Web Design & Usability Issues

Whether you have a website or are looking to establish a web presence in Calgary, you will need to consider these top ten web design usability issues:

1. First Impressions

Studies have shown that the human eye generally reads a web page in an "F" pattern, from top left to right. Therefore, the hottest real estate on your business website is the top left area. Post your essential information there, especially your corporate logo. Overall, your website needs to create a great first impression and establish confidence and trust in your visitor. A Web design should not hinder or overwhelm content or branding on any page, including the home page.

2. Menus & Navigation

It is ideal to have consistent and universal navigation on your Calgary business website. This means having a menu that can access all pages at any time. This makes it easy for visitors to find the information they need and also maintains confidence in their experience with your company. Having supporting navigation such as breadcrumbs or contextual "previous" and "next" buttons or links to related items will reinforce the site's overall usability. Consistency is key, and remember that navigation, such as text links and a site map, is also used by search engine robots when indexing your web site pages for their search results.

3. Contact Information

Make it easy for visitors to contact you by displaying your Calgary office address or phone number clearly on all pages of your website, or at least on your key pages. You can also have a contact us page that has more detailed information, such as different branches, key contacts or a contact us form. These days it is also not uncommon to see live chat options so a visitor can connect with your staff as they surf!

4. Call to Action

Even if it is just to get a visitor to call your office, a website needs a "Call to Action" - this is something that is defined by a combination of site navigation, content generation and site functionality, including e-commerce processing. What do you want visitors to do on your site? Where do you want them to go? What is the next step once they have found your site? Is it to call you? Buy a product online or learn something? Or perhaps share information with a co-worker in the form of an e-book or pre-recorded video.

5. Keeping Above the "Fold Focus"

Keep the critical information in the top area of your website, above the fold where someone has to scroll down to read more. This is why logos, menus and the main calls to action appear in the top part of the site design - they need to be easy to find and use, without the person having to scroll down the page to find the information. Of course, when detailed information is needed pages can be long, however, consider using a PDF document for more passive content, as it keeps the actual Web page shorter and more manageable.

6. Web Content that Invites and Offers a Return

A relationship is an ongoing commitment from both sides, it is not a one way street. While the visitor is looking for a product or information, your business is looking for that new customer and the sale they bring - and as it has been said before, it is so much easier to sell to someone who has already bought from you before. So, when I say "offers a return" I mean it's a return for both sides, the returning customer finds continual value in your services or products and you retain them as a repeat customer. So keep content fresh, updated and consider adding a blog or Content Management System to you Calgary Web site.

7. Clear Content Layout

Organize your site so the visitor can easily flow from one page to the next, that information is prioritized in a hierarchy of need (both for them and you) and provide the information or product to them as efficiently as possible. Consider the home page as the gateway to the site and lead the visitor to what you can offer them (e.g. latest deals, latest information package, latest blog entry, etc.) and then give it to them. Ensure that each page follows a consistent layout for navigation and branding and that the content area is organized in a clean manner so the design of the site does not interfere with content delivery.

8. Appearance Matters

A website's impression is made not only by what is included in the site, but what is left out. Bypass banner ads, third party advertising, non-interactive flash animation and overwhelming colour schemes that blatantly fight for the visitor's attention. Visitors are generally looking for one thing on your site, so make it easy to find by keeping the structure and layout of the site simple, clean and direct. While someone may gain attention by wearing a speedo with flashing lights on it, most people will end up buying a product from the salesman who is a tad more conservative. J

9. Trust & Security

With billions of Web pages online these days, visitors need to know, more than ever, that they can trust their valuable time and money to what your site has to offer. Security seals and trusted third party endorsements, 256-bit SSL Certificates speak directly to the visitor about what you have done to secure your Calgary web site. However, there are subtle, yet effective, ways to show your visitor that they can trust your site: include properly written privacy policy, terms of use, shipping and returns policy, unique logins for their registration, acknowledge you will never sell or share your information with a third party unless they agree and only email them to the degree to which they have agreed. A basic way to ensure trust is to have your site professionally developed as this shows you have invested your own time and money in something you feel is worthwhile to others.

10. Polish to a Shine

Errors happen, it is technology after all, and while we all want to believe that technology can deliver 100%, 24/7 - is that reality? The reality is knowing that accidents happen, glitches happen and once in a while things need to be fixed. The reality of the Web is knowing that technology is expanding and those tools made to make your life easier still take time to learn and use. As technology expands we must be prepared to update, upgrade and expand along with it. By working out all of the errors such as broken links (this requires ongoing maintenance), spelling errors, broken images, browser inconsistencies, etc. you can present a well-polished gem to your website visitor, which will inherently carry its worth in its visual appeal, optimum functionality and delivery of relevant, needed content.

Consider the above 10 key points to improve your current web site or if you are looking to start a new Calgary Web design project.

If you are looking for a proactive and multi-faceted design team in Calgary Alberta, please visit Calgary Web Design to see BlindDrop Design's full list of services to the Cochrane & Calgary Area. Lucas Arnatt has been a Calgary Web Designer since 1997.

The Small Business Web Design Dilemma

Web design and small business owners go hand in hand, just like crackers and cheese, as opposed to chalk and cheese, but you would be hard pressed to know that due to the difficulties many of them have getting a website to go live. Unfortunately small business owners, or at least very small business owners wear so many hats and assume so many roles in their business, that the role of newbie web designer isn't high on their list of priorities. But web design should be an integral part of any successful small business owner's business plan.

Having a website makes a difference to your business' bottom line - the importance of having a website was even highlighted by the President in his 2010 State of The Union address - that's how crucial having one is these days! So, as a small business owner, how can you be sure that the investment you make in a website is going to pay off? Before you spend any money you need to know what the goals of your web site are. If your site is there to be a promotional piece, like a clickable brochure, and you are not going to promote it online then the goal of your site is to be an information area where people interested in your business can learn more about it - but they have to have heard of your business somehow first, likely through word of mouth or your printed marketing collateral.

However, if you want to truly make money with your site, your goals will be different and your web design needs different. You don't have to have an e-commerce store to make money with your site - if you have a service company, the more people who know about it via the web, the more business it can procure. To promote your site online you need to attack your web design plan differently. It's no good thinking that because your site looks good it will rank well. You need to start your project with Search Engine Optimization in the forefront as the major priority by finding out what search terms people are using to find your competitors. Replicate your competitors' online strategies and surpass them, and you will dominate your market.

Whichever path you choose to go down, as a small business owner starting out on the web, list your website's goals and break them down into manageable chunks, then work through those one at a time. If you are going build a website all on your own you will have to take on the role of web designer to get the job done, or a member of your staff will - and that takes time from your/their actual job. But if you hire a web design company to do the work it will get completed on time and to your satisfaction. It will be customized especially for your needs and you will get the best results. The bottom line is: A well designed, search engine friendly website improves your bottom line.

Fran Jeanes is an internet consultant for icontactwebdesign.com who writes about web design for the Charlotte NC web design company.

Do Web Designers Need to Understand the Search Engines?

All web development project should start with the the same basic premise:: you are building a website to be found online. Of course you want to look good and have people buy your products or services, but the primary goal should be a website where people can find you.

The best site is the world is not worth a lot if it can't be found online. A terrible-looking and functioning site that does well on Google is also sub-optimal.

A business should have the best of both worlds: a great-looking website that is found online. One without the other is like a car with four great tires and no engine.

Here is a simple way to find a web designer that can help you be found online.

Ask any prospective web design team to show you the last five websites they have designed from start to finish. If they haven't five completed sites, seriously consider someone else. Imagine hiring an auto repair person who has not done five tune-ups or brake jobs!

Then ask them to give you ten keywords they are targeting for people to find their own website. For example, it could be "web design Hawaii" or "online marketing specialist". If they don't have a list, they are amateurs and should not be trusted with your website. If you can't find them on Google, how are they going to help you be found?

Seeing what they can do for their clients is important. Likewise, seeing how well they can market their own business online will show you their skills. Any reputable web development company will, without hesitation, show you their most recent projects, and they should be willing to show qualified potential clients their own online marketing prowess.

Kona Impact has been provide Kona web design services to businesses since 2006. As leaders in design and marketing, we can help your business become successful.

Finding, Hiring and Working With the Perfect Website Designer

If you're ready to hire a Website designer and find yourself putting it off, it may be because you're not sure how to find the right Website designer or what questions to ask.

As a professional copywriter, marketing consultant and business owner myself, I've worked with many clients who either needed a Website upgrade or an entirely new site that created the right statement for their business.

However, many of these clients were absolutely stuck when it came to finding the right Website designer - for a number of reasons, such as:

• They didn't know where to look for a Website designer
• They didn't know what questions they should ask a Website designer
• They didn't know how to describe what they wanted their new Website to look like or do

Over time, in order to help my clients get past this barrier, I created a a list of questions - and hiring criteria - to use when interviewing Website designers. If you need to have your old site updated or a new Website designed, you may find it very useful as well...

Here is an overview of the steps involved:

• Step 1: What information to give the Website designer before the interview
• Step 2: Checking out the Website designer - what you need to look for, what questions to ask
• Step 3: Checking out references and the Web designer's business practices
• Step 4: Understanding the project scope

Step 1: What Information to Give the Website Designer

Before setting up an interview, there is some information you'll want to give the Website designer to help them prepare for the interview. (This actually saves you time, and cuts through a lot of fluff, because the designer can prepare information for you based on your needs and expectations, and best of all, at the end of the interview, you'll know whether or not they're a good fit for you and your Website. Here's a list of things you can provide them (use what makes sense for your company):

• A bio and backgrounder of your company
• Your current URL
• The reason you want your Website updated or created, and a list of your goals, and what you want your Website to accomplish
• A brief description of what you sell, and the steps a customer goes through to buy your products or services (or a list of the steps you want them to go through)

Obviously there is more the Website designer will need, but not until you've hired them and they've signed a confidentiality statement. This gives them enough information to be able to answer your questions - and their answers should let you know if they're the right Website designer for you.

Step 2: Checking out the Website Designer

What you want to know about the designer:

What is the designer's work experience? If you're choosing a local Website designer, set up a meeting to go over their portfolio. If they come to you, you'll need a computer with internet access, because the best way to view the designer's previous Websites is to look at them online.

If you're meeting with a designer over the phone, you'll still need the computer and internet access so they can direct you to the appropriate urls.

If the designer is sending you a CD of their portfolio, you'll want to go over it, and then set up a phone or chat interview to ask further questions.

Things to pay attention to: When you're looking at their portfolio, pay specific attention to the different types of sites they've designed for other clients. It doesn't matter if they have designed Websites for other companies like yours. What you want is someone who has designed different types of designs in different industries. This broad range of experience will serve you well, because they'll have the best understanding of the right type of site for you.

Look for specific features that catch your eye. Then look at the different elements each sample showcases. These may include: shopping cart, blog, online catalog, CRM, list building element, etc.

What types of sites does the designer build?

Next, look at whether it's a static or flash Website. (Static html Websites are becoming the dinosaurs of the Web, and except in certain cases, such a site may do your business more harm than good, by making it look old-fashioned, obsolete and, well, boring.)

Flash Websites have a professional and cutting-edge look and feel, and offer many benefits:

For example, they can:

• Result in the visitors spending more time on your site, and being subtly directed to the specific pages you want them to visit in the order you specify
• Be SEO optimized for your chosen keywords, resulting in more natural traffic from the search engines
• create excitement, interest and attention among visitors, because flash sites can be interactive.
• Build your brand by communicating your unique message effectively

Questions to ask the Website Designer:

1. What do you think are the most important elements I need on my Website to achieve my goals? Why?
2. Give me an example of a challenge you faced in designing a site similar to one you would build for me, and tell me how you solved it?
3. What will you do to help me achieve my goals in created a branded company image through my Website?
4. What will do you to help me achieve results in my marketing strategy?
5. Give me a brief overview of SEO strategies you will add to my Website.
6. May I have a list of at least 3 references from past clients please?

Step 3: Checking References and Business Practices of the Website Designer

This is a very important step and one that many entrepreneurs are uncomfortable with. But it's something that needs to be done. So just cowboy up, and do it. Ask the Website designer for a list of 3 past clients that you can check with.

The fastest way to check references is by phone. (And I'll give you the questions you can ask in just a minute.) The next best way is to send an email. Many people prefer this method, because it's less stressful - but be prepared, it might take longer to get a response, and you may not get one at all. Which does not necessarily mean there's something wrong with the Website designer. It could mean that because the reference doesn't know you, they delete your message, or it goes into their spam box or other filter, rather than their inbox. However, the choice of how to check references is up to you.

Reference checking script:

Hi, my name is (insert your name). I'm the (insert your title) of (insert your company name). I'm in the process of hiring a Website designer for my business, and I've been talking to (insert Website designer's name) of (insert Website designer's company name). He gave me your name as a reference and, if you could spare me about 5 minutes, I'd like to ask you five quick questions. (If they give you the go ahead, continue with these questions. If not, ask them if you could follow up with an email and ask them if they could respond within the next 48 hours so you can make your decision.)

1. Are you happy with the Website that (insert designer's name) built for you? (If they don't elaborate, it's okay to ask them, 'Why or why not')
2. Did (insert designer's name) meet their deadlines and communicate with you regularly throughout the process?
3. Has your Website helped you achieve your business and marketing goals?
4. Is there anything you'd do differently knowing what you know now?
5. Would you use (insert designer's name) again if you needed another site built?

Well, that's all the questions I have. Thank you very much for your time, you've been very helpful.

(end of script)

Once you've hired the perfect Website designer, it's time to get your project started. And that usually starts with what's called a 'project scope'.

Step 4: Understanding the Project Scope

Professional Website designers usually have a project scope that they'll send you when you're ready to get started. It will include a list of the information they need from you, such as:

• Graphics
• Background information
• Content or content requirements
• Color preferences
• List of elements you want
• Logo, tagline and other graphics specific to your brand
• Shopping cart or payment information
• Current company Website
• Information relating to your hosting company, etc.
• The Project Scope should also include information about:
• How and when the project will start
• Fees and payment schedule
• Project milestones
• Communication methods and schedule
• Follow up meeting or interview schedule
• Contact information
• What to do in case of a problem or if you want changes made
• Copyrights
• Confidentiality and use of confidential or proprietary information

It's always a good idea to have your attorney or other business advisor look over any legal or binding document before you sign it. And of course, if you have an questions or concerns, now's the time to bring them up with the Website designer. The project scope will help keep your project moving forward and keep it on track.

There you have it! Everything you need to know to find, hire and work with the right Website designer for your next Website.

Looking for more resources like this one to help you build a successful business? Check out my Website at http://www.cherylantier.com to get lots more free tips, checklists and resources! Free 30 minute consultation if you qualify.

Facts About Web Design

Web design is the art of developing presentations of content that is eventually delivered to end user via the World Wide Web. The presentations are usually in the form of hypertext or hypermedia and are transmitted to the World Wide Web with aid of a web browser or any other software that that is compatible for web applications such as microblogging clients, Internet television clients as well as RSS readers.

Design is aimed at creating a web site. A web site is a compilation of electronic files that are used a on a web server or servers. The electronic files are used to present various contents as well as interactive features or interfaces to end users in the form of web pages the moment a command request is sent. This capability in design enables a multiplicity of element such as bit-mapped images (in formats such as.gif and.jpeg), text, and forms to be placed on the particular page using a variety of applications such as hyper text markup language (HTML), XML and XHTML tags. In order to display more intricate media such as videos, sounds, animations, and vector graphics, the person involved in design has to incorporate a variety of specialized add-on as such as QuickTime, Flash and the Java run-time environment among other applications. Such activities also require plug-ins to be embedded into the web page by making use of HTML or XHTML tags.

New strategies have seen significant improvements in the compliance of browsers with W3C standards. This has led to a general acceptance and application of XHTML and XML methods in combination with Cascading Style Sheets (that is CSS) to place and manipulate the objects and elements contained in a web page. The latest proposals and standards in web design are aimed at enabling any given browser to produce a side array of media as well as accessibility alternatives to the client without necessarily having to employ plug-ins. This has made web design not only advanced but also enjoyable. In web design, web pages are generally classified into two major groups. The pages can be either dynamic or static. As the name implies, static pages do not change their content as well as layout every time a request is made. Changes to such pages can only be made when a person with expertise in web design - such as a web master or web programmer updates the particular page or pages manually.

On the other hand, dynamic web pages adjust their content as well as appearance depending on the end user's input commands or interaction. Changes in dynamic web pages can also occur due to the settings of the computer environment as formulated in the process of web design. Such settings include time, user preference, data modifications and so forth. The web page content can be modified from the client's side (that is the end user's computer) through applying script languages related to the client side. Such languages are commonly used in web design and include Actionscript, JavaScript, JScript, and many others. The languages are specifically used to change DOM settings by use of DHTML. Dynamic content is very important in web design since it is often times complies with the server that uses server-side scripting language formats such as PHP, Perl, ASP, ColdFusion, and JSP. Both ways of changing the contents of dynamic web pages involve complex web design applications.

Web design is a growing field and this is necessitated by the increasing knowledge in information technology. As a result, a line has been drawn between this field and other related fields such as web development and web programming.

More on Web Design

When to Say No to DIY Web Design and When to Get Web Design Services

Many website owners, especially those with limited marketing budgets, are tempted to design their websites it alone instead of hiring a professional to do provide web design services. After all, there are free tools available online, and free tutorials to show them how these tools are used. So what should stop them from taking the initiative when it comes to web design?

Well, here's what should stop them: in the ideal world-a world where websites work-it takes a lot more than putting together text and graphics together to create a decent website. It also requires the special technical knowledge of how to process your text and graphics, combine them, and transform them into code so that they can function the way they are supposed to function.

Designing and coding are two different things. And this is why professional web design services providers usually have two teams working on the same project: one to design the look and feel of the web site, and one to translate this look and feel into code. The output of these two processes combined is the website that we read and click on to find information.

If you feel that your website is lacking in either one, then it is probably time to throw in the towel, pick up the phone and call the professional. If budget is an issue, it still should not stop you from exploring your options. There are a lot of professional web designers who can work within a budget. In addition, as a general rule, website building and designing is a scalable service, so it should be easy for you to plan on what you need and what you don't to keep your expenses in check.

Hassan loves to write. My new project entails about Womens Trench Coat and Non Skid Socks

The Advantage to Choosing a Local Web Designer

Web designers are not hard to come by. In fact, over 75,000 people now claim the title "web designer" in the United States alone, a big jump from a few years ago. Why? Because more and more businesses are needing to expand their presence on the internet. In this economy, how else are businesses going to find new customers?

With website designers near and far charging a range of prices, it makes the selection a tricky process. Which technologies will you need for your website? How proficient will the designer need to be? Do all web designers know the same things? And how should a designer's proficiency be tested? These are all important questions, especially as it relates to the amount of money you'll ultimately pay.

When it comes to choosing a website designer, there are many factors that should be taken into consideration, but none is as important as communication. This is why choosing a local web designer is imperative. When you hire someone to create your company's online visual identity for you, you're not just taking on a painter to paint your house, you're entrusting in that person your business ideas and your methods for interacting with your customers. This person will have to have a very clear sense of what type of feel you'd like to convey and what type of market you're targeting.

The hiring of a website designer is akin to the starting of a relationship. By communicating with each other and bouncing ideas off of each other and being able to count on each other to try new tactics, you'll be able to represent your brand as effectively and clearly as possible. This is best achieved by meetings in person rather than distant phone conversations or emails. After all, you'll want to count on this person if your site needs an update. This is why it's good to go for someone local as opposed to someone far away.

Chris Beaman is a Boston-based web designer and front end developer. Find him online at: http://chrisbeaman.com or on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/cgbeaman