Colour is good, but do not overdo it in a websites web design. Though it may be attractive to have bright and fun colours, you need to ensure that it is not overwhelming for the visitor. Choose a couple of colours that you want to bring to your website, but keep it limited. If there are too many you may irritate the visitors and they might not stay on the website long enough to see what you have to offer.

When it comes to contrast, use it, but for important areas, images, and texts. Contrast brings the eye immediately to it, which means that if you want to bring a visitors eye to something they may not otherwise immediately notice, contrast will do the job. This is ideal for special offers, important news, or changes in the website. If you use too much contrast within the website, you will lose the ability to attract the eye to one particular thing as everything will be the same. In addition, contrast is hard on the eyes, especially if it is in excess.

The next element of colour is the balance. This is especially important if you have more than one colour within the website. You do not want a heavy colour on the right hand side, while the left has a light colour. This will make the website unbalanced and difficult to read.

It does not matter how great the product or service you offer on your website is, if the website is not attractive or well made then the visitors will not stick around long enough to find out. Using colour is a great way to bring and keep customers on your website, however, make sure that you use it with limit and do not overdo it and deter your visitors. Colour is a two edged sword, and not using enough or using too much may be either too boring or overwhelming for the visitor. From the first moment a visitor goes into a website, they must be immediately attracted to it, if not they will never return. The web design of a website is the most important part of a successful online business.

Sue Mitchell is a Editorial Manager of Aclickahead Writers, having a large number of articles published on various well reputed internet sites. Check out the latest trends in Branding, web design by propadesign and Email Marketing

Author: Sue Mitchell
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Video news

A Facebook Page is similar to a standard Facebook profile, but it is geared towards businesses, organisations, public figures, bands and the like. It is essentially a profile for an entity rather than a person, and can be used to broadcast information about the business, group or product in a professional manner.

Free and quick to start up, it is an excellent way to spread the word about your business through word of mouth and is a fantastic tool for engaging with customers and driving more traffic back to your website.

With a bit of time spent each week on maintenance, you could use it to inform your contacts about new special offers, products and events, as well as creating hype surrounding your brand and generating publicity.

Essentially, it is a way to engage with new audiences and market your brand so that you can extend the reach of standard web design packages.

Make the Most of Your Facebook Page through Applications

One of the great things about a Facebook Page is that you can use a number of simple applications to engage with your audience to improve the user experience. Some of the best include:

Blog updates – display blog posts from your website directly on the Facebook Page. This can encourage people who wouldn’t normally find your website to access your content, and you can then drive traffic back to your site.

Polls – poll applications provide you with a quick and easy way to engage with your visitors though asking relevant questions. You could ask something funny or interesting to generate a greater response, and you could even direct visitors back to your website to find analysis of the results.

Images & Videos – it’s easy to add images and videos to your Facebook page, which will allow you to present your content in a different format to reach new audiences. Video tutorials, photos of industry events, descriptions of new products and video interviews could all be put to use here.

Start Your Facebook Page

Web design packages allow you to set up a business website, but there is no reason to stop with that. Use a free Facebook Page to spread the word about your business and make yourself more visible to new audiences.

Even if your website is the centre of your online operations, setting up a Facebook Page is something any business can benefit from.

Marcus Miller is a website designer and internet marketing expert with more than ten years experience building and promoting websites.

Marcus’s current venture is Web Design Packages – a new way of buying and promoting a website for your business at an affordable, fixed price.

If you want more than a website and want a way to promote and build your business online, then give Marcus a shout: marcus@websitedesignpackages.net

Author: Marcus J Miller
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Unix inter-process communication (IPC)

Colors & Mood

The traffic light is always green while the red often means the urgency and danger. Unless you wish to achieve this effect the use of the colors that are associated with bad things should be avoided and the colors with soothing and welcoming effect should be used more.

Here are simple rules for color application on websites

1. Opposite Shades in text and background
2. Primary color Philosophy, Red Yellow Blue
3. Use the Color Wheel
4. Reflective of seasonal and events
5. Customer/product focus

Inviting not Forgettable

If you are building the website from scratch, there is clean slate, and you can do what ever you like in here with minimum investment. This however doesn’t indicate that you might not change, on the contrary the color scheme should be changed ever so often suiting the season and time of years to give the impression of being inviting not forgettable.

As hum beings we are programmed to associate colors in the different contests. This means you become happy thinking about the Christmas, Easter, New Year’s Day, Jewish or Chinese New Years quite easily too.

The thing which should be avoided in most cases can be the use of really strong colors that are harsh and sharp on eye. The first impression on internet is often the last impression so visitor can easily switch off even after visiting the page so all the hard work done by the SEO can go down easily by this.

For more information on Calgary SEO and Web Design visit my website.

Author: Chris J Anderson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Digital economy, mobile technology

Parents can experience a lack of confidence when dealing with their children’s school and its teachers. They may think their opinion won’t be taken into consideration and that they’ll be ignored, but given the opportunity to contact someone via the internet, instead of having to confront them face-to-face, parents can feel more confident about their opinion and can bring issues to the attention of the school. When a parent and a teacher need to meet in person it can be difficult to arrange a time and place for them to do so, especially if the only contact they have is through their child/pupil. By allowing them to communicate using your school website, you can cut down the time and confusion involved in arranging a meeting between parent and teacher. With the proper school website design you can use your website as a method of giving updates on school events and excursions to parents, instead of using the unreliable method of giving students letters. This helps to keep parents informed and in the know, and helps to create a community based around your school, and this community can help stay in touch with one another through dedicated internet forums hosted on your website.

A properly designed school website can be a boon to students and teachers too. Teachers can place various educational material on the website, allowing children to refer to the material when doing their homework and aiding them with any home study. Lesson plans can also be added to the website, so students know what they will be learning and students who are off ill will know what they have missed. The teaching staff and the school will also benefit from parents being able to easily contact them through a dedicated forum, the school’s phone number or an e-mail enquiry box on the website.

Websites are a fantastic and efficient way of communicating, and school web design is not as expensive as it once was, making getting a school website the perfect choice for any enterprising school. By connecting parents, students and teachers your school can get itself a good reputation, and become the centre of a great community.

For more information please visit School Web Design

Author: Pippa Young
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
US State tax list

You cannot send a simple email that just has text. In addition, you don’t want the mail to have a design which is not consistent with the website that it will send the visitor to. This does not give the customer a sense of comfort and consistency; which is essential to good business marketing. You want to make sure that the customer feels comfortable and at ease when both reading your email and once they reach your website.

Having a proper design will ensure that your customers not only reads and reviews your email but eventually clicks onto a link which leads them to a like designed website. As mentioned above consistency is essential as people naturally prefer consistency. Put yourself in your clients shoes, imagine them sitting in their living room or in their office, browsing or looking through their email. They are sitting back, relaxed, maybe listening to music, or watching TV, you don’t want to bring anything to their screen which will disturb the smooth rhythm of their browsing. They should not even realize that they were brought to an external website, and actually browsing it. It’s a way of bringing them into your world before they have a chance to fight back. This may sound a bit harsh, but many people put things aside, even if they like them, and then forget to look through them. You want to pull them in the moment they open the email.

This may all seem a little over the top, however, consider this: spending hours working on the perfect mailer for your email marketing campaign or possibly spending money on it, then paying for a mailing list, and no returns. You don’t want to waste your time, you want to make sure that you are getting the best possible results for every second you spent working on it. It’s important to review everything and put yourself in the customer’s shoes to see if you would be pulled in to click on the link leading to your website.

A great and inexpensive form of advertisement is the email marketing. Many turn to email marketing as an alternative or additional advertisement, but don’t realize that it’s important that the mailer as well as the website have an attractive and interesting web design in order to bring in visitors.

Sue Mitchell is a Editorial Manager of Aclickahead Writers, having a large number of articles published on various well reputed internet sites. Check out the latest trends in Branding, email marketing and Corporate Gifts

Author: Sue Mitchell
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Healing food: natural way to cure cancer

How does the color combination change the mood of the visitor?

Looking at something sharp is always unbearable because it causes discomfort to the eye. You would always put your hand in front of your eye or look elsewhere. During web browsing, the eye does not remain in one position. In other words, your visionary point changes as you browse from the top of the page to the bottom. When sharp shades like deep red, lemon or green are used for the background, it is impossible to view the page for more than a few seconds. At times, eye burns are caused. It is obvious that this prevents visitors from browsing the website frequently.

What is the ideal color strategy?

An expert company making a website would always concentrate on the following points while he is selecting the color combination.

• The background and the text should have opposite shades. For instance, if you are using as dark color like black for the background, use a light shade like white or ash gray for the text. Remember that none of the visitor would invest extra efforts to read your text.
• Even if the customer chooses an uncommon color combination, the company constructing the website would recommend better options. In addition to that, they would make a dummy page using the same colors before using them for the actual website. In this way, the customer would have an idea of how the web page would look.

The success of a website is heavily dependent on the color combination used. Sharp colors spoil the overall impression of the website which is hard to improve.

For more information on Web Design Las-Vegas Visit lasvegaswebdesign.com

Author: Owais Siddiqui
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Prof. Servan-Schreiber’s Moving Story on Fighting Cancer

Even if a freelance designer is reliable and trustworthy, you can face certain complications. For instance, if your website needs to be updated regularly and the freelancer is unable to work on a particular day due to any reason, your website would not be updated and you would face a lot of problems. On the other hand, a website design company would have a team of regular employees working on your project. Thus, you don’t have to worry about any kind delays in updating or immediate changes required.

If you are hiring freelancers for web designing purposes, the standard of work may vary. For example, if one freelancer has been hired to design the website and he is unable to complete the work, you would have to look for another person. He would work in a different manner and the same standard would not be maintained. On the other hand, if you hire a website design company, a proper team would be working on your website. Thus, your project would be completed in a shorter time period and it would not be dependent on a particular person.

Getting a website designed by a proper firm has another advantage as well. The working procedures of designing professionals are monitored and the design company ensures that all the client requirements are fulfilled. On the other hand, a freelancer is not answerable to anyone. He may not follow the required time frame and cause a delay in delivering the work. This may cause a problem for you. Buying services from a website design company is a better option than getting work done by freelancers. This is more reliable and performance oriented way to get a website designed. Designing firms are not dependent on a particular person. In case of freelancers, you have to search a lot for the right person and this consumes a lot of time. On the other hand, you only have to place the requirements in case of a designing company and the tasks are completed properly.

For more information on Houston website-Design Company Visit webdesignhouston.com.

Author: Owais Siddiqui
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
White Coat Hypertension

In current times, it is not enough to merely have a website designed and hosted on the Internet. Your company website needs to perform well and generate revenue by converting your website visitors into purchasers of your goods and services.

Acquiring a website requires an investment. From the viewpoint of professional business people, this will mean that such an investment provides returns. If you have a website that does not generate business, it is merely a financial loss to your company. In the circumstances, companies need to hire the services of a professional website designer to achieve the best results.

Prior to making a decision on which web design agency to hire, various key issues need to be examined.

Fast loading websites are a must. When your site visitors click on your URL, your website should be downloaded quickly. The speed at which it downloads will be dependent upon the coding used to construct the site. It also depends on the technology that is used within the pages of the site. If there is a delay, this could well result in a heavy loss for your business because site visitors will not want to wait. We all lead busy lives. They will simply move on to another site that appears on their screen fast.

The initial impression a website makes to those clicking onto a particular URL may be the last impression that person has of your business, so it needs to be good! Site visitors should be made to feel that a website has been designed particularly to meet his or her needs, not to merely push products or services into the wider arena.

The navigation of the site needs to be as simple as possible, whilst at the same time being attractive and easy to use. When people look at your site, they need to be able to find the pages that contain the information they require with the least number of clicks.

The pages should be unique in order to be effective. If they have been copied from another site, at some point people looking at your pages will know and this will reflect badly on the business, not only with those who see the pages, but also with search engines.

The colour combinations that are used should be pleasing and relaxing to the eye to make visitors feel welcome. It is often preferable to use a light coloured background so that the text is easily seen.

Search engine optimisation of the pages is also vital, both in terms of on page optimisation and off page optimisation. The revenue that will be generated from the site will only be maximised if traffic is also maximised. This is only possible when the correct techniques are applied to make the site search engine friendly. This can be achieved by the inclusion of the right keyword phrases, as well as in coming and out going links for the site.

If you have a site whereby people pay online, then it is imperative that the payment pages work properly in a secure environment.

Carol Forrest is the Managing Director of Webs Galore Limited which is a professional website design agency specialising in the creation of cheap and affordable website design for small and medium sized companies. Website: http://www.websgalore.co.uk

Author: Carol Forrest
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
How to choose a blood pressure monitor

Be on the same team

I think it is really important to think of yourself as a part of the client’s team. This is a very different mindset than the mindset that you are simply designing a site for them in order to get paid. Making your clients feel as though you are on their side (which you should be, since the success of your business in some ways hinges on designing successful websites) will make for happy clients. So, whether you are the client’s entire team or just one essential part of it, it is very important to have the mindset that you are on the same team as the client. A client will be more comfortable working with you if they can tell that you are as vested in the success of their site as they are and that you are not only out for yourself.

Listen to your clients

Sometimes, I think it is hard not to get stuck in the mindset that you are the “expert” when it comes to designing the client’s website. And you are – you are definitely the one with the technical and design knowledge of how to make a successful website. At the same time though, I believe you really need to listen to what your client is saying – listen to their goals for the site, their goals for their business or organization, their ideas on how they want the site to look and function, and (one of the most important ones that I have learned), listen to what they know about their audience. I have found that many times the client knows more about their customers and their audience than I do, and it is worth listening to what the client can tell you about them.

Communicate with your clients

I think you should not leave your clients in the dark about what is going on with their website. Of course, you don’t need to bore them with technical jargon and things they don’t understand and don’t care to know about, but – they are the ones who put down their hard-earned money to have a website designed and it’s understandable that they have a vested interest in how the work is progressing. Granted, some clients actually don’t care to know what’s happening, but I believe it is still wise to communicate with them and give them status updates. Even if it is just a short e-mail every few days or every few weeks, whatever is appropriate, communication with your client along the way helps to ensure that you are both on the same page as far as the project is concerned.

Be honest about what you can and cannot do

If there is something that your client wants or needs you to do that it is out of your skill range, price range, or time frame, you should always be honest with them about it. Even if you can’t do it but are going to outsource the work and ensure that it gets done, I think the client should know what is going on and who is handling the work. It is never worth taking on a task or project that you know you probably can’t handle and then disappointing or angering your client when they realize that you agreed to do something that you had no way of actually doing. It is always better for both the client and for your business and reputation to be upfront about which things you can and can’t take on. Even if it means possibly having to say no to a project or a client that you would love to take on but you simply can’t because you are not the best person for the job, it is better to just be honest about it right away than to risk getting a bad reputation for not doing what you said you would do.

TheLibzter.com

Author: Libby Fisher
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Canadian crossborder shopping

Non-SEO-Friendly Site Structure:
The main point of creating a website is to create contact with your target audience. The surest way to convert a visiting client into a paying one is to reach them when they are in need of what you are offering. Today, many people are using the search engines to locate and purchase products. Thus, if your website features on the top SE results, your website will without a doubt be accessible and will become famous. Thus, to ensure you get high rankings in the search engine results, you should make your website search engine friendly. If you avoid both on-page and off-page optimization, rest assured your rankings will be affected negatively.

Inappropriate graphics and images
Say for example you are searching for a nursing degree course online, you search on your favorite search engine and then open several websites to see what is on offer. On one website, you come across information about LED lights, or you bump into toys and clown images everywhere on the website. Naturally, you will pause for a moment and think of where you have come from. Well, this pause isn’t good for your potential clients. Never give them an opportunity to think of where they have come from as they are highly likely to go to your competitors. Rather, upon visiting your website, they ought to get ready information about the website. Having irrelevant graphics and images significantly obliterates your credibility.

Complex design and navigation
Say for example you visit a website and upon loading, you start to wonder where to start from. There are very many websites out there that don’t pay close attention to ‘user experience’, indeed a grave mistake that you shouldn’t ever make. Needless to mention, if you don’t pay attention to the experience that users will have on your website, rest assured that they will care less about your products and services. the biggest disaster you could ever make is to create a non-user friendly website. With a difficult-to browse website, you will be communicating to your website visitors that they should simply log off and go to another website (read your competitor’s website).

If you are looking for the best Canberra web designer, check today the team behind http://www.rhinoweb.com.au

Author: Steven Andrews
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Low-volume PCB maker

First, let’s address what the overall point of this meeting is. Yes, a few of the obvious answers to that question might be: to discuss the project at hand, to get to know your potential client, etc. – but I think that the most important goal of this first meeting is to determine whether you and the potential client and project will be a good fit or not. There are always going to be certain people that you do not work well with for whatever reason, and certain projects that would be better handled by another designer, for whatever reason. Knowing this, one of your goals when you first sit down with a client is to try to determine to the best of your ability whether you and they will be able to work together successfully and whether their project is one that you will be able to handle successfully. It is in both your best interest and your client’s best interest to turn down the project if you can tell from the first meeting that you are either not qualified, not interested, or not willing to take on their project and handle it successfully.

OK, so let’s outline a few of the big questions that need to be talked about to determine what the client is looking for and whether that is something you will be able to provide for them.

Ask what the client’s goals for the website are

The first thing you need to know is what the client is hoping or planning to accomplish with their new website. Is their goal to increase sales online? If so, then you need to assess whether that is something you will be able to help them accomplish. Is their goal to increase web traffic? Then you need to determine whether your SEO skills are up to that task. Is their goal to make an existing site more visually appealing? Then you need to make sure that your graphic design skills are going to be able to accomplish this. I think you can see the pattern here – one of the biggest things that you need to be paying attention to is whether or not you are the right man (or in my case, woman) for this job. If you aren’t, then the best thing for both you and for the client is to help them find another designer who is better suited to the project.

Who is the target audience?

This is another important question. The biggest reason to know the answer to this question is because you will need to have at least some understanding of the target audience to know if and how you are going to be able to design a site that appeals to them. If the site is geared towards a group that you know nothing about, then you will probably have to do a lot of research as you go along. I’ve done this before – taking on a project that is aimed towards a very targeted group of people, one that I know nothing about, and trying to design a site that they will appreciate and use. It can most certainly be done, but it’s tough! So, if by talking with the client about this project, you already feel in over your head and overwhelmed by the prospect of creating a website for a very specific audience, it is probably safest to not take it on. Again – it is better for you and the client if they can find a designer more familiar with their type of project.

What is the client’s desired time frame for completion of the website?

This is a big one too – because if you are already fairly heavily booked and don’t have the time to get the project done within the time frame that the client needs, then you should obviously not agree to take it on! It’s not worth the lack of sleep and the stress to try and get more projects done than you have time for.

What is the client’s budget for this project?

This can be a tough thing to bring up, but it’s necessary. You need to know whether the client is going to be able to and be willing to afford you. If the client’s budget will not cover the cost of you doing the project for them, then you can either 1) adjust your price (NOT recommended!), 2) try to convince the client that it is worth paying more than they planned to have YOU do the project (probably not a good idea, but maybe worth a shot if you really believe you are the best person for the job), or 3) refer the client to someone who can take on the project at a price closer to what they have in mind if possible. Unless you are certain that both you and the client will be happy with the amount of work done for the amount of money available, it is best to not take on the project.

OK, now we got some of the big questions out of the way. If this client and this project still seem like a good fit for you as a designer, it is time to ask some more specific questions.

TheLibzter.com

Author: Libby Fisher
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Anti-angiogenic Food

What is a time frame and why do you need one? Every time you start a new project, it is best for both you and for the client to specify and agree on a time frame. This gives the client a good idea of when they can expect to see the completed project, and it gives you a good idea of how much work you will most likely put into the project each day or each week. It allows you to decide whether you will need to devote all of your working hours to this one project in order to get it done on time, or if you will have enough time to take on another project or two and still have them all completed within their individual time frames.

How do you decide on the timeframe? Before you ever start writing the contract, I would make sure that you talk to the client and find out as much as you can about their project. Make sure that the time frame is discussed – when does the client want the project completed? When does the client absolutely have to have the project completed? After discussing the project with the client, I sit down and look over the notes that I took while we were talking. I write out every step of the project that will need to be done, and then I write down how much time I think it will take me to do each one. I always make sure to overestimate a little bit to give myself some leeway in case things don’t go as planned. I write out the time I am allotting for each step in hours, and then I add up the total hours I think the project will take. Then I take the total time that I think the project will take and compare it to the time frame that the client would like to see or expects to see. This helps me to know how many hours a day I will have to put in for the project – for instance, if I think the project is going to take 100 hours, and the client needs the project finished in three weeks (21 days), then I know that I must put in at least 6 hours a day on this one project to finish it within 17 or 18 days, which gives me 3-4 days of extra time in case I need it. So, as you can see, estimating the time frame for a project is as much for you, the designer, as it is for the client. If the client needed the project completed in two weeks, you could either tell them that that is not possible and you will need another week, or you could put in 7-8 hours a day to have the project completed on time. Knowing how many hours you will be devoting to each project per day is very useful so you can decide how many projects you will be able to work on at once. If you are taking on a project that is only going to require 2-3 hours a day to have it done in time, you could consider taking on another project or two.

How do you write the time frame into your contract? How you include the time frame into your contract is up to you and may depend on the project at hand – you could set a particular day for the deadline, or you could specify the number of weeks you think it will take, or the number of months, etc. You can be as vague or as particular as you want, but I would recommend that you include at least these three things:

• the estimated time frame that you think you will have the project completed in
• the parameters of the time frame (i.e. is the client responsible for sending you the images you need for the site by a certain week in order to have it done in time?)
• the consequences for going over the time frame (i.e. if the client does not provide the content you need in time to finish the project on time, then you are not required to have the project completed by the stated date)

What if you can’t meet the time frame?

Let’s say you agreed to have the project finished and turned over to the client by a certain day. If you are a week or two out and you can already tell that there is no way you will have it done in time, make sure that you inform the client as soon as you realize this rather than still trying to get it done and having to tell them on the day before it is due that it is going to take you another week to finish. It is a good idea to outline in your contract what happens if you are unable to have project completed on time. You also need to make sure that you specify in the contract how many changes to the site you will make at the client’s request and how that is going to affect the deadline. For instance, you could add in your contract that the client is allowed to request up to two major changes after they have approved the initial mock up of the site but that the deadline for completion of the project may have to be re-estimated.

How to budget around time frames? This is where knowing how many hours (approximately) that you will be putting into each project comes in handy. When I estimate the cost of a project, I keep in mind the number of hours I expect to put in and use that as a starting guideline for the price of the project. However, you also must decide on what it will cost you and/or the client if the project goes beyond the estimated time frame. If the project runs late because the client hasn’t sent you all of the material you needed to get it done, will you charge the client extra? How much? Will you set a secondary deadline that the client MUST have the materials to you by or else the project is handed over as is? What if the project runs late because you underestimated how much time each step would take? Will you refund the client for part of the cost of the project? These are all things that you must be prepared to have an answer and a solution for should the situation arise, and you should most likely include all of this in your contracts.

Ok, so we have covered quite a few questions and issues here. There is no one answer to any of the questions we mentioned, so I am hoping that this article simply helps you to keep in mind some of the things that you should be prepared for when taking on freelance projects.

TheLibzter.com

Author: Libby Fisher
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Pressure cooker

It is important that the design of your website focuses on getting your core message across to the audience. So if you are a business you need to get across what you can do for your customers or any offers you may have. Most internet users visit a website only briefly if they do not immediately see what they want so it is very important to get to the point. Think about what the first thing visitors see when they visit your site.

A WEBSITE IS AN ADVERT

Remember that a website is essentially an advert. You need to give a positive impression to your visitors so they want to use your services or find out more. Focus on what you want to achieve from your website, whether it is selling your services, selling your products or offering information. Then design your site with this in mind.

BALANCE BETWEEN THE BASICS AND MAKING AN IMPRESSION

It is important to get the right balance between getting the basics right while still making an impression. You don’t want to over complicate things and make it difficult for visitors so a simple and concise design is something you should aim for. Web designers often make the mistake of trying to impress too much. You also need to make an impression though. If you don’t catch visitors’ attention in a few seconds they will look elsewhere. You need to give your target audience something to stay for, so it is a difficult balance.

LAYOUT & CONTRAST

It is usually best to choose a simply layout. This is what the majority of visitors want as more complex layouts can be confusing. The website needs to be easy to read. For the same reasons the colours of the background and the overlaying text need to contrast one another.

PAGES

Depending on the content of your site, you should have a number of pages with each of them focussing on something different. This simplifies the whole site and it gives it a flowing structure. It is important to think about what each page is going to say. You should plan the structure of the pages before you design the site. The homepage needs to get the overall message across. It should summarise what you and your website is about and point visitors to the relevant pages for more information.

GRAPHICS

Graphics can be very effective tools if used well, but can also be a distraction. Make sure you don’t overuse them. Most people use the internet looking for information so make sure this isn’t lost by overusing graphics. Make sure pictures reflect the theme of the text around them. Graphics should complement the rest of the site and not distract from it.

Andrew Marshall (c)

Moore Wilson are a Web Design Agency in London.

Author: Andrew Marshall
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Canadian-US cross border flight

And there is also a local fancy dress shop who’s website you must look at in Internet Explorer, because the images of the costumes do not show in Firefox. Seriously, and these examples are genuine, this is a major problem as many customers will just see the problems, fail to navigate the website and move on.

What do we need to do?

So what do you need to do? Well the answer is very simple. Install the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome onto your computer and check that the website works in all of them and make the necessary changes to get them displaying correctly.

But, this is not enough. My own website statistics that I have accumulated from the visitors to several websites last month show that although these three browsers will only cover about 72% of visitors. You need to be also testing in older versions of browsers, especially Internet Explorer. If you can also test your website on the 2 previous versions of Internet Explorer then you are covering over 90% of website visitors. But for this, you need old versions of the browsers installed on other machines. Not always that easy, but with 20% of visitors using the 2 old versions of Internet Explorer, a necessary task.

Is this enough? There was one last well represented browser in my statistics and that was Safari, for the Mac. Thankfully there is a PC version of this as well that seems to perform the same on both the PC and the Apple Mac.

How do we do this?

Now I am not saying that this is easy, but to get the best from your website you probably need at least three PCs – with current, previous and older versions of the browsers installed on each. For more extensive testing, each should also have a different screen size, from 1024 pixels wide right up to 1600 pixels wide.

Are your visitors the same?

How would you know for yourself whether these figures are accurate for you? Well, I would doubt that another website would exactly match my experiences. More technically targeted websites probably get more technical people, who are more likely to use Firefox and up to date browsers. On the other hand, certain niches of websites are more likely to attract people on older browsers who are not maintaining the security through updates.

There is a simple answer and this also shows you if you need to test on other browser than those listed above. You install a tracking system such as Google Analytics and every quarter or 6 months, review the browsers that your visitors have been using and check that you are testing the experience on the popular browsers. Also look at your bounce rates by browsers and if any are particularly high, that could indicate that there is a problem with that browser.

Moving forward

The big problem we have is that there are new versions of browsers being issued all of the time and we just cannot keep up to date with every change. Instead, we should cover the vast majority of users and watch for trends developing in our traffic.

Keith Lunt owns Janric Website Design. If you want to know more about internet marketing, call across to the internet marketing blog and pick up a copy of our free internet marketing ebook!

Author: Keith Lunt
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
How Electric Pressure Cookers Work

Ever since the growth of freelance websites such as elance, several professionals all over the world started considering freelancing as an efficient means of earning additional money by offering their services to customers. While some pursue it in their free time, others made it a full time proposition.

A tremendous growth in the freelancing industry, especially in web has resulted in competition beyond one’s comfort level. It’s therefore important to understand how one can be an efficient and successful freelancer:

• Create a basic website with impressive portfolio if you wish to be short-listed by the customer

• To create your website, use open source platforms such as Wordpress, Joomla because they are inexpensive and easy to customize

• Sign up on several top freelancing sites such as elance, freelancer, guru, odesk, rentacoder to make an initial break through

• Apply for projects that match your skill set and expertise. Customers inquire in length prior to selecting the right service provider

• Your quotation has to be accurate, reasonable and affordable for the customer to take a decision in your favour, more so when you are a new service provider without any ratings or customer testimonials

• A lot of new providers place the bid and assume they will be selected based on the quote, but that isn’t the scenario. Don’t just bid for the project, but also use the private message board to write your proposal so customer knows about your bid.

• Have patience. With ever growing competition and presence of the top and proven service providers, you need to plug it out and win your 1st project in order to make a beginning. For some, it may take a day or 2, while for others it can take longer than expected

• After winning your 1st project, the challenge of making your customer happy begins. Communication, regular work updates, acting quick upon the feedback provided by customer, completing the project within the stipulated time frame are some of the important factors that determine your success.

• Upon completing your 1st project, politely request your customer to provide a rating and testimonial for your efforts. This will open the gate of opportunities for you to acquire more projects.

• Never forget your 1st customer. Thank him for giving the opportunity and save his contact information.

• Show the project you completed along with the rating and testimony left by your 1st customer to other prospective customers. This will certainly improve your chances of penetrating into the market and beating your competition.

• Be realistic, honest and upfront about the project you apply. Outline what you can do, what you cannot and explain valid reasons. Consider asking questions about the project as interaction always helps the customer to know that you read the project description and took time to ask questions.

• Don’t rush in wanting to win the project. Wait for a reply after you post your 1st message and let the customer revert back at his/her convenience. If the customer doesn’t respond for a prolonged time, send a polite reminder requesting him to check your message and reply

While there are several other factors that influence your freelancing career, following these above mentioned tips will definitely give a boost for your quest in the world of freelancing

Author: Vamsi Krishna
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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