Small Business Web Design

May 31, 2008 at 1:02 am · Filed under Web_Design

Everything is subjected to first impressions. Why else do you think such things, as advertising, branding, and packaging are so important? Why do you think they exist in the fist place? Let’s face it. It is only with appropriate selling and marketing strategies are consumers driven to choose one product over another.

In the vast world of the Internet where literally millions of Web sites compete for attention, the same principle runs the show. It is also a world where anybody can play the numbers game. All that is needed is an exciting web design powered by a reliable hosting system. Important factors such as creativity and accessibility can empower even a small business startup.

Nowadays, a company need not be an international player to have its own Web site. Businesses of all kinds and sizes are finding the importance of being accessible online. It helps that programmers and designers are learning to customize their services and products to suit small business needs.

A small business Web presence may not require the same complex design of an expensive Web site for a bigger business. But it does not have to look like an amateur was hired to do it. With just a little more investment, small businesses can get the professional treatment they deserve.

With talented Web designers and developers a call or click away, less expensive business Web designs that offer exciting solutions and features are available for more people. Small businesses can now avail of sophisticated-looking Web sites that used to be affordable only to large corporations with big budgets for marketing and public relations. The key is to choose the right service provider or web design agency to handle the project.

When choosing a Web designer, small businesses must also look beyond the cost. They must also consider the kind of design they are purchasing. It is important that the Web design is flexible enough to accommodate adjustments and updates without major reprogramming. This is an important requirement that small businesses should insist on. This is the only way the small business can have less reliance on the Web developer for the Web site maintenance. The key is being self-reliant in the long run. This will translate to less cash spent on professional fees.

Business Web Design provides detailed information on Small Business Web Design, Business Web Designs, Inexpensive Small Business Web Design, Small Business Web Design And Development and more. Business Web Design is affiliated with Affordable Custom Web Site Design.

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Web Design and the Organization

May 30, 2008 at 4:02 pm · Filed under Web_Design

As a site developer, I have experienced an odd phenomenon with some of the businesses I have worked with over the years. A website is something that should give a comprehensive overview of an organization, and should provide a detailed image of the company, as opposed to the caricature that is provided by other media. When small business owners sit down to discuss the structure of a site, and what will be included, they often realize the holes in their own business model.

In particular, family-owned businesses that have been successful for years sometimes never slow down enough to really chart out specific policies. It had always been enough for the owner to make a call on the fly when it came to return policies, or bulk pricing, or other grey areas. When they sit down to create the content of their websites, they are faced with the fact that whatever they publish to the internet will be taken as across-the-board policy, and they, in a sense, must give up that freedom to make decisions based on a gut feeling. This may be disheartening for some, but I believe it is a very positive thing for most businesses.

I usually describe the pre-internet state of these companies as having a ’subjective business model’. The turn toward a transparent, totally objective way to conduct business may be a bit painful to some, but in the end it will give customers a much stronger sense of trust and confidence in your business. Where I live, on the coast of Maine, there is a very strong sense that a personal touch is needed when conducting business. I agree with this completely, but I don’t agree that ‘personal touch’ has to mean ’subjective business model’. The owner of a company that makes contact in a personal way with his customers, yet is so organized that there is regularity and equanimity in his company’s policies, has a huge advantage over not only less developed local businesses, but also against the less personal corporate giants. The fact is, large corporations got to be large corporations because people bought what they sold. What they sold was an advancement in their product, and also the ability to operate efficiently through a sound, well-organized business model. I know plenty of high-quality product producers whose only barrier to immense success is the complete disorganization of their company structure. The country is littered with fine products that fail because they are brought to market incorrectly.

So back to web design-

When the process begins, I have always tried to take a slow tour through a client’s business, to get a feel for what the owner is doing, and particularly, what aspects of the operation bring the strongest feeling of pride to the owner. This has to be the core of the marketing piece. Through this process, I also can generally get the idea of what the challenges to the company are, and how those challenges may translate into bumps in the road on the way to getting a solid internet presence to happen.

When we sit down to talk structure, what must be included, how certain aspects of the business are to be portrayed, I see this look in the business owner’s eyes that says - ‘ Oh crap, I never thought of that’, or, ‘Hmmm, what IS our policy on that?’. What follows is a trial-and-error process of defining every aspect of the organization in painful but consistent detail, full of re-writes and tweaks and crumpled papers. But once we trudge through the anatomy of their business, I feel strongly that the company is better off than before the process started.

This is yet another unplanned benefit to bringing a business into the internet commerce world, and as time goes on, the state of the business world in general will be stronger and more effective because of it.

Lance Dutson is the owner of Maine Coast Design, a Maine web design firm and internet marketing company, specializing in search engine optimization and cutting-edge site design. Maine Coast Design- Maine web design and search engine optimization

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Web Design that is Screen Resolution Friendly

May 29, 2008 at 10:10 am · Filed under Web_Design

Surfing the web always brings up a swath of different problems all based on the different settings implemented by the web designers in their signature web designs. Among these problems is a major one that has to do with the screen resolution settings of all the different visitors who may visit any given web design. When it comes to screen resolution, it doesn’t matter how perfect and beautiful the web design may be, it is very frustrating when a viewer either cannot see the images or text properly, or the viewers have to scroll to the side to see the rest of what the site has to offer. It is truly annoying when the width of the site doesn’t fit within the width of a visitor’s monitor’s screen size.

The reason for this is that many older monitors - frequently VGA monitors - have a maximum of 640×480 pixels that they will support. There area also many visitors to your website who have older video cards. This means that no matter how good their monitor and your website, they simply will not be able to handle higher resolutions. You will need to keep this in mind when you are creating a web design for a large target audience. After all, you will want the maximum number of people possible to be able to easily and clearly read and view your website.

So why is it that web designers continue to write for such large screen resolutions - such as 800×600 and 1024×768 when it means that they’ll be sending so many people away from their sites due to the inability to read them or being frustrated from having to scroll sideways all the time? Actually, there are quite a few reasons to explain this web design pattern. For one, there are likely quite a number of web designers who don’t even realize the issue that they are creating. Similarly, there are those web designers who don’t care that some people will not be able to enjoy their websites. Also, we must consider that some web masters have recognized that their target audience are typically equipped with high screen resolution capabilities, and therefore are simply catering to their desired market.

It is indeed hard to believe that there are some web designers out there who can call themselves professionals and not understand the way that the different technologies used by their viewers will be impacted by the web designs that they create. It is hard to believe that a supposed “expert” may not recognize that their web designs won’t look the same on every computer. Of course, web designers can’t always be blamed, since they often have the latest technologies to make their work more pleasant and professional. However, it is up to them to understand that the majority of the internet using world is not using state-of-the-art technologies. These web designers are only trying to put out the most impressive looking visuals for a website.

When it comes to those web designers who know that not everyone will be able to see their website properly, but they just don’t care are the most likely to lose the highest number of visitors. Any graphic larger than 600 by 620 pixels will definitely create a horizontal scroll bar for several website visitors. This is frustrating to visitors who have to scroll in order to read each line of text. Navigation also becomes a struggle because menus may become partially or entirely hidden as the rest of the content is viewed. Furthermore, if the viewer doesn’t realize that the horizontal scrollbar has appeared, they may simply assume that the site is not finished, that it has errors, or that there is nothing additional to see. If the webmaster simply doesn’t care, they’re turning away an awfully large number of people who could be potential clients, part of a potential network, or even contributors.

When the webmaster has recognized that the primary audience of the site has higher screen resolutions, it is quite natural to create a website design that caters to that resolution. While they will usually meet the standard, making certain that a viewer of 640×480 can still see the vital information on the site, the entire itself will have been optimized for their main target audience. This is an extremely professional way to function because it avoids creating problems of viewing the site no matter what the client, and it still gives the most accurate settings for the equipment used by the main visitors.

Copyright 2006 Mark Nenadic

Mark Nenadic
Mark is the director and face behind FifteenDegrees-North http://www.15dn.com, where you will find articles and resources to help with SEO, marketing and Web design.

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