Tips and Tricks for Web Site Design
Archive for February, 2010
Why You Need a Website
Feb 22nd
According to the U.S. Census Bureau the estimated population in the United States for 2009 is 307,212,123. Out of these people, 227,719,000 are Internet users! That means 74.1% of the U.S. population uses the Internet! I would have to say that’s a pretty good reason to have a website for your business or organization!
Source:
www.internetworldstats.com
World wide there are 1.67 billion Internet users as of June, 2009. Most Internet users speak the English language as native or secondary language, according to www.wikipedia.com. Another good reason to have a website.
Here are some demographics of Internet users from www.pewinternet.org.
- 93% of age group 18-29 are online
- 81% of age group 31-49 are online
- 70% of age group 50-74 are online
- 38% of seniors 65+ are online
So as you can see the people are out there surfing the web; if you want them to know about your business or organization you need to have a website.
Contact Mike Marinaro today for a FREE Quote on affordable website design. 919.374.9209 mmarinaro@nc.rr.com.
www.webdesign4him.com.
Rather Do It Yourself?
Feb 11th
If you would rather build your own website I highly recommend GoDaddy. I have been using them for several years and have been very satisfied with their service.
Domain names are available starting at $7.49 a year and you can even get one for ONLY $1.99 with the purchase of webhosting.
Webhosting plans start at $4.99 a month. If you don’t have html skills, no worry, GoDaddy has several templates to select from that will let you create your own site with “Website Tonight”.
Of course, I would rather have you contact me to design your website for you but if you just must do it yourself, check out GoDaddy.
Mike Marinaro
919.374.9209
Before You Build Your Website
Feb 5th
You have realized that your business or organization needs a website…so where do you start?
The first thing you should do before you build a website is ask yourself these questions.
- What is the purpose of my website?
- Who is my target audience?
- What content should be on my website?
- What is my competition doing?
- Do I really have the time to do this myself or should I hire a professional website designer?
Purpose
Is your site going to be mostly informational or are you going to want to sell your products or services online?
Target Audience
Who do you want to attract to your website? Define your target audience and that will determine the design of your website.
Content
Once you have identified the purpose of your website and defined your target audience, then it will be much easier to figure out what content should be on your site.
Competition
Chances are you are not the only one doing whatever it is you’re doing, so take a look at the websites that relate to yours and see what they are doing. Make a list of the features you like and dislike about their sites and use that as a guide when designing your own.
Hire a Professional Website Designer
Having a professional website designer do the work for you is money well spent! Do you really have the time to devote to designing and maintaining a website? Wouldn’t it be better for you to concentrate on the day to day activities of running your business or organization?
Answer the above questions then do yourself a favor and hire a professional website designer to do the work for you. The answers to the above questions will help guide the designer as your website is developed.
For affordable website design contact Mike Marinaro.
919.374.9209
Website Design Basics
Feb 4th
If you are going to design your own website, here are some website design basics.
Graphics
Large images are the primary cause of slow pages. Use small graphics on your website and be sure that the pages load quickly. Try to keep your graphics under 20k. There is nothing more frustrating then waiting for a web page to load!
Blinking or flashing graphics can be very distracting and annoying. You want people to stay on your website and read the content, so don’t turn them off with annoying graphics!
Layout
Keep it simple and appealing to the eye. White space is important in website design just as it is in print media.
Short paragraphs are much easier to read then long ones, so try to keep your paragraphs short.
It’s a good idea to use bullet points to highlight your important text. It will flow much easier than a long string of text seperated by commas.
Fonts
There are thousands of fancy fonts available; however, just because you have a favorite fancy font that doesn’t mean that everybody else also has it. Some web browsers won’t be able to see those fancy fonts. The standard fonts for web design are:
- Times New Roman
- Arial
- Veranda
- Georgia
- Tahoma
Advertising
It’s okay to place ads on your website; however, be sure not to overdo it! Too many ads will drive visitors away. Keep your ads relevant to the content of your website; if your site is about web design then you shouldn’t be advertising women’s shoes!
More articles about basic web design coming soon. Your comments are always welcome.
