How To Create Your Websites Look And Feel Easy Ways To Design A Great Website

When launching a website, one of the most important goals you must achieve is appealing to your target audience. At the same time, you must stand out from your competitors. However, in doing so, many times businesses go to far and make their site too busy. While they may think it looks great, they are really driving potential customers away. Here are a few tips to make sure your site is up to par with your competitors.

Use a simple straight forward color scheme.

Nothing is worse than a webpage that is so colorful that you can hardly read it. For starters, use only two or three colors for your entire webpage. Also make sure the colors are complementary and are pleasing to the eye. It’s very hard to keep people at your site when they can’t read what’s on it.

Use a template

Your site will look and feel its best when you use a consistent look throughout the site. While you don’t have to use a pre-designed template, you can create your very own template and use it throughout the webpage. Doing so will add to the look and feel of your site and also help customers navigate through it.

Use graphics and other effects sparingly

Another problem that many businesses run into when designing websites is using too many special effects. While at first they may seem flashy and great, too many, can take away from the website and untimely turn off potential clients. Also, special effects can cause increased download time for your site, which also hurts traffic to your site. Therefore, as a rule of thumb only use one or two special effects in your entire site so that the customers are not distracted and are able navigate your site quickly and easily. Remember, just like a brick and mortar store front, too much clutter will turn away potential customers. Keep your site simple, straight forward, and appeal to your clientele and you will be surprised at the all the new traffic to your site.

About the Author: Drew Johnson is a Public Relations intern for Kinetica Media, an Internet marketing company that works to harness the power of websites, email and search marketing to enable businesses of all sizes to get and keep more customers. Visit http://www.kineticamedia.com or call 866-526-4309 to see how their proven online marketing services can increase your customer loyalty and sales.

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Effective Web Page Design For E-Commerce

The widespread availability of high-speed Internet access has resulted in ever-greater numbers of consumers making online purchases. This means that business owners of all stripes - from individuals working from home to big box mass merchandisers - can reach more buyers and can generate exponentially greater revenue than ever before.

There are many theories about and tips for marketing and advertising your online store, and marketing and advertising is certainly a consideration. But in focusing so much attention on marketing, many business owners neglect a fundamental aspect of successful e-commerce: web page design.

If you don't have a professional webpage design, it doesn't matter how much traffic you generate to your site because those visitors won't convert to customers. It's crucial to have a website that is compelling and that makes visitors want to stay long enough to buy. Here, then, are six tips to help your web design transform visitors into customers:

1. Keep it Clean. A professional web page designer will tell you that to keep your virtual storefront clean and free of clutter. It should be immediately clear to the visitor the types of items you sell without overwhelming them with dozens of hyperlinks, fonts, and flashing buttons and words. You can certainly incorporate a flash introduction in your web design, but if you do, give the visitor control. He or she should be able to bypass or pause the flash so that the annoyance factor is kept to a minimum.

2. Intuitive Navigation. Your website designer should think like your customer and design a navigation system that easily takes your customer from your home page to the product or products of interest. The fewer number of clicks it takes to get from point A to point B, the more likely it is that your visitor will make a purchase.

3. Search Functionality. Customers need to be able to find what they need quickly and easily. Allowing customers to search by keyword or product number is a great start. Going one step further and allowing "fuzzy" searches that will also return matches for common misspellings is even better.

4. Seamless Shopping Cart. Many e-commerce sites lose customers at the critical juncture between selecting items and committing to buy them. An intuitive and easy-to-use shopping cart is essential to the online shopping experience. Again, your web page designer should think like your customer and utilize a shopping cart that makes checkout a breeze.

5. SSL Certificate. If you're an online merchant, there's simply no getting around the need for an SSL certificate. With the problems associated with identity theft, your customers need to have confidence that your website is secure.

6. Leave it to the Professionals. When it comes to web page design, don't succumb to the temptation to do it yourself. Even if you have a web design program, you should hire a business web page designer to create your web site. Professionals have a variety of tools that will help your business succeed online, and will act as your partner in developing e-commerce solutions that will encourage visitors to stick around and purchase your products.

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Learn more about E-Commerce Web Page Design or Majon's Business and Entrepreneurs directory.

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Website Impressions - Be PositiveIt is said that you shouldn't be negative, so, "Get Rid of Negative Impressions," on your website. Portray the positi

It is said that you shouldn't be negative, so, "Get Rid of Negative Impressions," on your website. Portray the positive.

However, there are times that by examining the negative you are able to illustrate and make the positive much more effectual.

Your Website is a Reflection of Your Business.

Very often, when a company decides to prepare and publish a website they will hire a professional, which is good, and for the most part, the right way to do it. The bad part of this equation is that they depend entirely upon the web designer to do everything and generally accept, with minor changes, or, corrections, whatever is presented.

There could be any number of reasons for this, but, without elaborating on all of them, it really boils down to not having done your homework. In this instance, your homework should have been spending a lot of time on the internet examining as many different websites as possible. Dissecting each of the sights and listing what you like and dislike about each. By the way, this definitely does not mean copying someone else's website.

The following is a list of things to avoid, and, by expounding on these negatives we are, hopefully, creating a more powerful appearance and functionality for your website.

A Good Website – "Avoids".

Slow Uploads.

A slow website is probably the primary reason that viewer/surfers move on to the next site without even knowing what it is all about. It has been shown that the average viewer/surfer does not have the patience to wait.

The longer it takes your website to upload the more likely your are to lose that person. The internet works on speed, milliseconds, to be specific. The viewer/surfer has become acclimated to that speed; therefore, a website that takes more than 10 - 15 seconds, well if you really push it 20 seconds, to upload, is a slow website.

Keep the byte size of your pages as small as possible and definitely minimize the amount and size of graphics and flash.

Finally, become a viewer/surfer. What do you do when the site you just clicked on takes too long to upload? If you're like me, you move on.

Poor Navigation.

The ease of navigating your website keeps your viewer/surfer more interested in staying. Moving around and searching an easily navigable site becomes a pleasure. Navigating on a poorly designed website is a chore that the average viewer/surfer shy's away from. It's that simple.

Being organized and consistent throughout your site should be near the top of the list of "Must Do's." See our article Website Navigation How to Make or Break Your Website for an in-depth discussion.

Too Much Junk.

Have you ever looked at the entry page of a website and all you see are ads, graphics, flash, banners, etc., with nothing else about the site. Now don't misunderstand, I'm not opposed to having ads on your site. It can be and often is a big asset, but just like anything there is a limit.

If your site is just for ad marketing and nothing else, it's fine to have your pages filled with ads and links, that's your business and your lifeline to making money.

If, however, your business is, Architectural Engineering, a page full of ads and flash about Women's Lingerie, or, Motor Cycles, is not going to help you sell your services. They have come to you for specific information, not, unrelated ads. Having ads that complement your business, without advertising for a competitor, of course, sounds more logical to me.

Psychedelic Colors.

Have you ever been on a website when every other word or sentence is a different color, typeface and size? If you are trying to win a contest, about the greatest use of colors, or, typefaces in a single sentence, then, congratulations. Otherwise, I'm sorry, but, "very unprofessional", in my humble opinion, is an understatement.

It has been shown, that viewers prefer simplicity. For business and sales oriented websites, lighter backgrounds (it doesn't have to be pure white), a strong contrasting type color and a simple typeface. These are easy on the eyes and makes the viewer much more relaxed. For artistic or gallery type websites, there is a lot of leeway, so long as it's easy on the eyes, including a strong contrast between the background and content.

Need I say more!

We will continue our article on "Website Impressions – Be Positive" in Part 2.

Alex Armen's background is in marketing and design. He started Armen Graphic DesignCONTACT US FOR A FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION. Go to our website for more information and an understanding of how we work. ARMEN GRAPHIC DESIGN which is a relatively new company that specializes in marketing and design. The company’s foundation is based upon the premise of K.I.S.S., believing that simplicity in marketing effects the greatest returns.

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Web Site Design - Elementary Tips on how to Design a Site

Web site designing is an important part of any online business or any advertising endeavor that a business may have. As it is important, it is equated to having the process of designing a site an intricate and often times more complicated than the actual creation of the site. There are a hundred and one ways on how one can design a site but the fundamental and basic means on how to design a site is well written here. You may want to take a look at these tips and learn from them:

a. When designing a site, it is essential that you do not put too much banner advertisements on it. Too much banner ads on a web site basically flushes away potential clients from even getting into your site. Aside from the fact these are mere turn-offs to potential clients, having too much of these are just a sore in the eye.

b. In designing a website, you are supposed to lead your potential clients to a simple way to navigate thru your site. In which case, you need to make sure that there are simplified and straightforward navigational direction sets for your potential clients. Otherwise, when potential clients cannot just get enough of the intricacies of your directional instructions, they simply go away and leave your site.

c. Allow the user to know at which part he is getting into. This means that in every facet of the portal site, you need to tell them exactly where they are being brought upon. This is to make sure that they know where they are being lead into so they may know if they are leading the right way to the site.

d. In designing a website, it is essential that you refrain from putting audio files on your site. Audio files are at times becoming irritants to a lot of users. Besides, you do not have a way of knowing as to what audio files are pleasing to the ears of your potential clients.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published eBooks

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The Benefit of Using Dreamweaver CS3 Templates

In the early days of the Internet, users were hot to design their own websites. While there are many methods of writing websites, the most ubiquitous was simply opening the notepad application and writing the website in pure HTML. While there were many programs that came along that made this HTML coding unnecessary, a lot of them were simply unusable or inefficient or otherwise had problems.

Many times, what appeared to be normal and working fine in the user's browser would begin acting up once it was published to the Internet. This detachment of HTML coding and actual content, in what is referred to as a WYSIWYG editor, led to problems later on, as users thinking that they had effectively built a perfect website found that once published to the web, the elements of their website would move around independently and break anchor text. This breakage of anchors and refusal to follow the rules of HTML was a necessary byproduct of the WYSIWYG HTML editors.

This lack of reliability among Web authoring software led to many problems, as users were either forced to use the HTML, a boring and trying experience at best, or they could continue to use the WYSIWYG editor, which was basically a luck of the draw situation, where users were hoping to get the best results and consistent use from a somewhat inferior product. The WYSIWYG editors never seemed to do their job exactly right, as there was always some element that would be in the wrong spot or willing simply pop out after extended use or extended viewings, without warning.

But eventually, a new product hit the market called Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver was able to do a great deal of things, and embraced the HTML right on the desktop, rather than hiding it all behind a WYSIWYG editor. For the first time, users could see the HTML right up close and see what effect it was having as they moved elements around in the WYSIWYG editor. It was a revolution in HTML editing software and users flocked to the software offering that would allow them to do so much with so little.

Using Dreamweaver CS3 templates, users can save a tremendous amount of time by simply whipping out their favorite template, choosing some colors and publishing. The elegant Dreamweaver CS3 templates include a version of a template for every possible combination of themes that any user could ask for. A wealth of these templates makes it a very simple task to publish a beautiful and stunning Web page in just a matter of minutes, with some help from the Dreamweaver templates and judicious editing.

JSBwebDesign offers great tips about Dreamweaver website templates. Get free web page templates and learn about our business website design services. Visit us at http://www.jsbwebtemplates.com

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A Good Web Site Essentials

Anyone can make a website. Basic HTML will do. But let us all admit, some website really sucks. Some are poor in designs and layout, some are crappy in content and the list goes on. These details are commonly the pitfalls of a web site. Here are some basic fundamentals on creating a good website.

Title

It's your website so it's your call on whatever title you want for it. But do remember that you are not the only one browsing or visiting your site. Keep in mind that in this case, you should consider the viability of your website so always think for the benefit of your visitors or at least think from their perspective. Your page title should be short but descriptive for two reasons. One is that it is the same phrase that will appear on the top of your page which will remind your guest what site they are browsing. Second is that once your guest bookmarks your website then it will be more convenient for them not to edit it anymore since it is already descriptive enough.

Content

Most visitors visit a site for information that is why the content of your page should be beneficial and interesting enough for your guests to come back. Beautiful graphics can be seen in a blink of an eye so if your content is inadequate then chances are your visitor will leave your website and never come back again.

Grammar and Spelling

Never forget to proof read because it could ruin the web site's credibility. Check for grammar errors and spelling.

Images and Fonts

Here, the layout comes in a little. Bear in mind that each visitor have different browsers. And layouts comes out differently from each and every browser. But of course it depends if it was tested and programmed well to attain the layout goal. Also, not all fonts are available on all computers. So i suggest a commonly-used font.

Don't be overwhelmed in putting all the images in your resources. Keep it simple. Anyway, it will add up to you page load time especially if the image file is too large. Keep it pleasant to the eyes.

Page Length

Articles are different from web content. You can write a very long article but writing for a web content is completely different. A web content should be short and brief. Usually, if the content of a page, especially if its the index page, is long enough that the visitor will have to scroll down to read it then it will definitely bore them and wouldn't even bother to read all of that.

Links

Links should be more than “click here.” This is your chance yo use your keywords for a better ranking in search engines. The tool tip should also describe where the link is going to. Most importantly, the link should be relevant to your site to avoid being a link farm. Choose a quality link.

Contact us form

This is very helpful because you will never know if a visitor is encountering problems with your site. This way, not only you can get feed backs from your guests, but also you can correct the problem fast.

In doing a website remember that you are trying to please your target market and not just yourself. Step into their shoes and see if your website will catch the interest of your market.

RESOURCE: Author Methyl Vizcarra recommends Wicked Innovations – a web design firm based in the Philippines that specializes in ecommerce web site design and web development services.

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Web Page Design Instruction - The Vital Role of Colors

I wonder if you knew that visitors to your website form an instant opinion? And they form it about you and your offer. This instant opinion is created subconsciously. It happens automatically within the visitors mind. This happens automatically, and you might wonder why. It matters not a jot how clever the text is on your page. You can have paid an expensive professional to produce your copy for you. In fact, their instant opinion is formed before the visitor will have read a single word of your copy.

It doesn't matter either, whether the quality of the images on your website are of the highest. It also doesn't matter how great your offer is. You might be providing a superb bargain or proposition, but again this isn't going to influence the instant opinion. This is because the initial reaction to your website is instant, and occurs the moment the page appears in the browser of your visitor. You may have guessed there is something subliminal at work here. In a way, that is right. Immediate opinions are formed by visitors to every single website. This may surprise you, but the answer is colors. When your web page appears to your visitor, the colors you've used go to work on the subconscious of your visitors.

The spooky thing about this is that as a web page viewer we can do nothing about this. Colors evoke an intuitive reaction which we have no control over.' The feelings evoked by colors are automatic, and there's no way we can avoid them. This is one of the reasons why companies can invest millions in getting the colors exactly right for their products and marketing promotions. Big companies realize that colors are a psychological feature, and they can influence our reception of their marketing. Companies fully appreciate that the use of the correct colors can be critical in the success of their products. What webmasters have to realize, and this can be very important, is that the same color psychology applies to our web pages.

The fact is, the color scheme you use on your web pages can have the effect of causing your visitors to very quickly click away from your website. This can happen even if the copy on your website is compelling. The chances are that visitors who are put off by your colors are unlikely to read your copy anyway. But don't despair. By using a different color scheme it is quite possible to influence your web page visitor to react positively to you and your offering. This isn't a new discovery. The psychological power of colors is well known in the offline marketing world. It's been around with us for decades. No matter who we are, emotions are conveyed to our subconscious through the use of colors.

What we need to do in our website design is to ensure the color combination on our web pages convey a positive feelings. If you do this, then you will be conveying a trust, sense of belonging and warmth. If you get your colors wrong, you could be conveying negative feelings like distrust, rejection and coolness. The following list gives an idea of the emotions associated with their respective colors:

RED
Danger, love, leadership, sense of power, excitement, energy, strength etc

ORANGE
Courage, playfulness, confidence, cheerfulness, friendliness, comfort, steadfastness etc

YELLOW
Amusement, intelligence, caution, organization, joy, curiosity, brightness etc

GREEN
Health, healing, money, nature, food, harmony, life etc

BLUE
Peace, love, stability, acceptance, trustworthiness, patience, tranquility etc

PURPLE
Wisdom, dignity, royalty, nobility, luxury, independence, ambition etc

BROWN
Tribal, earthiness, comfort, durability, reliability, nature, primitive etc

BLACK
Sophistication, formality, power, elegance, wealth, dramatic, style etc

WHITE
Simplicity, goodness, innocence, cleanliness, fresh, easy, purity etc

Finally, be aware that your website color scheme should reflect the product or offering you make. The subconscious mind of your visitors will automatically relate the color of your page with the message that's on it. If you give out a mixed message in terms of color and offer, the subconscious mind will not even attempt to reconcile the two. Which means, your visitor will be lost. You should spend time in determining what are the right colors for your web pages. Try and make sure your colors and message are in harmony. If you do this, your website will produce the results you're looking for. In summary, the difference between the right and wrong color scheme on your website can be the difference between profit and loss.

About the Author

Brian McGregor is an internet entrepreneur and business consultant, and author of the ebook CASH COLORS. If you're interested in web page design instruction, CASH COLORS shows how to make your web page colors work for you, as opposed to against you. http://www.cash-colors.com