How did you get into web design?
When I was in college I sold quite a few things on eBay. You could use HTML in your product descriptions so I started to learn the basic tags to spice up my EBay pages. I enjoyed doing it so much that I started to get into building sites.
Do you remember the very first site you designed?
The first site I ever did was a site for my Dad?s business. He runs a chain of convenience stores and also offers heating oil and fuel delivery services in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I did a site for him for a web design class I had. Even now, I think the site was pretty good considering my knowledge at that time. It didn't serve much purpose though besides providing a phone number. I recently re-did the site, Kaul Oil, with a focus on search engine optimization. The site brings in a lot of leads for his business now and has a much more professional look. It's one of my favorite sites that I've done because I had so much freedom when I was doing it. My favorite site though, is my own. I recently re-did it and I?m very happy with how it turned out. The goal of the site is to communicate my Web Design, SEO , and PPC Skills and I think it does that really well.
You are doing a lot of search engine optimization. Is this a specialization for you?
It is, yes. Over the last year or so, I have really dedicated a lot to learning more about this. I think having a site that performs well in search engines is so important. A lot of people build a site but have no plan for how they are going to drive traffic to it. SEO is a very powerful tool and done right, can drastically improve your traffic.
Where do you get your art for these webpages?
Getty Images is the best as far as selection and quality but the prices are really high. I really like iStockPhoto. They have a great selection and their prices are extremely reasonable - a couple bucks per image if all you need are low resolution images which should be all you need for web design. Even high res images from iStockPhoto are only a couple bucks. Haven?t really found any other places besides those two.
What will be the next big development in webpage design?
If we're talking just about web design itself, the trend is moving away from flashy, loud, crazy pages to sites more towards clean, professional, simple site designs. If you're talking more about the experience of the web site, I think things will continue to become more interactive and personalized. The Nike site is a great site for example. If you go there, the whole site is personalized to your preferences. You can design your own shoe on their site all the way down to the shoelace and then purchase that shoe. It?s pretty impressive. The static ?brochure? sites aren't enough now. You need to actually offer the visitor something.
Have you ever worked with website templates?
I haven't no. I think it's a great option for businesses though if they don't want to pay someone to concept and develop a site design. I've looked at templates before and I've seen a lot of great designs and they are very reasonably priced. I would have no problem as a web designer if a client picked out and purchased a template and wanted me to work with that. Obviously I would prefer to concept my own site design but it would save the client quite a bit of money to start with a template.
What do you think about Flash technology?
I think some amazing things can be done with Flash. Nothing else out there can do what Flash does and used correctly, it's one of the most powerful tools out there for web designers and developers. However, I am against sites that are developed completely in Flash. You can read more about this on my web site. I have an article written there about how sites developed entirely in Flash do not work well for search engine optimization purposes.
What are your sources of inspiration?
I have quite a few sites that I go to that feature work of a web designer:
- http://www.thebestdesigns.com and several others.
What are your favorite website designs that you did NOT design yourself?
I've always thought Yahoo does good work. Their products don't work as well as stuff developed by Google, but aesthetically, they always trump Google. When it comes to web design, I really like the clean, simple sites. Not boring, but clean.
What was the toughest project or customer situation you've encountered?
The toughest thing when it comes to web design is always trying to convince the client to agree with your suggestions. It's very hard when a client, who has no real knowledge of design, shoots down your designs or suggests changes that aren't very good ideas. I try to explain my point and change their mind. Most of the time, I can do that. Ultimately though, they are the ones paying the bill so there?s always things you have to just do.
DI appreciates your accumulated knowledge and your style, Brent.
The Template Dude, Arthur Browning
