A friend and colleague just asked me: “Can you tell me where I can get free (truly free) photos to use on website or graphic design project?”

Yes I can! But why stop with photos? When you’re designing a business website, photos are just one resource you need.  You also need social media icons, buttons, form elements, textures, and inspiration!

Here are my #1 sources of free images for web design in each category:

Photos and Theme-Setting Images

From the moment I discovered Stock-Exchange, I knew I found my go-to resource for inspiration to express a main idea. It was originally set up as a community for photographers to exchange images for free.  Some artists require name credit and a link – others offer their work with no attribution required.   You can choose from hundreds of thousands of high quality images, even for commercial projects, as long as you abide by the Standard Restrictions for use.

See:
Stock Exchange
Stock Exchange Links for additional free photo resources

Buttons, Background Textures, User Interface Elements

Premium Pixels is the wildly generous gift of insanely talented designer Orman Clark.  It began as a way for him to share design tools and images, and resources that took a lot of thought and time to make, just because others might find them attractive and useful.  They are!  Now it includes hand-selected contributions from other stellar designers. Browse the ever-growing collections of eye-popping, high quality icons, entire site layouts, device representations (smartphones to big screens), textures, buttons, and more.  Subscribe for a weekly freebie in your inbox.

See: Premium Pixels

Social Icons

My favorite set of social icons is from Pixden.  They’re so well designed; they enhance every site I’ve used them on, like inlaid gems.  I use the dark icon set.  Take a few minutes to explore the layers in Photoshop.  Each icon comes in a uniformly dark version, for the inactive state, and a colored version for the hover and active states.  Implement them however you like.  All Pixden’s resources are royalty free for personal and commercial projects, without a link or attribution required: Just follow the Terms of Service

See:
Dark Social Icons Set by Pixden

AWeber Signup Forms

Don’t like the Aweber form templates? Personally I often find I need custom styling for clients websites, Derek Halpern’s post on DIYThemes is a quick lesson in creating custom styles for your Aweber forms.  He even had a designer create 7 styles you can download, with instructions.  You can use them as-is or as a starting off point for customizing your own AWeber signup forms:

See: 7 Custom AWeber Email Signup Forms, by Derek Halpern on DIYThemes.com

Inspiration

My favorite resource for design inspiration and an update on trends isn’t a website.  It’s a book: The Web Designer’s IDea Book.  Now in Voluem 3, it’s Patrick Neil’s obsssion-driven collection of screenshots of the best websites all over the planet, across industries, applications and agencies.  It’s an outgrowth of his ever-evolving blog, Design Meltdown.  Between print volumes, you can see what catches Patric’s Eye in the Monster Meltdown collections.

See:

The Web Designers Idea Book  published master collection of inspiring designs
DesignMeltdown blog of resources
Monster Meltdown inspiration organized into focused topics
– all by Patrick McNeil

Free is Nice, but Don’t Skimp on Quality

I admit, I love free images for websites, but the quality must be high. If you can’t find something you like for no cost, consider browsing some stock photography sites.  These sources of free images are great, but they won’t supply all your needs forever, especially as you grow.  Whether your new or a seasoned designer, they’re a great place to start when planning your next project.

Helpful to you? Let your friends know by sharing this to your world:

I couldn’t agree more: a business-boosting website presents everything as simply as possible. That includes functions, features, design, navigation and content.

How to Streamline Your Website Instead of Butcher It

It’s ironic that Paul uses old content to raise the battlecry for simplicity. The very first step he offers to encourage simplicity is: Remove elements. Obviously it matters a great deal what you cut. Some of your older content may be clutter – or it may be the most valuable material you’ve published. So before running off for the scissors let’s have a good close look at Paul’s recommendations for pursuing simplicity.

Before he gets to the 3 ways to simplify – he asks us to think through 3 questions to prepare –

• How many people are asking for it [a given functionality]
• Who is asking for it
• How will it effect others?

These 3 questions make up such a small part in his post. But they deserve their own discussion. They point to the most important part of simplifying: Knowing what to remove.

The difference between butchering your website and streamining it is in knowing what to change.

That’s why I’d like to revisit the short but critical step of asking yourself 3 questions to encourage simplicity.

Let’s dive into

3 Questions to Ask to Simplify Your Website

1) How much is this page, function or feature used? To answer this question, you need good analytics. That is, you need good data about what parts of your site people are clicking, downloading, or spending time using. If you don’t know how to read your visitor statistics — or even if you’re collecting them — stop now and get a handle on gathering visitor info. You need hard feedback if you want to run a successful website – or else you’re driving blindfolded.

2) What is the target reader using? Is the intended audience using the stuff that’s getting the most activity? You might get the most visits for a blog post on a topic of past concern to you – but it keeps bringing in a notable stream of visitors. If you don’t plan to build your business around that old topic — you can take the bold step of removing that post. What are you losing if the traffic from it wasn’t good for your business. You’ve cleared the way to make the stuff intended for your target audience more visible.

3) When adding something, what happens to the content that’s already there? When you add on, is there room for it to fit with your current items, or are you squeezing it in? If your navigation bar is full, for example, you’ll need to re-work some of your menu items before you insert something new. If you’ve set up your site to show just the latest update on a category – you’ve got a system for showcasing new content. Take the time to plan for growth in your content — resist the temptation to try to make everything of top level importance. Take advantage of your publishing tools, which can often post the latest feature, and link to previous features — automatically.

To help you know true simplicity when you see it, I recommend the very popular and easy to read web usability book, Steven Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think.  (Paul recommends it too.)

It’s tempting to jump into Paul’s 3 tactics for simplifying.  But the first step is to plan what to reduce.  Once you know that, you can follow his steps, which I think of as Cut, Collapse or Carve off to a new page.

Love simplicity too?  Share your thoughts with other readers -

To Start: Say Who You Are and What Makes a Good Fit

Your overall goal is to lead the right visitors to become clients.  The job of the home page is to help your future client see instantly what’s most beneficial to them, and how to explore it. The first thought visitors have is whether there’s a good fit between their needs and your resources. You want to inspire your target clients to think: “This is for me.”

Give the Visitor Something of Value

A well-made home page video is one of the most powerful ways to introduce yourself, and build a frame of reference that instantly helps your target visitors feel included – like this is where they belong. It’s also a great place to offer needed tips, something of value, or your expertise.  You do this by explaining where to find free guidance and get instant help now.  After offering, ask for your visitor’s email address so you can send a free guide and lead visitors to explore more.

Use This Chance to Start an Interaction

Because your visitor should have to click to play it (no auto-plays on your home page please!), your home page video is a great way to spark interaction while building a good sense of what you offer.

5 Parts to a Welcome Video that Engages Good Prospects

Many consultants offer a video welcome, but some are more effective than others. By looking at good examples from professionals who are well regarded and successful, some common elements emerge.  The most effective videos have these 5 elements:

1. Create a feeling of personal encounter; help the visitor feel welcome.
2. Identify the ‘fit’: Define who the business intends to help. Your words, personal style and the setting work together to signal who is best suited to benefit.
3. Address the visitor’s primary concern. Say what change your work makes possible.
4. Enable your visitor to get useful help immediately.
5. Promote conversion or action: Make clear what to do next.

Consultant Home Page Videos: 3 Great Examples

Here are 3 great examples of consultant welcome videos.  While the style or the industry may not apply to you, each one of these sets a great example of content that builds the target visitor’s interest and offers a pathway to explore working together.

1) Tad Hargrave’s Marketing for Hippies: Marketingforhippies.com

This marketing consultant wants to attract ethically minded business owners who may well have mixed feelings about marketing. As you can tell by the domain name, Tad Hargrave is especially skilled at helping his clients identify themselves and see a good match with his services.   His video takes deliberate steps to help his target client feel included, appreciated, welcomed and helped – in the first 15 seconds. He does this by:

1. Offering a friendly greeting and introducing himself by name
2. Saying thanks to appreciate the visitor’s time and attention
3. Drawing a quick frame of reference around the audience and top concerns: “Chances are you are a green local independent holistic community minded kind of entrepreneur who’s struggling with your marketing and not attracting enough clients.”
4. Showing where to get immediate free marketing help: He introduces content a tab, the blog, and a free 195-page ebook with a quick summary of the content you get.
5. Leading the visitor to explore the 3 places, emphasizing the opt-in form, saying the ebook is the most valuable freebie.

Here’s a direct link to the YouTube version of the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hPBS8nWIOBY

2) Fashion Stylist Elsa Isaac’s blog StyleSense

Elsa Isaac’s informal video helps us see her as a positive, competent and helpful image consultant.  She delivers value immediately to relieve your fashion frustrations with a key insight and a free tool to equip you with a needed self-evaluation. Her presentation:

1. Introduces herself by name with a friendly welcome
2. Greets visitors with warmth and excitement: saying she’s “So so so thrilled that you’re here and checking me out.”
3. Defines her identity and audience: she’s a professional NYC fashion stylist, on a mission to “help each and every one of you discover your true sense of style… “  She lays out her frame of reference to embrace an audience of women “frustrated with clothes frustrated with shopping frustrated with the idea of having to get up in the morning and put a good outfit together.”
4. Offers an instant solution with her unique insight. The foundation to dressing with style, she says, is knowing your body shape, what works best for your shape, and what to avoid.
5. Leads the visitor to the opt-in feature – a quick tool (4 short blanks) to help you determine your body shape. To get your analysis and recommended style, you submit your email address (you opt in).  Her video and home page gets us learning, interacting and joining at the same time.

Here’s a direct link to the Vimeo version of the video: http://vimeo.com/16067025#at=0

3)  Business Writing Consultant Ken O’Quinn, Writing with Clarity

This is a very effective demonstration style video.  Unlike the previous two examples, this defines the intended audience and main concerns by giving a free sample of the consultant at work, rather than a prepared welcome.

1. This excerpt from a workshop shows us who fits as an audience by example – we see a group of employees in a more traditional business setting, clearly focused on Ken’s presentation.
2. It first zeros in on the main concern – effective business communication – with a clear working definition
3. We gain several insights we can use to check how well the next message we send is going to connect as we wish.  He empowers us with instant tips to improve our credibility and raise our chances at successful persuasion.
4. The video is edited to give us concrete evidence of the speaker’s expertise, without wasted words.  We can see we will benefit with actionable advice gained with an economy of effort.
5. The final frame ends on Ken’s name, contact information and website address.  He leads us to call or explore – with a prominent opt-in offer for more help below the video.

The YouTube link to this video is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=StEY8GU8jcA#!

How to Resist the Common Mistake of Self-Focus

You may be tempted to jump right in and start helping before you’ve made clear who you’re talking to, and to what end.  If you want your website to do its best to help you grow, you need to excite your visitor’s self-interest before you start talking about your offer.

A home page video is a powerful tool to do this, especially if you can reflect your client’s world with these 5 points: 1) Who you intend to help; 2) What problem you address; 3) What change you make possible 4) What ideas can give instant help now; 5) What to do next.

Match Your Message to Your Visitor’s Frame of Reference (Instead of Your Own)

It’s important to remember, your viewer’s state of mind is completely different from yours when it comes to your website.  You don’t need to remind yourself what problem you solve or which people and situations you’re designed to help.  But your home page isn’t intended to help you.  It’s for your visitors – people who need to know quickly if you can meaningfully address their most pressing problem.

Next Step

• See more Free Help
• Get help from Website Services

That’s the question I’m asking this week.

I’m asking everyone I know – I’ve asked clients, each person subscribing to my blog, and you.

So why is “what’s frustrating about your website?” such an important question?

Knowing Where To Focus is Half the Battle

The most successful online businesses show us that answering the biggest concerns your people have is at the root of success with your website. As Greg Habstritt said in Commit Slowly, Complete Fully, the first step toward success is knowing who you’re in business to serve.

Do you agree with this? In order to serve your clients and prospects well, it’s really important to understand where they’re coming from and what need, frustration or change they’re looking to make. I believe it.

Feeling stuck?

My mission is to help you in running a website that’s an asset to your business and has you doing MORE of what you love. Do you ever feel like keeping your business website going is more trouble than it’s worth? Do you ever feel like it gets in the way of, what you’re ‘put here to do’ or what’s the most fulfilling work for you?

If your website is helping you grow like gangbusters – great. If you’re like me, you’re making some progress but seeing a lot of potential still to reach.

I admit – my biggest frustration today as I write this is blogging. I know from experience that new content brings in new visitors. But until now, I only write posts when I ‘steal time’ from something else.

My answer to myself is to dedicate the first 30 minutes each workday to write for my blog.

But your biggest concern might be different.

What Is Your Main Website Concern Today?

Could it be one of these?

• How do I get more traffic?
• How do I use WordPress to sell my services?
• How to I get more visitors?
• What can I say to rise above the noise and get people tuning in?
• What should I put on my site next?

The reason I want to know is: to focus my work on what you most want to know NOW. There are so many things a website CAN do. But knowing what to do NEXT is often the biggest challenge of all.

I want to help you make your website into something that helps you grow. You know that a website can be a great way to communicate and connect with the people you can truly help, and who’d love to work with you.

Focus helps us all move forward. So, take a minute and help yourself in the comments below. When you think of your business website right now, what is the one thing that bothers you most? Just put the first thing that comes to mind. There’s no better way to move forward than to focus on one thing. What website issue would you like to face today?

Help yourself grow - pick one website frustration you want to focus on, and share it in the comments.

Here’s a mind-altering marketing lesson I got from ordinary life.

I just have to share with you a life-altering marketing lesson I got by chance.

My husband and I want to repave our driveway.

Over the past week or two, I’ve called 3 paving contractors I found on the web. One was even a referral from a neighbor.

Here’s what happened (these were top listings with decent websites, by the way):

• one didn’t follow up with a quote without me bugging them (!)
• one wanted to take shortcuts and do lesser-quality work; when I balked, he lowered his price
• one made an appointment to do a quote but didn’t show up

So I tried again today — web search again.

Since my husband also wants to re-do our walkway and our deck, I changed my search from “mount vernon va paving” to “mount vernon va deck”

And I filled in a few more forms and left a few messages on automated answering systems.

Then I stumbled on the Kingstown Lawn and Property website (I’ll share the link if you ask).

There is no form on their exquisitely designed site. Just an email address and phone number. Tag: Transforming Your Property.

How A Higher Position is Born

A receptionist answered my call on the first ring.

After asking my location and briefly what we wanted to do, she explained their process this way (roughly from memory):

“We have a landscaper who is assigned to your area. We charge $50 for an estimate. When you make an appointment, our landscaper comes out and walks around your property with you – it takes about an hour and a half. You can apply the $50 toward your project over $1000 if you hire us. Is that OK?”

Wow.

With this take-charge approach, they have hurled themselves above and beyond their competition, from my point of view. They stand out to me like a gleaming Thoroughbred among mules.

I wanted to hire them on the spot.

But what I said was, OK. Do you take a check?

She said, “No – credit card. You pay now. Then Jodi will come and meet with you. We can make an appointment for tomorrow if you like.”

So — I promptly set up a time and paid.

The Impact On Prospects When You Take a Higher Position

I feel sooooo much better now. Maybe I look like chump for paying for an estimate. But I don’t feel like one. I feel lucky to have found a better class of business. I’m going to meet with someone from a company who

• values my time
• values their work
• has made a commitment to show up
• has demonstrated they know how to run a business

I’m so excited about the marketing lesson here, I just wanted to share.

(PS I hope Jodi doesn’t laugh when she sees she’s booked for 90 minutes to walk our little quarter-acre.)

Inspired? Intrigued? Amused? Want to see the website? Just say in the comments: