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Time to redesign your site

Nicasio Wordpress Design

With technology changing as rapidly as ti does, many business websites that were created a few years ago are in dire need of a redesign.  While there were only a few different design elements being used a a few years ago, new and much more creative websites are popping up all over the web.  There are many reasons that a business website could use a redesign. You will need to ask yourself some soul searching questions and give yourself a honest answer as well. First, when you visit your current site are you exited about it? If not, there’s your sign. When you are asked for your web address do you find yourself saying “We are working on it” or “We do not have one yet” ? If so, there’s your sign. But seriously, if you are not driving the traffic and page views you use to, then something is up. Does your analytics, and I hope you are running minimally Google Analytics, does it tell you you have a 70% or higher drop off rate? Then you may be bleeding money. Time for a new website redesign. These are but a few things to  considered in determining if your business website life cycle has become depleted and is in need of a change.

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Small business website design

Nicasio Wordpress DesignThe design and development of a custom website is very beneficial for any business today. We wont list those benefits out on this article, but we all pretty much know that most successful businesses today have an up-to-date and effective web presence to say the least.  Another no brainer is running a company blog. Not only do customers like to read about the company they’re doing business with, but they also like to take a peek into future products and other “special information” that will make them feel like they’re a VIP.  Many customers and clients these days like to be informed and stay updated on what’s going on with your business.  Remember, you want those visitors to become your loyal customers.  A blog is a great way to do just that.  The key to having a site do well, however is creating a memory with people.  A staying power.  Having a site that looks professional and well put together is essencial.

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Top 5 WordPress Design Tips

About the author: Dan Cannon is the CTO of Nicasio Design. Follow Dan on Twitter.

With WordPress gaining in popularity at an exponential rate there are more and more sites out there running on WordPress. Some are running on pre-made themes, some are running on custom designs.

Regardless of how your WordPress Site’s design will be implemented the following 10 WordPress Design Tips will help you organize your content, get more return users, and have a better WordPress experience.

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WordPress Chuck Norris Facts

About the author: Dan Cannon is the CTO of Nicasio Design. Follow Dan on Twitter.

I would wager that by now you have at least heard about the Chuck Norris facts floating around the Internet. I ran across some tech related ‘Facts’ the other day and this inspired me to write some Chuck Norris WordPress/Web Design Facts.

Facts after the break.

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Bi-Weekly WordPress Design Tip

First in a new series of quick tips we’re going to start publishing on good WordPress Design.

Tip #1: The sidebar is not a Christmas Tree and you should not decorate it as such.

The sidebar of your WordPress site is an extremely valuable area that allows you to show your users content that, for whatever reason, works best when separated from your site’s main content. No you probably don’t need that 3-d tag cloud (where it’s impossible to actually click on a tag – defeating the purpose). Just as with the content of your website, think about everything that is going onto your sidebar and decisions about what should be included there accordingly. Use the sidebar to help your users enjoy your site, not overwhelm them with widgets and useless information.

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Why Custom WordPress vs. Free WordPress?

If you’re like most people you’re always looking for ways to cut expenses out of your budget.  And right now, spending money on a custom WordPress design may seem like an extra expense that you just can’t seem to justify, especially not when there are free WordPress templates out there that you can simply tweak a little to fit your needs…right?

Perhaps. But we think that it’s not really all that simple. In the long run, you’ll spend many hours developing a do-it-yourself site that just doesn’t professionally market your brand. And after all the migraines you’ll incur, you may end up wishing you’d just hired someone in the first place. Yes, custom WordPress design and development may be an investment. But we believe that it will return to you in full many times over. Here’s how.

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Dynamic Headers Hits 30,000 Downloads

Our very first publicly released WordPress plugin – Dynamic Headers – officially reached 30,000 downloads today!

I just happen to check out the plugin stats page right after it happened and I was able to grab a screenshot.

This may not seem like a lot compared to some plugins, but it’s only been out 9 months!

Thanks to all of the users of this plugin!

Screenshot and some more interested timeframe breakdowns after the break!

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Good Blog. Bad Blog: Making Your WordPress Site Stand Out from the Crowd

We’ve all seen it. That hideously ugly WordPress design that either causes us to cringe in pain as we struggle to close the screen, or inspires us to call a couple friends over to laugh and point. No one wants that reaction, least of all a company with a message to drive home. In terms of WordPress design, what makes one good and another bad? Isn’t beauty in the eye of the beholder in some ways, yes? But here at Nicasio Design and Development, we believe that there are some elementary principles that a WordPress site must follow to not find itself in the category of “bad blog.”

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WordCamp Atlanta – Was Awesome!

WordPress Icon LargeNicasio just got back from WordCamp Atlanta and we had a great time. We were Silver Sponsors of the event and we were glad that we could help (in a small way) make such a great event happen.

We want to thank the organizers, volunteers, other sponsors and of course the speakers for a great WordCamp!

We can’t wait for WordCamp Atl 2011!

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Nicasio WordPress Design Tips

When considering a custom design for your WordPress site, there are important elements that are not necessarily within the syntax and mechanics of the template that should be kept in mind. For example, you may start with an idea, like “I want a blue background” but did you think about the fact that there are many variations to shades of blue? What about your text color? Headings? Accents? What about other important design elements other than colors? Custom WordPress design is just as important as the execution of coding the design.

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What makes WordPress Special for you?

As we prepare for the Nicasio holiday party, we took it upon ourselves to decorate our office with, yes, WordPress W’s. Why?ws Well, we love WordPress and dedicate a good portion of our production efforts to pushing the platform, functionality wise, beyond the premise of blogging platform [see our site launches.]  What makes WordPress special for Nicasio Design – like for many in the WordPress developer community is the flexibility it offers, however,  from the perspective of a business owner what makes it special lies more in the level of satisfaction our clients voice with using WordPress as a blog / cms / custom solution.

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WordPress Design – Do’s and Don’ts

WordPress Icon LargeWordPress Design and Development. As the popularity of the WordPress platform continues to increase exponentially, designers and developers are bending, stretching, and modifying the WordPress platform to do all sorts of cool things implemented on top of cutting edge designs.

This popularity has also created a maze of information, design styles, and basically an overload of information for someone who is looking for a designer, or theme for their site.

After designing and implementing dozens and dozens of totally custom WordPress sites we have learned a thing or two about what makes a WordPress site successful.

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