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Chris Daidone is a New York native who has been intrigued with photography for as long as he can remember. Additionally, he loves to travel, so it was fairly easy to determine that fine art landscape photography would be the obvious path forward.

Daidone’s first camera was a Kodak Disk film camera which he received for Christmas back in 1982. In 1997, he received a Nikon F3 from his uncle just prior to his first deployment with the United States Marine Corps which became the pivotal point in Daidone’s photography career.

It was at this point he really started taking things seriously. After separating from the Marine Corps, Daidone initially got started shooting for automotive based clients in addition to cinematic portraits. While he still shoot cars and people from time to time, his main focus is landscapes.

Q&A with Chris Daidone

Q1: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

CD: Professional, Clean, Bold

Q2: How often do you typically update your website?

CD: I updated pictures occasionally but other than that, its maintenance and hassle free.

Q3: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

CD: In most instances, the homepage image(s) will be swapped out in relation to the popular votes received from my social media accounts.

Q4: What is your favorite feature of liveBooks?

CD: To be honest, I really don’t have a favorite feature. I really love just about everything about how livebooks does business. The backend is extremely user friendly which helps get me where I need to go hassle free so I can spend more time shooting rather than working through code or other programming roadblocks.

Q5: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

CD: Less is more. Keep it clean, bold and easy to use for your customers.

See more of Chris Daidone’s work here: www.chrisdaidone.com

There are many reasons to use PDF files on your site. PDFs can be used for content that you’d like to allows customers to download and/or print. PDFs also provide you with an easier way to display you licences, diplomas or other certificates that set our clients apart from the norm. Don’t forget to keep SEO in mind – check out best practices for optimizing PDFs from the Search Engine Journal.

Here’s an easy guide on how to add PDFs to any liveBooks site:

1. First, you need to upload the PDFs. Go to any page and add a Resource block.

2. Add the PDFs from your computer to the Resource block. This will automatically save them in the Resource Library.

3. Now that your PDFs are uploaded, you must add links to them on your website. Switch to the Design editor and go to the page you’ve been working on. The PDFs will appear all in one column. You can leave them as they are, or you can link them to Buttons, Text or Images.

To link PDFs to your media you will need to:

A. Open the PDF in a new tab and copy its address.

B. Go to your Content editor and add the way you want to link to that PDF. In our example we’ve used a button. Paste the link address in the top field and add a title that will be written on the button. (Note! The default setting opens links in the same tab. We recommend having your links and PDFs open in a separate tab. To enable this just press the button situated at the right end of the link; it will turn blue.)

C. Delete the PDF you’ve linked to the button and preview your page. Depending on the template you’ve chosen, your button may appear differently. Feel free to edit the appearance of your buttons in the Design Editor – Sitewide – Controls – Buttons.

Deleting a PDF from a page will not remove it from the website. To remove a PDF from your website go to your resource library and delete it from there.

Want to see more liveBooks features and how they can help your business grow? Start with a free trial today!

When online portfolios emerged as a marketing tool, the layout recipe for pages was simple: a block of text and an image to go with it was the standard for most pages, while portfolios used one page for each gallery. Now, with the evolution of social media and apps, we’ve got the hang of scrolling and customer anticipate to get all the info they need from one single stacked page.

This doesn’t necessarily mean we should all build only one-page websites, but a little stacking will greatly improve the way your visitors engage with your content. A stacked page will:

• Paint a clear picture for your customers and draw their attention on all aspects of your work.
• Aid Google spiders to better understand what your website is about when they crawl it; consequently, a stacked page has a greater change to place your website higher on Google’s rankings.

Stacked Homepage

We’ve covered the guide to an ideal homepage and, as you might have guessed, it’s stacked. Use this layout to introduce your business and its many facets in a few well-placed info blocks. You want to be as clear as possible in a short, yet complex, page.

Stacked Galleries

Our platform features many gallery layout options for you to choose from, and slideshows are the best choice for stacking. Use text blocks to introduce each collection or choose a unique background color for each of them, add borders or leave them as they are, your stacked galleries will give your visitors a proper understanding of your aesthetic.

Stacked Info Page

Use this page to fully introduce yourself. An image and a block of text is great to set the tone, but keep going! Use a simple list to showcase your clients, publications and awards. Follow this with testimonials from previous projects. Add a slideshow video gallery, a service and price list, items with professionals you work with, leave nothing out.

Our platform features a great number of website templates that use stacked pages. Black&White is a great example of how a stacked homepage should look and feel, Audio used stacked galleries, while Flash has a one-page layout. These are just a few examples of how we use stacking when designing our website templates. See for yourself with a free trial!

If you’re in the process of building a website for your business or redesigning your website, the homepage is typically the first place you start with.

Your homepage needs to provide visitors with a quick rundown of your business; think of it like your elevator pitch. Who you are, what you do, and why they should be interested. It’s important to sum up the important parts of your business and to “hook” the users so they want to keep scrolling and check out every page.

Need a little guidance? Here’s a brief checklist of the top things every website homepage should include.

Logo

First and foremost, give your website a piece of your brand identity with your logo. Your business logo needs to live at the top of your homepage in order to stay top of mind to your visitors.

Logos let consumers know more about you and gives them something to remember and identify your brand with down the road, so it’s an essential part of your homepage that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Give your brand identity and website some thought to figure out the best placement for your logo — maybe it’s the top corner, maybe it’s front and center. Either way, make sure it leaves a lasting impression on your website visitors.

Introductions

This is your chance to quickly communicate to a new visitor who you are and what you do. While you can save the details and backstory for your About page, the intro on your homepage should hone in on exactly what you want your brand to represent — this is where your tagline or brand statement should go.

Include a heading and a subhead to give consumers a bite-sized idea of what your business is, who it’s for, and what they can get out of it.

Navigation

Your website should provide a good user experience, and this is especially important when designing your navigation menu. The navigation on your homepage should feel intuitive; it should flow easily, guide visitors from page to page and take them where they need to go.

The navigation bar is often the first place users check out so they can get a feel for what the rest of your website has in store for them. Be strategic when thinking about how you want your navigation bar organized.

Products/Services

You will likely have a separate page that lists your products or services and into more detail, but the homepage is your chance to highlight a few of them.

If you have an online shop, this is where you can feature your recent products, a new collection, or seasonal picks. Use this page to draw them in and give them a sneak peek of your product offerings.

If you have a service-based business, use the front page to talk a little bit about each service you offer, and link it to the page that goes into more detail.

Contact Information

Once potential customers or clients have scrolled through your homepage, have a solid idea of what your business is, and are attracted to what you offer, they will be looking for a way to contact you.

Whether you have a brick and mortar address or you solely operate online, include your contact information on your homepage.

As a business, the last thing you want is for a potential client or customer to struggle to find a way to reach you. Make it easy for the user by having a space on the homepage clearly dedicated to your contact information or including a button that links to your contact page.

Start Designing Your Website Today!

liveBooks offers mobile-responsive, customizable website templates for creative professionals and businesses worldwide.

The best part? Our website designs are ready for search engines and look great on any mobile device!

We’ve also got a top-notch support team who’s here to help you every step of the way. Start for free here.