Lulu Web Design

03/23/2025

Lulu Web Design is Closed for Business.

11/06/2023

Local focal - the Vermont small biz tech assistance grant opens at 2pm today and will pay up to $4k towards a website, or any of the below. I've had several clients come to me for biz coaching & web design via this program - it's very easy to apply.
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https://www.rdcsofvermont.org/grant-application
Business assistance: business operations, financial management, business coaching, sales coaching, lean, and grant writing
Digital strategies: marketing planning, website design, online sales design, social media planning, photography, and videography (funds may not be used for ad or marketing placements)
Architecture and physical space design (funds may not be used for building, construction, or reconstruction)
Reconfiguring manufacturing equipment or processes and incorporating safety measures (funds may not be used to purchase equipment or for other capital expenses)
Technology and software consulting. (vi) Legal and other professional services. (vii) Other technical assistance.

You could be eligible to receive state-funded grants to help grow your business! Eligible client businesses must: Operate within Vermont at a physical Vermont address Have annual average revenues greater than $5,000 and less than $5,000,000 Have been in operation for at least 12 months at the time

10/07/2023

Happy Saturday! Tip #5.

Having dead (404) or old website pages out in Googleland is detrimental to SEO/your ranking in the search engines. Here's a very simple way to see all the pages that are indexed by Google so you can make sure only the ones you want are out there.

Simply type the following into the URL field in your browser: site:yourdomain.com (or .org/.net/etc.). Obviously replace the "your domain.com" with the name of your domain :-)

Note: There are several ways to deal with unwanted or dead pages, which all fall under the term "301 redirects." Basically, you want to redirect the old pages to a new and logical page on your existing site. You can typically do this task either within the website platform builder, or wherever your domain is hosted.

09/28/2023

This is one of my favorite websites about typography in design, which goes well beyond choosing fonts that align well with your brand personality. I love clean, minimal designs, and dislike websites crammed with non-contextual images that distract and detract, and this is where well designed typography plays a keen role.

09/23/2023

Tip #4.
Don't use Facebook or social media as your only means of putting yourself out there - they control the algorithm, need I say more?

08/19/2023

Happy Saturday!

Tip #3. Online Booking

MOST people prefer to book and pay online. If you don't have this kind of functionality on your website, you are most definitely losing clients as a result. Not only that, but allowing people to book online saves you time in the long-run. There are many tools out there, some free. Setting them up is not that hard and well worth the effort.

For reference, I currently use Acuity Scheduling, which is $15 a month for the "Professional" version. It integrates with my calendar of choice, Zoom, and (via Zapier) adds each new person who books an appointment with me into 17Hats (the CRM/quoting/accounting system I use). It is capable of handling subscriptions, classes/workshops, single appointments, intake forms, etc. with or without payment and integration with a payment gateway.

08/12/2023

Tip #2. Choose your website platform carefully.

Whether you're hiring someone to build your website or doing it yourself, the platform you choose to build the site with must align with the requirements of your CURRENT AND FUTURE business needs & goals.

HOW:
Make a list of all the functional needs that your business has today (e.g. online scheduling, a membership forum, blog with filters and categories, advanced photo galleries, online payments, business directories, RSS feed, etc. etc.) AND may have in the next five years. Make sure the website platforms you're considering can manage these requirements, and check to see if there's any extra fees for the features you want.

There's a lot more that goes into choosing the right platform, but this is an important one that's often missed.

Here's a couple of handy blog posts that compare the site builder I use against WordPress & SquareSpace. By reading through this information, you might get some ideas about the functionality you need for your project.

https://www.wocode.com/comparison-wordpress-vs-without-code

https://www.wocode.com/squarespace-vs-without-code

Without Code is a platform for code-free website creation. Use our cloud-based tools and training to build the websites you've always dreamed of.

08/05/2023

WEB DESIGN TIP #1 (I'll post useful tips that everyone can understand, every Saturday morning).

The text on your website should NOT span across the entire screen - it's a long way for eyes to have to travel and not user-friendly. Keep your text boxes to 700 pixels wide or less. I've attached two screenshots to show as an example:

#1. By (surprisingly) a high-profile/big client agency
#2. My (soon to be published site).

When looking to hire a web designer, take a close look at their site. If it doesn't appeal to you, is hard to navigate, or disorganized, keep on looking :-)

07/29/2023

Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA)
On July 14, 2023, President Biden approved Vermont’s Major Disaster Declaration request. This Declaration authorized Vermont to receive “individual assistance,” which includes Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA)

About DUA:
DUA is a federal program designed to help people who lost their jobs because of a natural disaster. This program gives temporary money to those who don’t qualify for regular unemployment benefits.

Eligible Vermont Counties:
Announced July 20, 2023, applications due by August 21, 2023:

Chittenden
Lamoille
Rutland
Washington
Windham
Windsor
Announced July 26, 2023, applications due by August 25, 2023:

Caledonia
Orange
Announced July 28, 2023, applications due by August 28, 2023:

Orleans

The .gov means it’s official. State government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a state government site.

07/26/2023

Vermont Main Street Flood Recovery Fund Launches to Support Small Businesses Affected by Record-Breaking Flooding

[Montpelier, July 13, 2023] - The devastating floods that struck our communities this week have left many small businesses and downtown centers in ruins. In response to this crisis, Todd Bailey, known for his successful efforts in providing grants to small businesses after Tropical Storm Irene, has....