Wednesday, January 14, 2009

What Do You Need to Know About Designing a Website?

A web site is a compilation of information on a particular subject or topic. Thus designing a website is basically to arrange and create the web pages that make up the website. A website may be compared to a book, with the pages being the web pages. Each web page has some information on the subject matter.

All the web pages together provide the complete information package for the visitors of the website.
Web designing is the process to create a website. A website provides information to an end user who requests for the information. Technology like HTML, XML and XHTML are used to provide text, forms and images in GIF, JPEG, PNG etc formats. More complex media can also be displayed if necessary. These may include vector graphics, animations, videos and sounds. Plug in software is needed to run these media. Such software includes Flash, Java, and Quick Time. These are also input in the web pages using the HTML or XHTML tags.

There are many design issues that are involved in the web page designing. These may vary from commercial to non commercial organizations. But both of these seek exposure and response. For commercial websites, the objectives may vary based on the following aspects:

1. The information content: This deals with the information material that should be on the site and how this should be arranged to provide intended message
2. The Usability: The site has to be friendly to the visitor, in terms of navigation and ease of use.
3. The Look: The web pages must be designed so that one single style of message presentation should be prevalent throughout. The style has to be thoroughly professional with relevant materials in appealing presentation.
4. The Visibility: The site must be easy to find through major search engines and advertisements

The first web page is known as the Home page. This usually has a welcome message, a language or region selection system, disclaimer etc. Each web page is an HTML file. Each web page has its own URL. All the web pages are linked together via a navigation menu. This menu has hyperlinks that link all the pages together.

Web site design requires interlocking of multiple disciplines. Information systems, information technology and communication design all play their individual roles. The components of a website are front end and back end. The front end is the content that the people can view and the back end has the source code, invisible scripts and components from the server side that process the front end output. A webmaster is a multiple skilled individual who can design a complete web site. Depending on the size of the project, a single web master can complete a site, or a project manager may be needed to oversee a group of designers.

After completion, a website must be uploaded so that the general public can view its contents. The webmaster duty is to ensure more hits which also called web traffic to the web site also known as web marketing. This may be achieved through submission of the site to search engines like Yahoo, Google and MSN. Other ways include link exchanges with other sites, having affiliations with related websites.

Web marketing is a must I you intend to find customer globally. Proper web marketing will ensure new clients dropping by at your site which could turn into good prospects.

So, in order to make sure your website align with all the tips and tricks mentioned above, it is necessary to hire a website design consultant that know about website design, web marketing and other aspects that involves during website development to deliver the proper website to your business.

About the Author

Web Solutions . Malaysia Website Design and Web Marketing Consultant.At i1WebSifu, we provide Superior Quality and World Class Website Design and Web Marketing Solutions for your business needs. Be it dazzling websites and portals or customized software solutions, our team is trained and ready to fulfill your every need. Visit http://www.i1websifu.com

Graphic Design Course

A graphic design course is ideal for anyone who wishes to enter a world that combines visual and creative skills. These courses cover a whole spectrum of design related topics, which give you a solid foundation so you can break into and progress to a higher lever in your chosen visual and graphic design career.

Online Degrees

These days with the increasing popularity of online courses, online degrees are available for a wide variety of subjects. Students who would like to pursue a career in graphic designing now have the option of doing a graphic design course online. Getting an online degree is very convenient for students who cannot attend formal classes for a variety of reasons including travel or ill health.

Online Graphic Design Degrees

An online graphic design course is perfect for students who would like to turn their interest in art into a creative career but either they do not have any conventional graphic designing course available in their area or are unable to attend one. For individuals who have already started off in their graphic designing careers an online graphic design course is of immense help in getting ahead in their career without having to take a break.

A graphic design course teaches students how to apply their artistic techniques to different concepts using technical drawing, computer-aided design, imaging, studio techniques, printmaking, color theories and concepts.

Graphic Design Course Objectives

Along with learning graphic design fundamentals, a graphic design course also teaches student̢۪s useful marketing strategies as well as new concepts of art in age, which is turning increasingly electronic.

Students who do graphic design courses would learn the
Basics of successful design
Language of visual design
Creative solutions for design problems
Basic applications of design concepts to commercial design

How to manage design projects.

Pre-requisites for Online Graphics Designing Degrees

There are no Pre-requisites for enrolling in any online graphics-designing course. Students can enroll in different levels of graphic design courses such as Bachelors graphic design degrees or Associate graphic design degrees, depending on their previous qualifications, experience and requirements.

Though not absolutely necessary, it would be an advantage for students to have some kind of software that is graphics-related such as Photoshop or Paintshop Pro that will help them create project assignments more easily.

Upon completion of their project students have to send their work in for assessments from various successful designers.

Enrolling for Online Graphics Designing Degrees

One of the major advantages of opting to do a graphic design course online is the fact students can enroll from any part of the world.

Most courses are open enrollment and self-paced, which means students can enroll at almost any time of the year and can complete the course at their own pace. This flexibility allows students to complete the course within a short span of time if they are looking for immediate employment or they can extend the course for a longer duration if they have other time constraints. All the material is delivered online and assessments as well as research are all online, so they is absolutely no need for a physical attendance.
About the Author

Seth Willis Jr. is the webmaster for http://www.blackboardarts.com a distance learning web portal.Our goal is to bring learning products to the public via the internet so that people all over the world can enjoy the benefits of our online courses.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

What to Look For in Small Business Web Hosting

Finding the right web hosting company for your small business can be a daunting task. A simple internet search can reveal 1,000's of service providers offering to provide you small business web hosting.

If you are a successful small business owner, you don't have time to compare and evaluate all of your choices. This article will give you a way to quickly identify if a hosting provider will fit you small business web hosting needs.

Choose Your Platform

If you are a developer yourself or if you have a website you are transferring over, make sure you find a provider with the right capabilities. A Microsoft based site will not function properly on a LINUX server. However, if you don't yet have a site built and are planning on hosting a very basic site, the hosting platform will make little difference.

Website Creator and Site Templates

If you don't have the knowledge to create your own website design and layout, don't worry. Most of the good web hosting companies have fantastic tools available that allow you to simply choose a template and then drag and drop your content into place. These WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editors can save a small business owner days in frustrating web design.

If you can't do web design, make it a priority to find a provider that provides plenty of pre-built website templates (at least 500) and an easy editor. Most web hosting companies that provide these tools allow you to see a demo before you commit to buy. Try it out and make sure it will work for you.

Database Support

Many small businesses overlook the importance of robust database capabilities in their small business web hosting providers. This can be a major mistake. Even if you don't plan on programming any database functionality into your website, many built in forms and email applications utilize these databases to function properly.

If you plan in doing any sort of lead capture and follow up system on your website (and you should) make sure your small business hosting provider provides either MySQL or standard SQL.

Free Domain Names

If you're creating a website, you need at least one good domain name. These can run between eight and twelve dollars a year. The top small business web hosting companies pay this fee for you as long as you are their customer. In fact, some of them provide you with three ( you should always have your website registered 3 times under .com, .net and .biz).

Marketing Support and PPC Credit

If you're looking for small business web hosting, it means you need to promote your company. The top web hosting providers not only furnish you with design tools, but they also provide credit to use with the top PPC (pay per click) and other online marketing programs.

Don't overlook this. If you're paying $10 a month for your site and are getting over $300 in marketing expenses paid for, it can pay for the cost of your website many times over!

There are many factors to consider when choosing a small business web hosting provider. This article has highlighted the top priorities, but we have also created a website that evaluates the pros and cons of the top small business web hosting companies (See the resource box / about me section for a link). I invite you to use that site as you evaluate your next steps.

Good luck!

About the Author

As a website developer and consultant, Brian Anthony has extensively evaluated the majority of web hosting alternatives for small businesses. He passes that information on to his clients and provides in-depth reviews for small business web hosting here.

10 Easy Ways To Promote Your Website

Promoting your website can be a daunting task: it feels like there are thousands of ways to do it, but all of them take a lot of time or money for no guaranteed return. To help solve this problem, I've compiled a list of ten easy ways to promote your website.

1. Advertise in the Media. Now, you might have already ruled out advertising in newspapers and the like as too expensive, especially since the chances are your audience doesn't live in any specific local area. That mostly rules out radio, too, and TV is even more likely to be out of your reach. What you might not have realised, though, is that you should stop looking at the general media and start looking at the specialist media for your area. For example, if you run a house-buying website, you could advertise it in specialist property magazines, and even on 'lifestyle' cable channels that show programmes about moving home.

2. Write Your Web Address on Things. If your business has any physical objects, whether it's a product, a carrier bag or just the front of your office, make sure to write your web address on there. Even if people don't keep or remember the exact address, it at least lets them know that your website exists.

3. Give Out Leaflets. There's nothing wrong with a bit of old-fashioned paper promotion: leaflet as many areas as you can. The chances are that your website is targeted to a specific demographic rather than an area, but the post office will be surprisingly helpful when it comes to getting your leaflets where they need to go, if you ask them.

4. Go to Specialist Events. If there's some kind of trade fair for the industry your website is in, turn up to it and promote your website. While there might not be all that many people there, the ones who are there will be influential, and can get your site talked about.

5. Put it on Business Cards. It should go without saying, but once you've gone to all that trouble to set up a website, don't forget to put it on your business cards. After all, if you're relying on them to get people to phone you, why not give them the option of reading more about you on your website?

6. Astroturf on Forums. An often overlooked way of getting traffic to your website is to participate on forums related to the subject and put your web address in your signature. This gets you more traffic than you'd think, especially at very popular forums.

7. Create Controversy. A great trick to promote your website is to use it to say controversial things: as the saying goes, any publicity is good publicity. This works best if you say something that you know will be provocative to a certain kind of person, getting it linked from all over the place. Bear in mind, though, that this strategy is better for advertising-driven websites than it is if you're trying to build a reputation and make sales directly.

8. Keep a Good Blog. While more and more businesses are starting blogs, few of them are doing it right. If you're using your blog to publish product announcements in corporate-speak, it's useless. You need to remember a simple mantra, 'views not news' Make sure your blog has something interesting to say.

9. Buy Search Engine Ads. Many people seem to think it's some kind of admission of defeat, but search engine advertising can work very well, especially with keywords that aren't already cluttered with ads. If you do it right, you can get very targeted ads very cheap. Indeed, ironically, the more targeted the ads, the cheaper they tend to be.

10. Start an Affiliate Program. Finally, if you're selling something, don't forget that old standby of web marketing: the affiliate program. Offer visitors a cut of the profits if they can sell your products for you, and all of a sudden you've got a crack sales team raring to go. The only trouble with this plan is that everyone is doing it, so you'll need to offer a high percentage of your profits to your affiliates to make the offer attractive to them.

About the Author

Floyd Bogart has been in the Marketing field for his entire 26 year career. He is now focusing all of his efforts to online marketing. For more information on website design go to:
http://websitedesign.hijackmyebooks.com