Color is everywhere and conveys a message even if we don’t realize it. While this message can vary by culture it pays to know what colors “say” in your own corner of the universe, and even what color means to your target market.
If you don’t think that color speaks just complete this sentence, “red means ---- and green means –“ even a child will know what red means stop and green means go. If such simple ideas work for all of a given culture or market what could it mean to the graphic design of your website, brochure, or product if you know some of this information.
First let’s start with the basics. The color wheel. We’ve all seen it. The color wheel shows the basic colors, each wheel is different in how many shades of each color is shown, but they are essentially the same.
Color harmony, colors that go together well. These will be colors that are next door to each other on the color wheel. Such as blue and green. In reference to clothes these colors match each other. Instinctively most of us know which colors go together when we dress ourselves every morning.
Color complements, colors that set each other off, they complement each other. These are colors that are opposite on the color wheel. Such as blue and orange.
Color depth, colors can recede or jump forward. Remember that some colors seem to fall back such as blue, black, dark green, and brown. Other colors will seem to step forward such as white, yellow, red, and orange. This is why if you have a bright orange background it may seem to fight with any text or images that you place on it. The orange will always seem to move forward.
Now you have the basics so let’s go further. Just because to colors go together or complement each other doesn’t mean that yo necessarily want to use them on your project. I opened this article with the meaning of colors now here is an example, keep in mind this is one example from western culture.
Color Survey: what respondents said colors mean to them.
Happy = Yellow Inexpensive = Brown
Pure = White Powerful = Red (tomato)
Good Luck = green Dependable = Blue
Good tasting = Red (tomato) High Quality = Black
Dignity = Purple Nausea = Green
Technology = Silver Deity = White
Sexiness = Red (tomato) Bad Luck = Black
Mourning = Black Favorite color = Blue
Expensive = Gold Least favorite color = Orange
So in designing your project it’s important to know what colors mean. You can now see why a black back ground with green type would be bad, beyond being nearly impossible to read, if your target market thinks that black represents mourning and green makes them sick. There are exceptions to every rule of course.
So you may want to include some research in what colors mean to your target market. Colors that would get the attention of a teen would probably annoy an older person and the colors that appeal to the older person wouldn’t get a second look from a young person.
Color may be one of the most overlooked aspects of design.
|W|P|114568894170803910|W|P|Graphic Design Using Color|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comMy mother used to take me along when she visited an old lady down a cobbled lane who had a crystal ball on her dining room table and a pack of playing cards. My mother was superstitious and really believed a lot of what she was told by the old lady. She wanted to know what the future held not only for herself but for me, her only little boy. I was about five or six years old at the time, and used to gaze at the reflected images upon the crystal ball of the sunlit window behind me and the lace curtains, although the old lady would place her hands at either side of the crystal ball and say that she could see the future and told of what she saw, I could only see the reflection of that window with the lace curtains. The old lady was either a genuine medium or was just guessing what my mother wanted to hear to keep her coming back for more of the same, and make herself a small income to supplement her pension.
We all of us are seekers of knowledge to enhance our lives and most of us would admit we are a little superstitious but may not believe that anyone could foretell the future. If we really needed to know the future as regards our business, in particular, we would look at 'trends', and facts and figures on charts and graphs, so we may be able to predict where our business is going, we none of us would trust in an old lady with a crystal ball. If we wanted to be successful in business we would arm ourselves with sufficient knowledge to make it happen, and where else to look for knowledge but on the internet where all manner of business books are online, written by experienced business people who have 'been there-done that'.
The internet is the first place people now go to find something out, whether it be for personal use or for business use, for there is a mind-boggling explosion of knowledge on the internet, most of which we are never going to read, simply because we would need to live to 900 years old to be able to find the time and that's supposing no more knowledge gets added in the meantime. In that 900 years, inevitably, a lot of the information will go out of date, so we need to live another 900 years to catch up on the 'updates'. This could go on forever, for there would always be more knowledge coming along we need to keep track of.
Yes, the internet is a wonderful depository of knowledge, the knack of using it to full advantage is to keep trawling and discovering new web sites and then having found some we like, for fresh new content, regular updates, etc., bookmark them in your browser, so you can find them again.
None of us are going to live to 900 years, so we need to maximize our time on the internet, for there are approximately three billion web pages indexed by Google, and more are being added every minute of every day, even while you have been reading this.
|W|P|114568886938372461|W|P|Through The Looking Glass|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comFirst you need original content. Content is the heart beat of any exceptional Web site. The ability to take a common subject and give it some interest and originality is a rare talent,but necessary to keep visitors coming back. Add a dash of humor, be sure to update once or twice a month and look out, you're on your way.
Second you need, great graphics. If your graphics are properly used they can greatly enhance a web site and it's content. However, if you overuse or they take forever to load, you will drive visitors away before they even see the content. The irony here is that just about anyone can make decent graphics and expensive programs are not required.
Third, you need a good presentation. Good Web sites do not keep the user guessing. They make their purpose immediately evident and present an easy to follow navigation system. The content and graphics blend in perfectly with the presentation and following it is a simple matter. You will never find hyperbole or confusion caused by overuse of animated graphics,Java or anything else that will serve to mask the intent and content of the site. Most importantly, a great Web site is run by a competent and knowledgeable Webmaster. One who knows how to seamlessly move the visitors to each level of the site. A great Web site is not a side show, it's a simple (no-need-to-be flashy) library of content. It just does what it is supposed to do and leaves the hoopla behind.
Last, but not least your site needs to be both interactive and proactive. Good web sites are ones that are people conscience.While, yes, the Internet is the cutting edge of technology and all that, remember it's just regular people, like you and I that are using it and will make it what it is in the future. The great web sites are the ones with the developers who not only have all the techno skills, but the people skills to boot. Think about the sites you visit over and over. What keeps you coming back. Useful content. Yes. How about that feeling of belonging. Like someone is actually having a one on one conversation with you. The ability to provide the opportunity to express and contribute is the mark of a superior web developer and what makes a web site one of the great ones.
|W|P|114568880429264374|W|P|4 Things That Make A Web Site Great|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comThe "Wow" factor that accompanied the introduction of streaming media on the Web has long passed, and the technology now has to prove itself to marketers. Its' acceptance by advertisers, in conjunction with other rich media technologies, is on the upswing, but it's still not widely used to enhance commercial sites.
Companies trying to do business on the Internet are bombarded with marketing advice. Go to your target market. Promote your brand. Develop a web "community." Publish a Zine. All of it, good advice. But shopping carts are still being abandoned at an alarming rate, and conversion has become the most important web statistic.
In the absence of live salespeople, who know how to listen and focus in on the customers' desires, businesses on the Web must use the technological tools available to replicate that human experience. Streaming is one of those tools.*
Streaming Media is a natural way to motivate purchasing. It can be integrated into your website as a means to help people get over that “hump” when they haven’t been able to see or touch a product. Use it to calm customers’ nerves, build their trust in your company, and to keep their excitement about your service alive.
When would streaming media serve visitors' needs on a commercial or business site? Use it for:
*Product Demonstrations - Visuals are powerful and convey product features difficult to explain only in text. Medical devices are great candidates.
*Installation issues - especially for products geared to personal safety such as child car seats - are expertly handled with video.
* Human Resource professionals can use it to enhance corporate Intranets for remote sales forces and clients. Training programs can be stored and viewed by personnel at their convenience. Both audio and video can be used in conjunction with written materials to explain company policies and procedures.
*Streaming slideshows are an economical method of showcasing vacation facilities, business plants, and real estate properties.
*Demystify the shopping experience - use it to navigate the selling process.
*Teachers and coaches of dance, sports and gym activities can highlight their training methods with short demonstration clips.
Many businesses would like to use streaming media but are put off by high production costs. Keep in mind that existing materials might be perfectly suited for current needs. Your streaming provider should be able to assist you with preparing and, if needed, modifying your material.
Streaming media is a very effective and affordable marketing tool. In today's world, where consumers have more purchasing power and choices than ever before, it can be used to make your customers aware of benefits that can't be found elsewhere. And, benefits often turn into sales.
Streaming media should not be used arbitrarily, however. Unless your material is relevant to your visitors and adds perceived value to their purchase, don’t waste your time or theirs. When designing your streaming media presentation, ask yourself what it will accomplish that your current content doesn’t. Will it complement your existing material? Will it be utilized to enhance your offering? Will it provide additional incentive to make your visitor buy?
If you can answer yes to those questions, streaming media should be a strong candidate for your marketing dollars. Use streaming media technology wisely, and it will go a long way to making your business site stand out in a very crowded field.
*What IS streaming? Streaming promises quick access to crucial audio and video content without the aggravating wait for files to download. Downloading requires that files be sent to the user's PC in their entirety before they can be played; MP3 audio is a perfect example of this. The files then remain on the user's machine until they are deleted. Streaming continuously sends these same files, which have already been digitized, to the user's PC while the user is listening or watching. When the stream is ended, no data is left behind on the user's machine.
|W|P|114568874604430581|W|P|Turn Benefits Into Sales with Streaming Media|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comI've written about META tags in the past, and I thought I'd help you expand your search engine optimization efforts and increase your web hits.
Rule #1: META tags always go in between the HEAD tags on your website. Rule #2: NEVER include any line breaks in any META tag!
Most everyone knows the two basic META tags: keywords and description.
Keywords should be in a descending order of importance. Move your most important keywords to the front, and don't repeat yourself (e.g. auto,parts,auto parts,Auto Parts). Keep the list short, to about 25 keywords. If you cater to more than one ethnic group of people, consider keywords in other languages. Lastly, eliminate spaces between the words. Make them "comma" instead of "comma space".
Descriptions should also be kept short and to the point. Around 100-125 characters is about the max usable length. Make sure you use a few important keywords in your description, be informative but brief.
Web designers should include these tags as well:
These three tags may change if you are the owner of the company/website but not the creator. In that case, the first two lines would be about the company owner, while the third should be the creator or the creator's web address.
For visiting robots, you may want to add this line:
Although most robots use the robots.txt file, Google in particular also pays attention to the third item - noarchive. This tells the search engine to index the page, but not to cache it. This comes in handy if you change your page often. Google will then always send the user to the latest version of the page, not one that it cached.
Latly, you may want to consider these two META tags for our wonderful Microsoft-controlled world:
The first turns off a feature in MS Internet Explorer which displays "smart tags", or dynamic links, to your website. These links can actually send the user to your competition's website. Not good!
The imagetoolbar tag prevents Internet Explorer 6+ users from swiping your custom-made graphics by disabling a toolbar. This toolbar is usually displayed by doing a right-click on a graphic and saving it to disk. While people can still swipe your graphics, at least they'll have to go through a little trouble to get it. Hopefully its enough of a deterrant to keep them away.
|W|P|114568857300633917|W|P|So Much About META Tags|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comHow often, men, have you come home to find the living room furniture in different places? Your wife said she was ready for something different, so she moved some things around. It may have been inconvenient at first, but deep inside it felt good to have things a little different at home. Maybe by moving the couch over there it made the room seem bigger. By moving the TV over on that wall gave the room a sense of coziness.
The same can be true for your website. If you are in a rut, and your website isn't bringing in the results you thought it should, maybe a little 'furniture moving' is what you need.
Recently I moved a few things around on my home page. Instead of hitting the customers with an immediate web design and hosting blurb, I put something that caught the user's eye. My newsletter. Now the first thing that a potential client sees on our home page is an offer for FREE tips and specials. Immediately the customer is 'given' something, instead of the same old here's why we are the best. Since moving the newsletter link to the top, we've had a surge of subscribers, more than we've had in the last 6 months.
Moving things around may be good for more than just you. Google watches home pages for stagnant, unchanging information. If your page is not updated regularly, Google (and others) actually figures that into it's vast algorithm that it uses to rank your site among the others. Moving things around can keep your page fresh, and importantly, keep you in the listings.
Be careful, though, that you don't move too much stuff. If you have a login link, moving it may confuse those customers of yours that are used to clicking in the upper right corner to log in. Move that, or change it's color, and some users may simply think you've discontinued that service, or have completely abandoned them. Move with caution.
Have fun with your website. Keep it fun, keep it interesting, and keep it moving!
|W|P|114568846879475021|W|P|Moving Things Around|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comRemember the day that you got your new computer (or the hand-me down from Uncle Larry) and you pulled that shiny case out of the box? Once you finally had all of the cables properly mangled into an unmanageable ball, you powered on, the screen lit up and off you went. The PC was fast, programs loaded in the blink of an eye, and Internet surfing was a breeze. Those were the days.
But now your PC seems to need a walker and a dozen car batteries just to get enough energy to start. Now you can turn the PC on, go get some coffee, walk the dog, and wave hello to your local waste management person who is throwing your trash cans around like a toy. When you come back inside, if the computer is ready to go, you're surprised. Then, once you click on something, the wait starts again.
So what happened? Where did you go wrong?
There are many things that contribute to your slowing PC. Perhaps you forgot to feed the little gerbil inside – the one that's running the wheel round and round that powers your PC. Maybe you've loaded one-too-many programs and now your hard drive is gasping for air. You may have a computer that is more than 2 years old, which may cause some newer programs to just not work. You may need more memory in your computer. And if you have teenagers, you're just out of luck. Between games, instant messaging programs, and tons of Internet history backlog, you should be looking for a professional psychiatrist.
But your PC is not dead on arrival. There is a way to resuscitate the old pile of metal into a once-again functional machine. Start by going into the Control Panel (START, SETTINGS, CONTROL PANEL on most machines) and click on the Add/Remove Programs button. Look through the list for programs you no longer use. Make sure you recognize the name, and that you aren't deleting Aunt Mary's recipe book on accident. If you do, your wife will remind you daily for the next six years. Remove with care. For programs that show in duplicate, remove the oldest version. If you are not sure about a program, don't delete it. Call a professional - or your teenager.
You really should check your hard drive. In Windows, it's pretty easy. Double-click on the My Computer icon on your desktop. Your desktop is the main screen you see when the computer comes on, you know, the one with the cute puppy background or the picture of someone's kids. When the My Computer window comes up, right-click on your main hard drive, usually labeled as the C drive. You should get a menu with options, choose Properties. That will bring up a small window with a neat little pie chart. Note your used and free space amounts. If your pie has only 1 slice left worth of free space, you need to start cleaning the drive, or get a bigger one. Windows wants at least ten percent of your drive to be free just to run minimally. I suggest more like twenty percent. With hard drives in the 100 gigabyte range now, you shouldn't have to worry about space issues.
These are a few good ways to start reviving that PC back to its former self.
|W|P|114568842059198341|W|P|Web Design is a very subjective process. Your idea of what looks good may differ from the next person's. While wild backgrounds and flashing text were|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comWeb Design is a very subjective process. Your idea of what looks good may differ from the next person's. While wild backgrounds and flashing text were once considered 'cool', unwritten standards have evolved into every web designers inventory.
In the following examples I intend to convey a few of those user-unfriendly examples to you. My purpose is only to get you thinking about the layout and performance of your website. If you have one of these examples on your site, and you like it, by all means - leave it there! These are just examples.
1. Page Counters Five years ago, every site had a page counter. They proudly displayed how popular a site had become. The problem is, as many site owners started to find out, is that these counters can be easily manipulated. They can start at any number (not just 1), and they can produce vastly over-inflated numbers. On the other hand, if your site is not a high-traffic area, do you really want customers to know that?
2. Javascript Text Scrolling I remember when this first came out. In fact, I had it on my home page. Do you remember visiting a website and all the scrolling text across the bottom? These were usually put in your status bar along the bottom edge of your browser window. They have become a big no-no in web design. Users like to see their status bar, or, if they don't, they turn it off. Either way, this is a useless tool.
3. Excessive Animated .GIF's In the mid 90's when the Internet boom hit, everyone was getting a home page. Sites and ISP's would give you FREE space to put up your information. Soon, webmaster wannabe's everywhere were over populating the web with crazy animations and bright (obnoxious!) colors. Today very few sites use these files. They are now considered a waste of bandwidth. Since most companies pay for their hosting by how much bandwidth is used, animated GIF's went by the wayside.
4. Under Construction Signs There used to be (and probably still are) pages and pages of different 'under construction' graphics for webmasters to use. Why is this a problem? Well, isn't the Internet just a big construction site anyway? Are you and your friends, clients, and other businesses constantly updating and upgrading their information online? It also conveys a sense of incompleteness. No business wants their customers to think they are running on a low budget or producing an incomplete website. The construction graphic is extinct!
5. Page Fades We've all seen those fancy pages that fade in and out, from circles to spirals and even window-shades. They fall in the category with the scrolling text - obsolete! Most Internet users are looking for INFORMATION, not fancy graphics and page transitions.
|W|P|114568836860256061|W|P|Don't Make Your Website User-UNfriendly|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comMany people today are tired of the Microsoft software that came pre-packaged with their operating system. Some have switched over to Apple's Macintosh line, but for the most part we just put up with what we have. Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) has come under a lot of fire as of late for several reasons. Hackers find IE easy to exploit.
These reasons, and many others, have sent Internet users searching for a new, less bug-prone browser. Several browsers have topped the market, and have become quite popular. So popular, in fact, that smart web designers use them in testing their new website functionality.
Opera (www.opera.com) has become my favorite of the 'other browser' market. With such subtle things such as mouse gestures, it won me over. The newest release works seamlessly with most plug-ins.
Mozilla (www.mozilla.org) and it's slimmed-down partner Mozilla Firebird are also very popular. The browser reminds me of the old Netscape 6.0 but works great for most all web applications and websites. It won Best of 2003, Web Browser in a recent PC World contest.
If you design websites, you should have all three of these on your desktop, and you should check all your sites with them. There are slight differences in the way each processes webpages, and you need to verify that they all display nicely.
|W|P|114568822244904517|W|P|Other Ways to Look at Things|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comThink of the people who visit your site as blind dates. When you open the door, your blind date usually knows whether they are attracted to you within the first minute. How do they know? Easy. By how you look, what you say, and how you treat them. If you open the door wearing the same clothes you wore in 1987, say, "Wow, from my friend's description, I thought you would be a lot better looking," and sneeze in your dates face, not only will you never get a second date, your date will run for his/her life.
The same rules apply to your website. When people do a search for something they want to buy, they usually have many sites to choose from. If yours does not impress them right off the bat, it takes about five seconds for them to find another that does show them what they want to see. There are plenty of other fish in the sea. You are just one among many.
So what do people want to see, you ask? There are 3 standards of website excellence, and they are the same standards you would use to judge your blind date:
1. How it looks: If I visit two different websites with the purpose of buying something, and those two websites sold the exact same product at the exact same price, I would buy from the site that looked better--the one whose design made me think, "Wow, these guys must be making good money if they can afford to hire a good graphic designer." The more money I think the business makes, the more I will identify them with value and professionalism.
The bottom line is, you need to make web design a priority. There are plenty of people out there who have graphic designer friends willing to design their website for next to nothing. Those people have the advantage because, even if they aren't the superior business, visitors will perceive them to be superior.
If you don't have any connections with graphic designers willing to do you a favor, see if you can find a starving artist willing to design the layout of your site. If anyone has an eye for aesthetics and is willing to work cheap, it's a starving artist. Once you know what your site should look like, either you or a web designer can bring the artist's vision to life.
Take the time to design something that represents your business or product well. Don't just throw up a website with gaudy wallpaper, out of focus pictures and graphics placed at random. Remember that first moment when you open the door to a blind date. Remember how much appearances count for in this world.
2. What you say: You want the person who visits your site to know instantly what you're selling and why they should buy from you. Visual representation has a lot to do with this, but you need to watch what you say as well. You must be clear, concise and focused. Don't make the visitor decipher a cryptic headline full of spelling and grammar errors. Include headlines that shout to the reader exactly what you want them to hear.
Go over your copy a hundred times if you must, or have a proofreader edit your copy. You must be sure that a potential customer won't get lost in a stream of consciousness narrative about your product or company, and come out saying, "What was that all about?"
Above all, think carefully about the colors you use for your font. Make sure there is plenty of contrast between the background and the font color. Never put a yellow font on an orange background. Also, be careful with white fonts on black backgrounds. If the letters are large, they will be easy enough to read, but if they are 14 point or smaller, your visitor won't even bother with the copy. No matter what colors you use, always make your font large enough. If people have to squint to read your copy, it is too small.
3. How you treat them--It is socially acceptable for a woman to keep her date waiting, letting him know that she doesn't consider him a priority. However, it is not acceptable for your site to keep a visitor waiting. If your site takes too long to load, the visitor will simply find another site.
Do what you can to ensure that your site will download quickly. One easy thing to remember is that, if you have too much content on a page, it's going to take a long time to load. Also, if you are on a free server, and you are sharing a port with others, your loading time will be lengthy. More specifically, if you have images that are uncompressed, they could be at 70k or 80k, as opposed to compressed images that look almost identical and load at a preferable rate of 5k or 10k.
|W|P|114568816208157732|W|P|Love at First Site: GLove at First Site: Giving Your Website Visitors the right Impressioniving Your Website Visitors the right Impression|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comWeb usability is perhaps the most important factor in any web design. This is the driving factor that keeps your visitors coming back to your website. Given below are a few points that you need to consider to increase your website’s usability.
Points to consider for improving web usability
1.) Give your visitor what he is looking for
A visitor means business; he is looking for information and will stay in your site only as long as he gets what he wants. So provide only relevant information on your homepage that is specific to your end users. Web logs are the best means of finding out which keyword your visitor used and for what purpose he could have visited your website.
2.) Tell your visitor what your site is all about
Often websites are crammed with information in no specific order making it hard to figure out what the site is all about! Your site should give information about what it can offer a visitor on an instant basis. You can do this by providing relevant information on the homepage. You can also provide links like ‘about us’ or ‘about this website’ for further clarification.
3.) Provide site wide links
Site wide links are very important in any website. They allow easy navigation to all pages and reduce time consumed on browsing the pages. Your user can have instant access to what he is looking for from any webpage using the site wide links. They also allow the search engine robots to cache your pages efficiently. Site wide links can be provided at the bottom of all web-pages.
4.) Provide a sitemap
A sitemap is the mark of a good website. Sitemaps give the skeleton of an entire site on a single webpage with all links. As site maps are specifically meant to provide site information they can lead to efficient browsing.
5.) Ensure that your website loads fast
No one likes pages that take long time to load. Your website visitor takes decisions in seconds and it won’t take him long to press the back button or type another address to access other related websites. So make sure that your site loads fast.
The possible reasons for long loading times are
- Use of large graphics, java applets, flash programs or ad banners
- Inappropriate use of tables, like placing the entire page under a table
- Placing too much information (more than 50K) on one page
- Use of free or inferior hosting services resulting in slow data transfer Use of bad or junk html codes
6.) Improve site’s navigation using icons
Site navigation is an important aspect of web usability. Making use of unique XP style icons can really make your site appealing at the same time adding to easy navigation. Some businesses that offer XP style icons are http://www.icongalore.com , iconpharm.com etc. Icongalore.com offers high quality XP icons at costs as low as $3/icon.
7.) If your site has too much content ensure readability
Poor readability can cause your users to leave. Poor readability occurs due to use of small fonts, poor color combinations, long sentences, repeating background images and improper headings.
Tips to improve readability
- Make use proper font size. Generally a font size of 10 to 12 would ensure fast reading
- Make use of proper font types and make sure to use only one font type through- out the page. Verdana or Arial fonts are best for online reading
- Avoid using long sentences. Break your long sentences into shorter and interesting ones
- Avoid making use of static and repeating background images
- Give proper headings and provide strategic links
- Keep your content free flowing and explain you point by providing proper bullets. Shorten your paragraphs in two or three
- Avoid justifying your content
8.) Test your site before launching
Testing your site before loading is very important. You should pick up information like site load times, navigation, information availability, content, browser compatibility etc while testing.
- Test to see if your site loads in all browsers
- Test all links and see if they are working
- Test for site errors if any
- Test for spelling mistakes and grammatical errors
- Test the site load times
9.) Check your server log data regularly
You server log data is perhaps your best information source to improve your website’s usability. You weblog can give you information like keywords used most often to reach your site, website downtimes, pages most visited, exit pages etc. By studying your weblog you can find out the pages that a particular visitor accessed and the page at which he exited. This can help you optimize popular pages and give special attention to pages that seem to have the most exists. Overall studying the server log on a daily basis is very important.|W|P|114568799475000808|W|P|Nine Effective Tips For Improving Your Website's Usability|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comHave you seen Jesse James on the Discovery Channel's Monster Garage? Each week Jesse and his handpicked team create a customized vehicle to dazzle and amaze you. So what does this have to do with eLearning? Read on...
Big boys like big toys
Did you see the episode when the: * Cadillac Escalade becomes a tailgate party? * DeLorean is transformed into a hovercraft?, or the * Scary monster Santa float as it makes it debut in a parade?
WOW they were great... and it got me thinking...Jesse's approach to monster car design is directly related to leading successful eLearning programs. Here's why...
Each episode starts with a sketch of the "dream machine" and Jesse's verbal description of what he expects the machine to do. Just like Jesse's articulated vision, the training project leader has to be able to articulate the program vision and expectations to his boss and the team. If you can't describe the training purpose, it's time to re-think the project!
The Monster Garage rules are simple: 1) When completed, the monster machine must appear to be stock. 2) The team can spend no more than $3,000 cash for parts. 3) Jesse and his crew have only seven days and nights to design, build and race the machine.
So let's relate this to your training team... Have you taken time to create a simple set of rules for your team? Maybe you should take a lesson from the Monster Garage pit crew and make this a priority!
For the record, Jesse doesn't take NO for an answer, and whining is NOT an option. Hmmm... yet another good project managment tip!
Each Monster Garage project starts with a day of planning Even though the team is running on a very short time schedule, the first full day is set aside for PLANNING. Then the construction begins.
How often have you been tasked with developing a huge training project and no one really bothered to schedule time to PLAN? Using the Monster Garage analogy, if you are planning a 5 week development process, a full week should be devoted to planning. This is a good rule of thumb with about 20% of the project time should be spent in planning. Why? Because you can clearly articulate expectations, conduct essential research, collect information from a variety of stakeholders and produce a solid strategy for achieving the stated objectives. Keep in mind if you fail to plan, you plan to fail...
Just like the Monster Garage creations, online learning projects are big beasts and require a team effort. Jesse assembles his "dream team" based upon individual areas of expertise. He has welders, mechanics, fabricators and custom air-brush painters. His team must make the transformed vehicle not only look good, but "deliver on the promise" of functionality.
Likewise, the training project manager sets the scope with clearly defined roles and responsiblities for each team member:
Researchers determine existing content to leverage and competitive information as well. Instructional designers look for ways to create standardized templates that facilitate the learning process. They create the instruction sequence and determine the best way to create meaningful activities for accountable training. Programmers must produce solid error-free code. Developers take raw content and create lessons while the graphic artist adds visual elements with graphics, animations and color cues. The tighter you define roles and keep people on-track, the better. When it all comes together, a training project is truly a work of art.
And finally....the moment of truth and accountability happens...will the monster creation work? Jesse always takes "the dream machine" out for that victory spin. Just like the monster's moment of truth, it is inspirational when the AHA moment (light bulb) happens for your students in your beta test. It is fun to see students demonstrate proficiences from the training you created.
When your training team is successful and your training customer are happy, it's a win-win!! You accomplished what you set out to do. We thank Jesse James and the Monster Garage for his inspiration on project management!
Karen Miller has over twenty years experience in applying instructional systems design principles to create blended training solutions. She consistently delivers web-based training products on-time, under budget while exceeding customer expectations. She is a national training award winner (ASTD'98, ISPI'02), published author, adjunct college professor and an ISPI-Certified Performance Technologist. Her company, Instructional Design Consortium provides instructional expertise and USA-based outsourcing services for the design, development and delivery of online training.
|W|P|114568794271689299|W|P|The Monster Garage of eLearning|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comIf you've just finished building your new website (or revamping your old one), how can you be sure it's "ready for prime time"? Or maybe your site's been around for awhile and you think it may be due for a makeover. Because Web technologies, techniques and standards change so rapidly, even a website that seems "cutting edge" when it's built can look obsolete a year later. Or maybe you started out with a barebones website and finally have the time and/or money to take it to the next level. If you'd to give your website the once over, here are ten aspects you should consider:
Compatibility: Will your website display correctly for most people regardless of their computer hardware, operating system, browser and monitor resolution? Make sure your site renders properly for as many users as possible. If any features of your website require certain browser plug-ins, provide a download link. Remember that not everyone will have Javascript enabled and that graphics can be turned off by the user; make sure your site will still work without them.
Completeness: None of your website should be "Under Construction". Websites tend to evolve over time and are never truly "finished", but that's no reason for your website look like a construction zone. If you must include pages that aren't completed, at least put some informative content on the page to motivate people to check back later. Otherwise leave out the section altogether until it's ready for prime time.
Content: Do you need to update the text on your site? Have you added services, expanded your product line, targeted new markets, or changed your business strategy? Is your website's description of your company current and accurate, including your contact information? Could the content be written more clearly, convincingly, or succinctly? Could your website be more informative, helpful, interesting or relevant? Would customer testimonials or an FAQ section strengthen your sales message? Check all of your site content for incorrect grammar, spelling errors and typos.
Graphics: Do your graphics contribute to or detract from your website? A website with no graphics would be uninteresting, but a site with too many graphics, animations, and different fonts is overwhelming and distracts from your sales message. The trick is to find the right balance. Use animations sparingly, especially those that "loop" (play over and over). They can easily become annoying and distract from your sales message. Remember that banner ads count as graphics, too, and one or two per page is plenty.
Interactivity: You might consider making your site interactive by adding a mailing list, message board, poll, ezine or guest book. A contest or trivia quiz can attract visitors and bring them back more often. Rotating content like a joke, quote, or tip of the day keeps your website interesting. Don't feel obliged to add all the latest bells and whistles just because you can, but ask yourself whether some advanced features might give your website the edge. If you don't want to provide the content yourself, check into content available from syndicators (just keep it relevant to your target market and your other site content).
Links: Are all the links on your website working? First make sure any links between pages on your site are directing site visitors to the correct page. Check all of your links to other websites, too; the webmaster may have renamed the page or removed it altogether, and those dead links will make your site look unprofessional and frustrate your site visitors. If you've removed some of the pages from your own site, set up a custom 404 page that redirects your visitors to your home page (or a search page) when they try to access a page that no longer exists.
Speed: Does your site load quickly enough in the viewer's browser? The "Eight Second Rule" is a good rule of thumb, meaning no site visitor should have to wait longer than eight seconds to view the opening page of your website. After eight seconds have elapsed, chances are good the viewer will give up and go elsewhere. If you have graphics or animations that take awhile to download, provide some engaging content to hold their interest while they wait. Adding graphic elements always comes at a cost in terms of slower loading times, so only include graphics if they really contribute to visual impact of your website and strengthen your sales message.
Navigation: Is it easy to find information on your site? The opening page should tell visitors, at a glance, who you are, what you do, and how to find what they're looking for. From there your visitors should be able to follow a logical path to learn more about various aspects of your business. If you list products or services on your site, organize them in a logical way. If you decide to use graphic icons instead of text, make sure their meaning is obvious. Make it easy for your site visitors to find what they came for.
Search engine optimization: Is your website optimized to rank for important keywords in the most popular search engines? Double check your page titles and meta tag keywords and descriptions to make sure they are accurate and descriptive. Did you work your keywords into the actual page content as well (including variations)? Is your website focused on a specific theme, and do you have plenty of informative content related to that theme? Is your website spider-friendly (meaning search engine spiders can access every page and read the most important content from the source code)?
Style: Is your website's style consistent with your business goals? Ask yourself what you want your business image to be, and make sure your website enhances that image. Is your company's style polished? Friendly? Trendy? High tech? The look and feel of your site should reflect that style. Does your website still compare favorably with those of your competitors? Your website should reflect favorably on your business and help you to build your corporate image. If yours doesn't, maybe it's due for a makeover.
Usability: Usability refers to how easily site visitors can use your site. The best measure of usability is feedback from users -the people who visit and try to navigate the site. If you have received complaints, comments, questions, or suggestions from site visitors, change your site accordingly. Of course, dissatisfied customers won't always let you know. That's why you should also analyze your Web logs to see whether visitors quickly abandon certain pages or don't visit some of your pages at all. Think in terms of building pathways through your site that visitors can follow. A well-designed website leads visitors deeper into the site without frustrating or confusing them and doesn't lose them along the way.
|W|P|114568789028433312|W|P|A Website Checklist|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comThere's no doubt about it - the first page your site visitors see is the most important page of your website. If your home page isn't appealing, chances are the rest of your pages will never even be seen by your visitors. It helps to think of your home page as the "front door" to your online business. Will it invite people to come in and look around, or persuade them to take their dollars elsewhere? Here are ten tips for making your home page a winner:
1) Don't keep them waiting. Obey the "Eight Second Rule" (the one that says your Web page should load in eight seconds or less even over slower modems). Otherwise the viewer will probably lose patience and click the "stop" button.
2) Identify yourself. The first order of business is to identify your company and products or services. Let the viewer know they've arrived at the right destination and give them an idea of what you have to offer.
3) Make a good first impression. Your color scheme, design, graphics, and text should all contribute to a favorable first impression and convey the right corporate image. Your site visitors will probably decide within 5 to 10 seconds whether to stay and look around, so you've got to keep them interested.
4) Provide a preview. Use links, text and graphics to give the viewer an idea of your website's contents and encourage them to explore the rest of your site.
5) Don't make a splash. Don't make your first page a "splash page" (meaning a large graphic containing little or no text that's designed to act as a gateway to the rest of your site). Your visitors won't be impressed and neither will the search engines.
6) Lead the way. Provide obvious ways for your visitors to move to the various sections of your website (links, a site map, site search feature, etc.). You want them to come in and look around, so make it easy for them to find their way.
7) Don't waste the space. A monitor screen doesn't give you a lot of space, so use the available space for content with the maximum impact for your home page -your product line, main benefits, competitive advantage, etc.
8) Don't link away. You work hard to get people to visit your home page, so don't lose them right off the bat by giving them the opportunity to link away to another site. Put reciprocal links, ads, etc. on other pages deeper within your site.
9) Start selling. From the moment a visitor arrives at your home page, you should begin leading them toward the sale. Write concise but powerful copy that goes beyond telling to selling and emphasizes benefits to the user. Consider posting a special offer on your opening page.
10) Be kind to search engines. Including accurate title, description, and keyword meta tags in your HTML code, plus relevant content, will go a long way toward getting your site indexed properly by search engines, and that will lead visitors to your virtual doorstep. Remember that many search engines use "spiders" to explore your website automatically, so your home page must include links to the other sections of your website.
|W|P|114568783985650414|W|P|Ten Steps to a Winning Home Page|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comDrop Capitals are frequently used in many newspapers, books and magazines in the offline world. You will frequently see the large capital letter sinking down into the first paragraph of articles, stories and chapters in the majority of publications you come across.
The drop capital gives the page a nice finishing touch, and certainly adds a more professional looking feel.
Online, the drop capital looks just as good on web pages as it does in print. The only drawback is that you can easily get the whole effect wrong, and end up with a less than appealing result.
The wrong way...
When most people attempt to create a drop capital effect on a web page, they usually just enlarge the first letter by a few font sizes and make it bold.
If you do this on your own web page, you will notice that instead of a 'drop' capital effect, you end up with an odd looking letter which sticks up above the rest of the paragraph, and just looks out of place.
The right way...
There are essentially, two parts to creating the drop capital effect.
Step #1 -
You need to create a drop capital image using some graphic software.
You can use any standard piece of graphic software like Paint Shop Pro, Fireworks, or Photoshop.
The drop capital image should ideally be big enough to drop down between 2-4 lines of text, depending on your preference.
You should ensure that the top of your drop capital image is level with the top of the text next to it. The bottom of the image should also be level with the bottom of the lowest text next to it.
This is really the hardest part of creating a drop capital effect. It can be very easy to make the image just a bit too big, or a bit too small. You may find that it will take a bit of trial and error to make it look just right. However, the extra effort will pay off, as the end result will be worth waiting for.
One thing to note: As with any image, a drop capital image can slow a web page if the file size is too big. To help reduce the file size you should save it as a '.gif' image. For even better results you should try to optimize the '.gif' image as well by reducing the amount of colors being used.
Step #2
This step is the easiest bit…
Once you have created the drop capital image, all you have to do now is to insert it into your web page. You just add the image to the web page in the same way that you would with any other image on your page.
When you place it at the beginning of the paragraph, make sure you remember to delete the first letter of the normal text. Otherwise you will end up starting the paragraph with two of the same letter.
Align the image to the left
Initially, you will notice that the drop capital image just sits on top of the first line, instead of dropping down into it. Not for long!
All you have to do now, is align the image to the left, and you will see it drop down instantly into the paragraph.
If you are using a web page editor to create your web pages like Microsoft FrontPage or Macromedias Dreamweaver, aligning the image to the left is pretty easy.
In FrontPage:
Select the drop capital image by left clicking it once. Then click on the align to the left short cut icon in the top menu bar. Alternatively, you can select Format, then Position from the top menu. In the pop up window, select Align Left under Wrapping Style.
In Dreamweaver:
Select the drop capital image by left clicking it once. Then in the properties window, click on the arrow in the drop down menu next to Align, then select Left
If you are using a different web page editor, you should have a similar align option in the menu area. Alternatively, you edit the HTML code directly yourself. Just add the following command in between the brackets of the image tag:
align="left"
Thats literally all there is to it!
If you have multiple pages on your website, youll probably going to need to create a number of different drop capital images for each letter of the alphabet. The extra effort will be worthwhile as you will end up with a much more professional looking website.
|W|P|114568779971023914|W|P|How To Create A Stunning Drop Capital Effect On Your Web Pages|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comThe Basics
You have a flourishing business – everything is in its place. You just miss one important piece of marketing: an Internet Presence a website. Like everything in business, getting a website needs planning. Getting an effective website needs even more planning.
Here are some basic things to know and plan:
The WWW
What is the www or the internet? Basically a network of websites from all over the world you can access via your computer for which you need an internet connection and a browser. Internet connections are available from ISPs, and most of the popular browsers are free downloads from the internet. Just like writing/typing an address on a postal envelope, you type the website address in the browser beginning with http://www. and ending with either .com, .net, .org, .biz, .nz, .uk, etc. So if you want to access the microsoft website, you would type http://www.microsoft.com in the browser and hey, presto! You get all the information about microsoft and its products on your browser. Just click on the available links and you are on your way.
Your Website
Your website will be a bunch of pages all linked together via hyperlinks. You can ofcourse have a one-page website or as many pages as you like - depending on the amount of information you want to share with your visitors. Hyperlinks are text or images pointing to another page, just like the heading of this article points to my website.
Your Audience
As the web has grown, so has the types of people who access it and how they access it. As we say, it is impossible to please everybody. It is very difficult to design a website which will be accessible to all. Carefully choose your content and design, keeping in mind who your target audience is and what type of equipment they use. Equipment here means the computer and other hardware and also includes the software used for connecting to the internet and browsing it.
The best way to reach more people is to use pure HTML, and keep the use of scripting languages like JavaScript, Java, and other plug-ins to the minimum. While this may not make your site flashy,stylish or trendy, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that your site is accessible to most of the people. Afterall, that is the whole point of this exercise, right?
Designing your website means knowing your audience and their requirements.
Content
Now that introductions are over, lets get down to the core of your website: Content. The most important aspect of any website, content is the one thing that will keep your visitors at your site and keep bringing them back. The content should depend on what you want to let your visitors know - about the company, the products, the services. Keep the content interesting, updating it often for repeat visitors. Often this can mean providing more details about different aspects in your business, like seasonal discounts, etc. Your visitors will visit your site again and again if the content is relevant, and there is something new everytime they visit.
Layout
A well laid out website will be a successful one. Whether you design the site yourself, or outsource the task to a webdesigner like us, first layout your ideas on paper. Choose text, color and graphics carefully, they all contribute to the page load time. Starting with your Home Page, keep it fast-loading, with a good navigational structure. Try to follow the same layout for the whole website. Change the layout only for different sections and not different pages. If the navigation bar is at the top on your HomePage, keep it at the top in all the other main pages. Consistency in layout is very, very important.
These are just some of the basics about building a website. There are many more, some requiring a article all about themselves. Keep visiting, as I plan to write about as many as I can. Ofcourse, you are welcome to email me your suggestions/comments about what you would like to read about in webdevelopment.
|W|P|114568775716616518|W|P|Website Basics|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comFIRST IMPRESSIONS.
First impressions often leave lasting impressions. Impressions also result in people’s perceptions. There goes that age-old debate -- “Perception versus Reality.” I say that perception is someone’s impression of reality. And sometimes... no matter what is reality, you just can’t change people’s perception of a situation or thing.
Let’s define these words...(im·pres·sion) noun: a characteristic, trait, or feature resulting from some influence; the act of impressing. (per·cep·tion) noun: a result of observation.
To make a long story short, “Yes, design does matter!”
• When you meet someone you hope to date, don’t you want to make a good first impression? You want to be in nice clothes, have your hair just right and be in the right place at the right time.
• When you shop for books at the bookstore, doesn’t the nicely designed books attract your attention... let’s be honest, we do sometimes judge a book by it’s cover then read on for content?
• When you meet people, don’t you give them a firm handshake? Why do you do this? Because you want them to know you are confident.
• When you attend networking events and you hand people your business card, you don’t want to say, “These are just my temporary business cards.” I’ve heard this many times at networking events. You lose credibility and your ego and confidence gets deflated doesn’t it?!
Your website can ruin or build your credibility. Which would you prefer? People can judge how professional and/or serious you are about your business when they start looking at your website (or any other marketing materials they get their hands on). Online (on the Internet) you have only a few seconds to impress your visitors before they make a conscious decision to click away or click for more information. So help them make it easy to click for more information.
You should put the same effort and attention in your marketing materials (business cards, letterheads, postcards, direct mail, voice mail greeting, etc.) as you do for growing your business. So if you decide to (re)build a website, remember that impressions online should compliment what you’d like your potential and current customers to remember you by... as if you had met face-to-face.
|W|P|114568766384642467|W|P|Design Matters in our Visual Culture|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comRemember your vision for your company and the brand or statement you want to make when any of your current or potential customers come in contact with you. You have to impress them in all the ways you connect with them.
DIY (Do-It-Yourself)
›› Knowledge is Power I highly recommend reading and learning about graphic/web design. It’s a good idea in a long-term sense whether you do design projects yourself now or hire in the future. You will be able to communicate more effectively to your graphic professionals when your business is ready to outsource. By learning design techniques, it will help you organize how to present your image to your target market. The most important lesson to remember is if you start your design project, don’t forget about Quality. I may not call myself a copywriter, but I do write my own content and persuasive marketing materials... But I feel fairly confident about my copy because I have taken steps to learn about writing copy that sells and you can do the same for design. Read books. Take classes. Learn the software.
›› It’s an affordable route Nothing is more affordable that pulling up your sleeves and doing it yourself especially if you don’t have a budget to spare on outsourcing.
›› It gives you instant gratification It’s nice to have control and once your learn the tricks of the trade, you can pat yourself on the back for a job well-done.
Hiring a Professional
›› How much time do you have? Designing your marketing materials (website, business card, stationary, ezine, postcards, etc.) is not just about learning about the graphic design software and, in the case of web design... learning HTML. Your designer will know how to harness color theory and how to organize your content & information to readable chunks, allow your viewers to focus on the important benefits, evoke a certain feeling or thought, and add supporting graphics that clearly and effectively communicate your message.
›› Don’t you want to concentrate on business? When you are a small business, you probably play the role of sales, customer service, accounting and need to concentrate on strategies to build business. Hiring lets you make the decisions to take your business to the next step, communicate your wants/needs but then hand it off to someone who can effectively and productively implement the project.
›› You do care about quality, right? You get what you pay for. A quality designer will only want the best for you and your business. They live off long-term relationships and want great testimonials from you.
›› Don’t think “service provider”. Think long-term partnerships.
|W|P|114568762059742580|W|P|Do-It-Yourself or Hire a Professional Designer|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comI see a lot of mistakes, but here are the top five offenders you need to correct to give your site a boost.
Bad Title. Look at the title for each page. The title shows in the top bar of your browser. It is also what shows when you set a favorite or bookmark a site. Plus, the title is what shows in the search engine results. So you want your page title to be a "headline" - something that will make people want to click on it.
Give every page a different title according to its content. Include your keywords or key phrases in the title. Remember, people won't want to click on your company name, unless they're looking specifically for you. Instead, they are more likely to click on key words or phrases that reflect what they're looking for.
"Me" Language. Read each page of your site from your visitor's perspective. It's an eye-opener in most cases. If you want to "see" the impact of this, print the page and using a brightly colored highlighter, go over everything that is about them. You'll be amazed at how little of the page concentrates on the benefits to them.
Visitors don't care about your mission statement - they want to know what you can do for them. They don't care where you went to school or what degrees you have - they do care about why that matters to them. Speak "benefits" not features.
To be sure you are using benefit-driven language, keep asking the question "so what?" For example: Our site is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So what? So that means even at 2am you can access the information and start using it immediately. It means that regardless of where you live around the world, the information is available when you are.
Repeat this process until you get down to the benefit for the visitor. Then express that on the page.
No email capture process. Make sure you have a way to capture visitors' interest in the form of their name and email address. This means you want to "sell" the benefits of subscribing to your electronic newsletter or tips. You may want to offer a free report or ebook as a "bribe". However you do it, get them to sign up. This is the single most important asset you have online - a good list of people who look forward to hearing from you. And be sure to make it easy to sign up - put a form on every page of your site.
No contact information. Contact information online serves a dual purpose. First, it shows legitimacy. Sites without contact info are "suspect" - are they really a "real" company or a fly-by-night operation?
Second, we've all had the frustrating experience of trying to get in touch with a company and not being able to find their address, telephone or fax number. Be kind to your visitors - put your contact information on every page. If you're not comfortable with giving your street address or city, at least let them know what time zone you are in. If you have an unusual URL, include that. You never know which page your visitor will print and file. You want to be sure they can contact you later.
Slow to load. Finally, be considerate of all of your visitors by keeping your page download time to a minimum. If you're used to a fast connection you may not know the pain your visitors are experiencing. Go to an older computer with a slow telephone connection and visit your site. Try to keep your information on the cutting edge and your technology 2 years behind the curve.
If you take care of these five mistakes, your visitors will be happier, your conversion rates will improve and you'll be more successful online.
|W|P|114568750467082963|W|P|Website Woes: Top Five Offenders|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comAudio can provide an added dimension to your site. It creates a warm atmosphere where visitors feel like they know you. And it can enhance your reputation as an expert. Here are the top ten ways you can start using audio on your site.
1. Welcome people to your site. Toward the top of the page, add your photo or a short statement saying "Listen to a short welcome message" then a button to start the audio. Keep it brief and tightly targeted to the people you've brought to the site.
2. Make your bio more personal. If you're using a one-page sales letter site, there's a section on why they should listen to you and probably a photo. Add a caption to entice them to click. For example, "Here's 3 ways I can help" with the audio button. This audio doesn't have to echo what's on the page - it can actually have an anecdote or an example to illustrate the written material.
3. Provide client testimonials. One of the most powerful techniques for using audio is to ask your clients to record a short audio testimonial. Ideally you can capture this with a tape recorder at a live event or have them call and record it on the phone. The audio testimonial, combined with a photograph, gives a powerful picture of who you are and why a newcomer would like your services or product.
4. Answer questions. If you have FAQs, consider answering some of them with audio. Sometimes it's easier and faster to explain something verbally than to write the entire explanation.
5. Offer a guarantee. Let them hear the warmth and sincerity in your voice as you share your guarantee.
6. Give them a sample of your presentation. You can record this sitting in your office or use a clip from a live performance. Either way, your visitors will be able to hear your style and form a closer bond with you as a presenter.
7. Provide the latest information. Record a weekly update on news from your industry, then add it to your site. It gives people a reason to return to your site and gives you the status of being the most up-to-date expert.
8. Offer a mini course using email with audio explanations. Instead of all of the material being written, you can change the pace and put a lot of information into a short space by offering some segments via audio. This is especially effective if you want to share a short meditation or visualization exercise.
9. Demonstrate your coaching or consulting techniques by using a short audio clip from a client call.
10. Walk them through a process. If you have a form you want visitors to complete, use audio to walk them through the sign up. Remember to pace your remarks so they can easily complete the tasks as you're talking.
|W|P|114568745527656183|W|P|Top Ten Ways to Use Audio on Your Site|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comShould Generating Revenue From A Website Be The Prime Motivator?
A pure sales site has only one purpose... to generate as much revenue as possible at any cost. In other words, your experience--good or bad--is inconsequential to the ultimate goal of the site and may well sacrifice customer satisfaction to make a sale.
How many times have you gone back to buy from a website you've had a lousy experience with? My guess is not very often. I know I don’t. How many times have you gone back to buy from a website you've had a great experience with? What was the difference between the two experiences? Do you think the website you had the great experience with was a customer oriented site? And, might it be the other website you had the bad experience with was a sales oriented website?
A business can't survive very long if it's prime motivator is purely focused on sales and revenue. Sure, it may last for a while, but not long-term.
As webmasters and marketers, we must strive to create a long-term business relationship between ourselves and our customers so that they will continue to buy from us for as long as they have a need or desire for our products or services.
No One Does It Better Than Amazon.com
Arguably, http://Amazon.com is one of the largest customer oriented and successful website businesses on the planet. They're proof that "build a customer oriented website and they will come." They go out of their way to personalize the shopping experience for every single person.
When I visit Amazon.com, I see a very different selection of products than Linda, my wife, sees when she goes shopping. They know what I've purchased in the past and understand my buying habits. They also understand that my buying habits are different than Linda's and are different than yours. So, they tailor the individual experience for each of us. It makes us feel like the site has been designed around our specific desires.
Amazon.com has gone to a tremendous amount of effort to individualize our experiences. Why? Customers are their prime motivator. Would it have been easier and cheaper to build a strictly sales oriented, sales motivated website? Sure. Would they be the most successful website on the planet if they had done that? Do I really need to answer that?
Customer Oriented, Customer Motivated Website
Okay, so you get the drift of where I'm going with this. You may not be out to kick Amazon.com from the top of the ladder, but the principles are applicable to any website whether you're selling one product or millions of products.
With that in mind, you've decided that your website is going to be customer oriented whereby customers are the prime motivator and your business will revolve around their satisfaction.
You already know from your past experiences that customers will go back to websites where their experiences have been positive. You also understand that the web's a finicky place and it’s a "one strike and you're out" business environment. Therefore, you’re going to develop your website using your own experiences as a customer as your guide.
What did or didn't you like about the websites you've done business with in the past? What brings you back to the ones you’ve had good experiences with time after time?
Give Your Customers What They Want
Customer oriented websites will win out over sales oriented sites every time and for the long haul. Develop your customer oriented website to ensure them a satisfying experience and they will tell their friends about you and so the word gets around. Pretty soon your site will be flooded with friends of friends of friends who will all become life-time customers. Lots of happy, satisfied and paying customers means a long-term, profitable and prosperous business. Enough said?
|W|P|114568737451270065|W|P|Sales Versus Customer Oriented Websites|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comDoes your website make you any money? Does it SAVE you any money? Websites are more than just marketing tools, out there in Cyber-Land effortlessly promoting you and your products. While that's great, why not use that same website to save yourself some money? How? Well, while I don't know your particular situation, I can provide you with some thought-provoking ideas that you can take back to your web designer for more input. Reduce your support costs. It is often cheaper, easier, and more effective to support customers over the Internet than through more tradiditonal methods such as telephone and direct mail. Services such as instant messaging and Get1on1 (www.get1on1.com) provide immediate chat facilities to current and potential customers. Corporations can support their employees and business partners over their corporate intranets, keeping them informed and soliciting their feedback. Providing documentation for perusal saves time and reduces labor on your email server. Providing a map to your location can save your receptionist valuable minutes on the phone explaining turns and streets, freeing her up for more important tasks. Including a forum on your site can bring people of a common industry or interest together to discuss upcoming events, current problems, and other interesting ideas and thoughts. These forums can grow very large very quickly. And, in the meantime, your website traffic increases. Stick an ad on the forum and bring in more sales from people that you already know have expressed interest in your industry. Interested in reading more ways to increase your sales and save money? Visit http://techlh.com/why_web.htm and read our full story now!
|W|P|114568733137774820|W|P|Building Your Website to Save You Money|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comAvoid these mistakes and your site will be steps ahead of your competition.
1. Not planning your site Before you even have a website, you must have an idea, a focus. Why do you want a website? What are your plans and goals for the site? Sit down and draw out a map of possible pages and ideas for your site. Include your site's purpose --whether it is to sell more product or make the public more aware of your issue -- whatever it may be. Build your site from it's strong foundation (your goals) and you'll have a better, more solid site. 2. Failing to put contact information in a plainly seen location. This could be disastrous. If a customer doesn't see this information, they can't contact you. You should consider a 'Contact Us' button or link from your Home page. Even better, make a link to your email address in your header or footer, somewhere that will show up on every page. Even if no one ever contacts you this way, just the presence of this information comforts edgy customers. 3. Broken Links Do you enjoy clicking on a search result only to get a Page Not Found Error? No one likes them. Check your site statistics at least once a month (if not more) to make sure you don't have bad or broken links. 4. Outdated Information A sure turn-off to a potential customer is the presence of old information. If it's July and your website is announcing the 'new' products available in February, your site just lost major credibility. Make sure your information is up-to-date. Consider adding a 'Whats New' button or a Business Blog. 5. Too Many Font Styles and Colors This is a huge pet-peeve of my company. I've had people ask me to review their website and the first thing I notice is 4 different fonts. It looks bad, unorganized and unappealing. Different colors may attract the eye for a short time, but constant flashing or otherwise bright fonts (and graphics!) become annoying. Beware, this is a sure-fire way to scare people away from your site! 6. Orphan Pages Every website has a heirarchy, a sort of tree that branches out from the Home Page. While most of your visitors visit you through your home page, there are times when a page further down interests someone, and they may copy that link and send it to a friend. This is where you need to pay attention. That friend may like what you have to offer, but they can't find out how to contact you, or how to get back to your Home Page. That's an orphan page. Every page on your site should, at a minimum, have a link back to your Home page. I would suggest adding a contact link at minimum. 7. Frames Frames at one time were the talk of the industry. They were the original Content Management System (CMS) for your site. Nowadays they are few and far between. If you are designing a site, don't use frames. Newer technologies such as server-side includes are much more common and accepted. Your pages look fresher and those silly bars don't get in the way. 8. Disabling the BACK button and excessive Pop-Ups Have you been to a website and decided that it wasn't the information you were looking for? When you clicked the BACK button, did you suddenly get a barrage of windows (or, pop-ups) to your dismay? These things rarely actually work, and worse off, the reason you hit the BACK button is because you DIDN'T want any more information from that site. Don't break the BACK button. There are other ways to get your user's attention. 9. Slow loading pages While personal and hobby sites may normally be slow, there should be no reason for your business or other professional website to be slow loading. Today's Internet surfer won't wait long for information from your site - there are too many others with the same thing! Make sure your pages load quickly. If the server is slow, consider a different host. If your webpages are full of applets or large graphics, consider a page/site redesign. 10. Using Leading-Edge Technology While the Internet is all about new and fancy stuff, don't be the first to do it. While it may 'look cool' to you, you ultimately need to decide if it actually enhances your user's experience. Do the flashy cartoons make your customer more apt to buy from you? Probably not. How many of your customers have to install a Plug-In just to see your page right? Do they have to upgrade their browser to contact you? Not good. Wait until the technology is either more of a standard or gone - you'll save face with potential and future customers.
|W|P|114568727188653357|W|P|Ten Design Mistakes to Avoid|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comNo question about it, web design is an art.
Finding the right blend of style and usability is a delicate balance that few, if any, fully master.
Which is why I am so tired af reading bullet-pointed lists demanding what you should and shouldn't do while building your website. These dictators of web design are under the mysterious illusion that they have stumbled upon exactly the right balance of functionality and beauty.
Do you think Michelanglo painted his Sistine Chapel after reading an article entitled, "10 steps to perfect renaissance art"?
Hmm. What these designers are really saying is, "My view of what makes a good website is more valid than yours and any opinion to the contrary is doomed to failure".
There are no right and wrong ways to design a website. Every technique you have ever been told is wrong, can be utilised succesfully in the proper setting. And, equally, every technique you have even been told is right, can be a complete failure in the hands of the inept.
Next time you read an article on web design, remind yourself, this is just one opinion. Not the right one, not the wrong one, just an opinion.
In fact, better yet, stop relying on the articles for ideas. Instead, spend your time visiting websites that exist in reality, not in the mind of the imaginationless writer.
Visit web sites designed by the amateur coder and visit websites designed by professionals. The internet is brimming with original ideas and they are not the sole domain of the expert. Anyone can come up with something new or different.
If you are building your own website, visit a few hundred others first. Pick out the good, the bad and the ugly and use this as a springboard to create your own masterpiece.
If someone with more experience wants to offer you advice, listen to it, but don't automatically assume that they must know better. Have the courage and conviction to experiment and decide for yourself what works.
Because although the techniques of art can be taught, the imagination of art cannot.
|W|P|114568723231744577|W|P|Web Design for Dictators|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comTo create professional websites is not an easy task by any means. There are many things that you got to take into consideration like easy navigation, strategic links, clean coding, professional layout, easy downloading, scanability, usability and so on. These are the elements that differentiate a professional website from a mediocre one. So in a way it’s not designing the website that counts but how the website is designed.
The only option that most of us have in order to design a good website is to hire a web- designer. Web-designers can help you come up with a great website that looks professional and is coded to perfection, but what about the time factor, leave alone the costs. Here’s where web templates come to the rescue.
What are web templates?
Wondering what web templates are? Well, to put it in simple terms, web templates are semi-finished, pre designed web pages that can be used to create and host websites in less time. They are coded and have everything from graphics to logos and can be customized if required to add new pictures, content etc.
Why are web templates considered semi finished WebPages?
Web templates are semi finished in the sense that they are not ready to upload as they are. You need to add certain elements to make them look complete. Some of the main elements that you need to add include
- Links
- Page content
- Page titles/header/footer and tags
- Company Logo, images etc
After adding these details the web template becomes ready to be uploaded using a web host for the world to see.
What is the price range of web templates?
Web templates range in price depending on the type of templates, terms of usage, package deals, membership deals, files provided etc. Typically a professional template with non-exclusive rights could cost you anything between $20 to $100. This is way lower as compared to what a web designer would ask you for designing your website, not to mention the time factor. Copyrighted templates with exclusive rights could cost you anywhere between $350 to $1800 per template. Some template providers like http://www.buytemplates.net can offer you high quality templates for much lower costs.
What are the files I should get with the purchase of a template?
The files that you get on the purchase of a template differ from vendor to vendor depending on the type/feature of the template. Regardless of the type of template some files that should accompany your purchase are as follows,
- Index.html file
- Jpeg/gif image files, font files
- External CSS Style sheets
- PSD files
In addition to these some other files such as .js file (for templates that use JavaScript) and readme.txt files can also be provided. Generally these files are provided in a .zip format and you may need to unzip them for usage. You can make use of unzipping software like WinZip to unzip the files. This software can be downloaded from winzip.com.
What kind of rights do I get over the web templates?
Basically there are two types of templates; exclusive (copyrighted) templates and non- exclusive (non-copyrighted) templates. An exclusive template gives you ownership rights over the template whereas a non exclusive template does not give you ownership rights but only usage rights. Exclusive web templates are a bit costly and will ensure that the template is not resold to any other customer. You may use the template as your like and even resell it to other customers. A non-exclusive template on the other hand is cheaper and gives you only usage rights over the template. This means you can modify the template as per your needs but cannot resell them to a third party. Non-exclusive templates also mean that the same template can be resold by the template provider to more than one customer.
How do I edit the web templates?
Basically editing involves inserting the content, changing the style and adding/changing graphics. This can be done using the psd, index.html and other files that the web-template provider gives you on purchase of specific templates.
Editing images and graphics
You would require PSD files in order to edit images and graphics like change image color; add/remove image layers etc. PSD files are those created using Photoshop and can be edited using Photoshop, ImageReady, imac or other image editing software programs. You can also change images to your liking. The best place to look for quality images for your templates is 'gettyimages.com'.
Editing content
If you only need to change/insert content of the template, you can go for editing the index.html file. The index.html file is provided by all template providers and can be edited using Html editors like FrontPage, Dreamweaver, Golive etc. You can also edit content using text editors. Index.html can also be used for removing/replacing images, changing links, adding meta-tags, adding alt texts, adding title and changing image sources.
Editing layouts and styles
For editing layouts and styles you would require a CSS style sheet. A CSS style sheet is a document that lets you make changes like text color, text/paragraph spacing, headings, links etc to multiple pages. Always ask your template provider to give external CSS style sheets as they are easy to edit. CSS can be edited using any HTML or text based editors.
In case you find the editing part difficult you can make use of web template customization services that are provided by most template providers.
Domain registration and hosting
Domain registration and web hosting are crucial for your website to appear online. There are many template providers who offer allied services like domain registration and hosting. Some even provide services like content development and search engine optimization. So be sure to buy templates from template vendors who offer these additional services. Some template providers like ‘buytemplates.net’ offer template related services irrespective of where you actually purchased the template from.
Where can I find quality web templates?
The internet is filled with websites that offer web templates. All that you need to do is insert a keyword like ‘corporate web templates’ in google or yahoo! to get a SERP crammed with web template providers. But finding quality templates from this crap is a bit difficult. A template many look glossy on your screen but may contain bad coding and low grade graphics. Some may be cheap but will have bad or no service associated. So how to find the best web templates in this heap load? The best way is to ask your-self these seven questions before making a buying decision.
Questions to ask before buying web templates
- Are the templates conversant with my company objectives and goals?
- Will they appeal to my end users?
- What kind of support does the web template provider offer?
- Does the web template provider offer complimentary services like hosting, customization, SEO etc?
- Is the template compatible with all editing software programs?
- What kind of files does the template vendor offer me?
- What are the membership options available?
Best web template providers online
Some of the best web template providers online who offer high quality web templates at affordable costs are www.buytemplates.net (Buytemplates.net offers quality templates at affordable rates. They also provides allied services like template customization, content insertion Search engine optimization and web hosting), http://www.templatemagic.net (offers quality affordable templates), designgalaxy.net (this site also offers logo designs, flash intros, Photoshop designs and PowerPoint templates along with web templates.) and interspire.com (This site is a must visit for anyone looking for free website templates. Their free templates are of good quality and are updated regularly. You can also get hold of free newsletter templates and logo designs here)
|W|P|114568713029814640|W|P|How To Set Up A Professional Website On Your Own Using Web Templates|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comHere is a quick list of components that make a website attractive. They are listed in layers of attractiveness beginning with the "must" haves, to "nice to haves."
1. State the website's purpose up front and clearly of the site. Do this as quickly as possible. The visitor needs to know immediately if they have landed on the right site. They also need to know "what’s in it for me to stay here." If you don't provide this, they are gone. 90% of the sites on the Net don't do this.
2. Give visitors the ability to search for exactly what they are looking for, if they have something exact in mind. A "site search feature" satisfies this best. Allow the search feature to be prominently displayed and not hidden away somewhere. It is best place in the navigational system so that it shows up on every page. Sales letter only websites are an exception to this rule. Return visitors and visitors that have something specifically in mind, want the option and ability to find what they want fast. So give it to them.
3. Photos allow connection. Especially to people who process visually. Clip art gets them to pay attention, however, it doesn't create much of a connection. Personal photos connect within reason. Keep them less than three to a page. One photo always needs to be in the top portion of the screen on the first page. It doesn't need to be large, but attractive.
4. Ways to capture visitors information wherever possible.
5. Place items on the site that keep them lingering. Audio and video are one of these, yet there are other less time consuming and inexpensive ways to keep them entertained.
6. Articles. For solopreneur sites, your own written articles. For other sites, articles with various authors yet on focus.
7. Interactive elements. For example: response forms, quizzes
8. If you use a shopping cart, it must be fluid, no hiccups. PayPal is not a shopping cart, it’s a hiccup. All auto responders must be well written and positive. If someone purchased something, they need the energy of "thank you."
9. Give offers that are of value.
10. Clear path of where a newcomer can start if it is their first visit.
11. Newsletter that is consistent with the 80/20 rule. 80% value and 20% marketing.
12. E-courses of value.
13. Well-written e-books: 50-75 pages, plus valuable information (info not found anywhere else). Length doesn't do more than provide perceptive value. Once purchased and the vastness is only fluff, then your credibility is shot. Complimentary e-books meet the same requirements.
14. Give them other ways to receive more on...you if you are the focus...or the information if that is the focus.
15. Automated referral system. If you want referrals for your products or services, make it easy for you to get them. Set it up so it’s as automatic as possible, and clear and easy for someone to send you a referral. Be clear on what and how you want to give for that referral.
|W|P|114568706429340917|W|P|15 Website Elements That Attract Visitors|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.comI ask myself that question about once a month. My website looks fine to me, but what are other people seeing? And what are the Search Engines seeing? Here's a checklist of 10 ways to optimize your website for peak performance:
1. Browser Compatibility
The first thing is to look at your website through other people's browsers. I do this regularly and I've sometimes been shocked at what I saw!
ANYBROWSER http://www.anybrowser.com
2. Broken Links
About 5% of all links on the Internet are broken. A site that contains broken links gives a bad impression to visitors and is a frequent cause of lost sales. Also, the major Search Engines and Directories will not list your page if it contains any broken links or missing images.
Here are some free link validators:
LINK SCAN http://www.elsop.com/linkscan/quickcheck.html
NET MECHANIC http://www.netmechanic.com/maintain.htm
WEBSITE GARAGE DEADLINK CHECK http://websitegarage.netscape.com/O=wsg/tuneup_plus/index.html
3. Web Safe Colors
Are the colors on your web site displaying properly on other people's browsers? You may have a beautiful shade of lilac on your index page but it could look very strange on someone else's computer.
There are only 216 colors that you can safely use on the Web. These colors display solid and consistent on any computer monitor or web browser that is able to display at least 8-bit color.
The Web Safe Palette contains six groups of colors with 36 colors per group. These 216 web safe colors can have any combination of the following RGB (Red Green Blue) values: 0, 51, 102, 153, 204, 255 (each RGB value must be divisible by 51).
Here's a good palette of web safe colors:
WEB-SOURCE SAFE COLORS http://www.web-source.net/216_color_chart.htm
4. ALT Tags
ALT Tags allow you to give an alternative to people who have the 'view images' function turned off in their browser. Let's say the navigation system on your website is a series of buttons that link to other pages on your site. If you don't have ALT Tags, people who have the 'view images' function turned off will be unable to navigate through your site - in place of your button they will just see an empty space.
But an ALT Tag allows you to tell those people what that button does. For example, if the button is a link to your 'Site Map' you could insert the following ALT Tag: 
ALT Tags also allow you to raise your keyword density. For every image that is not hyperlinked you could insert your main keywords. For example: 
5. Meta Tags
Meta Tags are so important they deserve a whole article on their own. The most important Meta Tags are the Title Tag, the Keywords Tag and the Description Tag.
The Title Tag should be no more than 64 characters (longer than that and it will be cut off in some Search Engines).
The Keyword Tag should contain about 5 to 10 keywords that appear on your page. Never include words that do not appear on that page - in some Search Engines your website will be penalized for this. Do not repeat the same keyword - this is called 'keyword stuffing' and is also frowned upon by the Search Engines.
Separate your keywords with spaces (not commas). This allows the Search Engines to combine your keywords into phrases, for people who do 'phrase searching'.
The Description Tag should be no more than 200 characters. Include as many of your keywords as you can. Remember also that your Description Tag must be enticing - it must make people want to visit your site.
Here are some programs that will generate your Meta Tags for you:
WEBSITE GARAGE http://websitegarage.netscape.com/turbocharge/metatag/
META MEDIC http://www.northernwebs.com/set/setsimjr.html
MULTI-META-MAKER http://www.multimeta.com/tools/multimetamaker.html
6. Load Time
A slow-loading index page is one of the main reasons for lost sales. The generally accepted maximum time for a page to load is around 15 seconds. Here is a free service that tells you how long your web page takes to load:
NETMECHANIC http://www.netmechanic.com/cobrands/FutureQuest/load_check.htm
Your pages should be no more than about 30Kb in size. To calculate the size of your web page, highlight the HTML document and then click on 'File' and 'Properties' and note down the file size. Then do the same for any graphics you have on that page. Then add those figures together to get your page size.
If your page is less than 30Kb and takes more than 15 seconds to load, the problem is most likely with your web host. The solution is to change web host. Here are 2 services that will check the speed of your web host's server and compare it with other web hosts:
HOST COMPARE http://www.hostcompare.com/testtools.htm
CNET WEBSERVICES http://webservices.cnet.com/ping/
7. GIF (or JPEG) Cruncher
Shrinking the size of your images is one of the best ways to get a faster-loading web page. You can usually reduce a GIF or JPEG image by 40% to 50% without losing any significant definition or sharpness.
SPINWAVE http://www.spinwave.com/crunchers.html
8. HTML Optimizer
Another way to make your page load faster is to compress (or optimize) your HTML code. An HTML Optimizer removes all blank spaces in your HTML code and also removes certain unnecessary tags.
On average, an HTML optimizer will reduce the size of your page by 15% to 20%. That percentage may not seem much, but the saving in load time is much higher, as your visitor's browser will parse your page much more efficiently.
A word of caution: in most HTML Optimizers you will find an 'Options' menu that tells the program to ignore certain parts of your code. Make sure your Optimizer does not compress embedded script tags - if they get compressed, the script will usually not work.
ADVANCED HTML OPTIMIZER http://www.pcbit.com/htmlopt/
9. WIDTH, HEIGHT and BORDER Tags
The WIDTH, HEIGHT and BORDER attributes are essential for each image that you have on your website. When you hyperlink an image, always make sure that the BORDER attribute is set to zero (BORDER=0). If you don't do this, your hyperlinked image will have an ugly blue border around it.
The WIDTH and HEIGHT attributes allow your page to load faster, as the browser knows in advance how much space the image requires. To find out the width and height of any image, just double click on the image file. This will automatically open 'Microsoft Photo Editor' - your image will appear, with the width and height of your image (in pixels) displayed on the tool bar.
10. HTML Validator
Always check the validity of your HTML. Some Search Engines give lower rankings to pages that have poor quality HTML (such as incorrect nesting of elements).
Here are some free online validators:
HTML HELP http://www.htmlhelp.org/tools/validator/
BOBBY http://www.cast.org/bobby/
WATSON http://watson.addy.com/
|W|P|114568702120324039|W|P|What's Wrong With My Website?|W|P|venkat@sgdnetworks.com