Vision Shift Design

Where sustainable meets beautiful

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How a WordPress Website Design Improves Non-profit Programs

Your non-profit, like any business today, needs an online presence. The hub of which is a website—your home base.

Yes, a social media presence is important—and as important and powerful as it is for connection, awareness and engagement—it is often not enough without a solid home base.

How to decrease overhead costs to increase program services

There are many options when it comes to creating a website. For most small to medium sized non-profits, a content management system (CMS), like WordPress, is often ideal.

Once the website structure is set up, almost anyone who is comfortable creating documents on a computer can update content on the non-profit’s website. [Read more…] about How a WordPress Website Design Improves Non-profit Programs

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How to Get Unstuck and Choose a WordPress Theme

Choosing a theme is a common challenge I’ve noticed while helping many people create or revise websites. So why are we so challenged at times to move beyond stuck and make a decision?

For the most part, we are hardwired to avoid failure.

Starting from infancy, our parents interacted with us in ways that seemed to reward or punish our behavior. We generally elicited a positive response from an adult when we smiled or reached out to grab an offered finger. As infants, to survive, we needed to connect. To get attention. We couldn’t do anything for ourselves. So we learned early what the “correct” action was so we were rewarded.

Even as adults, we don’t want to fail. [Read more…] about How to Get Unstuck and Choose a WordPress Theme

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5 Tips to Effective Communication Learned River Rafting

Like any team activity, river rafting requires highly effective communication. In the case of rafting, we want to get everyone down the river to the takeout point successfully and without injury.

Right now, I can hear your thinking…I work in an office alone. How does team activity help me?

As a freelancer, small business owner or non-profit, even if you work in your office alone, you are still part of a team collaborating with your client, donor or audience and effective communication is important.

And while you’re not likely to be injured or injury others physically from a poorly designed website that doesn’t communicate clearly, you are likely to lose sales or miss out on donations. [Read more…] about 5 Tips to Effective Communication Learned River Rafting

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Make it Memorable—Your Website Design in Technicolor

Sustainable website design presents a technicolor moment to quickly get your audience to say—yes, I’m interested—and take a next step.

Based on a study by Chao Liu, Ryen W. White, and Susan Dumais, “the first 10 seconds of the page visit are critical for users’ decision to stay or leave.” (Jakob Nielsen)

Given today’s 10 secs (or less) attention span, it is hard to believe that not so long ago, how we communicated was mostly long-form and verbal, not visual.

A tiny bit of storytelling history

Previously, we sat on porches or around campfires and shared stories. This was followed by the birth of radio.

Both of those forms of media were audio only. The listener supplied her own visuals. And those earlier stories, which contained rich descriptions—often with a sense of suspense or emotional content—helped the listener to do just that. [Read more…] about Make it Memorable—Your Website Design in Technicolor

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Help Google (and Your Audience) Pay Attention to Your Website Images

Basic rules to add images to your WordPress website

There are some basic rules to follow when adding images to your website to increase the connection with search engines and get found online as well as to make your website accessible.

Similar to telephone switchboard lines, to communicate—online or off—the message needs to connect at both ends.

To help your images get attention, we’ll review the basic rules, including how and what to include when you add images in WordPress. Add the same information to your images if you are using another CMS to build and host your website or creating a static html site.

In WordPress, when you upload an image into your post or page, you have the opportunity to add—

[Read more…] about Help Google (and Your Audience) Pay Attention to Your Website Images

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5 Easy Tweaks to a Standout Website Design

We live in a noisy and over-saturated world, whether we choose to participate or not.

And some part of us yearns to stand out—to be memorable.

And while we might want to be memorable, for those of us who are shy or introverted, we’d rather have our website stand out for us.

Your website is your 24/7 connection vehicle. With a few simple tweaks, you can take advantage of its tireless ability to support your business and engage with your site reader, even while you are asleep.

Your online presence is like a puzzle

Your website design is one piece amid many that needs to fit into its spot to create the complete puzzle. When a piece is missing, you can hint at, though never really see the full image.

Your website design needs to be the anchor that [Read more…] about 5 Easy Tweaks to a Standout Website Design