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Web Design Articles |
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| Web Usability: The Basics |
| What is web usability & why is it important?
Web usability is about making your website in such a way that your site users can find what they're looking for quickly and efficiently. A usable website can reap huge benefits on to your website and your business.
* Every £1 invested in improving your website's usability returns £10 to £100 (source: IBM)
* A web usability redesign can increase the sales/conversion rate by 100% (source: Jakob Nielson)
Your website has to be easy to naviga More.. |
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| The Key to Getting More Magic Shows Booked Online |
| This article is the result of a conversation I had with a magician about his website. He wanted to know if I could build him a nice looking site that had his name and contact information on it. I explained to him the purpose of having a website and what you want visitors to do when they land on your site.
Why Do You Have a Website?
The number one reason magicians have websites is ego. They want to be able to say to people, "You can visit my website at www.bite-me-hard.com." When the person vis More.. |
| Read more About The Key to Getting More Magic Shows Booked Online |
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| How To Choose A Website Designer |
| When you're self-employed, choosing a website designer is a crucial decision, as a good website can bring you more business and a bad one can drive away prospective customers. Below are some important things to consider when selecting a website designer for your new site or site redesign.
What Types Of Websites Designers Are Out There?
I don't think there is an "official" definition, so I'll give you MY definition:
? A Website Designer helps you to determine the page layout, graphics, text lo More.. |
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| Web Site Turn Ons |
| When you develop a sales brochure, you have a mental checklist of what needs to be in it. You probably look at brochures from other vendors. You get advice from friends and colleagues. You probably also notice the sales flyers you get in the mail. What do you notice? What gets your attention?
A web site for your business has many of the same purposes as a sales brochure. At the same time, it is more "delicate" and requires more attention. It is technically more advanced and therefore more chall More.. |
| Read more About Web Site Turn Ons |
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| The Seven Deadly Sins of Web Business Design |
| Before you take a road trip it is usually a good idea to know where you are going. It is the same when you are building a business, creating a marketing plan or building your web site. Know what your end result will be when you are planning and designing your site will help you to build it properly from day one.
Here are the 7 Deadly Sins that most web business owners commit when designing their site.
# Picking a business without knowing wether there is a deman.
# Picking too broad of a subje More.. |
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| Be Inspired to Create Better Websites |
| Being a writer, when I was asked to do some research into what makes a good website, of course I straightaway went to check out all of my favorite authors. After sifting through a few standard sites I remembered to look at one of my all time respected writers-Paulo Coelho. Judging by how many books he has sold he is obviously a lot of people's favorite, and his website is exactly what you'd want to keep the fans happy.
If any of you are familiar with Coelho's work you will know how prolific he More.. |
| Read more About Be Inspired to Create Better Websites |
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| Creating Quality Websites |
| Websites, there are literally billions of them out there in cyber-space. How many of them do you go to and just think this is boring, bland, or hard to use? It seems like too many to mention. So what makes a good website? I reckon it's about interaction. You've got to make the visitor interested. You've got to grab their attention. Many sites use plenty of bright and shiny gimmicks to attract you, but once you make it through to the content of the site it's just not worthy. A good site uses easy More.. |
| Read more About Creating Quality Websites |
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| Reach Out To Billions |
| Have you heard of 'Babel Fish'?
It's a service provided by Alta Vista search engine people to translate every page you put 'Babel Fish' code, and up comes a a new language.
Your page may be written in English, but people across Spain and Latin America can translate your web page into Spanish. Likewise if your web page is written in Spanish, German, French, Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, people can have an instant translation into English, or another language they are comfortable with.
I have p More.. |
| Read more About Reach Out To Billions |
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| Testament To Testimonials |
| We have all seen websites showcasing their testimonials either spread strategically throughout the site or all together on their own glorious page. They're there with the intent of leading us toward that high dollar purchase or convincing us of something's legitimacy. Sometimes we read them and sometimes we won't. Sometimes we believe them and sometimes we don't. Well, are they really worth all the time and effort?
The quick answer: Only if you do it right. When done correctly, testimonials can More.. |
| Read more About Testament To Testimonials |
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| Freelancers Bite Back! |
| The Internet has seen an explosion in so called 'lance' sites. Their service are a sort of go between to bring together clients requiring projects with freelancer seeking work. Whilst the client uses the service for free, the freelancer is charge an ever increasing fees just for the priviledge of bidding for the projects. In theory this seems reasonable but in practice the market is being destroyed by lower and lower bids as more freelancers from around the globe bid against each other, which in More.. |
| Read more About Freelancers Bite Back! |
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| Web-Safe Fonts for Your Site |
| Choosing the right typeface for your website copy is important, since it will affect the way your readers perceive your page (serious and formal, or friendly and casual). Aside from this, there are also important usability concerns. For example, some font types are more easily readable than others, and some are more widely available.
You want to choose font types that:
# fit the character of your site,
# are easy to read on a computer screen, and
# are widely available across many browsers a More.. |
| Read more About Web-Safe Fonts for Your Site |
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| 5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Website |
| When designing your website, remember to avoid useless and confusing features, however "cool" they may seem to be. Usually, keeping things simple and consistent are the best way to go. Here are five easy ways to improve your website and make it more appealing to your visitors.
Put your logo on every page of your site, and in the same location. Usually, the best place to put it is in the upper left corner of the page. Remember to make your logo clickable, linking to the main page of your site (a More.. |
| Read more About 5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Website |
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| 5 Instant Tips for More Online Sales |
| Even after you've managed to bring traffic to your site you may be losing sales because of problems with your site's usability. What's "usability"?
Usability is how easily people are actually able to use your site. And you may be surprised at how much money you may be losing because your site has usability problems.
Just because you think your site is easy to use, doesn't mean your average customer does.
Instant Tip # 1: Have someone you know who has the same computer skills as an "average us More.. |
| Read more About 5 Instant Tips for More Online Sales |
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| Owning Your Own Web Site Is A Must |
| Owning your own website is a must if you are doing business on the Internet.
There are so many factors involved in creating a web sitelayout and or design that there is really no right or wrongdesign.
A web site that may have looked clean and crisp in the template stage can totally change when you add your textand other content.
The saying - less is more, often applies where creating a web page, by having a clean crisp design with minimal graphics your site is quicker to load and easier to na More.. |
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| 3 Tips For Writing Content That Will Make You Sales |
| Content is king. Without content your website is an empty shell, a skeleton with no flesh, an empty vessel. Content can redeem the worst designed website. The right content can make your phone ring off the hook and flood your inbox with people wanting your product or service. Content is the most important ingredient in the recipe for your website's success. If you have engrossing, valuable and relevant content you are onto a winner..
Tip 1 - Keep It Customer-Focused - What You Like Is Irrelevan More.. |
| Read more About 3 Tips For Writing Content That Will Make You Sales |
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| Graphic Design Can Make or Break Your Web Site |
| We all want high impact graphics for our Web sites - Right.
Sometimes it is easy just to pick a template that comesincluded with a site builder and or hosting package.
There are also thousands of Free templates that you candownload from the Internet.
But for those of us who want full control of our designand graphics, it is first a matter of sitting down and choosingyour site design and color scheme.
Your site theme, design or layout will play a major part in the sizeand number of graphics y More.. |
| Read more About Graphic Design Can Make or Break Your Web Site |
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| Understanding How HTML Color Codes Work |
| Ever wonder how HTML color codes are put together? For the beginner, it can look like lots of numbers and letters that make no sense. In reality, HTML color codes are written that way for a specific reason that we'll look at in this article.
Introduction to the Hexadecimal System
In mathematics, the hexadecimal or simply hex is a numeral system with a base of 16 usually written using the symbols 0-9 and A-F. The numbers 0-9 have the same value as in the decimal system but starting with the let More.. |
| Read more About Understanding How HTML Color Codes Work |
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| Do You Own Your Web Site Design? |
| Your web site has been up for a few months and you are making money hand over foot. While surfing sites one evening, you are shocked to find a competitor using your design. You find out your designer sold them the same design. They must be breaking the law, right? It all depends on whether you own the copyright to your web site design. Many site owners are shocked to find out they do not.
What is Copyright?
Copyright is a method of protection for authors of original works such as literature, c More.. |
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| Effective Website Design For Massive Traffic |
| STEP 1:Do your homework
Plan and think about your content. Think big, have a vision of at least a 100 page site. The pages should have "real content", as opposed to link pages, resource pages, about/copyright... etc pages.
STEP 2:Buy Domain name:
Invest in an easily brandable domain. You may want "google.com" and not "mykeyword.com". Keyword domains will go no where, whereas branding and name recognition are the in thing. The value of keywords in a domain name have never been less to Search E More.. |
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| Winning Websites |
| Customers will form an opinion of your business as soon as they look at your website. Therefore the same basic rules apply that you use in the production of your brochure and your business card - It needs to grab attention, be easy to read, have a benefit statement, be friendly and make a statement about your business.
More and more potential customers will look at your website to find out more about your product or service or even to place an order. Here are some further points:
#1 Keep it up More.. |
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| Creating the Perfect Website - A beginners Guide |
| Are you looking to create the perfect website? A complete novice when it comes to HTML, CGI, FTP and all the other associated pieces that make up the website puzzle, then this article is definitely for you.
By following the 5 guidelines listed below you are guaranteed to create the perfect website.
1. Plan your website
Creating a plan of your website will help you identify the purpose of your website and will also help you to see how many pages you will require. You should then research simil More.. |
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| Using CCS to Eliminate Tables |
| CSS or Cascading Style Sheets has opened up tremendous possibilities for improving web site designs, web page layouts and adding new features. The HTML code can be made shorter, cleaner and simpler by CSS resulting in faster loading of web pages, and making them more accessible to search engines. Here I am narrating my experience with only one part of CSS - using it to eliminate tables.
If you look at a traditionally designed web page, you are likely to find number of tables in the layout. Tabl More.. |
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| Flash Design Adds Website Versatility |
| You have probably viewed many Flash-based components while surfing the Internet. Most smooth animations on websites and in banner ads, short films, and presentations are built in Flash. Macromedia Flash is a powerful and adaptable software program. It enables Flash web designers to incorporate sound, movement, and interactivity that cannot be achieved with standard HTML websites.
Web designers use Flash to develop a wide array of presentations, tutorials, and websites. They can create entire we More.. |
| Read more About Flash Design Adds Website Versatility |
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| Successful Websites Don?t Set Out To Sell |
| What are websites? Are they sales tools for vendors and service providers, or are they electronic guidance for potential customers? Put simply, are you selling or are you helping?
Your answer to this question may determine the success of your website. So think carefully?
How we define what a website is all depends on which side of the fence we're on. I suspect that most - if not all - vendors and service providers would say their website is a sales tool. But this is a fundamentally flawed pers More.. |
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| How to Force Your Visitors to Order Immediately! |
| This may comes as a surprise to you but, if you're using popups on your website (which you should), then chances are you're using them all wrong. Almost everybody is.
Did you know, for example, that top marketers are using HIDDEN techniques that make any given popup VASTLY more effective on their sites than the VERY SAME popup would be on yours!
In fact, Stephen Pierce has actually admitted that one of these hidden popup techniques increased his profits by a whopping 50%!
Here's how that tech More.. |
| Read more About How to Force Your Visitors to Order Immediately! |
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| 50 Surefire Web Design Tips |
| Tips to brand your website
* Include your logo in all pages. Position it at the top left or each page.
* Complement your logo with a tagline or catchy sentence that summarizes your business purpose. For example "Always low prices" is the tagline for Wal-Mart.
* Create a favicon. A favicon is that small graphic that appears next to the URL in the address bar.
* Have a consistent look and feel in all your pages. Use a color scheme and layout that are clearly recognized across y More.. |
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| Creating A Quality Web Site Design! |
| In this article, I will attempt to cover the basics of creating a great quality web design template for your site. Now it's a known fact that the layout or "eye candy" as I put it will determine whether your visitors will stay more than 15 seconds or they will just become another statistic.
That's right, if you don't catch your visitors attention right away, statistics shows us that your visitors will come and go within 15 seconds or less.
That doesn't leave you with a lot of time to grab some More.. |
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| 11 Steps to Sticky Web Site! |
| An attractive and user-friendly Web site is crucial to attracting prospects and holding their interest. Seems obvious, yet poor design and even more poorly written content clutter the Web.
The basics of a good web site are simple. Generally, if the purpose of your web site is to convey information, the emphasis should be on clear navigation and engaging text. If however, your purpose is to showcase a portfolio or develop a brand identity, then it will be more appropriate to limit the amount of More.. |
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| Website Checklist |
| 10 Basic Things Your Website Should Have ...
__ all short sentences and paragraphs (more reader friendly)
__ lots of "white" space (more appealing)
__ graphics (makes site more interesting and entertaining)
__ links (widens reader interest)(boosts search engine ranking)
__ search engine listings (so people can find your site)
__ banner at top (makes home page look professional)
__ contact info (at least a valid email address)
__ About Me or About Us info (makes it more personal)
__ priv More.. |
| Read more About Website Checklist |
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| How to Chose Stock Photography for your Web Site |
| So you've decided to take the plunge. You know that stock photography is an effective tool for your web business, but where do you start and how do you choose the stock photo that's right for you. Here are some tips to get you started so that you are happy with your choice.
1. Decide where you want to purchase your stock photography. There are large agencies and small independent photographers. While the agencies will have more to chose from and sometimes lower prices an independent photographe More.. |
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