CUSTOM VS. PRE-DESIGNED TEMPLATES

Many website designers do not want to talk about how they build their websites. There is a reason for that. We are in an era of template website designs. I am not talking about a custom template developed from scratch by a designer as the basis for a site. I am talking about pre-designed website templates that many designers use so that they can bang out websites as quickly as possible.

The result is that those websites end up looking the same as many other websites. The graphics and colors may be a little different, but the overall look is the same. This also typically means that the design is very simplistic as well. Another problem with this is that it limits creativity. The designer is more worried about fitting everything into the template than designing a unique, eye-catching design.

Every site I develop is built from scratch. The only template I use is the custom template I design specifically for your site. I build that template according to your needs and use it as the basis for your site. Although it is still called a template, it is custom built for you, not pulled out of a stack of pre-designed sites.

VISUAL APPEAL

What type of look do you envision for your website? Are you looking for something flashy and eye-catching? Maybe something more subtle? Do you want a very business-like site? Or maybe something more artistic? Do you want the whole site to jump off the screen, or do you want to focus in on your product(s)?

If you have or are starting a business, you probably have an idea of what you want people to see and think when they hear or read the name of your business. If so, then you will probably want to apply that to your website. There are many types of visually appealing designs, but in every case you want the customer to instantly think and feel what you want them to when they look at your website. Maybe you sell extreme sports equipment, and you want the customer to be instantly excited when they see your web page. Maybe you teach yoga and want them to feel calm and relaxed when they open your site. Maybe you are selling computer equipment, and you want people to instantly feel like they are viewing the web site of a professional, high-tech, knowledgeable company that they know they can trust.

You want your website to make that incredible first impression and then hold the customer's interest long enough that they contact you or order from you. I was a fine arts major before switching to Graphic Design, and so I am extremely knowledgeable about this and will help you to achieve the look and feel you want for your site.

OPTIMIZING YOUR SITE

For this section, the term 'optimize' refers to the efficiency of your site. This is a very important aspect of web design.

Have you ever visited a website and had to sit there for what seemed like several minutes, waiting and waiting for the content to display? How long did you wait before giving up and moving on to another site? If people try to visit your site, and the content takes even 30 seconds to load, how many of those people will wait it out and how many will move on? Is this something you want to have to worry about?

Probably not. This is where optimizing comes in. All images (photos and graphics) on a website need to be optimized. This means reducing the file size as much as possible without affecting the quality of the image. Smaller files mean faster loading. I optimize every image before using it in a website design so that your website will load as quickly as possible and still look great.

Optimizing HTML code is also important. Some designers (especially the pre-designed template designers), leave pieces of unnecessary or unused code throughout their web code. Sometimes the coding is simply done in an inefficient way, such as repeatedly using the same tags to create a font style instead of creating a single CSS tag that applies itself to every instance where you want that font style. Other times there are empty tags sitting throughout the code. Inefficient coding can also slow down the loading time of a website because the browser has to sort through all of that unused code to load the page.

I use a combination of CSS and HTML to create code that is as efficient as possible. The less code I can use to accomplish the goal of the page, the better (and faster) that page will be.

NAVIGATION

Navigation is another important aspect of a website. Without simple, easy to use navigation, users will not be able to find their way around your site. If they get frustrated because they cannot find what they want, they will move on. This is another one of those things that is overlooked by some designers. Some designers will just throw the navigation in there without much thought, making it ugly and disorganized. Others try to blend it into the design but end up making it too difficult to notice.

Good navigation will usually not be the first or even the second thing a user notices when they visit your site, but will be easy to spot once the user wants to explore the rest of your site. It will be easy to read, and the user will be able to immediately know what to click on to get to the page they want. The easier it is for a user to get around your site, the longer they will stay, and the chances of them coming back again will be higher.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

Search engine optimization (SEO) is also overlooked by many designers. Many businesses do not even realize how valuable SEO can be. SEO is creating a site that the search engines (such as Google and Yahoo) can easily find when certain key words and phrases are entered. If the search engines can find your site easily, it will be ranked higher in the listings.

SEO is based on the key words and phrases that someone would type into a search engine to find your type of business. Let's say, for example, that you are offering babysitting services. The keywords you would use are your name or the name of your business, your location, and terms such as babysitting, child care, infant care, children, babies, etc.

To optimize your site, I first put all of your keywords into a list in your code. I then use those keywords as often as possible throughout your site. Keywords can be use in many places in your website code including: the page description, picture descriptions and labels, the body of text in your content, and in your links. The more they are used in your site, the more likely a search engine will find your site quickly and put it high on a search result listing.

SEO is not an exact science, and if you are in a business that has a high level of saturation, it can be very difficult to get to the top of a search engine listing. But every little bit helps, and the longer you keep those keywords running on your site, the further you will move up on the list.

BELLS AND WHISTLES

What do you really need for your site? Many designers will tell you all sorts of nonsense to get you to buy things for your site that you do not need. I have heard of many small businesses with low budgets paying out hundreds and even thousands of dollars for features they don't need. They did it because a designer or agency told them that they absolutely needed those features. Don't believe everything you hear, and don't let yourself be pressured into buying something you never wanted and didn't think you needed.

Do you really need a Flash intro or banner for your site? Probably not. But many web designers will sell these things for hundreds and thousands of dollars by saying things like 'if you put Flash on your page, users are much more likely to stay on your page, and if you don't use it they will think your site is not professional and will leave.' Or 'you HAVE to have a gallery so people can see the inside of your shop and you HAVE to have animations so people think you are up-to-date.'

I have nothign against special enhancements if used properly. These extra features can be useful and sometimes can be an important part of a design. However, a lot of the time it is not necessary. Say you have an auto detailing business. Do you really think that a user is more likely to stay on your site because a car moves across the banner at the top of your page? It is true that they might watch the animation a couple of times, but after that they just want to get around your site to find what they need. Flash and other special features have a tendency to slow down the load time of your site. So while the animation may seem cool at first, a user will get annoyed quickly if that animation causes each page of your site to take 20 - 30 seconds to load.

Special features like animation are attention grabbers, but that is usually it. They are typically not a functional part of the web site and, as stated above, they can cause your pages to take longer to load. They can be nice if used sparingly, but you should only use them if you really want them. Never pay for features like this because someone told you that you needed them or gave you some statistic like '80% of visitors will leave your site immediately if there is no animation.' Sorry to all of the designers out there that try to sell this, but it simply isn't true.

Just to be clear, I can design these enhancements for you if it is something you want. But don't let someone talk you into purchasing these things if you do not think you need them.

LET'S BUILD YOUR SITE

So are you ready to have your own website built? Contact me today, and let's get started. The first consultation is completely free. I will talk to you about your site, get a good feel for what you need, make my recommendations, and give you an estimate. You have nothing to lose by talking to me. Make the first step towards getting your business online!