Making Your Website Look Professional
Far too often, people put up a website, sit back and wait for offers and money to start rolling in. Others invest a ton of money into advertising before truly learning the ins and outs of website development.
What many of these internet entrepreneurs fail to understand is that cultivating a web presence is only half of the battle. First and foremost is to make the website appeal to the audience you are seeking. This means you will have to create something that works as intended, namely, draws in potential customers.
A Website is a Marketing Tool
A professional website is one of many items in an advertising arsenal that can help plead your case to a buying public. In many ways, it is the first impression that many people will have of your business.
Make that first impression count by making sure your site aligns with your business objective and goals.
A couple of ways to do this is by observing few simple rules, namely:
1. Check for grammatical errors and typos – how can you instill confidence in a consumer if your own website if full of errors. While you could argue that the average person may be unaware of these mistakes, many are and they have money to spend too. Besides, it simply looks sloppy and makes potential customers feel as if you don’t care. If you don’t care, why should they?
2. Make sure pictures, inserts and query boxes are properly aligned – sometimes an error in coding can offset photos, images, inserts and things like comment boxes. The offence is forgivable if this happens on a rare occasion, but too often and it looks extremely unprofessional. One aspect of web development is to make sure that the page loads up the right way every time. Check your site periodically to ensure it is working properly.
3. Forgo or minimize the flash – While flash animation can look cool, it may not have a place on a truly professional website. One reason why is the fact that not every potential customer is going to have a computer that has the ability to handle a ton of animated graphics. Some computers could even crash because of it. This could put off customers who may have wanted to utilize your services or purchase your products.
4. Keep it plain and simple – the language as well as the graphics should be straightforward, clean and free of frills. When at all possible try not to use ALL CAPS as it can appears if you are screaming at people. Keep info in small, bite sized paragraphs and when possible, make sure the site is free of pop up ads and other forms of advertising.
Another hallmark of a professional website is that it is easy to navigate. Sites that get too fancy with graphics and colors may be visually appealing on one level, but it does visitors no good if they can’t easily locate the about us, contact us or services button.
Keep Your Objective in Focus
In the end, your goal is to try to reach out to a buying public that wants what you have to sell. Your ability to achieve that goal will depend on how well you present yourself on the web. This makes maintaining and developing a professional website extremely important, as it can make all the difference between e-commerce success or failure.
Bear this in mind as you create your website and, if feasible, utilize the services of an established website developer to produce a quality, user friendly webpage.
Designing a Website for Your Targeted Audience
When designing a website, many people tend to get caught up in the fun of trying different designs. It is important to remember that when you design a website, you are designing it for a particular audience. The fact is that the design you choose for your website should reflect your target audience. A website that does not relate to their audiences desires will not see an increase in sales.
When designing a website, the first thing you have to do is define your target audience. Websites are about communication; therefore, you have to determine who you are communicating to. For instance, will your audience consist mainly of men, women, a certain age group, a certain ethnicity…etc? You have to determine why they are coming to site and what they are looking for. Targeting a wide range of people may increase website traffic, but not sales.
You also have to think about the product. For instance, a man surfing the net will not be going to sites advertising womens make up. An elderly person will not go to a site selling acne medication. The idea is to attract shoppers who are looking for your specific product or service.
Once you have identified your target audience, you need to create the right look that will encourage them to make a purchase. This includes the appropriate graphics, advertising and promotional materials, and relevant content that they will find appealing. You also have to consider ease of navigation. If your audience is not that computer savvy, having an easy to navigate website will be beneficial.
Marketing techniques must be considered when designing a website. For instance, if you are selling wine, are you targeting experts in the wine industry or the general public? If you are targeting experts, you do not want to dumb down the site. Experts will have a wealth of technical knowledge regarding the wine industry and the wine itself, so you should present a marketing design that speaks on their level of expertise. Another example to consider is if you are selling a line of womens clothing. You have to design the website based on the type of women purchasing the clothes. For instance, are you selling casual wear, maternity clothes, or professional clothing for the office? Your website will deliver either a professional, relaxed, or family orientated design. Your content and advertising will need to centre on the type of environment the clothing will be worn in. All of these details will help you pick the most appropriate design.
Other design aspects you have to consider include: the most appropriate graphics and sounds, keywords that will reach your target audience, the type of information you will provide that is both relevant to the customer and the business philosophy. As well, you must consider the level of audience interaction that will be expected. This can include discussion forums, entering contests, completing surveys, providing feedback…etc.
Understanding your audience and their needs is essential to creating and maintaining a successful business website. It is important to remember that you may not get a perfect design on the first try. You will probably have to make some minor adjustments. The key point to remember is that your site should be built around your customer, and not your own personal preferences. As well, you may receive feedback from visitors regarding your website which will allow you to fine tune the design.
Designing a website with the customer needs and desires in mind is a critical part of running a successful business. Ultimately, whether one is designing a website for a business, or creating websites for their clients, the design of a website is blended with the business marketing concept.
What Does It Take to Become a Graphic Web Design Expert?
Graphic web design is a highly lucrative profession, because the World Wide Web is quickly becoming the most important tool any organization, business, or individual has to get a message out to the public. Many of today’s graphic designers are almost entirely self-taught, and this is entirely possible to do, but if you want to be viewed as an expert, you will need some formal education and on-the-job training.
Internal Qualifications
Anyone can pursue a degree in graphic design, but not everyone has what it takes to be a graphic web designer. Individuals who do well in this career must be creative, because every website is going to be different. They also must be good communicators, because they must be able to talk to clients in order to determine what their exact needs or desires are, even when clients are not always sure what it is they want. An ability to put ideas into visible forms is a must, and web designers who pursue graphic arts must also be skilled with using computers, web interfaces, graphics software, and design software. Problem solving skills are another must for this field. Finally, graphic web designers have to have an eye for detail.
Formal Education
Graphic designers absolutely must have a bachelor’s degree in graphic arts. Those who want to use their skills to design websites may want to minor in IT or computer sciences, if possible. The major needs to be graphic arts, however, because this is the most complex part of the work.
A typical graphic arts program will include the following courses or studies:
Principles of design Computerized design Studio art Printing techniques Web site design Commercial graphics production
For potential graphic designers who already have a bachelor’s degree, a two-year associates degree in graphic design may be sufficient, provided it comes from a professional school.
In addition, graphic web designers must keep themselves current on the software used to design websites. Because this is constantly changing, these professionals often pursue continuing education through seminars, training programs, and webinars that show them how to use the newest programming.
On the Job Training
Becoming a true expert in the field of graphic web design requires practice. Some web designers will work alongside professional graphic designers as assistants or interns in order to learn the ropes. Others will do side jobs for friends and family members for free or at a very low price so that they can gain some experience and some websites to link to in their portfolios. In general, one to three years of practical experience is required before someone is viewed as an expert.
Portfolio
A graphic Toronto web design career centers on a winning portfolio. The images and websites in a professional’s portfolio speak for themselves, lending credence to an individual’s academic qualifications more than a resume, letter of recommendation, or any other professional certification can do. Beginning designers need to focus on building a quality portfolio that showcases their work well, and soon they will be viewed as experts in a highly competitive field.
