Tips and Tricks for Web Site Design
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.
Business Cards – A Must Have Tool
Jan 3rd
In this day of high-tech tools there is still one old fashioned method of advertising that remains a must have tool. You probably wouldn’t leave home without your cell phone…the same should be true of your business cards!
Every place you go you should leave a business card behind. Leave one on the table along with your tip at the restaurant, stick one on the bulletin board at the grocery store and other retailers. You never know when someone will pick it up that really needs your product or service!
Just think about all the new people you meet each week; it only takes a second to hand them one of your business cards. Usually when you meet someone new, one of the first questions asked is, “What kind of work do you do?” There’s your cue; hand them one of your cards and tell them what you do!
Make sure you have a good supply of business cards on hand at all times; what a great and inexpensive advertising tool!
Click on the graphic above for PSPrint.com and order some business cards today. You can order quantities as low as 50 and their service is fast and easy to use.
Nov 29th
If you use your own domain name in your blog it gives it more creditbility. I have been using GoDaddy for several years now for all of my website hosting, domain name registration and blogs. Check out GoDaddy by clicking on image below.
Nov 24th
I use Net Objects Fusion version 11 to design my websites. I have been using this program ever since version 1. What a quick and easy way to design websites. Check out Net Object Fusion by clicking on the image below.
Business Cards
Oct 10th
Everyone should have a business card, even in this day of modern technology and the Internet ! How many times have you met someone and had to scramble for a pen and write your information on a napkin or scrap piece of paper? That’s not very professional and won’t leave a favorable impression with your new contact!
This site offers 250 FREE business cards! That’s right I said FREE! 42 FREE designs to select from to customize your business card. Many other FREE products are also available.
Check it out now! Don’t get caught without a business card!
Order your 250 FREE business cards now.
Business cards have been the backbone of any business marketing plan long before the Internet was even invented. That still holds true today; you should always carry your business card with you and look for opportunities to distribute them to your target markets.
Business cards are generally cheap and easy to carry with you. Make sure you include important infomation on your card such as name, address, phone number, email and website!
How to Drive Traffic to Your Website
Aug 23rd
By Mike Marinaro
Everyone wants more people to visit their website. My clients are always asking me how to accomplish this. Well, I can answer that question in just one word — ARTICLES!
More and more people are using articles to generate traffic directly to their website and it works great! The secret is to provide something interesting and closely related to your website. For example, if you are selling insurance, you could write an article explaining the difference between term life and whole life insurance and the benefits of each.
Make sure your article is well-written, grammatically correct and free of spelling errors before you submit it. You should provide links in your article pointing to your website, and most importantly, there should be a resource box at the end of the article. A resource box tells people a little bit about you; directs them to your website; and gives others permission to reprint your article as long they include the resource box.
Okay, now you have a well written article; what’s next, where do you submit the article? There are many places to submit articles, just google “free articles” and you will get millions of links.
Here are just a few of the ones that I use:
http://www.isnare.com
http://www.goarticles.com
http://www.ezinearticles.com
Another great place to submit articles is in your own newsletter. If you have a newsletter that is mailed or e-mailed you should also be writing articles there that link to your website. It’s a good idea to also archive your articles on your
website so they can be read over and over again. This also increases the chance of another publisher picking up your article for use on their own site.
Your own articles also make great fillers for your newsletters when you need to fill that white space. The best way to use articles in an e-newsletter is to just have the first paragraph or two as a teaser then include a link to your website where readers can get the full content of the article. What are you waiting for, start writing your articles and watch your website traffic begin to increase!
About the Author: You may copy this article and place it on your own website, as long as you do not change it and include the live links. This resource box must also be included. Mike Marinaro designs websites and e-zines, he specializes in
affordable Christian website design. You can visit his site at
www.webdesign4him.com
To contact Mike e-mail
mmarinaro@nc.rr.com.
Source: http://www.isnare.com
3 Rules for Basic Web Site Design
Aug 7th
By: Mike Marinaro
Rule #1 – Make it Easy to Read
Your web site should be easy to read. Black text against a white background is my recommendation. You want contrasting colors that are easy to read. Another good combination is light yellow background with dark blue text. Graphics in the background may look nice; however, they usually make your site harder to read.
Font size and style must also be easy to read. Size 14-16 pt. is a good size to use. Helvetica, Arial, Times New Roman or Veranda are easy styles to read. Fancy fonts and italics become harder to read.
Remember, if you use fancy fonts, your visitors may not have those same fonts installed on their computers, so they won’t be seeing what you intended. If you must use fancy fonts then you will have to put them in a graphic image to display properly on everyone’s computer.
Rule #2 – Graphics Images Can Slow Your Download Time
Graphics are cool but if they are on your web site just because they look cool, you are making a big mistake. Remember, graphics slow down your download time.
Graphic images should serve a purpose. Here are the basic purpose of graphic images for your web site.
Navigation buttons – Used to help visitors navigate your site. Well designed buttons can be much easier to read and find than plain text links.
Logo – Used to establish brand name recognition for your corporate identity.
Bullet Points – Used to draw your visitors’ attention to the main points of your page.
Photos- Used to add a personal touch to your web page. Visitors’ eyes are naturally drawn to photos of people.
Rule #3 - Keep it Simple
I always use the KIS method (Keep it Simple). Things like Flash and animated graphics are cute; however, people are not visiting your website to see a show. They are coming there to get information. Keep your site fresh and clean and easy to navigate and you will see many more visitors!
Mike Marinaro is a web designer and published author.
Visit www.webdesign4him.com or www.womensempowerment.info for more articles.
Does My Buisness Need a Newsletter?
Jun 21st
By Mike Marinaro
A common question that I get is, “Does my business need a newsletter?”
My answer is simple…”No, not if you would like to lose your customers to your competition!”
In other words, the answer is, “YES, every business and organization needs a newsletter!” You see, if you are not using a newsletter as a marketing tool in your business, then you are missing out on turning your existing customers and prospects into long-term buyers! Newsletters keep customers.
It is a great way to keep in touch with your customers. You don’t want your clients to forget about you, so you should not forget about them. Now with the Internet, there is no postage to worry about with your newsletters. What a great, cost-effective way to keep your name in front of your customers. Make your newsletter interesting and informative so it will be read. Offer money saving specials or introduce new products and services to your readers. If you just don’t have the time or patience to put together a newsletter, contact me and I will do it for you; my rates are very affordable.
Newsletter is sent via email to your opt-in subscriber list.
