Welcome to our web design blog! You will find web design hints, web design news, tutorials, and general info related to designing modern, responsive websites.
Blog Articles
How to Add a Page to a WordPress Site
Read moreThis tutorial is for WordPress websites using WPBakery Page Builder (formerly Visual Composer), which is quite a bit different than the default WordPress editor. Most sites that we build for clients use WPBakery Page Builder as the default page editor. This tutorial just covers the basics of adding content to a page. Page Builder has a lot of advanced options you can learn. I recommend watching videos on YouTube to learn more.
Jetpack Holiday Snow Guide
Read moreJetpack Holiday Snow is a feature that is included in the WordPress Jetpack plugin by Automattic. When enabled it adds a snow falling effect to your website between Dec. 1st and Jan. 4th of each year. By default the feature is disabled in Jetpack settings. In this guide I will show you how to install and enable the Jetpack Holiday Snow feature, how to configure some advanced options.
Essential Web Design PDFs / Cheatsheets – Design Right
Read moreHere are some free web design PDF resources to help you out with your website. There are two cheatsheets, there is an HTML 5 cheatsheet with common HTML commands, and a SEO cheatsheet from MOZ. There is also some WordPress resources, information on basic web design principles, information on responsive website design, and more.
Why Use WordPress? – Is it really that much better than the alternatives?
Read moreWordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world and is in charge of over 60% of the sites that use CMS on the Internet. It powers one in every five websites on the Internet and helps 100,000 new websites come online every day. However, many beginners to web management often ask: Why use WordPress? Is WordPress better than my standard HTML website? Why make the switch to WordPress? This article will give you answers as to why you should consider using WordPress for your website.
Visual Principles of Effective Web Design
Read moreThis article outlines web design principles needed to create a technically and visually pleasing website. The same principles can also be applied to branding and marketing. The basic elements of a good design are shape, texture, direction, and color. When designers are creating a website they must strive to achieve a balance of visual appeal, responsiveness, functionality, speed, and usefulness. In order to achieve this balance, there are certain principles designers must follow. These principles are explained in detail in this article.
When do you need a New Logo?
Read moreBranding is a big deal for most successful companies because they understand its importance in projecting the company’s image and its resultant effect on business; a fact often overlooked by average companies. Spending more time on social media or investing more on marketing is often the default path for most businesses when they are experiencing a dip in sales. However, most businesses fail to understand that the source of poor sales could be as simple as a poor brand image. It could even be something as simple as getting...
SEO Tools Every Website Marketer Needs to Master
Read moreThis article is dedicated to the best, free, and most effective SEO tools (in increasing order of relevance) any contemporary SEO marketer must have under his belt. SEO has come to stay as a strategic marketing channel for business owners, each year it evolves into a more sophisticated discipline. As brands and industries continue to appreciate the importance of SEO, there is little time for you as a marketer to rest on your laurels, you have to refine your skills sets continuously.
Brand Promotion: Design of Websites which Promote Brand Values
Read moreA company’s brand is the symbol which represents its business and embodies all of its characteristics, associations, and experiences. This brand can be in the form of consistent imagery, phrases, sounds and logos with which people come into contact. Building a website is seen as a rite of passage for most business and start-ups; even when the business is still to make a cent. Why? A website serves as a virtual business door where old and new can come through, explore and enjoy the services your business has to...
Make WordPress Lightning Fast: Complete Guide (Updated for 2019)
Read moreWelcome to our comprehensive guide to improve loading speed on WordPress websites! After applying the changes mentioned in this article you will see a significant decrease in loading time.
Colors Used by Famous Brands
Read moreIf you are unsure what colors to use for your logo or business branding, browse through this website to see what other companies in your field are using, and get an idea of what you like. If you like a certain color scheme, there is a good chance customers will also like it.
Free High Quality Stock Photos for Web Design
Read moreMany people have asked where they can find free high-quality stock photos to use on their website. One such site to find free stock photos is Unsplash.com. They have 100's of high quality professional looking photos you can download and use absolutely free, without needing to signup for anything or enter an email address.
Overview of WooCommerce – eCommerce Software
Read moreWooCommerce is a free open source eCommerce program for WordPress that can be used to setup an online store selling downloadable products, services, or products you send by mail. It can calculate shipping rates, add taxes if applicable, and accept payments through PayPal, Google Checkout, Apple Pay, or other payment processors. The software does all the work for you and
How to Install a WordPress Plugin
Read moreSome basic step-by-step information about how to install a plugin on a WordPress website Login to your WP admin area. It should be located at http://yoursite.com/wp-admin In the admin area go to Plugins > Add New In the search box search for the plugin you want to add. Here are recommended plugins Click the “Install Now” button for the plugin
How SEO Works
Read moreThe video shows some basic information about search engine optimization (SEO). Chico Designs offers full website SEO services. The infographic to the right shows a little bit about keyword research and using multi word phrases on your site. It talks about the architecture of a website, and how the pages are built. It also discusses page optimizations, such as putting
What is Responsive Web Design?
Read moreThis video explains the basics of responsive web design in 60 seconds Responsive web designs automatically adjusts to fit the device viewing the website, and should look good on phones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers. All websites we build are made to be responsive.
How to setup an email forwarder in cPanel
Read moreA forwarder sends your emails from one email address to another. Often times it’s more convenient to forward emails from your business email addresses to a your personal Gmail or iCloud email address. Rarely do people use server email clients like RoundCube, or Squirrel Mail. Here are instructions on setting up an email forwarder for websites hosted by Chico Designs Using your browser
12 Reasons to Create your Website using WordPress
Read moreWordPress is simple, powerful, secure, open-source, and free. Read more reasons you should use it, about WordPress features, must have plugins, and more!
Pay for Web Design with Digital Currencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, & More
Read moreWe are happy to announce that we now accept payments for web and graphic design in digital currencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Stellar Lumens, Dogecoin, Dash, Ripple & others. If you want to pay for web design using Bitcoin or other digital currencies just let us know, and we will provide you with a wallet address.
Here are the *REQUIRED* Plugins for a New WordPress Site
Read moreHere are a few awesome plugins you might want to consider installing on your WordPress site Akismet – Helps block SPAM comments which are prevalent on WordPress sites. You need to generate a key to use the software, which is free on the Akismet website. You can also shut off comments completely to avoid having to deal with SPAM comments. Better
Integrate Contact Form 7 and Google Analytics Event Tracking
Read moreIt can be really useful to know more about visitors to your site who fill out the contact forms. Tracking the forms as a Google Analytics event allows you to see data about where visitors who filled out the form came from, what pages they landed on, how much time they spent on the site, the browser they used, and more.
