Wight Webdesign

Guide to Setting Up Your Website...

2010-10-31T17:11:00.000-07:00

If you want to start your own website but aren't sure how to go about it, this article will teach you the 5 necessary steps to get your website up and running. Having your own website is THE key element to your online success and the ability and knowledge to customize it will help you become successful in your online endeavors.

As a newbie on the web you probably don't have a lot of money to get your first site up and running. The good news is that web services today are lower than ever and you can get a site set up and running for about $50. The monthly cost for web hosting is around $6; add in a yearly domain fee of about $10 and you're ready to roll. Is that cheap enough for you??

Let's get started...

Step #1: Brainstorm ideas and put them in writing.

Outline your websites structure. Don't worry about what your site will look like yet, just get the basic structure down and the overall layout. What do you want in your website? At the minimum, you'll need a main or home page, a product description page, an "About Me" page and most of all an order page.

Once your outline is complete, you'll need to figure out a way to get that information into your computer. There are lots of resources to help with this step.

"HTML" (Hyper Text Markup Language) is the programming language used for your website. You can hire a web programmer to program your site, but that can be very expensive. You can go buy a book like "HTML for Dummies", which will teach you how to code your website, but that is a difficult and time consuming task and we want to do things the EASY way. The EASY way is to use a program like MS Frontpage, which is included for FREE nowadays on many new computer systems. Frontpage is a text based system that allows you to type your webpage in plain English and then have it converted to HTML for viewing on the web. With a few hours of practice you can have your website coded and ready to upload.

Step #2: Use a professional website template.

If you utilize a pre-designed template you can have a professional looking website in a matter of minutes. Templates provide the online graphics and overall look and style of your website. A professional pre-designed template can be purchased for under $40 and can save you many hours or even days of design time. If that price is too high there are also many professionally designed FREE web templates available, although they are very basic in style and may not be suitable for your website. Even if you have a small budget, purchasing a professional template is an efficient way to begin.

Step #3: Purchase and register a domain name.

Your ideas are ready and you have adapted them to your professional template, so now it's time to purchase a domain name for your website. Registering a domain name allows web surfers to view your website by entering (www.yournamehere.com)

You'll want a catchy domain name that is easy to remember and tells a little bit about your business (ex. LowCostAutoInsurance.com). You'll need to choose a name registrar such as GoDaddy.com to register your name and if you are having trouble finding a name they even have a domain name suggestion tool that will help. You can register your domain name for less than $10 a year and once it's registered, that name is yours for as long as you pay the annual renewal fee.

Step #4. Choose a web host.

Your site is ready, your domain name is registered and you're ready to go, Now What...

You need to hire a company to host your website. There are hundreds, if not thousands of web hosts available and your job is to sort through them and choose the right company. Since your web host is your 24 hour connection to the web, you'll need to make sure they are very reliable. If your web host has technical difficulties, your website will be invisible to all your customers and you will not be successful. Monthly hosting fees can range from FREE to hundreds of dollars depending on the services you choose. Most beginner websites can be hosted for under $10/month by a quality web host.

Step #5: Upload your website.

Now that you have chosen a web host you need to transfer your new webpage’s from your computer to the computer at your web host so they are visible on the internet. While this may seem like a confusing and technical process, it really is quite simple. One of the easiest transfer processes is to upload your site using "FTP" (File Transfer Protocols). One of the easiest "FTP" programs is CuteFTP, which allows you to drag and drop files from your computer and place them in your web directory at your web host. Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with your "FTP" program because as a webmaster you will be utilizing it quite frequently.

That's it. Your site is now up and live on the web. While the process may seem technical and difficult you'll find that with practice this will become an easy and rewarding experience. Practice with your new tools and you'll be an expert webmaster in no time.

A Little Extra For Your Customers

2010-10-31T17:05:00.000-07:00

As a web designer I try to give my customers a little something extra whenever or wherever possible. No, not so that they take advantage of my kindness, rather to show that I go the extra mile for them. Hey, it is a competitive market out there and I don't want to grow complacent!

So, exactly what am I talking about? Blogs. That's right, I enjoy blogging so much that I have decided to include a "blog option" as part of my web package for clients. It doesn't cost me any money for the software, but it will cost me approximately one hour's time to set up each blog.

How about you? Are you expanding your offerings or are you standing in place? Is there something extra/special which you can offer to your clients at no cost to them?

If you are thinking of short term gains then you are missing my point. Invest in your clients and they will return the favor to you in the form of loyalty and increased exposure: happy clients tell other clients of their good fortune, which is you and what you offer to them -- top notch service!

The new Internet World

2010-10-31T16:59:00.000-07:00

The Internet has been around for sometime but its popularity started a little more than five years ago as more people gains access to public domain. As more Americans engage in online activities such as gaming, surfing, communicating with relatives and friends, and stock brokering, new companies are created. Now you have companies offering web design, web development, website hosting and SEO services. Aside from this, our age is growing up to careers like graphic design and web designers, types of work, which were inconceivable a decade ago.
Now you may be asking: What sort of work do these new companies engage in? Web development is the general term used to refer to all the activities I mentioned about. Any activity related to the creation of a website can be categorized under this term. Some professionals, however, insists that web development refers more to the technical side such as coding and networking.
Webdesign services are involved with the layout of a website. The web design is the first thing people notice when they visit a page. It is also one of the major factors considered by repeat visitors. There are four aspects of design: the content (basically this is the information on the site), the usability (the functions and features of the website), the appearance (should be enticing to readers0 and lastly, the visibility (people must be able to find your site!). The main goal of a good website designer is to make information readily available to his readers in a form that is very easy to understand.
SEO services are basically a marketing strategy used by sites to get more traffic, or in laymen's terms, to get people to visit their sites. Say for example a person goes to Google and types in SEO, they should be able to find sites relating to search engine optimization and the those sites at the top of the list has the highest page rank, meaning, these are the sites which is visited most often. There are other websites which are not indexed or listed in Google, MSN or Yahoo. This means that unless you know the website's name, no one will get to visit that site. To make your site popular, you need to build links to your site, and this is what companies engaged in SEO does.
Now, let's talk about something less technical. Did you know that more people are spending more time with the internet than watching TV, reading the papers and listening to the radio? For one, you can do all these three things while sitting in front of your laptop. Now you no longer need a Tivo or a subscription to the local paper because now, you can get anything from the web for free! You can now do your shopping online; you can even gamble or take out loans from the internet. Aside from this, work is no longer confined to the office. When you need to beat a deadline, the internet gives best solution – bring your work home and let your VPN put you right back to work!
Surely, we are entering a new world – one where everything has its virtual counterpart. From teachers to bankers, friends and dates, everything we need is now online. But how has this affected our society today? In a study of 4,000 respondents, it was reported that internet usage was averaging at 2-5 hours a week while those in the extremes spend more than 10 hours in front of their computers. This has caused the 15% decline in social activities and another 25% who are spending lesser hours in talking to their friends or their families. Truly, this world has become a digital world of conveniences, and a world where people are losing contact with their social environment.

A Career in Graphic Design

2010-10-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

Creative Director
Lets start at the top and work down. Art directors, or Creative Directors are responsible for a creative team that may design work for magazines, television, advertising graphics, websites, or on packaging. A creative team can consist of layout artists, graphic designers, photographers, copywriters, and menial staff to do the work. An Art directors job is to make sure that each of these workers do not slack off down the pub and complete their work to a deadline and to the client's needs. Art directors also make major decisicions along the lines of should the background be slate grey or cobalt blue, issuing dictates and changing their mind several days after a deadline has passed - leaving co-workers resolutely glum about their position in the grand scheme of things. Art directors will inevitably have come from some kind of marketing or sales background and need no prior graphic design knowledge or skill.

Senior Designer
A Senior Designer is mainly concerned with the visual aspects of a company and will probably have been promoted on the basis that she is fun and a 'great team player' (despite this being far from the case). A Senior Designer will usually insist on having a larger widescreen monitor than the rest of the team which will be decorated variously with fluffy pink bits marketing people send through on a daily basis. A Senior Designer will be involved in the elements of a company’s look such as business cards, stationery, packaging design, media advertising graphics, promotional design, and sticking up pictures of topless 'hunks'.

Graphic Designer
The job of a Graphic Designer is to provide a new and exciting way to express the key information of a company or product through a dynamic image or use of typography. Graphic Designers take the scant information given to them by the client and using the internet to scab some free clip art, fashion their own ripped off logo designs in order to fleece the client for all they are worth.

Layout Artists and Artworkers
The engine room of the design world. These scumbags have been buried away with their dusty macs for decades, remorselessly churning out pages and layouts. Inevitably some clueless muppet will send over a 100 page brochure layed out in microsoft word and it will be the Artworkers thankless task to make it publishable. They will need to recognise a font at 50 yards, be able to colour correct the dreariest of images and take a good bollocking every now and again to keep them on their toes. The Artworker must have the ability to design magazines, design brochures, design flyers, design books and design posters. He harbours murder fantasies.

Illustrators
Illustrators generally speaking will have long greying hair and be influenced by prog rock. Working from home among the dungeon and dragonns figurines and manga comics they will attempt to put their own unique spin on whatever brief they are given. What you will be presented with is a semi clad girl with oversized boobs. You will have waited several weeks for this. You will never learn from previous mistakes.

Web Designers
Web designers create the pages, layout, and graphics for web pages, they will be technically minded to the point of absurdity. They will insist on using c++ coding language to impress other geeks and will beaver away doing whatever it is geeks do for hours on end. Web designers also design and develop the navigation tools of a site which will for design websites involve tiny text that makes your eyes bleed. Web designers are far too clever for their own good and should never be encouraged.

Web Design History

2010-10-31T16:49:00.000-07:00

Remember the days when every PC was beige, every website had a little Netscape icon on the homepage, Geocities and Tripod hosted just about every single personal homepage, and "Google" was just a funny-sounding word?

The mid-late 1990s were the playful childhood of the worldwide web, a time of great expectations for the future and pretty low standards for the present. Those were the days when doing a web search meant poring through several pages of listings rather than glancing at the first three results--but at least relatively few of those websites were unabashedly profit-driven.

Hallmarks of 1990s Web Design

Of course, when someone says that a website looks like it came from 1996, it's no compliment. You start to imagine loud background images, and little "email me" mailboxes with letters going in and out in an endless loop. Amateurish, silly, unprofessional, conceited, and unusable are all adjectives that pretty well describe how most websites were made just ten years ago.

Why were websites so bad back then?

Knowledge. Few people knew how to build a good website back then, before authorities like Jakob Nielsen starting evangelizing their studies of web user behavior.

Difficulty. In those days, there weren't abundant software and templates that could produce a visually pleasing, easy-to-use website in 10 minutes. Instead, you either hand-coded your site in Notepad or used FrontPage.

Giddiness. When a new toy came out, whether it was JavaScript, Java, Frames, animated Gifs, or Flash, it was simply crammed into an already overstuffed toy box of a website, regardless of whether it served any purpose.

Browsing through the Internet Archive's WayBack Machine, it's hard not to feel a twinge of nostalgia for a simpler time when we were all beginners at this. Still, one of the best reasons for looking at 90s website design is to avoid repeating history's web design mistakes. This would be a useful exercise for the tragic number of today's personal homepages and even small business websites that are accidentally retro.

Splash Pages

Sometime around 1998, websites all over the internet discovered Flash, the software that allowed for easy animation of images on a website. Suddenly you could no longer visit half the pages on the web without sitting through at least thirty seconds of a logo revolving, glinting, sliding, or bouncing across the screen.

Flash "splash pages," as these opening animations were called, became the internet's version of vacation pictures. Everyone loved to display Flash on their site, and everyone hated to have to sit through someone else's Flash presentation.

Of all the thousands of splash pages made in the 1990s and the few still made today, hardly any ever communicated any useful information or provided any entertainment. They were monuments to the egos of the websites' owners. Still, today, when so many business website owners are working so hard to wring every last bit of effectiveness out of their sites, it's almost charming to think of a business owner actually putting ego well ahead of the profit to have been derived from all the visitors who hit the "back" button rather than sit through an animated logo.

Text Troubles

"Welcome to…" Every single website homepage in 1996 had to have the word "welcome" somewhere, often in the largest headline. After all, isn't saying "welcome" more vital than saying what the web page is all about in the first place?

Background images. Remember all those people who had their kids' pictures tiled in the background of every page? Remember how much fun it was trying to guess what the words were in the sections where the font color and the color of the image were the same?

Dark background, light text. My favorite was orange font on purple background, though the ubiquitous yellow white text on blue, green or red was nice, too. Of course, anyone who will make their text harder to read with a silly gimmick is just paying you the courtesy of letting you know they couldn't possibly have written anything worth reading.

Entire paragraphs of text centered. After all, haven't millennia of flush-left margins just made our eyes lazy?

"This Site Is Best Viewed in Netscape 4.666, 1,000x3300 resolution." It was always so cute when site owners actually imagined anyone but their mothers would care enough to change their browser set up to look at some random person's website.

All-image no-text publishing. Some of the worst websites would actually do the world the service of putting all their text in image format so that no search engine would ever find them. What sacrifice!

Hyperactive Pages

TV-envy was a common psychological malady in 1990s web design. Since streaming video and even Flash were still in their infancy, web designers settled for simply making the elements on their pages move like Mexican jumping beans.

Animated Gifs

In 1996, just before the dawn of Flash, animated gifs were in full swing, dancing, sliding, and scrolling their way across the retinas of web surfers trying to read the text on the page.

Scrolling Text

Just in case you were having a too easy time tuning out all the dancing graphics on the page, an ambitious mid-1990s web designer had a simple but powerful trick for giving you a headache: scrolling text. Through the magic of JavaScript, website owners could achieve the perfect combination of too fast to read comfortably and too slow to read quickly.

For a while, a business owner could even separate the serious from the wannabe prospects based just on how (un)professional their business websites looked. Sadly, the development of template-based website authoring software means that even someone with no taste or sense whatsoever can make websites that look as good as the most biggest-budget design of five years ago.

Of course, there are still some websites whose owners seem to be trying to spark a resurgence in animated gifs, background images, and ugly text. 'll just have to trust that everyone is laughing with them, not at them.

Webmaster Tools For Free

2010-10-31T16:45:00.000-07:00

Just about anyone with a computer and an internet connection can make a website. Creativity and purpose though, solely rests on the author’s shoulders. There are plenty of free web hosting services out there and you only have to look for one that suits your needs. Features like customizability, available space, uploading/downloading method and scripting are usually what sets these free hosting sites apart from one another. If you find these sites too limiting for you, paid web hosting sites are available and they do provide more advanced features like larger web spaces and a more intuitive interface for site management. The good support, bandwidth and uptime percentage absolutely makes the paid web hosting sites a favorite for people who are trying to create a website for their business.

Whether you are putting up a website for your business or if you are just a hobbyist, you will have needs that both the paid and free web hosting sites won’t be able to satisfy. That’s where tools that enhance your website comes in. Like a site director supervising in an actual physical site, the webmaster needs certain tools and apparatus’ that are essential in running a website. Basic web tools like guest books, counters and link checkers are some of the staple tools that every good website should have. Aside from increasing the efficiency of your website, these tools also enable site administrators to gather some statistical data that will help in the upkeep and development of the site.

A byproduct of that statistical data, personally, is the gratifying or dejecting experience to see how many hits you had (or lack of it) in your site for one day or since its inception. More advanced web tools like meta-tag generators, link popularity and Google predictors assist in making your site’s net presence more visible to a bigger and more relevant crowd. More utilities and tools that function to augment your website are out there. Fortunately, there are websites that exist for the sole purpose of being a “toolbox” for webmasters. These nifty sites are invaluable in that aside from providing free tools, they also include information about how to use the tools provided.

Nothing is more frustrating than having to figure things out for yourself in a trial and error manner, which consumes too much time. Crafting, constructing and designing will really be easier and faster with the aid of these toolbox websites. The time you save in formatting, organizing and devising your website can be used in making or researching for the content on your site. Content being the primary reason as to why people would visit your site.

What better way to get you started on the internet than by making your presence known via your own personal website. And, what better way to create the perfect site than to use free and readily available tools in the net. If you know your way around cyberspace then you’ll surely appreciate the advanced tools that make maintaining and gathering information from your website a breeze.

How to get Content For Your Site

2010-10-31T16:43:00.000-07:00

Content is really important for webmasters. Why? When people surf the web, they are looking for information. They aren't looking for you specifically, unless you're well-known. If they visit your site and don't what they're looking for, they will leave quickly. And they probably won't return to your site. Well, they might stumble back onto your site, but not on purpose.

Quality sites provide quality content. Quality content helps you retain visitors. Visitors may spread the word about your site and thus attract new visitors.

Adding new high quality content to your site regularly is also beneficial. With more content, you will have more pages indexed by the search engines. More pages indexed means you will have more opportunities for people to find you via search engines.

So how exactly do you get content for your site?

1. Your unique knowledge

Everybody knows something others don't. Use your own unique insight and knowledge to provide content. Think of what activities you've participated in the past. Think of what you've learned through past experiences. Any experiences can help, whether at home, school, work, or anywhere else. Of course, providing your own content regularly can be very difficult.

2. Personal stories

Personal stories are the basis of some sites and blogs. Want to connect with your audience and let them know more about you? Use personal stories. However, if you don't want to be too personal, make sure you inject your personality into your writing. Personality differentiates you from the rest and can keep visitors coming back.

3. How-to guides

People have problems and like to figure out how to solve them. Had some problem you struggled with for a while? Did you eventually solve it? The way you solved it could be written into a how-to guide. Or write a how-to guide about your expert area. For example, if you're a technical computer whiz, you could write a how-to guide for fixing computers.

4. Do research

Do some research on the web. Use search engines, search directories, and follow links to find relevant sites. Do some research at your local library. Grab some books about your site's topic and start digging through them. Find local experts, teachers, and professors and ask them questions about your site's topic. When you research, note down interesting ideas and you'll undoubtedly learn more. You'll have more unique knowledge that you can turn into content. You might even discover something earth-shattering!

5. Subscribe to newsletters

Good newsletters are a great way to keep informed about a particular topic. They can keep you informed of offers that you may be able to provide on your own site. As well, they can keep you on top of what's happening in your area by providing time-sensitive content.

Web Design and Development Contract Agreement

2010-10-31T16:39:00.000-07:00

This is not written by a professional lawyer or anyone close to one. It is written by a typically business owner of a successful web development company who has no law degree or the budget to hire a lawyer to write a web development contract. However, they are in need of a contract agreement that will assure a project will be well outlined for both the client and the developer as to what the expectations are of the entire project.

I must write a disclaimer that this proven web development agreement is purely based on experience and knowledge of the web design and development industry. Others may write these contracts and agreements differently. This article is written to help others who wish to know how to begin to write a 10 step web design and development agreement. So enough said, let’s get down to the 10 steps:

1. Scope of Services:
Start off with the most important aspect of the entire project. What exactly are you as the developer going to do for the client? Present a general 3-5 sentence summary of the scope of service. Will you be responsible for the design and programming? How will the website be updated? Who will be responsible for the marketing at the end of the proejct? Who will host the website when the project is done?

2. Price and Payments
This is the area where you are upfront and state the exact price payment and terms of the payment is split up into installments. Is the project quoted at a fixed rate? Is it an hourly rate and how is this documented and tracked? Will the payments be made with a certain percentage up front as a down payment and then a monthly billing cycle, or is it a milestone related payment system?

3. Term and Termination
How long will this agreement contract be enforceable? If the client does not want to persue the project ¾ of the way through the project how can he get out? What are the penalties and timeframe they can exit the contract? This is crucial especially to web development agreements with entreprenuers and startups who many times have a great idea, some type of outline or business plan for what they wish to do, but for some reason never finish through with the project. Then as the developer you must have certain rights. Do you keep all of the code that has been developed? Can you finish it and retain intellectual property to it? Many factors can go in this area, but it protects both the client and the developer in the case a developer never is able to complete a project or continues to be late on deliverables and the client wishes to terminate the relationship.

4. Ownership of Intellectual Property
One aspect that needs to be addressed is who will retain the intellectual property to the project? Typically the client retains all intellectual property. This area highlights all of the intellectual property covered such as the source code, all digital files, documentation, etc. Intellectual property is very important to any and all web design and development projects.
5. Confidential Information
Many clients wish to keep all information that is exchanged within a project to the developer as highly confidential and cannot be disclosed whatsoever. This must be addressed in any agreement as to the extent that information can be disclosed. Can the developer mention that they are working for the client during the course of the project to other prospects or potential clients? Many developers use their portfolio of clients as sales tools for other clients. This area must represent exactly what is disclosed and for how long. What period of time is the information kept confidential and so on.

6. Warranty and Disclaimer
Having a warranty on the work that is developed is standard in most web projects. Typically a 30-90 day warranty is given on all work to be functional and bug free. Now this is the area that small details such as the client having access to the server and by mistake entering the files and making changes on mistake that affect the functionality within the terms. Think of the label on products that you purchase such as furniture and mattresses. It says that the warranty is void if you tear the label off. This is what you can address in this area. You will provide warranty on certain terms and conditions with specific disclaimers as well.

7. Limitation of Liability
This is the area in which the developer discloses that they are not liable for any losses of money for the developer or other economic losses directly or indirectly associated with the development of the website. Some less experiences clients will turn around to the developer as the source of their website not succeeding online. Avoid issues in the future if something does not succeed that the client thought would, especially things that the developer cannot control once the website is launched. Also, during the project itself, if for whatever reason there is a financial loss, it protects you as a developer.

8. Relation of Parties
Make sure that the client and developer understand what their relationship is. Is the relationship a development partnership? Is it strictly a work-for-hire type relationship? Is it a client and vendor relationship. This is the area where this needs to be highlighted to make sure the business relationship is understood.

9. Employee Solicitation / Hiring
Many developers never think twice about this, but there have been cases where clients have lured employees or freelancers of the developer during or after the project was completed. Of course this has huge negative aspects associated to it if this happens. That is why this area is also extremely crucial to lay out the fact that the client can not solicite the developers employees in any way when it comes to potential hiring or additional perks. Specify a certain amount of time for this as well. Typically this time from is between 2-5 years.

10. Entire Agreement
This is the ending of the document that basically should say that the entire document and its attributes fall under the entire contract and that nothing will supersede it. Also, this is the area the will have the client and developers key representative who will sign it, date it, and post their roles within the company. Make sure that any and all modifications after signature are signed with initials of both parties next to the change.

These 10 steps to writing a successful web design and development contract and agreement will give a peace of mind to both the client and developer and will pave the way to a trusting business relationship.

Some clients may be surprised when presented with what could be a 2-4 page document to read and sign. Don’t be afraid to walk them through each point and reaffirm the fact that such a document is needed to protect them as a client and you as a developer in any unwanted circumstances, at the same time highlights exactly what everyone’s obligations are. With that said, there should be no issues and the client should be willing to sign the document. Of course if they are not willing to sign the document perhaps it is a financial loss to you as the developer but in the long run it will avoid headaches and even more substancial financial losses.

How to publish your book

2010-10-31T16:36:00.000-07:00

Learn how to publish your novel, poetry, memoir, how-to book, children books.

1) The first thing you need is book publish software
http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/
>> Every day, more graphics professionals, publishers, and print service providers are discovering that Adobe InDesign is a leap forward in page layout software. Get more information on the benefits of switching from QuarkXPress and Adobe PageMaker, as well as resources to aid you in making a smooth transition to InDesign.

http://www.quark.com/
>> The first thing to get straight when evaluating QuarkXPress 7 is that with three million registered users worldwide, Quark is more focused on keeping existing customers happy than on converting Adobe InDesign users to QuarkXPress. While many people have switched to InDesign, many more have stayed with QuarkXPress, just biding their time. The newly released QuarkXPress 7 is what they've been waiting for.
>>>>
After you get the layout software, you can write your story and insert your pictures , add your graphics and element.

2) Picture resolution

the picture or illustration of your book need high resolution.e.g : 3” x 3” image in your page layout need around 4.4 mb
e.g: dscn8461 270,230KB photoshop image
dscf3326 113KB jpeg
make sure that you are using photoshop format or tif format, you can see the DSCN8461 is 27mb, good for A5 size image. The DSCF3326 is just a 113K jpg which can do nothing for your book.

If you are scanning image by scanner , pls remember that you select tif format and using 350 x 350 dpi ( 1:1 )

PSD = photoshop file
Tif = tiff file
Jpg = jpeg file

How to Improve your Websites Conversion Ratio

2010-10-31T16:32:00.000-07:00

According to the so-called experts, a decent conversion ratio is right around one percent. In other words, one out of every one hundred visitors to your website converts to a sale.

Personally, I think you should ignore what the experts say, and strive to achieve as high a conversion ratio as possible. You should never be satisfied. You should always be looking for ways to improve your conversion ratio.

Unless you're selling a big-ticket item and making £200 or more per sale, it's extremely difficult to make any real money with only a one percent conversion ratio.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, and if your website is attracting hundreds or even thousands of visitors a day, then obviously you can do quite well with a one percent or lower conversion ratio.

But what if you don't have that kind of traffic - and most websites don't. Then what? What if you're selling a £20 e-book and you're only attracting a hundred visitors a day to your website? With a one percent conversion ratio, that means your website is making a measly £20 a day. And believe me, that am much more common than you realize.

However, what if you could improve your conversion ratio to 3 percent, 5 percent, All of a sudden; you're making £60 to £100 a day with the same amount of traffic. Improve your conversion ratio to ten percent and viola, that £100 a day turns into £200 a day!

So, how do you go about improving your website's conversion ratio? Here are some tips that should help:

1. Make sure your visitors know what you do, the instant they land on your website. Don't make them have to guess. Tell them right up front with a benefits-laden headline.

2. Make sure the design of your website is up to par, Make it easy to navigate. Get rid of distracting flash or stupid, meaningless graphics that are a waste of everybody's time and take forever to load, Simplify your website. Get rid of the flash, graphics and pop-ups!

3. Use psychologically effective colours. The colour blue suggests quality, trustworthiness, success, seriousness, calmness - the perfect choice for sales pages. Avoid purple, which connotes uncertainty and ambiguity, and only use yellow to highlight key words and phrases. In addition, try to have as much white space as possible. This makes for a much cleaner looking, easier to read website.

4. Get your own domain name. URL's that contain names like, "Geocities", "Angelfire" or "Tripod" have amateur written all over them.

5. Prove what you say. Back up your claims with cold, hard, indisputable and verifiable facts

6. Put your name, telephone number and street address on your website

7. Use authentic customer testimonials, complete with first and last names. Just make sure you get your customers permission first.

8. Offer a fair and reasonable money-back guarantee. Thirty days is good. Sixty or ninety days are better!

9. Make it easy for your customers to pay. And offer a variety of payment options. I can assure you, if you're using PayPal only, you're losing sales. There are a lot of people out there, I included, and that just won't do business with PayPal. It's too much of a hassle!

10. And last but not least, make sure you have a powerful sales letter. A strong and effective sales letter can blast your earnings into the upper stratosphere!

If you aren't capable of writing that type of sales letter yourself, hire a copywriting expert to write it for you.

Tips For A Web Designer

2010-10-31T16:28:00.000-07:00

One of the toughest challenges facing any designer is the web page. There are perhaps millions of pages in the World Wide Web all jostling for attention. The question that is foremost is how you as a designer can make a difference.

Study the subject being featured. Visit as many sites as possible that cover the same as well as related topics. Make a list of what works and what doesn’t. Avoid using a design that is going to be uniform with others. Unless your pages are distinctive they are not going to work.

1. Try and avoid run of the mill things like page counters, java text scrolling, flashing images, GIF images, signs which say “we are not ready.” Or, too many illustrations or animations, black grounds or fade ins.

2. Create a design which coveys in a stylish way what it has to. Instead of using downloaded illustrations use original ones.

3. Avoid things like heavy files or graphics. These will slow down your pages. GIF is better than JPEG files.

4. Think of the target audience and subject being addressed when designing. The overall effect should be that of exclusivity.

5. Avoid incorporating download plugins. While Flash is innovative and fun you will loose viewers if you don’t provide an HTML alternative.

6. Design the pages so that they are not more than 50K.

7. Remember the rule of thumb; a web page should not have more than three screens. And, ensure that the viewer does not have to scroll horizontally.

8. Test your website pages with several browsers. Make sure they open quickly and completely. Do a reality check by asking a cross section of users to check the site. Usability checking will bring to the fore any mistakes made.

9. Don’t use backgrounds with tiles or patterns it makes the design fussy and decreases readability. Avoid frames they make the pages difficult to book mark.

10. Determine accurately the rules of creative design and ensure that you apply them. If you have links make sure they work. Limit page content. Pay attention to search engine optimization. Ensure that the design follows the content and is not a separate element. Maintain archives. Use innovative fonts and titles. The content should follow basic elements of style or a style sheet.

When designing the web page think about the site as a whole not each page separately. There should continuity in design. Include a site map for easy navigation. Pay attention to imparting knowledge, include information on the subject of the site, give tips, make available how to articles as well as publications on the topic. The site and pages should be interactive without being a nuisance, so links must be well thought of and of practical use.

Keep in mind at all times the 5 golden principles of design: balance, rhythm, proportion, dominance, and unity.

Things You Must Know To Build A Great Website

2010-10-31T16:25:00.000-07:00

Before the first graphic is drawn or the first line of code is written, you must define the website’s budget, purpose, target audience, design, navigation, and content. And when that’s all said and done you must define the marketing that will bring visitors to your site.

It sounds easy, but you’d be amazed at how many really bad business websites there are out there. Yours might even be one of them. If so, listen up. For nearly ten years now my company has been building and rebuilding websites for every kind of business you can imagine: from mom-and-pops to multinationals. We’ve designed (or redesigned) a couple hundred websites and along the way I have come to the conclusion that most business websites do a pitiful job of working for their owners.

What’s that, you didn’t know your business website should work for you? You think it should just sit on a server somewhere taking up digital space and collecting digital dust?

Wrong. Every website, business or otherwise, must serve a purpose, and that’s usually where most websites falls short. They serve no purpose because the website owner never gave much thought to it. It’s not the website’s fault. A website is inanimate. It is only what you make it. The only life a website has is the one given to it by its designer and owner. If the human element doesn’t do a good job of defining the building blocks, the website will serve no purpose and eventually die a digital death.

Building an effective business website isn’t brain surgery, thank goodness, since that’s how I make a nice percentage of my living. Building an effective, well-designed website that works for its owner, that actually serves a purpose, is all about definition.

Define the Budget
Every website, no matter how large or small, must have a realistic budget, with “realistic” being the key word. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat with a potential client as they listed off the eight million cool things they wanted their website to do, only to find out that their budget was just a few hundred dollars. I always feel like saying, “Well you just wasted three hundred dollars of my time, so here’s your bill…”

Define the Purpose
Every website must have a purpose. Purpose drives everything: the audience, the design, the navigation, the content, and the marketing. I could do an entire column on purpose, but suffice it to say that there are five categories of purpose under which most websites fall: the purpose to inform, to educate, to entertain, to generate leads, to sell, or a combination thereof. If you fail to define the purpose of the website, all else is just wasted effort.

Define the Target Audience
Your target audience refers to that segment of the public that you hope to attract to the site. For example if you sell shoes, your target audience would be anyone with feet. Taking it a step further, if you only sold women’s shoes, your target audience would be women (with feet) Why is defining your target audience so important? If you have no idea who your audience is, how can you expect to design a website that will appeal to them? Your target audience could be customers, investors, job seekers, info seekers, etc. Define your target audience, then figure out how to serve them.

Define the Design
Website design theory has changed over the last couple of years, primarily because the search engines now ignore graphic heavy websites and give preference to those that take a minimalistic approach to design. If you look at some of the big boy websites like GE, Oracle, Raytheon, HP, and others you will see that in many cases the only graphic on the homepage is the company’s logo. Search engines now give higher preference to websites that offer keyword-rich text over flashy graphics. Don’t fight the design trend. You will lose.

Define the Navigation
Bad navigation is the number one reason website visitors abandon a website. Navigation refers to the chain of links the visitor uses to get around your site. If your site has an illogical navigational hierarchy or too few or too many links or is simply impossible to get around, you’ve got problems. We live in a microwave society. We stand in front of the microwave tapping our foot and glaring at our watch wondering why it takes so damn long for a bag of popcorn to pop. Why can’t a three-minute egg be done in thirty seconds? If it takes a visitor more than 3 clicks to get to any page on your site, your navigation needs improvement.

Define the Content
Content refers to the information on your website, be it graphics, text, downloadable items, etc. Since the top search engines no longer use HTML Meta tag data to index websites, it is vital that your website content be text heavy, succinct and well-written to appeal to the search engine spiders.

Define the Build Method
Next, who will build the website for you? Will you do it yourself using one of the point and click website builders or will you hire the kid next door? Will you hire a freelance designer or a professional firm? Budget usually dictates the build method, but be warned, when it comes to website development, you get what you pay for. Sure, the kid next door will throw up a site for you if you buy them a pizza or make your daughter go to the prom with them, but you will end up a with a website that looks like and performs like it was designed by the kid next door.

Define the Marketing
If you build it, will they come? Not on your life, at least not without a good marketing campaign. Your website should become a part of all your marketing efforts, online and off.

Put the website address on your business cards, brochures, letterhead, and all collaterals. Include the address in your ads; print, TV and radio. If you prefer to do online marketing, figure out where your target audience surfs and advertise there.

If marketing is foreign to you, do yourself a favor and call in an expert. Many businesses fail because they simply do not know how to market their products and services effectively. This is also the downfall of most business websites.

Pointers about Web Design

2010-10-31T16:21:00.000-07:00

In order to master the art of web design, designers must follow the subsequent pointers:

1. Web sites are all about advertising products, ideas and services. Thus, a web designer has to understand the mindset of marketers in order to create a design that sell.

2. Read, read and read. We do not experience everything. Thus, our tendency is to learn from others. Reading web design books, newsletters and tips are pretty valuable since they can save you time and effort. Basically, books are more conclusive than newsletters and tips however, they are for free and mostly updated.

3. Narrow down your target market. You cannot please everybody same thing that you cannot be good at everything. Thus, this fact calls for the narrowing of your target market. Even in the interface of the so-called web design, a designer cannot claim that he is an expert at anything or everything about the needs of a website. It is better to pick a certain audience and try to be good at catching their attention, preference and choice. This practice allows you to be best at a given area thus developing expertise.

4. Answer your target audience’s needs. In order to answer the visitor’s needs, web designers must know what kind of visitors his site is welcoming. Do they belong to the younger generation or otherwise? What do they want from your site? Are these information, details and pleasures in your site in order to get their undivided attention and loyalty? Bear in mind that colors, font size, style of graphics, contents and the entirety of the site affects viewer’s decision and choice.

5. Know the basics of SEO and copywriting. Though Search Engine Optimization and copywriting are not directly related to designing, still, designers must have basic knowledge about them. This is because web designing is intertwined with marketing, use of keywords and visibility.

Aside from that, designers must also have knowledge of the programming basics. If not, the tendency is waste time or to create a mediocre or unsatisfactory design to the detriment of the sites.

6. The primacy of functionality. If ever you are faced to make a decision between a web site’s aesthetic form and its functionality, you have to be firm in upholding the latter. Not everything that is pretty is ‘saleable’. Besides, you don’t create web sites for the sake of making it nice-looking.

Above anything else, the site must be functional so as to cater to every visitor’s wants and needs. Appearance is a means to catch visitor’s attention nevertheless, it is not the end. If a designer prioritizes appearance alone without considering its primary consideration the web site’s marketability will suffer.

7. Know when to break the rules. Rules are only guidelines, if you feel that the rules are inappropriate for a certain creation follow your heart’s desire and venture on an experimental adventure.

Avoid Losing Money on Your Web Site Design

2010-10-31T16:19:00.000-07:00

Web site design to hook a customer is very like fishing. Try these seven tips to make money.Step 1. Research.

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What - you don't think a fisherman starts with research? How does he know not to fish in the bathtub? How does he know not to fish for dorado in USA? How does he know that his favorite lemon meringue pie on a sardine hook won't catch sharks?

Imagine you've invented a 100% cure for Paraguayan piques. You pay a graphic designer to make your web site design. After a year you still haven't been able to make money. Your host tells you that the few visitors that you had only stayed for ten seconds.

Research would have told you that
*Your prospects speak Guaraní not English
*Most of them can't read Guaraní
*Even fewer speak English
*Most of them don't have computers

A little research at Overture would have told you that only 3791 people looked for pique in a month, but most of them were interested in polo, not in an insect. Does your potion kill Jiggers? 1432 people searched on that word, and they were mostly North Americans. Perhaps you could make money from them?

If your web site design could inspire 10% of these searchers to visit your sales page and 10% of these bought from you that would give you 14 clients per month. Would that make money enough to pay for your web site design? You've been fishing in your bathtub!

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Step 2 Preparation

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As a fisherman you've discovered what fish are in your area, what will attract them to where you are, and found a spot where you won't get your line tangled up with other fisherman's lines.

My research for this article showed that 'web site' had half a million searches but people could be totally uninterested in web site design. 'Web site design' had only a third of a million searches, but readers were more targeted. There were 239 advertisers on Overture, which shows that it is popular, and there are only 24 million competitors.

'Build a website' had less than 50 thousand searchers, but 337 million competitors. Ouch! I think my lines would get tangled!

So the rule is: find what people want then design your web site with pages filled with the information that they want. If nobody is interested in your subject, advertise offline or find another subject for your web site design.

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Step 3 Get crowds

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You sprinkle oatmeal soaked in your secret ingredient on the water, and soon fish are following the scent back to where you are.

Your first task is to make your web site design attractive to visitors.

Tuna fishermen throw un-baited hooks into the mass of fish and pull them out in a sort of rhythm. The hook, which has no barb, snags a fish which falls off into the hold, and the hook is thrown out again, with the whole process taking a few seconds.

Google Adsense is excellent to make money from this kind of web site design.

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Step 4 Research

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But that was in step 1 you object? Your research should never end. Talk to the other fishermen. Visit fishermen's forums. Search Google for information. Your oatmeal has attracted fish, but when you put it on the hook it washes off.

You must find what bait will stay on the hook long enough for hungry fish to bite. This will vary from season to season. Experiment and record your results.

Research for your web site design should never stop. Try different ideas to make money and record your results.

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Step 5 Pre-sell

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OK. Your fish are crowding round you. Your bait has some colorful feathers disguising the hook. You want to persuade the fish that your bait is more attractive than the scraps of oatmeal.

Your web site design should start to describe your experience with whatever it is that you are selling to make money. You should try to communicate in all your web site design just how interesting you find what you are offering.

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Step 6 Arouse Enthusiasm

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Keep pulling your bait through the water so that fish will think

*I'd better act while the food is there!
*It's heading towards the other fish. I'd better be quick!
*I may get a better offer, but what if I don't?

If your web site design is aimed at affiliate income, don't try to sell yet. You strike only after the bait is in the fish's mouth. Let the vendor handle the last step.

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Step 7 Hook Them

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Once the fish has the bait in it's mouth you strike to drive the barbs home, then the fish can't leave go. Then you pull the fish in, and eat it.

Oops! I'm not advocating cannibalism! Once your web site design has hooked a customer the same rules no longer apply.

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Bonus Tip

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To succeed, your web site design must have ways to keep your customers so happy that they will keep coming back again and again.

Your web site design must obviously have a contact page. You should have a frequently asked questions page. You should offer further sales of related products to make money for you. If you eat your client you won't have her returning again and again.

How to Create a Website easy.

2010-10-31T16:13:00.000-07:00

1. Conceptualize an idea. Think what you like your future website to be. What audience will you cater? Everything you do must redound to their fulfillment. They will be visiting to get what they need. Be sure that their needs are answered. That way they will be satisfied and will keep coming for more. Not only that, they can recommend your site to their friends if they find it functional and nice.

2. Find a host. Having a host is not that expensive. In fact you can get one at £70 per year. However, if you don want to spend a single penny, there are lots of sites that are hosting for free. The only consideration is that their banner must be placed in your site. That for one is a great deal, isn’t it?

3. Start with your first page. Do the layout and design your first page. It will be easier and better if you have basic knowledge in HTML. Though there are hundreds of What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) editors, but you will create a better site using HTML. There are tutorial sections available online. Take advantage on them and apply your knowledge to the web design you are creating.

4. Edit your page. Observe the loading and the navigation. Are they doing well? How about the web design, is it pleasing to the eyes? Are the fonts readable? Is the content helpful? Are there errors in spelling and grammar? Better check all these little details. They may be tiny details but they make up the whole website. Be careful in dealing with them. If there is a need to redo the page do it. It will be disastrous if you are displaying a total trash.

5. Do the rest of the pages. The goal is to attract visitors, keep them and to gain more.

Edit, proofread and edit more. It pays off to have everything in order. Never sacrifice the quality of your website. It is your frontline. It is the one capable of attracting visitors that makes your business sell.

6. Submit the pages to your host. After you are done with the pages and the editing, you can submit them to your host. Wait for it to be shown in the net. Do not forget to update the pages regularly. You have to be updated in order not to lose your target market. Otherwise, they will look for a better site that can satisfy their needs. You don’t want that to happen, do you?

You may not realize it but your site is already done. Easy as your ABC’s!

How to ruin your Website

2010-10-31T16:10:00.000-07:00

Owning a website gives you certain rights. For example, you have the right to plaster your URL all over the doors and windows of your SUV in hopes that someone in one of the 7 cars you pass on the way to work will get the urge to visit your website and spend gobs of money. You own the website-this is your right. You also have the right to post pictures of your family, friends, pets, and other totally uninteresting images all over your website after all it's yours. One of the biggest rights you have as a webmaster is the right to make your website successful (and profitable) or to run it into the ground like a 737 missing both engines and landing gear. For those of you who despise online success and frown upon the wealths of cyberspace I have compiled a list of 5 ways to ruin any website.

1. Make Your Website As Cluttered As Possible

Nothing makes visitors leave quicker than a cluttered website that is hard to navigate around. So if you want people to flee from your site like it's a rabid wolf then be sure to put as much junk as you can on the homepage. Then make the links to the rest of the website hard to find. Be sure to have lots and lots of pictures, forms, banners and pop-ups as well. All the relevant information should be well hidden, and the main focus should appear to be the countless programs you want visitors to sign up for. That should keep any pesky visitors from ever coming back.

2. Never Update Your Website

If someone were to visit your website today and then come back 6 months from now they should see the same information. Nothing should be updated. This will let them know that you care nothing about the website and that you have nothing new to offer them. The next time they see a listing for your website they won't even bother to visit. Great!

3. Never Ever Advertise

Advertising cost money and it might draw some good targeted traffic to your website. So be sure to never advertise. You can just keep promoting your website through those same tired free programs that you have been using for years. This should bring you little or no traffic, and the traffic that does come won't be your target audience so they're almost certain to leave without spending a dime. Awesome!

4. Always Sell A Crappy Product

Selling good products online can get you a good reputation. A good reputation can get you repeat sales and new customers. You don't want all this hassle. So find the worst products you can and sell them exclusively. This should damage your reputation to the point where no one wants to bother buying from your site. Be sure to lie about your product too. This will further ruin any kind of credibility you may have.

5. Never Respond To Any Questions

If someone emails you with a question about your website or products on your website, Do Not Reply. Replying could be considered courteous and businesslike. You don't want to come off that way. It's better to just delete any emails from people who were interested enough in your website to take the time to email. Hopefully this will drive them to one of your competitors websites and out of your hair.

There you have it folks. Five great ways to ruin any website. So don't blame me if you don't follow these tips and you become an online success story. I've done all I can to try and help out. And now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to write down the URL that's airbrushed on the hood of this Ford Explorer beside me...

Website Writing & Design Conventions

2010-10-31T16:00:00.000-07:00

This article outlines the five most important conventions for writing and designing your webpages.

Your presentation is every bit as important as your content. The best content in the world won't ever be read if the presentation is so bad that nobody stays long enough to read it. If you maximize your website usability, your visitors stay longer, read more, and you make more sales.

If the purpose of your web site is to educate your readers and/or lead them to a specific action, (like buying something) then you should seriously consider following these design and writing conventions...

1. Start Each Page With Your Most Important Content.
2. Use Meaningful Link Text to Provide Information.
3. Write Scannable Pages.
4. Use Simple Website Designs.
5. Use Clear, Consistent Website Navigation.

1. Start Each Page With Your Most Important Content.
People are impatient; they will scan your page quickly and leave as soon as they get bored. Put your best, most important content near the top of the page.

Design your layout so that nothing pushes your most important content down past the "page fold". That is your "Prime Real Estate" -- don't waste it. Large logos, unnecessary graphics, ambiguous headlines.... all these things are a waste of your must valuable space.

Begin each page with a summary or a short list of page contents. Be specific, and place the newest items at the top of the list or in a "What's New" section.

2. Use Meaningful Link Text to Provide Information.
Web surfers decide in seconds whether or not your page is worth reading. When you use bland, content-neutral words for your link text, you miss an important opportunity to provide information. (Also - visually impaired web users often instruct their computer to read the link text aloud, "Click here" won't help them.)

The words used in your anchor text should suggest what the reader will find when they click on the link, and help them decide to click or not.

* Bad: To learn about icebergs, click here.
* Better: Icebergs
* Best: Where icebergs come from.

You can make your links even more informative by following them with a blurb:

Blurbs: Short Previews of Web Pages
A "Blurb" is a short paragraph that gives a preview of the page at the other end of a link. You are reading a blurb now. If a blurb helps a reader decide to click the link, then it works.

3. Write Scannable Pages.
Offline, books and magazine articles are designed for sequential reading: You start at the beginning and read to the end.

Online text is not necessarily sequential - it relies upon smaller chunks of text, which the reader often does not read in order. So each page of your website must make sense to a visitor who did not see the preceding page, or just arrived from a search engine.

Meaningful, informative headers & subheadings, bulleted lists, and bold keywords all help readers scan the page quickly and easily.

4. Use Simple Website Designs.
Your visitors didn't come to see your fancy graphics. They came to find information about prices or availability, they're looking for contact information or directions, or maybe they just want some technical details...

Unless your website is about cool graphic effects, I can guarantee that your visitors don't really care about your spinning logo or dancing unicorns, or even whether or not your menu buttons blink or change background images on a mouse-over.

Web-savvy visitors have 'trained' themselves to ignore ads. Anything that flashes, shimmers, blinks or dances around will not get the attention that it deserves.

The more such things you put on your page, the harder your reader will have to work in order to find what they want. Too much of that and they are gone, never to return. Use images wisely. Every image on your page slows it down, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot....
* Use smaller images whenever possible.
* For large collections of images, use an index with thumbnails that they can click if they want to see the image full-size.
* Use an image editor to reduce the file size of your images

See our "Using images in your webpages" section for more about all that ~ http://blt-web.com/web_design/using_images.html

5. Use clear, Consistent Website Navigation.
Next to pages that take forever to load (and pop-ups), the biggest complaint that surfers have is difficult to understand and/or inconsistent website navigation...
* Use the same menu on all your pages.
* Use a logical link hierarchy, with related items together.
* Be perfectly clear with your link titles & descriptions.
* Use text links whenever possible.
* If you must use image links, use the alt="link destination" element.

A website with more than ten or fifteen pages may not need a link from every page to every other page... you can link to each section from each page, but give each section its own "Table Of Contents".

Every page should have a link to the home page and to the site map. (If you have less than ten pages, you may omit a site map, but your home page should have a text link to every page for search engines.)

Following these 5 simple guidelines will help your
website be a success. With faster-loading pages and easier-to-find information, people will read more of your content and are more likely to take the action that you want them to.

How yo get a Great Page Layout

2010-05-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

Designers especially the beginners still have some difficulties about it. The layout has to be attractive, user-friendly and functional.
Here's some general layout tips?

1. Do not centre everything.This will make your page to look disorganised.

2. Contrast one of the most important thing this will make your page to look nice.Use the size,colour and weight careful this can affect the edge of the site.

3.Do not make uniform pages,like many designer do.They use same background trying to make it similar to home page. The visitors can easy get bored with same look.They always looking for something new.
Placing lines in between contents also manifests division. Instead of using these lines, use blank ‘buffer zones’. This way what are created are invisible lines to make the effect subtle.

4.The most important on web development is functionality.Always update your site with new content and informations.Don't waste the space,but same time do not overload. Multiple columns are also advisable in order to maximize space.

www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Your first steps to website online business

2010-05-24T18:53:00.000-07:00

Who is your target audience? How will your target audience find you? How will you convert your visitors into sales? Three questions you should be asking yourself when putting together your first small business website.

When planning your first small business website, there are three essential questions you should ask yourself:

Who is your target audience?
How will your target audience find you?
How will you convert your visitors into sales?

These questions sound obvious, but it's amazing how many people don't bother...and then moan that "our website doesn't bring us any business".

1) Who is your target audience?

Give a great deal of thought to your target market. Who do you want to attract to your website? Why? The answer to that is more than likely to sell them something - a product, a service, or an idea perhaps.

Claiming that your market is anyone and everyone is far too vague, and your website will lack focus, and fail to maximise its potential. Ideally you should be aiming to create a niche.

2) How will they find you?

Creating a niche will also help you with the search engines, and drive hot leads to your site.

Consider what keywords your target market might type into a search engine to find you. Actually do the searches yourself. Who comes up in the top 30? Because that's where you need to be. Are your competitors there? Look at their sites. Do they work? How can you improve on them? Identify something unique about your business that sets it apart from the rest.

Those keywords - or keyphrases to be more accurate - need to be incorporated into your pages of your site - in the page titles, in the headings, and in the internal links.
Be specific with your keyphrases. They will be less competitive than the more general single word searches, and will more accurately target your market. You may have to localise or specialise to get in that top 30 - and the top 30 is where you need to be to drive traffic to your site. As I am sure you are aware from your own experience, if you haven't found what you are looking for in the first 3 results pages, you look elsewhere.

The key to achieving high search engine rankings is building inbound links to your web pages - that is pages on external websites that link to pages on your site. Crucially this link acquisition should be a natural growth - where inbound link count increases at a gradual pace. The pages that link to yours should be relevant, on-topic and ideally contain the same keywords - especially in the linking text. Search engines rank pages based upon their reputation - your ranking will be determined by what other (preferably high ranking) pages say about your page.

3) How will you convert your visitors into sales?

Don't just tell them what you do or sell. Tell them why they want it (yes, want - not need). Offer incentives, freebies, discounts - anything to get that dialogue started.

Current research indicates that the human brain makes a judgment about a web page within a twentieth of a second! That doesn't leave you very long to make an impression. So, make sure that you have your Unique Selling Point (USP) clearly visible on your home page - and preferably prominent on every one of your other pages. After all, it's not a given that the home page will be the first page that the visitor sees, particularly if they have found you via a search engine.

Then make sure that you list your bullet-pointed guarantees. Visitors have to understand why you are different from the rest, and why they should deal with you and not your competitors. And as we've discovered, they have to understand this pretty much instantly.

Lastly, make sure that your site has a funnel-like structure. Identify your important pages - usually the "call to action" or purchase pages - and make sure all roads lead to those pages. Your internal links - like their external equivalents - should describe the target page. If you sell blue widgets, don't call your products page "Products", call it "blue widgets", and make sure that the links pointing at this page also say "blue widgets". This will not only help the search engines identify and rank the most important pages in your site, it will also lead your visitor to that all important conversion.

www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Keywords, Seo ,How to get number one - the algorithm

2010-05-13T03:42:00.000-07:00

By following these steps you will see that most closely guarded secret-- the search algorithm. Remember the movie "The Matrix?" The Matrix is there, you just can't see it. So is the search algorithm.

It's easy to pay a Search Engine Optimizer to give your pages some ranking power. Unfortunately, given the inherent time factor involved in climbing the ranks, your money may be long gone before you know if you've spent your money well.

THERE IS NO MAGIC PILL

Forget any advertisement you see for instant number one search results or automated this or that. Most are scams, and the ones that aren't might get you positioned, but it will be very short lived.

Search engine optimization is an ongoing process. Achieving and maintaining a high rank, especially on highly competitive keywords, requires constant maintenance. If you do find a legitimate SEO firm, it is well worth the money to pay their monthly maintenance fee and let them continue to help you after the initial project. At least for 6 months or a year as you establish yourself.

In this article we'll look at some of the intricate and complex tasks of optimizing a page for long term ranking power. You will learn how to read between the code and the content to find what is necessary to bring you to the top. Being number one is easy to say, but is quickly overwhelming when you stare at tens of thousands of pages you want to out rank. So how do you begin?

The starting line on the road to that first page SERP (search engine results page) ranking is not as blurry as you might think. In fact, you can uncover the starting line, the route, and all the scenery along the way to the finish line without knowing the search engine algorithm.

STEP 1- YOUR KEYWORDS ARE THE CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT OF GRUELLING DAYS OF WORK

If you have investments in the stock market you know how much research and thought goes into choosing those securities. Now take that same effort and multiply it by three. That's how much planning and revision your keywords should take.

A simple, broad key phrase like "shoes" could hypothetically bring you up in a countless stream of different searches. Women's shoes, baby shoes, sneakers, high heels, etc. If somehow you manage to settle into a good ranking (which would be difficult) you would have more traffic on your site than you could handle. But traffic is worthless is it doesn't get to it's destination. Chances are, you weren't that destination.

Your keywords must be focused and precise, specific to what you are selling. Using a key phrase like "Gucci mens black leather loafer" will bring a targeted lead to your site. You may not reach as many people as the more generalized keyword, but the people that do come to you have a much deeper interest in the specific product you are selling.

Therefore you have much greater chance of converting that targeted lead to a sale. Your keywords are your magic beans, your winning lotto numbers, your energizer bunnies, your sales force, whatever you want to call them. They must be perfect.

STEP 2- WANT TO BE NUMBER ONE? LOOK AT WHO ALREADY IS

Competition Analysis- no SEO book can give you this information.

Now take your keyword list and type them into a search engine. Who comes up in the first ten results? That company that is number one is because they have most closely matched what the search engine algorithm says should be number one. You can learn a great deal from them.

A. INTERNAL FACTORS

Take that number one page, and the other top 9 pages and study them, look at the code, break them down. You are looking at the first half of what is needed to rank in the top 10 pages for your key phrases on that particular search engine. The list of what to look for is enormous.

Studying the Internal Factors on a page is taking it apart to see how it's put together. Not how it works, but statistical research into the precise construct and layout of keywords and phrases in relation to each other within the page.

Start with these areas:

URL address, Page Title, Meta description, Meta Keywords, First sentence on the page, Body copy, Bold or Emphasized Phrases, H1 or other tags, Alt Tags, Navigation system

In each of those sections, look at:

Keyword densities- the number of times your phrase and each word in your phrase appears compared to the text around it

Where and in how many times the same phrase and words appear in different sections

The word and character position of each phrase in each

The total number of characters

The total number of words

The quality and thought of the content

Beginning with these comparisons should keep you quite busy for a while. A spreadsheet is quite useful. Some commercial products are also available that can make this daunting task much more feasible. Keep looking for other patterns and differences. You want to duplicate them in your own page. NOT copy and steal. You want to mimic the patterns that are bringing that page to the position it is. Then move onto to examining the external factors of these pages.

B. EXTERNAL FACTORS

External factors of a web page deal with the links to, from and within a web page, both inside the same site, and out into the web. This analysis usually takes more time because it involves more dissection of pages beyond the one you're trying to optimize.

In this analysis as with Internal Factors, you want to compare and contrast your page versus the top 10 competitors, find similarities and differences. Here is a list of criteria to get you started.

Number of internal (to the same site) on that page

Number of external links

Number of links pointing TO that page* (see below for details)

The link/anchor text- which keywords are used and where

Google Page Rank value of incoming links

Alexa Rank of incoming links

*To get a listing of the links that point to a site, type the following into Google, MSN and Yahoo searches: "link:www.domainname.com". Google tends to only show a small portion of the links back, but MSN and Yahoo will give you much more pertinent data.

Now you want to compare the content on each of these pages to the one they point to. Is it of similar theme, in what context does the link back appear and where. Subject of much debate, the consensus is that Google Page Rank does not mean what it used to. However, if it is in some fashion a measure of how significant or "important" a site is, it is worth looking more closely at the sites that link back that are of high page rank.

EVEN A SURGEON USES TOOLS

Now, this is definitely a ton of work to do all by hand. There are software programs that can help do some of the digging and mathematical computations for you, figuring out densities and organizing information.

Tools like this are definitely ones a professional SEO will have in their arsenal. But remember, these are tools, not miracle workers. It takes a human being to evaluate and realize connections, similarities, draw conclusions and interpret the data. Then, you have to extrapolate this data.

Remember, you want to do one better than every site you just examined. To do that you have to draw some conclusions and make some educated guesses and link to even better sites.

FINAL THOUGHTS

You have access to the inner workings of every page that you want to beat. Learn from them and do one better. This process is not a one-time shot. It is ongoing. Check your key phrases every week. Do the same people still rank in the top ten?

Some have probably moved. Remember too that they're going to adapt to maintain their positions too. If you want the ranks, you have to spend the time, and not just once, or pay someone to do it for you.

Don't ever believe anyone who says they can guarantee any kind of results. And ask them how they will optimize your pages. If they explain to you something like the above, then you've probably got yourself someone experienced and honest. You money will be well spent and you'll quickly recover it.

www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Sell from your site options

2010-05-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

Convincing your prospects to purchase from you is a hard job, but have you ever thought that you're making the process twice as difficult for both parties if your prospects are convinced but don't know how to buy from you? No matter how good you are at convincing your prospects, they won't buy if they find the process cumbersome.

First, you will want to check that people can find your order form easily and hassle-free. You can write a clear, concise paragraph to direct your prospects to your order form so that you can minimize the chances of them getting lost. You can also reduce the chances of losing prospects by putting a prominent link to your order page from every other page on your site.

Also, do you offer multiple payment options? Some people may feel comfortable paying via Paypal, some may only want to pay with their credit card and others might want to send a cheque. The more options you offer, the better your chances of covering your prospects' desired payment method. After all, it wouldn't make any sense to sell hard to a prospect only to find that they won't be able to pay you when they want to.

On the other hand, you will want to prove that you are a credible merchant. Is your order form secured using encryption technology? You would want to look into SSL for this. You can also offer a money back guarantee so that people will feel confident about buying from you. How about after sales support? Who do they contact when they have problems after purchasing?

Alternatively, you can add customer testimonials, your contact information, address, and so on to boost your prospects' confidence. Make them feel safe about buying something from you, a total stranger to them on the other end of the Internet.

As a conclusion, it would be very pitiful if you sold hard and sold well to a prospect and something goes wrong when he or she is ready to pay. Eliminate any chances of that to maximize your profits!

www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

How to find a web designer

2010-05-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

Today, most businesses want a website. Some already have one. Others want one. They don't want to hire IT staff and probably can't afford any. And in most cases, an in-house IT staff, especially for your typical small business, just isn't necessary. But, that doesn't mean that you have to go without or will be forced to use some cookie cutter website or a personal Frontpage experiment gone awry. You can hire a web developer/designer to create a professional website for you, set it up, then hand it over to you for you to do what you want with it. But, how should you go about finding someone to do this? What should you look for? There are literally thousands of companies/individuals out there offering to do your website. How do you pick from this large group?

What Do You Want?

The first step is to decide exactly what you want on your website. This is very important as it will determine what the requirements are and, in turn, what skill set your web developer needs to fulfill your needs. Here are some questions to ask of yourself:

* What kinds of information do you want to have on your site? Approximately how large do you envision the site (# of pages)?

* Will your site require regular updates? Do you want to do these updates yourself?

* Will you be engaging in e-commerce on this website?

* Will you need a database?

* How fast do you need the job done?

* What is your budget?

Start Your Search

Doing a web search for someone that has the skills you will need for your website will still give you a humongous list of possible choices. Referrals are often the best method of weeding people out. IF someone recommends a developer, it is because they are happy with the service they were provided. So, if someone recommends a developer to you, you should check that developer out and see if they have the skills you will need from them.

Often, the developers you are pondering are not located in your town. In today's day and age, this is not usually a problem. Yes, there are instances where a face-to-face meeting is really beneficial, and if you are the kind of really considers this meeting important, you should limit your search to developers within driving distance of your location. Otherwise, the internet and phone system provide all the communication you will need, regardless of distance.

The first thing to do when considering a developer is to check out their website.

* IS the site well-designed and attractive?

* Is it easy to navigate?

* Are there any broken links?

* Is the information complete (introduction to staff, company location, contact methods, etc.)?

* Does the site load quickly?

* IS there a portfolio? (Very important. A developer without a portfolio to display is a total question mark. You simply don't know if the people are good or are snacking on doritos trying to figure things out as they go).

* What skills does the developer have? Do they do design only, or can they do dynamic web development and database design? Also, ensure that they do not advertise themselves as a web designer but focus mainly on print media. Internet design and print design are different ballparks with different requirements. Also, keep in mind that good use of Dreamweaver or Frontpage does not in itself make a web designer. Check their portfolio and ensure the developer really knows his stuff. A person well-versed in internet development should know not only about creating the site, but also maintaining it, marketing it, and promoting it. Ideally, a web developer has successfully done all of the above on his own sites.

* Does the site offer customer testimonials? Read them. And, you might even contact those clients independently to ask them questions of the service you were provided.

Small Freelancers vs. Big Firms

You need to decide if you want to work with a large design firm or a small freelance company (or even single developer). There is more security for the client when working with a larger firm. The skills they offer vary widely because their staff is so large, and they often have a very large portfolio. The caveat, though, is that large companies often charge more money. The overhead costs for such companies is larger, so they will charge more. Additionally, larger companies often come with more beauracracy. With so many developers, often communication is just not what it should be, leading to inconsistencies in the project due to miscommunication. Also, sometimes you will find that these companies pay a little too much attention to process rather than simply getting the job done.

Freelance developers offer better value for the money, and because they are a single person, the communication flow between them and the client is usually much better (one-on-one). If there is a staff, usually the size is small, meaning communication will still be more tight-knit. This will lead to more consistent coding and coordination. Also, you know who is responsible for your project and there is more accountability. In larger firms, nobody is responsible in some cases. (or so they say). The downside of freelancing is that their skill set is their skill set, and if you need something that they don't know how to do, they must research it. Also, freelancers are limited by their size. If they already have a high workload, then their throughout is limited and it may force you to wait. So, depending on the size of your project, a large firm might guarantee the job gets done quickly.

Rates and Guidelines

Check out the rates of the developer. Often, you will not find the rates directly posted on their website. This is usually because they like to do things by estimate, so simply contact them, give them a few specs, and go back and forth until you get a ballpark figure. When getting an estimate, make sure it is detailed and exact. Ask any questions that you have. If you think the price is too high, ask them about it. Don't be afraid to counter-offer. They can always refuse.

Check out the developer's contract. Make sure the client is protected. PAy attention to guarantees of response time. You want to make sure your developer is available for you. Also, look for their policy on project changes. Obviously, you cannot alter the specs of your project once an estimate is agreed upon without expecting additional fees. Ask them about this. Also, inspect the contract for warranty of work. Who will they handle bugs in the work they have done?

Talk With Them

Any developer you consider should have a method of being reached by phone. Call them and gauge their personality. Make sure they are good people who you can talk with and bounce ideas off of. See if they treat you right or act like they barely have time for you. Good communication is very important to a successful project, and if you can't properly communicate to your developer, you should not hire him/her.

Evaluate

Evaluate your potential developers using the advice above and you will be more likely to have successfully completed project with minimal frustration.

www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Web Design Hosting

2010-05-04T14:13:00.001-07:00

If you have decided you or your company is in need of a website, you will have to purchase web hosting services from a hosting company. There are many different web-hosting companies to choose from, and they can easily be found on the internet. If you do a quick search for them in any search engine, you will find that there are almost too many to count. Choosing the company that is right for you can be a harrowing experience, but there are really only a few basic things to consider.

The first factor to consider when choosing a web hosting company is how much space they will give you for your account. If you merely want a single page on the Internet with little or no graphics, you can get by with purchasing an account with the smallest amount of space available. However, if you are planning to create a full e-commerce site with multiple pages and order forms, you will need to make sure you have enough server space to support your entire operation.

Before you sign your web-hosting contract, you will first have to choose and purchase a domain name. Though many of the names you might want are already taken, you can often find one that suits your needs, especially if you get creative with it. For instance, if your business is called Cards For You and that domain name is already taken, you might consider choosing More Cards For You or Cards For You Today. The possibilities are endless, and with a little thought you will be able to think of a snappy domain name.

You can often purchase a domain name through your web hosting company, or you can purchase it through a private domain name retailer. These companies are very easy to find. Often times, if you type the domain name you want into a search engine, a domain name seller will pop up if the name is not already taken. You can purchase a domain name for a year at a time, or for several years, depending on how much you want to invest at the get-go.

Once you have a domain name, you will of course have to create a website to put on the Internet. There are many do-it-yourself web design programs that are fairly user friendly. Software like FrontPage makes web design a cut and paste, fill in the blank soft of affair. However, if you would like a more professional look, you can use programs like Dreamweaver or Image Ready to make your sites. There are always freelance web designers looking for work who are ready to take on your cause if you are not savvy enough to do it yourself.

Web hosting companies give passwords to allow you access your space on their servers. You can upload files and pages using their own interface programs, or you can utilize the upload tools built in to your web design program. Once you upload a page, it is important to make sure it looks correct on a variety of different web browsers. Because each browser interprets information differently, you may run into trouble if you build a site while only previewing it in Internet Explorer. There are often compatibility issues between Safari and Mozilla browsers that distort site tables and images.

However, once you work out the kinks and create an excellent site, all you have to do is pay your web hosting bills, and your site will be available for the whole world to see. Web hosting companies usually offer options regarding payment plans. You can pay for a year at a time, or you can monthly or quarterly to maintain your place on the World Wide Web.

www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

How to get your website noticed

2010-05-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

Your website is just one of the billion sites parked on the World Wide Web. Chances are, you don’t think yours will ever get noticed.
We hear your cries for cyber attention. Here are five ways to get people clicking on to your site.
1.) Make sure it’s professional looking.
No one likes looking at website that reminds them of a book report they wrote back in school. Invest in learning a good web design program (Dreamweaver MX and Microsoft Frontpage are good picks), and let your creative juices flow. Make sure it’s compelling, well-designed, and organized. People don’t exactly find it fun to weed through haystacks of cyberfiles to get the information that they want.
On that note, don’t make it a heavy site. Putting up some flash intros may be great eye candy, but the average internet surfer only waits 10 seconds for a page to load, and then they’re off to the next.

2.) Put your URL on every search engine possible.
Putting your URL on business cards and bugging your family and friends to check out your site won’t exactly increase traffic. Submitting it to search engines will make it easier for people to find you, provided that your webpage carries the topics they’re looking for. To understand how a search engine works, think of it as a “spider”: it crawls through your website, picking up words and information which would later be indexed in the search engine’s database. So make sure you pepper your site with keywords you think are relevant to what people are looking for. Web directories, like Yahoo!, are operated by humans who actually categorize the websites themselves.
If you don’t feel like submitting your website to numerous directories, consider subscribing to sites like www.submit-it.com, who, for a fee, will automatically submit your site to search engines and directories for you.

3.) Link everywhere.
Find other sites that carry similar content as yours and ask to exchange links. Create banners to be placed on other peoples’ websites, and offer to the same for them on your site. Add your URL on your e-mail signature. Join webrings if you must—there’s nothing like strength in numbers.

4.) Advertise offline.
The world of cyberspace isn’t enough to get you noticed. Write up press releases and send them to local newspapers and magazines. Print out fliers to be distributed. Just make sure that your site is already up and running to avoid giving people a bad impression (no one likes getting pumped up for something only to get disappointed).

5.) Interact with your readers.
Put up forums or message boards for your visitors to interact with each other. Chat rooms are often time-consuming for some, while message boards allows them to check back every so often for replies. Create an e-mail list so you can update your visitors about new developments, and always be open to feedback—that’s what will make your site even better.

www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Keywords Selection

2010-05-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

Keyword selection is one of the first steps in implementing a search engine optimization strategy. It goes without saying that if you select and optimize for the wrong keywords, your overall optimization campaign is worthless.

Keyword selection is one of the first steps in implementing a search engine optimization strategy. It goes without saying that if you select and optimize for the wrong keywords, your overall optimization campaign is worthless. In this article we will cover the keyword selection process, tools available to assist you in selecting the right keywords, and how best to place keywords throughout your site.

In this article, the term keyword or keywords will be used often. For our purposes, the term keyword or keywords includes the term "keyword phrase" or "keyword phrases".

This article contains the following sections:

• Keyword Selection Process
• Tools to Assist in Keyword Selection
• Keyword Placement Strategy

Keyword selection can vary greatly based on the type of Web site the client requires. Static sites (sites that are simple HTML pages and are not database driven) by definition are limited to a defined number of keywords, whereas, dynamic sites (sites that are database driven) can be optimized for an unlimited number of keywords. If your static site is predetermined to contain 5 pages, then the number of keywords is limited to those five pages. I do not recommend optimizing a single page for more than five or six keywords, unless necessary. With dynamic sites it is easier to optimize for single or two word keyword phrases as well as plural and singular terms.
If you are creating a new site from ground up, it is wise to select the number of possible keywords you want up front. Then you can plan the architecture of the site based on your keyword selection criteria. If your client sells 10 different products, create a 10-page site, plus pages for contact information and other boilerplate content.
Based on the type of site you decide you want or currently have, you must sit down and write down keywords. The first step in developing your keyword list is to have a brainstorming session. Anything that comes to mind should be written down. Keep building this list until you have enough to work with.
After you have built up your keyword list, you will want to prune the list down. There are certain factors one should keep in mind when pruning the list. (1) Many search engines do not do "word stemming" (word stemming is adding on to the end of the word, for example the word "keyword" and "keywords"), (2) most people type keywords into a search engine all in lower case, and (3) it is generally easier to rank well for longer keyword phrases.
That covers the keyword selection process; you should however consult the help of the various tools available on the Web to help you select keywords.

www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Xml sitemaps - Simple SEO Tool

2010-05-02T07:52:00.000-07:00

Did you forget the sitemaps? There are two sitemaps; one is for users and the other is for the search engines.
What is an XML sitemap?
According to XML Sitemaps, "A sitemap is a way of organizing a website, identifying the URLs and the data under each section. Previously, the sitemaps were primarily geared for the users of the website. However, Google's XML format was designed for the search engines, allowing them to find the data faster and more efficiently."
In essence, an XML sitemap records a new URL added to a site, so search spiders can easily find it. Sitemaps help search spiders know about all your URLs.
There are many sitemap generator services online; just do a search. Google webmaster Tools has a built-in sitemap generator. All services are free, so don’t ever pay a penny to anyone.
Spending Too Much Time Reading Blogs, Forums and Other SEO Resources
Don’t get me wrong; you need to continuously acquire knowledge, learn new techniques and stay up with the news. The mistake some people make is to get so obsessed with articles on SEO, conversion optimization, copywriting, testing, etc. that they end up reading, but not doing. It's a case of the eternal student syndrome – always learning, but never using. As a result, the person does not really progress or grow, but stays on the same spot.
A good approach is to balance the two. Learn something, and then try it for yourself. Test it out few times, see how it works, get a feel for it. Once you feel you've gotten pretty good at it, learn some more.
Learn > Try > Learn > Try > Learn > Try > Copy the Best > Learn Some More
The Eternal Student Syndrome:
Learn > ohh whats this, i need to learn it to be ready > learn > ohh i need it to be perfect so i’ll learn some more > Learn > i need to know more > learn > i need to know everything before I start > learn...
In the end, the person who continues learning without practice is afraid to take the actual steps, fail and try again. Everything has to be perfect before he starts. I say this because I’ve done it, not only in SEO. It doesn’t work. You need practice to learn effectively. Learn > Practice > Fail > Learn From Mistakes > Practice More > Get New Info > Apply it.... etc
Good luck.

www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

The Key to Better Websites

2010-04-14T12:49:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Importance of the latter:

One of the primary implications of a well-organized / good website, is to keep your visitors in the website. A website is definitely created for a purpose, unless intended for personal use, which is the minority. For example, a portfolio website would want to be visited and it’s content viewed. For companies and internet businesses, your website certainly aims to provide product information, to make sales, or somewhat similar. However, most individuals undoubtly prefer visually captivating designs, so on and so forth. It is undeniable that this causes no harm, but one must put himself/herself in other people’s shoes, as to understand how a visitor to the website might think, do and react.

1 ) Navigation

As I said, a web designer has to learn how to think the way your visitors think.

Situation A : Website with good navigation ( 2-3 hyperlinks to target page ), well planned in terms of placement, and design.

Situation B : Website with poor navigation ( takes forever for the visitor to reach his/her target page ), hard-to-read navigation fonts and poor placement of the navigation buttons/bar.

In Situation A, a visitor will always want to be able to access his/her target page. For example, the individual comes across your website, and is interested in the product sold, but wants to find more information. He/she finds the navigation with no trouble, and enters the particular product information page.

As for Situation B, a visitor stumbles into the website, and would also like to find out more information about the product. Unfortunately, due to bad placement and fanciful font-types, the visitor takes forever, or even fails to find the navigation bar. Even when he/she does so, links to the product information are nowhere to be found, (example : home > about > products > product image > etc…[a few more clicks] > product information ).

Analysis : In both situations, wouldn’t a website with characteristics similar to the Situation A be more rewarding ergo better?

www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Make It Easy To Buy From Your Site

2010-04-12T14:10:00.001-07:00

How To Have Websites Built For You The Cheap Way

2010-03-30T05:05:00.000-07:00

Normally, if you want to have professional designers custom build your site, you must be prepared to dish out at least a few hundred dollars. All this can change if you know where to find the best deals, the best designs for the lowest price. Here's a rough guide:

First, you must understand that it is a rip off to get companies to design websites for you. Have you ever seen those advertisements in newspaper classified ad sections that offer a 5-page website at £500? These companies are established companies with physical locations, therefore they have to increase the amount they charge to pay off some overheads: office rent, designer's wages, advertising costs and so on.

Therefore, it would be wise to find freelance designers who work from home. These people are often working from home so they do not have a high operation cost like that of a company. On the other hand, they will be able to design images with quality similar to those of designers from big companies, so it's a "no-brainer" choice.

However, choose freelancers with care. The best way to do this would be to go to freelance.com. There, you can post the abstract of your project and get thousands of freelancers to bid on your project, so you will surely get the best deal. On top of that, you will be able to choose the designers based on their experience, past transactions and ratings, so your value for money is secured.

Another route you can take is to design your website yourself. Think about it, if you only need 5 simple pages to present some simple information, why waste hundreds of pounds for it? Just spend a little time to sit down and do it yourself. You'll be able to design your own sites even if you do not know a single line of HTML code with the help of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) programs such as Microsoft Frontpage, Macromedia Dreamweaver and so on.

www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Analyzing Website Traffic

2010-03-15T16:56:00.000-07:00

Analyzing your web traffic statistics can be an invaluable
tool for a number of different reasons. But before you can
make full use of this tool, you need to understand how to
interpret the data.
Most web hosting companies will provide you with basic web
traffic information that you then have to interpret and
make pertinent use of. However, the data you receive from
your host company can be overwhelming if you don't
understand how to apply it to your particular business and
website. Let's start by examining the most basic data - the
average visitors to your site on a daily, weekly, and
monthly basis.
These figures are the most accurate measure of your
website's activity. It would appear on the surface that the
more traffic you see recorded, the better you can assume
your website is doing, but this is an inaccurate
perception. You must also look at the behavior of your
visitors once they come to your website to accurately gauge
the effectiveness of your site.
There is often a great misconception about what is commonly
known as "hits" and what is really effective, quality
traffic to your site. Hits simply means the number of
information requests received by the server. If you think
about the fact that a hit can simply equate to the number
of graphics per page, you will get an idea of how overblown
the concept of hits can be. For example, if your homepage
has 15 graphics on it, the server records this as 15 hits,
when in reality we are talking about a single visitor
checking out a single page on your site. As you can see,
hits are not useful in analyzing your website traffic.
The more visitors that come to your website, the more
accurate your interpretation will become. The greater the
traffic is to your website, the more precise your analysis
will be of overall trends in visitor behavior. The smaller
the number of visitors, the more a few anomalous visitors
can distort the analysis.
The aim is to use the web traffic statistics to figure out
how well or how poorly your site is working for your
visitors. One way to determine this is to find out how long
on average your visitors spend on your site. If the time
spent is relatively brief, it usually indicates an
underlying problem. Then the challenge is to figure out
what that problem is.
It could be that your keywords are directing the wrong type
of visitors to your website, or that your graphics are
confusing or intimidating, causing the visitor to exit
rapidly. Use the knowledge of how much time visitors are
spending on your site to pinpoint specific problems, and
after you fix those problems, continue to use time spent as
a gauge of how effective your fix has been.
Additionally, web traffic stats can help you determine
effective and ineffective areas of your website. If you
have a page that you believe is important, but visitors are
exiting it rapidly, that page needs attention. You could,
for example, consider improving the link to this page by
making the link more noticeable and enticing, or you could
improve the look of the page or the ease that your visitors
can access the necessary information on that page.
If, on the other hand, you notice that visitors are
spending a lot of time on pages that you think are less
important, you might consider moving some of your sales
copy and marketing focus to that particular page.
As you can see, these statistics will reveal vital
information about the effectiveness of individual pages,
and visitor habits and motivation. This is essential
information to any successful Internet marketing campaign.
Your website undoubtedly has exit pages, such as a final
order or contact form. This is a page you can expect your
visitor to exit rapidly. However, not every visitor to your
site is going to find exactly what he or she is looking
for, so statistics may show you a number of different exit
pages. This is normal unless you notice a exit trend on a
particular page that is not intended as an exit page. In
the case that a significant percentage of visitors are
exiting your website on a page not designed for that
purpose, you must closely examine that particular page to
discern what the problem is. Once you pinpoint potential
weaknesses on that page, minor modifications in content or
graphic may have a significant impact on the keeping
visitors moving through your site instead of exiting at the
wrong page.
After you have analyzed your visitor statistics, it's time
to turn to your keywords and phrases. Notice if particular
keywords are directing a specific type of visitor to your
site. The more targeted the visitor - meaning that they
find what they are looking for on your site, and even
better, fill out your contact form or make a purchase - the
more valuable that keyword is.
However, if you find a large number of visitors are being
directed - or should I say misdirected - to your site by a
particular keyword or phrase, that keyword demands
adjustment. Keywords are vital to bringing quality visitors
to your site who are ready to do business with you. Close
analysis of the keywords your visitors are using to find
your site will give you a vital understanding of your
visitor's needs and motivations.
Finally, if you notice that users are finding your website
by typing in your company name, break open the champagne!
It means you have achieved a significant level of brand
recognition, and this is a sure sign of burgeoning success.

www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Ideas for business cards: from online to reality

2010-03-03T11:14:00.000-08:00

How should look the business cards for a web designer? The same as everyone else? Or need more colours and graphics? Creativity should blow all over?

Probably for the designer is the most difficult part of the work - to create something for themselves. Because there are thousands of options to choose from. And it always seems that this is wrong one.

The main requirements for business cards were a direct association with the web, or that a person does not ask too many questions, getting a business card in hand (if he is not quite in the topic).

Currently fashionable hand-made, green grunge style flourishes and were immediately set aside, as it moved from the idea of life on the screen, and wanted the opposite. Minimalism, too, has not passed qualifying round.

Buttons, cursors, and other fields to search long pillaged, replicated by others and lost their freshness. We had something, so I had to go to surf the sites to find the right and all the familiar elements.
Well see my idea below:

www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Mistakes in Affiliate Marketing

2010-02-19T14:14:00.000-08:00

You've probably heard about the positive things affiliate marketing. But did you know the negative side it? There are several things that can kill your affiliate marketing site before launch. Here are some tips that you should worry about time partner site:

1) Do not pick up a dead product
The only thing you need to make sure that you do not pick up a dead product. Nobody buys a product of dead matter how cheap it is. Today, if we compare with the Apple iPhone cheaper Ephone (just for the sake of calling it), I do not get sales. Why? "I do not get to sell a product is dead. There is no / less demand for Ephone compared with the iPhone. Since Ephone cheaper than the iPhone I will not even get a good affiliate commission. (You can get a good affiliate commission, but not always)

2) Too many products in the same category
People will not buy the product through your site, if there are too many of them from the same category. If I am listing the web hosting offers, they should be in place and simply. They should be compared in a format that even a novice to understand what product you want to contribute more (of course, with more affiliate commission!;)). Simple, but important rules: Keep it simple.

3) Knowing your keywords
Many people do not take the advantage of free marketing tools available on the Internet. Use these tools and get the best keywords. Add them to you name / meta tags and see the results.

4) Exit too early
Okay, so it was 2 months and you do not have sales. So what can we do? No! Do not leave! This is only 2 months! It can take up to a year to start making money with affiliate ads. Wait, how much can. Continue to work. Add new features / content of your site / blog everyday and see the results for yourself!

Creative Advertising - amazing photos and images

2010-02-15T10:57:00.000-08:00

When creating advertising designer all comes down to the inspiration and realization of the basic ideas, the concept of advertising in order to transform it into a work of art. The horrific and terrible creative advertising falls into the World Wide Web, the press and distributed it on the principle of viral marketing. The difference between effective and ineffective advertising depends on whether the designer to draw the viewer in the first 3 seconds or not. And it is very important for designers to know their target audience, to influence it appropriately. In this post you'll find 25 wonderful examples of creative advertising, and you can get inspiration for their own of developments.

This advertisement says about the possibility of the device under water. Despite the fact that the announcement could have been done without the keyword "iceberg".

Creative advertising in the picture above is very good, but does not distract people from the essence of the message.

Perhaps this picture is advertising too harsh, but truthful - what kind of shoes did not disappoint in any weather conditions.

It is a bright representative of creative advertising next print. Near the broken machine lies the body of the victim, shelter cloth - and the inscription of alcoholic beverage (label).

Advertising shows the functionality of the camera, smiles when detection is possible even for objects that are not visible to the naked eye - the ghosts:)

As one glass of beer can "lock" control your bike.

This creative advertising uses explicit irony to attract attention.

Creative ads for commercial air transportation - attracts attention and explains everything instantly.

On the coexistence of humans and animals.

Generally bright print on the commercials on TV - never know what to expect from us.

www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Good News for Tel domain owners

2010-02-13T08:38:00.000-08:00

Telnic (telnic.tel)announced that Google AdSense will be supported in .tel names by the end of March 2010.
Google AdSense is a free program that enables website publishers of all sizes to display relevant Google ads and earn additional revenue. As a .tel name does not host a traditional website, Telnic is enabling .tel name owners with AdSense accounts to easily integrate their account credentials using the free control panel provided as part of the .tel service. The ads will then be pulled from Google's ad network and displayed on the .tel web interface every time it is visited from a computer browser.
Anyway if you want now an custom advert(not google advert) on your .Tel site this guys can help you : www.mytel.me/quick-tel-update.php.You can see an example of advert on this site :www.isleofwight-tel.tel
You can add adverts with Dot tel Ads or Tel-Machine.com(of course if you can speak German) but I think the best are www.mytel.me/quick-tel-update.php. they done a good job for me as well.
Good to luck to everyone.

Tel Domain

2010-02-11T09:57:00.000-08:00

Tel - a rather unusual and, I would even say, an innovative step in the development of the Internet. The fact is that in this area can not locate a site for all in the usual sense.

Instead of storing information on hosting in the form of web pages, domain. Tel allows you to store contact information of any type in an unlimited amount directly to the Domain Name System (DNS).

* First, it is an order of magnitude increases the reliability of such a "map".
* Second, it sets a new standard for mobile browsers and increases the usability of the site with the help of these devices.
* Third, it brings together a website address and phone number, enabling users to make calls simply by typing the address of a domain in this area (page views, or at once).
* Fourth, the additional costs of site and hosting is not required.

. TEL revolutionized the idea of what it means to be in touch: unlike the usual domain name, designation. TEL to be a portal to manage contact details. Simply add the name. TEL in the mobile, communicator, or address book - your updates are available to all.

Domain TEL - this is the first top-level domain for which you do not need hosting, all information is stored in DNS.

. TEL works with any device providing access to the Internet.

. TEL - a unique solution for the publication of your contacts on the Internet without creating a site.

Benefits for the company:

* Centralized management of all contact information in the corporate Internet space
* Check references in the business of the new generation that guarantees instant access to global
* Effective and affordable access to mobile devices
* Optimized the level of indexing by search engines
* No need to create and maintain web site

Benefits for you:

* Easy to remember
* Permanent centralized access to the contact information provided in full
* The continuing relevance of the information is updated in real time
* Permanent accessibility
* No need to create and maintain web site

For those who do not know: tel domains do not require hosting, all displayed on these sites the information is stored in the DNS, and domains are used primarily for storing contact information such as business cards, honed for viewing from mobile phones and communicator. If you have not seen, look at this promo video:

Click here to view some examples:www.isleofwight-tel.tel
www.webcreativesolutions.tel

An additional source for the influx of visitors

2010-02-11T08:04:00.000-08:00

When a webmaster wants his site had a high attendance, he thinks about how to create not one, but several sources for the influx of visitors. And the more such sources, the better for the site.

To date, the most effective sources include search engines, mailing lists, rss-tape and, of course, advertising. Whether it be banner ads, links, articles or other publications on other resources, it does not matter, all this can be summarized in a variety of advertising.

We also know that advertising could be paid and free. The free one is less efficient, but more loved by many webmasters. The reasons are obvious.

So, dear friends, walk on the expanses of webs led me to an interesting project. His name www.blogupp.com

The great advantage of resource, that it is not only free, but not requires registration. You just need to go to the site and in the correct form to enter the address of the resource. Then click on the button "get code", put this code on your site and ready, you party system.

The idea that the creators used the site, is not new, but very tempting. The code that you place will display a preview of other blogs that are participating in the system. These blogs may show one or two, depending on what code you choose for yourself. Block of two thumbs, you can select a horizontal, that is, preview will be available followed one another in a line, or vertical, when they will be one under the other (this version, I posted on his website). This is very convenient for the variations in the deployment unit to fit into the construction site.

The work system is extremely simple. The more blogs will show partner on your site, the more your blog will be reflected on other sites. Such a scheme has already been used in the systems of banner impressions. However, when displaying banners operating system: how much is displayed at his site, many times and will appear on other sites. It operates the ratio 10:9. But this is a trifle. Anyway, your other blogs more clickable than banners. I know for myself, and judging by the reviews of other webmasters, I am not alone - often navozhu a preview, so read what a blog. And if the topic interested me, I come to it.

Oh yes, forgot to explain. When moving the mouse on the preview of the blog, instead of the picture appears overview of the latter topic. Very convenient.

Maybe you have long been using this system and you have something to share? Or take advantage of it after this note and tell us, what is your opinion? In any case, I am very interesting.
www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Classification of Sites (Types of Sites)

2010-02-07T15:19:00.000-08:00

Turning to the studio web-design or freelancers for the services of a site, the customer often does not know which site he wants. The problem is that the terminology when discussing types of sites , there is confusion. The customer says one thing and mean something else entirely. An intense discussion of the draft, and then, at one point, it turns out that we needed was a totally different kind of site.

I will try to make life easier for customers and to shed light on the classification of sites.
Most sites are divided into the following categories (types):

1. Site-card - usually consists of several pages and has a unique, yet simple and functional design, ideal for companies who want to put information about yourself and your services on the Internet, the main sections of the site: "The Company", "Products or services , "Price-lists", "Contact Information" online business card used by enterprises, organizations and individuals.

2. Corporate Information web site - is needed to automate internal work flow, accounting, company performance, personnel management, can be equipped with functions of the exchange of information between remote branch offices, corporate website a positive impact on the reputation and image of the company, the design must conform to corporate identity, often includes " administrator part "to create and edit content, allowing the manager or secretary of the company to add or change the news, informational articles, reference and other information on the site, using a minimum of graphics, the emphasis is on the text.

3. Corporate web site is an image - ideally suited for a fashion web presence, web site serves to provide detailed information about the company, the history of the trade mark, information about the services rendered or supplied goods; corporate Web site typically includes a tape company news, means of publishing information on advertising and trade promotions, press information and other information, often corporate Web sites combine information on the company's catalog of products, using an exclusive original design, representing a profitable company, use of unconventional ideas and solutions in the design, the percentage of text / graphics = 50/50

4. Store name, alias Network store, electronic store, Internet shop, E-shop - an interactive web site promotes a product or service, taking orders for the purchase, offer the user the option of calculating, invoicing for payment, an employee at the same time the order confirmation, with This store administrator must:

- Organize the delivery of goods;

- To monitor payments to the buyer for delivery.

5. Information site - large enough virtual array of information, which includes a variety of topics of smaller size or a certain number of independent projects for the client is the main source of information, like an encyclopedia or a specialized magazine.

6. Game portal - an interactive entertainment complex project involving a large attendance and resource use.

7. Personal project - a personal project that contains anything and be made in any style, who have the most fully able to discover and display the theme of the site.

8. Content-project - this site is usually a non-profit unreduced, which is a collection of texts, articles and other materials, whose main task - to attract visitors on specific topics. In the future, the traffic is usually redirected to commercial sites and, indeed, content project is used as an advertising platform.

Can be made in the form of online libraries, encyclopedia or handbook. A single page website content project provides, as a rule, little traffic, but the overall traffic of the site can be very impressive.

Content-project, subject to suitable accommodation for him on the subject of advertising, provides the most qualitative and thematic traffic to commercial websites of partners (and therefore the conversion of visitors into buyers), because this theme, with very high probability, will be of interest to most visitors, who came from the site content of the project.

It may also be an educational and entertaining resource.

Promo-site - a site created specifically for the promotion of any goods or services or the main company site.

9. Promo site - it is almost always non-essential site of the company, the exception here may be just a promotional site, created by the company specifically for the promotion of a particular product or product group.

The reason for this lies in optimizing your site to gain higher places in the rankings of search engines, which give the site (and hence - the company) greater number of visitors, which means more revenue. Promo-site is generally well optimized for search engines, for which he is mainly intended. The fact is that in terms of optimization, a much more profitable to create multiple sites with a more narrow and focused topics and optimize them each on its specifics. On the whole, the return on investing in the creation of the main site of the company increases many times.

In economics, there is the concept of "price elasticity of supply and demand. The meaning of this phrase is that small changes in prices can lead to a proportional change in demand, but can also lead to disproportionate changes. In our case, a promotional site, the situation is similar - an increase of two to three several times the cost of creating and marketing a number smaller than one big site promo-sites, resulting in a disproportionate increase in traffic from search engines.

Thus, using a promotional site, and preferably several, we are not a linear relationship of traffic from the cost of setting up the site, and have a geometric increase in site traffic of the company as a whole, and therefore profit from investing in Internet technology.

10. Web forum can be an independent site, and may be a site section. Most site-forum is on the subdomain of the main site and is intended to bring visitors to the site of communication between themselves and with the site administrator.

Web forum can be a very convenient tool for tracking issues and issues of interest to visitors to the main site. This allows you to choose to publish materials that will certainly be of interest to most visitors to the main site and form the core of regular visitors to the site. Regular updating of materials on this site and use active forum provide a steady stream of visitors to the site.

Web forum can be a convenient way to set content for the main site. New topics that are open on the forum can be used as an announcement of new articles to news feeds of the main site or the announcement of articles, excerpts of which can be used for mailing. Using site-forum with mailing list, you can quickly increase the attendance at the main site.

Thus, the site-forum - a good tool for conducting market research and promotion of the main site.

Blog - this site is an online diary or journal, which is similar to the news stream, with each theme blog visitors can leave their comments, messages that are accessible from the main page of the relevant topics. Blog is usually updated very often, for this reason, it can more often indexed by search engines than regular sites.

Blogs are often used for communication of people united by any common interests, and in this, something like a forum.

The most recent developments in the world are often used to appear on various blogs, and only a little later in the communications Internet news publications.

In general we can say that the blog is a strange hybrid of news feeds, guest books and the forum at the same time.
GFRQ7STPANSK
www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

4 errors, which affect your website

2010-02-07T15:05:00.000-08:00

When you create Web sites, developers often make the same mistakes that lead to incorrect display of the page, and ultimately the loss of visitors. I do not know whether to be filled with a list that I quoted below, but, in my opinion - is the most common mistakes.

1. Slow loading pages.

If your site is loaded for a long time, most visitors will not wait until the page opens, and leave forever. I am sure you yourself at least once, but found themselves in similar situations. The reasons for the slow load may be several. One of them could serve as the complexity and randomness of code. Much depends on the server, which uses the hoster. If the page is loaded for a long time, or is this generally not open for some time, you should seriously think about changing hosting.

Many web designers are trying to make your site more attractive due to the abundant number of different schedules. But if static images are so bad, the GIF-animation - it's a catastrophe, whose presence has increased download speed, but in large quantities makes you very nervous and you start quietly swearing (or loud, who as convenient). In the eyes of a visitor that site falls even lower because of the lack of originality and use of the beaten up on edge devices.

But when using static images sometimes forget, but rather simply do not know about optimizing images, ie reducing its "weight". For example, using a graphical editor «Photoshop», can facilitate the picture, showing the optimum parameters with minimal loss in quality that sometimes greatly reduces the "weight" of the picture, and thus speeds up the download site.

In order for the picture was "easier", it is necessary to reduce the number of pixels per inch (dpi). To use the graphics on the site, this value fluctuates around 70-90dpi.

It's no secret that the banners very slow download speeds. But this is not the worst thing, besides the "inhibition" they are very annoying visitors.

Some people, in order to earn money, just give light weight yet full-page bright and constantly flashing images, which is incredibly strong angers visitors. On such pages are often very difficult to find the information, and learn and even more so.

In general, the webmaster, respecting your site and visitors coming to him, will not turn his creation into something like a Christmas tree. Hang on a banner at the top and bottom of the page - the maximum that can be done.

From small buttons, size 88x31, if possible at all costs avoid entirely. The presence of these buttons many saw as a sign of bad taste.

2. A rare update.
If your site is rarely updated, it will not be of interest to visitors. They can visit the resource multiple times until you become familiar with all the information provided, that interests them. They can go a couple of times and then, hoping to see the update. If you have not found that, visitors will go to other resources.

In short, if you want to keep visitors returning to your site, you need to frequently update the information. At least once a week. If the site was originally a lot of information, then you can wait for some time, but still hold at least some work that visitors have seen - a resource alive and creators of them do.

You can do updates and more, that will only be a plus in your favor, but here it is impossible to overdo it. Can a passion to spread on the site updates every day, a week later found out that the user is given all possible information, and will come in the months-long lull. Better not overdo it and developed gradually.

All, of course, depends on the subject site. There are resources that require daily updates throughout its existence. There are times when there is nothing new. For example, your site is devoted to the author's program and updates between the release is enough time. Anyway, do not be lazy, make periodic reviews of the work done, tell me something to work is underway at present, visitors like to have them fall, or better yet, when considered with their opinion. Give the opportunity to present their proposals and suggestions in the guestbook. In short, provide all possible information that might be interesting to your client, the more often - the better.

3. Music and Video terribly annoying visitor. Actually, it is useless. I do not mean Internet radio and video. It is about the phenomenon, when in contact with the site starts to play the melody, which no one ordered. And if we hated the singer, then no one would listen to and the page will be the same hour had been abandoned.

Suppose your site is devoted to a particular artist and you want to give visitors a chance to listen to songs or watch the clips. Fine, but allow the visitor to decide, make it possible to enable / disable playback, and when the page loads better that the default was all off.

4. Incompatible technologies.
There are moments when a certain feature works fine in one browser, but it completely ignores the second. Need to check whether all displayed correctly in all browsers.

Some webmasters do not care that the site appears sloppy or does not work at all browsers.
www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Why you need a website?

2010-02-07T14:44:00.000-08:00

When you ask the question "why you need a website?"
the customer for a long time is silent, and then
starts to give out something absurd. He has
no idea about the sites in general.

After some time it turns out that communicate with a very clever
man who knows what will be good for his business / company / organization, etc.
One simple reason: people were unprepared.

But still want to see people before they start talking about ordering, read
would initial basics and read to at least a couple of articles on the types and assignment sites.

For my part I am doing everything possible in order to make it easier for their future customers. Hopefully my
efforts not in vain.

Today's material - the continuation of solutions this problem. I think underwritten
material is useful not only "newbies", but "seasoned" in the field
of web developing. Perhaps, and you'll learn about new possibilities
that has your site:

1.
First, the site - an information platform on which you can and
must fully provide information about your company news, product
and services, prices and technology work. You will only need to ask your
clients come to the site, where they can easily find all information.

2.
Your site, despite its function and size, is still a business
card of your firm, company, etc. Today Web site - it is an element
prestige and image plays an important role.

3.
With the right approach and organization web site to replace dozens of
people from the staff, to reduce the area of rented premises. All sales
can be carried out automatically with the pages of your project.
You do not even need to accept payments, the site will do everything alone.
The only thing that will make you - it is time to deliver the goods.

4.
The site - is the tool by which you can learn about the needs
and the needs of your visitors or staff. What do they want, what is interesting, what
expect from you and your work. Agree, this is invaluable information,
which will greatly improve your competitiveness. For such data are sometimes
laid out a lot of money (the holding of shares, interviews, presentations, etc.).
With all this site can be done free of charge, simply
install the required modules for the collection of information.

5.
The site - it is not only a means to attract new customers. With its
means you can serve the existing clients.
You can also work with colleagues to communicate with staff.

Site - a tool that will provide you not only additional
income, but also saves a lot of time. And, as everyone knows, again - money.

If you do not have a site, then
immediately correct it. The more that you
know where you can order services,
are executed
quickly, efficiently and with a professional approach at www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Use new technology, feel the benefits, be a cut above
competitors ...

But the main thing - be happy!

Why I decided to become a freelancer?

2010-02-07T13:24:00.000-08:00

So, why I decided to become a freelancer? Initially, of course, a desire to learn how to make websites. And it has appeared in school, then I thought, you need to do a lot to learn from the special faculties, in expensive schools. But it turned out that this is not necessarily all can learn to "own" reading literature and talking to intelligent people.

Having mastered the basics HTML'a, I tried to create your own site. And then grew a new problem - the site should be beautiful, and, therefore, need to learn to draw. It is ridiculous to remember, but the first collage I managed to do in Peinte. Then it was little, started to learn Adobe Photoshop. Hooked enough to study it and to this day, as well as trying to help develop it and others.

But all this went on at the amateur level, so to speak - a hobby. And later there was a question about the work I finished studying and I had to think about exactly how to earn money. During summer vacation, I found temporary work, then, in the last year, began a traineeship. Yes, the practice generally was unpleasant occupation.

First, the normal money I earn there could not, and leave for another job was impossible.

Secondly, I realized that it's not mine, I do not want to do it. But the work - almost half of our lives. So is it worth to spend your life that does not give us pleasure?

I am sure that many of those people who read these lines, think, they say, so easy to talk when you do not have family that need to be fed. And they will be right. But I am even now not in that situation, and the work of a freelancer, I thought, as a student, and money on this trade, I was earning at that time.

Why do all of the above? I'm not sure, but probably for two reasons:

1. I wanted a few words to tell, and most remember how to begin my journey. Certainly, he has just begun, yet to evolve and develop.

2. In my example I want to show that it is not necessarily to live "by the rules" and "have a real job, and you can even have to go to my dream, doing things you love and make money. In the end, become an employee "on the diploma, you can always, and in the beginning and do not necessarily abandon their work, so to speak - to have an escape route in case of failure.
www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Warning! Shooting has began for slow-witted designers.

2010-02-07T12:59:00.000-08:00

I think that this article will not be big, but very emotional, this can be no doubt:)

Continuing from the first day, as I began studying web design, I have heard in your address a lot of criticism and discontent. Then I listened to everyone and everything. Sometimes, when the work myself really liked, and in her address, it was a lot of negative, - very upset. Were some good reviews, perhaps they saved and have not surrendered and gave up all to hell.

Work, communicate, spinning in design circles, to gain experience. I noticed that the number of negative reviews did not become smaller. Positive, of course, grew up. The only thing changed the situation that had often spoken in person, now more and more behind his back.

If everyone listened to before, but now almost anyone. The reasons for this behavior is very obvious. Web designers, as well as representatives of any other profession, can be divided into three groups:

1. Great pros, which is to grow and grow, simply do not spend their time to discuss some one's work and give advice. Eventually, I became convinced that they are right, but about this later.

2. There are designers, which is approximately the same level. The level of this, I estimate the quality of work and / or price, which is taken for the provision of services.

Among this group is "an evil spawn", which believes that it underestimated what he had taken away jobs, they are underpaid. And those who did better, these people are trying to sling mud and do mischief to all sorts of ways. Sometimes they try to behave as if he belongs to the first group, but the behavior issues falsity. A man who knows his own worth, will never fill it with something like: "I can much better, you know."

3. The most wonderful group that I probably would have no scruples, put up against a wall and shot one of them. These are wonderful people who have little know how, little has been achieved, but try to be clever, though the bread does not feed. They know best what should be the customer, how to properly and efficiently create a website, as it is more profitable to sell, always mention that this work is clearly not worth as much as for her request. But, when all of this, they can not boast of having only themselves to have succeeded. Typically, they respond with something like: "I am not a designer, copywriter" or "I do not do websites, I have to get the ball rolling. But my favorite: "I'm not interested, just know how to do."

Well, as you can not shoot those f....? :)

So it turns out that of all those involved in the area of your work, in my case is a web-design, it makes sense to listen (and possible) only the first half of the representatives of the second group. They will give practical advice, inveigh against, but in the case and sincerely, poke a finger in the error and explain how to avoid it in the future. The rest are wood.

This is exactly the same way as I have a negative attitude to "web designers" from the third category. And for him and I am one of them, a designer in quotation marks:) And I now realize that the only possible thing to push and "shoot", let them at least morally. To some extent, meaningless, all is not to shoot anyway. But sometimes so'll get that and keep silent no longer available.
www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

More about web site creation

2010-02-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

I notice that many web designers and developers of sites do not pay enough attention to their projects. That is, the situation is as follows: make your site, passed it, got the money, put his work in the portfolio (if deemed necessary) and forgot.

About the client should not be forgotten and can be (even should!) Will continue to work - it should be understood by everyone. How exactly and what it takes - an individual approach of each. If you want to, can talk, share ideas and argue on this topic.

Today I want to talk about another link that lost from the chain, provided above.

On the pages of your blog (site) is to provide a place for stories about the creation of a site, which adds to the portfolio. Think that this monkey business? Well, think! But let me give you some facts that might make you think otherwise.

1. Story about the creation of a site - a unique content for your resource. If the correct approach to his writing, article about the creation of the site can be "eaten with relish" search engines, and you get a front-row seats at issue upon request. But this is not the main reason for which is to describe the process of creating site

2. You share with visitors their own thoughts, ideas and experiences. By that happened that no, what obstacles had to meet in the process of creating the site. Maybe that's just me this (and something tells me that not only me), but to me such an opening is sponsoring always acts in the affirmative. Partially erased the barrier of distance and the connection becomes tighter, the reader will be able to get close to the author, it is better to understand him. Maybe someone will seem silly, but I do not.

3. When the author talks about the search for ideas, solutions to problems that have arisen on the path to the final outcome, this experience can be very useful to those working in the same area. Reading these articles, you can learn about new technologies, techniques and principles. Each paper - a guide to create the site. But such information will always be in demand and useful. You may just say thank you. Let them not personally, not in the letter and not in the comments. Will say in his thoughts to himself about it and you never know. But still say, and that's good.

4. When you tell us how to work on a specific project, how to create a particular site on it (on site) know far more people than when he was just lying in the portfolio. Everyone who reads this article may be interested in the site and visit it (or recommend to friends who are interested in the topic, which concerns the site). You cite the visitors, it improves their performance, rising in the rankings, so attendance is growing again, your work is seen more people, among whom may well be your new client. Let a little help and to share with thousands of people almost not affected, but all the same.

Remember the butterfly effect? So that all can abruptly change and give a serious response, even from your little jolt.

What do you think about this? What points to pay more attention to me in their descriptions of what you would like to learn more? Commenting on, do not hesitate. From this will benefit all of us.
www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Tips for freelance business (part three)

2010-02-07T12:28:00.000-08:00

So,here's a fresh piece of advice that should be remembered and used in every freelancer:
1. Clients come again - priceless

Business development on the basis of the recommendations are not the only way to avoid situations where you will spend time looking for work. Existing customers have the same value, you can spend more time working and less time to spend on her quest. Clients applying to re already familiar with you and your work, and you're already familiar with their web sites that will help you save more time. You also have the opportunity to build stronger relationships with customers, writing to you again, and you will be able to offer them a wider range of services.
2. Formation of the concerned network community is very important

Lancer have good communication, will have much more opportunities than the designer with the same skills without ties. Forming a strong network interested community is important not only for finding customers and development advisory business, as well as extremely important in case of need for assistance or advice. Last year I had a few instances when I sent an email to another designer or developer to obtain advice or to ask their opinion that for me was extremely valuable. Online social networks and blogs are an excellent source for the formation of the concerned network community. Now I use "windbag" much more than a few months ago, quite publicly, another designer or developer can get the answer to your question or information, simply send a message that will see all his supporters.
3. The need for a comfortable working environment

A large percentage of the productivity and efficiency when you work at home depends on your working environment. Your office or work area should contribute to the completion of assignments, and should not have distractions. For freelancers highly recommended to separate the living area from working. In this case, you can mentally work in the direction in which it is necessary, and you can leave work behind at the end of the day when you stay in a residential area.
4. Professional Accountant - an excellent idea.

Taxes can be quite a complicated thing, and freelancers need to know much more things for reporting on revenues and expenditures. In order to always be aware of the laws and achieve maximum efficiency in the subtraction of the substantial costs, hire a professional accountant to maintain your tax statements, or at least to give you advice that you yourself were able to conduct business properly. Accountants are not cheap (at least good ones) but they can protect you from many troubles as well as laws to reduce the amount of taxes that you pay. Trying to do everything yourself, you probably spend more time than necessary to do so.
5. Credit - the key to long-term success

Being a freelancer - is a big job, but most do not seek to make a career out of this activity. The disadvantage is that you sell your own time for money (even if you do not need an hourly fee), and you will always be limited, because you can only work a certain number of hours. Maybe you just want to start with, hire someone who will convert files in PSD format to HTML for you, allowing you to release more time. Others devote time building assets or business that can bring revenue on an ongoing basis.
6. Standardize the work

What would you not say, about the design or development, or other aspects of business such as billing or accounting, it is important the development order and setting standards. Find ways to do that will work well for you, and take it a rule each time to perform work that way. Development of a suitable standard of performance will allow you to improve your effectiveness and efficiency.
7. Setting prices is heavy and is not an exact science

Virtually every freelancer will try hard to install the prices of their services, so do not feel lonely. As designers, freelancers, we get paid for work that is difficult to measure in many respects. Learn how to evaluate their services - this is a long process that may never end. The good news for you is that you will learn from our own experience and their own mistakes, you will feel calmer and will have more idea of why you request a certain amount.

That's actually all. In this series of tips until finished. Perhaps you have something to add or something you do not agree? Very interesting to know your opinion on all of the above.
www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Tips for freelance business (part two)

2010-02-07T12:20:00.000-08:00

1. Prepayment

Every freelancer at any stage learns a few lessons about the practice of billing clients. Virtually all freelancers strongly advised to seek at least part of the payment before starting work. From my experience, I can say that collecting money is not the main issue. Of course, good to get money in advance, but more importantly a strong impact on the client. By pre-payment, you provide to attract customers to the project and acknowledge the seriousness of his intention to cooperate with you. Nevertheless, you have to spend their time providing the necessary information to such clients, and they are really completely control the situation. Do yourself a favor and take a right to ask for part payment in advance.
2. It is extremely important careful consideration

Maintain cost accounting, revenue, and unpaid invoices are not too pleasant experience for most of us. However, without a scrupulous records, your business will be jeopardized. It is important not only for the tax, but you can lose in revenue. Without a good accounting, you can miss the opportunity to increase their earnings. Use software that will help you in this. Ideally, it will provide you all the necessary records, with minimal time on this activity.
3. Plan ahead for a rainy day

In terms of workload freelancers certainly have their ups and downs, quite simply, it is typical for this business. To achieve maximum success, you need to identify such situations and take from them as much as possible, even if there's a big workload. When working with a client is moving slowly, there are many other things that you can do to strengthen its business, including work on your website portfolio, creating blogs, the formation of the concerned network community, contact with former clients, engaging in their own projects, organizing their finances etc.
4. Put the emphasis on time management

When you are self-employed as a freelancer, time management and efficiency are highly significant factors in determining the size of possible earnings. If you are accustomed to working on large design studio, or if you have other experience prior to recruitment, time management, may never have been so keen for you, as was currently the case. Even if you work with a fixed rate, you may need the skills of time management in controlling stress or in order to keep the boss at a safe distance. However, if you are a freelancer, it is extremely important for your financial well-being.

The greatest thing you can do to improve the use of time - to understand what are you wasting your time and plan ahead to ensure progress in the intended direction. Suffice it difficult to improve and exactly to plan their days, if you do not know where to start.

For me, pre-planning tasks for the day and the week is the absolute importance. Without a basic list of works required to fulfill, I can easily walk away from the main occupation, taking up tasks that are of no importance. However, with a brief list of important cases that require performance, there is a greater likelihood that the end of each day, I conclude that something meaningful. Usually I compose a list of tasks for the next day at the end of the day, but on weekends I am considering a plan for next week.
5. Take on any job - not the best solution

Freelancers have the opportunity to choose the project that they want to do. Of course, the more you have the options to choose from, the easier you reject the "bad" job, but even for freelancers do not have many suggestions, there are moments when it is best not to take this or that proposal. Before you start working, make sure that the money earned will cover the time spent by you. Freelancers, newcomers often have to settle for less compensation than they would like, but this work can help you prepare your portfolio or start a business advisory.

If there are other suggestions that you would be able to do at this time, and that would be more profitable for your business, do not be afraid to abandon a project or even to seek a higher price. There is nothing worse than spending an inordinate amount of time and deal with work for the fulfillment of which you will receive a small payment. Even if you are not too loaded with work at the moment, there are other things that are not less important for your business that you can do, and that will be better employment of your time.

Here the factor payment is not the only determinant. We all know that with some clients work - just fun, and others - just a nightmare. If you have a bad feeling about your potential client, you may be more carefully set to work with him.
www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Tips for freelance business (part one)

2010-02-07T12:11:00.000-08:00

1. Not all costs are bad

One of the most destructive ways of thinking, which can be a freelancer, is that the costs associated with business, should be avoided. At the same time is a reasonable belief that to maintain profitability, the costs must be restricted, too banal (especially for those who combine a number of jobs) will always look for free resources, or free alternatives. For designers, freelancers are lucky that at their disposal is a wide variety of tools that are available free of charge, however, in some cases spending a certain amount of money is a great solution.

Compromise is not acceptable when it concerns tools that are critical to your work. Ultimately, to be successful you need to do the job as best you can, but without appropriate tools and resources - this is impossible. In addition, will be situations in which when the existence of a free alternative, paid option will allow you to save time and give you the opportunity to perform more work during the day.

When it comes to business expenses, if it will help / enable you to earn more money than you spend - You should consider these costs. Ultimately, you will most likely be glad that they did, not to mention the fact that legal costs are excluded from the amount subject to income tax.
2. Recommendations - "gold"

Chances are - if you are an experienced designer and like your product to your customers, everything is really in your hands. The problem is that there is nobody to meet you, if you can not find the customer. Typically, seasonal freelancers much more control over their workload and their clients, while newcomers are struggling to find a sufficient number of orders and have a job. Naturally, for building a business takes time. What you can do in this situation?

There are several ways to determine the range of potential customers who can use a freelancer: identification of values, sites of proposals (enrollment), portfolio sites with high traffic, blogs, etc. Potential customers who will come to you for advice, will have more confidence in your judgments, and often will be more comfortable to use, and would be less inclined to seek commercial bids with cheaper rates. They come to you, because someone whom they know and respect, recommend you, and it has much more weight than any type of advertising.

The biggest advantage in the business of recommendation is that he aim to protect you from wandering in search of work. Saving time, you can devote the work, income, which will positively affect the bottom line. Treat each customer right and use the opportunity to develop recommendation "sources". Make sure that other people know about what you do for a living, and most importantly - ask to recommend you.
3. Avoid the "dummy"

One of my main sources of identification of customers is my portfolio site / blog. Initially, when I get traffic to the site and began receiving requests, one of the first lessons that I learned was that a certain percentage of people who fill out the form on the contact information, are unlikely to be the case with me, even if they claim that interested in this. Most people fill out the form on the contact information in hopes of obtaining services at very low prices or do they want to ask questions about business or website, they plan, but so far so nothing done in this direction.

Initially I lost a lot of time tracking these people. The difficulty, of course, is to determine who is the "empty shell", and who - a reliable guy. After some time I made a few changes on the site and in business practices, which reduced the amount of time associated with it. For beginners, I removed all the prices from a page of its services. When I started to do freelance work, I decided to use fixed prices for sites that fall under different packages, prices on them were low, because I was just beginning, and I felt somewhat uneasy to request more until I will have no further experience. I thought that potential customers would be easier if they see the price, but I realized that in fact it attracts people who are interested in ordering only a factor of price. These people are many, but the end result they do not come to any decision. The only thing they know is that they do not want to pay a lot of money.

Removing prices immediately helped reduce the number of such requests, but did not affect the number of reliable customers who come through the site. The second change I made - is the addition of the proposed budget to the contact form to the potential client can roughly indicate the amount you are willing to spend. Now I could also use additional information to determine what is actually looking for people. Of course, advantageous for them to indicate a low budget, but if they want a complex site for a low price, I can determine how much time should be spent on consideration of such customer.

Enough for today, do not want to overload you with information.
To be continued.
www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Where disappeared RSS-insanity?

2010-02-07T12:01:00.000-08:00

Show romanizatio
I remember the events of a year ago, compare them with the current situation and ask: where were all this fuss about RSS?

Not in the sense that people no longer interested in the number of subscribers on the counter (although it is observed, but about the numbers a little later), somehow everything calmed down for RSS-icons.

A year ago (maybe a little more than a year) in the blogosphere ever come across various collections, discussion and thoughts on these most RSS-icons. Almost everyone who has had the opportunity, held a rally, and as a unique prizes handed out buttons, invented by the themes and design blog winner.

Maybe it just seems to me, but today the passions "subsided," I would even say - completely "extinguished". And the reason, in my opinion, the following: most of the bloggers was no difference what the figure looming on the counter. No longer a need for catchy and original icons.

There is a second option: the designers are so saturated network of their creations, that anyone who wants a blogger can easily find yourself something appropriate, without resorting to someone's services individually.

The third reason: Those who want truly unique icon, as a rule, and want a unique design for your blog. So they immediately bought the template in the design of which will be included and a unique icon rss.

And what do you think about it, why all the talk subsided around the unique icons for rss-blogs?

www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk

Web Design Studio ability to delegate

2010-02-03T17:03:00.000-08:00

The ability to delegate its powers wisely is one of the main qualities that a successful manager must possess. At the same time without this ability one can hardly imagine anything like a successful entrepreneur. Let's try together to consider in this article, most known bugs and problems faced by the manager, when the slave intends to entrust part of their work. Why is it important to delegate? Yes, if only because that human resources are always limited, and time trying to do all the work alone may not be enough. Especially if you are deeply immersed in the routine. It only takes a lot of forces, but the main work will not move from their seats. Another doctor in the popular TV series House, said: "Any job can get, is not to make a weekend. Then he noticed that everywhere trying to trust routine aides. So, what can give competent delegation of authority: - Free your time for more important tasks. For a simple reflection, which are very important in the modern world; - Increase the motivation of staff; - Increase confidence in the team; - Check their employees at the executive; With all the advantages seem to be clear. But what problems may arise when the delegation of authority? 1) People do not want to tackle the "not his" job This is quite an interesting moment when the employee can refuse, guided by the fact that offered him a job outside the scope of his duties. In fact, it is common practice. The emergence of such a situation, perhaps due to the fact that the wrong organized structure of the company itself. People do not realize the range of their responsibilities, do not realize what awaits them in the event of additional work. They just have no motivation for its implementation. Solve the problem could be changing the very structure of the organization by establishing a completely different relationship with their subordinates so that they understand that their responsibilities include everything that could improve the situation of the company, not only what is stipulated in the contract of employment. In addition, there is very important to organize the company so that any, even a successful initiative is welcomed by staff. 2) Work should like Manager or leader is certainly worth a closer look to their employees in order to understand what work is most interesting for each of them. Just look at the success of Google, where everyone is busy that performs the work for which he is the soul. This may well work in any other company. If the employee delegated the job for which he takes pleasure, it will be fewer problems.
3) A clear presentation of the remuneration The employee should be clear that it would be for work done. This should not be hidden behind seven seals. Any work must be equivalent to its complexity reward. And not necessarily a material nature. Sometimes it is enough simply to note the staff member, because all people want to be successful not only financially but also professionally, presenting themselves to be good employees. 4) Freedom of action To achieve the ideal relationship with staff can competently delegating their powers, only if they have some leeway if they are loyal to you. But how can this be achieved? Here is an example of action the small private design studio: In its early years, the company, Chris Wallace, which develops Web sites, did not have enough orders to fill full-time employees. But Chris did not want his employees engaged in "doing nothing". He decided that in such moments of downtime they may go about their business-related one way or another with the work. They could do anything. While the company had no orders. As a result, employees have begun a minute of downtime, improving their skills related to the design areas: digital photography, writing music, editing video and much more. And all of this work was in demand company. Chris always turned to the draft of its employees, when his design studio needed fresh ideas. Usually, introducing customers options works made before the studio, he showed up to 40% of them in the projects of staff who were made in moments of idle company located without orders. Company, Chris, SuperGroup Creative Omnimedia Inc has grown each year and today has about 15 employees. Revenue studio is about 3 million dollars. And today the company also are idle hours, when all orders are completed and new ones have not yet arrived. Chris Uollosa philosophy has not changed. At such times, staff members, as in the past can go about their hobbies are not related directly to work. The company also continues to receive the fruits of such an organization of staff time. Chris believes that giving employees more freedom increases their loyalty, and contributes to the fact that they are beginning to «hard working» (we can say that a lot of work). Employees come to work early and leave late at night. 5) There is no one to entrust the job. All staff is busy If the manager is faced with this situation, it simply means that the company has been some shortage of staff. Looking for new people. For example, in Euroset, if a senior manager starts a long time to process, he is forced to hire assistants to ensure that these did not occur. Since in such
situations, reduced quality of work. 6) Confidence in the result Refusal of the delegation of authority based on the fact that you simply will not then sure of the quality of work performed. This is a question of confidence in his subordinates, which must be addressed. Of course, you will need to be sure that the company hires the right people are able to cope with the challenges posed by it. Finally, the delegation of authority is important to understand that it is necessary to paint a clear challenge to the recipient of the task idea what was required of him, what hopes are.
www.webcreativesolutions.co.uk