.

In Conclusion

This is not a be all and end all list of steps to follow, but it definitely lists some of the most important things to think about. If you follow them you'll be sure to make a success of your website.

Tell us what you think? What steps would you add? What's your experience with your website?

What's Friday Favourite?

We always receive questions about good web design, and what it looks like. So we decided to start a new series of posts, our Friday Favourites! Showcasing what we believe is the best web design around the world...

About Lanikai Properties

A full-service real estate firm located in Oahu, Hawaii, Lanikai Properties offers experience and expertise to buyers and sellers of Hawaiian homes, condos, and other residential properties and is owned by professional Realtor®, Allison Green.

View Lanikai Properties Website

What We Love About Their Website

You should know by know we're suckers for detail and boy is there some stunning detail in this website. It's beautiful, clear and to the point. From opening the website you can clearly see they're a real estate company and one in a stunning location–Hawaii!

If the colours didn't give it away then I really don't know. It just resonates Hawaii with the blue, green and orange colour scheme. The menus that are all askew gives you a feeling of easy going and freedom. You know the "kick of your shoes and just relax" feeling.

Just one teeny tiny little thing... I just don't like how their newsletter subscription is tucked away right at the bottom corner of the website! I barely saw it. Otherwise I love their website and feel its accomplished the goal. Making me want to live there! So who's coming with?

What do you think? Like it? Hate it? What would you improve? Tell is about it in the comments below...

What's Friday Favourite?

We always receive questions about good web design, and what it looks like. So we decided to start a new series of posts, our Friday Favourites! Showcasing what we believe is the best in web design around the world...

About Caffe Uno

It's all in the name really. But they say it best: "Caffè Uno is the perfect place to enjoy great food & drink throughout the day." They have a few Cafe's around the UK.

View Caffe Uno's Website

What We Love About Their Website

Wow. I was really blown away when I saw this design. The subtle use of textures, especially the grey brick texture truly makes it stand out, and yet it still has a very clean look and feel. Even though there are quite a lot of textures used, they all play together well.

Notice the beautiful images used on the homepage, well everywhere for that matter. I can't stress this enough, beautiful images just make a design extraordinary! If you're looking to have a website designed, make sure you either hire a very good photographer, or get quality images from a source like istockphoto.com.

On a final note, the functionality on this website is absolutely awesome. Have a look at their menu page. The layout of all the items, as well as the different courses is really well thought out, easy to read, and just a pleasant experience.

There are so many other things I love about this site, but I'll leave them for you to spot!

Tell us what you love about this website, or maybe even don't like in the comments below...

What's Friday Favourite?

We always receive questions about good web design, and what it looks like. So we decided to start a new series of posts, our Friday Favourites! Showcasing what we believe is the best in web design around the world...

About Pomodoro's Pizza

They're a pizzeria located in Florid USA–Sunny Isles Beach to be specific.

They also serve subs, pasta's, salads and more, a whole lot more...

View their website

What We Love About Their Website

It's crisp and clean. Although their website is not content heavy, they do a good job at organizing everything in such a way that it's easy to read and find what you're looking for.

When you click on contact us, the contact form slides down from the top of the website, which is always a cool jQuery effect.

Their image quality is pretty good and their website does a very good job at making me hungry. I suppose that's probably because it's lunch time and a Friday afternoon!

What do you think? Good design? Easy to read? Does the website make you hungry?

Tell us in the comments below!

A domain name is probably the most critical component of your website. It's how people find you. Whether its via word of mouth or a search engines like Google. But are all domain names equal? Have you chosen the right one for your business? Or will your wrong choice in domain name even cause you a loss in business? Below I've listed some tips on choosing a right domain name for your business!

Be Relevant

The best advice we usually start with is stick to branding. If you have an already established client base, they know you by name. So if they wanted to find out whats hip and happening with your business, they'll more than likely search for your business name. Simple, but it works!

Branding is not just a random combination of words like realestate.co.za or plumberjohannesburg.co.za, unless that is your actual business name (not likely but there are exceptions). Often people choose domains like these for "SEO (Search Engine Optimization)" purposes, but there is more to online business than SEO (we'll leave this topic for another day).

Rather opt for something like, joeplumber.co.za or sallyrealestate.co.za as these describe who you are, as well as what you do. For more established businesses this would not be necessary–as we said before–a simple brand name will do.

Identify Your Target Market

This always applies in the web design process, but even more so when choosing a domain. You need to make sure you choose the right domain extension like .com or .co.za.

This is a simple one, but often forgotten. Who are your customers? Do you serve local markets, international markets, or both?

If you serve local markets, it would be better to have a .co.za domain. This indicates you're a local business, and your local market would much rather do business with you knowing this. On the flip side, international markets almost expect a .com domain. If however, you serve both local and international markets, it would be better opt for the .com as your main extension and have the .co.za domain redirect to your .com domain.

Avoid Hyphens, Numbers & Funny Spellings

Hyphenated domains are hard to convey and often mistaken for a competitors domain, as people tend to forget the hyphens. So rather opt for johndoemarketing.co.za than john-doe-marketing.co.za.

Numbers in domain names are really bad. It's hard to remember and creates some serious confusion. Something like marketing4you.co.za is terrible! Don't do it. Phone a friend quick, tell them to go to marketing4you.co.za. I'll bet you you'll have to explain whether it's for, four, or the number 4.

Then there's funny spellings. Once again, having to explain something like xcited.co.za instead of excited.co.za is not ideal.

In Conclusion

A successful domain name is easy to remember, easy to convey, avoids confusion, and not mistaken for another. You want to make it as easy as possible for potential customers to find your website–and having a 5 minute explanation on spelling your domain right is just going to cost you business.

If you absolutely have to have one of the above domains for whatever reason it may be, at least make sure you have every variation of the domain! Preventing potential customers from ending up in the wrong place.

Your Turn

Have any other examples people should stay away from? Ever chosen a wrong domain for your business? How did you fix it?

Tell us about it in the comments below!

The Content Illusion

Content in this context is a very ambiguous word. For web designers, the role of a CMS is to easily manage HTML, CSS, and Javascript files. As well as to help add functionality to a website like a blog, eCommerce store etc. without having to custom program each functionality (saving you time and money).

For business owners however, a CMS means being able to manage/edit/create content on the fly, without any (or limited) technical knowledge. So the content we're looking at here, is in the form of normal text, images, and maybe some other media, like videos.

So where's the problem here?

Web designers are always looking for a CMS full of features so they can provide a full service offering without needing to custom program a CMS for each website/client. Why? Cause they usually don't have the skill/knowledge to custom program what they need, or it won't be financially viable for the client to custom program a CMS for their website.

With all the features included to help web designers provide extra functionality, it makes it more complicated for the business owner to manage the website. On the flip side, the more client focused and easy a CMS is, the more it restricts creativity and overall functionality. So in essence, it is imperative to find a balance between the two.

The problem of preference

Web designers also tend to fall so in love with a CMS, that they use it for all their clients. One can understand this, as it is usually quite complicated to learn the ins and outs of a CMS. So, their chosen CMS becomes the preference, and they wrangle the CMS to fit every client.

Why is this a bad thing? Well, every client and website is different and have different needs. Every CMS is also different, and caters for different needs. So you can't (or at least shouldn't) always use the same tool! Instead, you should rather use the right tool for the job.

Being desperate for business, most web designers try take on every project using the same CMS or tool if you will. This almost always ends up with an unhappy business owner, as it either takes to long, or the wrangled solution is not what they really wanted.

By all means, web designers should use their favorite CMS, but they should also recognize and inform their client that a different CMS fits their requirements better. Then either use that CMS, or if they're not familiar with the CMS, refer them to a company that is.

The Solution 

By asking the right questions at the right time a lot of headaches can be prevented.

By doing a simple needs analysis, you and your designer can determine what CMS will suit you best, how much editing freedom you really need, and what content should be managed by your designer to preserve some creative freedom. At the end of the day, this will save you money, save your designer time, and cultivate a great relationship between the two.

What experiences have you had with a CMS? Tell us about it in the comments below...

Before we go further, answer me this. Why would you open a new office or outlet in a well thriving area? To expand your business of course! Tell me again why you don't have a website yet? Ok, so maybe it's not that simple, but lets go through some reasons you need a website.

1. Your Customers Expect You To Have One

Sooner of later, your customers or potential customers are going to search for your business. Are they going to find you, or your competition? To some customers you may as well not even exist if you don't have an online presence. Not having a website is like working from home, sure you can do it, but what happens when a customer wants more info? Will they come for a meeting at your "home"?

2. Websites Are Cost Effective

To be honest, it's the cheapest form of advertising you can get. It's hard to think of it that way when you are staring down the barrel of a R10k - R30k invoice, but what can that website do for you? In comparison, what can traditional media do for you? Can it inform your customers in detail? Can you measure how many customers read your flier / billboard? Most importantly, can you quickly fix a spelling mistake or your change your marketing message? Undoubtedly the answer would be no.

3. 24 Hour Customer Service, World Wide!

How valuable would an employee be, if they could work 24 hours and deliver the exact same result every hour? Even when you're sleeping, your customer can visit your website, learn more about you, pay invoices, buy products, or even contact you. Your business is open at all hours, even if your physical office isn't.

4. Your Competitors Have One

This is not a keeping up with the Jones's thing. People like options, they like to compare, find the best deal, or the best quality. If they don't have anyone to compare your competitors to, then you are loosing business!

5. Increase Your Customer Base

Most businesses are confined to their geographical area, but the internet knows no bounds! Sure, you probably can't service or provide products to people in the North Pole, but instead of being confined to your city, you now have the ability to service or provide products to customers in neighboring cities or the rest of your country.

In Conclusion

You need a website. Period.

Just remember, not all websites are created equal. Websites do fail, and don't always provide a good return on investment. This is not because the internet is flawed, but because websites are more than just pretty pictures, and not all web designers understand this concept. We'll leave this discussion for another day.

Why do you not have a website yet? What has been holding you back? Tell us more about it in the comments below...

To make life a little easier and provide you with a basic understanding, you can watch the video below.

So which one are you using?

You should have recognized the little blue 'e' icon. That is Internet Explorer, or IE for short. But if you're still not sure, you can visit whatbrowser.org

If whatbrowser.org says you're using IE version 6, 7, or 8, you need to update your browser! Like yesterday!

Most people use IE as this is the default browser that comes bundled with Windows. This however, by no means makes IE superior to other browsers. IE has tended to be a pain in the back for web designers, as they generally don't update IE to keep up with new best standards and practices.

Which browser should you be using?

If you are using the latest version of your browser, it really doesn't matter which one you use.

Old browsers are bad. They're slow, make websites look funny, and are usually not very secure. So as long as you are running the latest version of any browser, you are good to go!

In our experience however, we have some preferences. We would advise, Google Chrome or Firefox. They are both super fast browsers, secure, and generally don't give you any problems. They also automatically update when a new version is available.

In Conclusion

Old browsers bad, new browsers good, Google Chrome and Firefox even better! We hope this has opened your eyes, and you'll see how awesome the web truly is! Happy browsing :)

Some companies would have an exciting story right about here. A story where they were acquired for a few million, landed in some inheritance money, or got that ever eluding tender from the government that set them free to do what they want.

No. Not us. We've just been working hard, learning new skills as we go along, and each time we're able to provide a new service we don't really advertise it. So this is what CAS 2.0 is all about. Showing you what we can do, what you can achieve as a business, and what running a successful business on the net could be like.

From Here On Out

We promise to be good web citizens! Or at least we'll try. Maybe not up to the minute updates, although you could follow us on twitter for this, but at least some weekly updates as well as tips. Especially tips.

We have lots of knowledge ranging from website design tips, mobile design, email marketing, social media etc. and we'd love to share it with everyone. So stay tuned. Become a Facebook fan, follow us on Twitter, or leave your email address at the bottom of our site.