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8 Tips For Designing A Great Website
Square buttons, round buttons, flashy buttons ? will they match my shoes, my handbag or my tie? Are you stuck in a maze of buttons, headings, bullets, sub-headings and colour schemes? STOP!!!! Take a deep breath and read some practical tips for professional looking websites. 1. Select a colour scheme and stick to it. If your company has a logo or preferred colours on its stationery that's a good start. For those of you starting from scratch, choose two or three complementary colours and stick with them ? don't change colours on every page. The most common colour schemes include: Red, yellow and whiteBlue and whiteRed, grey and whiteBlue, orange and whiteYellow, grey and white.If you're not sure what colour scheme to choose, surf the internet and find a website that you like. You can then model your colour scheme on what already exists. 2. Use templates. Can't find a website you really like? Another option is to choose a template. There are many templates or pre-set designs. These come as part of your web design software (such as FrontPage) or you can check out some websites that specialise in designing templates. Visit: 3. Provide an easy to use navigation system. This is one of the most important issues to consider when designing a website. You need to ensure your visitors can find what they are looking for easily. Most websites either display their navigation bar on the left or at the top. And since most people are used to this type of navigation, it's best to stick with it. It also helps to include your navigation bar at the bottom of each page to save your visitors from having to scroll back to the top. 4. Don't go overboard on special effects Whilst it is ok to have one or two special effects to jazz up your website, spinning graphics and logos often distract your visitor from the content, not to mention they can take too long to download. Your visitors may click away even before your spinning logo finishes loading. 5. Backgrounds Ensure your visitors can read the text on the background, ie. no black writing on dark blue background or yellow on white. Also be careful that your links are visible before and after being visited. The default for links in most programs is blue (before being visited) and burgundy (after being visited), so if you have a dark background, ensure your links are light. 6. External Links It is a good idea to open links to other websites in a new window. That way your visitors can easily return to your site when they are finished browsing the external link 7. Site Map & Search Feature If you website is more than 15 pages, it is useful to have a site map or a "Search" feature to ensure your visitors can easily find what they're looking for. 8. Content is King While it is important that your website looks clean and professional, it is far more important that you concentrate your efforts on the content and promotion. If you want a professional website, things to stay away from include: Flash intros, revolving globes, bevelled line separators, animated mail boxesLoads of pop up or pop under boxesAutoplay music. Allow your customer to play music only if they choose.Hit counters of the free variety, which say "you are 27th visitor"Date and time stamps, unless your website is updated daily or weeklyBusy backgrounds.Don't sweat the small stuff and get yourself focussed on what to include on the website and the best way to promote it. We will cover these topics in future articles. Copyright 2004 Ivana Katz About The Author Ivana Katz is the owner of Websites 4 Small Business, a company specialising in the design and promotion of small and home-based business websites. She believes that every business deserves to have a successful website, no matter what its budget is. For more information visit www.web4business.com.au or email info@web4business.com.au
14 Ways To Add Content To Your Web Site - Part 2
7. Create high quality content - make clear points with each paragraph you write. Each paragraph should build on the previous one, so that you are pulling your visitor through your page naturally. You are trying to pre sell the product or service to your visitor. This puts them in a natural frame of mind to buy (unlike many sites which may just have pictures of the products and a shopping cart).8. Web page background - a colorful or busy background can make your text hard to read and may give the impression of an inexperienced webmaster. If you do use a background image make sure it complements your si...
What I Look For In A Website
As my occupation is that of a proofreader, one of the first things I look for in a website is quality copy; to me it's important that the textual content is clear and concise with correct spelling and proper punctuation. Many websites I have looked at have sadly failed to follow this basic rule and the build emphasis has been centred on flashy eye-catching graphics, quite often at the expense of the copy.Good use of graphics is obviously an asset to any website but there should also be an element of simplicity as well; a site should not be so laden with amazing images and effects that it detracts from its purpose. Too often, there are websites with so many things happening on them that the eye gets confused and doesn't know where to look.Graph...
How To Choose Web Design Company?
Before deciding on which web design company to choose, you should first determine the main aim and purpose for your upcoming website. Once the aim and purpose have been identified, then only move on to choose a reliable web design company to develop your website.The first step in your searching for a reliable web design company is to check the company's reputation. Simply make a survey or ask around in your local community as well as perform an online research to check if there's any negative comments about the web design company shall be fruitful. In addition, how long the web design company has been in business shall be taken into consideration.Next, it is important to see the web design company's portfolio, view some samples of websites that the web design company has done. Vi...
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How To Prepare Your Project Before You Order Website Design
Are you serious about get this website done fast and clear and want to make money with your website? Then you will absolutely need some good web design agency to build the website of your dream and that it the aim, right?Web design studios may be local and virtual. Local studio may be your choice if you live in a big city and you know at least couple of web designers across the roa... |  |
| 3 Tips For Writing Content That Will Make You Sales
Content is king. Without content your website is an empty shell, a skeleton with no flesh, an empty vessel. Content can redeem the worst designed website. The right content can make your phone ring off the hook and flood your inbox with p... | |
| No More Jargon! Pamper Your Audience!
When your company built its website, did you think about the content (the text) of your site? Did you write it for your customers? The answer to these questions is often 'No.'The first mistake most companies make when filling their website with content is overlooking who they're writing for. The most common group they write it for is themselves. They fail to notice that the website is not for them, but their customers.This oversight can define what content is then used for the site. Technical jargon and marketing waffle is used, and the Board is happy. You see, they like marketing speak and they know their products/services ? so they assume knowledge of the products. This results in a website that's not informing the customer of the information they need to know. The customer feels saddened and useless, and shops... | |
| Pages To Include In Your Website
What pages need to be included on your website? The answer varies for each type of business and depends on how informative you want your website to be for potential clients. Below is a list of sample pages for you to review while you plan out your website.Create a different name for these website sections if you'd like to add more personality to your site! For example, your "About Us" page can be titled, "Who We Are" or "Get to Know Us".Your business website, at minimum, should include the following pages:? Home Page - (For more information on the design of your home page, click here) (www.elf-design.com/ articleHomePage.html)? About Us and, if appropriate, About Our President/Principal? Our... | |
| Event Planning Must Include An Event Website
As part of your event planning you should seriously consider registering a special event domain. That should in fact be the first step for your planning of any event.Whatever it is: - your big wedding event - any other big family event - a festival - a course / training event - a celebration event in your local community - an international seminar or conference event - a campaign event / promotion event - a school class event.It is much easier to find a proper domain name for an event website than for a permanent website.In many cases you can use the formula: www.EVENTNAME2005.com or ...Net or with a national domain like ...co.ukYou can use the formula: w... | |
| Web Designers Beware!
As a web designer, I have a personal interest in a new trend which threatens to put me and my kind out of business. That "threat" is Web Design Templates. In short... | |
| Html - A Website Language Explained - For Over 35s
This is a very perfunctory look at the website code HTML, for those who never did any kind of Computer Studies at school and have never had the need or opportunity to look 'under the skirt' of your average website. There's nothing that an experienced webmaster will find here that's not very basic, but for those who have just begun to discover the 'website' and especially those venturing into... maybe starting one of their own, here's a basic understanding to pique the interest and possibly kick-start the learning process.If you don't even know what I'm talking about when I say HTML, as a means to... | |
| Don?t Put Your Slogan In The Title Tag - Optimize Your Web Pages
Don't just put your slogan in the title tagwhen you formulate the copy of your website. Theformulation of the title tag is the mostimportant single aspect when you fine-tune yourwe... | |
| Do You Hate Your Website? Web Site Sales To Hit $316 Billion Over The Next 6 Years
What dollar amount does your web site contribute to this $316 billion dollar trend?Have you spent thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands on your web site only to discover that it attracts more flies than customers?Do you hate your web site, your web developer or your entire IT department?Do not despair! You are not alone!A great web site is crucial in order to effectively communicate to a business's target audience. It is important for Chief Executives and small business owners to pay close attention to the effect that their web site has on their business. A poorly designed site will not generate desired revenues and could even produce negative results if itsends the wrong message to potential customers.In a 2003 survey of major corporations from Ford to... | |
| Choosing Form Over Function Kills Your Site
Never put form over function. Why? Because it's crucial that visitors actually be able to USE your site. Everything you do must be designed to be as easy for the visitor to understand as possible. Everything should be functional first.If you put form before function, you sacrifice your visitor's best interest for your own preferences. By definition, putting form over function means you sacrifice function--you make it harder to perform whatever task is supposed to be performed. You give up ease of use or simplicity in order to make it look nicer. Basically, you wind up with a lot of icing and no cake.<... | |
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