Design Website

There are more than billions of Web Sites, running Online Businesses, offering products and services. But only a few Web Sites manage to make any sale.

Only a few Web Sites are capable of pulling in visitors and turn them into customers. Only a few are able to get profitable returns for their investments.

Then what''s wrong with the rest of the Web Sites that are unable to get the required returns of their investments or do not make any sale at all?

Even if they recieve huge traffics, they don''t make any sale. No need to talk about the Web Sites that doesn''t even recieve any visitors, leave alone making any sale.

They just don''t follow the basics of an effective Online Business process.

They don''t know how to build websites properly, how to write keyword-focussed contents that ranks well with the search engines, how to write effective contents that PRESells the visitors and turn them into lifelong customers, how to write contents that builds credibility and trust, how to successfully promote web sites to reach a wider, targeted, willing-to-buy audience.

The basics below are usefull to anyone, whether you want to build, develop or promote a web site...

What are the basics of selling on the Net?

Simple,

1) Decide on what you want to offer (a product or service or your knowledge)and sell on the net?

2) Build and develop a web site.

3) Write high info-value keyword focussed content that ranks well with the search engines. A PRESelling content (not a sales pitch) that establishes confidence and trust and influences the visitors into becoming customers.

After you are done with the above process, you need an effective, useful and easy to use marketing and promotion strategy to let the audience know that you exist.

There are many online as well as offline ways to promote your web site.

They say the eyes are the window to the soul. Your website then is the window to your business. What would a passerby think of your "window"? What does your website say about you? About your business?

Does your website entice the visitor to pause and take a few moments to look around or does it confuse them so much they click past it without ever looking back.

The goal of your website is to make the visitor stay until the desired visitor response has been achieved. That might be that they sign up for your newsletter, complete a survey or make a purchase. If surfer doesn''t stay for more than a few moments then all your hard work is for nothing.

There are 8 key factors that can prevent people from staying on your site. In extreme cases the key areas below can actually drive traffic away from your site.

Sin #1

Provide Useful Content.

People search for information online. To find that information they use search engines. They type in keywords or phrases to locate items, places or information they require or desire. Google, Yahoo and MSN go through their indexes and present the searcher with the best possible match for their information request. The searcher clicks on the links and visits a few sites.

What happens if the searcher doesn''t find relevant information once they get to the site? Yup they go right back to their previous search results and go elsewhere.

Provide useful content. Don''t scam the search engines. Don''t churn out another site made up of copied search engine results. Your website is your business. Treat it like one.

The two key rules for website content are:

1. Make it useful.

2. Make it easy to find on your site

Sin #2

Slow Loading Sites

If your site takes any longer than 30 seconds to load then the visitor is gone. Theywon''t be back either.

Ideally your website should load in 15 seconds or less. Web surfers will not wait around for your fancy graphics or flash demos to load. They''ll get bored and move on.

Do not use bitmap graphic files for logos or as part of your site design. They''re ugly and take forever to load.

FACT: 30 to 60% of visitors tend to drop off and click to another site when they are forced to click their mouse more often than necessary.

FACT: People who use the internet are usually those who are always on-the-go and don''t want to spend time figuring out how to navigate any web site.

FACT: It takes all of ten seconds for most first-time visitors to spend time on any web site before deciding if it''s worth any attention.

Yes, it only takes ten seconds for viewers to get interested and stay a little longer to know more about your site and get the information they''re looking for.

This is the main reason why the first page is the most important in any web site. Rule of thumb is to have a page that is direct to the point, doesn''t waste time, and doesn''t waste bandwidth. It''s necessary that you get to the crux of your message and do it quick. Or else your audiences are outta here.

Studies prove that human nature cause to lose focus on whatever it is that we are paying attention to after the initial ten seconds. The mind seem to think that after ten seconds, either the object of attention gets better and interesting, or the attraction just fades because of too many things.

And ten seconds is important in any web designer''s job. A designer has to remember that in ten seconds, the web page should be able to deliver something useful, if not everything.

One designer relates that ten seconds is enough for an average person to read a length of 40 words. And 40 words can mean a great deal of a good opening paragraph. The opening paragraph according to the designer is your "contract" with your reader. With your "contract", you promise to deliver what your viewer needs, in every page of your web site.

I''m not a professional web site designer and openly admit there is a lot that I don''t know. But if you''re a beginner I probably know more than you do, so listen up.

Rather than give a lengthy dissertation on web design I have broken it down into the following points:

Keep your navigation bars either at the top or left of the page (a recent tip I heard is: by putting the nav bar on the right of the screen it appears below your site content in the html code and therefore will be read by the SE spiders last). You can clearly see my navigation bar on the left of every page at http://www.007workfromhome.com

Have your navigation bars visible on every page unless its a sales page, in which case you don''t want them to go anywhere else.

Divide your navigation bar into related groups of links for easier navigation.

Have your company name and logo in the top left or top middle of the page.

Keep the theme of your site standard throughout. Don''t use different fonts on different pages or mix fonts on the same page without a good reason for doing so. A constant theme also includes the color of unvisited, active and visited links.

Keep your use of colors to no more than about 5-7 different colors per page (less if you can).

Include a site map which lists every page. Good for your visitors and site maps make it very easy for search engines to spider your site.

Don''t have more than 3 layers in your web site. That means if I was to start at your home page I should be able to reach any other page in your site in 2 clicks or less. Any more and your visitors may become lost and search and engines will leave before they have finished indexing your entire web site. This is easier than it sounds if you have a comprehensive navigation bar and a site map.

Limit your use of graphics on a page unless they are essential to your marketing because they will drastically increase load time and some visitors won''t be prepared to wait.

Keep your background white and the majority of your text black. Mixing background colors and texts not only looks unprofessional it is can also be difficult to read.

Whether you''re hiring a designer who has created 10 sites or 1000 sites for other businesses, there are 10 things every website should do for you.

1. Be wary of companies who charge by the hour and don''t put on a cap! There isn''t a regulated industry standard in fees. So websites can easily end up costing you a small fortune. Ask for a flat fee if possible-you''ll know exactly what you''re paying up front. It''s common to pay for 50% down, and in certain cases, when working with businesses online; you may need to pay the whole flat fee down. This is perfectly acceptable. You wouldn''t order books from Amazon and wait to pay for them when they got there!

2. Try to get a turnaround time in writing. It is up to you to bring as much information as possible to your designer. This will make the design process go much faster. You can''t just go and say "make a website for me" and expect your designer to know what to put on your website! The more you bring to the table, the faster your designer can work. And the faster you respond to proofs, the faster your site will be active and live! Depending on your designer''s workload, it could take anywhere from 1 week to 3 weeks to finish the design of your site.

3. Original custom designs are always best for branding your image. If your designer works exclusively from pre-designed templates, with no customization at all, you will not have as professional a site as if you received 100% customized work. Make sure you understand how your website designer creates websites.

4. How much flexibility will you have in the future? The best aspect of websites is that they are dynamic-or should be. Print advertising is static. But you can constantly update your website as your company grows. How fast and easy can your designer make changes to your site? Is she building in functions to make these future changes possible?

5. Does your designer optimize your pages and submit them to search engines? If they don''t then you will end up having to pay for this service, or figure out how to do it yourself. A web designer may not have 100% of the SEO tools out there, but at the very least, your website designer should create your meta tags, make sure your keywords are sprinkled throughout your content and at least submit your site to the basic directories and engines.

Want to see an excellently constructed website? As a writer I found one of my favorite writers: (Paulo Coelho) has a site that could inspire anyone who wants to create a more humanistic presence on the Web.

Being a writer, when I was asked to do some research into what makes a good website, of course I straightaway went to check out all of my favorite authors. After sifting through a few standard sites I remembered to look at one of my all time respected writers-Paulo Coelho. Judging by how many books he has sold he is obviously a lot of people''s favorite, and his website is exactly what you''d want to keep the fans happy.

If any of you are familiar with Coelho''s work you will know how prolific he has become all over the world. People love the simplicity of his stories about the spiritual quests of all people and the idea that the magical happens in everybody''s lives, even the so-called ''ordinary, normal'' person. He to me comes across as a perfect example of the power of human connection, his books having affected millions across all national boundaries. As an Internet writer, to me he symbolizes the possibilities lying in the future of the Web. Like a good book, the Internet too can cross all imagined ideas of separation bringing people from all walks of life together in the context of positive thought and action.

Coelho''s website''s homepage starts off with a simple black screen, and a large photo of the man smiling-a very humanistic approach to this new medium. It then has many different sections as well as links to relevant sites, even his own web log (on-line journal) entitled, " Warrior of the Light Online". I think I could spend innumerable hours reading over his personal thoughts and pieces of information he has integrated from elsewhere. Having this added website of an on-line diary gives the site even more humanistic qualities, as any person can truly connect with Coelho''s innermost feelings and thoughts.

The sections on the main site are separated into categories like: Biography, Paulo Coelho Institute, Photo Gallery, Road to Santiago, Agenda, Books, Editions, Free downloads, Meditation, TV on-line (videos), Warrior of Light, To journalists, FAQ, Message for the author, and Recommend this site. We are talking about a very extensive and well thought out site. Any type of individual or business, especially writers, could learn a lot from this example.

Don''t let overwhelm hold you back- follow this expert advice and start writing your promotional article today.

As a writing coach, I frequently work with independent professionals who have great ideas for promotional articles, but no idea how to start writing them. Here are the first three of six essential steps to help you get clear about your subject, kick-start your process, and ensure your article is ready to go.

1. Have something you really, really want to say. It seems obvious, but before you write, make sure there''s a point you want to make, a story you want to tell, advice you just have to give. You''ve got to be a little bit burning to write, or your message will ramble, you''ll be bored, and there''ll be no connection with your reader.

Before you write, see if you can state the kernel of what you want to say in one sentence. If you can make it intriguing, all the better:

"Here are six guaranteed ways to kick-start your writing."

"Here''s why my divorce was hell and how you can avoid that experience."

"The best way to have a tidy office is to get rid of your office."

If you can''t state your premise in one sentence, either you''re not clear on your message or you have more than one topic. Take some time and get clear on that single thing you want to say. We want one topic in depth, not skimming the surface of several.

If you''re stuck on your article, or getting bogged down or confused as you write, you can be sure you need more focus. So take a deep breath and put your article away until you can state your one-sentence premise.

2. Create an outline. I used to be one of those "jump in, bang ahead and follow your nose" type of writers. And guess what? Every time I tried to write, I''d run out of steam. I''d lose focus, so I wouldn''t finish; or, if I did finish, I''d have to edit a huge, rambling mess. Ugh. The whole process took weeks and was extremely discouraging.

You see, I was writing fiction, and I had this idea that it was more "creative" and "artistic" to just jump in. Making an outline seemed so predictable and dull.

My awakening came when I began writing non-fiction articles. Here''s why: I had to communicate a message, and communicate it clearly. I had to write coherent, logical paragraphs, in strong, simple language. And I couldn''t take weeks to write every article, or I''d be, well, pretty darn old before anything was ready.

As a web designer, I have a personal interest in a new trend which threatens to put me and my kind out of business. That "threat" is Web Design Templates. In short they are ready-made web design products which can be used as a basis for a fast and high-quality website. You usually receive a Photoshop file (.psd), Flash file (.fla), HTML files with your tables and initial scripting already complete, fonts, sounds and anything else which may be part of the website design.

A couple of years ago these templates were a small issue in the world of design. Most of them were of minimal quality and there were not all that many out there. Now some of the "big players" like BG Website Templates, The Discount Directory and Plantillas De Website are supplying spectacular designs which include 3D animated Flash, multimedia and dynamic programming for prices comparable to dinner out. Many of these templates rival even the best custom designer''s work. So how can we (the humble designer) survive?

• My first suggestion is to "aim high". By that I mean start targeting a "higher end" clientele. Most companies of any size will not want to have a website design which may well be found on dozens of other websites around the world.
• These templates, while very impressive, are still templates. They still require the knowledge and skills of a professional for them to function to their full potential. So consider promoting your customization skills to those clients who are looking for a low cost solution. You can still make a pretty profit on the website and you''ll get it done much faster. Another advantage to this method is that the client has already chosen a design, so the process of "back and forth" designing is removed.
• Finally, you may choose to directly promote templates on your own website. You may feel that you''re cutting your own wrists, but as mentioned before, the clients who wish to use a template most likely didn''t want to spend the money for your custom work anyway. Once you''ve saved them money on design work by selling them a template, you have a much better chance of upgrading their order with add-ons like chat rooms, help desks and newsletters. In the end you may end up coming out ahead.

Whether or not our careers as designers will survive this competition remains to be seen; but in the meantime it doesn''t hurt to at least become familiar with web templates. Knowing your competition is key to success.

Written by Gene Tewksbury
Webmaster/Lead Designer at Blue Gel Media
Exciting custom web and multimedia design and development.
Copyright © 2005 Blue Gel Media
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How many of the visitors to your web site take the action you want them to take? Whether you want them to buy something from you, sign up for your newsletter, enter your sweepstakes, or give you contact information to follow up on, you want them to do something. The percentage of visitors who actually do that something is called your "conversion rate."

Many web site owners are great marketers. They know how to drive a ton of traffic to their site. When the results are less than what they had hoped for, they think the answer is to spend more time and money generating even greater traffic.

What they really need to be doing is improving their conversion rate.

Picture this: If you currently get one sale (or subscription, etc) for every 100 visitors to your site, you have a conversion rate of 1%. But what if I told you that by making a few changes to your site you could increase that to two sales per 100, and double your income without increasing your traffic?

The best part is that most often simple changes are all that are needed. Once you make those changes, you can forever "convert" a greater number of visitors without doing anything else different. So, without further ado, here are three changes you can make that will have the greatest likely impact on your conversion rate:

1. Make it easy on your visitor. She is there for information, and if you make it hard for her to get to it, she will leave. Don''t make her sit through a flash movie. Don''t make her click to another page. Don''t make your page so busy she can''t find what she''s looking for. Instead, treat her to a clean, fast loading page that guides her straight to the action you want her to take and lets her take it.

2. Make your copy persuasive. The words on your page are the most important, and most often overlooked, element in the conversion process. It is what you say to your visitor that will convince her to become your customer. Make those words as powerfully persuasive, benefit laden, and emotionally charged as you possibly can. Sell her on the action you want her to take.

1. What''s the purpose?

The most fundamental thing to do before designing your web site is to define its purpose. Do you want to sell products directly to your customer through your web site, or collect contact details to develop future relationships? A lot of this will depend on the products or services you sell, those with a larger price tag will require more relationship building than those that would count as an "impulse" purchase. People also use web sites to research products as well as purchase them so a company selling fridges for example may not be able to sell them through their web site (people don''t often buy fridges online!) but they may well be able to direct them to their nearest store where the item they are interested in is in stock.

Identify the purpose of your web site and make sure all the actions you ask the customer to take leads them to the final outcome you have identified.

2. Define the structure

Once you have decided the final outcome you want to achieve, whether it''s a sale, an enquiry, etc. work out a logical progression through the process your customer would need to go through and structure your web site around it. Give the customer the information they will be looking for and help them find it easily and quickly. If you offer a large range of products, use a search facility, if your products carry a detailed specification, add a "click for spec" button which links to further information on an additional page, this way you will not slow those who are ready to buy, but offer the additional info required by those still undecided.

Above all, keep the structure and progression as simple and logical as possible.

3. Decide on an overall design layout.

Most web sites have navigation down the left hand of the page, the company logo graphic across the top and the content of the page below and to the right. Another common layout is to have both the logo and navigation menu along the top of the page and the page content across the page beneath it. As these are the most familiar layouts to users, it would be wise to stick with them as the last thing you want to do is make your web site confusing to your customers.

Avoid too many moving graphics, as they are distracting, avoid large logo-only entrance pages (click here to enter site?) as they only delay the user and avoid anything "cute" that may undermine your professional look.

Read the title of this article over a couple of times in your head so it really starts to sink in.

So what does this title really mean. Well, there''s no beating around the bush with this one... it means exactly what it says.

If your site is NOT an order-pulling, money-sucking mean machine then it''s not really worth promoting your product, whether it''s a killer product or not.

It is vital that your site has a well-written and extremely powerful sales letter that will hook your prospects and reel them in like a fish.

Your goal is to walk your prospect through your sales letter straight to your order page where they will be so excited, they would have already whipped out their credit card from their wallets.

"Your Site MUST Influence Visitors To Buy"

Now ask yourself this... "I have an amazing product but do I really have a killer converting website?"

If you''re not really sure, take a look at your web stats:

- How many unique visitors did your site receive last month?
- What''s the average time spent on your sales page per visitor?
- How many people clicked onto your order page but didn''t order?
- Most importantly, how many visitors actually ordered?

Armed with this information, you can now look at how well your site is performing and how you can improve your site''s conversion rate.

As you probably well know, the industry standard conversion rate is 1% which is not bad, but then again not that good either.

If your site is converting under 1% then it needs serious and immediate attention because you''re losing a lot of money, more so if you have a high traffic site.

Let''s just take a look at a quick example, so you can see it more clear in black and white.

Let''s say your site converts a 0.5% and you only receive 100 unique visitors per day. Your product sells at $97.

This means that you''re roughly selling half a product a day, an average of 15 sales per month, right?

100 visitors per day x 30 days = 3,000 visitors per month.
3,000 x 0.5% = 15 (15 sales per month)

15 sales x $97 = Monthly income of $1,455

This is a two-part article about creating a web site on the web and the tools that you need to do that.

During the last decade we have truly entered the information age. More and more people are becoming a part of the ever growing and wondrous community called the Internet. It was just over a decade ago that ''Internet'' was just another new concept that a lot of people were skeptical about. Today however, it would be difficult to imagine living in the world without this amazing phenomenon. It really has enabled humans to reach new heights.

Some basic terminology that you should take a look at before proceeding further:

Web Page: A document that contains information created with the help of HTML.

Web Site: A collection of web pages on a particular subject.

HTML: Also known as Hyper Text Markup Language, this is used for the creation of web pages. Information is written in between HTML tags ( ) to instruct the web page as to how information will be displayed. You can also put images into the web page by using this language. Some other languages like JavaScript, VB script, ASP, ASP.NET etc. are also used to display dynamic content on web pages and for performing user driver events.

There are basically two main categories of web sites:

Personal web site: These include websites that are about individual human beings/people.

Business web site: Includes web sites that advertise and inform users about the products and services that a company is selling.

This article will deal with creating personal web sites and putting them on the web.

You too can make your presence felt on the web (if you have not already done so) by creating a web site.

The demand and popularity of personal web sites have increased at a great rate since the start of the web. People have found web sites a great way to express themselves.

A personal web site is your message center where you can upload information about friends and family and share them with the rest of the world. They can even act as a personal Blog (on-line journal).

Having a personal web site on the Internet has a lot of advantages:

This is the second part of a two-part article about creating a web site on the Internet and the tools that you will need to do it.

Some basic terminology that you should take a look at before proceeding further:

Web Page: A document that contains information created with the help of HTML.

Web Site: A collection of web pages on a particular subject.

HTML: Also known as Hyper Text Markup Language it is used for the creation of web pages. Information is written in between HTML tags ( ) to instruct the web page as to how the information will be displayed. You can also put images into the web page by using this language. Some other languages like JavaScript, VB script, ASP, ASP.NET etc. are also used to display dynamic content on web pages and for performing user driver events.

There are basically two main categories of web sites:

Personal web site: These include websites that are about individual human beings.

Business web site: Includes web sites that advertise and inform users about the products and services that a company is selling.

This article will deal with creating web sites for small businesses and putting them on the web.

The Internet is one of the best ways to reach out to people and advertise your services. If you are a small business you will think twice before advertising your services in traditional forms of media like radio, TV and newspapers. However, advertising on the Internet is very cheap, for a fraction of the price that you might pay for advertising on TV you can reach out to millions of people.

Your site acts as a virtual storefront through which you can sell almost any type of good or service.

Having a presence on the web gives you a competitive edge and puts you on equal ground with others to compete while enabling you to reach millions of customers who browse the Internet on a daily basis.

Home-based businesses need a strong web presence to combat the inflated advertising and marketing budgets of their larger competitors, but establishing that presence through a professionally designed and developed web site may not be an affordable option. In many cases, the only cost-effective way to get the web site you want for your business is to do it yourself.

Even if you are not experienced in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), you can find helpful programs which will assist you in your design efforts. Trust me, it is not as difficult as it may seem to be.

Here are a few tips for finding software to meet your small or home-based business''s needs.

1) Know Your Options

When it comes to web site creation software, there are three types to choose from: text editors, HTML editors, and WYSIWYG editors.

Text editors, which are basically any word processing program such as Word or Notepad, require extensive HTML knowledge.

NoteTab Light (Freeware)
http://www.notetab.com/download.htm

HTML editors are much like text editors except they include additional features to aid inexperienced users, such as color-coded tags and pre-prepared CGI and Java scripts. If you have little or no experience with HTML, WYSIWYG editor is a better choice.

HTML Kit (Freeware)
http://www.chami.com/html-kit/download/

Web-O-Rama (Donationware)
http://www.kevingunn.com/weborama.htm

WYSIWYG, which stands for What You See is What You Get, programs like FrontPage or DreamWeaver allow you to design the pages'' appearance without writing code. You pick what you want and the program automatically generates the code.

Macromedia Dreamweaver ($399) (Recommended)
http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/download/

NetObjects Fusion ($149.95)
http://www.netobjects.com/products/html/download.html

2) Look for the Features You Need

When you start browsing for web site software, you''ll want to look for a few key features, such as ready-made templates, wizards (they make many tasks easier and quicker), auto-backup, and pre-built code.