Archive for November, 2006

Affordable web design and hosting - Webpage and advertising

Wednesday, November 29th, 2006

 

One should know how and where should place advertisement on their WebPages. A careless placement can kill possibilities of potential customer just for the simple reason that it is- ‘careless’. You can expect miracles with correct integration it can be a reason for your big success and profits. Let’s consider following points when placing Ads on webpage:

A) Quantity of advertisement

 How many? It is a most commonly asked question.
Well, how many Ads should you place on my website?
The answer to this question will differ in different cases. Too many or too few will only suffer your traffic; a proper ratio of Ads is somewhere around 20-25. But if you can do without his ratio and its working out great for your site, we would say, ‘Great, keep it up!’

B) Advertisement and its repetition

Why one should place identical Ads on their webpage? It s surprisingly a very common mistake. We would say it is a total waste of money. If a visitor did not react to your Advertisement on the first page, what are the chances he will after few more pages?  Think about it.  You should not wasting room on your page. You are also losing lot of money if you are doing this.

Displaying same Ad can be extremely irritating for your customers. Think about the situation where an Ad is popping up every time they click on some page.

C) Using Advertisements as informative Content

In some cases ads can and may be used as content for your site. For example, instead of placing ads which offer you the most benefits, place ads which can bring out similar interests in visitors, it will be more beneficial for you. Our concern here is making ads so interesting that even you might respond to them..

In addition, putting gift ads up during holidays such as Valentines Day or Christmas can be a good idea you might want to utilize. During times like those, individuals are more inclined to look at the ads. Visitors actually anticipate seeing more advertisements then usual. Therefore you can place more ads on your page then usual by blending them in the content.

Summery:

 Ads are a very crucial part of your webpage. You should use it wisely according to the psychology of your potential customers. Using 20-25 Ads wisely will make a world of difference.

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Wednesday, November 29th, 2006

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There are a complete heap of things that contribute towards the success of a business. Having a good quality product doesn’t necessarily assure the success of a business. To build a long term impression on your customers, it is vital that you have a proper marketing strategy and something unique about your company. Here comes resource within the importance for having a custom logo design.

I think it is absolutely important for all corporate bodies to realize the importance of having a custom designed logo. A professional logo design goes a long way to establish the identity and exude the attitude of the company. Now, when we pronounce ‘professional logo design”, we must understand that it is not a child’s play, its a specialist job and better if it is assigned to a professional logo designer. The corporate bodies need to appoint the specialist aspect element within the field to get it done. I definitely do understand that its lot of fun to design your own logo; You play with colors, try out your drawing skills and spend some idle time to think what could be the design, at the end you land up with a very common concept of having the initials of your company in some twisted fashion or putting in a sleazy slogan to pronounce your product is the preeminent or some other things like that. However, that is not how your logo would be, it is not just a small graphics to appear in your business cards and letterheads. A logo, if done properly can leave a long and deep impression on your customers mind. They go a long way in depicting the image of your business. you can most defiantly well understand, how powerful a logo can be in generally speaking, if you or someone that understands and has expert knowledge understand about the golden M of McDonalds the moment you see that, you know its them. Just think about the IBM logo or Swoosh of Nike, do you even take a moment to think, to whom does that logo belong? That shows how powerful impact a logo can create within the mind of your customers. Wouldn t you like your company to have an equally powerful logo?

A professionally designed custom logo can be very powerful in representing the company profile, the nature of job they do and the attitude of the company. It helps to build the identity of the company and distinguishes your service from your competitors aspect element within the market.

These days its really easy to ascertain a professional logo designer and the unsurpassed part is that they offer the service at real low-priced rates which can be afforded by the smallest of business houses. There are so many logo design firm that offers excellent custom logo designs at unbelievable low rates. There are even companies that would happily do a quality logo for you for just $60-$80. Some companies could even allow you to quote “Your price” for “Your Logo” and they will do it at whatever price you quote. What can be more wonderful than this? Does it really make sense not to have a good logo even when you can easily have it so low-cost?

The good news is, these days the corporate houses have started to realize the importance of establishing their brand and they are acknowledging the crucial role that a company logo plays in this process. The sooner the business houses realize the importance of professionally designed custom logo and stationery the better it will be for them and including for the graphic designing market.

Wednesday, November 29th, 2006

#TILTE#Flash- Pros and Cons#/TITLE#

Flash banners (those of .swf extension) are becoming very common in Internet promotion they are so frequently new because of Macromedia Flash is a rather simple tool to produce complicated animation effects of fine quality. Though, my experience shows that this identifiable variety of banner has several drawbacks.

The first one is that leading browsers do not first support Flash additional plug-ins are required. Furthermore, it in fact happens, that to view banners produced in later Flash versions downloading newer plug-ins is needed. Statistics show that 75% of users feature Microsoft Internet Explorers (data from www.w3schools.com) most of them are users with basic skills that are less likely to download any upgrades.

In Macromedia Flash animated banners a delay is set between frames. In case web-page visitor is using a not very advanced machine, it is most probable that wile loading the page the banner will also be loading slowly user will not obtain the necessary info from it, as he will not wait for the next frame to appear.

Another inconvenience of not only Flash banners, but also of Flash web-sites is that right-click on the splendid link or banner does not offer a chance to open it in used window or feature within the same window. This is often annoying, especially when about 15 windows are already opened used window increases CPU usage.

Though, Flash banners have some advantages in comparison with animated .gif banners Flash banners’ use vector animation, thus a big size banner occupies less memory than ordinary one of the primary same size. Actually, basing on experience I can proclaim that .gif animated banners can only be efficiently new for small banners with 2-3 frames.

The major advantage of Flash banner is the range of available colors .gif format offers a very limited range of only 256 colors very little for a good value banner. Flash provides palette of much wider choice of colors, quality of banner improves immensely.

To conclude I can only advise to use Flash for big size banners (at least 468×60 pixels) or for pop up banners than the quality does really matter. But to draw a small animated button 88×31 px, the usage of Flash will be obsolete.

Flash banners (those of .swf extension) are becoming very common in Internet promotion they are so frequently used because of Macromedia Flash is a rather simple tool to produce complicated animation effects of fine quality. Though, my experience shows that this type of banner has several drawbacks. The first one is that leading browsers do not initially support Flash additional plug-ins are required. Furthermore, it sometimes happens, that to view banners produced in later Flash versions downloading newer plug-ins is needed. Statistics show that 75% of users feature Microsoft Internet Explorers (data from www.w3schools.com) most of them are users with basic skills that are less likely to download any upgrades. In Macromedia Flash animated banners a delay is set between frames. In case web-page visitor is using a not very advanced machine, it is likely that wile loading the page the banner will also be loading slowly user will not get the necessary info from it, as he will not wait for the next frame to appear. Another inconvenience of not only Flash banners, but also of Flash web-sites is that right-click on the link or banner does not offer a possibility to open it in new window or in the same window. This is often annoying, especially when about 15 windows are already opened new window increases CPU usage. Though, Flash banners have some advantages in comparison with animated .gif banners Flash banners’ use vector animation, thus a big size banner occupies less memory than ordinary one of the same size. Actually, basing on experience I can say that .gif animated banners can only be effectively used for small banners with 2-3 frames. The major advantage of Flash banner is the range of available colors .gif format offers a very limited range of only 256 colors very little for a decent banner. Flash provides palette of much wider choice of colors, quality of banner improves immensely. To conclude I can only advise to use Flash for big size banners (at least 468×60 pixels) or for pop up banners than the quality does really matter. But to draw a small animated button 88×31 px, the usage of Flash will be obsolete.

 
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Affordable web design - How to design a salable website

Wednesday, November 29th, 2006

Consider these questions:
Would you buy vegetables which are not looking fresh? Would you buy a damaged car at the price of a new one? I am sure you will never do this. Actually your website is like your own grocery store or a car showroom. You should create an environment which pleases your customers. It should present your salable items beautiful and fresh. It will be a website which tells them that you are not a novice businessman, but instead a trained, intelligent professional. As you can see your website is the direct reflection of yourself and your products. The main considerable reason here is why having a well designed website can make or break your business or sales.

The most important thing:
The first and most important thing to keep in mind while designing your web page is “Beauty” and second most important thing is surf-ability . Take a few minutes a look around at several web pages. What makes them appealing to you? Take notes and do your research. Always keep in mind that when a person visits your site they have a specific purpose in their mind. They are either seeking information or shopping for a product. Give your visitors what they want without make them searching for it. Be sure that all the information on your site is relevant to your product. Make the buyer believe that they need your product to solve their problem.

 First page first:
Your first introductory page carries most significance. It should be a place by which the customer can shop your site. It should be an easy to view and load very quickly. This is your first impression and we all know that first impressions can either close or lose the deal. Follow the KISS principle, (Keep it simple sir!)  It is best to have links that are easily viewable by the reader that will sail them where they want to be on your website. Speed is also a factor you should not forget. If it is taking more than 10 seconds, you have lost your customer forever; as he will try somewhere else for the same information he was seeking from you.
To increase the loading speed of your main page you can always avoid large graphics or excessive graphics. Too many banners or special effects can also cause your page to load slowly; it will ultimately kill the purpose of making webpage in the first place.

Using Colours sensibly:
If you want to make your website more appealing, you should stick to mild colors. If your site is a reader’s site where the user will be reading a lot of content, it is best to stick to black and white. Color can be added when using tables, as a way to brighten up the page, but always remember to keep the overall look of the page professional and appealing to the audience. It will be tempt them to visit your website more often.

An easy solution to resolution:
Generally, it is a good idea to set the pixels to a standard 800×600. You may also choose to set the tables in your web page to span a percentage of the page rather than a set number of pixels per inches. This will be sure to accommodate all your screen sizes. You should remember that a lot of Internet users will not use the same browser as you, and therefore you should be sure that your site looks as good on other browsers too. You can be sure about this by downloading several browsers through which you can look at your page and check the resolution.
 
 Summery:
 Never ignore the fact that the overall look of your website can make you a lot of money if it is designed well. The opposite is also true; if your website looks dirty you will lose your business and money.

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Tuesday, November 28th, 2006

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The famous Puma leap or the big yellow “M” reminds all of us the famous “PUMA” and “McDonalds”…

No matter how young or how established a company is, they need to make their brand accustomed to their customers. With so many similar kinds of products and services, what makes a company so unique and stand out from rest of the crowd? Or in more simple words “How will your potential customer remember you? The answer is “YOUR LOGO”. It s the company’s logo that makes all the difference.

Logos are a unique way of pictorially representing what can be said in a few words or a sentence. Logos can be simple, from a simple dot to a more complicated conglomeration of colors and patterns. Company logos could represent the company’s products or services in a single image. It could be unique enough to be differentiated from the rest, but special enough to be remembered by the company’s potential and existing customers.

Companies make their logos using a combination of icon and text or a simple icon. The text new aspect element within the logo can have the company name in full or abbreviated text and the icon or even just a symbol or a brand mark. A logo can or can not have the company’s name, but having the company’s name is an added advantage. Also there are magnificent logos that just contain the company initials, for instance Y! of Yahoo.

The size and color could not be a rampart to the functionality, effectiveness and the attractiveness of a logo. Identity of the company would be properly portrayed. Logo designers would always substain in consideration the basic design principles of color, size, clarity and consistency when designing logos. Companies would hire professional logo designers who will understand your company and your mind set.

Companies going for professional logo designers could make sure that their professional logo designers are equipped with the latest skills and well informed with the latest trends in designing. Designers would be aware of copyrights and trademark issues and one would make sure that his designers are not copying from any other logos. The use of third party fonts, too many shadows and glares are also not recommended. Another important thing to be kept in mind by designers is that the logo would be flexible enough to detain its original color and shape when transformed to a different medium.

There are now thousands of designers of logos. It is always advisable to hire professional web designing firms who are very skilled in logo designs and equipped with proper logo designing softwares.