I have been running an affordable website design service for the past ten years, and business has never been better. When I tell my friends about it, they are surprised. A lot of people assume that, since the dot com bubble burst, it has been a tough market for website designers. In some ways, they are right. There are tens of thousands of people who can do affordable web site design, and there are more every day. It is no longer a highly specialized skill which people are willing to pay big bucks for. But, if you are willing to put in the effort, there is quite a market available.

You see, the market for affordable website design is much broader than it used to be. Back in the good old days, there were no affordable website designs. If you wanted to have a website, you had to pay the cash or learn the trade. The very idea of affordable websites design was absurd. It was like asking for affordable brain surgery. There were so few people who knew how to design a website that you had to pay them a lot of money if you wanted it done.

Nowadays, however, affordable website design is the biggest part of the industry. It is so much quicker and easier to design a website that you can not charge a lot of money for the service any more. No one will want to pay! Then again, you can do a lot more business. There are bloggers, for example, who will pay for affordable website design. They already have functioning websites, but they might want them to look a little better, or to get more hits. You can do affordable website design for local businesses. Although this kind of work does not pay what it used to, it also does not take as much effort as it used to.

The bottom line is that there are people all over the world who are looking for good affordable website design. Even though anyone can build a website nowadays, not everyone can build a good one. Good web designers are still as hard to find as ever. If you can really get results, you can get a lot of work in the field. You just need to be able to deliver! You might need more jobs to pay the bills, but you also will have more opportunity to create a niche for yourself. It really is a great time to be a web designer.

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Websites disappear from the internet everyday. Do you want your website to be one of them?

Of course not.

Then how can you avoid your website’s failure?

The answer is - understand the common mistakes other websites made and avoid doing them in your website.

Here are 5 of them, which you should try to avoid at all cost.

1. A slow loading website. Most visitors are impatient to wait for a website loading for more than 10 seconds. In building your website, try not to use any enormous graphic files. No, you do not need a high resolution images. No, you do not need lengthy movies or flash animation. No, you do not need appealing music. You need a website that deliver the information strict to the point at fast as possible, and for this reason, you should focus on functionality first, design second.

2. A complicated and difficult to understand navigation system. do not make your menu bar too complicated, otherwise you will end up pushing your visitors away from your websites. Therefore, you need to make it easy for them to explore your website. Your pages must be linked in a logical way, and this connection should be easily navigable through an simple interface that even a 10 years old boy or 60 years old grandma will be able to understand. Place your navigation links either at the top of the page right below the header, or at either side of the page in a separate column. This is where your visitors’ eyes tend to look once they want to visit the other pages in your website.

3. Low quality content. Content is the king on the net. People use the internet to search information they need, and information is shared through your content. If your content is poorly written, who will have the patience to read it? Or if your content is not unique, why will people choose your website over others? In brief, there are two requisites for good quality content: excellent presentation and originality. Without either of this, your website will be in trouble for retaining repeat visitors.

4. Poor choice of keywords Keywords are the terms that people search for when they’re looking for information. They drive traffic to your website. If you targeted the right keywords, quality targeted visitors will come. If you targeted the wrong keywords, your website will have low traffic. Therefore, you should research the right keywords before you start building your website and content.

5. A website without focus. Focus is the key in designing a good website. Why would visitors who are interested with cats be interested with computer? There is no direct connection between the two subjects, it will just confuse your visitors and kick them away. So generally you should build your website on one main theme.

Now I have shared 5 common mistakes that you should avoid. Your online business success depends on how well your website designs. So it’s your time to think about how you can properly build your website. Take care.

About the Author

Mark Tse shares free tips, articles and downloads in his Internet Marketing Blog. Why do not visit his blog to get more great marketing related content? Click here to visit now: ==> http://www.marktse.com/blog/

Many small business owners have a hard time seeing the value of a website redesign. They believe ?if it ain?t broke, don?t fix it.? And this is understandable. Unless you are eating, breathing and sleeping technology and staying up to date with the moving target of Internet business, you?re not likely to know intuitively if your site needs a redesign.

And as a small business owner, you may be concerned about the up-front costs of a website redesign. But once you understand how a redesign can help you drive traffic to your site, convert more users and even save money, you?ll feel more positive about making the investment in your business.

Old School Web Design ? Tables-Based HTML

Not long ago, fax machines were the best way to deliver business documents fast. But now it?s so easy to scan and email documents, and even capture digital signatures through email, the fax machine is quickly going the way of the typewriter. With email, recipients can choose to read and archive the message online, or print it out themselves on their own desktop printer. No need for individual telephone lines for the fax machine, taking up desk space, replacing toner, uncurling fax paper and listening to screeching fax machine tones!

Tables-based HTML websites are like the fax machine. At one time tables were the best way to render information on the Web. But like curled paper and fading ink, tables left something to be desired. Designers were constrained by tables that allowed data to be rendered only in tabular form. The clean, professional and creative layouts today?s best designers create with Cascading Style Sheets could never be achieved with tables-based HTML.

New School Web Design ? Cascading Style Sheets

Cascading Style Sheets separate the presentation elements of a website (code) from its content (words). CSS allows web designers and developers to format the layout and style (fonts, spacing, text size, colors and so on) of multiple Web pages using one file, rather than entering the code to each individual page. Making changes to styles and layouts is much quicker and easier with CSS as well, as updating one file ?cascades? the changes to every page on the site. There is less room for error, and the website maintains a professional consistency.

But web designers and developers are not the only ones who benefit from CSS. You as a business owner benefit even more. How?

5 Solid Reasons To Redesign Your Website With CSS

1. Branding and Aesthetics

Consumer behavior experts tell us that, presented with many similar product or service options, and little prior knowledge and experience with these brands or companies, consumers will rely on mental shortcuts to make purchase decisions. The way your website looks compared to your competitors has a large influence on how a visitor perceives your company?s professionalism and goodwill. If your website looks modern, crisp and clean, you leave a positive impression on your visitors about your company.

2. Better Usability

CSS also reduces the amount of HTML code a website requires. Tables and extra tags for fonts and colors cause pages to load slowly. The longer it takes for your page to load, the more likely a visitor will hit the back button. Even though the majority of people use a broadband connection, many are still using dialup. And others may be using a high speed wireless network which, depending on how many others are sharing the same wireless channel, may experience fast or slow connections.

3. Accessibility

Rapid advances in wireless communications have made it easy to surf the ?Net using PDA?s and cell phones. Tabular page layouts simply don?t display properly on small screens. A business that wants to be accessible to anyone, anywhere now and in the future needs to have a website that can be viewed on mobile devices.

CSS design also greatly improves the user experience for the visually impaired, as they cause fewer problems for screen readers and Braille programs.

4. Search Engine Benefits

It has been estimated that up to 80% of all purchases online begin with a search engine. And an entire industry is dedicated to helping businesses rank highly for specific search terms to take advantage of the power of search engines.

Although the relevance of a webpage to a search term is determined by HTML elements like title tags and heading tags, content is still ?king? because visitors are looking for content, not code. When you have a high code-to-content ratio, your keyword density (the relative frequency of your targeted keywords on your page) is diluted by HTML instructions for how tables, fonts, styles and colors should be rendered. With CSS, there are no tables, and formatting information is contained in one style sheet. So search engines see more keywords and less code.

Search engines are more and are more likely to index deeper pages of your site and send you more referral traffic.

5. Bandwidth

Cascading Style Sheets can save you money and increase the number of eyeballs that see your page in other ways. ?Bandwidth? refers to how much website traffic your hosting company will allow you to have each month. Because every time a user lands on your site, he or she must load your pages in his or her browser. Not only visitors, but search engine spiders consume bandwidth too. The more code your pages have, the more bandwidth you use.

If you exceed bandwidth usage your site will be suspend until you buy more bandwidth or reach end of the month. Suppose your site receives a sudden surge of traffic shortly after a popular magazine features your company. That would be the worst possible time for your website to go offline! CSS makes for a more efficient use of bandwidth, and reduces the chances of such problems.

So Are Tables Taboo?

Absolutely not. There are bona fide reasons to use tables to display certain types of content. The beauty about CSS is that you still can use tables when you need to, but you don?t need to use tables for everything which significantly reduces your ?code load.?

How Do I Know If I?m Already Using CSS?

A quick test to see if your site is using CSS is to load your website in your browser (any page will do). Right click anywhere in the window, and a menu box will appear. Click ?View Page Source.? You should see keywords like rel=”stylesheet” or type=”text/css” near the top of the window that pops up to view your source code.

If you?re already using CSS, there may be other ways your business could benefit from a website redesign. Driving traffic, improving the customer experience, making your website more accessible to users and saving time and money on webmaster updates make it well worth the investment. Whether you choose to redesign now or in the future, make sure that your web designer and developer are skilled in CSS.

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1. Make it simple! A complicated website that gives too many choices or commands confuses the user. “Click here”, “Buy Now”, “Read this”. All are commands and if they appear close together on one page the question is - which command do I follow?? Hence confusion.

2. Easy to use navigation: Following on from the “make it simple” rule the navigation should also be simple and easy to follow. Always include a home link on every page as well as links to your main products sections. There is nothing more annoying than clicking on a link, going to a page and then not knowing where to go from there and having to press the back button. The navigation system should be in the same place on every page to give consistency and so the user always knows where to look.

3. Content Rich Text: This means write something useful and interesting! But at the same time keep it concise. Lots of drivel about your product and services will not be read but it does need to contain the key points. What is the product/service? How easy is it to get it? How much does it cost? What do I do now? This is also an important point for search engines - they love keyword rich text. So if your website is about red balloons make sure you include the words a few times (but don’t over do it!).

4. Consistency in fonts: Use the same/similar fonts throughout the pages. This makes it look neater, is easier on the eye and does not distract from the message you are trying to get across to the viewer. Uses lots of different sizes and lots of different fonts may make it look interesting but that is all it is - interesting fonts! You want everything to integrate (to make whole or complete by bringing everything together) and that’s how it works with fonts. And as regard which font? Try not to use Times - it just makes the site look old-style from the days when the internet was just an information centre. Use Arial or Verdana mostly as these are nice “square” fonts and look a lot neater than Times.

5. Quick loading site: Please, please, please don’t use large images, especially on your home page. Same goes for large Flash files. Flash is alright in it’s place - such as a website that you would expect lots of graphics (photographer, films etc.). But your average business website doesn’t need all that. Images should be compressed and correctly sized BEFORE being put into a web page. You may have downloaded a picture from your camera that is 1200 pixels wide and 300 pixels per inch - this is going to be HUGE in file size. So use a graphics program such as Photoshop or your camera software to a) reduce the width/height and b) reduce the resolution (pixels per inch). Don’t insert the picture and resize using the HTML commands for width and height because it will take so long to load. Visitors are an impatient breed and don’t generally wait for large pictures to download.

6. Use plenty of HTML text rather than images: It is important for search engines to be able to pick up text from web pages as well as for the viewer to have quick loading times. If text is put mainly into images it will not be read by the search engines and will take longer to download than simple text.

7. Point of view: When you have finished your website look at it from a different point of view. Imagine you are a customer and view the site from start to finish and see if it communicates your message and is easy to use. Get friends and associates to view the site and give their opinions as to the message and ease of navigation.

8. TEST, TEST, TEST: And when you’ve done that, test again. This means test all the links, all the pages. Make sure all the images got uploaded and are showing. Test it on a dial-up modem if you can to see how quickly/slowly it loads. If you have a form page test it and make sure you receive the form information.

9. Promote the website: Now your website is live it must be PROMOTED! It is not a case of “build it and they will come”. Ways to promote are a) the most obvious which is print ads (magazines, newspapers, local free paper, leaflets etc.) Be sure to include your website address on letterhead and business cards and at the bottom of your email. b) Write an article about your product/services and submit it to free article submission websites (search for article submission) and include your website at the bottom of the article c) Write a press release announcing the new website and submit this to press release websites d) Set up Google Adwords so your website is being advertised on Google and their related advertising sites. This is very easy to do and you can spend as much or as little as you like. e) Contact other website owners and offer to exchange links. These could be directory type websites that list sites similar to yours or sites that are in a similar business to you but obviously not competitors. An example would be for an artist to get listed on Art Gallery websites (a lot of which are free) and other artists websites. This kind of linking goes a long way to increase your search engine ranking because it makes your website look “important”! But don’t fall for these emails that say if you link to site (a) we’ll list you on site (b) - these are what is known as “link farms” and do not help search engine ranking.

10. Update regularly: After the website has gone “live” be sure to update it on a regular basis. If you have a news section this is absolutely vital. If a visitor sees the news hasn’t been updated since June 2005 he is likely to go somewhere else but it’s obvious you are no longer really there. This is also important for search engines. If your content changes they are more likely to pick up the site and list it.

If all the above seems too much like hard work contact a professional and get them to do it for you!

About the Author

Tracey Clerkin has been designing websites since 1998 and has her own web design company: www.artisanwebsites.co.uk

A well-conceived and consistent design helps draw attention to what has changed as the visitor moves from page to page. Ideally, what changes is the most important part of the page, the stuff your customer is interested in.?

If you get stuck in room with a group of web designers you’ll hear a lot of talk about page load times, HTML and XML, color and page sizes, animated graphics, and the latest design gizmos. Designers love to talk about the tools they use and the latest design trends. But hidden in all of this conversation are the real issues that you should pay attention to such as how a certain type of design is used to improve usability or create a strong sense of trust between a website and a visitor. You also might hear discussions about how different types of fonts are used to improve readability or how page links are used to help break up text into smaller, more easily readable sections. This is the “language” of design that you should always be on the lookout for.???

The Web’s strength as a visual medium is unquestioned. Often, a site is as much about what it looks like as what it says or does. Some sites exist for no other reason than to push the envelope of what’s possible in web design.???

?Your website will not be one of those sites. But, your site should exhibit some aesthetic sensibility. As several design experts and professional aestheticians have asserted, there is no undesigned object. In the world of commercial products at least, design pervades everything from cell phone face plates to toilet brushes. Surrounded by “designed objects” at every turn in their everyday life, visitors to your site will likewise expect your website to have a “design.”???

Design in this sense does not imply avant-garde or cutting edge, but rather it means produced with a purpose. A designed site employs visual discipline to support the site’s mission and connect with its visitors.???

?As focus does, design helps determine if something–an advertisement, logo, image, text block or other graphical element–is appropriate for the site. Not “appropriate” in terms of its content, but appropriate in how its size, color, and composition affect the site’s design for better or worse.???

In a well-designed site, areas of pages with different functions are separate and consistent across all the pages. A site’s design should clearly delineate areas of a site by function. For a small website, that primarily means designing a site with distinct areas for your logo or brand, navigation buttons and links, content, and a page footer, which might hold a copyright notice, page modification date, email link to the webmaster, and other short, site usage information. Larger sites might also designate web page real estate for other purposes, such as tools (search, shopping, or account management) and marketing, advertising, or promotional messages.???

The creators of cluttered sites have “bent the rules” too many times, resulting in a visual mishmash that confuses visitors. As the proverb goes, a room full of people may refuse to acknowledge the elephant in their midst. But a site that has grown bloated without regard for an overarching design principle will be noticeable to all who see it.???

People can easily become disoriented on the Web. A well-designed site is an antidote to the problem.???

Bloated sites often have a disturbing “designed on the fly” look to them. Like something shiny in the monkey cage, a new website feature captivates the bloated site builder and diverts attention from the rest of the site. On a good small site, the latest-and-greatest look is avoided so that a design that’s simple and customer focused can be maintained.????

A well-conceived and consistent design helps draw attention to what has changed as the visitor moves from page to page. Ideally, what changes is the most important part of the page, the stuff your customer is interested in. The rest of the site recedes to the periphery, getting attention from the visitor only when necessary. By abandoning consistent design from page to page, visitors to a bloated site are forced to concentrate on how the site is organized rather than on how the site and the business can benefit them.????

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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If you leave your website?s look and feel strictly to the designers, be prepared to get a beautiful, sexy, artistic site that does everything but make you money. Why? Because designers know website design, but they do not know your business. The five tips below will help ensure that you not only have a website that looks professional, but a website that?s open and ready for business!

#1 ? Keep your links above the fold. 97.3% of people don?t scroll. And 77.3% of statistics are made up on the spot. So forget the statistics, just realize your links have a greater chance of being clicked on if they don?t require people to scroll down to click on them. Make sure all of your links are eye level and consistent on every page throughout your site.

#2 ? If it?s crucial information, put it on your homepage! What are people looking for on your site? Your phone number? Maybe a physical address? How about your email? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then don?t make your users search for that info. Make sure that info is neatly placed on your home page. The quicker they find your phone number, the quicker they can call you and do business with you.

#3 ? Link Clarity ? Another rule of thumb: if the user does not feel confident about where the link they are about to click on is taking them, they won?t click on it. So take the guess work out of it and make your links abundantly clear. Contact Us. Yep, that?s pretty clear.

#4 ? Color Pollution ? Remember when your mom thought anything you brought home from art class was the most beautiful masterpiece in the world? Well, no offense, but I?m willing to bet it fell into the category of color pollution. Color pollution is simply more than three primary colors on a page. Any more than three and your brain slowly begins to turn to mush. This is crucial when it comes to your website because you want your user?s attention to stay focused on the content, not that odd shade of mauve.

#5 ? Include Key Words in your homepage content ? this is not your web designer?s job, so you can?t blame them for not doing it. Again, they don?t know your business and wouldn?t have the slightest clue what words would make the most sense to include on your homepage. Key Words are those words your users will type in search engines to find you?or your competitors. You want any word or phrase that they might type in to be scattered throughout your homepage as the search engines will give you credit for those words and that will increase your likelihood of a higher search engine ranking.

Are you Satisfied with your Website Design?

Before you answer this question about your website design back up and ask yourself this questions. What does the word “satisfy” mean?

We’ve all heard the word “satisfy” in the forums we read, news articles, television and radio etc.

The word satisfy could apply to almost everything we do. Are you satisfied with your relationship with your significant other? Satisfied with your verbal grasp of the English language? Satisfied with your financial portfolio? Satisfied with your parenting skills? And, most important, are you satisfied with your website design?

The answer should in most cases always be NO.

If this be the case for your website design and you still feel that there is no manipulation going on between the author of this article then please take some time to review what customers have to say about their new website design from Logoworks.com

The Customer is Always Right Logoworks takes the hassle and expense out of website design. The customer simply tells them how the site is used and what they want to say. Immediately following this information is provided, LogoWorks will send a detailed estimate so the customer knows exactly what the price and time frame will be. There are no hidden charges, service agreements, or hosting fees. The customer always gets the website needed at a price they can afford!

Your website design is often the first interaction customers have with the business. Most agree that a bad design confuses or drives a potential customer away. An effective website design needs to highlight the success of your business, create interest in your product or service, and build trust for your customer. Logoworks has designed hundreds of incredible websites that make the difference for their clients. See for yourself, view their design gallery or read what their customers have to say about their new website.

Save Time and Money When Logoworks Designs a Website:

* At least 2 custom designs - not templates - so you know your site is unique * At least 2 designers so you get a variety of choices * Initial designs in five days or less * Fully programmed, operational site posted to your host account * Option to add flash, e-commerce, custom sub-pages, copywriting, and more

About the Author

Mark Travis writes articles for Logo Design and Website Design companies such as Logoworks.com. Visit Logoworks.com for all your Logo Design and Website design needs. Create the perfect logo in minutes using our online Logo Creator. -

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CLIENT CALLS TODAY

My client, Marg, is upset with her webdesigner. She says, Doesnt he understand its my website? I dont want this to be a constant battle.

Nancy designs websites. She tells me, I did a beautiful site for the client and then they c****** it up. I cant even use it for my portfolio. She changed everything and its really hideous. I think shes colorblind.

Sandy is working with a webdesigner, too. She tells me, I outlined what I wanted, but I left [the web designer] plenty of leeway. I know theyre creative and want to express themselves. Ill tell her from there, take it.

THE BATTLE OF THE EXPERTS

Since Im an Internet marketing coach, Im often in a triad the client, the web designer, and me! It becomes a battle-of-the-experts, a nightmare for all concerned. Basically when I accept an Internet marketing client, one of my stipulations is that they listen to what I tell them.

Youd think someone paying you would do that, wouldnt you? Instead, they listen to their brother-in-law or the guy at the post office, or they start reading things on the Internet. One client, Julio, even started hiring other people a PR consultant, a logo designer, an advertising agency. It became an impossible situation with input from all directions. Each of us contradicted the other at one point. Julio then made the decisions, trusting no one. Why, then, I asked him, did you hire people? (And then I fired him.)

THE IDEAL CLIENT DOESNT CONFUSE HIM/HERSELF

Other clients pay me and listen to what I say. Its a novel concept, but it works well. When I started working with Gordon, I said, Yes, I will tell you what computer to buy, but not if you plan to then go ask everyone you know for their advice. That would waste your time and mine. Gordon said, I wouldnt do that. Then Id get confused.

Gordon is the ideal client. He paid me for my marketing consulting, listened, took action, and his practice is thriving as a result. He saved us both a lot of time, which, since I bill by the hour, saved him a lot of money. He’s a smart man.

So how should you proceed if you are working with a web designer? There are a few musts. Many of them work in a world of T1s, LANS, and DSL. This is a very different world from the rest of us mere mortals. WE live in another world only 7% of us have broadband and this percentage doesnt appear to be growing. What does this mean? Most people visiting your website surf at 56K or slower. 60% still surf at 28.8k. If you want people to visit your website and stay there, make sure the front page loads fast enough — 8-10 seconds at 28.8k. Web designers, like all creative people, get bored. Okay? They like to try all the new bells and whistles. This may or may not work in your situation. Its like the choir director at church. Most of us would like to sing A Mighty Fortress every Sunday, some hymn we know and love. Its been around a long time because we love it! It works. The choir director, on the other hand, wants to be on the leading edge, try the new things. Know what you want and stick to it. Do your homework before you get there. Find 3-5 websites you like. The style, colors, font, layout, navigation. Show these to your web designer rather than trying to describe. Be clear about what you want. Something professional-looking is open to interpretation. A site like this one: www.professional_website.com works a lot better. Trust your intuition. If they show you something you dont like, go with your feelings. Find one with expertise in websites in your field. It will save you having to explain a lot of things. Find someone you trust and let them do their work.

HOW DO YOU FIND THIS PERSON?

1. Get a referral from someone whose opinion you trust.
2. Find a site you like and find out who did it.

I recommend two web designers to my clients. I know them and I know their work. They are excellent in every aspect:

They can get out of their own head and put the client on the webpage. They have the technical skills required. They are professional and responsible. They meet deadlines. They set a price and stick to it. They are courteous to my clients.

All those points are important, but Number 1 is MORE important. (In fact you should expect the others.) Its most important they have the knack of translating you onto the Internet.

THE RELATIONSHIP

Ive been in marketing for many years. It happens to be a field everyone thinks they know something about and indeed we do. Were all consumers, and we have marketing working on us all the time, so we have our opinions. It isnt like going to the dentist, for instance. I really havent much knowledge about root canals, and I pretty much leave it up to the dentist.

Its takes maturity and emotional intelligence to make it a successful relationship that produces the kind of product you want. That means you need two mature people with EQ skills. Some web designers are all IQ and tech skills, with little ability to relate. Avoid those. Some web designers are the creative genius type, like Frank Lloyd Wright, who wanted to do what he wanted to do, the hell with the client. Avoid those.

Something in between is nice. It doesnt have to be a fight. If its feeling like a fight, you need a new web designer. Start with a web designer who comes well recommended. Then enter a relationship of mutual respect. He or she knows how to design a website. You know you and what you want. Together you can make music!

About the Author

Susan Dunn, The EQ Coach, GLOBAL EQ. Emotional intelligence coaching to enhance all areas of your life - career, relationships, midlife transition, resilience, self-esteem, parenting. EQ Alive! - excellent, accelerated, affordable EQ coach certification. Susan is the author of numerous ebooks, is widely published on the Internet, and a regular speaker for cruise lines. For marketing services go here.

Designing a website may not seem like the easiest of tasks, but with the help of some new web building conveniences that have entered the market in the past few years it is possible to create a professional website for your business with only a small investment of your time and money. In fact, with the advent of greater choice in web design such as ready-made website templates, logos and other corporate necessities, you can build a website in three easy steps.

Step One: Plan Ahead

Before you delve into the world of web design and start looking for a suitable template, it’s important to plan ahead. You need to clearly define your company’s objectives beforehand so that the design selection process goes more quickly and you choose the right template.

For instance, who is your target audience? You must know your customer inside and out in order to choose the best site design for bringing in business. For instance, if most of your business comes from corporations and professionals you will need to choose a template that caters to that group of people - one that gives the right first impression and shows you are a serious business that can handle top-notch clients. In this case, a simple, efficient design will be your top preference. If, however, you are building an ecommerce website selling a range of goods, a template that can be customized for online shopping will probably be your design of choice. Perhaps you require a more “flashy” website? Flash templates are also an option and suit many different types of websites that rely on more than just text and a logo to make money.

Ensure that the template you eventually purchase is easy to customize and update. That’s the whole point of buying a template in the first place - to make both the building of the website and its maintenance stress-free, affordable and fast. You will need to add your own content to the template and work with the overall theme once it is downloaded. Also, most businesses will want to add fresh content, site updates, links etc. as time goes by so keep this in mind when searching for that perfect template. If you plan to incorporate interactive features into your site, such as forms and chat areas, the template you choose should be able to handle this as well.

Step Two: Choose a Template

Now that you are prepared, you can begin shopping for a website template that will work best for your business. Start by researching the many website template companies on the market that offer professional designs for reasonable prices ($20-$40). Most companies offer the choice between copyrighted and non-copyrighted material as well, so if you want to be the only one using the template design spend a little more money to receive exclusive usage. One such website template company I found that offers reasonably priced templates is http://templatedogma.com/. Once you purchase a copyrighted template it is taken off the market. If you don’t find a template that fits your business precisely, investigate which companies offer to design custom-made templates for your usage. This will cost more but prices are kept lower than hiring a designer and the results are just as good - if not better.

When you find the right template after reviewing the available designs, the rest is simple. All you have to do is purchase the template and download it to your hard drive in seconds.

Step Three: Customize

With the template all ready to go, all you have to do is add your own content, graphics, images - anything you need to make the site your own. If you can use a simple editor such as DreamWeaver or FrontPage, this can be done in a few days or less. If you are inexperienced when it comes to any aspect of web design you can hire someone to do the editing for you for a very small fee - much smaller than what you would pay a designer to create the whole site from scratch.

When adding content, if you only require a few simple words, consider writing the text yourself. If you need a lot more information, such as product descriptions, articles or sales content, consider hiring a writer to create unique, high-quality content. Because you saved so much money purchasing a ready-made website template, you can spend a little more hiring a great writer! If you write the material on your own, remember to keep it short. Keep paragraphs short and don’t bog the reader down with unnecessary information. People are in a hurry and don’t want to spend a lot of time reading pages and pages of writing. Let your visitors get the information they need so they can move on and buy your product or service, but also make sure the information you provide is actually helpful and written without grammar or spelling mistakes.

The overall design should be kept simple, but that doesn’t mean you can’t add graphics, pictures or even video. As long as you keep it uncomplicated visitors will not regret visiting your site and learning more about your business. Not everyone has high-speed Internet yet, so fast loading pages are still a consideration.

Other additions include tables, forms and quizzes. Tables specifically are an easy way to organize text on a web page and they load very quickly. Most HTML editors make it easy to generate tables on your website.

Website templates have brought web design out of its infancy and into the 21st century, catering to the unique needs of the online business owner, so don’t be afraid to take advantage of the convenience - you won’t regret the decision.

About the Author

This article was written by Katerina Mitrou sponsored by http://templatedogma.com/. Template Dogma offers a huge selection of professional, ready to use website templates and custom products too. Build your professional website in minutes with the help of Templatedogma.com. Reproductions of this article are encouraged but must include a link back to http://templatedogma.com/. -

I would like to build a website for someone out there. It won’t be EXPENSIVE, about 30, but i will try my best to make it how you would like it. It is just because I want to practice my programming and web design skills, but have a plan to follow and work with.

Get in touch if you want more info.

One of my sample sites

Age: 17
Interests: Web Design & Programming
From: England, UK

Wikipedia describes Web 2.0 as an often-misused phrase that refers to second-generation Internet-based services that allow people to share and collaborate in previously unavailable ways. If you cut through the marketing hype of this term, you’re left with a simple concept: the web is no longer a static medium with limited or one-way communication. Fully utilized, static church websites, with little or no reach, can be transformed into community-building, self-propagating, communication powerhouses with enormous reach. Is this important to your ministry? No. It’s not important; it’s critical. Let me explain.

A church, by its very definition, is a community of like-minded individuals who share and collaborate on a common belief and mission. More importantly, in Christian churches, the spreading of this message is accomplished by members of that community sharing their beliefs with others. By utilizing the communication vehicles currently associated with the term ?Web 2.0,? you effectively replicate your physical church and mission on the web. Unlike your local congregation, however, the web-enabled version has instant global reach.

Here’s an example: as a pastor you give your sermon to your congregation on Sunday morning. The reach of this sermon is limited to the people present, and anyone with whom they may verbally share that message. What if that same sermon could be available globally, appearing automatically in subscribers? podcasting software halfway around the world, within hours of the original? What if these same subscribers were to share that sermon with friends, the original propagating from MP3 player to MP3 player, around the world? Suddenly, your non-congregational reach is exponential. Not only is this scenario possible, it is readily available. Believe it or not, podcasting refers to only one vehicle of what currently constitutes ?Web 2.0.? There are many other such vehicles, each with its own ability to reach separate web populations.

Given the Great Commission all Christian churches are tasked with, utilizing these tools is critical, as any means of exponentially increasing your listener base should be. To follow is a short list of features which should be utilized in your current church website design, or used as a checklist for commercially available systems.

Audio Library: Sermons are the most tangible commodity of a church, and subsequently, should get primary attention. An audio library, distinctly separate from the previously mentioned podcasting stream, allows you to make all recorded features, from sermons to music to instruction, available for online listening and download-capable for later use. This feature should be extremely easy to navigate for your users so that they can quickly locate specific recordings.

Video Streaming: While still bandwidth intensive, video, like audio, can be a very effective medium for spreading the gospel. Where possible, audio should be used unless there are significant visual reasons to do so otherwise. Visual presentations and performances are better candidates for this than the typical Sunday sermon.

Podcasting Feeds: A podcast feed is an audio subscription initiated by users who click on your feed link. If you have ever subscribed to a favorite television series with a Tivo, then you’re already familiar with how a podcast works in conjunction with podcast software, such as Apple iTunes. By clicking on your podcast link, users are subscribed, via their podcast software, and subsequent sermons will download automatically for them, becoming instantly available for use on their MP3 players. This is a separate feature from your Audio Library, as podcasts should be regularly scheduled recordings, as a rule of thumb. You may have a great variety of recorded material available, but you may not want every recording linked as part of a regular podcast feed. Make sure any system that you are considering makes this distinction.

Blogging: Blogging is the perfect online mechanism for your pastoral staff to reflect and provide guidance between Sundays. Pastoral staff blogs can help bring repeat visitors to your site and provide a platform for personal insight, that goes beyond the confines and structure of Sunday’s sermon. Entire search engines exist for blogs and, because of this, ministries have an enormous opportunity to reach entirely new readers. The most effective blogging will involve having your own blog server versus a freebie account in a shared environment.

Newsletter Management: Electronic newsletters simply cannot be ignored for effective ministry due to their viral nature. A commonly used marketing term, viral marketing refers to the act of one person sending or forwarding information, they found helpful, to others who they know might benefit from it. In other words, an effective newsletter not only finds its way to the subscribers, but they typically forward meaningful newsletters to others. Many factors influence the effectiveness of this method including subscriber management, the quality of the content, and the focus on gaining new subscribers.

Forums: Adequately moderated, church website forums can provide the perfect means for developing a community around your online ministry. Topics can be discussed or debated, church classes can have their own forums for collaborating on teachings, and questions about the faith can be answered. While there are some obvious requirements for moderation, a good system will allow several layers of control that provide a balance of administrative control and management ease specific to your needs and abilities.

Image Galleries: Image galleries provide far more than the obvious display of happy times within your congregation. A well-made gallery will allow optional user interaction, such as rating and voting, in addition to commentary. Most importantly, make certain your system has the ability to send pictures as e-cards. As previously mentioned, this feature is viral in nature, allowing users to send selected images as postcards with greetings to friends, again, greatly extending your online reach.

Events Calendar: No church website design would be complete without a full-featured, fully searchable events calendar. Events can be the lifeblood of a church, and getting the message out, about those events, is mission-critical.

User Polls: While sometimes overused in secular websites, user polls on a church website can be extremely effective for several reasons. Religion and politics have long been the start of many a debate and. as a result, most people are very willing to give their opinions on either topic. By providing effective, anonymous polls, you not only encourage user interaction, but you can gain a better understanding of the mindset of your site visitors. Many times, this can provide great material for sermons!

Email to friend: This little feature should appear on every page of significant content throughout your church website. Its function is to provide a means for site visitors to email a specific page they think might be of interest to their friends. This feature, while seemingly small, is also viral in nature (one person receives it and sends to another) and can have a significant impact in your ministry?s reach.

Search-Engine Optimization: Whether you are attempting your church website design by hand, or are using a commercial system, make absolutely certain that you don’t overlook good search-engine optimization practice. Without going into a long description of the function of each, make sure that any system you use automates accurate meta tag creation, has a reciprocal link-management system and, if your site is dynamic (database- driven). that URLs are rewritten as search-engine friendly. Overlooking these items will result in decreased search-engine positioning, so pay close attention to these. As your site grows, the more important the automation or near-automation of these functions become.

Multi-Lingual Page Translation: While there is no true 100%-accurate page-translation service available, there are some that do an outstanding job. Make sure that all your content pages have some form of multi-lingual translation capabilities. The more languages you can translate into, the more lives you are likely to impact on a global scale.

RSS Feeds: RSS feeds provide a similar subscription method as podcast feeds do, but they are focused on textual content versus audio. These feeds can be established throughout your site and alert subscribers to changes in content, without them having to browse your site. Areas of your site that do not frequently change (like your statement of faith) are not good candidates for an RSS feed, while constantly updated content areas are. Forums, for example, are great places to deploy an RSS feed, as replies and responses to ongoing threads update frequently.

About the Author:

Brooks Patton is founder of The Church Site Project, an integrated, web-content-management system, and online church community suite, designed to meet the needs of modern church website design standards.

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With so many new websites going online every day it is no wonder many of them never succeed. We all hear about the new site that has only been online less than a year and has millions of visitors each month. Why do some sites do so well and others flop? There are many reasons for this and these are just some of the more obvious and often overlooked ones.

The landing page takes too long to load. Many website designers and marketers believe everyone has a high-speed connection, which is not the case. Even with a fast connection many pages will take up to 30 seconds to load, which is just too long. Unless someone really wants what you have, and can?t get it anywhere else, they won?t wait; and forget about the person on dial-up. Unless yours is a hobby site, or sales are not important to you, forget about Flash and large fancy graphics.

Site is not finished. This may not seem like a big issue except that people who go looking for something don?t want to see an under-construction animation where the information should be. You just wasted their time and probably annoyed them ?- not a good start. Do not advertise or promote something you don?t have unless you are doing a product pre-launch, and never lead your visitor down a road to an empty page. Its one thing to upload an unfinished site for testing, however, don?t promote it.

Bad navigation. If you have ever gone to a site and got lost, then you know what I mean. You click on a link and another to the point you give up looking for the information or product and just do a re-search for another site. This type of marketing may work in an offline store but it has no place online. Offline you could keep a customer in your store by creating a maze and therefore introducing them to more of your products. Online this does not work ?- the exit is never more than a click away, and don?t forget it. Make your site easy to navigate and have links, at least to the home page, on every page. Never try to trap your visitor.

No contact information. While I am not saying you should give out your address and home phone number, you must at least have an email link on your site. Many sites do not have an email and use a contact form instead. These forms are usually to hide their identity and your visitors will pick up on that. Remember, people hide their identity for a reason. The more open you are with people, the more open they will be with you.

Old content. If you want to get repeat visitors, you need new content; it?s just that simple. Many sites never change and rely on new visitors and customers. This is the hard way to do business, as a repeat customer is much easier to sell to.

Broken Links. It is a good idea to manually check your links as often as possible. Take a run through your site on a regular basis and mainly check links heading off your site. If someone else changed their site and you are linking to them as an affiliate, for example, your link may get disabled. You internal links should not cause many problems, but it never hurts to check.

If you are expecting to get a full time income from your site expect to put some work into it. The ?build it and forget about it? idea only works for hobbyists etc.. Most people making a full-time income online work at it full-time, no matter what they would have you believe.

In the past, businesses and other entities are busy mounting their own website but now, the hype is all about redesigning them. This change has shifted the interface of web design services to a different level and the focus is now on redesigns.

Website redesigning is involves a slight distinction and considerations between mounting and developing new sites. Say for instance, those that have existing sites have more or less enough knowledge on what sites and site formulas work. They have already a grasp about what they consider as assets in their site’s form and function. Recognizing these assets can pretty well contribute to a more prosperous redesigned site.

Other businesses may take a few months to decide in favor of a redesign but mind you, planning a redesign can be as easy as 123! It’s unbelievable but it’s true. Here are the three basic redesign planning tips:

1. Problem Identification. As i have stated a while ago, more or less you have already formed an idea why your site is not doing that good in the World Wide Web. This is because of certain factors. These factors must be avoided in coming up with a redesign. Remember the maxim - learn form your mistakes. Well, this is basically the main idea behind problem identification. This is done to preclude similar mistakes that have transpired in the past. In recognizing these mistakes, the site will intentionally be improved. Aside from mistakes, we should also consider the good points of your existing web design. They can be re-applied or made stronger and better.

Thus, before you plan the details of a re-design, analyze first. Identify the problem areas as well as the good areas. You may ask some of these questions in order to get the desired web site:

a. Is your site functional? If it gives the needed information of the viewers or the target market and they get it quickly and clearly then, the site is said to be functional. It pays to have organization, this is because it will refrain the viewers from transferring from one site to another.

b. Does your site clearly point the ‘call for action’. If you are into selling products, your site must have triggered the viewer?s decision to buy the product. At a glance, they must be convinced and the cobwebs at the back of their heads must be rebutted or deleted.

c. Is your site an epitome of a professionally-made site? Are the appearance, layout, images and content appealing? If not, better have it redesigned in a way to make it catchy, informative and serviceable.

2. Layout the redesign plan. The next thing to do is to establish a workable layout for the redesign. Establish plans how to solve the mistakes in web design. Each issue must be identified to serve as guidelines. Also, problems and mistakes must be given due solutions.

3. Define your Goals. Aside from giving solutions to the mistakes and problems you have encountered in your existing web site, be sure to establish and define your goals to guide you with what to do in the redesign.

The aim or the overall purpose must be made clear and flagrant otherwise your redesign will just turn out to be a waste of time and money. Good luck!

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FrontPage? and DreamWeaver? are both great pieces of software but they were NOT designed with Internet Marketers in mind. XSITEPRO was, which is why it has rapidly become the web site development tool of choice for Internet Marketers who are serious about running a profitable online business.

During every stage of the development process we had the Internet Marketer in mind, which is why the software is packed to the brim with features that are designed especially to make your life easier and to maximize the chance of online success.

Whether you are a complete newbie to Internet Marketing or a long-established online entrepreneur you will find that XSITEPRO will:

* Cut your development time down massively (what previously took days and weeks will take hours and minutes)

* Allow you to do things that were previously only possible by employing costly programmers and web development staff, which means that you control your web site and not the techies.

* Let you concentrate on building your online business rather than allowing untold hours to be soaked up developing web sites.

* Take away the frustration of web site development so that running your online business becomes a pleasure rather than a chore.

* Put tools at your disposal which will allow you to take your new or existing business to the next level of success.

* Make it easy to keep your web sites up-to-date so that they don’t end up becoming cobwebs (i.e. like the vast majority of Internet Marketing web sites that are rarely if ever updated because it is just too much trouble using conventional tools)

XSITEPRO is amazingly versatile

It can help you create almost any kind of site imaginable. It doesn’t matter whether you want to create a simple one page sales letter, a complex affiliate site or a thousand page Google AdSense site. XSitePro is more than up to the job.

Another huge plus point is that with XSitePro you can create an infinite number of sites so you don’t need to rely on a single site for your income. You can quickly and easily create multiple streams of income or multiple sites that all feed into your main site - the choice is yours.

But, please don’t just take our word for it …

Since it was launched back in Spring of 2005 XSITEPRO has received thousands of amazing testimonials from satisfied users, many of whom had previously used other leading web development applications such as Dreamweaver, FrontPage and GoLive.

“XSITEPRO is the best in its class, hands down! That’s a big claim and I can back it up by telling you that I also use Dreamweaver, I’ve used Frontpage and many others. There is nothing to compare with the sheer logic behind the site building process. I am currently working on a site with over 700 pages. It’s a massive project for me and without XSitePro it would become unworkable. The speed and power of your updates are unbelievable and I stand in awe at your programming skills. I already have the best but it just keeps getting better. Thanks for having your finger on the pulse Paul.” Pete Lauder http://www.homebizassistant.com/

“I just wanted you to know that I am already floored by this software! Yesterday, I printed out the tutorial and the manual and created a nice XSitePro binder for myself. I started going through the tutorial and am about 3/4 of the way through. I was amazed with every single step at how detailed the tutorial is… and I was even more amazed at the power of XSitePro and its simplicity at the same time. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve created my own sites by hand… hand-coding, creating manual site-maps, etc. I can’t even tell you how many websites I started to build (and ultimately stopped) last year because the task of doing them all by hand was just to dauting. Well, I know that I will now be able to ‘dust off’ those idea and will very easily be able to build them with XSitePro. I have to tell you, I finally feel that being successful in affiliate marketing is more reachable now than ever before.” Patty Gale http://www.CommuteInYourJammies.com

“I have tested every single feature promised in your sales letter and XSitePro delivered them all and much more. XSitePro has taken over all the step-by-step processes of website building and made it easy to put a site together in record time! If you have many websites like me, it is no joke managing them. But with XSitePro it is a breeze, thank you Paul. If you’ve been warming the bench far too long and never seemed to get started with building an online business even though you want to but are put off by the hassles of dealing with HTML code and no technical know-how skills, you must jump right in now and get started cranking out web sites, XSitePro is an awesome piece of software and Paul is pricing it way too low at $197! I highly recommend XSitePro. Content is still king regardless of the continuous changes and updates of search engines’ algorithms. With XSitePro, you can free up more of your time to focus on supplying REAL customer focused content rich sites for your visitors. Thumbs up for top-notch software and your excellent after-sales support!” Adam Lok http://www.minisitesell.com

“As I was going through the XSitePro tutorial, I found myself thinking “WHERE was this software a few years ago when I was struggling to learn HTML?”. XSitePro is awesome! It is so EASY to use that a grade school kid (or, since kids are so computer-literate these days, perhaps I should say an 80-year old grandmother) could create beautiful websites in no time flat … without knowing one lick of HTML. And, it is so versatile … if you can “think” it, you can “do” it with XSitePro! I honestly can’t believe you were able to pack so many features into just one little piece of software. This is hands-down the BEST software of its type on the market, and I am recommending it to ALL my coaching students.” Holly Cotter http://www.PassiveProfitStreams.com

I purchased the Xsite Pro a couple of days ago and transferred my martial arts and fitness site of + 500 pages from a dynamic portal to the Xsite Pro layout. I did this job in a little over 3 days, That’s aprox. 166 pages/day. I don’t think any other website design program can do the same with such a high level of proficiency. In the first 3 days after putting the site online i saw a drop in traffic but after 3 days everything was back to normal again. 2 days later my traffic was DOUBLED !!!! Thank you Xsite Pro. Should have bought this program a lot earlier. And thank you Paul for the advise. Peter Vermeeren http://www.kamikaze-portal.com

“In the four and a half years that I have been on line I have spent well in excess of $100,000 on various software, courses, seminars, e-books, manuals, DVD’s and CD’s - often to be disappointed when a product failed to live up to it’s claims or meet my expectations. I am happy to say that XSitePro would have to be in the top 5% of everything I have bought in all that time. Plus - and this is a HUGE point - I have found their support staff to be helpful and polite. I have already promoted XSitePro to my subscribers (with a 5 Star rating) and fully intend to do so again and again. A drovers dog could build a great looking website with this!” Chris Bloor www.InstantNichePortals.com

“XSitePro is a fantastic program. I used Microsoft Frontpage for years but I like the XSitePro software the best. For those who don’t have the time to learn search engine optimization, it makes it extremely easy to get high listings in the search engines. For those who don’t know html, it creates web pages in an easy to use wysiwyg environment. For those who hate to read a manual, it comes with a great video tutorial that gets you up and going in minutes. For those of you who just want something better, it is the best!” Chris W. Sutton http://www.maui-hotel-condo.com

And these are not just a few isolated comments. We’ve received thousands of similar e-mails. You can take a look at some of the others on the Testimonials Page.

What exactly do you get when you buy XSITEPRO?

You will receive a complete package that includes everything from the software through to professionally produced documentation, and downloadable videos that take you through all the important features step-by-step.

The Software

As soon as your purchase has been processed, which usually takes less than two minutes, you will receive your registration details along with a link to download the software. This is a feature-packed full-blown application so it’s quite a sizeable download. The current version comes in at about 60 meg, including the manual and tutorial. On a typical broadband connection this will take about 15 minutes to download. If you have a dial-up connection you might want to request delivery of the software on a physical CD, which is just $10 extra.

The software is very easy to install. Just doubleclick on the installation file and the professional installer will guide you through the process and you’ll be up and running in no time.

If you have any problems downloading or installing the software the XSitePro support staff will be happy to help out so don’t worry about being left on your own - we’re here to help!

The Manual Included with your software is the 400 page XSitePro manual.

This is intended as a comprehensive reference work that you can refer to whenever you need more detail on a particular feature, so don’t think you need to read it from cover to cover. Indeed, many users find that they never have to refer to the manual, but it is there if you need it and contains lots of helpful advice to help you get the very most from the software. It also includes lots of helpful advice on Internet marketing and site building in general.

The manual includes step-by-step instructions on almost every feature in the software along with over 200 screen shots so that you can see exactly what you need to do.

“The quality of the tutorials and the manual are exceptional in terms of structure, clarity of concept and of the actual writing.” Steve Jackson

The Tutorial

Rather than leave you to figure out using this powerful application on your own we’ve put together an easy-to-follow tutorial that will take you from complete novice to your first web site in just a couple of hours. We highly recommend that you take the time to follow this tutorial as it really will help you to get up-to-speed in the shortest time possible.

“I sat down with XSitePro and after spending a few minutes going through the tutorial, I built a 40 page site in about 1? hours!” Paul Smith-Goodson

“The program is very straight forward. It takes you step-by-step teaching you all the way through the special and user friendly tutorial, I could not believe how easy a website could be put together.” Richard Barron

“I found the tutorial very easy to follow. Better than Dreamweaver. It’s written in laymens terms, not too much jargon.” Pervaiz R. Karim

The Videos

If you prefer to learn by watching rather than reading that’s not a problem at all.

As an XSitePro user you will have full access to eleven professionally produced training videos offering more than 80 minutes of visual learning.

These cover many of the key features of the software and will help you to see exactly how the software works as the presenter works through them on your screen.

The videos can be downloaded and played on your own computer or streamed directly from the Internet - whatever is easiest for you.

Here are the titles of the eleven videos.

Lesson 1: Managing Projects and Web Sites Lesson 2: Page Layout Lesson 3: Adding Web Pages Lesson 4: The Designer Lesson 5: Special Pages Lesson 6: Affiliates Lesson 7: Search Engine Optimization Lesson 8: The Other Tab, Volume 1 Lesson 9: The Other Tab, Volume 2 Lesson 10: PowerPack Features Lesson 11: Publishing

Here’s what one happy XSitePro user had to say about the video tutorials:

“The videos are immaculately produced, explained in a manner which suggests that the vocal script has been worked so that it is informative while as brief as possible and all encompassing, ideal for beginners or intermediates to recap and remind, and made in the same manner as the product itself - very close to perfect.” Roger Davis

Okay! I’m convinced

XSITEPRO really is an Internet marketers dream. It provides you with a web site development tool that lets you focus on building a profitable on-line business rather than wasting days, weeks and months pulling your hair out. Yes, it does require an investment in time to master it, but as you can see from all the many testimonials above and on the testimonials page even complete newbies can be up and running with the software in a short period of time if they follow the tutorial.

So now you have a choice. You can continue to struggle along with tools that were not really designed with Internet entrepreneurs in mind or you can invest in your future and get hold of XSitePro now.

“As I was going through the XSitePro tutorial, I found myself thinking “WHERE was this software a few years ago when I was struggling to learn HTML?”. XSitePro is awesome! It is so EASY to use that a grade school kid (or, since kids are so computer-literate these days, perhaps I should say an 80-year old grandmother) could create beautiful websites in no time flat … without knowing one lick of HTML.” Holly Cotter

To get hold of your copy of XSITEPRO all you need to do is click on the link below and complete the secure on-line order form. You can pay using Mastercard, Visa, PayPal and many debit cards.

Get XSitePro by CLICKING HERE

About the Author

Katie has been in web design for 7 years and regularly reviews the best web design products on the market. XSitePro has just received this glowing reference from a man regarded as the best in website design in Australia.

Whether or not you are a designer or would-be designer, do pay attention to these mistakes. They are what distinguish the professional from the amateur. They will also help or hinder your website?s placements on search engine listings. And, they will determine whether or not your visitors stay for a time at or leave - never to return - your website.

MISTAKE #1: Huge graphic files, along with too many graphics. These are the culprits that slow the downloading of a website. Resize the images and lower the resolutions before uploading to the website. Visitors have no patience for waiting to see your website.

MISTAKE #2: Confusing navigation. If visitors and/or the search engine spiders (that visit and index your website) can?t easily find their way around your website, they will leave as fast as a click of the mouse. I love using roll-over buttons, but also realize that for the spiders I need to post text-based links - usually at the bottom of the pages.

MISTAKE #3: The lack of a unique title for each and every page. I have a search-engine-guru friend who stresses the fact that so many pages lack this important feature. Without a title, your website pages will have little or no chance of showing up in the major search engines. When we include keywords in our titles, we increase our chances of top listings. These are super important because no one will find your website just because you have built it.

MISTAKE #4: The use of ?Mystery Meat.? Vincent Flanders and Dean Peters in their Web Pages that Suck books compare websites that are confusing - you don’t know what they are about or where they are going - to mystery meat (meat disguised by gravy, etc.). Be obvious - most users are not into guessing what it’s all about. They may surmise that we don’t know either.

MISTAKE #5: Using Flash Intros for the home or landing pages. Even though these can be quite clever and design-rich, most web-surfers I know and talk with, hate them. They take time to load and often produce confusion and ?mystery meat.? It is more expedient to use content that introduces you and/or your website to your visitor.

MISTAKE #6: No or little attention to the use of keywords. It used to be that we would load our meta tags with keywords and a description of what our website was all about. We should still do this, but most of the search engines don?t rely on these today. It is imperative that we use the important keywords throughout our website?s content.

MISTAKE #7: Adding animation for effect. In the beginning, everyone thought this was fun and cute. Maybe for a youngster?s website if used cleverly. But, animation gets old fast. It is like having a blinking neon sign outside your motel room?s window.

MISTAKE #8: Not using alt tags. Alt tags describe your graphics. They are especially for those visitors who have either turned off the graphics or who are using a reader program for the visually or aurally impaired. I find them to also be helpful in describing an object you want your visitors to click on.

If you avoid these eight MISTAKES, you will have a good start to a successful website.

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Website Redesign : Demolition or Remodel?

According to latest industry numbers, consumers are using the web to make purchasing decisions in everything from their HDTV to their personal physician to where to take their children for gymnastics class. In fact, according to a recent study conducted by Hall and Partners, more than one quarter of all consumer electronics (CE) purchases are researched online. So, if you’re web site hasn’t been updated since you built it three years ago, it’s time to take inventory and rebuild your site with new and improved web tools that can add value to your business. Like architects, many web developers see website redesigns as either demolitions or remodels. With either approach, it’s important to consider what you are trying to accomplish by retooling your site.

• What are your company goals?
• What is your marketing message?
• How are you going to drive people to your new site?
• Can a new site add value to your existing customers?
• How can you put more of your business processes online

Demolition If you plan to demolish your existing site, it is critical to take the time to develop an Internet Strategy for the next version of your site. If possible, take a brief survey of your company’s existing customers to determine what they’d like to see you your website. Is there a way your site could make doing business easier for them? Ask the person who answers your telephone if they have ideas for the website. For example, we had a recycling company whose secretary took 100 calls a day from people looking for recycling locations. We developed a simple database that allowed customers to put in their address and locate the collection center nearest to their home. The volume of phone inquires dropped dramatically. Another company reduced their customer support staff by two employees by simply putting technical help manuals online. When meeting with your web developer, it’s important to be clear about whom your target audience is and what it is you want them to do when they arrive at your web site. If you’re about to create your first web site, you can use these tips, too:

1. Define the basics. What does your web site need to do? If the goal is to have 250 people a day to view the site, determine what action you’d like those 250 people to take.
2. Create a useable site. Include user-friendly navigation menu; fast-loading pages; a contact form; a phone number; your picture, and endorsements from customers.
3. Build your site with current technology. You should be able to control your content without relying on a web development company to update the text.
4. Determine how you’ll measure whether or not your Web site is succeeding and how you intend to monitor it.
5. Develop an online marketing budget. Plan for marketing by making sure your Web site is completely ready to receive traffic. Don’t promote a Web site that’s missing parts or you’ll waste people’s time and they might not come back.

Remodel A “re-model” redesign is not as time-consuming as starting from scratch. However, it does take planning to make a successful conversion. One of the areas companies should consider is how much of the existing look and/or framework they want to keep, and whether the text needs to be refreshed. Remodels make the most sense if you have an existing content management tool that can be utilized in a redesign, or if you have a heavy investment in customer web applications. For budget reasons, reusing existing tools may make sense rather than building them from the ground up. If your budget is very tight, often simply retooling the home page of a site makes a significant difference to website visitors. If you can update the site with a feature that attracts new visitors or provides good, current information, you will often improve the conversion rate of visitors to customers.

Need to clean up your web site image fast but don’t have a budget for a designer? Following these 7 web site design tips should go a long way towards scraping off the cheese and increasing the credibility of your business web site.

1. Lose the clip art, no matter how cute or clever. Use a nice-looking photograph instead. Preferably a photo that shows your product in use or a satisfied client, but even a well-chosen stock photo would be better than clip art. And animated clip art? Unless you’re a real design whiz, just say “never”.

2. Reduce the size of large photos. If any single photo is over 350 pixels wide or 300 pixels high it’s probably too big for your business web site. Hint: use your photo-editing software, not your HTML editor, to reduce the size.

3. Unless you really know what you’re doing, remove any patterned web page backgrounds. Choose a nice solid color instead.

4. Remove these special effects (unless they’re part of a Flash piece):

::: text or graphics that slide into position

::: blinking text or graphics

::: spinning text or graphics

::: page transition effects

::: sound effects

5. Keep extra-large type to a minimum.

6. Remove underlining from any text that is not a link.

7. Use bold, italics, exclamation points, and ALL CAPS very sparingly.

About the Author

Keita Del Valle is the owner of Crafty Pixel, a Corona website design company which operates from Southern California’s Inland Empire. Her site is updated weekly with small business website news, tips, articles and opinions, including her Hollaback blog. -
Effective Website Design For Massive Traffic

 by: Brian Daniels

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 Engines. Get them

STEP 3:Site Design:

As a rule of the thumb: develop for MS Internet Explorer. As for text content, it should out weigh the html content. Spiders are not to the point they really like eating html 4.0 and the mess that it can bring.

Use less of these heavy stuff: flash, dom, java, java script. Go external with scripting languages if you must have them - there is little reason to have them that I can see - they will rarely help a site and stand to hurt it greatly due to many factors most people don’t appreciate (search engines distaste for javascripts is just one of them).

Arrange the site in a logical manner with directory names hitting the top keywords you wish to hit.

Don’t clutter and don’t spam your site with frivolous links like “best viewed” or other counter like junk. Keep it clean and professional to the best of your ability.

Visit Google.com and learn from them. Simple is retro cool - simple is what surfers want.

Your site should respond almost instantly to a request. If you get into even 3-4 seconds delay until “something happens” in the browser, you are in long term trouble. That 3-4 seconds response time may vary for site destined to live in other countries than your native one. The site should respond locally within 3-4 seconds (max) to any request.

If you need help, visit http://www.xcelweb.com for the latest web design packages.

STEP 4:Check Page Size:

The smaller the better. Keep it under 15k if you can. The smaller the better. Keep it under 12k if you can. The smaller the better. Keep it under 10k if you can.

STEP 5:Build Content:

Build one page of content and put online per day at 200-500 words. If you aren’t sure what you need for content, start with the Overture.coms keyword suggestor and find the core set of keywords for your topic area. Those are your subject starters.

STEP 6:Check Keywords placing

Use the keyword once in title, once in description tag, once in a heading, once in the url, once in bold, once in italic, once high on the page, and hit the density between 5 and 20% (don’t fret about it). Use good sentences and spell check it. Spell checking is becoming important as search engines are moving to auto correction during searches.

STEP 7:Cross links:

Link to on topic quality content across your site. If a page is about food, then make sure it links it to the apples and veggies page. Specifically with Google, on topic cross linking is very important for sharing your Page Rating (PR) value across your site. You do NOT want an “all star” page that out performs the rest of your site. You want 50 pages that produce 1 referral each a day and do NOT want 1 page that produces 50 referrals a day. If you do find one page that drastically out produces the rest of the site with Google, you need to off load some of that pr value to other pages by cross linking heavily.

STEP 8:Put it Online:

Make sure the site is “crawlable” by a spider. All pages should be linked to more than one other page on your site, and not more than 2 levels deep from root. Link the topic vertically as much as possible back to root. A menu that is present on every page should link to your sites main “topic index” pages (the doorways and logical navigation system down into real content).

Don’t put it online before you have a quality site to put online. It’s worse to put a “nothing” site online, than no site at all. Go for a listing in the ODP. If you have the budget, then submit to Looksmart and Yahoo. If you don’t have the budget, then try for a freebie on Yahoo.

About The Author Brian Daniels (sales@xcelweb.com) is the founder of www.xcelweb.com, a company dedicated to online Internet Marketing and Web Design. He has just released a new Ebook dedicated to Internet Marketing.

When designing a website choose colors wisely. Remember, colors convey emotions and emotions can heavily influence your decision-making process. Your choice of colors for your website should mirror the message and/or feeling you to hope to communicate to the viewer. Let’s take a look at some colors and what they mean to you and your website.

When designing a website choose colors wisely. Remember, colors convey emotions and emotions can heavily influence your decision-making process. Your choice of colors for your website should mirror the message and/or feeling you to hope to communicate to the viewer. Let’s take a look at some colors and what they mean to you and your website.

Blue - the color of stability
Blue is a color of peace, harmony, tranquility, health, coolness, confidence, loyalty, conservatism, dependability and technology. Blue is a safe choice for most uses. It causes the brain to send off 11 chemical tranquilizers and is a wonderful calming color. It is a preferred color for corporate America, but avoid using blue when promoting food and cooking because blue suppresses appetite.

Negatives: Depression, coldness,obscenity, conservatism and winter

Red - the color of passion
Red is the color of passion, strength, energy, fire, love, excitement, speed, leadership and power. When using red in your website design it is best to us it as an accent color. This color does not usually work well with greens or purples of the same intensity, causing a vibrating effect on the eyes. It is a perfect color for ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Click Here’ buttons on Internet banners and websites as it attracts the eye.

Negatives: Danger, fire, blood, war, anger, stop, revolution, radicalism and aggression

Yellow - the color of ideas
Yellow can convey sunlight, joy, happiness, optimism, idealism, wealth (gold), summer and hope. It is the brightest color and intellectuals love yellow. It takes more chemicals in the eye to see the color yellow. Websites targeting older people should look at other colors as yellow can make them feel anxious or angry.

Negatives: Cowardice, illness, hazards, dishonesty and avarice

Green - the color of nature
Green implies movement, nature, spring, fertility, youth, environment, money (US), good luck, safety and generosity. It is the most restful color for the human eye and it can improve vision. Green works well as an accent or secondary color. Use green to indicate safety when advertising products that may be considered dangerous, such as
medicines. Olive green is the traditional color of peace.

Negatives: Inexperience, envy, misfortune, jealousy, illness and greed

Orange - the color of energy
Orange conveys creativity, confidence, balance, heat, enthusiasm, flamboyance and playfulness. Orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, producing an invigorating effect, and stimulates mental activity. It is highly accepted among young people. Orange is very effective for promoting food products and children’s products such as toys.

Negatives: Warning, danger and cheapness

Purple - the color of nobility
Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Purple is associated with royalty. It symbolizes wisdom, dignity, independence, power, nobility, luxury and ambition. According to surveys, almost 75 percent of pre-adolescent children prefer purple. Purple is a very rare color in nature leading people to consider it to be artificial.

Negatives: Cruelty, arrogance, mourning, profanity, exaggeration and confusion

Beige and Gray - the color of neutrality
As neutrals, they can be used in combination with almost all colors and still work well visually. Lighter hues of each make for good readability and backgrounds, but you must use hints of bright color or else you website can lose any visual pop or visual interest. Gray works well in office environments and promotes productivity and stimulates creativity.

Negatives: Apathy, dull, drab, monotonous, somber and smoky

Brown - the color of reliability
Solid, reliable brown is the color of earth and is abundant in nature. It implies simplicity, reliability, earthiness, comfort and durability. Be careful as brown can be perceived in much the same way as beige: dull and drab. Men are more apt to say brown is one of their favorite colors. Maroons go well with this color and speak to professionalism, like rich dark leather.

Negatives: dirty, drab, sad, boring and unwanted

Black - the color of sophistication
Black speaks to power, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery and style. Black can make color burst from the web page, especiall if it is a bright color. It is a natural classic color and never goes out of style. Too much black can darken a mood and affect emotions very easily. When designing for a gallery of art or photography, a black or gray background can be used to make the other colors stand out.

Negatives: Death, unknown, fear, dark, sad, threatening, wicked, morbid and dangerous

The color of success
We take every part of our design process seriously and few things are as important as your choice of colors for your website. Colors have a larger impact on your viewers than any other part of the design and can affect your site’s success. Color is immediate, emotional and memorable. If you have a website, try this simple test. Look at it for a few moments and write down the feelings and words that come to mind. If your colors aren’t telling you the same story as your content it may be time to look at changing your color scheme.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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When designing a website many people make the mistake of trying to create a work of art, rather than focusing on the most important function of your website:

Its designed to sell your product!

When building a website make sure it converts as many of your hits to sales, With these proven techniques.

1. Keep The Front Page Small

People don’t like scrolling!

With more lap tops around than ever, having a front page that fits comfortably in a browser set to 1024 x 768 is best.

This will ensure that your visitors eyes can see the whole page and benefits you are offering without scrolling.

2. Hit Them With Your Key Benefits

Make sure they cant miss them.

Use it to draw your visitor into the site and off the front page.

Your key benefits can take up to 50% or more of the front page.

It’s important that their eyes are drawn to the key benefits you are offering and that they encourage them to explore the site.

3. Offer Them a FREE Product

Not everyone is going to come in and buy your product and service straightaway.

So offer them a free newsletter or report, related to your service so you can capture their email address.

You can then build a database and mail them regularly with offers and updates and close names that you would otherwise have lost.

4. Your Site Must Load Quickly

The quicker your site loads the better.

Forget flash intros and fancy graphics.

People are there to get information not to focus on art work, they have come to get information.

They should be focusing on the text and the benefits of your service and that means the use design sparingly.

5. Be careful with colour

There is not enough room to go into all the aspects of colour psychology here, but keep the following points in mind.

Normally it is best to use white text off a black background. You want them focused on the text so don’t colour backgrounds, which are generally harder to read off.

Safe colours to use are Burgundy, Pine Green and Dark blue.

Other colours can be used such as steel grey and black, but these are great for most websites.

Don’t use pastel colours they belong in your children’s colouring kits.

6. Don’t overdo the pictures

Use pictures sparingly a website is not an art gallery.

To many pictures detract from the text and your main aim is to get them and keep them reading.

They learn about your product from reading not by looking at lots of pictures.

7. Consistent & Easy Navigation

Navigation should be easy to follow and on each page, encourage and prompt them to contact you.

8. Text tips

Most people don’t like reading long text.

Make sure text is as concise and friendly as possible and break it up with sub headings.

Also don’t go for the “we are great deal with us”. Make sure you write the text in the form of benefits to your reader. “You will benefit from the following when you use our service” They can then decide for themselves how good your product or service is.

Keep It Simple

Your website is designed to catch your visitor’s attention, get them to contact you and to buy.

You therefore need to keep presentation clean and simple.

This does not mean you can’t have a good looking site but don’t go over the top on design.

Website design is there for one reason and one reason only:

Selling your product or service so never lose sight of this goal.

About the Author

ROVEN WEBSITE DESIGNS THAT SELL AT LOWER COST

We offer proven online marketing and website design models, that can help increase your sales and profits. visit our website for a huge resource of articles, features and downloads and at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html