Web design solutions for small business » Internet

A Web Ring

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:48:48 +0000

Using the web to search for information can often cause a few problems. Performing keyword searched when using search engines usually brings about results which include redundant and unrelated links. Frequently, you have to sift through these results in order to get to the websites that actually contain the information that you are looking for.

One particular alternative to search engines that more and more web surfers are turning to is web rings. A web ring in general is a collection of websites from around the Internet joined together in a circular structure. When used to improve search engine rankings, web rings can be considered a search engine optimization technique. It is a free service and available to anyone with Internet connection.

Each web ring is started by an individual owner and is then organized into major categories. Owners are allowed to either accept or reject requests by web site owners to join the web ring. Web sites included in the ring contain navigational controls for movement within the ring. A central web ring controls web ring navigation. The server helps to prevent dead ends from breaking the ring by automatically forwarding a web surfer on to the next offered web site in a ring.

Once a site is in the ring and it contains the type of information a web surfer likes, there is a really good chance that the rest of the web sites in the ring will also include content that is acceptable by the surfer.

About CODANK Web Design

CODANK is a top rated Web Design and Internet Marketing firm located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services.

For more information, visit us at www.codank.com

Is Small Business Web Design Different to Larger Companies?

admin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 07:35:33 +0000

If you’re ready to develop your own website and online presence, of course you are thinking about getting your own specific needs met. After all, there is an infinite array of options for a website, and you want to end up with an online presence that’s a great representation of your company, what you do and indeed your entire brand. Knowing this, is web design different for small businesses and larger companies?

The answer is a resounding yes, web design is different for small businesses and larger companies. Companies of different sizes are going to have very different needs when it comes to their web design.

A small business may have a website with only a handful of pages, providing basic information and encouraging visitors to call for more information. A large business may have hundreds of pages on their website, and they may have a design that allows for secure online transactions. Of course these are just two potential end results, but the point is that the size and type of company that you run has a major bearing on how your online presence should end up appearing.

You also have to remember that your online presence isn’t that different from any other aspect of your total advertising and marketing plan. Would a small business take on the same media campaign as a large company? Would they advertise in the same ways, promote themselves as being similar or spend the same amount of money to reach a goal? The answer to all of these questions is no, and so it holds that with web design, small companies and larger companies have very different needs and desires, and will go about satisfying them in different ways.

Knowing all of this, when you’re ready to get on board with a web design agency, you want to find a company to work with that has experience working with companies that are like yours. That means companies of the same size and companies that fall into similar industries. Web designers with experience dealing with similar companies will be more familiar with your needs already, and will be more likely to produce an excellent end product.

The web design that you end up choosing will in many ways reflect your business and your status. After all, your website isn’t a standalone project, it’s a piece of your brand, and with the ever-growing importance of the Internet, it’s a large piece of your brand. Therefore you need to be consistent with your approach between offline and online representation and you need to find a web design that meshes with your image.

Without a doubt, there are major differences between small business web design and large company web design. It’s much more than the number of pages you have on your site, it’s the types of online services you provide, the style or image you project with your online presence and more. Find a web designer that works with companies of the same size as yours and you will be more likely to achieve success.

Design Flaws to Avoid

admin — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:10:55 +0000

A good web designer knows there are certain things that you just shouldn’t ever do to a website. Some of them have to do with loading times and others are just faux pas and will turn visitors away from your website. The problem is that many websites out there are outdated and thus display many of these qualities. Also, many websites have been designed by the owner of the company using a free design tool or by an inexperienced amateur who, while they may know some things, isn’t a seasoned web designer with a team of designers behind him or her. Does your website have these basic flaws?

Slow loading graphics or videos. The Internet is where people go to see what they want and when they want. If you are holding them back by posting a high-resolution video of your latest product on your homepage or having intricate logos and banners on every page, visitors will respond by not staying very long. This a web design flaw seen in websites from the previous “web generation.”

Browser Compatibility. Firefox reads different than Internet Explorer reads different than Safari reads different than Google Chrome reads different than Opera reads different than… well you get the point. There are tons of browsers out there and you don’t want to chance leaving some of your viewers out! Do plenty of testing with the biggest browsers and you should be covered if all looks the same with each browser.

Grammar or Spelling Mistakes. It seems simple this is actually something that turns me away from a website almost immediately.

Too Many Colors or Fonts. It’s definitely ok to integrate visual appeal into your web design and pretty fonts and colors are a great way to do it. I’m writing about the website that uses eight fonts on one page, all of them a different color. In my opinion, once you get more than three fonts or colors, you are out of the design theme and that’s when the clashing begins.

There are definitely many other common mistakes that web designers make… maybe we’ll see more in the future here. My suggestion is to look for these in your current website design or consider all of these as you plan for a new website. CODANK of Charlotte, NC can help you makeover your obsolete or otherwise outdated website. Call for a free quote.

Website Design for Small Businesses

admin — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:49:48 +0000

Website Design for Small Businesses

Designing for any online business is a vital and serious issue as it says a lot about the business, its owners and product or services. It is the thing which keeps a customer on a website and its easiness compels and convinces him to buy a product. So it’s important to have a professional look.

No doubt launching a website for small business is a hilly task. To achieve it you better do some research on your needs; the site purpose, the target audience and finally look for skilled website designers, developers and graphic designers or a designing company. There are many different website design companies, offering different facilities. However for gaining an effective internet presence what should be the look of site of small businesses? This article will guide you in understanding the structure for your site specific design. Keep this article as a reference point. When you go through the process of development then check out each part to have an effective web site for your products and services in accordance with your target audience.

Choosing web designer- Don’t go by the cheap web design. This will certainly diminish your professional image among potential customers other than financial losses. To have a professional web design, don’t compare web designers by their price; always look at your requirements regarding the type of service, internet marketing and updates you needs w.r.t. growth.

Domain Name

Choose simple, short and relevant domain name for your site. Don’t get settle down on anything to get your web space as every word on your web site has relevancy in its success. Being a serious online venture you should register it for at least two years. You can get your own domain name by paying as little as $ 17-18 for 2 year registration with ICANN approved sites such as Register . You can find out if the name you want is still available by using the free search tool on the sites.

Web Hosting

Web hosting can be obtained free of cost from content portal sites such as Yahoo! Geocities . Such sites invite users to establish Web sites on their domain in order to create a critical mass of core content on their online property. The user does not have to pay for service because it is subsidized by banner advertising. As they do not charge, they offer limited service depth and relative quality. They do not even provide customized hosting services where domain names are personalized.

So, avoid getting lured by the free hosting providers as nothing is really free. It mostly retards the downloading speed of web pages. Even avoid messing around with small time web hosting. Affiliate yourself with a reputable company that provides top-notch service and have the resources to provide fast and reliable servers.

Text Content

Content of the site deserves utmost attention as it’s the words that people read, it’s the words that call people to action, and it’s the words that sell. The rest also helps, but a site with poor content is an as bad as a site without any words.

Keywords

Order to end up high on search engine use the relevant keywords and place them accordingly on a web page. The number of times each word appears on a web page is the factors that determine how high you end up in search results.

Regarding resolution

Sure that your pages should work at any resolution, from 800×600 to 1280×1024 and beyond. Currently the most widely used screen size is 1024 x 768. Of course, the general guideline is to optimize for your target audience’s most common resolution, so the size will change in the future. You shall see the statistics for the month of January for the last 2 years provided by w3schools seem to reflect the general trend we are seeing on the Web.

Year Higher 1024 x 768 800 x 600 640x 480 Unknown

2007(January) 26% 54% 14% 0% 6%

2006(January) 17% 57% 20% 0% 6%

It’s always safer to keep your web site at less than 750 pixels wide as you don’t want to alienate your visitors by having them scroll to see the whole page. Make sure that that your web pages show up the same in all web browsers.

HTML Tags

You will have to make sure that your title, description, and keyword meta tags are bang on with the text on each web page you build. The linking structure of your website should have to be good as it’s easy for the visitors as well the search robots to understand the details. All of your optimized pages must be linked from the home page itself.

Graphics

It’s good to place web graphics in context with the information being presented. If you have product descriptions on your web site, then you should have the related graphic depiction next to them. Avoid using graphic that has no any relation with your text. Overusing graphics will only make the site look amateur. Make sure if you use web graphics as links that they work at all times. There is nothing worse than clicking on a graphic that does not work.

Conclusion

Basic tips for small business website are just the tip of the iceberg. You should also have to provide correct contact information plus regular updating w.r.t. your products; which I already explain in detail in my earlier articles. Web design can make or break your business. So always remember to create a site that is appealing and easy to navigate.

Your website should be like an investment and for that you are certainly going to receive a return.

About the Author

Alex Roderick

The Author is the owner of a web site design Company, and providing Web Design and Development Solutions to clients across USA and UK for affordable and sensible prices.

Web Design and Hosting Mistakes

admin — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:39:33 +0000

Small businesses new to the Internet often tend to make the same mistakes when trying to establish their online presence. CODANK Charlotte Web Design suggests that you conduct thorough research before embarking on any web site design or hosting projects for your company in order to avoid these common mistakes.

Below are a few web design and hosting mistakes that are common:

Placing too many pictures and animations on your website

Try to refrain from cluttering your company’s website with too many images and pictures. Search engine crawlers are not able to collect enough information to index your web site if you do not have text. Do not get wrapped up in having a nice looking site and forget about the content.

Ignoring bandwidth restrictions

Do not place large files, documents, or photos for visitors to view because it will make it difficult to navigate around the web site. Pictures take up more bandwidth than text does.

Not focusing on Search Engine Optimization

The most seen mistake is when a company builds a web site that ignores search engine needs. Be sure to hire a SEO professional who is qualified to help you take advantage of this great marketing tool.

Lack of a business plan

Construct a definite business plan and stick with it from beginning to end. Even if your progress starts off slowly, do not abandon the plan. Each element will help your company in the long run.

Be sure to define your target market and invest in advertising that will properly grab their attention.

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

10 Basic Components That Every Small Business Website Needs

admin — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 07:54:29 +0000

10 REQUIRED WEBSITE COMPONENTS

Be sure that you have the basics covered prior to launching a new web site or implementing new features to your website. Below are 10 basic components that every business website should have. This will ensure that your website has a solid foundation to build upon.

1. PAGE TITLES

Every page on your website should include a title that describes the content on that page. This is important for search engine optimization, as one of the items that search engines considers when ranking your page is the page title. Also, having descriptive page titles will increase usability. Your visitors may have more than one web page open or decide to bookmark your page, therefore you want to ensure that your page title accurately reflects the content of the page.

2. META KEYWORDS

Your web pages should include a “meta keyword” area that provides a listing of keywords that accurately describe of the content on the page. TIP: Select the keywords that you want the web page to rank for in search engine results. Although several of the top search engines are increasingly placing less importance on this area, there are still some secondary search engines that will consider your keyword listing when determining your search engine placement. The meta keywords statement is placed in the header area of your website. If you are working with a designer or webmaster, speak with them about updating this area.

3. META DESCRIPTION

Your web pages should include a “meta description” area that provides search engines with an accurate description of the content on the page. Ensure that the meta description tags are descriptive, brief and contain your relative keywords. Some search engines will use the meta description tag to describe your site when it appears in search engine results.

4. PROFESSIONALLY DESIGNED WEB PAGES

Reputable small business websites have attractive, well designed and well functioning user interfaces. Compare your website to the top websites of competing companies in your industry. If you do not feel that your website is professional or portrays an accurate representation of your brand, you should consider a redesign. Businesses with poorly designed or ineffective websites are often judged as unprofessional or untrustworthy. A small business website does not need to be overly designed or display all of the latest, hot new technologies, but you should ensure that your website does not convey an unprofessional image. Also, remember that professional designed pages should be properly coded (validated) and not include errors or other issues that will prevent the page from displaying properly and functioning as intended.

5. CONTACT FORM

A contact link should be on every page of your website. You want to ensure that your visitors can contact you easily with their questions or comments. Keep the form simple. You will want to allow space for the visitor to input their feedback or question and you will also need a method for responding to them (their email address). If you include too many fields on the contact form, you may discourage the visitor from connecting with you. Only gather the information that you need to effectively answer their question or respond to their feedback.

6. EFFECTIVE NAVIGATION

Is your website navigation effective? Your visitors should be able to quickly find the information they need without effort. When reviewing your navigation, ensure that the link titles are obvious. Try not to be too creative with the website navigation. The link titles used should reflect the terms that your customers use when describing your product or service.

7. WEBSITE ANALYTICS

You should have access to your website statistics. I recommend that every small business website owner install Google Analytics on their website pages. The Google Analytics application provides detailed statistics on your website traffic. You will need this information as you monitor your website marketing efforts. Also, website analytics can reveal very helpful information about what’s working and (most importantly) what’s not working for people that visit your site.

8. CALL TO ACTION

The average new website visitor remains on a site for less than 10 seconds. If you main objective is to gain new subscribers, sell more widgets or register more event attendees, allocate a prominent area on your website to display your “call to action”. This is the area where you are asking your visitors to “do something”. Be sure to indicate the benefit of taking this action; don’t simply demand that they “buy now”, “subscribe now” or “attend this event”. Indicate a few brief benefits to taking the action and also provide a link to provide more detail about the product, service or event.

9. CUSTOMER FOCUSED CONTENT

Ensure that you are providing the information that your customers want and need in a clear and concise manner. The average new website visitor remains on a site for less than 10 seconds. You don’t have much time to convince visitors to buy a product or service, subscribe to a newsletter or attend an event. Visitors that are new to your site should be able to determine who you are and what’s service/product or information you’re providing in less than 10 seconds. If the navigation area is effective, they should be able to access all of the supporting information that they will need to make a decision on whether to continue a business relationship with you and your company.

10. A METHOD FOR STAYING CONNECTED

If you have a business website, you will need a method for staying connected to people that want to be notified of product/service specials, new company news, upcoming events and other changes relevant to your business. There are many methods for building a listing of people that want to stay informed about your business. Two popular options are RSS feeds and email newsletters. You can use either tool to build a listing of customers and potential customers that want to learn more about your service. This strategy also increases your repeat visitor rate, as you will have an opportunity to call previous visitors back to your website. Be sure to inform your visitors regarding how often they can expect to hear from you (ex: monthly, daily, weekly, or as new information comes in). Also be sure to explicitly indicate if you have any plans to redistribute their email addresses for other purposes or to other companies (NOT recommended).

Traditional vs. Web Mail

admin — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:15:19 +0000

One of the most useful and innovative web applications that is beginning to create a buzz is Web Mail. The application (which is used on the Internet) allows it users to access, send, receive and manage their email all through a web browser.

The great thing about web mail is the ability to access your email from almost any computer around the world, as long as you have an Internet connection and web browser.

The difference between traditional electronic mail and web mail is that with traditional mailing the messages are stored on an email client’s one computer while web mail allows access from anywhere via the Internet. Users are attracted to this benefit a lot more than any other.

Web mail is becoming very popular within many technology companies including search engines and portals. A few of the more popular web mail services available include:

Yahoo! Mail Google Gmail Hotmail AT&T

All of these service providers offer web mail for free. They tend to do this in order to encourage their users to keep coming back to their web site.

Advantages of Web Mail

Email stored centrally Registration is fast and free Multiple email addresses can be created for one user Large storage capacity

Disadvantages of Web Mail

Online accessibility Advertisements Spam and security problems

Numerous web mail users check their email on a daily basis. The more a user visits a specific site the more revenue a company such as Google and Yahoo can make off of advertisements.

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Web Page Tagging

admin — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 08:38:17 +0000

A great and effective way to make certain that your small business or company’s website appears on the result pages of search engines, such as Google and MSN, is to use site tags. Even though Pay-Per-Click campaigns and keywords are just as important, HTML tags tend to do a little more.

HTML, which stands for Hyper Text Markup Language, is the main markup language for all web pages.

HTML elements are tags, as well as text, which act as guides to a web browser as to how the document is to be interpreted by the browser and ultimately displayed on a user’s computer screen.

Search Engine Optimization involves appropriate and well-written content. This same content is important because it deals with the user interface portion, while HTML elements involve the crawler-face portion. A website and its SEO ranking depend solely on the behind the scenes tagging of the different pages. Viewers do not see the HTML’s, but without them they would never see the page at all.

Proper HTML and title tags help inform a search engine a lot more about a site than written content within a website. Search engine spiders and crawlers use these tags for determining the web page topic. There are many aspects to tagging a website, so businesses are suggested to hire web designers and Search Engine Optimization professionals who are experts in this field.

HTML Examples

…

…

…

Elements may represent headings, paragraphs, hypertext links, lists, embedded media, and a variety of other structures.

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Small Business Websites

admin — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 08:14:43 +0000

No matter what industry you are in, your web presence should be important to you. Whether you are running a construction business, law firm, day care, or a talent agency, having a good website will keep you ahead of the pack and help you to look more respectable than your competition. As always, more and more companies, smaller and smaller, are showing up on the Internet. Here are some good reasons to make sure you are advertising yourself on the Internet and some tips on how to do just that.

Just like every other cost associated with your business, you want to make sure that you are saving as much money as possible and getting the best value for your money. This is becoming especially easy with commonly available resources and free web development tools. Reading web design blogs just like this one is a great start for a better business. Unlike the web design of yesterday, business owners are able to build and edit their own content to some degree and a multitude of free tools are surfacing. My personal favorite resource is Google. I’ve featured Google’s Adwords and Keyword Tools before, as I am very impressed with what they are doing. Searching the net for what you need will almost always surprise you pleasantly when you can find so many free resources at your disposal.

For those of you with fewer resources, there are still plenty of great options. Though your business may not be ready to invest in a high dollar website, you can still have a functional presence on the web. There are many companies that provide you web hosting and provide a free site-building tool. These are typically very limited but easy to use. This type of thing would definitely be for the small business that needs a web presence now and wants to wait to invest in a solid website and good content. Keep in mind that having a good website design is of utmost importance and is almost always worth the investment.

Running a small business is understandably stressful. Trying to add technology and its learning curve to the mix just makes things more complicated. Fortunately, it’s becoming easier and easier to get yourself on the web. With all sorts of free tools and inexpensive, temporary solutions to more expensive, permanent issues, you should be ready to have a web presence right now. CODANK is your full-service web development company. Do everything here or just host your website for now, one thing is for sure, CODANK is here to help you.

Web 2.0 and How to Make Use of it

admin — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 10:36:11 +0000

Web 2.0 refers to the supposed second generation of web technology. This means everything from blogs and Facebook to interactive flash based web design. With this new wave of web development and web design comes a whole new mess of tools and technology to exploit for your business. Lets survey some of the tools considered to be a part of web 2.0 and how they are used.

Social Networking – Your most common options here are Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Twitter and possibly even LinkedIn for an ecommerce approach. These sites allow different people to exchange communication through the website and create “friendships” by making and accepting friend requests. How can this be valuable to your business? The logic here is to link businesses to consumers and consumers to businesses. If consumer B sees that consumer A is “friends” with or is interested in Business A, then consumer B is more likely to accept your company. It’s not always this simple as most users are turned off by an obvious ploy to get a consumer’s dollar. While this is sometimes difficult to achieve, this is where the most important 18-25 year olds are found so it is most likely worth the investment.

RSS Feeds – RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, feeds are basically the easiest way to upload frequently updated content such as blogs, news, articles, or audio/video. This gives your users a way to stay connected with your website and makes them feel connected to your business. If you are constantly posting fresh content that is valuable to your potential customers, they will want to stay up to date with what you have going on and if you give them the option to subscribe to your content as an RSS feed, it will only be easier for them.

Various widgets – There are many different Web 2.0 widgets and applications. One that almost every person has heard of and likely used is Google Maps. Countless companies are implementing Google’s brilliance on their websites and helping their potential customers find their place of business. “Bookmark This” is another good example of a popular widget. This is an application that allows you to create a button for users to share the content on your webpage, subscribe to the content, or simply bookmark it. For the record, these are just two of the countless tools out there for free. Search Google for web 2.0 applications or web 2.0 widgets. You won’t be disappointed.

Even though Web 2.0 can be complicated and overwhelming, it is just another part of our ever-changing technology that you are going to have to keep up with if you plan on keeping a good reputation. Social Networking, blogs, RSS feeds, and other tools are just some of the examples and there are always going to be more and more new developments to be a part of your business.