I belong to several web site design and development groups.  Recently there was a discussion on what a client/customer would look for, what they want to see, including what annoys them when shopping online.

My personal pet peeves are:

• Having to create an account before I even purchase anything or add to a cart. I will go elsewhere.
• They don’t realize that the US Virgin Islands uses the USPS.
• Having to contact the business to see if they ship here.
• Shipping being calculated as a foreign or international destination.

…

The following are several website designs that were done either under subcontract and were not the selected design concept, or they are currently under review by the client.

I work with WordPress almost exclusively, and there isn’t any website design that cannot be implemented.  There are some designers or developers that think if you use WordPress you are limited in design.  That is so not true!

If you need a new website design (redesign) or have a design you already love contact me to learn how I can help…

While conducting research for a tentative project I found a fair amount of information on plug-ins and existing premium themes for WordPress.

What is WordPress? WordPress is an easy to use content management system (CMS) that makes it perfect for many different types of websites.  Plus, it can save you money on maintenance as it’s easy to log in and make the changes yourself.

Please note that some of the following plug-ins may have very specific requirements (MySQL, PHP and what hosting companies the plug-in doesn’t work).…

There are some non-professionals that can do a good job doing their own website.

The following website owners seriously need to hire a professional.

Yvette’s: If I were living in the Panama City area and was searching for a bridal shop to find the dress of my dreams…well after seeing the site I’d certainly cross them off my list of shops to visit. Be forewarned…there’s music.

Havenworks: This site needs a major overhaul just to organize the information.

George Hutchins: Seriously who would vote for him? He could…

If you’re a fan and frequent visitor to the bakery they now have a website where you can sign up to received Tweets or subscribe to email notifications using Feedburner.

By using social media the Patisserie will be sending out daily luncheon specials so sign up on their website (look at the top right corner for the little birdie)!

In a previous post I discussed clueless businesses. The “people will call us” to order…yeah right! Well they might get a few callers, but all I can think about is how many they are losing. At the moment it’s Monday night (9:11PM) and say I want to order a few items at the last moment. I can’t call you as you aren’t open, but if I could order from your website I’d do it in a heartbeat.

But the heart of the matter is that you need to stop…

Recently I was contacted by a gentleman requesting a quote for search engine optimization for his website. He used Intuit’s Website to create his website. So being curious, especially after seeing TV commercials, I went and checked it out.

Their package details can be found here. And quite frankly I cannot recommend them even for someone starting out. And for $14.99 extra a month you can be listed in their WebListings and get found. You would be further ahead listing yourself in Google’s business listings and…

Let’s just say I’ve seen more than enough ugly real estate websites. On the other hand I’ve seen quite a few really great ones.

Real estate websites should be about the real estate which is buying and selling. The agent should leave their ego out as the the website should not be all about the agent. Okay, you are some what important and should show the potential client what you can do for them, but never forget that it is about the property.

I highly recommend having great photographs of…

I finally finished! There is still some work to do, but so far I’m very happy with it.

What are your thoughts?

I think all web developers have come across the following type of potential clients, and we are just absolutely floored. So here goes:

Business #1: They did their own site. It shows. They constantly refer to “contact us” on each page, but their email address is only on the home page and there is no link not even a “mailto”. They sell products and you cannot order them unless you call them. They think that’s just fine. But in this economy you cannot afford to do that. Oh heck, that’s…