10 Tips to Improve your Website

Posted by: Colorado Web Design

I found this article on GoArticles.com and thought it would be good to include someone else's perspective on my blog. I agree with many of these tips and you should seriously consider making these changes to your website!

Can you think of your existence without your soul, same is the case with online business also. What your soul is for your body is same as a website is for an online business. But still there are some people who tend to make some silly mistakes during website development which results in great disaster after they are finished with their work. It is very important to know the importance to make an effective website which can set you apart from others on many grounds. The online visitors are very much conscious about their time, they just can't afford to waste it on a website from where they can get nothing, sometime they don't even bother to visit your website if it looks outlandish to them. Here we will provide you with top 10 tips to include in your next web design to improve your website and make it more user-friendly to suit the requirements of your visitors.

1.FASTER UPLOADING: This is one of the most important aspects which should be taken care of that online visitors often have short attention span, therefore, they do not like to waste their time on a website which takes too much time to appear in front of them. Therefore, it is always better to make your website quicker in terms of page loading.

2.EFFECTIVE DESIGN ELEMENTS: Using effective web design elements allows you to make clear and precise website which can express itself in front of your visitors. It also makes your web pages more attractive and easy to follow.

3.PROVIDE SEARCH BARS: It is always considered better to provide a search bar on your website which helps to serve up relevant content to your visitors. It allows the visitor to look for the desired content whenever they need and hence, makes your site more user-friendly.

4.COLOR SELECTION: Be very careful while selecting the colors for your website. It has been noticed in various websites that in order to make them look attractive, the designers put such dark background that the users find it difficult to read the content written on the site. Therefore, be specific while deciding the color for your websites.

5.CAPTIVE LOGO: Provide your website with a captive and descent logo to identify it quickly. Also try to provide with a tag line somewhere in the header which expresses the purpose of your business. It helps your visitors to remember your site and search it quickly when they want to access it.

6.WRITE REGULAR BLOGS: It is always advisable to write a blog for your website and update it regularly to keep your visitors well informed about your website. It also makes your site appealing to various search engines if you are updating it on a regular basis.

7.USE VALID CODES: This is the first and most important point to be taken care of. Always use CSS and HTML validations so that your website is cross browser friendly and renders properly in all browsers.

9.USE PROPER FONT SIZE: Using proper font size is always considered important because if the users are not able to read the content of your website then all your designing and development is of no use.

10.USE IMPRESSIVE CONTENT: Suppose you have designed your website in such a way that the user lands on your homepage but is not able to understand the content written on it. A clear, precise and fresh content which expresses the exact purpose of your website is very important.

11.AVOID BROKEN LINKS: This thing which really irritates your visitors. If they are visiting your site for the first time and landed on a broken link, then it may happen they will never try to visit your site again.

Article source: http://goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=3622285

Key Components of Web Design

Posted by: Colorado Web Design

For anybody trying to get your blog exclusively developed or possibly are typically embarking on a brand-new on-line organization, there's quite a few items to consider. No matter if you're possessing this carried out house or maybe decide on a third party style and design and style organization, providing your vision to life although turning it into attractive to the client is normally a difficult job. Every designer offers their unique special type and despite the reality that really like with the product you receive, if it don't have got specific components your trusty website's registered users will quickly get lost. This can cause them to forego their whole sessions prior to all the details you are attempting to relay. Locations key components to incorporate in your whole site layout to make sure this won't take place.

The foremost and most vital aspect will be the idea and structure itself. It's fundamental to relay today's type along with sufficient white or open space to the web site visitors within your internet site. Incorporating your individual enterprise colors and logos might be easily completed without cramming out of all components of layout and content material in to a sole internet page. Steer clear of overloading buyers with an excessive quantity of details for the index web page. Rather spread out over a number of webpages of written subject material and utilize a carefully reckoned navigation program to get your message across in a really professional manner.

Getting ready and executing your site's navigation menu and product is nearly as important as the layout from the web site. You ought to make certain that whatever program you implement is straightforward and straightforward for your users to use. For your web design, ensure that your selections are above the fold. This merely signifies which they should not have to scroll down by any indicates to check out the a number of options they may possibly have. One more suggestion would be to also position the navigation alternatives inside footer purely put prospective consumers will not will need to scroll all the way up here we are at inception to buy some thing different right after they've completed reviewing each and every web page.

Optimizing your photographs for viewing in on the internet browsers is yet yet another primary aspect to enhancing your user's expertise. We've probably all visited internet sites just before where pictures are uploaded out of the box and despite the fact that there're resized inside of the website's code, there're still extremely huge files and load slowly. Lowering your photo size and lowering the high quality of your images prior to such as them with your webpage can drastically develop up your loading time. One more tip really should be to crop the photo and select just the relevant topic with the photograph. By way of example, when you have a service photograph which is in the course of the appear and derives passion for a smallish component of the entire image, crop it to come up with on the product itself. It will not only accelerate loading instances, it's going to give your consumer a significantly much better view of the merchandise instead of the surroundings or background.

Lastly, be positive that your website's design looks precisely the exact same in all the well-liked net explorer. Although your blog might look incredible in Firefox, the CSS or XHTML coding may possibly possibly not have employed in other browsers for instance Web explorer or Google Chrome. Quickly stock up your style in every to be certain cross browser compatibility.

5 Ways to Optimize a Website for SEO

Posted by: Colorado web design

In our technically-obsessed world there has arisen one major God of business success and its name is Google. It is crucial to ensure that your website is noticed by Google because it directs around 90% of all the web traffic in the US. And while Google has helped some businesses rise very high indeed, it isn’t always a benevolent deity!

The process of getting your website you to rank at the top of the Google results for a particular search phrase is known as SEO or search engine optimization and is a combination of making specific updates to your website and then getting other websites to link to you.

Today we’ll be looking at the first part of the equation, optimizing your website to give it the best chance of ranking well on Google.

1. Unique Wording On Every Page

Google’s main method of differentiating pages from one another on the Internet is by the wording that is used on them. Include 300-500 words of unique wording on each page and Google will see your site as valuable, informative and unique from any other site on the Internet. If you simply copy wording form another website (even your own) Google will not give your new site any value at all. Google actively checks for content that is duplicated across the internet, and penalizes the sites that it is found on.

2. Update The Title Tags

The title tags are the words that are displayed above the ‘file’ button on your Internet browser and are used as the headings of your SEO rankings. They are the first indication to Google of what a page is about and a critical to your SEO rankings. Use the keywords you want the site to rank for in the title tags and ensure every page is different to avoid the penalty for duplicate content.

3. Update The Meta Descriptions

While they aren’t heavily weighted in Google’s ranking algorithm, they do affect how many people click on your website in the SEO rankings. Use your meta descriptions to really sell the ‘click’ by giving users a reason to click through to your site. Look at what your competitors are saying and try to say something different, that really speaks to your prospects. Ensure that the meta description tags on each page are different to avoid duplicate content.

4. Add Footer Links For Navigation

Search engine spiders have a hard time reading Flash and Javascript content and may not realize that some of your content exists if it can only access it through Flash or Java. They go from page to page via links and plain text links are the easiest for the search engine spiders to follow. The best way to create them is with a footer menu. You would ensure that your every page on your site links to all other major pages on your site, through the footer area. And to really help your rankings include the keywords you want to rank for in those links.

5. Watch For Duplicate Content

You already know that your title tags and meta tags must be different, and your main copy different to that on other websites, but you can still get snagged by the duplicate content demon. If you have long copyright text or privacy policies repeated on different pages throughout the site, Google might see your web pages as duplicate content and drop it off their main index. If you definitely need duplicated information on a range of pages, put it in an image so the spiders can’t read it.

By implementing each of these SEO tips on your new website design you will ensure that it has the best chance for ranking highly in Google. A little planning and go a long way…

About The Author

Alex Cleanthous is the Head Online Strategist of Web Profits, an Australian-based online marketing firm servicing Australasia, the US and Europe. He keeps Web Profits on the cutting edge in all aspects of online marketing. Alex writes an industry blog about SEO, web design and online marketing. Follow Alex on Twitter: @AlexCleanthous.

When Web Design Goes to Far

Just as there are fantastic web designs launched every year, there are even more websites launched that are atrocious and go too far with design. What are the parameters for an artist or web design creator on knowing when to step on the brakes with their design?

The most common mistakes made in designing a website are:

Too Much, Too Soon

Ever opened a website and felt dizzy seeing too much content, color, intricate borders and graphics? The top web layouts always have just one or two focal points, nothing more. In the first place, you don’t have to limit the website to just one page. However, you should also not bombard your main home page with too many directional guides and links to the other pages. If a web design has too much going for it, it will be its own worst enemy. Remember that a visitor to the website has a million other site choices, and so your window of opportunity to keep him interested is so small and be just a matter of seconds. The general idea is that a person should be able to tell within 4 seconds after opening a site what it’s all about.

Using The Wrong Design Elements

You may know a lot about web design, but you do not have to use them all at once. Neither should you be random about which design elements to use. For instance, if the website has products to sell, then do not let design detract from the product so much so that the person looks at the design rather than the product. Neither should you have elements that stop a person from buying by using “come on,” “wait,” or “there’s more” kind of tactics.

Getting Drunk on Contrasts

The use of contrast is a great design technique, but it can get in the way, especially if you try too hard to create a visual smorgasbord battling for attention. On the other hand, many designers tend to disregard the use of contrast because they know the content by heart, and fail to look at the design from the angle of a visitor. Thus, they look at the overall effect, and end up using too light text color that affects visibility and readability.

Inconsistency From Top To Bottom, Side to Side

Often a web design gets attention because it has no focus, which means it’s not a compliment. Think of it as a room – you cannot have gothic mixed with country because they do not work together at all. It’s wrong to have a different theme for every page in your website, just as it can get to be too much if you keep changing the color scheme.

Creating a Navigational Maze

Web navigation refers to links to different parts of your website. An inconsistent web design uses different kinds of navigational designs in one page, or even in the entire website. Again, you need to maintain consistency. At the same time, the navigational keys should be concise and simple. This is the wrong aspect of the web design to “decorate.” It should be as easy for a 10 year old as it is for a 70 year old to figure out how to get to the Home Page or About Us page.

Making Web Design More Important Than the Content

Unless you are creating a design or artsy website, then content should reign supreme. The web design should not be the main selling point. It should be whatever the main focus of the site is. If anything at all, design should enhance content, and by doing so, get its due recognition.

Using Flash Techniques Improperly

A web design that incorporates a video that automatically pops up when a person goes to the Home Page should always have a Skip option. Making visitors go through the same Flash animation every time is abusive and inconsiderate. It will also cause a drop in interest. The same applies with music, especially in game sites. Not everyone wants to listen to the same tune again and again. There should be the option to lower the volume or put it in mute mode.

Playing Around With Text

Adding design to the fonts is generally a bad idea. People just want to read the content, not be impressed with its font, size, or color. It will also cause a problem with optimization. Thus, it is important to choose a font that is easy to read, and not be too small or too big.

Web design can easily go overboard, so the best way to avoid this problem is to have an objective independent person give you his or her point of view. If you get several opinions, you can come up with a consensus. Just choose your critics well.

Article Source: DesignReviver | Home