The Do’s and Don’ts Of Business Web Design

t would appear that many business owners just aren’t getting it when it comes to Web design. It has been proven over and over again that Web surfers prefer certain things when visiting sites. The list below is short, sweet and to-the-point. It will help to guide you as you design, or redesign, your site for maximum effectiveness.

Content -

DON’T write copy that is focused on your company. Place emphasis on how buying your product or service will benefit your visitor. Use the word YOU (referring to your visitor) instead of WE or US.

DO be very clear on the home page about what your site offers. Don’t make them guess.

DO use good grammar and check your spelling!

DO break up the copy into small, easy to read portions by using headings, subheadings and lists to break up the copy.

DO use an easy to read font such as Arial or Verdana.

DON’T use all caps as they are hard to read and associated with shouting. Also use bold and italics in moderation.

Navigation System -

DO provide text links even if you use navigation buttons or image maps. Some people have images turned off in their browser to speed loading time and will have a difficult time navigating your Web site without text links.

DO be consistent in your navigation. Your navigation links and buttons should be in the same location on every page.

DON’T allow broken links on your site. Download a FREE program called Xenu that will check all links and report errors.

DO open a new window when linking to an external site. This will allow your visitors to easily return to your site when they are finished visiting the linked site.

DO consider adding a search engine to larger sites. Atomz offers a FREE search engine and is considered to be one of the best on the market.

Design and Layout -

DON’T design your site yourself unless you can make it look professional. “Homemade” looking sites simply don’t sell.

DO think twice about using frames. Most search engines dislike sites with frames and won’t index them. Using frames also won’t allow your visitors to bookmark the inner pages as the URL remains constant regardless of what page you are on.

DO keep the layout of each Web page consistent. Each page should have the same basic layout elements.

DO choose your colors carefully. The colors of your Web site are important because they will define the mood and emotions of your visitors as well as reflect your identity and image branding.

DON’T make your site too “busy”. Leave some “white space” as it helps to guide the eye from one point to another and eases eye strain.

Images -

DON’T use clip art as it looks cheap and tacky. Have your graphics custom and professionally made whenever possible.

DO use alt tags with all your images and make them descriptive. Many people with visual impairments use a speech synthesizer which reads aloud to them the contents of the Web page. If an image doesn’t have an alt tag, the synthesizer will simply say, “image”. Alt tags are also important for those who have images turned off in their browsers. The alt tag will show in the area where the image normally would be.

Feedback -

DO provide forms throughout your Web site that allow your visitors to give you feedback. You can learn a lot from what your visitors have to say.

DO provide an email link or contact form on every page.

Testing -

DO view and test your Web site in as many different browsers and browser versions as possible. Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator are the two most commonly used browsers.

DO choose a few people who can give you honest feedback to test your Web site thoroughly and give you insight on its useability.

Despite all the hype about java scripts, Flash presentations and animation, the simple Web sites are the ones visitors return to regularly. Surfers prefer sites that are to the point and easy to navigate without them having to download special software.

Keeping these few simple tips in mind during your site design can mean the difference between a highly visited site and one that is clicked over.

Screen Size Compatibility Can Make or Break Your Design

Have you ever visited a Web site that looked, well … strange? Something about it just wasn’t right. The design was well done but it just didn’t seem to fit the screen. It happens quite a bit. The cause is lack of attention on the designer’s part. One of the most challenging things a Web designer faces is designing a site that looks good on everyone’s computer screen. Because there are so many different browsers, and because each surfer can have their monitor set to a different screen size, the designer must pay attention to how the pages will look in a variety of situations. Let’s take a look at the three most important issues:

Does This Look Small to You?

An important thing to understand about screen resolution is that it is NOT the same thing as screen size. The screen “size” (15″, 17″, etc.) itself always stays constant, whereas the “resolution” of a screen can change depending on your display settings. A 15″ screen and a 17″ screen might both have the same exact resolution, which means that the display would look the same, even though one screen is larger than the other.

Resolution is measured in pixels. A pixel is basically one dot on the screen. There are three basic screen resolution settings on computers: 640 x 480 pixels, 800 x 600 pixels, and 1024 x 768 pixels. A 640 x 480 setting means the screen is showing 640 pixels horizontally and 480 pixels vertically for a total of 307,200 pixels on the screen. A 1024 x 768 setting means 1024 pixels horizontally and 768 pixels vertically for a total of 786,432 pixels. So what does this mean to you?

Think of it as “zooming in” or “zooming out” on the same image. If you are viewing a Web page at a 640 x 480 resolution, you have “zoomed in” on it and are viewing it close up. The text and images probably appear larger but you might not be able to see the entire picture. Scroll bars might appear on the screen that all you to scroll horizontally to see everything on the page.

Changing to a resolution of 600 x 800 would be similar to “zooming out” slightly from the 640 x 480 size. The text and images appear smaller than they did at the 640 x 480 setting and you may be able to see the entire picture rather than having to scroll from left to right. And finally, the 1024 x 768 setting “zooms out” even more. You can view the entire page, but there might be a lot of surrounding white space. Text and images appear much smaller and further away than they did at the 640 x 480 resolution.

At this point, you might be interested in experimenting with your screen resolution to see the differences first hand.

Important note: You may want to make a note of your original resolution so you can change back after experimenting.

For Windows users:
· Clicking on the Start button,
· Select Settings,
· Select Control Panel,
· Double click on Display,
· The Display Properties window opens up
· Click on the Settings tab at the top of the window
· Take note of original resolution
· Move the screen area bar by dragging it to the desired resolution.

For MAC users:
· Click the colored apple in the top left corner
· Choose Control Panels
· Choose Monitor and Sound
· Take note of original resolution
· On resolution, use the drop down selector to set your resolution.

A Web designer needs to take all three of these screen resolutions into consideration when designing a Web site. Not an easy task as what looks good in a 640 x 480 resolution doesn’t usually look good in a 1024 x 768 resolution and vice versa.

Are Your Colors Safe?

Mac’s and PC’s both use different color palettes, however they have 216 colors that are common to both. These 216 colors are considered to be “Web safe” colors. Using the 216 Web safe colors means that your colors will look fairly consistent on different computer platforms (Mac or PC), different operating systems (Windows or Mac), as well as different browsers (Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator, to name two). As a side note, any graphics created for the Web, such as logos or buttons should also use the 216 Web safe colors.

How do you determine if a color is Web safe? Many programs, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver, come with a color picker that allows you to specifically choose Web safe colors. If you don’t have a program like that, there are many free ones available on the ‘Net. One of them is at http://www-students.biola.edu/~brian/csapplet.html. All you have to do is click on the color you want and the hexadecimal code is displayed for you. Be sure to check “Web Safe” at the bottom of the screen.

Your Browser, Their Browser… It’s All the Same. NOT!

A Web site will appear differently depending on the browser being used to view it. The two most commonly used Web browsers are Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. However, there are many more – including the AOL browser, Mosaic, Opera, Lynx and Web TV to name a few.

Not only do designers need to worry about cross-browser compatibility, but they also need to consider the version of the browser being used. For example, Internet Explorer 3.0 and Internet Explorer 5.5 support different features and may display pages differently.

Want to check your Web site for compatibility with Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator? Run it through the validator at http://www.netmechanic.com. As a plus, this service also checks a Web site for broken links, html errors, possible spelling errors and approximate download times.

All in all, it is important to test a Web site in as many ways as possible. View it in different screen resolutions, various computer platforms and different browsers. Take the time and effort to ensure that a Web site will look good no matter how it is viewed. The result will be a pleasurable viewing experience for all your visitors.

Author: Viki Nygaard

Ending the Confusion Can Bring In More Sales

With all the Web sites I’ve visited during my time on the ‘Net, I am still amazed to find one very common and widespread problem. Focus – or the lack of it. One of the most basic aspects of designing and writing copy for a site is frequently overlooked – and it is costing Web site owners everywhere big time in lost sales.

This may sound like an “idol threat,” but it is a hard, cold fact of Web life. Statistics have proven time and time again that you have roughly five to seven seconds to get the attention of your visitor. If you don’t let them know immediately what you do and how you can benefit them, your competitor’s site is just one mouse click away.

When your site design and copy don’t work in harmony with each other the result can mean the passing over of your site in favor of one that is more self-explanatory. So back to the basics we go. How do you pool the design and copy elements and create a site that lets the visitor plainly see who you are and what you do? Here are a few tips.

1. Never assume. While you may fully understand who you are, what you do, and why your product or service can save the world, chances are your site visitor will not. If they had all the knowledge you do about your product/service chances are they would be able to perform the task themselves. Take the time to clearly state the purpose of your site, the benefits of your product, and what you can do for your visitors.

2. Give directions. Again, this goes back to never assuming. Don’t believe for a minute that Web surfers (who travel at the speed of light) are going to read every single word of your ordering instructions. When you want a visitor to download an ebook, move to a new page, “click here” to order, etc., be sure to make your directions obvious.

3. Be bold. For important functions, get bold with your design elements. If you want your visitors to call you for a free consultation, make very sure your phone number leaps out at them. Don’t hide it in plain, black type in the middle of your copy. Want them to sign up for your newsletter? Have your subscription box high on the page, and in colors that will be easily noticed. Want them to order? Give them a large button using a contrasting color so they don’t miss it in their haste.

4. Don’t be flashy. While flash can be an exciting addition to a site, it should never comprise the entire index (home) page. Over 85% of Web surfers say they always skip flash intros. On sites that do not offer a “skip flash movie” link, the visitor leaves immediately. Those are some strong numbers. While flash can be used in moderation to effectively make a point or highlight your company’s focus, be careful not to overdo it. Statistics show that the vast majority of your visitors will leave before they’ll sit still for an entire flash presentation.

The best bet overall?
Write and design your site in an effort to answer the five W’s:

• who
• what
• when
• where and
• why

Taking the time to make sure your visitors have a clear and immediate understanding of who you are, what you do, and how you can help, will result in more sales or responses for you.

RELEVANCY Two

Remember we said that RELEVANCY was the Hercules of words when it comes to establishing your web presence? We mentioned several important things related to that in the last post. This time we want to look at another aspect of how you make your page relevant.

Be Consistent. You do not want mixed messages all over your site. The focus of it should be clear all the way through. If you are not all about something, the message that you want to get out is not getting out. You need to be consistent. Say something on your site and then have the rest of what you say be supportive of your main message. That includes graphics, polls, flash, links or textual content. They need to be related to your message. If something that you post on your site is unrelated, it is better to leave it off. The question of relevancy, which the search engines are asking, is answered by the argument of consistency. Make the argument in a variety of ways and forms if you wish, but be sure that it is one argument. Otherwise, you will be arguing with yourself and the searcher is likely to cut and run, not wanting to get involved with family squabbles, and all.

Part of the exercise of being consistent is offering your message using a variety of platforms. For example, if you choose to have a complimentary video link, make sure your searcher is not lead down a long, dark, scary path of confusion. He should be able to access the message in a click or two. Remember the movie, Deliverance? Not a destination of choice. Nobody wants to end up in Virtual Deliverance, so treat your visitors kindly by making your consistent video easy to get to.

Also, make sure your headlines and your titles are consistent with your message. Don’t make your visitor perform mental gymnastics to try to figure out how a headline might be related. It is not the visitor’s job to analyze your site to be able to make heads or tails out of it. That would be your job. And you had better do it ahead of time or else the visitor will be gone leaving you alone connecting dots by yourself. And arguing with yourself, of course.

RELEVANCY One

RELEVANCY is the Hercules of words as far as your your web site is concerned. For relevancy is the highest goal of the search engines whose very business depends on returning the results that a web searcher has called for. If you are searching for Titleist golf balls and the search results turn up hen’s eggs, how valuable of a search did the search engine produce for you? Not only did that result get you scrambling (pardon the pun) to another search engine, but the advertising that the search engine posted along side the free results were a disservice to the sponsors. Search engines who produce irrelevant results don’t last long. Relevancy is their highest priority. Making your site relevant, therefore, should be your highest goal as well.

So how do you make your site relevant? Perhaps you are sitting on hordes of golf balls for sale. You are indeed a legitimate seller for a person looking to buy some. But does your site say so? If your site does not communicate this in ways that the search engine and humans can read, you may be indeed relevant, but you haven’t said so. Remember, SAID=Say All, Include Details. Your page’s content, not just fancy flash and javascript, should effectively communicate who you are and what you do. It should do so concisely but precisely. You should not allow the human reader to leave your site with only a vague sense of what was on it. Your message needs to be unequivocally clear.

Clutter kills. When your site is a jumbled array of various unrelated links, banners, topics and gizmos, the message is clear to the visitor: chaos. Nothing will get a user to hit the back button on the browser faster than allowing multiple and mixed messages on your site. I mean it would be like trying to hold a conversation with a person on a community telephone line, where everybody is talking at the same time. This is indeed sensory overload and somebody should take you out to the woodshed for committing such web abuse on well-meaning internet shoppers.

Likewise, you need to ask whether that fantastic creative web designer you hired to craft the perfect image for your name branding has done so at the expense of simply providing a way for a consumer with money to actually learn what you do or order the product he or she is looking for. Fancy flash and javascript looks nice and great creativity is a true compliment to the gifted designer. It also makes you look good. But how easy is it for a shopper to understand exactly what it is that you do? An example of this is during the dot com explosion when all of the up and coming internet businesses first began their advertising during a Super Bowl. A particular advertisement I remember was from Cingular. It was fancy. It was snappy and stylish. But I had no idea who they were or what they did. That part of the message was lost on me, for one. I did not fully understand what it was that Cingular did for months, or even years. I mean I could have researched it, I suppose, if I had wanted to, but the goal of an advertiser is hardly to get someone to have to do research to discover who they are all about, is it? Don’t allow good design to leave you with an ambiguous message on your site and your potential customers moving on to the next search result.

Content Management Systems Equal Business Suicide!

One of the fastest way to minimise your chances of web business success is to use a Content Management System (CMS). There are a number of open-source CMS products, such as phpWS, Mambo, Plone, Drupal, Geeklog, Siteframe, and phpNuke etc and and a plethora of proprietary CMS products espoused by individual web design companies as the answer everything from lack of HTML knowledge to rapid shopping cart deployment etc.

Expressing this in simple terms, its said that possibly as high as 80% of online purchases are made from leads generated by search engines. CMS systems place a huge handicap on achievable Search Engine rankings. meaning there is a direct, immediate and practically insurmountable conflict with business aspirations. There are multiple reasons for this.

Duplication of Content
Search engines loathe duplicate content. In the average CMS, there are numerous common design elements, images, HTML and/or JavaScript code blocks etc, which are portrayed across ALL sites using the same system, and this is not a good thing.

Many CMS systems make it hard to impossible to generate unique page Title, Description & Keyword meta-tags, meaning all pages can look identical in search engine results. Many CMS systems do not permit you to assign keyword-rich image names, or apply unique and specific image ALT tags, and the page file names are usually not directly controllable. Few CMS systems allow you to easily add anchors on specific pages, and to link to those anchors from other pages. All of this translates into losing you valuable search engine optimisation opportunities.

Shared IP Addresses vs. Unique IP
Proprietary CMS systems usually go hand in hand with a “total package deal” that includes web design, web hosting and CMS.

The hosting is invariable on a “shared server” meaning your site has the same IP Address as all other sites on the server. Should a situation occur Where another site or sites are offering very similar or identical products and services, there is a potentially serious conflict of interest which the web design & hosting company will probably not advise you of! The first
site is highly likely to be given priority rankings and treatment by the search engines, and all subsequent sites are highly likely to be consigned to oblivion as Search Engines will probably regard them as “duplicate content!” So two or more “Christmas gift shops” on the same “shared server,” or two or more “human resource consultants” face a problem they will be blissfully unaware of. Having a unique IP address assigned to your site is far more sensible!

Usability
Open-source CMS systems are written by geeks and nerds, for other geeks and nerds. It is painfully obvious that none are written by people with the faintest understanding of search engine optimisation, or an awareness of the old adage “form follows function.” As for “usability testing” there is no demonstrable evidence that any research and science has been applied to either the user or the administration interfaces! Unfortunately, the same criticisms can be levelled at the commercial CMS systems on offer.

CMS and Being Held To Ransom
In terms of the proprietary CMS systems, you are also seriously at risk of being captured and held hostage by your web design company, because they now “own” your site and you cannot easily escape without sacrificing your total investment. In this respect, use of CMS demonstrates a complete lack of business risk analysis. From that point on, you can also be
systematically milked like a cash cow for every amendment, change, edit etc that they carry out on your behalf! Believe me, it happens every day… and I’ve seen people charged $90 for a simple edit that took me less than 2 minutes to implement!

CMS Saves You Money?
Yeah, right!!! The overheads of managing a CMS are usually far in excess of managing a conventional site. Content percentage-wise, most sites actually change very little, and the majority of pages are static and do not change at all. CMS is total overkill for the average business site.

Stand Out from the Crowd
To succeed on the web today, you need to be a clearly unique entity, with original content, properly organised, logically described, and all pages must be optimised for a set of specific keyword phrases that accurately describe your products or services. Anything less is a compromise, and is to YOUR business detriment. A CMS system has a direct, negative impact on almost all desired outcomes – from minimising business risks, improving search engine rankings and prompt return on investment.

Article Source: http://www.articletycoon.com

Top Ten Features of a Good Web Site

As a professional web design business, we have created and re-created many sites. The “great” ones have certain things in common. We thought we’d share those elements with you…

1. Easy to read. If background colors or images are used, the text on top of the background should be in a color that can easily be seen. Use a color scheme that complements and is pleasing to the eye. White space between images and sections of text make a page easier to view.

2. Easy to navigate. A visitor should be able to find the information they are looking for without hassle and frustration. The site’s navigation buttons should be grouped together. If image links are used, text links should also be provided for those people who have images turned off on their browser or are using an older browser that doesn’t support images.

3. Comfortably viewed. A Web site should be easily viewable in all screen sizes without a visitor having to scroll horizontally (left to right).

4. Quick to download. Graphics and sounds add download time to a Web page. Use them sparingly. Don’t make your visitors wait too long for your site to download or they will click away and probably won’t return. It is a good idea to find out what the approximate download times are for people who are using 28K and 56K telephone modems. Not everyone has DSL or cable Internet.

5. Avoid dead links. Make sure that links on all your pages are working, whether they are internal links to pages within your site, or links to external Web sites.

6. Keep the content fresh. People are more apt to return to your Web site if they find new and interesting material. Post articles on your site, offer a newly updated “Internet Special” or provide fresh, helpful links. All these things cause visitors to bookmark your site as a reference tool.

7. Clear and to the point. Visitors should have a clear understanding of what your Web site is about when they visit. Studies have shown that people do not like to read computer screens, so keep your Web site copy interesting to read and to the point.

8. Keep your target audience in mind. Think about the people who would be interested in visiting your Web site. If you are designing a web site about razor blades and shaving cream for men, the site should have a masculine feel to it. Decorating the page with pink hearts and roses would not be a good idea!

9. Provide a form for visitors to contact you. Visitors are more likely to fill out a form to contact you than clicking on an e-mail link. Always make things easy for your visitors… especially contacting you.

10. Browser compatible. Check your Web site in the most popular browsers to make sure everything is displayed properly. The top two browsers used are Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator, but there are others such as the AOL browser, Mosaic, Opera and Web TV to name a few. Various versions of the same browser also display differently. It is a good idea to have a program on your computer that checks browser and version compatibility.

As you may have noticed from the above list, a great Web site isn’t about fancy graphics, java scripts and animations. It is about creating a pleasurable, useful experience for your visitors… one they will want to repeat over and over again!

5 Ways To Drive Visitors Away From Your Website

There are tons of resources available that will teach you how to make money on the internet. Heck, I’ve written tutorials like that myself. But, perhaps it’s easier to demonstrate what to do, with a lesson on what not to do. This article will teach you how to drive visitors away from your website screaming “Get me outta here!” If you prefer being alone with your website and don’t want all those pesky visitors bothering you, then follow the guidelines below and you’ll get rid of them quick as a blink.

1. Don’t state on your website what you do or what you sell. Make it a complete mystery why you decided to build your website in the first place. It’s like a secret club — your visitors are left in the dark. Have you been to sites like this where you show up and think “What the heck is this site about?” If you’re not presenting a clear statement about why your visitors should spend their money (or at least come back again), then you’re on your way to hermit-land.

2. Overwhelm visitors with lots of information. Almost as bad as the “What the heck is this site about?” problem is the “Oh my Goodness! Oh my Gracious!” sites. As a visitor, you know the sites I’m talking about. The page opens and your jaw drops. There is a sea of banners, with links everywhere and articles galore. Where do you go? What do you do? I’ll tell you what I do. Click the little “x’ in the upper right-hand corner to get the heck outta there!

3. Make the ordering process really complicated. There’s nothing I love more than putting items into my shopping cart and then spending 20 minutes trying to figure out how to set up an account and pay. Guess what? I sure don’t click the ‘contact us’ button. I click the “x” instead. You’ve succeeded in getting rid of yet another pesky customer who wanted to spend money.

4. Fill your site with outdated information and broken links. Pfshew. You dodged a visitor with that one. They clicked on a link that was broken — and off they went.

5. Make sure there’s no way for an interested customer or business partner to contact you. Heaven forbid, you might get some spam if you have your contact information on your site.

Thank Goodness you don’t have those gosh-darned customers emailing you while you’re trying to read up on Brad Pitt’s love life.

Obviously, I’m being silly, but you do know that these examples are true. You’ve seen sites that seem like they are trying to drive you away. If you are spending time and energy putting up a website to make money, then, make some money. You CAN do it!