Web Design Development Articles

You don’t have to be a professional web designer to know how to design a site, although admittedly this can save you a lot of time. But if you know what you want and have a fair command of the HTML language, you can do it yourself. There are also many excellent web authoring tools such as Dreamweaver that can make the work easier for you.

Don’t be afraid to admit mistakes in your initial web design. This is the foundation of your website, so if there is anything that can be done to make it better, don’t hesitate to get back to stage one, so to speak. Here are some elements of good web design that can help increase website traffic for you.

Unique Titles for Each Web Page

Have you ever been to a website and found you couldn’t browse through its page history because all the pages had the same names? Don’t be lazy. Take the time to dream up a unique title for each page you make. Pick the most important keywords in it and make them a part of the title. Be creative. Dream up a title that you know will catch attention. Saying, “Sports Wallpapers” is too general. Be specific: “Beijing Olympics Wallpaper: Track and Field” is more like it.

Duly Accomplished Tags

Meta tags aren’t useless. They are there for you to use. In fact, everything in HTML code that you can put keywords into should be exploited. Give concise but detailed descriptions in your meta tags. These will appear in search engine results.

Industry-Specific Keywords

No matter what your website’s topic is, you want to exploit what popular - and not-so-popular - keywords are relevant to it. Again, to use the same example, “sports’ is far too broad. There are millions of pages with that word in it. If you want to get targeted hits - hits from people that are looking specifically for what you have - make your keywords exact. If you have an old cue stick by a once-famous 9-ball player, you want the world to know it. Maybe 99.9% of people won’t care, but the remaining 0.1% might.

Special Text Formatting

Not all text in a web pages are equal. Use header tags to break up long essays. Put your keywords in the choicest spots - headers, links, and emphasized text. By emphasized, we mean text that is specially formatted in bold, italic, underline or hyperlinks. Don’t forget your image files. Save them with keyword-rich names since they will turn up in image searches. The image alt tag can also be used.

These are just a few web page elements that you can adjust to increase your website’s traffic. Try it and you’ll see!

Trying to build a business online is quite hard if you don’t have the correct tools one of the most pertinent tool that you would need when marketing online is Lead Capture Pages but you don’t just want a lead capture page you need one that will dazzle and hypnotize your potential prospect.

First here is an outline what you will on setting up your Lead Capture Page properly

Headline - Your headline needs to catch the attention of your potential prospect, when creating a hypnotic headline you need to ensure to raise emotions, be it anger or a sense of pleasure emotions is very important.

Body - Now this is big It depends on if your lead capture page is also a sales page I recommend having a separate sales page, so on that note make your ad copy very short but try to make sure that it hit home.

There are a couple of things you may want to consider for your lead capture page adding Video or Audio, with video being so viral I would suggest to add a video clip to your lead capture page this will help your conversation rate the prospect feels very comfortable once they know they are talking to real person.

You can also add a e-book or audio clip for the user to download these are just some of the things that you can do to help boost your conversation rates. Your lead capture page should also be nicely design remember first impressions goes a long way seems like so many people have these lead capture pages that have such terrible designs.

Don’t forget once you have your lead capture page done you must add your Auto Responder setup to capture your leads.

Now for the newcomer I recommend using some sort of Lead Capture systems so that you will not have to worry about things like designs and autoresponders. This means if you can find a system that includes those things than you are in business.

There are plenty of systems out there but there is one in particular I like it is called Push Button Extreme. This system has beautiful designed capture pages and the autoresponder is included. This Lead Capture System has a twist the twist is that you can make money with Push Button Extreme matrix compensation plan.

Website Design V Website Design.

How to get the best out of your design company.

Now, you might be asking what do I mean by Website Design Versus Website Design how can you compare the same thing to itself?

It is a problem I have been mulling over for a while. Let me explain…

In the world of design and the graphic arts you will often find a that a graphic designer spends a lot of time thinking about fonts, colours, layout, imagery and look and feel and this is called graphic design. A graphic designer will read the latest design magazines, they will look at other websites they will absorb information and start to instinctively know what is ‘in’ at the moment, design usually follows trends.

For a lot of websites, especially what you might call brochure sites (ie they do not actually sell a product) this is fine. If you have an experienced designer who knows his onions you should end up with a good looking product that portrays and sells your company online at its best and that is all you need. (always check a designers portfolio before going ahead with anything)

The problem arises when the designer has finished your super trendy, up to the minute cutting edge website and you find that even though the SEO company is doing it’s job, the hits are up people are coming to the site. You are not making any sales!!

Why is this?

Well this is where another type of Website design comes in. This is the testing and human interface design. Take another look at your web site. It looks the bees knees, the designer has explained to you in carefull detail why he chose that particular font, why he picked that certain background colour and the philosophy of that image across the page, but it ‘ain’t working!!

This is because there is a whole other world of design out there that encompass how people react to certain elements on a website. Colours, fonts, wording, even where the freephone number is, how they use the website and what stops them making a sale.

Website design has come a long way in the last 15 years. From simple text based pages, through to text with small images and so on. Many of the early websites were designed by programmers, then by designers with an experience of print design only.

Remember ‘entry pages’ ie ‘Welcome to XYZ company, click to enter our website’. This is the earliest example of people realising that Web design had different needs to traditonal design. Entry pages came from the tradition of book covers. Book covers were there to advertise the product but primarily to keep your pages clean. You do not need to keep your web pages clean. Combined with the ‘less clicks the better’ rule, designers soon started to drop the entry page to allow you to get straight down to the business of buying.

Same thing occured with the advent of Flash based websites. It was soon realised that people did not want to watch a 2 minute movie of a cartoon plane spelling out the company name, they wanted to book flights!! So flash was dropped from entry pages, but has since reappeared and is used more to enhance rather than to entertain.

To be unfair to designers, they are there to make things look pretty. This is not true of all designers and you need to choose the type of designer that is suitable for the job at hand. If you want a designer that can create a stunning looking printed brochure that makes steel girders or kitchen work surfaces look sexy that is one thing. If you want a designer that can create a press ad that will get people flocking to your car dealership over the Valentines weekend, then that is another. You need to decide what you want to achieve with your website initially. You then need to test all aspects of the site design to find out what does and does not work.

Hopefully this article will give you a little ammunition and knowledge to be able to ask the right questions of a web design company, so that from the outset you know where you want to end up.

As the World Wide Web becomes the one-stop resource for anyone who is looking for information about anything, it is now a must for every business to have a website. If you have your own site, you can reach your target audience and keep it open for the viewing public all-year round, 24 hours a day. However, it is important to note that the competition is fierce, with millions of websites aiming to outdo each other in reaching their target audience. You need to take important steps in order to improve your site and make it memorable and interesting to visitors. One of the ways that you can do is to have a custom web site design.

The overall design of your site says a lot about your business. Visitors will know right away if you are serious about what you do or not. It is important, therefore, to have a web site design that is both visually appealing and useful to visitors. Also, you should have a web design that is suitable for your business or whatever you are promoting online. If you are an expert in a particular area, make sure that your site design reflects your personality as a professional and exudes the impression that you are much better than other experts in your field.

A custom web site design can also help you in establishing your personal brand. As the representation of your business or the services you offer, your web site design should highlight your best potential so visitors will remember you amidst thousands of other websites.

You can create your own web site design or have someone do it for you. If you choose the latter, inform the web designer / web design company about your objectives, target audience, and unique features of your business that can make your site stand out from the rest.

Make your presence known online by having a custom web site design. Opt for a website that stands out from the crowd so you can secure your place online and be memorable to your target audience.

When designing a web page for the internet, most people are familiar with the client-side aspect of coding. That is, the hyper text markup language (HTML) and CSS (cascading style sheets) as well as JavaScript. These coding languages are moderately complex and the backbone for websites.

But where there is a client-side there’s a server-side, right? Right. And pages can be designed server side (loaded from the server not from the PC’s web browser). Server side codes are many and include programs like ColdFusion, Python, and PERL. These languages are all pretty similar.

One that I didn’t mention but is prevalent today is called ASP.NET. ASP.NET allows for the coding of web based applications from a few different languages rather than just one. For instance a person could design a page in ASP.NET using C# (C-Sharp), Visual Basic, and Jscript (not the same as JavaScript).

All of this is possible because of something called the .NET framework. The framework provides programming needs in all sorts of areas including interface, database connectivity, data access, web application development, network communications, cryptography, and even numeric algorithms.

Now, you might be wondering if this .NET framework is really advantageous. Couldn’t you do all this using some other applications, what makes it stand out? Here are some benefits.

Security
There are additional security implementations creating by the .NET framework. This is essential for businesses as well as lone webmasters. It allows for companies to protect against security attacks that would otherwise not be listed in a hosts terms and conditions.

Performance
The .NET framework allows information technologies to be run smoother. It uses them more efficiently. This will in turn reduce the cost it would take to run a normal large application smoothly. It is a truly highly beneficial aspect.

Time
The framework contains a library that’s rather extensive which contains a large collection of code covering most IT areas. Basically, when these resources are in the right hands, a developer can write far less lines of code. This means two things: first, the pages will take up less space and run more efficiently, and second, the time it takes to build them will be reduced which means the price will too!

Quality
What can be developed using the .NET framework is of equal quality to competitors. So it is not disadvantageous to use .NET opposed to others. In fact, the features included make it on par with the best software if not even better.

Remember, the .NET framework is what makes ASP.NET possible. So the two may seem dissimilar but actually are necessary in order to function. The framework is the backbone of the ASP.NET programming language. The language has become one of the most powerful today; the benefits are obvious and range from security, to performance, to time maintenance and overall quality.

It’s a server-side programming language that takes root in other basic forms of programming. Most programmers and designers will agree it’s easy to learn, easy to operate, and easy to use.

Any web designer or developer will tell you that they have to know a slew of coding languages just to make ends meet. Different clients require different web sites which, in turn, require different sets of codes and standards.

A basic page will be run with HTML (hyper text markup language) and CSS (Cascading style sheets) only. A more advanced page will incorporate JavaScript, a client-side programming language allowing dynamic content. From there programs like flash are used to make websites.

Serving as the backbone to many sites are server-side based programming languages. These languages run directly off the web site’s host server and aren’t affected by a browser. The use of these languages allows for even more dynamic content on the page.

One such type of language is called PHP (hypertext preprocessor). Written on a web server, the PHP language is then incorporated into the HTML of a website and displayed as .php site. PHP code is entered as the language and various web pages are the output.

PHP is similar to other server-side scripting languages such as ASP.NET, mod_perl, and JavaServer pages,

When a webpage is loaded that has a backbone in PHP the PHP code will be compiled and then ran. This means there’s an extra step in loading the website as opposed to simply loading the HTML (the website loads the HTML, which loads the PHP, which then displays the site as opposed to HTML only). There are such things as accelerators which can improve performance but most programmers are efficient enough to code less lines which improves speed. The load time compilation won’t be noticeable by most people.

PHP isn’t the most secure of server-side programming languages. It’s security vulnerability has increased year to year, ending at 34% in 2008. Luckily there are various patches and methods of increasing security. For instance you could install PHP as a CGI binary and it will add security.

The coding is similar to the coding of languages such as C, C++, Java and Perl. It includes IF conditions, Function returns, as well as FOR and WHILE loops.

Originally released in 1995, PHP has been running strong ever since. It is constantly being updated and the current version, 5.2.8 was released in December of 2008. Early in 2009 the next version, 5.3.0 will be released and version 6.0.0 is slated to come out sometime after that, but doesn’t have a particular date set.

PHP is as easy to use as server-side programming languages can be. If you have a knowledge in C, C++, Java, or Perl then the transition will probably be seamless, otherwise it’ll take a bit of learning. But most languages have a learning curve that isn’t set very high, in programming especially. When the basics are covered: the variables and general syntax, then the rest of the language from loops, to functions, to IF conditions come more naturally.

PHP is a great resource for web design and development and shouldn’t be ignored over similar server-side programming languages.

Developing websites involves a knowledge of programs and languages that can be involved, complex, and not all that entertaining. But sometimes a program comes along that’s just as fun as it functional.

Flash is that type of program.

Flash allows a person to make many different types of applications, from websites to games, with a small learning curve.

Flash is first and foremost animation software. Used in conjunction with vector design programs and other graphic programs, flash animations are found throughout the World Wide Web.

The program utilizes several tools, including a timeline to create animations. The timeline is the most important tool of all as it’s what makes an animation an animation. The canvas is the next most important as that’s where the animation will be designed.

The animation runs only as many frames as the person who’s creating it designates on the timeline. The framerate can be determined and manipulated by the animator for faster animation or slower animation. For instance, if I wanted a ball to move across the canvas and my frame rate was 16 frames per second. Then if I animated the ball over 16 frames it would take one second for the ball to reach the other side.

Confusing maybe at first, but once a person starts it becomes second nature relatively quickly. What becomes difficult is the coding process.

Remember the ball moving across the page, perhaps if a person mousse over the ball, it stops and changes colors. A person can’t simply design that on the canvas and hope it works, they need coding that will recognize when that situation occurs.

Flash coding is called ActionScript. It’s not too dissimilar from other coding languages and can be picked up rather easily. It, like other languages, is strict and even the smallest error (such as forgetting a period) will force the script to fail to run.

The scripting is the biggest component when setting up flash to be a website on the internet. Flash is easily integrated into HTML sites and HTML is easily integrated into flash, they work together pretty well. Many websites designed in flash will have several mouse-over events, mouse-click events, and mouse-unclick events. Those events, in addition to complex (and high quality) animations are what make Flash sites so intriguing.

However in order to view Flash a person must download the flash player onto their PC. The download is short and that’s what makes it a first-choice over competitors such as quicktime, Acrobat Reader, and Java.

Fortunately, a savvy programmer will know how to work around the problem of a Flash component being unable to load because the person doesn’t have the player. There’s not enough space to describe the process here, but a quick search will yield necessary results.

Knowledge of HTML and CSS for basic websites will help greatly when making a site with Flash. Although, it’s entirely possible to build one without HTML and simply use Flash and its actionscript language. This method isn’t recommended and roadblocks will cause frustration for programmers and users alike.

First Things First

If you are an employee it’s easy to get confused about consultant or freelance rates. The thing to remember is freelancers can only charge for the time they are actively working for a client. However, they are not necessarily active for a client for 40 hours a week, 52 weeks of the year. Therefore their rates have to take into account all the time they are not billing a client and their running costs. It’s all explained below.

Why Have Freelancers and Consultants?

Freelancers play a vital role in the economy. Without freelancers companies would have to hire and train all their own staff. Can you imagine hiring a member of staff to carry out a specific specialised task that only needs doing once or twice a year?

How Day Rates Work

Companies providing services in many industries such as web design, SEO, engineering etc base their charges on day rates. These can be the source of confusion or contention for the companies who need to hire firms using day rates as the headline rate can seem high.

Often, when evaluating rates, people will take the headline day rate, multiply it by 261 (the number of weekdays in a year) and assume they are being ripped off. For example, a day rate of £325.00 is made to look like a salary of - 261 x £325 = £85k! Nice money if you can get it.

In fact this is a nonsense. In simple terms day rates are calculated thus.

Number of weekdays in a year = 261

Less - 25 Holidays

Less - 8  Bank Holidays

Less - 5 days allowance for being ill

Less - 24 days of non billable time

Less - 10 days for marketing and business development

Total - 72 days

Total billable working days in a year = 261 - 72 = 189 Days

Now the per person costs for running the business

£500 - advertising

£500 - Hardware and Software

£1000 - Servers etc

£100 - Affiliation costs (professional bodies etc)

£2000 - Client visits etc

£150 - Insurances etc

£500 - Accountancy fees etc

£2000 - Phone/Office etc

Total = £6750.00

This equates to a daily overhead of £35.71 (overhead divided by billable days)

Now the required salary including Employers NIC etc

A well qualified and experienced consultant salary = £40k (£44475.52 with NIC etc)

This gives a day rate of £235.32 (salary divided by billable days)

Next comes profit and 20% is an accepted level of profit = £54.21

Now add it all up - £35.71 + £235.32 + £54.21 = £325.24

So the day rate of £325 gives the consultant a salary of £40k and the company a profit of £10k, not what you might call earth shattering and  this assumes the company don’t get thrown a curve ball.

In part 1 of this article I discussed 5 critical points for any internet home based business owner to making a squeeze page that sells like crazy whether it’s a subscriber list you’re trying to build or a product your trying to sell.

Here are the 5 main points I discussed: define your purpose clearly, use a single page for a related keyword set, make your headline with the benefits included, K.I.S.S. your webpage design - (Keep It Simple Sweetheart), and use catch phrases in your sales copy. See part 1 for the full explanation. Here are the last 4 tips:

1. Make sure it all flows

As an internet home based business owner it drives me up the wall when I read a sales page and there is one thought that seems to train wreck itself into another thought. You want to make sure you are walking your visitors by the hand through your sales copy. It helps tremendously to read and re-read your squeeze page over and over and over. This way you can stop a collision from occurring with your thoughts.

2. Spread the call to action around

Think of this in terms of a spreader you would use to fertilize your grass. When you walk in a row it throws the seeds in multiple locations in front, to the left, and the right. Well, in an internet home based business the same applies to your squeeze page. I suggest using a “join now”, “sign me up’, or “buy now”, link or button in the middle and the end of your page.

Another prominent spot to place the call to action is in the “p.s.” Think of this as the “last call” opportunity to hook, line, and sink your potential visitor.

If your squeeze page copy is compelling enough it can actually pull potential subscribers and/or buyers in the middle of the page. People are different and you never know how little or how much it takes to convert someone.

3. Create urgency in the reader’s mind

One-time only offers work great for upsells and even initial sales in any internet home based business. Another tactic is to create a bundle offer. Whichever route you take be sure to follow through with it. If you say it’ll be around for 2 days be sure to stick to that. If you don’t, you stand a good chance of losing credibility.

Be sure to flat out tell the visitor that you will be taking the offer down in 2 days and that they need to act now or else they’ll miss out.

You could even raise the price every 15 or 20 sales. This will create a jolt of urgency in the visitor and will cause them to hesitate at passing up your offer because it may be even more expensive the next time around.

4. Provide a photo of yourself

“Say cheese!” I recommend this to any internet home based business owner. Having your picture on the web page builds a significant amount of trust with your visitor. It shows them that you actually exist and that you understand the value of your product and that you’re willing to “show up” for it.

Follow these 4 simple tips and you’re bound to have great success in your internet home based business. Writing squeeze pages doesn’t have to be hard. Follow these principles and it won’t be long until you’re able to enjoy new subscribers and sales.

There are a huge number of web design companies on the web market offering their services and struggling for our attention. But we are not so naive as to think that all they are good at designing. Of course only some of them can satisfy our needs and demands. It is always a challenge to find a good and professional web design team. First of all, you must take into account not only general look and feel of your website but also the effectiveness of it. A Web-design Company in Birmingham investigating this given topic has come to some conclusions. With regards to this I hope that the listing below helps you.

1. Define you initial goals.

Firstly you must realise the general idea of your website as well as the audience you are targeted at. Then make a list of primary tasks and requirements you want to achieve. After analysing profoundly and thoroughly all these points start to look for a suitable web designing company that can satisfy all your needs and requirements.

2. When you are absolutely sure what you want to do and how your site will look, then it is high time to do deep research regarding design companies in order to choose the best company. If you do not know any company, navigate the internet; ask your friends, colleagues, and make the research. Create a rich data base of the web design companies, then call them in or visit them thus you will make your own balanced opinion and the right decision.

3. Next thing is portfolio.

Company’s portfolio is a very important and useful thing. Put your attention to the company’s portfolio and examine it well. It will give you again an opportunity to make the right decision about a particular company. What does a portfolio represent? A portfolio shows the previous works and projects of the company, It is its showpiece showing its work their experience and work approach. Website design is not just a programming or a science; it is art form in itself. Also a good portfolio demonstrates what kind of projects has been undertaken by the company, the number of projects, their clients etc. Portfolio reveals a very important thing- company’s style and capability.

4. Website development. Once the web design company is selected you must draw your attention to one considerable point. The process of web development is rather complex and it consists of many phases. The company must take the responsibility of this process as well as show experience and proficiency in performing it. In other words, the company should have a strong management team in order to gather all aspects and components of the web development process into one final deliverable that is the web site. A chaotic development will not lead to a successful result.

5. Safe and secure. Security is the most important factor. Due to the fact that building a site you provide a web design company with private information, they have to protect all confidential info. Also a website company is normally obliged to sign a Non- Disclosure Agreement with you for your protection.

6. Admin area. This area is designed for you, from it you are able to add updates to your site, change info, make some content updates, add or delete pictures etc. The admin area like the main site must be designed with simple and clean navigation in mind.

You should now be familiar just with the common and wide spread best parameters and practices in choosing the perfect web design Birmingham company for creating a successful site.