Archive for November, 2010
November 27th, 2010 | 
Author: Web Design – 5 Essentials
The World Wide Web is filled with a diverse and exciting array of different web designs. Modern web technology has helped web designers to enjoy a wider range of options than ever before and allows for new and exciting websites. Studies show that 99 of web browsers are now JavaScriptenabled and almost as many are Flash enabled. JavaScript and Flash offer endless possibilities to add tools and widgets and jaw dropping effects to really bring websites in to the 21st century.
There are however some basic essentials that we need to adhere to and which are all too easy to neglect while we get carried away with all the latest gadgets. A common mistake that new web designers will make is to jump head first in to the latest gizmos and tools that they think will impress their clients and display their technical prowess while neglecting the basic usability of their website.
Essential item 1: Cross browser compatibility. A website needs to render correctly on all browsers. There are a range of browsers that are used by the Internet surfing public and they all have their quirks and nuances. What looks great in IE7 for example may look disjointed in Safari. And may be completely unreadable in Google Chrome. The most popular browser at present is still Internet Explorer 7 but Mozilla Firefox is gaining ground. There has been a steep rise in Apple Mac users to which has led to a rise in Safari. Google Chrome is the new kid on the block but is gaining a great reputation which is resulting in a higher amount of users. Opera is being used by a dedicated selection of Internet surfers. A good web design should be tested to work look good and be effective in all of these browsers. A good way to achieve this is to ensure your website validates to WC3 guidelines but they should still be manually checked.
Essential item 2: Accessibility. A good web design should be accessible to all. This means taking in to consideration people that may have poor vision or may be unable to use a mouse. Text should be nice and big and contrast strongly with the background color. Black text on a white background is the best for visibility but as long as the text has a strong contrast to the background it makes it easier for people to read. There should be a skip to main content link which can allow visitors to tab their way around the website without using a mouse. All fonts should be resizable to allow users to make them bigger if need be. Taking the time to comply with accessibility guidelines will save you isolating any visitors with disabilities.
Essential item 3: Userfriendly navigation. A good web design will provide an intuitive navigation system for people to find their way around your website. Web users are familiar with horizontal and vertical menus so to remain safe it is best to stick with this format. It is easy to be tempted to try a unique navigation but users may not share your enthusiasm for change and leave your site with frustration when they dont see an easy way to navigate your pages.
Essential item 4: Quick loading times. There is no use in having the latest Flash gadgets playing and huge detailed images when it takes minutes for the page to load. Surfers of the web have notorious short attention spans and low tolerance for websites that take more than a few seconds to load. If the page hasnt loaded in over three seconds they may just hit the back button and look for a faster loading website. Ensure all your images are optimized to load fast and use text links where possible.
Essential item 5: Contact details. You should make your contact details as available as possible for the visitors to your website. Email links and telephone details should be on every page along with clear access to your Contact Us page. Your Contact Us page should always contain your company address along with telephone email and contact form. Even add a photograph of yourself or your company house to help build trust with your visitors and make them aware that you really do exist in the real world. Anonymity is too easy on the web and we are conditioned not to trust websites so the more contact details you can provide the better.
These five essential items should be fundamental in the planning stage of your web design. They are easy to build in to a web design from the planning stage but if neglected can cause a lot of work if trying to implement them at later stages. An effective web design has been proven to convert higher sales and attract a larger volume of traffic than ineffective or unfriendly web designs. We all want to show off our skills and wow our visitors but while doing be sure to NEVER forget the essentials of good web design. Or you will pay a high price for it later.
About the writer: This article was written by Steve Ceaton web designer and SEO specialist for DeepSpaceDesign. DeepSpaceDesign are an innovative and ambitious web design and SEO company based in the UK.
User Friendly Web Design
Companies that are developing or already have an online presence often find that the internet provides an efficient way to cut costs while offering convenience to their customers. But often overlooked in the zeal to have a great website is the end user experience. To be successful on the internet companies must focus on making the customer happy by providing a truly user friendly website.
A recent study was compiled by Vividence* based on a number of reliable sources. The study revealed several issues often confronted by website users that manage to frustrate and drive away potential customers and clients. Here are a few examples:
- Popup surveys that appear without selection at inopportune moments.
- Slick images animations and movies that load slowly cause computers to crash and deliver little useful information.
- Home pages cluttered with too much information.
- Flashy features that look good but only work for those with highspeed connections.
- Registration forms that request unnecessary personal information.
Because the web allows for a quick switch to competitor websites its important to weigh the risks and the benefits of using features and applications that may put a road block in the way for some users.
Putting the customer first by making a usercentered website can go far in impressing potential customers and leading clients to your lead generation form or into your office.
Here are some basic very simple ways to meet this goal.
First reduce clutter. Most home pages try to impart too much information thus inundating and overwhelming the user. If the user cannot figure out what specific value proposition or benefits the site has to offer they will quickly leave and go on to the next website.
Provide an easily traceable path through the website. This can be done by highlighting the location and subdirectories in the path to the users current location. For example: Home > Services> Printing. Cross categorizing information also gives a great advantage as the website visitor will be able to find relevant information in several ways instead of drilling down through a specific path.
Another suggestion is to provide buttons. The Vividence study found that users expect to find buttons that will facilitate tasks on the websites more so than an actual link within the text. Novice web users in particular are more prone to use a button over a text link which was found to be confusing.
When a site is new newly updated or will undoubtedly attract web novices it is helpful to provide brief instructions on the home page on how best to find information on the website including a search feature. The search feature should be tested to assure relevant results from the standpoint of the end user.
One way to find out how your website is performing in the eyes of your customers is to ask. By using a simple permission launched survey to find out how the site is being used if the information is found and provide feedback in the form of comments that can assist in developing the website to serve the customer.
As with any business listening to the customer is key to developing a website that works for you and for your customer.
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*2002 Vividence Corporation Dr. Bonny Brown Dr. Anthony Bastardi
This article written by Teajai Kimsey Interenet Marketing Strategist Ideas That Work
It may be reproduced and reprinted provided the author’s information including web link is kept intact.
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Teajai “T J” Kimsey is an internet marketing strategist and the founder of Advanced Web Strategies Inc Beyond Web Design an internet advertising agency serving over 300 clients with a full range of online services including web development custom programming search engine marketing and all channels of online marketing and marketing integration.
She is recognized as a leader in internet marketing having been a featured expert on the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce website a featured contributor to the Wichita Independent Business Association newsletter and featured as the expert on 2 episodes of Minding Your Own Business a statewide television program.
Teajai has also taught as an adjunct at Wichita State University and Cowley County Community College. She has been featured in a number of articles and called upon as an expert on internet related topics in the Wichita Eagle and Wichita Business Journal.
Teajai holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from Friends University 24 hours towards a Master of Science in Management and has recently begun the path to earning a Doctorate in Human Factors Psychology specializing in human computer interaction.
PPC V Natural Search – A Cost Comparison Case Study
The attraction of Pay Per Click PPC online advertising isundeniable. Each click costs virtually nothing you only pay forthe clicks you get and you set your own daily budget so youknow exactly how much you’re going to spend. Most importantlyyour listing appears instantly.
On the other hand a high ranking in the natural search resultsseems unobtainable. There’s a perception that hundreds ofthousands of other businesses are competing for your keywordsand that makes it seem like a real ratrace. And it also seemslike such a big mountain to climb; it’s true that it can takemonths to reach the first page for your target keywords. To makematters worse thousands of opportunistic and some very dodgySEO companies’ have emerged looking to make a quick and bigbuck out of market naivety. So to CEOs BDMs marketingmanagers webmasters and business owners the road to naturalsearch ranking seems expensive risky and beset with traffic.
But does this mean you should forget natural search?
Definitely not!
Firstly most user studies to date have found that people paymore attention to natural search results because they’re morerelevant. That’s the foundation of the success of companies likeGoogle and Yahoo and the reason they keep their indexing rulesa secret.
What’s more it’s important to put things in perspective.Hundreds of thousands of other businesses may be competing foryour keywords but in most cases they’re at least as confusedand disheartened as you. So the sooner you figure out the realstory the sooner you’ll have the jump on them.
And yes it can take a while to reach the top but because yourcompetition is for the most part traveling blind your earlyprogress will normally be quite quick. In fact for mostbusinesses it’s not until you reach the top few pages that yourprogress will slow.
And again yes there ARE some dodgy SEO companies out there. Butthere are also some very good ones. Go to
But let’s talk bottom line…
Is it more expensive to obtain a high ranking?
Certainly not! In comparison with other forms of advertisingeven PPC in the long run reaching the top of the rankings isNOT expensive. The following case study explains why.
CASE STUDY
For the past year I’ve been working hard on the natural searchresults for my copywriting business Divine Write. For myprimary keyword I’m now on page 1 of Google.com out ofapproximately 900000 search results. I’ve done this simply bywriting helpful articles and submitting them for publication onthe Internet. Luckily for me I’m an SEO copywriter so writingarticles is all in a day’s work. But had I paid an SEOcopywriter to write my articles for me I’d have spentapproximately USD5000.
Over the same period I spent approximately USD3000 on GoogleAdWords my ads appeared towards the top of the paidlistings.
Now I hear what you’re saying; my natural search campaigndefinitely cost more in the first year than my AdWords campaign.But now that I’ve reached the top of Google.com I’ve paused allmy AdWords ads so I’m not paying anything. If I hadn’t chasedthe natural search results I’d have continued paying forAdWords spending at least another USD3000 next year onAdWords and another USD3000 the year after that and so on.
Of course I have to retain my high ranking. If I was payingsomeone to write my articles that would involve an investmentof approximately USD1000 per year a saving of 67 eachyear.
So it breaks down like this:
Google AdWords investment:
2 yrs = 6000 3 yrs = 9000 4 yrs = 12000 5 yrs =15000
Natural search investment:
2 yrs = 6000 3 yrs = 7000 4 yrs = 8000 5 yrs =9000
Conclusion
Obviously the competition for keywords in the copywriting fieldisn’t as fierce as in a lot of other industries so the actualdollar investment discussed in this case study may not applydirectly to your business. The important thing to understand isthat over time a high ranking in the natural search resultscan actually cost less than a high position in the arguablyless effective paid listings.
Also these figures are based on me submitting articles tovarious article banks on the Internet myself. This is a routinetask requiring little skill. You should be able to purchase alist of 50 or more article submit sites from your SEO copywriteror consultant for as little as USD99.
Daniel Katz Business Development Manager at Compucall Web Marketing Ltd. experts in International Search Engine Optimization.
