Steps To Planning Your First Website

While organisations progress further using the newest web technologies and dynamic content, many people remain in the dark about how best to plan their very first website. To take an HTML course as the first step would be a mistake. The best way to plan a website is using a paper and pen, somewhere nice like the beach or in a hammock. This article is designed to step you through the planning phase and introduce you to the additional steps leading up to publishing your website. You will need paper, pen, some creativity, and a common sense approach to what you are trying to accomplish by having a website.

NOTE: If your website is to be used for a business purpose, we must assume that you have done your research and competitively positioned yourself within a specific marketplace. A quick search on the internet will reveal many articles which discuss this in greater depth. Also, if your computer area is treated by Orlando Pest Control you do not have to worry about bugs destroying your computers and equipment. They are the best Orlando Pest Control you can get, so hire them to protect your equipment.

Step 1: Purpose There is nothing more important than understanding the purpose of your website. Without purpose, you will struggle in the following steps, and the final outcome will be less than satisfactory to be competitive online. Take some time to consider the following questions, documenting your responses so that you may refine these later.

In ten words or less, what is your sole purpose for publishing a website?

List the key products or services that your website going to provide.

Who is your audience? Who do you hope will visit your website?

Step 2: Navigation This is another time when people jump into HTML and start coding. Don’t be unwise, there is more planning to do!

A website contains a number of web pages. Each web page has a purpose for existing. The most important web page is your home page, located at the site root where most people will enter.

On paper, document a list of high-level web pages that your site will contain (high-level pages are usually the ones that have links on the home page). Leave a couple of lines between each page title, and when you are happy with your list, revisit each item and describe its purpose in one or two sentences. Include your home page as the first item. Additional information about its role is included later in this article.

An example part-list is shown below, for a business which seeks to sell its products online (a site of this kind would contain dynamic content):

Home page.

Our Products. The key entry point for the full product catalogue, with product categories and individual product pages.

Shopping Cart. Allows a customer to review the items they have chosen, and make an online payment.

Using This Site. Tips and hints about how to use the site easily.

Contact Us. Simple, clear instructions for the customer to contact the business.

You are not restricted to one page for each item listed above. The “Our Products” item, for example, represents a group of pages which make up the product catalogue. Design your navigation so that a customer can get anywhere on your website in 3 clicks or less (a 2 click maximum would be even better).

Finally, ensure that a customer can navigate out of a section of your site easily. This may be achieved through a consistent navigation bar on the left or top of screen.

Step 3: Content Take a fresh sheet of paper for each page (or group of pages) that you have listed. Write the page title at the top of the page, and note its purpose (from Step 2) below the title. Begin to outline the content of the page in greater depth. For a page entitled “Using This Site”, you should document all the information you think the customer will need when viewing this page. Fill the sheet with notes and thoughts about each page – it will be a great reference for you when developing your website later. You can add more detail later, but the important thing is that you have considered the site structure at this lower level.

Step 4: Design In many ways, the design of your website is as important as the content, although it must not be given absolute priority. Review the purpose of your website. Will the design of your website reflect a focus on visual or informational/textual content? An artist’s website is likely to be more visual, whilst a library website will be designed around the information that it contains. If your website is designed to structure and present a lot of information, then your design will need to be information-oriented.

How to Create an “About Me” Page That Entices Your Visitors

When the internet became what is on of the best online markets of the world, many new shops and salesmen would bloom and little by little people would more and more buy useful (or most times useless) stuff online. It is certain that most of us have at least once bought something online. What is even more certain is that we all have given a second thought on whether we should buy something from a local shop and not buy it online.

Why Are People Afraid Of Buying Online ?

This reaction is actually very natural and resides in the fact that people are skeptical on actually trusting online identities. Picture yourself. Would you go give about giving your credit card number to a very new website that has just opened up, even if you really liked a certain product ? Not likely. Of course, it is very sensible that people are afraid of being tricked by the various online scammers and are really thinking before deciding on whether they have spotted a good buying spot or not.

How People’s Fear Of Buying Online Relates To Your About Page ?

You may have created a website in order to promote a product or service. Even if this is not the case, there is still something that you are selling on your visitor. That is, yourself. You may not have the straight urge to convince your reader to buy goods, but you still have the urge to convince them to read your material relate to you subconsciously.

When a newcomer arrives at your website and begins to read your posts, there are actually two possibilities. The most common one is that they just skim through your post, casually checking some other posts too and then leaving your website. That is really typical and happens often, but there is also a chance that they liked your content more than your casual visitor and are now checking your website a bit more thoroughly.

Even though nobody is really interested in the actual person beyond the text being read, everybody is interested in this person’s expertise. Moreover, and more importantly, a visitor actually sees the person behind the website as a new online “mentor” and possible friend. If you get people to accept you like you are one such person, you will really be getting more loyal readers.

When it comes to actually making the sale, a good online identity really matters. People do not buy from anonymoys persons. When you want to really entice them, you not only have to introduce to them but also be your real self.

5 Rules On How To Structure Your About Page

Your About page is the connection of yourself and your website’s content. Failure to do it correctly may result in people not feeling cozy with your writings and generally keeping a distance from you and your posts. There are 5 important rules on creating a nice about page that will help you better relate wto your visitors :

  1. Carefully Choose The “About ..” Title

By this, i mean the actual link to your about page. While a title like “about the author” is acceptable, a title like “about me” is not. The problem with the latter one is that it focuses on yourself. Remember, nobody is interested in you. They are interested in the author. Not the actual author, but the authoritative writings.

  1. Always Provide a Real Photograph of Yourself

This is probably the most important thing to do. In order to present yourself to others, an image of yourself is the best choice. Make sure that you do not use a fake one because this can really hit you back.

  1. Describe Why You Are Knowledgeable on The Topic

If people want to know why they should read on your what you have to say, give them a reason to. Explain why you are knowledgeable on the area. Do not boast about it. Just refer to your experience without other comments on your personal deeds.

  1. Provide Contact Information

It would be a nice idea to provide contact information to your visitors so that they can easily reach you. Tell them about your twitter or facebook account, maybe also create a contact form. Relate to your visitors in order to get their precious feedback.

  1. Provide Your Real Credentials

Do not pretend to be somebody else and do not give a fake identity because sooner or later people will understand and your status will be seriously hurt. In order to be online present, you really have to be you.

Upon doing these, i can really promise that you will get more people “buying” from you. Whether this is about buying products, service or your plain writings. Do not underestimate the power of socializing, because it is really what the online internet marketing is actually about.

Website Design – Typography Tips

What is typography? Typography is the technique and art of arranging the type or printed characters as a way to make the language visible. It’s a very significant part of website design. Many webmasters think content is king. That is true, but if that content is not presented in a visually appealing manner, it’s a waste of the reader’s time and the webmaster’s efforts. In other words, typography reels in the reader’s attention to the document in addition to the images if present.

Here are some tips on how to improve the typography of your webpage.

Serif or Sans-serif Fonts?

Semi-structural fine details at the ends of some of the strokes which make up letters and symbols are called serifs. Those without these fine details are termed sans serif (from the French word which means without). There are studies done on which of the two are better on a webpage and the results are helpful. Some studies suggest that for offline and on print, it’s better to use serif fonts because they are more readable. For online purposes like webpages, serifs are more difficult to decipher and some studies concluded that san-serifs are cleaner and clearer.

For me, I think san-serif fonts are convincingly better for webpages than serif fonts. Corollary to this are variable-width fonts. They produce the same effect. This is due to the fact that variable-width font letters are placed close to each other and therefore appear more cohesive. On the contrary, fixed-width fonts, in which the letters have fixed spaces in between, appear awkward and rigid.

Bold

Among the three style attributes, bold is the most important. It also stands out the most. The main purpose of a bold style attribute is to attract immediate attention to important and significant parts of a webpage. Secondarily, it can also be used to quickly scan the page and get a gist of the material on hand. In addition, location of information is made easier if one uses bold style attribute

Italics

The primary purpose of italics is to emphasize a particular word or phrase while the reader is reader the text. It’s not used to draw attention. Phrases that are commonly in italics are metaphors, similes, foreign languages, book titles and other phrases of different contexts.

Underline

In a decent webpage, we seldom see underlining. Its main function is also to show emphasis while reading like italics. Additionally, it’s also employed when citing sources in a page. On a side note, underlining is also utilized to show grammatical errors like in MS Word.

The take-home message here is that the use of the appropriate style attribute and font typeface (serif or sans-serif) is dependent on the primary purpose of the content of your webpage or site. Use them judiciously in conveying your message and your readers will stay and continue reading what you have to say. Just like Orlando Pest Control did. You can visit Orlando Pest Control here.

How To Pick A Website Designer

Choosing a web designer that you need to complete your website project can be a daunting task. Luckily, we can suggest some factors to consider when weighing your options and comparing designers. Before you go shopping for web designers, be sure to do your homework and know exactly what your end goal is. If you want to sell products online, your end goal should be to have a fully developed e-commerce website built, as well as the online marketing that follows. If your goal is to launch a website for your house painting business, then your goal should be to have a site built that drives new traffic and ups your chances of getting new customers. All in all, ask as many questions as you can before pulling the trigger and hiring the right business. You may want to consider someone who makes use of Orlando Pest Control.

Style

Style is definitely the most apparent difference between website designers. This is a great way to determine which styles that you prefer for your website. Make sure to give your web designer plenty of ideas when it comes to the style or looks you like. Jot down some of your favorite websites and why you like them. Be sure to include things like, menu and navigation, colors, pictures or slideshows, or anything else that a certain site has that you like.

Investment

Let’s face it. If you find the perfect web designer to design your next website, you love their style and they have all the right skills, you’re apt to go with them. But, with cost being a factor, if this same website designer charges twice as much as the competition, this may be a legitimate reason for you not to give your business to them. Remember that often times you can get the same quality and results from a smaller web design firm for a fraction of the cost of hiring a big firm. There is a reason the big dogs charge much more. They have overhead, a staff of designers to pay, and a commercial lot to keep lit. There may be no difference in your end result going from a big firm to freelance designer. Be sure to get 5-10 web design quotes to see the average rates people are paying for website development, and this will give you a great starting point.

Customer Service & Testimonials

Read reviews on web design businesses and look for any testimonials on their website. You can usually find these in the business’s web design portfolio as well as on websites like Yelp, Local Business Listings on Google, and other review pages. This is a great chance to read some feedback written by satisfied or unsatisfied clients and customers. Also, you may consider contacting some companies that the web designer worked with directly and see if you can get a reference over the phone. In the end, be picky and choose the company that will offer you the most value for your money, as well as shows you the highest regards when it comes to customer service.

Website Creation For Newbies

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Website creation is an all-encompassing term that includes many different aspects and considerations. If you’re a newbie in the world of online business and website creation, you may be confused about where you can get started. Take a look at these 5 quick tips to help you get off the ground with a running start so you can have the best possible success with your new website.

  1. Use a CMS – A CMS is a Content Management System, and it’s a tool that will handle many of the hard tasks of website creation for you. It allows you to forget about things such as programming and learning HTML and will enable you to create and design effective content. Many content management systems are available today, including popular blogging platforms such as WordPress and Blogger.
  2. Keep it Simple – Many newbies to the world of website creation assume that the more complex something is, the better it is. It must show how advanced and knowledgeable you are, right? Actually, in most cases, the opposite ends up happening. Newbies try to do too much and the website takes a serious turn for the worse and clearly appears amateurish. When in doubt, keep things simple.
  3. Be Yourself – Your website creation must reflect what your business is all about and who you are. Don’t try to be anything that you’re not because people will quickly spot the frauds out there. Stick to what you know best, and don’t try too hard to come off as an expert, or as a comedian, or a hip guy, unless your business specifically calls for it.
  4. Web 2.0 Promotion – The term web 2.0 basically refers to all of the ways in which the website has evolved towards being user-controlled and including user-generated content. Make it easy with your website creation for people to share your site on these networks and encourage that they do this. You can easily work in buttons and links so people can share or post specific things from your site to their favorite web 2.0 networks.
  5. Don’t Be Afraid of Change – All too often a newbie to website creation is afraid to make a change. However, not making a change when something is ineffective is a serious mistake. If something isn’t working for your site – a navigation system, a color scheme, a look, and the content – then change it as soon as you figure out something that will be better. Don’t delay because you don’t want to make a change.

These 5 quick tips for website creation will have any newbie off to a running start in no time. Be sure to remember them when it comes time to create or update your own website.

If you really want help in creating and developing your website, we have just completed a Free eBook that will show you the basics of website creation and online business development.

Tips to Make Your Website Appear More Professional

Use these tips to help make your website more professional which will lead to more success with online business development.

1) To make your website look more professional, you should opt to keep things as simple as possible in the beginning. You can work your way up to amazing visuals utilizing the latest, cutting-edge web technologies after you have a strong foundation to work from. To start off, you should stick with colors, fonts, and pictures that make your website as crisp, clean, and visually appealing as possible. When in doubt, do less rather than more, and before you make any permanent changes to your site always ask if you would like the way that change looks if you were shopping or browsing on another business’ website.

2) You can quickly add a professional tone to your website by making your contact information readily available on every page of your site. This makes people feel much more comfortable in the fact that this website is actually owned and operated by people, and there are people who are available to help them if I need them to. This is a very important aspect of converting prospects and making sales, so you don’t want to avoid this simple step.

3) Taking this even further, if you’re really focusing on an e-commerce website, you might want to sign up for a live webchat service. Using this kind of service, you can place an icon or picture on all of your pages that allows users to chat with you at any time to have their questions and concerns answered. This is a great way to provide a safety net for consumers who are confused and need more information about your product. Your website will also look much more professional as a result, as you clearly care about and invest in customer service and accessibility to your clients.

4) One final rule you should use to help make your website more professional is to always stop and ask yourself, what does this change do in terms of the way my website looks to other people? An idea you have might be funny or it might be creative or maybe it really appeals to your instincts, but what would customers think of it? If you ask yourself that question before every design decision is finalized you will help weed out some of the things that take away your professional image. Having a professional look and feel to your website is of the utmost importance for online business development, no matter what industry you may be in.

Finding the Best Website Builder for Beginners

Creating a website can be, in all honesty, as easy or as difficult as you want it to be. Many people make the decision to simply pay for someone to make their site for them, which is usually the easiest option of all, if not the least expensive. Others, usually of a more creative or involved nature – or those hoping to save some cash – will decide to use the best website builders to create their own website.

Using the right website builder can make or break a successful website. People care about both how a site looks and how it works. An amateur looking, hard to navigate website will have people laughing at your efforts and not taking its content seriously. In this same vein, a well-designed website will add credibility to your business or concern. People will be more likely to respect and use your site if you have a well-designed, professional looking web design in place.

Now, this leads us to try to find the best website builder that the average person can use. Many factors go into choosing this. You have to ask how easy it is used, how easy it is to learn and how capable it is in making an advanced website.

The first is one of the most well-known sites, Webs.com. This site, which used to be known as freewebs.com, has long been the choice for many beginners’ websites. A website made there can be completely free of charge but your options in terms of design and function will be a little restricted but for a basic, personal website it can be perfectly serviceable and it is possible to

purchase services that will expand on this and E-Commerce options are available if they become needed.

Another one of the best website builders, according to many reviews, is Square space. Squarespace has some great marketing that has made quite a splash it the web builder world. Many impressive sites have been created using this particular web builder and its features are quite impressive for building even an advanced website.

Many drag and drop functionalities are available that help make creation go quite smoothly. There are also lots of customizable templates designed by professionals that work very well indeed. The editor can be a bit overwhelming to someone who is not familiar with web design, even if you stay away from HTML code. Although the initial site is free, at some point you will have to upgrade to a paid service to keep your site going so you should keep that in mind.

Weebly is another well known, well established best website builder. Weebly is a good choice for people who are intimidated by the other, more complicated website builders. Weebly is designed with beginners or novices in mind when creating web content.

Unlike Squarespace, it is never necessary to upgrade to a paid service and there is no need to input credit card information to make an account. But if you are looking for a deep complex web builder, especially for e-commerce, Weebly is not likely the best choice. In addition, the templates are hit-and-miss. There are quite a few that are available for use, but at the same time they are not the most professional templates, some of them being a bit unsatisfactory for a professional website. But despite this, for a beginner, Weebly is probably the best website builder when it comes to approachable drag and drop functions.

When selecting the best website builder for you, make sure you are selective enough to pick out one that suits you and your business best. If you are an experienced web designer or have some design knowledge, you can easily make some fantastic sites with more advanced builders. Others may require more basic, simpler editors. Either way, make sure your concepts are all straightened out and that your ideas are drawn out before determining the best website builder.

Reasons To Avoid Low Budget Web Hosting

The question of low budget web hosting is not one dimensional. The question is not just whether low budget web hosting is good or not. Life is never that easy. You will find there are other dimensions to this question. The first question is your requirement. Yes, the requirement determines the type of web hosting you should go for. It is the requirement which would determine whether you should go for a high-cost web hosting or for low-cost web hosting. It is your requirement that will determine whether you should opt for a free web hosting service or a paid one. Thus, the first thing that you should do is to assess your own requirements.

Let us help you in this regard. Ask yourself, why you need a website. Why do you want to have a website of your own? If you are an amateur in the field of online interactions and are developing your website for the first time, there is every chance of you making decisions that won’t always be correct. If you are trying the waters, it would not be intelligent to go for a web hosting company that charges high costs. You are just testing waters, so there are many web hosting companies that would help you do it without charging you much and even for free. These low budget web hosting companies provide you almost all the necessary features that you may want to host your website. In this way, you won’t waste your money.

Contrary to that if you are planning to host your website which is very important to you or if you planning to host your website which is important to you for commercial purposes, you should always opt for reputed web hosting companies. It is true that you will be charged far more as compared to the low budget ones, but the services provided will compensate for the price charged. There are many problems with low budget web hosting companies. The first one is the lack of high quality service. You will find that the recurrent problem of downtime persists with most of these low budget web hosting companies. In addition to that you will find that these web hosting companies put much restrictions on your working.

You will get peanuts for bandwidth and disk space. And that means persons accessing your website will find it very difficult to visit your site and the ones who visit your site for the first time might not want come back again. And the problem of downtime means that you will surely lose revenues and it is not very good for the reputation of your site. So, that would hurt you in the long term. If you are operating an e-commerce site, you will find that having a low budget or free web hosting service is nothing less than sacrilege. Never opt for it. It does not put you in a good light. It shows you cannot afford to pay even for web hosting.

Believe me when it comes to quality and price, always go for quality. It will definitely be a lot cheaper in the long run!

Designing The Website Layout

A site layout needs to start the content with a clean header that states your companies name, logo, and purpose. Then the site has to perform the same tasks as a brick and mortar store:

  • Getting the attention of the visitor.
  • Keeping the attraction of the visitor.
  • Fix their attention on the information that can lead them to the desired result.
  • Move your customer to action.
  • The content layout of your site,
  • How your catalog, if you have one, is presented,
  • How your shopping cart, order processing and payment options are integrated ~
  • Are all basic to your content and site layout.

In addition, they can be complex when laying out the content for your site. But, they all relate to your site’s success.

The most important aspects of content and layout is to create a site that:

  • Conforms to your customer’s expectations~
  • Answers their questions~
  • Provides their wants and demands~

To accomplish this, you must know your customer. You need to be able to anticipate their wants, their questions and their needs.

You must be concerned both about the content of your site as well as the layout of the administrative details. How friendly and easy to use your site is will influence customer satisfaction and loyalty of your visitors.

Here are some points to consider in your layout:

The site must be easy to navigate. The buttons, if you have them, must be visible and easy to read. When your visitor first sees your site, they must understand immediately where they are and how to move around.
If you have different product lines, they must be categorized in the navigation buttons so the visitor can easily find the subject of their search.

Never frustrate your visitor with content that is not relevant to the site theme. Make your content educate your visitor. Keep the style short, clear, and focused. This will provide your visitor with the desired information and keep their attention.

Company logos, design layout and navigation buttons should be consistent in the layout on each page so the customer is comfortable in moving around your site. This will give the visitor the desire to return and use the site again.

There should be no elaborate graphics in your content. Everything should load quickly and be professionally presented. Ensure there are no spelling errors in your content.

Depending upon the number of items you are presenting, if you have a catalog in your layout, you may need a “search” feature in your content layout. A visitor who is leisurely perusing your site will not use it. However, a visitor who is focused on their search will almost always use it if it is visible when they first see your site. Customers of large sites are increasingly expecting it.