Web Design

Attracting Your Traffic-Website Design With a Professional Feel

A website is the medium by which viewers will access information or buy products over the internet, and just like a catalog, newspaper, magazine, etc. it is imperative that the information be presented in an organized, easy to access, and professional looking manner. Obviously not all types of informational websites need to be professional looking but most types of informational websites will benefit from a professional design, and it is a necessity that any type of e-commerce site selling a product be professionally laid out and be as well designed as possible.

Not everyone can afford professional website designers to build their site, however if you are selling a product it is advisable to pay the extra money for a website designer; however, if you are well versed in website design you could take on this challenge yourself. For informational websites, the prospect of doing the work yourself can save you money and still result in a good looking website. This article will help point out some key areas you should focus on when designing your own website.

Software:

Unless you are an HTML guru, you are going to need some website design software. There are many different software titles out there ranging from free to hundreds of dollars. I recommend Macromedia Dreamweaver: it is easy to use, has a ton of features and allows you to have complete control over your website with very minimal HTML knowledge. However Dreamweaver is expensive and may not be within your budget. If you have Microsoft office you can use Microsoft FrontPage to build your website. FrontPage is not as easy to use as Dreamweaver in my opinion but is still very capable of producing an excellent website for your company. There are also a lot of free Programs out there that you can use but be warned, in most cases they will not be as easy to use and may require more knowledge of HTML code to be effective.

Templates:

If you’re not a designer and are having trouble coming up with an attractive and organized website design, templates are an excellent way to build up a professional looking website in a very short time. There are thousands of free templates, simply go to a search engine and search for website templates. Free templates are a toss up however in terms of quality. Sometimes you can find good free templates, and other times you will spend hours looking and not find one decent template. For times like these I suggest you turn to buying a template. Premium templates typically cost up to $80 or so and are very well designed. They look just as good as any major website you’ve ever visited and can include flash animations if you so desire. A template is a very wise investment and is well worth the money. Keep in mind, however, that you will still need some kind of site building software and you may need image editing software (windows paint isn’t going to cut it). Photoshop is typically recommended, but with its large price tag, you can opt for more affordable solutions. Also, some hosting services will provide you with professional template for free just by using their services. Hostmonster.com and

Web.com hosting services offer this extra bonus.

After you get your software and/or templates, you can finally sit down and formulate your plan of attack. Don’t underestimate good planning as it is much easier to have all your angles figured out ahead of time than to keep redoing your site mid-stride. Don’t even touch the computer yet, take out a pencil and paper and jot down your design on paper. This pre-design should be mostly for layout and navigation, obviously you don’t need to draw each image. Write down how you want the layout of your site to be, where you want navigation, content, advertisements, products, links, etc. Be detailed in how you want your navigation to be designed. Do you want very general category navigation and then have that expand when you click on it, or do you want more specific links visible right up front on the main page. Doing this now will save you time later. Now you will need to focus on three basic aspects of website design.

Overall Appearance:

If you purchased a template then you are all ready to go here, just decide on text and link colors and your set. But if you’re starting from scratch you should begin to decide how you want your site to look. The background color should be very light. White is preferable, but you don’t have to have a white background, you can use a very light gray or blue, but the key here is to keep it very pale, very light. By making the background light, you have a bit more freedom in which colors to choose for the rest of your site. This is really up to what the sites topic deals with or what types of products you are selling; however, it is advisable not to use a large amount of varying colors. The colors you choose should go well together. Try a couple sample pages with very simple layouts with tables or layers and just change their background colors and text colors to see what looks good. Don’t be afraid to ask for others opinions also, just because you like the website doesn’t mean anyone else does. Think of it as painting the interior of your house. You may like lime green and purple on every wall, but if nobody else likes those colors, it will be a lot harder to sell your home. So make your site as easy to sell as possible. Text colors should contrast well with their backgrounds. If the text has a dark background it should be light colored and vice versa.

Layout:

Layout is extremely important in designing your website. A confusing layout, a misaligned layout or a disproportioned layout can have a detrimental effect on the design of your website. If a visitor is confused by the layout or misdirected, then that visitor may simply go somewhere else. People are very finicky and it takes only a few seconds for a visitor to form an initial impression about your site.

If you are selling a product or providing information, that is the first place a visitor should look when visiting your website. Put your main content towards the center of the page near the top. That content is typically why the visitor came to your website in the first place, so that content should be the first thing you provide them and the first thing they see. If a visitor doesn’t find what they came for right from the beginning, there’s a good chance they will simply hit the back button and find somewhere else to get their product or information.

The proportional aspect of your layout is also very important. Modern websites are typically designed with two or three column designs. One column is used for the sites content, while the other column(s) are typically used for navigation, updates, advertisements, etc. When deciding on the size of certain section, the content portion should be at least 50% of the total width, more if possible. The actual size of the columns is a judgment call, but typically the sizes should correspond to the content they contain.

In addition to column widths, the height of the header is also very important. The header typically will contain your logo, some advertisements or product promotions, and typically some navigational components. The header, much like the columns, should not be overwhelming and the content portion of your page should be visible without even having to scroll down the page.

By implementing these simple guidelines, your website will have the proper, user friendly layout.

Navigation:

Navigation is one of the most important aspects of designing your website. Without a clear navigational layout, your visitors will feel lost in a maze and find another site to visit. You want your site’s visitors to be able to find the information they need fast and efficiently, and failure to do so will cost you in traffic and ultimately sales.

There are many different ways to layout a navigation system for your website. The best way is to have your sites main categories in one area, and your sites contact info, policies, about page etc in another. This separates your “sales” navigation from your “information” navigation and keeps things a bit more organized. Its best to place navigation where the viewers expect to see it, there’s no need to get creative with placement here. Larger navigation areas are best suited for columns on the left side of the page. You can place navigation on the right side, but most visitors will expect to see those main shopping or information categories nesting on the left. The navigation column should be wide enough to fit each category on a single line of text. If a category has a long title and wraps around to a second line, that’s OK but its better to fit them on one line.

Every category you want visitors to see should be visible on ALL pages. Ideally visitors should not have to hit the back button to find the links they want. Expanding menus are an excellent way to display subcategories for the corresponding main category. They will save you space because only the subcategories under the main category that was chosen will show at a time. Its advisable not to use java script menus for e-commerce sites unless you know how to create them correctly; in addition, not every visitor’s browser will display java correctly, so stick with HTML.

Your company/policy information categories should be placed at the top and bottom of your page in the header and the footer and if you have a shopping cart make sure to have a link to it at the top of the page so customers can checkout easily. You should also have a shopping cart on the side navigation, this way the customer can find their shopping cart at any time. If your customer needs to go on a scavenger hunt to buy your product or read your information, they won’t.

Conclusion:

If you follow these basic guidelines and tips, you will be well on your way to website design success. As stated earlier, don’t be afraid to spend a little money up front on software or templates, they will save you time, produce a much better website, and will end up paying for themselves in the end.

The author Greg McCray Mathes is the webmaster and writer for McCray Business Ventures, [http://www.McCrayBusiness.com] McCray Business Ventures offers ebusiness articles and service reviews for poplular business products and services.

The Complete Guide to Website Design on a Dime

A recent study has shown that approximately 95% of all web visitors determine within one second or less if any given website is worthy of their business. What is the difference between a website that a user will navigate away from vs. a website a user will stay and perhaps purchase from? In most cases, it’s a matter of aesthetics. A professionally designed site will often install trust into the visiting user. It shows that the owners of the website have put both time and money to produce a site that is highly professional and appealing for their users. Take a moment to think of some of the sites you have bookmarked in your browser. Chances are the vast majority of the sites will share a professional design where content is well defined, navigation is user friendly, and the page layout is visually appealing. In an increasingly competitive market where literally billions of websites exist, websites without a high quality professional design will never reach their full potential. A site that is built upon a professional design and layout is more likely to succeed over a competitor without a professional design. It’s a fact that cannot be ignored.

The Web Design Myth

Professional web design is expensive. Web design companies will charge you a base fee for the initial design and layout, and then charge an additional fee for each page in your website (usually starting at $75.00 per page). You can expect to pay upwards of $1500 for even the most basic of sites consisting entirely of HTML. That is a pretty hefty chunk of change that can easily triple or quadruple before your website is complete! Not everyone has the financial means (or willingness) to drop that kind of money into a website, especially when just starting out. The only way to put forth a professionally designed website with beautiful aesthetics to draw a user in is to hire a professional company to do it. If you plan on doing it yourself you’ll need to be an expert in HTML and have some sort of degree in design or the IT industry. That’s the myth… now here is the reality. You can put out a professionally designed website without ever needing to enlist the services of a web design company! The best part of all, you don’t need to be an expert in HTML or web design and you can do it for less than $60! All you need is this guide, some basic HTML skills, and a few hours of time and you’ll be on your way to owning a truly professional quality site that your competition will envy!

Getting Ready for Your Design

Before the secrets of designing on a dime are revealed, take a moment to think about the website you want to create. Ask yourself the following two questions: “Who is my target audience?” and “What service or product am I providing?” Once you have it figured out, try to categorize your website. Perhaps your website is going to provide SEO services. If so, your site would fit into an IT business category. Maybe you plan on selling beautiful wedding cards in which case your site falls into a wedding category. Try to narrow down the most relevant category for your site content. Now that you have your category, I’m going to share one of the best kept secrets that web design professionals don’t want you to know about!

The Best Kept Secret for Web Design

Two words… Template Monster! Template Monster is revolutionizing the web by providing webmasters with pre-designed highly professional website templates at a fraction of what you would pay from a web design company. In fact, all the templates on Template Monster are designed by true professionals and rival that of any web design company. Template Monster is the secret that will give you the edge over your competition! At Template Monster you can browse thousands of high quality professional designed website templates in any number of categories. Remember that category you choose for your website earlier? Now’s the time to apply it. Visit Template Monster and choose your category from the drop-down list that appears in the center of the home page. A listing of a hundred or more category-specific web designs will be displayed. Hovering your mouse over the image will display a larger preview of the template. When choosing a template, try to find one that appeals the most to you. Chances are if the site is appealing to you, it will be appealing to your users as well. Now that you have your template chosen, purchase that template and you’ll be WELL on your way to web mastering a high quality site that will rival your competitors!

The Competitive Edge

Congratulations! You’ve just gained the competitive edge over your competition and are now the proud owner of a professional website template! Best of all it cost less than $60.00 and required no effort on your part what-so-ever. Of course, the web design templates are just one piece of the puzzle to designing on a dime. Next we’ll walk you through the process of finding equally cost-effective web hosting and domain registration services.

Know Your Domain

Now that you have your website design, you’ll need to secure a domain name. The domain name is the URL that users type into their browser to visit your site (ex: http://www.freelinksdirect.com). Great domain names are becoming very difficult to come by. There is a lot of competition and once a domain name is purchased, it’s gone (with some exceptions which we won’t cover here). The simple rule to follow when choosing a domain name is to try to keep it short and keep it relevant to your website content. Alternatively, if you can come up with something that is catchy and people will remember, it can be just as effective. Before you go out and purchase your domain, take a moment to read the next section. Chances are, you can get that domain name for free.

Hosting for Less, Domains for Free (and more)

When it comes to hosting, your goal is to find the hosting service that offers the most bang for the buck while also providing a stable environment and excellent customer service. Here we present two viable and cost effective hosting solutions. In fact, they are amongst the most competitive in the industry and offer outstanding customer support and tools.

Our highest recommendation is Yahoo Small Business hosting. Remember your domain name? Typically you’d spend $8.95 or more to register it for a year. It’s FREE when you sign up with a hosting plan at Yahoo. Also included with your hosting plan (for as little as $11.95 per month) is an invaluable $50.00 Google AdWords credit, $100 Yahoo Search Marketing Credit, free search engine submission, 100 free leads on infoUSA mailing lists, and much more! When you break down the overall cost against the credits and service you receive, this is an outstanding value! You’ll be doing yourself a huge favor by signing up with Yahoo Small Business hosting, one of the most respected companies in the business.

For those of you on a tighter budget that are looking to host a multitude of websites, a very viable and more affordable alternative to Yahoo Small Business is Host Gator. With Host Gator you pay $10.00 per month for UNLIMITED website hosting! That’s right, you can host any number of websites you want and only pay $10.00 per month for the whole lot of them. It’s a bargain that can’t be beat and is just one more way you can design on a dime!

SEO For Free

As important as great content and a professional presentation are, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is equally important. SEO is what will drive traffic to your website. After all, what good is having the greatest site in the world if no one knows about it? Since SEO is itself a huge topic to cover (and one often of debate), it’s suggested that you visit Free Links Direct for free SEO articles, one-way links, Google AdWords hints and tips, and SEO services. They have an excellent tech-support team that is always open to fielding questions and helping new webmasters optimize their site.

With a little effort and knowing where to look, you too can have your very own professionally designed website on a stellar hosting environment at a fraction of the cost of outsourcing it. Using this guide as your resource, you are already well on your way to success in your online business!

David is a Senior Programming consultant and SEO expert with over 10 years experience in the IT industry. David currently owns several successful websites, including Free Links Direct, a free SEO service that provides one-way links and quality SEO articles and tips.

For Your Consideration – Custom Website Design and its Benefits

One of the biggest advantages you can do for you business is to get a custom website design. Without a custom website design, potential customers won’t even give your company’s website a second look. For the best possible results, hiring a custom website design company or a custom website design freelancer to create your company’s website is ideal. A custom website design will undoubtedly produce the best possible results for your company’s profits.

To reach a growing number of customers, professional website designs will broaden your marketing horizons. Not only can you reach more people with your custom website design, but it also gives your business a more professional reputation that your customers will feel comfortable with. Your page’s website design is often the only impression potential customers will get of your business until they contact you, so a custom website design is vital for making them want to return. Aside from that, a custom website design will help you compete against other companies that offer similar products and services.

Another option — in addition to business website designs — is getting a custom website design. Custom website designs include more creativity and uniqueness than your typical business site. For one-of-a-kind website design, freelance designers are your best option. They will work closely with you to find out your individual preferences in regards to the particular custom website design that you want. While custom website designs may not have the same appearance as professional website designs, they will surely stick out in the memories of potential customers.

If you cannot afford to have a website design company or a website design freelancer create a page for your business, you can find a wide-array of software programs to help you. Many website design software programs are designed to help individuals with no experience create their own business website designs and professional web site designs. These are an inexpensive alternative to hiring a company, but you will not get custom web site designs from a software program. Generally, website design software programs will have several options and templates that you can choose from. This inhibits your individual preferences and creativity which means your website design will be the same as many others.

Website design is not something for amateurs if they have a serious business to promote. To get a competitive edge in the business world, your best option is to hire a website design company or freelancer to create a professional, custom website design that stands out to potential customers. With a freelancer, you can have a great deal of input and have a unique design specifically made for your business. Any extra advantage you can gain over your competitors will prove beneficial to your bottom line.

Lee Hopkins the author of over 130 articles on business communication, and is recognised world-wide as one of Australia’s leading experts in online business communication, including Social Media or Web2.0 as it’s also known as.

To connect with him, please call him on +61 8121 4444 any hour of the day or night; if he’s asleep you can leave a voice message!

Visit his site at http://www.LeeHopkins.com to find many more articles on business communication. Whilst there, why not pick up a complimentary copy of his ‘Social Media White Paper’, which explains all about this latest seismic change to the business communication landscape!

Website Design – Some Basics of a Quality Website Design

Today I’m going to talk about some Do’s and Don’ts of website design. As a website designer in NH, this is one subject I’m passionate about. So please, bear with me if I start to ramble on a bit. I want to share as much useful website design information as possible (without boring you to death) but when it comes to the topic of designing websites, I could talk for hours.

So let’s begin…

For starters, I believe your website design should represent your personal or business philosophy, your values, and the overall “look and feel” of who you and your company are (or who you want to be)

When people see your website for the first time, they’re going to get an instant impression of you and your business… What do you want them to see?

Take my latest website for example (you can check it out by following the link at the end of this article)… When I designed this website, I wanted it to be simple, crisp, and elegant. The black background represents authority. And it also takes away some of the eye strain you might get, from looking at a bright white monitor, while trying to read what’s in front of you.

What values does it represent..? The values of authority, or someone who knows what they’re doing. It also shows my concern for your comfort (reduced eye strain while you’re reading)

Then, I wanted to give you something a bit more entertaining to look at, so I added a few flash banners to the pages.

What’s the philosophy behind this..? To give you quality information, from the words you’re reading, but not bore you with a static website design that has nothing but words on the page.

Finally, I put all the main navigation links in the same place on every page (Left hand side of page) This is so you’ll know exactly where to find the links, no matter which page you’re on.

I also sprinkled a few links throughout the text, so if you want more information about something, you can click on the link, and move on to whatever you’re interested in.

So, what do you want to impress your website visitors with?

Do you want a corporate presence that’s all business..? Or do you want a website design that shows you’re an honest person, with hometown values (and not just a faceless corporation)..? Or perhaps you want a website design that shows people you’re a fun loving person, with a sense of humor..? Maybe you just want a website to showcase your hobbies, talents, or personal opinions..?

There are nearly as many answers to this question as there are people reading this page right now.

My main philosophy is to keep your website design simple.

There are some large corporate websites on the internet that are very complex (and often very confusing to navigate) and most of the visitors they receive, click away without buying anything.

This is fine, if you have hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend, driving huge amounts of traffic to your website. (If 10,000 people a day are visiting your site, you don’t mind when only 1 out of every 200 actually make a purchase. You’ll still make 50 sales a day)

But for us mere mortals, who only see a few hundred visitors a day, we’d much rather have a higher rate of conversion from our websites.

You also don’t want to make your website design too cluttered or too distracting. Tons of animated pictures or flashing banners may look cool, but your visitors will become distracted, and possibly forget why they came to your site in the first place.

Also, too many moving images makes your website load much slower, so some visitors may click away before they ever see your website pages at all (No one wants to grow old waiting for a website to load)

Pop up windows are another thing… One pop up is O.K. (to present a special offer or an email sign up form). But you don’t want more than one on any page, and make sure your visitors can close it immediately if they want to.

Those pop up windows that block out part of the page, and won’t let you close them for a certain amount of time, only irritate most people. And if you irritate your visitors… they’re going to click away from your website, and never come back.

So when your thinking about what kind of website design you’d like, keep in mind who your building your web presence for… your visitors.

Keeping your website easy to navigate is one of the most important aspects of a good website design. If your visitors get confused looking for something on your website, they’re going to click away from your site and look somewhere else.

We live in an attention deficit society, and most people want instant results from their inquiries. If you don’t give it to them, they’re going to look elsewhere.

You also need a website design that will easily allow the search engines to navigate your website, so they can index it in their search listings. (You do want your website to show up in the search engines, don’t you?)

But what about Flash websites?

It’s true… Flash websites represent some of the latest technology in website design… They move and flow, and they can make your visitors say “WOW, NEAT WEBSITE”.

But full flash websites are difficult for search engines to index, because search engines only read HTML code and page text. If the search engines can’t tell what your website is about, they’ll have a difficult time indexing your website for your particular keywords.

I do like the look of Flash websites, and if you’d like me to build you one, then we also need to talk about off page website promotion. (ways to get actual people to your website, while we’re waiting for the search engines to figure out where to index your website)

Now don’t get me wrong… Big flashy websites are a designers dream. It gives us a chance to really get creative with flash animations, dynamic pop up windows, and auto loading video clips. but they can often be very confusing to navigate, and they can also be very distracting to your visitors.

If your visitors get too distracted by all the flash animations, they will often get confused or frustrated, and possibly even irritated. Remember… irritating your website visitors is one of the quickest ways to get them to leave your website in a hurry.

How about pure CSS websites?

CSS website designs are another up and coming website technology. There are many CSS evangelists who would have you believe it’s the only way to go.

CSS websites use an external file (CSS file), instead of tables, for the look of your website layout. Many people believe they give a more consistent look for a website when viewed through different web browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc.) They also tend to load a bit faster due to the reduced code on each individual page.

But CSS websites also have their limitations. In particular, when it comes to centering certain fonts and images on the page.

Besides… table layouts, when done properly, will also give you a consistent look through all major web browsers.

CSS websites also allow you to globally change the look of your website by editing a single file instead of changing each page individually. This is great if you want to continually make changes to your website design, but if you already have a website design you’re happy with, then this point isn’t really necessary. Also, if you want to have different headers, or fonts, or images, on different pages, then you’ll need to access each page of your website one-at-a-time anyway.

What about PHP websites?

PHP websites are the only real way to go if you want a dynamic database driven website, (like a full e-commerce store, or a community website, or a blog. Basically any website where you want to keep your visitors information, so they can log into an area of your site with their name and password. Or if you want to allow your visitors to leave comments on your website).

But PHP websites tend to load slower than standard HTML websites. So if you simply want a fast loading website, to bring your business to the internet, HTML is the way to go. You can still sell products and services from an HTML website, but they don’t have to go through a database to retrieve any information.

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So there you have it… My basics for a quality website design.

I could go on for another hour, but this article is already starting to get a bit long. (in fact… This page used to be nearly twice as long) But then my friends and family told me you might not be as enthusiastic as I am about the topic. So I shortened it up a bit. The hard part was editing the content without leaving out some of the things I wanted to say.

I realize this whole process can be a bit of a challenge, trying to establish a web presence that will be up to date with modern technologies… one that will easily be indexed by the search engines… and a website design that will also be simple enough to allow your visitors to make the decision of doing business with you.

So your best bet is to simply browse the internet and look at some other website designs that are appealing to you. When you see a few that you like the look of, it will give you a starting point for your own website design

In summary…

The design of your website says a lot about you and your company.

A clean efficient website design tells your visitors you run a clean, efficient business. By contrast, a cluttered or confusing website design tells your visitors you’re cluttered and confusing.

If your visitors can’t understand your website, or if they can’t easily navigate your website, then they’ll probably click away as soon as they arrive… never to return again.

When people see your website for the first time, they’re going to get an instant impression of you and your business, and the first impression they’re going to get will be based on your website design… What do you want them to see?

Think about it…

Steven Rubin is a co-founder and the ranking partner of SARubin-websites.com – A website design and website marketing company whos sole purpose is to help you bring your vision to the world.

Finding, Hiring and Working With the Perfect Website Designer

If you’re ready to hire a Website designer and find yourself putting it off, it may be because you’re not sure how to find the right Website designer or what questions to ask.

As a professional copywriter, marketing consultant and business owner myself, I’ve worked with many clients who either needed a Website upgrade or an entirely new site that created the right statement for their business.

However, many of these clients were absolutely stuck when it came to finding the right Website designer – for a number of reasons, such as:

They didn’t know where to look for a Website designer
They didn’t know what questions they should ask a Website designer
They didn’t know how to describe what they wanted their new Website to look like or do

Over time, in order to help my clients get past this barrier, I created a a list of questions – and hiring criteria – to use when interviewing Website designers. If you need to have your old site updated or a new Website designed, you may find it very useful as well…

Here is an overview of the steps involved:

Step 1: What information to give the Website designer before the interview
Step 2: Checking out the Website designer – what you need to look for, what questions to ask
Step 3: Checking out references and the Web designer’s business practices
Step 4: Understanding the project scope

Step 1: What Information to Give the Website Designer

Before setting up an interview, there is some information you’ll want to give the Website designer to help them prepare for the interview. (This actually saves you time, and cuts through a lot of fluff, because the designer can prepare information for you based on your needs and expectations, and best of all, at the end of the interview, you’ll know whether or not they’re a good fit for you and your Website. Here’s a list of things you can provide them (use what makes sense for your company):

A bio and backgrounder of your company
Your current URL
The reason you want your Website updated or created, and a list of your goals, and what you want your Website to accomplish
A brief description of what you sell, and the steps a customer goes through to buy your products or services (or a list of the steps you want them to go through)

Obviously there is more the Website designer will need, but not until you’ve hired them and they’ve signed a confidentiality statement. This gives them enough information to be able to answer your questions – and their answers should let you know if they’re the right Website designer for you.

Step 2: Checking out the Website Designer

What you want to know about the designer:

What is the designer’s work experience? If you’re choosing a local Website designer, set up a meeting to go over their portfolio. If they come to you, you’ll need a computer with internet access, because the best way to view the designer’s previous Websites is to look at them online.

If you’re meeting with a designer over the phone, you’ll still need the computer and internet access so they can direct you to the appropriate urls.

If the designer is sending you a CD of their portfolio, you’ll want to go over it, and then set up a phone or chat interview to ask further questions.

Things to pay attention to: When you’re looking at their portfolio, pay specific attention to the different types of sites they’ve designed for other clients. It doesn’t matter if they have designed Websites for other companies like yours. What you want is someone who has designed different types of designs in different industries. This broad range of experience will serve you well, because they’ll have the best understanding of the right type of site for you.

Look for specific features that catch your eye. Then look at the different elements each sample showcases. These may include: shopping cart, blog, online catalog, CRM, list building element, etc.

What types of sites does the designer build?

Next, look at whether it’s a static or flash Website. (Static html Websites are becoming the dinosaurs of the Web, and except in certain cases, such a site may do your business more harm than good, by making it look old-fashioned, obsolete and, well, boring.)

Flash Websites have a professional and cutting-edge look and feel, and offer many benefits:

For example, they can:

Result in the visitors spending more time on your site, and being subtly directed to the specific pages you want them to visit in the order you specify
Be SEO optimized for your chosen keywords, resulting in more natural traffic from the search engines
create excitement, interest and attention among visitors, because flash sites can be interactive.
Build your brand by communicating your unique message effectively

Questions to ask the Website Designer:

What do you think are the most important elements I need on my Website to achieve my goals? Why?
Give me an example of a challenge you faced in designing a site similar to one you would build for me, and tell me how you solved it?
What will you do to help me achieve my goals in created a branded company image through my Website?
What will do you to help me achieve results in my marketing strategy?
Give me a brief overview of SEO strategies you will add to my Website.
May I have a list of at least 3 references from past clients please?

Step 3: Checking References and Business Practices of the Website Designer

This is a very important step and one that many entrepreneurs are uncomfortable with. But it’s something that needs to be done. So just cowboy up, and do it. Ask the Website designer for a list of 3 past clients that you can check with.

The fastest way to check references is by phone. (And I’ll give you the questions you can ask in just a minute.) The next best way is to send an email. Many people prefer this method, because it’s less stressful – but be prepared, it might take longer to get a response, and you may not get one at all. Which does not necessarily mean there’s something wrong with the Website designer. It could mean that because the reference doesn’t know you, they delete your message, or it goes into their spam box or other filter, rather than their inbox. However, the choice of how to check references is up to you.

Reference checking script:

Hi, my name is (insert your name). I’m the (insert your title) of (insert your company name). I’m in the process of hiring a Website designer for my business, and I’ve been talking to (insert Website designer’s name) of (insert Website designer’s company name). He gave me your name as a reference and, if you could spare me about 5 minutes, I’d like to ask you five quick questions. (If they give you the go ahead, continue with these questions. If not, ask them if you could follow up with an email and ask them if they could respond within the next 48 hours so you can make your decision.)

Are you happy with the Website that (insert designer’s name) built for you? (If they don’t elaborate, it’s okay to ask them, ‘Why or why not’)
Did (insert designer’s name) meet their deadlines and communicate with you regularly throughout the process?
Has your Website helped you achieve your business and marketing goals?
Is there anything you’d do differently knowing what you know now?
Would you use (insert designer’s name) again if you needed another site built?

Well, that’s all the questions I have. Thank you very much for your time, you’ve been very helpful.

(end of script)

Once you’ve hired the perfect Website designer, it’s time to get your project started. And that usually starts with what’s called a ‘project scope’.

Step 4: Understanding the Project Scope

Professional Website designers usually have a project scope that they’ll send you when you’re ready to get started. It will include a list of the information they need from you, such as:

Graphics
Background information
Content or content requirements
Color preferences
List of elements you want
Logo, tagline and other graphics specific to your brand
Shopping cart or payment information
Current company Website
Information relating to your hosting company, etc.
The Project Scope should also include information about:
How and when the project will start
Fees and payment schedule
Project milestones
Communication methods and schedule
Follow up meeting or interview schedule
Contact information
What to do in case of a problem or if you want changes made
Copyrights
Confidentiality and use of confidential or proprietary information

It’s always a good idea to have your attorney or other business advisor look over any legal or binding document before you sign it. And of course, if you have an questions or concerns, now’s the time to bring them up with the Website designer. The project scope will help keep your project moving forward and keep it on track.

There you have it! Everything you need to know to find, hire and work with the right Website designer for your next Website.

Looking for more resources like this one to help you build a successful business? Check out my Website at http://www.cherylantier.com to get lots more free tips, checklists and resources! Free 30 minute consultation if you qualify.

Which Web Hosting is Best For You?

The question of finding the best web hosting is always the top priority in a users mind. Finding the best provider is often a hard ordeal because of the overloading information and companies out there to choose from. Different people have different purposes to build a website and that is why the best hosting for me is not the best one for someone else.

A website serves as a place where someone can express his ideas. He or she can post stories, images or even set up an interactive area. It is a virtual space that exist in the internet for you to so whatever you like. If you are thinking of opening up a store, you can open one with a shop which needs to be bought or rented. So, the same thing can be done with web hosting but the price to do it is extremely cheaper than having a real shop made of bricks.

Having a domain is the first step of building your website followed by a subscription to a web hosting company. Different motives of website will require different providers. So, think deep for the purpose of your website so that you can find a web host that can meet your requirements. No matter what, you need to have a hosting company to make your website visible to the internet audience.

On the other hand, if your website is only for picture and photo posting, you will good enough with a free hosting service. There are many free providers n\in the market which you can choose. Most providers will be very user-friendly and even users with no internet knowledge can cope. But, free service does have its limitation like limited web space and bandwidth. It will also have advertisements appearing on your website. Some providers like Geocities do let you close the as when you enter the website but I don’t about other free providers. You just have to test them out to find out.

For those who want to build a professional website, you don’t have to worry about burning a whole in your pocket because there are companies that provide fairly cheap services. Providers like GoDaddy and 3ix.org are good examples. You can get hosting plans for as cheap as $12 per year. Although cheap, they are also equipped with a lot of features. So, there is plenty of room for creativity that you can do to your website.

So, you can see that selecting the best web hosting service for your upcoming website may look difficult but it isn’t really the case. This is because companies have made things easier for users because of the increasing newcomers into the industry. Therefore, as long as you can type and click with the mouse, there is absolutely no reason not to start a website.

Ever heard of Fat Cow Hosting? For those who are starting off in the web hosting, I would recommend you to check out on their hosting plan as I believe they are one of the best. For detail Fatcow reviews, visit WebHostingSecretRevealed.com.

Article by Justin Knights, freelance writer.

To Hire or Not to Hire a Website Designer

In the early years of the internet the actual design of a website was either very basic or had to be done using a software package that needed a specialist to use it. Not surprisingly, website designers were in short supply and could command huge fees for their services. All that has changed dramatically and website design is not such a complicated procedure as you might think.

The actual look and feel of a website is more down to personal preferences than current design trends. Internet users want websites that are nice to look at, sure, but they are much more concerned with the ease of use of a website. If a visitor to your professionally designed website cannot find the information that they are looking for quickly and easily they will go elsewhere.

Website designers [http://www.saywebsite.com/websitedesigners_2] are similar to fashion designers. Quite often the designs that they come up with are totally impractical or outrageously expensive. Unless you have absolutely no idea of what theme you want applied to your website such as colours and styles you do not need to hire the services of a website designer but can produce the basic outline yourself. Obviously the technical aspects of your website requires an expert but it is becoming more common for website builders to be concerned more with how the site works rather than the aesthetic side of it.

There are a number of free website building

sites [http://www.saywebsite.com/freewebsitebuilder] around these days and these can be a great way for you to play with your design ideas without the expense of hiring a professional. You can also buy relatively cheap software that can produce fairly complex website designs quickly and simply. Drag and drop website design software has become extremely popular. There are also many programs that you can produce your website design with and have it converted to html for uploading to your website.

Personally I have had experience of both sides of the coin. The worst experience was when I was working as a website copywriter for a guy, who shall remain nameless! I first became involved in his website project after he had paid a large sum to a website design team. To be honest, I hated the design that they had produced for the website and it seemed to have taken them an extortionate length of time to produce static pages. The design of a website is very much a personal preference but I was not the only one that hated this particular design. So, the guy decided to hire another person, just for the design while the technical side of his website was being sorted out. He thought it would be easy to apply a different style to the website but he was wrong! The second design seemed to cause problems for the tech guy and eventually had to be dropped. Now on his THIRD website design the website owner decided to find a company who could perform both the design and build aspects of his website. Finally he found a website professional who could deal with both. Unfortunately he had invested so much money in the failed designs that he ended up being unable to fund the final website and the whole project was shelved.

The best advice I can give is that you should be extremely careful if you are hiring two different companies to produce the design and the technical aspects of your site. The two must be able to interact with each other and use the file formats that each other produce. Don’t be deceived into thinking that you have to employ a design professional when you may well be able to do it yourself, cheaper and to your complete satisfaction.

My name is Erika Pilkington and I hope you enjoyed this article. I have much more information at my website [http://www.saywebsite.com].

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