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Building Printer Friendly Pages
Your site looks like it's working perfectly. You've tested it with several different browsers under various resolutions. The HTML complies with the standards and your CSS is impeccable. Even if all of the above statements are accurate, everything...
Building Your First Web Site
Having your own domain name and your own web site can do a lot for your business. It gives you a definite web presence and makes your business more credible. Ok, you know all that, but how do you go about the process of building one? Where do you...
Elements of Interface Design
First impressions count and the first impression a visitor receives when they arrive at a site is the look or visual appeal of the design. The visual design of a site is referred to as the interface. Judging a Web site by it's interface design is...
Fix Your Website Or Say Goodbye To Sales
Your website tells a lot about you and your product so if your website is poorly design you are sure to loose your entire investment as you will be loosing sales by the minute. In this article I have outlined some of the common problems common to...
How to Chose Stock Photography for your Web Site
So youve decided to take the plunge. You know that stock photography is an effective tool for your web business, but where do you start and how do you choose the stock photo thats right for you. Here are some tips to get you started so that you...
How To Make It Easy For Your Web Designer To Build Your Website
You have an idea for a website and you are now looking for
somebody to build you the site. You want it to be a smooth ride,
and want to have a good working relationship with your web
designer. You are also looking for a low cost website, so...
Is Your Site Too Slow? Why Image Optimization Is Critical When You Create A Web Site
Graphics are fun, but if you put in too many bells and whistles when you create your web site, you may lose a potential audience whose Internet connection can’t handle lots of graphics, and that means you’ll be losing potential customers. According...
Planning a Web Site
Have you ever wondered why some web sites look like the marvels of creativity and some look like specifically created to confound visitors? Ideally, no individuals make a web site to inconvenience their visitor but end up doing so because no serious...
Web Site Design: How To Get Around
Our web site (Internet Tips and Secrets - http://www.internet- tips.net/ ) runs an awards program which gets as many as fifty submissions a week. That means we visit each of those fifty sites each and every week to determine if they measure up to...
Why Should You Care About Your Web Site Colors?
**How Colors are Used in web design:** Demarcates screen elements into groups- You can pu a blue background for your navagational bar and white for rest of your page. This tells the visitor that the blue area has different elements and grabs...
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How a Custom Designed Website Can Help Your Business
Over the years, the internet has grown into a marvelous avenue to promote your business.
In my last article, "Why Your Business Needs to Have an Internet Presence" (http://www.jvmediadesign.com/info37.html), I discussed 5 valid reasons why your business needs a website. In this article, I discuss some things to avoid and how a custom, professional website can help your business succeed.
Professional is the key. Remember, the internet has a global reach. Some of your new potential clientele may be learning of your business for the first time by visiting your website and the old cliché, "you never get a second chance to make a first impression", still rings true.
When a business makes the decision to gain an internet presence, whether they are the largest corporation or the smallest home business, they may be tempted to take what appears to be the "easy way" to get the company website up and running fast. The three major potential pitfalls here are:
1)Some hosting comes with "do it yourself" capabilities and pre-made templates. Although this is a great way to upload photos of your summer vacation for your family and friends to see, this is not a good way to make that great first impression for your business. In short, these "solutions" really do not present a professional image, and often use very minimal templates and overall poor layout and design.
2)Many companies now sell website "templates" for low cost, making it easy for you to get up and running quickly. While this is true (you can get up and running quickly and many of these companies do sell more professional designs), you run the risk of other businesses using that SAME design. And to buy a "unique" copy of the template the cost is often just as, or more expensive, than if you were to hire a professional company to create a custom design for you.
3)Complete websites for $100! This may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I have actually seen advertisements for complete websites for very low prices. You must remember that you are investing in your business when you decide to have a custom website developed, and you really do get what you pay for. A professional design firm creates original designs, from scratch, tailor-made for each individual client - and the prices for that work can vary a lot, but do expect to pay a reasonable amount for the services.
These three potential pitfalls aside, the process of getting your business onto the World Wide Web does not have to be a confusing, time-consuming, and costly affair. Below is a succinct outline of the process.
1)First, you need to design on your domain name for your website. Avoid names with "-" in them and very long names. Try to
be as succinct as possible. It is easiest for your visitors to remember a URL that is your company name, or at the very least, keywords that describe your company. For instance, if your business is ABC Accounting, you could consider abcaccounting.com or something such as accountingservice.com. You may find that your first (and second!) choice for a domain name may already be taken, so you may have to get creative. Just remember that a domain name that reflects your business is key.
2)Shop around for the right design firm. There is no shortage of companies who can handle the design and development of your website. Do not be afraid to shop around. Prepare a detailed RFP (Request For Proposal) that outlines things such as the goals of your website, your target market, the information you would like to have on your website, and advanced features such as ecommerce. Review the portfolios of companies and send out your RFP to the ones you feel have the skills to do your job. When you've narrowed down the prospects, do not be afraid to ask for personal or telephone interviews. Find out what their design process and work flow is like. Ask for recommendations about what type of web hosting your site will need. Also, make sure to review the design agreement or contract with the company you choose (a professional company will ALWAYS require a contract before work begins).
3)Have a basic idea of what you would like your finished site to look like. It's a good idea to do some "surfing" of the web to see what your competition and similar companies are doing, but look outside your industry as well for designs that catch your eye. This will give your design team a place to start and an idea of the style of design you expect for your own website.
4)Work on your "content". The content of your site includes all the text you wish to display. This is a very important aspect to your site. Although you do not want to overwhelm your visitors with nothing but pages and pages of text, you do want to offer clear, concise, professionally composed and edited information. Proof read, proof read, proof read! If you are in doubt, it is best to consider hiring a professional copy writer. Remember that grammatical errors shout "unprofessional!" to the viewer.
5)Once your site is up and running, don't be afraid to add or edit your content periodically. This keeps your pages "fresh" and shows repeat visitors that your business is active and "takes an interest" in staying up to date.
About the Author
Sherry Holub received her degree in design from UCLA in 1995. She is now the Lead Designer and Creative Director at Southern California Studio, JV Media Design. http://www.jvmediadesign.com
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