With the necessity for redesigning a site, here is a complete guide which details all aspects of redesigning a website.

Time for a change?

Take a look at the list below, and if these are making clear and perfect sense, then it is time to redesign.

While outmoded code and programming techniques are an obvious reason to redesign your website, there are others.

Frames. Frames have not been used in web design since around 2000.  They are to limited in scope and complex to update.  Though the odd iFrame is ok, if your site is designed predominantly around frames, then it could be time to think about redesign.

Page intros. Intro pages kind of went out with the ark a while ago.  Some sites still use them to a degree, but generally now a flash or audio based intro page is a little cheesy, and can be considered a complete waste of time for many websites.  If you take this one step further, they are annoyance to visitors who have to wait for the orchestra to stop playing before they can get to the part of a website everybody loves- the content.  Maybe if you have an intro, it’s time to clear out the cheese?

Content. Content is King, and in the current age of web design, it has to be updated regularly to stay relevant.  If a site’s content has not been changed for a while, they soon start to look redundant and abandoned.   The easiest way to update a site is to build it on a CMS such as Wordpress.  If your site is not structured around a CMS, it will be a pain to update it, especially if you are not experienced with coding.  Time for a redesign.

Flash sites. Websites constructed entirely in Flash are well and truly a thing of the past.  Many sites that appear to be Flash sites, are in all probability constructed in XML.  Great designs and effects can be had by implementing Flash, but its usability and SEO options, make it redundant.  Redesign your site for your own well being.

Tables. Tables were intended to be used to format data and were never intended for design.  However, some designers realised they did have potential for layout and started to use them for complex web designs.  Though tables were good for their time, they have had their day largely because of CSS.  If you site has been constructed using tables, then updating a site is not only difficult by time consuming.  You’d be better off redesigning it altogether using CSS.

Trendy elements. Though many sites have caught on to the web 2.0 design bug, and started putting in glossy buttons here, there, and everywhere, sooner or later they are going to start to look dated.  It is a good idea to have a long hard look at your site, and see if any of the trends are beginning to fade.  If it is, then it is probably time to make a few changes, for your site to stay current.

If your site is around two years old then you will probably not have to do anything to drastic to keep up with trends.  Every two years, a little tweaking will do the site a power of good.  Consider these as routine overhaul:

CMS? If you are not using a CMS then you should start straight away.  Modern web design is about simplicity, and CMS’s make it easy to modify and add content to a site.  Photo’s, text, and themes can be added or changed with a few mouse clicks.  Once you have a site built on a solid CMS such as Wordpress, you never go back.

Nowhere on search engines? SEO companies find it harder work to get search engine robots to crawl through an older site, than with new CMS structured ones.  If you’ve had all the jazz done to the alt and meta tags, and are still at the bottom of the list on a Google search, its time for a change.

Part of your site is underperforming? If you are not achieving the conversions you are hoping for, or you feel some of your customers are going elsewhere, it could be time to think about redesigning your website.  The best way to track whether or not you are missing out on potential customers, is to use an analytics program to do this job.  This will show you at what point people are exiting from your site.  If it is a step along the path to a sale, then you need to look at this in detail to see if you can stop this from happening.  Time for a redesign.

Competitors redesigning? If your competitors have just invested in a redesign, then it may well be time for you to have one to.  Consider, users can use your competitors site which has improved navigation, a clearer, more up to date and relevant content featuring all the services and products that your company has, but are not featured on your outmoded site, and a nicer look and feel about it.  Or they can come to yours, spend ten minutes trying to find information, or indeed do anything constructive with the website.  Wonder which one they will pick?

The key to redesigning under these circumstances, is to take a look at your competitors site, and see if you can improve on the design, and then make the change.

A great advantage here, is that if you can improve the design that your competitors have, then they are unlikely to alter things as they have already invested in a redesign of their own.  Leaving your site, the pick of the bunch.

All this begs the question, “So what do I do now?”  Well sadly, it is not as straight forward as saying to a designer, “Give me a website and I’ll be back for breakfast.”  There is quite a lot of points to consider to ensure the redesign goes well.

What parts of your current design are working? Review your visitor comments and your analytics programs to see what parts of the site are performing how they should do.  If you can try and get someone who you know as never seen the site to give you an outside perspective.  This gives you a good basis for improvements.

What parts of your current design are not working? Once you have determined what is working the same process can be used to determine what is not.  This may sound like I have rewritten the last paragraph, but what I am talking about is the parts of the site that fail!  Once you have discovered these damaging elements, then you can change them.  Simple really.

Chop, change, edit, add. Print out your site map if you have one, or if not make a list of all the pages on the site.  This will give you an idea of the structure and content of your website.  From here try and decide if there are any pages that can be deleted, combined, or if you need new pages.

Blogs and galleries were not popular until most people started to have a broadband connection, and as for video, you could forget it with dial-up.  It is common for older sites to have pages such as these ones added to them in a redesign.  This could be as a result of new products or services you now have and want featured in the new design.

This whole process is very cleansing, and from it a new fresh redesigned website idea, should emerge.  Also consider:

What parts of the site attract visitors? This is an all important discovery for you to make.  Once you have thrown in all the direct traffic and search terms visitors are using into the melting pot, you can determine where they enter the site and at what point they are leaving it.  If there are important parts of the site they are not reaching, in comparison to other more popular websites, then you should focus on why this is and target the redesign accordingly.

New photos and images? The pictures you currently have on your website could well be ten years old.  Outdated images and their respective feel is one of the reasons for a redesign in the first place, so it maybe worth investing in new imagery to reflect the new you.  Though this can be expensive especially if custom pictures were used in the first instance, a new crop of photos to go with the new website just seems like common sense.

Also, you may want to reflect the company in a different light now it is 2009.  Changing the photos is a good way to do that.

New site, new image? The new site can also be a good time to reflect how the company has changed.  Of course it may not have changed, so your companies message and services will remain pretty much unaltered.  It is obviously, an important decision to be made, but changing the image in line with the redesign makes sense.

Consider these too.

As with designing new sites, many of the considerations are similar in redesigns.  The difference being that with the redesign analytic program data can also be used to hone the site to a target audience.  Screen resolutions and connections speeds should all be taken into consideration when redesigning.  You do not want to lose half your traffic because your new site is too sophisticated for their equipment.

The great thing about going through this process, is that it ultimately tells you if your website needs to be changed, tweaked, or is fine as it is.  It could be that if you already have a CMS structured site, you may just want to change or alter the theme.  This can breathe new life into a website, and it can be done at a very low cost.

If your site was not structured around a CMS, then a whole new makeover is called for.  Ensure sure your redesign is built around a good CMS such as Wordpress, to make changes that much easier.

When implementing a redesign, there are certain elements to avoid.  These can damage the site’s reputation, and or damage the site from a search engine optimization perspective.

301 redirects. Ensure your new design features a 301(permanent redirect) for visitors and search engines if you are changing the URL for your site.  It may be necessary to change the URL either for SEO purposes, or because you are switching to a CMS.

Some redesigns just feature a link from the old site to the new one.  Though this is fine for visitors, it is not for search engines, and your new site could be penalized as a result.

If your site is using an apache server, you can setup the redirects in a . htaccess file.  If you are on a Windows server it is more complicated, but well worth the effort.  This way you can retain your SEO status.

Announce the redesign before you redesign. Many of your regular visitors maybe not take to the redesign straight away.  Remember they have been doing things a certain way for sometime, and are well into the groove of doing things on the old site.  Having to relearn to do the same things in a different way can be annoying to say the least.  By announcing the site is going to change, gives them time to prepare.  You could also run a feature about the new site, pointing out advantages, showing how the site will change, and may be provide a few tantalizing screenshots of the new site, just to fuel the imagination and build expectations.

After a while, the improvements of the new site will shine through, and your site will in all probability be well received.  Though some may carry a blast of nostalgia for the old site.

Choosing the designer. This aspect of the redesign can not be overstated in terms of importance.  Not only should it be someone with the experience of redesigning websites, but it should also be someone who understands the purpose of the website.  Finding the designer who has both these qualities may be harder than you imagine.  Not only have they got to tune into your business, but they must also understand your perspective to implement the important necessary features that you require of the site from a business or organizational view point.

From a technical point of view, they have to be able to cope with factors such as existing logins, and retaining functionality of the existing parts of the site that you want to keep.  Couple this with entirely new pages and transferring the whole lot to a CMS structure, and you can see this wonder person has their work cut out.

General rule of thumb here is to go with a designer that you feel is right.  This way it will be someone you can work with and someone who understands the nature of your business.  Never be afraid to speak to your mind, and ensure the parts of the old design you like are still there, if slightly tweaked.  Remember though, an experienced designer will be a fountain of knowledge when it comes to what works and what does not, so at least consider his or her points of view.

Redesigning a website is as almost a huge step as creating one in the first place.  It many ways it can be a harder task to achieve from a technical perspective, and can be an emotional process if you are attached to the existing site.  The benefits though, are considerable, as investing in a CMS structured site, will not only allow you to change or add content whenever you want to, but will also give you the capability to change the theme of the site with a mouse click or two.

This will save you money in the long run, and help you better understand your customer base.

If you have any tips on design or redesign, wont you share them with us?

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This is all well and fine, but many iPhone apps neglected the practical need of iPhone Apps users, resulting in the menu system lacking intuitiveness , and subsequently poor navigation followed.  So if you’re thinking about designing an app for iPhone take into consideration these points.

Golden rule – Apps that offer something of value to people, will be something that can be done on the move.  So an app that requires in-depth knowledge or a complex array of options may not be suited to an iPhone app format.  So when in the design stages, ask yourself if this app can be something that be used on the move.  If the answer is no, it’s time to think again.

The Purpose – What is the purpose of the app?  There are many apps which do have a purpose that makes someone day that bit better.  It allows them to stay in tune with their favourite website, such as Facebook, or offer an interesting read on the go.  They have a specific purpose and execute their tasks well.

The user- As with web design, the user has to be the primary concern when designing the App.  Once you have adhered to the golden rule, decided on the purpose of the app, then this is the next step.  If the app is aimed at the business person, then the app has to be something that can be done on a subway train, or in-between meetings.  If the app is media related, or a game,  then you could be aiming for a completely different kind of user, who has a bit more space to play around with the phone. 

Navigation – Arguably, this is more important on an iPhone app than on your PC.  Many of the early apps just clunked along and did not seem to have a natural flow or intuitive direction about them.  This really let the apps down, as this made them impractical.  Remember when designing the navigation it has to be simple and have a natural flow.  It has to be intuitive.  Users are not going to want to look through help files when out and about.  A user should be able to workout all the features of the app, more or less straight away.  It has to be obvious and stylish.  There is no substitute for this.

Appearance – Like anything connected to web 2.0 the appearance has to be stylish.  That is not so hard to do, but building in the functionality on top of that can be a bit of a challenge to say the least.  As mentioned before, the navigation of the app has to be obvious, so bringing in all these elements may seem a little over whelming at first.  The best way to approach the app development is to stick with familiarity.  Large buttons and menus that move from side to side, mimic the menus from Apple.  This means that users will not have to learn a new menu system, as it is familiar from their use with Apple products such as the iPhone.

The iPhone is many peoples pride and joy, so designing a good, useful app for it, not only earns kudos, but can offer everything good web design should be :  a challenge, rewarding, and in some cases fun.  It is important however that you adhere to these rules as this will make your app useable by the iPhone user.

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In the beginning of this century, many web designs were focused on a more technological theme.  They had their roots anchored in science fiction than the world, and generally had effects on them to that effect.  Now this era is being replaced with websites that have an “organic” feel to them.  Or in other words use more earthy materials to promote feelings of nature, and the real world.

For a website to be classed as organic, it must try and recreate a similar image from the real world.  It not just materials such as wood, or fabrics such as muslin, but it can be images that recreate the flow of nature.

The idea and the origins are behind this new wave of web design, are not entirely clear, and like many new waves are formed by several concepts.  Green issues, farming methods, and interior design trends, all play a significant part in the real world in many arenas, and obviously this is now influencing many web designers.  As one yourself, it would be wise to keep up with the trends to stay ahead of the curve.

So this begs the question, what else is there to organic web design.  It can’t just be forests, rivers and tables, can it?

Indeed it isn’t.  If you look at websites with an organic feel about them, you can see that even the choice of brush stroke is used to simulate a piece of the world, like grains of sand for example.  Sometimes, the design may have been influenced by an element from nature, like a river or a mountain.  Very often this is applied very subtly, and this is very effective way to bring an earthy feel to a website.

Colors play an important part in the design, and spins a few design concepts on their heads.  Earthy colors can often be vibrant, and use to highlight areas of the design, where as brighter colors can be used to give a natural sheen to an image.  Also, mixing the colors can give some imaginative effects, such as burnt orange, or purple spliced with grey.  As with all web design, it is about the effect you are striving for.

It can also be about taking a modern environment and softening it a little.  Making the colors more earthy, or rounding the corners to make curves.  There is plenty of splicing of web 2.0 in organic web design.  The term organic is a little loose.  So something man made that has deteriorated through time and neglect can also fall under the umbrella of organic web design.  This brings with it more options and more scope for your creativity.

Blending the imagery is another trick used in organic web design, as organic materials such as wood, fabric and paper, are spliced with steel and plastics.  It is the feel of naturalness that is the goal, and the desired overall effect, no matter what materials are used in the construction of the design.  This can also include urban scenes too, organic does not necessarily mean forests and rivers.

Like all web design it is easy to over do it.  What you want is a balance whereby you only add what you need to, to realize the goal of the web design.  Anything extra is a waste, and superfluous.  Nature and ecosystems are about balance, and you should try and emulate this balance with your web designs.

As a web designer, it is important for you to keep up with trends and current thinking on web design projects.  As organic web design is a concept like web 2.0, it is one you should make get acquainted to, if you have not already.

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Constructive criticism can also make you more aware of certain characteristics you are bringing to web design.  For example:

Bad habits :  We are often blind to our own bad habits, as they become ingrained gradually over time.  Constructive criticism is good at breaking the mould you have developed, and improvements to your web designs follow.

Offers a challenge:  If your work is never criticized, your standards are going to be your own, and there will be no incentive to improve your web design standards to meet a fresh challenge.

Responding in the right way:  After you have received your first wave of criticism, you will find it easier to respond to subsequent criticism and thus you will find you become a better communicator, which is handy in the web design business.

Takes more than self motivation:  Outside motivation can blow away the cobwebs and pushes you to learning a new technique or design skill.  Criticism is often the outside motivator, think of it as a harsh but fair aerobics instructor.

You really are not the best:  A good healthy dose of criticism is clearly like medicine in many respects, it tastes rubbish, but it does you good.  In the case of web design, it reinforces the fact that you are not the best designer in the world, and indeed you are no better than any of your colleagues.  This stops the ego ruining what could have been good work, and makes it easier for your colleagues and the wider world to work with you.

So, now you know why you need it, how do should you handle it?

The right way to take criticism:  The way to handle criticism is to realise it is not a personal attack.  It is merely a comment on your work.  Though this can be a very difficult distinction to make, the commentators are merely expressing their opinion.  You probably will not agree with it, but there opinions on your work are just as valid as yours.  If you can rise above anger and outrage, and look at your work objectively, then you not only have done well, but you will produce a better piece of work.  In essence making the distinction between personal and professional, will make you a better designer, and a better person too.

Remember that though web design has to be functional, it is a design process and like all other design processes, it is subjective, and therefore by definition there is no “right way”.  Everyone will have their own view point, so when you show your work to your client or boss, expect them not to like it, and be open to ideas.
State the goal, so you don’t miss the net:  When you are showing your work to someone for criticism, ensure that they understand the purpose of the project before hand.  Even if it is someone who has no knowledge of the project or its purpose.  In doing this, all the feedback will be relevant to what you are trying to achieve, and in doing so you are minimising the chances of irrelevant criticism in relation to the design purpose. 

How you react:  The way in which you respond to criticism says a lot about you as a person.  Do not worry, I am not here to tell you how rubbish you are as a human being, but just to say that most people get defensive when criticized.  It is a natural reaction, as let’s face it, all those hours of work being pulled apart makes you feel deflated and a little worthless.

However, if you can keep the defensive reaction in check, and just let the dust settle for a bit, you will gather the strength to climb back on the horse and start again.  This is all part of the learning curve for a designer.  Web design is a tough world, and this is truly an invaluable lesson to learn in your web design career.  Over time, you will come to see that at least 90% of the criticisms you have received have had a positive effect on your work.

Unconstructive criticism:  Sadly, we do live in a world where people just love to be negative or are not happy until they are putting some people down.  This make things hard in the design world, as separating constructive comments and ones given through malice can be difficult.  Constructive criticism should really be:
Specific - Logical and defined.

Actionable – After receiving criticism you have a clear idea on what needs to be done to improve the design, and meet expectations.

Objective – This kind of criticism will be even tempered and purely based on the work you have produced, and not be influenced by any outside factor, like a personal vendetta. 

Criticism gives us valuable lessons:  Criticism is really a guide on how you can improve your skills, providing you act on what you have learned.  Should you not go away and try and address the issues where the criticism is targeted, then really the comments are wasted and you will never achieve your full potential. 

If one aspect of what you do is constantly criticized, then take steps to improve it.  This will benefit you in the long run, and make you a better designer.

Seek a fresh perspective:  Sometimes, it is better to take a break from a head down approach to a project which is not going well.  If you have found your last three efforts to get it right are missing the mark, then maybe a change in approach is what is needed. 

As you have taken inspiration from other works, whether it be web design related or not, you can do the same from criticism.  Providing you can separate the personal and the professional.  Taking a break and coming back fresh can help free you from the rut you are in.  Coming back fresh brings a new perspective, which could be just what is needed to break the mould and design that constantly criticized website, in a new, fresh way.

Vagueness:  Occasionally, you will find that the criticism is not very specific, and this can be a sign that the critic is shielding you from their true thoughts.  Though this can be a difficult thing to do, asking questions that are open ended in nature, can help you get to the heart of the matter.  For example:

“You say the logo is ugly, how can I improve it?”

“Can you be more specific, I’m not following you?”

If you still feel you are getting nowhere, it could be an idea to approach someone you trust for a more honest, open opinion on your work.  This may be the only way to get a constructive opinion, and get round the problem of vagueness.

Saying thank you pays dividends:  Always thanking the critic, even if you feel the criticism was harsh or unfair.  In doing so you will become a better designer.  It also helps overcome innate avoidance of criticism, and over time you may find that a critic can be like a mentor to you, and their opinions become a bench mark for you to measure the standard of your work. 

It will also help you feel better about the whole criticism process.

Though criticism can feel like you have taken a heavy blow to the jaw, picking yourself up, learning from it, and getting on with it will make you not only a better designer, but a better person as well.   Being a good designer, is about taking the knocks as well as the praise.

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This is as you can imagine, incorporates two elements into the build:  Implementing design rules into the web design process, and using processes to speed up the repetitive tasks involved in web design, such as creating templates that can be reused.

Collect code

Having a repository for code is essential and you should already be doing this.  There are dedicated programs to help you do this, but even if you just have a file with the snippets of code you may need for projects.  Consider these as basic essentials for your code collection.

• Contact forms projects
• User Management / login
• Payment handlers and online store scripts
• Commonly used design elements (buttons, headers, layout’s, footers e.t.c)
• Anything else you’ve built bespoke before that could be of use at a later date

This will all save time when starting from the ground up as designers will already have HTML templates, complete with doc type and stylesheets.

Code in order

Anyone that has worked as part of a design team will testify as to how messey coding can actually get.  Everyone brings their own style to the design process, and this in turn means that everyone brings there own idiosyncracies to it as well.  This can lead to a lot of head scratching and wondering why that div was floated to the left.  By implementing a coding order can save developers a lot of time. 

It does not have to be anything to drastic.  For example, this could be the order for CSS properties:

• width
• height
• color
• position
• misc

Work to pre-made templates.

If you create a few templates incorporating features you use in most designs, then you could go find yourself saving plenty of time and work.  It could be simple things like designing one with a CMS, and an SEO plugin, but no matter how simple it is, they will all save you time in the long run.

Before you do create a template or two, consider what elements you use the most and then code the template accordingly.

Work out the costs of pre-written scripts

Once you have the infrastructure in place and you are happily systemizing your design process, you may as well work out the pricing structure for all the templates.  This way, when your client asks how much will a website cost, you’ll already have an answer and this can save you time from working out the nuts and bolts of where the pennies are going to go. 

If you put all these in an FAQ, then you can save even more time. 

Code that funky framework.

Designers and developers will find they have time on their hands if frameworks are introduced into the design process.  If you fly solo when you build a website, then coding the framework makes it an even more invaluable tool. 

Whether you need typography, CSS, or a database, your coded framework will keep things running smoothly, and keep your client happy.

The advantages of using a systemization process for developing websites is clear.  Everyone wins as there is less frustration head scratching, deadlines become more achievable, and clients are happier as they see the results for their cash faster. 

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Apologies for the title, but now I have your attention I feel it is only fair to tell you that simple websites are the best.  Not only do they represent easier to use sites, but they can highlight areas that can be swamped by other unnecessary elements.

Simple sites do not necessary mean minimalist, but the golden rule to simple, is simply to remove unnecessary code, design elements, and content.  It’s that simple.  Below is some good reasons to keep it simple.

Navigation is easier than satnav.

If your site is full of useless content, why keep it?  This hinders navigation as not only does it hide links, but it also distracts from the natural flow of the site. 

To obtain cleaner navigation, think about incorporating the following:

One main menu for navigation, which is consistent throughout the site.

Use sub navigation where needed in the design.

No drop down menus, but instead incorporate the navigation into the sites design.  Remember drop down menus can hide content on a cluttered site.

Slow websites are sleep inducing!

If you have a simple, streamlined site, you provide a better user experience as page loads are much faster.  Lots of JavaScript files, millions of style sheets and superfluous content all contribute to HTTP requests, and thus make your site come to a stand still.

You have to cater for the majority!

You may well be aware that studies have shown that 79% of users scan read a webpage, but are you incorporating that into your design?  If you de-clutter the page of graphic and other superfluous decorative elements, then the content takes centre stage.  Not only is the content easier to read, but the site becomes more accessible to scan readers and non scan readers alike.

Sites are up and running faster if they are simple.

Simple sites take to the air a lot faster if they are simple.  Also, in the main, they require less code to do so.  This is interrelated to navigation and faster page loads.  They also tend to be more relevant to what the site is all about.  Try having two templates instead of eight, simple typography instead of complex, and a background that requires no complicated slicing or coding.  Can make all the difference

There are pitfalls of designing a complex simple looking site.  It is possible to change front end design through just padding an element, or moving a margin, or sometimes just moving something around without it making a huge difference to how the page looks.  This can also help simplify the code, and therefore keep it simple.

Code it simple for less of a Debug fest!

Lets face it, 300 different style sheet properties is more likely to mean going to a debug fest, than if you have 30.  Not only does this mean less of a headache, but also you reach the point where you have your life back that much faster.  That is why it is a good idea to debug right at the start of the design, and where possible deploy techniques such as combining CSS style sheets and properties to make your code a lot shorter.  The trick is to cut the unnecessary code.  There are programs that can do this for you, just make sure you double check everything still works before you upload the files.

Less server space needed

Obvious, but worth mentioning, the amount of server space needed is greatly reduced on simple designs, and this can save a lot of money if the site is extremely popular as it cuts down on bandwidth. 

The key to simple designs is simply to ask yourself a few questions about what you actually need to be on the site.  If you can’t think of a reason, don’t put it on there.  It’s that simple.

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Before you start posting on forums, blogs and issuing bribes, bear in mind that Google rates the quality of the link.  So if your website is about classic cars for example, then a link from another classic car website will count higher, as Google deems that to be a better recommendation than a link from a website that sells organic vegetables.  The thinking however, among many SEO gurus, is that any link is better than none.  If you think of links having a value, say 1 for links that are not relevant to your site, and a 100 for links that are, then you have the idea.

Ok, so now we’re onboard with that, what avenues can you explore to get your link on someone’s site.  It is always a good idea to link your site via social networking, as your site will benefit from the incoming links, but also other people will see the link and click it.  It’s brilliant how they work, and as SEO is about traffic generation, then this can only be a good thing. 

Directories is one option, and Google rates some more highly than others.  If you are on a budget, then there are some very good free directories that you can list your site on that will bring about a good link.  In this instance, a good link means they are rated by Google as a quality site that your website is listed on.  Many of these have fairly strict listing policies and it can well be a few months before you see your site appearing on them.  This is fine as long as you have the patience to wait.  Other options you may consider are web groups on social networking sites such as Facebook.  The Visa Business Network is a popular business directory application on this site.

Forum and blog posting is another good way to obtain links from a site.  The key here is to make sure what you say is relevant and thought out.  Posting such as, “nice blog”, or “great post”, tell people that you are just after a link.  Very often this will result in your post being deleted, and subsequently so will the link.  When you post, make sure you can say something that is relevant to the topic or post, and this should be fairly easy to do if you are posting on a site in the same market as yours.

You may want to consider outsourcing the campaign altogether.  This can be relevant if you are in a niche market, where you are on page 2 of Google and not getting too much traffic, or page 20 in a competitive market.  This way the slog of link building is no longer your slog, and though prices vary, for around $150, you can get a quality link building company to do this for you.  As with all other methods of link building, fifty links are a good plus to get you to the top of Google.

Link building is the way Google sees your website in terms of relevance and popularity, so it is essential that you focus on your link campaign to bring this about.

Related posts:

1. Understanding link baiting.
2. Creative techniques of link baiting
3. Optimising conversion rates through better web design

Traditional architecture problems

When building a web application, traditional architectural problems such as persistence, logging, application development, script building, web tier components, and workflow raise their ugly heads.  This makes web development a complex and time consuming process.  The Ruby on the Rails framework takes a very different approach to the problem, by making all the decisions for you, allowing you to concentrate on solving development problems.  This dramatically speeds up the process, and can shave months off time consuming development.

Pragmatism and databasing

One of the ways Rails speeds up productivity is that in all layers of the architecture, it takes a convention over configuration approach.  Once the developer is familiar with Rail’s constraints and rules, the need for specialised management tools is negated, as Rails generates the connection for your view to the controller and the model, and the model to the database.  Surprisingly, Rails manages to get all this to work.

Object-orientated language

Ruby is a fully featured object orientated language.  This sets it apart from its contemporaries.  Another good feature of Ruby is mix-ins modules which can be inserted in classes, blocks and closures.  These provide independent code which simplify client code behaviour  These features give Ruby a distinct advantage over other productive scripting languages.  .Net and java are out performed by Ruby’s dynamic nature, and the Rail’s framework gives added advantages due to the way it has been configured.

Documents and dynamic content

Rail’s templating technology allows the generation of any dynamic content documents, such as emails, web pages or xml documents.

Mapping Tools

Active record is a very good object related mapping tool.  In effect it brings you closer to the structure of the database than other object orientated development methodologies,  and provides an answer to database persistence, through seamlessly persisting your model to the database.

Web technologies

Rails is able to support a variety of web technologies, and with its hallmark out of the box solutions, it is able to provide a complete package down to configuration in development, test and production environments to email integration.  Due to Ruby’s dynamic nature, it is able to simply and seamlessly integrate with Rails.  It is also able to provide a rich interface for operations that Ajax provides, which is good for Web 2.0.

Rollback

With Rails, you are able to move forward and backwards between database versions, and with Ruby you can roll back scripts.  This is especially useful if you are migrating databases across to Ruby on the Rails.  Considering most software projects do not reach a point where they are able to do this, this is a big plus.

Implementing changes.

Ruby on the Rails again saves time, by making it simple to implement changes, and as the test cycle stage is reached much sooner, increases productivity considerably.   Rails immediately initiates changes, and this allows developers to switch between fix and test cycles.  This saves money on redeploying the application.  Ruby, on the other hand has easily testable code.  There is no need for external tools as methods and objects are replaceable at runtime, without them.

Coding

As the generators in Rail’s do a lot of the coding for you, productivity is increased as there are less lines of code to write.  Also experienced Rails developers will discover idioms to speed up the process too.

Support

Ruby on the rails is open source and well supported.  This is always a very good feature for any framework of this kind.

Related posts:

1. Silverlight vs Flash. Part 1
2. The checklists that every web designer needs
3. Tips and tools to improve the usability of your web design.

In 2006, Google, stopped using keyword density as the main component when assessing relevance to a website following a  related search engine search.  This may seem odd at the outset, as surely the content of the site dictates how closely related the search engine search term, and the search engine result are related? 

Problems arose when programs were developed that could write high density keyword articles with a few clicks of the mouse.  Though the articles were laughable to human beings in terms of how they were written, and their relevance, search engine robots however, loved them.  So more and more computer generated articles began to pull through on searches, as articles could easily be added that bore no relevance to the website or what it was about very easily.

In response to this problem, Google changed how it ranked websites, by determining how well linked they were from other websites.  The more relevant, and the better quality websites that had a link to your website, the higher up the page rank your site travelled. 

So linking now determines page rank.  The thing to bear in mind about linking is this:

-Free company directories from a website are not rated as highly as some other links.  Though some directory links are rated more highly than others.

-National and local press are considered good quality links

-Links from the same kind of company or organization are considered good quality links

How to build good link campaigns for search engine optimization is a trick in itself.  Many SEO companies will feature this prominently when search engine optimizing your website. 

There are certain companies that specialise in the area of link campaigning, and if you are unsure about how to go about utilizing campaigns, this could be a good area to explore.  Companies of this nature will have advanced knowledge of the better sites to place links, and have the connections to do so. 

So what of title tags, meta data, and optimized web copy?

Well in essence these are very important components to search engine optimize a website.  They provide Google and other search engines information on what your website is about, and what its relevance is to the search engine query.  In effect, it allows you to hone in on your chosen markets, and point your website in the right direction.  Without paying attention to these elements of search engine optimization, you will not find yourself very high on the page rank, if at all.

A note about meta data

Many search engine optimization articles, do not attach much value to meta tags, and though search engines do not use them to determine page rank, good meta data can make your website stand out from the crowd.  A good description can make all the difference to whether you get a click in your direction.  So when considering what to write for a meta tag, try and make it stand out in your chosen industry.  If you feature something that your competitors do not have, state it.  You’ll get more hits this way.

Therefore, search engine optimization needs a holistic approach.  Everything has to be in place for it to work, and without one of the elements the whole search engine optimization effort is for nothing.

If you think of search engine optimization as a car, with the link campaign as the engine, and the title tag, meta data and optimised copy as its navigation, then you are on the right lines.

Related posts:

1. Don’t link arms, link up…A guide to effective SEO link campaigns
2. Meta tags and web design
3. Meta tags: You’ve got to optimize them.

To avoid this scenario that leads to a severe loss of finances and reputation, you have to make the structure and rules that are absent from an office environment.  When you said you wanted to be your own boss, you were more on the money than you thought.

This article will give you some useful pointers to make the most of your time, and get the structure in place to work.

To that end, defining your working hours is a very good step in the right direction.  So if you decide you are going to start work at 9am, get up, eat, shower and change and be at work on time.  Though there is something sweet about working in your pyjamas, it does not set the right tone for a day at your desk.

When you are working for yourself, the temptation to skip breaks and keep working is high, the logic behind it is that the more you work the more you get paid.  Skipping lunch is simply the way it is, and you have to work, work, and then work some more.  Research has shown however, you are far more productive if you take short breaks throughout the day, and by setting aside sometime for food will keep your energy levels up and your productivity higher.  Look at it this way, it is better to do thirty minutes high quality work, than an hour of distracted nonsense.

Once you have started getting to work on time, and you have a good working relationship with breaks, it is time to start thinking about how to plan your day.  Not just your day, but long term goals too.  It is always a good idea to plan long terms goals, as these help focus the shorter ones.  The key is realism, you are not going to expand the company into a multimillion dollar enterprise by the end of the second month, but you may have completed the web design for your third client.  This will naturally lead to your short term goals, like working on this project and that project.  When working on these, try and be specific about tasks, so going to research CSS code, or look for Ajax examples should be used rather than do this and do that.  It will help sharpen your focus.

So what next, well now you’re spending time on projects why not track how much time you are spending on each one.  This is where it gets interesting as there is a number of good applications that can do this for you.  This way you can better gauge how long similar projects are going to take.  Is it a very good habit both now and in the future. 

Also by timing tasks and projects you can better evaluate you performance.  Often the results will surprise you.  To help keep focus, create to do lists and see how far you get through them after a days work.

To help you stay focused, it is important that you work on one task at a time.  Though multitasking has gone from being a buzz word to almost a doctrine, in terms of achieving something, the multitask ethic simply does not work as all you do is split your focus in half, and sometimes in half again.  By focusing on one task, you not only get it done, you also do a good job.

It is important that you eliminate distractions when you are working too.  There are several ideas you can introduce to do this.  The first is to start using an RSS reader if you do not already.  This way you will not waste time zooming around the web looking at your favourite blogs, as they will be coming to you.  Also, by putting the feeds into folders you will not waste time looking at non work related feeds during your day.

Another good way to eliminate distractions is to check email and twitter twice a day, rather than having them open all day long.  When they are, they will be a constant excuse not to do any work that requires any thought.  By checking them twice a day, it leaves your time free so you can get on with what is, let’s face it, real work.

The same principle also applies to email.  Most people have several different email accounts and you can bring them altogether by using Gmail.  You can also keep them in folders so you do not get confused.  It is by far a more efficient method than checking several different accounts to see what is what.

This is also a good idea for social media.  Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, all demand attention from you and keeping on top of them can be a real headache.  By using social media aggregators, you can update them more easily, and stay on top of what is going on in your industry very easily.  You can still use them to network for clients, and clients can still use them to keep in touch with you.

Setting up your work environment to suit you makes all the difference to the quality of your work.  When you come to plan your space, make sure you have everything you need within arms reach, and that you do not have to get out of the chair.  That being said, make sure the chair is comfortable, and that the mouse and keyboard is designed for this too.  RSI, or back pain will certainly hamper productivity.  Remember that searching for supplies or walking to the printer can waste a lot of your time.

As you no longer have to work in an environment where you were a slave to someone else’s rules, why not play your own music, or have the window open if it is a nice day.  The working world no longer has to be mundane or unpleasant.  Set the scene your way, and if you have your working environment as a pleasant one, then you will produce more work.

If you find yourself getting in a rut, or just not cutting it on a certain project for some reason, then remember you are not restricted to your office.  Go to a coffee shop that has a wi-fi connection, have a latte and go again.  It is as simple as that.

Freelancing can be a lonely world, so try and connect with other freelancers like you.  It is always good to have someone to fire questions at, and share ideas.  It is also good for sounding off at. 

Also, it may well be worth outsourcing administrative and financial tasks.  The money spent will easily be regained by the extra hours you’ll be able to do working.

We feel this just about covers freelancing, but if you have any ideas, why not share them?

Related posts:

1. Freelance web design and project planning
2. Freelance web design tips for avoiding project planning disasters.
3. Freelance web designer tips for handling clients