Business Tips Archives | Page 10 of 10

14 August

22+ Of The Best, Most Beautiful Websites For Free Stock Photos (Because Risking Your Biz For A Free Photo Is Silly!)

Erika Madden | Business Tips, Resources, Website Design | 36 Comments

22+ of the best free stock photo websites for your blog and business. (Regularly updated!)

I'm a hopeless sucker for pretty photos. Especially of chic office spaces with colorful, curvy chairs, elegant white desks, and gleaming Macs.

Every time I spot them on Pinterest, I think about how ridiculously perfect they would be for my next blog post.

But, alas, you won't see them here.

Why? Because those photos -- which seem so casually and easily available -- actually aren't free to use. At all.

They belong to somebody, somewhere, and that person or company has legal rights to the exclusive use of that photo. It makes no difference whether they were taken by Penny Q. Smith for her obscure personal blog about thumbtack art or were published on KateSpade.com. If I used them, I'd be breaking the law.

(And could easily be served a crippling $8,000 in copyright infringement fines.)

My business does well, but I don't have large sums of money laying around to throw at random things like, oh, stiff copyright penalties. Do you?
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24 July

7 Pro Web Design Tips That Will Make You More Money

Erika Madden | Business Tips, Website Design | 9 Comments

Professional web design tips that will help you make money with your website! Make sure your blog or business design is marketing friendly, not just pretty.

You're frustrated. You have a beautiful website that you've spent long hours designing yourself -- or a lot of cash acquiring via the skills of a professional web designer -- but it's not helping you make money like you had hoped.

In fact, you're getting only a few meager website visitors to sign up for your email list, hire your services, buy your products, or even fill out a contact form inquiry!

What gives?

Having designed websites for over a decade, I'll tell you:

A pretty website does not mean a profitable website. (Tweet it.)

And even the most visually elegant design can stink when it comes to conversion rates.

That's because effective website design is only partially about aesthetics like crisp, eye-catching graphics and a clean color scheme.

In order to be successful from a business perspective, a website also has to be designed with savvy marketing, psychology, and user-experience principles in mind.

Below are 7 pro design tips you need to know if you want your website to make you more money. Print them out and give them to your web designer, or use them yourself for your next redesign!
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