The Secret to Superb Squarespace Designs

Big Picture Web has been on Squarespace for nearly a year now and finally invested in a the professional Squarespace design you're seeing today. And while Squarespace makes it easy for anyone to design and create a beautiful website, is there any way to beat professional Squarespace designs? This week we look at the secret behind superb Squarespace designs and roll out a brand new directory of Squarespace design talent.

Why Professional Squarespace Designs?

The Squarespace web publishing platform is known for its simple and powerful editing interface. With their drag-drop-and-adjust design tools, Squarespace makes it possible to create a beautiful website without knowing web design code like CSS and Javascript.

But there's more to great Squarespace designs than just easy editing. Big Picture Web has had three different looks on Squarespace including the the design you see now. The first two were a result of my own inspiration and capabilities. The current look is brand new and the result of the creative and web design skills of professional Squarespace designer, Grant Novey. I think we all can admit that Grant can design circles around me.

Big Picture Web's Non-Professional Squarespace Designs:

Squarespace let me a build a pretty nice looking website, don't get me wrong.

Big Picture Web's Professional Squarespace Design by Grant Novey:

Grants Squarespace design for Big Picture Web blows my previous design out of the water.

The Key to Splendid Squarespace Designs

To me, the difference is clear. Although Squarespace makes it easy for anyone to become a web designer, it's a skillset that takes both talent and training to perfect. What I can do pales in comparison to Grant's Squarespace designs. Not only does Grant have a great eye for design, but he also knows CSS and Javascript and can make Squarespace's XHTML structure dance on command.

How can I beat the combination of both talent and technique? I'm a web marketer and SEO, not a designer. I'm glad I stepped aside and let Grant handle the professional Squarespace design of Big Picture Web. The real secret to superb Squarespace designs is to invest in someone with the talent and ability to craft one for you.

Introducing the Squarespace Designer Directory

To help you explore professional Squarespace design options of your own, this week Big Picture Web is rolling out our Squarespace Designer Directory, a resource filled with a great selection of the best professional Squarespace designers on the web. 

Choosing your professional Squarespace designer is an important and personal decision. Budget, style, experience and professionalism are all important qualities that can define the right match. While Grant was the best choice for Big Picture Web, I encourage you to check out the directory and do some research as a part of your search for a professional Squarespace design professional.

Investing in your Squarespace design is an important consideration if you plan to build and market a new website. Big Picture Web is excited to be rolling out the Squarespace Designer Directory to assist in the research and selection of a Squarespace design professional that's right for you. What do you think about the directory? Have you worked with one of the folks listed? Am I missing someone? Leave you thoughts in the comments below.

Calling all Squarespace Designers

Do you know any excellent Squarespace designers? Perhaps you yourself design websites on the Squarespace web publishing platform. If so, then today's the day to share your gift with the fine people of the Internet. Today I invite you to join our upcoming Squarespace Designers Directory and help Big Picture Web let the world know how to benefit from your mad Squarespace design skills.

By trade and passion, I'm more of a search engine marketer and web analytics geek than I am a designer. Sure, I can build a Squarespace website and share information on usability and web design books and resources, but to really make a website sparkle is another skill set altogether. Candidly, it's one I'm not sure I have.

I have an undying respect for great web design. In fact, web designers, especially the really great ones, mystify me. That's why I wanted to put together the Squarespace Designers Directory. I figured, if you can't beat them, create a means to highlight them! Adding a catalog of Squarespace design experts to Big Picture Web's ever-growing collection of Squarespace marketing tips and resources is the most meaningful way I can think to help out Squarespacers in a design capacity.

Join the Squarespace Designers Directory

If you'd like to be a part of Big Picture Web's Squarespace Designers Directory, there's just a few easy steps to complete:

• Fill out the official application form here
• Share this blog post with your fans and followers on social networks. Ask them to leave their support for you and tell us why you should be included in the directory in the the comments area below.
• For extra special consideration, write a blog post on your blog explaining why you should be in the directory. Include the Big Picture Web logo and a link to this blog post: http://bit.ly/bID7yR.

In a few weeks, I'll roll out the Squarespace Designers Directory featuring your work and contact information, which will be front-and-center for all of the thousands of monthly Big Picture Web visitors to see. And once live, I'll continue taking new applicants and adding new designers to the directory as time goes on to ensure that it builds value for the Squarespace community over time.

If you're a brilliant Squarespace website designer, here's your chance at a little free press. That's right. At least for now, listings for Squarespace designers will be free. If you or someone you know designs Squarespace websites, now is the time to act.

Join Big Picture Web in building a helpful directory for the Squarespace community that will feature the skills and contact information of the best and brightest Squarespace designers.

A New Logo is Worth a Thousand Posts

If you've been to Big Picture Web before, you'll notice that I've started sporting some new digs in the last week. That's right. I've rolled out a new logo and design that I hope you'll like. And since I was heavily influenced by my readers throughout the process, today I wanted to share what went into the new look's selection and its meaning.

First, a brief chronology. A few months ago I blogged about getting a new logo for Big Picture Web. Unlike the folks at Gap, I tried to involve my audience before doing anything drastic. I asked for your thoughts on three logo concept finalists through Twitter and my blog comments. I even invited people to take a brand attributes test, a word association exercise that revealed how people perceived the three logo concepts I was considering. After receiving a ton of great feedback, last week I finally redesigned and launched the new look and the new logo.

First Impressions Matter

Thank you so very much if you were one of the people to comment or take the brand attributes test. I'm always fascinated by data, and especially by "voice of the customer" data like what you provided.  What subtle messages were each of the logo finalists sending?

(Click to enlarge)

It's hard to say which of the above characteristics are more important in the long run. I liked how both logos one and three brought to mind words like strategic, authoritative, and technical. And while I like to think of myself as a friendly person, it's just not the primary goal of my blog, which ruled out logo number two. Maybe my passion as a measurement geek just barely surpasses my friendliness, but Big Picture Web is here to help people hone their Internet marketing skills before it's here to be nice.

At that point I was stuck between finalist one and three going into my final meeting with my logo designer, John Stucker. In the end it was some words from John and a comment left by web analytics author and one of my professional role models, Avinash Kaushik, that persuaded me to pick the design you see today:

These things are so subjective, in the end you should go with what makes you happy.

-Avinash

What made me happy enough about the new logo to shift from the old look to the new?

The old look vs. the new look.

The Winner and Meaning Behind the New Look

I typically only blog once per week on Big Picture Web for a number of reasons. It's partly out of respect for everyone's time because there's so much content out there nowadays. It's also because I don't want to create throwaway content for the sake of creating content like a lot of the "me too" blogs out there. Most of what I write about is an attempt at applying the concepts of strategy and measurement to your online efforts. That's where the "big picture" comes from in Big Picture Web. I want my posts to be hearty and substantial and something that will stay with you for a while. Like a  stew or a lozenge.

The new logo supports my mission visually, and here's why. On the surface, you see a bunch of cursors all moving towards a blue dot. The blue dot symbolizes success on the web in the sense that when it comes down to it, we online marketers all just trying to get people to click on something or do something on the web.

But if you look at the logo the right way, a visual sleight-of-hand called multistability reverses the image and a person clearly emerges instead of the cursors and dot. It's the same on the web. Behind all the clicks is a person. Big Picture Web wants nothing more than to be this shift you need to see through all the noise and find the human insights. The "ah-ha" moment. The epiphany. The nugget you needed to make a well-informed decision with your online marketing.

In a nutshell, that's why I blog about SEO, web analytics, social media and Squarespace and that's why you're looking at a new design you see today.

What do you think of the new look? Have you gone through a logo/design change before? What was it like? Did you audience appreciate your decision or did you get scorned like Gap? Leave a comments and share your thoughts below.

Online Marketing Books are Highly Underrated

Staying educated in the Internet marketing industry isn't an easy task. You read as many blog posts as you can. You download new whitepapers and listen to podcasts. Maybe you even manage to stay on top of the deluge that is your Twitter stream and Facebook updates. But in this flood of new information, do we end up losing the ability to tie it all together? In today's post, we'll explore the humble online marketing book as a means of learning and examine some cool new Big Picture Web resources to get you started.

Brevity is rewarded more and more in a world where our attention spans continue to shrink each day. As a result, online marketing books are becoming highly underrated. Who has the attention span for a book? Who has the time?

But as we increase the volume and diversity of our sources of online marketing education, do we do so at the expense of being able to make sense of it all?

That's why I love reading online marketing books. It's an excellent way to fully absorb an online marketing discipline or strategy from start to finish. Books provide a thorough explanation of processes, key metrics and main tactics associated with a particular strategy as well as a general mental framework for relating everything. You just can't get the same education by reading blogs alone.

Have you read any of these online marketing books?

Not sure where to start? Big Picture Web is here to help as always. I've put up an Internet Marketing Book Review Page with links to reviews of online marketing books, done by yours truly. Each review contains a brief overview of the book, why the information presented is important and what other people are saying about it. 

And best of all, they have the Big Picture Web seal of approval. I won't link to junk and won't recommend anything that will waste your valuable time. The Internet Marketing Book Review Page will grow over time, but is starting out with reviews of these five excellent books:

• Web Analytics 2.0 by Avinash Kaushik
• Letting Go of the Words by Ginny Redish
• Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug
• Linchpin by Seth Godin
• The Art of SEO by Rand Fishkin and others

Each online marketing book review is set up like a blog post and is intended to be conversation about the book. If you've read any of these books, feel free to tweet, like or comment on your favorite post to share your thoughts and express your admiration for Internet marketing books.

Are you an online marketing book worm? What was your last great read? How do you find the time? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Hey Twin Cities: Need Some Google Analytics Help?

What are your feelings towards Google Analytics, or web analytics in general? Does the mention of traffic reports leave you with anxiety or are you at home amidst your website's glorious data? As someone who believes strongly in the value of measuring web performance, it always surprises me that we're all not huge fans of web analytics. Then it occurred to me. Maybe people aren't fans because they don't know how to be. Maybe folks just need a little Google Analytics help to get them started?

One of my favorite things about online marketing is the ability to measure all of your efforts. Yet it surprises me how many website owners I run into don't have a tool like Google Analytics installed. Why would you not want to know what people thought about your articles? How could you not want to know what pages on your site contribute to sales and/or new clients? This must be stopped.

I'd like to coordinate a free gathering of some sort for those looking to learn more about Google Analytics in the Twin Cities. Maybe it'll be a meetup; maybe it'll be a full-on workshop; maybe we'll form a club. Who knows. The format will be picked based on the needs of those interested.

What would the perfect free Google Analytics help look like to you? If you'd be interested in attending such a gathering, fill out the brief questionnaire below. Also, be sure to leave a comment or tweet a link to this post with the hashtag #bpwga. Based on your answers, I'll see what I can put together to best meet the needs of those who respond.

If you live in the Twin Cities, here is your chance for some free Google Analytics help. Help me make it as useful as possible by passing this survey along to anyone you think might be interested.