There are a great deal of conventions to follow in layout and design.

The first big mistake that many fall for is to design a site for a particular niche, creating a site that is visually different from all others in that category merely to stand out from the crowd.

It never works. Use colour and visual clues commonly associated with that category. For instance, if you are designing for a theatre then use images of curtains and wooden floorboards; if you are putting together a site for a book club then have obvious images of books. Remember, obvious is good.

Colour convention too needs to be observed with pink and purple for baby-orientated sites; green for environment and yellow for young children’s sites as just a few examples.

Colour is important as well on certain page elements. All links should be blue and underlined. This is true for all the search engines and it is ingrained in our daily user experience. You can’t reinvent the wheel, so don’t even try.

As for layout, always place a search box in the top half of the page. A sizeable minority of users consistently always use the search facility to navigate around a site; and a logo that links to the homepage is a must for every contemporary website. This is one convention that has come into common use over the last few years.

Always have a contact form within easy access of the user, preferably as a link in the main menu. Not only this but put the address and other contact information in the footer. This could be a legal requirement for charities and certain types of businesses. Like a link to the homepage on your logo, users have now come to expect this information in this area on every site.

You need to be able to describe just what your website or business is in one paragraph. This then needs to be at the very least placed in a prominent position on the home page, and preferably on every page; although failing that a tagline of between 3 to 8 words will suffice.

Spacing and distance between items on a page and in particular heading, paragraphs and lines of text are everything. Never, ever present blocks of text which are smaller than 12px as anything beneath this size is uncomfortable to read.

Fitting into this need is the grid layout. Although grids are fairly new to online design no self-respecting web designer would tackle a job without using one.

Above are just a few web design conventions. There is enough in existence to fill a book but these are some of the important ones.

Remember, we need a triumph of function over design. Don’t let your creativity dictate your output; follow the rules and guidelines already established.

Andy Walpole is a web designer and developer. Please visit his Webmasters, Web Designers and SEO Directory.Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/following-conventions-is-the-key-to-correct-web-design-not-innovation-1172688.html

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There are two types of mistakes that are common:

Technical mistakes and Management mistakes. Let’s take a look at both and how they can be avoided.

Technical mistakes arise from a lack of understanding of the Internet and the technical environment within which the Internet operates. You have to realise that you are working within certain constraints on the Internet – namely hard disk space and bandwidth.

1. Ignoring bandwidth restrictions.

Bandwidth is the most important one that will have an impact. There is a big difference opening a photo or document on your local machine and downloading it from the Internet. If you place photos or documents on your website that are huge it will be very difficult for your visitors to navigate your site and even view your web pages. Pictures especially are the main culprit, since normal text take up very little bandwidth.

All pictures and photos should be optimised for the Internet. A good photo editor program (even the Microsoft Office Picture Manager) is essential to do two things:

a) To scale the picture down so that it can fit onto a web page – pictures should not be larger than 800 pixels or even 1000 pixels wide. Do ensure that you select to retain the ratio when you scale pictures down so that the picture retains the right proportions.

b) To resize the picture physically so that it takes up less physical space. JPG pictures especially can be saved at 60% to 70% compression without the naked eye being able to see it. Use JPG for real life photos with gradual color changes, but rather use GIFs for drawn graphics, sold blocks color and text. Be careful if you use JPG for these since the compression WILL be visible to the naked eye.

2. Cluttering your website with pictures and animations.

Be aware of the latest style in website design. DO NOT clutter your website with animated gifs such as envelopes posting themselves, rotating animals or any distracting elements. These are very old fashioned in Internet terms by now and instead of attracting or drawing attention, these elements will cause your website visitors to leave – quickly.

3. Using non-standard fonts

Do not use exotic fonts on your website. Each font that you use needs to be installed on each local machine of your website visitor and you have no guarantee that if you are using Acanthus in your website design, that each and every person in the world that opens that page will also have the Acanthus font installed. The results might be unpredictable, to say the least.

Stick with fonts that are common to most Windows and Mac installations. These are Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, TImes New Roman and Georgia.

4. Not building your website for search engines.

A common error is building a site that ignores search engine needs. The result is that search engines don’t list the site in their search results. Internet browsers don’t learn about the existence of the site and the site stays unknown.

5. Not hosting your site with a provider that is scalable.

A few individuals host sites with companies that are not scalable. The result is that when you have outgrown your current package you cannot upgrade in terms of bandwidth or hard disk space. Scalability is an important criterion to be kept in mind while hosting sites. Otherwise, the site is unable to accept new visitors when the traffic peaks.

Management mistakes arise from a lack of understanding on how to conduct business on the Internet. Conducting business on the Internet is not just a hobby, in fact, if you do not see it as a serious business that is going to consume a lot of your time and resources, your website will fail.

1. Lack of business plan

Make a definite business plan and to stick to it. The business plan should not be abandoned if the business progresses slowly in the beginning. Also, the plan must ensure spending on marketing. You are going to have to market your business as well as market your website if you want to really see a return on your investment. Most businesses make the mistake of depending on the Website to carry all the advertising burden for the business, whereas the actual website actually needs its own marketing budget before it will start to contribute positively to the business.

You must define your target group and invest in advertising which targets them – both offline and online. Patience and persistence are needed, because you may not get immediate results. Networking with family, friends and co-workers also helps. Make yourself visible to the online communities. Avoid spamming, which has a negative effect.

2. Not ensuring that you plan for the lean periods.

You might need the help of your bank or other source that can provide short term capital, advice and resources. You will have to invest in your business and re-invest once you start to have some cashflow. On the Internet (as with any business), things do not happen overnight. It takes time to be successful. Make a budget and keep track of your cash flow. Before you pay yourself a high salary or buy a car, think about whether you can really afford it. Your own business, whether offline and supported by a website, or whether wholly online consumes a lot of time, energy and money and you have to be prepared to invest that in order to be successful in the end.

Did you find this article useful? For more useful tips and hints, points to ponder and keep in mind, techniques, and insights pertaining to credit card, do please browse for more information at our websites.
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Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/website-design-hosting-mistakes-that-should-be-avoided-1120773.html

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Good content – Since this is an offshoot of design, most website design companies don’t emphasize on it. Some would do both designing and content writing. If you are seeking for a company that would have cost effectiveness, you need to find one who gets or offers good content. Sites with good quality content never fail to get a site visitor’s attention.

Browser compatibility – The common mistake of most website design companies is to just disregard the importance of browser compatibility. Your site might have an awesome page but if it couldn’t be viewed in a different browser other than IE then you are surely going to lose a lot of possible customers. People these days are starting to use a browser other than IE so it is important for website design companies to put importance on the browser compatibility aspect.

Good usage of graphics – At these times, websites with static text would no longer be everybody’s favorite. It is a must for website design companies to come up with more graphics and high tech photographs on the sites. Another important thing to consider is for sites to get rid of pages that take over 10 seconds to upload as users get impatient and will quickly surf to some other site before the page would start loading.

Themes and colors – Colors used on the site should be harmonious or fit what the site is promoting about. Colors as well as the logo designs needs to be considered as this represents the whole site.

Navigability – Bad site navigation would surely turn off site users and so it is a must for website design companies to come up with proper navigational elements. The search functionality should be user-friendly.

Most people disregard website design and choose to use default themes and designs. Well, we cannot blame them if they want to save on costs and effort, but a great website design can bring your business far. There are people who are very particular about the design, plus it is the first thing that visitors of your site will see. So, why not grab the opportunity that they are spending time in your site by creating a good impression?

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If you are trying to sell your own products or services, then you will not find a website anywhere for free – you will be able to build something looking like a website, but it won’t be a website because it won’t be connected to the internet. That costs money, and you also have to pay for your domain name.

So let’s lose the idea that you can get a website free and then use it to build a successful online home business selling your own products or even affiliate products. You can’t. If you disagree with me, then leave now because you are going to be one of the 99% that fail to make any money online no matter how hard you try. You must have the right mindset to succeed and you must also be realistic and live in the real world.

If you want to learn how to start a website, then be prepared to pay. No matter what you read online, you won’t make money on the internet for free. It will cost you and one of the tricks of internet marketing is to keep that cost to a minimum when you can least afford it and pay more once your business is successful.

Website hosting design varies across a wide choice of hosting services, and you can pick and choose the type of service you want. However, no matter which you choose a website will cost you money, and a fully featured site fitted with everything you will need to be successful online will cost you in the region of $1000+. If you are clever you won’t have to pay that, but let’s look at what is involved in that money. I am not going to detail the cost of every item, just list them, and if you can get that lot for under $1000 you are doing well.

Let’s assume you have a product to sell (your own or somebody else’s) or a service to offer, and want to build a website to market your business and make money from it. That’s why you are in business, after all, to make money, so you will have to make more than you spend. Only around 1 out every 100 who start actually succeed in making money. They might make $50 but spend $50 doing it, so they aren’t making money. Here’s what you will need:

A web host: somebody that offers you the web space to sore your files and a means of connecting to the World Wide Web. The web is not the internet. The internet is like the telephone lines and the web comprises all the telephones you can connect to. Your host allows you to make these connections, and will charge you a monthly or annual fee. Which of the following is included depends upon the website hosting design package you choose.

A domain name: you will need a name for your site. You hire that on an annual basis from a domain name provider. You can’t just do it yourself because in order that you can use it, your domain name has to be registered with the world-wide Domain name Service (DNS).

Website design software: you can try the free software available or the expensive applications such as Dreamweaver. You get what you pay for, and something in between will be best if you want a professional-looking site. That includes an HTML editor. It’s possible to start a website using free software, but it will look like free software was used.

An Email service: a free service will be no good because won’t buy from you. You will need a pop email service with unlimited email addresses for the various parts of your business (service, sales, support, etc). A good website hosting design option will include these.

A product showroom: you have to be able to describe your products and set prices for them. Your customers want to see what you have to offer, particularly if you are selling multi products.

A payment processor: PayPal or Clickbank might do if your product fits their rules. However many people won’t touch PayPal and you need another form of processor that takes debit and credit cards. You should also offer old fashioned checks. These processors can be expensive to set up with a monthly fee.

Traffic generation: you have to get traffic to your website, so you will need good keywords. For that, you will likely need a good keyword research tool. There are free tools available, but for the kind of deep keyword research that can provide results, you might want something better.

Traffic analysis: you definitely need traffic analysis software. Without knowing what your popular web pages are and on what pages your visitors most frequently exit, you will find it difficult to make improvements to your website. You must also get some idea of how many visitors you have and how long each stays on each page.

SEO: without good search engine optimization you will find it almost impossible to get your web pages listed. That will be a big disadvantage.

Search Engine Analysis: you need software to tell where and one which search engines your web pages are listed.

Autoresponders: you need software to answer your emails, send invoices and receipts, accept payments and deliver electronic products such as software and ebooks. They can send weekly courses, regular newsletters and even run your blog for you. They can also be expensive.

A Blog: this is a must, and will offer a great deal of help in advertising your website and products and driving traffic to any page on your site of your choosing.

WEB2 Social Networking Interfaces: you will be more successful if you interface your website with the social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Craigslist. You need software for that and the knowledge to use it.

You will be really lucky to start a website with all that for under a grand: twice that sum more likely. Yet that is what you will ultimately have to get. If you don’t then you might be one of those 99%. If you still think you can make it with a free website (that doesn’t offer these extras free) then you are welcome to try, but when you fail you will have lost too much time and wasted too much money.

Lucky for you, it is possible to find website hosting design options that will offer all of the above on a monthly or yearly basis for a lot less than $1,000. You have to decide how serious you are going to be in building a successful website. If you really want to know how to start a website that works, then read through that list again.

For information on website hosting design options offering all of the above check out Pete’s web page at How to Start a Website where you will find some options that will help you to start a website.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/how-to-start-a-website-website-hosting-design-1355024.html

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Web designs allow you to have a website that is unlike any other. It bespoke simply of you, your product or your company and no one else’s. They do not merely let you customize, they let you create something out from fresh ideas that would definitely sell. They create your website from a blank canvass and let you decide what to apply based on the description of your product or company.

Web Design companies’ offers various kinds of services that you can avail at your leisure and pleasure. It provides around the clock support, website analysis facilities, email setup and initial search engine optimization. They allow you to add, edit, and delete your product platforms anytime especially when your products or services need updating. Many web design companies also assists you in making your logo that fits your product or company’s description that is if you are a new enterprise, or revise your logo to have that more professional look that will look more appealing to your consumers.

These things will certainly create that certain look that shouts what you are all about and what you are selling. This way they will not only take a second look at your website but also browse through it to know what great products you are selling. This would surely create an impression to your target consumers, get you your web traffic and triple up your sales. Now you never have to fear for any competition, because you are the competition. The way your website is all that is left to be done is apply all the online advertising you know and think would surely help lead your target consumers to your impressive website.

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You also want to be developing a sense of personal style when it comes to web design. Think about color palates you like, where navigation bars should be and how many, how fast pages load and why. The more specific you can become in your desires and the more you understand the underlying concepts behind web design, the easier the time you will have working with your web designer or service. Remember to refer back to your “portfolio” of designs you love which the designer can help you mine for design ideas, features, and technologies.

After you have done some background research to figure out general ideas for what kind of website you want, how big, what style and what features, you should begin looking for a web design firm to help you reach those goals. This search can be complicated and frustrating since so many firms are out there and many of them have minimal experience and sub-par designs.

The best way to short-circuit that process is to ask for a referral from someone you trust. Did someone you know hire a web design service provider in the last year? Did they like the service they got and was the price reasonable? Talking to people who have worked extensively with the web design firm is the best way to understand if they would be a good fit for you. This is even better when you can trust the person who is giving you their experience. If you do not have a friend or acquaintance who has recently worked with a web design firm you will need to start your search from scratch. Start looking around online for web design firms. See if any of your “portfolio” web sites list their designers.

Comb through each web design service provider’s web site thoroughly. Is their web site any good? This is an important question since you do not want to hire anyone to do your website if their website is a shambles even though it’s likely their primary way to attract business. Their web sites should have portfolios of prior work which you should examine closely and see if you like. Pare down your list and start contacting your top ten or so about their fee structure and their previous clients. You have two objectives: to see if their prior clients were satisfied and to see if you can afford the web design firm’s services. Feel free to ask plenty of questions as you will be working with these people closely and you want them to be comfortable answering any questions you have about the process. From all of this work hopefully a top contender should emerge. This web design service provider should be a good fit for you and you should now be prepared to have a really productive relationship with them. All of the prep work you put in can really pay off.

Read the complete article by SEO and web design expert Millard Hiner at Web Design Services and several more Web Page Design Prices articles at the authority web site for web design pricing.

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Site organization was the most crucial, according to the original survey, and this is still the most important factor in modern web design. To keep readers on your website for more than a few seconds you must offer a clear and consistent structure to your site. This includes a navigation system that is logically sequenced, with the same icons used throughout the site. You want to make it easy for the reader to find the information that they are looking for.

Page layout not only helps keep the site organization consistent, it is also the design element that makes the page pleasing to the eye. There are many parts to consider in good page layout. Things like color, location of graphics or images and white space composition are a large factor in whether a web design is visually appealing. Your page layout should be similar throughout the site to give your web design a cohesive, professional feel.

Content is king in the internet world – if anything, this is more important today then it was then as there are so many more sites competing for an audience. The content on your page is what keeps the reader on site longer and returning more often. A good web design includes solid, up-to-date information that is presented in a way that will engage the reader. Fresh content is also very important to keep readers coming back to your site. If the content hasn’t changed in years, why would anyone want to return?

The final element that people said was very important to them was in page loading speed. While more people do have high speed connections now compared to ten years ago, there is still a large number of internet surfers who are stuck in dial-up. The more graphics you add to your web design or other bandwidth-hogging elements, the slower the page will load. Most internet surfers don’t have the patience to wait for all those flash intros and java applets so guess what happens? They click the little “x” up in the corner of the page and they’re gone.

Some things never change and these four elements of web design are just as crucial today as they were years ago. A good web design allows the reader to find what they want quickly and easily. The page layout is pleasant to look at and has the same feel to it throughout the site. The content is engaging, informational and updated on a regular basis. All pages load quickly even if the viewer is not using broadband. All of these elements work together in giving the viewer the best experience possible. Isn’t that what good web design is all about?

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Graphic Design

Graphic Design includes any type of design that has been created and printed. Graphic design uses the blending of technology and art to communicate messages and ideas. The graphic designer utilizes a number of communication tools to deliver a message from a client/company to a specific audience. Graphic design illustrations can be found in magazines, newspaper arrangements, newspaper ads, billboards, logos, brochures, books, labels on a variety of product packages, and much more. Graphic designers create the layout design for a variety of types of print advertisements. The print design is normally 2-dimensional. Each design component is created for a fixed size display. The main tools used are image and typography. Images are used to communicate a mood or emotion.

The audience reacts to the images and the advertising messages that they receive. Typography is a type-based design where words are used to convey a message. The designer will focus on the appearance of the words such as lettering size, location, shape, and color. They are designed to catch the attention of the consumer, enhance the ad display, identify the product, and help convey the advertiser’s message to the targeted audience. Graphic designers work with market analysts, illustrators, and photographers as well as with typesetters and printers and other production experts to in order complete the entire ad design project.

Web Design

Web Design is task of creating a web page on the internet. Web designers work for businesses creating and implementing their websites. They work exclusively on web sites. A Web designer designs a graphical display of content and images that is displayed on the Internet in the form of a web page. They employ a number of web applications such as HTML, CSS, XHTML, JavaScript, PHP, Photoshop, and images such as JPG. The function of Web designer includes all of the technical aspects of creating a website, such as the coding and writing of web pages.

Both graphic designers and professional web designers are specialized to use such applications as color to create a mood or set a tone. They know how to communicate ideas and messages through such technical expressions as using the meaning of symbols to convey an idea. As well, they know how to use shapes, objects, and colors to provide balance and equilibrium to communicate to a targeted demographic and inform and encourage them to take a certain action such as buying a product.

Both web design and graphic design play an important role in the advertising, promotion, and sales of products and services. Choosing a professional web designer or graphic designer will depend on one’s particular area of business.

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It’s all about the visitors that visit a website, your website. You see, the internet is all about getting noticed. You might have a brand spanking new web design company to produce an eye-catching website, but if it doesn’t get noticed, then you’ve just wasted quite a bit of money (which, we hear, can be reclaimed from annual taxes in certain countries). Getting people to notice your website through internet marketing is even better, because it means that the internet marketing is working, to a degree.

What most business owners and website owners forget to remember is that their website is in itself a product – a product designed to stimulate sales of other products or services. Now consider this: any product you’ve ever held in your hand, any one product you can remember – when was it not designed specifically for a target audience? Would cars have looked the same if the target audience was neglected? Quite definitely. Your website, as a product, has to be designed specifically for those people you hope will invest in whatever it is you are trying to sell.

Now enter search engine optimisation and why it should be an essential element of web design.  The search engine optimisation strategy depends entirely on the product, does it not? The marketing strategy for a candy bar is not the same as it would be for a trip to the Alps. We can therefore surmise that each website should have a marketing strategy as unique as itself. Only then will you be able to reach those individuals that invest in your very livelihood more effectively: your customers.

But there’s more! The benefits of using a company that offers both web design and search engine optimisation indicate a perfectly functioning machine – one with a reduction in errors because the usual cross-company communication gaps are missing. This in itself implicates a reduction in on-screen and technical mistakes, both of which could end up penalizing your virtual home by presenting your customers or search engines with errors or by presenting both with the wrong type of content.

It is therefore not only in your best interest to ensure that you find the perfect solution, but it is especially in your customers’ best interest that you make the right decision in terms of your web design and search engine optimisation needs. After all, they want to buy your product or invest in your service – all they’re asking is that you present it in a way that’s appealing to them, nothing more and nothing less.

Synergy Web Media is a Manchester Web design and Search Engine Optimisation company that provides lucrative digital services to customers who know that the target audience means everything.

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Before you start designing your website, determine the number of pages it will have, the content of each page and how the pages will be linked to each other. Linked pages should use consistent font styles, graphics and colors. You can also look at the styles, colors and graphics of other popular websites and how they change from one link the next. There should never be any conflicting information on linked pages, as this can negatively influence your reputation and diminish your client base. Additionally, a web page must have all relevant links to enhance customer experience and satisfaction.

Quick and Easy Search
Your website should be designed in a way that it facilitates quick and easy search of desired information. In general, it should not take more than two to three clicks for customers to access the required information. If they cannot easily find what they are looking for, and have to browse through several pages before reaching their search items, they will get bored and turn their attention to other websites. Easy search capabilities make visitors’ browsing experience an enjoyable one.

As a rule of thumb, do not use more than five navigation bars. Additionally, provide options for your customers to review previously viewed content areas without having to use three or four links. In other words, it is always advisable to provide a link to the homepage on every web page of your site. Site maps can help customers and search engines to find web pages on your sites.

Selecting Navigation Links
Depending on the types of your business, you may need to provide links to different elements. The commonly highlighted elements include customer testimonials, return, guarantee, privacy and warrantee policies, credentials, discount and promotional offers, contact information, shipping cost, tracking information, site maps and the like.

Personalizing Navigation
It is always a good practice to personalize your website design and navigation to make your web pages more intuitive. Let us say you run a pet care service. Navigation buttons at the top of the page may include Home, Cat owners, Dog owners, Services, Rates, Contact. The faster your customers can navigate through your website and find what they are looking for, the more likely you are to get repeat visits from them.

Adding Links for Alternative Online Payment Methods
If you are selling products or services through your website, you should provide your customers with an alternative payment option. This could include an online order form and fax line or toll-free number. This gives cautious customers who do not want to use their credit cards online, an excellent payment option. This link should be included along with all other payment links.

Testing your Navigation Scheme
Once you implement a navigation scheme, get your friends, family and customers to test it out. Get people of different ages and backgrounds to use your website and evaluate the link and navigation structure. Their feedback will help you to assess its effectiveness and how it can be improved and refined. Further, your website links should be functional on more than one browser, for instance, Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Monitoring Links
Regularly monitor your links to ensure proper functionality. Outdated links are annoying and may seriously affect your business reputation.

Simplicity and logical consistency in your navigation design makes it easy for customers to search desired pages and also puts your business in the best light and wins loyalty for your brand.

Daljeet Sidhu is at TradeSeam Business Network. Read our web site design advice. Compare custom website design quotes. Sellers JOIN for sales leads.Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/website-design-do-you-know-the-key-to-attracting-and-keeping-those-visitors-simplify-navigation-1461653.html

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