Monday, August 19, 2013

How to easily post video to your website

One of the best ways to capture your users attention on your website is with video. A video will draw your users in, show them what you have to offer, and encourage them to look further into your website. But how do you put a video on your website?

It's super easy! Just follow our 2 steps below:

Step 1: Upload Video to YouTube
  • Sign in to Youtube (or create an account if you don't already have a Google account).
  • Click "Upload" at the top of the screen
  • If it's your first video you've uploaded, you may have to fill out some basic information, such as your name and birthday. Soon you should get to the screen you see below, or something very similar:
YouTube
  • Click on the arrow, and then select the video file on your computer you want to upload. This tutorial is assuming that you already have a video file ready to use.
  • It may take some time for the video to fully upload, but once it's done you should be able to view your video on YouTube!
Step 2: Place Your YouTube Video on Your Website
  • Go to your video on YouTube
  • Click Share
  • Click Embed
  • Copy and paste the code that shows up into your webpage. You can also change the size of the video if you want. See below:
YouTube
Your video will appear wherever you place that bit of code! Good luck!

Thursday, August 1, 2013

10 Reasons Why You Should Hire Us

Our first unashamed plug of Fresh Look Web Design! If you're looking for a few tips to enhance your website, please read a different article because this one is not for you! :)

Here are the top 10 reasons why you should get a website with Fresh Look Web Design:

1. We do good work.

We do great work! Our websites are beautiful, user friendly, and are found on search engines. You can check out our portfolio right here to check out some of our websites. Want to see more? Contact us and we will give you more to look at.

2. We are reasonably priced.

Other than doing good work this is the most important thing to look for right? We can cater to any budget and the amount of website that you get for your dollar is better than anything else we've ever seen. Do cheaper websites exist? Sure, but they aren't effective. Are there slicker, fancier websites out there? Sure, but say goodbye to a whole lot of dead presidents.

3. We understand how search engines work.

Creating a website is half the battle. Making it appear well in the search engines is the other half. You want someone on your side who knows how to make both parts work together.

4. We do updates in half hour increments.

Most web development companies charge by the hour when it comes to updating your website. We charge by the half hour. It usually takes around half an hour anyway for most updates, so why charge for work we're not doing?

5. We're here to stay.

The NUMBER ONE complaint we hear from people about other web developers is that their web developer disappeared and they can't contact them anymore to update the website. Whether they were a freelancer, or a company that went out of business; they're gone and now no one can access the website.

You don't have to worry about that with us! We're extremely accessible and have no plans of dropping the ball on anyone.

6. We make quick updates when you need us.

Any time you need a change to your website it's usually hours, sometimes minutes before we get it done, not days.

7. We can do weekend updates.

Got an emergency that needs to go on the website Saturday evening? We can do it...although a heads up during the week will make us like you more :)

8. We're local (to Virginia)

Ideally you want to be able to sit down and meet with your web designer. We do a few long distance projects when necessary, but meet with 95% of our clients at some point during the process. It just works better that way.

9. Our goal is to help your business succeed both long term and short term.

We want our clients to stay with us, and the best way to do that is help them any way we can. A client is a much better revenue source over 10 years of good pricing versus 1 year of being over charged. We really want your business to grow and succeed.

10. We have very good English

There's no language barrier here when you need to call us for technical support. If you need help on your website, it's nice to have someone who you can understand!

Please contact us if you want to talk about how we can help you with your website!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Every Client Says This...

Here are some of the things our clients often say to us when meeting about building a website. If you're a Fresh Look client, you know you've said at least one of these!


Client: "I can't explain to you what I want, but I will know it when I see it."

Frequency: Very common

Answer: We create a design, and if it isn't quite right on the first try then we make it different until the client says, "Aha! Yes!"

Client: How do I get my website to be #1 in Google?

Frequency: Common

Answer: There is certainly no guarantee of being #1, but there are a lot of good ways to improve your ranking. First of all, there's our article dedicated to just that topic, our Easy SEO Checklist. There's also our SEO package, which costs $650 and will definitely improve your ranking significantly. You can also do a lot on your own - write lots of good content.

Client: "What is hosting, and do I need it?"

Frequency: Common

Answer: Hosting is required for every website to be connected to the internet, and we can provide it for you.

Client: "I know what I want. I'm going to tell you exactly how I want my website to look."

Frequency: Asked occasionally

Answer: We'd prefer that our clients have a general idea, yet also be open to suggestions. Give us a concept that you like, and leave the details of how to make it work to us.

Client: "Here's the content for my website. The only problem is I don't know where it should go."

Frequency: Almost universal

Typical result: We are able to organize content in a way that is attractive and intuitive. That's primarily our job, to make the website user friendly. Don't worry if you don't know beforehand how to arrange your content, we will help you out.

Client: "Here's 8,239 pictures, can you figure out what to do with them?"

Frequency: EVERY PROJECT! (ok not really)

Answer: While we may go blind from going through your pictures, the website will be MUCH better because of it. The more quality pictures you give us, the better your website will be.

Client: "I think I need a Godaddy whadya call it domain something..."

Frequency: Common

Answer: A domain name is the first step to getting a website. It's what comes after the www at the top of your screen when you're on a website, and can be .com, .net, .org, etc. It costs around $20/year and we'll give you ideas on what domain name to use.

Client: "I need this project done really fast. 1 week max."

Frequency: Occasionally

Answer: A website can EITHER be good, rushed, or reasonably priced. We are able to make websites that are both good and reasonably priced, but we cannot add in rushed. We CAN do it rushed, but it will no longer be reasonably priced, and it will always be better if it is not rushed.