Time and time again, I see people trying to sell their concepts based on ideas alone. That’s not gonna work. Investors want to see something in action. A proof of concept. Something tangible that they can interact with.

Too many aspiring entrepreneurs go into meetings armed with only a power-point slide and optimism. This might be enough to explain your concept, but what you should really do is demonstrate it.

Take whatever money you can scrounge up, find a good web developer, and create a rudimentary version of what you hope to accomplish. It should have the veneer of a polished, professional site, with the illusion of massive functionality, but on the back-end it should be basic. A sampling of things to come. A taste of what could be. Just enough for your investors to look at and say, “I see it!”

Investors hear ideas all day, but show them the promise of a finished product, with a glimpse of the ultimate goal, and the investor can more easily start to fill in the gaps.

Remember to show and tell. Spend what you can afford on showing so that when you tell, it’s more than just words.

It’s a process that requires some creative sleight-of-hand and a mutual understanding of your goals, so let Hip Web Design help you work within your small budget to produce a working sample of your big idea. If you’re serious about attracting investors, show your investors that you’re serious about what you’ve got to offer.

Get a quote from Hip Web Design today!

jQuery is a JavaScript library that, as their tag line suggests, allows web programmers to “Write Less, Do More.”

In other words, jQuery is a collection of pre-written JavaScript code (aka, a library), bundled in ways that make exploiting its many possibilities easier for designers and programmers.

So why is this good?

JavaScript has been around for a while and it’s always been useful in creating dynamic effects for websites. However, simply making an element move could become a very arduous process because JavaScript’s language could get overly complex for many simple effects or events.

Then there was Flash. Flash offered a new way to add dynamic, moving content to websites, and it’s Photoshop-esque interface was more familiar to designers. For a little while, it seemed that JavaScript was on the decline.

But, along came jQuery, and suddenly, effects and events using JavaScript were made easier to access and easier to employ.

It came at the right time, too. Mobile devices, like the iPhone and iPad, don’t support Flash, which means JavaScript became a much more universally compatible option.

Today, jQuery is all over the place. The relative ease at which it can be put to use means that it is also a more affordable weapon in the web developer’s arsenal. Essentially, it means that the client can get a little more bang for their buck.

Hip Web Design uses jQuery in many of its projects, including this very site. You will see things like overlays and tooltips, which have been bundled into even more convenient functions thanks to libraries like Flowplayer’s jQuery Tools.

Here is a list of some jQuery demos and plugins (pre-coded events/effects):

jQuery UI:

• Draggable
• Droppable
• Resizeable
• Selectable
• Sortable

jQuery Tools:

• Tabs
• Tooltips
• Overlays
• Scrollable

Demos in Action:

• 20+ Advanced Uses
• 37 Plugins & Demos
• Even more demos

jQuery is just one of the many cutting-edge methods Hip Web Design uses in the design and development of our client’s websites. Get your quote today!

Stores are constantly adjusting their merchandise, putting new clothes on their mannequins. Magazines are constantly changing their layouts, commissioning new front pages. Businesses of all types know the importance of having a fresh look, otherwise they risk looking stale and stagnant.

Same goes for a good website. Actually, it may be even more important with a website. Trends, features, and tools come and go so rapidly online that if you don’t keep up, you fall behind.

I’ve posted before on the benefits of a regular refresh. A new look could be just the thing you need to get traffic moving again. It reminds your visitors that your website is alive, that there’s someone behind the wheel, and that they can come back time and again and expect something new and fresh.

Get a quote today for your website’s facelift.

Content management systems, also known as CMS, came onto the scene to make managing the content of a website easier for someone who doesn’t have the same technical proficiency as the person who built the site. In the past, if you wanted a content management system, you had to have a programmer who knew how to build you one, which would inevitably result in much higher costs. Even then, a CMS could remain too complicated for just anyone to pick up and use.

As more and more people came to the internet and sought to become involved and connected, along came platforms like Joomla and Drupal, not to mention various others, that offered site owners and programmers better CMS solutions. These “platforms” are pre-fabricated content management systems that a website could be built on top of. This would save the programmer a ton of time and effort and the client a lot of money. Still, these CMS solutions required a level of technical savvy that a lot of people new to the internet just didn’t have.

Today, content management systems are very common and are becoming even more ingrained in the way websites are built and managed. Platforms like WordPress and Tumblr have developed overtime to cater to the less tech-savvy, making it easier than ever for people to learn how to manage their own websites. And, while they aren’t considered content management systems, sites like Twitter and Facebook employ much of the same strategies for simplifying how a user interacts and modifies content on the internet.

In my opinion, if you’re going to have a website built, you should be involved in its management. To do this, you will need a content management system, and you should make sure you’re getting one that is simple, safe, and pretty. My CMS of choice is WordPress.

WordPress started off as a very basic open-source blogging platform that has since become a very robust CMS, especially for designers and programmers who know how to implement it effectively. It is not only easy for beginners to figure out and use, but it is flexible enough to be something even the most advanced web user can appreciate.

So, to summarize, a content management system does exactly what it says; It lets you — the site’s owner — take the reins and contribute to the management of your site’s content. These days, you would be hard pressed to find a web programmer who would build their own CMS specifically for you, so make sure you find out what they plan to use and how easy it will be for you to learn.

When you start thinking about your soon-to-be website, your excitement might fade when you realize you don’t really know where to begin. What should you do first? And how should you organize your thoughts so that they’ll be useful to your designer? Here are some tips:

Create a Basic Outline

Start by opening up your favorite word processor and mapping out your table of contents. What should your navigation look like and what content will your site consist of? A basic table of contents might look like this:

1. Home
2. About Us
3. Archives
4. Links
5. Contact Us

You get the idea.

Next, take some time to expand on each of those sections by writing a little about what you expect to be on each of the pages. If you don’t have all your content ready yet, that’s okay! But some description is better than nothing.

Compile Your Content

Creating a table of contents will help you see the larger picture. Now that you know what kind of content you’ll have, it’s time to start producing that content. If you have an About Us page, type up your biography or mission statement. If you have an Archives page, decide if you’d like to archive by month, year, and/or category.

And don’t forget about your Homepage! Figure out what content is most important and think of the best way to deliver it. When someone comes to your site, they should immediately be able to find what they’re looking for. Long winded welcome messages are unnecessary. Get to the point and show them the goods!

Collect Your Assets (Images, PDFs, Videos, etc.)

If you want quality photos on your site, you’re going to have to provide them to your designer so they have something to work with. Visit a stock photography site and purchase your photos so that they’re available for your designer to use. And if videos are a big part of your site, you’ll want to have a few of those ready too — if possible.

Prepare Some Direction

If you’ve ever experienced working with a great designer, you might start to think that they know what you want better than you do. But expecting as much is unrealistic. To make sure your designer has a good sense of what you’re aiming for, create a list of links to websites that you admire or have elements that you hope to emulate. Make sure you include a description about what it is you like about it.

Here’s an example:

• Hip Web Design (http://www.hipwebdesign.com) — I really love the colors of this site. It pops. I’d like the colors to pop on my site too.

Acquire the Essentials

There are a few technical requirements for starting a new website. I posted an article a while back called “What Do I Need for a Website,” but I’ve broken it down simply here:

1. Hosting
2. Domain name

Typically, you can get both these things at the same time from the same provider. If you aren’t sure what you need, ask your designer/developer before hand.

Once you acquire these, compile a list of user names and passwords that your designer/developer will need to start setting things up for you.

Put It All Together

As a designer, one of the worst things is when a client trickles everything in to you. When content comes in spread out over dozens of emails, it’s easy for things to get lost or over looked.

Once you’ve got everything we’ve discussed above, make sure it’s organized and appropriately labeled. Then, ideally, put it all into one folder and compress it into a ZIP file. If you’ve got a lot of photos or videos to send, you may need to spread this out a little, but when it comes to the basic information, having it well organized and together will let the designer move ahead faster.

You’re Good To Go

Now that you’ve created a nice little package, send it off to your designer. He/she will be grateful that you’ve made such efficient preparations. This will leave more time for your designer to focus on the important things — like designing your site.

If you come to your designer unprepared, they may not be able to attack your project with the high morale needed to produce something genius. Waiting for material and instructions to come in can bog down the entire process and kill your project’s momentum.

And as always… Hip Web Design is standing by.

I learned to do web design pretty much the same way Adam Savage learned to be a special effects artist — I just jumped in. When you’re learning something new, failure is unavoidable. But failure is necessary. It’s the mistakes that make you better at what you do. They refine you, provide you with wisdom, and, as Adam Savage put it, strengthen your intuition.

There are limits to what a person can accomplish given a particular set of boundaries. As a freelancer, it’s up to you to test those boundaries, and at times fail, so that you develop a greater understanding of yourself, and therefore know what you need to get the job done for your clients.

Yes, technically speaking, you can do some pretty neat stuff with Flash, but there are three major drawbacks: they’re difficult to manage, they can potentially destroy your search engine optimization, and they can be incompatible on some mobile devices.

Let’s start with management. Flash just isn’t as portable and flexible as other methods of coding. From a programming perspective, integrating a full-flash website with a user-friendly content management system can be challenging and arduous (aka expensive). Major changes to your design, depending on its complexity, could cost you a pretty penny, not to mention the inconvenience. Simply put, it just isn’t as practical to build a site in Flash, especially if the client wants to manage it on their own.

Then there’s the search engine problem. This is probably the most dangerous drawback to a full-flash site. Unlike  HTML or other methods of coding, Flash doesn’t render text or coding in a way that is easily accessible by search engines. Because of this, search engines can’t pull information from your site necessary to rank it. You might as well not have a website if you’re hoping to get traffic from search engines.

The final drawback is compatibility. In order to view Flash in your browser, you must have Flash installed. It is pretty standard these days, but there’s still the off chance your visitor doesn’t have it, or is running a very old version. More importantly, some mobile devices don’t even support flash. This could have a negative impact on your business if visitors find issue with your site.

So, pretty much what I’m saying is don’t get too excited about Flash. That’s really all that it is. Something flashy to be used in moderation. There are better, more efficient ways to create a dynamic site, like using jQuery, which will keep your site easy to maintain and search engine optimized. There are many examples of jQuery on this site, which include scrolling elements, tooltips, overlays, and galleries.

In the end, if you mention to your designer that you want a Flash website and (s)he raises no concern, you may want to reconsider whether they have your best interests in mind.

Let’s face it, trends come and go, especially on the internet. A stunning website you had designed just a year ago may pale in comparison to a website designed today. In my opinion, a design has about a 6 month shelf-life, and then it starts to go stale.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to scrap the whole thing and start back at the drawing board (although you might). Just do something different.

Bloggers should be especially aware. You may get the same TIME magazine every week, but at least the layout changes. Internet readers want the same thing. Keep your design fresh, and your functionality fresher, and your readers will keep coming back. You’ve got to keep up with the creative flow, otherwise your visitors will find greener, more interesting pastures.

It’s important, however, that you don’t over do it and lose the sense of identity you’ve established. In some cases, you may WANT to lose that identity, but generally, you need an anchor. Something that strings one design to the next, while still pushing the envelope.

Take Pepsi, for example. They recently made-over their logo. But, hold it up to the old one, and you’ll see that there’s a great deal of subtlety involved. Employ this same sense of subtlety when approaching a re-design. Even something slight can get people talking, and that’s good for business.

Another example is Tropicana. They gave themselves a new look, got some attention, then went back to their more traditional style. Don’t be afraid to reinvent your aesthetic. In another six months, you may want to pull it back, but you’re still keeping your site fresh and in the minds of your visitors.

Well… sort of. You see, like anything (making coffee, riding a bike, lumber-jacking, etc.) you have to be willing to learn to use your tools. Fortunately, the tools are getting easier to use every day. Hip Web Design makes sure that those tools — the easy ones — are at your disposal, and that you’re informed enough to dive right in.

Still seem a little daunting to you? Have you ever written an email? A Word document? If you’ve ever done those things, you can blog. Never done those things? Well you made it to this website, didn’t you? The key to these “easy tools” is their intuitiveness. They rely more on common sense than technical expertise.

You might be thinking, “Okay, easy tools. Great. But I want it to look cool. Not like all those other ones.” You can have that too! Don’t be fooled into thinking that an easy to manage website means dumbed-down. It’s just the opposite. Here’s the brilliance in what Hip Web Design offers: completely custom designs, cutting edge style, all sorts of bells and whistles, but all the content is manageable by YOU. On your own time. In your pajamas. Between coffee and… lumber-jacking.

If you’re on the fence, contact Hip Web Design. You’ll be blogging (or running an online store, sharing your portfolio, advertising your business) in no time.

The big question for many is “What am I gonna need?”

Aside from an idea and a web designer, here are some essential things you’ll end up needing:

1. A domain name. A domain is the address where people will find your site. Like, example.com
2. Web hosting. Think of this as the house that your address (domain) points to. A web host will provide you with a “space” to put your website. GoDaddy.com is a popular web host. You usually buy your domain name and web hosting from the same company since it’s more convenient that way.

In some cases, as it is with Hip Web Design, your web designer can help you acquire both these things, so don’t be afraid to ask. However, since you’ll be paying for it, you should be familiar with what exactly it is you’re getting.

There are also some things that will apply depending on what kind of site you’re hoping to build. If you plan to open an online store and accept credit card payments, you’re going to need extra services.

1. A shopping cart. This refers to a feature found on most online stores in which you select an item and put it into a virtual “shopping cart.” This shopping cart keeps track of the shoppers purchases and provides some accounting to show the visitor what they owe. There are two basic types of shopping carts: One that is bought and installed by your web designer, or one that is built from scratch by your web designer. The price for this has a few variables, so you should talk with your web designer about what is right for you.
2. A payment gateway. A payment gateway is just like a point-of-sale terminal at a retail store. Instead of swiping your card through a machine, you pay a service to process your credit card payments electronically. A payment gateway is a service that provides you with the ability and security to accept credit card purchases through your website. This price also varies from company to company, and may depend on what kind of shopping cart you want.

Don’t be scared away if you’re intimidated by some of these points. Here at Hip Web Design, we’re more than happy to talk you through it and get you the best deal possible.

So… is that all? Those are the bare essentials; Hosting and a domain name a must. Shopping cart and Payment gateway if you want to sell products.

If you’re a beginner and you want to teach yourself more about what it’s like to have a website and participate in the online community, you should try opening (and regularly using) a Twitter or Facebook account. You could also start with a free blog from WordPress.com or Tumblr.com. These are both companies that give you a free, limited domain and hosting for a pre-designed, ready-to-use blog.