Thursday, December 25, 2008

Multilingual Website Services

Many people have discovered the advantages of having a multilingual website, but once it is built, how do you keep it updated regularly. If you understand how to create a website that is search engine friendly and a place that consumers will want to visit often, you know that you will have to keep it fresh and current. That is where multilingual website services come in to help you keep your content fresh and current so that you can build a list of loyal visitors to your site.

If you used a business to have your website built for you, this may be a good source of services to keep the material updated. There are a number of companies that offer this type of service. Inquire with these companies to see if you can set up a regular site maintenance that will allow you to keep the site full of fresh content. That is one of the most important things that you can do to have a top business website.

Your visitors will only return to your site if you can continue to provide them with current and new content. Make sure that you keep the site informative and entertaining and your visitors will keep coming back for more. If you allow the content to grow stale and outdated and your visitors will move on to another site that will give them the information that they are looking for.

Your products or services can be the best in the business, but if you are unable to deliver the message to a broad spectrum of customers, you will find success difficult to come by. A site that is written in a variety of languages will allow your business and products appeal to people from all over the world. Multilingual website services will help you keep the website translated with fresh content on a regular basis.

Do some comparison shopping when you are looking for a service to handle your website. It is a good idea to take a look at their record and the work that they have done for others. Make sure that the service that they provide is high quality and competitively priced. Comparison shopping will help you to uncover the best business for your website at a price that will fit in with your budget.

You can choose to take care of the translation and the multilingual website services all on your own, but chances are you will need some help with some of the content. There are software programs that can help you to take care of the upkeep on your multilingual website. This is a good option if you are on a budget, but again, you should make sure that you are comparison shopping before you select one. Make sure that it is capable of giving your website a good translation of the material. It can be difficult to merely translate words and expect them to read well to a human being. Always remember that real people will be reading your site and the material has to be written well to keep them interested.

For further information, please visit Multilingual Website

Abdul Hayi Mansoor
SEO Specialist and Article Marketer

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Photoshop's Tools Improve Website's Look and Feel

Playing with Photoshop needs skills and learning of this program. Here the web designer can create images that do not happen nor would take place in real. This program is not so easy to learn and cannot be learned in one overnight. Constant practice and learning goes into creating images using Photoshop. Years might have to be devoted to learn this skill.

Photoshop is used online, and can be regarded as canvases were you can paint your creation using software tools. It gives an opportunity to express the point creatively and freedom to do anything with virtual images according to your skills and imagination.

The Photoshop artist can develop the image in whatever form they want and present it in the way they want to the world. The format of presentation can also be altered for the same image itself, making it look different on diverse mediums. Imagination knows no limits in Photoshop, the artist can apply their own style and use options available accordingly.

For graphic design and editing purpose 'Adobe Photoshop' program is used enabling the users to make desired changes in images. This program can generate layers of images and also put these layers collectively. Flash designers put layers on already present images or add design elements to it.

Unlike other digital imaging applications this program has many add-ons and plug-ins plus additional tools for creation and editing of the images. One can draw, fill-in the colors, cut, paste, add special effects, etc in the images with Adobe Photoshop.

Realizing benefits of Photoshop more and more website designers are learning it and using it in website designing. The plug-ins and add-ons can be downloaded from various online sources that are accessed free of cost. Make it sure that the add-on features that is being downloaded is well-matched with the existing Photoshop program you have.

Some additional functionalities of Photoshop are scripts, layers, gradients, textures, actions, frames, patterns, etc. When photo of a subject is taken due to light reflection red-eye effect is seen. Photoshop can remove this effect from the image that is being taken. Red-eye effect is very common when you take picture of any person in darkness.

Andromeda software have developed program for removal of red-eye effect through the plug-ins without disturbing the original color of the eye. The changes done by it are so smooth that it does not show any trace of eye been retouched.

Copyright © 2008

SPINX Web Design Company Los Angeles offers Flash Web Design and development, custom website design services, Print Design Los Angeles, Film Web Design Los Angeles, graphic design portfolio, flash Web site design & development & much more.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Website Designing - Hire Website Designing and Software Development Companies

When you are designing your website or any other promotional materials, what you need to ensure is that the language that use should be understood by all your customers whom you are planning to target. When you are planning website designing, make sure that you use keywords in the page titles, Meta tags and heading tags.

It is often seen that if individuals involved at different levels from designing the website to sales and marketing to product design and project management to customer support and beyond, are not aware of the importance of various keywords that can make a website more effective and popular. Keywords are very important areas that should be considered when you are undertaking website designing. What you need to do is to outline your homepage and other relevant web pages.

You can also design your website SEO-wise. If it is search engine optimized, it will increase your ranking on different search engines. A common issue that causes problems for many people is that they have pre-define the objective of their website even before it is designed.

You should look forward to using color-blind browsers before you go for website designing. If you are not having a suitable website, then you should plan re-creating your existing website to be able to properly market your products. When you are designing, what you need to do is to ensure that it is able to serve Internet browsers purposefully. Make sure that it does not have an erratic layout.

For website designing, you can select a web designing company and get your website prepared. You can give your inputs to the designing company concerning what you need in your website. If the website is designed with the right inputs, it will serve better purpose. After it is done, your website will be ready to be hosted onto a server. You can also get help from software development companies who can insert software and make it suitable for users. A website equipped with user-friendly features is mostly like to become more popular.

Naman Jain is an Internet Marketing professional, presently working with Rupiz Media, one of the leading SEM company offering expert SEO services, PPC Advertising, Article marketing services, drupal development, UK web development solutions and website designing over the globe.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Photoshop's Starburst Effects

Photoshop is now widely used especially by media people. Most commercial prints have undergone altering in Photoshop before being released in public. It is a great way to edit and create graphics. Your imagination is the limit.

One of the salient features of Photoshop is the Starburst Effect. Go the filter menu > stylize > wind. Experiment on different settings. Example:

• Method: Blast
• Direction: Form Right to left.

Click ok when satisfied with your settings and see the effect on your image.

Take note that in the wind filter, black and white reacts differently. Use black to follow the direction of the wind. Use white to go the opposite direction. The output will look like an overlapping of black and white colors.

Hit Ctrl+F to repeatedly to spread spikes and minimize the black area.

The "Motion Blur" Filter gives a smoother effect compared to the original image. Try the following settings:

• Angle: 0 (zero)
• Distance: 200

Try rotating the canvas to 90 degrees under Image > Rotate Canvas. Use Polar Coordinate Filters for other special effects. Open the Filter/Distort Menu. Set filter to "Rectangular to Polar." Apply the filter when satisfied with the setting.

The starburst effects is best appreciated in a transparent background. The first option is to hide the background layer. Otherwise, delete the background with the eraser tool.

Hit Ctrl+Shift+I to invert selection (for MAC: Cmd+Shift+I). The initial black layer will be accentuated with a transparent starburst layer.

Create a new layer at the top of the Starburst layer. Fill this layer with the color of your choice. Experiment on the different blending effects like blend mode, overlay, soft light, color burn or color.

Next, strengthen and soften the inner center spot. Duplicate the previous starburst and apply "Pinch" under the Distort Menu. To strengthen the impact, repeat the process.

At this stage, some details may have been lost. Retrieve lost detail with the unsharp mask tool. Try the following settings:

• Amount: 50%
• Radius: 0.5
• Threshold: 0

Keep your starburst as a separate layer for possible use in your other projects..

There are a lot of things more you can do with Photoshop. Keep on exploring and experimenting.

For more information on Photoshop Tutorials and Photoshop Newbies please visit our website.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

1 BIG Mistake to Avoid With Your Website

Is your website the comprehensive, client-attracting, dynamic marketing tool it can and should be? Too many small business owners make a very big mistake when it comes to their website.

The mistake...creating a "plain and simple" website, versus a comprehensive one.

What a way to miss the boat and miss out on the outstanding marketing opportunities that come with a comprehensive website. "Plain and simple" websites very rarely work.

Let me illustrate. True story...

A colleague of mine recently called me and said, "Jeanna, go on Google and pretend you're a receptionist looking for a company like mine. Type in the keywords you would use and tell me what you find."

So I did, and when the results popped up, I saw all of his local competitors. His website was nowhere to be found. I searched and searched, clicking up to page 17 in Google. In my search I was unable to find my colleague's website, even when I searched for his business name.

I told him what I found and he said, "Yep, that's what I thought. I think I messed up big time."

My colleague had hired a friend of his to develop his website, and in doing so he made a CRITICAL error. The error was not in hiring his friend, that was fine, but he told his friend that he wanted his company's website to be "very plain and simple, bare bones, with no clutter whatsoever and not a lot of text." That was the critical error.

He got exactly what he asked for-a paper thin, "plain and simple" website with barely any information on it. If there was 500 words of text on his website, I would be surprised!

Too many small business owners make the same mistake my colleague made when it comes to their website. They think people are too busy to bother reading through lots of information about their services. They think that people don't want information, they just want simple, plain and bare bones. This thinking is wrong and can be a costly error.

People turn to the Internet because they want information, they want details, they want the whole story. The more quality content you include on your website, the better.

Your visitors will sift through and skim to find the information they want, but only if you give them a chance to do so. Some visitors will read every single word on your website. You see it should be there choice, not yours. Don't edit and hold back just because you think people won't want to read it.

A plain and simple website turns potential clients away because it doesn't offer a solution to the pain, problem or predicament they're looking to solve. It doesn't build an entire case for hiring you. It leaves them wanting more. And above all, it sends them looking elsewhere for answers...which, I bet your competition will be happy to provide them.

As if turning potential clients away isn't bad enough, "plain and simple" websites cost small business owners in another big way, too...lack of content turns off the search engines just as much as it does visitors.

My colleague's bare bones website doesn't have a snowball's chance in (you-know-what) of EVER getting a high listing with Google or any other search engine. Google loves content. Google practically demands content. No content, no high listing.

You know, my colleague is mad (mostly at himself), but at least he realized the mistake he made. The tough thing is, it will cost him more to redo his website and fix the mess, than it would if he had done it right the first time.

Trying to attract clients with a "plain and simple", paper thin, bare bones website didn't work for my colleague, and it won't work for you. A comprehensive, client-attracting website is much, much more than a few pages of information, some bullet points and a contact page.

A comprehensive website utilizes in depth content to develop a strong and convincing case for why clients need to hire you. It includes information about your services, but it also demonstrates your expertise, answers all of your clients' possible questions about you, your business, and why you're the right company for their needs.

It shows them how your small business is different, unique or better than the competition. After visiting your comprehensive website, potential clients will feel motivated to pick up the telephone and give you a call, because they know who you are, what you do, and how you can possibly help them.

To take full advantage of the huge opportunity your website gives you as a marketing tool, you have to develop a comprehensive website. Doing so, you'll be rewarded with higher search engine rankings, plus a steady stream of clients.

Copyright © 2008-2009. Jeanna Pool. All rights reserved. Jeanna Pool is a small business marketing consultant. She works exclusively with solo small business owners who are really great at what they do...but really struggle in marketing their services and attracting clients consistently. For more information about Jeanna's small business marketing services, visit her website at http://www.MarketingThatWorks.com

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Ready to Redesign Your Site? Start With a Little Competitive Research

Ready to design or redesign your web site? Have you hired a web designer with great artistic ability, but very little business sense? Why not do your own research ahead of time so you can guide your designer toward creating a profitable site? (After all, isn't that more important than a pretty site?)

Don't go straight to your competitors' sites to research the features you would like to copy in your own new web site. (C'mon. You know were thinking about it. My prospects do it all the time!) Instead, look at web sites in complimentary industries to find the styles and components that you want to mimic.

If you're a realtor, look at the web sites of home builders. If you're a lawyer, look at tax accountants' sites. If you sell designer jewelry, look at the sites for high-end clothing boutiques. You get the idea.

When reviewing these sites, be sure to take detailed notes that you can bring to your web designer. Pay close attention to the following:

The color scheme of your web site is actually more important than most people realize. With today's technologically advanced browsers, it's easy to assume that you have free reign to use any colors you choose. But that's not necessarily the case.

When reviewing web sites for color schemes you might want to mimic, answer the following:

Color Scheme

  • Do the colors offer a high visual contrast that makes the text easy to read?
  • Do the essential elements, such as navigation, search, site sections, etc, pop off the screen and stand out easily?

  • Is there an easy to follow eye path that leads the visitor through the page?
  • What feelings do the colors evoke as you casually scroll through the site?

Navigation

No matter what industry you're in, intuitive navigation is critical to the success of your web site. When you're working with your web site designer, you absolutely, positively must take a stand on the issue of navigation! Web designers often frown on navigational elements, thinking they "muck up" their pretty designs (ah, the artistic temperament!) But what good is your web site if your visitors can't quickly and easily find what they're looking for!?

When reviewing complimentary web sites, look for navigation options that are easy to locate on the page. Choose consistent placement and logical organization. Your designer may want a navigation bar that "blends in" with the rest of the design. Instead, steer him to sites using navigation that can be found immediately upon logging on to the page.

Readable Text

You'll find that the easy-to-read pages use plain and simple text. (Here's another issue where you might butt heads with your designer.) Pay attention to the formatting of the page text.

  • What type of text-alignment is being used?
  • Is the page easy to read, or do you find yourself getting eye fatigue?
  • How many different text colors are used?
  • What is the background color?
  • How long are the blocks of text?
  • How many sentences are in each paragraph?
  • What organizational scheme is used for body copy?

Calls to Action

The most important element of any web site is the call to action (CTA). Look for the following:

  • Does the call to action look like a button, or is it plain text?
  • Where is the call to action located on the page?
  • What colors are used to draw attention to the CTA?
  • Is the call to action immediately apparent or is it subliminal?

Industry Conventions

While you don't want to completely copy your competition, you do want to pay attention to what others in your industry are doing with their web sites. Why? Because that's what your visitors will be used to. Remember, you have approximately 5 seconds to capture your visitor's attention. Don't confuse her with non-conventional design and usability schemes.

Does your industry use a 2-column layout? Are there specific words, phrases, colors or graphics that must be used? Is a consistent alignment required? Does video dominate your industry? The point is, you want your user to know right away that she has landed on the right page.

When designing or redesigning your web site, don't let your designer intimidate you into settling on a pretty but ineffective design. Remember, many web designers are graphic artists with little or no business background. It's best to have some ideas of what you're looking for ahead of time to improve your web usability and conversion rate.

Karen Scharf is an Indianapolis marketing consultant who helps small business owners attract and retain more clients. Karen coaches and trains website owners on various tricks and techniques that have been proven to increase website conversion. She offers coaching programs and a Marketing Makeover to turn your ineffective advertising into a profit-pulling system. Grab your FREE checklists, whitepapers and reports at http://www.ModernImage.com And learn the professional secrets to successful web site marketing at http://www.SuccessfulSiteSecrets.com

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Build a Web Page For Your Business

Do you wish you had your own website? These days sites exist for all kinds of reasons and purposes. If you are an entrepreneur starting a new business you can create a commercial site. You could also build a web page based on one of your hobbies or make one for a friend or relative.

The first thing you need to do is to decide what the subject of your website will be. Once you've done this, you can decide whether you want to buy a web site or be a free provider.

If all that you require is a private web site in order to share snaps and family details, then a free web page supplier will be the right option. There are free web site providers who cover a variety of options regarding bandwidth, regulations, and also simplicity of use. There are many free providers who give fundamental web hosting services and there are some who give existing templates which can be used to craft a web page which will meet your personal needs.

For those who lack experience with web design, making use of all the free website services and space available on the internet is a great way to practice web page creation skills. Of course, a high percentage people know very little about how the internet works. These people can use search engines to discover providers of free services and server space.

If you were looking to expand and wanted something more for your business, then you might want to create a web page. You may require more than what the free services offer. You should research the paid versions, and look at which ones offer a larger amount of web space and ones that look to be more professional. Though it is possible to create a website using free software.

Also, a vital thing to bear in mind while buying is that you must do the homework first. Always read any fine print which others tend to ignore. Also, take advantage of free trials which are offered until you find a host you think is good and you can work well with. Also, remember that many website providers exist, so do not feel stuck with the first one you meet.

Do you wish you had your own website? If you are an entrepreneur starting a new business you can create a commercial site. You could also build a web page based on one of your hobbies, or make one for a friend or relative. One of the best ways to practice your web design skills is to create a web page, and host it on one of the many free hosts around the web. If you are unfamiliar with these services, use a search engine to find these free website hosting providers to see which one best suites your needs.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

How to Proceed in Creating Free Websites

In today's world having your own website might be considered a necessity for most. There are plenty of free website makers all around the Internet, quite frankly you can look like a small war preparation to venture into this realm. Every one of those software providers that allows one to create a free website they all say there is is the best place you can go to and the solution to all your woes.

So how then do I wade through all this marketing glory and actually find something that will suit myself best? At this point it'll pay you to know the situation for your purpose for creating free websites. What do you need most? Do you need your website simply just to post pictures of your family vacation so all your contacts can view them in a single location?or perhaps you might need something more elaborate to set up your work on your site ,which does imply professional looking layouts and content.

Once you get to this point you can figure out what free website maker would do the best job for you and/or your company.

If you are creating free websites it also has other concerns tied into the idea, such as, how many times and how often you will need to make changes to this site and from where and what computer you'll need to do that.

For me, I generally work from the same computer from home, all my passwords saved on my computer and it makes logging in and making changes to my websites at any time day or night of very easy task for me.

So if you are constantly traveling around the country or other countries you may need to choose a browser-based free website maker. That way you to can accurately make changes to your websites from where ever you are.

Depending on your level of experience with HTML website language you can choose a drag-and-drop method of a free website maker or you can choose to do your own coding. I used to drag-and-drop method and have no problems with that at all and it creates a perfectly wonderful looking website.

To summarize all of this, if you do your research you will find the perfect software that will allow you to create free websites,and start your online presence or add to your online presence in a matter of hours.

Creating free websites should not be difficult. click here to discover the best ways on, how to Creating Free Websites go to http://createfreewebsitestoday.blogspot.com

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Perfect time for cheap web site design

This article is going to give you both tips and ideas for getting cheap web site design services. There are so many resources available, however I have been in the industry for years and understand how to get the most out of your dollar for cheap web site design.

Now, lets review your options. You can call a local guy in the phone book and probably get a nice web site, but you just might pay top dollar! We don't want that, so lets look at some great resources that will give you a cheap web site, however it will also give you a quality design from a great company.

There are several web sites out there that allow companies to bid on your project, so people actually compete for your chepa web design business! Two of my favorites are elance and scriptlance. Scriptlance is free to start, elance requires a deposit. I have bought services from both in the past.

Here is how these web sites work. You will go to either of these web sites and you will post your project. You can specify the amount you want to spend, time frame, etc. Then what happens is companies will literally swarm to help you out with your website design. Oh, did I mention payments are handled through Escrow services to protect you as a buyer? Also you are able to read reviews left for web site designers, see how many transactions they have handled and more! You can even view their work.

The above mentioned route is one of my favorite methods to finding a cheap website design company! Another method is just through good ol' research! Go out and search locally, call around and put in requests. This option works, however it often times takes a lot longer.

You will often times get a lot of requests on scriptlance and elance from companies in India, Russia, Etc - however these countries do have very talented people - just make sure they are reputable and that there is not a communication barrier!

Hopefully I have helped to give you some great tips to find cheap web site design services, feel free to ask with any questions you may have.

Regards, Joel Mclaughlin Dataflurry Internet Solutions

Visit http://www.dataflurry.com to get a cheap website design or a cheap web site

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Helpful Tips on Optimizing a Web Site

To be able to get higher traffic, continuous optimization of your pages is necessary. It is done to have high search engine rankings and to have high pr. Here are some suggestions on optimizing a website:

Keywords

It is beneficial to take all the time that it takes to research for keywords and key phrases for your site. Never use irrelevant keywords moreover do not "keyword stuff" your meta tags. It has been abused frequently and as a consequence, most major search engine don't give much weight on the meta tags. If found to be in such violation, search engine will penalize your site.

Title Tag

Be short and descriptive as possible when writing your title tag. Keep in mind that search engines will compare it to the text on that page and rank it accordingly. In addition, it will help your users know what the page is about. It is also advisable that the same keywords contained in your title tag will be used in writing the main text on your page.

Codes

Who would not like a "clean" code? Even people gets dizzy in looking on a "messy" code and so as to crawlers. It is recommended to use another file for formatting and just "call" your CSS file when needed. That way, crawlers can scan your codes and find your keywords on the content faster.

Using Other Technologies

It has been said that using Flash technologies and other similar techniques can "hurt" your rankings because search engines cannot read such. It is true that it is better to use standard technology such as HTML but still Flash animations is more attractive to a visitor's eyes. Don't limit your design because of this. A good optimization can still keep your site up on the running in the search engine rankings.

Read the full details about this article: http://www.wickedinnovations.com/blog/?p=25

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

4 Simple Keys to Increasing Your Website Credibility

Remember the old days? When you were seeking information on a topic or looking for that perfect gift, you knew exactly where to go. The librarian went to grade school with you and the department store clerk coached your son's Little League team. You knew you could trust their judgment and advice. Today, we are constantly bombarded with information and advertising from every corner. With the advancement of the Internet, that has never been more true. Anyone can put anything on the Internet...and they do!

When we are putting our own sites online, we know that we are trustworthy. But how can we show that to our website visitors? People today are being taught evaluation techniques to implement when reviewing websites. If we understand what they are looking for, we can be sure to provide them with that information. There are four specific keys to website evaluation: Authority, Accuracy, Currency, and Objectivity. Let's look at each of these very briefly.

Authority

When designing and creating content for your website, make sure you include exactly who you are. You might be surprised at the number of websites that share information or attempt to sell a product and yet never clearly state who they are or who the parent company is.

Accuracy

Hire a proofreader. Seriously. Many people do not take the time to have their website proofread and the typos and grammar errors that are usually sprinkled throughout are the biggest credibility killers.

Currency

People like to know when certain information was published. If you are blogging, the date of the post is usually displayed. However, if you are writing articles for your website or elsewhere, including the date of the article is paramount to keeping you credible in the eyes of your visitor.

Objectivity

Presenting your information with a minimum of bias is not as easy as it sounds! Your desire should be for your visitor to recognize the value of your information-not because you spoke passionately, but because you took a step back and shared the whole picture.

This is just a small taste of what you can do to increase the credibility of your website-and you! If you are interested in learning more about this topic, I invite you to register for my free teleclass. We will be discussing these four keys and looking at even more ways you can increase your website's credibility.

Rebekah Jones is a Virtual Assistant and Business Trainer for Real Estate Agents. She teaches agents and others simple strategies for maintaining their businesses, trains them how to do these tasks, and is willing to step in and take care of those tasks for them. If you are ready to be a success, join us at http://www.myrealtysuccess.com

Friday, August 15, 2008

Things to Consider When You Hire a Graphic Designer

1. Who is your target audience?

This will have a great impact on the style, content and message of your project. Some variables that can have impact on a design include the age range of your client base, their gender, their geographic location, and additional factors such as economic status and religion may also come into play.

2. What is your message?

Make sure that you can tell a designer exactly what message you are trying to convey to your client audience. The overall message can be something as simple as thanking customers or announcing a new product. Once that is established, go beyond it to decide on the "mood" of your product or service message. Is it excitement? Sadness? Compassion? Gather some keywords that will help with the overall style of your design.

3. What are the specs of your project?

Decide ahead of time on the size of your project. For example, a 12-page brochure will take much longer than a 4-page foldout. The amount of content can help to determine the dimensions and number of pages. Also decide if you need black and white or 2-color vs. 4-color printing as this will affect your final price, as will factors like paper stock and the size the number of pieces that you need to print.

4. What is your budget?

In many cases, you may not know your actual budget for a project. Regardless, it is usually a good idea to at least have a range in mind. The designer may be able to alter some parameters (such as timeframe or the amount of design revisions to be provided) to fit within your overall budget.

5. Is there a specific deadline?

Make sure to tell the graphic designer if the project needs to be done by a specific date. The job may coincide with your product launch, or another important milestone. If there is not a deadline, you will want to create a timeframe for completing the project and present it to the designer..

6. Should you provide a creative direction?

Whenever possible, it is helpful to at least provide a little creative direction from your own imagination. Of course, the designer will be creating something new and unique, but some ideas from you will help them get on the right track to your vision. Provide design elements that you already have in mind such as colors, fonts, or other previous designs or websites. It is also important to point out if there is an existing brand that you need to match that may already have a color scheme, font, logo or other element that needs to be incorporated into your new design.

7. Should you request your own copyright?

Unless otherwise specified in a contract, the graphic designer retains the right to his or her creations, and will most often attempt to do so. When hiring a designer, you would need to specify if you plan to request the specific rights to own the newly designed logo. Copyright laws protect against additional use other than for the original business or product that the logo was designed for without proper compensation or agreement.

Sheryl A. Skutelsky is owner of SAS Graphic Design, specializing in small business branding on Long Island and in the New York area.

For more information please visit: http://www.sasgraphicdesign.com

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Do I Need a Business Website?

In this day and age, I cannot image any business that does not need a website. People like to have the option to learn more about your company, whether the products you have or how your company got it's start, from the comfort of their own homes. We live in an instant gratification society. If you can't give them what they want now, the will move on to a company that can. This is the same with information.

I guess the question shouldn't be "Do I need a website", it should be "where can I get an affordable website".

Now, if you can make your own site, the only problem you have to worry about is hosting. This is your most affordable option. Hosting is very affordable and painless. From 9.99 a month and up, you can reserve a domain name and hosting. A great domain and hosting company is kittypickles.

If you have some basic HTML, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, etc skills, you can simply purchase a template for your business. They come loaded with graphics, menus, and some even come with flash animations. All you have to do to them is customize it with your information. A good template site is templatemonster.

If you are not familiar with site design software and code, then you'll either need to research design firms or find a free-lance designer to create your site. If you choose to use a firm, be sure to compare. Make sure to take a look at their portfolios, check them out on the better business bureau, email past clients. Also, keep in mind that price doesn't always equal quality. Some new firms offer great rates while they expand their portfolio.

If you'd like to contact a free-lancer, place some ads in Craigslist. You'll find many great designers and coders here, all of which are pretty affordable.

For more business ideas, tips, articles, news and kits, visit http://bizlearners.com

Brynn Yardley

Friday, August 1, 2008

Web Design For Beginners - Using a Design Software May the Smartest Choice

Web Design is a critical part of building your online business. Choosing how you will build a website is just as important as building it. And, if you're business plans call for the development of multiple websites, then the way in which you complete the task becomes even more important.

Most often, if you want to have a professionally designed website custom built to your needs and specifications, you need to be prepared to shell out some serious money. But, if you desire to build a website or a number of sites with relatively simple designs and common elements, then it's entirely possible that a website design software will be more than sufficient for your needs.

Often, hiring a web design company to design websites for you is not the best use of your financial resources. Surely you've seen advertisements that offer design services for a five-page website at $500 or more. Well, unless you have some very unique requirements for the development of your site, it really shouldn't cost very much to have one designed. And, with all of the ready-made templates and such, it just doesn't make sense to spend a great deal of money for a design firm, unless as stated earlier, you're site is unique or has specific requirements of some kind.

So, rather than hiring a web design company, it may be much smarter to hire a freelance web designer who doesn't have the overhead of a large company and so will be more affordable. In addition, a freelance designer will still have the professional skills of designers from the larger companies. But an even better choice may be to find a web design software that will help you to do the job yourself.

When it comes to designing your website, you should certainly pay attention to must-have elements like a simple and straightforward navigation menu, as well as other details to make sure the site performs optimally to serve its purpose. But, if you're looking to design a simple five-page website or a number of similarly small sites, why spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to do it if you don't have to.

Some of the features you should look for in a web design program:

  • automated content integration
  • search engine optimization friendly
  • template-driven
  • common features built-in
  • novice-friendly

If you're searching for web design help to create attractive, professional-looking websites, but don't need complicated or intricate design, you should consider a website design software that's simple, easy to use and cost effective, especially if you're a beginner.

To find out how easily you can create website design, build a website and get the professional results you desire, you're invited to visit http://www.Gignoskein.com.

Friday, July 25, 2008

How to Create Your Website - 5 Simple Steps

The effort required today, to create your first website has been rendered very easy by a number of tools offered by several providers like Microsoft. But, if you pay attention to some of the basic norms, you can have a great website. The 5 steps below will help you achieve this objective.

1. Reading ease

Make your content easy for people to read. Pay attention to comfortable font size, color, background, etc. No component should dominate another. Capital letters if used should be kept to the minimum. Align your text to the left, since it facilitates easy reading.

2. Create facile navigation

When you create your first website, link your pages well. Having clear hyperlinks on your pages will make it easy for the visitors. Never attempt to mislead the visitor through hyperlinks. Understand that people can be fooled, but only once.

3. Promote your website

If you create your first website and leave it without promoting it, nobody will get to see your efforts, nor can you expect any benefit from the website. Promote your website using search engines, ezines, directories, social networking, social bookmarking etc.

4. Design consistency

When you create your first website, make sure that each page of your website has a consistent design and layout for a uniform look. This approach will also lend a professional image to your site.

5. Download speed

Websites should be quick to download. If you create your first website with plenty of graphics and media which takes ages to download, possibly, the only one viewing the website will be you. Keep things simple and quick on the net.

Fabian Tan is a well-known Internet Marketing expert and the author of the popular 45-page Report:

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Thursday, July 17, 2008

Inexpensive Small Business Web Design - Professionally Done, Yet Affordable

For any online business first and the foremost thing you need is a good website. It is extremely essential for you to get the desired response from your customers whether you are trying to sell something or want to generate leads. This calls for a professionally done website and if your budget is limited it is understandable for you to be looking for affordable website companies. Though there are plenty of them available and a single search on Google can throw up more than a million results, what remains a point of contention is that is these firms with top Google rankings are either paying for an optimum search position or someone is spending a lot of time optimizing their site for good rankings.

Moreover, their idea of affordable might not be yours. It is better to search for a good designer in designer forums and message boards. This is a place where you are likely to find designers not only interested in making a living but also helping people with their creativity.

Furthermore, you can look up through rating sites that rate customer satisfaction with various products and companies. Such rating sites exist for practically everything under the sun and not just websites.

How and from whom you decide to get your job done is entirely your choice, but one thing you must always keep in mind is that you should check out their portfolio and see what work they have been doing. Moreover, check for real customer testimonials and ask for a price quote as well as time required to do the job. If you feel there is anything that you do not understand in the offer provided by the designer firm, make sure you clarify it beforehand to avoid any misunderstanding. Moreover, never pay the whole amount upfront. It is always better to pay in stages or in escrow (this is an arrangement wherein a third party holds the payment until both the parties are satisfied).

In your quest to find an affordable website, remember that cheap is not always good. There is a limit to how low expenses can be for a good job, below which quality can suffer and if you want a good response you should be ready to shell out reasonable amount of money for decent work.

Check out the Inexpensive Web Design for Small Business that hold an impressive portfolio here and can give your online business a big boost.

M Spears has been into internet marketing and knows the importance of a good and professionally done web design from his personal experience. To get an inexpensive web design click on the link above to access one of the best web design companies and check out their impressive portfolio and ask for a quote.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Top 10 Reasons to Hire a Website Design Firm

Creating a website may seem simple with all of these new website creation tools and programs, but the fact remains that creating a professional looking website takes experience. Regardless of the reason you are creating a website, a professional website design company has the inside knowledge and myriad of professional services you need to make your website stand out among the millions. The list of reasons regarding the importance of hiring a website design firm could go on and on, but there are several that stand out among the rest.

1. Credibility is an important factor in converting visitors of your website to customers or regular users. If you have a poorly designed website potential visitors to your site may feel hesitant to use your site or do business with you. A professionally designed website gives visitors to your site the impression that you are an established professional and not just an individual dabbling around on the Internet.

2. The professionalism a website design firm can offer you is invaluable. People often relate the quality of a person's services with the quality of their website. If your website looks bad, visitors are more likely to go elsewhere for their services because they will have doubts about the level of professionalism your company can offer them. Having a web design firm create your website automatically makes you look more professional.

3. Security is another important feature that a web design firm can offer you. A website design firm can ensure that your site is not only professional in appearance but secure for your visitors as well. Having these two factors combined gives your visitor's added confidence in your company's abilities.

4. Although everyone thinks they can write, not everyone can write for the web. Writing for the web requires inside knowledge of the inner workings of search engines to compose an effective piece of work. A professional web design firm will have professional writers to create content for your website that will not only be appealing to your visitors, but contribute to effectively get them to your site as well.

5. The visual appeal of your website is also integral to your website's success. Naturally, we know what we like to look at and what is aesthetically pleasing to us. However, professionals know what looks good to a general audience. Additionally, they will have artists and photographers to create unique graphics for your site so it is one of a kind.

6. Getting ranked high in the search engines is the key to success regardless of what type of website you are creating. There are many techniques that are used that, when employed properly, increase your search engine ranking. Professional web design firms know how to properly optimize your website during its creation so that it gets the search engine ranking you need.

7. Time efficiency is one of the most important reasons that you should use a web design firm to design your website. When you are struggling on your own to create a website, your time is diverted from your business. Not only does hiring a web design firm mean that your website is built both professionally and quickly, but it gives you the time you need to devote to other areas of your business.

8. Web design firms have more connections within the industry than the average person. This enables them to have more resources they can use when they are creating your website. They can make sure that you have the best hosts, servers and related services in the business.

9. Your website needs to not only be aesthetically appealing to your visitors, but it needs to be easy for them to use. Professional web designers know how to create web pages that are both professional and easy to navigate. If your site looks good but it is complicated to use, you will lose visitors.

10. Reliability is quite possibly the most important reason that you should use a web design firm when you are creating your website. Web design firms carefully test all of the websites that they create to ensure they are stable. They will make sure that your website is glitch free and fully functional before it goes live. Having a reliable website will increase the confidence visitors have in your company. Plus, it ensures that your website is always serving its intended purpose.

Marc Hansche is the President & CEO of ACES 4 Hire, Inc. ACES provides professional Internet Marketing, SEO and PPC Marketing Campaigns, Website Design, Copywriting, Custom Application Development, Graphic Design and IT Services. Please visit http://www.aces4hire.com to learn more.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Sales Page Software Can Make Your Sale Page Look Professional

After you buy or become an affiliate or otherwise come up with your own product to sell online, you must write your sales page. Although, some sellers opt to hire someone else to write an effective sales page, you may decide you need to do this yourself.

You can either choose to use one of the sales page generators or software available, or you could write your sales page from scratch using an html editor. Whichever method is more comfortable to you is fine.

Anyhow, most people start at the top of the page with the headline. Something catchy is needed here and this is the most important section of any sales page. Why? If the reader likes the headline, he may read further. If not, it doesn't really matter what the remainder of the page says because no one will read further. Try to catch the reader's attention without using some worn-out cliche such as "Who Else Wants To..." . A better approach would be to try to capture the reader's attention by presenting a problem he or she may have. " Are Your False Teeth Falling Out When You Speak?" A corny example, but you should get the point.

A subtitle may be used afterword to clinch the attention of the reader. " Mine Did Too, Until I Found This Solution!" The first paragraph might go into the serious problem that you used to deal with before you found the solution. Get a little personal and try to bond yourself with the reader.

Succeeding paragraphs just go into more detail and may include testimonials and even proof that the product you are describing really made a difference to you and others who used it.

An image of yourself helps to validate yourself as a real person. Your guarantee of satisfaction in words that leave the reader with no doubt that he is not risking his money helps to establish yourself as a sincere person that can be trusted.

Images and other illustrations help make your sales letter or sales page look more professional and trusted. Just make certain that you are completely truthful in your statements. The use of bullet points and divided paragraphs make for easier reading and make comprehension easier. Write on about the 8th grade level. Studies indicate that this is the average reading level. Make certain all the spelling is correct. I have closed many a sales page when I see misspellings in the opening lines.

Learn how easy it is to write more effective and professional looking sales pages on our website. Best software available and you can make unlimited sales letters from your own computer. http://SalesPageWizard.net

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Build a Website Fast - 90 Second Website Builder Review

Building websites can be a whole lot of fun if you know what you are doing. Personally, I take much pride in the work that I produce for each and every site that I own. However, site building can take a big chunk of your time...especially if you are an internet marketer. The internet marketing arena is brutal. If you are not on top of things from the get go, you can lose out on good money. As the saying goes - "You snooze, you lose."

As an internet marketer, it is extremely important to be able to build a website fast. Over the years, we have seen many site building programs that use 'WYSIWYG,' or 'What You See is What You Get.' This feature allows it's users to drag and drop items, add text, links, etc. in plain view, if you will, while creating a web page. You can actually see your actions before your eyes instead of viewing codes. Unfortunately, the 'WYSIWYG' feature is somewhat limited in it's use. Typically, the drag and drop areas are confined to the pre-configured layout of the page (side menus, content, footer, etc.)

What is the best web builder on the market today? Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I like a program that is an absolute "What You See is What You Get." In other words, I need the ability to place images, text, and tables anywhere I want them with the simple 'drag and drop' action, with no limitations. Furthermore, the ideal website builder should be able to create menus and buttons, again, with the drag and drop utility.

The 90 Second Website Builder can handle the aforementioned tasks with ease. This program also allows you to overlap images and create Paypal icons. Learn more about 90 Second Site Builder at Michael's marketing blog.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

How to Organize Your Web Pages

Imagine you walked into a supermarket for you monthly shopping and you started by looking for brown bread. After a few minutes of craning your neck you saw a rack of white bread. Expectantly you approach it. But all there is, is white bread. You ask the attendant if they have any brown bread and they refer you to aisle seven on the other end of the supermarket. After crossing the floor to the other end you finally find your brown bread.

Incidentally next to the brown bread there is jam which reminds you that you need butter. But all that is in the vicinity are different brands of jams. On asking the attendant where you can get butter they explain, brown bread is together with jam, margarine is with white bread at aisle four , while butter is on second floor together with pasta. You ask why they arrange things so haphazardly and she explains with an irritating sense of pride that products are arranged according to how they are used together.

By this time you simply continue to shop because you have already started. And as you exasperatedly go looking for the next product in your shopping list you swear never to return. And as absurd as this scenario is, many websites have similar page to page linking.

Your website is like the supermarket floor space. Your different pages like products on the shelves and the linking structure is like the aisles. Like a well organized supermarket, you expect to find all your breads in one area as well as all your spreads in one area. Poor linking structure or what is referred to as a geeky linking will quickly frustrate your visitors and confuse SE spiders. And unlike in the supermarket where the shopper may continue shopping, hissing under the breath, online all it takes to exit is a click on the back button.

Incidentally, SEs tend to downgrade your ranking on the account of such poor structures. Test are showing that sites with poor page to page linking do poorly in SERP compared to those with good linking. But what is good linking? The arrangement of breads together with the spreads commonly used with the kind of bread seems reasonable. Unfortunately that is not how people generally shop. They prefer to get all the breads and choose, then all the spreads and choose. Arranging your web content in the same way in internet marketing and SEO is akin to being relevant. For example, a tourism website should have all content on hotel bookings together while that on game drives should be together but separate from hotel bookings. Yet these two categories of content should not link to each other directly. Technically this is referred to as siloing.

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Thursday, May 29, 2008

Friendly Website Design

There are a few web design principles and points that are agreed upon by majority of the web developers and designing communities irrespective of the type of website business or niche marketing. There are certain designs characteristics that every body knows is not good practice for web designing and must be avoided for comfortable web browsing. Find below a few tips while website designing (specifically web 2 designing) that must be followed by all responsible professionals.

  • Do not use strong colors
  • Sparing use of icons
  • Have plenty of white space
  • Have nice big text that is easy to read
  • Orientation of matter in webpage must be in the center
  • Design the content not the page
  • The page layout must be simple
  • Back ground should be only light neutral colors
  • Minimal use of 3D effects

  • Lay out of pages used to be left oriented or were very wide in the early days but not any more, as scrolling has been accepted as a part of the browsing process and centralized orientation is more balanced. The designer's focus must be on making the subject interesting and not on impressing ones designing skills.

    One must remember the principle that designing is for communication and not decoration. Hence it is very important that one must first know about the user and what his likes and preferences. For this one may have to do a bit of a research. Similarly it is of great importance that the objective and the level of usability of the website be defined at the outset itself. The visitor should not waste time guessing on the site and hence one must only use standard conventions and everything has to be very self evident on then site.

    The author of this article is Ricci Mathew of Outsource Strategies International (OSI), a US based company that offers services in Search Engine Optimization, SEM, Website designing for clients across the US.

    Friday, May 23, 2008

    Identify Your International Readers And Write A Better International Website

    Identify Your International Readers And Write A Better International WebsiteThere are certain basic business communication principles that work across all media. And one of the things you need to do when communicating with any prospects or clients is to think about what they want and need to hear from you. You need to look at your business offer, communication or message from their point of view.

    If you have studied copywriting like I have, you will know just how easy it is to get sidetracked on this one. To write a good website it is essential to write it for your visitors.

    Most of us think we know our market, we think that we know our visitors and we have done more than enough "research" on our website visitors. But this is rarely the case.

    If you want to improve you website results, you will have to look even closer at your website. The closer your website corresponds to the needs and desires of your visitors the more success you will have. This may seem like an obvious statement, but people often make a website for themselves and assume that their clients will like it.

    The best way to determine the needs and desires of your visitors is to actually only write to one visitor. Spend some time and research to identify the one ideal visitor. Create one specific persona. Write every single word of your website for him. Create every page for him. Some people will go as far as posting a picture of this person next to their computer so they have a reminder to write for that person.

    Writing your website for one specific visitor goes beyond writing for his needs and desires concerning your products or services. It includes also includes his needs and desires:

    • when he knows he wants to come online
    • when he decides he wants to visit your website
    • at the moment they are on your website
    • and during each moment he stays on your website

    It is important to bring all of these needs and desires of your website visitors into the actual goal you have for your website. The closer the goal you have fits the needs and desires of your visitors the more success you will have.

    Many of us make the mistake of thinking what we did when we started our website still corresponds to our current audience. Internet gives us lots of feedback on our visitors. Even after only six months of having your website online, you will probably find you need to tweak your website to better correspond with your visitors.

    The goals you have for your website can change slightly after some time online. You'll need to realign your website with your new goals.

    Get a free special report that gives you the 8 Steps To Develop Your International Business easily from where your business is now. This valuable report is yours when you sign up for the Get International Clients free weekly newsletter, with easy to implement tips and case studies to help you develop your international mindset and get you more international clients today. Get yours now at http://cindyking.biz/get-international-clients/

    Wednesday, May 14, 2008

    How To Make A Website For Your Company

    Use of the Internet has become common in almost all areas of daily life. Work, play and shopping are all done online these days. Everyone should, therefore, know how to make a website. People with personal websites can do many things. They can share their lives with people all over the world. They can also start their own businesses. People from all over can connect in many ways through Internet use.

    You can do so many things with an internet site. You can post whatever you want on it and show it to everybody. When you want to launch a new site, you must get yourself a web host. You've got loads of them to choose from, but you first need to have a good idea as to what you are trying to achieve. A company must have its own specific space, and you certainly want one that offers superior customer service. This is not as important when you are starting up a related to your personal life.

    The Internet has a vast amount of space. If you require a quick and simple page, using a site builder from a free web host to build your site may be an ideal solution. Generally, this will result in a basic page that is financed by permitting small advertisements to appear on your site. For people who desire their own individual web space, this is a good option.

    If you are a business or organization, then it is vital that you do not have advertisements for other businesses on your site. You will want a special and personalized site as well. In this case, you will need to purchase a domain name and hosting space. You will also need to learn how to build your site from the ground up.

    Learning the code to html or choosing to enlist an editor let you create a unique site for your business that is as individual as you are. Your site will be unlike anyone else's. You will find this way lures customers and spectators to your site, and, if you have done this correctly, it will keep the persons on your site.

    It is not hard to find out how to make a website. There are lots of tutorials available to those who would like to give it a try. Do a quick search online to see the variety of options that you have when you want to create your own site for any reason.

    People use the Internet almost every day; they work, play and shop. It's essential that everyone know how to make a website, either for sharing your lives with people or making money with a business. Make sure you pick a good web host; if you're a business, you'll need a host with dedicated servers and 24/7 customer service. That may not be necessary for a personal web page. Personal webpages can be hosted for free in exchange for displaying some ads on your page. Businesses should buy a domain and hosting and sell their own ads. You can either use an editor or learn HTML coding and do it yourself.

    Monday, May 5, 2008

    The Secrets of Effective E-Commerce Design

    Those of you setting up an online shop you know the most important thing is converting your visitors into sales. This article should give you a few a tips on what to do with your site to improve your chances.

    It is vital to remember that most people surfing the net for something have a short attention span and will probably not look at more than 3 or 4 pages before they leave your site. So the most important thing is to make it as easy as possible for someone to get to checkout. As a good rule of thumb, there should be no more than 3 clicks from coming to your site to buying a product. The reason for this is it has been shown that the higher the number of clicks the lower the number of sales.

    Most people coming to your site will be coming from a search engine and will probably not arrive at your home page but probably at the product page for the item they have been searching for. This means you need to make your site clear so they immediately know where they are and what choices they have.

    Make sure you include a search box on your home page so if people do arrive there they can easily look for what they want. You should also consider having one on all pages so that you keep it simple for someone looking for something specific.

    Again for the ease of your customers keep your design and navigation as simple as possible. Think of big online shops like Amazon. There is nothing overly exciting in their design but it is easy to buy which is what makes them successful.

    Always remember the content on your site. The more information you can provide on products the more this builds your credibility and thus the customer's confidence in your site which in turn will result in more sales.

    While on the point of credibility, you should consider the look and feel of your site. If you use a homemade website it can come across as amateur which will destroy a potential customer's confidence in your company. If your site does not look professional, then most people will think that you cannot be trusted to buy products from. We would always recommend getting your site professionally designed to give it the professional look.

    For the design of your site, never use frames. There are 2 reasons for this, firstly some computers are not compatible with frames and so will not allow people to view your site and so you immediately lose potential customers. Also search engines don't index frames, so you will miss out on a lot of valuable traffic from people using search engines to find a product, and remember these are the people that are most likely to buy.

    Keep the size of the pictures and graphics on your site to a minimum. If your page takes a long time to load, you may find people click off your site before it loads and so you will be losing potential customers only on the functionality of your site and not on your products.

    Don't have special software requirements on your site. If people have to download the software to access your site there is a high chance they won't want to or just won't be bothered to and so will never come to your site.

    Check the links on your site on a regular basis as a broken link can be very off-putting to a potential customer. Remember to name your links so that people always know where they are and where they are going.

    Use professional e-commerce hosting so that you can ensure your site will have as few problems as possible and be viewable 100% of the time. Remember to use a reliable e-commerce merchant account for payments so that you can ensure everything is secure and that all the payments go through, thus reducing problems for your customers.

    If you have found this article useful then you can get more information from Dazines - E-Commerce website design London.