Category Archives: Web Design

AMP, Mobile, Responsive

AMP – Finally, Mobile Optimized Standards

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Yay…I’m celebrating the start and initial spread of Accelerated Mobile Pages (“AMP”) Project.

In October, Google and other industry partners announced it’s support of AMP. It’s been adopted by the likes of BBC and The New York Times and lots of other big players.  It’s a standard for creating faster, compatible sites for mobile devices.

My long-time frustration with much of WordPress (and similar software) is the big file size served to small screens and limited bandwidth devices. Pages are often complicated and sometimes incompatible. It makes viewing slow or difficult.

AMP offers some promise for a swing in the industry, from overly complicated mobile sites, to more usable and faster sites. I wouldn’t try to predict the future of AMP, but I think it’s a worthy step in the right direction. In the meantime, I’m studying up.

AMP is taking off, and I glad it is. I hope this is a milestone in mobile website development.

More Info

Find more info at these sites:

AMP Project

Google Search guidelines for AMP pages

Google Official Blog

To Do: Write Blog Posts

Do You Have Time for a Blog?

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Whether you should or shouldn’t have a blog depends on your business and your resources. Even when a blog could serve your business (sales, search rankings, communication with clients), there’s one more question: Will you add to it regularly?

Blogs take time, even for experienced bloggers who know how to create written and visual content. If you have those skills, you have a good start. If you lack that experience, you’ll have to learn (or hire) a few skills before it’s “easy”.

For many businesses, a few basic skills are enough:

  • Writing Content
    The writing doesn’t have to be fancy or long. It can be informal, but some basic writing skills are needed.
  • Selecting and Editing Images
    Cropping and resizing images is a start. Combining images and creating original graphics is a plus.
  • Organizing
    Basic organization of images and future blog posts as well as writing and editing tasks.
  •  Posting on Your Site
    With most blog software like WordPress, this is pretty easy, but you need to know a few steps .

Your Homework: Create Five Posts

I often ask clients to create a few blog posts before committing. Then they can better gauge the time needed for updates. So that’s your assignment.

You don’t need to create anything fancy. Write five simple posts by creating or collecting the text, pictures and videos.

Posts can be simple, like posting on Facebook: quick cell phone images with a caption or  a few short paragraphs. Or posts can be longer with lots of details.

This short assignment helps you refine the style and direction of your blog. It also helps you decide if you should have a blog at all and how to maintain it.

Ideas for Blog Posts

Over a few weeks, keep an eye out for things to post:

  • an image of your product or service, particularly if it makes a good visual like hair styles, home painting or any kind of design
  • something a client says about your company
  • a picture from a vendor visit
  • a picture from a training session
  • cell-phone shots from industry conferences and trade shows
  • new products
  • new employees
  • technical support answers
  • any news your audience and clients want to know

Then create those first five posts. Once you write a small collection, you’ll better understand the project of publishing a blog.