Website Design - Tips on Using Graphics For Your Website

One of the factors when creating the content of your website is the graphics. How much do you use or is just plain and simple sufficient? Adding them can make a website cool but the most important factor to consider is whether it improves the conversion rate.

As with everything on your website, you need to test to see what works. There are many factors to consider when you use graphics.

• Size - Depending on the graphics, they can be rather large. This can be a bit of a problem and may take longer for your website to load up. However, not everyone has fast broadband internet speed so you will have to careful.

• Relevant - You have to make sure that the ones you use are relevant to your sales copy. It is no good having a dragon breathing fire if you are selling golf tuition videos. It may look cool but does nothing to take the visitor to the buy button. If anything it causes a distraction and potentially drives them away.

• Professional look - Putting some graphics on your website that are relevant would be better than nothing at all. They can add value as the visitor can visualize the product and makes the sales copy more interesting. A nice touch is using buttons or ticks for each benefit of the product. It gives the copy a more professional look.

You need to strike a balance when using them, not too big and making sure it is relevant to what you are offering your visitor.

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Do You Need a Freelance Web Designer?

There are many benefits of using a freelance web designer when compared to hiring to a big web design company. This article discuss the benefits that you could get from using the services from a freelance web designer instead of an expensive big web design company.

First and foremost, web designing costs are very low in comparison because of economy of scale. A freelance web designer can offer you cheaper service and better support in most cases. They don't have the huge overheads like bigger companies do, therefore they can offer you more for less.

Another benefit of using a freelance web designer is that you will be able to contact the designer directly, and also his/she can offer supports outside office hours. Once you have your website going you will be amazed by the number of questions that you will have. So now imagine there is a middle person in the communications, which is what usually happens in larger website design companies. Your questions would take much longer to be answered because the receptionist have to pass your questions to the someone who's dealing with your website project. And by the time your question gets to the person who is designing your website, the meanings will have been misinterpreted and the end result is something that 'kind of' close to what you originally asked for.

If your project is handled by someone who has more of an emotional interest in your website becoming a success then the end result will show. Most freelance web designer are working because they love what they are doing; they are passionate about it. If a freelance website designer cannot show you some examples of successful websites in his portfolio then he might someone who is just starting out. This doesn't mean that he or she is incapable of producing good work. In fact, if you know what to look for and you are patience enough, you can find someone who can design a perfect website for you for a fraction of what most professionals would charge.

After considering the above, you should be able to see the advantages you will get from using a freelance web designer. In case you're wondering, most freelancers can and should provide you with proper invoices. This means that your website costs can be treated as a tax deductible business expense. Also, you will receive better after-sales supports in most cases.

If you would like to find out more about web design freelancing you can visit http://www.squidoo.com/freelance-web-designing

Preparing For a New Website

Preparing for a new website So you're ready to take your business to the next level. You have thought about it for many months and now you're finally ready. You want to have a website built and you are ready to get started - Are you TRULY prepared?

Start building your Advertising and Marketing Beast If you have a basic strategy in mind and an idea of what you want your website to do, then you are well on your way. However, if you do not have an idea but you're positive you are ready to build a website - be prepared and know what to expect when you finally sit down to talk with your web developer.

You Should Know Your Business Sounds simple doesn't it?

Of course you know your business, why else would you want to have a website built?

Surprisingly enough, many business owners want a website but they have no idea of what they want the website to say. It's not uncommon for business owners to have a basic vision of what their site is going to be like and yet, they still have no idea of what the website should say or do. If you fall into this category, keep reading - there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Content, Content, And More Content! If you have ever heard the phrase "Content Is King," that's because content is what makes your website marketable to search engines. Without lots of content, your website better be the next YouTube or Facebook. Niche websites that are so popular do not need to have a lot of content because of their sheer popularity. Since you probably are not building the next YouTube or Facebook, let's go back to focusing on your content. Without quality content, search engine optimization can be very difficult.

Hire a Copywriter or Become One! It's easy to hire a copywriter to come up with verbiage for your website but it also costs more money. Building content is time consuming to research what you do and write about it. Either way, nobody is going to know your business the way YOU DO so the best advice is to do your homework, take your time to think out your game plan, and put togther a list of what you provide to your clients. The biggest mistake you can make is to leave it all in the hands of someone who doesn't know your business the way you do. Most Internet marketing companies have a copywriter on board who can help you along the way. Just make sure you are proactive with your website. Otherwise, you could lose out to your competition because your content is lacking!

Plan Your Content and WORK with your Developer A good web development company will work with you and your content. Keep in mind, web designers might not know your business but they will learn a lot about it while building your site. Good developers will always have suggestions on making your website an online marketing machine, so try to be as flexible as possible with your content. Your content will play the major role in helping your SEO specialist market your website to achieve good rankings. The more content you can provide, the easier it will be for both parties and it will also shorten the time period it takes to build your website.

Darren E
Modern Media Studios
Internet Marketing & Web Design
http://modernmediastudios.com

How to Choose the Perfect Web Design Company?

Study the Market

The choices when it comes to a web design company offering its services are almost infinite. Therefore, you must be very careful when you choose a company to take care of your designing needs, and stay away from fly-by-night operators. There are some who will promise you the moon, but you must be wary of such companies. Try getting a fair idea of the kind of common services offered by websites and the costs involved. Also ascertain whether you can bargain with website development companies or not.

References are the Key

When it comes to making a choice, the fact remains that you must get references from the people around you. You might find the names of many a web design company from various sources; but you will never know if they are good or not. However, if you get some reference from friends, business contacts etc, you can get a fair idea as to the efficacy of such companies.

Clientele

Once you shortlist a few companies that you like, you need to get some idea about their clients. Such information is usually available on the website of such companies. A good web design company has an eclectic mix of clients, both big and small. Try and get in touch with its smaller clients and ask about the quality of services. You can have a fair idea of the type of web Design Company from the amount of importance it gives its smaller clients.

Bonus Services

Quite a large number of website designing companies offer the benefits of bonus services that might be essential for you in the long run. Try and search for such companies.

Wild Net Technologies is a web design company that has emerged as one of the primary choices of those who want an effective website design.

To find out more on Website Design India please visit Website Design India and for SEO visit SEO India.

5 Tips to Build a SEO - Friendly Web Design

A well-designed website with no search engine exposure will not benefit your business. SEO or search engine optimization is the bed rock of online marketing. The purpose of your website is an online marketing brochure that sells your product or service. But in order for your website to deliver the results, you must drive targeted traffic to your website. And the best way to get targeted traffic to your website is to implement SEO.

SEO is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to your website from search engines via natural search result listings. Typically, the earlier your site appears in the search results list, the more visitors your will receive from the search engine.

Before you can implement SEO, your website must be SEO-friendly. Here are 5 tips to build a SEO-friendly web design:

1. Do not build a Flash website. Search engines cannot understand a website that is built entirely on Flash technology. When search engines cannot understand what your website is about, you are not going to achieve high rankings on the search result pages. Build a HTML website that search engines can understand. If you want your website to be interactive, you can include a flash banner on it.

2. Clean coding. When the designer slices your website, make sure that the coding is clean and simple. When the coding is too complicated, search engines cannot read it easily.

3. Use search engine friendly URLs. An example of a search engine friendly URL is "search-engine-optimization.html". Use a hyphen instead of underscore to separate each word in the naming conventions. You may come across sites that have URL that looks like this: "index.php/?id=20&product=1&cat=5". Search engines cannot understand this kind of URL and this will affect the performance of your SEO effort.

4. Tag your pages with important keywords. Important keywords must be placed in your Title, Meta, H1 and ALT tags. You should conduct a keyword research and find out what your prospects are using to search for your product or service. These are the keywords that you should optimize for. You should place the more important keywords at the front of the tags.

5. Write good and relevant content. Content is king when it comes to SEO. Search engines give what searchers are looking for. If you do not have keyword-optimized content, it is very hard for your website to rank high on search engines. When you are doing the copywriting, make sure that you don't stuff too many keywords in it.

These are just some of the tips to design a SEO-friendly website. Bear these tips in mind when you create or revamp your website.

Cheow Yu Yuan is the co-founder of OOm, an online marketing agency providing web design services.

Check out more web design portfolio here.

Please feel free to republish this article on your website, or distribute it to your friends or clients, as long as you leave the resource box intact.

Visit Toronto Graphic Design

Sales Letter Templates - What to Look For in Sales Letter Template Designs

If you are planning to build a sales letter website to promote a product or service, you may be looking at various sales letter templates available to purchase or download. If this is your first time designing a sales letter or product landing page, this can be somewhat overwhelming. In this article, we are going to examine five things to look for in a template design:

1. Template Formatting - Is the template HTML or for a content management system (CMS)? Depending on your skill and comfort level, you may be more interested in plain HTML or a theme for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal or some other CMS. Keep in mind that CMS themes can be easier to setup.
2. Avoid Leaky Designs - Does the template design have any leaks that may distract website visitors from buying your product or signing up for your service? You want a design that minimizes these types of distractions. You want your visitors to keep on the focus - which is learning about and making a decision to buy your product.
3. Keep it Simple - Does the design require graphics to be created? If it has a header, footer and other graphics, you may have to outsource to a graphic designer. This will increase your expenses, but not necessarily increase the web page's conversion. Many times basic, plain vanilla looking sales pages outperform the professional looking ones.
4. Avoid Being Trendy - Does the template have fonts and colors that are visually appealing to you and easy to read? Sometimes templates may look flashy because they use creative fonts and colors, but you want to create a sales letter that all your visitors will like. Some will be turned off by outlandish colors or artsy fonts. Stick with basic, black or dark colored fonts on a white or near white background.
5. Have Full Control - Do not use a template that requires that you link back to the designer. If you choose to do so, that is fine, but you should have the right to remove the links if you choose (especially if you are paying for it!).

Jason Keith is a full time Internet Marketer and the Developer of the Popular WordPress Sales Letter Theme which allows you to use the full power of the WordPress Content Management System to Write Your Sales Letters, Landing Pages or Squeeze Pages. You can go http://wp-salesletters.com to learn more.

Top 5 Signs That Your Website Sucks

Small business owners may not have the resources to invest heavily in their web presence and finding solutions to problems can be like finding a needle in a haystack. You know something's wrong but don't have the faintest idea how to fix it. Is it a technical issue? Are your ads not performing well? Don't know what kind of traffic you're getting? Website problems can fall into a myriad of categories. So if you think your website sucks, a) it probably does, and b) you should read on.

1. You Aren't Getting Traffic

You're excited about the big, expensive job the design team just finished on your site. It looks like a million bucks! Well it's a shame it isn't making you a darn cent. Just because it exists doesn't mean people know about it. Announce it to the world by submitting it to reputable directories and sharing your useful content with others on social bookmarking sites (you do have useful content, don't you? If not, I'll cover this later). You can even do some link exchanges -- provided the sites you exchange with are reputable -- just to get your site crawled early on. Further optimize it for search engines by following good SEO practices, building quality content and generating inbound links from other sites. Once you do that, you'll need to monitor progress with web analytics software. Google Analytics is free and it has a slick interface. And we know you like pretty things seeing as how you broke the bank on your web site design.

If you're looking for high ROI, invest your own time in learning search engine marketing. Better yet hire a qualified SEO firm if you have the budget for it. Don't settle for quick-fix promotional ideas. Build long-term exposure and a solid reputation by attaining high rankings, keeping email/newsletter lists, targeted ad placement and social media participation.

2. You Have Worthless Content

What defines worthless content? Without knowing what topic your web site covers it's tough to say, but if you have nothing that sets you apart from your top competitors then I'd say you aren't in good shape. If you don't know what kind of content people are looking for on the Internet today, take a peek at what's popular on social bookmarking sites. Observe some of the story titles on the front page of Digg.com:

"Guinness Stout Beef Stew Recipe for St. Patrick's Day"
"In Move to Digital TV, Confusion Is in the Air"
"Kim Jong-Il Interprets Sunrise As Act Of War"
"Automatic bacon dispenser?"
"The 5 Best Obama Photomosaics on Flickr"

Words I would use to describe these topics, in order, are: seasonal, informative, satirical, comical, and trendy. This information is popular because it's appealing in its uniqueness and is relevant to today's market. To set yourself apart from your competition, you need to get creative. If you're the kind of person who had trouble painting by numbers, then hire someone creative. Professional copy writers can be well worth the investment. Create free tools your customers will want to use; write funny or interesting commentary in a blog about your industry; put a new spin on a traditional product or service or offer seasonal discounts. Create a comprehensive F.A.Q. on your site that covers topics your competitors don't.

Take the time to beef up your content. Be innovative - don't be afraid to think outside the box. Use the top competitor in your field as a measuring stick.

3. You Have No Call-to-Action

Poor promotional language can have a sabotaging effect if visitors aren't drawn to your conversion pages. A conversion page is any page that acts as the final step in a visitor submitting a form, making direct contact or purchasing a product online. Obscuring those pages or confusing the visitor on where to go next can make them leave your site. Internet users have a short attention span - give them a clear direction when navigating your web site.

Use your web analytics software again to find out what pages visitors are landing on first. If your home page gets the most traffic, make sure there are clear links to your sub-topics. If inner pages are your most popular landing pages, find out if the traffic is targeted. Once you know the type of visitor and the specific page they land on, then you can start marketing your content more accurately.

The bottom line is to always make clear why, and how, visitors can buy your product. Don't get too cute with multiple steps, options or convoluted language.

4. You're Getting Traffic But No Sales

Are you sure the traffic is relevant? If you're running a pay-per-click campaign, ensure your ads are geo-targeted properly and your ad text or landing pages appeal to your customers. For organic search engine placement, have you done keyword research and analysis before optimizing your content? Look at your web stats and see where your visitors are coming from. What keywords were they searching for when they landed on your site? Are the referring sites relevant to your industry or topic? How much time does the visitor spend on each page? Sales won't come if your visitors aren't interested in what you're selling. This is why preliminary keyword analysis is so important to search engine marketing.

If you're running ads it's always good practice to experiment with different ad campaigns. If you put all your eggs in one basket you run the risk of losing out on potential revenue. Elements of your ads that you can change are:

- ad text
- landing page
- specific network your ads are shown across
- topics on which you focus the campaign
- geo-locations targeted

Remember, it doesn't pay to skimp on initial product/market research and analysis.

5. You're Getting Relevant Traffic But No Sales

This problem could signal a technical error or navigation problem with your site. Make sure you thoroughly test all functionalities on various web browsers and systems. Submit test forms. Do a link check to spot possible broken links. Is your web hosting service reliable?

If you've ruled out technical issues as the cause then turn your attention to the content and customer base. Has your market taken a downturn? Can the lack of sales be attributed to the poor economy? Have you fallen behind your competition in product quality, selection or pricing? Does your web site's navigation system confuse users? Your web site is the first line of contact between the business and potential customer, but it's not the only step you need to worry about. Telephone operators or online payment systems can present their own issues.

This is moving away from web site problems but if any part of the sales process takes place away from the site, investigate those areas of your business as well.

If you're pulling out your hair over a problem with your site and these tips still haven't helped, feel free to post a comment and I'll personally have a peek at your site.

With eight years in the search engine marketing industry, John Metzler of FreshPromo knows what works and what doesn't regarding website success. His strong grasp on visitor usability and analysis, along with a highly-skilled SEO perspective, can be seen through his professional SEO services. Read the FreshPromo blog for more free tips and commentary.

You Don't Have to Be a Geek to Know How to Create a Web Page

Many people today who are in their 40's, 50's, or even older, have no idea what is going on with computers.

They may be able to turn one on and send an email, browse the web, or check their stock prices, but that is it. For them, the thought of developing a website seems like a far away dream. They may want to build a web page of their own, but not know how to create a web page at all. And, that is where quality software comes in.

Creating a web page is now faster and easier than it has ever been. You no longer have to know programming, figure out intricate HTML code, or know the hexadecimal codes for particular colors in order to know how to create a web page. No lack of experience or technologically capability can stop a budding web site developer anymore. There is plenty of inexpensive and useful software available to help him or her own their way.

One of the most popular pieces of website development software is XSitePro. This software is more than just a way to build a web page. It helps you manage an entire site, from adding blogs and advertising to a site, to integrating newsfeeds, applications, and media into even the most basic of sites.

You don't have to be a computer genius anymore to know how to create a web page. You can do it easily with the help of the right product. Take the time to find the right product for you, one that is appropriate for your skill level and needs, and you will have your web page up in no time.

Brenda Ondatje is an entrepreneur, online income generation whiz, and a contributor of popular website WebBriefCase.Com.Au. She provides meaty tips on topics like how to create a web page and more. Grow your income exponentially today --- learn how when you visit the website now!

A Smoking Web Gets Results

Web designing is more than having a cute website; the back end needs to be well connected! After all it is not just what those visitors see when they click a page, but it is also about what that website sees about them. Building websites has never been easier, but getting results is now tougher than it ever has been. There are many technicalities that can prevent website owners from understanding how their visitors feel about their experience, their actions and where they have come from. All of this information is vital to the site owner because the more they can pinpoint their results the better they can make their site, therefore increasing profitability.

There are different types of websites and each should be addressed accordingly. For example, those sites that are geared around mass selling should probably be based around an e-commerce type set up. This makes it easy for visitors or shoppers to maneuver the site and easing the buying process. Most of these sites can be specific and give the web owner information by keeping up with what is purchased, inventory and the behavior of most of the visitors. Not only does this help the web owner streamline, but they can also have a better understanding of the products, which ones are selling and what to cut back on.

Informational sites can also be used to capture information about visitors. Most of these web designs are built around opt in lists so that the web owner can collect the contact information of their visitors. Good information web sites are easy to design, but now the fresh content is another subject!

Are you really interested in driving massive traffic to your website?

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It is True! Good Looks Make Life Oh So Much Easier!

Ever see on television or maybe read about people who will put on a fat suit to make themselves look obese? They were trying to find out what people with that problem were experiencing on a day to day basis.

Needless to say, it was pretty blatant as to how others viewed them. Usually the person doing this was a fairly attractive woman. I remember hearing of this one person who did it was eating a donut somewhere and people were looking at them in disgust!

The same thing applies to all else in life. Maybe it is a family pet or a persons yard. If something or someone looks good, people respond positively to it or them.

Probably not as good an analogy as I was hoping for but, this applies to the internet and your web site as well!

If you have a web site and are trying to attract leads for your business opportunity or home based business, you really must have a good looking web site...one that attracts!

I am no expert in web design. In fact, when it comes to color schemes or placing images on my site, I struggle a lot. What I do know though is what I like. We all have different likes and opinions differ. Making eye candy with your web site though that can please the largest part of your audience is what matters. I think everyone knows content should be of great quality but what really attracts visitors and keeps them on your web site?

It is the visual part of the experience!

Like I said, I am no expert but recently I have seen many grey dark themes on web sites related to SEO (search engine optimization) and network marketing. These things have dark pages with white lettering which is not so great for reading. I do not get it or these sites. It sometimes makes me think of haunted houses.

They might work for certain topics however, SEO and network marketing are not one of them.

Sometimes you will see sites that are "all over the place"! All kinds of colors, images, and ads with possibly a flash header and a ton of flash banners. The compilation of it all makes the site overwhelming or confusing.

It is just my own opinion but I noticed that there are certain sites I like being on. They all shared these details:

White page (where your content is at) with black lettering.

A good looking header that fits the theme. Flash is good if done right.

A good color scheme. There are places on the web that you can find by typing in "web site color schemes" and they provide color wheels that show which colors go with each other.

Sidebars are not completely loaded down and the colors blend in with each other. I am even talking about those flash banners. If you have them or have created them, why place them all next to each other with colors that clash.

Stay away from too much red. Those sites freak me out for some reason.

Video is good! Audio is as well.

Obviously, there are other things involved such as SEO optimization or making your site easy to get around but all in all, you do want your site to look good. As a matter of fact, looks help SEO because some of Googles' algorithms are specific to the stickiness of your visitors in how long do they stay.

Making your site attractive is very important to long term success.

Jim Eberle is currently working with a diverse team of like minded individuals in a co-op type atmosphere to build our business opportunity. This growing team currently consists of people from Ireland, Australia, England, Canada, and the United States. This team of network marketers are combining our efforts to obtain high positions in search engines like Google for higher level type keyword phrases.

Where as many people usually fail when trying to build a home based business to supplement their incomes, we work together to ensure everyone has success. Anyone who becomes affiliated with us becomes successful as that is how "we" as a group become successful!

The goal here of course is for many people doing a little instead of several people doing a lot to ensure that success. All traffic and customers are derived from SEO. We do not call anyone unless they request it. We have a number of web sites but I can only submit two here. To learn more go to...

http://www.businessopportunitycoop.com/

http://www.leads.businessopportunitycoop.com/