Have you ever wanted to make updates to your site from someone else’s computer? If you have, you probably have faced situations where the computer you use doesn’t have the programs you usually use to make these updates. One way to help you easily make updates is by using Cloud tools.

Moo Color Finder is a cloud tool that helps you find the colors being used in a site; this can come in very handy when creating new styles for your site and keeping it consistent. This tool is pretty simple to use, you can either go to the moo Color finder website and submit a url and it will return all of the color values in Hexadecimal and as a Photoshop Palette file, or you can add a snippet of code to the website you would like to retrieve the colors from and they will display on your page. For this you will need a page that uses a language such as PHP.

There is another great tool called Picnik that allows you to edit images on the cloud and could be very useful when tweaking images or adding new images to a blog post. This tool helps you crop, resize, zoom, rotate, sharpen among other features that provides the results in real time. After all the changes are made to the picture, all you need to do is save it.

Another tool that will be very useful when testing code in PHP, .Net and Javascript is called Coderun. This cloud tool allows you to create projects either from scratch, a template provided by the service or uploading your own files and testing it’s functionality. You can test changes you would like to make to your website without having to push it live or using a development server before pushing it to your live site.  

Google docs also provides great tools you can use in the cloud. These include creating a word document, a spreadsheet or even drawing. There is also a tool called Forms, which allows you to create HTML forms that can be used as a template when adding a form to your site.

The great thing about these tools is that you can access them from anywhere that has an internet connection and it can become a real time saver, since it allows you to use their services without the need of setting up any software in the computer you are currently using. They can help you improve your site by adding information, as well as styles and a means to test code which can help develop your site and give you flexibility allowing you to progress your social presence.

Google has created a new image format called WebP, which is more efficient than most image formats such as jpegs and can allow a website to load faster and even allow the use of more images.

Google has provided a conversion tool, to convert jpgs and other formats into WebP format. This conversion tool can be installed on linux computers and will soon be available for Windows. What makes this format so especial is the fact that it provides a better compression than the JPEG format does and maintains good quality of the image. This will improve the user experience of a site by allowing a faster page load as well as lower bandwidth use.

Even though this format is still in its beginning stage, it will soon have support for its format in Google Chrome. WebP can become a very important part of the future of web development since it will provide faster load time of websites, which can improve a website’s SEO standing, since it’s one of the elements being considered for page rankings in Google.

Everyone always says to make a good first impression, but that saying isn’t limited to face to face meetings. It also applies to the web. When someone visits your website what is their first impression of your company? Do they think your company was left behind in the Stone Age because your website looks old? Any company that is serious about doing business on the web needs to make sure that their web site represents the essence of their company.

Many companies have put up websites that look awful, but their actual company is really great. How does a company fix the disconnect? First, the website needs to be user friendly. When visitors come, the navigation needs to be clear and concise. This allows the visitor to navigate and find the information they want and need. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to figure out where to go on a website, and clicking on buttons that lead them in circles. It’s like a person walking into a revolving door to get into a building, but every attempt they make either keeps them spinning in the door or leads them back outside. A website needs to be like a welcoming committee at an event that tells a visitor where to go and how to get there.

In addition to knowing where to go and how to get there, visitors need to know that your company exists. Your company could have the best product or service in the world, but if no one knows how to find your website then it won’t be a benefit. Many companies put together picture pretty websites, but they have no keyword density on their pages. Every website should be built with SEO in mind. After all, it’s like having free leads sent to your company. If a company, puts good keyword rich content on their website, (without spamming) then they have a better opportunity to show in the organic search engine listings. Moreover, to complement their high organic rankings, a company can run a paid search campaign that directs visitors to their website. If a company’s site is easy to navigate and people know how to get there whether it be through paid search and/or organic listings a company is on the right track.

Another important factor that goes hand in hand with good navigation and being found is functionality. If a company’s site has good content and navigation, but there are dead links and certain pages of the site don’t work, then a user can get frustrated and leave. It’s frustrating to a visitor not to know how to navigate a site, but it’s even more frustrating to know where to go and not be able to get there.

When building a new website or revamping a current website, remember that your website is your digital business card. If it looks old and doesn’t have intuitive navigation people aren’t going to stay around long.