Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Inexpensive Web Design

It is vital to have a good looking online presence if you want to make an impact. A well created web site will give you or your company a great first impression and high credibility. This is even more important if you are a small business or just a one person operation working from home.

All this is probably stuff you already know but if you don't know nothing about site design, how can you achieve this? And even more important, how easy is it to find good but inexpensive web design?

Hiring a good web page design company can vary in price and it the final cost will be all dependent on what you want in your website. Having page upon page of descriptions and a few hundred images may not be needed.

However, you still need to achieve an even balance as you still want your website to reflect the right message, no matter if it is just an online advert or you are using the site to interact with your customers.

The two options open to you if you are looking for inexpensive web design is to do it yourself or get a great quote from a professional company. I will go out on a limb here and suggest that if you could do it yourself, you would not be reading this but looking for tutorials on web design. With that said, I will look at the other option of hiring a web design company and getting a good deal.

The easiest way to get low prices is not to hire a big company. There are many small or micro web design companies who have very low overheads and are looking for design work. You should be able to negotiate some good deals from companies like these.

Also, there are many freelance web designers who work from home. These guys will usually offer you the best rate and can be found by asking around in forums such as the digitalpoint and warrior forums. These forums can be found by doing a search in Google.

Before you agree a price, make sure to view any of the work they have done previously for other clients. You need to able to have a to keep in contact with your designer so that you can communicate any changes or additions you may need.

And if you are dealing with a designer who is located in a different part of the world, make sure you pay your fees through a company such as Escrow.com or Paypal. There maybe extra fees but these online payment companies will offer some level of protection against fraud and it means you may be able to get your money back if something goes wrong.

If you are looking for inexpensive web design, there is a small web design company that I have used on many occasions and would personally recommend you take a look at.

Visit them at [http://webdesignnorthampton.org]Web Design Northampton

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Inexpensive-Web-Design&id=3536397] Inexpensive Web Design

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

8 Specific Ways to Avoid Common Web Design Mistakes

Effective web design goes beyond simple aesthetic appeal. In fact, there are many factors which can contribute to the overall success or failure of a website. Therefore, it is important to have a solid understanding of the common pitfalls you will want to avoid before starting this process.

Here are 8 specific ways to avoid some common web design mistakes:

Avoid fancy, flashing or too-small fonts. Less is often more in the world of web design and this concept definitely applies to making font selections for your site. Remember to keep your human visitors in mind while making your selections and stick to those that are clear and easy to read.

Break content blocks into bite-sized pieces. Internet readers tend to prefer material that is easy to scan over novel-length dissertations. Try to break up long paragraphs by incorporating bullets or numbered lists whenever possible.

Clearly communicate what the site is about - fast. Your visitors should be able to understand what your site is about right away. You have a brief window of opportunity to convert a first-time visitor into a repeat customer - so the more clearly and quickly you can communicate your message, the better.

Skip the fancy introductions. This applies to anything that makes it harder to visitors to get to what they want. The fewer steps between landing on your site and finding what they are looking for, the better. As always, make decisions based on what is best and easiest for your human visitors.

Avoid auto-playing music. You may absolutely love the Red Hot Chili Peppers - but there is no way to guarantee that every single visitor to your site will. Even if they do, odds are they don't want everyone at work to know they are surfing the Internet during the day - and a sudden blast of loud music coming from their computer is a definite give-away.

Incorporate value-added audio (or video). Audio and video presentations can be a great way to enhance the user's online experience. Just make sure they don't significantly increase your page load times and enable your visitors to start and stop each presentation at will.

Avoid clutter. Too many badges, banners, association labels or other items can take away from or confuse your ultimate message. Again, good web design is usually simple and straightforward - so try to stay focused on only those elements which enhance your primary message.

Limit scrolling. Some amount of vertical scrolling may be necessary, but try to limit it as much as possible as web surfers have notoriously short attention spans. On the other hand, horizontal scrolling should be avoided at all costs - you want the width of your entire web page to display upon opening (vs. needing to scroll across to see the whole thing).

Clearly, there are many factors to consider when deciding on the right web design options for your business. This list and the recommendations of a reputable web design firm can help you avoid the most common mistakes as you establish a successful online presence.

Salli Berman is a Documentation Specialist at Western Reserve Internet Services, a [http://www.wris.com/services/web-design.cfm]Cleveland web design, [http://www.wris.com/services/cleveland-hosting.cfm]Coldfusion hosting, PPC and SEO company established in 1996.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?8-Specific-Ways-to-Avoid-Common-Web-Design-Mistakes&id=3499367] 8 Specific Ways to Avoid Common Web Design Mistakes