Wednesday 17 August 2011

A Thought on Web Design

People often fail to understand just how important proper, effective web site design is to the online image that they want to display. Having a great product does not mean it will sell itself.

In order to achieve success online, one must have both quality products or services and a quality design. People can be quickly judgmental. If the web site looks unprofessional, they will think associate that with the organization running it.

Here are some tips to make sure your site expresses your business properly:

1. NO banners. Using a banner is like saying you are a newbiew. You should know that banner programs are oftentimes worthless. Avoid the temptation of using any banner program you can get your hands on.

2. Clean and organized is better than “busy”. Do not make your site frustrating. What do you feel when you visit a site that is full of animated pictures or crowded pictures and huge texts? You hit the “back” button, don’t you?

3. NO Clipart. Clipart and clipart-like graphics are totally unprofessional. Make your own graphics. Take the time to learn how to make them on your own using some helpful programs that are available. Try learning Photoshop or GIMP.

4. Do not talk about you (unless it's a site about YOU). Sorry but that is a common knowledge. Instead of talking about yourself, talk about the benefits that you are providing. Focus on them instead of you.

5. Browser testing. Look at your site with every type of browser because there are no standards on the internet. Every web browser interprets code differently. One can display your page out of alignment while on another it will look perfect. You might never discover that you are making large percentage of your visitors leave because your site looks terrible in their browser.

To be able to be very successful is to have a solid marketing strategy on how to draw in visitors, make them read all that you have to say and make them want to go back for more.  Afterall, This is what web site success is all about.

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Affordable Web Design In Toronto

If you have a business, big or small you should be thinking of getting yourself a website.  The world wide web is another way of spreading your message or selling your product to people you otherwise wouldn't have direct access to.

First you need to find somebody reliable or a reliable company to build and design your website. Some web designers charge a ridiculous amount of money so it is quite difficult to make the right choice.

I typically advise people to look into the yellow pages, look on the internet or ask family and friends if they know of anybody.  You will eventually be able to find somebody local who will do a very good job and will design you a professional looking website at an affordable price.

Always look at the portfolio page and have a look at the websites they have already built. It might be worth seeing what the page rank of these websites are like and you are also looking to see if you like the style.

Once the web designer has built your website ask them if they would add a link from their homepage to your new website. Also ask them if they would submit the site to all of the search engines.

Reasonable web designers I've found in Toronto:

Affordable Web Design from www.elitewebdesigntoronto.com


Please contact me to have your site added here.

Tips For the Selecting the Perfect Domain Name

What is a domain name? A domain name is the location of your website on the Internet. Your domain name will be what your site becomes known as on the internet so it's important to choose wisely.

Each website on the Internet is labelled with an IP address which is the actual address of the website online. A typical IP address looks like this: 129.131.62.44. Remembering a series of numbers like that is difficult so a domain name translates all those numbers into something like www.elitewebdesigntoronto.com. Much easier to remember!

1. Dot x?
Each domain uses an extension. The most well known of these extensions is .com. This, however, is not the only type of domain extension available. There is also:
.net, .org, .ca, .tv, .biz and many, many more.

If you can't find your preferred .com domain (which is very likely) you could always choose the same domain with a .net/org/ca etc. extension. It might not have the same ring as a .com but is still as just useful as a .com.

A note about .info domains
A more recent introduction to the domain name game are .info domains. Many of the valuable .info domains were bought up overnight but there's still a huge range of good .info domains available. With a little creativity you could really make a .info work for you e.g. www.webdesign.info.


2. Branding vs Business Name
There is a debate on the whether or not you should establish a brand name online or use a domain that more actually reflects your real business. Take Amazon as an example. Amazon sells books online. Most people setting up a business would have chosen say www.booksonline.com instead of www.amazon.com. Amazon has since established itself as a brand name of global recognition - proving the value of building a brand name.

You'll need to choose wisely between the two. Consider how your domain sounds, how it might look on a business card and how well it relates to your what your business provides.

3. Hyphenated or not
This is another area of debate. Should your domain be one single word or should the words be separated by hyphens? Single word domain names are easier to explain, use on header paper and lend themselves to brand names very well.

Single word domains are in very, very short supply.
Hyphenated domains names can be slighltly more difficult to explain and remember, may not look as well on headed paper and possibly harder to establish as a brand name. There's no shortage of multiple word domains.

The single biggest advantage a hyphenated domain has is that search engines can "read" the domain more easily. For example in a domain like www.elitewebdesigntoronto.com the search engine can only read the first word "elite" and that's it. It can't tell anything else about the website domain name.

If you hyphenated that to www.elite-web-design-toronto.com the search engine can read "elite", "web", "design" and "toronto" as separate words and therefore knows that this website is about web design in Toronto.

A well chosen hyphenated domain name can be just as effective as a single word domain name.

4. Choosing a Domain Registrar
These are the people you pay to register the domain for you.  This takes some research but things worth checking are:

  •  Do you retain sole ownership of the domain or do the registrar keep some level of control over it?
  •  Does the registrar allow you to transfer the domain?
  •  Is there a control panel for domain administration?
  •  How easy is it to change the domain Name Servers?

Shop around for domain registrars.  Ideally you'd want to find  a previously satisfied customer to ask questions before you buy.

5. Cheaper Domain Names
You can save a lot of money on the domain names you purchase. A typical .com domain costs about $15 to register. However you can get the same domain for as little as $7.95 from other, very reliable, companies.

Oddly enough some of the cheaper domain registrars are more reliable, have fewer horror stories and offer equally good customer service as their more expensive competitors.
Are there any disadvantages in using a discount domain registrar? Will it affect your website in any way? The answer to both is a definite No.

Good luck with picking out an excellent domain!



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