Posts by Amy Masson
Web Design Myths and Facts
Have you ever noticed that when people have been using a tool or service for a long time, they often feel like they are an expert on that subject, even if they’ve never been behind the scenes? Take teaching, for example. Some people assume that it’s not that hard and they could do it, because…
Read More10 ways your website is driving away customers
A lot of people think that if they build a website, they’ll magically get more customers. This is not true, particularly if you make mistakes that drive people away from your website, instead of leading them in. Professional website designers know how to use elements and make websites that people can navigate with ease. Here…
Read MoreWhat website owners should know about GDPR
First and foremost, let me be abundantly clear: I am not a lawyer. Please do not take this blog post as legal advice. Nothing is guaranteed or a promise to ensure that you meet GDPR compliancy. This is just an attempt for me to share what I have taught myself regarding these new regulations to…
Read MoreWeb Design “Service” – What is it?
When you go to buy a product, like a car or a lamp or even a pizza, most people assume they are paying for the parts that went into it. For a car, steel, aluminum, leather, etc. Pepperoni and sausage on your pizza. But you’re also paying for the labor that went into that car…
Read MoreWordPress is easy, but not really
When we started Sumy Designs in 2006, we were mostly doing static, HTML sites. One of those early sites wanted a blog, so we added WordPress to it. After trying out WordPress, we started trying out some other CMS options. We tried several out, made a few Joomla sites for clients and even had our…
Read MorePutting together the pieces for e-commerce
I’ve written about it before. E-commerce is hard. Just having a product and putting it online is not enough to get sales. When it comes to actually selling products online, there are a lot of pieces of this puzzle that need to go together. Whenever I get an email that comes in requesting info on…
Read MoreHow to evaluate a plugin
You’ve got a new site and you’re ready to use it. Hooray! And you might need a new plugin to do what you need to do. Did you know that there are over 50,000 WordPress plugins in the repository? And that’s only counting free ones available, not counting the myriad of premium, paid plugins that…
Read MoreWhat can a professional web design company do that I can’t?
In the modern era of website builders, literally anyone can spin up a website in a day and have a new website that’s live for the world to see. I listen to a lot of podcasts and hear ads for SquareSpace and WIX on a daily basis. Add to that the growing number of website builders…
Read MoreWebsite Content: Perfect is the enemy of done
Believe it not, the biggest delays we experience when completing a website results from website owners struggling with content. Everyone wants to showcase their business, their products, their services in the best light but not everyone is a professional writer and tons of people have difficulty coming up with the right words to convey their…
Read MoreCommunity Yoga: A Case Study in Usability
We recently completed work on a site redesign for Community Yoga. The previous site wasn’t bad, but it was created by someone who has a passion for yoga, not someone who has a passion for websites. I’ve always said that when you hire a professional for anything, and not just for a website, you are…
Read MoreThe Biggest Mistakes of DIY Websites
These days, it’s easy to get a website online. You can go to any one of the big DIY builder programs and click and create a new website. What’s not easy is knowing what to put on it, how to make it work well, figuring out how people will use it, and planning a strategy…
Read MoreA Website is More Important Than A Business Card
We are a company that offers many different solutions outside of just web design services. We can do a lot of things to go with it, like custom logo design, marketing, and SEO. We even do business cards. Fun fact: Your website is much, much more important than your business card. Most business owners are…
Read MoreDon’t Make Me Think: Revisited
If you are looking for a great resource on website usability, the book “Don’t Make Me Think: Revisited, A Common Sense Approach to Web (and mobile) Usability” is a great purchase! This is a particularly good book for those who do design but don’t do the development, because it explains WHY certain design elements may…
Read MoreHow Often Should I Redesign My Website?
A mistake a lot of people make is paying for a new website and then ignoring it for the next ten years. Websites aren’t like cars: as long as you can still drive it, it’s good. Not having an updated website can reflect poorly on you, can make your business look out-of-date and unprofessional. Would…
Read MoreThings to do before you launch a website
Launching new websites is one of my very favorite things to do, but I always want it to go smoothly for everyone, so there’s definitely a must do list for a smooth transaction. Here is my checklist for things you must do before you go live. Proofread Proofread, proofread, proofread. I don’t know how many…
Read MorePage speed matters now more than ever
How fast is your website? Does it load quickly? If not, it’s time to work on that. Google has been saying for a long time that page speed is going to start counting in their ranking algorithm and the time is upon us. What is page speed? Page speed is simply a measurement of how…
Read MoreAutomation Saves you Time and Money
I have a secret. I am addicted to automation. I love making connections. One of my favorite past times is perusing Zapier to find more ways to connect my various services and apps. And yes, it has waylaid me on other work from time to time. We all have our distractions. Of course, you may…
Read MoreHow to use MailChimp Automated Campaigns
If you have a newsletter, there’s a good chance you use MailChimp. And why not? It’s easy. It has great integrations. And, for many of us, it’s free. How can you top that? How about with automated campaigns? So you’re probably asking, what is an automated campaign? Typically, business owners and bloggers have a list…
Read MoreWhy is nobody coming to your website?
So you’ve got a fabulous new website but nobody’s coming? Is it time to panic? Not yet! There could be lots of reasons why you are seeing issues. Let’s explore a few options. First, I want to confirm how we know that nobody is coming to your website. Do you have Google Analytics installed? If…
Read MoreWhat to do with a negative review
I have written a lot lately about getting online reviews and how important they are, but of course the goal is to have all good reviews. But if you are a business that services a large number of clients, there will likely be a time when someone leaves you a negative review. So what do…
Read MoreSocial Media Imagery
If you post on social media, and if you write blog posts that you are posting on social media, I want to take a minute to talk to you about image sizes. Did you know that each social media platform has different requirements for featured images? That doesn’t mean you’re required to have a specially…
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