How Important Is Your Blog 's Design?

Blogs have increased popularity over this past months. Many people have started to create their personal blogs to express their thoughts and feelings. Internet companies have also started their blogs to inform consumers on the latest product news and reviews.

Because of this, blogs are also being used as internet marketing media. Before, internet marketing is done by placing banners and links on popular websites, such as news and information sites. Links were also included on newsletters and marketing letters sent to the members of their mailing lists.

Many people spend time reading blogs. People read their friend 's blogs, their favorite author 's blogs, blogs on topics that they are interested in, and blogs on product reviews. With the increasing popularity of blogging, it is even feared that people rely on blogs to get the latest news.

While getting news reports from blogs isn't reliable, some people look for product reviews through blogs. In some cases, this is more dependable. While it is true that some media persons are being paid to write good reviews about a certain product, blog writers write about their actual experiences on products and services from a company.

Since there are many people who read and start their own blogs, blogs are a good medium to market a product. With the increasing blog traffic means increase in product sales.

Blog traffic can be increased by joining affiliate programs and sites, which will list your blog under a certain search category or name. You can also have your blog advertised in popular websites. This, however, will cost some money and is not advisable if you have just started blogging.

A writer who has just launched his/her blog will want as much traffic as possible to increase advertisements on the site. Also, some advertisers pay every time their link is clicked or the page that has their link is viewed.

When you have increased traffic on your blog, you should try to keep you visitors coming back and recommending your blog to friends and colleagues.

This can be done by having informative or amusing content and good blog layout and design. You may develop your blog 's content or you can also acquire the services of a web content writer to provide you with the blog articles.

The blog 's layout and design also plays a big role. While most of the companies offering free blog hosting offer pre-selected templates, there are also some that allows customization that if you utilize this feature correctly can increase your blog 's traffic.

Here are a few tips to make your blog stand out from the millions of blogs out there that have standard designs.

- Customize the banner

The banner usually has the most generic designs that are common to the blogs from a blogging company or service.

You can personalize this banner by having a graphic with the dimensions of the banner. You can also edit the graphic so that it will also include the title of your blog.

In this case, you can create your own graphic or you can purchase professional looking graphics online for less than $10.

- Personalizing photos

Of course, most of the photos that you will be posting will be your own. However, if you don't customize the photos before posting them, you may miss maximizing the enhancing benefits graphics can add to the page. Adding photo borders can help the photo stand out from the page.

It can also add to the design of your blog. You can choose a standard border or you can also create your own border which can be associated with your blog 's templates.

- Add a favicon

Don't you think sites with icons on the address bar before the website 's URL are cool? Many people do. These favicons add a professional look to the URL. These easy to do using photo or graphic editing softwares.

- Check out blog templates, layouts, backgrounds, textures and skins from sites

There are sites that offer free blog templates, layouts, backgrounds, textures and skins. You can make use of these so your blog will not look generic like most of the blogs hosted by the service provider.

- Include RSS feeds

This is a cool way to inform people with newsreaders about your blog headlines. Tutorials on RSS feeds are available on the internet.

- Audio makes your blog more personal

Not only does audio personalizes the blog; it can also keep your visitors coming back. You can try having streaming radio stations, mp3 file or playlists loading with your blog.

- Advertisements

If you have signed-up with Google Ad-Sense, which I am sure you would like to do, make sure that the ads are conveniently placed that these will not hinder your readers' ease in accessing the information on your blog.

Try using these tips and you can definitely increase and retain traffic on your blog.

About the Author

Jo Han Mok is the author of the #1 international business bestseller, The E-Code.

He shares his amazing blueprint for creating million dollar internet businesses

at: http://www.InternetMillionaireBlueprints.com

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Designing A Website; The Dual Functionality Of SEO And Usability

Many businesses believe that their SEO or search engine optimisation efforts will yield almost instant results. Maybe with some of the more unscrupulous SEO methods this could be possible but if following a methodology that attempts to comply with the search engines rather than hoodwink them, the process will undoubtedly take a little longer. However, there is important factor that must be remembered should a website be successful; no matter how high it ranks in search engine listings, if the human user does not enjoy the website experience the site is bound to founder.

This is a problem for many SEO specialists who are asked to produce results quickly by clients. Understandably a business rarely wants to hear that its website is poorly made and not conducive to selling products or services. Unfortunately it is often the job of the optimisation specialist to inform companies that their website will have to be improved should the high rankings result in increased trade and hence profits.

To use a common analogy having a website that is brilliantly optimised but poorly designed is like having a bar that has been effectively advertised but when customers come through the door it neither has the staff nor the stocks to deal with the custom. In the industry the generally used term is 'usability'; it refers to the experience that the human user has when visiting a website.

Naturally businesses would not prefer to have the time or expense of re-designing a website; unfortunately it is a prerequisite of online trade success. Like SEO the design of a website requires a bespoke approach to the market or industry, it must be conducted with careful consideration of both technical advisors and business managers. It is only when great usability is combined with efficient SEO that a website will experience true success in online business.

The purpose of the optimisation process is to bring customers to a website; it is not the purpose of this process to ensure these visitors buy products or services. Conversion rates are highly important to online business and if a company can convert even half of its visits it is doing well. High conversion rates however can only be secured with good design and usability; if the customer cannot find their way around a website their chances of buying an item are severely diminished.

This usability is in some cases hard to quantify. One website designer may feel that their design is simple to use and effectively displays the products. This however may not be the case; it is only through effective testing that the usability of a site will be ascertained. While the human user is ultimately important the automated user, e.g. the search engine spiders should not be forgotten, hence it is important for your SEO team to be aware of any changes being made to the website, if they are not changes may be made that will harm rankings considerably.

Catering for the needs of both automated and human users is the name of the game. While it is important to keep the search engine algorithms happy it is equally important to create a site that is able to present products or services effectively, subsequently increasing sales. It is hoped that this article has set out the importance of this dual functionality in successful websites; it is only by subscribing to both that online business success will be attainable.

About the Author

Internet marketing expert Thomas Pretty looks at the importnace of SEO when combined with well designed websites.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

How to Use Clever Deck Design Techniques

Whenever it is possible and practical, select deck design options that either de-emphasize construction imperfections or make it much simpler to correct any mistakes made during the building process. There are a number of techniques that can be used in relation to a deck.

Technique #1 - Hide the footings and the posts. Deck support posts can sometimes end up being a little bit off-center on top of the footings for one reason or another. In any case an inch or two will not affect the strength of the deck foundation.

However, anyone looking at the post and footing from the side might not be too appreciative of their appearance. People will not be able to see the imperfect footings if the joists are cantilevered 24 inches or more beyond the support beam.

Hiding the footings well under the deck is also a great method for hiding the beam so if the deck and the beam aren't perfectly aligned, it will not show. The large beam pieces, usually an unattractive pair of pressure treated two-by boards, are often ugly to look at, so hiding the beam under the deck actually will make the deck look better.

This is especially true and important when high end materials are used in the deck design such as redwood or cedar for the decking.

Technique #2 - Let the lumber run wild. Although all of the parts of the deck will eventually be trimmed neatly to exact lengths, try to wait until the last minute in order to make the cuts. Leave the posts, joists and decking too long when they are first installed. Then cut them later to the correct size.

This method is called letting the lumber run wild and it can certainly be an important construction technique for building a great looking deck. Professionals have utilized this trick for many years.

For example, if the wall of the house bows out and all of the joists are cut initially to exactly the same length, then the bowed out wall will simply be duplicated. Instead let the joists run wild. Snap a chalk line across the tops and cut them all off in perfect alignment.

Technique #3 - Attach built-up beams to the posts. When beams are placed on top of several posts it is a necessity to trim all of the posts to exactly the same height prior to installing the beams. This can be a very challenging task, especially when a long beam span might be required to connect 5, 6 or more posts.

A simpler method is to let the posts run wild upward. Create a beam composed of 2 or more pieces of two-by lumber that are attached to the sides of the vertical posts with lag screws or carriage bolts, washers and nuts.

Using this design technique it is possible to check and recheck the beam for level before installing and tightening the lag screws or carriage bolts and correcting any mistakes as the work progresses. Then it is simply a matter of cutting the posts flush to the top of the beam only after the beam is in place and fastened securely. Any construction plans should show this method clearly to avoid confusion when framing the deck.

Technique #4 - Use overhangs and underhangs. In situations where 1 piece of lumber supports another it seems most practical to trim the upper piece flush with the bottom piece in order to create a smooth, uniform corner. However, a gap may open up after a period of time especially in situations where deck lumber might be prone to expansion and contraction.

In many cases, a planned overhang or underhang can look better than a flush cut. It is usually a good idea to let decking overhang the joists by an inch or two. Railing pieces can also look best overhung as well. A rail overhanging a post is a benficial way to prevent water from collecting in the end grain of the 4x4 or 6x6 post.

Although it is not done very often, letting the beam extend well beyond the end joists can be especially attractive and add much to the finished look and style of the deck. Consider carving the ends of the deck beams or even cutting them on an angle to add a bit of artistic detail and flair.

Technque #5 - Install added-on railings. It is quite possible to design a deck so that the posts supporting the beam extend up through the decking and eventually become the main supports for the railing system. This sounds like a good idea, however, a longer post is much more difficult to install perfectly plumb. If the railing posts are not plumb or not exactly aligned, then it is almost a certainty that the railing will look less than attractive.

A much more forgiving technique is to construct the deck first. Once that has been completed, the railing support posts can be bolted to the outer joists or fascia. Once that has been accomplished, the rails and balusters can be installed in place and fastened. This type of added-on railing system can easily be just as sturdy as one using the continuous post construction method.

Technique #6 - Build the stairway after the deck. Stairway design can be a complicated issue. It can take a fair amount of measuring and figuring to find out just where the stairway will end. So it is more practical to wait until the basic deck is complete before the position of the stairway posts and the landing slab are worked out.

The posts that support the stair railings quite often require extra lateral support. Instead of doing the traditional post-on-footing arrangement, stair posts can be extended down inside the footing forms with concrete poured around them for extra strenth.

In building a stairway use screws in place of nails. If it is necessary to reposition a baluster or pull up a stair tread, it will be far easier to remove the screws fastening it. In all likelihood, the baluster or tread board will not be damaged and can easily be reused.

A successful deck design is the product of extensive research, careful planning, a bit of imagination and careful attention to proven construction techniques and will result in an outdoor deck space that will service the needs and lifestyle of family members and guests for years to come.

About the Author

Richard Vande Sompel is a professional deck builder of 35 years and over 850

decks built and is the author of "How to Plan, Design and Build a Deck from

Start to Finish". To Discover More About

Deck Design and Claim your 2

FREE Deck Plans, Insider Report, MP3 Audio and discover everything to know about

building a deck visit:

http://www.DeckBuildingRevealed.com

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How to Design a Slick and Professional Website

It 's amazing how quickly business changes. Before the internet, the only contact you had with customers was using the phone and face to face.

Now, due to the advent of e-commerce via the internet, customers can discern much about your company without leaving their office or home.

As such, it is very important for all businesses to build a website that can communicate with your visitors even when you are not at work. Most importantly, a professional site will go a long way to converting these visitors into customers!

It should come as no surprise that many companies pay huge sums of money to web design firms to achieve a glossy and professional presence on the web. However, this is not always necessary.

By following these basic tips, you will be able to create a professional and slick looking website that your visitors will love.

- Your site needs to be very easy to navigate. Use navigation buttons that are placed in prominent and obvious places. Moreover, you must ensure that they are clearly marked.

- The navigation links should be placed in the same place on each of your site 's web pages. Preferably, these should be located in the same order with the same icon or picture. This gives your website a standard theme and makes it easier for your potential clients to navigate.

- You should make sure that people know which page of your website they are on. Using a "breadcrumb trail" at the top of the page makes it very easy for people to find exactly where they are.

- You should make your website easy to use. You must also avoid filling it up with text because white space is important too. Make sure that the text is formatted so that it fits on your screen without having to scroll left and right.

- You should also try to group relevant content together so that all of the information is readily available in a logical order.

- Make sure that people still know that they are on your website and ensure that you are constantly making them aware of your branding. This can be achieved simply by using a common theme and making use of the same pictures and logos throughout the site.

You should also maintain the same color scheme so that the theme is consistent. This will have the added benefit of reinforcing your corporate image, which should, of course, be in keeping with the image of your industry. Finally, use similar fonts throughout the website to ensure a uniform look.

Additionally, you must make sure that the graphics you use are appropriate to your target audience. If, for example, you are a business that specializes in corporate tax law, then you should not use flippant images such as cartoon characters. Conversely, you will need to ensure that your business is not too plain if you are selling something flamboyant.

You endeavor to know as much as possible about the types of people that you are trying to attract to your site and, moreover, what features they would appreciate.

An attractive, professional website design makes it much more likely that people will stay on your site long enough to read more about your products and service. As such, website design is a crucial element for the success of your e-commerce business.

About the Author

Chris Coleman is a Business Analyst at Capita Technologies. Capita Technologies provides web design services for a wide variety of clients.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

How to Create a Business Website for Free

Businesses often want to create their website themselves and just want some guidance on what to do and of course how to do it as cheaply as possible.

You can do it for free but you will have fewer headaches if you spend a little on getting a decent hosting package (see later).

So this is my recipe for 1 simple basic business website.

All you need is

1 tech person
1 internet connection

I would recommend you should choose a website designer to be that tech person (preferably me!) but whatever you decide here 's what needs to be done.

1. Decide what the website is for.

You need a clear idea of what the website is for. "I just want a website" isn't good enough. "I just want a website that lets people find out how to contact us and see what products we sell and find out a bit about the history of the company" is a good start.

2. Decide who your audience are and why they will come to your website.

Don't make the mistake of creating a website for yourself. It 's not for you its for your customers. You need to think like them. What do they want and how will they want it presented.

3. Learn some basic Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Accessibility facts.

The biggest problem businesses have is that after they put a lot of effort into creating their website, they type "home made cakes" into Google and where do they appear in the list of results? Nowhere! This is a huge subject and I can't tell you what to do in a paragraph.

Accessibility. It is now the law in many countries that you must make your website accessible to all. Like SEO this is also a big subject that can't be explained in a paragraph.

4. Choose a website design template.

Search for an Open Source Web Design site and you will find thousands of free website designs.

Choose an XHTML 1.0 Strict design that uses CSS and download it.

Check the license file or read the text on the webpage. The designer will probably say that you must keep his or her copyright statement intact.

5. Change it to match what is right for your company.

To edit a website you can use the simplest of editors e.g notepad on windows but it is best to use a dedicated website editor.

6. Fill in the content i.e. your words and images.

Type in all your textual content and insert any images

7. Choose a web address.

You are going to need a website address. Think up a good one and check if it is available. Wait until you get your website hosting sorted out as companies often give a free domain name with the hosting.

8. Choose some web hosting.

Choose some web hosting. i.e. somewhere to put your website. You can find free hosting but I wouldn't recommend it. Paid for hosting costs little and is easily worth it.

* Sign up and wait for them to email you the technical details of how you get your site onto their computers. As part of the sign up you can also usually register a domain name. i.e. the web address for your site. Make sure you put the correct name and address details here as it can be tricky to change later. The person you specify will be the legal owner of the domain.

9. Upload your website.

To upload your website you need an FTP program or if you are using a dedicated website editing application the function is likely to be built in and named "Publish" or something similar.

Good Luck.

About the Author

Mike Kay BEng Cert Web Apps (Open) MBCS is a website designer located in Liverpool, UK. Find out more about free business websites at merseyinternet.com.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Web Design and SEO: Why Pretty Isn't Enough

You have it all figured out: the flash on the front page is beautiful and pertinent to the site, your images are lovely and fit well, your articles are well-written and SEO'd, and you even have your SEO marketing plan set up. Everyone who sees it agrees that your site is professional and slick, well-written and informative.

So why isn't anyone coming and why aren't they returning when they do come?

Web site design is deceptively easy to learn, but difficult to master. Professional librarians with PhDs are often hired for the very large sites, just to keep them organized and searchable. Even smaller sites often are harder to navigate than they should be. And hardly anyone does their internal SEO structuring properly.

To tell you everything you need to know would take a couple of books, but some simple things will make your designing life easier and help you create pages that are both beautiful and friendly.

Internal Site Structure: Usability and Navigability

The way your site is linked together, page to page and level to level, is incredibly important to how the search engines look at it and how your human users get along. If you have beautiful Flash navigation bars and a search box, it may look elegant to you but it is NOT searchable, and search engines will not give you proper credit for the site. It is also not friendly for visually-impaired users. At the very least, include a text-link menu at the bottom to take users to all the sister pages to the one they are on.

By the way, a good rule of thumb is to think about how a blind text-dependent viewer would see your site and design for that person. In essence, web spiders, the little programs that document your site and help search engines rank it, "see" your site just like a person who is visually impaired. Makes you think a whole different way about that pretty Flash, doesn't it?

On with internal links. Bread crumb links became a standard of Yahoo! in 1997, and are still very useful today. These links are found at the top of a page and work as a map for the viewer back out to where they were originally. The deeper your site, the more useful bread crumbs are. They look like this:

home : category level 1 : category level 3 : this page

with each level but the last linked back to the main page for that category. You see them used frequently on catalog sites:

home: clothing : girl 's : pantsuits : pink lamb pantsuit

By using these subtle links, you make it easy for your visitors to move back out to any level they want. And if you have these links at the top, with linking at the bottom to sibling pages, you ensure your user can get anywhere they need to go with about two clicks. In large sites, this isn't practical, but in medium sites it can be a godsend.

Also make sure you use a robots.txt file to protect your private stuff: raw images, CGI-bin, and anything you just don't want out on a Google search. This tiny text file goes into your site 's root directory and only takes a minute to set up. If you have a large and complex site and you want to ensure that it 's thoroughly searched, you can use a sitemap file, an XML file (you can use it even if the rest of your site doesn't use XML) that ensures web spiders map every part of your site you want them to.

Lastly in site usability, make sure that on every single page your user has a simple means to contact you, preferably a link to a Contact Me! page. This is often included at the bottom of the page, but some webmasters find it works better somewhere else. Just be sure it stands out in the page.

SEO: Your Site and Your Campaign

Search engine optimization is the life 's blood of web business. If your site is not optimized, it is not visible. While Google has done a number of things to keep you from cheating by keyword stuffing, using gateway pages, and using invisible text, there are many, many things you can do to make your site SEO friendly and ensure that your ranking is as high as is possible.

Start with the rule of thumb from the last section: the blind man, Every single important element on your page should use alt-text to label it, and each one can use a little SEO. That butterfly jumper on your girl 's clothing page? Label it in alt-text girl 's clothing butterfly jumper.It 's that simple. If you have a database-driven site, you can simply ensure you include an alt-text column for each item 's description and include the right HTML in your page templates; if your site is smaller, you'll need to label each image by hand. You don't have to label every image, mind, but each label is going to give you a little boost.

Use pertinent anchor text for each link. If you're linking to girl 's dresses, that phrase should be used as the link to the other page. This is a way of getting a keyword bump for free the search engines assume that this page will be about girl 's dresses. The worst link: the lazy man 's "you can find it HERE", linking the word here.

Avoid overusing Flash. This is one of the most common errors made by people who are excited about beautiful web pages. Get this one thing straight: a site entirely designed as Flash may look impressive, but it is harder to navigate and will not be picked up well by the search engines, no matter what trick or workaround you use. It fails the blind man 's rule. Use Flash sparingly, and as a way to enhance your site, not to impress visitors. One of the few places that uses it well: the Ikea website, where great Flash is used to demonstrate things like putting furniture together. Another good one: Discover.com, where components are often designed in Flash and embedded in HTML pages.

Try not to use duplicate text. The search engines see this as spam, and it can end with your site being penalized. Instead, use unique text on each page.

Finally, optimize your entire site, not just the home page or the articles section. Your site, if it 's like most sites, can be entered at any level. Assume that your reader may come in anywhere, and design accordingly.

About the Author

Randy Zlobec, Search Engine Marketing Expert and owner of a Myrtle Beach Web Designsearch engine optimization and web site design services. company specializing in

Article Source: Content for Reprint

The Building Of Web Design In Essex

The part of the market that is called web design has grown considerably over the past few years and many new businesses have entered the market along with some very big businesses.

Some of these businesses dealing in web design in Essex and offer specific services that include redesigning and changing a companies existing website as well as giving tips and advice on how to improve their website for the future.

The designing of a website includes placing text and images in the correct place as well making the website look more appealing and recoding it. The market has grown because the internet has become a much more important part of people 's lives and places certain influences on different people. More and more businesses are creating websites on the internet to advertise their products better and reach more people around the world. This means that website design companies are getting busier and busier as many businesses are looking to them to improve their website to allow more people to visit and recognise them.

Companies that deal with web design in Essex are all competing with each other as well as competing with rival companies based around the world. There is also a hidden side to most website design companies as they also offer search engine optimisation services. This coincides with the design process of a website as most companies improve the look and accessibility of a website and then improve its search engine result with a variety of keywords. This is because many different key words will bring up all the different websites of companies. This is where most search engine optimisation and website design companies will help improve the position of the website by using many different key words.

Most of the big website design companies are based in the capital London as this is where they will get most recognition for their services and will receive more business easier. Nevertheless, this does not stop the smaller businesses from other parts of the UK, for example web design in Essex, and in some cases they receive more clients due to a very good website themselves and good advertising.

It also depends on the quality of work that the business does for their clients as a poor job to the client 's website will put them off that website design company in the future. This means that it is not necessarily the reputation that earns the business clients but the quality of time and effort that they put into the work.

Most of the website design companies have portfolios set up on their own website allowing potential customers to be able to view the quality of work they have done in the past for other clients and this allows potential customers to judge whether or not they are good enough to do their website. It also allows them to judge what they have done to the website and whether it looks good or appealing. In addition, most of the companies set up downloadable packages on their websites that allow customers to set up their own websites based on the advice and tools that come in the package. These packages available are from the most popular requests of websites that they receive. An example of this would be a supermarkets website.

All of this in perspective, the website design market is growing everyday with the internet being more and more important in people 's lives and it is becoming very competitive with small businesses going against large corporations.

About the Author

Design expert Catherine Harvey looks at how web design in Essex has taken off and is one of the key areas to visit if you need your website bringing up to date.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Substance and Style are Essentials Of Web Design

Though not as important as writing amazing content, creating an awesome site design is the most important part of leaving a remarkable first impression on your visitors. Contents keeps visitors coming back, but a beautiful web design has its own value. Before you go out and spend hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars on a web site design, make sure you understand the basics.

There are two aspects of a good web design: substance and style. Like we mentioned above, each has its own value, and can make the other aspect even better.

Let 's start out with substance, or the technical aspect of a web design. A well-designed web site should be and easy to navigate. Minimize the distractions. Make sure your visitors can access the blog through a wide variety of web browsers, operating systems, and screen resolutions. You wouldn't want to mess up a beautiful design by only coding it for one browser.

One commonly overlooked component of web design is the page 's loading time. With many designs extremely graphic-heavy, some sites take several seconds to completely load. In an era of web surfing where a visit may only last a couple seconds, it 's important to keep your visitor 's attention while you have it. Images should only be a few kilobytes (10kb - 12kb). Many graphic editors, such as Adobe Photoshop, have a "save for web" feature that will allow you to save the bandwidth and load time by cutting file size.

As far as the aesthetic design goes, it 's important to be "unique," after all, that 's how trends change. But in most cases, it 's better to stick with a traditional conservative design. There 's a whole laundry list of ways that a web layout can get out of hand. Minimize the distractions. Stick with a couple simple fonts. Avoid Flash-based component that steal bandwidth and attention. Cut down on the advertisements, especially ones that aren't extremely profitable. Don't automatically have your favorite song start blasting in the background. And whatever you do, there 's no need to change the visitor 's cursor. Final point: keep it simple, stupid. There 's the end of that rant.

There are quite a few tools out there for a webmaster 's disposal. Some software applications allow you to certify your site meets web standards. These swiss-army knives of design can help your site do it all. It 's possible to check out your site in a variety of browsers and resolutions, as well as making sure the code meets world wide web standards. In most cases, trial versions available for download, if not the full version. For web designers working on a variety of sites, a do-it-all program is a great asset for improving design functionality.

Web design is the telephone line that delivers your message to your visitors. Better yet, your web design is the phone itself. Everybody wants a stylish design, but it 's most important that the message is delivered across effectively.

Designing a web site is a never-ending process. Even after the initial design, you'll find that little tweaks are needed from time to time. With the ever-evolving Internet, even a state of the art web site may need a significant redesign just one year later. Ask your readers for feedback about the site design; after all, they're the ones you're trying to communicate with.

Hiring a web design firm is one to develop a beautiful web site. However, don't forget that functionality is the essential part. Common sense doesn't require a thousand-dollar phone consultant.

About the Author

Now offering high quality VPS Hosting and FFMpeg Hosting. The last thing you need is "down time" for your website!

Article Source: Content for Reprint

What are Website Templates and Where to Get Them

A web template is the means to mass-produce web pages through a pre-defined schematic or layout which you can customize. These templates are created by web designers and sold to multiple users for profits. Templates are available in various types ranging from formula based electronic calculator to a web design. These templates can be used readily with slight modifications by the user. Web templates are similar to any other website that allows the inclusion of text, audio, video and various other applications with it.

A web designer uses certain strategies to make the web templates more visible to the user using the internet. A web template is an element of a web design system. A web design system works on three functional levels and the principles to execute these functions are pre-defined.

The main principles or functions are as follows:

1. A web design system focuses on reducing development time.

2. Web design systems helps in reducing the building cost of an effective website and thus making online presences cheaper.

3. A good web design system makes sure that a webmaster or the owner of the site spends minimal time in maintaining it.

Web templates are created keeping the above three requirements in mind. A web design system helps you produce a number of duplicates in a short span of time. Similarly, many web pages and websites can be developed at lower costs using pre-designed web templates.

A web template is created using some programming instructions. You do not have to equip with any programming or web designing knowledeg in order to modify the template. Every website needs these instructions or guidelines. As mentioned before, web templates are created as a result of some requirements. These same requirements become guidelines while creating a web template. It is very imperative for a webmaster to know that business logic value and the presentation logic value of a master template are two different things.

Once you create a master template it can be used to produce duplicates and thus make profits. A web template has certain amount of inheritance value attached to it. But here inheritance does not mean repetition. It means that when a duplicate is created from the master template only the functions are carried forward and not the design. For example, we use multiple e-mail accounts listed with multiple service providers. These service providers have similar functions but different layouts and designs for their website.

A template should be created in such a manner that it is flexible for use. Most of the clients require that the look and feel of the website be changed while retaining the content. This can be accomplished only when the web template has a flexible design and interface. A template should be such that if you want to re-design it, the process should be really simple. Another important point to be considered is that the template should be able to be re-used and reproduced. Even a novice should be able to use a web template. Till now, we have discussed the science behind creating a web template. Now, let us discuss the practical uses of a web template.

Practical use of a web template:

A web template is nothing but a pre-designed web page used for building websites. You may ask why we use these web templates considering the fact that a web template may be used by various users for building their websites. The reason behind the concept of creating web templates is the growing demand for websites these days. The web templates reduce the development time when compared to developing a site from scratch. Making optimum use of the time is very important when the requirement is high and if you want to reduce the turnaround time. The success of the internet businesses depend on how fast the information is conveyed. Thus the need to develop pages at a faster pace.

Templates help you create websites in a jiffy. Whats more you can customize it suiting your requirements. For example, if you want to add your own logo, optimize the HTML code, experiment with the "Meta Tags!" or copy paste the content into the layout area it can be down with little or no assistance. To do all of this, you do not have to learn any complex programming language or designing tool.

Web Template Resources:

You may have come across various web templates on the internet. These templates are made available for free or for a minimal price. Templates are available in various categories to choose from. You can choose the one which suits your requirement. You may want to choose something which has aesthetically done up or something which has many features and functions on it.

The tool used for creating websites called the Dreamweaver or the Frontpage comes with some basic web templates in the package. The templates gives you the advantage of reusing them again and again. Once you download a template you may need to place the owner 's link on the main page of your website; though it is not compulsory that you use the template in its original state.

Sometimes you may find it difficult to get the template of your choice. Then, what you should do is select a template which comes closest to your requirements and then customize it. You can change practically anything in the web template - be it the design or the color combination 's or the layout. It may be recollected that you do not require a course in web designing to get started with building your own website. As mentioned earlier these web templates are sold under various categories.

Some of the categories under which templates are more commonly sold are:

1. Website Templates
2. Flash Templates
3. Flash Intro Templates
4. osCommerce Templates
5. Corporate Logo Templates
6. Corporate Identity Templates
7. Various Blog and Content Management System Templates

Three Web Template Purchase categories:

Majority of the websites which sell web templates sell them under three categories. These three "Template Purchase Categories" are listed below.

Free Templates: These templates can be downloaded for free but you need to retain the owner 's link on the main page of the website. You can customize these templates the way you want without any restrictions.

Premium/Paid for Templates: Such template offer more variety and are limitless. These templates are created by a group of web designers. The website owners retain the re-seller rights which enable them to sell the same template many times and as a result sell them at extremely low prices. For Premium/Paid for Templates you do not need to keep any links on your website.

Buying a web template in this category is the best option as you can customize it in the best possible way fulfilling most of your requirements. Most of all these templates do not cost a fortune.

Unique/Exclusive Templates: These template come with a double advantage. Once you buy this template you become the sole owner of the template having complete reseller rights over it. The design once bought by you is not sold to any other.

Web templates can be compared to pre-cooked foods which you can prepare in no time and relish. Web templates are a low cost solution to building creative and effective websites in a short time.

About the Author

If you are looking for Web Templates we have only stock the best quality Website Templates available.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Website Builder

Having a website these days is as common as having a car. Most companies have one as do everyday people. Many people use website to showcase pictures of their hobby or family and send the web address to distant relatives. For those people you can find sites that offer a free domain (http://www.name.com) and hosting (space on a server) and even the pages are already built so it’s just a case of uploading images and text, perfect!

Having a website is quite inexpensive if you use free tools to create one. Many domain name and web hosting companies offer sites builders free when you buy a domain and hosting from them. This is great news for the majority of people as building websites can be tricky and not everyone has the skills. Many people use word or publisher but have trouble publishing it to the domain, and when they do finally manage it the pages take for ever to download and some of the links don’t work. Very frustrating! The best way to build a website is by either writing it in HTML or by using professional web building software such as Dreamweaver. But not everyone has these skills and even if you do manage to build a site you might still struggle getting it online.

You could dig deep into your pocket and find a web design company to build a site for you but this can be costly. If you’re a new start up business you might no have the financial resource available, so this is when using a site builder is the best alternative. Most site builders are very easy to use; they have to be as they are targeting people without any programming knowledge. Most site builders come with hundreds of free templates you can find the right look and feel for you website. They also come with a library of images so you can find the right images needed to show case your company.

Some site builders allow you to create professional looking websites within minutes. They have wizards that take you through the whole process, from building your template to actually publishing online. As long as you get the site builder and domain registration and hosting from the same company you shouldn’t have any trouble. If your still worried make sure the company has a valid phone number so if you get stuck there is customer support at the end of a phone.

Once you have your website live you now want to get it viewed. If your type your domain name into Google or any other search engine and it returns the following:

No standard web pages containing all your search terms were found.

Your search - http://www.name.com - did not match any documents.

Suggestions:

• Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
• Try different keywords.

Try more general keywords

This means your website is not listed in the search engines index, meaning the search engine doesn’t know it exists. For a search engine to list your site it has to know about it. This is where search engine submission comes into play. There are many companies offering to submit your site to the search engines for a fee. Some charge over the top for this and people are getting ripped off all the time. So either find a free search engine submission of submit it yourself.

So how to you submit a site to a search engine? Easy! All you have to do is put a hyperlink to your site on a site that is already indexed. Another way is to write an article (bit of free promotion going on here too) and at the bottom of the article create a link to your site. Publish the article to a few article directories (most are free) and the search engine spiders that crawl websites looking for new pages will soon pick up the hyperlink to your new site, go to your site and index all the pages it can find from there. Voila!

About the Author

Carolyn is the webmaster of Discount Domains offering Cheap Domains, Web hosting and Site Builder Services.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

The History of Web Design in a Nutshell

The Internet didn't begin as an elaborate means of communication for people around the world. In fact, it was created in the 1960s as a way to transfer data between computers via telephone lines. This allowed the transfer of information to and from scientists and military personnel in a very efficient manner. It wasn't until the early 1980s that the Internet became more readily available to doctors, educators, businesses and government agencies.

Early Web Design

By the late 1980s, the Internet was being introduced as a means of communication for anyone with a computer, modem and telephone line. In 1993, a new freeware browser program called Mosaic was developed. The success of the program amazed everyone. Within one year, about two million people used the program to view documents they could access via the Internet. The documents were designed to be viewed using hypertext markup language, or HTML. The first websites, now called "first generation sites," had limited graphics, a lot of text and a linear layout. Their function was to deliver information, not to entertain or amaze viewers. During that time, the websites were delivered via dial-up modems over telephone lines. Modems had a very slow transfer rate, so web pages had to have small file sizes for easier accessibility.

Why the W3C Was Established

The World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C, was established in 1994. Goals and standards were set for the future of web design. HTML was designated as the primary coding language for future web design endeavors. HTML version 1 was limited but could be built upon. Today, we have versions 2, 3 and 4 and other variations. The standards set by the W3C have made it nearly impossible for large companies to create specific web browsers and potentially develop a monopoly on web design code. If one company had been allowed to dominate web design and browser technologies, it could have had a very detrimental effect on the Internet as we know it today.

Technological Advances in Web Design

Web design has been divided into "generations." First-generation websites were primarily text with minimal graphics. Their basic design made it much easier for slower modems to transfer the information in a short amount of time. Second-generation websites were a little more complicated, with more abilities available via HTML. Third-generation websites brought the inclusion of colored backgrounds and animated images.

Today 's websites are considered the fourth generation. Websites are vibrant and full of color. XML, JavaScript and Flash are just a few of the advanced techniques that allow each individual website to be completely unique. We now have the ability to use code to bring websites to life. Technological advances have given people the ability to add small scripted programs to their websites from the comfort of their home. As a result, web designers can add interactive elements, produce videos or create games to include in websites they design.

The W3C still governs coding techniques and provides the guidelines by which websites are created. Smart web designers stick to those practices and guidelines and keep up-to-date on any changes the W3C makes. When designers adhere to the basic rules set forth by the W3C, search engines and browsers can more easily find and index each individual website.

Web design is very versatile. The introduction of technologies such as high-speed and wireless Internet has allowed web designers to be more creative with their designs. Websites do not have to conform to first-generation standards any longer and can therefore be more attractive and useful to viewers.

About the Author

Paul Edison invites you to learn more about Web Design Edinburgh with Gecko New Media.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Finding The Right Web Designer Is A Tough Task

If you just started an online business, you probably have no idea how to go about hiring a web designer. Who should you call? Should you look someone up in the yellow pages? Should you hire someone who works for a company that employs many different web designers, or should you hire a sole proprietor? Or, should you hire a freelancer who does web design part time? How much does it cost?

If you need someone to develop a very simple, static website that is merely a personal homepage or just an informational site about your business, then you pretty much have carte blanche. The only issue in this case would be cost. A freelancer will charge a lot less than a professional, but a freelancer might not do a thoroughly competent job. There are numerous website directories that contain a database of freelance web designers who are seeking work.

If you hire one of these individuals, make sure you request to see samples of web designs they have already done, just to make sure they have not done shoddy work in the past. I find it best to hire a professional in this instance, because even though a professional will charge more per hour, they can usually do much better work and get it done faster. So, in the end, a freelancer could actually charge more and you might end up getting a design of inferior quality.

Let us take a moment to delineate what the differences are between a freelancer, a sole proprietor, someone who owns a small, reputable web design business with a few employees, and a designer who is part of a huge company that employs up to one hundred web designers (there are quite a few companies out there that employ hundreds of web designers under a single company umbrella and also provide domain name registration and web hosting services all in one package).

First of all, a freelancer is usually someone for who web design is merely a hobby. This sort of a person has probably taken a few courses in simple web design at a local institute or college, or might be self-taught, and dabbles in web design as a part-time job or a way to earn extra cash. Some of these freelancers might be quite talented, but their designs are ordinarily not as crisp as what a professional can produce.

To reiterate, a freelancer is someone who only moonlights as a web designer. So, they are typically busy with their other career, and will take a longer time with your project because of time constraints. In the end, the freelancer probably will not give you the design you really want, and will refuse to refund your money.

A web designer who is part of a larger company that employs one hundred or more designers is just as bad as a freelancer. These sorts of web designers do not have much design skill, and are often given many different jobs to do at once. As a result, they will throw your design together haphazardly. You will be very disappointed with the work they produce.

The best web designers to hire are professionals who do web design as a career, and do focused projects. You should hire either a sole proprietor who has a large portfolio of work to show you, or a small firm of web designers who work together and have extensive web design experience. Professionals charge more than anyone else, but because they have so much experience and such a wide variety of designs for you to choose from, they will do a fantastic job in only a fraction of the time.

The only time you should use a freelancer or other inexperienced designer is if you can meet with that individual in person, explain exactly what you want, and if the project itself is very simple and the design work necessary for the job is not too extravagant. Do not make the mistake of hiring a freelancer over the internet that lives in a different state and only accepts payments via PayPal or some other sort of electronic payment processing service. Make sure your freelancer is someone who resides close by so that you can monitor their progress and visit them if you do not like the initial design they produce.

For almost all web design projects, it is best to hire a professional. Even though it costs more, it is generally only a one-time cost. A website is typically only designed once with major revisions only done once every few years; you may make changes here or there in the short run, but a web site usually stays the same for up to a few years or more. So, you might as well go with the most talented yet reasonably priced designer you can find.

Also, it is very important to hire a designer who has a contract that you can sign that stipulates certain terms and conditions. You should be able to pay the designer a down payment of 25% - 50% of the total quoted price for the job, with the balance due upon completion. This is critically important, because it can be very frustrating to flush money down the toilet on a design you hate without any way to recoup any of your funds afterwards.

Also, the designer should be able to quickly produce some sample layouts after they have been assigned the job so that you can at least pick a particular design that you like the most, and then the designer can begin working on that design rather than using their artistic license to create a design from scratch.

Follow all of these recommendations and be careful when hiring a web designer. Always work with a professional if your project requires a certain level of expertise and skill, and make sure you request a portfolio containing samples of their work so you can see what they have already done. Make sure their prior designs meet your standards.

About the Author

Jim Pretin is the owner of http://www.forms4free.com, a service that helps programmers make an HTML form

Article Source: Content for Reprint