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Designing a web site
Published November 20, 2009 | 
As the very name suggests, the primary importance of web designing lies in the area of creating and designing web sites. On the surface, one may say that web designing is not just comparable but also quite similar to the conventional notion of publishing print materials, of course on a gross level. To be precise, one can argue that each and every website, just as in the case of a book is nothing but an information exhibit container while the set of web pages can be compared to the idea of the pages found in a book.
On the other hand, web design as a technique makes use of a structure which is based on the concept of digital code as well as display technology to build and preserve an environment so as to facilitate the distribution of information in diverse and multiple formats. If considered on the level of its entire extent or prospective, the notion of web design can be described undoubtedly as among the most refined as well as progressively more complex technique to sustain the process of communication in the contemporary world. Web design includes various sub aspects under it which have all equally important roles to play in the process of building and maintaining a web site.
On being categorized broadly, the essential designing aspects would be:-
- The content – Dealing in web sites is equivalent to dealing in a business where information is capital, product and profit al rolled in to one. Thus it almost goes without saying that content displayed on the site must be of highest quality in terms of it accuracy, precision as well as relevance. The matter, and data displayed has to be pertinent to the idea of the site and must be able to aim the area of the mass which the site is generally concerned with.
- The usability – The uniqueness of the web as a medium lies in the fact that one is able to carry out absolute one to one communication on this platform without any third party mediation. Hence, it has become almost a thumb rule for the site in order to be successful that it should be user-friendly in all possible sense of the term, complete with a perfect interface as well as navigation facilities which are both easy and dependable.
- The appearance – It is a market driven and consumerist world that we all live in right now. Every thing in this world today is parallel to show business. Thus, needless to say that the appearance carries added importance. To begin with, both the graphics and the text ought to comprise of a solo style that will consistently flow right through, to prove uniformity. The fashion ought to be at the same time professional, attractive and pertinent.
- The visibility – This is more of a commercial aspect than aesthetic or creative. In order to make its presence felt in the market, it has to be trouble-free to locate through all the major search engines and also advertisement media on the net and elsewhere.
Ten more ways to promote your website
Published November 10, 2009 | There are many ways in which you can promote your website. A few top methods are the following:
- Get your website registered with a directory based engine like www.dmoz.org. There are many such other websites also. These list the names of websites that are registered with them. Also the sites are categorized as per their content and theme. Thus it is much easier for visitors to search for sites on a relevant topic. This is definitely a great method to publicize your web design and will get you a number of regular visitors. Also look for specialist directories in your field. These tend to drive the most targeted traffic.
- Get your website to feature on Google, etc. these are the biggies in the world of search engines. Most people resort to these particular sites when they need to search for some important information. Thus they are great way to give your websites that much needed boost.
- Give a little information about your website to each and every mail recipient of yours. This should not be very elaborate as a stranger will not be much interested in knowing the grittiest of your web design. This should be very brief and impact like the name of your site, its URL, its theme and your position in context of the website. This definitely creates an impact and at least 5 out of 10 people will definitely visit the URL when they receive your email.
- Join forums related to the content on your website. This also gives your website an added advantage. Post replies on sites like mouthshutreviews, yahoo answers, etc. these forums are also a great way to catch attention.
- Find sites which have similar content as your website. Make sure they are not your competitors. Get these sites to promote your website link. This will also give you an edge over others.
- Visit www.awardsites.com. Get to know about all the existing awards for web designs. Try and make an excellent web design so that you win some accolade. This will automatically bring in lots of publicity.
- Register with bulletin boards on the internet. These are similar to forums and newsgroups. They will give a lot of information about your website and also inform the visitors about its daily updates.
- You may also publicize your website in your blog. This is a very personalized way of getting the message across. Your employees can also do the same.
- Television is a very powerful media. Try and advertise your website in ads. Make them catchy so that people visit your website out of curiosity. Do not leave any gaps in promotion. Do each and everything possible. Only online promotion will not do the entire job.
- Lastly, word of mouth is an age old strategy that has always worked. If you have good networking skills and can afford to do a word of mouth campaign then nothing like it. It is a fabulous promotion technique.
A couple of important lessons in web design
Published November 10, 2009 | - Despite not being exactly relevant to the idea of web design, the first and foremost tip proves to be far more significant than design itself in the long run. While many try to learn the tricks of web design they tend to think that it will help them to convert useless set of pages into pretty entities, since most are misled into thinking that style instead of content forms the core of the business. However, they all must spare a minute to contemplate and realize the fact that basically the existence of a web page is only to provide the users or the visitors with something that is useful or attention grabbing. But then, if a page fails to accomplish this task, then it becomes far more important to get that problem right instead of worrying about the style of presenting it. Hence at the very onset, one must actually try to address questions such as what is being actually offered to a visitor to the site or is it really worth anyone’s time to pay a visit to a particular site. Until and unless they are cleared there is hardly any point in progressing or planning about the look or appearance of the web site.
- Avoiding any kind of sleazy elements has to be the next important lesson in the course of web designing. One has to admit that most of the web users across the globe find features like animation and the so called creative use of sounds to be extremely disturbing. Most tend to complain or grumble about the fact that it is next to impossible to focus on reading the content given on a particular web site when there are numerous other elements moving all around the web page. According to these annoyed users, the whole thing is ridiculously like trying to go through a newspaper peacefully while a menace is continuously poking on the shoulder again and again. Moreover, the visitors who are using slower connections often dislike the idea of simply wasting time by loading animations and sound files which are of absolutely no use. Although one may tend to think that people will get attracted to an animated advertisement, but in fact it is just the reverse. Readers feeling battered by these ads are most likely to go away from the site right away without any clicks or anything, and are even far less expected to do any kind of bookmarking on the site with any intention of returning or even recommending it to others. Thus studies often reveal that an animated banner ad can even be less effective than a stationary ad on a web page.