Web Design - The Making Of A Successful Website

There are websites and then there are successful websites. The difference between the two is that successful websites are pleasing to the eye, functional, user-friendly and serve their purpose. Web designing is an art - an art that is worked on, on several different levels, layer by layer, to finally emerge as the perfect web design.

The first step in web designing is identifying the purpose of the site. A web designer must first find out why a website is being set up in the first place. Is it to promote a product, service or company? Is it to share articles? Is it to be used to build an email list? Is it to be used to educate readers? There are several ways a website can function and there are several reasons behind why a website is created. Whatever the reason may be, it is this reason that will be the foundation or the building block of the website.

Researching other companies and websites that offer what this website is going to offer is the next step. The competition is tremendous on the Internet and for a website to function successfully, it has to be unique. Researching gives the web designer a chance to find out if there is something new that could be added to this website that the competitors have missed out on, thereby giving this website an advantage over the competitors.

Using all the material collected so far, a very basic site map is drawn out. This is very much like a blueprint that is drawn out for a building. Changes that need to be made are rectified at this stage. Once the site map is approved of, the actual web designing begins.

It is now time to breathe in a little life into the website by coding it to make it functional. These codes are written along the guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and embedded into the templates that will be used for the website. The templates that are now coded are then run through as many browsers as possible to make sure they are accepted and function properly in all these browsers since each of these browsers will read and interpret this website in its own unique way.

The exciting part now begins. The content which includes text, pictures, fonts and colors are inserted into the website. These need to be approved of by the client. Any changes in the content need to be done now before the website goes up for further testing on a test server.

The last stage, before it goes live, is to test it further on a server to make sure the entire website is functional. Once approved of over here, the website is ready to go live.

What Do Website Design And Home Decoration Have In Common?

Developing a website is a tiny bit similar to home planning. You might want to think about where to place your items in relation to the area you may have plus in regards to the additional elements on the webpage, and you should contemplate both pragmatically and in relations to appearance. This then means you ought to meticulously look at the structure of each element on the web page and look at lots of different combos before deciding on what look you're going to stay with.

In spite of this, selecting how to deal with the aspects on your web site is frequently a lot easier than selecting how to proceed when you don't have enough standalone elements. Quite simply, after you have depleted all of your various graphics, buttons and pieces of text and they are all setup on the web page. What do you do if there is yet still a significant chunk of bare area on the webpage. Here I will take a look at how to make the most effective use of that web space and present a few different options for you to experiment with.

Your Twitter Feed

Putting a Twitter feed on your site provides extensive value in numerous ways. For starters, this is outstanding promoting and advertising for your Twitter account alone, and this can help you get more supporters that you can then ultimately target. On top of that, doing this will make certain that your website never ever appear fixed or go without any changes. While it will not consequently improve your website positioning, it will ensure your website visitors recognize this is not a site or a plan that has been abandoned.

Mailing List

A mailing list is considered among the most beneficial additions to any web site as it gives you a huge range of prospective future customers or shoppers that you could market to directly. This helps to make returning guests of them, or better still, motivate them to shop for an e-book an additional product. Additionally, be sure that you include some kind of inducement like a cost-free e-book that can make them likely to essentially sign on. In any other case it's just forfeited space.

Significantly more Advertising

You do not yearn to stack your web page up with advertising campaigns of course, and doing this can nowadays get your webpage reprimanded and forced down the SERPs by Google. However, if you want to involve more promotion, and hence possibly profit from your site more, you can still accomplish this in numerous ways. This can be realized by selling your own merchandise, or offering an affiliate item. Just do not make your web page look too hectic or the adverts too extreme or you may frighten away prospective customers.

Leave it Bare

There is definitely appeal in keeping that blank space exactly as it appears however. Developing a web page that is far too busy can be bewildering for website visitors, and it may make it harder for them to determine what they are interested in on your web page. By leaving the website page clean, the individual parts you do incorporate will stand out significantly more, and your webpage will be a lot more calming to dedicate time on. Undoubtedly, you may also opt to put nothing here, but to instead increase a distinct element of your web site, or simply to shift things around just a little so that the blank area is at a more practical position on the webpage, and something else gets much more concentration.

Web Design Tips And Strategies For Professional Websites

Creating a professional website is the first step in the right direction for every profit-oriented business that wants to benefit from innumerable rewarding opportunities online and cut down on the marketing costs.

With a plethora of options available in the world of website design, the decision to choose the web designer or web designing company is often a difficult task for most business owners who want to tap rewarding opportunities online.

However, the best part is that identifying and accessing the best web design and even software development becomes an easy process once you have accustomed yourself with tips, insights, and basics of the site designing process and industry. If you still find a difficulty, there is always an option for you to avail the services of an industry expert like a professional website designing company that can take care of all your needs without putting a hole in your pocket. While getting your website designed, it is very important for you to ensure that it is kept simple, unique, refreshing, easy to navigate, and search engine friendly. Moreover, the site should be designed in such a way that it is of great use to customers and easy to be crawled by robots of the search engines. In addition to that, the site should be in compliance to industry standards and should be innovative and navigation-friendly, to say the least.

Furthermore, the website of your online store or business should be clean and professional and any tendency to use scatter fonts should be best avoided. The website should have good images and graphics and must load quickly and should be characterized by cross-browser compatibility. Moreover, the site pages should be interlinked to each other and every page should offer some value to the customers besides the site offering one-click access to important pages like about us, contact us, and home page from all its pages.

It is also very important for you to note that the use of flash animations is a double-edged sword. While it does help in enticing the attention of customers, too much of it can increase the loading time of the website by a considerable extent. To maintain the right balance, it is important to integrate the animated elements into the concept of web design and allow them to complement information and not to compete for attention. The website designer, entrusted with the task of designing your site, should also integrate proven techniques of online marketing into the designing and development process so that the site can be assured of targeted traffic and generate leads once it is made live.

By following these website design tips and strategies, you can surely allow your website to help you realize the short and long-term objectives of your organisation besides enjoying an authoritative presence in the world of the internet.

Important Photoshop Elements for Web Design

If at all you're planning on designing an entire website using Photoshop, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind. However, using Photoshop to design your website would be one of the best ways to go about it as there's no limit to the things that can be done.

The Navigation

Every website has various pages and there are top level pages that go further down and finally reach call to action pages where people either get what they need or are converted into buyers.

However, for them to reach the final page they're going to need to be directed there, this is where navigation plays a crucial role. Usually, webmasters say the best method would be to get your website visitors to the desired page within 3 or less clicks.

Therefore, when creating your website design using Photoshop, you need to keep this point in mind and try to see to it that the visitor reaches the final page within a few clicks. The layout needs to be well planned before you begin the design.

The width of your website

The width of your website is really important especially today as there are plenty of different screens that would be used to view the website. Everything right from Desktops to iPhones, Notebooks and other mobile devices including Kindles are used to browse the web.

Therefore, you need to make sure that your website is either responsive or use Photoshop to create a specific web design for each of these screen sizes. Usually monitors have a resolution of 1024 X 768 pixels. But, it would be advisable that you create your website with as high a screen resolution as possible as that would make it look good on all devices.

Understand the difference between paper and a screen

One of the biggest mistakes that web designers make when creating a website using Photoshop is the fact that what looks good on paper need not necessarily look good on the screen and vice versa too.

When you're designing a website you need to make sure that the background and overall layout of the page isn't too cluttered as there are other multimedia such as images and videos that would be added to the website.

Finally you need to make sure that the CSS style sheet that you use to create the page is readily integrated into HTML of the final pages. The CMS platform that you use should be good and accept your webdesign too.

How Marketing Consultants Can Make the Difference In Your Web Design Project

Web design is an integral part of a modern marketing campaign. The quality of the design and coding work done on your website is incredibly important, as a DIY website simply cannot compete with a professionally created online presence. Even if the aesthetics were equal, which is unlikely, a professionally designed and well built website will always outperform a homegrown page because of the tremendous amount of coding and back-end work that goes into doing it right.

Often, small business owners turn to web designers for help getting started, only to find that they don't "speak the language" of web design, and this leaves them unsure of what to ask for, how to answer the web designer's questions, and whether they're truly getting a good deal. This is where a reliable marketing consultant comes in. By hiring a marketing consultant, business owners benefit from having an advisor and liaison who can translate the web design lingo, leverage their standing professional relationships for better pricing, and handle the day-to-day issues that arise during web development work so that you as the business owner can focus on your business, not your website.

Marketing consultants are sometimes freelancers, but they are just as often team members working for advertising agencies. If you're working with an independent web designer and have hired an advertising agency, they will fill this role for you and handle the minutiae, bringing you in periodically for the bigger decisions. Even then, a knowledgeable marketing consultant will narrow down two or four dozen options to an easily navigable top five, for example, explain the choices at hand, and make recommendations as to a path forward.

Alternatively, small business owners sometimes hire advertising agencies or marketing consultants first, letting these companies bring in their own team members or freelancers for web design. Regardless of how the situation comes about, in addition to helping you navigate the waters of a web design project, an advertising agency and/or web consultant will bring one other major component to the table: cohesiveness.

When building a website, it's important to understand that while web development often seems to occur in a vacuum, it truly should not. Websites are key parts in a comprehensive marketing campaign that should typically integrate Internet and traditional marketing elements. Therefore, a great website is of even more value when it is the main piece in a large puzzle rather than a separate entity that does not align with the remaining pieces. That is, if a customer has been to your brick-and-mortar shop or has seen your TV, print, Internet, or direct mail advertisements and then visits your website, the branding should be consistent across all of those platforms. The site should immediately be identifiable as part of the whole, and that only happens when your web consultant and/or your advertising agency is intimately involved in your entire website design project.

Finally, it's important to keep in mind that web design projects are often bid without regard to content, which you'll be expected to provide as the business owner. The right advertising agency or marketing consultant will have staff or freelancers who can provide solid, clean, engaging content that also addresses your needs for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) while ensuring that your branding and messaging remains cohesive across all platforms.

5 Things That Should Be on the Front Page of Your Website

The front page of your website is like your face; and people have the tendency to adore expressive faces. Your front page, in effect, should ooze out the summary of your entire being; at least online. Yes, there are common parcels that you have to open up, like good design and soothing colors. Here are 5 potent factors that should strengthen your front page with their presence:

1. The starting point is of course your accreditation. Your business; its nature, a commanding logo and your contact information are simple ways to permeate into the visitors that you are a credible site on work. Credibility is the first key to reputation.

2. Another instant visible reference is the 'Call to Action' emblem. There should be clear indications that visitors are invited for participation on some sphere of your site. There may be significant rebates on sign-ups. There should be a clear call for donation if you deal on those lines. It doesn't pay to shy away. There may be fast action inducements for freebies. Shopping carts are another way to make your site a 'visit and stay' type.

3. Ensure that your site is clutter-free and has good uptime. It hurts if the site doesn't open up time and again. The navigation from front page to others should be quite sleek. Of course, a dedicated site has natural endowments like a good number of dropdowns. You can do wonders even with template sites though, with some effective strategies. If you are providing services that need regulation, make sure that the regulation clearance is quite apparent to the visitor. In whole, your site should speak out its method and demands in clear terms, so that its remembrance quotient gets stronger.

4. It is always great to generate feedbacks. Better still if that section is enumerated on your front page. Give a good section to an impartial endorsement. Probing testimonials sit on visitors' minds. Do remember to update your sites and work hard on your products and services, so that all connected virtues seem truthful. Take a bright side by drawing the viewer's attention to a brazen yet steady form of interpretation; whether it is a stunning original image; special graphics or stylized content, it should all come with a difference. Staple your front page with a concise and precise description of your wares. Remember to be truthful, for the inadequacies will soon be caught out. If possible, keep a quick customer care to give you strength.

5. Last but the most significant presence on your front page has to be the social media links. You need to be pro-active on Facebook and LinkedIn; connecting all ends together. This gives the visitor a feeling of importance and accessibility. RSS feeds are other way to generate interest.

Needless to say, the evolutions will punctuate your front page with many other necessities that tone up your presence and visibility schedule. These 5 salient points however should be the basic framework on which you build your castles of success.