Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Features Of Effective Navigation In Web Design Service

Navigation is one of the integral aspects in web designing service. With mediocre graphics and customary designing elements easy-to-navigate websites win better credibility among the targeted visitors. In the following paragraphs, we will discuss certain basic features of effective navigation in web design service.

It's Visitor First The core principle of user-friendly navigation is that the design should be in accordance to the visitors' convenience. Do not prioritize on the look and feel of the website and sacrifice the navigation for it. Avoid using your industry jargons or classification titles as in the navigation bars, as this might drive away your visitors.

Navigation is the tool that helps the visitors to explore the entire website and it is astute navigation designing technique that might empower your credibility and entice your end-users.

Provide Multiple Options for Navigation Every single visitor has his own way of surfing a website and therefore it is wise to provide multiple navigation options for the targeted visitors. This will enable the visitors to navigate through the website at their ease.

Don't Leave Visitors in Blank Navigation of a webpage should provide a clear idea to the visitors about the exact location in the webpage. Simply think of a situation: you have just landed in a new city and need to reach the destination with the help of a map. At such scenario, a hand-drawn map might be the right guide to take you to your destination and you need a proper map lay-out to contemplate your present position and discover the roads to reach your destination. This fundamental is also applicable in navigation design.

Navigation History Providing navigation history to help the visitors keep track of the pages they have previously is another key thing. Your website's navigation should preferably appear in hypertext rather than graphical form. Hypertext actually changes the color of links that have already been clicked. While purple is the standard color for the clicked ones, blue is the hypertext color of the non-clicked ones. You need to keep more of navigation in the hypertext to help the users know the places which have been already navigated.

Do Not Mislead As an entrepreneur, you should never ask the visitors to perform something that seems difficult or impossible to them. For instance, never lead them to false navigation paths, or make them fill up the web-form same as the length of full-grown Anaconda or ask them to fill in their ancestral details. Do not annoy the visitors by allowing those pop-ups to appear on the screens or use distracting colors and animations in the WebPages. The rule of thumb is to follow a minimalist and simplest approach and craft a lay-out that not only appeases the visitors visually as well as enrich their experience.

Navigation can be simple as well as complex and it varies from one website to the other. There are no preset rules for organizing the navigation as it will vary as per the functional needs and requirements of the site. As a matter of fact, designing the navigation is an art in itself, and the web designers actually develop their skills after gaining experience.

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How to Build an Online Store: Leading Online Shoppers to the Checkout in 60 Seconds

The 3-second Rule

In building your own ecommerce website, make sure you get a good first impression from your hard-earned visitors. You know very well that you have spent a lot of time and marketing budget in order for you to get a visitor for your website; you might as well make a good impression to get a good business going.

• Website Download Speed

Is your website loading too slow, fast, or just good enough? Online shoppers are known to be in a hurry and according to one research at Jupiter Research: users having a fast online connection only wait two to four seconds for an ecommerce website to load. If your online store loads too slowly, chances are fat that your customers will have a bad impression on your site and may not continue to browse your pages.

• Shoppers can Clearly Understand what You are Selling Them

The good use of colors and graphic designs promote a clearer visual idea to shoppers that they can already tell what you are selling them in the first three seconds-making them convinced that they are in the right place or not. Capture their attention in the header graphic designs that make them want to proceed to the next step in online shopping right away.

Maintaining that Good First Impression

• Doors to Landing Pages in the Home Page

Sliding images in the top fold and just below the header to promote sale, discounts, and new items in store are used as doors to landing pages and product pages as they are linked to them. Also, the website navigation menu that links to the products pages is also gateways for online shoppers to reach to the products that they want. The Search Tool is also another doorway to reach a specific product right away as they can readily type a product or brand name and reach to the individual shopping pages. Once in the landing page, online shoppers can readily use the online shopping cart or the checkout button for a great shopping experience.

• Online Shopping Cart

There are many shopping cart software solutions that are available today. The one that stands out is the one that provides online users the best kind of information and usability in the most organized way possible. The products pages should have images of the actual products available with its brand name, product name, product code, and price. Users should be able to go to the individual product pages to get more information about the products they are interested in. The shopping cart aids the online shoppers in the shopping process by allowing users to edit the quantity of goods, choose the color they like (if there are color variations), choose the size of the product, and place the item inside the cart while they continue shopping.

• Checkout Process

When online shoppers are ready to checkout, they should be given the complete details on how much they are supposed to pay including shipping fees and taxes. Flexible modes of payment are also necessary as this allow shoppers to pay via the method in which they are most comfortable with. Related products and services should also be presented in the checkout process as this will shoot up your sales in a day. However, you need to keep them less distracting for your clients by way of placing them below the payment button and in gallery type.

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What You Should Do First Before Putting Up Your Website

As a WordPress website designer I get quite a few clients that need me to either build their site for them (not having a site to begin with) or update their current website (give their site a makeover). My number one question to my clients is always what will be the purpose of your site. It's sad to say but most people get stumped when I ask this question. Their response is usually "So I can make money" or " I was told I need a web presence". These are all pretty okay answers when you are just starting out, but in order for you to really succeed on the web you must define the purpose of your website. How can you give me directions if you don't know your destination?

Where Would You like to Go?

Have you ever jumped in a cab to go to a friend house only to realize that you really don't know that area? And the worst part is your cab driver doesn't now either. I don't take cabs much anymore and that's because every single cab I get into the driver has no clue as to where I need to go. I can give him the address but he still doesn't know what I'm talking about. Well good thing we have GPS systems now right? No!! Whatever happened to the cab drivers that are so familiar with the area that they can get you there and your total cost will be $5 as oppose to $25 because we needed to follow the GPS. The worst part is if you are not familiar with where you are going you can be literally around the corner from your destination but spend more and more time (which add up to money) trying to get to the other side of the street (Yes this has happened to me and I was very frustrated). So as the driver of your business it is very important that you share with your web designer what it is you would like your site to do for you?

How to figure out your destination?

Most of my clients are completely baffled when I ask them the purpose of their site and because of this I ask them a few questions that help me to give them the proper design based on their needs and these answers also provides clarity for them when it comes to developing their marketing plan.

Below are a list of questions that you should ask yourself prior to building your site or prior to giving it a makeover

What Kind of site am I building? - Is this an online store, blog, or a membership site. You may have all these components in your site but it's important for your web designer to know upfront so it doesn't cost you more when you make changes later on. What are the goal(s) for my site? - Depending on your industry you may need your site to do one thing or a few things. The amount of subscribers or followers may be important to you. Having people comment on your blog post may be important. Or making sure people know that you know your sh(oops) stuff. Or all of the above. Whatever it is it's important to know so that your sight can be successful at getting the results you need. What do you want your site to say about you, your business, and/or your brand? - When people come to your site what do you want them to grasp from visiting, how do you want them to respond? Who is your site for? - Keep in mind your audience. Are they moms, professionals, business owners? Are they creative people or technical. Knowing your audience and their needs can help you build a site that is user friendly and easy to navigate (two important concepts for your website).

Action Step:

If you are looking to create a website or already have one take some time to go through these questions and think about the purpose of your site. Then I want you to ask yourself this one questions "Does your site reflect it's purpose?" Come back here and comment below so we can engage in a conversation. You never know, one of you may be picked for a free site review.

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Web Design And Domain Names

Have you ever heard about famous people having to buy their own names to get a website? It happens all the time. As soon as a wannabe celebrity gets noticed, some enterprising person will purchase all of the domain names that could be associated with that person's name. Then when that celebrity wants to get their own website, they have to buy their name - usually at an inflated cost.

ARE YOU FAMOUS? Now, this only works if you're famous. For instance, if you type in "General Motors", one of the top results will be the official GM website. If you type in "Barack Obama" or "Mitt Romney", one of the first sites you'll see listed is the official one.

However, if you are not famous, there is no point in using your name, or the name of your company, as your domain name. That's because nobody will look for you - it's just a fact. If you WANT a domain name all your own for the fun of it, that's one thing. But, most people developing a web site are doing it to make money, and that means customers have to find you. That means you have to get a domain name that people look for.

WHAT DO YOUR CUSTOMERS WANT? What do you sell? If you sell services, what are the most trafficked keywords for those services? THOSE are the domain names you need to pursue. So if you are an exterminator in the San Francisco Bay area, look for domain names using keywords based on that service: pest control San Francisco Bay, exterminators San Francisco Bay, San Francisco Bay pest control, tec. Chances are, most of them have been bought. However, if you'll go to an online domain auction, you can often find the domain names you want. Domain registries will have many domains that are sitting dormant. After a period of time, if the owner doesn't do anything with the domain, the registrar will auction off the name.

You may have to pay a little more for an auctioned domain, but it will make a big difference in your traffic.

CONSIDER MULTIPLES Is there commonly a plural and a singular of your service? For example: exterminator San Francisco Bay, exterminators San Francisco Bay. You may want to have more than one domain name, and link them all to your website. You can really get tangled up in this, so don't stress over it. But, you may want to get a domain name in your company's name, too, just to be sure that when someone DOES type in your company name, they get your website. So, when they type in "XYZ Exterminators", or San Francisco Bay exterminators, they go to the same place.

CONSIDER MULTIPLE EXTENSIONS You may also want all three of the international extensions: ".com", ".net", and ".org". If yours is a strictly commercial site, this may be unnecessary. Most people automatically type in the ".com" extension, However, if your site will have ".net" or ".org" development, you need to be prepared for that.

Care with your domain names is vital for successful web design. Don't be afraid to spend a little money on this one.

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What Should You Learn About How To Start A Blog?

Many people today have heard that starting a blog is a good way to attract attention to their website, but some people just don't know how to start a blog correctly. They set up a blog through some of the free blogging platforms, like WordPress or BlogSpot, but they are frustrated because there is no quality traffic finding it. Sales are not reflecting the effort put into posting frequently to the site. Do you really know the best way to start a blog?

Not everyone understands how to create a blog that is optimized for success, and that is what this article is intended to address. Sit back, relax, it's not your fault. You just need to acquire the skills needed to get this done right, and then you will see some success. We all start out something new with something to learn, so consider this a place to get the information you need to get started on the right foot.

The first thing you have to do is identify the keywords that your targeted audience is using when they search. Google has a free keyword tool, and it will help you find some great keywords. Keywords are described as being a reference point from which you can find information pertaining to something you are looking for. People type keywords into the search bar on browsers to locate things they are interested in. the right keywords will have them coming to your site more often.

As you are learning to create a successful blog, you will notice that Google's keyword tool will also make suggestions for other keywords that you might want to use. An example of that would be if you typed in "blogging" into the tool you will probably find other options such as "free blogs" and "make a blog" or "how to create a blog."

As you locate quality keywords to use on your blog, the next step is to include those keywords in an article and post it on your blog. Then turn that post into an article and submit it to numerous article directories with a link to the blog you have created in the resource box.

One more thing that you should know about how to start a blog is that posting videos on your blog is another great way to attract attention to your site. Videos rank better on Google, and by wisely selecting the keywords it is possible to be found on the front page.

The more people finding their way to your blog means better chances for you to sell more products, and that is a joyful thing.

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User Experience Is the Key to Attain a Perfect Graphic Design

Tried booking a movie ticket online? Now just try and recall the entire experience. Take for an instance: you logon to BookmyShow.com, select the region, movie and date. Next, you select the cinema hall and particular show time. Choose the desired class and quantity of tickets you want to purchase. Then you'll proceed to seat selection. You would proceed to making payment thereafter. This page would give you the list of exciting offers on some of the credit card purchase.

So, if you are using any of the listed credit cards, you can grab a deal to save a sum of money. Once you make the payment, you get the instant ticket confirmation (via an e-mail and a text message on your mobile phone) and then you checkout.

The entire process revolves around creating an exciting and a pleasant user experience. Talking about the above mentioned example, what makes you remember this experience?Well, it is certainly the ability of your memory that enables you memorize things, events, experiences... and things get registered in our memory in as quickly as 2-3 seconds.

So that means once a user visits your website, you have only 2-3 seconds to impress the user at the first instance. Also, we may not be able to remember everything bit-by-bit. We certainly remember things in bits and pieces which when joined together become an experience.

Ok, now the question is what are the essentials of enhancing the user experience?

1. Page design

A simple yet attractive design is an ever green formula to entice your users. Your website should not be cluttered with any unwanted element. It should simple and informative for the end users.

2. Out-of-the-box

Modern users are always keen to accept something new and exciting which they've never seen or experienced earlier. Just focus on the "WOW" element. An immediate expression of wow can help you steal the show.

3. Alignment of proper graphics and text

Both the text and graphics should be aligned so as to make the page as presentable as possible. Also, selection of the words should be in lines with the expectations of the users i.e. words and phrases that the users can relate themselves with.

4. Story Telling

Just like any story, focus on the beginning and the end of the story while paying importance to the main highlights. Talking in terms of the website, there should be an element of attention at the top and bottom of the web page. And the USPs and other call-to-actions should be highlighted.

A great website is all about offering great user experience. And a perfect graphic web design depends on how well you marry the above mentioned factors in your design structure.

Providing Good User Experience   The Responsive Web Design   Designing and Creating Effective Landing Pages   7 Navigation System Elements Your Website Should Have   Hire Java Developers With Experience in Top 10 Java Frameworks   

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