The header includes the artist’s main photo of herself and two more photos of the two categories she creates art in: gourds and leather.

I built out the three main pages for the meeting: the Home page, a Product-grid page, and an Item page which includes the description of the piece and a PayPal button to purchase.

One of the more difficult parts in building the 3 pages for the meeting was working in someone else’s css. This free template included a layered Photoshop file which made it easier to figure out what was going on with the pieces.

The final, critical element was working the SEO into the content. I had a list of keywords that WESST had developed for my client and I went back and forth between the old content and the keyword list, working in what I could.

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Epilogue: The meeting with the client went well, and only one part of the design was changed: the client requested the thumbnails in the product-grid page not be cropped. I really liked the dramatic cropping of the photos, and explained that the they were “details” of the art. The client acquiesced, but in the end I used what she was more comfortable with. She’s going to have to live with the site for longer than I am, after all!

Content was tweaked, photos discussed, and I went home thinking I was going to fall into bed and catch up on a night of only 5 hours of sleep. But what’s funny is that I didn’t feel tired at all when I got home and instead caught up on some reading and social networking.

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I hope you liked this series on creating a website design in one night. You can visit artist Amï Diallo’s ongoing website design here: www.amidiallo.com. Please note that not all of her links work, i.e. the PayPal buttons are just placeholders for now.

Have you had the experience of having to create a design in one night? What shortcuts do you use? Please leave a comment and let us know how you did it!

This post will be about breaking down the content into templates.

First is a Home Page template that will be inviting, have keyword-rich text and some big, beautiful main photos on it. I will save the design of this template last because it will depend on what I do with the other templates.

How many other templates do I need? For the Gourd Art page, these are the higher-end, one-of-a-kind pieces of art. Once they are sold, I won’t take down the photo unless Ami has a new piece there to showcase. In her original site, there were thumbnails and larger pop-up images, but I’m thinking to have as large a photo as possible on the first Gourd Art page.

The first piece is 450 x 562px. There are 10 pieces in this category. If I had endless hours I to bill, I would definitely give each piece its own page, but there’s a limit, so…

I also know that even though these pricey items are hard to sell online, I still want to include the Buy Now button with each item when it is first seen to improve the conversion chances. I check out the New Mexico Museum Shops site and indeed, they have a grid of items in a category and a separate page for each. I also check out Etsy.com. Such a clean, pretty site! And the same style: a grid of items with their names and a price, here with a larger per-item page with a Buy Now button. (The photos on Etsy are so beautiful!)

So I’ve decided to create a grid-landing page for Gourd Art and either 10 separate pages, one for each item, or a single page with anchor links.

Template 1: Home
Template 2: Grid
Template 3: Per Item

Now it’s time to look back at our sitemap and apply the templates to each page. I know the high-end leather art will work like the Gourd Art pages, so they will follow Template 1 and 2 (T1, T2).

I also think the Crafts pages will look great with this same setup. But if I make a new page for each of these products, it’s going to be a 50-page site!~!* Definitely not in the client’s budget. So, hmm. I’ll have to think about that. (Each page, after the template is built takes about an hour to resize 1-3 photos, write that keyword-rich text, create an individualized PayPal Buy Now button. But it would look so professional and sweet.)

I’m going to say the “About the Artist” page is a completely different template because Ami, who lived in Africa and Jamaica has great photos of her travels and stories to tell.

Template 4: Narrative

In the keyword research, Clare let us know that there are a lot of searches of people looking of “How To” information about gourds, decorating gourds, leather art, etc. Lots of things Ami knows a lot about. So I have created a “Resources” page where she can review books, give advice, suggest wholesale stores and discuss tools and techniques. This page will be chunky and informative. A different template, maybe magazine-like.

Template 5: Chunky Info

The contact page will probably follow the home page design. So no new template there.

I’m feeling good about this hour’s work. Some serious questions raised: always the pull between doing a good job or getting paid properly that seems to come up every time, but all in all, I’m clear about what to do next: Layout the templates.

The corned beef is done and there’s salad and baked potatoes. I’ll take a dinner break and be back at 11!

For instance, the keyword phrase “gourd art” was searched almost 500 times in 12 months and occurred on 63k sites. According to our keyword researcher, Clare at WESST, it has a very high ranking, so I’m using that exact phrase for the second navigation button because it matches exactly what Ami does.

I’m using Excel to create this sitemap because it is simple and boxy. The yellow background in the boxes indicate exact keyword matches.

Under each main nav button, I have listed the contents on that page. I went  to Ami’s current site and made sure I had included everything (except for the section she doesn’t want to carry over to the new design.)

Now that I have all the products accounted for and organized in their newly-keworded sections, the next step is to figure out how many different templates I will need to build. Which pages should have new sub-pages and which can I get away with just having same-page anchor tags? Stay tuned!

If you’re up and listening, chime in with a comment!

PREVIOUS POSTS

One-Night Website Part 1: The Plan
One-Night Website Part 2: Procrastinating

Use correct grammar, case and spelling in your page titles. If your keywords can be used, give them the opportunity. On the portfolio site of Whitespace Creative, each page is named for a different set of keywords, e.g. Art Direction, Web Design, Content Development, etc.

Watch out for length in page titles: IE accepts 95 characters, Google only accepts 66 characters before it crops. How’s this for a page title: “I Make Money Online By Telling People How I Make Money Online – John Chow dot Com.” (That’s 84 characters, including spaces.)

Use intelligent and descriptive title tags. How boring is “About Us”? Rather, try “Meet the Design Team”, or “Say Hello to the Worm Guy,” if “worm” or “design team” are your keywords. Don’t repeat words: Location Information and Statistical Information can both do without “Information.”

Put your keywords at or near the front of the page title. Make sure your keywords are indicative of what’s on your page, but don’t overdo it; you’re not a late night infomercial.

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More Reading:

SEO Logic

Inbound links are some of the most valuable assets your SEO strategy can include. Clare Zurawski, Internet Marketing Consultant at WESST, has spent over 3 years helping small businesses increase their sales through SEO.

“Inbound links are most valuable when they come from well-respected entities within your industry,” says Zurawski. “Five or ten quality links are worth far more than dozens of links that have no relevance to your business.”

What are those “quality links?” Some, according to Zurawski, are URLs with the following extensions: .edu, .gov, .org. According to the “Google Webmaster Blog“, quality links are one factor in a proprietary stew that contributes to page rank. But many agree that if you have a well-structured and regularly maintained site with original, high-quality content, users and search engines alike will enjoy you.

Here are some ideas to get you started on your quality link building:
• (From Clare) Write a review of a book in your industry on www.amazon.com. Include your website at the end of the review.
• Join your local Chamber of Commerce. In Santa Fe, go here: and have your business listed in their online directory.
• Join your alumni organization’s website, it may have a .edu.
• Volunteer to write articles or reviews for a non-profit and have them include a link back to you. It’s a good way to help out and get help in return.

It’s all part of the SEO game plan, which starts with making your website your hub. Inbound quality links are like spokes coming in to the wheel. Clare adds, “If you offer free content that is valued by your web audience, you will attract links and establish yourself as an expert in your field.”

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After Link Building, you’ll need to get in-depth info on social marketing. Attend WESST’s “SEO 101, Session 2: An overview of why social media matters and how it complements SEO”, Tuesday October 27th, 5:30-7:30 pm at the WESST Enterprise Center in Albuquerque. You can register and pay online at www.wesst.org.

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“Target and Control your Website’s Destiny.” WESST (Women’s Economic Self Sufficiency Team) will be offering in-depth SEO Training with Clare Zurawski on Monday, November 2, 2009 at the Santa Fe Business Incubator starting at 5:30 pm. The class is reasonably priced, but register early! Call 505-474-6556, or visit www.wesst.org.