Learning web design can be a lot of pressure, given the level of competition in the industry. There are many designers out there who are very competent with their craft. They are most probably IT professionals or hard working enthusiasts. However, if you have the potential and the willingness to learn you can be one of them.
There are several ways for you to gain knowledge in the field. The first obvious means is of course to enroll in a web design course. That is a surefire way for you to learn web design. Another way is through the tutelage of professional web designers. If you know some, then you are fortunate. If the first two ways I have mentioned don’t work well for you, you can always learn on your own. The net is a rich resource for web design tutorials. You will find so many sites dedicated to it. Most often you will see step by step instructions and videos on the topic. Let me enumerate and elaborate more on the possible web design sources you can find online.
Articles and Web Pages
There are many websites online that have been created by real professionals. You can find web design related sites. You may notice that some of them are offering web design services. These sites advertise the services they offer, but for SEO purposes they have to come up with quality content. In order to attain a high ranking among the search engines, web designers provide helpful web design tutorials to attract traffic into their site. They also submit useful and informative tutorial videos and article on video and article directories to help promote their services. There are also some sites that offer free scripts and templates relevant to the tutorials which you can use to practice with. You can take advantage of these rich resources for free!
Continue Reading…
If you are into SEO campaigns, then you know just how essential backlinks are to your business. In fact, it is extremely crucial to include them in your content. Your goal is for your readers to click on these links to provide them with better understanding on what exactly you are doing and what you are offering. The words you use for these links must be persuasive.
If you think that the word “click” you use on your links are effective enough, think again. When we talk about backlink wordings it is important for you to consider your readers’ perception. Placing the word “click” on links will only divert the readers’ attention from what they should be concentrating on. You must also give your readers’ some credit and trust that they would understand what a link is and what happens when they click on one. You don’t have to distract them by rubbing the word on their noses. Your main objective it to make your readers focus on the information you are sharing with them. Come up with words that create a positive effect to the ones reading them. Of course, you do want your readers to click on the link, but it is important that you make this appeal in a very discreet way.
Use the most effective phrasing possible.
The language you use on your links have a great impact on your readers, that is why choosing the right words to use should never be done haphazardly. Bear in mind that the wordings you use on your links reflects your image. It says a lot about what your company is about. The most ideal choice is using solid nouns since readers relate to them on a basic level. In contrast, verbs don’t have a general positive effect on readers as it introduces vagueness. In fact, it becomes a hindrance in getting your audience to click on the links you have made.
Continue Reading…
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then you can just imagine how priceless a video can be. Web video promotion is fast gaining popularity. And when it comes to video sharing sites, YouTube is the current leader on the net. This is because people can locate videos they want quickly without browsing through countless sites. It is also the best place to upload the videos you want to share to the public. A web video is presently the simplest and the most effective way to attract your viewers’ attention. If you incorporate them in your site it will help generate more traffic and encourages people to stay longer, therefore increasing your search ranking and reducing bounce rate.
If you are a public relations expert and you are not embracing the use of video for promoting your business, you are limiting the potential capabilities of your company. Web videos are popularly accessible through different platforms, such as tablets, computers, and smart phones. Although videos are effective, only a few companies use it efficiently for marketing.
Forrester Research’s new study reveals that incorporating an online video on your website ups the visitor into a client conversion rate by six fold. The research further uncovers that a meager 20% of visitors will take time to read the text content on your website, compared to a whooping 80% who will do so when the same articles are supplemented with a video. In addition, if a company includes a video on its site, it increases by 50% its likelihood of landing at Google’s top page. It is no surprise why major companies have made videos as one of their primary requirements.
Continue Reading…
Navigation is one of the most important aspects of website design. No matter how visually appealing and informative your website is if your visitors can’t find their way around it, it’s utterly useless. Your readers come to your site to find the information they need, and they always want to get it fast. Here are some tips to make your website easy to navigate.
Keep in mind your website’s two types of visitors.
In case you do not know yet, your website’s main visitors are both humans and robots. Both have to navigate their way around your site, but they have different ways of doing so.
Robots, such as Google’s web crawlers don’t have the senses that humans have. Instead of eyes, they rely on links to show them the way. So, you have to keep things as simple and as easy to understand as possible. This means that using Javascript as your main navigation method is not a very nice move. However, if you can’t help it, make sure that the robots can crawl your site with an alternative method. Otherwise, they will just give up and search for an easier site to index.
Continue Reading…
Before you meet and sit down with a website development team, be prepared to put forward a clear vision of what you intend your website to look like and the objective that you want to achieve. These will become the basis for the design of your website. Perhaps, you are a company selling products and services that would need an e-commerce site where you can sell your products. You might also be an event planner, photographer, or a model who would need a portfolio site to display a gallery of your work. You would also have to decide whether you want your visitors to engage in discussions, click on ad links, or download files. Your answers will help your web developers in coming up with a design that is functional, cost efficient, and successful.
To ensure your success it would also be ideal to know the particular elements that would lead to your website’s failure. Websites that are annoying and complex to navigate are surefire ways to bring your site down.
Continue Reading…
Many websites out there that are cringe worthy. Even respectable companies can get it all wrong. To make your website reap optimal benefits keep the following elements in mind.
1. Content – On the net, content reigns supreme. It is the number one reason why people browse the net. They search for information, products and services. If you want more visitors to your site fill it with fresh, relevant, and high quality content all the time. You should be able to effectively convey to your readers who you are, what your objectives are, and what makes you unique from you competitors. Likewise, be customer oriented. Always provide a convenient way for your customers to communicate their needs, feedbacks and concerns to you and act on them at once.
2. Visual Appeal – Your website needs to look attractive. It does not have to be the best looking one on the web, but it has to be visually appealing. The design of your website has to reflect the image of your company. If you want to gain your customers’ trust, then you have to present a website that looks professional and trustworthy.
3. Functionality – Sometimes, in your quest for creativity, the whole concept of functionality is thrown out of the window. A creative design that is not functional is totally useless.
Continue Reading…
There are an increasing number of mobile devices that come with smaller screens. With the emergence of this new technology, websites have to adapt to their specifications. This is why the concept of responsive web design was developed and has become one of the major topics on the web these days. Website designers and developers are all scrambling to create sites that have responsive layouts. Those who already have existing websites have also taken steps to modify their existing sites to accommodate new responsive elements.
However, the whole concept is bewildering, especially because it is recent and swiftly evolving. It has given birth to a lot of new confusing terms, like adaptive layout, responsive layout, viewport and media queries. What are all these and where do you begin?
Generally, though, responsive design mainly refers to this initial key point: a responsive layout that can effectively adapt to varying screen sizes. That is what this article will focus on.
Continue Reading…
Does your company need to build a professional looking website? If you are planning to do it on your own, you must have an idea of what a professional website looks like. If you don’t, there is no need to panic! You just have to learn some important elements of a website design. It is not as complicated or as time consuming as you think.
Unlike other websites, a business site must be professional and legitimate looking. It must appear trustworthy enough for viewers to want to conduct business with you.
Make Your Site Navigation Effortless
To encourage visitors to explore your site and eventually do business with you, you must make your site easy to navigate. Providing your customers with a clear site map is a good start. Use category tabs to organize your site into logical sections. You can group your products into different categories and assign a tab for each. You can also make separate tabs for your contact form, order form, and company background. This way, your customers will easily find what they need.
Follow a Consistent Font throughout Your Website
Select a professional looking font that is simple and easy to understand, such as Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, or any similar font. Curly and squiggly fonts may not be suitable to your business and they are hard to make out. You should remember that your objective is to get your readers to purchase something from your site. That would be difficult to achieve if your viewers can’t read your sales pitch.
Continue Reading…
Business minded people know that it is very important to have an online presence nowadays. A business website can give you your most desired leads. It doesn’t matter whether you are simply a small time business owner or a gigantic one, online marketing will greatly benefit either one. Online marketing allows you to reach out to a greater market therefore increasing your products’ exposure. The more people you have viewing your website the greater the possibility for those views to be translated to sales. That is how websites generate leads and boost up your revenue.
Your website must properly represent your company. Likewise, the design and layout you choose matter a lot to the overall success of your online venture. Make sure that your site is well designed, eye-catching, easy to navigate, and engaging enough for viewers to want to spend more time on it. Shabbily designed sites that present vague information don’t have the power to hold customers’ attention. Your potential customers will automatically leave your site and search for better options. Put in mind that your website handles your company branding, therefore it should not only promote your business, but generate more leads too.
Continue Reading…
Compared to the lives of those who have lived decades before us, our lives today are made so different with the advancement of technology. There have been a lot of changes to the way we do things.
The internet is one of today’s most fascinating discoveries and it has influenced a lot of changes to our lives. For one, business platforms have massively transformed into online marketing. Companies and businesses have discovered the limitless profit opportunities on the net. That is why majority of them have resorted to taking their businesses online with aggressive marketing and product endorsements. With the right website design and online marketing strategies, online marketing is indeed the most effective marketing tool there is today.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the best way to reach out to your prospective clients. Your website must rank among the highest in the search engine result pages after users type related key words on their browser. However, making it to the search engine top ranks can be complicated. One way to achieve this is through quality content. If you are selling products or services your content must highlight the benefits that a person can get from them. Because SEO is very competitive, most companies hire content writers to focus on supplying their websites with fresh, relevant, and high quality content. They also hire SEO experts to analyze their key words and suggest more effective ones.
Continue Reading…